Archive for November, 2010
Election Day 2010: Voting for a Restraining Order?
MediaMonarchy | mike whitney: Barack Obama rode into office in January, 2008 on a wave of optimism. By the time the ballots are counted in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Obama’s personal approval ratings will have fallen to historic lows and he will be universally recognized as the man who brought ruin on the Democratic party.
While still popular among party loyalists, the president has become radioactive among independents–the critical group of “swing voters” who have fled Camp Obama en masse frustrated with both the lack of audacity and/or change. No one figured they were electing George W. Bush to a third term in office when they cast their vote for the inspiring senator from Illinois two years ago. But that’s what they got. To say that supporters are disappointed in Obama’s performance, is a gross understatement of the pessimism that’s spread like Kudzu among the party faithful. People have become increasingly cynical as they…
All 95 Pro-Net Neutrality Candidates Lost On Tuesday
Prior to this week’s election, 95 candidates running for the House and Senate had taken a pledge promising support of Net neutrality. On Tuesday, all 95 candidates lost. That’s right, every single one. Is that dismal result the “final nail in the coffin for Net neutrality” as CNN claims?
Before Tuesday’s midterm elections, there were 95 House and Senate candidates who pledged support for Net neutrality, a bill that would force Internet providers to not charge users more for certain kinds of Web content.
All of them lost — and that could mean the contentious proposal may now be all but dead.
The Federal Communications Commission tried to implement Net neutrality rules but got smacked down in April by a court ruling saying it did not have the authority to do so. As a result, it is preparing a proposal asking Congress to give it new authority to regulate broadband Internet service.
If passed, the…
So You Want To Start A Web Startup?
Some fun lessons for all you would-be web start up zillionaires, courtesy of James Yu.
November 6, 2010: False Flag Attack Possible Predictive Programming?
QUESTION: When in U.S. history has a sitting president taken off on an overseas trip for an extended period of time, with 65 airplanes, 34 warships and 3,000 people, reportedly including his friends and cohorts, at the pinnacle of an economic and political upheaval?
ANSWER: Never!
Firework Madness: Guy Fawkes Joins Diwali
Happy Guy Fawkes Day to all the British disinfonauts out there … and Happy Diwali to all Hindu and Sikh disinfonauts. There should be some massive bonfires and firework displays going on tonight, the first time that Diwali — the festival of light — has fallen on November 5th since 1972.
Lest anyone has forgotten their “Remember, Remember the Fifth of November” ditty, here it is courtesy of V for Vendetta:
Fat Friends May Make You Fat
What’s the old adage — you are the company you keep? From Reuters:
Americans will keep growing fatter until 42 percent of the nation is considered obese, and having fat friends is part of the problem, researchers said on Thursday.
The prediction by a team of researchers at Harvard University contradicts other experts who say the nation’s obesity rate has peaked at 34 percent of the U.S. population.
The finding is from the same group, led by Nicholas Christakis, that reported in 2007 that if someone’s friend becomes obese, that person’s chances of becoming obese increase by more than half.
They now think this same phenomenon is driving the obesity epidemic, which will climb slowly but steadily for the next 40 years.
Alison Hill, a graduate student at Harvard and the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology, said the study is based on the idea that obesity can spread like an…
Alex Jones Versus Doug Stanhope
Ostensibly a debate on eugenics, this becomes a wide ranging and philosophical discussion with lots to think about.
Anwar Al Awlaki – Invited To Pentagon After 9/11 – Terrorist? Or Pentagon / CIA Asset?
Anwar Al Awlaki – Terrorist? Pentagon/CIA Employee? Same Thing!
Al-Qaeda terror mastermind Anwar Al-Awlaki, the man who helped plot the aborted Christmas Day bombing, the Fort Hood shooting, the Times Square bombing attempt, and who also preached to the alleged September 11 hijackers, dined at the Pentagon just months after 9/11 documents obtained by Fox News show. Thursday, October 21, 2010
American-born cleric Awlaki’s role as a key figure in almost every recent terror plot targeting the United States and Canada, coupled with his visit to the Pentagon, only confirms our long stated position that Awlaki is a chief terrorist patsy-handler for the CIA: he is the federal government’s premier false flag agent.
