Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Oklahoma chapter is calling on Sen. James Inhofe, R.-Okla., to meet with Muslim leaders to discuss his statement during a congressional hearing in favor of using religion and ethnicity as factors in profiling airline passengers.
Inhofe told the Senate panel that when "you hear that not all Middle Easterners or Muslims between the age of 20 and 35 are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims or Middle Easterners between the age of 20 and 35, that's by and large true."
Caroline Fourest analysed Tariq Ramadan's 15 books, 1,500 pages of interviews, and approximately 100 recordings, and concludes "Ramadan is a war leader," and the "political heir of his grandfather," Hassan al-Banna, stating that his discourse is, "often just a repetition of the discourse that Banna had at the beginning of the 20th century in Egypt," and that he "presents [al-Banna] as a model to be followed." She argues that "Tariq Ramadan is slippery. He says one thing to his faithful Muslim followers and something else entirely to his Western audience. His choice of words, the formulations he uses – even his tone of voice – vary, chameleon-like, according to his audience."
Olivier Guitta, writing in The Weekly Standard, welcomed the U.S. decision to refuse Ramadan a visa, because Ramadan "calls Arabs ‘my brothers and sisters’ while addressing all others as ‘madam,’ ‘sir,’ or without any honorific." He further claimed that the former head of the French antiracism organization SOS Racisme, "Malek Boutih (an Arab Muslim), told Ramadan after talking with him at length: ‘Mr. Ramadan, you are a fascist.’" In an interview with Europe 1 Boutih likened him to "a small Le Pen"; in another interview he accused him of having crossed the line of racism and anti-Semitism, thus not genuinely belonging to the alter-globalization movement. Bertrand Delanoë, Socialist mayor of Paris, declared Ramadan unfit to participate at the European Social Forum, as not even "a slight suspicion of anti-Semitism" would be tolerable. Talking to the Paris weekly Marianne, Fadela Amara, president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive, a French feminist movement), Aurélie Filippetti, municipal counsellor for the The Greens in Paris, Patrick Klugman, leading member of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France and Dominique Sopo, head of SOS-Racisme accuse Ramadan of having misused the alter-globalization movement's ingenuousness to advance his "radicalism and anti-Semitism." Egyptian intellectual Tarek Heggy has also charged Ramadan with saying different things to different audiences.
Christopher Caldwell, American journalist and senior editor at The Weekly Standard, as well as a regular contributor to the Financial Times and Slate, describes Ramadan as being "the very embodiment of double language," which Caldwell defines as, "not saying two different things to two different audiences," but, rather, as "preaching a consistent message that will be understood in different ways by two different audiences." According to Caldwell, "When Ramadan speaks of 'resistance," and calls on Muslims everywhere to wage it.." "Europeans... have chosen to believe that... he really means 'reform.' He does not. He means jihad."
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” - H.E. Luccock
"The 21st century collaboration" moves us from its traditional definition towards a new one with the developing web technologies.
Here is the second part of my collaboration tools list for techie collaborators.
Voxopopis
a message board system which lets you create talk groups that you can
talk, discuss and collaborate using your own voice. Some of you may
remember Voxopop as Chinswing in the past. You can listen to public
discussions though you need to jointo create yours.You can
easily send group invitations, keep your discussion private, open or
restricted.You can delete it whenever you want. You can explore public
talk groups on Education, Learning and Language here.
EtherPadis
a web based word processor that lets you work with others at the same
time. When multiple users work on the same documents , you can get
feedback immediately. You know who contributed to the text, also all
changes are saved on the server in case you need to undo.
Mindmeisteris
an online collaborative mind mapping tool that you can brainstorm with
others real-time. You can create your own mind maps on an award winning
interface or share them with your friends or collaborate with others
to create a collaborative map.
Survslets
you create your online surveys collaborating with others in multi user
accounts. You can collect responses and analyze the results in real
time with others.
I'm sure many of us are familiar with VoiceThread. It's
a tool to have conversation around different kinds of media. It's one
of the best ways to talk and share about your images,documents or
videos. You create your Voicethread and others can leave comments by
telephone, text, web cam, microphone or file upload. Learn more about
it by watching this Voicethread.
Tgetherallows
you to communicate in small groups by emails. You can share files,
track conversation and manage your group. You can share codes or use
3rd party applications that Tgther provides.
StoryBirdsare
short and simple stories that connect you with others. Two or more
people can create a Storybird story by writing their own texts and
inserting pictures by taking turns. You can create your story with the
person sitting next to you or someone who is far away from you.
WebCanvasis
a collaborative painting project. You can paint using different basic
tools, upload or post professionally drawn images or you can watch
others paint live. This is an interesting project for artists though we
can still give a try.
AwesomeHighlighteris
the easiest way to highlight texts on web pages. When you finish
highlighting, you get a link and share it with others. If you like
this, you should also try Markkit.
Protagonizeis
a community that writes collaborative, interactive fiction. One person
starts the story, the others post chapters to your story that will lead
it to different directions. At the end, it becomes an evolving story
which everyone can participate.
Mixbook
is a site that lets you create picture books with others. You start
creating your own book with pictures, invite a few friends to build the
rest of the book together.
Thinkature places an instant message inside a visual workspace with voice chat. You can use it as a collaboration environment, a meeting room or a personal whiteboard.
