Clipmarks | Steven Clips

So, You're Living In A Police State? - Steven Colbert

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:48:34 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: The comedy master gives us his thoughts.

[Video]

Bash the Bailout: Government is Not the Answer

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:30:10 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ......banking crisis, they make things worse. This is a long paper, but see p. 4 in particular.
[pdf]

10. One of the oldest forms of government intervention in the financial markets has been deposit insurance. Yet globally it destabilizes capitalism, impedes innovation and makes a bad regulatory regime worse. British economist Andrew Lilico explains how.

11. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron puts it bluntly: “The fact that government bears such a huge responsibility for the current mess means any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place.”

12. Government has been becoming more intrusive when it comes to lending over the years. John Berlau looks at how they want to fingerprint anyone originating a home loan.

The bailout bill is now law, but it does little or nothing to solve the problems government created. As long as they persist, the financial markets will be at serious risk. In the end, we may need to bailout the bailout.

Clip Source: www.openmarket.org

These are the top twelve articles, stories and papers that we think demonstrate this fact.

1. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are at the heart of the crisis

Read what happened here.

2. Steven Malanga outlines the “long road to slack lending standards”

3. Thomas Sowell explains how economic-populist politicians used their power to help create the problem.

4. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires firms to value their assets in a way that has vastly accelerated the liquidity problem.

explains why here.

5. A detailed examination of why mark-to-market accounting distorts the market

6. Back in 2000, City Journal warned that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

7. Earlier this year, Michelle Minton looked at how the CRA had indeed helped contribute to the subprime crisis

8. Dan Mitchell argues that government created the problem, and more government will make things worse.

9. Even the International Monetary Fund recognizes that government “bailouts” don’t just merely postpone the inevitable in a

Tags: fm/fm, government, economic-populist politicians, cra, imf

Is it the freedom which we preach in Iraq ??!!

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:38:14 GMT

clipped by: Yassin_M
clipper's remarks: freedom which we preach in Iraq ??!!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US soldier jailed for Iraq deaths

A US soldier has been jailed for eight months after admitting playing a part in the killings of four Iraqi men in April 2007.

Specialist Steven Ribordy, 25, admitted standing watch as fellow soldiers shot the four Iraqi prisoners, then threw their bodies into a canal.

A total of seven men have been accused of involvement in the killings.

Prosecutors say the men were killed in retribution for casualties sustained by the soldiers' unit.

Ribordy told the military court that he stood guard as the men were shot, then later helped push one of the bodies into the canal.

Fannie/Freddie Trouble Seen 9 Yrs Ago

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:16:31 GMT

clipped by: dl211
clipper's remarks: In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black

Clip Source: query.nytimes.com

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

Tags: fannie, freddie, subprime, credit, economic disaster

libro gioco vecchio come il mondo

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:07:01 GMT

clipped by: gianvittorio
clipper's remarks: su nuovimondimedia

Clip Source: www.nuovimondi.info

Titolo
Un gioco vecchio come il mondo

Autore
Steven Hiatt (a cura di)

Pagine 392

Formato 17,5 x 21

ISBN 978-88-89091-47-0

Prezzo in libreria 18,00€

Uscita in libreria
luglio 2008

Atomic Prose

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:46:10 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "On the whole, the best writing about physics for a general audience seems to come from physicists, not journalists. This isn't due to the fact that physicists understand the subject matter better—if anything, people who spend all day in the lab are often the worst at explaining the big picture. Rather, they're better at writing about physics because they don't try so hard to make you care. They don't believe their readers must be seduced with colorful wordplay or end-of-the-world melodramas. Journalists writing popular treatments of subatomic physics could take a lesson from the scientists: Tell it straight and have a little faith that the subject matter itself—a major advance in our understanding of the cosmos—can generate its own wonder and excitement".

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Why can't science journalists just tell it like it is when it comes to particle physics?

The Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg once summed up his feeling about people who saw evidence of the divine in the laws of physics like so: "I don't know why they use words like 'designer' or 'God,' except perhaps as a form of protective coloration."

God was mostly off the table in recent weeks—except in His particle form—as the Large Hadron Collider revved up for a massive series of experiments in subatomic physics. But among science journalists, there was plenty of protective coloration of another variety. Much of the prose from the hundreds of stories heralding the event arced decidedly toward the purple.

CNN, would provide scientists the opportunity for a "religious experience"; the BBC agreed, pointing out helpfully that "scientific study is often mundane but can occasionally slip into the ecstatic."

