View from Treehouse children's museum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Zion Canyon at sunset in Zion National Park as seen from Angels Landing looking south. Français : Zion Canyon (Parc national de Zion, en Utah, USA) au coucher du soleil vu d'Angels Landing en regardant vers le sud. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: view of the Monument Valley, Between Arizona and Utah. Español: Vista del Monument Valley, entre Utah y Arizona (Estados Unidos). Français : Monument Valley, symbole de l'ouest sauvage, sur la frontière entre l'Arizona et l'Utah, aux Etats Unis. Nederlands: Monument Valley is het symbool bij uitstek van Amerika's Wilde Westen Русский: Панорама Долины монументов (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Utah State Capitol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
University of Utah campus housing, medical buildings and Salt Lake City view (Photo credit: Tony Frates)
Utah Bladderfern habitat (Photo credit: Tony Frates)
9:46pm MSTHe's Not OUR President (But You Already Figured That Out) And Whose President Is Getting Much Clearer As We Learn That He Favors the Centrist Liars' Positions - It Makes Him Feel Good! (The Year of the Great Redistribution)
I've been among the more reticent commenters (from the Left wing) about our
President's actions since his winning of the White House. Sure, I've not
been happy with many of his decisions and I've made my opinion well known
in blogtopia about my feelings concerning his choices for financial advice
which favored "change" schemes that enriched the banksters (again) and
didn't do anything to
Teaching within a low SES school is bittersweet.
Teaching is a demanding profession. The average teacher, regardless of his
or her assignment, overcomes many obstacles throughout the school year.
With that said, teaching within an economically disadvantaged neighborhood
school is physically, mentally and emotionally draining. For better or
worse, teaching within low socio-economic status (SES) neighborhood school
is bittersweet. Teaching within a low […]
Update to Collected Poems
collected poems
By risa bear
View this Author's Spotlight
Paperback, 74 Pages
[image: collected poems]
Preview
Price: $9.99
Ships in 3-5 business days
These poems, collected for the first time, appeared in the books Desire for
the Land and Lettuce in Winter, and in the journals Bellowing Ark, Sand
River Journal, New Zoo Poetry Review, Lynx: Poetry from Bath, Aerious,
Disquieting Muses, Ariga: Visions, Writtenmind, and Rockhurst Review.
"Cityscape with Pink Rose" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. By the
author of 100 Poems, homecomings, iron buddhas, Starvation Ridge, and
Viewing ... more »
In Canada
The
rise of the Harper Government, means that it can now be said that
"Canadian" spy agencies (CSIS, CSE, etc) work for private industry.
Now, should Enbridge or some other corporation decides that a pipeline
or a shopping mall would look good in your neighbourhood but you don't,
the spies may well have a look-see at you, your life, and the people you
associate with.
The cooperation of the
Immigration and Class Politics
Years of scaremongering by the press, successive governments and
opportunist politicians have ensured immigration has become nothing more
than a fetid, toxic swamp. Its rotten stink permeates politics as it
competes to scapegoat and appear "tough" on people who come to live and
work here. Basically, it's who can fall furthest, fastest into a bottomless
pit of amorality and wilful ignorance. But, apparently, all they want is an
open and honest debate about immigration *innocent face*.
I'm sure you don't need me to tell you Nigel Farage is talking bollocks on
immigration, but he is. ... more »
If Utah hunger-striking doodybrain Trestin Meacham croaks, how about we have a giant bonfire and wienie roast? (I'll bring the marshmallows)
*What do you think? Do you suppose Utah far-far-far-right-wing whackjob
Trestin Meacham is any relation to onetime Yankees shortstop Bobby Meacham?
Bobby M had his moments in pinstripes, which is more than you can say for
his maybe-cousin the nutjob buttwipe.*
*"Trestin Meacham . . . is now drawing attention to himself by saying he
will not eat until Utah’s legislature willingly disobeys the federal
government by reinstating its ban on same-sex marriages."*
-- *from ThinkProgress's Annie-Rose Strasser's* "Utah
Politician Is Fasting to Stop Same-Sex Marriages"
*by Ken*
Who'd-a thunk... more »
"Major Fukushima Radiation Warning! LA Times Sounds Alarm: West Coast Update: Stop Eating Pacific Ocean Seafood Now!"
*"Major Fukushima Radiation Warning! LA Times Sounds Alarm:*
* West Coast Update: Stop Eating Pacific Ocean Seafood Now!".*
By Live Free or Die
.
"The newly released video below from Low Carb Cory sounds a warning that
this story at ENENews via the LA Times emphasizes, STOP EATING Pacific
Ocean seafood! Low Carb Cory generally covers health & nutrition subjects
but voices a loud alarm to his viewers that Fukushima is out of control and
the entire Pacific Ocean food chain is suffering as a result with warnings this
is just the tip of the iceberg. The ENENews story shares this dire w... more »
Wake County Resegregationists' New Strategy: Charter Schools
It took a concerted effort by Wake County citizens to reclaim their school
board after it was hijacked by anti-diversity candidates with money from
the Koch Bros. Some of that history can be found here (reverse
chronological order), and it speaks to the determination of local citizens
who remained insistent on protecting one of the great school experiments in
socioeconomic diversity.
Even though Dems have reclaimed a majority of seats on the Board and
significant portions of the diversity program have been preserved, the new
resegregation threat now comes from the State level, whic... more »
Bob Feldman : A People's History of Egypt, Part 12, Section 2, 1947-1948
The
movement to democratize Egypt: Except for their religious beliefs,
Jews shared lifestyles with those of Muslim background.
Jewish home in Egypt. Image from BBC Watch.
By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | January 6, 2014
[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's Rag Blog
"people's history" series, "The Movement to Democratize Egypt," could
not be more timely. Also see
Apocalyptic supervolcanoes ( like Yellowstone ) can suddenly explode ‘with no outside cause’ .... Yellowstone super volcano additional items of interest !
