mousemusings...multimedia, music, progressive politics, video, web design and general rants
Human beings will be happier - not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia.
~Kurt Vonnegut
The Great Web 2.0 Joke List
Arghhh...
posted by Cyndy
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Pecans
A buggy-maker by trade, W.J. Stahmann came to the Mesilla Valley from Wisconsin, on a barge traveling down the Mississippi, keeping bees along the way. Settling first in El Paso, W.J. Stahmann raised cotton and tomatoes, built a canning plant and opened four cotton gins in the Mesilla Valley. In 1926, W.J. purchased the first 2,900 acres of what was to become
Stahmann Farms in Southern New Mexico.
... no one knows why Deane Stahmann decided to pull out his cotton plants and plant the first pecan trees in the valley. Some say it was his wife's idea. Others say it was the economy or the development of synthetic fabrics. Whatever the reason, he planted over 4,000 acres of pecan trees in the early 1930's on two separate plots of land, the 2,900 acre Santo Tomas Farm and the 1,100 Snow Farm. Soon the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the United States. Years later, when Deane Jr. planted 2,000 acres of trees in Australia, the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producers in the world.
Driving through the orchard, you will notice that weeds and grass grow freely among the trees. Although the fields do not look as nice as they did when the weeds were cut every three weeks, this practice yields good results. Stahmann Farms virtually stopped using chemical insecticides in 1987. Today, green and black aphids are controlled with thousands of ladybugs, lacewing flies and other natural predators that live and reproduce in those ugly weeds
posted by Cyndy
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Map Toys
Awhile back I linked to the Rethinking Schools
Map Game, a drag and drop map of the Middle East. Humble yourself. You'll certainly learn something. With that same thought in mind, you might also like to try your hand at the US map,
Place the State. You might want to practice before you let your kids play, or at least before you let them observe you.
posted by Cyndy
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Two Dozen Members of Congress Protest Scheer Firing
Twenty-four Democratic members of Congress signed a letter objecting to the Los Angeles Times' dismissal of Robert Scheer earlier this month.
The letter -- addressed to Times Publisher Jeffrey Johnson -- was posted on HuffingtonPost.com in a
blog entry from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).
I wrote my letter of objection a few days ago. The responce I received was entirely full of fluff and barely acknowledged my concerns. I deleted it, else I would have shared.
After reading some of the comments at Huffington Post, I think the indifference of the LA Times may fade as fast as their subscriptions disappear.
posted by Cyndy
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Life Goes On
Or, rather,
consciousness lives on, which is as good of an explanation as I've been able to find of how it is I can remember what I remember and know what I know without recalling having learned it.
“The most important thing people are left with is that they are no longer afraid of death. This is because they have experienced that their consciousness lives on, that there is continuity. Their life and their identity don’t end when the body dies. They simply have the feeling they’re taking off their coat.”
How can people experience consciousness while they are unconscious during a cardiac arrest (a clinical death)?
After all those years of intensive study, Van Lommel still speaks with reverence about the miracle of the near-death experience. “At that moment these people are not only conscious; their consciousness is even more expansive than ever. They can think extremely clearly, have memories going back to their earliest childhood and experience an intense connection with everything and everyone around them. And yet the brain shows no activity at all!”
Van Lommel contends that the brain does not produce consciousness or store memories.
... this would mean that the brain is actually a receiver and transmitter of information. “You could compare the brain to a television set that tunes into specific electromagnetic waves and converts them into image and sound.
“Our waking consciousness, the consciousness we have during our daily activities,” Van Lommel continues, “reduces all the information there is to a single truth that we experience as ‘reality.’ During near-death experiences, however, people are not limited to their bodies or their waking consciousness, which means they experience many more realities.”
...) According to Van Lommel, near-death experiences can only be explained if you assume that consciousness, along with all our experiences and memories, is located outside the brain. When asked where that consciousness is located, Van Lommel can only speculate. “I suspect there is a dimension where this information is stored — a kind of collective consciousness we tune into to gain access to our identity and our memories.”
...) People who have experienced such a “life review” say it’s not so much about what you do as the intention behind it. “It is extremely intense to experience that everything that goes around comes around.” Van Lommel leans forward to be sure his words come across. “No one avoids the consequences of their thoughts. That’s very confrontational. Some people discover there’s something they can never put right. Others come back and immediately start calling people to apologize for something they did 20 years ago.”
...) “It’s almost scary to realize that every thought has a consequence. If you let that sink in...every thought we have, positive or negative, has an impact on us, each other and nature.” [ read more ]
More from Van Lommel
About the Continuity of Our Consciousness at
International Association for Near-Death Studies, Inc
posted by Cyndy
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Pinch Me
Not because the bishops are finally speaking, but because Fox News reported it.
From Fox News:
Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq.
"We would have made the statement regardless of who the president was. It was not meant to be either partisan or to single out any one person," Carder said. "It was the recognition that we are all part of the decision and we are all part of a democratic society. We all bear responsibility."
Stith, who spent more than three years after his retirement working in East Africa -- including with Rwandan refugees -- said going to war over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks did not solve the real problems behind them.
