Clipmarks | March Clips

Dangers of "Group Think" Evident in March to War

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:33:36 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: These are characteristics of most all groups, especially highly charged political parties which are easily recognized here. Note the silence of individuals plays a key role in conformity. Speak up!

Collective Rationalization reminds me of the "group think" that led America to war against Iraq (per the neoconservatives preconceived plans), even though it did not harbor terrorists or attack the U.S., just because Bush and Cheney, after 9/11, said so.

This same "group think" is within the entire story of 9/11 and the Collective Rationalization for a continued "war on terrorism" to invade other countries at will. GROUP THINK MUST BE CHALLENGED TO PREVENT UNJUST WARS.

Number 8 (did not have room to clip) is here:

Mindguards: Some members appoint themselves to the role of protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency.

Clip Source: www.cedu.niu.edu

Group Think

Janis, I. L. & Mann, L. (1977). Decision making: A psychological analysis of conflict, choice, and commitment. New York: Free Press.

Eight Main Symptoms of Group Think

Illusion of Invulnerability: Members ignore obvious danger, take extreme risk, and are overly optimistic.

Collective Rationalization: Members discredit and explain away warning contrary to group thinking.

Illusion of Morality: Members believe their decisions are morally correct, ignoring the ethical consequences of their decisions.

Excessive Stereotyping:The group constructs negative sterotypes of rivals outside the group.

Pressure for Conformity: Members pressure any in the group who express arguments against the group's stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, viewing such opposition as disloyalty.

Self-Censorship: Members withhold their dissenting views and counter-arguments.

Illusion of Unanimity: Members perceive falsely that everyone agrees with the group's decision; silence is seen as consent.

Tags: war, political parties, group think, psychology

The USS Mercy WW1

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:27:06 GMT

clipped by: thedevinemrsl

Clip Source: www.mercy.navy.mil

The Ship's History

MERCY (AH 4)

The first MERCY (AH 4) was built in 1907 as SARATOGA by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, PA. An Army troop transport in the first nine months of World War I, she was renamed MERCY and converted to a hospital ship at New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. She was commissioned on 24 January 1918. MERCY initially operated in the Chesapeake Bay, homeported in Yorktown, VA. She attended war wounded and transported them from ships to shore hospitals. On 3 November 1918, MERCY departed New York City, making four round trips to France, returning 1,977 casualties by March 1919. For 15 years following World War I, MERCY served off the East Coast, homeported in Philadelphia. From December 1924 until September 1926, she was in reduced commission. MERCY was loaned to the Philadelphia branch of the Public Relief Administration in March 1934.

10 unforgettable sports brawls

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:57:32 GMT

clipped by: A53GG4

Clip Source: www.fannation.com

10 unforgettable sports brawls

Posted by:

Nicki Jhabvala

With the tumultuous relationship between the Red Sox and Rays being rekindled in the ALCS on Friday night, we thought we'd recall some of the most alarming moments in sports.

1. Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura (Aug. 4, 1993)

[Video]

2. Pedro Martinez vs. Don Zimmer (Oct. 11, 2003)

[Video]

3. The Punch: Kermit Washington decks Rudy Tomjanovich (Dec. 9, 1977)

[Video]

4. World Junior Hockey Championships: Canada vs. Soviet Union (Jan. 5, 1987)

[Video]

5. The Malice at the Palace (Nov. 19, 2004)

[Video]

6. Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche (March 26, 1997)

[Video]

7. Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers (Dec. 23, 1979)

[Video]

8. Miami vs. Florida International (Oct. 14, 2006)

[Video]

9. Detroit Shock vs. Los Angeles Sparks (July 22, 2008)

[Video]

10. Bristol Brawl: Kevin Harvick vs. Greg Biffle (Mar. 23, 2002)

[Video]

Tags: sports

Financial Crisis: Fed Becomes Rogue Power

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:07:55 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: The Fed under Bernanke does whatever it wants. There is little constraints on it by law, being a creature actually outside of government. The "central bank" is actually a consortium of private banks with authority to print money "from thin air", as it states here. The Federal Reserve is no more "federal" than Federal Express.

The only reason the Fed Chairman Bernanke went to Congress for a Bailout Plan (by using Treas. Sec'y Paulson to front, and hiding behind Bush) was to cover his hindquarters, and gain "consent" (by fear and coercion) of Congress, and putting Americans on the hook with them. Note the article states that the Fed acted already on its own to bailout Bear Stearns and make other "loans" (print money) without Congress:

The Bernanke Fed first invoked rarely used 1930s powers to intervene — with taxpayer backing — in March when it provided a $29 billion loan as part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of Bear Stearns.

The Fed is now Czar.

Clip Source: ap.google.com

Fed assumes powerful new role in financial crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dusting off Depression-era emergency powers, the Federal Reserve is extending its reach over the economy as never before, pushing the limits of its authority, if not exceeding them.

Now the nation's central bank is even becoming a source of loans for companies other than banks.