Apocalyptic supervolcanoes can suddenly explode ‘with no outside cause’
Published time: January 06, 2014 19:22
Get short URL
[image: Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.(AFP Photo / Karen Bleier)]
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.(AFP Photo / Karen Bleier)
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Natural disasters, Science
Scientists have discovered what causes cataclysm-inducing supervolcanoes to
erupt, and the answer offers little reassurance. Their eruptions are caused
by magma buoyancy, which makes them less predictable and more frequent than
previously thought.
A team of geologists from the Swiss... more »
Thailand: More Throw-Away Propaganda From NYT
*January 7, 2014* (ATN) - An unsigned "editorial" appearing in the New
York Times titled, "Democracy in Peril in Asia," most likely written by the US
National Endowment for Democracy (NED), reiterates the disingenuous
narrative peddled by the West regarding "democracy" in Cambodia,
Bangladesh, and Thailand.
Regarding Cambodia, the editorial claims:
In Cambodia, in recent days, military police officers have opened fire on
protesters, killing several people. The protests started after Prime
Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia through intimidation and violence
for nearly three ... more »
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr issues stay on January 6 , 2014 regarding freezing pensions for Detroit workers as mediation continues ......... The stay delays for now Orr's prior move to freeze pensions of city workers / employees in the General Retirement System - which was set to go into effect as of December 31 , 2013 !
http://www.freep.com/article/20140106/NEWS/301060055/Detroit-pension-freeze-Orr
[image: Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr quietly issued an executive
order freezing the pensions of city workers as of Dec. 31.]
Purchase Image
Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr quietly issued an executive order
freezing the pensions of city workers as of Dec. 31. / Andre J.
Jackson/Detroit Free Press
By Matt Helms
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
- FILED UNDER
- Local News
Related Links
- PDF: Order approving pension freeze for city employees
- Retirees' committee says Detroit ig... more »
THE BONUS REBELLION
A largely forgotten event in US history - the post-WW I bonus Army
occupation of Washington. The government crushing of this veterans
rebellion was brutal and unforgiving.This is a perfect historical
illustration of just how this country chews up and spits out its war
veterans who fought and died to the benefit of the capitalist oligarchy.
I just finished reading a book about this WW I period called "Democracy's
Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, The Great War, and The Right to Dissent". It's
the moving story about the US government's repression of the Socialist
Party candidate for presi... more »
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at the XXVII Guadalajara International Book Fair
published on Tikkun
Considered the most important Book Fair in the Spanish-speaking world, and
second in the world only to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Guadalajara
International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, concluded this Sunday,
December 8th, under heavy security. The unusually high level of security
resulted from the guest of honor of this year’s book fair, the State of
Israel. For the past 20 years, the book fair has honored a city, country,
or region as its guest. No earlier guests, however, have been as
controversial, or have aroused as much protest and dissent, as has the... more »
Wolf interview
Prof. Diane Wolf
*I posed the same questions I asked of Sunaina Maira to other faculty at UC
Davis, including Professor Diane Wolf. What follows is a complete
transcript of her response to my inquiry.*
*Wolf:* Thank you for your questions which are very thorough and
thoughtful. This is clearly a very complicated issue.
I think that the ASA and the Association of Asian American Studies which
was the first scholarly organization to vote on this have chosen the wrong
institution to boycott and in that sense, they have mis-fired. Clearly
there are other countries whose human rights ab... more »
Bitcoin news for January 2 , 2014 ! 56% of Bitcoiners Believe the Bitcoin Price Will Reach $10,000 in 2014 ...... Bitcoin makes further moves into main stream commerce ....... Paypal planning competition by way of " Virtual Tokens " , as per Ebay patent proposal ........ Lebanon Central Bank the latest issuing Bitcoin warnings........Singapore and Bitcoin - a discussion from guest poster at Zero Hedge Keith Hilden !
Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
1/5 ....Someone is playing pump up the price of bitcoin games .......
again !
[image: Creative Commons License]
[image: Creative Commons License]
[image: Creative Commons License]
1/4/14 ........
Malaysian Central Bank Has No Plans To Regulate Bitcoin
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on January 4, 2014 at 12:49 GMT |
*Asia, News, Regulation*
inShare3
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[image: shutterstock_124874587]
Malaysia’s Central Bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), joined others by
publishing its own statement on bitcoin this week.
The statement was similar to those... more »
13 most popular posts for 2013
Stephen Hicks’s post highlighting his 13 most popular posts for
2013suggested to me I should do the same. So here’s what you, dear
readers
found most popular* here at Not PC – my lucky 13:
1. Remember the Bhopal disaster?
2. Twisting the Treaty: A Tribal Grab for Wealth and Power
3. You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money
4. Sorry Russel. you’re wrong
5. Why is this young couple subsidising the ‘Politicians Bankers
Welfare
Fund’?
6. One Law For All
7. The Complete Idiot’s Chart to Understanding the Middle East
8. Where’s the tar and feather... more »
"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are"
A nice quotation but not from Ben Franklin (as usually attributed).
First, the quotation does not appear to be referred to anywhere prior to
2000.
Second the use of the word "outraged" is problematic. In the quotation it
is used to describe the emotional state of an individual. But in the 18th
century, the word "outraged" implied that something terrible had been done
to someone (or something) without referring to how that made someone feel.
The quotation doesn't come from Ben Franklin.
"Are Pope Francis, Bill De Blasio and Barack Obama Right About Capitalism?"
*"Are Pope Francis, Bill De Blasio and Barack Obama Right About
Capitalism?"*
by Bill Bonner
“Pope Francis in the Eternal City... Bill De Blasio in the Big Apple...
President Obama in the White House... From the pulpit to the Oval Office
to City Hall – capitalism is coming under attack in 2014. Obama has made
income inequality a central bugaboo for the last two years of his
presidency. De Blasio is hot on the theme, too. "A Tale of Two Cities" was
his campaign theme. De Blasio figured there were more votes in the poor
city than in the rich city... and that the folks on the po' sid... more »
Here's what I said over two months ago...