“Documents exclusively obtained by Fox News, including an FBI interview conducted after the Fort Hood shooting in November 2009, state that Awlaki was taken to the Pentagon as part of the military’s outreach to the Muslim community in the immediate aftermath…
Keith on Keith (Richards)
Via Joe Nolan’s Insomnia:
Inside the dust jacket of his new book, Keith Richards has left an inscription:
“This is the Life. Believe it or not, I haven’t forgotten any of it. Thanks and praises, Keith Richards.”
Perhaps the most highly-anticipated rock autobiography ever, Life is the most detailed account we have yet of the legendary guitarist/songwriter.
Richards has lived his life in public since his early 20s and he’s always lived it in the full-glare of the media — bad publicity be damned. That said, this book is not a confessional reassessment in which a public figure offers explanations — or excuses — for past sins. Richards greatest music and worst behavior are a matter of public record and Life doesn’t offer a new version of events so much as it delivers his version, and it’s full of crazy wisdom, smirking sarcasm, raspy rambles, heart and soul.
While other volumes — like Victor Bockris’ excellent Keith — have revealed the man through the eyes of friends, family and Rolling Stones insiders, it’s Life’s first-person candor that sets it apart. Not only does Richards give us the straight-dope on Keith, he also illuminates the rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the ’60’s counter-culture from inside the eye of the hurricane. Life is also about the creative life of one of rock’s most important guitarists and songwriters, and the book’s rich detail is at least partly due to a life lived on the look-out for the next song, the next riff.
Federal Reserve Prints More “Money”; Let’s Return to Scene of the Crime: Jekyll Island
Media Monarchy reports:
The Federal Reserve launched a controversial new policy on Wednesday, committing to buy $600 billion more in government bonds by the middle of next year in an attempt to breathe new life into a struggling U.S. economy.
The decision, which takes the Fed into largely uncharted waters, is aimed at further lowering borrowing costs for consumers and businesses still suffering in the aftermath of the worst recession since the Great Depression. [Which they engineered. Don't forget that. The FED/Banksters do nothing by accident — that would make me an "accident theorist."]
The U.S. central bank said it would buy about $75 billion in longer-term Treasury bonds per month. It said it would regularly review the pace and size of the program and adjust it as needed depending on the path of the recovery. In its post-meeting statement, the Fed described the economy as “slow”, and said employers remained reluctant to add to payrolls. It…
Invisibility Cloak Could Be Coming Soon With The Use Of ‘Metamaterial’
With the invention of the iPad and driverless cars, technology has begun mimicking the images of old “futuristic” sci-fi films. Now our future may hold some inventions influenced by “magical” films, such as the Harry Potter series. BBC News reports:
Scientists in the UK have demonstrated a flexible film that represents a big step toward the “invisibility cloak” made famous by Harry Potter.
The film contains tiny structures that together form a “metamaterial”, which can, among other tricks, manipulate light to render objects invisible. Flexible metamaterials have been made before, but only work for light of a colour far beyond that which we see.
Physicists have hailed the approach a “huge step forward”. The bendy approach for visible light is reported in the New Journal of Physics.
Metamaterials work by interrupting and channelling the flow of light at a fundamental level; in a sense they can be seen as bouncing light waves around in a prescribed…
‘Skin Printer’ Prints Sheets Of Living Human Tissue For Healing Wounds
When this device gets jammed it must be a sorry sight. Technology Review reports on a machine that prints sheets of living tissue, using skin cells as “ink”:
The system, which lays down cells with the same fluid-based inkjet technology used in many printers, could print large swathes of living tissue directly onto the injuries of soldiers wounded on the battlefield. Covering burns and related wounds is of critical importance because, the scientists note, “any loss of full-thickness skin of more than 4 cm in diameter will not heal by itself.”
Tests on mice revealed advanced healing by both the second and third week of recovery, with complete closure and formation of scar tissue by week three in treated (but not untreated) subjects. The printer has two heads, one of which ejects skin cells mixed with fibrinogen (a blood coagulant) and type I collagen (the main component of the connective tissue in scars).…
Jesus Lookalike Banned From Church
In Christianity, you’re supposed to be like Jesus, but not too much like Jesus, because that would make everyone uncomfortable. At least that’s the metaphorical meaning I draw from this story: a man was escorted out of a St. Louis church by police after he showed up looking too Christ-like:
The Power of Ali G: Ridiculed UK Town May Change Name
What next? Will Kazakhstan decide it needs to become Somethingelse-stan? You have to hand it to Sacha Baron Cohen — his characters wield uncanny power. Report from AP via LA Times:
Staines wants the world to know it’s no blot on the landscape.