The real issues are that much of the world lives in poverty, desperation and depression, he said, while an affluent minority of the world often oppresses them. Americans need to take responsibility for their world, Stith said.
posted by Cyndy
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Turkish innovation
This is similar, yet even better than the coffee table I dreamed of last week.
via
boing boing
posted by Cyndy
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Constructive Consumption
Reminders that we needn't feed into a social disease and that if you read
Frugal for Life you may even reduce some personal stress in your attempts to procure what is necessary.
Consumerism As A Social DiseaseIn his Instinct of Workmanship (1914), Veblen argued we have both constructive and destructive "instincts," but that capitalism brings out -- must bring out -- the worst in us.
...) As our celebrated "individualism" becomes concentrated on borrowing, buying, and making out, we have allowed our always inadequate social policies concerning our education, health, housing, pensions, and public transportation to dwindle or disappear.
...) The politics of the U.S. must become those meeting the basic needs and values of the overwhelming majority of our people, those whose lives are in every respect damaged or ruined by what is now "normal." We must build a movement, moving away from capitalism, find that path by ourselves; we must lead.
From the
Church of Stop Shopping Rev Billy offers us the following:
The Revolution of Exalted Embarrassment for Buy Nothing Day LET US PRAY. We ask for the blessing of the Fabulous Unknown. LET US DRIVE THE MONEY-CHANGERS OUT OF OUR BODY! We can handle the complexity! Yes we can be trusted to forego the mediation of a celebrity or graphic schtick selling us something that presumes to give us PERMISSION TO ASK OUR OWN BODY FOR A DANCE. I’m so ready for the Revolution of Exalted Embarrassment. PUT THE ODD BACK IN GOD! Let us become so strange that we become normal, normal being defined as the ability to sense that we should not buy something whose purchase would start a Blackhawk’s ignition beyond the sandy horizon. Let us see into our own pleasure enough to sense when a product might kill. Peace-a-lujah!
posted by Cyndy
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"Tourette-style Babble"
Found via a link on a sidebar at
One Woman Wrecking Crew, who has punctuated her sabbatical with a couple of worthy posts, is
a quote from a British MP, Boris Johnson:
We all hope and pray that the American President was engaging in nothing more than neo-con Tourette-style babble about blowing things up. We are quite prepared to believe that the Daily Mirror is wrong. We are ready to accept that the two British civil servants who have leaked the account are either malicious or mistaken. But if there is one thing that would seem to confirm the essential accuracy of the story, it is that the Attorney General has announced that he will prosecute anyone printing the exact facts. [...]
He says that he will publish the
Downing Street memo about bombing al Jazeera if he can get it, even if it means going to jail.
Personally, I dislike the practice of adding to the stigma of those with
Tourette syndrome by comparing Bush to those with the syndrome, but he does make a valid point with the comparison.
It turns out that Mr. Johnson is
not the only MP upset by the memo:
Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister, today said that the details of the conversation which supposedly took place during the Prime Minister's visit to the White House in April 2004 should be put before the public."I would hope we can have a fair and full discussion of the very important issues that were discussed at that meeting," the Liverpool Walton MP told the BBC.
Mr. Kilfoyle has put forth a motion in Parliament calling upon Blair to publish the memo.
The original news article in
The Mirror, the one that started all this fuss, is
here.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5
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Holiday
Tonight we will forget ourselves
broken clock, no shortcut taught
cathode scene buried neath the snow
pencils relax on a hill of thought
stretching crayons across the moon
swimming at the edge
watching the morning bloom
posted by Cyndy
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It's the 30th anniversary of 'Horses' and, yes, Patti Smith is still transgressive after all these years
You know I can't let a Patti Smith review pass me by.
It seems Smith has always existed in a space outside of time.
...Smith spent the evening cheerfully flubbing lyrics, delivering soliloquies on everything from rearing children to the horrors of the Bush administration, and chatting with the crowd.
"Patti!" bellowed one fan during one exchange. "You taught me to be a man!"
"Yeah," the singer deadpanned, "I've taught many a girl to be a man, as well."
Also read
Fresh HorsesColleagues honor "the rock oracle"and her new poetry collection...
Auguries of Innocence : Poems
posted by Cyndy
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"Rumor is that President Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, may run for president. Rumor is? According to Florida voting machines, he's already won."
~Jay Leno
posted by Cyndy
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Bush’s sickness is our own
The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective Psychosis
"The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another world war or devastating revolution. Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche."
~Carl Jung
...) "The way Bush is fighting terrorism is actually the very act which is invoking and creating more of it in the first place. It is as if he is fighting against his own shadow, which is a battle that can never be won. Bush is so dissociated from the darkness within himself that he splits off from it and tries to destroy it. Bush’s inner process, because of the position of power he finds himself in, is getting dreamed up and played out on the world stage."
...) To quote Jung, a person in a position of power who has become dissociated like Bush “even runs the grave risk of believing he has a Messianic mission, and forces tyrannous doctrines upon his fellow-beings.” He then believes that any action he desires is justified in the name of God, as he can rationalize it as being God's will. Unable to self-reflect, he is convinced of the rightness of his viewpoint, which he considers non-negotiable.