TextFlowis
a way to review document versions instantly to produce a final draft.
It matches all the different versions of the text to show you all the
suggestion in one single view.
LucidChart
is another way to collaborate on a document simultaneously. Everyone
can see the changes that have been made on the document .The difference
between the other word processors is that it has an built-in group chat
that makes it easier for you to collaborate.
Wikispacesis the best way to create collaborative web pages that you can edit and share together. You can watch Wikis in Plain English by Common Craft or visit the world's largest collaborative online encyclopedia,Wikipedia! Wikispaces are my favourite wikis, you can have a look at my wikispace though I've been using it as an e-portfolio.
Senduit lets you upload your files and share them with private links with your team.
With Stintio,
you can create your own chat in seconds. You can invite people to join
by simply sending a link. You don't download or install anything. You
chat will be deleted if it is not active for a while.
Yuuguu is an instant screen sharing and video conferencing too that lets you work together quickly and easily.
allows you to hold voice conferences online. You can have a voice chat
up to 200 people. You can invite your teammates by only sending a link,
and you don't have to upload anything. You can use push to talk to
control your speaking even you are out of your browser.
Wridea
is an online idea management service and a collection of brainstorming
tools. You store, manage,organize and share your ideas to improve them
with others. You use the web interface or you write an email to your
wridea address to keep your ideas organized. You have pages and
categories that lets you improve your ideas easily and collaboratively.
Senate Homeland Security Hearing on Northwest Flight 253
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is one of several committees inquiring into the attempted December 25th bombing of Northwest flight 253. This hearing focused on intelligence gathering and the sharing of information. None of the top three intelligence officials in the U.S., Janet Napolitano, Dennis Blair, and Michael Leiter were consulted.
At the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair questioned the decision to charge Abdulmutallab in civilian court, rather than treat him as a terrorism suspect subject to detention as an enemy combatant. Blair, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter said they weren't consulted about the decision, a theme that has been pressing by some in recent weeks.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, administration officials acknowledged that Abdulmutallab should have been stopped from getting on the plane but was not because of a series of mistakes by law enforcement and intelligence officials.
Hong Kong remains the world's freest place to do business while the United States has lost its claim to an unrestricted economy, according to an annual report published Wednesday.
Hong Kong, a former British colony which was returned to China in 1997, edged out rival Singapore to claim top spot for the sixteenth consecutive year in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom.
Australia and New Zealand grabbed third and fourth spot respectively.
The report is compiled by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, and The Wall Street Journal.
Ireland, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Denmark and Chile rounded out the top ten list, which is based on criteria including economic openness, trade, the efficiency of domestic regulators, and the rule of law.
But Canada pushed the US from the top seven economies deemed to have an entirely free economy due to "notable decreases in financial freedom, monetary freedom, and property rights," the report said.
"The US government?s interventionist responses to the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 have significantly undermined economic freedom and long-term prospects for economic growth," the report said.
Mainland China was ranked 140 in the list of 183 countries with Cuba, Zimbabwe and North Korea rounding out the bottom of the list.
There were no network exits polls, only a limited sample by Rasmussen, but some of the polls taken beforehand bear out Obama’s role in Coakley’s defeat. In the final January 17 poll by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning North Carolina outfit that picked up Brown’s surge early in the month, 20 percent of the respondents who voted for Obama in 2008 said they’d vote for Brown. Among those voters, only 22 percent approved of Obama’s presidency, and only 13 percent backed his health care plan.
Hiram Stevens Maxim, born February 4, 1840, was a late 19th century rival to brilliant engineers like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. His early inventions included a mousetrap and even an early aircraft which might have made his name and fortune, if it had flown.
In 1883 he patented a new fully automatic machine-gun. An invention inspired by direct personal experience. Maxim's eureka moment came while at rifle practice with friends at Savannah, Georgia. The thumping recoil from his rifle was giving him painful kicks in the shoulder and he was getting tired of doing all the reloading himself. It occurred to Maxim to use one problem to solve the other. Could the force of the recoil be used to reload the weapon automatically?
Back at the drawing board, Maxim found an ingenious way to do it.
The key components are the barrel and the bolt. When a cartridge is fired both are forced backwards by the recoil, then the barrel is pushed forwards again by a spring, flipping out the spent cartridge. Meanwhile, the bolt is pushed forwards by another spring, loading and firing the next shot. Thanks to recoil the gun loads and fires itself with no outside help.
Now Maxim was in the machine-gun business. Hiram moved to London and unleashed a sales-offensive that matched brilliant engineering with flamboyant public-relations. A series of high-profile publicity stunts spread the news of the machine-gun around the world. Power brokers from all nations were invited to fire the weapon for themselves and one story, above all, became part of Maxim folklore. He claimed that his machine-gun could chop down trees.
Former special forces machine gunner Bob Pedesta aims to put this claim to the test. Using a 1916 Vickers gun, a British Army variation on Hiram Maxim's design, capable of firing 450 rounds per minute, he will attempt to topple a mighty Scot's Pine.
Having selected a suitable tree, Bob marked the trunk with white paint to serve as a target. Firing only short bursts to avoid overheating the muzzle, he began picking away at the tree trunk. After only 470 rounds the tree toppled.
Maxim's machine-gun was so effective during World War I that the basic design is still in use today. Maxim has quite a number of patents to his name, see his WikiPedia page for details.
