OH MY GOSH!
The number of godless is increasing. Among the findings of a new report studying American religion: fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990; traditional organized religion is playing less of a role in many lives; thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.
(FOX NEWS, suggested by ALTERNET)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Mobile opens its doors to the NFL - NFL - ESPN
MOBILE'S GLORY SPORTS DAYS
Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige and Willie McCovey, future Hall of Famers all, were born in Mobile. Billy Williams, another Hall of Famer to be, grew up in nearby Whistler. I can still remember the day that Mobile native Tommie Agee, outfielder for the 1969 World Champion New York Mets, came to Mary B. Austin Elementary School, where I served as the resident fourth-grade sports geek.
(Suggested by JON STEELE)
Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige and Willie McCovey, future Hall of Famers all, were born in Mobile. Billy Williams, another Hall of Famer to be, grew up in nearby Whistler. I can still remember the day that Mobile native Tommie Agee, outfielder for the 1969 World Champion New York Mets, came to Mary B. Austin Elementary School, where I served as the resident fourth-grade sports geek.
(Suggested by JON STEELE)
Friday, March 06, 2009
Why Cuba's Dreams of Major Oil Discoveries Might Come True - US News and World Report
REPOLITIK OIL
Cuba is one of the biggest wild cards in the Western Hemisphere's energy outlook. A major oil find in Cuban waters could subvert the logic behind the U.S. embargo of Cuba, a policy that endures in part because it imposes only minor economic costs while meeting the political demands of hard-liners. "It would obliterate the domestic political excuse," says one Cuba expert. Adds another, "It could be a game changer."
(US News & World Reports)
Cuba is one of the biggest wild cards in the Western Hemisphere's energy outlook. A major oil find in Cuban waters could subvert the logic behind the U.S. embargo of Cuba, a policy that endures in part because it imposes only minor economic costs while meeting the political demands of hard-liners. "It would obliterate the domestic political excuse," says one Cuba expert. Adds another, "It could be a game changer."
(US News & World Reports)
Thursday, March 05, 2009
AM I RED?
Even as we all turn red, I've still encountered just two avowed democratic socialists in my daily rounds through the nation's capital: Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders . . . and the guy I see in the mirror when I shave. Bernie is quite capable of speaking for himself, so what follows is a report on the state of actual existing socialism from the other half of the D.C. Senators and Columnists Soviet.
(WASHINGTON POST, suggested by TRUTHOUT)
Even as we all turn red, I've still encountered just two avowed democratic socialists in my daily rounds through the nation's capital: Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders . . . and the guy I see in the mirror when I shave. Bernie is quite capable of speaking for himself, so what follows is a report on the state of actual existing socialism from the other half of the D.C. Senators and Columnists Soviet.
(WASHINGTON POST, suggested by TRUTHOUT)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
IT'S TIME FOR SOME ONE-ON-ONE STREET BALL!
President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide has warped his economic strategy. He was expected to come out with a really strong stimulus plan, reflecting both the economy’s dire straits and his own electoral mandate. Instead,he offered a plan that was clearly both too small and too heavily reliant on tax cuts. Why? Because he wanted the plan to have broad bipartisan support, and believed that it would.
Obama’s post-partisan yearnings may also explain why he didn’t do something crucially important: speak forcefully about how government spending can help support the economy. Instead, he let conservatives define the debate, waiting until late last week before finally saying what needed to be said — that increasing spending is the whole point of the plan.
Obama was reduced to bargaining for the votes of those centrists. And the centrists, predictably, extracted a pound of flesh — not, as far as anyone can tell, based on any coherent economic argument, but simply to demonstrate their centrist mojo. They probably would have demanded that $100 billion or so be cut from anything Mr. Obama proposed; by coming in with such a low initial bid, the president guaranteed that the final deal would be much too small.
Such are the perils of negotiating with yourself.
(ALTERNET)
President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide has warped his economic strategy. He was expected to come out with a really strong stimulus plan, reflecting both the economy’s dire straits and his own electoral mandate. Instead,he offered a plan that was clearly both too small and too heavily reliant on tax cuts. Why? Because he wanted the plan to have broad bipartisan support, and believed that it would.
