Fareed is so on point with his analysis of the current state of America. I wish he had the same accuracy with his other analyses.
July 1, 2011
Fareed Zakaria: What does the post American world look like
June 30, 2011
BREAKING: Case against Strauss-Kahn near collapse, law-enforcement officials say. NYT exclusive.
Prosecutors from the office of District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who initially were emphatic about the strength of the case and the account of the victim, plan to tell the court on Friday that they “have problems with the case” based on what their investigators have discovered, and will disclose more details of their findings to the defense.
“It is a mess, a mess on both sides,” the official said.
According to the two law enforcement officials, the woman had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Mr. Strauss Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursing the charges against him. The conversation was recorded.
If this is the case, and the D.A.’s office doesn’t have the case it thought it did, this is two really big blows to Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan District attorney. Last month, the D.A.’s office lost a different rape case, involving two NYPD officers who were acquitted on rape and felony charges of an accused woman (even though they were still found guilty of “official misconduct for entering the woman’s apartment while on duty when they had no official reason to do so.”
Vance took the helm of the D.A.’s office after Robert Morgenthau retired as the city’s top prosecutor in 2009. Morganthau’s shadow looms large in the District Attorney’s office and Vance is working hard - with smaller Assistant District Attorneys - to carve his own path.
June 29, 2011
Mitt Romney: Who are you?
If you’re confused about where Mitt stands on the issues today, you’re not alone. He seems to be confused, too.
June 28, 2011
Time has come for Pakistan to try India as a friend
MY Take
This is a great read on the relationship with Pakistan and India, and what choices Pakistan has at this point in order for its long term survival
June 26, 2011
Global Food Crisis: National Geographic Takes A Look At The World's Dwindling Crop Supply
In the July issue of National Geographic, writer Charles Siebert takes an in-depth look the world’s impending food crisis — in order to feed our growing population, we’ll need to double food production. But as Siebert finds, the potential for a sustainable supply does exist. As his report states:
Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world — and it’s happening fast. In the United States an estimated 90 percent of our historic fruit and vegetable varieties have vanished. Of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown in the 1800s, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China 90 percent of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Experts estimate that we have lost more than half of the world’s food varieties over the past century. As for the 8,000 known livestock breeds, 1,600 are endangered or already extinct.Why is this a problem? Because if disease or future climate change decimates one of the handful of plants and animals we’ve come to depend on to feed our growing planet, we might desperately need one of those varieties we’ve let go extinct.
Read the full article by Charles Siebert in the July 2011 issue of National Geographic, available on newsstands June 28.
See the amazing full gallery by National Geographic’s Jim Richardson here.
(Source: socialuprooting)
June 24, 2011
"Most people prefer to believe that their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which he lives is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one’s self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all."
— Michael Rivero (via bulletinmypocket)
(Source: haereticum, via laliberty)
June 22, 2011
ShortFormBlog: Syrian government runs dorm raids on students at Damascus University
Crackdown at a Syrian college: The Syrian government’s security forces launched a series of violent raids into dormitories at Damascus University, where strongman Bashar al-Assad gave a speech earlier this week. Opposition members and witnesses claim that the violence, which reportedly injured…
(Source: shortformblog)
June 22, 2011
Free Healthcare for all!!
June 21, 2011
(via historyistotallyawesome)
June 20, 2011
NC Man Allegedly Robs Bank for $1 to Get Health Care in Jail
(GASTONIA, N.C.) — A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.
He then sat down and waited for police to arrive. “…I say, ‘I’ll be sitting right over here, on the chair, waiting for the police,’” Verone told reporters, recalling the June 9 robbery in an interview from Gaston County Jail.
And wait for the police, he did.
“He’s sitting on the sofa as you walk in the front door,” the bank teller said in a 911 call.
Police arrested Verone where he sat. He was unarmed.
Verone said he asked for $1 to show that his motives were medical, not monetary, according to news reports. With a growth in his chest, two ruptured disks and no job, Verone hoped a three-year stint in prison would afford him the health care he needed.
“I’m sort of a logical person and that was my logic, what I came up with,” Verone told reporters. “If it is called manipulation, then out of necessity because I need medical care, then I guess I am manipulating the courts to get medical care.”
But the charge of larceny, not armed robbery, is unlikely to keep Verone behind bars for more than 12 months. He is being held in Gaston County Jail on a $2,000 bond, according to a spokesman for the jail, and is scheduled to appear in court June 28.
(Source: abcnewsradioarchive)
-
“This is my first video so be kind:) I was super nervous! And this is …………..Why everyone should get a Heart On for the Zeitgeist Movement.”
-
“People are never more insecure than when they become obsessed with their fears at the expense of their dreams.”— Norman Cousins
-
The Obama Budget: And Why the Coming Debate Over Spending Cuts Has Nothing to Do With Reviving the Economy
President Obama has chosen to fight fire...
-
“I pray for success everyday and then I act on it. Too many people just pray for it.”— ATIF KAZMI