CREDITS: The National Geographic Channel "Inventions of War" documentary series.
Earlier today, the Boston Globe posted online the results of the Massachusetts special election for U.S. Senate. A screen shot of the posting reveals a razor-thin 1% victory for Martha Coakley over Scott Brown with 100% of precincts reporting. The only problem with the post, however, is that it came at least seven hours before the polls in Massachusetts actually close at 8:00 p.m., leading some confused Massachusetts residents to wonder why the post, which was removed, ever went up in the first place.
These images were captured by Massachusetts listeners of the Wilkow Majority (www.wilkowmajority.com) on Sirius XM Radio alerted people to the story.
Another possible incident of voter fraud has been reported in Lawrence, Massachusetts by Anna Marie Balone from Citizens for Limited Government.
The folks at Election Journal caught up with Isabel Melendez handing out absentee ballots in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She also helpfully explains how she can mark the ballot for the voter:
“My candidate is Martha…[Coakley] so I can mark it.” Melendez is voting on behalf of other people.
A Boston Globe story reports that Isabel Melendez is a community activist in Lawrence.
Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown are crisscrossing Massachusetts in a last-minute scramble for votes in a race that has drawn national attention.
Brown has promised to be the 41st vote against Obama's health care rationing plan, while Coakley has pledged to be the 60th vote for it. The surge by Brown has been so alarming to Democrats that Obama put his political capital on the line to visit the state.
The seat opened up with the death last year of Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, who had served for 47 years. Democrats in Washington are already discussing how to pass the health care bill even if Brown is elected.
Indepdendent candidate Joseph L. Kennedy, who is no relation to the famous Kennedy clan, is also in the race, but has gained minimal support.
Loretta Napoleoni details her rare opportunity to talk to the secretive Italian Red Brigades -- an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in terrorism. She gives a behind-the-scenes look at its complex economics, revealing a surprising connection between money laundering and the US Patriot Act.
I'm going to show you how terrorism actually interacts with our daily life. 15 years ago I received a phone call from a friend. At the time he was looking after the rights of political prisoners in Italian jails. He asked me if I wanted to interview the Red Brigades. Now, as many of you may remember, the Red Brigades was a terrorist, Marxist organization which was very active in Italy from the 1960s until the mid-1980s. As part of their strategy the Red Brigades never spoke with anybody, not even with their lawyers. They sat in silence through their trails, waving occasionally at family and friends.
In 1993 they declared the end of the arms struggle. And they drew a list of people with whom they would talk, and tell their story. And I was one of those people. When I asked my friend why the Red Brigades want to talk to me, he said that the female members of the organization had actually supported my name. In particular, one person had put it forward. She was my childhood friend. She had joined the Red Brigades and became a leader of the organization.
Naturally, I didn't know that until the day she was arrested. In fact, I read it in the newspaper. At the time of the phone call I just had a baby, I successfully completed a management buyout to the company I was working with, and the last thing I wanted to do was to go back home and touring the high-security prisons. But this is exactly what I did because I wanted to know what had turned my best friend into a terrorist, and why she'd never tried to recruit me. (Laughter) (Applause)
So, this is exactly what I did. Now, I found the answer very quickly. I actually had failed the psychological profiling of a terrorist. The center committee of the Red Brigades had judged me too single-minded and too opinionated to become a good terrorist. My friend, on the other hand, she was a good terrorist because she was very good at following orders. She also embraced violence. Because she believed that the only way to unblock what, at the time, was known as a blocked democracy, Italy, a country run by the same party for 35 years was the arms struggle.
At the same time, while I was interviewing the Red Brigades, I also discovered that their life was not ruled by politics or ideology, but actually was ruled by economics. They were constantly short of cash. They were constantly searching for cash. Now, contrary to what many people believe, terrorism is actually a very expensive business. I'll give you an idea. In the 1970s, the turnover of the Red Brigades on a yearly basis was seven million dollars. This is roughly between 100 and 150 million, today.
Now, you know, if you live underground it's really hard to produce this amount of money. But this also explains why, when I was interviewing the Red Brigades, and then, later on, other arms organizations, including members of al-Zarqawi group in the Middle East, everybody was extremely reluctant to talk about ideology, or politics. Because they had no idea. The political vision of a terrorist organization is decided by the leadership, which, generally, is never more than five to seven people. All the others do, day in and day out, is search for money.
Once, for example, I was interviewing this part-timer from the Red Brigades. It was a psychiatrist. He loved sailing. He was a really keen sailor. And he had this beautiful boat. And he told me that the best time of his life was when he was a member of the Red Brigades and he went sailing, every summer, back and forth from Lebanon, where he would pick up Soviet weapons from the PLO, and then carry them all the way to Sardinia where the other arms organization from Europe would go and take their share of the arms. For that service the Red Brigades were actually paid a fee, which went to fund their organization.
So, because I am a trained economist and I think in economic terms, all of the sudden I thought, maybe there is something here. Maybe there is a link, a commercial link, between one organization and another one. But it was only when I interviewed Mario Moretti, the head of the Red Brigades, the man who kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, Italian former prime minister, that I finally realized that terrorism is actually business. I was having lunch with him in a high-security prison in Italy. And as we were eating, I had the distinct feeling that I was back in the city of London, having lunch with a fellow banker or an economist. This guy thought in the same way I did.