Obama’s post-partisan yearnings may also explain why he didn’t do something crucially important: speak forcefully about how government spending can help support the economy. Instead, he let conservatives define the debate, waiting until late last week before finally saying what needed to be said — that increasing spending is the whole point of the plan.
Obama was reduced to bargaining for the votes of those centrists. And the centrists, predictably, extracted a pound of flesh — not, as far as anyone can tell, based on any coherent economic argument, but simply to demonstrate their centrist mojo. They probably would have demanded that $100 billion or so be cut from anything Mr. Obama proposed; by coming in with such a low initial bid, the president guaranteed that the final deal would be much too small.
Such are the perils of negotiating with yourself.
(ALTERNET)
Monday, February 09, 2009
Tear Down This Myth: How Reagan's Legacy Haunts Our Future | Media and Technology | AlterNet
REAGAN AND REVISION
It's always sunny at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California where "The Great Communicator" speaks out from the great beyond. But he leaves out some very important details about his time in office. There's no note about his administration accumulating more debt in real dollars than all the presidents who came before him combined. Or, about the fact that the federal payroll increased from 1981 to 1989. No mention, either, of the Iran-Contra affair, the scandal that almost toppled his presidency. How about the lower class backs he rode, or about who exactly benefited from his tenure, and who is now paying him back by helping construct his memorial? Mum's the word.
(ALTERNET)
It's always sunny at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California where "The Great Communicator" speaks out from the great beyond. But he leaves out some very important details about his time in office. There's no note about his administration accumulating more debt in real dollars than all the presidents who came before him combined. Or, about the fact that the federal payroll increased from 1981 to 1989. No mention, either, of the Iran-Contra affair, the scandal that almost toppled his presidency. How about the lower class backs he rode, or about who exactly benefited from his tenure, and who is now paying him back by helping construct his memorial? Mum's the word.
(ALTERNET)
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Media Matters - Limbaugh, Hannity, and the GOP: an iron triangle of stimulus misinformation
BIG FAT LIARS
On any given day during the current congressional debate over the economic recovery plan, chances are good that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity will say something false about the administration's or congressional Democrats' efforts to pass a bill. And they do not promote these falsehoods in isolation; they are often promoted concurrently with each other and with Republican members of Congress.
(MEDIA MATTERS)
On any given day during the current congressional debate over the economic recovery plan, chances are good that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity will say something false about the administration's or congressional Democrats' efforts to pass a bill. And they do not promote these falsehoods in isolation; they are often promoted concurrently with each other and with Republican members of Congress.
(MEDIA MATTERS)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
New GOP Standard Bearer Rush Limbaugh Is Less Popular Than Jeremiah Wright | | AlterNet
LIMBAUGH DETRACTORS, WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?
Rush Limbaugh is so unpopular that only 44 percent of Republican voters reported "warm" feelings toward him, ten points less than those who felt the same way about Limbaugh's top competitor, Fox News' Sean Hannity, and a full 20 points lower than Fox News itself. Yet in spite of rock-bottom favorable numbers, Limbaugh confidently declared one week after Obama's inauguration that his power far exceeded that of the Republican Party's top two leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives.
(ALTERNET)
Rush Limbaugh is so unpopular that only 44 percent of Republican voters reported "warm" feelings toward him, ten points less than those who felt the same way about Limbaugh's top competitor, Fox News' Sean Hannity, and a full 20 points lower than Fox News itself. Yet in spite of rock-bottom favorable numbers, Limbaugh confidently declared one week after Obama's inauguration that his power far exceeded that of the Republican Party's top two leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives.
(ALTERNET)
Friday, February 06, 2009
C-SPAN Video Player - President Obama Attends Democrat Conference
OBAMA ADDRESSES HOUSE DEMS
Check out Obama's remarks at the House Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. (C-SPAN, suggested by West Virginia Blue)
Check out Obama's remarks at the House Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. (C-SPAN, suggested by West Virginia Blue)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad | PETA.org
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!
