While statesmen, politicians and amateurs dream of being the singular impetus for peace in the Middle East, beyond dreaming, drooling....the Middle East turns its usual deaf ear to sanity. Hamas continues to try to poison the world against Israel with lies to the media and Israel shuts the world out leaving it to wonder if Hamas is telling the truth about its evil intent this time.
Meanwhile Blagojevich was finally impeached in the meaningless gesture that was while Illinoiian politicians act like they did something unique. In Florida, "Chuckie" Taylor, the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been sentenced by a US court to 97 years in prison for torture. Chuckie Taylor, 31, headed a notorious paramilitary unit during his father's rule says he would appeal. Mr Taylor has a well-earned reputation as a political escape artist. This leaves the rest of the world wondering when the International community will call in Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush for their part in the torture for which they pushed our nation into responsibility.
In Washington, great amounts of money are being wasted (or being put back into the economy, as some might say) getting ready for 2 to 4 million people to crowd into little space, some believing that a very competent, mixed racially, brilliant lawyer and politician will be inaugurated as the 44th US President while others see a black Christ's arrival. Reserved seats for the US presidential inauguration parade sold out within one minute of being put on sale, the ticket company has said.
More then 90% of the 5,000 seats available along the parade route in Washington were sold online.
Despite all the warring, terror, criminals and trials, felonious politicians, more of a concern is the question as to why unemployment is rising. In its second year of decline, the housing market will undoubtedly be effected as the world becomes one big game of economic dominoes.
Having made a pact with myself that I will not worry about anything over which I have no control, I shall concentrate on my New Year's Resolutions which are: 1. I will seek out and obtain one solid belly laugh every day remaining in my life, 2. I will go beyond my maintenance-only diet and do my body the favor for which it has been begging for much of my life.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
FEW WOMEN ARE JOCKS
As long as I can remember, I have been active but not for exercise. Repetitive tasks like stepping on a treadmill don't appeal to me though they might to hamsters. I've never had the body to be skilled in any competitive sports so I chose the part of me that i exercised the most, my brain and mouth, and chose to develop those instead of biceps, triceps and all of the other muscles that keep one lean and mean.
A couple of years ago, I decided to heed the dire warnings of others that if i didn't hie my rear to the gym it would soon be scraping the floor behind me. I would not be able to open childproof medicine caps, my weakness would leave me at the mercy of my children! Finally an argument that got me to the gym. I used only the Nautilus machines and worked up to moving 12,000 pounds or more a week. Lifting and pushing responsibly, I never even worked up a sweat.
One day, I thought I'd try a Pilates exercise (having found some stuff in a discount store) and felt something in my arm and shoulder pop! A sports doctor looked at an x-ray and told me I had a rotocuff tear and would only benefit from surgery though he suggested my holding off by taking PT to see if it will prolong the need for surgery. Having fallen on my left knee about three years ago, he also told me (from x-ray only) that I had no cartilage in it...bone on bone, he said, and the PT would include treatment for that to strengthen my muscles around my knee as well.
Like others who do PT, as soon as I stopped going to be forced to hurt myself for an hour each time, I was finally through and gave the masochism up. In a year or so, I had full, painless movement back in my left arm. My only exercise was what I considered 'adequate' just to traverse all three stories of my house water my plants,occasional light snow shoveling, watering my near fifty house plants, and not frequently carrying in groceries and sundries.
Sports games and exercise shows tire me out just watching them. That is when I got the word. Research shows that men are far more physically active than men. So where do those beer bellies stem? How did the term couch potato derive? If women live longer than men, and don't exercise as much, my life style is proving itself. It is too much physical activity that shortens your life. I reached this conclusion with a couple ergo, ergos in there but it seems that is how research is being done today anyway.
A couple of years ago, I decided to heed the dire warnings of others that if i didn't hie my rear to the gym it would soon be scraping the floor behind me. I would not be able to open childproof medicine caps, my weakness would leave me at the mercy of my children! Finally an argument that got me to the gym. I used only the Nautilus machines and worked up to moving 12,000 pounds or more a week. Lifting and pushing responsibly, I never even worked up a sweat.
