Sunday, May 19, 2013

19 May - Blogs I'm Following II

English: Professor Alex Jones (Harvard Kennedy...English: Professor Alex Jones (Harvard Kennedy School) giving a lecture about the role of media in social change. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Venn diagram showing the relation bet...English: Venn diagram showing the relation between the terms open data, open government data and public sector information. Svenska: Venndiagram som visar relationen mellan begreppen öppen data, öppen offentlig data och PSI-data. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Datasets in the Linking Open Data pro...English: Datasets in the Linking Open Data project, as of September 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Adam Kokesh (right), Reverend Lennox Yearwood,...Adam Kokesh (right), Reverend Lennox Yearwood, and Geoff Millard speak to a crowd near the White House at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This image was taken at the Paramount Theatre ...This image was taken at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas at the première of the movie A Scanner Darkly which Alex Jones is featured in. Pictured in this image from left to right are Nick Mollberg (The author of this image), Alex Jones and Marc Majcher. Both Nick and Marc are fans of Alex Jones. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Adam Kokesh one of several indivduals...English: Adam Kokesh one of several indivduals arrested after a nonviolent protest against the Iraq war in the Senate Hart Office Building, Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


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The Best Thing Obama’s Done This Month

His executive order to open government data is a really big deal.
This is perhaps the biggest step forward to date in making government data—that information your tax dollars pay for—accessible for citizens, entrepreneurs, politicians, and others.
The White House also published a memorandum that established a framework to institutionalize the treatment of government information as an asset. 

  • Mandating that when an agency procures a new computer or system that collects data, those data must be exportable. That won't address digitizing existing government documents and data but will create a default setting going forward.
  • Planning to relaunch data.gov in a format compatible with dozens of other open-data platforms around the world.
  • Requiring agencies to catalog what data they have. Understanding what you have is fundamental to managing information as an asset, although an open data policy that requires creating and maintaining an enterprise data inventory won't be without cost. Creating a public list of agency data assets based upon audits is one of the most important aspects of the new open data policy.

A Military Parent’s Homecoming Should Not Be a Surprise

The children of our military personnel bear a heavy burden. They deal with the long absences of a beloved parent. They endure the gnawing fear that one day there will be a surprise—a stranger in uniform walking up the front steps to deliver awful news. A parent serving in the military is not the same as a parent on an extended business trip. Even the expected return of a military parent who may have been gone for a year can be overwhelming. It seems unwise to surprise these children as if springing a trip to Disneyland on them. This post explains that an unexpected return can have all sorts of negative ripple effects, from encouraging a child’s belief in the power of his or her own magical thinking, to causing pain for kids whose parents are not scheduled to come home (or who may never return), to undermining the sense that school is a stable, reliable place.
The surprise return has become such a staple that it’s even spawned two reality show series, Lifetime’s Coming Home and TLC’s Surprise Homecoming. As a Washington Post story critical of these reunions points out, both shows were done in cooperation with the military.

 10:31pm MDST



Google in tax scandal in Uk ? Adam Kokesh arrested in Philadelphia for no apparent reason....New Jersey Senate Committee on gun control hearing suffers breakdown as crowd ignores Pols....

fredw at Catharsis Ours - 7 minutes ago
http://www.infowars.com/google-insider-exposes-immoral-tax-scam/ Google insider exposes ‘immoral’ tax scam - [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] *Simon Duke and Jon Ungoed-Thomas* The Sunday Times May 18, 2013 A FORMER Google executive has blown the whistle on a massive and “immoral” tax avoidance scheme that has “cheated” British taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of pounds over the past decade. Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the inter... more »

Syria and Israel up ante...... Who is bluffing , we shall see soon !

fredw at Catharsis Ours - 7 minutes ago
« Breaking News »Syria prepares missiles to strike Tel Aviv – report DEBKA*file* May 19, 2013, 4:15 AM (GMT+02:00) The Sunday Times reports that Syria is deploying advanced Tishreen surface-to-surface missiles to strike Tel Aviv in case Israel launches another attack. The paper cites “information obtained by reconnaissance satellites tracking Syrian forces,” without any other source. Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad said in a broadcast Thursday, May 16, that if Israel again attacked Syria, it would face an immediate and painful response. Asked if he realized that his word... more »

Water supply contamination / poisoning - The Next Terror Attack or False Flag Action ? recent events concerning NYC and perhaps Boston again highlight this could be an area of legitimate concern ....

Catharsis Ours - 7 minutes ago
http://voicerussia.com/radio_broadcast/70924886/112995913.html Afternoon Show → Tunisian national wanted to poison NYC water supply, indictment says Tags: vasili sushko, Tunisia , News, ahmed abassi, terror plot, Culture, legal, US, terrorism Rob Sachs May 10, 2013 16:08 [image: Print][image: Email][image: Add to blog][image: New York City. Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock.] New York City. Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock. NEW YORK – Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges on Thursday against a Tunisian national who allegedly tried to stay in the United States ... more »

Bubble finance brings Australasia a new world-historical moment

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 28 minutes ago
You might have noticed that the mantle of Australasia’s most highly valued company has been passed from one that produces resources from out of the ground, i.e., BHP, to one that creates credit out of thin air, i.e., the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Close on the CBA’s heels is fellow credit-creator Westpac, said to be “within a good trading session of knocking BHP out of second position.” This is historically, a very important turnaround—a new world-historical moment. The turnaround has puzzled many people, but it shouldn’t have. Well, that’s where you can thank Dr Bernanke an... more »

Meet & Greet Monday (#MtaGt) - CelloMom on Cars

Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - 31 minutes ago
Welcome to Meet & Greet Monday, a regular series designed to grow our green community. [image: A linky for green blogs on Reduce Footprints Blog] Banner by Art Ist Grab our banner for your site:
A linky for green blogs on Reduce Footprints 
Blog *The rules:* 1. Use the "linky" below to share your green-living blog or collect...
more »

Who Does Wall Street Own In Congress?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 31 minutes ago
The Grayson Takano No Cuts letter is the gold standard The House doesn't usually stay in sessions Fridays, let alone take serious votes, but this past Friday, as we mentioned yesterday, Boehner and Cantor kept the Members in town to repay a promise they had made to their Wall Street masters to further weaken the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. A bill Wall Street lobbyists wrote with one of their most pathetic congressional shills, Scott Garrett (R-NJ)-- and co-sponsored by 23 other bankster asswipes (20 of them members of the House Financial Services Committee who brazenly take lar... more »

Mizuho Bank to terminate overseas ATM service - ability to withdraw ( " It's owing to a variety of circumstances . " ) ........ Latest crazy town talk from the Japan Econ Minister..... When will the talk turn to financial solvency or lack thereof of their Banks ?

fredw at Catharsis Ours - 2 hours ago
Mizuho Bank to terminate service to withdraw cash from ATMs overseas,”owing to a variety of circumstances” Posted by *Mochizuki* on May 18th, 2013 · No Comments Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services On 4/14/2013, Fukushima Diary reported “[Bank withdrawal regulation ?] JP 6th largest bank Shinsei to ban withdrawal from ATM outside of JP [URL]” One of the three Japanese Mega banks, Mizuho Bank is also going to terminate the international cash card service to withdraw cash and check the account balance from ATMs outside of Japan. The terminat... more »

Harvey Organ Gold and Silver Report for May 15 , 2013 - data , news and views on the PMs !