* and people are just now waking up to this? (repost below) *
* But first:*
Do you realize that children of a family of four making 92K a year
qualifies for Medicaid? That's right.
A child in New York state, for example, may be eligible for
government-funded health care if his family’s household income is less than
four times the federal poverty level, or $92,200 for a family of four.
Source: Slate (the chart above shows 4X poverty level to be $94,200.00) *Read
the rest and see the charts*
And we also know now that your *assets will be seized upon your death* to
pay back al... more »
Omushkegowuk walking to Ottawa: Reclaiming our steps
Photo
Credit: Rodney Hookimaw (Rod Neezy)
Reclaiming Our Steps Past, Present and FutureWe, the grassroots People,
are walking to Ottawa from the traditional territories of the
Omushkegowuk (People) to deliver a message to the leaders of both levels
of Government and to our respective Chiefs that the time to honour our
Treaties is now! The time to address and reconcile Aboriginal issues is
now
“Life in the Electronic Concentration Camp"
*“Life in the Electronic Concentration Camp:*
* The Many Ways That You’re Being Tracked, Catalogued and Controlled”*
By John W. Whitehead
“[A security camera] doesn’t respond to complaint, threats, or insults.
Instead, it just watches you in a forbidding manner. Today, the
surveillance state is so deeply enmeshed in our data devices that we don’t
even scream back because technology companies have convinced us that we
need to be connected to them to be happy.”—Pratap Chatterjee, journalist
"What is most striking about the American police state is not the
mega-corporations running amo... more »
Satire: “Polar Vortex Causes Hundreds of Injuries as People Making Snide Remarks About Climate Change Are Punched in Face”
*“Polar Vortex Causes Hundreds of Injuries as People Making *
*Snide Remarks About Climate Change Are Punched in Face”*
by Andy Borowitz
MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report)— “The so-called polar vortex caused
hundreds of injuries across the Midwest today, as people who said “so much
for global warming” and similar comments were punched in the face.
Authorities in several states said that residents who had made ignorant
comments erroneously citing the brutally cold temperatures as proof that
climate change did not exist were reporting a sharp increase in injuries to
the face and head r... more »
What Works Better-- America's War On Poverty Or The GOP's War On Poor People?
Conservatives always ignore history and always want to reargue their
issues. Today we're hearing the same tired, discredited arguments for why
the rich should be the focus of government largesse and why helping the
poor is a waste of money. When you hear today's crop of ignorant teabaggers
and erudite think tank loons arguing against the minimum wage, they are
trying the same nonsense they tried-- and failed with-- for decades. Today
the far right Club for Growth, predictably, demanded that all the senators
they own vote against extending unemployment benefits. Overturning FDR's
N... more »
NEWS FLASH - LIBERATOR (free planet novel #2) - first draft complete.
*out already...*
I've been at it since Tandem (a G3 whistleblower novel) was released in
late September, writing and updating book two of the *free planet trilogy *
LIBERATOR.
I was 66,000 words in. I had the two final chapters to tidy up. I also had
'four assigned military/civilian chapter slots' to fill before I got there.
And one more part-written chapter before that lot.
Then suddenly, I realised, "It's done."
I deleted those four empty chapter slots, lifted my hands from the
keyboard, then shared the news with a good friend of mine, "It's done," I
grinned. And she said what ... more »
A Game of Chess
A few BBC interviews really stood out for me over the past week - and none
of them were by the BBC's regular interviewers.
The first was Dominic Lawson's *Across the Board *interview with former
Soviet dissident/Israeli deputy prime minister Natan Sharansky.
Mr Sharansky's chilling description of his experiences of solitary
confinement in the Soviet Union were a reminder of something we very rarely
hear discussed on the BBC - the sheer viciousness of the Soviet Union, even
after the days of Stalin. His conditions of imprisonment sounded uncannily
like those experienced by the host... more »
Immigration’ and ‘The Truth’
The BBC trailer gives us a quick impression of what we’re going to see.
*“BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson reveals the full impact of the
extraordinary demographic change Britain has undergone.” *
He’s going to talk to some politicians, Labour and Conservative, and:
*“untangle the truth about immigration from the political rhetoric.”*
So you see, the BBC plays down Nick’s criticism of the corporation and
their trailer concentrates on the demographics and the politics he’s about
to highlight in his documentary.
*“In Southampton, Nick visits a school where 42 languages are spoke... more »
Video Bill Means AIM West 2013 Part 4
.
Bill Means, Lakota, speaking at AIM West 2013. Part 4.
Indigenous Peoples seeking observer status at United Nations
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Lakota Bill Means describes the long struggle for
recognition of Indigenous Peoples rights at the United Nations, in this
video recorded live at AIM West Conference in November of 2013.
Means describes how four
The power of dark money
Not much new in this Koch Brothers rehash. They raised 400 million from
undisclosed donors and they *had* to hide the donors because, all these
obscenely wealthy people are deathly afraid of hate mail. Or something.
We'll leave aside that you can't get near a Koch Brothers confab with an
army of angry citizens. I suspect between the few hundred oligarchs that
pretty much run the world, they probably employ the equivalent of the
entire Blackwater corporation, or whatever it calls itself these days.
As always, Charlie pinpoints the cause of this corruption. It is of course, Citizens
... more »
“I don’t want to sail with this Ship of Fools…”
[image: File:Narrenschiff (1549).jpg]
The Ship of Fools was a popular medieval allegory depicting “a vessel
populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious;
passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their
own direction.”
The allegory could not be a more apt description of the band of sorry
deluded sad sacks who have entertained our southern hemisphere summer by
sitting trapped in Antarctic pack ice while all their climate science tells
them it’s fine and sunny outside. (And while all half the northern
hemisphere is buried under s... more »
CALL TO ACTION IN SPRING
*Call for Local Spring Asia-Pacific Events*
*Around the World*
After twelve years of war in the Middle East and Central Asia, the Obama
Administration is “pivoting” to the Asia-Pacific. Sixty percent of the
U.S. military forces are being deployed in the region to “contain” China. The
popular phrase in Washington to describe this process is a “re-balancing”
of US forces.
