AZspot

Khalil Bendib

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:00:05 +0000

"When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:13:05 +0000

“When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness: when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and its government.”

- Thomas Paine

U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:35:05 +0000

U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners:

The CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals, an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times has revealed.

The findings are published just days after President Obama claimed that the drone campaign in Pakistan was a “targeted, focused effort” that “has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties”… .

A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners. The tactics have been condemned by leading legal experts.

"Dear @GoDaddy: Your objectification and exploitation of women disgust me...."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:54:05 +0000

“Dear @GoDaddy: Your objectification and exploitation of women disgust me. #HopeAnElephantStompsAllOverYourServers”

- Eugene Cho

Rick McKee

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:15:06 +0000

Rick McKee

Soaking the Poor, State by State

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:37:05 +0000

Soaking the Poor, State by State:

Still and all, it’s true that the federal income tax is indeed progressive. Conservatives are right about that—though it’s not as progressive as it used to be, back before top marginal rates were lowered and capital gains taxes were slashed in half. But conservatives are a little less excited to talk about other kinds of taxes. Payroll taxes aren’t progressive, for example. In fact, they’re actively regressive, with the poor and middle classes paying higher rates than the rich.

And then there are state taxes. Those include state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and fees of various kinds. How progressive are state taxes?

Answer: They aren’t. The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently released a scorecard for all 50 states, and it has boatloads of useful information. That includes overall tax rates, where data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that in the median state (Mississippi, as it turns out) the poorest 20 percent pay twice the tax rate of the top 1 percent. In the worst states, the poorest 20 percent pay five to six times the rate of the richest 1 percent. Lucky duckies indeed. There’s not one single state with a tax system that’s progressive.

"Christianity has not, and does not profess to have a detailed political program. It is meant for all..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:57:05 +0000

“Christianity has not, and does not profess to have a detailed political program. It is meant for all men at all times, and the particular program which suited one place or time would not suit another.”

- C.S. Lewis

Facebook – The Second Birth of a Mighty Titan or the Withering of a Weary Giant?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:20:06 +0000

Facebook – The Second Birth of a Mighty Titan or the Withering of a Weary Giant?:

Simply put, with its frontiers all but expanded to their limits, if Facebook wants to keep going it must try to dig deeper into its existing user base in search of profit. To do this it will have to become ever more intrusive in its advertising and marketing methods. Yet this will turn people off the platform and diminish its popularity. So, Facebook finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place.

"This is a struggle to win the hearts and minds of the wider public and those within the structures..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:43:06 +0000

“This is a struggle to win the hearts and minds of the wider public and those within the structures of power (including the police) who are possessed of a conscience. It is not a war. Nonviolent movements, on some level, embrace police brutality. The continuing attempt by the state to crush peaceful protesters who call for simple acts of justice delegitimizes the power elite. It prompts a passive population to respond. It brings some within the structures of power to our side and creates internal divisions that will lead to paralysis within the network of authority. Martin Luther King kept holding marches in Birmingham because he knew Public Safety Commissioner “Bull” Connor was a thug who would overreact. The Black Bloc’s thought-terminating cliché of “diversity of tactics” in the end opens the way for hundreds or thousands of peaceful marchers to be discredited by a handful of hooligans. The state could not be happier. It is a safe bet that among Black Bloc groups in cities such as Oakland are agents provocateurs spurring them on to more mayhem. But with or without police infiltration the Black Bloc is serving the interests of the 1 percent. These anarchists represent no one but themselves. Those in Oakland, although most are white and many are not from the city, arrogantly dismiss Oakland’s African-American leaders, who, along with other local community organizers, should be determining the forms of resistance.”

- Chris Hedges

Limbaugh picks a Super Bowl winner: his nose

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:23:06 +0000

Limbaugh picks a Super Bowl winner: his nose

Superbowl XLVI Ads: A Biopsy of the American Mind

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:46:05 +0000

Superbowl XLVI Ads: A Biopsy of the American Mind:

This year’s ads were quite varied thematically, but two themes stood out to me: nostalgia and destruction/redemption. It’s not too hard to explain the source of these themes — our recent economic collapse and very slow recovery, a long and difficult war, widespread confusion about who we are and what our future is, make these particular themes good bets for advertisers trying to hook the emotional mind of the American populace. Both nostalgia and destruction/redemption play to the pervasive anxiety in the country.