Immersive Virtual Reality Cocoon Has A 360 Degree Display

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:12:54 GMT

clipped by: cyberwiz

Clip Source: thehottestgadgets.com

The Immersive Cocoon, or i-Cocoon for short, has 360 degree surround video capabilities. Add that to it’s 3d surround sound as the audio-visual experience provided by the i-Cocoon completely envelops you, creating very realistic virtual environments.

It has a 3D motion tracking system which senses arm, hand and leg movements using a series of motion tracking cameras inside the Cocoon. Monitoring your movements using this system allows you to “fight in a Kung Fu game or swim through a sea of jellyfish, with the display responding in real time and surround vision. The system was developed my a former researcher at MIT and it was the inspiration for the futuristic computer shown in Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report.”

The i-Cocoon offers a ground breaking new way to think about home entertainment and the way we use computers. Imagine the endless possibilities of i-Cocoon capable games, with stunning 360 degree game play.

Clip Source: thehottestgadgets.com

Inside Obama’s Acorn

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:00:23 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ....with a “1960’s-bred agenda of anti-capitalism” to match. Acorn, says Stern, grew out of “one of the New Left’s silliest and most destructive groups, the National Welfare Rights Organization.” The theory, explains Stern, was that an impossibly overburdened welfare system would force “a radical reconstruction of America’s unjust capitalist economy.” Instead of a socialist utopia, however, we got the culture of dependency and family breakdown that ate away at America’s inner cities — until welfare reform began to turn the tide.

[t]he targets and strategy have changed. Acorn prefers to fly under the national radar, organizing locally in liberal urban areas — where, local legislators and reporters are often “slow to grasp how radical Acorn’s positions really are.”

In Your Face

Just think of Code Pink’s well-known operations (threatening to occupy congressional offices, interrupting the testimony of General David Petraeus) and you’ll get the idea.

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

What if Barack Obama’s most important radical connection has been hiding in plain sight all along? Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America.

Obama and a team of Chicago attorneys won a 1995 suit forcing the state of Illinois to implement the federal “motor-voter” bill. In fact, Obama’s Acorn connection is far more extensive. In the few stories where Obama’s role as an Acorn “leadership trainer” is noted, or his seats on the boards of foundations that may have supported Acorn are discussed, there is little follow-up.

An Anti-Capitalism Agenda

To understand the nature and extent of Acorn’s radicalism, an excellent place to begin is Sol Stern’s 2003 City Journal article, “ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities.” (For a shorter but helpful piece, try Steven Malanga’s “Acorn Squash.”)

Sol Stern explains that Acorn is the key modern successor of the radical 1960’s “New Left,”

Tags: acorn, anti-capitalism agenda, leftist radicalism

Virginia State Police chaplains resign over ban on ‘Jesus’ words

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:23:54 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Richmond, Sep 26, 2008 / 08:56 pm (CNA).- At least five Virginia State Police chaplains have resigned after being told they must refrain from using words like "Jesus" and "Christ."

Superintendent W. Steven Flaherty, reportedly concerned about offending people of other faiths, directed the agency’s 17 chaplains to begin delivering neutral or nondenominational prayers at functions such as trooper graduation ceremonies and its annual memorial service for fallen officers, the Richmond Times-Dispatch says

Rex Carter, one of the resigning chaplains, argued he should have the right to pray "how I believe, regardless of whether somebody agrees or not," saying "There's a fine line -- but it's a hard line -- between an individual's right to pray versus what is considered state-sponsored speech.

"You don't check your religious beliefs at the door just because you're hired by the state and are a member of the department," he said, characterizing the decision as the "separation of Jesus and state."

Tags: jesus, free speech, religion, state

From Jet Man to Pedal Man?

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:57:19 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: continues:
"It's all going right. He is hovering about 10 metres from the water and is making a really good go of it."

It marks the second attempt at the challenge by Rousson after he was forced to postpone a previous bid in June because strong winds made the feat too hazardous.

The challenge is a long-held dream for Rousson, whose love affair with aviation grew as a child after watching Steven Spielberg's alien adventure and led to him gaining a pilot's licence.

He said: "When I was young, I saw the movie and watched the little guy pedalling on a bike flying in front of the moon with ET. I always wanted to fly."

Rousson had been banking on a five-hour wind-free timeframe to enable him to set off.

The 16-metre-long helium-filled blimp, nicknamed "Miss Louise" after his former girlfriend, requires the wind should be gusting no more than two knots to become airborne.

