Friday, July 30, 2010

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. Sir Winston Churchill British politician (

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Sir Winston Churchill
British politician (1874 - 1965)
heres proof

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Judge Blocks AZ Immigration Law This is probably going to get ugly quickly:


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Judge Blocks AZ Immigration Law

This is probably going to get ugly quickly: A federal judge has blocked controversial elements of Arizona's new immigration law that would have required police to question a suspect's immigration status. The judge also blocked provisions that would have required immigrants to carry their papers at all times and forbidden illegal immigrants from seeking work in public places. The law will still take effect on Thursday, but without the blocked provisions.

Read it at Associated Pressugly time
read the beast

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

what chu talkn bout glenn? glenn beck 101


oh you did not dis my man Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre...

The GOP's New Tax Cut Hypocrisy The financial crisis changed the world two years ago, but it didn't change talking points in Washington.




The GOP's New Tax Cut Hypocrisy

The financial crisis changed the world two years ago, but it didn't change talking points in Washington. Debates today over whether to extend or repeal the Bush tax cuts are being argued in exactly the same terms as they were five years ago, Peter Beinart writes in The Daily Beast. Except back then, as Dick Cheney infamously said, deficits didn't matter. Now Republicans pretend deficits are all that matters—and yet they still favor holding onto those tax cuts that will add $2 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years. A changed economy hasn't changed their polities in the slightest. "The Republicans were for cutting taxes when they didn't care about deficits and they are for cutting taxes when they do care about deficits, which is another way of saying that they don't really care about deficits," Beinart argues.

Read it at The Daily Beast
read the beast

Monday, July 26, 2010

What the WikiLeaks Documents Really Reveal

What the WikiLeaks Documents Really Reveal

The whistleblower website WikiLeaks has disclosed nearly 92,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan, painting a grim image of the military effort. The top-secret files, released in conjunction with The New York Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel, show basic and unsustainable contradictions in U.S. policy, says Leslie H. Gelb. One of the revelations details how Pakistani military intelligence has been providing arms, money, and intelligence to the Afghan Taliban, who in turn have been killing American soldiers, confirming "informed" stories that have been floating around for years. It's now much more difficult to deny or dodge the truths that we've all be well aware of—and these leaked military intelligence documents underscore why the Obama administration needs to reconsider its Af-Pak policy, writes Gelb.

Read it at The Daily Beast
wikileaks

Sunday, July 25, 2010

god's day off


GINGER SAYS

While I don't see it as abuse or anything, is it really appropriate to use our children to promote our political views? Does it make a difference if it's leftist, religious, atheist, or right wing views?

what is in a word? Liberal vs. Conservative vs. Libertarian vs. Socialist


its a few years old and you have to stomach o'reilly but its kinda interesting

Friday, July 23, 2010

I'm So Ronery by Kim Jong






New N. Korean Leader Could Rule by September

The world should brace itself for a new "Dear Leader": The Daily Beast's Philip Shenon reports that the CIA is scrambling for information on Kim Jong Un, whom he says could succeed his father Kim Jong Il as the leader of North Korea within weeks. North Korea's recent executions of three Pyongyang officials indicate internal maneuvering, and the 69-year-old Kim Jong Il is believed to be gravely ill. Kim Jong Un is believed to be in his late 20s, is Swiss-educated, a fan of Hollywood, and, Shenon says, "just as ruthless as his father."

Read it at The Daily Beast
poor rittle me

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern About Safety


WASHINGTON — A confidential survey of workers on the Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil rig exploded showed that many of them were concerned about safety practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes or other problems.
British Petroleum is a threat to national security, i say we seize their assets and sell them to exxon the company with a safety record 700 times better

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Conservatives Rush to Defend Shirley Sherrod

I DON'T get this. what is the fuss??

There's an interesting dynamic playing out in the case of fired USDA official Shirley Sherrod -- conservatives are lining up to demand her reinstatement.

First we had Glenn Beck launching into an impassioned defense of Sherrod, which he repeatedly linked to a request that the NAACP show some patience and understanding the next time a conservative is accused of spouting racist remarks. He also used it to go after the Obama administration for approving her dismissal, asking "Why are they getting rid of Shirley? Why is she being made an example of? Where are the journalists on this?" It's sort of a weird demand, since mainstream journalists spent the entire day asking those questions and finding clear answers -- it's how Sherrod was exonerated.

