Saturday, February 12, 2011
Happy Birthday!
Charles Darwin and Lincoln being born on the exact same day in the exact same year still always amazes me. Happy Darwin Day!
Two men who have had such massive impacts on our world.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Thom Hartmann Untangles The Second Amendment
There is such an intellectually dishonest debate where "they want to take away all our guns" is the rallying call for something that is never going to happen.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
STFU Glenn Beck
Stewart: You know what, finding people on Fox News making Nazi comparisons is TOO EASY. I issue a challenge here on this program… LIVE… to my staff: Find someone on Fox News alluding to their political opponants as using Nazi techniques within 24 HOURS of Megyn Kelly saying it doesn’t happen on that network. As I imagine this will be difficult, I’ll give my staff the time it takes me to make a delicious Linzer Torte. I’ll make it… it’s one of my famed… it’s — I’m sorry? You already found it?
Glenn Beck (Clip): …I know the progressives are using progressive tactics. They’re not using Nazi tactics… they’re… the real answer is the Nazis were using early American progressive tactics. And that’s not my opinion… it’s historical fact.
Stewart: …and I should know because I’ve been drawing the wrong conclusions from historical facts… for years.
(via searchingforasign)
Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property
At the end of the twentieth century, intellectual property rights collided with everyday life. Expansive copyright laws and digital rights management technologies sought to shut down new forms of copying and remixing made possible by the Internet. International laws expanding patent rights threatened the lives of millions of people around the world living with HIV/AIDS by limiting their access to cheap generic medicines.For decades, governments have tightened the grip of intellectual property law at the bidding of information industries; but recently, groups have emerged around the world to challenge this wave of enclosure with a new counter-politics of “access to knowledge” or “A2K.” They include software programmers who took to the streets to defeat software patents in Europe, AIDS activists who forced multinational pharmaceutical companies to permit copies of their medicines to be sold in poor countries, subsistence farmers defending their rights to food security or access to agricultural biotechnology, and college students who created a new “free culture” movement to defend the digital commons.
Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property maps this emerging field of activism as a series of historical moments, strategies, and concepts. It gathers some of the most important thinkers and advocates in the field to make the stakes and strategies at play in this new domain visible and the terms of intellectual property law intelligible in their political implications around the world. A Creative Commons edition of this work will be freely available online.
Never has so much been owned by so few.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Southern Sudan Becomes Newest Country
Following a successful independence referendum, Southern Sudan is poised to become the world’s newest country. The White House announced today it will recognize Southern Sudan as a sovereign, independent state in July.
When Neutral Countries Want To Arrest Your Ex-President
"A planned trip by former President George W. Bush to Switzerland this week has been canceled in the face of threatened large-scale protests and calls for an investigation into whether his administration committed human rights abuses in the fight against terrorism."
In Switzerland, Protest Threats Force Bush Speech Cancellation - NYTimes.com
Wonder if Fox News covered this?
DNC > RNC
In a modern first, the 2012 Democratic National Convention will not accept any corporate donations at all, with the intended goal of "increasing the influence of grassroots and individual donors." It's safe to assume the Republican National Convention will not follow suit.
Egyptian Corporatocracy Mirrors America
“It is estimated that 40 percent of Egyptians live below or close to the poverty line. Mubarak’s rule is symbolic of many countries where the corporatocracy (in the name of democracy) puts people in power specifically so they will maintain the wealthiest and greediest status quo – a system benefiting those who least need benefits. An important lesson from the Middle East is that we must call on ourselves to initiate change. It is time to say “No” to corporatocracy robber barons who have stolen our countries. In the U.S., the economic crises, in addition to wars and governmental policies that benefit Big Business, should provide inspiration enough to motivate us into taking action. Until recently our laws were made by elected officials, but now they are crafted by corporate lobbyists. Governments that focus their policies primarily on attaining higher profit-margins for the wealthiest few are, without exception, corrupt governments. When people are starving, do not have adequate healthcare, work under sub-standard conditions and endure environmental hazards – all for the sake of a wealthy few – then it is time to throw out that government.”
— John Perkins
Donald Rumsfeld Is A Known Idiot
In an exclusive interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Rumsfeld concedes that "it's possible" that decisions on how many troops to send into Iraq marked the biggest mistake of the war.
The Pentagon and National War College estimated the Iraq War would need 400,000 troops, Rumsfeld thought 75,000.
Why did a civilian elected official get the military to undermine its own plan?
That is the legacy of Rumsfeld. Never forget how he completely mismanaged our military and destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives in America, Iraq, and around the world.