Clipmarks | abailart's Comments

Soren Kierkegaard Danish Philosopher

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:07:33 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

Søren Kierkegaard

1813-55. "Geniuses are like thunderstorms they go against the wind, terrify people, cleanse the air". Thus wrote Søren Kierkegaard in 1849. He saw himself as a genius and related his intellectual brilliance to "being in the minority".

Søren Kierkegaard always went against the wind, against prevailing movements and systems, and he did so because he believed that "truth is always only to be found in the minority". In opposition to the majority, the abstract, Søren Kierkegaard posited the concrete, "the single individual".

Søren Kierkegaard lived all his life in his native city of Copenhagen. His peculiar childhood in his home on Nytorv bore the stamp of his father's pietism and melancholy.

Søren Kierkegaard studied theology at the University of Copenhagen 1830-40; for a considerable period, however, theology played a secondary role and was replaced by literature, theatre, politics and philosophy

Jews Protect Palestinians in Harvest of Hate

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:15:19 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: It is always good to find examples of Godliness and humanity beneath the global hurricane of violent hatred, vicious condemnation, shrill hysteria and poisonous anger.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

In the shade of the trees where they have been picking olives all morning, in this wadi, south-east of Nablus, a Palestinian farmer, Jamal Otman Koarik, and two of his daughters share a lunch of home-baked bread, zatar, oil, courgettes and salad with three visitors. It's a bucolic scene that could have happened any time in the past century. But what makes it notable in 2008 is that the guests who have been helping Mr Koarik pick the olives are Israeli Jews: a rabbi, an anthropologist and a youth worker, Hellela Siew.

Asked why he and his volunteers make this often risky mission each year, the US-born rabbi says "if we really believe" the Biblical text that all human beings are made in God's image, "we have got to put our money where our mouth is and be here in an active way to defend human rights". And he also cites the "dialogue of the olive groves" in which Israelis and Palestinians who "have to live and die here together" have "no choice but to communicate"

Tags: palestine-israel

Is Obama a socialist? Ask the socialists:

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:55:53 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: World Socialist Party: "OMFno-G no. ... Duh."

Clip Source: www.wspus.org

Is Obama a socialist?

But is Obama a socialist? OMFno-G no.

Obama isn’t anymore a socialist than McCain is a fascist, a leprechaun or sincere. Sure, Obama wants more government control of economic matters. But as even Obama said if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Capitalism administered by the state is still capitalism. Duh.

No one’s calling Bush a socialist because he nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because it’s not socialism. So why call Obama a sociaiist?

This election is all about two factions of capitalism competing for power with each-other.

The WSP got a an e-mail recently from some right-wing blogger for the New York Times who asked if we considered Barak Obama a socialist and if we supported his tax plans. blah, blah, blah

most likely this was another piece attempting to get someone calling themselves socialist to endorse Obama or one of his policies. Once that confession is procured, it will be widely touted as proof of Obama being a socialist, an elitist, etc

Tags: socialist, obama

Leprechauns

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:11:23 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

...A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,

Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose,

Silver buckles to his hose,

Leather apron - shoe in his lap... ^[14]

Clip Source: www.sodahead.com

Clip Source: www.ccminiclub.co.uk

Clip Source: ilovemonsterbash.blogspot.com

Clip Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

In Irish mythology, a leprechaun (Irish: leipreachán) is a type of male faerie said to inhabit the island of Ireland. They are a class of "faerie folk" associated in Irish mythology and folklore, as with all faeries, with the Tuatha Dé Danann and other quasi-historical peoples said to have inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the Celts.

Clip Source: www.thesun.co.uk

Clip Source: www.compukol.com

Tags: robbie keane

McCain: Obama's not an Arab - he's decent!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:34:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: You can bet that will be heard around the world. Making peace with Arab nations just became harder. On the other hand, Arab-American voters (in the millions, and in swing states) just moved out of "undecided."

Clip Source: www.juancole.com

The McCain attempt to connect race and terror

in his advertising, while projecting an image of taking the high road

crashed and burned on Friday when he did not notice he was engaging in racist hate speech:

another supporter told McCain, "I don't trust Obama...He's an Arab."