But Beck's not the only one --
you really need to listen to the tape

and now for something completely revolting

Wealth and privilege can buy so much, the most unacceptable purchase is the get out of jail free card





How a Billionaire Pedophile Went Free

Roman Polanski isn't the only man of privilege to evade justice for grotesque crimes. Hedge fund mogul Jeffrey Epstein will be released from house arrest today, five years after he was accused of molesting underage girls from around the world—including three he brought over from France as a birthday gift. Epstein has been under house arrest in Palm Beach for a year, convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Before that, he spent 13 months in the Palm Beach stockade, and was allowed to leave every day to visit his office. His alleged victims said he flew them abroad on private jets, which could have been considered sex trafficking, a far more serious crime than the one he was convicted of. Seven girls reached million-dollar settlements with Epstein, who's worth more than $2 billion. The Daily Beast's Conchita Sarnoff has the exclusive details of the investigation—and how his connections to powerful people at the highest levels of government worldwide may have helped Epstein escape justice.

Read it at The Daily Beast
you can call it sensationalism but it is todays lead story
epstein free
can there be a worse crime?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

why oh then why can't we?


Utopia (pronounced /juːˈtoʊpiə/) is a name for an ideal community or society, which is taken from Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.
The word comes from the Greek: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was utilizing the concept as allegory and did not consider such an ideal place to be realistically possible. The English homophone Eutopia, derived from the Greek εὖ, "good" or "well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double meaning.
I mean its just one man's opinion but the beer is better and according to the heritage foundation its actually a better place to do business, some of them actually speak french and dont forget the maple syrup

oh canada
is there such a thing as an ideal society? what are the criteria?

24 More Economists Back Daily Beast Manifesto





24 More Economists Back Daily Beast Manifesto for New Stimulus, Tax Cuts

As the Senate appears ready to finally pass an extension of unemployment benefits, two dozen more economists, including two Nobel Prize winners, have joined the call for a fresh round of stimulus and tax cuts, swelling the total number of leading economic thinkers signing the manifesto on The Daily Beast to 40. Yes, deficits are a huge long-term problem, but lawmakers can't ignore the urgent need to get Americans back to work now. Exports will continue to be weak as the Japanese and European economics suffer, and demand suffers when millions have no purchasing power because they've lost their jobs. The economy needs a stimulus - and the biggest problem with the stimulus passed last year is that it was too small. Unemployment insurance must be extended, and cities and states need aid so they don't have to fire teachers and firefighters. Balanced budgets are an important long-term goal. But Congress can't let the economy crash in the short term for the sake of it.

Read it at The Daily Beast

tax and spend

Monday, July 19, 2010

Top Economists Call for Action Now Fourteen million out of work!

this surprises me especially with all of europe on emergency austerity measures...


Top Economists Call for Action Now

Fourteen million out of work! Sixteen notable economists and historians have joined in a consensus statement for The Daily Beast demanding urgent action on unemployment and the faltering recovery. Joseph Stiglitz, Alan Blinder, Robert Reich, Richard Parker, Derek Shearer, Laura Tyson, Sir Harold Evans, and other thought leaders have produced a manifesto calling for more government stimulus and tax credits to put America back to work. To avoid the mistakes of the era of the 1930s, the government should not make deficit reduction the first target. Instead, it should replace the lost purchasing power of the unemployed and their families and employ other tax-cut and spending programs to boost demand.

Read it at The Daily Beast
can john maynard keynes get his groove back?





Nobel Laureate: We Don't Need More Government Spending

On Monday, The Daily Beast published an open letter by sixteen economists and historians calling for more government stimulus. Not everyone's signing up, however: Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith has replied to the letter, begging "Please no more government spending! The deficit must now be faced." The previous stimuli were not as effective as expected, he argues, because people saved their money or paid off debt rather than buying new things. Smith advocates lowering business taxes and the costs of creating start-ups.

Read it at The Daily Beast
its the spending stupid

Sunday, July 18, 2010

man's favorite sport, WAR


its sunday, you're watching futbol or football, or big time wrestling, hockey, boxing, NASCAR
wimbledon. sports. What is man;s favorite sport?
I think its war.
almost everyone says how terrible it is.
but you notice how it never goes away
How it seems to have been around forever?

perhaps it has

as i've stated before we've been at it a long time do we enjoy it?
first we used jaw bones then spears arrows muskets
and we always have some glorious excuse
pathetically similar to the excuses of a small child
WELL HE STARTED IT!

have you ever wondered what the worst of war was like?
well glad you asked
The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 18 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name. The battle consisted of an offensive by the British and French armies against the German Army, which since invading France in August 1914 had occupied large areas of that country. The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War: by the time fighting had petered out in late autumn 1916 more than 1.5 million casualties had been suffered by the forces involved. It is understood to have been one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded.

jolly good fun war eh? no we need another sport
we've learned to build rockets to the moon and atom bombs
WILL MANKIND EVER LEARN TO JUST GET ALONG?
WHY IS THAT SO HARD?

never surrender never give up


The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
-Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)
Address to the nation, 22 Oct.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Man with neo-Nazi ties leading patrols in AZ