Catharsis Ours - 2 hours ago
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/gold-drops-again/ GOLD PRICE: Another caning for the shiny metal, only 1,394 theories as to why. [image: gold15513] In case you haven’t been following it, gold fell off a cliff when the FTSE opened this morning, from $1427 to $1409. It then flatlined at that price, until the NYSE opened….at which point it dropped another $17. Not that I’m suggesting any conspiracy here – but then the time zones* are* implicated. And The Slog *did* say last week that Friday falls in the past had been followed by further attacks the following week. Who knows what... more »

Light Reading: Articles About The Tentative Turkish-Kurdish Peace Deal

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 2 hours ago
"The anti-humanitarian tenor of Western policies towards the Kurds are well rooted in history. *Indeed, they are based on long-standing strategic interests in the region. “The Kurds are in several countries and that was planned by Britain”, observes former President of the American Kurdish Society in Boston, Hussein Aktas.* “If you have a problem with Iraq, you can use them against Iraq, same for Iran and Turkey.” Thanks to this disasterous condition, historically established by the West, there are “millions of Kurds who have been displaced from their homes since 1993 in Turkey”, ... more »

The Failed President

Hani Fakhouri at Middle East Today - 3 hours ago
The recent kidnapping of 17 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai by terrorist Islamic criminals was an act of insult to the Egyptian government, the army and society at large. The kidnappers are demanding the release of 24 criminals who are in an Egyptian jail for crimes that they have committed. The kidnapping of soldiers or civilians should be taken seriously and no negotiations should take place with those thugs that kidnapped them. This terrorist act was the third one within a year. The first was the kidnapping of four police officers in al-Arish, No information has been made available ... more »

What are Boehner and his people doing about this "acute shortage" of luxury housing?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*The interior of the seven-story townhouse at 80 Washington Place, priced to move at $28.9 mil, making it "the highest-priced single-family townhouse in all of Greenwich Village"* *"Village brokers and buyers alike have reported an acute shortage of luxury homes, and fierce bidding wars for fine homes."* *-- from Andrea Swalec's DNAinfo.com report,* "Most Expensive Village Townhouse Hits Market for $28.9 Million" *by Ken* I read this report a couple of days ago, and I don't mind telling you that I've been losing sleep since, worrying about this "acute shortage of luxury homes" in ... more »

Does Aspirin Prevent Liver Cancer, and, Does Ginkgo Extract Cause It?

George Henderson at The High-fat Hep C Diet - 3 hours ago
Aspirin (acetylsalicyclic acid) is one of those drugs that blurs the distinction between the natural world and the products of human ingenuity, being a barely-tweaked analogue of salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is not only prevalent in the diet, it appears to be synthesised endogenously in fasting states. (music: Seven Fishes by Jigsaw) Aspirin has long been regarded ambivalently in medicine. On the one hand it kills pain and reduces fever, on the other hand excess can make the gut bleed and damage the kidneys, and even cause hepatitis. Low-dose, buffered aspirin is commonly used a... more »

What's That Between Steve's Shoulder Blades? Oh, That's a Knife.

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 3 hours ago
The Tories have a rich history of backstabbing. Dalton Camp did in John Diefenbaker and was never forgiven. Brian Mulroney shoved Joe Clark out of the way and into a ditch. Could it be possible that the knives are coming out for Steve Harper in the finest Conservative tradition? Trying to make sense of what's been happening this week isn't easy. On the surface, nothing seems to add up. It has the confused improbability of palace intrigue. Someone or some group on the inside is playing a high stakes game in which Stephen Harper may be the intended target. Sure they're going... more »

This is life in a 400 ppm world

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 4 hours ago
[image: Reconstruction of a Pliocene swamp near Perpignan, from Agusti and Anton (2002), 'Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids', Columbia University Press. That era, which took place from 5.8 to 2.6 million years ago, was the last time there was so much CO2 blanketing the planet. Graphic: Mauricio Anton] By Brian Merchant 16 May 2013 (Motherboard) – It already ranks as one of the grimmest measurements ever taken. Climate scientists found that for the first time in approximately three million years, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million. ... more »

Image of the Day: Satellite view of dust plumes off Argentina

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 4 hours ago
[image: Dust plumes blew out of southern Argentina and over the Atlantic Ocean in early May 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on 12 May 2013. The dust blew out of the Patagonian Desert, and many of the plumes arose from sediments around a shallow lake. Photo: Jeff Schmaltz / NASA GSFC] By Michon Scott 12 May 2013 (NASA) – Dust plumes blew out of southern Argentina and over the Atlantic Ocean in early May 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite... more »

The Best Congress FIRE Sector Money Can Buy (And You Thought They Just Didn't Care - Or Were Inept) and Teflon Diamond Don/Liars Run Amuck But Not Ever Jailed In Smartest People Anywhere Crowd (Just Ask Them)

You know how much I distrust the Wall Street Journal and most so-called reporting vehicles that originate on or from the regions (even metaphysical) around Wall Street, but I've gotta admit that the situation has now gotten so dire that it seems even the really bad guys are telling on each other (or the worse(r) guys) and it's getting tougher and tougher to tell what the really bad behavior is

Hey, World Vision, leave my kids alone

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 6 hours ago
*Schoolchildren have been doing the 40 Hour Famine since what seems forever. Guest poster Jonathan Livingstone reckons they should stop.* *Going Hard Out for the Hungry?* If ever there were a reason to apply the Eternal Vigilance principle to voluntary charity, World Vision would be it. For World Vision has cooked up the kookiest of fund-raising schemes, one where kids get to go hungry to raise money for charity. Forget the old war veteran sitting alone and forgotten in his miserable rest home, there’ll be no visit for him from these kids. Nor a helping hand for an old crippled ... more »

Tepco's Plan to Divert Ground Water By Dumping Into Ocean

Majia's Blog at Majia's Blog - 6 hours ago
Tepco cannot manage the volume of contaminated water being produced at the Daiichi site. It appears that between water injections and fresh water seepage, 800 tons of radioactive water are being produced in the Daiichi buildings every single day. Tepco wants to divert ground water into the ocean to limit the build-up of water in the reactor buildings. Japan's Fukushima fisheries associations are very wary about Tepco's plant to prevent ground water from entering the reactor buildings by diverting it into the ocean. The Asahi Shimbun has reported recently on their concerns that the... more »

Sunday Question for Liberals

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 6 hours ago
Oh, why not: we're six months away from 2012 Election Day now, and the first 100 days of Barack Obama's second term are long gone. How does everything so far compare to your expectations? Disappointed? About what you expected? Worse? If worse: who do you blame?

