Jul 30 2010
Remember how we were all told that by installing new regulation oversight on the banks would fix what is wrong with the economy?
Remember how the same guys who broke the financial economy and stole trillions stood before the world and declared that they now know how to fix it?
Well … one thing is for sure … The Fix Is In!
Jul 27 2010
Leadership is stated as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”
What makes leadership is the ability to get people to do what they don’t want to do and like it. ~ Harry Truman
Apparently those inspirational words have been lost on California’s Governor. Swept into office on a wave of Republican propaganda and manufactured resentment of the status quo our current debacle sitting in the Capitol has managed to blame everyone else for his shortcomings.
“If I don’t get all of the things that we need in order to be fiscally responsible … I will not sign a budget and it could actually drag out until the next governor gets into office,” Schwarzenegger told reporters after meeting with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
Jul 26 2010
In this country, a long tradition exists of individuals who have refused to perform a particular duty or task, citing their religious beliefs as justification. The very definition of Civil Disobedience, of course, depends on the person, the situation, and how it is applied. The latest incident has opened up a discussion which has never really subsided, only dipped underneath the radar from time to time. In this circumstance, a Texas bus driver, who is also an ordained conservative Christian minister, claims that he was fired for not taking a women to Planned Parenthood. His decision is in the same vein as those of pharmacists who, stating moral reasons, will not dispense the morning-after pill to women who request it.
Jun 20 2010
Naomi Klein:Gulf oil spill: A hole in the world
…the BP disaster pulls back the curtain on something far more hidden: how little control even the most ingenious among us have over the awesome, intricately interconnected natural forces with which we so casually meddle. BP cannot plug the hole in the Earth that it made. Obama cannot order fish species to survive, or brown pelicans not to go extinct (no matter whose ass he kicks). No amount of money – not BP’s recently pledged $20bn (£13.5bn), not $100bn – can replace a culture that has lost its roots. And while our politicians and corporate leaders have yet to come to terms with these humbling truths, the people whose air, water and livelihoods have been contaminated are losing their illusions fast.
“Everything is dying,” a woman said as the town hall meeting was finally coming to a close. “How can you honestly tell us that our Gulf is resilient and will bounce back? Because not one of you up here has a hint as to what is going to happen to our Gulf. You sit up here with a straight face and act like you know when you don’t know.”
This Gulf coast crisis is about many things – corruption, deregulation, the addiction to fossil fuels. But underneath it all, it’s about this: our culture’s excruciatingly dangerous claim to have such complete understanding and command over nature that we can radically manipulate and re-engineer it with minimal risk to the natural systems that sustain us.
Jun 13 2010
Everyone is following the BP story. Everyone is witnessing the horror in the Gulf.
Dead birds. Dead fish. Dead turtles. Dead dolphins.
No more blue fin tuna.
No more domestic shrimp and oysters.
Fishermen out of work. Tourist industries decimated.
Bobby Jindal, Bob Riley, Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist feet stomping about BP’s and the government’s delayed response.
What does it all mean?
Nothing really. Here’s why….
Jun 09 2010
| From Reuters |
Wealthy businesswomen win California Republican races
by Peter Henderson and Jim Christie
June 9, 2010
| California Republicans, who see a grim future for their economically battered state, chose former eBay Inc chief Meg Whitman to face former Democratic governor Jerry Brown in the race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Confidence in government is scraping bottom in the most populous U.S. state, which is facing record 12.6 percent unemployment and a $20 billion government budget gap. Carly Fiorina, another wealthy political novice and former chief executive of computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co, trounced her opponents to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in California. Related Stories: |
Jun 08 2010
| From Reuters |
Anti-incumbent mood as 11 states pick candidates
by Steve Holland
June 8, 2010
| An anti-incumbent mood in the United States threatens to claim another victim on Tuesday as voters in 11 states pick Democratic and Republican candidates to face off in November congressional elections.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, a moderate Democrat, is fighting for her political life in her Arkansas race for a third term. Related Stories: |
Jun 07 2010
Sometimes there is an event which puts every other event leading up to it into perspective.
Bernie Madoff summed it all up recently with 3 words.
“Fuck my victims.”
Jun 07 2010
| From Reuters |
Issues in Depth: Analysis: Obama and Democrats walk tightrope on oil spill
by Patricia Zengerle
June 7, 2010
| Obama had been expected to spend the summer focused on rebuilding the U.S. economy and pushing through major items on his domestic policy agenda such as an overhaul of energy legislation and sweeping financial regulatory reform.
He had also set a busy international schedule, with a trip to Indonesia and Australia and a G20 summit both set for this month. But the administration’s resources are being drained by the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even as it grapples with issues like last Friday’s worrisome jobs report and looks toward elections in which the Democrats will struggle to keep their majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. Related Stories: |
Jun 06 2010
Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Obama vows help as BP sees oil spill progress
by Allen Johnson, AFP
2 hrs 28 mins ago
| GRAND ISLE, Louisiana (AFP) – US President Barack Obama promised on Saturday to use “every resource” to help those affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as Americans awaited news of BP’s latest containment effort.
In his weekly radio address, broadcast from Grand Isle, Louisiana, a community bearing the brunt of the spill, Obama pledged ongoing attention to the disaster. “So we will continue to leverage every resource at our disposal to protect coastlines, to clean up the oil, to hold BP and other companies accountable for damages,” he said. |
Jun 05 2010
Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.
As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.
Jun 05 2010
Obama picks oil exec to probe oil disaster
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