PHOENIX – Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.
Jason "J.T." Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on "narco-terrorists" and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants. So far, he says his patrols have only found a few border crossers who were given water and handed over to the Border Patrol. Once, they also found a decaying body in a wash, and alerted authorities.
But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready's group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn't white should leave the country "peacefully or by force."
"We're not going to sit around and wait for the government anymore," Ready said. "This is what our founding fathers did."
An escalation of civilian border watches have taken root in Arizona in recent years, including the Minutemen movement. Various groups patrol the desert on foot, horseback and in airplanes and report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, and generally, they have not caused problems for law enforcement.
But Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, is different. He and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.
"These are explicit Nazis," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves."
Ready is a reflection of the anger over illegal immigration in Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial new immigration law in April, which requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.
But Brewer hasn't done enough, Ready said, and he's not satisfied with President Barack Obama's decision to beef up security at the border.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said there haven't been any incidents with the group as they patrol his jurisdiction, which includes several busy immigrant smuggling corridors. But Babeu is concerned because an untrained group acting without the authority of the law could cause "extreme problems," and put themselves and others in danger.
"I'm not inviting them. And in fact, I'd rather they not come," Babeu said. "Especially those who espouse hatred or bigotry such as his."
Law enforcement officials said patrols like Ready's could undercut the work of the thousands of officers on duty every day across the border, especially if they try to enforce the law themselves in carrying out vigilante justice.
Ready said his group has been patrolling in the desert about 50 miles south of Phoenix, in an area where a Pinal County Sheriff's deputy reported he was shot by drug smugglers in April.
Bureau of Land Management rangers met Ready's group during one patrol, and they weren't violating any laws or looking for a confrontation, said spokesman Dennis Godfrey.
The patrols have been occurring on public land, and militia members have no real restrictions on their weaponry because of Arizona's loose gun laws.
The militia is an outgrowth of border watch groups that have been part of the immigration debate in Arizona. Patrols in the Arizona desert by Minutemen organizations brought national attention to illegal immigration in 2004 and 2005.
Such groups continue to operate in Arizona, and law enforcement officials generally don't take issue with them as long as they don't take matters into their own hands.
Border Patrol spokesman Omar Candelaria said the agency appreciates the extra eyes and ears but they would prefer actual law enforcement be left to professionals.
Former Minutemen leader Al Garza recently created the Patriot's Coalition, which uses scouts and search-and-rescue teams to alert the Border Patrol and provide first aid to illegal immigrants.
Depending on the availability of volunteers and the scouts' evidence of border crossers, patrols can vary from several times a week to once a month, Garza said. The operation is about 500 people, and includes a neighborhood watch program, legislative advisers and a horseback patrol, he said.
Technology, rather than manpower, is the focus of Glenn Spencer's American Border Patrol. The group is based at his ranch near the border. The five-man operation flies three small airplanes to ensure that the Border Patrol is present and visible along the international line.
Spencer also uses Internet-controlled cameras and works with a group called Border Invasion Pics, which posts photos of people they suspect are crossing illegally.
"Sitting out there with a bunch of volunteers looking for people is generally a tremendous waste of people and time," Spencer said. "And it's also dangerous."
Ready said he's planning patrols throughout the summer.
"If they don't want my people out there, then there's an easy way to send us home: Secure the border," he said. "We'll put our guns back on the shelf, and that'll be the end of that."
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Can Obama Get His Groove Back?

President Obama said Republicans have decided to "filibuster our recovery" by blocking key votes on economic issues, taking a sharper tone than usual in his weekly radio address Saturday. Obama said the bills—to extend unemployment benefits—would help the U.S. recover from the recession, because people without jobs spend that cash quickly, stimulating the economy. Democrats have been unable to pass the measure since the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) deprived them of a 60-vote supermajority required to end a filibuster. Republicans counter that the $34 billion measure would only add to the country's massive debt. Obama said the GOP spent years during the Bush administration racking up debt, so blocking the unemployment insurance now is disingenuous. The president also asked for Congress to vote on a bill giving credit extensions and tax breaks to small businesses. Financial reform and plugging the oil spill should give the president's party a burst of momentum. But The Daily Beast's Eric Alterman says the White House, at war with the base, still faces a drubbing this fall.

Read it at The Daily Beast
LOOK OUT!!