Richard Tarnas - City Dark: Facing the Shadow of Modernity's Light

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 6 hours ago
*"Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View"* by Richard Tarnas. City Dark: Facing the Shadow of Modernity's Light, Richard Tarnas 11-30-2012. Source: Uploaded by ArchetypalView on December 26, 2012. The City Dark Trailer (2012)

Where were you when we needed you

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 6 hours ago
I'm about done with the pseudoscandals but one last word on the AP records grab. AP's CEO went on the teevee to wail about their persecution today claiming the DoJ violated the constitution. “We don’t question their right to conduct these sort of investigations, we just think they went about it the wrong way. So sweeping, so secretively, so abusively and harassingly and overbroad that it is an unconstitutional act,” Pruitt said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. [...] “Under their own rules, they are required to narrow this request as narrowly as possible so as to not tread upon the ... more »

Midnight Train To Georgia-- Tbilisi Not Safe For Tourists

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
Barbaric, primitive priests spread fear and hatred in Georgia Yesterday I wrote about how primitive, Bronze Age notions regarding the subjugation of women in the patriarchal societies of the 3 major Abrahamic religions, still leads to thousands of brutal murders and barbaric treatment of women all over the world. Friday saw a demonstration related to that mentality in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. This time the victims of the primitive religionists, though, were gay people. The first thing an international traveler notices on arriving in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, is that the ro... more »

Terpsichore Sunday

gail zawacki at Wit's End - 7 hours ago
Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance ~ Jean-Marc Nattier, 1739 I rented the Danish movie "A Royal Affair" (*En kongelig affære) *to watch online, which I quite liked because it's a terrific example of the genre of romantic, historical costume docudrama, with the inevitable antique dance at a fancy-dress ball which follows, ahem, in the footsteps of noble predecessors like this classic scene: Another favorite of mine is Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, the magic of which I've never escaped. Okay...it was 1968, and I was fifteen years old. This isn't the original music, but it's all... more »

Pearson history text mimics art history textbook in same controversy

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 8 hours ago
Remember that story from September where an art school was charging $180 for an art history text with no artwork? Yeah, that one. It’s published by Pearson. From Brent Ashley: There is no discount on the $180 price for an ART textbook that has NO PICTURES. Devoid of pictures. Bereft of art. If I am […]

Stephen Harper Is Far Too Sleazy, Corrupt And Dishonest To Be Straight With Canadians About The Senate Scandal ....

leftdog at Buckdog - 8 hours ago
** [image: Progressive Bloggers] *-Stephen Harper is never going to be honest with Canadians about the sleaze that is oozing out of his political administration*. *-There isn't even any point in the RCMP investigating the Senate scandal because the leadership of the RCMP is in Harper's hip pocket and will whitewash whatever the Conservatives have done.* *-If Stephen Harper prorogues Canada's Parliament this week then things will get very, very serious in the nation.* *-Democracy, as we know it in Canada, is not going to survive Stephen Harper's stranglehold on power without som... more »

“V” is for Victory #commoncore

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 8 hours ago
More “propaganda” Filed under: CHALK FACE: General News & Commentary Tagged: ccss, common core, Curriculum, propaganda, standards, victory

“V” is for Victory #commoncore

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 8 hours ago
More “propaganda” Filed under: CHALK FACE: General News & Commentary Tagged: ccss, common core, Curriculum, propaganda, standards, victory

Pieless in Gaza, at the stove with Yolande

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 8 hours ago
Hadar at *CiF Watch* posted a piece about an article from the *Guardian*'s Harriet Sherwood which plugged a book about gastronomy in Gaza by Laila el-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt called *The Gaza Kitchen*. Laila el-Haddad, a *CiF *contributor in the past, is no mere cook book writer; she's also a Palestinian activist who advocates a 'one-state' solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict - i.e. the dissolution of the State of Israel - and whose book doesn't steer away from a (loaded) take on the political context. Inevitably, the BBC also plugged the same book. Monday night's *P.M.*... more »

The Rats in Uncle Steve's Pantry

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 8 hours ago
Stephen Harper knows he's got rats in the Conservative pantry and it must be giving him fits trying to figure out just who they are. Somebody is leaking a steady stream of information, documents and e-mails to Bob Fife of *CTV* about Mike Duffy, Pam Wallin and Nigel Wright and who knows what or whom might be still to come. Mike Duffy has taken refuge in his Cavendish cottage in P.E.I. and is quick to summon the police to clear off nosy journalists. Harper is apparently in Peru although he's expected back to face down the Tory caucus on Tuesday morning. This sounds like a settli... more »

British Columbia`s LNG Facilities To Be Built In South Korea, Each One To Employ A Mere 250 Full-Time Workers(What Happened To Your Promise Of 75,000 Full-Time LNG Jobs Christy Clark?)

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 8 hours ago
Isn`t this what our 2013 election was all about....Streets paved with gold, prosperity fund for the children, 100,000`s of jobs, BC Hydro, BC Ferries debt eliminated, Port Mann bridge tolls wiped out, British Columbia`s debt retired and sales tax removed.. Those were the promises Christy and the BC Liberals made to all voters, I like to dream too, powerball lottery wins, fountain of youth, finding new earth-like ready to inhabit planets we can shuttle off to.. It`s time the BC Government and or the energy companies give us the straight goods, me personally, I already have the answ... more »

Sunday Question for Conservatives

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 9 hours ago
What do you think of the job that Darrell Issa has done so far, over the last two plus years, as Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee? How much confidence to you have in him to do a good job going forward?

Turkish TV Reporter/Propagandist Gets Owned By A Truth-Telling Villager

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 9 hours ago
Somebody wrote in the comment section for the video below, "this needs to happen all over the planet....correct the mouthpieces live on tv!" Also, remember this? CNN got caught demonizing the Tea Party movement.

