Finally, she is actually extended the tour. It was rumored before that she would do a date in New York. But, from the looks of it she’ll be going around the continent. I personally think she should have done Boston, Montreal, San Francisco and Washington, DC, too. Click to see the complete tour.
Absolutely nothing.
According to a new study atheists, agnostics and other non-believers has not only become greater in the US, but it has doubled. This means that not only are non-believers a big chunk of the population, but the third largest belief group after catholics and baptists. I think that this is the case everywhere in world. Some countries that do not allow religious freedom might be surprised as to how many non-believers there are around them. It’s just that most liberals do not like to tread on people’s toes and this causes a silence about pertinent issues like religion and disbelief. Good for the US. The full article from ABC.com after the jump:
Surprisingly, the US does not have a Ministry for culture or arts. Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask Obama for one.
I read this good article on Truthdig.com about the West’s indifference to the Palestinian cause. It struck a chord. The death toll now over 600 and the wounded are over 3000. It’s one thing to strike because you are an occupied territory without freedoms and have dire standards of living, it’s another to struck to showcase your muscle-power. Both crimes, but they are not equal.
…from posting. Will be back shortly.
It is not available on US iTunes, which is why I haven’t gotten around getting it. But, in true Grace Jones fashion, the visuals look intriguing. Hurricane has been floating around the studio for years now and I hope there are some lush gems on it. Does anyone know where I can get it?
Those folks at BBC News always come up with new and forgotten aspects to the election unlike other news agencies that seem to be concerned with the bigger picture. Nitpicking the details can be just as resourceful, as indicated by this article. According to the study, Black candidates for any type of office in the US usually have higher polling numbers than that of the vote box. That is because white voters have “betrayed” black candidates before. There have been stories of candidates who run buy a wide lead only to see that the voting numbers dip. This is what the BBC calls “closet racism.” This phenomenon is known as the Bradley or Wilder Effect. Read on.
I have been following the credit crisis and the potential of a global financial meltdown has worried me as it did everyone else. However, I stray away from business and economics for two main reason. Firstly, because I had to drop out of a course of Economics because I just refused to relate the emotional to the fiscal. I am like Wangchuck who refused to only consider GNP (Gross National Product) but opted to create GNH (Gross National Happiness) as his scale for quality of life. Secondly, to me it just seems like the big boys are pulling their weight around the testosterone roulette table. Of course, I might be wrong. But, I seek proof in the fact that anyone who is made to suffer the downfalls of capitalism is everyone but them.
I speak as someone who is a student of politics and history and not some financial advisor.
In any case, this whirlwind of a credit crisis is affecting everyone. For us right here and to countries with astounding standards of living, like Iceland, which has been hit hard. The western governments that had once boasted at the marvel of capitalism are suddenly succumbing to pressure and biting their own tongues. The US is putting in almost a trillion to buy into many corporations, including chunks of banks.
That is the new socialism. I bet Marx is laughing in his grave now. There is no turning around it:
“Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are owned by private persons, and operated for profit[1] and where investments, distribution, income,production and pricing of goods and services are predominantly determined through the operation of a free market[2], rather than by central economic planning.”
Now that all these governments (American, Icelandic, Kuwaiti and what have you) have planned the outcome of free trade by boosting and aiding the market, it means that the money flow is not private and it is controlled by an actor, and in this case the actor of all actors – the central law-making one. I mean if the mighty rich want a capitalist world shouldn’t they play by the rules and fall with their own market? Shouldn’t this bailout be given to people who have no choice but to follow that system and have their bank accounts at stake?
I personally am not a communist, nor do I have an aversion to the word. I also believe the rampant capitalism has its gaping flaws. But, I believe that loose socialism (in its simplest definition) is the closest thing to a perfect system there is now. Following the Red Scare “socializing” anything become immediately synonymous with Leninism or Stalinism, two tyrannic leaders who have branded Marxist theory theirs and meddled with its origins. When I look around I see a lot of socialist things in the free market world. Like national healthcare, public libraries, taxation, minimum wage, traffic… a lot of things.
Even nature has socialist attributes. Should one species of insect decide to raid a whole plant genus in its ecosystem because it has the freedom of market then a entire food chain would collapse. Which is what we are seeing right now with global warming and the environmental crisis. Humans have exercised their “free market” rights on this earth without restraint resulting in an imminent catastrophe.
Anyway, I hope this nosediving of markets will make the world realize that its not such a bad word after all. It’s nice to have a space to jump around a be free, but a part of it has to have a ceiling and floor for when the rain comes.
