9/10/11

Where Jon Kyl's $13,558,430 comes from

Jon Kyl (R-AZ) U.S. Senate | MAPLight.org - Money and Politics:

"Total Campaign Contributions Received by Jon Kyl: $13,558,430"

Super Committee member. Anyone there for Pass This Bill?

Haiti faces daunting challenges

Keeping Haiti Safe: Police Reform - International Crisis Group: "Haiti’s porous land and sea borders remain susceptible to drug trafficking, smuggling and other illegal activities that weaken the rule of law and deprive the state of vital revenue. Post-quake insecurity underscores continued vulnerability to violent crime and political instability. Overcrowded urban slums, plagued by deep poverty, limited economic opportunities and the weakness of government institutions, particularly the Haitian National Police (HNP), breed armed groups and remain a source of broader instability."

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Al-Qaeda systematized terrorism first developed by the Western European ultra-left

The paradoxes of the re-Islamization of Muslim societies « The Immanent Frame: "This vertical genealogy obscured all the transversal connections (the fact, for instance, that Al-Qaeda systematized a concept of terrorism that was first developed by the Western European ultra-left of the seventies or the fact that most Al-Qaeda terrorists do not come from traditional Muslim societies but are recruited from among global, uprooted youth, with a huge proportion of converts)."



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Did We Do Tahrir for This?

Egypt: Retry or Free 12,000 After Unfair Military Trials | Human Rights Watch: "(New York) – Since it took over patrolling the streets from the police on January 28, 2011, Egypt’s military has arrested almost 12,000 civilians and brought them before military tribunals, Human Rights Watch said today. This is more than the total number of civilians who faced military trials during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak and undermines Egypt’s move from dictatorship to democratic rule, Human Rights Watch said."

Read that last sentence again.


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China needs to watch its step

China Fuels Violence in Libya, Supplies Arms to Gaddafi | Human Rights First: "Despite United Nations sanctions against Libya, state-controlled Chinese firms offered Muammar Gaddafi huge weapons stockpiles in the final months of his regime."

Much of what China makes, an austerity-bound world can do without. If people learn to vote their politics, China could be the loser. This intelligence broadcasts genocidal urges. Not good. Not good at all.



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This sounds reasonable

Elections 2012: Florida Set For Big Role In GOP Primary: "It's quite plausible that front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney could roughly divide the first four contests, in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. If that happens, Florida could prove the virtual tie-breaker, a prize so big in a state so central to presidential elections that the loser might struggle to stay afloat."

And and should Romney win, it might spell the death of the Tea Party as anything but a corporate funded grass roots puppet for big business. But neither will be a match for a re-energized President Obama.



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This is one of the best Jesus pages on the Web

Historical Jesus Theories: "Study of the historical Jesus has never been as intense as it is in the present, and with this resource the reader can quickly get a feel for the countours of the field and find additional resources with which to come to his or her own conclusions on the historical Jesus."

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Truth in one sentence

Hendrik Hertzberg: Give ’em Hell, Barry? : The New Yorker: "Helping the country is unlikely to be enough of an incentive for Republicans to pass a bill, any bill, that Obama supports, even a bill, like this one, that is assembled mostly from refurbished spare parts collected from their own ideological warehouse."

Therefore proceed to A Democratic Pass This Bill Strategy


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A Democratic Pass This Bill Strategy

Nancy Pelosi: Don’t break up Obama's jobs bill - Seung Min Kim - POLITICO.com:

Let Boehner peel off what he will stand behond
Pass the bill
But
Pass this bill means everything Obama wants
And everything most Americans also want
So introduce each piece with a big
PASS THIS BILL!
Hold the GOP to its votes on these pieces in 2012

Hume understood that reason does not prevail

We Lost Our Sense of Community Some Time Ago - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com:

"Hume understood that reason does not prevail. Emotions trump reason. Thus the only way to get through this mess is to change how we feel about it"

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Bangladesh - a hint of democratic revolution in the air

Bangladesh: The Facebook Status Controversy · Global Voices: "Bangladeshi Facebook users frequently express their opinions, anger, rights, likes and dislikes and some of them are filled with emotions. Once someone posted this status in a Facebook wall which became viral: “I may be poor, but I have a Status”. Now this slogan also has a separate Facebook page."

