People may say Nathan Baker could be in the top 5, I personally disagree. Whilst he has established himself in the side, I would say that is down to how poor Clark has been. Baker has done well and has shown what I always knew he had. His cover positions are very good, he is strong in the tackle and puts his body on the line. That being said, he still lacks composure on the ball, is often quite rash and is very flat footed (Wigan and Reading two perfect examples). If he can improve his composure and anticipation he could really turn into a superb centre back.
5. Matthew Lowton – Lowton is a player who started the season quite well and has got better and better as the season went on. When he first joined the club, he was very suspect to the ball in between him and his centre back and his defensive position was often horrendous. He made up for that with his ability to go forward, a good engine and versatility. As the season as gone on he has improved his defensive position, produced the goods in the final third a lot more and has looked superb at full back.
4. Andreas Weimann – Now personally this is a player that has A LOT OF WORK to do, but his improvement has been evident with the amount of goals he has scored. His movement is pretty good, his energy is fantastic and he is a good finisher.
3. Fabian Delph – This player has been around the first team for a number of years and never really shown anything. The second half of this season though, saw him really starting to impress. His all-action approach started to win fans over. He needs to improve in the final third, where quite frankly he has been pretty awful and largely ineffective. Delph needs to improve his reading of the game which will come with age I hope, but his energy, his engine, ability to put a foot in and his driving runs have been a positive benefit to the team. That being said, next season, I believe it will be a straight fight between him and Sylla for one position, IF we sign a creative/goal-scoring midfielder. Westwood is pretty much guaranteed his place.
2. Ashley Westwood – Okay, he has been consistant for the majority of the season, but cast your minds back to his second game against Southampton, where he came on and was awful and really doubted himself. He then had a long spell out of the side, but has not looked back since his return. A commanding midfield performance with the ability to pick a pass. Lets hope he can add goals to his game.
1. Brad Guzan. UNQUESTIONABLY! Guzan was always a goalkeeper that was a decent shot stopper but lacked that commanding presence and was often glued to his line. Since taking over from Shay Given, he has been nothing short of remarkable. Like a totally different player.
People may say Darren Bent should be included, but in fairness, when he has played he has done reasonably well. Paul Lambert does not pick him, because he does not fit the style, which I agree with, so it would be harsh to include him. Maybe Shay Given? I would prefer to put his lack of action down to the ability of Brad Guzan. Richard Dunne? Well, let's be fair, in the last two seasons he has looked woeful at times, so not sure how much difference he would have made, if fit this season. Charles N'Zogbia could have contributed more, but I believe he has had a more influential season than the players below and produced at crucial times during periods. Just the West Ham, QPR and Fulham games alone will rank him higher than any of the names below for me personally. Brett Holman? Possibly could be included, but I still think in games he played – especially in the first half of the season – he contributed a lot despite having a very poor final ball. Newcastle, Swansea, Liverpool, QPR, Norwich, Arsenal are games in particular where he made a big difference, but it is disappointing that he did not continue that although he was not given much opportunity.
Bannan – just not providing Premiership consistency and now looks to have run out of chances.
5. Ciaran Clark – I have never been a fan of Clark as a centre back. He has the turning circle of an LGV, is very rash and often miss judges high balls. That being said, despite numerous daft errors, he does read the game pretty well, so there is encouragement there. Being installed as captain, I was hoping to see the best of this lad, who does have time on his side, but it never happened. Experience cannot be relied on as an excuse here because Clark has played international football and has been around the side a long time.
4. Joe Bennett – The only reason this lad is not higher up this list is because of his inexperience at this level. His defending at times has been shambolic, and the unforced errors at crucial times have been really costly. That said, he does show a good engine and drive to get forward and does deliver a good ball into the box. I hope he can improve his defensive play and cut out the sloppy errors. Work really needs to be done mentally with this lad, because at times he is like a rabbit caught in head lights when defending.
3 Karim El Ahmadi – This is a player who in Holland looked superb. Technically brilliant with the ability to control a game from midfield. In his first month at Villa, he looked absolutely superb, but since then has been really disappointing. The ability to pick a pass is evident but he got more and more cautious and sloppy as the season went on. His discipline is very poor, often giving away daft free kicks in dangerous areas and has really had no effect on improving the Villa side.
2 Barry Bannan – To be honest, I am not surprised. Under Gerrard Houllier it appeared Barry Bannan would turn into a superb player. He has gone so far backwards, that it seems as if he is trying to moon walk right out the Villa Park exit door. His range of passing has always been one of his strong points, but he often tries these outrageous Hollywood passes which rarely reach their target. Often in the form of long diagonal balls, that are floated instead of driven, so they are often cut out easily. His attempt at a tackle is quite laughable at times, where he just falls to floor and flimsily throws a leg in. While there's a case to play Bannan further forward, I would show this man the door as soon as possible. Harsh? Maybe! Fair? Definitely.
1. Stephen Ireland – To put it bluntly…please leave! Attitude stinks, work rate is dreadful, and his final product has been absolutely awful.


text:
White House 'influencers' press kids to take COVID vaccines
Social-media star Benito Skinner in a video produced with the White House to urge teens to become vaccinated for COVID-19 (Video screenshot)
The nation got a taste Monday of a White House campaign reported by the New York Times to recruit social-media "influencers" to convince children from ages 12 to 18 to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
A video that prompted many vaccinated Americans to declare facetiously their wish to be "unvaccinated" after watching it featured White House press secretary Jen Psaki and cross-dressing Instagram star Benito Skinner as an over-the-top, flamboyant "Gen Z intern."
On Tuesday, the Daily Wire reported a "confidential" email surfaced on social media, apparently approved by the White House team, that confirmed a New York Times report last week that "Village Marketing, an influencer marketing agency" was reaching out to social media influencers on behalf of the White House to reach teens. It's described as "a broad, personality-driven campaign to confront an increasingly urgent challenge in the fight against the pandemic: vaccinating the youthful masses, who have the lowest inoculation rates of any eligible age group in the United States."
The email that surfaced Tuesday asks the influencers to "do an intimate 1×1 Zoom call with Dr. Anthony Fauci" to promote teens getting the coronavirus vaccine.
"The goal is to have (redacted) ask questions on behalf of (redacted) community and educate young people around (sic) the vaccine as there is a massive need to grow awareness within the 12-25 age demo," the email says.
"The White House team (and our team) agree that given (redacted) voice and influence within this crucial demo, (redacted) would be great for this special opportunity," it continues.
The email opens with:
We have a highly sensitive (but pretty incredible) opportunity we'd love to discuss for (redacted). We have been working with Dr. Fauci and the White House (as featured on the front page of The New York Times, "To Fight Vaccine Lies, Authorities Recruit An 'Influencer Army'") and handpicking select influencers to do an intimate 1×1 Zoom call with Dr. Anthony Fauci.
NEW: I've obtained the *Confidential* White House PR email sent to TikTok influencers begging them to "do an intimate" zoom call with Dr. Fauci.
The goal is to influence children as young as 12.
How much did the White House pay for this cringe video? pic.twitter.com/OApHdHf5iR
Joe Biden's America. pic.twitter.com/Srd4omUj5t
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) August 9, 2021
Politico reported Monday that several European countries, including the U.K. and Sweden, have expressed concern about children as young as 12 getting a COVID vaccine.
In the U.K. and Sweden, only children in the 12 to 15 category who are at risk of severe illness from coronavirus can get a shot.
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text:
NOWCAST WESH 2 News at 5am Sunday
Man, 87, indicted in wife's cold case murder
Benjamin Reapp charged with first-degree murder
Updated: 3:44 PM EDT May 1, 2013
An 87-year-old man has been indicted in the murder of his wife more than 24 years ago.Benjamin Reapp has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 52-year-old Wanda Reapp, of Melbourne.On Aug. 26, 1988, Benjamin Reapp told authorities he and his wife were the victims of a kidnapping at the Mr. Donut on US-1 in Cocoa.Reapp told deputies that they were forced to drive to a desolate area of Canaveral Groves where the kidnapper restrained him and murdered his wife.The Brevard cold case unit reopened the case in March 2010 and found evidence that pointed to Benjamin Reapp as the killer, deputies said.Reapp is already in jail on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 12.This is the seventh cold case homicide solved by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit during the past four years, the office said.Images: Florida's unsolved homicides
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. —
An 87-year-old man has been indicted in the murder of his wife more than 24 years ago.
Benjamin Reapp has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 52-year-old Wanda Reapp, of Melbourne.
On Aug. 26, 1988, Benjamin Reapp told authorities he and his wife were the victims of a kidnapping at the Mr. Donut on US-1 in Cocoa.
Reapp told deputies that they were forced to drive to a desolate area of Canaveral Groves where the kidnapper restrained him and murdered his wife.
The Brevard cold case unit reopened the case in March 2010 and found evidence that pointed to Benjamin Reapp as the killer, deputies said.
Reapp is already in jail on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 12.
This is the seventh cold case homicide solved by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit during the past four years, the office said.
Images: Florida's unsolved homicides


