Clipmarks | debbyski's clips

World Bank VP: Iraq war cause of sub-prime loan crisis

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:58:27 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Has cost 50-60 times more than Bush predicted; banks responded to cash drain with cheap credit; A week's war bill could end worldwide illiteracy

Clip Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

THE Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The war was now the second-most expensive in US history after World War II and the second-longest after Vietnam, he said.

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.

That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.

The money being spent on the war each week would be enough to wipe out illiteracy around the world, he said.

Tags: iraq

Women Defy Labels In Intimacy

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:16:10 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: I can really identify with this article, and I am so encouraged to see young women having the freedom to explore their sexuality! Still yet, many admit they are afraid to come out to their friends much less family, but that is slowly changing. Being gay is an important part of my life; not an experiment. I've been in love very deeply three times in my life, twice with men, including my husband, whom I love and admire very deeply and once with a woman. All were very different experiences of course, but the woman's love? OMG, it was so bittersweet that I can taste it to this day. Loving her was the experience of a lifetime and I'm so glad I had that chance. I love, admire, and respect her to this day. It's too bad it has taken society this long to be somewhat accepting of very real and honest human emotions. Love has no boundaries for some, and I'm so glad God made me this way. He loves me and that is all that matters and He has given me the ability to love in (cont)

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Pop culture loves the recreational lesbian -- the woman who dabbles but doesn't stay the course.

Lesbian turncoat Anne Heche left comedian Ellen DeGeneres for a man. Lush-lipped Angelina Jolie last week swore off former S&M mates and girlfriends in deference to her relationship with the uber-masculine Brad Pitt.

And Britney Spears, of the televised Madonna kiss, is now the subject of tabloid rumors for reputed dalliances with female porn stars and loyal personal assistant Shannon Funk.

Young bisexual women face urban labels like "hasbien" and "Bug" (bisexual until graduation), not to mention the giddy voyeurism of male fantasies and the ridicule of their lesbian sisters.

"These relationships are physical, emotional and intellectual, and the boundaries are not hard set," she said.

Although there are no hard data on the numbers, Sklar said a growing number of young women have a "more flexible view" of their sexual partners, and their early choices of gender may not be a "fixed path."

Leap Year computer glitches -- Time Wars?

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:00:35 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: Don't let Bushie near computers.
I fear that one day one of these glitches will
start a nuclear war.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Meanwhile, across the country, the 2/29 glitch turned amateur vulcanologists into disoriented time travelers, as the Mount Saint Helens high-definition VolcanoCam displayed images time-stamped March 1 instead of Feb. 29.

Calendar makers insert the extra day about every four years to correct the fiction that the earth circles the sun in exactly 365.000 days.

On the VolcanoCam News blog, the USDA explained the mishap, saying that the HD cam's software and hardware were actually battling over what date it was, but the ignorant hardware kept winning the battle.

Unfortunately, that means the high-def images could continue to have the wrong date as late as July, because rangers can't get to the remote camera until after this winter's snowfall melts.

Recovery was much faster at the South Carolina DMV, where the system came back online around noon

Even with the emergency patch

DMV's software couldn't clear a suspension, issue a new commercial driver's license or sell a motor-vehicle record

Tags: leap year, computer glitches, time

My Forbidden Fruits (And Veggies)

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:00:18 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

IF you’ve stood in line at a farmers’ market recently, you know that the local food movement is thriving, to the point that small farmers are having a tough time keeping up with the demand.

But consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect.

As I’ve looked into the politics behind those restrictions, I’ve come to understand that this is precisely the outcome that the program’s backers in California and Florida have in mind: they want to snuff out the local competition before it even gets started.

Free Lunch Isn't Cool

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:56:10 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Wow, I thought the poor loved to "scam" the system and be proud of it, eh? They are such a drain on society according to some.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Although Francisco Velazquez, a 14-year-old freshman with spiky hair and sunglasses, qualifies for a free lunch at Balboa High School here, he was not eating.

He scanned the picnic table full of his friends in a school courtyard one day a few weeks ago, and said, “I’m not hungry.”

