NOT RED GRAND DAME
Mary McCarthy, born in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1900, moved to Cuba in 1924 when she married her husband, a wealthy Havana-based Spanish businessman whom she had met at the Boston Opera.She soon became a member of Cuba's high society, co-founding the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra and an orphanage for boys.Her husband died in 1951, but she stayed in Cuba, even after the 1959 revolution when Fidel Castro took power and all the neighbours in her wealthy neighbourhood fled to the United States. She was not able to touch the money her husband left her after the United States imposed a trade embargo against Cuba in 1962, and had lived in near poverty for years.
(REUTERS)
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009
MULTI-TASKING
Doug Feith is best known for cooking up bogus prewar Iraq intelligence linking Iraq, al-Qaeda and 9/11. But in addition to his duties of stove piping phony intelligence directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney, Feith was also a key member of a small working group of Defense Department officials who oversaw the implementation of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' at Guantanamo Bay.
(TRUTHOUT)
Doug Feith is best known for cooking up bogus prewar Iraq intelligence linking Iraq, al-Qaeda and 9/11. But in addition to his duties of stove piping phony intelligence directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney, Feith was also a key member of a small working group of Defense Department officials who oversaw the implementation of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' at Guantanamo Bay.
(TRUTHOUT)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs | McClatchy
A STIMULUS PACKAGE FOR YOUR WALLET
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products? In this case, Chinese condoms.
(MCCLATCHY, suggested by Tom Godwin)
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products? In this case, Chinese condoms.
(MCCLATCHY, suggested by Tom Godwin)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen tricks new victim | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL
JUST WHERE THE HELL IS HOMELAND SECURITY WHEN YOU NEED THEM?
About 110 people, many of them senior citizens, were scandalized at a dance exhibition in Vestavia Hills when a member of a "German film crew" and his male dancing partner performed an inpromptu number, kissing after performing a sensual Argentine tango. Birmingham ballroom dance enthusiast Murray Echols said they “ruined the whole thing”. Borat, you magnicent bastard!
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS)
About 110 people, many of them senior citizens, were scandalized at a dance exhibition in Vestavia Hills when a member of a "German film crew" and his male dancing partner performed an inpromptu number, kissing after performing a sensual Argentine tango. Birmingham ballroom dance enthusiast Murray Echols said they “ruined the whole thing”. Borat, you magnicent bastard!
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Too Busy To Pray? Don’t Worry - Indulgences Are Back!
VIRTUAL PRAYER BANK
Martin Luther was able to fight the Roman Catholic Church over indulgences and managed to avoid being burned at the stake. But Luther didn’t face an even greater enemy Information Age Prayer, a new web service that lets you pay for computer prayers.
(TECHCRUNCH)
Martin Luther was able to fight the Roman Catholic Church over indulgences and managed to avoid being burned at the stake. But Luther didn’t face an even greater enemy Information Age Prayer, a new web service that lets you pay for computer prayers.
(TECHCRUNCH)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner | Latest NPR Poll: Democrats Besting Republicans in National Debate on Key Budget Issues
POLL SHOWS VOTERS SUPPORT PREZ
A recent polls shows that despite voters' gloom about the economy, they remain confident in Obama's and support his economic policies. A solid majority of 56 percent approve of the way President Obama is handling the economy, while just 39 percent disapprove. Indeed, by a near two-to-one margin, voters think that Obama's economic recovery package will help rather than hurt the economy (40 to 21 percent with 34 percent believing it will have little impact on the economy) and a strong majority favor the recovery package passed by Congress and signed into law by the President.
(Greenberg Quinlan Rosner )
A recent polls shows that despite voters' gloom about the economy, they remain confident in Obama's and support his economic policies. A solid majority of 56 percent approve of the way President Obama is handling the economy, while just 39 percent disapprove. Indeed, by a near two-to-one margin, voters think that Obama's economic recovery package will help rather than hurt the economy (40 to 21 percent with 34 percent believing it will have little impact on the economy) and a strong majority favor the recovery package passed by Congress and signed into law by the President.
(Greenberg Quinlan Rosner )
Monday, March 16, 2009
RUMORS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED, BY ME!
Okay, this goes into the really stupid things you can do with technology category. David Eagleman, apparently obsessed that "many people" in "critical condition" would have "no way of letting people know what has happened to them" started a website called Deathswitch.
"Huh?", you ask. This service will let your loved ones and friends know you're dead by emailing a pre-written notice. The system periodically asks for a password to make sure you are alive and functioning. If you fail to enter your password, the system will keep prompting you and after multiple failures, it will conclude you are dead or in critical condition. Sounds perfectly logical and fail safe to me. Okay David, step away from the keyboard!
Okay, this goes into the really stupid things you can do with technology category. David Eagleman, apparently obsessed that "many people" in "critical condition" would have "no way of letting people know what has happened to them" started a website called Deathswitch.
"Huh?", you ask. This service will let your loved ones and friends know you're dead by emailing a pre-written notice. The system periodically asks for a password to make sure you are alive and functioning. If you fail to enter your password, the system will keep prompting you and after multiple failures, it will conclude you are dead or in critical condition. Sounds perfectly logical and fail safe to me. Okay David, step away from the keyboard!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Media Matters - Media Matters: The media's deliberate stupidity
RIGHT UP THERE WITH FART JOKES
The penchant for tackling the earmarks question by doing nothing more than sarcastically listing them as self-evidently a waste of money has been described as "intellectual incoherence". This Beavis and Butthead political philosophy consists of snickering at stuff that is perceived to sound funny without seriously considering their impact.
(MEDIA MATTERS)
The penchant for tackling the earmarks question by doing nothing more than sarcastically listing them as self-evidently a waste of money has been described as "intellectual incoherence". This Beavis and Butthead political philosophy consists of snickering at stuff that is perceived to sound funny without seriously considering their impact.
(MEDIA MATTERS)
Friday, March 13, 2009
Truthdig - Reports - A Changing Community Now Wants Softer U.S. Policy on Cuba
WILL OBAMA HEAR THE CALLS FOR CHANGE?
Legislators have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to lift the ban on all American travel to Cuba. In late February, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a position paper calling the embargo a “failure” and asking Obama to CHANGE U.S. policy toward the island. Now, seems like a perfect chance for Obama to open up trade and travel to Cuba
(TRUTHDIG)
Legislators have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to lift the ban on all American travel to Cuba. In late February, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a position paper calling the embargo a “failure” and asking Obama to CHANGE U.S. policy toward the island. Now, seems like a perfect chance for Obama to open up trade and travel to Cuba
(TRUTHDIG)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Jon Stewart Continues His Smackdown on Market-Worshipping Jim Cramer and CNBC | Video | AlterNet
STEWART SMACKDOWN
Jon Stewart rarely disappoints. But his latest jousting with CNBC has got to be one of the funniest things he's done in forever. So, just in case you missed it, here is a site that puts all of the segments together.
(ALTERNET)
Jon Stewart rarely disappoints. But his latest jousting with CNBC has got to be one of the funniest things he's done in forever. So, just in case you missed it, here is a site that puts all of the segments together.
(ALTERNET)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
FOXNews.com - More Americans Say They Have No Religion - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
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)
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)
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)
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