 |
| Adrienne Rich (Photo credit: catherinecronin) |
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| Richard Nixon tells the nation about the bombings in Cambodia, April 30, 1969. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| Maureen Dowd at Democratic Debate in Philadelphia, PA April 16, 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
If it Leads, it Bleeds, So Let it Bleed
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)
If one were to take Maureen Dowd's dry sarcasm literally (and I'm
afraid many liberals do), then the NRA is wrongly anathematizing the MSM
that she represents and that the 4th Estate is being used as a scapegoat,
an innocent victim that's not actually accountable for the atmosphere of
fear the NRA's Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre rightly pointed out
at his Friday presser.
Of course, LaPierre's brief, shining moment of lucidity in an
otherwise surrealistically stupid press conference was the delineation of... more »
Parker and Douthat and Robinson oh my!
*SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2012*
*The sad state of pundit culture:* We were struck this morning by the sad
state of pundit culture.
In the Washington Post, Kathleen Parker’s column takes us back to an
earlier, more innocent era. Parker falls back on two favorite old tales,
one concerning Michael Dukakis, the other concerning Richard Nixon.
Did Dukakis really lose the election because of his ride in that tank? As a
candidate, was Nixon really “sweat-soaked?” Actually no. But for decades,
treasured old stories like these have driven the work of our pundits.
These treasured old stories a... more »
Stevie does Gangnam . . .
ACCORDING TO HUFFINGTON, the Air Farce has nailed it. Delightful!
Fiscal Cliff - Yeah, Baby!!!, Let's Do It.
I have been ready to go over the fiscal cliff for months now.
I don’t fear it.
As a matter of fact I look forward to it – I think it can be a moment of
awakening for both parties.
This morning on The Hill I saw this
Conservatives urge GOP leaders to be bold, prepare to go over cliff
And thought – oh shit, the GOP and I agree.
But it is really a RepubliCON “bait and switch” if you read the whole
article.
The article is full of juicy little tidbits.
My emphasis throughout
Conservative activists who helped doom Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio)
fiscal Plan B say *Republicans must be p... more »
If harper Kills Chief Spence
Is it possible? Is harper so debased that he'd actually let Chief Spence
die rather than agree to a meeting between First Nations leaders, himself
and the Crown? Personally, I don't think so (although the overall lack of
media attention to this gripping story might try to make it possible for
harper to get away with that). I think, while he's tweeting inanities and
filling his mind with empty thoughts about Christmas, harper will let
Spence starve until she requires hospitalization, perhaps suffers permanent
organ damage, and then he'll agree to a meeting where nothing will be
discu... more »
Doug Ross: The 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards...
*announced.*
I've collected my badge. Sigh.
[image: Winner - 2012 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards]
Stevie needs a reading . . .
THE HR GIGER TAROT SET. Awesome.
trials of a student librarian: readers' advisory, the library thing i love best
Of all the aspects of librarianship that I know about, the piece I'm most
excited about is readers' advisory.
Readers' advisory is the library term for answering that important
question... *"What to read next?"* Questions like, "Do you have any more
books like this one?", "I'm tired of reading mysteries, I need something
different," and "I loved this book, I want another just like it," are all
about readers' advisory.
I was surprised to learn that adult readers ask library staff for book
recommendations all the time. In my own reading, I am guided by almost
exclusively by book rev... more »
NHS Alexandra Hospital apologises to 38 families for appalling care that saw a patient starve to death
An NHS hospital has apologised to 38 families after a patient starved to
death and it left other dying people screaming in pain.
Alexandra Hospital in Redditch is writing to 38 families after a massive
legal action that exposed years of bad practice, ranging from nurses
taunting patients to leaving an elderly woman unwashed for 11 weeks.
In one of the worst cases, a man had starvation recorded as the cause of
his death after being treated at the hospital for two months.