"No, ma'am," he said. "He's a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with." '

Arab is a linguistic identity whereas Muslim is a religious one. Not all Arabs are Muslims

only a minority of Muslims is Arab

Worse than the lady's confusion between Arab and Muslim were her further obvious confusion between Muslim and dangerous.

Mr. McCain, Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans are decent, family-oriented citizens. The only thing wrong with calling Obama by either of these modifiers is that it would be incorrect. He is not an Arab ethnically, but rather northern European and Luo (Nilotic). He is not a Muslim but a Christian

As with his self-professed "hatred" of "gooks," McCain's

attitude

troubling

[Video]

Tags: mccain, arab

Why knowledge about emotion has accumulated so slowly ??

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:21:31 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "In this paper I argue that despite the general importance of emotion in the science of the mind and the ever increasing pace of research on emotion, knowledge about emotion has accumulated more slowly than for other comparable concepts, such as memory or attention, because the acceptance of these commonsense assumptions are not warranted by the available empirical evidence. I then consider what moving beyond a commonsense view might look like and what it would mean for the scientific study of emotion." Lisa Feldman Barrett

Clip Source: flickr.com

Clip Source: books.nap.edu

As common sense has it, emotions are triggered automatically, happen to people, and cause them to act in specific and diagnostic ways. An offense triggers anger. A death triggers sadness

The given quality of a person’s own experience, and the way that emotion seems to control behavior without awareness, is usually taken as proof that emotions are automatic responses to things that happen in the world over which people have little control. Knowledge, expectations, and beliefs seem to have little impact on emotion, although they can regulate a response once it has been triggered. As a consequence, people assume that emotions can overcome them, rapidly overriding whatever else they might have been doing, thinking, and feeling.

Clip Source: books.nap.edu

In this paper I argue that despite the general importance of emotion in the science of the mind and the ever increasing pace of research on emotion, knowledge about emotion has accumulated more slowly than for other comparable concepts, such as memory or attention

New BBC Series on America

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:29:01 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: The first episode of The American Future: A History will be broadcast on Friday 10 October on BBC Two at 9pm BST. There are three further episodes on subsequent Fridays, at the same time, covering war, faith, and immigration.

Video at source. Series will perhaps we available at BBC site.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Barack Obama's emergence as a presidential candidate in the US represents a profound change in the American psyche, distinguished historian Simon Schama argues in his new series for the BBC, The American Future.

He says that although Americans have a belief in their country as a "city on a hill" - a shining example to others - they are not complacent about the economic and foreign policy issues facing the US.

Americans are by no means as militaristic as the rest of the world seems to believe, he says, with the debate about how big the military should be going right back to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

But Professor Schama believes that one of America's great strengths is its ability to re-invent itself at the time of crisis.

And at the moment America's self-image is being remade.

Tags: simon schama, american politics, history

Over 70 Percent Of CEOs Fear An Obama Presidency Will Be A Disaster

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:35:37 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: “Overall, many CEOs are concerned about the future of the U.S. economy and its ability to compete in the global market, but they look to John McCain and hope that this self-described political maverick may yet shake up established thinking and not give into to the tired policies of the past,” concluded Kopko

Clip Source: www.chiefexecutive.net

Even though CEOs rated McCain’s policies over Obama’s in the most recent polling, their support came with reservations, as can be witnessed by the B- grade given to McCain’s overall policies. McCain received strong marks for defense and foreign policy but only a C+ on energy, environment and education. Conversely, Barack Obama’s overall plan received a barely passing C- with four out of eight policy areas receiving D grades. Neither candidate received an A.