LOOK OUT!!!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

progress looks like this


100 years ago if a protestant married a catholic or a jew married a christian it was considered socially unacceptable immoral the very fabric of society was considered in peril, society would be on the verge of collapse due to "mixed" marriages. Sounds almost crazy today but i know my grandparents generation thought like this.
50 years ago there were still LAWS prohibiting people of different races marrying one another in some United States.The very fabric of society would fall apart if the races started inter marrying and breeding
gosh we're still here
NOW people often argue that the very fabric of society is again being threatened by the idea that marriages based on a "perversion" . mind you inter racial relationships, marrying out of your ethnic group or religion were once considered perversions.
and there are a few sad isolated people caught in the time warp who still do. which is fine no one is forcing them to marry their own gender no one is forcing them to marry outside their own narrow tribe of xenophobic thinking. all that is being asked is that their brand of outmoded prejudice is no longer codified .the radical the liberal the intellectual criminal

DEBATE: Tea Party v. Socialists


I hope you find this interesting because I was so happy to find it!
I get so frustrated when the debate about American policy degenerates
into name calling, accusing those on the center left of being socialist or communist.
Its particularly frustrating to someone my age who knows his way around the political spectrum
having wandered much of its span during my half century on this planet(this time around)
for example most people here who call themselves progressives
not only DON'T consider themselves socialist , AND ALSO really aren't
what a liberal progressive stands for is really social liberalism or social democracy
is so much different than what REAL doctrinaire marxist/socialists stand for
that someone should really point out that the accusations of democrats being SOCIALIST
are fairly inaccurate, and their needs to be a debate or discussion about what socialism really is
and how they differ from conservatives liberals and social liberals



this IS socialism


the dangers of idiots babbling about socialism and thank god when a rational man calls them out
tom hartman
socialists debate conservatives tea party continued

tea party response

wow this is a long debate... tea party vs socialists on the health care issue

socialists response on health care.. wow this is interesting its actually worth listening to

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

à la bastille !


Allons enfants de la Patrie, Come, children of the Fatherland (Homeland),
Le jour de gloire est arrivé ! The day of glory has arrived!
Contre nous de la tyrannie, Against us of the Tyranny's
L'étendard sanglant est levé, (bis) Bloody banner is raised, (repeat)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Do you hear in the countryside
Mugir ces féroces soldats ? Those ferocious soldiers roaring?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras They come up to your arms
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes ! To slaughter your sons and wives!

Aux armes, citoyens, To arms, citizens,
Formez vos bataillons, Form your battalions,
Marchons, marchons ! Let's march, let's march!
Qu'un sang impur May be an impure blood
Abreuve nos sillons ! Water our furrows!

oh and netflix does rock, but sorry whoopi friend or not mel is a racist misogynist jerk

green partY info


gp.org

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937.

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. She was given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl", as well as the "Créole Goddess" in anglophone nations. In France, she has always been known as "Joséphine Baker".
Baker was the first African American to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre.

Joséphine Baker

Healthcare in the Netherlands


does universal health care have to be government run? not necessarily there are many options around the world many models i'm surprised this one isn't suggested more as it might be a better fit than single payer or public option for the USA where government run anything is opposed on philosophical grounds
lets not forget the french

the british

today

canadian health care

and then there is our system

France's lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public.

France's lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public.

There were 335 votes for the bill and only one against in the 557-seat National Assembly.

It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law.

The ban has strong public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.

Many of the opposition Socialists, who originally wanted the ban limited only to public buildings, abstained from voting after coming under pressure from feminist supporters of the bill.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed the ban as part of a wider debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.
bbc news
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why does the civil war period have such a hold on the american persona?


I have got to get a hobby another hobby
I'm becoming a pest
last sunday i got in a loud argument, a loud and pointless argument in public
about the causes of the american civil war
whether it was fought to abolish slavery
or over states rights
that states rights nonsense never ceases to anger me because its such a pretext
anyways
this is the nice thing
the amazing really remarkable thing about the 21 st century
is its technology
the internet
what you are looking at
the ability for people so far away from each other to communicate and share ideas
ever want to listen to a YALE professor discuss the civili war
what it was about?
IN DETAIL
in the day you'd have to go to a library or a book store
go visit some old college professor or talk to your grandfather or uncle whoever the family history nut was
now all you have to do is consult youtube or wikipedia
you might forget all the clever arguments some lefty pointy headed eastern professor
for why the subterfuge
of states rights was not the REAL issue during the war of " northern aggression "
for all its imperfection the union had to fight to preserve itself
but it was slavery that started the dispute
and it was the abolition of slavery and the 13th 14th and 15th
amendments were the result
so if you ever feel the need to consult a real expert on a first class analysis
of the causes and results of the civil war
here you go..
if you did find this interesting you can find the whole semester of lectures here

Financial Reform Gets to 60 Votes Financial reform is ready at last: Democrats have the 60 votes needed to pass the financial-regulation

Financial Reform Gets to 60 Votes

Financial reform is ready at last: Democrats have the 60 votes needed to pass the financial-regulation overhaul after Republican Senators Scott Brown (MA), Susan Collins (ME), and Olympia Snowe (ME) agreed to break their party's filibuster and vote for the bill. Unless Republicans agree to expedite the process, the bill won't be ready for a final vote until Thursday, leaving plenty of time for Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who voted for the original bill in May, to sign up for the measure—or for Ben Nelson (D-NE), who insists he's officially undecided even though Democratic leaders are counting him in their tally, to throw the process into disarray by coming out against it. Meanwhile, as the vote nears, Peter Lauria talks to media titans, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, about increasing skepticism over President Obama.