The increased militarization of the US’s Asia-Pacific policies is anything
but benign. It is fueling region-wide arms races, increasing the dangers of
war, as we have seen in the territorial dispute over the... more »
Digital Media = Surge in Partisanship?
I just read somewhere that digital media (mainly the internet) is
responsible for the increasely partisan nature of political debate in North
America. I think there's some truth to that. But I also think it's best to
avoid thinking there was ever a "good old days" when society wasn't
polarized by something.
Weren't the Second-Wave Feminists accused of being "shrill" and
"confrontational"? Were gays in the age of AIDS in the 1980s thought to be
an angry, disreputable bunch? Wasn't US society polarized by the Black
Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War? Was the FLQ a more polariz... more »
Preconceived Delusions
I think part of the reason for the failure of the left to adequately
respond to harper is that new ideas bounce-off of preconceived delusions
that people have. "A big rally would bring harper down" is probably
flitting through people's minds. So they imagine that a hard struggle
involving permanent occupations is a waste of time. Or "the police will
shoot us in the street like dogs" keeps Canadian leftists from remembering
that (for the time being anyway) Canada is not a total despotism with
absolutely no legal protections for basic human rights. (How someone could
simultaneously th... more »
Radio program of the year!
*MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014*
*We salute The Nation for saluting Marc Steiner:* Lustily, we salute The
Nation for saluting our friend, Marc Steiner.
In The Nation’s current edition, John Nichols presents a feature called
“The Progressive Honor Roll of 2013.” Along the way, he wisely cites
Steiner’s radio program:
*MOST VALUABLE RADIO PROGRAM: The Marc Steiner Show*
No one who has listened to veteran activist Marc Steiner’s morning show on
Morgan State University’s WEAA can figure out why this guy hasn’t gone
national. Yet Steiner is so into his hometown of Baltimore that it’s hard
to ... more »
ERDOGAN PROTECTS 'AL QAEDA FINANCIER' AL QADI
*Dick Cheney's friend Yasin al-Qadi, believed to be linked to 9 11, the
Mumbai attacks and the CIA.*
Links have been discovered between al Qaeda and Turkey's prime minister
Recep Erdogan.
*Yasin al-Qadi, who is an associate of al Qaeda, has entered Turkey
multiple times escorted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's protective
detail and without a passport or visa.*
*Yasin al-Qadi escorted by PM's security detail*,
Al Qadi is a businessman believed to have funneled millions of dollars to
al Qaeda.
*Chicago, where al Qadi met Osama bin Laden in 1979. Le Monde reported that
th... more »
Geneva II, the Kurds and an irrevocable right. Affecting Syria/Turkey and Iraq
*Geneva II and the Kurds*
The Kurds have been mentioned here, concerning Syria, on numerous occasions.
And, most recently with regard to the pressure being put on Turkey and
Erdogan.
*“Is Erdogan not wanting to see Turkey balkanized for a Kurdish state?”*
ANKARA,— ANF spoke to Middle East specialist Prof. Dr. Haluk Gerger
regarding potential developments in *Syrian Kurdistan *[Rojava] and in a
new democratic Syria.
Gerger drew attention to some striking points.
*Prof. Dr. Haluk Gerger* says the Rojava Kurds face being under siege
before the Geneva II conference, adding:* "The Kurd... more »
Weingarten Is A Sham
Randi Weingarten told Politico today that she is beginning a national
campaign called “VAM is a Sham.”
*NEW TACTIC ON TEACHER EVALUATIONS: *Randi Weingarten, president of the
American Federation of Teachers, is launching a campaign against using
value-added metrics to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Her mantra: “VAM is
a sham.” That’s a notable shift for the AFT and its affiliates, which have
previously ratified contracts and endorsed evaluation systems that rely on
VAM. Weingarten tells Morning Education that she has always been leery of
value-added “but we rolled up our sleeves,... more »
Radio 4 Comedians Bingo: The Rules
This evening's *The Unbelievable Truth *wasn't exactly a laugh a minute, or
even every ten minutes. (I managed about two laughs in total.) Even the
studio audience seemed underwhelmed by the humour on offer tonight. (There
were even a few tumbleweed moments.)
Still, it gave me the chance to play '*Radio 4 Comedians Bingo*' - a
delightful game where you always use the same card marked with the words*
'Daily Mail', 'bankers', 'Gove', 'Osborne', 'Cameron', 'Old Etonians',
'Bullingdon', 'UKIP', 'Farage', 'Daily Mail', 'NHS', 'xenophobia/racism',
'Putin', 'Palin/Bush/U.S. Republicans', ... more »
NC State Dept of Archives destroys priceless documents
This is absolutely criminal and completely senseless. Full story at the
link but here's the short version:
- This summer a new Clerk of Court in Franklin County discovered a trove
(an entire roomful) of documents, some dating back to 1840, in a previously
sealed room in the Franklin County, North Carolina Court House.
- The Local historical group enthusiastically poured themselves into the
project, mobilizing volunteers and the whole community – securing space to
work, materials, and finances – in order to catalog and preserve the bounty
of record books, photographs, deeds, chatte... more »
Coffee and Geocaching
A clear and bright (if cool) Saturday began with our monthly gathering for
breakfast and coffee and fellowship...
Looks like the Christmas stockings are still up...
In The Kitchen...
A lovely couple...
The Boys...
After breakfast Southern Man and the son of one of the guests slipped out
to do a little geocaching.
Signing the log...
