Donal's picture

    Ice Station Zulu

    By Donal on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 4:56pm |



    Climate Change is opening up a new frontier. In The struggle for Arctic riches, the BBC previews a potential resource war:

    Israel’s minister must now face ICC war crimes charges re flotilla killings

    By colindalelondon on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 3:19pm |

    The United Nations official enquiry has now reported that there is clear evidence that Israel committed crimes within article 147 of the fourth Geneva Convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering and serious injury to body or health.

     

    There should now be no doubt that the minister who authorised the killings, Ehud Barak, must be brought before the International Criminal Court to face justice, if he should set foot in any European state, including the UK, where it has been proposed to modify the law on Universal Jurisdiction.

    Hi everyone. Just a F.Y.I.: TPM just blocked me from making comments,

    By artappraiser on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 3:01pm |

    and removed all of my comments made on the new system.

    Just a heads up to all TPM users and refugees why I am not posting there anymore.

    All of a sudden early this afternoon, I got a message on top of all comment threads that reads

    The site has blocked you from posting new comments.

    Elusive Trope's picture

    ...like Bill Maher in drag.

    By Elusive Trope on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 2:38pm |

    William K. Wolfrum posted in his blog William K. Wolfrum’s Morning — Don’t Panic at Dagblog, a youtube video of Dan Savage and his husband Terry talking to LGBT youth about how things do get better and not to panic. 

    coatesd's picture

    Contemporary Poverty and the Tasks of the Left

    By coatesd on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 1:08pm |

    …Our imperial endeavors alone, if Chalmers Johnson is right, “will, sooner or later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency.”[1] And even if that fear is overblown – and it probably is not – there is certainly trouble looming at home, trouble for which we all need to be prepared, and trouble that we would do well to avert by systematic and extensive social reform before it occurs.[2] For if the challenges abroad are linked to empire, at home they are linked to poverty.

    Donal's picture

    Has Obama Lost the Middle Class?

    By Donal on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 11:12am |



    At the Atlantic, Joshua Green suggests that Obama's policy wins seem to be addressing the working poor, rather than the middle class. And he quotes Senator Charles Schumer to support his position:

    The Angry Middle Class

    Donal's picture

    Win Ben Stein's Taxes

    By Donal on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 7:52am |

    Win BS Money

    Deadpan actor and pitchman Ben Stein feels put upon.

    Ben Stein: Raising My Taxes Is a Punishment

    Richard Day's picture

    SARAH'S MINI ME

    By Richard Day on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 1:46am |

    File:Minime1.jpg

          CHRISTINE O'DONNELL

    Christine O’Donnell wants to be Sarah Palin when she grows up.

    But before we get to that, I must discuss the caste system currently prevalent in the United States of America today.

    Ramona's picture

    Fox News and the C of C thank you for voting Republican. But don't call us, we'll call you.

    By Ramona on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 8:05pm |

    So, all you "Mad as Hell" people who idolize Fox "News" and their partners in crime, the Koch Brothers, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Republican Party, let's hear what you've learned from that bunch you've been following so religiously.  What's the plan?  What's mar

    Jamie Friedland's picture

    Baby Steps: The Senate Eyes a Renewable Electricity Standard

    By Jamie Friedland on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:21am |

    Just finished my second post at Change.org's environment page:

    At this point, we’ll take what we can get. This is the resigned tune being sung by many environmentalists and clean energy advocates as Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sam Brownback (R-Neb.) unveiled a proposal to implement a national renewable electricity standard on Tuesday. And, amazingly enough, it looks like the votes are actually there.

    In Partial Defense of Bob Woodward

    By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 9:25am |

    Woodward is coming out with a book, parts of which are being run in The Washington Post, called Obama's Wars.  As is the case with Woodward's numerous other books, it's an attempt to lay out some of what has gone on behind-the-scenes insofar as decisions about AfPak and Iraq are concerned.

    Donal's picture

    More Stats, Less Crime

    By Donal on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 1:25pm |

    Living in one of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation, I have gotten in the habit of reading the Baltimore Crime Beat, a blog within the Baltimore Sun, written mostly by Peter Hermann and Justin Fenton.