Read it at The Daily Beast
At last week’s Sun Valley summit of media titans, the mood was dour, the forecast anxious. Peter Lauria on how America’s moguls are growing increasingly skeptical about the president.

Monday, July 12, 2010

is anyone following this?


they say the robots have this under control hm
i'm not so sure
bp robots lower cap

until it ends it never ends


BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Masked Irish nationalist youths are hurling bottles, bricks and other makeshift weapons at riot police protecting a Protestant march in north Belfast as violence has resumed following a day of Protestant parades across Northern Ireland.
Monday night's rioting broke out on the edge of Ardoyne, a Catholic district where locals each year try to attack Protestant members of the Orange Order brotherhood as they march to their lodge nearby.
Several hundred Irish nationalists have packed side streets beside the parade. Many are hurling objects into the roadway and into lines of police in helmets and body armor. Several vehicles also have been hijacked and burned.
Police have stopped the Protestant marchers and are keeping them away from the riot.
11juli20111juli2010

People try to simplify this issue, when it is really much more complex and goes back 1000 years the british had occupied ireland even before the reformation when england was still a catholic nation the normans invaded in 1167 but the difference was the normans adopted the gaelic language assimilated into the conquered population disturbing little of the culture and becoming MORE IRISH THAN THE IRISH
the real problem thought does go back to the elizabethan period when Protestant Britain decided to commit genocide against the irish, take their land and force the anglican church on the indigenous population, but even that is simplistic its very complex the orange goes back to the battle of the Boyne and a dutch protestant king who was asked to save england from a catholic king and marry his protestant daughter Mary, (james II) the history between england and ireland is long complex and quite tragic
i'm not irish i'm about half dutch and half french and i was raised methodist which is a protestant sect although i consider myself agnostic, i think the english and bullies always have been marching over the world stealing peoples land and resources, they should leave ireland to the irish i think the republic is just as capable perhaps more so than settling any remaining matters between catholics and protestants
its a shame that this sort of religious strife remains in a mainly secular western europe but i don't blame
irish catholics they are the victims, i don't even blame protestantism, i think religion was used as a pretext by the british to keep a population divided the way they often did to subjugate conquered people.
i dont blame the common english man either he/she suffered under this feudal system too,blame the monarchy blame the empire and blame the snotty inbred twits that perpetuate it, but dont blame the irish catholics, they have suffered genocide starvation and diaspora at the hands of the british empire.
oh and if you want to understand a bit of the fight
heres a bit of history..

permanent exile


BERN, Switzerland – The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.
The stunning decision could end the United States' three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland's deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.
The Swiss government said it had sought confidential testimony given on Jan. 26 by Roger Gunson, the Los Angeles attorney in charge of the original prosecution against Polanski. Washington rejected the request.
"Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he's a free man," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.
Authorities in Los Angeles and Washington cannot appeal the Swiss decision. Sandy Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, declined to comment.
The Oscar-winning director of "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a 1977 modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again. The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a "voluntary deportation." Polanski then fled the country on the eve of his Feb. 1, 1978, sentencing.Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Wow another spoiled wealthy famous Hollywood celebrity walks away scott free ... AND it took over 30 years just to put him under house arrest , but if you are angry about it look at it this way, he's France's problem thats his home, he'll never step on U.S. soil as long as he lives, he'll never attend another holly wood award show or holly wood party walk the streets or playgrounds of hollywood ever again, thats not enough punishment of course, but think a moment, to a movie director like polanski exile from babylon
is more than just a humiliation or inconvenience , its well exile. and also we get to punish the french we dont have to pay for his jail stay and for as long as he lives the french have to keep an eye on him.
or maybe they dont care who knows? but the thing is it really isnt like he got off scott free this thing will alWAYS HANG like a cloud over his head, he wont go down in history as the brave little film director that survived hitler and Charles Manson he will always be remembered as the rotten little pervert who molested a 13 year old child. and to a self centered egomaniac from hollywood culture perhaps that is at least some punishment to console the outraged.
but i think the thing that really BUGS me about this is NOT that the French have granted one of their own haven for 33 years is that we dont see what this says about our own culture, we let him go, and we dont see the real perversion
WE ARE OBSESSED WITH CELEBRITY we spoil and pamper them constantly obsess over their person lives
and then act dumfounded when they act out
the french want him so bad let them keep him hes their problem
he'll never visit hollywood again hes no longer our problem
perhaps we should concentrate on other issues

reaction here and in europe differs greatly

Sunday, July 11, 2010

if it makes them happy


IT CAN'T BE THAT BAD.