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said last night that he was “disgusted
and appalled” by what the families had ... more »
Israel backs Russia’s avowal that Syrian chemical arms are secure “for now”
“At the moment, [Syria’s] chemical weapons are under control,” said senior
Israeli defense official Amos Gilad Sunday, Dec. 23, echoing the statement
by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday that “the Syrian
government has “consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations
amid a rebel onslaught and they are under control for the time being.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu then said enigmatically: “We are facing a
near possibility of far-reaching changes in the Syrian regime with
ramifications for the sensitive weaponry [chemical, biological] present
there.”
Li... more »
Behind The Numbers
When Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page released a report two weeks
ago, which documented the average annual salary of a federal employee as
$114,100, there were howls from the usual critics. Andrew Jackson writes:
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was quick to jump on the report of the Parliamentary
Budget Office on federal government pay and compensation, saying that it
provided “shocking numbers on the overly generous compensation of federal
government employees.” Echoing similarly-exaggerated claims by the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business and other employer gr... more »
Mysterious death prompts Person authorities to seize dog (Very strange)
Questions surrounding a man's death over the weekend prompted Person
County authorities to seize a pitbull. Deputies found the body of Eugene
Cameron, 65, of Henderson, under a carport at 1189 Semora Road, west of
Roxboro, late Saturday. Family members said he was checking on the house
while his friend was out of town. Witnesses said that Cameron was found
naked, with his clothes balled up beside him, and bloody dog paw prints
surrounded him. He had a severe injury to his right arm that could have
caused him to bleed out, and the injury was consistent with a dog bite,
according to ... more »
American Dream Fades for Generation Y Professionals
After being dismissed from her job as a Midtown Manhattan securities
attorney in October 2009, Christina Tretter-Herriger hitched a used horse
trailer to her Dodge Ram pickup and drove 1,628 miles to Texas.
The 32-year-old lawyer sold skin-care products in Houston before finding
work as the assistant general counsel of a futures-trading firm where an
irate customer punctuated a recorded voice-mail message with gunfire.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/american-dream-fades-for-generation-y-professionals.html
A New Beginning is Here
*Press For Truth*
PressforTruth.ca
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Welcome to Boehnerville
Saw this on the TV this morning and had to chuckle.
Hadn't seen it before - thought I'd share in case others had not seen it
either.
The Hydrogen Sonata Forum: Iain M. Banks Replies
General Warning: this is emphatically not a spoiler-free Forum! Hence all
of the text all of the contributions will be safely below the fold, and
only the identifying information for the author of the contribution will be
here for even causal browsers to see. Iain M. Banks is a celebrated author
of both science fiction
Continue reading
Sunday Globe Special: South African Zombies
*I thought that was a Haitian thing. *
*
**‘‘The ARVs are called the ‘Lazarus drug’ because people rise up and walk’’
*
"South Africa improves in fighting HIV-AIDS" by Carley Petesch |
Associated Press, December 02, 2012
JOHANNESBURG — Stories of hope and progress are readily available on World
AIDS Day 2012 in sub-Saharan Africa, where *deaths* from *AIDS-related
causes* have declined by 32 percent from *1.8 million* in 2005 to *1.2
million* in 2011, according to the latest UNAIDS report....
*
**An ongoing Holocaust. *
Themba Lethu clinic, with government funding [from] the Unite... more »
A Life of Indentured Servitude for a Chance at a College Diploma: When the American Dream Goes Nightmare
Recently the NYTimes shows signs of coming out of its corporate cocoon to
do real investigative reporting again. The recent story on WalMart
corruption was terrific, and in this story, the Times looks at the
deepening of the categorical inequality as it plays out in the higher
education arena.
The story is based in Galveston, TX, and the charts and graphs, alone, are
worth the price of the Sunday paper. If democracy is to have a chance in
the U. S., and if the American dream is to be anything other than a
worn-out pipe dream, it will not be under the current crush of rapacious ... more »
Untitled
*New Orleans Saints fan photos ~WDSU *
*Profit Island purchase could restart work on Comite Diversion Canal *
*Farmers using new methods ~Sable Lefrere*
*Happy Festivus fo'da rest of us!*
Boehner's Already Low Popularity Takes A Hit But Is He Vulnerable?