...) The inner meaning of the word apocalypse is ‘something hidden being revealed.’ Will these apocalyptic end times we are in be an initiation into a more expansive part of our being? Or will it destroy our species? The choice is truly ours. All that is needed is for enough of us to recognize what is being revealed, and to creatively act out of this realization.[
read more]
Via
American Samizdat
posted by Cyndy
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Kaleidoscope
like lights playing on water drops
a flawed facet shimmers
playful patterns dancing
amongst the fractals of your iris
reflecting sincere smiles
of understanding
and enduring arms of acceptance
a kaleidoscope
of crayons
spattered upon a stark canvas
liquify effortlessly into
a rainbow
flowing like a raging river
down the wandering path of muddy footprints
squished delightfully
between innocent toes
where everything grows
and everyone knows
posted by Cyndy
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People, please tell me when We'll be rid of these men!
Just who do they really
Suppose that they are?
And how did they manage to travel as far
As they seem to have come?
Were we really that dumb?
posted by Cyndy
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I'm Not Laughing
As
Bob called me on in my comments today, the letter to the editor copied below,
Some Don't Need a Vaccine, was a tasteless bit of humor, not very well placed.
I have to wonder if the reason it rubbed him the wrong way was because it was very similar to the tactics right-wingers impose when attacking the left, failing to look at deeper causes and employing off-the-cuff
sarcasm, unlike the usual sarcasm in a snarky lefty post.
Tasteless, yes, but there is something more to it. It's like the misplaced joking of an insensitive leader, one who would joke about finding the WMD's.
"Where are the weapons of mass destruction, are they under here?", or more recently,
a desire of Bush's to bomb Al-Jazeera written off, not very successfully, as humor.
CNN VideoSorry, but
I don't believe it was a joke.
Poverty, lack of education and medical care, war, lethal injections and killing journalists are not laughing matters.
posted by Cyndy
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To Keep Your Ears Warm
The Pope has a special hat. Rabbis have special hats. Rastafarians have special hats. Why not
Pastafarians?
posted by Cyndy
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Chavez to Provide Thousands in Massachusetts with Cheaper Oil
A subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company will ship 12 million gallons of discounted home-heating oil to local charities and 45,000 low-income families in Massachusetts next month under a deal arranged by US Representative William D. Delahunt, a local nonprofit energy corporation, and Venezuela's president, White House critic Hugo Chavez.
The approximately $9 million deal will bring nine million gallons of oil to families and three million gallons to institutions that serve the poor, such as homeless shelters, said officials from Citizens Energy Corp., which is signing the contract. Families would pay about $276 for a 200-gallon shipment, a savings of about $184 and enough to last about three weeks.
posted by Cyndy
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I'm a little Bland, Or is it Tasteless?
You are water. You're not really organic; you're
neither acidic nor basic, yet you're an acid
and a base at the same time. You're strong
willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready
to flow. So while you often seem worthless,
without you, everything would just not work.
People should definitely drink more of you
every day.
Which Biological Molecule Are You? brought to you by QuizillaVia
Corpus Callosum Via
Virushead
posted by Cyndy
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Some Don't Need Vaccine
A letter to the editor in the San Luis Obispo (CA) paper.
Recent news about the avian flu virus has raised concerns from main street to the White House. There is the possibility, even likelihood, that the virus will mutate into a form that can more easily infect humans. As the president pointed out, a vaccine cannot be made until this evolution occurs. This raises the concern that it may be impossible to create enough vaccine fast enough to protect all our citizens. But there is hope. Gallup polls tell us that up to 45 percent of Americans don't believe in evolution. Since random mutation is the engine of evolution, these same people must believe that the virus cannot mutate. Therefore, there is no need to waste vaccine on folks who believe there is no possible threat to themselves -- thus leaving a sufficient supply for the rest of us.
Perhaps the president, given his doubts about evolution, may wish to demonstrate his leadership by foregoing vaccination. This approach has added benefits. Polls also tell us that disbelief in evolution is more pronounced among the less educated, the poor and conservatives. If the anti-evolutionists among these groups were to opt out of vaccination then, through immediate deaths and natural selection, we would reduce poverty, raise educational attainment, and become a more progressive society.
George R Zug
Divis. Amphibians & Reptiles
Smithsonian Institution
posted by Cyndy
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Facets
some facets don't sparkle
with a prismatic dance
or shine
with the curve
of sunlight
like a diamond in the rough
they are hidden beneath layers
forgotten,
never to be refined or polished
yet some facets
find their own way
free to stab
determined to cut the glass that
encased the irregular imperfections
we can only admire their perseverance
while wondering why
they would choose to reveal themselves
posted by Cyndy
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Landscape languid, of texture and touch
It looks and feels like your skin
In fact it's a sea of electrons
Each one of yours repels one of mine
Yet electrons do not control
Neurochemistry shared, within and between
Landscape languid, of texture and touch
Like an electron hung bwtween protons
The control vibrates madly between us
That is to say, everywhere and nowhere
Written by the author.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5
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Hot Air
In addition to finding an
alarming report on Greenland's glaciers, subject to
further evaluation, but enough to make the hair on my arms notice as is,
The Corpus Callosum has also presented a remedial course in distorted information called
Propaganda 99. It includes some recent examples of blatant deception we've been presented/bombarded with. I do think it would be interesting to have a blog that points out examples of propaganda we find on a daily basis. In my view it wouldn't be too difficult, just a few people listening to the news for a few minutes and reporting back with a few quotations.