One day, I thought I'd try a Pilates exercise (having found some stuff in a discount store) and felt something in my arm and shoulder pop! A sports doctor looked at an x-ray and told me I had a rotocuff tear and would only benefit from surgery though he suggested my holding off by taking PT to see if it will prolong the need for surgery. Having fallen on my left knee about three years ago, he also told me (from x-ray only) that I had no cartilage in it...bone on bone, he said, and the PT would include treatment for that to strengthen my muscles around my knee as well.
Like others who do PT, as soon as I stopped going to be forced to hurt myself for an hour each time, I was finally through and gave the masochism up. In a year or so, I had full, painless movement back in my left arm. My only exercise was what I considered 'adequate' just to traverse all three stories of my house water my plants,occasional light snow shoveling, watering my near fifty house plants, and not frequently carrying in groceries and sundries.
Sports games and exercise shows tire me out just watching them. That is when I got the word. Research shows that men are far more physically active than men. So where do those beer bellies stem? How did the term couch potato derive? If women live longer than men, and don't exercise as much, my life style is proving itself. It is too much physical activity that shortens your life. I reached this conclusion with a couple ergo, ergos in there but it seems that is how research is being done today anyway.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
FEW THINGS ARE PERFECT
Quest Acknowledges Errors in Vitamin D Tests
By ANDREW POLLACK Published: January 7, 2009
"The nation’s largest medical laboratory company provided possibly erroneous results to thousands of people who had their vitamin D levels tested in the last two years, the company has acknowledged." You can read the whole article here. Since thousands had erroneous test results, it is of concern since a too low reading could have someone take to much supplement, thinking they needed it. If the reading was too high, as most of them seemed to be, people don't take enough supplement to bring the level up to where it should be.
This site will give you the latest government recalls. In fact, the official governnment site is here.
Another show of less than perfect are 'seconds'. A few years ago, in Vermont, one could find a deli or market that only stocked Ben and Jerry's seconds. Sometimes it was called a second because too much chocolate had been dumped in...those of us who knew what the seconds were usually preferred them not only because of the cheaper price!
Most craftspeople have seconds for sale. Astute people can find 'almost' perfect stuff that keeps them very happy. I had a jewelry teacher once who insisted (though I didn't try to follow her suggestion) to make things purposely less than perfect so that viewers would see that they were hand made.
By ANDREW POLLACK Published: January 7, 2009
"The nation’s largest medical laboratory company provided possibly erroneous results to thousands of people who had their vitamin D levels tested in the last two years, the company has acknowledged." You can read the whole article here. Since thousands had erroneous test results, it is of concern since a too low reading could have someone take to much supplement, thinking they needed it. If the reading was too high, as most of them seemed to be, people don't take enough supplement to bring the level up to where it should be.
This site will give you the latest government recalls. In fact, the official governnment site is here.
Another show of less than perfect are 'seconds'. A few years ago, in Vermont, one could find a deli or market that only stocked Ben and Jerry's seconds. Sometimes it was called a second because too much chocolate had been dumped in...those of us who knew what the seconds were usually preferred them not only because of the cheaper price!
Most craftspeople have seconds for sale. Astute people can find 'almost' perfect stuff that keeps them very happy. I had a jewelry teacher once who insisted (though I didn't try to follow her suggestion) to make things purposely less than perfect so that viewers would see that they were hand made.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
SOME RESEARCH IS REALLY INTERESTING
Research is being done in so many areas with fascinating conclusions, though they are not always accurate. One, I would not have thought of, is that pain hurts more when the person inflicting it means it. Research was discussed in Science Daily on 12/20/08. "Researchers at Harvard University have discovered that our experience of pain depends on whether we think someone caused the pain intentionally. In their study, participants who believed they were getting an electrical shock from another person on purpose, rather than accidentally, rated the very same shock as more painful. Participants seemed to get used to shocks that were delivered unintentionally, but those given on purpose had a fresh sting every time." The research, published in the current issue of Psychological Science, was led by Kurt Gray, a graduate student in psychology, along with Daniel Wegner, professor of psychology.
While I make no claim that I can control my own heartbeat, make my knee grow more cartilage, or all that wonderful stuff that biofeedback has helped some people do, I find the concept interesting. For example, when an abusive husband beats his wife and it hurts, does the memory of it hurt less when he tells her he didn't mean it?