Southern Man then dropped by the Ancestral Manor for lunch and laundry and
a shower and a bit of running round with Southern Son and by the time we
were done the expected cold front had moved in so Southern Man went home
and turned on all the h... more »
A Minor Setback
So Southern Man was getting along well enough without the rental crutches
that he turned them in late last week. Then today he reported to the Bone
Doc this morning for a checkup and to have the staples from the incision
removed. Which hurt, a lot. Sadly Southern Man was unable to get a copy of
the new x-rays, which are pretty cool as they show the plate and screws,
five short ones in the fibula and two long ones that go all the way through
the fibula and into the tibia. And then we had the following conversation:
Bone Doc: Where are your crutches?
Southern Man: I didn't think I nee... more »
ALEC - Throws Mud at the Wall, Calls it Legislation
The 1996 voucher program in Cleveland led to a lawsuit over vouchers and
religious freedom heard by Supreme Court in 2002
U.S.Court Finds Ohio Vouchers Unconstitutional
December 12, 2000|From Associated Press
CINCINNATI — Setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court ruling on the
separation of church and state, a federal appeals court Monday declared
Cleveland's school voucher program unconstitutional because it uses tax
money to send students to religious schools.
America was not awake – we didn’t see the damage this would cause and
it ended up in front of SCOTUS which chose to ... more »
REVOLT IS IN THE AIR AGAIN
*WW I Veterans Bonus March on Washington,1932*
*Here's a blast from the past that clearly shows that the public can be
mobilized for a cause as it once was in 1932 ~ when thousands of WW1
veterans marched for their promised bonus* *electrif**ying** the country in
the process** ~ but now, with the Internet, true revolution and change is
possible**: Allen L Roland*
*Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it:
Mark Twain*
*It's hard to believe that this happened over 80 years ago but
this exceptionally rare 7 minute film fr... more »
Behind Assad's Comeback a Mismatch in Commitments??
*Behind Assad's Comeback, a Mismatch in Commitments*
*There has been NO mismatch in commitments *
This article makes me thing we are witnessing the implantation of a new
meme "Mismatch in commitments"
Regime's Survival Seen as Example of America's Inability to Steer Events
From a Distance
*Spin- America has been able to steer events from a distance with little or
no problem. *
*Plenty of allies in the area willing to assist in the task.*
In the early days of the Syrian rebellion, U.S. intelligence agencies made
a prediction: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's days were numbered, an ... more »
Travel First Aid Kits and Easy Medication Refills with Walgreens
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop
has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for
Collective Bias and its advertiser.
Figuring out the medical needs on my family can be stressful. We have three
different doctors for three people in our house, so our prescription history,
immunization records, patient histories and medication refills are all over
the place. Luckily, Walgreens keeps them all together for me and easily
accessible online.
We may all have different, but having the same pharmacy really helps keep
me organized. I... more »
Trinary star won't disprove the equivalence principle
Today, science writers were busy to write about the newest death of a
pillar of modern physics, in this case Einstein's theory of relativity: Google
News, Physics World, BBC, dozens of others...
Your browser does not support the video tag.
*Video by Anne M. Archibald, a PhD student and a co-author of the discovery*
All this buzz is based on a newly published article,
A millisecond pulsar in a stellar triple system by Scott Ransom and 20
co-authors (Nature)
------------------------------
arXiv copy of the paper (free PDF)
which reports some observations of a star system called PS... more »
HANCOCK DRONE TRIAL
There have been a series of protests at Hancock Air National Guard base
outside of Syracuse, New York. As a result several trials have taken place
during the past couple of years.
The base switched four years ago from flying F-16 fighter jets to operating
drones from Hancock Field. The drones operated from the Syracuse base
support military operations in Afghanistan.
This video includes openings by James Ricks, Ed Kinane, Clare Grady, and a
short one by the prosecutor in the Dewitt town court January 3. The trial
went until shortly after midnight, but the prosecution had yet ... more »
Finally a picture emerges of the system by which the Kochs moved and obscured the sources of a bare minimum $407M outside the campaign-finance system in the 2012 election cycle
*Efforts to trace the movement of money contributed, raised, and funneled
by the Koch Brothers' "network" during the 2012 electoral cycle have so far
produced this org chart. No wait, this is a diagram of the London
Underground, which is much, much easier to understand.*
*"It is a very sophisticated and complicated structure. It's designed to
make it opaque as to where the money is coming from and where the money is
going. No layperson thought this up. It would only be worth it if you were
spending the kind of dollars the Koch brothers are, because this was not
cheap."*
--
*Notre ... more »
If you teach high school economics...
...you will most definitely want to click here.
What Was the "War on Poverty"?
This week marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson declaring
a "war on poverty." The NYT reports:
Half a century after Mr. Johnson’s now-famed State of the Union address,
the debate over the government’s role in creating opportunity and ending
deprivation has flared anew, with inequality as acute as it was in the
Roaring Twenties and the ranks of the poor and near-poor at record highs.
Here is what President Johnson said in that inaugural address:
This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on
poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all ... more »
Rob Ford running again
For the mayor of Toronto. He is confident he will win. :)
Frank Luntz throws a pity party
I suppose this piece is supposed make us feel sorry for that evil pudgy
putz, Frank Luntz who's having a crisis of faith because his slick
sloganery isn't doing the job anymore. Damn the little people for failing
to kowtow to his superior powers of persuasion. But in the end, the whole
interview boils down to this:
Luntz's populism has turned on itself and become its opposite: fear and
loathing of the masses. "I am grateful that Occupy Wall Street turned out
to be a bunch of crazy, disgusting, rude, horrible people, because they
were onto something," he says. "Limbaugh made fun of ... more »
Not thought Control
It was a stupid tale that was told to keep the children silent for a while
then the next thing blew that reality to otherworlds
A man would rise from the dead
he would lead all humanity
in a quest that all would come to dread
People please be serious
we live on a planet
not on the garden of Eden
this planet is under attack
not from alien
but from the humans
who can not keep a majority
off smack or some other
pleasure drug to make
them so numb
they can reject a theory
that say all you enjoy
does not come from
Gods love.
