January 2011
“Critique by creating.”
– Michelangelo
Taco Bell’s Beef Problem: Convenience and the... →
Over the past week, the fast food restaurant chain Taco Bell was sued for claiming that the taco mixture used in their products was actually beef. According to USDA standards, a beef mixture served by businesses must contain at least 40% beef in ordered to be labeled as such, and the lawsuit alleges (with some evidence) that their taco mixture only contains 36% beef, not the 88% beef that they...
“Democracy doesn’t start with elections. It starts with a bill of rights....”
– slacktivist
Health Care in Sweden →
I know that many people in the US are scared out of their wits that the US is “going the way of Sweden” and turning into a socialist society. I almost laugh out loud every time I hear that. For starters…the US is so FAAAAARRRR from being a socialist nation it’s not even possible. Secondly, going the way of Sweden wouldn’t really be so bad if you consider some of the facts.
We have...
“The normal operation of economic markets makes some people poor. Not because...”
– Paging Charles Dickens
Florida judge strikes down Obama health care law →
A federal judge in Florida has struck down the Obama administration’s requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, and questioned the constitutionality of the entire health care law.
“As an Arab-American raised in Middle East, I was always baffled by America’s...”
– Adil E. Shamoo
Anger turning to anarchy in Cairo →
While President Mubarak maintains a desperate bid to hold on to power, the situation in Egypt has become so unstable that his sons, Gamal and Alaa, his grandchildren, his two daughters-in-law and his wife have fled the country for Britain where the family owns several properties.
They were not the only ones fleeing the capital. According to Associated Press, an official at Cairo airport...
“From what I can see, the rightie blogosphere is divided between those who think...”
– Israel Sides With Mubarak?
Glenn Beck’s American Ark →
Beck has become a preacher. Turn down the sound and he is indistinguishable from the televised megachurch evangelists who hammer away at sin day and night. The relentless pacing of the stage, punctuated with pregnant pauses and abrupt stops; the impish “we know something they don’t know” grins; the fierce earnestness; the odd and inscrutable gazing into the distance; the weeping and wailing for...
“The most recent events in Egypt caused some to ponder a question that, on its...”
– Monica Hesse
What happened to CNN? →
In 1991, I sat glued to the television watching Bernie Shaw and Peter Arnett broadcast from a hotel room in Baghdad while the city was being bombed. At that moment, I thought CNN was the most incredible thing that had happened in my entire life. Time magazine went on to name Ted Turner Person of the Year, in no small part because of that broadcast.
This weekend, I am traveling. Cairo is...
“The only way opposition to the U.S.-backed regime of Mubarak could be expressed...”
– Chris Hedges
America's History of Intolerance →
“Live and let live” would appear to be a simple, sensible guide to social life, but obviously many Americans reject this creed with a vengeance.
They find toleration so unpleasant that they support the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of individuals whose personal behavior they regard as offensive.
Why do so many Americans favor the use of coercive sanctions to enforce...
“Why is it that CBS needs Assange to explain the basics of journalism to them?”
– Dave Winer (via soupsoup)
Breast-Feeding Debate Closed? Brain Science Weighs... →
If America knew what breast milk can do for the brains of it youngest citizens, lactating mothers across the nation would be enshrined, not embarrassed. Though the topic is much debated, there’s little controversy about it in the scientific community.
Breast milk is the nutritional equivalent of a magic bullet for a developing baby. It has important salts and even more important...
“Why are Americans such wusses? Threaten the Greeks with job losses and benefit...”
– Barbara Ehrenreich
Apologies Fail to Live Up to Our Expectations →
Bank chiefs, oil company executives and louche politicians seem as allergic to admitting guilt as the public is eager to extract contritions from them. If sometimes we seem to scrutinize people more for their failure to say, “I’m sorry,” than for the transgressions themselves, it is partly due to the cultural wisdom that an apology is the first step in mending a broken...
“Cable companies: Add Al Jazeera English NOW! It is downright un-American to...”
– Jeff Jarvis
nickdivers asked: http://www.redstate.com/mspector/2011/01/29/egypt-and-fundamental-rights-obama-sinks-to-the-occasion/
I'm interested in your opinion of this opinion.
I'm interested in your opinion of this opinion.
