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.
All American Alien Boy
American Music
Just Another Night
Cleveland Rocks
Isolation (John Lennon)
Big Mouth
Arms & Legs
Flowers
Alice/Waterlow
Man Overboard
Wash Us Away
When The Daylight Comes/Sweet Jane
Encore 1:
It Ain't easy When You Fall/Shades Off
All the Way from Memphis
Encore 2:
Death May be Your Santa Claus
One Bitten Twice Shy
Saturday Gigs
All the Young Dudes/Goodnight Irene
http://www.answeringmuslims.com/
The media are blaming critics of Islam (such as Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller) for the radicalization of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. However, Breivik said that he turned to terrorism in response to media censorship. Who's to blame for his extremism?
Amilya Antonetti's (Chairman and CEO at AMA Productions) epic rant on the politicians who've gotten the United States into the economic mess we're now in.
After more than a month of protest demands for better employment opportunities and benefits, Accuracy in Media saw fit to test their desires with...employment applications. Our "headhunters" were treated to every excuse as to why these jobs aren't good enough for them. We guess middle management opportunities with healthcare and 401k benefits aren't desirable anymore.
The word Taqwacore is a combination of hardcore, a genre of punk music, and taqwa, an Arabic word that translates as "piety" or "god-fearing." The first to use the term was writer, journalist, and Muslim convert Michael Muhammad Knight. His novel The Taqwacores, about a group of young Islamic punk rockers, received a storm of recognition among young American Muslims and prompted the formation of various Muslim punk bands.
http://youtu.be/jTkaqHhmpws
Video 2, http://www.mtv.com/videos/movie-trailers/471188/the-taqwacores.jhtml#id=1629757
Gemma Teller Morrow: Oh, and uh... I'm not sure why you're carrying a gun, but make sure you're safe. No serial numbers.
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John Teller: First time I read Emma Goldman wasn't in a book. I was sixteen, hiking near the Nevada border . The quote was painted on a wall in red. When I saw those words it was like someone ripped them from the inside of my head.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: Anarchism... stands for liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from shackles and restraint of government. It stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals.
John Teller: The concept was pure, simple, true, it inspired me, led a rebellious fire, but ultimately I learned the lesson that Goldman, Prudot and the others learned. That true freedom requires sacrifice and pain. Most human beings only think they want freedom. In truth they yearn for the bondage of social order, rigid laws, materialism, the only freedom man really wants, is the freedom to become comfortable.
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Jackson 'Jax' Teller: [Voiceover, reading John Thomas Teller memoirs] The concept was pure, simple, true.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: It inspired me; lit a rebellious fire.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: But ultimately, i learned the lesson that Goldman, Proudhon and the others learned; that true freedom requires sacrifice and pain.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: Most human beings only think they want freedom.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: In truth, they yearn for the bondage of social order, rigid laws, materialism.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: The only freedom man really wants is the freedom to be comfortable.
JESSE JACKSON JR. CALLS FOR OBAMA TO TAKE ‘EXTRAORDINARY CONSTITUTIONAL’ ACTION ON UNEMPLOYMENT
Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson compared congressional opposition to Obama’s “American Jobs Act” to the Confederate “states in rebellion.”
Jackson said that the government should directly employ the 15 million people who are currently without work. The representative said that Obama should “declare a national emergency” and take “extraordinary constitutional” action “administratively,” the Daily Caller reports. This, of course, may mean that Congress wouldn’t really be involved in the process.
“I hope the president continues to exercise extraordinary constitutional means, based on the history of Congresses that have been in rebellion in the past. He’s looking administratively for ways to advance the causes of the American people, because this Congress is completely dysfunctional."
"President Obama tends to idealize — and rightfully so — Abraham Lincoln, who looked at states in rebellion and he made a judgment that the government of the United States, while the states are in rebellion, still had an obligation to function.”
Jackson went on, as stated, to say that he believes in the “direct hiring” of unemployed Americans. But don’t worry, as he has already figured out a price tag in terms of pay for each individual. For the 15 million people in need of work he says the government should offer, “…$40,000 a head, some more than $40,000, some less than $40,000.”
Jackson says that this would constitute a $600 billion stimulus. What he doesn’t address is the fact that this would be a $600 billion “investment” per year until jobs in other sectors become available for these unemployed individuals.