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text:
It is axiomatic, so it seems, that whatever Americans hear from the Western press, politicians, and pundits is the truth. Even the most enlightened among our citizenry in the USA seem to believe every fable they are fed by these greedy ignoramuses. For some reason, if the current occupant of the White House makes a claim, and it is repeated ad infinitum by his paid mouthpieces, it becomes gospel for a majority of the country. What we fail to recollect is that, like most gospels, these fables or fairy tales are constructed and proferred to ameliorate the masses regarding their way of life, their beliefs.
America is not the pristine and morally righteous land of the free, home of the brave. Its ignorant leaders and their mouthpieces hide behind false flags and national security, as they manage their kill lists, drone bombings, trumped up NGOs, special ops, secret services, illegal data collection, and grandiose spectacles; all of it in order to keep the blinders well in place and the masses preoccupied with the problems of housing, clothing and feeding themselves. All of this transpires as the wealthiest in the West, without fear or recrimination, steal and loot and enslave the rest of the world. Why are we so stupid and oh, so lazy?
The latest boner is the arrogance of the Obama administration and its Euro-dupes to declare financial and economic war on Russia for publicly agreeing to help its own citizens living in Ukraine while addressing its own security interests, safeguarding its own borders from a newly installed fascism (with Washington's assistance) in its sister country. All I hear from the Western politicians and its media lapdogs is whining about Russia and its evil intentions. I do not care to entertain any more American whining and complaining about Russia or Putin's ulterior motives in Ukraine. Let us focus on our own asshole in D.C., not someone else's! No modern government is perfect! Quite the opposite. They are all complicit in the degradation of the planet and the destruction of life, human or otherwise. But, the smug self-righteousness of the American imperium is simply too much for any person with more than a forth grade education to stand for anymore!
I am calling for a referendum on the American presidency and the parasitic American way of life. I want our oligarch-in-chief to be run out of office and stuck in a prison cell in Guantonamo for crimes against persons and humanity. I want him to pay for crimes against the citizenry, against whistle blowers, against the Egyptians, the Lybians, the Iraqis, the Afghanis, Iranians, Russians, Syrians, Ukrainians, Palestinians, etc. And I want the capitalist-oligarchs who run this country to be relieved of their obscene wealth and have it redistributed to the people. Call me a commie, but I just see it as repayment for services already rendered. I want to see an end to the American hegemony – politically, culturally, economically – so that the planet and its inhabitants can once again breathe freely, so diverse cultures can again flourish, and endangered species, live. I would like to see every socio-political hierarchy currently operating on this planet disassembled. I am asking much, but expect nothing will change.
89 Responses to Tired Of Whining Yet?
Deena Stryker says:
Whoz gonna do all that? The global majority has to keep moving in the opposite direction and growing in strength for the US house of cards to fall. It won't happen from inside, trust me. There are two many 'movements', incipient third parties, etc., and too many people concerned with societal issues as opposed to the big issues that threaten us all.
I just watched a program on Aljazeera telling how militarized the police forces in the U.S. have become. The federal government has been throwing big money at all the local agencies to arm them like the military. Now when they go to someones home they show up in huge numbers dressed like they are in Afghanistan with all the equipment and arms. So as Deena asks "Whoz gonna do all that?"
geez, tell us how you really feel, don't hold back…………………
just wrote a lengthy post on another site, quite a chore since I hunt and peck, tried to learn how to type several times.
our country will never thrive until the unnatural arrangement of corporate citizenship is abolished.
have written about this before, Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific railroad, the case that wasn't, decided illegally.
I don't hold out much hope either, until the intelligentsia around the planet wake up to the fact that they too will be thrown to the wolves once it all starts breaking down.
remember Dickens's
"Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."
corps, combined with technology form a sort of AI and it is out of control. this is the sort of radical thinking which very few can grasp, either I am deluded or a sort of prophet, but I believe I am right. our so-called leaders no longer have the acumen to grasp the dangers in our system, their concern is to serve the system.
I watch the nightly news, it's nothing but establishment mouth pieces trumpeting the latest lies, the networks are owned by all the major players, multi-nationals with an axe to grind, they live in a different reality, a reality they make up.
the United States is $17 trillion fiat dollars in debt, we have adverts for funds to help our veterans who have had their limbs blown off, when, oh when, will our so-called leaders put an end to our mis-adventures and start the laborious task of putting our country on some sort of sustainable path?
if there is a Great Spirit, we no longer hear its voice.
HT,
Nice post for the most part, but I'd caution you against repeating the US debt meme. It's wholly wrong for the most part, and its wholly destructive as well. It perpetuates the idea that we can only "afford" certain things, which – surprise, surprise – always come down to defense and tax breaks for the rich. The US, a sovereign issuer of its OWN currency, is only in "debt" because it chooses to be. In that it chose to have a privatized central bank (the Fed) with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. That "debt" is wholly negotiable, in that the US Treasury could issue enough dollars to cover it ALL tomorrow, and then renege on future interests payments as well by simply dissolving the Fed and issuing future dollars as US Treasury Notes rather than Federal Reserve Notes. All by fiat of course, as any monetary sovereign is entitled to do. Yes, future dollars do have to be aligned with actual resources, and that is indeed a problem, but without the confounding issue of exponential debt, the problem at least becomes tractable. Not that any of this is likely to actually happen of course, but it's important to at least understand the VERY REAL possible alternatives, and stop repeating the "debt bomb" meme, which was created by rich banking interests in the first place as a further means of stealing from the poor. Are we "out of money" for things that actually matter? Only for the working poor it seems, but never for the idle rich. Funny how that is.
don't totally disagree with you, but here are corps. and govts. which own this debt, they don't expect it to be monetized away as you propose, but there's the rub.
I do agree that money needs t be aligned with existing resources.
whether bankers created the mess is beyond question, as is stealing from the poor, but still, it is the operative system, to reform it is essential, but how, and when?
I think you agree it is one driving force behind our current insanity.
none of this even touches upon the derivatives fantasy, which is many times larger than this debt bomb.
anyhow, it's all Greek to me, I only mention it to point out how what our govt. is up to doesn't make sense by their own metrics.
Corps, governments, but ESPECIALLY the working poor are being monetized out of their money anyway through the Fed's Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP), so that's already happening no matter what.
But realize, the long term strategy for the corporate banker ownership class is is to starve the US government of all funds it needs to exist, other than for the functions it needs to serve its interests. Namely: "defense" (actually foreign invasion forces), "domestic security" (policing of domestic populations exactly as if they were foreign "terrorists"), and what little infrastructure may be required to serve their interests, and NOT A DOLLAR MORE!!! And beyond that, even the US government is expendable, having served its purpose as merely the gateway from which corporate interests gained their final foothold.
Well, Congress just earmarked $1BB to send to Ukraine… again the US creates fuckin chaos and shoves $$ at it… who knows if they feel guilty or are still trying to BUY a piece of property to set up a friendly missile site. Can't they just keep their nose out of other people's shit, and give money to their own poor and homeless. NO, they can't!
Agreed. Important to note that most of that $1B has been "targeted" to pro-US interests as well – aka "freedom fighters" and the like – although most of it will most-assuredly be squandered in the process.
But then again, that's the TRUE BEAUTY of it all! Watching the capitalist leviathan – the so-called "KING OF THE WORLD" if you will – piss all it's resources (and let's face it, the dollar is the only thing we have left these days) away needlessly on misadventures it has no damn business being involved in in the first place NEEDLESSLY!
In that sense, maybe we should all just shut up and laugh while the ship – all too predictably – goes down right on schedule. Not like we have any ability to prevent it anyway.