“If I have read the Bible correctly, I know many men who have never heard the...”
– Gandhi
“I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those...”
– Flannery O’Connor
Don't forget about Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger's... →
My personal observation after several years in the sports world is that grown men tend to be more infatuated with pro athletes than young women are, going to great lengths to protect, excuse and enable them.
Roethlisberger had a posse of the infatuated men: pals and off-duty police officers acting as bodyguards, who set up and enabled the encounter with the young woman. He also...
“Not only is the Fatah regime in Ramallah and the Hamas regime in Gaza destined...”
– The Egyptian masses won’t play ally to Israel
Who Is Omar Suleiman? →
One of the “new” names being mentioned as a possible alternative to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Omar Suleiman, is actually not so new to anyone who has followed the American policy of renditions for terror suspects. After dissolving his cabinet yesterday, Mubarak appointed Suleiman vice-president, and according to many commentators he is poised to be a potential successor, and an...
Arundhati Roy: India's bold and brilliant daughter →
Arundhati Roy will turn 50 this year. I hope to be excused of sexism (would one write this of a man?) when I say that she looks no more than 35 at most. Her vitality has always been striking. I remember her from one of her early visits to London as a slight, supple woman with an Indian cotton bag slung over her shoulder, and gleaming skin and hair that suggested yoga and aerobics, yoghurt and...
“Books aren’t something you put on a shelf and read when you’re bored, they are...”
– “The least of eloquence…”
ilyagerner asked: Thank you for reblogging my "United States of Awesome" info-graphic. I apologize for not finding a more creative/policy-oriented superlative for Arizona than "sunniest." In hindsight, I should have highlighted your state's record penchant for electing female governors.
Is the Game Really Over? →
According to a report published by Reuters on July 13, 2009, 77 million of the 80 million Egyptians live on less than $1 a day. Around 30% of the workforce is unemployed, 7% of children miss schools because of poverty. There are over 100,000 homeless youth. Egypt’s official foreign debt is around 12 billion dollars, yet several of Mubarak’s corrupt ruling elites have stolen almost half this...
EFF Uncovers Widespread FBI Intelligence... →
EFF has uncovered widespread violations stemming from FBI intelligence investigations from 2001 - 2008. In a report released today, EFF documents alarming trends in the Bureau’s intelligence investigation practices, suggesting that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed.
“Online connectivity is an early enabler of open source insurgencies. Once they...”
– Global Guerrillas
Justice Thomas Accused of Reporting Violations →
Common Cause has sent the letter below to Justice Clarence Thomas raising concerns over his failure to report his wife’s income in prior years. For full disclosure, I have conferred with Common Cause on this nondisclosure issue and participated as an independent expert in the press conference yesterday on the absence of binding ethics rules for the members of the Supreme Court.
“So my problem with much of the political debate over the role of religion in...”
– David Sehat
“From an ethical perspective, almost every country in the world agrees that...”
– The Tweets Must Flow
stuffsickpeoplehavetoputupwith- asked: Relevant to your interests? We've done quite a bit of coverage on Arizona in the recent past:
http://stuffsickpeoplehavetoputupwith.tumblr.com/
Hope you stop by.
http://stuffsickpeoplehavetoputupwith.tumblr.com/
Hope you stop by.
“The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his...”
– Essay on Criticism
New Rule: Americans Must Realize What Makes NFL... →
Now, me personally, I haven’t watched a Super Bowl since 2004, when Janet Jackson’s nipple popped out during half time, and that split-second glimpse of an unrestrained black titty burned my eyes and offended me as a Christian. But I get it - who doesn’t love the spectacle of juiced-up millionaires giving each other brain damage on a giant flat-screen TV with a picture so...
“It is easy to be overwhelmed or intimidated by the realization that the war...”
– Howard Zinn
Red Alert: Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood →
The Egyptian police are no longer patrolling the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. Hamas armed men are entering into Egypt and are closely collaborating with the MB. The MB has fully engaged itself in the demonstrations, and they are unsatisfied with the dismissal of the Cabinet. They are insisting on a new Cabinet that does not include members of the ruling National Democratic Party.
...
“The writing process is an emotional rollercoaster that threatens to run you...”
– The Writer as Madman and Mystic