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My blogging MO

I try daily to whip through my ever-changing and ever-improving sources page
I generally look for one exciting or catching thing 
At each site
I blog it with just enough 
To make further pursuit
A choice you can make with  some confidence
I also do that with material from my own blogs
And from Associated Content where around 3000 pieces reside
If you follow regularly 
You can expect 20 to 50 items 
Each of which you can determine to pursue
In a second or so

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The most interesting Gallup I've seen in a while

Religion Does Not Color Views About Violence: "ABU DHABI -- A Gallup analysis of more than 130 countries nearly a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks suggests that one's religious identity and level of devotion have little to do with one's views about attacking civilians. Almost all residents surveyed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa who reject attacks on civilians say religion is an important part of their daily lives -- much like those who say attacks are sometimes justified."

'via Blog this'

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Big global tree push is underway

Global Forest Restoration Plan Could Protect Climate, Create Jobs: "The Bonn Challenge to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands by 2020 was launched last week at a meeting of government officials, business leaders, and international forest experts in Bonn in support of the 2011 International Year of Forests"

How about for one acre of trees one less car.

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Medicare truth the GOP wants you to ignore

Daily Kos :: News Community Action: "The 2011 report of Medicare’s trustees finds that Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund will remain solvent — that is, able to pay 100 percent of the costs of the hospital insurance coverage that Medicare provides — through 2024; at that point, the payroll taxes and other revenue deposited in the trust fund will still be sufficient to pay 90 percent of Medicare hospital insurance costs."

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Judge OKs US silence on drones

Judge Dumps ACLU Suit for Info on Use of Drones to Kill | Common Dreams: "The CIA turned down a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union. The spy agency refused to admit or deny that it had any relevant records and said that merely confirming the existence of material would reveal classified information."

Maybe Bob should have written one called "With The Law on Your Side"...

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Multiple fires still threaten Lone Star State

More wildfires erupt in Texas as it faces worst dry spell since 1895 - CNN.com:

Including thirteen photos, the first one of which shows a pot-bellied gentleman trying to pry open a gun case. This has to be a short story in someone's addled imagination. "Finally the top gave ..."

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Significant 9/11 works (Gallery with Text)

Close Read : The New Yorker: "What piece of work to emerge from 9/11, by another writer, photographer, filmmaker, or artist, has stayed with you the most?"

I let temptation overcome me. Another of the 9/11 things I thought I would not post when the time of remembrance began. (".. or else I'm getting soft.")

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Narratives you may find nowhere else

Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement — Frankye Adams- Johnson: "Something started moving and stirring in Mississippi in the early '60s, at least that is when I became aware of that something. It might have started earlier with the murder in Money MS. Because when Emmitt Till was killed, I felt a chilling fear among the grown folks in Pocahontas Mississippi, the small town of my childhood. There were hushed conversations about the killing. And the fear that it could have been one of us. But no one talked directly to us children about it."

This is part of a largely lost history that revises much of what you see presented as our national narrative in the media. To read more click the link above.
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Against powerful currents of determinism

Charles Sanders Peirce (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): "Against powerful currents of determinism that derived from the Enlightenment philosophy of the eighteenth century, Peirce urged that there was not the slightest scientific evidence for determinism and that in fact there was considerable scientific evidence against it. Always by the words “science” and “scientific” Peirce understood reference to actual practice by scientists in the laboratory and the field, and not reference to entries in scientific textbooks. In attacking determinism, therefore, Peirce appealed to the evidence of the actual phenomena in laboratories and fields"

'via Blog this'

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American Protestant Mossbacks