Selflessness -- Core Of All Major World Religions -- Has Neuropsychological Connection "All spiritual experiences are based in the brain. That statement is truer than ever before, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. An MU study has data to support a neuropsychological model that proposes spiritual experiences associated with selflessness are related to decreased activity in the right parietal lobe of the brain. Read the full story
Selflessness (having no concern for self according to Merriam-Webster) cannot be a good thing in my mind. It goes against all instinct of self preservation and should not be confused with selfishness (selfishness (noun) Date: 1640
1: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others 2: arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others which most people would not admire.
Quoting from the article: "Transcendence, feelings of universal unity and decreased sense of self, is a core tenet of all major religions. Meditation and prayer are the primary vehicles by which such spiritual transcendence is achieved."
Having never sought a decreased sense of self, I am at a loss to see why that is desirable, other than escapism, which also doesn't sound too healthy to personal growth.
The article further explains: "People with these selfless spiritual experiences also are more psychologically healthy, especially if they have positive beliefs that there is a God or higher power who loves them, Johnstone said." Naturally, there is no indication on what scale those people are measured as 'more psychologically healthy.' Many people I bump into believe everything they read and assume all research is done scientifically and with accurate conclusions. Would that it would be so, but alas, it is not always the case. It brings to mind the blue-collar comedian who says, "There is no cure for stupid". Apparently, at times, education and immersing one in truth, facts and logic is also not enough. I urge everyone to carefully question conclusions they read as scientific and, especially, the editorial notes stating conclusions that are not reached by the research. It presents dangers of conflicting conclusions which is REALLY confusing to the readers who believe all printed words!
Reader, beware!!!
While I make no claim that I can control my own heartbeat, make my knee grow more cartilage, or all that wonderful stuff that biofeedback has helped some people do, I find the concept interesting. For example, when an abusive husband beats his wife and it hurts, does the memory of it hurt less when he tells her he didn't mean it?
Selflessness -- Core Of All Major World Religions -- Has Neuropsychological Connection "All spiritual experiences are based in the brain. That statement is truer than ever before, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. An MU study has data to support a neuropsychological model that proposes spiritual experiences associated with selflessness are related to decreased activity in the right parietal lobe of the brain. Read the full story
Selflessness (having no concern for self according to Merriam-Webster) cannot be a good thing in my mind. It goes against all instinct of self preservation and should not be confused with selfishness (selfishness (noun) Date: 1640
1: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others 2: arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others which most people would not admire.
Quoting from the article: "Transcendence, feelings of universal unity and decreased sense of self, is a core tenet of all major religions. Meditation and prayer are the primary vehicles by which such spiritual transcendence is achieved."
Having never sought a decreased sense of self, I am at a loss to see why that is desirable, other than escapism, which also doesn't sound too healthy to personal growth.
The article further explains: "People with these selfless spiritual experiences also are more psychologically healthy, especially if they have positive beliefs that there is a God or higher power who loves them, Johnstone said." Naturally, there is no indication on what scale those people are measured as 'more psychologically healthy.' Many people I bump into believe everything they read and assume all research is done scientifically and with accurate conclusions. Would that it would be so, but alas, it is not always the case. It brings to mind the blue-collar comedian who says, "There is no cure for stupid". Apparently, at times, education and immersing one in truth, facts and logic is also not enough. I urge everyone to carefully question conclusions they read as scientific and, especially, the editorial notes stating conclusions that are not reached by the research. It presents dangers of conflicting conclusions which is REALLY confusing to the readers who believe all printed words!
Reader, beware!!!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
AN EVENING FOR TWO WIDOWERS AND A WIDOW
Two widowers and a widow, connected to each other by mutual friendship with a friend who had died a few months ago. We had talked about getting together for a drink as each of us had individually had with her. We talked about our friend who had been there, in her own way, for all of us as we tried to be for her.
We three were born roughly in the same era, got together tonight, not sure where the evening would take us. Several interesting observations occurred. One is that 'old' acquaintances can become 'new' friends. After a drink and lots of chatting, (not too far akin from the way dogs get acquainted but in the human version, verbally) it was time to eat, so out to a restaurant we went.
