Clipmarks | AtlLiberal's Pops

The girl in the window

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:31:38 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Rescuing Dani

Dani, 9, has a new family now, and a new chance at life thanks to her brother William, 10, and parents Diane and Bernie Lierow.

Part One: The Feral Child

A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out

The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost.

child abuse investigation. Someone had finally called the police

No one has any way of telling what lies behind Dani’s big brown eyes and vacant stare.

"Unbelievable

The worst I've ever seen.

When he bent to lift her, she yelped like a lamb. "It felt like I was picking up a baby," Holste said. "I put her over my shoulder, and that diaper started leaking down my leg."

She was almost 7 years old.

Part Two: Becoming Dani

Part Three: The Mother

A special multimedia report: A video slideshow about Danielle’s progress, including speech therapy sessions.

Is she okay?

She has learned to

let herself be held

chew ham

swim

She knows her name is Dani.

Jon Stewart Hits Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris On

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:16:46 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Video at the link. Well worth it.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Wednesday night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart hit Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

While Rove recently praised Palin's experience as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Stewart showed video of Rove trashing Virginia Governor — and former Richmond Mayor — Tim Kaine's executive experience, listing all the cities that are bigger than Richmond and calling such a pick "political."

Then, after recent video of O'Reilly describing Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a family issue, Stewart showed a clip of the Fox News host blaming Jamie Lynn Spears' parents for her teenage pregnancy.

Finally, after showing video of Dick Morris complaining about the rampant sexism in the media coverage of Sarah Palin, Stewart unveiled a clip of Morris saying that Hillary hides behind the sexism defense, and that anytime "the big boys" pick on Hillary, "she retreats behind the apron strings."

Tags: gop, palin, truth, hyprocrisy, politics, the, daily, show

FBI Wanted Obama Plotters Charged, But A Rove Appointee Said No

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:30:29 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Cont....

Note the language used by Eid in dismissing the gravity of the case: the case isn't serious because they were "more aspirational, perhaps, than operational"? Well, when it was the Liberty Seven -- black Muslim men who were described by the FBI as "aspirational rather than operational" -- there was no hesitation by the Justice Department in bringing charges.

Another funny thing: When a black man in prison sent a threatening letter containing baby powder to John McCain, Troy Eid brought down the full force of the law, complete with press conferences and public declarations that "We won't stand for threats of this kind in Colorado."

But when it’s a claque of white men with rifles, disguises, and all the accoutrement of a conspiracy – as well as open admissions to it – Troy Eid isn’t worried. After all, they just a bunch of harmless, tweakers, right? … Just like little Timmy McVeigh.

Clip Source: dneiwert.blogspot.com

We noticed last week that it was awfully peculiar that Colorado’s U.S. Attorney, Troy Eid, had so airily dismissed conspiracy charges against the three white-supremacist tweakers who were caught planning to assassinate Barack Obama at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Now it turns out that those suspicions were fully warranted:

The plot is similar to that in the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard" starring actors Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the movie, Costner stops an assassination attempt against Houston by spotting a weapon hidden inside a gutted-out TV camera.

Based on the evidence, FBI special agent Robert Sawyer believed there was probable cause to charge the men with conspiracy to kill Senator Obama. However, US Attorney Troy Eid last week said there is insufficient evidence to indicate a true threat, plot or conspiracy against the senator.

Tags: obama, plot, assasination, fbi, crime, justice, rove

Wrong Woman; Wrong Message

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:12 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

Life Of Her Party

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:25:15 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "When McCain gets in trouble, he pulls out the P.O.W. card. Now Republicans are pulling out the sexist card. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question, you only hurt women. And that’s just another splash of reality."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

For many years, reality was out of vogue with Republicans. They ignored the reality of Iraq and Katrina, of Pakistan and Osama bin Laden.

When confronted with their colossal carelessness around the globe and here at home, their mantra was, as Rummy put it, “Stuff happens.”

Now reality, in all its messy, crazy, funky glory, has flooded the party, in the comely, crackling form of Sarah Palin.

It seems like a long time since Vice President Dan Quayle denounced Murphy Brown for having a baby out of wedlock, bemoaning a “poverty of values.” It also seems like a long time — and another McCain ago — that Republicans supporting W. smeared the old John McCain by spreading rumors that he had fathered an illegitimate black child.

This week, the anti-abortion forces celebrated the news of Bristol’s pregnancy, using it as further proof that their beloved Governor Palin — who will no more support sex education than polar bears — was committed to the cause.

Rise of the Empire

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:47:20 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Looks familiar, don't it?

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: video, empire, youtube, war, iraq, bush, gop, cops

Color In Nature: Funghi

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:13:58 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.colourlovers.com

Mushrooms have been inspiring the cuisines of many cultures for centuries, but little did i know, they were once a commonly used textile dye because of the vast range of colors you can achieve using mushrooms. The colors of mushrooms are deep and rich adding a fascinating and unexpected touch to the surrounding palette of colors in which they grow.

From Iraq

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:36:33 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: photos

Clip Source: www.boston.com

McCain Doesn't Have a Prayer

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:38:22 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: McCain is not an evangelical Christian. Is this the end of the alliance between the Christian right and neocons? Matt Taibbi at his best.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

McCain Doesn't Have a Prayer

The marriage of fundamentalist Christianity and the conservative movement has been a powerful force in world affairs. It has been the best smoke screen the archpriests of supply-side economics could possibly have had, giving Wall Street a populist in with the very people victimized the most by their union-busting, deregulatory policies. It turned out, for decades, that Bible-thumping Americans didn't mind having their jobs shipped to China, so long as someone was worrying about the air supply to Terri Schiavo's brain lump. As political cons go, this was the ultimate gift that kept on giving.