Who Will Win Today's World Cup Final? Spaniards are not used to playing nice with each other, generally speaking.





Who Will Win Today's World Cup Final?

Spaniards are not used to playing nice with each other, generally speaking. Catalonia and the Basque country spend much of their time proclaiming themselves as culturally and politically independent nations—even though the Spanish constitution says otherwise. But for a moment at least, none of that matters. With its national team playing in the World Cup final this afternoon against the Netherlands, Spain is a briefly united country, rallying around La Furia Roja, as the team is known. "Not since the Spanish civil war have there been so many flags in the streets," El País newspaper reported. Until now, the flag had been widely despised outside of Madrid as a symbol of fascist rule under General Franco. But even in Barcelona, the heart of Catalonia, it is cropping up on balconies. After today's final game, the ultra-exclusive club of World Cup winners will admit a new member—only its eighth in 80 years. The Daily Beast's Joshua Robinson on how we arrived at this extraordinary moment. Plus, watch highlights of the tournament.

Read it at The Daily Beast
read it here

Saturday, July 10, 2010

saturday night in cleveland ohio is like being in cleveland ohio on a saturday night!

things to do in your home town
The Cleveland Cinematheque is an alternative film theatre located in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1984, it is a part of the Cleveland Institute of Art. It releases a film schedule every other month.
watch a film about sunny florida by the sea in 1929
The Cocoanuts (1929) is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, it was adapted to the screen by Morrie Ryskind from the George S. Kaufman Broadway play.
As one of the earliest examples of a transfer of a stage musical to the new medium, The Cocoanuts highlights the imperfect production methods of early sound films. Five of the film's tunes were composed by Irving Berlin including "When My Dreams Come True," sung by Oscar Shaw and Mary Eaton.

The Cocoanuts is set in the Hotel de Cocoanut, a resort hotel during the big Florida development boom of the 1920s. Groucho runs the place, assisted by "straight man" Zeppo, who would rather sleep at the front desk than actually help him run it. Chico and Harpo arrive with empty luggage, which they plan to fill by robbing and conning the guests. Margaret Dumont, in the first of her many appearances as a stuffy dowager wooed and tormented by Groucho, is one of the few paying customers. Her daughter is in love with a struggling young architect who works to support himself as a clerk at the hotel, but who has plans for the development of the entire area. Mrs. Potter (Dumont) wants her daughter to marry a man she believes to be of higher social standing than the clerk. This would-be fiance is actually a con man out to steal the dowager's diamond necklace with the help of his conniving partner, played by Kay Francis.
But the plot is beside the point. The story and setting are little more than an excuse for the brothers to run amok. The film is also notable for its musical "production numbers" similar to those used in the 1930s by Busby Berkeley, including techniques which were soon to become standard, such as overhead shots of dancing girls imitating the patterns of a kaleidoscope. All of these numbers were recorded live on the soundstage as they were shot, rather than pre-recorded, and all with an off-camera orchestra. The main titles are superimposed over a negative image of the "Monkey-Doodle-Do" number photographed from an angle that does not appear in the body of the film.
One of the more infamous gags in the film has Groucho giving directions to Chico, who keeps misunderstanding "viaduct" as "why-a-duck". In another sequence Groucho is the auctioneer for some land of possibly questionable value ("You can have any kind of a home you want to; you can even get stucco! Oh, how you can get stuck-oh!") He has hired Chico to artificially "bid up" during the auction. To Groucho's frustration, Chico keeps outbidding everyone, even himself. Still another sequence has Groucho, and later the necklace thief, perform a formal speech. Harpo repeatedly walks off, with a grim look on his face, to the punch bowl. (It's implied that the fruit punch has been spiked with alcohol).

Referring to directors Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, Groucho Marx remarked, "One of them didn't understand English and the other didn't understand Harpo." When the Marx Brothers were shown the final cut of the film, they were so appalled they tried to buy the negative back and prevent its release. Paramount wisely resisted — the movie turned out to be a big hit and earned close to two million dollars.
As the film was made in the early days of sound film, to eliminate the sound of the camera motors, the cameras and the cameramen were enclosed in large soundproof booths with a glass panel to allow filming fronting the booth. Before filming the cameraman was shut inside the booth with packs of ice to prevent condensation forming on the glass panel. The length of filming was therefore limited by endurance of the cameramen within the airtight booths. This practice was commonplace in the early years of sound film and is largely responsible for the static camera work of that era.
you can come down and watch it with us..or watch it here..enjoy your saturday evening
The Cleveland Institute of Art
11141 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1710
Location of Second Building: 11610 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1710
Phone: (216) 421.7000 or (800) 223.4700