Mohawk Nation News 'Sty Story'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 9 hours ago
STY STORY Posted on May 19, 2013 MNN. May 19, 2013. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Senator Mike Duffy, together weigh more than 700 pounds and both feed from the same pig trough. Is pig trough owner, Prime Minister Harper, fattening them up for the slaughter? Similarities are: both will not bow down or repent; both want vengeance against those who exposed their

Turkish People Protest Against Their Government's Policy Towards Syria

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 9 hours ago
Now it's about to get interesting. Cops beat, teargas Turkish protesters angry at govt stance on Syria. Source: RT. Anti-government anger in Turkey after Syria border bombings. Source: Euronews. 'Neo-Ottomanism driven Turkey does NATO's job, adds fuel to Syrian fire.' Source: RT.

Creative Showcase: Creative Features and Link-Up

Debra Hawkins at Housewife Eclectic - 9 hours ago
If you follow Housewife Eclectic on Instagram, you can see that this week has been a crazy one. Signings with three different authors, lots of baking and some dumpster diving for pallets. What can I say? I have now officially jumped in a dumpster for a craft project. I think that is an important milestone. ;) On to some great features today! I am sucker for Biscotti and cinnamon, so putting them together seems like a perfect solution. These Cinnamon Biscotti Dunkers from Lemon Tree Dwelling look divine. Small confession. Pizza is probably my favorite food. Ever. This Dessert Pizz... more »

Whitewashing Sex Gangs (II)

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 9 hours ago
Following on from Sue's *Whitewashing Sex Gangs* post, the closing section of Radio 4's *Sunday *dealt (as Sue pointed out) with the same highly controversial issue of child grooming by Muslim gangs in the wake of the Oxford abuse trial, where several men with backgrounds in several Muslim countries (not just Pakistan) used and abused a number of under-aged white girls in the most degrading and cruel ways imaginable. For a programme that has exhaustively pursued the Roman Catholic Church over the particular issue of clerical child abuse in recent years, this is a subject the progr... more »

TransCanada reps kicked out of Cheyenne River Sioux

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 10 hours ago
TransCanada Reps Kicked Out of Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation  'When a rape victim says 'no,' it means 'no'!' 'You can not come back!' By Tarsands Blockade http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/cheyenne-river/ “You’re not welcome here… We’ve said no from day one.” And with these firm words the TransCanada representatives were kicked out of Cheyenne River Sioux

Go Climb A Tree

Way Way Up at Fort McMurray Adventures - 10 hours ago
I couldn't pass up yesterday's great weather to get out for a little birding foray and my efforts were richly rewarded with 10 additions to my year list, including 2 for my life list. My intended destination was a marsh on the end of my subdivision down by Wood Buffalo and Dickinsfield. I stopped along the way by a storm pond to catch my first Red-winged Blackbird and Grackle sightings and it was there that I caught my first glimpse of a Savannah Sparrow in the grass along the marsh edge. From there I skirted a treeline behind some condos on my way to the marsh. At this point I deci... more »

Mohawk Nation News 'Falsies'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 10 hours ago
FALSIES Posted on May 18, 2013 MNN. May 18, 2013. We all have the duty as the eagle on the top of the tree of peace, to watch for impending danger and to report back to the people. A false flag delivers a false look. It gives us the kind of picture the enemy wants to scare and control us. Fear and anger are created to gauge a reaction from the people. When the people

That $90,000 cheque . . .

Edstock at The Galloping Beaver - 10 hours ago
WE SHOULD BE This could cause more damage than all of the Stevie gaffes to date, because it won't play in the beer parlors aka "sports bars", where the politically unaware and ignorant hang out. These people are unsophisticated, and things like Global Warming and the Tar Sands pipelines confuse. BC should be a reminder; all of the "Progressive" Canuck poliblogs were pronouncing Christie Clark

Mainstream Media TV Fakery...AGAIN!!!

Big Dan at Big Dan's Big Blog - 11 hours ago
Remember the CNN Gulf War I (GWH "Poppy" Bush) FAKE war broadcast? If you don't, it's because not ONE mainstream media, left mainstream media, or right mainstream media covered it, proving they are all on the same side while pretending they're "left" and "right": The most STRIKING thing, is by the "fake right mainstream media" NOT covering that, it proves my point that the mainstream media, left mainstream media, and right mainstream media are all on the side of government & the most powerful families & corporations & Pentagon/CIA/FBI, because when it comes to covering up somet... more »

Senator Mike Duffy is a Thief and a Liar

Catelli at Not Quite Unhinged - 11 hours ago
It's an absolutely gorgeous Victoria Day weekend Sunday and here I am blogging about Canadian politics. That is a sign showing how pissed off I am at our Government and the system they are destroying. As I am sure you have all heard by now, Nigel Wright has resigned as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff over the $90,000 he gave to Senator Mike Duffy. This was an entirely

The Plight of Syrian Refugees

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 11 hours ago
There are Syrian refugees in *Turkey*, *Iraq*, *Jordan*, *Lebanon*, and other countries. There is an estimated *400,000 refugees in Turkey* alone. But it is hard to pin down the real number of Syrian refugees because there has been no systematic accounting of people leaving Syria during this crisis. Also, since belligerent nations like the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, and Turkey that seek to oust Assad have a political interest to increase the number of refugees on paper, official statistics that are reported in the news cannot be trusted. One last note: Thank you United S... more »

Sunday Classics: "Good night, thou false world!" -- (final) exit Papageno?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 11 hours ago
*"Good night, thou false world!"* *PAPAGENO*: Right, then, that's still how it is! Since there is nothing holding me back, good night, thou false world! *-- most of our Magic Flute translations by Robert A. Jordan* *Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964* *Or in English: "Fare thee well, thou world of pain!"* [in English] *John Brownlee (b), Papageno; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Dec. 26, 1942* *by Ken* We were just looking at Mozart's and Beethoven's exceptional use of minor keys... more »

The Perfidious Peter Kent

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 11 hours ago
This is too important to miss. Read Miranda Holmes revealing look at Harper EnviroShill Peter Kent and his close personal ties to Canada's fossil fuelers. This is eerily like the appointments during the Bush era.