Radical steps by the Fed under chairman Ben Bernanke — all in the name of seeking to halt the panic sweeping financial markets — are turning it into a financial colossus. They're also putting the government deeper in debt and taxpayers further at risk if the various moves fail.

The Fed is largely free from constraints that bog down other policymakers. Also, it is the only U.S. institution with the ability to create money out of thin air. But that can be inflationary, and the Fed must be careful to separate its powers of raising or lowering the nation's money supply from the financing of the new bailout programs.

Tags: fed, federal reserve, central bank, chairman bernanke

Google Rolled Back The Clock, And Guess What I Found?

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:04:14 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: and is under investigation in at least a dozen states for voter registration fraud.

Is it too much to ask of "real" journalists to ask the campaign why Barack Obama ran as the candidate to the left of even the most radical left-wing of the Democratic Party, and has since tried to downplay that radical association?

It is now well documented that Barack Obama ran for office and won uncontested as a New Party candidate, but what is the New Party?

In 1996, for all intents and purposes, "ACORN and the New Party were essentially the same body."

That would be the same ACORN that Barack Obama has close ties to today, the same ACORN that Barack Obama funneled $800,000 to this year, and which is under investigation in at least a dozen states for voter registration fraud.

Thanks, Google! Now Perhaps Barack Can Explain His New Party Membership

Clip Source: confederateyankee.mu.nu

Search engine giant Google rolled back the clock to their oldest available index today to celebrate their tenth anniversary, and guess what I found?

In the New Party's March 1996 Update.

Chicago Campaigns

We're also backing Danny Davis in a Congressional race, Barack Obama for state representative, and judicial candidate Patricia Martin.

And then there is the October 1996 New Party Update:

Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).

In the Populist:

New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.

And from The Columbus Free Press, the reprinting of a New Party press release:

NP member and State Senate candidate Barack Obama won uncontested.

In 1996, for all intents and purposes, "ACORN and the New Party were essentially the same body."

Barack Obama funneled $800,000 to this year

Tags: the new party, acorn, voter registration fraud, obama

Jan Rose Kasmir, confronts the American National Guard outside the Pentagon

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:33:41 GMT

clipped by: yogini
clipper's remarks: An American young girl, Jan Rose Kasmir, confronts the American National Guard outside the Pentagon during the 1967 anti-Vietnam march. This march helped to turn public opinion against the war in Vietnam.

After my friend, Lilly went missing, her fiance, Christen Pacheco, told me that Lilly often mentioned this symbolic picture. She said he was like the soldier pointing his weapon, and she was like the girl holding the flower.

I think about this statement a lot lately. It saddens me. I miss my friend so much.

Clip Source: festival.magnumphotos.com

United States bank holiday history

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:13:07 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

United States bank holiday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The United States Bank Holiday of the Great Depression took place in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt closed the banks from March 6 to March 10 to keep depositors from bankrupting the banking system by withdrawing all their money.

Banks were allowed to reopen when they could prove that the money in their reserves was greater than or equal to the money that had been deposited in. If the banks were unsound they would stay closed or could apply for a government loan in order to keep from declaring bankruptcy.

This article relating to the history of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bank_holiday"

Categories: United States history stubs | New Deal

Inspired by Sarah Vowell

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:25:14 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Sarah Vowell was on the Daily Show and talked about how she couldn't read the paper so she started writing the Fireside Chats of FDR. She's the best

Clip Source: www.mhric.org

Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt

On the Bank Crisis.
Sunday, March 12, 1933

On the Currency Situation
Sunday, October 22, 1933

Tags: fdr, roosevelt, fireside chats, collection, 1930s

Watch Quarantine Online Free - Download Quarantine Full Movie

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:23:50 GMT

clipped by: akon187

Clip Source: www.onlinemovielinks.net

Quarantine (2008)

Genre:Horror/Thriller
Status: Broken & Not Working
On March 11 2008, the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.

Link to this Movie

Direct Link:

HTML Code:

Watch Quarantine (2008) Online Here!" />

BB Code:

Click here to get paid for reviewing this movie.

Tags: watch quarantine online, watch quarantine online free, download quarantine full movie

the real story of obama and ayers

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:21:20 GMT

clipped by: prin1
clipper's remarks: the entire article is very interesting

Clip Source: www.factcheck.org

Stormy Weather, Underground

Bill Ayers' notoriety dates from the radical, anti-Vietnam War group he helped to start in 1969, splintering off from the activist Students for a Democratic Society. The members of the new group, the Weather Underground, favored shows of violence to further their cause. On March 6, 1970, though, three of them blew themselves up in a Greenwich Village townhouse during a bomb-making session gone badly awry. Ayers and his fellow Weathermen, as they were called, soon dropped out of sight

Barack Obama, who was born Aug. 4, 1961, was 8 years old at the time.

