Clipmarks | debbyski's 'political' clips

Awesome research/ Homework resource

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 01:06:30 GMT

clipped by: cosmic_kitten1
clipper's remarks: I only found this the other day and mostly I'm clipping it for my own uses; however, it's a great resource and I thought I'd share. The site itself has pretty cool info too. 'Hope you guys like the clip.

Clip Source: www.crf-usa.org

Research Links

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Click for instructions on how to make CRF's Research Links your homepage.

CRF: Constitutional Rights Foundation

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Tags: resource, homework, research, info, links

Protesting Clippers could face Prison or Fines.

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:19:15 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Well it's too late for me I reckon, so I might as well just keep on keepin' on peacefully protesting. Now more than ever, it seems so necessary. This is another "I dare you" clip. Are they trying to scare, intimidate or threaten people to the point, that they just don't dare comment or clip or pop or blog or speak out anymore? Should I just cave in and "turn myself in" quarterly and bow down to oppression? I think not. I will not be silenced. If I ever stop clipping about all this, you'll know why. See ya in Guantanamo!

- The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.

- Chertoff pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a political tool.

Clip Source: infowars.net

Bloggers Who Criticize Government May Face Prison

Bill would allow rounding up and imprisoning of non-registered political writers

You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some new restriction on free speech in Communist China. But it isn't. The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress in the latest astounding attack on the internet and the First Amendment.

Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a website dedicated to fighting efforts to silence grassroots movements, states:

"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself."

In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats may redefine the meaning of lobbying in order that political communications to and even between citizens falls under the same legislation.

Under current law any 'lobbyist" who 'knowingly and willingly fails to file or report." quarterly to the government faces criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year.

The amendment is currently on hold.

This latest attack on bloggers comes hot on the heels of Republican Senator John McCain's proposal to introduce legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards.

Tags: free speech, civil rights, fascism, clipmarks, bloggers, oppression

Exploiting the power of visualization.

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:12:34 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: infosthetics.com

[Video]

a slick infographical (& quite ~~provocational~~ provocative) movie discussing some of the US political issues involved in the Iraq war.

looks visually similar to the more recent google master plan.

you are all quite correct in that the movie does not show any quantitative data, but uses an 'infographical' style for illustrative purposes.

I guess I should have made that more clear in the description. however, I wanted to show this example for its use of infographics (style) as a way of propaganda, exploiting the power of visualization.

infosthetics . 24 February 2007

Tags: visualization, politics, us, usa, infographic, movie, google video, iraq, war, propaganda

The New Nostradamus

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:29:23 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: worth read the whole article.

as they say: there is nothing new under the sun, but there is a lot of unknown there still 2be discovered .... -))

Clip Source: www.goodmagazine.com

If you listen to Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, and a lot of people don’t, he’ll claim that mathematics can tell you the future. In fact, the professor says that a computer model he built and has perfected over the last 25 years can predict the outcome of virtually any international conflict

His fans include at least one current presidential hopeful, a gaggle of Fortune 500 companies, the CIA, and the Department of Defense.

He is wildly controversial, though. As one of the foremost scholars of game theory—or “rational choice,” as its political-science practitioners prefer to call it—Bueno de Mesquita is at the center of a raging hullabaloo that has taken over some of the most prestigious halls of learning in this country

His only concern is with what the political actors want, what they say they want (often two very different things), and how each of their various options will affect their career advancement. He feeds this data into his computer model and out pop the answers.

Tags: bruce bueno de mesquita, political science, mathematical predictions, game theory

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:09:21 GMT

clipped by: sam.reckoner

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

Tags: politics, government, finance, economy

Woman & 7 yr. old daughter held by police for displaying impeach banner

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:36:35 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: This behavior just makes my blood boil. Memories of the 60's.

Clip Source: www.google.com

ACLU decries action taken on July Fourth at Byrd Park event

By Joe Macenka / Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond police and parks officials are in trouble with the ACLU of Virginia for removing a woman from a Fourth of July event in Byrd Park for carrying a political banner.

Rain Burroughs, who said she was driven to a different area of the sprawling park and held in a police cruiser with her 7-yearold daughter until the fireworks display ended, was not charged with any crime.

several officers in cruisers, with lights flashing and sirens tweaking, and officers on horseback were traveling at speeds that seemed dangerously high given the large crowds in the park.

contained the word "Impeach," along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Washington office phone number and the term "HR 333,

Acts authorized as an exercise of a person's constitutional right to picket, protest, or speak and acts authorized by a permit issued by the city shall not constitute unlawful activity under this division."

Tags: civil rights, police, aclu, banner, activist, peace, impeach

FT.com: Europeans see US as Threat to PEACE.!!!

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:00:25 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: The level of European concern about the US has remained broadly consistent over the past year. In 11 previous polls dating back to July 2006 the proportion of respondents considering the US a threat to stability has ranged between 28 per cent and 38 per cent.

The latest poll comes in the wake of the “surge” that has increased US forces in Iraq to about 160,000 troops, but which has not been accompanied by political breakthroughs or a dramatic reduction of violence.

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Europeans consistently regard the US as the biggest threat to world stability, a new poll reveals on Monday

A survey carried out in June by Harris Research for the Financial Times shows that 32 per cent of respondents in five European countries regard the US as a bigger threat than any other state.

In the US itself, North Korea and Iran are seen as the biggest risks. However, the youngest US respondents share the Europeans’ view that theirs is the biggest threat, with 35 per cent of American 16- to 24-year-olds identifying it as the chief danger to stability.

Bush’s second term the administration has also embarked on a more consensual international approach to issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme and North Korea’s nuclear bomb.

But the poll shows that the European public still considers Mr Bush a risk.

poll is consistent with findings last week by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which found that favourable ratings of the US had declined in 26 of 33 countries over the past five years

Tags: usa, warmonger, european, poll

The Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:32:52 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy.

