Clipmarks | debbyski's clips

Cause For Alarm

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:53:13 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks:
"Mr. Boren believes that the combination of unrestrained partisanship and the corrosive influence of big money have all but paralyzed the political process. He worries about the neglect of the nation’s infrastructure, about the growing divide between the very wealthy and everyone else, and about “the catastrophic drop in the way the rest of the world views us.”

Listen, I love my country, but the writing is on the wall. We can't ignore this any longer or there will be great suffering. The alarm is ringing loud . . . just listen.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Beaches, barbecues and flags as big as baseball fields.

It was a July Fourth like many others. There was nothing overt to signal anything was wrong.

And yet, there was an undercurrent of anxiety in the land. Vacations have been curtailed because of the price of fuel

Something fundamental seems to have gone haywire

“The country we love is in trouble,” he said. “In truth, we are in grave danger of declining as a nation. If we do not act quickly, that decline will become dramatic.”

I couldn’t agree more. The symbols of patriotism — bumper stickers and those flags the size of baseball fields — have taken the place of the hard work and sacrifice required to keep a great nation great.

There are signs galore of the nation’s turn for the worse. We are fighting a debilitating war in Iraq without any idea of how to pay for it — or how to end it. No one has any real idea about how to cope with the devastating energy crisis, or how to turn the economy around.

Tags: can, you, hear, it

The Forgotten Cost of High Gas Prices

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:45:03 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "In the survey of agencies, more than 70 percent said it was more difficult to recruit and keep volunteers.
A recent survey by the group concluded that home health and hospice workers drove 4.8 billion miles in 2006 to serve 12 million clients. “If we lose these agencies in rural areas, we’ll never get them back,” Mr. Halamandaris said."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Early last month, Jeanne Fair, 62, got her first hot meals delivered to her home in this lake town in the sparsely populated southwestern part of the state. Then after two deliveries the meals stopped because gas prices had made the delivery too expensive.

“They called and said I was outside of the delivery area,” said Mrs. Fair, who is homebound and has not been able to use her left arm since a stroke in 1997.

Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and home care, especially in rural areas that depend on volunteers who provide their own gas

But older poor people and those who are homebound are doubly squeezed by rising gas and food prices, because they rely not just on social service agencies, but also on volunteers.

THE Bigot is Dead

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:24:15 GMT

clipped by: zasel
clipper's remarks: Jesse Helms was a disgraceful representation of an elected official in our country. He despised blacks, gays, lesbians, hispanics and everyone who did not look like him or believed as he believed.

While I never take pleasure in the death of another human being, it is my sincere hope that with his death, another layer of bigotry in the U.S. is buried with him. I have to think that maybe seeing Obama on the brink of the presidency may have been just too much for his aging heart to take.

Clip Source: blogs.villagevoice.com

Jesse Helms, an unrepentant supporter of unnatural causes throughout his life, died of natural causes this morning at the age of 86.

The death of Helms is just about the best birthday present the United States could wish for on July 4. Free at last — of Jesse Helms.

As a senator, he explained that he voted against Roberta Achtenberg, President Clinton's nominee for a Housing and Urban Development position, "because she's a damn lesbian."

In 1990, Helms stayed away in protest when Nelson Mandela addressed a joint session of Congress.

While the networks and most of the press will soft-pedal his virulent racism and reckless disregard for the First Amendment in his hounding of artists, foreigners and many others, Helms stayed his divisive course until the bitter end — at least until the end of his public career.

And it's fitting that he should die during a presidential race that features young black man Barack Obama.

Rove's Third Term

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:02:34 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

Will Rovian tactics work this year?

In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were so successful at playing the patriotism card thanks to a combination of compliant media and cowering Democrats.

Looking For Liberty

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:57:00 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

ACCORDING to the film “National Treasure,” the Declaration of Independence is a document of such far-seeing sagacity that it has secret codes and treasure maps hidden in the parchment. You just have to know how to look for them. But that poses the question: which document, precisely, is the Declaration of Independence?