In sum, Jackson proposes $804 billion in stimulus funds, with $104 billion going to states and $100 billion going to cities. While he claims that he supports Obama’s jobs plan, he says America needs something larger that meets “the size and scope of the problem.”
On 12 October 2011, Obama stated, “We’re not going to wait for Congress.” It seems Obama and Jackson may be in agreement.
O Executive Dictatorship: Obama Wants Stimulus Projects Without Congressional Authorization
O Executive Dictatorship: Obama Wants Stimulus Projects Without Congressional Authorization
Investigative reporter Chuck Goudie of Chicago local ABC affiliate WLS-TV (channel 7) reports in a file on October 19, Goudie described the origins of the Occupy movement–from Adbusters in Canada, to anarchist Lisa Fithian in Texas, to the numerous hard-core radicals who have flocked to demonstrations and courted arrest.
In another report, which aired on October 26, Goudie explored the antisemitism on display at Occupy Wall Street and numerous Occupy demonstrations, including a protest in Chicago where an Occupy activist called for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Would you rather live in Hong Kong or Burundi? Switzerland or the Republic of Congo? The United States or Venezuela? You probably chose the first option in each of those examples, and it's because those countries are more prosperous than the second options. It also happens that they are the most economically free and have higher quality of life!
Economically free countries have lower taxes, lower government spending, less regulation, less volatility of currency, more free trade, and a sound legal structure. They also have higher per capita incomes (especially among the poor), higher life expectancy, less corruption, greater civil liberties, and higher quality of life. This is no coincidence.
Homeland Insecurity: Big Sis Gives Secret Clearance to Muslim Brotherhood, not the best quality but the gist of the testimony is here.
Congressman Steve King Questions Sec. Napolitano, 6:43
Article 2 Section 3: U.S. Constitution
Article 2 - The Executive Branch Section 3 - State of the Union, Convening Congress
"He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States."
Mohamed Elibiary on the DHS Countering Violent Extremism Working Group, 9:26
Includes state authority and immigration
Stalag 13, Dragnet version
Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX) questioned DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano about recent revelations that Mohamed Elibiary - an outspoken admirer of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and other rogue extremists, who was appointed last year to the DHS's Countering Violent Extremism Working Group Dept. and sworn in by Napolitano to the DHS's Advisory Council - had accessed a database of sensitive state and local intelligence reports, and subsequently shopped some of the the information to the media.
Elibiary's goal was twofold: 1) To promulgate the myth that the DHS is promoting "Islamophobia" 2) To besmirch Texas Gov. Rick Perry who is hoping to face off with Obama in the 2012 Presidential election. Sec. Napolitano told Rep. Gohmert that she was unaware that Mr. Elibiary had accessed the database and that she hadn't been briefed on the matter.
Texas Dept. of Public Safety Director, Patrick Poole, however, says that sources have told him Napolitano "had been fully briefed on the matter" the night before - prior to her testimony to Mr. Gohmert and the congressional Judiciary Committee.
Uncommon Knowledge: The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLeAqbOUt4c
Amity Shlaes challenges the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism broke and that it ended because FDR, and government in general, came to the rescue. According to Shlaes, it was the government that made the Great Depression worse. And was FDRs progressivism, as evident in the New Deal, really all that new, or was it a step along a progressive continuum that already had been established?
UCLA's Lee Ohanian: Hoover, Roosevelt and the Great Depression
Lee E. Ohanian, a UCLA professor of economics and authority on financial crises, presented the. Jan. 8, 2010, Jacob Marschak Interdisciplinary Colloquium On Mathematics in the Behavorial Sciences at UCLA. Ohanian detailed his research on policies by presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt that he says catapulted a bad recession into the Great Depression and stalled recovery for years. In both cases, attempts to restrict competition led to the disastrous economic outcomes. For more information on the research, visit http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/pandering-to-labor-caused-great-91447.aspx and
FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate
This week, the Obama administration used the president’s evolving health care law to force all new insurance plans to cover the entire cost of all prescription contraceptives, including so-called “Plan B” abortion pills. To mark this “victory” their industry has long worked for, Planned Parenthood decided to throw a Bollywood-style celebration featuring… dancing birth control:
According to Planned Parenthood, “basic preventive health care” (birth control) without a copay is “a giant leap forward for women’s health.” (Yay! Now we can be promiscuous for free!)
Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney rightly points out how this new government rule is a boon for two of Obama’s biggest supporters — the abortion industry and Big Pharma — and a direct threat on the conscience of America:
This free-pills-for-all proposal embodies two dark themes of the Obama era: cronyism and trampling on the freedom of conscience.
Once again, Obama, who pretends to be battling the special interests, is rewarding powerful lobbies that support him. Even worse, the federal rule, which would effectively force everyone to purchase insurance that covers abortifacient contraceptives, also reveals the true shape of the Culture War in America: The Left uses the brutal tool of the government to impose its morality on everyone, forcing religious conservatives to act against conscience, all the while howling about imminent “theocracy.” …
The intersection of pharma and government is full of Orwellian Newspeak. Drugmakers say they’re preventing pregnancies by ending them. Obama claims he’s depoiliticizing science by increasing subsidies and regulations. Then he crows about fighting special interests in the act of rewarding them.
Most bizarrely, the cultural Left assails “culture warriors” while making it illegal for many cultural conservatives to live according to their conscience.
Wired is reporting on the WASP — Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform — a spy drone created by two security consultants with about $6,000 and a military surplus FMQ-117B target drone. Mike Tassey and Rick Perkins demonstrated the WASP yesterday at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The capabilities of the clandestine mini-plane are breathtaking, according to Wired, comprising a:
“Personal remote-controlled spy plane, complete with WiFi and hacking tools, such as an IMSI catcher and antenna to spoof a GSM cell tower and intercept calls, as well as a network sniffing tool and a dictionary of 340 million words for brute-forcing network passwords.”
At a weight of only 14 pounds and six feet in length, the drone is much smaller than most military counterparts, making it even more suitable for use in heavily populated areas. While FAA regulations mandate that the plane must fly below 400 feet and remain within line of site, the drone is quiet enough even at that restricted altitude to hover overhead and collect digital data.
On the technical expertise required to build and operate the WASP, Perkins said, “You don’t need a PhD from MIT to do this.” Perkins and Tassey created the drone to show others that it could be done, and to promote the possible positive uses of the technology as well as prepare the public for nefarious use in the future as well.
Search and rescue attempts, disaster relief, and, of course, law enforcement surveillance could utilize a drone like the WASP. However, it seems only a matter of time before criminals and terrorists turn to this technology to steal data, jam communications, or conduct reconnaissance for attacks. In a well-publicized example, the Terrorist group Hezbollah back in 2006 apparently rammed an explosives-laden drone into an Israeli warship.
As this technology continues to evolve, the public learns more, and the parts become less expensive, there is a good chance you might see something like this flying over your house one day soon.
Barofsky Doubts HARP Expansion Will Aid Housing Market
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxCVM8igXww
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Neil Barofsky, former special inspector general for the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program and a Bloomberg Television contributing editor, talks about the expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, to aid underwater borrowers and impact of the expanded plan on the housing market. Barofsky speaks with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg)
“Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed,” he told a reporter asking about the complaints that he may be inadequate to be a judge because he defended Muslim Americans who were wrongly arrested post-9/11. “He is an extraordinary American who is an outstanding lawyer and played an integral role in the post-September 11th period in building bridges between the Muslim American community in this state and law enforcement,” Gov. Christie argued, adding that he was “disgusted, candidly, by some of the questions he was asked… at the Senate judiciary committee.”
But it was a follow-up question on the fear of Sharia Law that set the governor off. “Sharia Law has nothing to do with this at all, it’s crazy!” he cried. “The guy is an American citizen!” He concluded that the “Sharia Law business is just crap… and I’m tried of dealing with the crazies,” adding with disgust and frustration that “it’s just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of his religious background.”
The Hertz rental car company is firing two dozen Somali Muslim drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for refusing to clock out for daily breaks during which they normally prayed.
The drivers are among the 34 Hertz employees the company suspended indefinitely late last month for praying on company time. Observant Muslims pray five times a day, and the employees claimed the company was infringing on their religious freedom by not being flexible to their needs.
Media reports varied on the exact number of fired employees, with some reporting it was 25 and others reporting it was 26.
The fired workers drove the company’s cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling, according to the Seattle Times, and did not clock out when they went to pray. Hertz also said some of the fired workers were taking longer than the 10 minutes allotted for a break. Employees get two breaks per eight-hour shift.