The Grass Roots Church: "The mossbacks have been able to keep our present elephantine organizations lumbering along mainly because the critics who snipe at "denominationalism," "bureaucracy," or "the residential parish" have used hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, but have had no inclusive strategy and little agreement on what form of church life should replace the ones they were dismembering. Here is one vision, at least, of how the Church could organize its life, which has the virtue of being considerably different from the paleolithic way it is now." - Harvey Cox

'via Blog this'

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Responsibility for overloading the company or you

Ferry sinks off Tanzania; Some 370 dead, missing - CBS News:

Lets say you. How many would not get onto any overloaded boat or enter any overcrowded bar of steer clear of anyplace a crowd seemed caught in a bottleneck? The company or whoever has responsibility? By definition the buck should stop there. In this story some had the good sense not to board. And details about responsibility are fuzzy at best.

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Let's remember how the Clintons failed to beat the President

The Clintons Seem Not to Learn - Trashing of Obama Continues - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "My guess is that the answer is yes. Those who know him know that he is fully capable of answering the charges of both the Clintons and the Republicans. And that people are smart enough to know what the Clintons are doing by their solicitude for poor Barack."

Solicitude and pity and disappointment are three Democratic Party staples when it comes to Barack Obama. But it could always have been predicted that once his centrist creds were transparently obvious, he would decide to fight and leave the naysayers scratching their heads. He did it with the Clintons big time, and now he can do it with the GOP.

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Back from the hospital

I rarely get into Tweet territory of the sort implied by the headline. But a tad of the personal does not ruin a content blog. My sweetheart (aka wife) took a bad fall at work yesterday and is in the hospital waiting from some surgery. This coincided with some laser work on my eyes so I could not be immediately present. Following on my mom's death (albeit at 102) a few weeks back, by all rights I should feel a bit of trauma. And I have. It will mean some times away from my pursuit here. And moments of testing while I try to doff some of the dependencies that grow in a relationship with someone of infinite generosity. My thoughts are on a future in which even the worst of this will serve to create strength and resilience.

Time for Israel to join the democratic revolution

Clashes as Eqypt ends demo at Israeli Embassy - CBS News:

Not to interfere with armageddon-based destiny thinking, but couldn't Israel capitalize on the global democratic revolution instead of being always taken to be the enemy? There is considerable evidence that the Jew Jesus was both familiar with and somewhat critical of the priestly conservatism that was the inherited religion of his time. I think a slight awareness among Christian Israelphiles might at least give them pause in their Bibi-driven militancy. I wander a bit here. But you get my point I am sure. It's a do unto the least sort of thing. It works.

Have you stolen a Cadillac lately?

Cars That Thieves Don't Want - Yahoo! Autos: "The Highway Loss Data Institute recently released its annual list of the most- and least-stolen vehicles, and a perusal of the top 10 most stolen cars list indicates thieves still favor large pickups and SUVs. The No. 1 stolen car of the year, for instance, was the Cadillac Escalade, a large luxury SUV. Thieves are also going for large cars known for their power (or Hemi) engines, including the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Nissan Maxima."

'via Blog this'

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Must fear precede reason every time?

The Liabilities of the Automobile Culture - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "Third - While the advantages of removing cars from residential areas and densifying to create economically viable communities may be persuasive, it is likely that the public will respond more to demonstrations the dangers of the actual risks of continued reliance on cars and oil."

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A welcome slant on The Grass Roots Church

The Grass Roots Church: In this book, Stephen Rose has taken a welcome step beyond the flood of recent literature that has criticized the existing forms of church life in America. He has boldly sketched out a "field of possibilities," a range of concrete suggestions on how we can alter the institutional shape of the churches to enable them to serve our emerging urban-technological society. He calls his suggestions for a revitalized and reformed church "evocative rather than rigid." Although his modesty is commendable, it is the very specificity of this book which makes it important. No longer will the strident defenders of our present denominational leviathans be able to say, as they often have in the past, that the advocates of renewal operate miles up in the stratosphere with no relationship to the structural realities of the American Church. - Harvey Cox

'via Blog this'

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A reminder of the cost of oil now and to come

Three Nails in the Coffin of Cheap Oil - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "Here are three referenced posts from Short Form Content that provide what is needed to create a conclusive argument which no one can deny. To grouse about the price of oil in the furnace or at the pump is an exercise in wasted breath. We are at the end of cheap oil. Here are three nails in the coffin of any argument to the contrary."