Sandy all we have to do is start our own nation and have a revolution where we oust ourselves to a new form of government just as bad as the old one but with the same members (namely us) given new names (i.e. "Deputy Prime Chancellor" becomes "Minister of the People" and other nonsense) only each time with more debt owed the IMF/EU/US. We'll just rack up the debt and party like the Greeks until we go broke and then have another revolution that we will post on youtube complete with faux-revolutionaries that will in fact be insiders paid to look like dramatic simpletons raiding the government. We just have to figure out our new costumes every 10 years.
The US will fall for it every time – trust me!.
Great assessment; profound description, Terry David!
LOL. It would be funny, if it were not so frightening. The narrative has become impermeable and ominous as you say. There is complete suspension of disbelief among the protectorate-electorate, so that the narrative remains in play, and the detectorate remains asleep. Why am I thinking of Jim Carrey right now?
LOL – Yes, Uncle Sam would… only if our nation had mineral wealth, or strategic global positioning. LOL
What spirit? LOL
heavens no, perish the thought, god forbid, no can do!!
The Great Spirit, half of the dynamic duo, Mother Earth/Father Sky. the One whose voice i hear in the wind.
I hear you. The Great Spirit whose name is unspeakable. Whose name, indeed, has been forgotten altogether in all of our modern bloviation.
Or, DA…. maybe, just maybe, everyone in this god-for-saken USA should go down to the Big White House, and park their big fat asses right on the lawn and say; we henceforth refuse to finance your fucking wars, coups, armed invasions, drone patrols and other imperial excursions around the world. Leave the world alone. Furthermore, none of us will pay any more federal taxes until you and all of the congressmen and women resign and we start all over again. And we sit there until the f..king police, uparmored and ready to rumble, try to remove us forcably. And let the body count begin!
CNN wouldn't cover it. Instead they would cover Hollywood and entertainment stars who are out of work and hooked on drugs…
I am calling for a referendum on the American presidency and the parasitic American way of life. I want our oligarch-in-chief to be run out of office and stuck in a prison cell in Guantonamo for crimes against persons and humanity. I want him to pay for crimes against the citizenry, against whistle blowers, against the Egyptians, the Lybians, the Iraqis, the Afghanis, Iranians, Russians, Syrians, Ukrainians, Palestinians, etc. And I want the capitalist-oligarchs who run this country to be relieved of their obscene wealth and have it redistributed to the people.
Don't ask for much, do ya? Agreed, and Jackson Browne beat us both to the punch when he voiced the same sentiment over American misadventures in central America (primarily) and elsewhere 25 years ago when he wrote these lyrics:
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
Which Richie Havens put to music (live) better than anyone else I've heard:
ripper says:
tell me who are the krim-ee nyles?
Easy. Rich white guys for the most part, who've inherited their riches from their rich daddies. And you need a comma after the "me," as well as some capitalization just for fun. Thanks for playing.
The wife and I were just discussing this very subject tonight at dinner. The far right in America sell us tax breaks for the rich and cuts for the poor they created in the process. Then the left cries foul and that we should tax, tax, tax the working class to pay for the extremely poor AND the extremely rich. Who wins in this whole damn mess? The bankers! They reap the wealth by taxes (stolen) from the working class thanks to repubs then they reap the interest paid on the loans to the federal government to pay for the programs for the poor instituted by the left. Where and when does it all end?!?!?!
Good question, Ron… probably when the oil runs out! LOL… Good to hear your voice again. sandy
Yeah, that is what I was thinking. I just started a new job teaching automotive technology at our local high school. I am having a hard time with these kids when I raise the subject of oil and the very real possibility that they will experience severe oil/fuel shortages. I live in a very redneck area and they like their loud, jacked-up four wheel drives. The future is electric/hybrid cars and they don't want to hear it.
Thanks, Sandy 🙂 Sorry I am late with the nod. My eyeballs go screwy move faster than the brain can comprehend.
exactly, you have it, no real reform of the system. the economies of the world are carried by the wealth creators. of course it all comes from Mother Nature, the only true economy, but it all comes back to the working class.
raise taxes on the wealthy, they raise prices on whatever they control, dodge their taxes, and it all comes back to work being done, where wealth is created in the first place.
all a simulacrum as DA pointed out..
and the truly poor? food stamps, rental assistance, utility vouchers, etc. then the Democrats wonder why the working class is alienated. not to get too political, but i've tried to explain this other places, i get called a right-winger, it's hopeless. you are one of the few i've ever seen state it so plainly.
never done the figures, but me and mine would maybe be better off all working low-paying part time jobs, i have always been just above the cutoff for benefits, never qualified for school lunches, food stamps, none of it. the problem is that to qualify for college grants they go off the year before, so you have to be practically destitute for a year before you can get the real gravy.
the right-wing meme of dependency has a sidgeon of truth in it, but the only way they get away with it is because their opposition never espouses any sort of true socialist message, just tinkering with a broken system. makes you wonder.
Actually, if that meme has any truth at all, it's a great deal less than a smidgen. Add up all the welfare moms the world over and their impact wouldn't be a fraction of just the top ten percent of all the corporate and hyper-wealthy tax break welfare out there. Unfortunately, the poor of the world have bought into the corporate marketing hype that the rich actually work for their money, while the poor don't, and further, piss theirs away once they get what little they have. That's a lie and always has been, but seems to be true due to well planned corporate marketing strategies which capitalize on, among other things, the well known proclivity for poor people everywhere to seek refuge in religion – especially Christianity – which has perverted the Christian message to view poverty as shameful, and conspicuous consumption as somehow glorious.
But rest assured, as the castle drawbridge on what's left of our post-oil economy goes up, it will once again be the poor that get the shaft, so that the rich so comfortably ensconced within can maintain theirs. Hardly surprising. That's the way it's always been and always will be until the bitter end.
Heretick, we all know there is no profit in fixing anything. I understand the right when they talk about fraud/abuse, and that people should learn to take care of themselves. But what I don't understand is how they don't talk about past congressmen/woman who made it possible for manufacturing jobs (read: the ability to take care of one's self) to leave this country. That is real wealth production and the workers are the ones who create it.
That being said, I also understand the left when they passed welfare and other programs to quote "HELP the poor".
As I said in my previous post, it is a win/win for the bankers, one side of the team creates avenues to low paid labor and soaring profits from production. Then the other side of the team creates programs for the workers who lost their jobs which creates avenues for low paid labor and soaring profits from loans to the government to pay for it all. Sorry for repeating what I said earlier. I just have to let it all out.
please understand that when i said wealth creators i meant workers, not the Randian superman. all wealth comes from work, Mr. Sun does work in the scientific sense when photosynthesis occurs. other bloggers i read point out that every-time our society becomes "smarter", it means more machines doing more work humans used to do.
all of this would be fine if the bounty was shared, and the fuel holds out………………
Yeah, I know what you meant HT. I tend to repeat, ramble and blurt. It's the ADD in me. I read too fast and have trouble organizing my thoughts. I agree with you and find your writings to be very informative as well most on this blog.
"I wanna tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master
Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream"
and the beat goes on, they would never have been this sloppy back in the 50's , or maybe the new tech really does uncover things they would rather keep hidden.
Funny, the video I just put up the other day now comes up as 'This video is private' and now doesn't even come up on a Google search. One can only speculate on which of the many internet interlocutors of whatever persuasion out there might have had a reason to block it.
In that vein I'll post it again with much better graphics, albeit not live this time.
I think you really struck a chord with your title this week Sandy. When it comes to foreign policy, the United States government's stance is always that of the whimpering, snivelling, tragically wronged little bitch. Pretty ironic, considering we spend more on our military (most of it wasted on useless technology purely in the service of its capitalist oligarch owners) than the rest of the world combined, conscript by economic proxy much of our young working class population who should have been schooled to know better, project that power recklessly and unilaterally and ask questions later, and then piss and moan about the less than stellar "returns we earn on our investment." And yet, the great military leviathan lumbers on ever relentlessly, for now at least.