Read his proposal and respond if you're interested.
posted by Cyndy
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No Flag
posted by Cyndy
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Warm Them at the Hearth
The Golden Road to Samarqand has a wonderful
photo of a yurt under construction and adds some
poetic realities to offset the romantic notions of a fireplace inside. A well vented pellet stove might alleviate those problems wherein the second poem would be more inline with my daydreams.
posted by Cyndy
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Senseless
I you had $50 for necessities, for things like food, shelter, and medicine, would you instead go into debt for another $20, and give it all away to the rich greedy guy across town?
posted by Cyndy
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This is Your Brain on Drugs
How many of us are still content to drink this koolaid?
Propaganda techniques.
This song is over.
"Congressman Murtha is a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting a strong America," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "So it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."
"The eve of an historic democratic election in Iraq is not the time to surrender to the terrorists," McClellan said. "After seeing his statement, we remain baffled — nowhere does he explain how retreating from Iraq makes America safer."
This
song is over
I'm left with only tears
I must remember
Even if it takes a million years
posted by Cyndy
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Arnold and Maria: One Happy Family
Arnold and Maria are in China, trying to boost trade and tourism. The Chinese helpfully arranged for them to attend a fashion show. Arnold was amused...
...unfortunately, Maria was not.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5
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Public Comment Period Closes December 12, 2005
Read more:
EPA to Allow Pesticide Testing on Orphans and Mentally Handicapped PersonsThe EPA's newly proposed rule, misleadingly titled "Protections for Subjects in Human Research," puts industry profits ahead of children's welfare. The rule allows for government and industry scientists to treat children as human guinea pigs in chemical experiments in the following situations:
1. Children who "cannot be reasonably consulted," such as those that are mentally handicapped or orphaned newborns may be tested on. With permission from the institution or guardian in charge of the individual, the child may be exposed to chemicals for the sake of research.
2. Parental consent forms are not necessary for testing on children who have been neglected or abused.
3. Chemical studies on any children outside of the U.S. are acceptable.
Focal Concerns Send two copies of your comments to:
Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB)
Office of Pesticide Programs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Mail Code: 7502C
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC, 20460-0001
Attention: Docket ID Number OPP-2003-0132
posted by Cyndy
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Bob Woodward
Two Words
posted by Cyndy
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It's Winter
I was told today that it's winter now.
Snow flurries confirmed it.
For most places of employment that usually means the air conditioners can be turned off. 'Most places' is not where I work. I find I can't do my work when I have to sit on my hands to keep them warm.
USB gloves...I might make it through April without a sick day.
I don't want the
camouflage gloves however. I might lose my hands.
posted by Cyndy
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Hare vs Tortoise
posted by Cyndy
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Except I Don't Open Bottles
Haymaker
You are one of life's enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.
You can't see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn't lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.
Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You'd probably open another bottle and say there's no contest.
What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.
via Pharyngula
posted by Cyndy
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Carnival of the Green
New!
At
Triple Pundit this week.
Rittenhouse is also back!
posted by Cyndy
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Born Today: Georgia O'Keeffe
"It's my private mountain, It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it."
posted by Cyndy
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Y. professor thinks bombs, not planes, toppled WTC
The physics of 9/11 — including how fast and symmetrically one of the World Trade Center buildings fell — prove that official explanations of the collapses are wrong, says a Brigham Young University physics professor.
In fact, it's likely that there were "pre-positioned explosives" in all three buildings at ground zero, says Steven E. Jones.
Jones, who conducts research in fusion and solar energy at BYU, is calling for an independent, international scientific investigation "guided not by politicized notions and constraints but rather by observations and calculations. [
read more]
Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?In writing this paper, I call for a serious investigation of the hypothesis that WTC 7 and the Twin Towers were brought down, not just by damage and fires, but through the use of pre-positioned explosives. I consider the official FEMA, NIST, and 9-11 Commission reports that fires plus damage alone caused complete collapses of all three buildings. And I present evidence for the explosive-demolition hypothesis, which is suggested by the available data, testable and falsifiable, and yet has not been analyzed in any of the reports funded by the US government.
It's a question I personally refuse to stop pondering. I'm glad there are others who are still being bothered enough by conflicting evidence who haven't stopped questioning. For me, it's a gut feeling, for others, the questions are based on something much more concrete.
posted by Cyndy
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What is Your Carbon Footprint?
I'm not doing too bad, about 8 tons under the US average, but I would prefer to be a bit lighter so I suppose I have some
work to do.
posted by Cyndy
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Marrying Meditation, Mind, Matter and Morals
During the Dalai Lama's 10 day visit to Washington, that
was not without controversy, he wondered why a “small pocket” of people living in the world’s “champion of democracy, liberty and freedom” lacked full voting rights and representation in Congress.
“
Quite strange, quite strange,” he remarked, drawing further laughter.
Science and Buddhism share a quest of open investigation into the nature of reality, and
science can be a pathway to discovering well-being and happiness, the Dalai Lama told the
Society for Neuroscience on Saturday. He urged them to continue their
studies on meditation. Such studies may help identify practices that will help people rein in negative emotions, he says.