Boehner knows he can count on Steve Israel for a free pass again
The GOP smear machine went to work on Pelosi many years ago and
systematically turned her into a symbol of loathing for the right-wing/Fox
News/hate talk radio base. They did their worst to turn her into a divisive
figure, an untrustworthy "other" and put millions and millions of campaign
dollars into tying all their electoral targets to her. Democrats had done
something similarly with Tom DeLay, the difference being that DeLay is a
convicted criminal, a zealot for the interests of plutocrats and an
unhinged extremist. ... more »
I Missed the AIDS Conference
*I'm sorry, readers. I just didn't have time to attend.... *
"US pledges $150m more to fight AIDS" by Lauran Neergaard | Associated
Press, July 24, 2012
WASHINGTON — Science now has the tools to slash the spread of HIV even
without a vaccine — and the *United States* is *donating an extra $150
million* to help poor countries put them in place, the Obama administration
told the world’s largest AIDS conference Monday.
*
**Such chump change when you consider the trillions spent on wars and Wall
Street. And not to be insensitive on the matter, but now Americans are
being told to accep... more »
*SIGH* Miramar Hotel BOT Project gets conditional EIA approval
[image: Taitong]
*A list of build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects in Taitung county.
Following the developer credo: there is no place so beautiful that it can't
use more concrete.*
The Taipei Times reports:
The controversial construction of Miramar Resort Village at Taitung
County’s Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) gained conditional approval from a seventh
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) meeting yesterday, despite heated
debate over the legitimacy of the project and the EIA meeting.
According to the Taipei Times, the project was created to get around the
environmental impact assessment (... more »
tell stephen harper you support chief theresa spence and idle no more
As Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence enters her twelfth day without food,
solidarity actions with the IdleNoMore aboriginal movement are growing
throughout Canada and around the globe.
In Winnipeg, demonstrators blocked the Trans Canada Highway. In freezing
weather in Edmonton, protesters filled downtown streets. At least 1,000
people came out in the snow in Ottawa. In Toronto, supporters filled Dundas
Square with a flash-mob round dance. Hundreds protested in Iqaluit,
Yellowknife and Whitehorse. In Vancouver, Montreal, Saskatoon, and Sudbury, people
took to the streets.
Aborigina... more »
Post-Election Aftermath: Obama's Agenda
*And who i$ influencing it*:
"Obama seeks the seeds of solutions" by Brian MacQuarrie | Globe
Staff, November 08, 2012
CHICAGO — America’s longest war, in Afghanistan, has not ended. The nuclear
ambitions of Iran remain a threat. The economy is still struggling, the
federal debt has not evaporated — and the bitter divisions that continue to
hobble the country need to be bridged....
One day after the election, the business world showed its unease. The
Standard & Poor’s index and Dow Jones industrial average each closed 2.4
percent lower on Wednesday....
*
**Related: **Why Is Big B... more »
Why We Are Not Free
*by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy*
While it may be true that all societies indulge a process called
'criminalization', it seems that in the U.S. the process has been to an
even greater extent institutionalized. Both crime rates and the profits of
the so-called "Prison Industrial Complex" (P.I.C.) depend upon the
criminalization of various behaviors, most notably, the cultivation and/or
use of marijuana, a so-called 'drug' which many believe and support is not
only hamless and non-addictive, its many uses could be of tremendous
benefit to society.
'Criminalization' is often 'r... more »
greenwald, ellsberg, and others launch freedom of press foundation to fight government censorship and secrecy
An important and exciting column by Glenn Greenwald. See original for more
links.