The Weather Underground continued setting off bombs, including one in a men's lavatory in the Capitol building in 1971 and another in a women's restroom in the Pentagon in 1972

. Nobody was killed, due to evacuation warnings the Weathermen sent out in advance.

Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:57:10 GMT

clipped by: benaloy
clipper's remarks: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to deserving people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Mother Terresa of Calcutta, India.
May the good Lord give them more strength to 'make this world better place', U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
May God save us from 'greedy politicians' is what I pray for, benaloy.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

"No one better than he could win the Nobel Peace Prize," said former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "He is only man I know who has made peace on three continents, Africa, Asia and Europe, and I always found him ready to answer the call to make this world a better place."

In 2005, Ahtisaari brokered peace between Indonesia and rebels in Aceh province to end 30 years of fighting. Until March last year he led Serb-Albanian talks on Kosovo as U.N. envoy

Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for a decades-long career of peacemaking around the world from Namibia to Kosovo.

Ahtisaari, 71, who was Finland's president from 1994 to 2000, has for years been a favorite to win what many deem the world's top accolade.

british museum babylon

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:11:38 GMT

clipped by: j-o-g

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

Exhibition overview

Babylon

Myth and reality

13 November 2008 – 15 March 2009

TRUE: Obama sounded the alarm on subprimes

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:55:27 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.politifact.com

As the U.S. and world economic systems continue to falter, both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama claim to have seen the crisis coming to some degree, and tried to head it off.

The last sentence appeared to refer to this letter that Obama sent to Paulson and Bernanke on March 22, 2007.

Obama's comments in the debate suggest the letter warned about the then-looming subprime lending crisis and its potential impact on the wider economy.

So let's check the text.

So yes, Obama characterized the letter accurately. In it, he not only called for action to head off the unraveling of the subprime mortgage market, but also warned about its impact on the nation's economy. He sent the letter about 18 months ago, a time frame for which "two years" is a fair estimate. We find his claim to be True.

Tags: obama, politics, finance, economy, facts

Bailout Price Tags Since 1971

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:04:43 GMT

clipped by: Andrew Gillies
clipper's remarks: A nice breakdown from the National Journal. Since 2001, the federal government's private sector bailouts add up to $1,032.4 billion. In the prior thirty years: $248.1 billion.

Clip Source: www.nationaljournal.com

Financial Bailouts, Past and Present

THEN ... Government bailouts of the 1970s and '80s were relatively small in scale until the S&L crisis prompted Congress to establish the Resolution Trust Corp. to buy up bad assets and bring a fix to the ailing thrift sector.

... and NOW ... Recent rescue plans have a total price tag of more than $1 trillion, a level well beyond any previous attempt by the government to intervene in the private sector to alleviate an economic crisis.

Year              Entity              Federal Commitment (in 2008 dollars) 
1971              Lockheed            $1.4 billion
1974              Penn Central        $9.1 billion
1975              New York City       $9.4 billion
1978              New York City       $5.5 billion
1980              Chrysler            $4.0 billion
1989              S&L failures      $218.7 billion*
2001              Airline industry   $18.6 billion
March 14, 2008    Bear Stearns       $28.8 billion
Sept. 7, 2008     Fannie Mae/         $200 billion
                  Freddie Mac
Sept. 16, 2008    AIG                  $85 billion
Oct. 3, 2008      Financial system    $700 billion
                  rescue

*Estimated final cost to Treasury.

Palin's Foreign Policy Experience - 20 Meetings for a total of 12 hours

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:11:46 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: Examples:

March 10, 2007 -- Palin hosts the annual Fur & Ice reception in Fairbanks for about 30 diplomats and international tourism representatives. A Palin press release issued before the event noted, "Governor Sarah Palin will welcome members of Alaska's diplomatic corps to Fairbanks to view the ice carvings of Ice Alaska's 2007 World Ice Art Championship." Following the afternoon reception, Palin attends the NCAA rifle championships.

March 19, 2007 -- Palin meets with 10 foreign exchange students.

May 15, 2007 -- Palin holds a "brief courtesy" meeting with Martin Uden, then the head of the British consulate in San Francisco. The calendar notes, "He'll be visiting Juneau today off of one of the Cruise Ships."

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Calendars Show Gov. Palin's Foreign Policy Experience: About 20 Meetings for About 12 Hours

after John McCain picked her to be the GOP's vice presidential nominee, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claimed that her foreign policy credentials were enhanced because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska." She also pointed out that she had experience dealing with trade delegations

Later, asked by CBS News' Katie Couric if she had ever participated in negotiations with Russia, Palin said, "We have trade missions back and forth. We—we do—it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia

the calendars tracking Palin's official meetings

as governor contain not one listing indicating she ever met with a Russian official.

the 562 pages of her daily schedules

indicate that Palin had few meetings at all with any foreign representatives and rarely dealt with any topic related to foreign policy

Clip Source: farm2.static.flickr.com

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Palin spent

12 hours over the course of 19 months on these meetings

Tags: stunning foreign policy experience