By Donal on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 12:27pm | World Affairs
The Post Carbon Institute posts this series of videos of a talk by Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta, an Irish think tank concerned with sustainable economics. He was speaking by phone and video to a group in Michigan, about a month before last year's Copenhagen Summit climate talks, so it is like watching Max Headroom do a slide show. The first four videos are about the problem, the last two are Feasta's proposal for a cap and share system and debt-free currency to keep the poorer folk going.
With their highest viewership ever, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez were far less placid than usual for this morning's debate between Steven Aftergood and Glenn Greenwald. Greenwald is well-known for his legal and political blogging at Salon, while Aftergood directs a government secrecy project at the Federation of American Scientists, and posts secret documents himself with the Secrecy News project, which I've never heard of before.
Anyone who watched the spectacle of hate at the NBA game last night in Cleveland might decide the town could win the prize for the most bitter, angry and low life fans anywhere in the nation, including Philly. Raucous, rude, angry fans and mobs of police were present as hometown boy LeBron James returned for the first time with his new team, the Miami Heat. James grew up in Ohio, skipped college, and went directly to the NBA to play for the Cavaliers for seven years before moving to
The President's fiscal commission has failed to generate a plan that won the support of 14 of 18 of its members, as directed. Three Republican Senators on the commission voted for it, so the ideas in the commissions report might still egt an airing in the Senate but it won't be some up or down vote without amendments. Which is fine. I never understood why this issue should be treated differently than any other, screwy as I think senate rules are.
I don't play now, but I have played a lot of tennis over the years, sometimes in leagues or clubs with people I didn't know well. I enjoyed playing with some of those guys so much that we arranged to play again, and became "tennis buddies." With others, I couldn't wait for the match to end.
There is another option and Ted Rall's latest book, The Anti-American Manifesto explains it quite seriously and succinctly. Overthrow the present government and establish something else. Something that is fair and just and workable. This is not some 1960s hippy Abbie Hoffman type book. It contains no plans for Molotov Cocktails or pipe bombs or how to rip off bits of the system. It is an in depth examination of the reasons for taking down the current oligarchy and replacing it with a real government.
McClatchy is reporting that the Fed has proposed changing a key rule having to do with the the TILA (Truth in Lending Act of 1968). This rule currently allows a homeowner who can prove that they were not given proper disclosure on their loan up to 3 years to cancel the loan. Current law says in such a case, the lien on the home must be removed so the homeowner can use the home to get a new mortgage to pay off the first.
Independents are curious what will happen now that Republicans have won back some of their control over America’s coffers. Will elected leaders secure funding for public priorities without adding more debt or taxation? Will federal officials work with state and local governments to shore up budgets during this era of economic hardship?
By William K. Wolfrum on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 7:40am | Politics, Humor & Satire, Media
Much has been said about Julian Assange and Wikileaks. The Australian-born hacker has put America in grave danger due to his publication of classified information that someone else stole.
By Doctor Cleveland on Wed, 12/01/2010 - 3:03pm | Politics, World Affairs
The latest Wikileaks document dump, filled mostly with low-grade diplomatic communications, does lay bare one thing that should have been painfully obvious all along: President Obama's Iran strategy.
I chat films with Jimmy, at my office. He's always mentioning some flick I just have to see, so before Thanksgiving I asked him for a list of films I should rent. He sent this:
Repulsion O Lucky Man! Nil by Mouth The Sporting Life Elevator to the Gallows Diabolique Europa, Europa
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I agree with Atrios here and maybe take it a step further. The Republicans specifically designed tax cuts that expire in 2011. So Obama should let them go.
Much has been said about 