New press freedom group is launched to block US government attacks
Nothing is more vital than enabling true transparency and adversarial
journalism, and preventing further assaults on them
Several weeks ago, I wrote about the steps taken by the US government to
pressure large corporations to choke off the finances and other means of
support for WikiLeaks in retaliation for the group's exposure of
substantial government deceit, wrongdoing and illegality. Because WikiLeaks
has never been charged with, l... more »
EU Leader Calls For Global Governance With Russia
In a recent EU-Russia summit Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European
council has been outspoken about the cooperation between Russia and the EU
further facilitating the push towards global and economic governance
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Post-American Afghanistan: options, proposals
Russia is interested in NATO’s strategy after 2014 for when the withdrawal
of the coalition forces from Afghanistan is planned. Other countries which
have interests in Afghanistan would also like to receive an answer to the
question raised by the Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko in
Brussels.
As you know, Afghanistan is often called a crossroads between the East and
the West.
For the time being, Americans either remain undecided over the number of
the remaining contingent or are unwilling to make this information public.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the figure i... more »
The Infrastructure Cliff: Why the U.S. Desperately Needs a $2.5 Trillion Upgrade
When officials in Denver started drafting a strategic traffic plan a few
years back, they concluded that the city no longer had the money to expand
its roads to meet the surging demands. They would have to make do with what
they had.
Denver's planners created a board game, Right of Way, that was scaled to
the city's streets. It had cards that symbolized lanes for travel, parking,
buses, bikes, mixed use, and medians. There were too many cards for the
available space, so officials gathered community representatives to debate
which sorts of lanes mattered most. To everyone's surprise,... more »
Morsi supporters and the opposition: Two different Egypts
With no apparent end to Egypt's constitution crisis, supporters and
opponents of President Mohamed Morsi's constitutional declaration and draft
national charter are digging their heels in, further entrenching themselves
in their respective camps.
Morsi's Thursday night speech, the first since the outbreak of violence
days earlier, was met with firm opposition both on the street and by a
political elite allied in opposition umbrella group the National Salvation
Front, which announced Friday its refusal to accept the president’s offer
for dialogue.
Behind these media statements and ... more »
Syria: Iraq 2.0, another false-flag invasion, rated XXX
The US and NATO are set to invade Syria, something many of us have been
warning about for a while now. It has been obvious that they have been
looking for a pretext and that pretext has already been injected into the
public debate. That pretext: chemical weapons, revealed by Fox News and the
Director of the CIA, the same two sources that brought us all of the Iraq
invasion lies.
Sadly no matter how questionable or fabricated the pretext is, it appears
that there is nothing we can do except sit back and watch the US and its
surrogates invade and decimate yet another nation.
http://... more »
Fear and Loathing in Paragould Arkansas
Mark Daniels
Global Political Awakening
The novel *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* is based on two trips to Las
Vegas, Nevada, that Hunter S. Thompson took with attorney and Chicano
activist Oscar Zeta Acosta in March and April 1971. The first trip spawned
from an exposé Thompson was writing for *Rolling Stone* magazine about the
Mexican-American television journalist Rubén Salazar, whom officers of the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department had shot and killed with a tear gas grenade
fired at close range during the National Chicano Moratorium March against
the Vietnam War in 197... more »
Obama gives medal to Drell, Gates, Mazur
I hate honors but this list is kind of interesting. Barack Obama gave the
National Medal of Science to 12 scientists and the National Medal of
Technology and Innovation to 11 technologists and innovators:
Obama names 23 scientists and innovators as medal winners (Cosmic Log)
The scientists include Sidney Drell, an accomplished violinist, hadron
collisions specialist, and arms control expert at SLAC who is also the
father of Persis Drell, the current SLAC director.
The generation that is not quite the youngest one knows Sidney Drell's name
from one more context: we know him as a c... more »
What Fed Exit?
A decision by the Federal Reserve to expand its bond buying next week is
likely to prompt policy makers to rewrite their 18-month-old blueprint for
an exit from record monetary stimulus.
Under the exit strategy, the Fed would start selling bonds in mid-2015 in a
bid to return its holdings to pre-crisis proportions in two to three years.
An accelerated buildup of assets would also mean a faster pace of sales
when the time comes to exit -- increasing the risk that a jump in interest
rates would crush the economic recovery.