"His talk at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, focused on how he developed his interest in science
as a boy in Tibet, within a closed and isolated society, and on his view that
morality and compassion are central to science. He pointed out in his prepared text, for instance, that although the atom bomb was great science, it created great moral problems."
For more info, listen to and read
The Links Between the Dalai Lama and NeuroscienceOr, From The Society of Neuroscience,
Take a Deep Breath; Meditation May Boost Brain Size and Increase Mental Performance, According to New Research
posted by Cyndy
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Credibility and Responsibility
When a president cannot rely on his own credibility and uses a Veterans Day gathering to 'campaign' one year into his second term, saying
"It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began,", while at the same time
rewriting the contents of a press briefing, (
link contains video evidence to the contrary) one has to wonder exactly how much political capital the dude thinks he has. Honestly, how can he show his face in public? How can he address Veterans? How can he use Veteran's Day to slap our Veterans in the face?
Only someone instrumental in skewing the facts would be as desperate as he to continue to perpetuate the fairy tale. For others, those who can admit they were swayed by distorted facts and who feel an urgency to rectify their/our actions, I have far more respect.
John Edwards has earned more respect from me. His name can be added to the growing list of people who can admit,
I was wrong.Written in the Washington Post, John Edwards continues with some powerful words, acknowledgement of mistakes made, something George W apparently has no capacity for. "
It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a dear price.
The world desperately needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth."
If the majority of Americans think our president is dishonest then perhaps we need to admit our mistakes and rectify them. Three more years is just far too long. Far too much more damage can be littered upon this nation in that time frame. Being lied to for any reason is reprehensible. Allowing a president to continue to lead under a canopy of deception is unacceptable. This is still a country with a basis of, by and for the people is it not?
posted by Cyndy
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A Reminder
Dennis Kucinich Was RightThere is some very good documentation within the link above. Possibly some dead links, but, all in all, the writing was on the wall and Kucinich was reading it. That's what I expect from a leader.
posted by Cyndy
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In These Times: Give Me Cognitive Liberty
The so-called war on drugs is not a war on pills, powder, plants and potions,” argues Richard Glen Boire, founder and executive director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE) in the Summer 2000 edition of the group’s Journal of Cognitive Liberties, in what amounted to a manifesto for the group. Instead, he writes, “it is a war on mental states—a war on consciousness itself—how much, what sort we are permitted to experience, and who gets to control it.
...) Many in the cognitive liberty camp connect the use of “entheogens” to “shamanistic” practices of the many indigenous peoples colonized by Europeans since the beginning of the 15th century. These practices reportedly provided direct access to sacred experiences, and threatened the clerical authority of the conquering powers. Thus, an attitude was born that not only criminalized but also demonized entheogens. This attitude has seeped into larger society, and now taints all substances that alter consciousness.
posted by Cyndy
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House Drops Arctic Drilling From Bill!
However, "The Senate has included ANWR drilling in its budget bill and GOP leaders are likely to push hard for the final House-Senate version of the bill to include it."
See also:
Small Group of House Republicans Derails ANWR Drilling
posted by Cyndy
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I Have Wondered
I have wondered how it is that certain people have been able to sleep at night. Judith Miller was one I wondered about. After reading this article, though I still can't understand her mindset, I can understand her aggressiveness and how the energy of being the mouthpiece of the neocon agenda exacerbated her lack of judgement which allowed her to be manipulated and to manipulate. Dangerous energy indeed.
The Judy Miller problem is complicated. That is, the very qualities that endeared Miller to her editors at the New York Times—her ambition, her aggressiveness, her cultivation of sources by any means necessary, her hunger to be first—were the same ones that allowed her to get the WMD story so wrong.
Miller is a star, a diva. She wrote big stories, won big prizes. Long before her WMD articles ran, Miller had become a newsroom legend—and for reasons that had little to do with the stories that appeared beneath her byline. With her seemingly bottomless ambition—a pair of big feet that would stomp on colleagues in her way and even crunch a few bystanders—she cut a larger-than-life figure that lent itself to Paul Bunyan–esque retellings. Most of these stories aren’t kind. Of course, nobody said journalism was a country club. And her personality was immaterial while she was succeeding, winning a Pulitzer, warning the world about terrorism, bio-weapons, and Iraq’s war machine. But now, who she is, and why she prospered, makes for a revealing cautionary tale about the culture of American journalism.
...Many editors I spoke to consider Miller to be such a high-maintenance, uncollegial writer that they’d rather not deal with her at all. One Times veteran says, “She considers us to be her minions.” The process of editing her sounds like an exercise in misery, requiring a constant subjection to her fits of anger; it draws editors into her interoffice disputes with other reporters. Another adds, “There’s only one editor who has had the skill, energy, and willingness to harness her energy—Stephen Engelberg.” But after Engelberg edited a series on Al Qaeda for which Miller and her unit won a Pulitzer in 2001, he left the paper, leaving Miller without the strong hand capable of directing and containing her zealousness. It was a perilous dynamic: By being so difficult, she became so much more vulnerable to journalistic sins than her more affable colleagues.