This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

The biggest threat to the West lies within itself, not with Islam

The chief threat to world security at present lies in the capacity of tiny groups of political Islamists to goad the West into a rolling military retaliation.

Extremists on each side feed off the others’ frenzied scenarios so as to garner money and political support for their respective armies of the night. Each sees the other as a cosmic menace and abandons communal tolerance and peaceful diplomacy to counter it.

To portray Islam as a whole as a concerted threat to western security, and to imply that the West’s democratic institutions and freedoms are not proof against that threat, is absurd and close to treason. Then to demand that western freedoms be dismantled and stored away for the duration of a “war on terror” is to wave the flag of surrender.

I believe in the robustness of the democracies created in the West over the past half-century. I am not sure that our leaders do.

Tags: terrorism, islam, christianity, religion, freedom, war, peace, democracy, west, torture

What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:14:59 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: and your answer?

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

A star-studded panel of scientists gathered to discuss those heady themes last night at the World Science Festival in New York City. Here are their answers in convenient nutshell form:

Marvin Minsky, artificial intelligence pioneer: We do something other species can't: We remember. We have cultures, ways of transmitting information.

Daniel Dennett, cognitive scientist: We are the first species that represents our reasons, and can reason with each other. "The planet has grown a nervous system," he said.

Antonio Damasio, neuroscientist: The critical unique factor is language. Creativity. The religious and scientific impulse. And our social organization, which has developed to a prodigious degree. We have a record of history, moral behavior, economics, political and social institutions. We're probably unique in our ability to investigate the future, imagine outcomes, and display images in our minds

Tags: question, deep question, human, meaning

Unless You Say No, Your Organs Go

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:45:03 GMT

clipped by: haraya

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

The Canadian province of Ontario is considering a "presumed consent" system that would make everyone a potential organ donor unless they opt out.

It would apparently be the first place in North America to not require consent before organs can be removed.

The Canadian Press reports:

Members on both sides of the legislature said Monday the status quo isn't good enough. The NDP's Peter Kormos said perfectly good organs will continue to go to waste until Ontario has the courage to strengthen its organ donor system.

"It's a matter of political will," said Kormos, who has introduced a private members' bill to bring in presumed consent.

"There is some squeamishness about it. I, for the life of me, can't understand why people are squeamish about saving the lives of mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers, children and parents."

Tags: body, organs, donation, canada, ontario, consent, science, biology, health, medicine

The Christian Nation Myth

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:18:30 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.infidels.org

Whenever the Supreme Court makes a decision that in any way restricts the intrusion of religion into the affairs of government, a flood of editorials, articles, and letters protesting the ruling is sure to appear in the newspapers. Many protesters decry these decisions on the grounds that they conflict with the wishes and intents of the "founding fathers."

Such a view of American history is completely contrary to known facts. The primary leaders of the so-called founding fathers of our nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution. Its major tenets included belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems and belief in a supreme deity who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws. The supreme God of the Deists removed himself entirely from the universe after creating it. They believed that he assumed no control over it, exerted no influence on natural phenomena, and gave no supernatural revelation to man. A necessary consequence of these beliefs was a rejection of many doctrines central to the Christian religion. Deists did not believe in the virgin birth, divinity, or resurrection of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the miracles of the Bible, or even the divine inspiration of the Bible.

Tags: christian, christianity, christian nation, myth, deist, founding fathers, united states

Artificial Islands of the Dead Sea

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:54:55 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: io9.com

The Dead Sea, a body of water that sits at the nexus of several political hot spots in the Middle East, has been a source of contention for decades. Now a New York City architecture firm called Phu Hoang Office has proposed a way to turn the sea into a thriving center for tourism and eco-research. The firm proposed the creation of artificial islands (pictured) called No Man's Land that would house hotels, create energy, and harvest clean water from the atmosphere. Check out more pictures and a schematic below.

Salinity gradient solar ponds, water purification tanks, and water filtering processes will all be integrated into the designated “water islands” of the chain. The other two island designs will be for tourists and solar energy production, providing self sufficient power as well as creating revenue.

Tags: geo-enginering, architecture, dead sea

10 Best Political Illustrations of 2006

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:13:57 GMT

clipped by: haraya

Clip Source: www.time.com

Copley News Service

Clip Source: www.time.com

Boulder Daily Camera

Clip Source: www.time.com

Akron Beacon Journal

Clip Source: www.time.com

Detroit Free Press

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Times-Picayune

Clip Source: www.time.com

Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Clip Source: www.time.com

San Diego Union-Tribune

Clip Source: www.time.com

The State Journal-Register

Clip Source: www.time.com

Detroit Free Press

Clip Source: www.time.com

Newsday

Tags: cartoons, illustration, entertainment, humor, politics, film, sports, news, time, 2006, list

Looking At America

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:16:53 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America’s position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America’s global image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world’s anger and alienation and have not made any of us safer.

Tags: lets, change, it

Republicans: Only Our Pastors Can Say Crazy Shit

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:12:33 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: firedoglake.com

As the wingnut chorus predictably disses Obama's eloquent speech, it's important to remember how completely ridiculous and manufactured this whole Wright "controversy" is:

Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God.

Well, yeah. Duh.

The Republican Party has tied itself at the hip to a whole slew of "anti-American extremists" -- people who believe that the U.S. provoked the 9/11 attacks because God wants to punish us for the evil, wicked nation we've become -- and yet there is virtual silence about these associations.

Once again, it's important to keep making the point that when you've built an entire political movement on the backs of a crazy mob of Dixiecrat Savonarolas who make outrageous hateful comments pretty much every day, you've sort of opted-out of your ability to throw stones.