So what should we do
when we realize that
gay straight and transgend... more »
government destruction of environmental archives: the harper govt's war on facts marches on
At year's end, *The Tyee* reported that a memo - marked "secret" and first
reported on OCanada.com - cast grave doubts on the Harper Government's
claim that environmental archives were destroyed only after they had been
preserved digitally. In other words, the memo proves what progressive and
concerned Canadians have long known and suspected to be true.
A federal document marked "secret" obtained by Postmedia News indicates the
closure or destruction of more than half a dozen world famous science
libraries has little if anything to do with digitizing books as claimed by
the Harper ... more »
From the Laboratories of the Plutocracy
*"Nothing Exceeds Like Excess"*
On the off-chance that some of you think that the Democrats are really,
really sincere this time about helping poor jobless people, and that Barack
Obama really, really means it when he says he will make income inequality
the defining issue of his second term, permit me to gently burst your
balloon.
Just because Obama has stopped vocally espousing cutting the safety net as
part of his Grand Bargain of deficit reduction with his GOP frenemies
doesn't mean that his deeply ingrained desire for austerity for the
masses isn't still merrily simmering on t... more »
Still No Free Speech At Work: Response To Your Comments on Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty
Wow!
I had no idea so many of my readers loved *Duck Dynasty*. With almost
2000 comments, I can't possibly respond to them all. When I
wrote last weekthat A&E was probably within its rights to
suspend Phil Robertson for
making racist (yes, it's racist to say blacks were better off
under Jim
Crow) and homophobic comments (and I didn't even know then about
the sexist
and disturbing comments he made about marrying 15-year-old girls), you
had
lots to say. Some of you talked about religious discrimination. Some
wanted
to know more about his contract with A&E. I'll talk
about those issues i... more »
Killing Canada
Years
ago I blogged here about the motivation behind Harper being one of
absolute loathing for the country he happened to exist in. I can't seem
to locate that post now, but I still think I have a point. Harper's goal
is to destroy the Canada that you and I know and love, which is to say
he aims to destroy Canada. Piece by piece, like some twisted Dark Age
torturer with his victim.
Think of the
A Reality-Based Review of 2013 Market-Driven Research
Teachers unions exist to protect teachers and to do so they must work
collaboratively within the system so it will better serve all stakeholders.
The Shanker Istitute's Matt DiCarlo exemplifies our unions' willingness to
listen to all sides.
But, where is the Matt DiCarlo of corporate reform? Where is a reformer who
is will break ranks, for instance, on Washington D.C.'s IMPACT? There are
plenty of individual reformers who have open minds. Are there any who are
allowed to be like DiCarlo and acknowledge the strengths of evidence on the
teachers' side?
In a strategy known as "conve... more »
Violence In Iraq’s Anbar Highlights Divided Tribes There
As fighting continues in Iraq’s western Anbar province, the various tribes
there have found themselves in a precarious situation. Some have aligned
themselves with the central government against insurgents, some are opposed
to both the federal forces and the militants, while still others have
joined the gunmen. Anbar was always a very divisive place in part because
of the deep-seated tribal rivalries. Those are all being exasperated by the
current rebellion in the governorate.
Anbar’s various sheikhs are taking sides in the brewing conflict in their
governorate. The two brothers... more »
DUMBNIFICATION STUDIES: Announcing our media trend of the year!
*MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014*
*Part 1—Two different forms of poverty:* We were struck by something on the
front page of yesterday’s New York Times.
In a “Washington Memo” analysis piece, economics reporter Annie Lowrey
discussed the War on Poverty, which is now 50 years old.
Headline included, this is the way she started:
LOWREY (1/5/14): *50 Years Later, War on Poverty Is a Mixed Bag*
To many Americans, the war on poverty declared 50 years ago by President
Lyndon B. Johnson has largely failed. *The poverty rate has fallen only to
15 percent from 19 percent in two generations,* and 46... more »
GMO foods
I am not categorically opposed to GMO foods. I am all for better living
through chemistry. IMHO GMO foods are not proven safe. I read yesterday
about a scientist who in 1957 said trans fats are deadly. Today we believe
him. We have been lied to repeatedly about the benefits of scientific
advance. Nuclear power is another case in point. If done perfectly light
water reactors make perfect sense. Then you have Fukushima. This makes
perfect sense look ridiculous. What went wrong: built in an earthquake
zone, but I expect we can engineer around that. The problem is they did
not. Secon... more »
Untitled
*Carnival season kicks off in New Orleans ~WWL*
*Phunny Phorty Phellows, Krewe of Joan of Arc, Broadway star Alice Ripley
at NOCCA and more! ~NOLA DEFENDER*
*Hundreds of fans welcome the New Orleans Saints at the airport early
Sunday morning *
*Louisiana’s profitable prisons ~Maxim Robin, Le Monde diplomatique*
*Gulf Wild Sets Sail in New Direction ~Jason Delacruz, GSI*
*Residents Await The Return Of The Circle Food Store ~Land Kaplan-Levenson
WWNO*
*George Rodrigue gallery to reopen; Wendy Rodrigue bids farewell ~Doug
MacCash*
Liz Cheney Slinking Off Back To Virginia-- Ends Wyoming Senate Bid
Once Liz Cheney's dismal initial polling numbers started sinking even
further as Wyoming voters came in contact with her, I became hopeful that
if she stayed in the race, her role in Cheney's take-over of the U.S.
government in the first weeks of the Bush administration would come to the
fore and help American understand how catastrophic the Cheney family has
already been for this country. But last night it became clear that that is
an exposé for another time. Liz Cheney called it quits to her ill-fated
primary challenge to Mike Enzi. There's going to be an official
announcement t... more »
How to talk to the POlice
Police are important. Police have a very difficult job and deserve your up
most respect. Police are all that separate a city from Toronto from a city
like Kabul.