So, I decided that I wanted to investigate the economics of terrorism. Naturally, nobody wanted to fund my research. In fact, I think many people thought that I was a bit crazy. You know, that woman that goes around to foundations asking for money, thinking about the economics of terrorism. So, in the end, I took a decision that, in retrospect, did change my life. I sold my company, and funded the research myself.
And what I discovered is this parallel reality, another international economic system, which runs parallel to our own, which has been created by arms organizations since the end of World War II. And what is even more shocking is that this system has followed, step by step, the evolution of our own system, of our Western capitalism. And there are three main stages. The first one is the state sponsor of terrorism.
The second one is the privatization of terrorism. And the third, of course, is the globalization of terrorism. So, state sponsor of terrorism, feature of the Cold War. This is when the two superpowers were fighting a war by proxy, along the periphery of the sphere of influence, fully funding arms organizations. A mix of legal and illegal activities is used. So, the link between crime and terror is established very early on.
And here is the best example, the Contras in Nicaragua, created by the CIA, legally funded by the U.S. congress, illegally funded by the Reagan administration via covert operation, for example, the Iran-Contra Affair. Then comes the late 1970s, early '80s, and some groups successfully carry out the privatization of terrorism. So, they gain independence from the sponsor, and start funding themselves.
Now, again we see a mix of legal and illegal activities. So, Arafat used to get a percentage of the smuggling of hashish from Bekáa Valley, which is the valley between Lebanon and Syria. And the IRA, which control the private transportation system in Northern Ireland, did exactly the same thing. So, every single time that somebody got into a taxi in Belfast without knowing, actually, was funding the IRA.
But the great change came, of course, with globalization and deregulation. This is when arms organization were able to link up, also financially, with each other. But above all, they started to do serious business with the world of crime. And together they money-laundered their dirty business through the same channel. This is when we see the birth of the transnational arms organization Al Qaeda. This is an organization that can raise money across border. But also that is able to carry out attacks in more than one country.
Now, deregulation also brought back rogue economics. So what is rogue economics? Rogue economics is a force which is constantly lurking in the background of history. It comes back at times of great transformation, globalization being one of those transformations. It is at this times in which politics actually loses control of the economy, and the economy becomes a rogue force working against us. It has happened before in history. It has happened with the fall of the Roman empire. It has happened with Industrial Revolution. And it actually happened again, with the fall of the Berlin wall.
Now, I calculated how big was this international economic system composed by crime, terror, and illegal economy, before 9-11. And it is a staggering 1.5 trillion dollars. It is trillions, it's not billions. This is about twice the GDP of the United Kingdom, soon will be more, considering where this country is going. (Laughter)
Now, untill 9-11, The bulk of all this money flew into the U.S. economy because the bulk of the money was denominated in U.S. dollars and the money laundering was taking place inside the United States. The entry point, of course, of most of this money, were the off-shore facilities. So, this was a vital injection of cash into the U.S. economy. Now, when I went to look at the figures of the U.S. money supply, the U.S. money supply is the amount of dollars that the Federal Reserves prints every year in order to satisfy the increase in the demand for dollars, which, of course, reflects the growth of the economy.
So, when I went to look at those figures, I noted that since the late 1960s a growing number of these dollars was actually leaving the United States, never to come back. These were money taken out in suitcases or in containers, in cash of course. These were money taken out by criminals and money launderers. These were money taken out to fund the growth of the terror, illegal and criminal economy. So, you see, what is the relationship?
The United States actually is a country that is the reserve currency of the world. What does it mean? That means that it has a privilege that other countries do not have. It can borrow against the total amount of dollars in circulation in the world. This privilege is called seniorage. No other country can do that. All the other countries, for example, the United Kingdom can borrow only against the amount of money in circulation inside its own borders.
So, here is the implication of the relationship between the worlds of crime, terror, and illegal economy, and our economy. The U.S. in the 1990s was borrowing against the growth of the terror, illegal and criminal economy. This is how close we are with this world. Now, this situation changed, of course, after 9-11, because George Bush launched the war on terror. Part of the war on terror was the introduction of the Patriot Act. Now, many of you know that the Patriot Act is a legislation that greatly reduces the liberties of Americans in order to protect them against terrorism.
But there is a section of the Patriot Act which refers specifically to finance. And it is, in fact, an anti-money-laundering legislation. What the Patriot Act did was to prohibit U.S. bank, and U.S.-registered foreign banks from doing any businesses with off-shore facilities. It closed that door between the money laundering in dollars, and the U.S. economy. It also gave the U.S. monetary authorities the right to monitor any dollar transaction taking place anywhere in the world.
Now, you can imagine what was the reaction of the international finance and banking. All the bankers said to their clients, "Get out of the dollars and go and invest somewhere else." Now, the Euro was a newly born currency of great opportunity for business, and, of course, for investment. And this is what people did. Nobody wants the U.S. monetary authority to check their relationship, to monitor their relationship with their clientele. The same thing happened, of course, in the world of crime and terror. People simply moved their money-laundering activities away from the United States into Europe.
Why did this happen? This happened because the Patriot Act was a unilateral legislation. It was introduced only in the United States. And it was introduced only for the U.S. dollars. In Europe, a similar legislation was not introduced. So, within six months Europe became the epicenter of the money-laundering activities of the world. So, this is how incredible are the relationship between the world of crime and the world of terror, and our own life.