Most of us would answer that it’s the manuscript written on vellum, dated July 4, 1776, now displayed in a baroque case at the National Archives, where it is protected by bulletproof glass, argon gas and the 55-ton underground vault it is lowered into every night. But like everything connected to the Declaration, the situation is complicated, for that document was not written on July 4; it was a handwritten copy that Congress ordered later that summer and post-dated. The version that was in the room as the vote was taken has never been seen since then.

Beauty And The Release

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:45:32 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "All they've ever been is shut down in their lives, and now they have this chance to verbally emote," said Joe Loya, a senior staffer who works at several of the Walden facilities throughout the state.

Like any beauty pageant, it was also about primping. Just half an hour before it started, the upstairs hallway was full of dark red lips and masses of hair as women hurriedly tugged at borrowed dresses and pulled on strapped heels. "

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Stepping to the front of the makeshift stage, she rolled up her essay on "What Independence Means to Me" into a tight cylinder in her hands. "I'm not going to read my essay," Darlene Escalante said, her eyes watery, her voice a husky whisper.

"I'm just going to talk to you from my heart," said Escalante, 25, eyes rimmed in dark liner, lips outlined in dark pencil. "Independence means breaking the cycle of three generations of incarceration. It means independence from three generations of drug addiction. It means independence from living a gang life."

Her voice grew stronger. "My independence means getting myself together and living for my kids." The room erupted in applause. In a treatment facility where tears and anger and angst are the rule of the day, a beauty pageant was an opportunity to let self-esteem flourish.

Tags: now, this, is, what, i, call, a, beauty, pagent

Alive In Independence Hall: The Declaration of Independence

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:46:25 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: DO NOT MISS THIS!!!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Adopt A Scientist Program

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:39:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: If you can afford to be involved , it could be fun, oh, and educational.

Clip Source: www.seti.org

Anyone can adopt a SETI Institute scientist and become part of the adventure!

Each of our scientists offers a compelling journey of discovery. When you adopt a scientist, you help lead the way towards answering profound questions regarding our place in the universe.

The SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe and Center for SETI Research are home to more than 90 scientists. Their work covers a broad spectrum of research dedicated to understanding the origins of life and the extent to which life may be present beyond Earth. Traditionally, each scientist, or principal investigator (PI), has had many partners who sponsor his/her work including NASA, the National Science Foundation, and major universities. However, current trends in government funding are making it increasingly difficult for astrobiologists to depend on those sources of support.

Tags: science, is, expensive

The Luckiest Girl

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:49:52 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "The cash from the milk accumulated, and Beatrice’s parents decided that they could now afford to send their daughter to school. She was much older than the other first graders, but she was so overjoyed that she studied diligently and rose to be the best student in the school.

An American visiting the school was impressed and wrote a children’s book, “Beatrice’s Goat,” about how the gift of a goat had enabled a bright girl to go to school. The book was published in 2000 and became a children’s best seller — but there is now room for a more remarkable sequel.

Beatrice was such an outstanding student that she won a scholarship, not only to Uganda’s best girls’ high school, but also to a prep school in Massachusetts and then to Connecticut College. A group of 20 donors to Heifer International — coordinated by a retired staff member named Rosalee Sinn, who fell in love with Beatrice when she saw her at age 10 — financed the girl’s living expenses.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

This year’s college graduates owe their success to many factors, from hectoring parents to cherished remedies for hangovers. But one of the most remarkable of the new graduates, Beatrice Biira, credits something utterly improbable: a goat.

Beatrice’s story helps address two of the most commonly asked questions about foreign assistance: “Does aid work?” and “What can I do?”

The tale begins in the rolling hills of western Uganda, where Beatrice was born and raised. As a girl, she desperately yearned for an education, but it seemed hopeless: Her parents were peasants who couldn’t afford to send her to school.

A dairy goat in Heifer’s online gift catalog costs $120; a flock of chicks or ducklings costs just $20.