However the Police are also the sharp end of the spear for the MAN. The
police do what they are told. Your only defence is your legal rights, do
not give them away. Never submit, never surrender. Use your rights or watch
as your children lose them. Like everything else in life you must read the
fine print or in this case a readable version. Americans got rights at
birth, Canada got them with the Charter of Rights which wil... more »
The Triumph Of Mean
Michael den Tandt writes that, if you're wondering why you keep getting
those fund raising emails from political parties, blame Jean Chretien and
Stephen Harper. Chretien brought in public financing for elections, but
limited contributions. Harper eliminated public funding but kept the small
contributions:
Chretien never intended for things to go in the direction they’ve gone. His
reform, Bill C-24, limited corporate and union donations to $1,000.
Corporations without operations in Canada were banned from giving, as were
Crown corporations. Individuals were limited to contributin... more »
More Fun with Geoengineering
*"He put his little vibrator in his coat-pocket and went out to hunt a
half-erected steel building. Down in the Wall Street district, he found
one&endash;ten stories of steel framework without a brick or a stone laid
around it. He clamped the vibrator to one of the beams, and fussed with the
adjustment until he got it.*
Tesla said finally the structure began to creak and weave and the
steel-workers came to the ground panic-stricken, believing that there had
been an earthquake. Police were called out. Tesla put the vibrator in his
pocket and went away. Ten minutes more and he could h... more »
The Manning Spy Watchdog Centre for Building Northern Gateway
The Vancouver Observer is reporting that last month former
Reform/Alliance/Con MP Chuck Strahl added Enbridge "Northern Gateway
Pipeline lobbyist" to the list of other part-time jobs he has accrued since
leaving Harper's cabinet two years ago:
- Chair of SIRC, the Security Intelligence Review Committee watchdog
which oversees CSIS, for five years starting in June 2012
- Chair of the Manning Centre for Building Conservatives since April 2013
- two year election campaigner for Christy Clark, according to her,
until the obvious conflict of interest went public a month be... more »
October Surprise and the Rockefellers - by Robert Parry
I*n 1974, the Shah of Iran was diagnosed with cancer.*
*In 1975, former CIA director, and the U.S. Ambassador to Iran, Richard
Helms learned of the Shah's cancer through the Shah's closest confidant,
General Hossein Fardoust. *
*The Shah, Helms and Fardoust had been close personal friends since their
school days together in Switzerland during the 1930s.*
*On November 4, 1976, concurrent with Jimmy Carter's election as President,
CIA Director George Bush issued a secret memo to the U.S. Ambassador in
Iran, Richard Helms, asking:*
*"Have there been any changes in the personality patt... more »
Trickle-Down Administration: Education Reform in a Culture of Distracting Outrage
Trickle-Down Administration: Education Reform in a Culture of Distracting
Outrage. via Trickle-Down Administration: Education Reform in a Culture of
Distracting Outrage.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical
CES 2014: Samsung aims to connect devices
Samsung has announced a system to connect together a household's various
gadgets, appliances, and utility controls. It said one way the Smart Home
service could be used would be to turn off a home's lights and TV if the
owner said going out into a smart watch app. Samsung supposed the service
would originally be limited to its own products and planned to support
third parties devices in time.
Samsung said its new service would initially offer three features such as
device control, home view and customer service. The firm said its Smart
Home app would primarily run on selected Sam... more »
Puppies poop in the direction of the magnetic field
The Christian Science Monitor and lots of other news outlets inform about a
seemingly crackpot-sounding yet fascinating Czech-German (well, mostly,
10:2, Czech) research published in Frontiers in Zoology,
Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field (PDF
full)
Incidentally, do you agree that the "mainstream" media on the Internet
prefer not to link to the original papers even though they're freely
accessible and it's easy to link? Readers who are gullible sheep that have
to rely upon "interpreters" are apparently more attractive for the
journalists.
But bac... more »
Thailand: Regime Threatens Covert Violence Against Protesters
Beware of agent provocateurs and staged confrontations with "regime
supporters" for January 13, 2014 rally. Be prepared, and the regime will
crumble.
*January 6, 2014* (ATN) - Thailand's current regime led by unelected
defacto dictator Thaksin Shianwatra and his nepotist-appointed proxy and
sister Yingluck Shinawatra has issued a threat to protesters regarding an
upcoming January 13, 2014 mass mobilization. Bangkok's English paper "The
Nation" reported in its article, "Justice minister warns people against
joining Bangkok Shutdown protest," that:
Caretaker Justice Minister Chaikas... more »
Monday Morning Linkage
Hi, Ducks! Happy New Year! I’m back after a semester wandering across
northern India. Did you miss me? Well, here are your links anyway…
Professor Ole Wæver argues for “open science to fight big threats.” Senator
Bernie Sanders has asked the NSA a simple question that may finally make a
difference. (Okay, probably not.) This year
Continue reading
Finding Hope after a Gardasil Disaster by Tracie Toler Moorman
MaddieFinding Hope after a Gardasil Disaster
By Tracie Toler Moorman,
Overland Park, Kansas
Sane Vax, Inc, 19 September 2013
*For the sake of your child, please do your research. Education conquers
fear, and knowledge is power.*
It is difficult to know where to begin when charting the 19-month journey
my daughter and family have traveled since she was injured by the Gardasil
vaccine in 2012. Maddie, my girl, as I like to call her, was a 15-year old
happy, healthy, straight-A, honors/AP high school student. It was easy
being her mother; it was a joy to be with her. S... more »
Fighting man made climate change or redistributing wealth?
"The climate summit in Cancun at the end of the month is not a climate
conference, but one of the largest economic conferences since the Second
World War...one must say clearly that de facto we distribute the world's
wealth by climate policy.... One has to rid oneself of the illusion that
international climate politics have anything to do with environmental
concerns."
Otto Edenhofer, IPCC Working Group III co-chair, Nov. 14, 2010.
“If the phenomenon only appears after heavy data manipulation, perhaps manipulation of the data is the only phenomenon.” — Maurizio Morabito
“If the phenomenon only appears after heavy data manipulation, perhaps
manipulation of the data is the only phenomenon.” — Maurizio Morabito
FAMOUS 'JEWS'
Dana International, aka Sharon Cohen, is a Yemeni Jew.