'via Blog this'

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I guess images are where it's at. I must be old fashioned.

Reconstructing 9/11 with Nina Berman — The Still-Shattering Beehive — BagNews: "Of course, the strong implication here is that an otherwise-impersonal and mechanistic free market — as a “bulls-eye” of corporate power, economic inequality, self-absorption and agnosticism — was the main catalyst for the destruction that day, not only in the loss of the symbolic Trade Towers, but in the trillions of dollars in losses (still cascading) to secure the bee’s way-of-life."

'via Blog this'

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This was prescient even though I spelled her name wrong

Michelle Bachmann is a Double Gift to the Democrats - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "She will overshadow and ace out Sarah Palin. This spares us the most noxious and mindless politics of our new century. She covers the Palin waterfront. She has better creds. And she did OK on her first debate. Won, said some. Thank you Michelle. "

Just so you know I was on the case. Lots of "news" would vanish with the application of a little common sense.

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A little post card from Abe Zimmerman in Hibbing

Bob Dylan Has Been on My Dance Card from the Start - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "A little postcard from Abe Zimmerman in Hibbing, Minnesota, asking me to send a copy of an article I'd written on Dylan in the mid 1960s -- it was called "Bob Dylan as Theologian" and it concentrated on songs like "It's Alright Ma"."



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Today I remember the crispness of the air (Memoir Fiction)

Adam Crashes into the Wall of Unrequited Love 1957 - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "I shall try to keep this short and bittersweet. Bitter because there were losses and confusions. Sweet because what could be more enjoyable than dancing on a crisp New England night to the romantic soundtrack of that era? To Morris Stoloff and his orchestra doing "Moonglow" and the "Theme From 'Picnic'" or to other melodies like "Canadian Sunset" or "Moonlight in Vermont"? Crisp nights, picturesque Vermont roadhouses, couches in alcoves, heat in cars. Ah, the thought. "

'via Blog this'

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Tangled web at Northwestern

Chicago magazine | What Happened Between David Protess and Medill?:

Apparently still untangling or tangling depending on your POV.

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Free speech victory in Michigan

Michigan’s Funeral Protest Law Struck Down as Unconstitutional | American Civil Liberties Union: "DETROIT – In a victory for free speech, a federal judge in Michigan yesterday struck down a state statute that makes it illegal to “adversely affect” a funeral. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed the lawsuit in 2009 on behalf of an army veteran and his late wife who were arrested for taking part in the funeral procession of a friend while displaying signs and bumper stickers on their van that were critical of the Bush Administration."

'via Blog this'

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Hitchens lays out a proper mission statement for any writer at all

3quarksdaily: From 9/11 to the Arab spring: "Practically every word I have written, since 2001, has been explicitly or implicitly directed at refuting and defeating those hateful, nihilistic propositions, as well as those among us who try to explain them away."

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What we take as terrible may be our door to serious growth

New Tao Posts: The Tao turns every evil into good:

The glass half full conundrum is too simple.
We are not wrong to see a thing as bad.
The difficulty comes with fixed ideas.
A supple mind sees good within yesterday's evil.
Thus the New Tao post at the link above.

Fracking infographic - or how to ignite drinking water


I would suggest this leaves out the main problem 
with this and all other big solutions on energy 
Their hidden costs are astronomical 
Gas for example is massively more than $5 a gallon
 in direct costs to the user 
Mainly though they are environment killers
 society killers and war creators
 Renewables are a tiny percent now
 They should become the only energy source 
They would be if we designed our world differently as I propose daily.