"In many scientists, delight is matched by wonder — a sense of astonishment at the beautiful,..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:10:05 +0000

“In many scientists, delight is matched by wonder — a sense of astonishment at the beautiful, ingenious complexity to be found in the world. This is not the “wonder” that comes from ignorance — “I wonder how a light bulb really works?” — but a wonder that comes from understanding. Indeed, as we progress further into humanity’s scientific era we have been able to disabuse ourselves of a mistaken early-modern notion: that the more the world became comprehensible, the less it would be wonderful. That turns out not to be true at all — ask a scientist. Wonder grows as understanding grows. Indeed, wonder only grows if understanding grows. If we replace our childhood awe of lightning with an explanation like, “It’s nothing but a transfer of voltage across a highly resistive material” (an example of what G. K. Chesterton wittily called “nothing-buttery”) perhaps the world will seem like a less wonderful place. But those who actually pursue knowledge of lightning — of electromagnetism or cloud formation or weather systems or climate — end up being more in awe of the world than they were as children. This is surely one of the remarkable features of our cosmos: the more we understand about it, the more we are in awe of its beautiful elegance and simplicity, and at the same time its humbling complexity.”

- What I Wish My Pastor Knew About… The Life of a Scientist

11 Brilliant Writing Commandments From Henry Miller

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:47:05 +0000

11 Brilliant Writing Commandments From Henry Miller:

Work on one thing at a time until finished.

Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”

Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.

Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!

When you can’t create you can work.

Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.

Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.

Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.

Discard the Program when you feel like it–but go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.

Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.

Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

"Our goal should not be to declare our policies as biblical. It is God who is infallible, not us."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:10:05 +0000

“Our goal should not be to declare our policies as biblical. It is God who is infallible, not us.”

- President Obama

T.R. Reid on The Healing Of America

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:28:05 +0000

T.R. Reid on The Healing Of America

"Rand’s trinity is “I me mine.” Christianity’s is the Father, the Son, and..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:49:05 +0000

“Rand’s trinity is “I me mine.” Christianity’s is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So take your pick. Or say no to both. It’s a free country. Just don’t tell me you are both a card-carrying Objectivist and a Bible-believing Christian. Even Rand knew that just wasn’t possible.”

- You can’t reconcile Ayn Rand and Jesus

Universal health care, pro and con

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:10:56 +0000

Universal health care, pro and con:

My basic argument is that, all other things being equal, it is better to have a society in which everyone has access to medical care than a society in which tens of millions of people can’t afford the medical care they need. I have cancer. Because I have Medicare and supplemental insurance, I can afford the hormone injections that keep it at bay. If I was one of the millions of Americans without coverage, I’d be dead.

The only arguments against a universal system that I can see are (1) that it is too expensive or (2) that it produces worse results. But countries that have universal systems have lower costs (individual and government combined) and better results. So, in my opinion, neither argument holds.

"There is no single text or set of texts that has been more influential in American intellectual..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:28:05 +0000

“There is no single text or set of texts that has been more influential in American intellectual history than the Bible. The (Protestant) Christian scriptures have shaped the political, cultural, social, and intellectual discourse in the U.S. since its colonial days. Yes, there are other equally crucial influences — but none more influential than the Bible. The Bible is a key primary text for U.S. intellectual history. It has been read, re-read, misread, used, misused, repurposed and used again, quoted and misquoted, revered and reviled, throughout American history, by a fairly sizable number of Americans. However its meanings have been construed at different moments, by different groups of people, the Bible — not merely its theological content or narrative incidents but its very language — has persisted as an integral part of the conceptual framework within which American thought continues to take shape.”

- The Good Book

No Israeli Citizenship for Palestinian Spouses

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:18:05 +0000

No Israeli Citizenship for Palestinian Spouses

Jim Morin

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Jim Morin