The conversation rolled on. First it was chit chat with a few laughs thrown in when something reminded one of us of a joke. It is amazing how less guarded people are when there is nothing but friendship to be handled. We reminisced about our individual lives and families, our professional training, how we liked our jobs, and what we want from life now that our spouses no longer share it with us. Translating that last sentence, we reminisced but shared the pains as well as the joys in our individual lives and families, discussed our professional training to confirm, that we once had an identity as a professional, looked back at when we felt valued and contributed, not just used and tolerated, and lastly, what we want out of life is to just go on living longer in health and with a working mind, not a burden to our loved ones.
Once you have reached the top, stayed there as long as you were able, the only direction is down. You can hurry on down, skid, and land in a useless heap at the bottom or you can go down slowly, planning the rest of your different life as you reach for the level ground. We who are back on that level ground have no need for one-upsmanship, no need for exaggeration or impressing others like us. We shared that out goal for whatever life is left us, is to laugh as much as possible.
In contradiction to current myths, most seniors who are financially independent do not wish to draw another into intimacy of relationship. They like their own home and space where their happiest memories live on with them, and, I suspect believe, 'friends are a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.' I look forward to more enjoyable evenings with my friends.
Noted was the degree of resignation to our age and how fortunate we three are to not be too limited by age yet. We were/are an engineer with an MBA, a manufacturer's rep and a psychotherapist. It is fascinating to follow how differently we see and deal with our worlds. We complemented and complimented each other and told bawdy jokes. We laughed and made ourselves feel good.
We three were born roughly in the same era, got together tonight, not sure where the evening would take us. Several interesting observations occurred. One is that 'old' acquaintances can become 'new' friends. After a drink and lots of chatting, (not too far akin from the way dogs get acquainted but in the human version, verbally) it was time to eat, so out to a restaurant we went.
The conversation rolled on. First it was chit chat with a few laughs thrown in when something reminded one of us of a joke. It is amazing how less guarded people are when there is nothing but friendship to be handled. We reminisced about our individual lives and families, our professional training, how we liked our jobs, and what we want from life now that our spouses no longer share it with us. Translating that last sentence, we reminisced but shared the pains as well as the joys in our individual lives and families, discussed our professional training to confirm, that we once had an identity as a professional, looked back at when we felt valued and contributed, not just used and tolerated, and lastly, what we want out of life is to just go on living longer in health and with a working mind, not a burden to our loved ones.
Once you have reached the top, stayed there as long as you were able, the only direction is down. You can hurry on down, skid, and land in a useless heap at the bottom or you can go down slowly, planning the rest of your different life as you reach for the level ground. We who are back on that level ground have no need for one-upsmanship, no need for exaggeration or impressing others like us. We shared that out goal for whatever life is left us, is to laugh as much as possible.
In contradiction to current myths, most seniors who are financially independent do not wish to draw another into intimacy of relationship. They like their own home and space where their happiest memories live on with them, and, I suspect believe, 'friends are a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.' I look forward to more enjoyable evenings with my friends.
Noted was the degree of resignation to our age and how fortunate we three are to not be too limited by age yet. We were/are an engineer with an MBA, a manufacturer's rep and a psychotherapist. It is fascinating to follow how differently we see and deal with our worlds. We complemented and complimented each other and told bawdy jokes. We laughed and made ourselves feel good.
Monday, January 5, 2009
P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2008 from Alternet
Announcing the 2008 P.U.-litzer Prizes
By Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, AlterNet. Posted December 30, 2008.
"The year's stinkiest media performances.
Now in their 17th year, the P.U.-litzer Prizes recognize some of the nation's stinkiest media performances. As the judges for these annual awards, we do our best to identify the most-deserving recipients of this unwelcome plaudit.
And now, the P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2008:
HOT FOR OBAMA PRIZE -- MSNBC's Chris Matthews: This award sparked fierce competition, but the cinch came on the day Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primary in February -- when Chris Matthews spoke of "the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often."
BEYOND PARODY PRIZE -- Fox News: In August, a FoxNews.com teaser for the "O'Reilly Factor" program said: "Obama bombarded by personal attacks. Are they legit? Ann Coulter comments."