Friday, July 9, 2010

Japan deports convicted NZ anti-whaling activist


TOKYO – Japan deported a New Zealand activist convicted of assault and obstruction after he attempted to stop the annual Japanese whale hunt.
Peter Bethune, 45, who clambered aboard a Japanese whaler in the middle of the Antarctic Ocean in February, was detained aboard the ship and arrested when it returned to Japan. Earlier this week, a Tokyo court sentenced the former member of conservation group Sea Shepherd to two years in prison but suspended the sentence.
On Friday evening, Bethune was escorted by immigration officers onto an Air New Zealand flight bound for Auckland.
Japan each year hunts hundreds of mostly minke whales — which are not an endangered species — in Antarctic waters. U.S.-based Sea Shepherd has been actively protesting Japan's whaling trips for years, often scuffling with whalers at sea.
Japan conducts whale hunts in the region as part of a research program, an allowed exception to an international whaling ban. But Sea Shepherd and other critics say it is a cover for commercial whaling, noting nearly all the meat ends up in restaurants.
Bethune was convicted of several offenses, including assault for throwing bottles of rancid butter at whaling ships, trespassing, vandalism and possession of a knife. He slashed a protective net around the Shonan Maru 2 with a knife to board the ship from a Jet Ski.
In a tearful closing statement at his trial in June, Bethune apologized for the trouble and said he never intended to hurt anyone.
During earlier trial sessions, Bethune said he just wanted to confront the Japanese ship's captain and hand him a $3 million bill for the destruction of the Ady Gil, a Sea Shepherd vessel that sank when the two boats collided in January.
Sea Shepherd announced during the trial it would not let Bethune participate in further protests, but said Thursday that was a tactic to help him avoid prison time and he's free to rejoin.
Japan, Norway and Iceland hunt whales under exceptions to a 1986 moratorium by the International Whaling Commission. Japan's whaling program involves large-scale expeditions to the Antarctic Ocean, while other whaling countries mostly stay along their own coasts.
Confrontations between Sea Shepherd boats and Japanese vessels have at times turned violent. Activists try to obstruct whaling ships by cutting them off, dangling ropes in the water to snarl their propellers, or throwing containers of rancid butter. The whalers have responded with water canons and sonar devices to disorient the environmentalists.
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Le Jour De La Bastille

We just had our 4 th of July
and to us in the United States
its a big day
but the trouble is
we think the world revolves around us
and we forget how big and how old the world is
we weren't always here
and in 1776 we were a backwater not a super power
the 14 th is coming up
bastille day

Bastille Day is the French national holiday which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (National Celebration) and commonly le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. Festivities are held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic.

Now we like to think that what we Americans do and did change the world in ways no one can or ever did
but thats really not true
In my opinion the 14 th of July 1789 might very well have been the single most important day in the modern era
and anyone interested in changing our world must se how this day really was like a kick off
this is where modern revolutionary change started.
it was a day that started a revolution and a revolution that started a war that lasted 25 years
The Great French War is a term sometimes used to describe the period of almost continuous conflict from April 20, 1792 to November 20, 1815 (23 years 7 months), between France and various other states of Europe. Nowadays, historians commonly recognize a split between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
The conflict began when France declared war on Austria following a gradual increase in tensions following the French Revolution in 1789. The wars continued through several régime changes in France (beginning with the deposition of King Louis XVI in 1792 and continuing through the Terror instigated by the Jacobins under Maximilien de Robespierre). The Jacobins were in turn overthrown and an Executive Directory set up, eventually also giving way to the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte—first as First Consul then as Emperor.
The Treaty of Amiens produced the only period of general peace during the Great French War (besides Napoleon's brief exile on Elba), and separates the earlier French Revolutionary Wars from the later Napoleonic Wars, although both terms are sometimes used to cover the entire period.
In total the war claimed between 4 million and 6.5 million lives (including civilian casualties) and involved between 6 and 10 million combatants. It was fought principally in Europe, but conflict did occur in both north Africa and South Africa as well as in South America, North America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, India and throughout much of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Some colonial possessions changed hands permanently, with crucial implications for their later history, such as South Africa.
The wars saw the rise and fall of French dominance over Europe, as well as the rapid decline of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The Russian and British Empires thus both benefited from the wars in the short term. One lasting result of the conflict was a dramatic growth in Italian and German nationalism, which culminated in the unification of Italy in 1861 and of Germany in 1871. The war proved to be the last ever fought between Britain and France, ending the Second Hundred Years' War that had seen them constantly in conflict between 1689 and 1815.