So, why did I tell you this story? I told you this story because you must understand that there is a world that goes well beyond the headlines of the newspapers, including the personal relationship that you have with friends and family. You got to question everything that is told to you, including what I just told you today. (Laughter) This is the only way for you to step into the dark side, and have a look at it. And believe me, it's going to be scary. It's going to be frightful, but it's going to enlighten you. And, above all, it's not going to be boring. (Laughter) (Applause)
Author and former Washington Post reporter Linda Perlstein is public editor for the Education Writers Association. Her writing is aimed at helping journalists improve coverage of schools and children but is accessible to non-journalists as well.
A professor of education and a director of education policy take in-depth looks at “the power of society, schools, colleges and educators to empower individuals, further learning, and reduce inequities … and have a little fun along the way.
Veteran education reporter Debra Viadero of Education Week knows how to dig into research on schools and learning and tell us whether it makes sense or not. Her posts are informative and lively.
Sponsored by a consortium of districts, the Learning First Alliance, this site has a very smart and interesting blogger who ranges wide over the country.
The blog of the independent think tank Education Sector offers unorthodox analysis on the latest in education policy and research on a range of education subjects.
By teacher Jacqueline McTaggert, this is a place where teachers share ideas and opinions–and parents can stop by too. McTaggert has some fun features, including “Dunce Cap,” where she dishonors somebody every month for doing something dumb, and “Gold Star,” where she gives praise where praise is due.
Journalist and former Senate education staffer Alexander Russo writes about everything happening in education news and politics. Always something new to learn.
Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don’t want to do that.
Martha Coakley: No we have a seperation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.
Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.
Martha Coakley: (……uh, eh…um..) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.
Here's the list of possible community building tools for learning:
Moodle- "Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites."
Ning- Ning is an online platform for people to create their own social networks
Edmodo- "A private social platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files, events and assignments."
Twiducate- A free resource for educators for teachers and students to continue their learning outside the classroom.
Hotchalk- HotChalk provides a free online learning management system, a library of free and premium digital content, and a portal into today’s educational landscape with innovative articles and the latest news
Google Docs- Safely store, organize, share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations online
Blog- "is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog)
Wiki- is a website that allows the the editing of any number of web pages via a web browser There are typically multiple editors on a wiki site. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki)
Google Group- Groups provides a method for true communication and collaboration with group members
Nicenet.org- Nicenet is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free services to the Internet community. Nicenet's primary offering, the Internet Classroom Assistant is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited resources of teachers and their students.
Kidblog- Kidblog.org is designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with their own, unique blog.
Econ 101: Moral Hazard and How Government Policies Encourage Foolish Behavior
Topics:
Via Daniel J. Mitchell, Nicki Kurokawa, a former Cato employee, explains "moral hazard," and notes that government-subsidized risk played a pernicious role in the housing bubble and financial crisis, and warns that "too big to fail" may create similar problems in the future.
Scott Brown at the Massachusetts Senate debate. "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedy's seat, it's not the Democrats' seat, it's the people's seat."
Resler Sees Encouraging Elements in December Jobs Report
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- David Resler, chief U.S. economist at Nomura Securities, talks with Bloomberg's Carol Massar and Matt Miller about the U.S. labor market. The U.S. unexpectedly lost 85,000 jobs in December, supporting Federal Reserve forecasts that a labor market recovery will take time and making it more likely interest rates will stay near zero for the next six months. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel talks with Betty Liu about the U.S. jobs market, the temporary labor force, health-care costs and the outlook for three-dimensional television. (Source: Bloomberg)
A Labor Department report released on Friday showed the US economy unexpectedly lost 85,000 jobs in December while the jobless rate was unchanged. However, as The Consumerist notes, the reason why the national unemployment rate hasn't gone up is because "people are giving up hope and dropping out of the labor force entirely."
The percentage of Americans taking part in the labor force is the lowest it's been since the mid-'80s, and over 900,000 people are no longer looking for work because they don't think any is available.
About 1.7 million Americans opted out of the workforce from July through December, representing a 1.1 percent drop that marks the biggest six-month decrease since 1961, the Labor Department report showed. The share of the population in the labor force last month fell to the lowest level in 24 years.
The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- rose to 17.3 percent in December from 17.2 percent.
The number of discouraged workers, those not looking for work because they believe none is available, climbed to 929,000 last month, the most since records began in 1994.
The problem in this recession is not the unemployment rate, but the average length of time that each worker has been unemployed.
Last month, I cited another sad statistic with regards to long-term unemployment.
According to data released by the Department of Labor, long-term unemployment is soaring:
The number of Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more reached 5.9 million last month, the most on records dating from 1948. That's 18 percent more than just three months ago, when the total was just below 5 million.
Shrinking U.S. Labor Force Keeps Unemployment Rate From Rising
A Labor Department report released on Friday showed the US economy unexpectedly lost 85,000 jobs in December while the jobless rate was unchanged. However, as The Consumerist notes, the reason why the national unemployment rate hasn't gone up is because "people are giving up hope and dropping out of the labor force entirely.
The percentage of Americans taking part in the labor force is the lowest it's been since the mid-'80s, and over 900,000 people are no longer looking for work because they don't think any is available.
About 1.7 million Americans opted out of the workforce from July through December, representing a 1.1 percent drop that marks the biggest six-month decrease since 1961, the Labor Department report showed. The share of the population in the labor force last month fell to the lowest level in 24 years.