Will we do better anytime soon? All signs say no, since as you note, Russia, the Ukraine, and indeed all the world are apparently infected with the capitalist materialism disease these days. Thomas Friedman and his ilk would assert that this is nothing more than the American/Western economic model, and of course "freedom" in all its various manifestations, taking their rightful place at the head of human affairs. Yeah, right!
When it comes to American government (and Americans' in general, for that matter) whining, I think we're only just getting started. As the "greatest nation in the history of the earth" goes into its all too predictable post peak energy decline and eventual final death throes, I imagine the ruckus will truly be one for the ages. Lets just hope we don't don't destroy all of humanity with us in the process. I'm not optimistic.
A chord in the darkly, minor key… DA!
Darkly minor is just perfect for darkly minor times. You're spot on kC!
And here is a list and description of the extensive history of US collaboration in, or direct execution of, international terror, illegal invasion, putsch, murder, torture, and other assorted acts of international aggression.
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/08/35_countries_the_u_s_has_backed_international_crime_partner/
dangerouschristian says:
Sandy, you smoked it this week! You really hit the nail on the head about our foreign policy. Washington-the lap dog of Wall Street-has a lot of nerve bitching about what's happening in the Ukraine, while we here in America are struggling to keep our homes, jobs, communities and sanity. God forbid we ever turn the world into one giant America-a world ran by oligarchs, patrolled by drones, feeding bread and circuses (football and reality TV) to the unsuspecting masses.
To close, I'm reminded of the 1937 Margaret Bourke-White photo of survivors of the 1937 Ohio River Flood (all African-American) queuing at a relief station in front of a billboard — on which a car bearing a beaming white family (and their dog!) appears to drive confidently into the future beneath the absurdly ironic slogan, "World's Highest Standard of Living"; and the sub-slogan, "There's no way like the American Way". Today, it wouldn't just be African-Americans in that queue, it would be other ethnic groups and nationalities the US ran roughshod over in recent years.
http://life.time.com/behind-the-picture/the-american-way-photos-from-the-great-ohio-river-flood-of-1937/#1
Every picture tells a story! ;-(
But back to earth. Here's what life looked liked 100 years ago. Quite a different story altogether.
Nichole Webbering says:
Nothing quite as bracing as 2209 whir folks dying for the foibles and the pleasures of the Mellons, Carnegies, and Fricks of USA.
It still happens, although the names have changed. Acts of Providence seem inescapable.
1971 DA! One of my favorites!! First year of college. I like this version better!
Dangerouschristian… you are right, I musta' been smokin' somethin' this week! 😉
TomGram had a rather positive, albeit possibly realistic take on the Obama presidency today – Obama as the consummate narcissist. My take? Plausible, certainly. Could be that he was merely that harmless from the start and was recruited for the job based on those attributes, but somehow I doubt it. Still can't imagine he was THAT naive/smart or that corporate presidential recruiters were THAT smart. But of course, I could be wrong:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175816/tomgram%3A_david_bromwich%2C_the_leader_obama_wanted_to_become_and_what_became_of_him/
our Peace Prize Prez was recruited exactly because of his ambition, his diffidence is on purpose, his message is vague and formulaic, fooled me, once…………………..
i think the article at Tomgram is overly kind.
the stifling of all types of dissent, except for the PC globalist, one world kumbaya mantra is truly frightening. there is a flip side to all of the wonderful things promised by this crowd.
Yep. I'm still of the view he was a potted plant from the start.
Matt Taibbi characterized Obama's political persona in early 2007 as
an ingeniously crafted human cipher, a man without race, ideology, geographic allegiances, or, indeed, sharp edges of any kind. You can't run against him on issues because you can't even find him on the ideological spectrum. Obama's "Man for all seasons" act is so perfect in its particulars that just about anyone can find a bit of himself somewhere in the candidate's background, whether in his genes or his upbringing. . . . [H]is strategy seems to be to appear as a sort of ideological Universalist, one who spends a great deal of rhetorical energy showing that he recognizes the validity of all points of view, and conversely emphasizes that when he does take hard positions on issues, he often does so reluctantly.
But, is that the kind of a cipher who would maintain his own "kill list?"
public persona, to sell to the rubes, like me……………..
i voted for him, once. kind of a hopey-changey thing.
have to search for this one, Harpers has it behind a pay wall.
The long, slow surrender of American liberals
By Adolph Reed Jr.
Moyers had him on his show.
i have come to the conclusion that groups beyond a certain size cannot function. maybe a slim chance that countries under 60 million or so can reach consensus, but then, nah, not happening.
victims of our own success, too much concentrated power.
when the draft threatened middle class kids we had an opposition, now the tptb use machines to do the dirty work no body cares.
what's upsetting is the almost complete lack of opposition from the supposed left.
as long as each little constituency is getting their slice of empire they are satisfied.
people with full stomachs don't revolt.
but you are absolutely right, there are real people pulling the strings, powers behind the throne, then the throne itself. these things are talked about in the abstract.
tptb
surgical strikes
enhanced interrogation
in thee nd it's real people with real feelings.
again, you are absolutely correct.
William H Duncan says:
From March 07:
http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2014/03/feedback-for-obama.html
WHD – I replied also directly on your site. Great responses to the Big White House survey. Gotta try to keep the bastards on their toes. Lots of Love and Laughing Out Loud. sandy kC
WHD – BTW… just added you to my blogroll!! Welcome aboard!! kC
Nice! You kept your replies very civil too (other than that nice little veiled threat at the end), something most of us would have a hard time with.
good luck with your missive, down the memory hole would be my guess. as for detention, i don't think they care, the puppet-masters who pull these people's strings are so firmly in control one, or a hundred, or a million malcontents don't even cause a ripple on the radar screen.
FIDO says:
I agree with you in large part and really wish for a true revolution, not one where the musical chairs are just switched around like expired bread on the shelf of my local supermarket. In my position, I have really nothing to lose so chaos would be welcome and might be interesting. On the militarization of the police forces, it is an offshoot of the war on drugs err war on black/asian/latino/native americans. I have seen armored police vehicles on the backroads of western Kansas doing some really nutty stuff. Perhaps a prep for massive concentration camps ? My guess is that the plans are being hatched for some really nasty stuff and what place to better hold millions of minority members then the disorienting great plains where the average gangbanger wouldn't know his or her directions because of the lack of geographical features.
The ovens are ready for the disabled and elderly and those who would oppose tptb. One of the most shocking things has been the orders for creamatorias have increased at animal hospitals.
Now that's news!
FIDO, I too, welcome the notion of revolt. But with the average person in the US having an attention span no longer than 20 minutes, and an inability to take care of themselves, it would be short lived. TPTB would be controlling it from start to finish. I don't want say that I have no hope, for if it ever where to start I would certainly join.
I think the hardest part about it would be controlling the spin masters. TPTB would have us fighting ourselves. We could end up like a tornado traveling over the mountain only to loose power/momentum.
Just watching the news is a prime example. The world if full of racists, homo-phobes, religious nuts, thieves, drug dealers, need I go on……..There is kindness in people, we just have to know how to find it again. Civility and respect have been removed from discourse by powerful images in all forms of media. Unfortunately people respond to this stuff. They sound like parrots.
If it happens, we will be surprised by it at first. The timing, the events will probably leave us scratching our heads. We will have to wait and see.
Interesting reverse angle alternative view of the Ukraine/Crimea "crisis" from poster 'Crazyhorse' over at NakCap today:
Americans would be well served to learn more of their own history before they try to understand conflicts involving other cultures and ethnic groups.
In 1980 Americans elected a retired movie actor to the Presidency who was already suffering from periods of memory loss that grew into full scale Alzheimer's during the course of two terms in office. His handlers were able to manage his public appearances because his skills as an actor served him in good stead when reading from a teleprompter. However he often fell asleep during cabinet meetings and as a result policy decisions were decided directly by lobbyists without the usual protocol of bargaining for election contributions.