Policy Areas	Grade for Obama	Grade for McCain
Energy Policy	C-	C+
Economic/Fiscal Policy	D+	B-
Foreign Policy	D+	B
Defense Policy	D+	B+
Environmental Policy	C+	C+
Educational Policy	C+	C+
Tax Policy	D	B-
Healthcare Policy	C-	C+
OVERALL	C-	B-

In expressing their rejection of Senator Obama, some CEOs who responded to the survey went as far as to say that “some of his programs would bankrupt the country within three years, if implemented.” In fact, the poll highlights that Obama’s tax policies, which scored the lowest grade in the poll

Clip Source: www.clubforgrowth.org

Tags: ceo's ratings, presidential candidates, mccain, obama, u.s.competition, global economy, policies on tax, decrease governmental spending

Through superstition, conspiration people regain control

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:17:04 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Interesting. the ability of the human to seek and locate pattern, is misused as an answer to the emotional stress that the unknown and other fears impose.

Clip Source: debate.atheist.net

Individuals who lack control seek to find and impose order in the world through superstition, rituals and conspiratorial explanations, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin and published in Science.

“The less control people have over their lives, the more likely they are to try and regain control through mental gymnastics,” said Galinsky. “Feelings of control are so important to people that a lack of control is inherently threatening. While some misperceptions can be bad or lead one astray, they’re extremely common and most likely satisfy a deep and enduring psychological need.”

participants who didn’t have an opportunity to regain feelings of control were more likely to perceive visual images that didn’t exist and to perceive conspiracies in innocent situations, while participants who regained feelings of control by focusing on important personal values were no different from people who never lost their feelings of self-control in the first place.

Tags: atheism, patterns, control

A "Christian" Cure for Homosexuality

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:20:00 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Bastards.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

"How many of you are in need of some hope here tonight?” A murmur passes through the dark auditorium, pleasing the man with the microphone. Heads nod. “How many of you are at the end of your rope?” he continues. “How many are ready for an encounter with the Lord?” The man on stage, dressed in chinos and a crisp white shirt, is Alan Chambers. The clean-cut, married father of two is the leader of Exodus International, an organisation that believes it can help people to “find freedom from homosexuality through the love of Jesus Christ”.

“Am I in denial?” he asks. “Absolutely. I live a life of denial and I love it. I didn't choose my same-sex feelings but I do choose how I'm going to steward them. Freedom is possible.” At Exodus people are not gay; they “struggle with same-sex attraction” (SSA).

“The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality,” says Chambers, sagely. “It's holiness.”

Tags: heathens

The Current Financial Crisis Is Only The Beginning

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:57:28 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks:

One could argue that the banking crisis is just the cold sweat, not the flu that follows it.

Clip Song

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The problem is not just that the banking system has been broken by an orgy of foolish lending but moreover that huge swaths of the global economy are predicated on that foolish lending and the consumption it allowed.

The bubble wasn't just in real estate, leaving the financial system holding the bag; the bubble was in consumption.

The banking crisis will have very serious negative effects on the real economy, and the cost will grow.

The core of the issue isn't even solvency. It's the way in which the debt causing the banking insolvency distorted, distended and hollowed out economies around the world.

The banking crisis is extraordinarily dangerous. But the changes in the global economy that are needed are even more profound. Savings rates are going to need to rise

and consumption fall.

The recession will be long and probably ugly.

There is no doubt that the needed changes can happen and that these innovative and creative economies can re-balance. But it is going to be very painful.

Why no outrage over foreclosures?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:20:03 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Why do we automatically assume the buyers are at fault? Did they risk other peoples' money? Did they know we were in a housing bubble? Was it explained that the ARM would default if their home value declined? Why do we let professional sales-people make money leading people into the largest purchase in their lives without issuing precautions that first-time homebuyers often do not understand? And why is the homebuyer the loser, rather than the shyster that sold them a loan they could not possibly have understood? Why do we let them take our homes away?

Clip Source: ehrenreich.blogs.com

A few days before Congress passed its Housing Bill, Carlene Balderrama of Taunton MA found her own solution to the housing crisis. Just a little over two hours in advance of the time her mortgage company, PHH Mortgage Corporation – may its name live in infamy – was to auction off her home, Balderrama killed herself with her husband’s rifle.