On another day, a group of classmates who also qualify for federally subsidized lunches sat on a bench. One ate a slice of pizza from the line where students pay for food; the rest went without.

Lunchtime “is the best time to impress your peers,” said Lewis Geist, a senior at Balboa and its student body president. Being seen with a subsidized meal, he said, “lowers your status.”

Eternity

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:47:46 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Is the sign a nuisance? Does this interfere with free speech? A lot of good questions.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — Upon reflection, Jim Nimmons could think of no particular event that led him to crawl atop the roof of the First Southern Baptist Church with a can of red paint and splash the world “eternity” across its shingles.

In a strictly theological sense, Cathedral City officials embrace permanence, too. They want the word “eternity” permanently removed from the church roof.

Responding to complaints from residents, the city has told Mr. Nimmons he is violating an ordinance that bars commercial roof signs, and has served him with a notice of public nuisance with the threat of fines and potential misdemeanor charges.

The battle between the city and the church appears to come down to two essential issues: is the message of eternity a commercial one, and is the roof sign a nuisance so grand that the government must intervene?

All he is selling, he argues, is faith.

“I just want people to go to God,” he said. “I don’t care where.”

I have found this to be true ... even at my beloved Clipmarks

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:17:30 GMT

clipped by: NonStatQuo
clipper's remarks: I have stayed away from clipmarks from a while, in order to facilitate a more balanced life. I stopped visiting for awhile when I noticed some folks were taking my own opinions to be critiques of them almost personally. This scared me. It said to me that they and I were spending too much time here.

Need some real world connection ... when we care more about our invisible friends than the person next door or next to you in the bookstore, it is time to check reality.

We don't know each other on clipmarks we only know a portion of the person behind the keyboard. We know what they clip, not who they are.

Clip Source: scrapsmack.blogspot.com

Everyone is for free speech, as long as the speaker sounds like them.

The Absurdity of Faith

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:52:13 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: alleyjd.wordpress.com

The movement of faith must be continually on the strength of the absurd…
Faith…having performed the movements of infinity…makes those of finitude.
-Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

Tags: kierkegaard, fear and tremblinf, faith, absurd

How to Make Yourself INSANELY Useful

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:40:49 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: --There is one warning I would place on this, and that is to know your limits and avoid spreading yourself too thin. Learn to say “no” when you need to, because if you try to be everything to everybody, you may be setting yourself up for eventual burnout.--

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

How to Make Yourself INSANELY Useful

You probably know several people who are insanely useful: they’re the go-to person whenever you need help.

These people, however, are not any smarter, better connected or more competent than you are. It’s their attitude that makes them so necessary, and the fact that they know how to make you feel better about yourself.

Do you want to be one of these insanely useful people? With these Lifehack tips, you can be!

Share what you know: Be open with people about your strengths and knowledge.

Be confident in yourself: Know that you are needed and valuable.

Solve the current problem: Help people with the immediate problem they’re facing.

Don’t take over: Work with others and show that you value their expertise and perspective.

Ask for help: Give other people a chance to shine.

Be reliable: Once you commit, follow through.

Give willingly: Go the “extra mile” to help people out.

Tags: shine

George Will: McCain's "disturbing righteousness"

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:22:32 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it ... impossible for him to commit the offenses ... that he incessantly ascribes to others."

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

George Will lands a punch on St. John McMaverick:

Although his campaign is run by lobbyists; and although his dealings with lobbyists have generated what he, when judging the behavior of others, calls corrupt appearances; and although he has profited from his manipulation of the taxpayer-funding system that is celebrated by reformers -- still, he probably is innocent of insincerity. Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others.

Such certitude is, however, not merely an unattractive trait. It is disturbing righteousness in someone grasping for presidential powers.

Haven't we seen this kind of hubris somewhere before? Hmm, let me think.

In the wake of an "administration" itself making unprecedented grasps for presidential powers, can America afford to even entertain the notion of electing another jackass who always thinks he's right?

Tags: mccain