    Donal's picture

    Corn, by any other name, is still as sweet

    By Donal on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 3:11pm |

    Sweet Corn

    The Corn Refiners Association has sought permission from the FDA to change the name of, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the sweetener found in everything, to "corn sugar." HFCS already goes by several aliases, like Corn Syrup, Yeast Extract, Isoglucose (Europe), glucose-fructose (Canada), and fructose glucose syrup.

    Richard Day's picture

    JOHN MADDEN TO HOST MEET THE PRESS

    By Richard Day on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 2:23pm |

    File:American Football Positions.svg

                                      POLITICAL STRATAGEMS

    Donal's picture

    Candidates' Dabbling Threatens Prospects

    By Donal on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 1:14pm |

    Carly Fiorina's campaign may be in trouble. More than a decade ago Ms. Fiorina made comments to the effect that she dabbled in corporate management when she was a young woman. While her efforts led to the devaluing of Hewlett Packard stock by almost half, Fiorina made light of the whole matter, “How many of you did not hang out with questionable folks on Wall Street?”

    GOP guru Rove said Sunday that will be a continuing problem.

    Nissan's Polar Bear TV Ad

    By AmericanDreamer on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:53am |

    Has anyone else seen it?

    I can't speak for anyone else, but, knowing full well I was being manipulated, it touched me in a way few ads do.

    Nissan knows what is common knowledge--that the polar bears are facing a dire threat to their very existence, and that this bothers many people.  And they just took that and put it right there on the screen, in the viewer's face.  Not in an accusatory way but in a way that left the viewer able easily to imagine something she can do to help.

    Jamie Friedland's picture

    President Obama Killed Bipartisanship

    By Jamie Friedland on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 10:01am |

    President Obama campaigned on bipartisanship.  We wanted a change, so he chose not to investigate the partisan excesses and likely transgressions of the Bush administration; he unhinged the pendulum and just laid it on the ground.  Instead of overcorrecting in the other direction, he tried to start anew as a united nation.  America was ready to move forward.  The Republican Party was not.

    Barth's picture

    President Carter

    By Barth on Sun, 09/19/2010 - 9:04pm |

    I was reminded tonight of how much he disappointed me, and how honored I was to vote for Senator Kennedy in the 1980 New York Democratic presidential primary. Those who think their current circumstance is the same as mine and so many others in 1980 are out of their mind, but it will take me a few days and maybe a week to explain that and specifically what he said tonight that reminded me of what a twerp he was and continues to be.

    Barth's picture

    Hineni

    By Barth on Sun, 09/19/2010 - 10:31am |

    If the ten days which have just ended had a message for this Jew, it was in the Hebrew word Hineni: "here I am." This space will not dwell on the spiritual meaning of the word or its significance in a religious sense. This is not the place for such essays.

    SleepinJeezus's picture

    Dr. Mengele, Economist

    By SleepinJeezus on Sun, 09/19/2010 - 6:12am |

    "For the recovery to be sustainable and as strong as possible, it has to be based on a different composition of spending in the world. Before the crisis, the U.S. consumer - the over-extended U.S. consumer - was the kind of source for demand for a large chunk of the rest of the world. Chinese exported to us.

    Donal's picture

    Selling Food - Owning Seeds

    By Donal on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 9:01pm |

    This morning I found an alarming article claiming that Senate Bill S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, will make it illegal to grow, share, trade or sell homegrown food.

    coatesd's picture

    “Turning the Page” in Iraq and Afghanistan

    By coatesd on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 8:42pm |


     

    “Obama envisions no major changes in Afghan strategy.

    Despite discouraging news from Afghanistan and growing doubts in Congress and among the American public, the Obama administration has concluded that its war strategy is sound and that a December review, once seen as a pivotal moment, is unlikely to yield any major changes”

    (The Washington Post, September 18, 2010)

     

    Richard Day's picture

    CONFUSION, OBFUSCATION & CLARITY

    By Richard Day on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 7:41pm |

     

    File:White Wine Glas.jpg

                              CLARITY IN WINE

     

    There is confusion at times:

    Origin of Teabagging Explained in Rhyme

    By NCD on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 3:41pm |

    Ever wonder why all those Bush/Cheney 04 stickers disappeared so rapidly in his second term as the Bush wars, the Bush economy and the country itself headed down the drain? And how did those of the Bush Base turn so quickly into Teabaggers??

    Driftglass has an explantion, that will make you laugh! It's a story of the magical transformation of the Dr. Suess-like 'Sneetches' of the Bush Base!

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