The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    In the News

    KANNER: Shasta and Goliath: Bringing Down Corporate Rule

    The citizens of Mt. Shasta have developed an extraordinary ordinance, set to be voted on in the next special or general election, that would prohibit corporations such as Nestle and Coca-Cola from extracting water from the local aquifer. But this is only the beginning. The ordinance would also ban energy-giant PG&E, and any other corporation, from regional cloud seeding, a process that disrupts weather patterns through the use of toxic chemicals such as silver iodide. More generally, it would refuse to recognize corporate personhood, explicitly place the rights of community and local government above the economic interests of multinational corporations, and recognize the rights of nature to exist, flourish, and evolve.

    Dang me. I'd donate to these people if I could. Way to go folks !!!

    cmaukonen 13 years 11 months ago

    Wall Street Runs Everything

    Stardust will dig this. Excellent reporting within.

    Michael Maiello 13 years 11 months ago

    Ruined Finances
    wws 13 years 11 months ago

    Political views 'hard-wired' into your brain

    Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre of the brain often associated with anxiety and emotions.

    On the otherhand, they have a smaller anterior cingulate, an area at the front of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life.

    Donal 13 years 11 months ago

    Kodachrome last remaining film roll developed in Kansas

    cmaukonen 13 years 11 months ago

    Helen Thomas: Thrown to the wolves

    A Guy Called LULU 13 years 11 months ago

    The year in parliamentary punch-ups. Because sometimes debate alone isn't enough

    The Guardian, December 30, 2010

    Slideshow of legislators getting physical in 2010.

    (#3, of eggs and umbrella in the Ukrainian parliament, is quite special.)

    artappraiser 13 years 11 months ago

    Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers

    The diplomatic volumes were not published, even in part, for another dozen years. Mr. Ellsberg later explained his decision to keep them secret, according to Sanford Ungar's 1972 book "The Papers & The Papers," by saying, "I didn't want to get in the way of the diplomacy."

    Donal 13 years 11 months ago

    Poor infrastructure stops water in Northern Ireland

    Northern Ireland Water has said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw following a long period of freezing weather have been putting "big pressure" on its systems.

    Historically, we have had an amount of underinvestment here.

    We had the Troubles and that has led to a level of underinvestment in the network which is now manifesting some problems for us which we're trying to deal with as fast as we can.

    Donal 13 years 11 months ago

    Sudan: George Clooney and Friends Fund Eye-in-the-Sky to Avert War

    By Cindy Shiner, AllAfrica.com, December 28, 2010

    A human rights project using satellite imagery that the general public can access is being launched tomorrow to help deter a resumption of war between north and south Sudan linked to a crucial referendum in January.

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    US Revokes Visa of Venezuelan Ambassador in Retaliation

    Voice of America News, December 29, 2010

    The United States has revoked the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador to Washington Bernardo Alvarez, in apparent retaliation for Caracas' rejection of Washington's nominee for U.S. ambassador.

    Background:

    Hugo Chávez dares US to cut diplomatic ties in standoff over envoy
    Associated Press, December 29, 2010

    Venezuelan president steps up rhetoric after refusing to accept Washington's nomination for ambassador

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Floyd Abrams: Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers

    By Floyd Abrams, Wall Street Journal guest op-ed, December 29, 2010

    Everyone knows that Daniel Ellsberg leaked top-secret government documents about the Vietnam War. How many remember the ones he kept secret, or why?

    Editorial note for the historically challenged: Mr. Abrams, a senior partner in the firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case.

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Analysis: Ahmadinejad Declares Victory on Nuclear Front; Calls for Cooperation

    By Nader Uskowi, Uskowi on Iran, December 28, 2010

    ....The tone and the substance of Ahmadinejad’s speech strengthen the possibility of a compromise in future talks between Iran and the West. Iran needed to declare a victory on uranium enrichment, what Ahmadinejad did today in Karaj. It now needs to go beyond this declaration and find an acceptable compromise with the West to put an end to the sanctions, something that Iran needs to do to successfully manage its subsidy removal program, a priority for Ahmadinejad administration

    Also see:

    India Joins U.S. Effort to Stifle Iran Trade
    By Jay Solomon and Sudahip Sircar, Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2010

    India has tightened the web of sanctions around Iran by barring Indian companies from a range of deals transacted through a key trade-finance clearinghouse.