Hertz had said the suspended workers were violating a two-year-old policy requiring employees to clock out before engaging in personal activities, such as praying. Teamsters Local 117 took up the drivers’ case, filing an unfair labor practices suit saying the company was not following an agreement reached last year saying employees would not have to clock out for prayer.
During negotiations, nine of the original 34 suspended drivers signed agreements saying they would clock out on time and returned to their jobs.
Union officials told the Times the two sides were unable to reach an agreement that would have returned the remaining workers to their pre-suspension status under which they would not have to clock out to pray.
Teamsters spokesman Paul Zilly said Hertz gave the workers an ultimatums and when they refused, the company terminated them. Zilly said if Hertz believed employees were breaking the rules, they should have dealt with them individually instead of as a group.
“There may have been some taking longer than 10 minutes, but why single out the entire group based on their religion?” he said.
“We feel like we’re being punished for what we believe in,” former Hertz employee Ileys Omar, who prays five times a day, told KOMO News. “It’s five minutes. It‘s not as big deal as the company’s making it.”
Hertz spokesman Rich Broome said the company had made it clear to the suspended workers that if they wanted to return the work they would have to agree to the clock-out terms.
“We’re disappointed that the rest of the transporters did not take us up on what we thought was a reasonable resolution of this matter — reserving their right to pray during paid breaks,” Broome said. “We felt clocking out is a fair way to maintain order while keeping our operations running smoothly.”
“He is very happily getting out into the country again after a very sustained period here in Washington and he looks forward to talking to folks about growing the economy, creating jobs," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. "We will have more details, as I said, about the specifics of the trip."
Carney indicated he did not know now precisely where the president would go or what he might be announcing.
CNSNews.com asked Carney, “Is that a campaign event or a presidential event?
Carney answered, “Negative. That is an official event.”
CNSNews.com followed, “So it is being funded by taxpayers in battleground states?”
Carney responded, “He’s the president of the United States.”
Another reporter followed up about whether there was a political nature to the trip.
“The air of cynicism is quite thick,” Carney shot back. “The idea that the president of the United States should not venture forth into the country is ridiculous.”
The reporter said, “I didn’t say that.”
Carney said, “No, but you implied it in your question. It is absolutely important for the president – whoever that person is, in the past or in the future – to get out and hear from people in different communities."
The generally accepted policies in place since the Reagan administration for incumbent presidents running for re-election are based on legal opinions from the Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which say that taxpayers should cover the cost of official presidential travel while travel relating to the campaign will be reimbursed to the government through campaign funds.
According to the FEC, when a presidential or vice presidential candidate travels on the taxpayer’s dime for political purposes, they “pay the pro rata share of the fair market value of non-commercial flights.” Reimbursement guidelines include payment of the “lowest unrestricted and non-discounted first-class airfare in the case of travel between cities served by regularly scheduled first-class commercial airline service.”
Viki Knox's husband defends his wife's right to speak out against gay people
UNION TOWNSHIP, N.J. (The Blaze/AP) — The husband of an embattled, New Jersey high school teacher accused of posting anti-gay messages on her Facebook page is defending his wife’s comments.
Gene Knox told WCBS-TV in New York that “everybody’s entitled to an opinion.” He also told the station: “They can persecute her but they can’t prosecute her.”
As The Blaze reported on Tuesday, his wife, Viki Knox, is a Christian who holds views on gays that relate to her personal faith. The comments she posted clearly indicated this, as they focused upon her view that homosexuality as a sin. Below, see the WCBS interview for yourself:
The Union Township school district is investigating whether Knox violated school policies when she allegedly posted remarks saying homosexuality is a sin that “breeds like cancer” and describing it as “perverted.” It was reported that she also wrote:
“Union is not South Orange/Maplewood where one out of four families consist of two Mommies or daddies… Why parade your unnatural immoral behaviors before the rest of us? I/we do not have to accept anything, anyone, any behavior or any choices! I do not have to tolerate anything others wish to do.”
Her comments were made on the social media platform in response to a display the school had put up, which celebrates celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender history month.
Knox sat by her husband’s side during the TV interview. The station says she had been advised not to comment herself and has retained an attorney through her union.
Hundreds turned out at a school board meeting Tuesday to either denounce or defend Knox. The issue has grown exponentially, with gay rights activists and religious freedom advocates speaking up to take sides on the matter.