[ more ]
posted by Cyndy
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It Will Be Remembered, He Wanted to Make History
by Robert Scheer
It should be remembered that while Bush and his gang were successfully scaring the wits out of us about the alleged Iraq-Al Qaeda alliance, U.N. weapons inspectors were on the ground in Iraq. Weapons inspectors Hans Blix and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei promised they could finish scouring the country if given a few more months. But instead, they were abruptly chased out by an invasion necessitated by what the president told us was a "unique and urgent threat."
Bush exploited the worldwide horror felt over the 9/11 attacks to justify the Iraq invasion. His outrageous claim, repeated over and over before and after he dragged the nation into an unnecessary war, was never supported by a single piece of credible evidence. The Bush defense of what is arguably the biggest lie ever put over on the American people is that everyone had gotten the intelligence wrong. Not so at the highest level of U.S. intelligence, as DITSUM No. 044-02 so clearly shows. How could the president not have known?
posted by Cyndy
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Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!
Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here to find one near you.)
posted by Andy
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Hitting the Highway
Blatantly stolen from
Follow Me Here
posted by Cyndy
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A Half Hour Ago
I started to go to bed a half hour ago, but felt faintly uneasy, and decided to read. There was a book on the top on an unplanned stack:
A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by
Rebecca Solnit. The stack was not planned. The moving of some furniture in preparation for the painting of a room had resulted in the creation of the stack. Completely haphazard.
After reading a bit, I suddenly remembered that a guy at work had handed me a slip of paper with a little quotation on it. He did it this morning. That was odd. I've worked with him for fifteen years, and he's never before handed me a slip of paper with a quotation on it. He is a really intuitive kind of guy, and I am not, so I always think there is a specific reason when he does unexpected things, but there never is.
Excuse me for a moment. The slip of paper is in my shirt pocket, which is in the bedroom. Be right back...
OK, I'm back now. Sorry about that. Here it is. I've formatted it just the way it is on the little slip of paper, including the lines:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and
step off alone into a new place there will be, along with feelings
of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the fear
of the Unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you
are going into. What you are doing is exploring. You are
undertaking the first experience, not of the place, but of yourself
in that place. -
Wendell Berry---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had forgotten about the little slip of paper until I started to read the book.
Whenever there is a unexpected coincidence like that, I always think there is a specific reason...
posted by : Joseph j7uy5
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Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning
When a religious leader rallies for the assassination of a democratically elected world leader, or when numerous Churches mobilize their masses to call community members before a national election to sway voters with a few homophobic suggestions while implying that voting for Kerry would be a sin, or when
Nine members got voted out of a NC church because they didn't support Bush, I find the burning question of whether the
3,500-member church would be under IRS scrutiny if it were not known for its activism and its liberal stands on social issues, entirely valid and quite disturbing.
Misguided, or guided coercion, by whom? Enough is enough.
posted by Cyndy
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You, too, can be
An Enemy of the State
posted by Cyndy
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He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
Perhaps it's difficult to catch a football while lying down in green pastures.
NMSU Aggies have not won a football game all year despite being required to recite the Lord's Prayer by their new Christian coach Hal Mumme.
Could it be that having your star running back, a Muslim, removed from the team, along with two other Muslim players, might possibly have a detrimental effect on team morale?
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has filed a grievance against New Mexico State head football coach Hal Mumme, alleging he discriminated against a now-released Muslim player by repeatedly questioning him about al-Qaida.
The grievance filed Tuesday on behalf of former Aggie running back Muammar Ali also alleges the football staff required the team to recite the Lord's Prayer at the end of each practice.
Mumme is the first-year coach of the Aggies, who were 0-7 heading into Saturday's homecoming game against Western Athletic Conference opponent Idaho (1-6) at Aggie Memorial Stadium. (Which they lost, making them 0-8 now)
New Mexico State hired Mumme on Dec. 30, agreeing to a five-year contract at roughly $197,000 annually. He had coached the previous two seasons at Southeastern Louisiana's start-up program, going 12- 11.
Mumme made his mark, and notoriety, at Kentucky from 1997-2000, where he led the Wildcats to two bowl games. Under his watch, Kentucky was found to have committed some three dozen NCAA infractions.
Hal Mumme is a proud Christian man.
He'll tell you as much, just as he's told his Aggie football team.
posted by Cyndy
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A Taos Original
"I revere women. They are my greatest inspiration," Gorman told The Associated Press in a 1998 interview at his studio north of Taos.
Gorman's sister Zonnie Gorman in a statement said that her brother never lost touch with his Navajo soul. “He never lost touch with his roots, and that kept him very humble. His soul emanates in his work, whether it was a beautiful scene with mountains and canyons, women or whether it was a simple sketch. Although R C the man is no longer with us, his spirit will never die,” she said.
posted by Cyndy
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Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Suspicions
Kudos to my senator:
declassified portions of the document were made available by Senator Carl M. Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
...) The document, an intelligence report from February 2002, said it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, "was intentionally misleading the debriefers" in making claims about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda's work with illicit weapons.
The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libi's credibility. Without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libi's information as "credible" evidence that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons.
