Clipmarks | zizzy's 'democracy' clips

10 Books That Screwed Up The World

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:20:41 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: I agree with most of this list, the rest I have no opinion because I haven't read the books. My curiosity has been piqued enough to read them and found out. Read the article to learn beyond the summaries why these books (and by extension, their authors) are considered to be so harmful.

Clip Source: listverse.com

Malleus Maleficarum

Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, 1486

On the list because: It inflamed witch hunts across Europe

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead, 1928

turned out to be a creation of her own sexual confusions and aspirations

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli, 1532

the inspiration for a long list of tyrannies (Stalin had it on his nightstand)

Mein Kampf

Adolf Hitler, 1925

helped spread Hitler’s genocidal anti-Semitism

The Pivot of Civilization

Margaret Sanger, 1922

preaches eugenics

Democracy and Education

John Dewey, 1916

convinced the world that education is not about facts

Baby and Childcare

Benjamin Spock, 1946

caused deaths through bad advice

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Unknown

a propaganda book designed to incite racial hatred

The Manifesto of the Communist Party

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 1848

could win the award for the most malicious book ever written

Darwin’s Black Box

Michael Behe, 1996

fuels fundamentalist attacks on Science

Quotes on Economy

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:16:31 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Our civilization is locked in the grip of an ideology - corporatism. An ideology that denies and undermines the legitimacy of individuals as the citizen in a democracy. The particular imbalance of this ideology leads to a worship of self-interest and a denial of the public good. The practical effects on the individual are passivity and conformism in the areas that matter, and non-conformism in the areas that don't
-- John Ralston Saul

The acceptance of corporatism causes us to deny and undermine the legitimacy of the individual as citizen in a democracy. The result of such a denial is a growing imbalance which leads to our adoration of self-interest and our denial of the public good.
-- John Ralston Saul

Clip Source: www.cultureofpeace.org

The purpose of economic theory is to make those who are comfortable FEEL comfortable.
-- Lord Balogh

"This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society -- one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security."
-- Michael Lerner

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate
-- Bertrand Russell

What is economics? A science invented by the upper class in order to acquire the fruits of the labor of the underclass
-- August Strindberg

Project Vote Smart

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:36:47 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: votesmart.org

Here at Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort that, if successful, will provide their fellow citizens with the tools for a reemergence of political power not known for half a century.

Picture this: thousands of citizens (conservative and liberal alike) working together, spending endless hours researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups.

Citizens come together, not in selfish interest or to support one candidate over another, but to defend democracy. It is an extraordinary gathering of people committed to one purpose: to strengthen the most essential component of democracy -- access to information

Drinking Liberally

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:52:08 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: drinkingliberallyslc.org

Promoting democracy in Utah one pint at a time.

An informal, inclusive Democratic drinking club. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don’t need to be a policy expert and this isn’t a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out

Bars are democratic spaces - you talk to strangers, you share booths, you feel the bond of common ground. Salt Lake’s chapter of Drinking Liberally is a source of catharsis for many, and a fun way to meet like-minded individuals for others. Whatever your agenda, come on out and be a part of the newest, most casual way to meet the liberal minority of Salt Lake City. You don’t even have to drink alcohol

Being a liberal drinking group in the reddest of the red states really draws attention from the media, and we’ve been mentioned in the Guardian Unlimited, Wikipedia, and others.

Tags: liberals, democracy, salt lake city, red states

Norman Mailer on Democracy

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:18:10 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Read the full article for context; it really is brilliant.

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

"Democracy, more than any other political system, depends on a modicum of honesty. Ultimately, it is much at the mercy of a leader who has never been embarrassed by himself,

"What is to be said of a man who spent two years in the Air Force of the National Guard (as a way of not having to go to Vietnam) and proceeded--like many another spoiled and wealthy father's son--not to bother to show up for duty in his second year of service? Most of us have episodes in our youth that can cause us shame on reflection. It is a mark of maturation that we do not try to profit from our early lacks and vices but do our best to learn from them. Bush proceeded, however, to turn his declaration of the Iraqi campaign's end into a mighty fashion show.

He chose--this overnight clone of Honest Abe--to arrive on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on an S-3B Viking

to demonstrate how well he wore the uniform he had not honored.

What does it profit us if we gain extreme security and lose our democracy

Tags: norman mailer, democracy, george bush

Report highlights blog censorship

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:18:48 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Poor Abdel Kareem, his father publicly disowned him after his prison sentence was announced

http://woundedgirlfromcairo.blogspot.com/2007/02/3-1-4-years-in-jail.html

http://woundedgirlfromcairo.blogspot.com/2007/02/egyptian-dissident-bloggers-family.html

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Bloggers are now finding themselves prey to censorship from repressive governments as much as journalists in traditional media, a report says.

Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman was jailed for four years

The report says governments realise the internet is now a key tool in promoting democracy and are moving to curb it.

With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope

Reporters Without Borders

The military junta's crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country

Reporters Without Borders on Burma

They flagged up the case of Abdel Kareem Soliman, an Egyptian blogger jailed for four years after he used his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university, and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.

Russia, which was ranked 144th on the list, is not progressing

Tags: censorship, bloggers, internet, repression, egypt, al-azhar, abel karem soliman, china, russia, reporters without borders'

Egyptian activist sees liberals abandoned by US

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:31:00 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: africa.reuters.com

CAIRO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A prominent Egyptian human rights activist said waning U.S. pressure for democracy in Egypt has left liberals there cornered between an autocratic government and Islamists, with no prospect for change soon.

Hisham Kassem told Reuters on Tuesday that at meetings with President George W. Bush and senior U.S. officials he detected little interest in discussing prospects for democracy in Egypt.

Kassem said Bush was mainly interested in the position of Islamists in Egypt.

"I told him there is no alternative now for the people given that Islamists operate out of mosques while secular political parties are not allowed to operate at all, and with the difficult economic situation. I am worried that Egypt will become a theocracy in the 2010 (parliamentary elections)."

"Later he turned around and told me: 'We give your country $2 billion a year in order to keep it stable and prevent it from turning into a theocracy.' He looked quite dismayed."

Tags: egypt, islamist, democracy, hisham kassem, bush administration

September 15 March on Washington impeach Bush and Cheney

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 02:27:49 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.impeachbush.org

Thousands of Americans from around the country will join together to demand the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and insist on the immediate end to the war in Iraq. September 15th is the date General David Petraeus is mandated to make a report to Congress on the progress of the so-called surge. The eyes of the national and international media will be focused on Washington DC at that time. In the coming weeks we will be taking out newspaper ads, producing 500,000 leaflets, flyers, and stickers, and setting up outreach committees for the September 15th March in Washington all over the country. Click here for more information.

Let's Make It a Million!
930845
the number of people
who have already voted
in the referendum
to Impeach Bush!
(figure updated daily)

Tags: impeach bush and cheney, democracy, washington, be a citizen not a consumer

Obama Defends His Stance on Christian Right 'Hijacking Faith"

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:07:58 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Democratic Senator and 2008 presidential hopeful Barack Obama defended his criticisms of conservative Christian leaders in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network reporter David Brody.

When you have pastors and television pundits who appear to explicitly coordinate with one political party; when you're implying that your fellow Americans are traitors, terrorist sympathizers or akin to the devil himself; then I think you're attempting to hijack the faith of those who follow you for your own personal or political ends

For my friends on the right, I think it would be helpful to remember the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy but also our religious practice

American leaders who fought to include the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

Whatever we once were, we're no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers.

Tags: barack obama, christian right, faith, bill of rights, muslim, jewish, buddhist, non-believer, conservatives, campaiign 08

What is Corporatism? Part 3 (final)

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:43:34 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.corporatism.org

Quotes

"Of course the people don't want war. That's understandable. But it's always very easy to influence the people, whether it's currently a democracy or a fascist dictator, a parliament or a communist dictator. No matter which way, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." -- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichmarshall

"How does one man assert his power over another, Winston? By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation... Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain." -- George Orwell

Tags: corporatism, fascism, united states government, herman goering, george orwell, last days of democracy, dictatorship

What is Corporatism? Part 2

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:40:04 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.corporatism.org

At the root of the issue is the lust for power and money, and the insufficient checks and balances in a society to prevent the abuse of this power.

A government is responsible for its people, and with a democracy the people have a say in who their government is.

A corporation only has to answer to its shareholders, and its only purpose is to make money for them. The problem is that through the use of money, power can be gained. With enough money corporations can influence Government policy and lawmaking to ends that benefit them, and often don't benefit society at large.

Root Causes of Corporatism

Tags: corporatism, fascism, united states government, corporations, shareholders, democracy, money, power, citizens

The Last Days of Democracy

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:19:30 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

Posted on Jul 30, 2007

Truthdig speaks with Elliot Cohen, author of “The Last Days of Democracy,” who argues that the United States is in political and cultural decline, with media and telecommunications giants engaged in “a well-organized effort to hijack America.”

Illustration courtesy of Adbusters

LISTEN NOW

Tags: corporatism, fascism, last days of democracy, united states, elliot cohen, media, telecommunications

Mainstream Media Try to Hide the Impeachment Question Part 2 Poll Results

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:26:14 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.zogby.com

The Poll

The impeachment question was part of a Zogby International poll conducted early last week, and released on Thursday.

It found that Bush’s job approval ratings had slipped a point from the previous week, to 43 percent.