For a proposed Super Bowl commercial touting vegetarianism, the animal rights group PETA went the scandalous route, featuring women in lingerie doing provocative things with veggies. NBC requested PETA cut the woman "rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin" and the one "screwing herself with the broccoli." PETA decided to keep their ad and not air it — but still get lots of online attention from people wanting to see the ad too hot for NBC. Well played, PETA.
(Suggested by TV GUIDE)
For a proposed Super Bowl commercial touting vegetarianism, the animal rights group PETA went the scandalous route, featuring women in lingerie doing provocative things with veggies. NBC requested PETA cut the woman "rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin" and the one "screwing herself with the broccoli." PETA decided to keep their ad and not air it — but still get lots of online attention from people wanting to see the ad too hot for NBC. Well played, PETA.
(Suggested by TV GUIDE)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Democracy Corps » Obama’s Win Equal Parts Turnout, Persuasion
ELECTION POSTMORTEM
It would be wrong to say that new voters alone won Obama the presidency. He performed far better than John Kerry among the 2004 electorate that elected George Bush, moving a significant number of Bush voters into the Democratic column to win the presidency.
(DEMOCRACY CORPS)
It would be wrong to say that new voters alone won Obama the presidency. He performed far better than John Kerry among the 2004 electorate that elected George Bush, moving a significant number of Bush voters into the Democratic column to win the presidency.
(DEMOCRACY CORPS)
Friday, January 16, 2009
STICK IN THE EYE
Susan J. Crawford, convening authority of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, and a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general, is hardly anybody's liberal pundit. Crawford recently told Bob Woodward that the charges against Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed al-Qahtani were dropped because he was tortured. This has devastating consequences for the Bush administration's entire rationale for the new techniques of interrogation: that they would make the United States safer by producing intelligence and keeping dangerous individuals off the streets. We now know they do neither. The torture produced no useful information from al-Qahtani, and the cruelty heaped upon him will make it more difficult, if not impossible, to justify his long-term incarceration.
Susan J. Crawford, convening authority of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, and a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general, is hardly anybody's liberal pundit. Crawford recently told Bob Woodward that the charges against Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed al-Qahtani were dropped because he was tortured. This has devastating consequences for the Bush administration's entire rationale for the new techniques of interrogation: that they would make the United States safer by producing intelligence and keeping dangerous individuals off the streets. We now know they do neither. The torture produced no useful information from al-Qahtani, and the cruelty heaped upon him will make it more difficult, if not impossible, to justify his long-term incarceration.
MOBILE MARDI GRAS MOVIE TO AIR ON PBS
For those of you who missed the local premiere, PBS' Independent Lens will air The Order of Myths on February 24. The film follows the parallel racial universes of Mardi Gras. Director Margaret Brown exposes not only the obvious dichotomy but also the historical connection between the white and black organizations that embody Mobile's inescapable racial divide.
(MOTHER JONES)
For those of you who missed the local premiere, PBS' Independent Lens will air The Order of Myths on February 24. The film follows the parallel racial universes of Mardi Gras. Director Margaret Brown exposes not only the obvious dichotomy but also the historical connection between the white and black organizations that embody Mobile's inescapable racial divide.
(MOTHER JONES)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Demotix | The Street Wire
NOT YOUTUBE
Demotix is a new site from England that allows downloads of video and photos (right now it's limited to photos right but text and video are due soon). Because its English, you will see things there from a distinctly different orientation. For example, check out these raw images from Gaza.
(Suggested by TechCrunch)
Demotix is a new site from England that allows downloads of video and photos (right now it's limited to photos right but text and video are due soon). Because its English, you will see things there from a distinctly different orientation. For example, check out these raw images from Gaza.
(Suggested by TechCrunch)
Announcing the 2008 P.U.-litzer Prizes | Media and Technology | AlterNet
WHO IS THE STINKIEST OF THEM ALL?
Now in their 17th year, the P.U.-litzer Prizes recognize some of the nation's stinkiest media performances.
(ALTERNET)
Now in their 17th year, the P.U.-litzer Prizes recognize some of the nation's stinkiest media performances.
(ALTERNET)
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