The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- rose to 17.3 percent in December from 17.2 percent.
The number of discouraged workers, those not looking for work because they believe none is available, climbed to 929,000 last month, the most since records began in 1994.
The problem in this recession is not the unemployment rate, but the average length of time that each worker has been unemployed.
Last month, I cited another sad statistic with regards to long-term unemployment.
According to data released by the Department of Labor, long-term unemployment is soaring:
The number of Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more reached 5.9 million last month, the most on records dating from 1948. That's 18 percent more than just three months ago, when the total was just below 5 million.
Google's search engine returns common results to most queries as you type. But the "don't be evil" company appears to be censoring its results when it comes to Islam.
Type "Christianity is" into Google and you'll get a list of common searches. But the engine appears to suppress results for "Islam is."
Type a few words into the search field on Google's home page and the engine automatically returns a helpful list of popular, similar searches for the words you've typed in so far -- a convenient way to find the right information.
Enter "Christianity is" and you'll find results that, while offensive, at least indicate common discussions on the Internet. Likewise, type "Judaism is" and Google suggests other, potentially offensive searches such as "Judaism is false" and "Judaism is not a race."
But type "Islam is" into the search engine and Google's auto-results pane mysteriously vanishes, leading some to conclude that Google, whose mantra is "don't be evil," is censoring its search results.
According to Google's Web site, the query suggestions that appear as you type are drawn from from searches you've done (if you're logged in), searches done by users all over the world, sites in the search index and ads in Google's network.
The company also explains that "We try to filter out suggestions that include pornographic terms, dirty words, and hate and violence terms. If you encounter a term that should not be suggested, please let us know by posting in the Google Web Search Help Forum."
Perhaps the returned results are so inappropriate that all results have simply been turned off, an option some Internet users label 'cowardly.' After all, search for hot-button items such as "scientology is" or "Muhammad is" and the results are even more offensive.
A Google spokesman explained that the weird absence of results is just a software problem: "This is in fact a bug and we're working to fix it as quickly as we can." But the company would not respond to requests for clarification.
An intriguing corollary: Google offers search suggestions for future tense queries as well. Ask "Christianity will" and Google suggests "Christianity will end, it will disappear," and "Christianity will end." Ask the same about Islam and Google notes that "Islam will dominate the world" and "Islam will destroy Europe."
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (then led by Geithner) pressed American International Group Inc. to withhold from the public the details of controversial deals that funneled billions in bailout money to Goldman Sachs and other banks.
E-mails show lawyers representing the New York Fed asked AIG to remove the information from a draft financial disclosure. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was president of the New York Fed at the time.
The deals were part of a massive rescue effort at the peak of the financial crisis.
Lawmakers and others have accused Geithner's Fed of overpaying banks, including Goldman and Deutsche Bank, to cancel deals with AIG.
The New York Fed says forcing the banks to take losses or disclosing more information could have worsened the crisis.
A sound suggestion by several students yesterday related to the Constitutional questions about the Health Bill currently proposed. The following resources present a number of pro- and anti- arguments for review.
Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah told CNSNews.com in November 2009 that forcing people to buy health insurance cannot be justified under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
“But here would be the first time where our government would demand that people buy something that they may or may not want,” Hatch told CNSNews.com. “And, you know, if that’s the case, then we didn’t need a ‘Cash for Clunkers,’ all we had to do is have the federal government say you all got to buy new cars, no matter how tough it is on you. You know, they could require you to buy anything. And that isn’t America. That’s not freedom. That’s not constitutionally sound. Now, there may be some gimmicky way that they can do this, but I can’t think of a gimmicky way that would be constitutionally justified.”
Nancy Pelosi was asked if health care is covered in the Constitution. She responded: "Are you serious?"
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said that she would leave it to "constitutional lawyers" to explain where Congress gets the constitutional power to require that Americans buy health insurance from the Federal government.
Protester Delays Senate Committee Opening, CSPAN May 05, 2009
Max Baucus, D-MT, "We need more police."
Is Government-Run Health Care Constitutional?
Tim Lynch (CATO Institute) and Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice) discuss the constitutionality of federal health care programs with Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Or, for another historical perspective, some may entertain the thoughts of Ronald Reagan on Universal Healthcare.
The Muslim who was arrested on Christmas day was attempting to detonate a bomb; the bomb consisted of a device containing Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN), Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) and other ingredients. And, the Haskell's are helpful enough to publish a blog describing their experience with the terrorists (plural) during the incident. The FBI report of the incident has changed numerous times, but has not confirmed the detention of a second individual. According to the Haskell's the bomber had an accomplice and they maintained this point consistently.
Another passenger, Daniel Huisinga, supports the basic claims by the Haskell's.
A third passenger on the flight, interviewed with the Haskell's on CNN, confirms the details of their account; in addition, a man with a camcorder apparently taped the entire incident.
Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order;
Info World: Information Technology News, Computer Networking & Security;
Information Week: Business Innovation Powered by Technology:
Infostor: The Leading Source for Enterprise Storage Professionals;
Infrastructure Insite: Bringing IT Together;
Insurance Technology: Business Innovation Powered by Technology;
Integrated Solutions: For Enterprise Content Management;
Intel Premier IT: Sharing Best Practices with the Information Technology Community;
Irwin, Robert, Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents;
Jeffrey, Grant R., The Global-Warming Deception: How a Secret Elite Plans to Bankrupt America and Steal Your Freedom;
Jewkes, Yvonne, and Majid Yar, Handbook of Internet Crime;
Johnson, Chalmers, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire;
Journal, The: Transforming Education Through Technology;
Judd, Denis, The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj, 1600-1947;
Kagan, Donald, The Peloponnesian War;
Kansas, Dave, The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street as We Know It: What You Need to Know About the Greatest Financial Crisis of Our Time--and How to Survive It;
Karsh, Efraim, Islamic Imperialism: A History;
Kasser, Rodolphe, The Gospel of Judas;
Katz, Solomon, The Decline of Rome and the Rise of Medieval Europe: (The Development of Western Civilization);
Keegan, John, Intelligence in War: The Value--and Limitations--of What the Military Can Learn About the Enemy;
Kenis, Leo, et. al., The Transformation of the Christian Churches in Western Europe 1945-2000 (Kadoc Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 6);
Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam;
Kiplinger's: Personal Finance;
Klein, Naomi, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism;
KM World: Content, Document, and Knowledge Management;
Koestler, Arthur, Darkness at Noon: A Novel;
Kostova, Elizabeth, The Historian;
Kuttner, Robert, The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity;
Lake, Kirsopp, The Text of the New Testament, Sony Reader;
Laur, Timothy M., Encyclopedia of Modern US Military Weapons ;
Leffler, Melvyn P., and Jeffrey W. Legro, To Lead the World: American Strategy After the Bush Doctrine;
Lendon, J. E., Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity;
Lenin, V. I., Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism;
Lennon, John J., There is Absolutely No Reason to Pay Too Much for College!;
Lewis, Bernard, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror;
Lewis, Bernard, What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East;
Lifton, Robert J., Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America;
Limberis, Vasiliki M., Architects of Piety: The Cappadocian Fathers and the Cult of the Martyrs;
Lipsett, B. Diane, Desiring Conversion: Hermas, Thecla, Aseneth;
Livingston, Jessica, Founders At Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days;
Livy, Rome and the Mediterranean: Books XXXI-XLV of the History of Rome from its Foundation (Penguin Classics);
Louis J., Freeh, My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror;
Mackay, Christopher S., Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History;
Majno, Guido, The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World;
Marcus, Greil,Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes;
Marshall-Cornwall, James, Napoleon as Military Commander;
Maughm, W. Somerset, Of Human Bondage;
McCluskey, Neal P., Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education;
McCullough, David, 1776;
McCullough, David, John Adams;
McCullough, David, Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt;
McLynn, Frank, Marcus Aurelius: A Life;
McManus, John, Deadly Brotherhood, The: The American Combat Soldier in World War II ;
McMaster, H. R., Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam;
McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 1: Origins and Destinies (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 2: Persons and Groups (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 3: Religions and Controversies (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
Meacham, Jon, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House;
Mearsheimer, John J., and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy;
Meier, Christian, Caesar: A Biography;
Menzies, Gaven, 1421: The Year China Discovered America;
Perrett, Bryan, Cassell Military Classics: Iron Fist: Classic Armoured Warfare;
Perrottet, Tony, The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Olympic Games;
Peters, Ralph, New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy;
Phillips, Kevin, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush;
Pick, Bernhard; Paralipomena; Remains of Gospels and Sayings of Christ (Sony Reader);
Pimlott, John, The Elite: The Special Forces of the World Volume 1;
Pitre, Brant, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper;
Plutarch's Lives, X: Agis and Cleomenes. Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Philopoemen and Flamininus (Loeb Classical Library®);
Podhoretz, Norman, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism;
Posner, Gerald, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK;
Potter, Wendell, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans;
Pouesi, Daniel, Akua;
Premier IT Magazine: Sharing Best Practices with the Information Technology Community;
Price, Monroe E. & Daniel Dayan, eds., Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China;
Profit: The Executive's Guide to Oracle Applications;
Public CIO: Technology Leadership in the Public Sector;
Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community;
Quintus of Smyrna, The Fall of Troy;
Rawles, James Wesley, Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse;
Red Herring: The Business of Technology;
Redmond Channel Partner: Driving Success in the Microsoft Partner Community;
Redmond Magazine: The Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community;
Renan, Ernest, The life of Jesus (Sony eReader);
Richler, Mordecai (editor), Writers on World War II: An Anthology;
Roberts, Ian, The Energy Glut: Climate Change and the Politics of Fatness in an Overheating World;
Rocca, Samuel, The Army of Herod the Great;
Rodgers, Nigel, A Military History of Ancient Greece: An Authoritative Account of the Politics, Armies and Wars During the Golden Age of Ancient Greece, shown in over 200 color photographs, diagrams, maps and plans;
Rodoreda, Merce, Death in Spring: A Novel;
Romerstein, Herbert and Breindel, Eric,The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors;
Ross, Dennis, Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World;
Roth, Jonathan P., Roman Warfare (Cambridge Introduction to Roman Civilization);
SC Magazine: For IT Security Professionals;