UPSIDE-DOWN "ELITIST" AWARD -- New York Times columnist David Brooks: For months, high-paid Beltway journalists competed with each other in advising candidate Obama on how to mingle with working-class folks. Ubiquitous pundit Brooks won the prize for his wisdom on reaching "less-educated people, downscale people," offered on MSNBC in June: "Obama's problem is he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there. And so he's had to change to try to be more like that Applebee's guy." It would indeed be hard for Obama to fit in naturally at an Applebee's salad bar. Applebee's restaurants don't have salad bars.
GUTTER BALL PUNDITRY AWARD -- Chris Matthews of MSNBC's "Hardball": In program after program during the spring, Matthews repeatedly questioned whether Obama could connect with "regular" voters -- "regular" meaning voters who are white or "who actually do know how to bowl." He once said of Obama: "This gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody. But the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder."
STRAIGHT SKINNY PRIZE -- Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Chozick: In August, the Journal's Chozick went beyond the standard elitist charge to offer yet another reason that average voters might be wary of Obama. Below the headline "Too Fit to Be President?" she wrote of Obama: "Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them." Chozick asked: "In a nation in which 66 percent of the voting-age population is overweight and 32 percent is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability?" To support her argument, she quoted supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton. One said: "He needs to put some meat on his bones." Another, prodded by Chozick, wrote on a Yahoo bulletin board: "I won't vote for any beanpole guy."
"OUR CENTER-RIGHT NATION" AWARD -- Newsweek editor Jon Meacham: With Democrats in the process of winning big in 2008 as they had in 2006, a media chorus erupted warning Democratic politicians away from their promises of change. Behind the warnings was the repeated claim that America is essentially a conservative country. In an election-eve Newsweek cover story with the subheadline "America remains a center-right nation -- a fact that a President Obama would forget at his peril," Meacham argued that the liberalism of even repeatedly re-elected FDR offended voters. And the editor claimed that a leftward trend in election results and issues polling means little -- as would Obama's victory after months of charges that he stood for radical change. Evidence seemed to lose out to journalists' fears that campaign promises might actually be kept."
Note: Jeff Cohen is founder of the media watch group FAIR, former TV pundit and author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.
Norman Solomon's latest book, Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State (PoliPointPress) is available now.
By Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, AlterNet. Posted December 30, 2008.
"The year's stinkiest media performances.
Now in their 17th year, the P.U.-litzer Prizes recognize some of the nation's stinkiest media performances. As the judges for these annual awards, we do our best to identify the most-deserving recipients of this unwelcome plaudit.
And now, the P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2008:
HOT FOR OBAMA PRIZE -- MSNBC's Chris Matthews: This award sparked fierce competition, but the cinch came on the day Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primary in February -- when Chris Matthews spoke of "the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often."
BEYOND PARODY PRIZE -- Fox News: In August, a FoxNews.com teaser for the "O'Reilly Factor" program said: "Obama bombarded by personal attacks. Are they legit? Ann Coulter comments."
UPSIDE-DOWN "ELITIST" AWARD -- New York Times columnist David Brooks: For months, high-paid Beltway journalists competed with each other in advising candidate Obama on how to mingle with working-class folks. Ubiquitous pundit Brooks won the prize for his wisdom on reaching "less-educated people, downscale people," offered on MSNBC in June: "Obama's problem is he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there. And so he's had to change to try to be more like that Applebee's guy." It would indeed be hard for Obama to fit in naturally at an Applebee's salad bar. Applebee's restaurants don't have salad bars.
GUTTER BALL PUNDITRY AWARD -- Chris Matthews of MSNBC's "Hardball": In program after program during the spring, Matthews repeatedly questioned whether Obama could connect with "regular" voters -- "regular" meaning voters who are white or "who actually do know how to bowl." He once said of Obama: "This gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody. But the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder."
STRAIGHT SKINNY PRIZE -- Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Chozick: In August, the Journal's Chozick went beyond the standard elitist charge to offer yet another reason that average voters might be wary of Obama. Below the headline "Too Fit to Be President?" she wrote of Obama: "Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them." Chozick asked: "In a nation in which 66 percent of the voting-age population is overweight and 32 percent is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability?" To support her argument, she quoted supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton. One said: "He needs to put some meat on his bones." Another, prodded by Chozick, wrote on a Yahoo bulletin board: "I won't vote for any beanpole guy."
