April 2009
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Real Journalism Versus "Professional Journalism" →
libertyeternal:
If Jon Stewart walked out of his studio with his camera crew, went to where establishment figures were speaking, and threw tough questions at them, you’d get something like We Are Change.
The We Are Change reporters have asked the tough questions - a la Stewart (well, minus the comedy) - to former presidents, secretaries of defense, leading Neocons and Iraq war architects, and...
March 2009
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Reporting On Your House Guests
squashed:
When a house guest asks to use my phone, I make sure to log their name and contact information in case they’re using the phone for some illegal purpose. This bit of record keeping is what any patriot would do, right? The same thing happens when you want to use a pay phone at a hotel or coffee shop. It doesn’t mean that we live in a police state—it’s just that predators are after our...
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“Last week, Ford also replaced two members of its board of directors with Richard...”
– So Why Is Ford Smiling? - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com
I find it monumentally depressing that a car company feels the need to put someone like Dick Gephardt on its board. Sadly, the more Government meddles with business, the more politicians will make protecting them. Companies have to pay for...
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Larger Inmate Population Is Boon to Private... →
Prison companies are preparing for a wave of new business as the economic downturn makes it increasingly difficult for federal and state government officials to build and operate their own jails.
Oil rally short-lived, WTI @ $48.70/bbl. on still bad economic conditions, IMF’s non-concession to China: http://tinyurl.com/dh7d84 *oil 4*
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Rising Powers Challenge U.S. on Role in I.M.F. -... →
WASHINGTON — Barely six months ago, the International Monetary Fund emerged from years of declining relevance, hurriedly cobbling together emergency loans for countries from Iceland to Pakistan, as the first wave of the financial crisis hit.
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An Empowered IMF Faces Pivotal Test - WSJ.com →
WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund was widely dismissed as irrelevant just six months ago, an economic emergency room with nearly no patients.
Now, with the global crisis battering one nation after another, the ER is overflowing. The IMF has lent about $50 billion to needy countries to shore up their finances, with more countries lining up for help. At the same time, it’s...
A nice summary of major economic indicators in an easy to view and understand chart format. http://tinyurl.com/b9scx6 RT @hedgefundinvest
GM shares are down 25% after government says bankruptcy may be needed. http://tr.im/hZiu RT @businessnews *economics 3*
Oil retreats to $50/bbl. level on new risk aversion, Obama telling GM they may need to look at bankruptcy: http://tinyurl.com/cqtqo9 *oil 4*
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New Diesel Civil Trust theme forthcoming
A new theme will be released for The Information Paradox ( http://dieselciviltrust.org ) in the next 30 days, possibly sooner, with user–interface upgrades being rolled out as fast as I can grok jQuery and progressive enhancement.
A lot of the theme skeleton has been written in semantic HTML 5, but I will perform a lot of browser testing before releasing it on my readership—there’s no point in...
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OK, it’s official: branding is out of control →
designinfo: KFC sponsors pothole repair.
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Two More States Hit Double-Digit Joblessness : NPR →
vaughnshirley:lepanopticon:
North Carolina and Rhode Island joined a growing list of states whose unemployment rate has reached double digits amid the nation’s worst recession in decades, a government report said Friday.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists expect the national jobless rate to hit...
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The Quiet Coup - The Atlantic (May 2009) →
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the...
RT @rockingjude Obama passing new law to allow searching of PC’s, Laptops, and media devices http://ow.ly/1zdz
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The French Nuclear Industry Is Bad Enough in... →
Areva, France’s nuclear industry, has a solid reputation, but a trail of radioactive waste and deaths in Africa follow its wake.
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Clinton: NKorea plan to fire missile 'provocative' →
MEXICO CITY – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday warned North Korea that firing a missile for any purpose would be a “provocative act” that would have consequences. North Korea is loading a rocket on a launch pad in anticipation of the launch of a communications satellite between April 4 and 8, U.S. counterproliferation and intelligence officials said.
Oil falls on strengthening USD, rising stores of refined gasoline (lower demand in spring.) WTI @ $52/bbl: http://tinyurl.com/c5ds9b *oil 4*
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Schwarzenegger Opens California Fairgrounds to... →
March 25 (Bloomberg) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its residents allowed to stay at the state fairgrounds.
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WatchSlagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
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Andy Kessler Says Bear Raids by Short Sellers... →
So is that it? Is the downturn over? After bouncing off of 6500, or more than half its peak value, and with Citigroup briefly breaking $1, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied back more than 1200 points. So, is it safe to go back in the water? Best to figure out what went wrong first — what I like to call a bear-raid extraordinaire.