Mediaite provides both the transcript and video of the unaired interview portion:
Tapper: “Just to change the subject from the economy, the ‘Fast and Furious’ controversy. Aside from some of the more wild charges out there, this is a big scandal. The Justice Department, the ATF was moving guns and some of them were tied to crime scenes. what was your response when you first heard about it?”
Obama: “Well I heard about it from the news reports. This is not something we were aware of in the White House and the Attorney General it turns out wasn’t aware of either. Obviously Eric Holder has launched a full investigation of this, it is not acceptable for us to allow guns to go into Mexico. Our whole goal has been to interdict aggressively in the flow of weapons and cash flowing south into Mexico because the Mexican president, President Calderon, has done a heroic job of trying to take on these transnational drug cartels. So this investigation will be complete, people who have screwed up will be held accountable but our overarching goal consistently has been to say we’ve got a responsibility not only to stop drugs from flowing north, we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure we are not helping to either arm or finance these drug cartels in Mexico. So it’s very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen and we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected.”
Private buying club selling organic food and raw milk was raided again by SWAT teams for the second time today.
Multiple sources have confirmed the fact that all three individuals arrested– James Stewart, Victoria Bloch and Sharon Palmer– are being charged with ‘conspiracy’ related to the sell of unpasteurized raw milk products.
This reportedly includes sections of the California Penal Code Section 182a. Additional charges may also be pending, including a charge of ‘mislabeling cheese’ for Sharon Palmer, was arrested during a raid of Healthy Family Farms. As video of the raid on Rawesome Foods (also raided in 2010) demonstrates, Feds not only seized cash and raw milk supplies (much of which was also dumped out) but also mangos and other fresh, organic produce.
Students in a Texas public high school were made to stand up and recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of a Spanish class assignment, but the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson.
It happened last month in an intermediate Spanish class at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas — a city located about 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Wearing red, white and green, students had to memorize the Mexican anthem and pledge and stand up and recite them in individually in front of the class.
That didn’t go over well with sophomore Brenda Brinsdon. The 15-year-old sat down and refused to participate. She also caught it all on video:
“I just thought it was out of hand, I didn’t think it was right,” she told The Blaze. “Reciting pledges to Mexico and being loyal to it has nothing to do with learning Spanish.”
She said she was particularly offended because the presentations in teacher Reyna Santos’s class took place during “Freedom Week,” the week after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and on U.S. Constitution Day — the same day as Mexico’s Independence Day.
“Why are we doing their independence when it‘s Freedom Week and it’s also Constitution Day?” Brinsdon said.
Brinsdon said she complained to the school principal, Yvette Cavazo, who told her it was part of the curriculum and that she should participate. Her father, William, also got involved, calling the school district superintendent to complain.
Zo is sick of people criticizing Herman Cain. What will it take for the race establishment to believe that Herman Cain is black? Will he have to start acting like a victim? Will he have to put chains on the brain, or worse, smoke crack? When will Rev. Al Sharpton wake up and congratulate Herman Cain for his accomplishments? Find out.
Should kids be able to celebrate halloween and thanksgiving in school?
One principal is bringing reform to Massachusetts schools. Well, at least in the way they celebrate holidays. NECN reports on Principal Ann Foley’s stand against celebrating Halloween, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Somerville, Massachusetts:
The Boston Herald reports that the Foley controversy emerged after an email she sent to teachers was revealed, outlining the principal‘s opposition to some of America’s most cherished holidays:
“’When we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous peoples,’ wrote Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley. ‘We can no longer do so. For many of us and our students celebrating this particular person is an insult and a slight to the people he annihilated. On the same lines, we need to be careful around the Thanksgiving Day time as well.’”
This section from the scathing email comes off of Foley’s ban on allowing children to come to school in costumes on Halloween. NECN reports that Foley’s critical comments on holidays beloved by many, has created a chatter among parents and community members:
“Many parents and grandparents were outraged. Parent Lisa Eicks said, ‘If you don’t want to celebrate it then don’t celebrate it, but I don’t think it’s right for the kids that do celebrate it to suffer.’
Grandparent Mary Files said, ;This is America and I think people like her stir up all these prejudices.’
Others were a little more understanding. Grandparent Jeanne Aiello said, “Some things are like her prerogative, she’s the boss and if she feels that that’s being insensitive to other children you have to support that.”