"OUR CENTER-RIGHT NATION" AWARD -- Newsweek editor Jon Meacham: With Democrats in the process of winning big in 2008 as they had in 2006, a media chorus erupted warning Democratic politicians away from their promises of change. Behind the warnings was the repeated claim that America is essentially a conservative country. In an election-eve Newsweek cover story with the subheadline "America remains a center-right nation -- a fact that a President Obama would forget at his peril," Meacham argued that the liberalism of even repeatedly re-elected FDR offended voters. And the editor claimed that a leftward trend in election results and issues polling means little -- as would Obama's victory after months of charges that he stood for radical change. Evidence seemed to lose out to journalists' fears that campaign promises might actually be kept."
Note: Jeff Cohen is founder of the media watch group FAIR, former TV pundit and author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.
Norman Solomon's latest book, Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State (PoliPointPress) is available now.
CREATIVITY STARTS WITH IDEAS AND WHAT YOU'VE GOT
BBC, today, has a special article and video on an artist who uses sticky tape to sculpt.
Watch the video and read the article. "An up-and-coming Japanese artist has devoted his life to creating and spreading art using adhesive tape.
Japan's Nerima Art Museum, which was built upon the grounds of a company which went on to become the country's first tape manufacturer Nichiban, is exhibiting his work.
Mauricio Olmedo-Perez reports.
European Art causes controversy.
"An art installation at the European Union Council building in Brussels, which is meant to poke fun at European stereotypes, is proving to be highly controversial.
The artwork, depicting the 27 EU countries, was commissioned by the Czech government, to coincide with their EU presidency. However it has left many people questioning, is it art?" Mark Mardell reports.
Czech bounces off people for art. "A Czech performance artist who brushes past people in the street is one of the attractions at an exhibition in Florida.
The BBC's Andy Gallacher watched Jiri Kovanda in action at Art Basel Miami Beach"
It seems that those with breath and talent will always create something of interest.
Watch the video and read the article. "An up-and-coming Japanese artist has devoted his life to creating and spreading art using adhesive tape.
Japan's Nerima Art Museum, which was built upon the grounds of a company which went on to become the country's first tape manufacturer Nichiban, is exhibiting his work.
Mauricio Olmedo-Perez reports.
European Art causes controversy.
"An art installation at the European Union Council building in Brussels, which is meant to poke fun at European stereotypes, is proving to be highly controversial.
The artwork, depicting the 27 EU countries, was commissioned by the Czech government, to coincide with their EU presidency. However it has left many people questioning, is it art?" Mark Mardell reports.
Czech bounces off people for art. "A Czech performance artist who brushes past people in the street is one of the attractions at an exhibition in Florida.
The BBC's Andy Gallacher watched Jiri Kovanda in action at Art Basel Miami Beach"
It seems that those with breath and talent will always create something of interest.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT, ETHICS, AND JUST PLAIN GREED
Dynegy Abandons Plans for 5 New Coal Plants
Posted by Bruce Nilles, Sierra Club at 3:11 PM on January 2, 2009.
Chalk one up for the environmentalists. It's about time someone wins against the evil of the greedy ones who care nothing about the health and lungs of the people of the USA.
At Plant in Coal Ash Spill, Toxic Deposits by the Ton
Article Tools Sponsored By
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: December 29, 2008
"In a single year, a coal-fired electric plant deposited more than 2.2 million pounds of toxic materials in a holding pond that failed last week, flooding 300 acres in East Tennessee, according to a 2007 inventory filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The inventory, disclosed by the Tennessee Valley Authority on Monday at the request of The New York Times, showed that in just one year, the plant’s byproducts included 45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, among other health problems."
One can compare the government, especially with the research and scientific findings knowledge in the past few years, as being the worst kind of selfish parent, killing its children, offering no medical care for those who were dying, because of governing greed. However, they are not the sole bad influences. This administration has allowed many corporations to behave totally immorally.
A 12/15/08 "Siemens AG and Three Subsidiaries Plead Guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations and Agree to Pay $450 Million in Combined Criminal Fines" The DOJ released details of the substantial fine Siemens finally paid. "According to court documents, beginning in the mid-1990s, Siemens AG engaged in systematic efforts to falsify its corporate books and records and knowingly failed to implement and circumvent existing internal controls. As a result of Siemens AG’s knowing failures in and circumvention of internal controls, from the time of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange on March 12, 2001, through approximately 2007, Siemens AG made payments totaling approximately $1.36 billion through various mechanisms. Of this amount, approximately $554.5 million was paid for unknown purposes, including approximately $341 million in direct payments to business consultants for unknown purposes. The remaining $805.5 million of this amount was intended in whole or in part as corrupt payments to foreign officials through the payment mechanisms, which included cash desks and slush funds." This is only one of the gross losses of revenue due the US because of the lack of oversight, among other things.