Harper's Dilemma - Rash and Hazardous Speculation

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 11 hours ago
It has always been my suspicion that Stephen Harper wanted to govern at least until he pushed through the Northern Gateway to get Athabasca bitumen flowing to Asia. With no small degree of help from the New Democrats and Liberals, Harper has already achieved his overarching goal of moving Canada's political centre permanently to the right but it's the Northern Gateway he sees as his legacy. To see that through Harper needs to cut some quick deal with Christy Clark, give the environmental review process a laxative, and move to steamroller the pipeline opposition, no matter the cost... more »

Northerntruthseeker Rant For Sunday, May 19th, 2013

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 11 hours ago
It is Sunday... It is a long weekend here in Canada... And it is time for my weekly rant and my assessments of what is REALLY happening in our world... Yes, it is Victoria Day weekend here in Jewish occupied Canada, and I still cannot believe that this country that is supposed to be "independent" of the British crown (most people do not realize that we still are not), celebrates a holiday one day a year for a Jewish fraud monarch who sat on the British throne well over a century ago... If it were up to me, I would remove the "Victoria" out of Victoria day, and change it to honor s... more »

Before I plant those tomatoes, how about some Paul Ryan...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 11 hours ago
*to start your day. * "We had to run against his empty promises. Now we are seeing big government in practice. Now we are seeing the arrogance, the cronyism in practice in this second term. And that is even uglier than big government in theory. This is what is disturbing about this. We had a challenge to campaign against empty rhetoric, now the country is seeing what this kind of big unlimited government does in practice."

Consciousness, Quantum Physics and Being Human

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 12 hours ago
*Youtube* *Does scientific materialism undermine the values which make living worthwhile?* Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.

Dan Pfeiffer on the morning shows: "Where Obama was on 9/11/2012 is irrelevant"...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 12 hours ago
*Disclaimer: I never watch the talking heads on Sunday morning opting instead to shove bamboo sticks under my nails. * I will give Pfeiffer high marks for talking really, *really* fast without managing to say anything. When all else fails, Pfeiffer claims the "I'm offended" meme. Really? I wonder how "offended" those 4 dead men are? I'm going to go plant tomatoes.

More than 600 dead sea lions, cormorants, and penguins found on Chile beach, victims of Illegal blast fishing

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 12 hours ago
[image: The body of a penguin killed by illegal blast fishing lays on a beach in Punta de Choros, northern Chile, 12 May 2013. The bodies of over 600 sea lions, cormorants, and penguins littered a seven mile stretch of beach. Photo: Santiago Times] By Jordan Greene 16 May 2013 (Santiago Times) – Chilean Navy discovers more than 600 dead animals in Punta de Choros, a small fishing town north of La Serena. The bodies of sea lions, cormorants and penguins littered a seven mile stretch of beach in Punta de Choros, northern Chile on Sunday. The crime scene is in close proximity to t... more »

Public Priorities: Climate Change, Heavy Metals and Radiation

Majia's Blog at Majia's Blog - 12 hours ago
Majia here: A friend wrote this comment in an online class concerning public health and the environment. She was questioning the disproportionate emphasis on greenhouse gasses and climate change as the most concerning atmospheric issues: 1) I am curious as to why the scientific community has adopted a seemingly myopic focus on greenhouse gases, when surely other anthropogenic causes should be factored in as well? For example, we never seem to hear about the "R" word: Radiation, not simply the dangers of UV from the sun, but from the manmade deadly radioisotopes which we have cons... more »

For India’s drought-hit states, on-track monsoon may be too late – Charges of corruption fly

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 12 hours ago
[image: Labourers walk through a parched land of a dried lake on the outskirts of Agartala, capital of Tripura, 23 April 2013. Photo: Jayanta Dey / REUTERS] By Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Jo Winterbottom and Ed Davies 24 April 2013 JAMWADI, India (Reuters) – India may be heading for another bumper grain harvest, if the first forecast for this year's monsoon proves correct, but the rain may be too little - and too late - for southern and western states already parched by the worst drought in four decades. Although last year's monsoon rains were, overall, just seven percent below ... more »

Google Glass privacy concerns continue to be raised, this time by Congress

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 12 hours ago
image credit: tedeytan/Flickr Madison Ruppert Members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus are the latest to join the many people raising concerns about Google Glass in a letter to Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page in which they request answers to eight pointed questions. Since the technology was introduced, Google Glass has been incredibly controversial, even leading former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to speak out against the technology. Many venues have preemptively banned Glass including a Seattle bar, casinos and strip clubs... more »

Bloomberg Commish to Make Case for Corporate Ed’s Status Quo

Jim Horn at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 12 hours ago
Dennis Wolcott has kept a low profile during his reign over the coffee machine at the NYC Education Department. Until now. Yesterday began the campaign to save the test-punish-lie-privatize plan that Bloomberg instituted during the past 12 years in the City. Dennis surely has an steep row to hoe, with every Democratic mayoral candidate in […]

Robert Salas and Me

KRandle at A Different Perspective - 12 hours ago
While in Roswell a couple of years ago, I shared, briefly, a table with Robert Salas of Malmstrom missile fame. He was a little more serious about selling his book than I was in selling mine and at one point he snapped at me for joking with the UFO museum patrons. I hadn’t spoken to him since that time in Roswell. I mention this for the context it will provide for some later comments here. Robert Salas At the recent Citizen Hearing I saw him again. At the Sunday evening dinner for those who were participating in some fashion… that is, the former members of Congress, the witnesses w... more »

SUNDAY SERMON

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 13 hours ago
Chris Hedges talks on how spying and television allows the corporate state to take control of our minds and souls. The consequences of which resulted in a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Author of The Death of the Liberal Class and other great books.

Some of the Sheep Are No Longer Asleep

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 13 hours ago
Dave Hodges The world is finally beginning to wake up to the global tyranny that is threatening all of humanity. In the past two months I have heard from people that I have not heard from or seen for 10-20 years. I have heard from former players, students, friends and neighbors. Several people contacting out of my distant past may not sound significant, but I had zero expectation of hearing from any of these people again. And all of the contacts were motivated by their concern for the decimation of our Republic and my work towards reversing the trend curve. Sometimes as I pound ... more »

BULLROAR OVER BENGHAZI: David Ignatius gets right with power!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 13 hours ago
*SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013* *His ridiculous column will stand:* For twenty years, it has been the central organizing principle of American pseudo-journalism. Here it is, that central principle: What a pseudo-scandal is formed by the right, the American journalist must * never* reveal the flaws of the pseudo-scandal. In this morning’s Washington Post, David Ignatius works quite hard to bring himself in line with that creed. Ignatius devotes his entire column to the Benghazi talking points. The blatant illogic of his piece is blatantly obvious early on. The blatant illogic emerges in the... more »

Is Larry Ferlazzo a dingus?

