Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Afghanistan's Hurt Locker.............
On December 24, 1979, the first Soviet paratroopers landed in Kabul, beginning their nine-year occupation of Afghanistan, which would leave more than a million Afghans dead and millions more fleeing to neighboring countries as refugees...Link
We're Gonna Have a Tea Party Tonight!....
The head spins. This will take days to filter. Days? Weeks, months even. There’s Tom Tancredo’s recent baby’s-up-past-bedtime blather at a Tea Party event about the “cult of multiculturalism”—wow! Mr. T, do you really want to have a literacy test for voters? Think if they had one when you ran for office that you would have been elected? Oliver North’s melding of homosexuality and pedophilia on Fox News when he flexed his mini-mind and ranted paranoid on the topic of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell—righteous! Ollie, you need better makeup to hide the gills on your neck! Don’t Ask Oliver North where he can get one solid fact to back up his bizarre assertions. Don’t Tell the shamed ex-Marine that the military already has thousands of brave homosexual men and women serving their country and defending the Constitution, who would never think of behaving as he did back in the Iran-Contra days. Then again, why bother with Lieutenant Colonel North? He’s an irrelevant relic of the failed Reagan administration...Link
The anti-war warrior..............
Howard Zinn was like a daddy to Boston University students of the Vietnam War era — the students who protested and resisted the war, that is. He arrived on campus in 1964, when I was a sophomore, and within two years was the most publicly outspoken and visible member of the faculty, much to the consternation of conservative administrators. The mere mention of his name could send BU presidents into apoplexy. But they couldn't drive him out or shut him up. The author of A People's History of the United States, which has sold two million copies, has been revered by generations of students, reviled by more conventional academics, and, mostly, re-read. His literary career started modestly with SNCC: The New Abolitionists, about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, of which he was a founding member in the years when white people were included. As a professor at tiny Spelman College in Atlanta in the late '50s and early '60s, he thoroughly integrated himself with black students — ultimately, his uncompromising views got him canned. Then BU took him on. Born poor in Brooklyn in 1922, Howard had a working-class perspective. He worked in the shipyards before joining the Army Air Force as a bombardier. The young man who bombed innocent civilians evolved into the pacifist professor who simply did not believe that any war was good or just. And while other teachers were terrified to go beyond signing petitions, the guy put his body on the line for his principles...Link
Watch from 5:13 through 6:08.........
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Monday, February 8, 2010
More Spending is Always the Answer.
Last week, the House approved another increase in the national debt ceiling. This means the government can borrow $1.9 trillion more to stay afloat and avoid default. It has been little more than a year since the last debt limit increase, and graphs showing the debt limit over time show a steep, almost vertical trend. It is not likely to be very long before this new ceiling is met and the government is back on the brink between default and borrowing us further into oblivion. Congressional leaders and the administration acknowledge that the debt limit will need to be increased again next year. They are crossing their fingers that the forecasts are correct and they will not need another increase sooner, even before the 2010 midterm elections...Link
Obama’s Other Deficit.
It has long been an unwritten rule of political professionals: Thou Shalt Not Demand Sacrifice of the Voters. Do not propose to raise taxes (remember what happened to Walter Mondale in 1984, when he won just one state and the District of Columbia against Ronald Reagan). Never sound gloomy about the future (remember Jimmy Carter and malaise). Always be upbeat (remember Ronald Reagan, again). And never, ever propose to cut the big entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare. Those senior citizens turn out to vote!. The pros—the advisers and well-paid political consultants—might permit their clients to say a few words about "hard choices" in their uplifting speeches about the greatness of the people. And when it comes time to propose a budget, the president's handlers will tolerate—or imagine—projected savings and revenues from unspecified sources. But that's all for the "out" years, as the lawmakers call them—a time of truly hard choices and real sacrifice that never seems to come...Link
Beer could help prevent weak bones......
Beer is a rich source of a nutrient that can help prevent weak bones – but it depends what type you drink, claim researchers at University of California, Davis, today. As one of the nation's favourite tipples, beer is a rich source of dietary silicon, which can help cut the chance of developing diseases like osteoporosis, they conclude. However, not all beers are the same, with those containing malted barley and hops having higher silicon content than beers made from wheat...Link
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