Was the 'Credit Crunch' a Myth Used to Sell a Trillion-Dollar Scam?
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted December 29, 2008.
There is something approaching a consensus that the Paulson Plan -- also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP -- was a boondoggle of an intervention that's flailed from one approach to the next, with little oversight and less effect on the financial meltdown.
But perhaps even more troubling than the ad hoc nature of its implementation is the suspicion that has recently emerged that TARP -- hundreds of billions of dollars worth so far -- was sold to Congress and the public based on a Big Lie.
President George W. Bush, fabulist-in-chief, articulated the rationale for the program in that trademark way of his -- as if addressing a nation of slow-witted 12-year-olds -- on Sept. 24: "Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse ... [and] began holding onto their money, and lending dried up, and the gears of the American financial system began grinding to a halt." Bush said that if Congress didn't give Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson the trillion dollars (give or take) for which he was asking, the results would be disastrous: "Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. And ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession." You can read the entire story.
Posted by Bruce Nilles, Sierra Club at 3:11 PM on January 2, 2009.
Chalk one up for the environmentalists. It's about time someone wins against the evil of the greedy ones who care nothing about the health and lungs of the people of the USA.
At Plant in Coal Ash Spill, Toxic Deposits by the Ton
Article Tools Sponsored By
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: December 29, 2008
"In a single year, a coal-fired electric plant deposited more than 2.2 million pounds of toxic materials in a holding pond that failed last week, flooding 300 acres in East Tennessee, according to a 2007 inventory filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The inventory, disclosed by the Tennessee Valley Authority on Monday at the request of The New York Times, showed that in just one year, the plant’s byproducts included 45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, among other health problems."
One can compare the government, especially with the research and scientific findings knowledge in the past few years, as being the worst kind of selfish parent, killing its children, offering no medical care for those who were dying, because of governing greed. However, they are not the sole bad influences. This administration has allowed many corporations to behave totally immorally.
A 12/15/08 "Siemens AG and Three Subsidiaries Plead Guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations and Agree to Pay $450 Million in Combined Criminal Fines" The DOJ released details of the substantial fine Siemens finally paid. "According to court documents, beginning in the mid-1990s, Siemens AG engaged in systematic efforts to falsify its corporate books and records and knowingly failed to implement and circumvent existing internal controls. As a result of Siemens AG’s knowing failures in and circumvention of internal controls, from the time of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange on March 12, 2001, through approximately 2007, Siemens AG made payments totaling approximately $1.36 billion through various mechanisms. Of this amount, approximately $554.5 million was paid for unknown purposes, including approximately $341 million in direct payments to business consultants for unknown purposes. The remaining $805.5 million of this amount was intended in whole or in part as corrupt payments to foreign officials through the payment mechanisms, which included cash desks and slush funds." This is only one of the gross losses of revenue due the US because of the lack of oversight, among other things.
Was the 'Credit Crunch' a Myth Used to Sell a Trillion-Dollar Scam?
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted December 29, 2008.
There is something approaching a consensus that the Paulson Plan -- also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP -- was a boondoggle of an intervention that's flailed from one approach to the next, with little oversight and less effect on the financial meltdown.
But perhaps even more troubling than the ad hoc nature of its implementation is the suspicion that has recently emerged that TARP -- hundreds of billions of dollars worth so far -- was sold to Congress and the public based on a Big Lie.
President George W. Bush, fabulist-in-chief, articulated the rationale for the program in that trademark way of his -- as if addressing a nation of slow-witted 12-year-olds -- on Sept. 24: "Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse ... [and] began holding onto their money, and lending dried up, and the gears of the American financial system began grinding to a halt." Bush said that if Congress didn't give Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson the trillion dollars (give or take) for which he was asking, the results would be disastrous: "Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. And ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession." You can read the entire story.
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