    India is Iran's biggest trading partner in business done through the Asian Clearing Union...

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Five arrested over Danish cartoon 'massacre plot'

    By Jasmina Nielsen, Agence France Presse, December 29, 2010

    COPENHAGEN — Scandinavian intelligence agencies said they had foiled a plot Wednesday to kill staff at a Danish newspaper which published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and had arrested five suspects.

    The head of Denmark's PET intelligence service said four men were arrested while a spokeswoman for Swedish intelligence agency Saepo said a fifth man had been arrested in Sweden in connection with the same plot against the Copenhagen-based Jyllands-Posten daily.....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    To Each His Own Museum, as Identity Goes on Display

    By Edward Rothstein, New York Times Arts, December 28, 2010

    ....Me! Me! Me! That is the cry, now often heard, as history is retold. Tell my story, in my way! Give me the attention I deserve! Haven’t you neglected me, blinded by your own perspectives? Now let history be told not by the victors but by people over whom it has trampled....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Somali pirates more dangerous than ever

    By Geoffrey York, The Globe and Mail, December 28, 2010

    It's been another lucrative week for the barefoot buccaneers of Somalia. First they collected a $5.5-million ransom payment for a German-owned chemical tanker. Then, a day later, they hijacked another European cargo vessel, adding its eight crew members to their growing hoard of hostages.....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    India issues nationwide terror alert

    Jason Burke in Delhi, guardian.co.uk, December 28, 2010

    Thousands of security personnel deployed following tip-offs that Lashkar-e-Taiba is planning New Year attack

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Deutsche Bank pays half a billion to escape US tax probe

    It would seem that Deutsche Bank's ethics are not that great either. So much for the Europe is so much more ethical that us meme.

    cmaukonen 13 years 12 months ago

    Patton Oswalt On The Death Of Nerd Culture

    I just think the man's brilliant.

    Michael Maiello 13 years 12 months ago

    Bloggingheads: WikiLeaks treason

    That other bloggingheads link led me to this one. The interesting point: are you a still just a whistleblower if you reveal information on the entire conduct of the war, or on the entirety of the government's diplomatic mission?

    Donal 13 years 12 months ago

    Retail Sales Rebound, Beating Forecasts

    By Stephanie Clifford, New York Times Business, December 27, 2010

    Americans are splurging as though it’s 2007 again.

    Shoppers spent more money this holiday season than even before the recession, according to preliminary retail data released on Monday....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Mexico's train of death

    Monica Villamizar, Al-Jazeera, December 24, 2010

    .Many migrants from Central America board the train in the hope of a new life in the US, but hundreds of them never make it through the treacherous trek in Mexico. In the most recent case, a group of at least 40 passengers were tied up and they "disappeared"...

    Also see later story:

    Migrant workers missing in Mexico
    Al-Jazeera, December 28, 2010

    Survivors quoted as saying nine people were seized from a train in Oaxaca state in the latest kidnapping incident.  Armed men have kidnapped nine migrants in a southern Mexican state where 50 people disappeared last week. El Salvador's foreign ministry said on Monday that five of the migrants escaped and reported the kidnapping. Another was killed as he tried to flee and the other three remain missing.....

     

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Uproar in Egypt over ElBaradei Death Fatwa

    By Waleed Abdul Rahman, Asharq Al-Awsat, December 21, 2010

    Cairo--A fatwa issued in Egypt calling for the death of Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] and Egyptian political opposition figure, has stirred religious and political controversy across Egypt....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Conflict Over Squatters Divides Argentina

    By Alexei Barroneuvo, New York Times, December 26, 2010

    ...The clash, with its fiery street theater, has become a symbol of government inability to resolve one of the worst spates of social unrest in years, and a political test for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner....

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

    Al-Qaeda finds new friends

    By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online, December 22, 2010

    American intelligence assesses that al-Qaeda is a significantly weakened force, yet developments in Pakistan indicate otherwise. The powerful Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, an anti-Shi'ite group, has now become a part of al-Qaeda's global operations, and they could be bolstered by anti-Pakistan Baloch insurgents.

    artappraiser 13 years 12 months ago

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