During the challenge, Rousson is sitting underneath the envelope in a carbon fibre gondola, powering th

Clip Source: mysterytopia.com

ET-Inspired Airship Bid Takes-Off

A French adventurer, who was inspired by the film ET, has begun his attempt to become the first person to cross the Channel in a pedal-powered airship.

Stephane Rousson, 39, took off from the coast of Hythe in Kent just before 8am and hopes to reach Wissant in France about five hours' later while suspended from the miniature Zeppelin.

It is the second daredevil cross-Channel attempt this week, following the success of Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy.

On Friday, Rossy, 49, became the first person to fly solo across the sea using a single jet-powered wing.

Rousson, from Nice, is being shadowed by two boats during the 28-mile journey across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes in case he and his contraption plunge into the sea.

His spokeswoman, who is on board one of the boats, said: "To have set off is a victory in itself. He had to wait for just the right weather conditions but they came at the right time.

Sigma Xi Fall 08

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:11:51 GMT

clipped by: erothman

Clip Source: www.science.smith.edu

Steven A. Williams
Biological Sciences

In Search of the Endangered Black-Footed Ferret: A Tale of Genes, Parasites and Recovery

21 October

4 November

Nat Fortune
Department of Physics

If magnets were voters: geographic frustration, fluctuating opinions, and cooperative solutions to magnetic ordering in a triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet

2 December

Per Lundgren

EE, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Differences that matter - contrasting higher education in science and engineering in Sweden

Vietnam travel online

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:10:51 GMT

clipped by: vietravel247

Clip Source: www.vietravel247.com

The Vespa tours have attracted attention from many Saigonese and foreign tourists on the city streets. Dominic Steven, a tourist, told the Daily last Friday that he found the scooters convenient, faster and less expensive and more exciting for touring the city.

wrkfrom home / japan

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:15:44 GMT

clipped by: camillachavez

Clip Source: losangeles.craigslist.org

" "RECESSION PROOF OPPORTUNITY."

34 Year old Japanese company expanding into U.S. Seeking self motivated professionals who have the desire to make a fortune! Associates in Japan are earning an incredible 3-4 MILLION dollars a year within the first 2-3 years!! Starting to duplicate in US NOW!! This will be the Next Mega-Trend in North America! Contact Steven at 323-707-9265.

Compensation: Dan Morales 323-707-9265
OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities
OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
Phone calls about this job are ok.
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

ly to: dmorales2004@sbcglobal.net ^[?]

octopus

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:01:49 GMT

clipped by: dwyn123

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Octopuses have poisonous saliva and the bite of some species can be fatal to humans. Up next find a marine animal that will sting you if you get too close.

Steven Hunt/Getty Images

Steve Jobs - 61st out of the 400 Riches Americans

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:04:40 GMT

clipped by: dmtherob
clipper's remarks: Quote:
Jobs dismisses health worries, but shareholders fret his pancreatic cancer has returned after gaunt pictures of the King of the iGeeks surfaced in June. Stock up more than 100% between January 2007 and January 2008; now down 16% as the market reacts to health concerns. Launched new iPhone 3G in July. Sleeker, faster gadget sells for $300, half the price of the original; sold one million units on first weekend. Original iPhone took 74 days to reach millionth sale. Founded Apple in garage. Created Macintosh 1976, fired 9 years later after power struggle with chief exec John Sculley. Bought Pixar for $10 million, transformed firm into animation darling with hits Toy Story, Finding Nemo. Sold to Disney 2006 for 7.3% stake in the company—now worth $4.3 billion. Returned to Apple 1996. A third of Apple's $24 billion annual revenues are from iPod. Tweaked iterations introduced last month.

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

#61 Steven Jobs

The 400 Richest Americans

Jobs dismisses health worries, but shareholders fret his pancreatic cancer has returned after gaunt pictures of the King of the iGeeks surfaced in June. Stock up more than 100% between January 2007 and January 2008; now down 16% as the market reacts to health concerns. Launched new iPhone 3G in July. Sleeker, faster gadget sells for $300, half the price of the original; sold one million units on first weekend. Original iPhone took 74 days to reach millionth sale. Founded Apple in garage. Created Macintosh 1976, fired 9 years later after power struggle with chief exec John Sculley. Bought Pixar for $10 million, transformed firm into animation darling with hits Toy Story, Finding Nemo. Sold to Disney 2006 for 7.3% stake in the company—now worth $4.3 billion. Returned to Apple 1996. A third of Apple's $24 billion annual revenues are from iPod. Tweaked iterations introduced last month.

Tags: apple, steve jobs, pixar, disney