One day during his second term office his wife, Nancy, happened to mention that Texas had become more Mexican than Mexico. He misunderstood her, and thought that she was suggesting that Texas should become part of Mexico. He immediately went into the Oval Office and signed a Presidential Order giving Texas to Mexico. When he discovered what had happened Henry Kissinger was livid. It took all of his diplomatic skills to re-negotiate the Presidential Order into a format where Texas and the Gulf became an independent country and the US retained long-term leases on the Manned Spacecraft Center and the naval base in Galveston, along with the right to station 25,000 troops in Greater Texas.
The ensuing years have not been kind to the remainder of the USA. Most of its manufacturing facilities were offshored to China and Vietnam, The former Midwest breadbasket was turned into a dust bowl by persistent drought, and to add insult to injury the City/State of London completely upstaged New York as the world's financial center. By 2014 the US was highly dependent upon its Natural Gas LNG exports for revenue to fund its government expenses and remaining army. And over half of the Nation's gas exports flowed through pipelines in Greater Texas to the leased port facilities in Galveston.
This situation would have continued to be workable were it not for the persistent meddling by our historical enemy, the Russian Federation. It was a rude awakening when Quebec seceded from Canada in exchange for Russian armaments that enabled it to enforce its claim to the Northwest Passage shipping lanes. Quebec was one of the early members of the RSD, the Russian military defensive alliance, and the recipient of an array of medium range missiles supplied by the Russian Federation at very favorable terms. Not long after the countries of Bermuda and the Bahamas were also ushered into the RSD.
Since the loss of its colonies in Central America and the ultimate disgrace of losing Texas, the ability to dictate events in its own hemisphere had largely been lost by the USA. The Russian Federation had 1400 military bases all around the world, advanced data surveillance technology, and a fleet of assassin drones operating worldwide at a scale the US couldn't match. Exploiting this advantage, the Russian Federation began a covert campaign to destabilize Texas, funded by 5 billion in bribe money and sophisticated technical assistance in creating false flag events – a tactic refined for over 50 years by Russian covert operatives. Texas had no shortage of grifters and political chameleons willing to accept money from any source, and with Russian largesse they were soon able to overthrow the corrupt elected government of Texas and install themselves in power. It seemed that the stage was set for yet another vassal state to enter the Federation and another phase in the encirclement of the USA to begin.
However success begets complacency and the Federation failed to take into account one key factor—the power of a ruthless leader to determine events. For many decades the US had been led by puppet Presidents whose function was to keep the masses entertained by continuous election circuses while the privileged elite hollowed out the economy and shipped it off to their offshore bank accounts. Presidents were in turn senile, sexual predators, mentally retarded or simply venal. The man in the White House that the Federation faced when they tried to take over Texas was a different class of character entirely. President Underwood had ascended to the Presidency without a single vote being cast, although there were several murders along the way. He had immediately merged the remnants of the dying oil companies— Exxon , Conoco & Chevron with natural gas property scams like Chesapeake Energy to form the state owned Universal Energy Company and retained 10% of the shares for himself so the interest of the Nation and his own would always be in alignment.
With a real leader like Underwood in power do you think he would stand by and let the US be cut off from its lifeblood of natural gas exports? Is it surprising that he supplied the 25,000 troops authorized by treaty with the latest in tanks and heavy armor? And is it surprising that when given the choice of rejoining the US and speaking English or Spanglish rather than Russian, 95% of voters in Texas voted to re-join the US? In the end the Russian Federation huffed and puffed, but there was absolutely nothing short of starting a M.A.D. war that they could do to prevent Texas from re-joining the US.
Update: President Underwood has just called for a full scale mobilization of troops at numerous points on the St. Laurence Seaway. Quebec has issued a statement that it will only target it's warheads at civilian locations if US troops land and are unwilling to surrender in French.
Terry David says:
In the past couple 'o weeks or so I've avoided most mainstream media accounts of the the Ukraine situation. As a thought exercise, I set to imagining Huxley's or Orwell's work with a little help from Terry Gilliam's movie "Brazil" or other dystopian stories. I visualized how propaganda organizations would present their desired narrative as "news." I think you can just see it your mind's eye as I did. The authoritative presentation, so banal and "trustworthy." "Facts" presented as indisputable. Entry of other reporters from overseas with "facts" from the same script, offered as corroboration of the events as the narrative requires. Glaring omissions that are intended to be filled with the view/listener's own completion of the intended narrative by connecting the false dots, creating an even more insidious alternate reality in the minds of the populus. Each newscast on a TV or computer screen viewed casually by the subject people without skepticism as you or I in the theater want to wave our arms at the fictional people to get them to wake up! And that sick feeling that the tacit consent thus created- a brainwashed people- will allow the horrifying manipulators to win in their irrational quest for brutal domination.
So I found it surreal -life changing, even- to turn on NPR at 5pm while in the car. I listened with the above in mind. And the reports sounded exactly like those I imagined in my dystopian model. I went nearly dissociative in the realization that those fictional dystopian mechanisms are here and at work in the USA now, with all that implies. I was in the story as both subject and observer.
Equally disturbing is that it has always been so, at least to a degree. Being played for a fool during my entire young life doesn't sit well with me. You would think others would want to be apprised of this as well, but you would be wrong.
It seems to me that it's only particularly dangerous to life and limb of the world at large when two conditions are met: 1) when the populus in question is gullible enough to accept all of it uncritically without ever reading between the lines, and 2) they want to believe it because their primitive hatreds have been brought to a proper boil so that they will act violently on cue against the proscribed bogeymen and scapegoats.
In Russia of the Soviet era, my understanding is that no one really believed the BS and read the papers specifically to read between the lines. Contrast this with Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan in the 20th century.
Now look at 21st Century USA and its people. #1? Check. #2? Check.
I'm not optimistic. Second amendment gun rights notwithstanding. Guns are powerless against US military drones, chemical weapons, directed energy weapons and cyber warfare. Guns are only useful in the slaughtering of already powerless fellow countrymen who have been identified and scapegoated by the State's propaganda. The fascist machine knows this and targets the gun rights propaganda to those who are particularly paranoid and violent.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for the 2nd Amendment rights. I think the people of the USA should be able to form a militia as necessary and the weaponry should be state of the art. Therefore, I advocate the disbanding of the standing military, and advocate that all the high tech weaponry be available for any ad hoc militia that could use it in the defense of the Constitution. If only they knew what that meant.
Oy. I suppose it's too late to take the Blue Pill. *sigh*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill
Excellent observations. Second amendment gun rights always bring out a laugh in me. For what? So we can shoot our neighbor? Ourselves? Each other?
The current Russian/Crimean/Ukrainian standoff is educational precisely because it's exactly the opposite of what the western media says it is, and because it illustrates so perfectly how completely the western masses are in thrall to the fucking stories they're being told.
Once again, Pink Floyd had it right all those years ago:
Yes, DA, I think what you zeroed in on– reporting being "exactly the opposite" of what it is, and existing as a nearly impermeable blanket across the western world– is what makes this a watershed moment.
As bad as things have been in the past, there's always been imprecision and enough vagueness in the official narrative that voices of truth or reason could poke some holes of doubt into a narrative that was never a full 180 degrees out of phase. Short of that there's enough doubt that the truth comes out in a few years.
But this feels so different, so ominous. The refinement of the ruse is both impressive and deadly to the very concept of a republic. It's rumored that one of the late CIA directors (or someone in that field) declared that the covert machine will have been successful when everything the American people believe is false.