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 13 hours ago
I’m just asking. And I mean this with all due respect. What are the best ways to spend the last two weeks of school? Why does this question need answering? What the hell have teachers been doing all these years? Plus, does Mr. Ferlazzo have any ideas of his own, or is he ALWAYS linking to […]

US Suspends Constitution in Permanent World War on Terror

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 13 hours ago
Dees Illustration Eric Blair Two disturbing developments have occurred in the last couple of days that have gone relatively unnoticed compared to the recent IRS, AP, and Benghazi scandals. First, the senate is debating an expansion of the already broad powers of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) so the U.S. can essentially engage any area in the world in the war on terror, including America. Which brings us to the second development: the Pentagon has recently granted itself police powers on American soil. Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Sheehan told Cong... more »

TONY BLAIR'S SCHOOLS; CHILD ABUSE RINGS

Anon at aangirfan - 13 hours ago
*Tony Blair* Tony Blair's old school, the Chorister School at Durham Cathedral, is at the centre of child sex abuse allegations. *BLAIR'S OLD SCHOOL SHAMED* A former pupil claims that the late Canon John Grove, who was headmaster from 1957 to 1978, abused him, during the late 1950s and 1960s, in his private quarters and in a school bathroom. Tony Blair, 60, attended the elite school from 1961 to 1966. The man, now aged in his 60s, reported the alleged abuse to Durham Police. Durham Police say that they will NOT be investigating the allegations because the suspect is dead. The Ve... more »

HIDDEN OIL WEALTH - TOP POLITICIAN WHISTLEBLOWER

Anon at aangirfan - 13 hours ago
According to Dennis Healey, a former UK Finance Minister: *1.* Scotland will prosper under independence thanks to North Sea oil. *2.* London politicians are "worried stiff" about losing the oil money if Scotland becomes independent. *3. *The UK Government "underplayed the value of the oil to the country". The London government does not want people to know the enormous value of Scotland's oil, in case it leads to the Scots wanting independence. *Denis Healey: Westminster 'worried stiff' about losing North Sea oil* *Lord Healey says:* *"I think they are concerned about Scotland t... more »

The Death Agony of British Toryism

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 13 hours ago
Whether Andrew Feldman really called Tory party activists "mad, swivel-eyed loons" matters not. For the repugnant and reactionary in the increasingly depleted Tory associations, it sums up the contempt they feel Dithering Dave and his increasingly dysfunctional leadership has for the troops. The hard right hyperbole around Dave's supposed social democratic agenda is politically illiterate, but condenses a frustration that the PM just isn't interested in what the dying grass roots have to say about Europe and equal marriage. I think it was Engels who said political parties more or ... more »

May 25th, International March against MONSANTO

2old2care at Because I Can - 13 hours ago
Event: May 25th, International March against MONSANTO. Search for an event: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah7h2ApbBPnpdGhOMElaSVg1QUQtRlJQWm1FaUZISlE#gid=0 Get help to create an event: https://www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto

RepubliCON Alzheimers

2old2care at Because I Can - 14 hours ago
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats?fref=ts

Who'll Stop the Rain?

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 14 hours ago
There are other things happening in Taiwan besides this idiotic thing with Phils... there's the depressingly unremitting rain. We're in our seventh or eighth week of it, and this week has just been awful. Apple Daily reports roads out all over central and southern Taiwan: 據《中央社》報導,公路總局說,到中午12時,因坍方中斷的道路,包括:台中市台8線德基、碧綠溪,高雄市的台20線勤和、復興、桃源,南投縣的台21線 新中橫路段國姓、望高、塔塔加及高雄市台21線那瑪夏至五里埔等9路段。公路總局另預警性封閉嘉義縣169線阿里山達邦村及高雄市台21線民權大橋等2路 段。 Road collapses reported in mountain areas of Hwy 8, Hwy 20, Hwy 21, and Rte 169 over Alishan, among others. _______________________ [Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below!... more »

Majority of Colorado sheriffs join lawsuit against gun control laws

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
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CIA chief John Brennan makes surprise visit to Israel

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 14 hours ago
What to make of this visit ? Unannounced meeting with PM Netanyahu and senior Israeli figures comes amid concerns over Syrian weapons The CIA chief has made an* unexpected visit* to Israel to meet senior political and military figures to discuss the deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Syria. John Brennan, who took up his post two months ago, met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, military chief of staff, Benny Gantz, and Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, according to reports in Israel media. The* unannounced *meetings followed t... more »

IRS Scandal Headlines: More Than Meets the Eye

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
Dees Illustration Stephen Lendman More than targeting political enemies is involved. More on than below. The practice is longstanding. Republican and Democrat administrations use the IRS abusively. During the Coolidge administration, Republican Senator James Couzens investigated the IRS' predecessor - the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon sued him. University of Virginia Law Professor George Yin called doing so the "greatest tax suit in the history of the world." At issue was political intrigue, backstabbing, and unintended consequences. Frankli... more »

Spies and Lies

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 14 hours ago
When they call upon the expertise of someone like Abdel Bari Atwan or Ghastly Karma of Exeter Islamic university, the BBC ought to issue a warning, out of consideration for the unwary listener if such an individual still remains. It’s a matter of public service and good will. Just a little health warning, like on cigarette packaging, or at the very least, a plain wrapper. Just, please don’t introduce them with the sycophantic classification “expert on, for example, the Middle East”. Please. As Craig mentioned earlier, and while we’re still talking of conspiracy theories, Saturday’... more »

Attention Soldiers: Who Do You Serve?

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
*Adam Kokesh* Subscribe to Adam Kokesh Channel Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below. Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 14 hours ago
*Citizens worry over new FEMA Flood Maps ~WDSU* *End of ferry service could mean local jobs in jeopardy ~Meg Gatto* *Metropolitan and Comprehensive Green Stormwater Strategies, June 5th ~GNOF* *More than 2,500 attend BioBlitz at Jean Lafitte Park ~Jim Derry* *Somebody had to do a story: Mother’s Day mayhem will cost New Orleans millions of dollars* *A Shift to Humility: Andrew Zolli on Resilience and Expanding the Edge of Change ~On Being*

At the Chalk Face today, starting at 5:30 to 6:30 EST! Two segments

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 14 hours ago
We’re starting at 5:30 talking to the Blue Hat Movement, info here. Then, Sharon Higgins of Charter School Scandals about the Gulen School movement, which is the biggest charter chain the US right now. Important stuff. Listen in. Filed under: CHALK FACE: General News & Commentary Tagged: blue hat, charter school scandals, gulen schools, north […]

Why Obama Will Survive the Equivalent of Five “Watergate Scandals”

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
Dave Hodges Mark Twain once talked about history not necessarily repeating, but he noted that history sure does rhyme. Richard Nixon was unable to survive one direct hit upon his administration, namely, the Watergate scandal. Conversely, Obama is facing five scandals which dwarf Watergate in terms of criminality, abuse of power, malfeasance of office and outright treason. The damage inflicted upon the American people by the criminal syndicate occupying the White House is unparalleled in American history. Yet, Obama is going to survive and this article will describe how Obama is t... more »

Assessment Time?

antiqueteacher60 at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 14 hours ago
This assessment report will be sent home in June to all my first graders, just as it was in November and January, along with a report card with letter grades for ELA, MATH, SOCIAL STUDIES, and SCIENCE. In one respect, I am glad we send this home – at least the parents of our students in grades […]

Nigel Wright Falls on His Sword

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 14 hours ago
Stephen Harper must feel isolated. He's shed senators like a mangy dog loses fur. And now his chief of staff, Nigel Wright, has packed it in, leaving the PMO under a very large, black cloud.