Sandwiched between Heathrow Airport, a cluster of reservoirs and a bleak industrial park, some in this London commuter town feel Staines has received some bad press — and needs a change of name to change its fortunes.
Middle-class Staines might have wallowed in happy obscurity had it not been picked by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as the home of Ali G, his tracksuit-wearing wannabe gangsta who specialized in hip-hop-inflected malapropisms.
Ali G’s adventures cast the town of 45,000 as an urban wasteland whose main attractions include a traffic circle and the local KFC. The town initially welcomed Baron Cohen’s fame, but the negative connotations lingered even as the comedian moved…
Culture of Bigotry Hindered Australia’s Ability to Integrate With Its Asian Neighbours
The recent reaction by the Australian politicians toward the proposed merger between the Singapore Stock exchange (SGX) and the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) is a typical example of a bigotry culture in this country.
The very minute the news of SGX’s intention to merge with ASX was leaked to the public arena, our politicians begin to jump up and down against the idea without even trying to find out in detail the rationale of the proposed merger, and the possible benefits to Australia. Their responses are so pathetically predictable in a habitually hysterical manner.
Response from the Australian “Elites” in the absence of any detail information about the Merger
Despite the fact that the Treasury Department has yet to receive any submissions from either the SGX or the ASX of the proposed deal (The Australian, 26 Oct 2010, 1:34PM), the Green Senator Bob Brown begin to “links Singapore Human Rights to the Australia…
Bill Moyers: Welcome To Plutocracy!
Bill Moyers
Mr. Moyers delivers his take on what went wrong, where it’s leading, and what to do about it. Take it as you will, but I think it nails the big issues right to the wall for all to see. Via TruthOut:
Bill Moyers speech at Boston University on October 29, 2010, as a part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series.
I was honored when you asked me to join in celebrating Howard Zinn’s life and legacy. I was also surprised. I am a journalist, not a historian. The difference between a journalist and an historian is that the historian knows the difference. George Bernard Shaw once complained that journalists are seemingly unable to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization. In fact, some epic history can start out as a minor incident. A young man named Paris ran off with a beautiful woman who was married to someone…
OBEY: Rallies Have Always Been Used to Manipulate the Masses
Rallies Have Always Been Used to Manipulate the Masses
I finally saw the 1988 movie “They Live” today and realized what Peter Chamberlin is saying with his blog title‘There Are No Sunglasses’. I also saw a little of the Stewart and Colbert sanity/fear rally and you don’t need the sunglasses to see through it.
The lefty counterpoint to the righty Glenn Beck hijacked Tea Party types. The lefties may be a little more fun but no less propagandizing. It’s breaking us down into two groups that oppose each other as if that’s all there is.
But most of us don’t actually fit into this false duplicity. We’re the ones who don’t like Stewart and Obama, Beck and Palin. Using conventional terms we as individuals are a mix of conservative, liberal, moderate, radical or what ever you want to call it. Sort of ‘mongrels’ that don’t fit what the media wants us to be.
Here’s How We Handled Ourselves and Message at the Stewart/Colbert…
Oil Profits Soar Even In Crippled Economy
Site editor’s note: This post from DJ Pangburn originally appeared on death + taxes.
What a joy it is to see some businesses doing well as the corpse of capitalism slowly re-animates…
Very few industries bloom in harsh economic times, but the oil and energy industries are doing just fine. Did anyone expect anything less?
Exxon-Mobil reported a 55% surge in third quarter earnings compared to last year. The U.S. oil giant posted $7.4 billion in earnings, which translates to $1.44 per share. It’s annual revenue rose $13 billion to $95.3 billion, much of the credit going to the demand coming out of China attempting to feed its unstoppable economic engines.
In a statement, ExxonMobil chairman Rex Tillerson commented on Exxon-Mobil’s profits:
“Despite continuing economic uncertainty, we had strong quarterly results and continued to advance our robust investment opportunities.”
Royal Dutch Shell’s quarterly earnings also rose significantly, even as the company divests itself of some of their…