...
The bigger the balance sheet, “the riskier the exit become... more »
A Health Insurance Detective Story
I’VE had a long career as a business journalist, beginning at Forbes and
including eight years as the editor of Money, a personal finance magazine.
But I’ve never faced a more confounding reporting challenge than the one
I’m engaged in now: What will I pay next year for the pill that controls my
blood cancer?
fter making more than 70 phone calls to 16 organizations over the past few
weeks, I’m still not totally sure what I will owe for my Revlimid, a
derivative of thalidomide that is keeping my multiple myeloma in check. The
drug is extremely expensive — about $11,000 retail for a ... more »
China grabs Mideast oil as U.S. power dips Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/12/05/China-grabs-Mideast-oil-as-US-power-dips/UPI-79421354730140/#ixzz2FPBsci3I
China
is muscling into Iraq's oil sector as Baghdad grapples with
defections by international majors like Exxon Mobil and Chevron of the
United States and France's Total.
This is part of Beijing's drive to secure oil and natural gas resources
in
the Middle East and Africa as U.S. influences wanes.
China's clout in Iraq, along with other parts of the Middle East,
including
Saudi Arabia, is bound to increase as the Americans' diminishes.
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/12/05/China-grabs-Mideast-oil-as-US-power-dips/UPI-79421354730140/#ixzz2EbIu3Toh
Google sheltered almost $10bn in Bermuda last year
The accounts, seen by Bloomberg, show that Google shifted $9.8bn in
revenues in 2011 into a Bermuda-based company.
The move, which is perfectly legal, meant the internet giant was able to
slash its overall tax bill by almost 50pc, as the country doesn’t have a
corporate income tax.
The increase in Google’s revenues routed to Bermuda, disclosed in the
November 21 filing by a subsidiary in the Netherlands, could fuel the
outrage spreading over corporate tax avoidance.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9735012/Google-sheltered-almost-10bn-in-Bermuda-last-y... more »
GAIA PORTAL: Liftoff Has Begun
*
* *
* *Liftoff Has Begun*
by ÉirePort
Attunements are finished for next phase. All is go for arrival of new solar
energies. Gaia preparation is complete.
Liftoff has begun.
ÉirePort | December 23, 2012 at 10:15
HSBC to start selling £25bn of toxic US debt
The bank is planning to sell four sub-prime loan portfolios worth a total
of $2.7bn in the next year, with hedge funds already expressing an
interest. The disposals will mark the first time HSBC has sold any of its
holding of sub-prime debt since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in
September 2008 and is intended to kick off the sale of the $44.2bn of toxic
debt still held by the bank.
HSBC was one of the first banks to recognise the problems in the US
sub-prime housing market, where millions of Americans were given loans to
buy properties they could not afford.
http://www.telegraph.... more »
How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor
Many people are misled by formalities. They assume, for example, that the
United States went to war against Germany and Japan only after its
declarations of war against these nations in December 1941. In truth, the
United States had been at war for a long time before making these
declarations. Its war making took a variety of forms. For example, the U.S.
navy conducted "shoot [Germans] on sight" convoys - convoys that might
include British ships — in the North Atlantic along the greater part the
shipping route from the United States to Great Britain, even though German
U-boats had o... more »
Europe clings to scorched-earth ideology as depression deepens
The strategy of triple-barrelled contraction across a string of
inter-linked countries has been the greatest policy debacle since the early
1930s. The outcome over the last three years has been worse than forecast
at every stage, and in every key respect.
The eurozone has crashed back into double-dip recession. It will contract a
further 0.3pc next year, according to a chastened European Central Bank.
The ECB omitted mention of its own role in this fiasco by allowing all key
measures of the money supply to stall in mid-2012, with the time-honoured
consequences six months to a year l... more »
Dirty white gold
The website of US-based biotech giant Monsanto boasts that the corporation
qualifies as "a sustainable agriculture company".
Given Monsanto's legacy as a producer of the lethal defoliant Agent Orange
during the Vietnam War, Southeast Asian agriculture would presumably beg to
differ with this characterisation.