One of the goats bought by the Niantic church went to Beatrice’s parents and soon produced twins. When the kid goats were weaned, the children drank the goat’s milk for a nutritional boost and sold the surplus milk for extra money.

The Imprecise Meaning Of War

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:45:18 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Unless Congress closes a gaping hole in the law against war profiteering, companies ripping off taxpayers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may never be fully prosecuted. This is because the latest conflicts are not declared wars.

The anti-fraud law dating to World War II allows prosecution of contractors up to three years after a war ends. But this statute of limitations was omitted from the resolutions authorizing military force in Iraq and Afghanistan, which carried no formal war declaration.

Investigators say that current war fraud runs into untold billions, including faulty ammunition and vehicles and not-so-bullet-proof vests. Investigative officials and the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction have testified that they’re hampered by the ongoing conflicts and need more time to catch contract thieves after they end.

A Supreme Court On The Brink

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:43:52 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In some ways, the Supreme Court term that just ended seems muddled: disturbing, highly conservative rulings on subjects like voting rights and gun control, along with important defenses of basic liberties in other areas, including the rights of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The key to understanding the term lies in the fragility of the court’s center. Some of the most important decisions came on 5-to-4 votes — a stark reminder that the court is just one justice away from solidifying a far-right majority that would do great damage to the Constitution and the rights of ordinary Americans.

Corporations fared especially well in this term. The court reduced the punitive-damages award against Exxon Mobil for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill from $2.5 billion to about $500 million, a pittance for the energy company

The court was teetering on the brink in this term. Voters should keep that firmly in mind when they go to the polls in November.

Understanding Rape in India

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:23:37 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

"The truth, however, is that the male is the enjoyer and female a thing to be enjoyed ..."

- Manu Smiriti

Sweden - Social and psychological discrimination appeared in an Indian courtroom on April 3rd, 2005, when minutes before sentencing was due, a convicted rapist offered his victim a marriage proposal. The man, who said he was offering to marry the woman because the stigma of rape in India meant no one else would, was convicted of raping and seriously injuring a 22-year-old nurse in September 2003 at the hospital where they both worked. The survivor was asked in court whether she would accept the proposal from her attacker, who had hoped it might lower his sentence. The judge postponed sentencing until the next day, when the rape victim told the court she had rejected his petition.

So many questions come to any sane person's mind, most importantly: did the court, as a "law-making" institution, even consider the dangers such a precedent would pose to women?

Tags: different, cultures, why, so, hard, on, women

Japan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:54:43 GMT

clipped by: zasel
clipper's remarks: Any entrepreneurs here in the west, might take a lesson from the Japanese business world. Instead of paying our elderly their measly social security payments, perhaps we could offer them jobs in the porn industry. The money is great, and they can work mostly on their backs.

Clip Source: www.time.com

Shigeo Tokuda looks like any other 74-year-old man in Japan. Despite suffering a heart attack three years ago, the lifelong salaryman now feels healthier, and lives happily with his wife and a daughter in downtown Tokyo. He is, of course, more physically active than most retirees, but that's because he's kept his part-time job — as a porn star.

A WHO report released in March found that 1 in 4 married couples in Japan had not made love in the previous year, while 38% of couples in their 50s no longer have sex at all.

the country has seen a surge in demand for pornography that has turned adult videos into a billion-dollar industry, with "elder porn" one of its fastest-growing genres.

Director Gaichi Kono says the eroticism of elders is captivating to younger viewers.

A popular young actress can earn up to $100,000 per film, while a mature actress is paid only $2,000.

The market for elder porn has doubled over the past decade, according to Kadowaki.

I Will Follow You

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:15:10 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Click on source

Clip Source: www.imeem.com

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

The Dresden Dolls

Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer singing I Will Follow You Into The Dark originally by Death Cab For Cutie.

Oh My Sweet Carolina

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:02:48 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: what, compels, me, to, go