NOW JUST IMAGINE BEING THERE ON SUCH A DAY TO WATCH THE WHOLE WORLD TURN UPSIDE DOWN. to me that is a day to celebrate

pick a dogma any dogma

Many people on both "sides"
like to simplify things, because simplifying things makes well simpler
its easier to divide things into us and them
that provides you with ENEMIES..

but life isnt simple
and there really isnt two sides
there are a million sides
and a thousands shades of grey
things are rarely back and white
to some people anyone who advocates funding for public libraries is a communist
or anyone who advocates gay marriage is some sort of anarchist

but what do these terms mean
so confusing
very complicated

its very easy to get confused because many people want to label any one the left a communist
when we really dont get along at all or agree on much either

many people accused of being "communists" are really very moderate and arent communist at all
its all so very complicated

i mean many 'liberals" are actually very pro market
which often puts them on the right on economic issues but left on social issues
so you really have to pay attention
and basically ignore anything anne coulter or glenn beck say
the left broadly is opposed to the capitalist system even though thats a bit simplistic

but to prove i'm fair minded heres
arnold shwartzenegger to tell you what a cool guy milton freedman was

and if you are curious
thats right i'm just as extreme as you can get why i actually eat babies for breakfast
because i'm a liberal and no thats quite quite different than being a communist
please try to pay attention
not communist

Thursday, July 8, 2010

curiouser & curiouser


The conflict in the middle east doesn't really get to me except in one respect.
people think its special
that theres something unique about it
its a conflict over land that has been fought over centuries, even Millennia
between two ethnic and/or religious groups claiming it exclusively as their own
how is that unique?
the english and the irish still haven't settled the matter of who ulster should belong too
the mexicans still want california and texas back
the chinese have a problem with tibet
greece and turkey still fuss over cyprus, don't they?
how is israel/palestine unique?
the other thing that kinda annoys me is when people try to simplify this dispute and others
as a religious conflict
its much more complicated than that
Nationalism and Religious conflict are fairly distinct but they get lumped together and that confuses the issue
sometimes trying to simplify an issue makes it more confusing more complicated
because nothing is simple
many try to wrap a religion or a race in a flag and pretend one is the embodiment of the other
not all agree
in fact some would take issue
which i do admit is confusing
and makes the planet a curious place indeed

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

when in rome


this is a tricky one
the burka
secularism
and the issue of religious tolerance
do you have to tolerate the intolerant?
in the name of equality freedom and rational thought may you persecute
the reactionary?
or is this a form of bigotry?

So much blood has been shed by the Church because of an omission from the Gospel: "Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor's religion is." Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. Divinity is claimed for many religions; but no religion is great enough or divine enough to add that new law to its code.
- Mark Twain, a Biography
We despise all reverences and all the objects of reverence which are outside the pale of our own list of sacred things. And yet, with strange inconsistency, we are shocked when other people despise and defile the things which are holy to us.
- Following the Equator

Monday, July 5, 2010

homicidal monkeys 50 000 years ago and today


What we are?
Murderous monkeys with a taste for blood.
clever monkeys that invent neat things like a bombs and napalm
but basically the same monkey that threw rocks and used jaw bones as a club
perhaps we're just clever in the wrong way

seriously? how far have we come
are we really that different than our ancestors 80 000 years ago?

Turkey Says It Will Cut Ties with Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have a crisis on his hands before he visits Washington o

Turkey Says It Will Cut Ties with Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have a crisis on his hands before he visits Washington on Tuesday: Turkey, long one of Israel's closest allies in the Muslim world, has said it will cut ties with the Jewish state unless it apologizes for the May 31 flotilla raid that killed nine activists. Meanwhile, Israel has revised the blockade of the Gaza Strip that the protesters were trying to breach: From now on, it will allow consumer goods into Gaza; but it will continue to ban construction materials, which are needed to fix damage from last year's war. Meanwhile, before Netanyahu's visit to the White House tomorrow, historian Thaddeus Russell writes that President Obama needs to ask if Israel makes Americans safer—even if the answer makes everyone uncomfortable.

Read it at The Daily Beast and this looks serious folks




if you don't think Israel has a colossal pr problem your not paying attention , the american media pretty much censors ANY criticism of Israel for ANY reason there is more criticism of Israel in Israel than in the United States,with holding any judgement on whether Israel is the villain or the victim in the world, the important thing to be aware of is how serious the situation is for Israel when an old ally like turkey breaks relations like this

it took the IRA years to figure this one out also
"After decades of trying—and failing—to gain their own state by throwing stones, firing rockets, taking hostages, hijacking planes and blowing themselves up, it looked like the Palestinians, or their allies by proxy, had eyed one of the most powerful resistance tactics: nonviolent protest."
but eventually they did

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Mad Republican Tea Party

Was tipped off to this excellent mockery of Teabagger stupidity. Apparently it was produced by CollegeHumor.com, which is pretty sweet by itself.



Michael