Sustainability is also not the first word that comes to mind when
contemplating Monsanto's policy of sowing the earth with genetically
modified seeds that destroy soil and are designed with nonrenewable traits
so as to require constant repurchase as well as acquisition of a var... more »
NOT LANZA'S CAR
The above car is said by the police to have been driven by Adam Lanza to
Sandy Hook School.
Spitfire List - camo pants in Newtown. / Connecticut school gunman / Car
driven by Connecticut school shooter Lanza
According to the police audio recording (here at 30:20) the license plate
of the shooter's vehicle is '872 YEO', and the car is registered to
Christopher A. Rodia.
In July 2012, a Mr Christopher Rodia was charged with larceny and
possession of narcotics.
Spitfire List - camo pants in Newtown.
It is quite possible that Adam Lanza was made to disappear long before th... more »
RUSSIAN FORCES TAKE SYRIAN CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UNDER CONTROL
The chemical warfare threat looming over Syria’s civil war and its
neighbors has taken an epic turn with the announcement by Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday, Dec. 22, that “the Syrian government has
“consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel
onslaught and they are under control for the time being.”
He added that Russia, “which has military advisers training Syria’s
military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal.”
debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report: The Russian foreign
minister’s statement was a message to Wash... more »
9/11 Propaganda, Sandy Hook Propaganda
It appears that both 9/11 and the recent Sandy Hook school "shooting" PYSOP
were staged, Hollywood-style operations utilizing scripted actors,
"witnesses", and reporters. Even many of the "victim" family members
appear to be actors scripted to promote the official narrative and target
the emotions of the gullible public. A few examples...
*9/11*
A federal district court in Manhattan yesterday entered a historic ruling
that reveals new facts about Iran's support of al Qaeda in the 9/11
attacks. U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels *ruled yesterday that Iran
and Hezbollah ... more »
Organized religion on the decline? Growing number of Canadians ‘spiritual but not religious’
From The National Post
*Organized religion on the decline? Growing number of Canadians ‘spiritual
but not religious’*
Kathryn Blaze Carlson | Dec 21, 2012 9:46 PM ET | Last Updated: Dec 21,
2012 9:58 PM ET
Rev. Juanita Austin realized her Salmon Arm, B.C., church’s advertising
campaign resonated when a stranger at the grocery store interrupted her
shopping and thanked the First United Church for putting out such a
welcoming message. “Is there a church out there that gets being Spiritual
but not Religious?” the ad asks. “Check us out.”
The ad does not disguise the church’s ... more »
Out of the Woodwork Come the TruthTellers? (Barofsky Speaks First. . . Next . . . ?)
The title of his forthcoming book—Bailout: An Inside Account of How
Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street—sums up his
worldview. “The further we dug into the way TARP was being administered,
the more obvious it became that Treasury applied a consistent double
standard,” Barofsky writes in the book. “When providing the largest
financial institutions with bailout money,
The 'Craziest Man On Earth' - Best Headline Ever ...
*.... however .... *
*So while it’s easy for us Canadians to watch in horror as the NRA spouts
nonsense, perhaps we should take note of the fact that the nonsense was
carefully salted with phrases like “national media machine” and “the press
and political class here in Washington.” That’s not accidental. The NRA is
not even trying to fight reason with reason.*
*The sales job goes like this: Never mind what the elites say. Never mind
the studies, the differences among countries that suggest policy might
matter. There’s no way to prevent or reduce violence so the only answer is
to ... more »
The NRA - Some Favorite Candidates 2012
Most of us are pretty familiar with campaign contributions that are made
directly to candidates by organizations like the NRA.
Did you know that the NRA also has to report to the FEC the amount of money
they spend on mailings to their members in support or opposition of one
particular candidate if the total exceed $2,000?
It even amazes me what I find when I have time to snoop.