Washington Signals Dollar Deep Concerns

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
Dees Illustration Paul Craig Roberts 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 annually in order to finance the US budget deficit by purchasing US Treasury bonds and to keep the prices high of debt-related derivatives on the “banks too big to fail” (BTBF) balance sheets by purchasing mortgage-backed derivati... more »

Whitewashing Sex Gangs

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 14 hours ago
I don’t expect many people are awake when IPM goes out. Yesterday morning Jennifer Tracey interviewed an expert on child sex abuse named Lydia Guthrie. Jennifer Tracey’s voice has a piercing shrillness that can set ones teeth on edge, but that wasn’t the only startling thing about that particular harsh awakening. The very reason for the interview was the heinous crimes of ’nine men’ from Oxford not the University. Ms. Guthrie proceeded to expand at length on her experiences with the perpetrators of child sexual offences. However, it soon became obvious that the group she was t... more »

Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s Candid Remarks about the MMR Vaccine

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 14 hours ago
image source Catherine J. Frompovich In the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, and adopted by the British colonies in 1776, a clause appears that lays down a gauntlet of sorts, i.e., “when in the course of human events it becomes necessary…” Well, it seems that Dr. Andrew Wakefield has arrived at necessary crossroads and has issued challenges to British health authorities regarding the facts surrounding the MMR vaccine. In Wakefield’s most recent video, he discusses how sentinel cases of autism were reported—as documented by Freedom of Information filings—lo... more »

Harper's Parade of Perps with Perks - Part 3

Alison at Creekside - 15 hours ago
Please welcome Nigel Wright, Steve's chief of staff on loan from Onex Corp and the latest member of Harper's Parade of Perps with Perks, for secretly cutting Mike Duffy a $90,000 personal cheque to paper over the senate investigation and Deloitte audit into Mike Duffy's creative housing expense claims and reports he billed the Senate for travel while campaigning for the Cons . Duffy isn't co-operating with the investigations now he has the cash but that didn't stop House leader Peter Van Loan from praising him for his "leadership" in returning money that didn't belong to him. Duf... more »

House Judiciary Committee drone hearing: one step closer to legislation restricting drone use

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 15 hours ago
Chris Calabrese of the ACLU delivers his testimony Madison Ruppert The House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing yesterday examining the privacy implications of allowing aerial drones into domestic airspace, setting the stage for potential legislation restricting the use of drones. While drones are already used across the U.S. by more entities than we know, by 2015 the airspace will be opened up to much more widespread use. That said, local law enforcement agencies, Customs and Border Protection, National Guard units, U.S. Marshals, the military, private entities, colleges a... more »

Too broke, or too disorganized, to keep the national gallery open

paul at Paying attention - 15 hours ago
The Honduran National Gallery of Art locked its doors this week. The government hasn’t provided any money since January. Staff haven’t been paid since November. They finally quit coming to work, and now management has chained the doors and started packing away some of the works. The gallery is good. We visited, looking to kill time in Tegucigalpa, the capital, and liked it. It’s in a 450-year old convent, a beautiful two-storey building with an open courtyard. There are about six galleries, and they cover art in Honduras from pre-Columbian carvings, through the religious art of the ... more »

Adam Kokesh Arrested for Speaking at Pro-Marijuana Demonstration

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 15 hours ago
*Youtube* Phone bomb 215 686 3388 and demand Adam be released *Update:* Adam has been taken captive NOT by the Philly Police but by Federal PARK POLICE. I just spoke with a woman in the Park Police (215-597-7077) who spoke with her supervisor for me. Her supervisor said that the Park Police have taken him to 401 NORTH 21st Street which is the 9th District. They do NOT have Positive ID on him right now and if they can't get positive ID within the next 30-45 minutes they will be taking him to a near by FEDERAL DETENTION Center. I was told that if people go to that location they... more »

This is What Winning Looks Like

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 15 hours ago
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Minnesota RepubliCONS - Vindictive Bullies

2old2care at Because I Can - 15 hours ago
We had a pretty amazing and historic week here in Minnesota. A week ago Friday – the house passed the marriage equality bill. On Monday the Senate passed the marriage equality bill. On Tuesday at 5pm – the governor signed the marriage equality bill. And the mainstream media was there every minute of the way – making sure that the anti-marriage equality people got there two cents of hate on the TV screen. But – the mainstream media was not there for the story I am about to tell – Why – cause the mainstream media in Minneapolis doesn’t report anything that might upset the RepubliCON... more »

We are vibrational beings... My message to Pentecost

address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 15 hours ago
Link: http://youtu.be/VjpCKZ7cEoY Have a good Pentecostal Weekend! Do take some time (say: 15 minutes) to view some or all of this not so technically high quality documentary. It's the *surprising message* that counts! John

SUNDAY SONG WITH BONUS TRACK

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 15 hours ago
*A March Song for My Dear Love* Without Leaving Love, Glory, or Name Determined to Fight for Democracy to the Last. With only the Banner of Liberation in the Wind, Our Comrades Falling Fight. Not Being in Despair, Looking Forward to Seeing the Dawn of a New World! Though Time Passing On, Our Land Remembering Truth. Awakening Our Spirit, Speaking Up Truth. Making One Step Forward, So Those Who Survive Follow! *- **South Korean popular resistance song born from the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement during dictatorship*

Have New Jersey Democrats Finally Found The Right Man To Defeat Bank Shill Extremist Scott Garrett?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
As we saw last night, Scott Garrett is a Wall Street shill and one of the most extremist Republicans left in the Northeast. Unlike New Jersey's mainstream conservative Republican delegation to Congress-- Frank LoBiondo, Chris Smith, Jon Runyan, Leonard Lance and Rodney Frelinghuysen-- Garrett is a hard core right-wing ideologue who's voting record is more in tune with radical teabaggers from the Old Confederacy than with anyone from New Jersey. Romney beat Obama in NJ-05-- a district that follows New Jersey's entire northern border from Hackensack and Paramus up through Mahwah, Ve... more »