The utter failure of the collective BS detectorate* is pretty remarkable for a people enamored with its exceptionalism.
As always, Pink Floyd gets it.
*BS detectorate: n. An electorate capable of critical thinking.
syn. Citizen.
ant. acceptorate.
see: "mindless consumer", doofusate
Yes, I just made that up. It's not like I overthrew a government or something.
To borrow a phrase from DoD, looks like DC is going for 'full spectrum propaganda' these days.
Jeremy Rifkin… is long past his prime… he should be dead already… I am surprised. LOL
Zero… 0… Nothing. That is what will be left when the vapor clears. LOL
out of touch? ahead of the curve? or just a blithering idiot?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-anti-capitalism.html?_r=0
this king of stuff just makes me angry. maybe i'll just tell the landlord the good news at the end of the month, or the local store owner when i go to fill up the truck.
i've heard off Rifkin, probably he's respected in his field.
is this the kind of tripe the cognoscenti reads and believes? is the educated elite really this out of touch? what prompted this little rant is the comments above about propaganda and things being written which are the exact opposite of reality.
life in the land of make believe, living in la-la land.
3-D printers, right, check the price of computers or a gallon of milk J.
The zero marginal costs align nicely with the zero marginal wages most people are making these days. As you said, I wonder when the freebies for basic commodities will start?
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/22469-abrupt-climate-change-no-bioperturbation
Who knows if the science on this is exactly right (I'm of the opinion that it at least mostly is), but the author makes a point that I think the Archdruid and his ilk like to casually gloss over in their effort to paint the picture that this (climate change, ho-hum!) has all happened before, and that this occurrence will most likely be just like all the rest. Fairly calamitous over several centuries he says in his post today, but after that business as usual, albeit on decidedly more austere terms, for the remaining 5% of survivors I think there's mounting evidence – and this article presents a lot of it – that this time really will be significantly different than the similar times before it. Although I think Archdruid is also rather smugly soft-selling his predictions as being less catastrophic than they actually are. Even if he's right, that's a pretty damn horrifying outcome for both humans and the planet earth. And its looking increasingly as if we've already run out of time to do much about it.
Just to follow up on one of the comments over on Archdruid's blog today. The thing that I think will ultimately make Climate Change completely politically intractable is that at some point, and that point may have already arrived, a completely sane and rational response to the fact that we have very likely already shit the bed and baked in several hundred or even thousands of years of catastrophic climate change (from a human perspective at least), will be to say, "OK then, fuck it. We might as well go down enjoying ourselves, cause its all about to end no matter what anyway." And like I said, I personally think we're very likely already at that point now, especially considering that any serious effort to get us back to a truly zero carbon society world-wide would likely take several decades to happen at least, even assuming everyone was acting in good faith, which we know will never happen. If climate change is real, and I believe it is, I think we've already hit the iceberg and are on our way down, whether or not the crew has alerted us passengers. And the band plays on!
Also important to keep in mind that climate change research has become so heavily politicized (and thus monetized), with the result that many of the findings have been dumbed down and/or made palatable so as not to scare the public and lawmakers or, more importantly, scare off funding sources, that it essentially becomes meaningless from the perspective of actually informing our policy choices in the short term. I think the current science already indicates that we have a raging four alarm fire in our midst, and yet such views are painted as extremist and our actions to date have been less than nil. This is one crisis that our corporate captured democracy is quite ill-equipped to handle, and we are seeing the results play out before our eyes daily.
along with climate change will be topsoil depletion and/or sterilization, coupled with a fresh water crisis. makes the people roughing it on the last frontier up in AK seem positively prescient.
sort of funny really, a bunch of these rednecks down here (politically incorrect brutes as they are) are more prepared than many city dwellers. generations living in cities lose any connection or memory of nature, whereas more rural people still know how to hunt, fish, and scavenge.
I think the rednecks will definitely have a leg up with regard to practical survival skills, but given the congruent environmental degradation, I'm not sure they will be of much use. Over the short term I think it will be a total crap shoot and it is completely unknowable as to who or which groups will have an advantage, although the corporate class can be counted on to continue to seize everything of value they can get their hands on, which they've been doing for decades now already. When the shit kicks in in earnest I think it will be very much like the "fog of war," where conditions on the ground change constantly and in mostly completely unpredictable fashion. Large numbers of people will die for merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In any case, I think it will all be much too much for most of us first worlders and we'll either succumb fairly quickly to the innumerable number of hazards that will become endemic, or we'll simply die by our own hand willingly. It's not going to be a world for the faint of heart. Expect drugs and alcohol to be the chief coping mechanism for most, as they increasingly already are. Think third world failed states on steroids.
Just to add, third world failed states are our capitalist imperialist legacy, and they've existed for well over 50 years now (at least) already largely due to "American exceptionalist influence." It's a fucking shameful legacy indeed, but one that should be acknowledged publicly every time we Americans stand and pay tribute to our flag, our military, or just our general "specialness."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shai-hulud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremen
Feel how the Greater Being comes!
Rejoice and, in rejoicing die!
Best summation of what ails America I've seen yet. The malignancy is now terminal it seems.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/21/the-american-crisis/
And the author's book push as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Economics-Counterpunch-Rob-Urie/dp/1849351287
Haven't read it, don't know a damn thing about it; but I liked his Counterpunch rant enough, that I think it's worth looking into at least. The concept is spot on at least:
Capitalist economics is premised on a narrow, anti-historical concept of what people are and what motivates us. Its broader context is Western "idealism," the view that the life of "the mind," as conceived in Western philosophy, is the fundamental locus and determinant of existence. "Zen," as taken from the dialogue between D.T. Suzuki and philosopher Martin Heidegger, removes the partitions that separate "us" from each other, "the world," and ourselves. Rob Urie develops a post-Marxian (non-deterministic) materialism to reimagine the fundamental premises of economics and places them into debate over key economic issues—work and labor, income and wealth distribution, environmental degradation and animal rights.
this guy ties it all together pretty well.
http://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/2014/03/23/so-we-drove-on-toward-death/
Came upon this one while "killing some time" today as well. Highly recommended:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22579-commemorating-the-vietnam-war-one-marines-perspective
Whoa! This just in from the WSJ:
Putin (Russia) Gets the Boot (From the G8)
Why do I get the feeling that Russians came out on the better end of this deal? And that as the west continue to foolishly turn up the heat on this whole sordid affair that there's a whole lot of shoes yet to drop, most of them not in the west's favor. One thing's for sure: Obama and the Dems are firmly in the pocket of the US Defense and Intelligence axis (surprise, surprise!). Hard to imagine any authentic liberals voting for these craven sell-outs ever again.
THE WSJ is horse SHIT… it won't let me read anything without promising them my firstborn! FuK that!!
Sounds like Wall Street. Welcome back kC. I'm thinking the economic wars by proxy have probably begun. Won't be long before your blog is blocked and we posters are marked. Oh well!
do you mean like maybe the window that just opened in the upper left corner of my screen and then closed in a flash? almost like something was taking a screen shot?
or is it just my imagination? running away with me?
but they will, as long as they get their slice of the pie.
Don't you know it. That's the name of the capitalist game!
that's the game of people who don't know themselves, but then, i did vote for the messiah, once.
As the immortal 'W' was famously known to have said: Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on… wait a minute… fool me twice…er… fool you twice… did someone get fooled twice? Fool me once and we won't get fooled again. Yeah, that's the ticket. Who said that? Oh yeah, The Who, that's who. So don't be foolin' around out there, OK?
Another excellent song by the way.