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About that AIG resignation letter
abbyjean:
i’ve been thinking a lot about the letter from the guy resigning from AIG that was in the nytimes earlier this week. since my first reaction was white hot incandescent anger, i’ve been trying to sort out what about it made me so upset in a way that could be typed into tumblr instead of just screaming incoherently.
some salient points from the letter:
he was not involved in the...
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Where are tax revenues going?
squashed:
I spent a few minutes looking over past Federal spending—and the results illustrate pretty clearly how “cutting the pork” isn’t going to meaningfully reduce the deficit. Here’s where some of the federal spending:
24.8% - Defense, mostly for the Department of Defense.
22.5% - Healthcare, mostly in medicare and medicaid
22.3% - Social Security and pensions
8.2% - Interest
All of...
Credit crisis putting up to half of needed crude oil drilling & production growth at risk: http://tinyurl.com/dltkw3 *oil 7*
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More Cities Target Teens With Daytime Curfews -... →
DALLAS — This city is considering joining a rising number of others across the country that are imposing criminal penalties on kids who skip school to hang out at the mall or on local street corners.
Saying everything must have an RFID tag is like saying we can’t recognize each other unless we wear nametags. RT @timoreilly *surveillance 5*
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Finance crisis 'could lead to war', IMF warns →
The global financial crisis could lead to social unrest and even war, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday.
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House Republicans reveal their "detailed... →
robot-heart-politics: Upon reading the document, this is basically how reporters responded:
“Are you going to have any further details on this today?” the first asked. “On what?” asked Boehner. “There’s no detail in here,” noted the reporter. Answered Boehner: “This is a blueprint for where we’re going.”
Is anyone really surprised that “nothing” is more or less (mostly less) what...
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Schneier on Security: Privacy in the Age of... →
Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your conversations are no longer ephemeral. A future brought to you not by some 1984-like dystopia, but by the natural tendencies of computers to produce data.
Cautious optimism about global economic turnaround (Treasury action) pushing oil prices to mid $50s/bbl: http://tinyurl.com/cg5a74 *oil 6*
Great new post : Web Design: Minimalistic Sites http://tinyurl.com/cvglmg RT @KrisColvin
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“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was...”
– By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D. (via John Erik Metcalf via brit)
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So much stupidity, so little time...: Making... →
John Wahlberg, a student at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) was given an assignment by his professor, Paula Anderson to give a presentation on a “relevant issue in the media.” John opted to discuss the Virginia Tech massacre and why allowing the concealed carry of firearms on campus might have reduced the number of victims. Sounds pretty cut and dry so far, no?
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Where the real blame lies for the current economic... →
A key bill involved in this mess is the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) originally passed in 1977 and tweaked many times depending on which way the political wind was blowing. It was originally intended to address the deteriorating conditions of American cities—particularly lower-income and minority neighborhoods, essentially through lending of funds. CRA was amended many times to strengthen it...
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WatchNine Inch Nails - Reptile (Live in Vegas, Lights In The Sky Tour 2008, Multi-Cam) on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
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Daily Kos: Everywhere You Want to Be, and... →
If you’re like most people, you’re probably not aware that your cell phone can be used to track your movements. It can. If your phone is fairly new, the odds are it has a GPS chip inside. The same technology that allows car navigation systems to know where your car is can be used to track your movements through your cell phone. But even if your phone doesn’t have a GPS chip, it...
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Strip-Search Case Tests How Far Schools Can Go -... →
SAFFORD, Ariz. — Savana Redding still remembers the clothes she had on — black stretch pants with butterfly patches and a pink T-shirt — the day school officials here forced her to strip six years ago. She was 13 and in eighth grade.
Small business-not Keynseian spending-created 60% of US jobs last 10 yrs., why the credit shortage? http://tinyurl.com/dltye8 *economics 3*
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WatchBob Schieffer spoke with National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers about AIG spending hundreds of millions in bailout money on executive bonuses.
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Switzerland Strips Citizens of Gun Rights →
libertyeternal:
Despite the vehement protests from many of Switzerland’s cantons (states), the lower chamber of the nation’s Federal Assembly voted to strip its citizens of gun rights, not by registering or confiscating firearms, but by outlawing the storing of ammunition in the homes of the citizens.
According to The Liberty Zone, the move was led by Switzerland’s small but vocal–and...
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One Question, Mr. President
While scrubbing the carpet (very sick dog) last night, I was listening to President Obama speak on national television. He mentioned the $165M AIG bonuses a lot, more often than I was comfortable with.
After a while I got really annoyed, because frankly, I don’t give a damn about the $165M. In the scope of things, it’s a mosquito siphoning from an elephant. If I could ask the...