*Joseph Dhu Nuwas.*
*Joseph* Dhu Nuwas, c 517–525, was Jewish.
He was the king of the Jewish kingdom of Yemen.
He is famous for killing many thousands of Christians.
Spotlight on Dhu Nuwas / Dhu Nuwas / Юсуф Зу-Нувас — Циклопедия
When Yemen eventually became Moslem, many Yemenis only pretended to convert
to Islam.
*Salem, who died in a plane crash.*
*Salem* is a Yemeni who helped the CIA at the time of Iran-Contra.
Salem is believed to be a crypto-Jew.
Salem attended Millfield, the expensive English boarding school.
*Pla... more »
His Immenseness will come out of his hole in ... Mill Bay, B.C.
...
And then he'll make sure he's securely insulated from anything British
Columbia by hiding behind the locked gates of a conservative bastion for
the wealthy, Brentwood College School.
Prime Minister Harper visits Cowichan on Tuesday for a private Tory
party event at Brentwood College School.
The 1 p.m. gathering, hosted by members and donors of the
Conservative Party of Canada, promises to
Updates On Syria [1.6]: Geneva II Presents An Opportunity For A Ceasefire Agreement, Syrians Keep Up Morale With Live Theater, Media Tries To Sell "Moderate Rebels" Storyline Once Again
*1. An excerpt from, "The Saudi challenge to US Syria policy" Al-Monitor,
January 5:*
*The priority for Geneva II, especially given the terrorism in Iraq and
Lebanon, let alone the devastating humanitarian tragedy in Syria, should be
a cease-fire and discussions of a transition to internationally supervised
elections in Syria*, as advocated by former US President Jimmy Carter,
among others, including this column.
The US does not have an interest in supporting a continuation of the war
until Assad is overthrown. There is no strategic rationale or moral high
ground in fighting Assad... more »
This Isn't About The Tom Dooley Who Hung Down His Head-- This Is The Other Tom Dooley
Growing up, CBS' weekly game show *What's My Line?* was one of the most
popular shows on the relatively new television machine. It ran from 1950 to
1967 and won a bunch of Emmys and Golden Globes. By the time the above
episode ran in 1959, the guest, Tom Dooley, had already had his major
impact on the word stage, although in a role that certainly never came up
on the show. To John Daley, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy
Kilgallen-- and their audience-- young Dr. Dooley was a crusading physician
running hospitals in the war-torn Laotian jungle.
When I was very young, Dooley h... more »
A Country For The Old
Stephen Harper has always been up front about one of his political
objectives -- the destruction of the Liberal Party. Recent polls suggest
that he hasn't succeeded on that front. But, if Frank Graves' latest
numbersare correct, he may well have gone along way to obtaining his
second
objective -- the destruction of the middle class.
Harper bought into the touchstone of the American Right -- Ayn Rand's
dictum that selfishness is a virtue. Graves writes that, in both
countries,
the results have been the same. The middle class is in decline:
A comparison of poll tracking in Canada and... more »
Time to get my genes re-tested.
Identification of de novo copy number variants associated with human
disorders of sexual development. Tannour-Louet et al *PLoS One*. 2010 Oct
26;5(10):e15392.
Disorders of sexual development (DSD), ranging in severity from genital
abnormalities to complete sex reversal, are among the most common human
birth defects with *incidence rates reaching almost 3%*. Although causative
alterations in key genes controlling gonad development have been
identified, *the majority of DSD cases remain unexplained*. To improve the
diagnosis, we screened 116 children born with idiopathic DSD using a ... more »
A New Era for Intersex Rights : The New Yorker
A New Era for Intersex Rights : The New Yorker
People are starting to notice.
My comment :
I find it amazing that so many non-Intersex people are so vehement in
asserting that only *they* know who or what we *really* are. That their
opinion trumps our experienced narrative.
That might not be so bad if you could all agree with one another, but you
can't.
Then there's the overt homophobia - confusing us with gays. The overt
trans- and intersex-phobia, (often from gays ironically enough, who object
to being associated with us). They have a point - the only things we have
in common i... more »
Thought For Today
Heinlein – Specialization is for Insects | Not Always On
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders,
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure,
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein
I prefer to live rather than die gallantly though. That's a last resort.
Instead, I try to fight so efficiently t... more »
Joanne Yatvin: The Common Core Standards May Be Harmful to Children
The following article was written by Dr. Joanne Yatvin, who does a great
job of pointing out problems with specific standards, and how easy it is to
tell that the Common Core Standards were not created by educators or child
learning specialists. Such specialists, such as Dr. Yatvin, have
determined that they are harmful to […]
The Founder of the Nation of Islam...... Looks Kinda White...
Wallace Fard Muhammad
*"Allah came to us from the Holy City Mecca, Arabia, in 1930. He used the
name Wallace D. Fard, often signing it W. D. Fard, in the third year
(1933). He signed his name W. F. Muhammad which stands for Wallace Fard
Muhammad. He came alone. He began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves,
of God and the devil, of the measurement of the earth, of other planets,
and of the civilizations of some of the planets other than earth."*
*The Hon. Elijah Muhammad,*
*Message to the Black Man, 1966*
I quote The Enemy:
*"Historians have used public records to identify Fard... more »
Collectable and eventually playable education activism game cards, courtesy of UOO
The activist organization United Opt Out, that little gaggle always does
things a little differently. Well, in advance of their annual spring event,
taking place in Denver, CO March 28th-30th, 2014, UOO is releasing a
collection of activist game cards that will include the organizers and the
guests who will be in attendance. Now, these […]
Another warm welcome to a new author, Dr. Denisha Jones (@denisha_jones)
Denisha and I go back a few years. We were both graduate students at
Indiana University. And oddly enough, we found our way there from DC, and
now back again. Denisha’s at Howard University. Great institution with a
Dean who’s said some very hopeful things about education reform. Dr. Jones
is in this fight with […]