Clipmarks | hipermail's clips

A queda do dolar em quatro atos

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:37:16 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

O drama do dólar nos mercados internacionais ocorre há bastante tempo e se desenrola em vários atos. O primeiro, “Nasce uma estrela”, aconteceu em 1999, com a criação do euro, a nova moeda da Europa continental. Emergia um novo planeta econômico, com um PIB comparável ao da economia americana, numa região de fabulosa diversidade e enormes perspectivas para a reestruturação de empresas, a consolidação de setores e a integração monetária.

Tags: economics, brazil

The mysteries of the American Empire

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:19:34 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.opendemocracy.net

Since then, many observers have predicted that US hegemony (or in post-cold-war terminology, "unipolarity") is dissolving. Indeed, this a key motif in each decade, an accompanying chorus to (for example) the Soviet Union's space programme in the 1950s; the "third-world" revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s; and the emergence of Japan, Europe and (now) China as major economic powers in the 1980s-2000s.

The debate on the future of American power – and what is increasingly (even casually) referred to as the American “empire” – is almost as old as the United States itself. It was Alexis de Tocqueville who, in the 1830s, anticipated a future dominated by the two continental states of Russia and America; and the Time magazine editor Henry Luce who, in 1941, on the eve of America’s decisive entry into both the Pacific and European wars, predicted “the American century”.

Tags: usa, history, society

Weapon-Proof School Gear

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:05:48 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Mike Pelonzi and Joe Curran aren’t paranoid; they just have a few rules when it comes to their kids’ safety. No bike riding without a helmet. No boating without a life vest. And no going to school without a bulletproof backpack.

Only problem: the backpack didn’t seem to exist. So they invented My Child’s Pack, a bag with a back panel as bulletproof as a police vest that kids can use as a shield. It comes in four colors and costs $195. Since August, they have sold more than 1,000.

Tags: school, crime

How American Voters Decide

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:04:21 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.time.com

Most Americans are just starting to tune in to the 2008 presidential campaign — and with headlines focused on security expenses for Rudy Giuliani's liaisons with his then mistress (now wife) and on Hillary Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama's kindergarten assignments, they may very well tune back out until after the holidays.

Tags: politics

The Good, the Bad, and the Japanese

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:54:50 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.american.com

The brilliant director Akira Kurosawa, of ‘Seven Samurai’ fame, helped bring a new kind of hero to the American movie screen, writes JAMES BOWMAN. Not so much film noir as film gris.

Clint Eastwood, an icon of American heroism recognized throughout the world, made a movie last year about one of the best-known battles of World War II, a movie that lacked both a hero and so much as a glance in the direction of what was being fought over. It was a movie about war seen only through the eyes of its victims. Flags of Our Fathers was no anomaly, but a sign of our cultural times and one that has been a long time in coming. Its victim-heroes have become almost as much of a cliché as the idea that only primitive and uneducated people think in terms of wrong and right, black and white, bad guys and good guys

How did this change occur? Most of humankind through most of history has happily lived in a black-and-white, good-and-evil world.

Tags: cinema

Tempos bicudos para ilegais nos EUA

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:34:26 GMT

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Clip Source: ultimosegundo.ig.com.br

Para muitos brasileiros nos EUA ilegalmente, a terra prometida perdeu seu apelo

Como milhares de brasileiros de classe média que foram para os EUA nas últimas duas décadas, José Osvandir Borges e sua mulher, Elizabete, chegaram com vistos de turistas e ficaram como imigrantes ilegais, criando raízes de maneiras que eles nunca esperavam.

Essa decisão – de desistir de suas vidas nos EUA – está sendo feita por cada vez mais brasileiros por todo o país, segundo oficiais do consulado, agências de viagem lotadas com vendas de passagem só de ida e líderes de comunidades em bairros transformados por imigrantes brasileiros, de Boston a Pompano Beach, no estado da Flórida.

Tags: immigration, illegal immigration

Arrested for blog comment

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:13:43 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Wis. teacher arrested for blog comment

The suburban Milwaukee high school chemistry teacher was arrested last week for the Nov. 16 comment left on http://www.bootsandsabers.com, a blog on Wisconsin politics. The comment, left under the name "Observer," came during a discussion over teacher salaries after some commenters complained teachers were underworked and overpaid.