This is not the kind of response to hard times that James Grant had in mind when he wrote his July 19 Wall Street Journal essay entitled “Why No Outrage?” “One might infer from the lack of popular anger,” the famed Wall Street contrarian wrote, “that the credit crisis was God's fault rather than the doing of the bankers and the rating agencies and the government's snoozing watchdogs.” For contrast, he cites the spirited response to the depression of the 1890s, when lawyer/agitator Mary Lease stirred crowds with the message that “We want the accursed foreclosure system wiped out

We will stand by our homes and stay by our firesides by force if necessary

Tags: mortgage, finance, foreclosure

Most beautiful words in the English language

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:43:13 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: www.listology.com

by diaskeaus

adumbrate To very gently suggest.

aestivate To summer, to spend the summer.

amaryllis Bulbous plants which have large red or pink flowers.

asphodel Plants having white, pink, or yellow flowers in elongated clusters.

beatific Befitting an angel or saint.

blandiloquent Beautiful and flattering.

bliss

blossom

bubble

champagne An effervescent wine.

cherish

chimes

cozy

cute

cynosure A focal point of admiration.

delicacy

destiny

effervescent Bubbly.

elysium Any place or state of perfect happiness; paradise.

enthusiasm

epiphany A sudden revelation.

eternity

extravaganza

fantastic

felicitous Pleasing.

fragile Very, very delicate.

galaxy

giggle

glamour Beauty.

gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk.

grace

gracious

hilarious

home

hush

imbue To infuse, instill.

lagniappe A gift given to a customer for their patronage.

languor Listlessness, inactivity.

laughter The response to something funny.

lithe Slender and flexible.

lollipop

lovely

love

luminous

melody

moment

mother

murmuring

nobility

oeuvre A work.

Hedge Fund's Trade Secrets In Manipulating The Global Stock Markets

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:01:05 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: - have been savaged far more than Wall Street's errant financiers even though they have yet to write off a single extra cent in bad debt since the credit crisis hit last year. At the moment, they are simply making prudent and relatively tiny provisions in case anything does go wrong.

The ASX financial index has been slashed by 30.3 per cent since November 1. But on Wall Street, the cause of the problems, the Dow Jones banking index has fallen just 21 per cent.

How could that possibly be? The answer is that the traders have found a chink in Australia's regulatory armour.

The hedge funds have found a way to manipulate the market through a process known as short selling. This is where traders sell stocks if they think the share price will fall in the future. Then they buy them back at a lower price later on. It is perfectly legal and even encouraged as it can add liquidity to markets.

In recent years, however, the practice has become more sophisticated and incredibly complex.

Clip Source: business.smh.com.au

The volatility that has infected the Australian stockmarket in recent months may be playing havoc with your investments, but not everybody is unhappy with the situation.

Traders love it. It's how they make money.

There is a vast global industry looking for any means possible to exploit a price difference here

When it works properly, it is part of an efficiently operating market.

But lately in Australia it appears it hasn't been working properly at all. A clever bunch of traders - some local but most based offshore - have taken advantage of a legal loophole that has resulted in wild gyrations in stock prices.

Most of the problems on global financial markets relate to trouble in the US housing market. It was American banks that fed the beast that has now turned so viciously upon them

So it may come as a shock to learn it is Australia's financial institutions that have incurred the wrath of global investors.

Australia's banks - which are enjoying rude health and project a relatively rosy outlook

Tags: australian stockmarket, hedge fund traders, exploit legal "loop-hole"

TRUE: Obama sounded the alarm on subprimes

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:55:27 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.politifact.com

As the U.S. and world economic systems continue to falter, both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama claim to have seen the crisis coming to some degree, and tried to head it off.

The last sentence appeared to refer to this letter that Obama sent to Paulson and Bernanke on March 22, 2007.

Obama's comments in the debate suggest the letter warned about the then-looming subprime lending crisis and its potential impact on the wider economy.

So let's check the text.

So yes, Obama characterized the letter accurately. In it, he not only called for action to head off the unraveling of the subprime mortgage market, but also warned about its impact on the nation's economy. He sent the letter about 18 months ago, a time frame for which "two years" is a fair estimate. We find his claim to be True.

Tags: obama, politics, finance, economy, facts