Scahill, Jeremy, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated];
Schama, Simon, A History of Britain, At the Edge of the World 3500 B.C. - 1603 A.D.;
Scheuer, Michael, Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War On Terror;
Scheuer, Michael, Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq;
Scheuer, Michael, Osama Bin Laden;
Scheuer, Michael, Through Our Enemies Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America;
Scholastic Instructor
Scholastic Parent & Child: The Joy of Family Living and Learning;
Schopenhauer, Arthur, The World As Will And Idea (Sony eReader);
Schug-Wille, Art of the Byzantine World;
Schulze, Hagen, Germany: A New History;
Schweizer, Peter, Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy---and How They Will Do It Again If No One Stops Them;
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe;
Seagren, Eric, Secure Your Network for Free: Using Nmap, Wireshark, Snort, Nessus, and MRTG;
Security Technology & Design: The Security Executive's Resource for Systems Integration and Convergence;
Seibel, Peter, Coders at Work;
Sekunda N., & S. Northwood, Early Roman Armies;
Seneca: Naturales Quaestiones, Books II (Loeb Classical Library No. 450);
Sewall, Sarah, The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual;
Sheppard, Ruth, Alexander the Great at War: His Army - His Battles - His Enemies;
Shinder, Jason, ed., The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later;
Sidebottom, Harry, Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction;
Sides, Hampton, Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West;
Simkins, Michael, The Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan;
Sinchak, Steve, Hacking Windows Vista;
Smith, RJ, The One: The Life and Music of James Brown;
Software Development Times: The Industry Newspaper for Software Development Managers;
Software Test Performance;
Solomon, Norman, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death;
Song, Lolan, Innovation Together: Microsoft Research Asia Academic Research Collaboration;
Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, tr. Robert Fagles;
Sound & Vision: The Consumer Electronics Authority;
Southern, Pat, The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History;
Sri, Edward, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do In The Liturgy;
Sri, Edward, Men, Women and the Mystery of Love: Practical Insights from John Paul II's Love and Responsibility;
Stair, John Bettridge, Old Samoa; Or, Flotsam and Jetsam From the Pacific Ocean;
Starr, Chester G., The Roman Empire, 27 B.C.-A.D. 476: A Study in Survival;
Starr, John Bryan, Understanding China: A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Political Culture;
Stauffer, John, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln;
Steyn, Mark, America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika;
Strategy + Business;
Streete, Gail, Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early Christianity;
Sullivan, James, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America;
Sumner, Graham, Roman Military Clothing (1) 100 BC-AD 200;
Sumner, Graham, Roman Military Clothing (2) AD 200-400;
Suskind, Ron, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11:
Swanston, Malcolm, Mapping History Battles and Campaigns;
Swiderski, Richard M., Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore, and Effects of Mercury;
Swiderski, Richard M., Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore, and Effects of Mercury;
Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver's Travels;
Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution;
Talley, Colin L., A History of Multiple Sclerosis;
Tawil, Camille, Brothers In Arms: The Story of al-Qa'ida and the Arab Jihadists;
Tech Briefs: Engineering Solutions for Design & Manufacturing;
Tech Net: The Microsoft Journal for IT Professionals;
Tech Partner: Gain a Competitive Edge Through Solutions Providers;
Technology & Learning: Ideas and Tools for Ed Tech Leaders;
Tenet, George, At the Center of the Storm: The CIA During America's Time of Crisis;
Thackeray, W. M., Vanity Fair;
Thompson, Derrick & William Martin, Have Guitars ... Will Travel: A Journey Through the Beat Music Scene in Northampton 1957-66;
Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenina;
Trento, Joseph J., The Secret History of the CIA;
Twain, Mark, The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today;
Ungar, Craig, House of Bush House of Saud;
Unterberger, Richie, The Unreleased Beatles Music & Film;
VAR Business: Strategic Insight for Technology Integrators:
Virgil, The Aeneid
Virtualization Review: Powering the New IT Generation;
Visual Studio: Enterprise Solutions for .Net Development;
VON Magazine: Voice, Video & Vision;
Wall Street Technology: Business Innovation Powered by Technology;
Wallace, Robert, Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda;
Wang, Wallace, Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won’t Tell You About the Internet;
Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization;
Warren, Robert Penn, All the King's Men;
Wasik, John F., Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream;
Weber, Karl, Editor, Lincoln: A President for the Ages;
Website Magazine: The Magazine for Website Success;
Weiner, Tim, Enemies: A History of the FBI;
Weiner, Tim, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA;
West, Bing, The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq;
Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence;
Wilcox, Peter, Rome's Enemies (1) Germanics and Dacians;
Wise, Terence, Armies of the Carthaginian Wars 265 - 146 BC;
Wissner-Gross, What Colleges Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You To Know) 272 Secrets For Getting Your Kid Into the Top Schools;
Wissner-Gross, What High Schools Don't Tell You;
Wolf, Naomi, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries;
Wolf, Naomi, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot;
Woodward, Bob, Plan of Attack;
Woodward, Bob, The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House;
Wright, Lawrence, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11;
Wright-Porto, Heather, Beginning Google Blogger;
Xenophon, The Anabasis of Cyrus;
Yergin, Daniel, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power;
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of this blogger. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited, before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but not hostile, libelous, or otherwise objectionable statements. Original writing only, please. Thank you.
A tax on toilet paper; I kid you not. According to the sponsor, "the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act will be financed broadly by small fees on such things as . . . products disposed of in waste water." Congress wants to tax what you do in the privacy of your bathroom.
Posts