Right...when they knew damn well it wasn't. Bush has a mistaken idea of what 'credibility' happens to be. "
The way you earn credibility with the American people is to declare an agenda that everybody can understand, an agenda that relates to their lives, and get the job done." Sorry dude, that isn't my definition of credibility.
posted by Cyndy
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Kucinich Demands IG Investigation Into FBI's Handling Of Investigation Into Forged Niger Documents
FBI Drops Investigation Just As Italians Make A Potential Break In The Case;
Kucinich Sends Department Of Justice A Letter Demanding Investigation
The letter asks in part:
The forged documents may have surfaced in Italy, but they directly impacted U.S. foreign policy, with serious repercussions. The President used the uranium forgeries as evidence that Iraq was producing nuclear weapons. He declared this evidence to the American people in his 2003 State of the Union address as reason for military intervention in Iraq.
I respectfully request that you review the F.B.I. investigation. How extensive was the investigation? Were there sufficient numbers of investigators and resources committed to the investigation? Did the F.B.I. interview White House officials? Which ones? Did the F.B.I. interview officials from the C.I.A. or other intelligence agencies? Which ones? What were the findings of the investigation? What is your overall assessment of the quality and thoroughness of the investigation? Furthermore, I request that you determine whether or not the investigation was prematurely closed and recommend whether or not you believe it should be reopened. I look forward to your response to my requests.
I suppose that, in part, this tells us a bit where the entire Fitzgerald investigation is/has headed, or not headed, as the case may be.
posted by Cyndy
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Repost: Credo of a Conservative
I think it's time for a replay of this old post considering that these values continue to get skewed more and more with each passing day, and, in light of the fact that
President George W. Bush and the current Administration have now borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 U.S. presidents combined.Written by a resident of Forest Grove, Oregon, The Oregonian, 02/26/04
Credo of a Conservative* I am a conservative. I believe in staying solvent and out of debt.
* I am a conservative. I believe in keeping my nose out of other people's business, their nations and their bedrooms.
* I am a conservative. I believe in conserving our assets and our resources -- our air, our land, our water. Accordingly, I don't support or engage in wastefulness, inefficiency or lavish excesses.
* I am a conservative. I think an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Therefore I support appropriate government spending on such things as infrastructure, schools, social welfare and crime prevention, because in the long run it's cheaper and more effective.
* I am a conservative. I don't sign on to risky schemes. I think if you give Bob a dollar, it helps Bob, but it may not necessarily help Oscar, Fred or Maria.
* I am a conservative. If I am attacked, I respond appropriately and conservatively. I do not swat mosquitoes with dynamite.
* I am a conservative. I don't deal falsely or prematurely with facts.
* I am a conservative. I understand the purposes of various institutions. It is the job of government to govern, the job of religion to address spiritual needs, and the job of business to secure profits by producing needed goods and services. I do not confuse these institutions.
* I am a conservative. I understand my position in the world and that my opinions are not the only valid ones.
* I do not have an exclusive claim on what is right, good or patriotic, and those who disagree with me are not automatically evil traitors.
What's really weird, though, is that I've always thought these things, but now everyone calls me a "liberal"!
posted by Cyndy
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Simplicity: The Culture of Wabi-sabi
The simplicity of wabi-sabi is best described as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence. The main strategy of this intelligence is economy of means. Pare down to the essence, but dont remove the poetry.
Get rid of all that is unnecessary. Wabi-sabi means treading lightly on the planet and knowing how to appreciate whatever is encountered, no matter how trifling, whenever it is encountered. "Material poverty, spiritual richness" are wabi-sabi bywords. In other words, wabi-sabi tells us to stop our preoccupation with success wealth, status, power and luxury and enjoy the unencumbered life.
Wabi-sabi is exactly about the delicate balance between the pleasure we get from things and the pleasure we get from freedom from things.
posted by Cyndy
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John Conyers and Rosa Parks
"There will only ever be one Rosa Parks..."
And there will only ever be one John Conyers.
posted by Cyndy
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Lest We Forget Crony Paul Wolfowitz
Just another example of far-reaching incompetency:
In his new role as head of the World Bank, "Wolfowitz said that while he would like to increase the rate of disbursing aid in Iraq, the bank has still been effective in administering programs. 'No one has talked about being in Oman as being a severe restriction', he told reporters."
The bank speaks with Iraqi officials by teleconference, and the needs there would be better served with World Bank evaluators working in a safe environment, Wolfowitz said. 'It is probably the case that the more you can concentrate your efforts in areas that are relatively secure, the faster things can move,' he said.
posted by Cyndy
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'If contemporary art is all a fraud, why do people keep on looking? Why do I keep going back to it?
The point, in this installation, was more about being aware of oneself in the act of looking. It was much like the pleasure of looking at the sea, and being unable to tear oneself away until one has watched one last wave crash on to the beach. We look because we want something. You can find yourself as much as lose yourself in looking, in very different kinds of confrontations. This can as easily happen in front of a painting, in an installation, among a group of sculptures or in darkened rooms, surrounded by projected images. The totality of an exhibition matters as much as individual works, as so do all the smaller things that add up to being there at all - a particular day, a journey, one's state of mind.