FEC Form 76
SUMMARY OF COMMUNICATION COST
*2 U.S.C. 441b allows “communications by a corporation to its stockholders
and executive or administrative personnel and their families or by a labor
organization t... more »
No, you don't get a vacuum cleaner, but you do get holiday greetings from Finland
*by Ken*
What with the crush of events the last couple of days, I haven't had a
chance to pass on this fantabulous holiday greeting from one of our
country's proud diplomatic servants. I wish to correct current of suspicion
I'm aware of which claims that I lack "holiday spirit." This may or may not
be related to the fact that I have very little holiday spirit, as witness
the fact that this recent Roz Chast cartoon represents what I consider the *ne
plus ultra* of holiday spirit. (You should be able to click on it to
enlarge, but what do I know?)
Anyway, we were talking holiday s... more »
The Academic-Policy Nexus (Or Lack Thereof)
In my first post after signing on with “Team Duck” I thought, before
jumping into a series of weighty topics–rise of the east, end of the west,
cratering of the middle east–it might be worth reflecting a little on my
sojourn as a policymaker after beginning my career as a Political
Scientist. As an IR
Continue reading
Idle No More: Thousands round dance for Indigenous rights
Saskatoon
Winnipeg 4,000 people at Polo Park!
.
Idle No More -Couchiching FN thru town of Fort Frances, On - Photo by, Sonny McGinnis
Media Advisory
Aamjiwnaang First Nation continues blockade of CN Rail, Mayor of Sarnia and city police ask for meeting
When: 11 am, Sunday Dec. 23, 2012
Where: Aamjiwnaang First Nation Blockade (Williams Drive off Scott Road)
Citizens of
It’s just a *massive* coincidence
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to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)
(Another) Ugly Underside of the Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Today, the Human Rights Campaign celebrated the two-year anniversary of
President Obama signing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a move that
officially allowed lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to serve openly in the
United States military. Soon after, I wrote a blog post suggesting that,
while the policy was definitely an improvement on a
Continue reading
Sanity Comes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg
When Charlotte's former superintendent, Peter Gorman, was run out of town,
he found work as another edu-henchman for Rupert Murdoch. Since then,
Charlotte has hired someone who is willing to challenge the status quo of
more high stakes testing. From the Charlotte Observer:
Posted: Friday, Dec. 21, 2012
By Ann Doss Helms
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com
The barrage of new state tests being rolled out this year is “an egregious
waste of taxpayer dollars” that won’t help kids, Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Superintendent Heath Morrison said Thursday.
He joins a band of superintendents across the... more »
Copahue volcano eruption puts Argentina and Chile on alert
The authorities in Argentina and Chile have issued an alert over increased
activity at the Copahue volcano, which has begun spewing smoke and gas.
Many residents have already left the area as a precaution.
An orange volcano alert, the second highest, has been issued in both
countries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20828832
Mount Rokatenda erupts, thousands evacuate, Indonesia
Thousands of residents of the Palue Islands in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara,
have reportedly fled from their homes after their roofs and windows were
rattled by erupting of Mount Rokatenda.
Residents were evacuated to Maumere, Sikka, Ropa and Ende as the volcano
sent debris and volcanic material cascading down its slopes.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/12/22/mt-rokatenda-erupts-thousands-evacuate.html
Egypt constitution approved in vote, say rival camps
Egypt's new constitution, which was drafted by an Islamist-dominated
assembly, was approved by 64 percent of voters in a two-round referendum,
an official in the Muslim Brotherhood said on Sunday citing the group's
unofficial tally.