This is What Winning Looks Like

Mark Daniels at GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING - 15 hours ago
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The Wrong Kind Of Attention

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 15 hours ago
Last week, *Toronto Star* columnist Rick Salutin compared Joe Oliver to Willy Loman, the woefully misguided drummer in Arthur Miller's play, *Death of A Salesman*. In Canada's ongoing pipeline saga, Salutin wrote: Resources Minister Joe Oliver is the Willy Loman of this drama, without Willy’s panache. His attacks on climate scientist James Hansen or Al Gore are ludicrous; those two lack any personal, financial interest for undermining Canadian oil; their sole motive, wrong-headed or not, is saving the planet. Weak sales strategy, minister. Willy was not much of a salesman. But he... more »

Waiting for Superman to Tell the Truth? (Don’t Hold Your Breath)

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 16 hours ago
The least accountable among us are those at the top making grand statements (unverified, unchallenged) used to call for the accountable of everyone else. I invite you to read carefully Canada’s Legend-ary TED Talk Lie by Gary Rubinstein to understand how corrosive the “miracle” school narrative is when it is combined with the cult of personality (Canada as […]

Accidental impartiality?

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 19 hours ago
An amusing turn of events on this morning's edition of Radio 4's *Sunday* came when Edward Stourton interviewed Michael Sean Winters over the plans of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, to boycott Boston College's commencement ceremony given that Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny is due to speak at the event and that Cardinal O'Malley believes Mr Kenny to be "aggressively promoting abortion policy". This is the type of feature on *Sunday *where a pronounced bias on the programme's part against social conservatism tends to emerge, so I was hardly surprised when Edward int... more »

Patent wars - whose boobs are those? Press access - whose reality is that?

Mike Philbin at FREE PLANET - 20 hours ago
PATENT WARS, I cover this in my forthcoming novel Custodian, and here it is on Coast to Coast a.m. Stand-in host John B. Wells talks to 'the health ranger' Mike Adams about the 'corporately-owned BRCA1 gene' that caused Angelina Jolie to spectacularly de-breast herself recently. "When you have a child you will owe royalties to a number of Corporate Entities," Adams outlines an obvious profit-making future scenario. In his recent article about the Gene Issue he goes on to explain who owns what: *1) It caused women everywhere to be terrified of breast cancer through the publishing o... more »

"PEDOPHILE RING KIDNAPPED MADELEINE"

Anon at aangirfan - 20 hours ago
*Madeleine, almost 4 years of age.* Kate McCann was screaming: "The f*****g bastards have taken her’. This suggests that Kate may have known that certain 'f*****g bastards' had previously taken an interest in her daughter Madeleine. *Kate and Gerry McCann* Which part of the story have sites such as Wikipedia apparently tried to hide? Which part of the story do the trolls not want you to mention? Here it is: "British police were told that Madeleine McCann was snatched by an international paedophile ring which photographed her three days before she vanished, police files have ... more »

Phils/Taiwan Mess, Take 5: Troublemaker, not Peacemaker edition

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 21 hours ago
*The small, upscale farmers market in front of the Splendor Hotel in downtown Taichung.* *"We want to be a responsible stakeholder in the world, meaning that we should be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker." Ma Ying-jeou, April, 2008* Yes, all over East Asia stupidity meters are exploding. The madness has gone mainstream, with the big media slowly weighing in with reports that Something is Happening Out Here and it is important, although of course not nearly as important as the latest adjustments to Kim Kardashian's tits. One of the sharpest observers of Taiwan affairs I know put th... more »

May 18, 1973

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 22 hours ago
Another big day. The Watergate Committee hearings continue. The most important development of the day, however, is that Elliot Richardson has now chosen a Special Prosecutor: John Kennedy's old Solicitor General, Archibald Cox. Earlier in the day, in his Executive Office Building hideaway, the president meets with his old chief of staff. President Nixon: [...] Bob, ... tell me the honest-to-God truth, were we trying to get [CIA's Vernon] Walters and [Acting FBI Director Pat] Gray put together (unintelligible)? If we were, I need to know it... Haldeman: ... [There] was that one meet... more »

Twitter or...

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 22 hours ago
It's our choice!

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 23 hours ago
A study in fiber. [Aditya Vardhan Tibrewala photo] [click to embiggen]

Pandas at Toronto

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 23 hours ago

Republicans Move To Repay Wall Street For All Those Nice Big Bribes

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 23 hours ago
"What do you expect? 'Crook' is my middle name" Last election cycle the Wall Street banksters poured $83,722,946 into campaign contributions for congressional candidates, $55,447,942 for Republicans and $28,077,244 for Democrats. Their #1 agenda item was to get Congress to further water down Dodd Frank. The House did just thatyesterday with Scott Garrett's (more on him tomorrow morning) H.R. 1062, the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act. I should probably mention that, aside from Boehner ($1,415,075) and Cantor ($902,400), Garrett took in more legalistic bribes from the banksters than a... more »

Wild Bill: How to wreck the military...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*the libtards are doing a great job.*

O.A.S. Drug Review a "Game Changer"

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 1 day ago
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

laura k at wmtc - 1 day ago
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

laura k at wmtc - 1 day ago
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"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
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?”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
* “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 MORE WAR

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
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..."

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
“Life’s tough… it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.” - John Wayne

CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT WAR

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
*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

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
*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

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
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

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
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

Chalk Face, PhD at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 1 day ago
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

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 1 day ago
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

2old2care at Because I Can - 1 day ago
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

NO ONE TO VOTE FOR at NO ONE TO VOTE FOR - 1 day ago
*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 »

Gaia Portal: High Energies Encompass the Planet at this Moment

        AMERICAN KABUKI at AMERICAN KABUKI - 1 day ago
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

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
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

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*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

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 day ago
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

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 1 day ago
Click here to read my column in Sunday's *NY Times*.

How Buck McKeon's Mormonism Played Right Into The Military Rape Epidemic Coverup

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
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

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 1 day ago
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

thwap at thwap's schoolyard - 1 day ago
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."

David L Griscom at Cherchez la Verite - 1 day ago
------------------------------ *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?

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 1 day ago
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

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 1 day ago
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

Kris Nielsen at @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER - 1 day ago
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?’

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 1 day ago
[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”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
* “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...

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 day ago
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

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
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

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 1 day ago
[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 ...

leftdog at Buckdog - 1 day ago
[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

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 day ago
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’

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 1 day ago
[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 »

 

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