But the jaw-dropper was that 42 percent said they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found that the president misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq.

Zogby noted: "While half (50%) of respondents do not hold this view, supporters of impeachment outweigh opponents in some parts of the country.

"Among those living in the Western states, a 52% majority favors Congress using the impeachment mechanism while just 41% are opposed; in Eastern states, 49% are in favor and 45% opposed. In the South, meanwhile, impeachment is opposed by three-in-five voters (60%) and supported by just one-in-three (34%); in the Central/Great Lakes region, 52% are opposed and 38% in favor....

Pollingreport.com offers the results broken down by party. Among Democrats, 59 percent answered the impeachment question affirmatively -- as well as 25 percent of Republicans.

Shailagh Murray of The Washington Post made the poll results the third item in the paper’s Sunday politics column: "Even the pollster couldn’t believe his eyes. ’It was much higher than I expected,’ John Zogby said of the 42 percent....

"By comparison, in October 1998, as the House moved to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, a Zogby poll found that 39 percent of voters supported the House action, while 56 percent opposed it....

"Zogby said the hypothetical question ’reveals just how badly divided this country is over the war,’ but also that people may be more comfortable with the idea of throwing a president out of office....

(7/12/2005)

Collective Bellaciao, France

Tags: bush administration, democracy, impeachment, iraq war, lies, neocons, political corruption, politics, polls

Mainstream Media Try to Hide the Impeachment Question Part 1

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:21:20 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Part 1 of 2. Part 2 has the poll results. This is from 2005, the most recent Zogby poll I could find.

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

Add a Comment

Clip Source: www.zogby.com

The latest poll shows more support for impeaching Bush now, than there was for impeaching Clinton when Congress did so in 1998. But the mainstream wimpmedia are reluctant to report on this. Here are portions of an article that managed to sneak into the Washington Post.

by Dan Froomkin More than four in 10 Americans, according to a recent Zogby poll, say that if President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.

But you wouldn’t know it from following the news. Only three mainstream outlets that I can find made even cursory mention of the poll last week when it came out.

Nevertheless, could there be anything that 42 percent of Americans agree on that the media cares about so little?

But they also suggest an appetite for more investigation into Bush’s reasons for war and specifically -- in light of the assertions in the Downing Street memos -- whether his public rationales were in fact at all like his private rationales.

One topic for further inquiry, for instance, could be whether in private conversations Bush expressed the same kind of reticence about war that he advertised publicly. Some evidence -- stories like this one in Time, for instance, which quotes Bush saying in March 2002: ’[Expletive] Saddam. we’re taking him out.’ -- suggests otherwise.

Was Bush motivated more by personal animosity toward Saddam Hussein than by a post-Sept. 11 desire to protect America from a grave threat? Did he exaggerate that threat? At what point was war inevitable?

Those are not settled questions. And evidently quite a few Americans would like to see some accountability if Bush deceived them.

Tags: bush administration, impeachment, intelligence, iraq war, democracy, lies, political corruption, politics, saddam hussein, polls, neocons

Concern over voting rights for the physically challenged in Bangladesh

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:51:21 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Physically challenged people must be included in the voters list so they can exercise their franchise without any hassles, said the speakers at a roundtable yesterday. (articles first paragraph which I was unable to clip).

Clip Source: www.thedailystar.net

Include physically challenged people in voter list

Speakers tell roundtable

Staff Correspondent

Highlighting the problems of people with disability and indifferent attitudes of previous governments towards them, they urged the caretaker government to solve their problems immediately.

The discussion titled 'Enabling the disabled to vote: ID card, legal provisions and other facilities' was organised by Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Institute of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW), Action on Disability and Development (ADD), Muslim Aid and Salvation for the Deserving (SFD).

Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director of DemocracyWatch Taleya Rehman said under the existing system there is no special arrangement for enabling the physically challenged and old people to cast their votes easily.

"It is time to prepare ramps and identity (ID) cards for those people," she said, adding the presiding officers should know the number of physically challenged voters in their locality and the local government could be involved in the process.

In a keynote paper SFD Chairman Nasir-ur-Rahman Sinha, also a physically challenged man, said the government and NGOs are doing some works for the welfare of physically and mentally challenged people, but these are not done in a systematic way.

He suggested preparing ID cards with four different colours for different types of people with disability and also stressed the need for special education, health care, job quota and arrangement for their smooth movement in public places.

Zohurul Alam, president of NFOWD, said the people with disabilities are awfully stigmatised and coloured in the society.

Adviser to caretaker government Geeti Ara Safia Chowdhury, who was scheduled to attend the discussion, in a message termed the people with disability an integral part of the society and said the social welfare ministry has already directed the Election Commission (EC) to take necessary steps so that they can cast their votes.

Tags: democracy, bangladesh, vote, rights for the physically challenged