Chibi Barbie loves to be comfy at all times and with her cute face, every outfit she wears is simply adorable. So use your creativity and design for her a lovely onesie. You can draw the pattern, cut it and sew the onesie together and then have fun customizing it. You can let your imagination go wild and paint the onesie in some fun color combos or you can get inspired by wild animals or even the lovely Olaf. Use your mouse to play!


text:
The Case for God is a 2009 book by Karen Armstrong. It covers the history of religion, from the paleolithic age to the present day, with a focus on the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and on apophatic theology in various religions.

Another theme is intellectual beliefs versus practice. Armstrong claims that the fundamental reality, later called God, Brahman, nirvana or Tao, transcends human concepts and thoughts, and can only be known through devoted religious practice.

In 2009, the book was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tübingen in recognition of its contribution to the fields of theology, philosophy and intellectual history, and for improving international understanding and tolerance among faiths.

Synopsis

In the introduction, Armstrong presents two forms of knowledge, mythos and logos. Since the 16th and 17th century, she says logos governed civilization, resulting in two phenomena: fundamentalism and atheism. Armstrong says that the new atheists have made some invalid criticisms of religion. She states, "I can sympathize with the irritation of the new atheists", but she maintains that they have focused primarily on fundamentalism. She says they "aren't radical enough" and finds their work "disappointingly shallow". According to Armstrong, "My aim in this book is simply to bring something fresh to the table."

References

Sources

External links

2009 non-fiction books
Alfred A. Knopf books
Criticism of New Atheism
English-language books
Philosophy of religion literature
Religious studies books
Works by Karen Armstrong

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Why do web-services usually working XML or JSON formatted information? I'm new to web-services and have done some research but haven't found the answer I want. I would be happy if you could write an article about it in detail or briefly explain why. What is the purpose of using Json or Xml here? And I want to know exactly what functional differences exist between them.

A: *

*The information has to be returned in some kind of format.

*Using a standard format is better than using a non-standard format because it enables reuse of widely-available parsers.

*XML was rapidly adopted around 2000 for the purpose because it was vendor-neutral and met the technical requirements.

*JSON came along later and started to displace XML because it was simpler: it was simpler because it was designed specifically for handling structured data, whereas XML had been designed primarily with structured documents in mind.

*Among the many features available in XML with no equivalent in JSON, the ones that stand out are DTD-based validation, entities and entity references, mixed content, comments and processing instructions, and namespaces. These features are all very useful for document processing, but not for interchanging structured data.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Aung San Suu Kyi was supposed to be addressing the United Nations, and the world, this week at the annual general assembly in New York.
Instead, the de facto leader of Myanmar will give a televised speech in her own country, breaking her near-silence on the humanitarian crisis as Rohingya refugees flee violence in Myanmar and pour into Bangladesh.
Ms Suu Kyi's speech on Tuesday will be scrutinised intensely, with the UN chief on Sunday calling it her "last chance" to stop the bloodshed.
"If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I don't see how this can be reversed in the future," Antonio Guterres told the BBC.
This coming week could prove pivotal for the crisis as Bangladeshi authorities struggle to get the refugee situation under control.
More than 410,000 people from the Rohingya minority Muslim group have now crossed the border.
Ms Suu Kyi's image as a human rights campaigner has been tarnished after she failed to intervene in the crackdown which started on August 25, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched operations in Rakhine state.
The military says its "clearance operations" in the area are aimed at flushing out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts.
Violence has since engulfed the border region, with reports emerging of Rohingya villages being razed to the ground and civilians being cut down as they attempt to flee.
The United Nations has branded the offensive a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
But Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has expressed no public concern for the Rohingya, instead blaming "terrorists" for the violence and criticising "a huge iceberg of misinformation".
Actor and humanitarian campaigner Angelina Jolie on Sunday condemned the conflict and criticised the Burmese army.
"It's absolutely clear that the violence by the army needs to stop and that the return of the refugees has to be permitted - and that the Rohingya should be given civil rights," she said. "We all wish that Aung San Suu Kyi will in this situation be the voice of human rights."
Ms Suu Kyi's party took office last year as Myanmar's first civilian-led government after 50 years of junta rule. But she has no power to control the army, which retains sweeping powers and controls the police force and the border force.
"She's signalling that her chief priority is the relationship between the government and military and that the pogrom is secondary to that," Francis Wade, author of 'Myanmar's Enemy Within' said of the position Ms Suu Kyi has taken.
General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's army chief, has called for a "united" stance in handling the crisis but gave no sign of concessions.
On Sunday, Myanmar's government hinted that it may not take back Rohingya who fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to the militants.
"Those who fled the villages made their way to the other country for fear of being arrested as they got involved in the violent attacks. Legal protection will be given to the villages whose residents did not flee," the government's Information Committee statement said.
Analysts are not expecting Ms Suu Kyi to change her position in tomorrow's speech, which has to address the crisis without angering the military.
"Depressingly, her silence about the Rohingya makes her far more popular at home," veteran journalist John Simpson wrote in an article for the Daily Telegraph.
"There is little or no sympathy for them among ethnic Burmese, mostly Buddhists, who form the great majority of the country's population."
Over the weekend Bangladeshi authorities told newly arrived Rohingya refugees that they must stay near the border - not move further into the country - and reminded Bangaldeshi people they were not to rent housing to refugees.
It came as aid agencies warned Sunday that Rohingyas fleeing the violence could die of starvation, exposure and dehydration as authorities began moving people to camps in order to streamline the distribution of help.
"Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water," Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the Save the Children aid agency said.
"I'm particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families can't meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost."
The scrabble for aid has become deadly. On Saturday, it was confirmed that two children and a woman died in a stampede to get aid in Cox's Bazar district, which is home to tens of thousands of Rohingyas.
To add extra misery, heavy monsoon rain Sunday descended upon hundreds of thousands of people stuck in makeshift camps, with many refugees living on roadsides under flimsy plastic sheets.
Torrential rain brought swamp-like conditions to many parts of Cox's Bazar, with about three inches of rain falling in 24 hours and with more to come over the next two days.
The rain "has doubled their misery", said Mohammed Kai-Kislu, police chief at Ukhia near Cox's Bazar, and refugees have resorted to building bamboo "carpets" to get over flooded land as the mudbath spreads.