Here's the thing about John McCain,

this is not a guy who can get up in front of a churchgoing crowd in Asscrack, Arkansas, and start weeping to Jesus. In fact, he appears to deeply resent the implication that he needs to genuflect to the baby savior at all. As in, "Hell, I already lived through five years of torture! You want me to do more?"

Tags: mccain, evangelicals, neocons, church, abortion, gay rights, taxes, war

Top 10 Anti-Abortion Myths

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:46:56 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: All statements are false. At the site you will see the reasons for the falseness.

Clip Source: civilliberty.about.com

1. "You can't be pro-choice and be anti-death penalty/anti-war at the same time."

False. The pro-choice position is predicated on the idea that women have the right to decide whether to carry their pregnancies to term. The victims of the death penalty and war are fully conscious persons rather than presentient entities in a woman's womb, so the moral questions involved are entirely different.

2. "Abortion causes breast cancer."

3. "This is what an abortion looks like."

4. "Even first-trimester fetuses can feel pain."

5. "Fetuses become conscious at 8 weeks."

6. "Emergency contraception causes abortions."

7. "Banning abortion will get rid of it, once and for all."

8. "Pro-choice activists want to increase the number of abortions."

9. "Pro-choice activists want abortion on demand until the moment of birth."

10. "Human life begins at conception."

Tags: men, make, abortion, rights, a, necessity

U.S. officials condoned Kurdish oil deal

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:37:56 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: From the article....

"Kurdish officials have clashed with Baghdad over the national oil law, which will determine how contracts are awarded and how revenues are distributed. The northern Iraqi region has signed several exploration deals with foreign firms, which Baghdad says are illegal."

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials condoned Hunt Oil Co. efforts to obtain an exploration deal with Iraq’s Kurdish regional government, contrary to public statements discouraging it, according to documents cited by a congressional committee.

When the agreement was announced in September, it was criticized as undermining efforts to strengthen Iraq central government, which still had no national oil revenue-sharing law.

Bush administration officials expressed public concern and denied any knowledge of the contract.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman released e-mails and letters obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that appeared to show the opposite.

“Contrary to the denials of administration officials, advisors to the president and officials in the State and Commerce Departments knew about Hunt Oil’s interest in the Kurdish region months before the contract was executed,” Waxman, a California Democrat, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Tags: oil, iraq, kurdistan, empire, u.s.

Former state science director sues over intelligent design e-mail

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:40:30 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A former state science curriculum director filed suit against the Texas Education Agency and Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Wednesday, alleging she was illegally fired for forwarding an e-mail about a lecture that was critical of the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.

Christina Comer, who lost her job at the TEA last year, said in a suit filed in federal court in Austin that she was terminated for contravening an unconstitutional policy at the agency that required employees to be neutral on the subject of creationism – the biblical interpretation of the origin of humans.

The policy was in force even though the federal courts have ruled that teaching creationism as science in public schools is illegal under U.S. Constitution’s provision preventing government establishment or endorsement of religious beliefs.

“The agency’s ‘neutrality’ policy has the purpose or effect of endorsing religion, and thus violates the Establishment Clause,” the lawsuit said.

Tags: are, emails, part, of, intelligent, design

Moyers On Democracy

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:59:05 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

THERE'S A Jeremiah among us and his name is Bill Moyers.

Moyers believes, deeply, that we are in danger, and terrorism is not what has driven his threat advisory to level orange.

We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -- and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions."

Over the last thirty years a well-funded and closely coordinated coalition of corporate elites, power-hungry preachers, and hard-line ideologues has mounted an aggressive drive to dismantle the public foundations and philosophy of shared prosperity and fairness in America

"When you see uncaring people in high places, everybody should be mad as hell."

Love this building

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:25:19 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.ntu.edu.sg

5-Storey Teaching Facility at Nanyang Drive for School of Art, Design and Media

Located at the junction of Nanyang Ave and Nanyang Drive, the new iconic School of Art, Design and Media is situated in a wooded valley right in the heart of the campus

The design was conceived as 3 intertwining blocks that are apparent natural extensions of the ground. These blocks interweave to enclose a picturesque plaza and landscape. Major spaces such as the Auditorium, Media Studios, library and art galleries surround this outdoor activity node

The highlight of the building is the verdant turfed roof which blends with the ground contour. Apart from its visual impact, the turfed roofscape is a functional space which is easily accessible via sidesteps along the roof edge, thereby allowing the rooftop to be a scenic outdoor communal space. Environmentally, it helps to lower the roof temperature and surrounding areas

The facade design is a glass curtain wall in neutral grey colour

Human culture subject to natural selection

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:10:33 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds. Scientists at Stanford University have shown for the first time that cultural traits affecting survival and reproduction evolve at a different rate than other cultural attributes. Speeded or slowed rates of evolution typically indicate the action of natural selection in analyses of the human genome.

"Biological evolution of inherited traits is the essential organizing principle of biology, but does evolution play a corresponding role in human culture?" said Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at the University of California-Los Angeles and author of Guns, Germs and Steel. "This paper makes a decisive advance in this controversial field."

The field of cultural evolution is controversial because not all historians, social scientists or even biologists agree that cultural change can be understood in an evolutionary context. Some say that human beliefs and behaviors are too unpredictable.