The comment disturbed at least one teacher, who called police in West Bend, 40 miles north of Milwaukee and home of the blog's administrator. Police traveled to arrest Buss at his home in Cudahy, south of Milwaukee, last week after the blogger gave them the anonymous poster's IP address.

Donald Downs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in free speech, said that "all sorts of unsavory, controversial speech" are protected by the First Amendment.

Tags: justice, blog

Will Smith golden machine

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:29:23 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Legend of Will Smith

Smith's four most recent movies--The Pursuit of Happyness, Hitch, Shark Tale and I, Robot--have each grossed more than $300 million worldwide, vaulting him into a category usually reserved for white guys named Tom. Because Smith has mastered the delicate art of appearing artless, few moviegoers realize that his is one of Hollywood's most meticulously planned and executed careers.

Tags: cinema, hollywood, entertainment, show biz, business

Murder assistance gets life in prison

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:15:55 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Serving Life for Providing Car to Killers

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. — Early in the morning of March 10, 2003, after a raucous party that lasted into the small hours, a groggy and hungover 20-year-old named Ryan Holle lent his Chevrolet Metro to a friend. That decision, prosecutors later said, was tantamount to murder.

The friend used the car to drive three men to the Pensacola home of a marijuana dealer, aiming to steal a safe. The burglary turned violent, and one of the men killed the dealer’s 18-year-old daughter by beating her head in with a shotgun he found in the home.

Tags: crime, justice, florida

Amazon's Kindle

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:59:09 GMT

clipped by: hipermail
clipper's remarks: No way you're going to fork 400 bucks on it.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Companies have failed for many years to produce a successful electronic reader, a dedicated device that would do for books what Apple's iPod has done for music -- allow you to carry around large numbers of titles and enjoy them in a convenient way.

Tags: ebooks, reader

The 50 weirdest terms of financial jargon and what they actually mean

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:05:41 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: timesbusiness.typepad.com

Flummoxed by front-end loading? Bamboozled by bridging? Don’t know if your cap is split or your asset orphaned?

Here is Times Money’s alternative guide, for anyone who blushes at the mention of cum-dividends, or thinks churning is something that only happens to dairy products.

Tags: finance, reference, jargon

Hillary Clinton - Gift of Gall

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:00:38 GMT

clipped by: hipermail
clipper's remarks: Hillary is pure sheer gall.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

First Hillary got brushed back by the boys in the debate. Then some women bemoaned Hillaryland’s “Don’t hit me, I’m a girl” strategy.

Women need to rally to support Hillary and send her money because there are men, men like Tim Russert, who have the temerity to ask her questions during a debate. If there are six male rivals on stage and two male moderators and heaven knows how many men manning lights and boom mikes, the one woman should have the right to have it two ways.

Sometimes when Hillary takes heat, she gets paranoid and controlling. But this time she took the heat by getting into the kitchen. After trying to have it both ways during the debate, she tried to have it both ways after the debate.

She was always kind enough to let Bill hide behind her skirts when he got in trouble with women. Now she deserves to hide behind her own pantsuits when men cause her trouble.

There is nowhere she won’t go, so long as it gets her where she wants to be.

That’s the beauty of Hillary.

Tags: eua, eleicao, politica

População imigrante nos EUA é a maior desde 1920

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:48:35 GMT

clipped by: hipermail

Clip Source: ultimosegundo.ig.com.br

Calcula-se que, durante os últimos sete anos, a imigração norte-americana bateu recorde de crescimento em toda a história dos Estados Unidos. Nesse intervalo, aproximadamente 10,3 milhões de novos imigrantes, metade em situação ilegal, chegaram ao país, de acordo com o Centro de Estudos sobre Imigração em Washington, que divulgou o censo na última quarta-feira.

A pesquisa se baseia em gastos públicos associados com a nova geração de trabalhadores imigrantes. No entanto, bastante criticado por alguns estudiosos do assunto por omitir dados, o estudo não analisa as possíveis contribuições de tal população, através de empregos, mesmo que pouco remunerados, e do pagamento de impostos.

A análise foi conduzida por Steve A. Camarota, diretor de pesquisas do centro, que defende a redução da imigração.

Camarota foi alvo de intensas críticas por parte de alguns analistas, que apontam falha no exame do progresso das famílias imigrantes no período em que viveram e trabalharam nos EUA.

Tags: eua, imigracao