Updated 6/9/2012


The task of this century is to affirm ontological values that can save us and the planet

I saw an amusing Guy Kawasaki infographic
I was amused til I got to the bottom which said Do Not Impose Values
Or something like that

Since I regularly suggest the ontological values
Tolerance democracy helpfulness and non-idolatry
I wish to suggest that by ontological I mean
there are universal values
They cannot be imposed by others
They are either chosen or not

The proof of this lies in the fact that
Interactively they work to advance history
This is different than Marxism or any other ideology
It is stronger than ideology
It is reality

Just my version if it
Perhaps
But I choose to think not
The only freedom we really possess is to choose the
values upon which we base our actions
Or more precisely
to say no to what is opposed to
tolerance
democracy
helpfulness
and
non-idolatry

These ontological values cannot be imposed
They are lodged deep within the universal consciousness
And the individual consciousness of everyone who lives
Including those who will have nothing to do with them

What philosophy has missed
and religion has failed to infer
are values which are doable provable
pragmaticist
The task of this century is to affirm ontological values
that can save us and the planet

The Tao turns every evil into good

The Tao turns every evil into good
A truth that one perceives with time's passing
What's good and not are judgments that we make
The Tao sees all perfected so should we

Maybe Lee will jog us to "Pass This Bill!"

Lee Dumped 45 Trillion Gallons of Rain - The Daily Beast: "Tropical Storm Lee dumped an estimated 45 trillion gallons of rain through the U.S.—and killed 14 people in its wake. Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency Friday after one of its major highways flooded, while President Obama declared a state of emergency in New York and Pennsylvania. "



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The best protection in NYC involves clearing streets of vehicles in threatened areas

9/11 Threat Suspects Could Be Americans - The Daily Beast: "Two of the three people suspected to be behind Thursday’s “credible” terror threat against New York could be Americans, sources told NBC News Friday. But intelligence officials were quick to say that the information about the suspects was vague. They said they believe that two of the suspects were Americans who flew in through Dubai while the other suspect flew in through Europe, or all three might have been smuggled into Pakistan so their travel records wouldn’t be public."

NYC is a sea of vehicles and there are not enough bomb-sniffing dogs in the world to detect a catastrophic payload. I am against vehicles of any sort in the cyber-communities. See my Beyond Pattern Language blog.


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Can We Reclaim This Century as One Of Progress and Change?


I am sorry but giving as much space in our minds to 9/11 
and terrorism 
is a distortion of history 
History is another word for collective memory  
By suggesting that 9/11 ended the "American Century"
you get the image of a wonderful century 
laid low by 9/11 

It was not a wonderful century 
It was a defeat of progressive principles 
by the acceptance and prosecution of war and violence 
buttressed by a bullying military industrial complex 
that still rules
in tandem with big oil and the ideology of sprawl 
the car consumption whatever you wish to call it 

History remains the struggle of values 
for a place in the human heart soul and mind 
Our values are mostly half-baked and unformed 
Nevertheless while we are gorging ourselves 
on the Cold War and Terror
the democratic revolution is brewing 
and that is the leader of history still

Why so 
Because democracy along with tolerance 
helpfulness and non-idolatry 
is an ontological value which
freely chosen 
propels history 

9/11 and the military automobile sprawl era 
will be part of what we will one day 
be glad is over.


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Detention centers of Southern Vietnam

The Rehab Archipelago | Human Rights Watch: "The 121-page report documents the experiences of people confined to 14 detention centers under the authority of the Ho Chi Minh City government. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture. Quynh Luu, a former detainee who was caught trying to escape from one center, described his punishment: "First they beat my legs so that I couldn't run off again... [Then] they shocked me with an electric baton [and] kept me in the punishment room for a month.""



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RECCMENDATION Richard Gordon Quantum Touch

The Slow as Molasses Press