WITH few other outdoor sporting events taking place in Norfolk, the hardy stalwarts of Dereham and Swaffham fought out a local rugby derby in Eastern Counties Division Two on a bitterly cold day.
The fixture was in doubt right up to the kick-off but the home side felt this was an opportunity to sneak the victory against a depleted Swaffham side, and kicked off with confidence.
It was soon apparent though that it was the visitors who were able to handle the ball in the hand-numbing conditions and after some early exchanges Swaffham spread the ball wide for Smolen to touch down wide out.
Swaffham's rucking was superior and their free-flowing game kept the Dereham defence on their toes, and their vociferous supporters subdued.
The second try came from Gunnell, playing in the centre, when he was released to dummy the cover and score near the posts.
The conversion was missed but Swaffham's 10-0 advantage was well earned and more was to come. Dereham conceded several penalties for infringements at the ruck and good touch kicks kept Swaffham in the hosts half, from where they launched their speedy back row to good effect.
After another good handling move Barnard was put over for Swaffham's third try and just before the half-time whistle, Harris sneaked around the edge of a ruck to score.
With a 20-point advantage the game looked one sided but Dereham rallied in the second half and put the visitors under a lot of pressure. Sterling defensive work and some crunching tackles showed the commitment on both sides but neither team could force the breakthrough.
The nearest either side could get to scoring was a poor Swaffham attempt at goal by Gladman which frightened the worms more than the seagulls hovering overhead.
With the sun setting and the temperature dropping, it was looking likely that the match could have been abandoned.
However, the players stuck to their task and eventually it was Swaffham who scored at the final play when Bigland strode over from 10 metres, after sustained pressure on the Dereham line.
Both sets of players deserve great credit for their performances in extremely difficult conditions and the fans went home happy with their afternoon's entertainment.


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For many decades, an increasing number of women have obtained STEM doctoral degrees, however, women, particularly women of color, continue to be significantly underrepresented in almost all STEM academic positions. While the degree of underrepresentation varies among STEM disciplines, women's advancement to senior professorial ranks and leadership roles is an issue in all fields. The underrepresentation of women is also a critical issue for the nation, at large, as its need to develop a globally competitive and diverse workforce increases.
Research has shown that women's representation and advancement in academic STEM positions are affected by many external factors that are unrelated to their ability, interest and technical skills (Spencer, et al, 1999; Halpern and Tan, 2001; Hyde, 2005; National Academy of Sciences, 2007). Such factors include, but are not limited to: stereotype threat, societal impacts, organizational constraints of academic institutions; differential effect of work and family demands; implicit and explicit bias; and lack of women in academic leadership and decision-making positions. The cumulative effect of such diverse factors has been to create infrastructural barriers that impact the number of women entering, persisting and advancing in STEM careers.


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John McCain's Lasting Legacy for Animals
Published August 25, 2018 by PETA. Last Updated August 28, 2018.
With the passing of Sen. John McCain, animals—and those of us who care about protecting them—have lost a friend and defender. As a U.S. senator for over three decades, he championed a wide variety of animal-friendly legislation.
McCain once proclaimed that "[g]overnment should take care of those in America who can't care for themselves. That's a role of government." Judging by his voting record, he included animals in this sentiment.
In 2001, he co-sponsored a resolution that opposed commercial whaling and advocated for the protection of whale populations. In 2005, he co-sponsored the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which called for a prohibition on slaughtering equines for human consumption. He also supported one bill to stop the shipment of live birds between states for cockfighting and backed another to end the killing of bears for the purpose of selling or trading their organs.
And in 2010, the famously independent-minded senator turned his attention to animals used in experiments in a blistering report that he co-wrote. It blasted 100 "questionable," "mismanaged," and "poorly planned" stimulus-funded projects, including an especially cruel and wasteful experiment that the report aptly called "Monkeys Getting High for Science." The study in question was being conducted at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, which nabbed $71,623 in stimulus funds (i.e., tax dollars) to feed cocaine to monkeys.
"I think all of [the projects] are waste," McCain told ABC News at the time. "[S]ome are more egregious than others but all of them are terrible."
Regardless of whether you agreed or disagreed with Senator McCain on political issues, there is no question that he was a man of integrity and of his word. His impressive career is a reminder that each of us can help prevent cruelty and practice kindness toward all living beings.
Note: PETA supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.
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Questa pagina raccoglie le informazioni riguardanti l'Unione Sportiva Brembillese nelle competizioni ufficiali della stagione 1983-1984.

Rosa

Bibliografia

Sport a Val Brembilla (Italia)
Calcio in Lombardia


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Officer on probation following accident Moab Police Officer Phillip Porter has been placed on 6-months probation proba-tion by Chief Mel Dalton for improper use of an emergency vehicle. Dalton informed the city council he was taking the action after an incident in which Porter was pursuing pursu-ing a vehicle on Main Street without red lights or siren, resulting in a collision with a private citizen's vehicle. On March 20 about 5 p.m. on 2nd South, a 1977 GMC pickup belonging to Glen Byers was hit by an unknown vehicle while parked. There was about $50 damage. Also March 20 at 3 p.m. in the Moab Lumber parking lot, Alice Char- trand was backing a 1977 ChevTolet pickup and hit a parked 1966 Cadillac belonging be-longing to Charles Free-gard. Free-gard. There was about S100 damage to the Cadillac and none to the pickup. There were no citations as the accident was on private property. On March 16 Tracy Flynn reported a loss of valuables from her locker at the high school of about S140. There was an act of vandalism at the high school reported March 15, where 3 windows valued at about SI 40 were broken. brok-en. On the 16th another act of vandalism was reported where a window was broken at Taco Time. Value was about S75.