August 16, 2010 archive

If You ARE Not Going to Vote…Make it a Movement

Simulposted at Daily Kos

Half of the eligible voters in America do not vote.

More than half of America does not vote in Mid Terms.

Not voting does not equal a protest, it equals fading into the wall paper and allowing others to decide your fate….and the fate of the poor….and the fate of Iraqis and Afghans….and now the fate of the planet itself.

It does NOT register as a protest to The Powers That Be.

It registers a victory for The Powers That Be.

The less The People participate in the one way we have left to us to alter or at least affect the world, the more the The Powers That Be rub their hands together in glee.

The Charter for Compassion

CharterforCompassion

Population Dynamics of Places in the News

Population 1960-2008

Population2

I’ve been watching the great HBO series Six Feet Under on DVD for about a week, and yesterday I saw the episode which ends with Ruth Fisher singing along with a tape of Joni Mitchell. I didn’t even recognize the song, but a google search for the lyrics revealed it was Woodstock.

Then last night I had a dream about walking up a long hill with the same song playing in my head, but when I came to the crest and looked down, instead of mobs at a concert I saw a flood like an ocean, and millions of people washed away in it.

“And maybe it’s the time of year

or maybe it’s the time of man

and I don’t know who I am

but you know life is for learning.”

“We are stardust,

billion year-old carbon,

we are golden,

caught in the devil’s bargain

and we got to get ourselves

back to the garden.”

Open Elvis

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(today is the 33rd Anniversary of Elvis’ death)

News at Noon

From Reuters

China tops Japan as second biggest economy in Q2

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White

August 16, 2010

(Reuters) – Japan’s economic growth slowed to a crawl in the second quarter and analysts see more weakness ahead, adding to policymakers’ headaches as they grapple with deflation and a rise in the yen that threatens an export-reliant recovery.

Slowing growth in main export destinations such as the United States and China clouds the outlook, while policymakers are trying hard to talk down the yen after it surged to a 15-year high against the dollar last week.

Japan’s quarterly gross domestic product growth of 0.1 percent translates to annualized expansion of 0.4 percent, well below the median market forecast of 2.3 percent and the United States’ 2.4 percent annualized growth in the same quarter.

Related Stories

Factbox: Japan government, business leaders’ recent remarks on yen

Japan’s unadjusted GDP less than China’s: govt

American Tinder Box



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On the one hand…

Bad Mood Rising. Short fuses on human time bombs. Powder kegs of combustible frustration. Palpable erosion of the social fabric. Race wars, class wars and culture wars. Rage; the new bliss. Violence; the logical extension of free speech in a tone-deaf world. Murder-suicide and fifteen minutes of fame. Write the note and blow out your brains along with the wife, kids and the management team who fired you for cause in the name of “results.” Shareholder value. No longer a human but a line-item on a ledger. No longer a person but an impediment to the profit margin.

Docudharma Times Monday August 16




Monday’s Headlines:

Mass evacuation in Pakistan

Collector doesn’t want these tracks in the trash

USA

From Vietnam to New Orleans, he’s no stranger to catastrophe

In venture with Temple U., Park Service combats looming shortage of rangers

Europe

Danish naval team sent to ‘take on’ Greenpeace ship

Battle over legacy of father of Art Nouveau

Middle East

Gaza doctor writes book of hope despite death of three daughters

Former Israeli official acknowledges ‘mistakes’ over storming of ships

Asia

China denies milk powder caused infant breasts

Japan GDP figures show sharp slowing of economic growth

Africa

Kenya referendum: How groups came together to prevent violence

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind II

Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.

–Charles F. Kettering

Art Link

Time in an Egg

The Complement of Time

When people see some things as beautiful,

other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,

other things become bad.

–Tao te Ching (tr. Strephen Mitchell)

Time is

the collective counting

of humankind

With recognition of time

comes recognition of mortality

To live long

becomes the objective

And while we’re all

counting together

maybe we should also

tally our stuff

I guess to

break the tie

when two people

die simultaneously

So greed

is born

Why is life a game?

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–November 28, 2005

Late Night Karaoke

Muslims could use a good dose of racial bigotry, xenophobia, and religious intolerance

Legally, Ross Douche Bonnet believes in the decidedly liberal ideals enshrined in the Constitution.

Culturally, however, he sees American racial bigotry, xenophobia, and religious intolerance as good things that will help speed the assimilation of Muslims in America.

He says we’d be right to split that baby down the fucking middle.

In the meantime, no “mosques” for Muslims until we’re reassured Islam can even fit into America.

Way to go, Neanderthal York Times.

Sunday Train: Richard Florida and the End of the Automobile Age

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

This week in The New Republic, Richard Florida presented his vision of High Speed Rail as the central strategic point of leverage in an economic “reset” to get us out of the doldrums resulting from the failure of the 20th century growth model to deliver ongoing, sustained growth any more … though the way he frame it is:

As dismal as housing prices continue to be, they have yet to hit bottom in some places. Unemployment remains frozen at an overall level of nine-plus percent, and job creation has been anemic. If the crisis belonged to George W. Bush, the recovery has been Obama’s-and it has been a fragile and tentative one at best. Along with billions of dollars in stimulus payments, the president has spent down most of his political capital. So what is his next step?

So … what is the next step?

Handyman