Some things provoke you and go on provoking. Every time you return to them they are different, because you have changed and so has the world. Sometimes one arrives too early or too late, and things fail to make any purchase on the imagination.
posted by Cyndy
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Supreme Court Hearing Religious Freedom Case Involving Hallucinogenic Tea
The small church in New Mexico has been battling this case since 1999 when federal agents seized their tea. Ayahuasca tea is a sacred sacrament for members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal. Because the tea contains DMT (dimethyltryptamine), the Bush administration, without regard to religious freedom, argues that because DMT is illegal, it cannot be imported or used in their religious ceremonies. It appears the justices are having problems swallowing the Administration's arguments,
for good reason.
Church members want "just the right to practice their religious faith as Congress guaranteed," said Nancy Hollander, the lawyer for the church which has a congregation in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I suppose we'll see just how much this country and this Supreme Court values religious freedom. Is it larger than a ruler who would squelch it?
posted by Cyndy
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Media Beginning to Admit They Were Duped
In a column on Sunday, O. Ricardo Pimentel, editorial page editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote that, “Yes, regrettably on the matter of WMD, count us as among the many who were duped. We should have been more skeptical. For that lack of skepticism and the failure to include the proper caveats to the WMD claim, we apologize, though I would note that, ultimately, we didn't believe that the president's central WMD argument warranted war. Not then and especially not now.
...)“So there it is -- with an addendum. We take responsibility for being duped on the matter of WMD -- and still arguing against war -- but at what point will those doing the duping be held accountable for taking us to war?"
posted by Cyndy
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10 ways to save the world
Courtesy of The Independent, a newspaper in the UK, we wee that someone is thinking about sensible things. I especially like the idea of decentralizing facilities for power generation. One thing they left out: get rid of CRTs and replace them with LCD monitors. It is doubtful that either Britain or the USA would adopt some of the measures that would affect consumer behavior, such as mandatory use of compact fluorescent bulbs. However, a large national program to decentralize power generation would work, and would havethe additional benefits of making the grid less vulnerable to terrorist attacks, as well as making in more resilient in the even of a large-scale natural disaster. Remember, there are still 800,000 Floridians without power. The economic losses from that have got to be enormous.
10 ways to save the world
Today, Tony Blair will address energy ministers from around the world on tackling climate change. But he is failing to meet his own targets, with British carbon emissions on the rise again. There are, though, measures he could adopt...
Published: 01 November 2005
1: SET LEGALLY BINDING ANNUAL CO2 REDUCTION TARGETS
New law to commit the Government to reducing CO2 every year by a fixed amount - say, 3 per cent - audited by an independent body. A radical programme would then have to be implemented to meet the target.
2: DECENTRALISE THE ENERGY SUPPLY SYSTEM
Do away with the vast power stations serving the national grid: think microgeneration. Give every city, every town, every village, its own power station, fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) system, which cuts CO2
3: ALL NEW BUILDINGS TO BE CO2-FREE
Put a power station in every basement: change building regulations to make all new buildings provide their own power, with solar panels, mini-wind turbines and CHP systems to soak up wasted heat.
4: INSIST ON USE OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS
Ban standard light bulbs all over Britain and force us to use energy-saving bulbs instead, which soak up less than a quarter of the electricity. Hugely symbolic gesture which would save enormous quantities of CO2.
5: BOOST NEGLECTED RENEWABLES; SOLAR, WAVE, TIDE POWER
Start giving proper funding and backing to renewable energy other than wind: solar power, and power from the waves and tides. These have vast potential to supply CO2-free electricity, yet are underdeveloped.
6: FOCUS AGAIN ON OFFSHORE WIND POWER
Renew the impetus behind wind farms based in the sea with £1bn of subsidy: after a good start, development is slowing, because of technical and financial difficulties, yet we have unparalleled offshore wind resources.
7: GET RADICAL WITH ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Make sure every house in Britain that can be properly insulated is insulated; bring in much more rigorous labelling that can enable any consumer to see how much energy is used by a product.
8: TACKLE THE GAS GUZZLERS
Raise vehicle excise duty (VED) on cars such as 4x4s; make it more than £1,000 per vehicle and set it to rise further. If you want to be radical, insist on a health warning on the side: This Vehicle Damages The Environment.
9: CURB THE GROWTH IN CHEAP FLIGHTS
Raise air passenger duty to end the cheap flight bonanza, as CO2 emissions from aircraft are the most rapidly rising in Britain and also the most damaging: they go straight into the stratosphere. A vote loser and a tough choice.
10: HAVE A LATE-NIGHT TALK WITH GEORGE BUSH
Do anything you can to get George Bush to change his mind about climate change. The world needs America, the biggest CO2 emitter, to lead the fight against global warming. The President is denying the evidence.
Making SUVs have warning labels is also a good idea.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5
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UCLA Study Identifies $7 in Societal Savings for Every $1 Spent on Drug Abuse Treatment
The study finds that the average $1,583 cost of substance abuse treatment is offset by monetary benefits such as reduced costs of crime and increased employment earnings totaling $11,487.
Is this saying that the practice of using
prisons as social programs aren't exactly cost effective?
I wonder how cost effective
taking food stamps away from an estimated 300,000 people will be?
What about
The End of Pensions?
America is in trouble--and our elites are merely resigned and see fit to
reject minimum wage increases.
There is no
class or race war. It's already been fought.
posted by Cyndy
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