An official from Egypt's main opposition group, which campaigned against
the constitution saying it would deepen divisions in Egypt, also said that
its unofficial count indicated the document was approved.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/23/us-egypt-politics-idUSBRE8BL03X20121223
5.2 Magnitude Earthquake VANUATU - 23rd December 2012
Magnitude
5.2
Date-Time
Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 00:29:55 UTC
Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 11:29:55 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
13.080°S, 167.113°E
Depth
211 km (131.1 miles)
Region
VANUATU
Distances
100 km (62 miles) NNW of Sola, Vanuatu
4.3 Magnitude Earthquake MOLUCCA SEA - 22nd December 2012
Magnitude
4.3
Date-Time
Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 22:32:42 UTC
Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 06:32:42 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
1.576°N, 126.612°E
Depth
37.5 km (23.3 miles)
Region
MOLUCCA SEA
Distances
121 km (75 miles) NW of Kota Ternate, Indonesia
4.3 Magnitude Earthquake OFFSHORE OAXACA, MEXICO - 22nd December 2012
Magnitude
4.3
Date-Time
Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 22:04:35 UTC
Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 04:04:35 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
15.830°N, 98.318°W
Depth
5.4 km (3.4 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region
OFFSHORE OAXACA, MEXICO
Distances
62 km (38 miles) SSW of Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, Mexico
Every school a killing field: Is the NRA's Wayne LaPierre the stupidest creature on the planet -- or just the most loathsome?
*UPDATE: The NY Post (yes, the NY Post!) today front-paged*
*Blowhard Wayne (the "NRA loon") as "GUN NUT" -- see below*
*Now that Brother Blowhard has made clear exactly who and what he is,
surely he will be universally shunned, right?*
*"[N]othing did more to discredit the merchants of weapons of death than
their own chief advocate’s callous rant."*
*-- from the New York *Daily News* editorial* "Gun-crazed maniac"
*by Ken*
So there I was, fulminating into my keyboard about the astonishing
performance of National Rifle Association Exec VP Wayne LaPierre, who had
broken the NRA's lon... more »
H-Asia: Library of Congress Map Website
H-ASIA
December 22, 2012
Online maps of Asia in the Library of Congress
****************************************
From: Richard J. Smith, Rice University
Happy Holidays!!
My "gift" for the period is to call attention to a vast, rich
and surprisingly under-utilized scholarly resource: the online
Map Collection(s) of the Library of Congress--the contents of which are all
fully downloadable. The basic LOC website is
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/setlhome.html
and the specific search URL is
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/setlmapquery.htm
To find a general item, enter, say, “Chin... more »
Burning down the House
Over at The Corner, HQ of the very serious cons, they're somewhat mystified
by the Tea Party cons pushing Boehner overboard during their mutiny on Plan
B.
One false claim making the rounds about the House Republicans who defeated
John Boehner’s “Plan B” last night is that they don’t understand that
higher taxes are inevitable. A lot of them understand that point perfectly
well. Some of them have been privately advising the Republican leaders to
pursue a strategy that they know would lead to higher taxes than Plan B
contained.
Establishment GOPers should have thought of that when ... more »
Jutxaposition of the day
At the checkout. Posted without comment.
[via Athenae of First Draft]
NYT Editorial – on LaPierre's "deranged rant"
We all know it was not a “press conference” – It was Wayne LaPierre telling
the USA what to do and what to think - becausehethinkshecan.
Anyway, the NY Times came back with an editorial that is pretty darn good.
Here’s snips - about the creepy crawlies:
*The N.R.A. Crawls From Its Hidey Hole*
Still, we were stunned by Mr. LaPierre’s mendacious, delusional, almost
deranged rant.
Mr. LaPierre looked wild-eyed at times as he said the killing was the fault
of the media, songwriters and singers and the people who listen to them,
movie and TV scriptwriters and the people who watch th... more »
Some Saturday cuteness and the mess in my office...
*is not my fault.*
Really!
I have a dust ruffle that needs to be shortened. I dumped it on my office
floor with plans to fold it up until after Christmas. However, Erica, my
kitteh, had other ideas. It is now one of her favorite places to snooze.
Plans are afoot to remove it and replace it with a pillow while she is out
terrorizing our numerous birds. Since she *is* a cat - I doubt she'll fall
for it. We can hope...
*She does look comfy... *
*
**Directly opposite her is Frankie, who is grateful she's stayed out of his
bed lately. *
The apartheid state of Israel strikes again
http://www.israellycool.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/trees.jpg
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