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone was supportive of Foley, telling the Herald “She raises a fair point. History is messy.” School Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi said her “intention is to be very, very sensitive to all of the many, many cultures” of Somerville.
Foley would not elaborate on her “atrocities” comment, but told the Herald ““When I grew up, I was taught from a very European perspective of history and it was both embarrassing and enlightening to me when I learned other perspectives.”
Plenty of left-leaning sites tried to portray the women wearing a suit in this video as a mere innocent who simply wanted to close her Citibank account.
The truth seems to be that a group of anti-bank protestors stormed the branch with plans to close their accounts en masse. And they had no inclination to leave the premises.
The action really kicks in at the 1:30 mark in the video as Suit Woman is taken into custody. Content warning: Nonsensical shrieking.
WNYW-TV:
More than 20 people were reportedly arrested in a fracas outside the LaGuardia Place Citibank, after upwards of 50 demonstrators entered the bank to close their accounts.
“They were locked inside. They’re now being placed under arrest. Two individuals who were inside closing their bank accounts and then came outside were approached by an undercover cop and against their will placed under arrest simply for attempting to close their Citibank accounts in an act of peaceful protest,” one woman told spectators.
A streaming video of the protest claimed 23 people were arrested in all.
The bank facilities were closed for the most part, keeping protesters outside for short rallies before they plodded onto other facilities on their way to Greenwich Village for a rally at Washington Square.
Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) took Piers Morgan to task on his show Monday after the CNN host accused the congressman of “stabbing [House Speaker John Boehner] in the back” for voting against the debt deal.
The interview kicked off with Morgan asking Mack whether he could presume the congressman “would have been quite happy for your country to go into catastrophic default” because he voted no.
“Well then, you would have presumed wrong, obviously,” Mack said.
The two debated the merits of the deal and the economists who supported it, with Morgan asking at one point, “I‘m sure you’ve heard of Paul Krugman, for example. He won a Nobel Prize for economics.”
A few minutes later, Morgan asked Mack if he could also presume Mack wanted Boehner (R-Ohio) to resign the speakership “given he’s authorized this terrible deal?”
“Of course I don’t believe that,” Mack said. “I think the speaker has done as good a job as he can given the circumstances….It’s not something that I supported, but that’s what happens here in Washington, D.C. all the time.”
“If he’s done such a great job, why did you stab him in the back?” Morgan asked.
“I didn’t stab him in the back. Come on, don’t be ridiculous with stuff like that. Now you’re just making your show a joke,” Mack replied.
“Really, why is that?” Morgan asked.
“For saying things like that, Piers. Come on,” Mack said.
Morgan challenged Mack’s comment before repeating the back-stabbing remark again about Mack’s no vote on the deal: “You are stabbing him in the back, metaphorically. Not really, you’re not doing it with a knife, but effectively, that‘s what you’re doing.”
FNC’s Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry got the first question at today’s joint news conference between Pres. Obama and Lee Myung-Bak, President of South Korea. Henry asked the president about the alleged Iranian terror plot, and used a quote from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney who had criticized Obama’s leadership.
Obama responded with, “I didn’t know you were the spokesman for Mitt Romney.”
In an interview later with Megyn Kelly, Henry explains, “I was trying to put it in the broader context of not just Mitt Romney, but there are a lot of Republicans out there who would charge that this president leads from behind.”
“He decided not to engage with Mitt Romeny,” said Henry. “Instead, he decided to go after me a little bit.”
Ninety-nine mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the lost civilization of Baghdad. The Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe-now little more than a legend. However one man has made it his life's mission to seek out what was once lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched long and hard for the missing stones, to no avail. His luck is about to change...
DETROIT (The Blaze/AP) — Comic book fans might call it a great origin story: In the aftermath of 9/11, a Muslim man creates a comic book series, “The 99,” inspired by the principles of his faith. It builds a global audience and investors contribute millions for it to continue and expand.
Despite this intriguing story, critics have dismissed the project as mere indoctrination (last year, the Blaze covered the debate surrounding the comic book series).
In two vastly different cultures, Naif Al-Mutawa’s tale has hit a few roadblocks: Censorship from Saudi Arabia, home to the main Muslim holy sites; in the United States, a struggle to build an audience in a post-9/11 world where suspicion and scrutiny of all things Islamic is certainly present.
“That’s one of the things that was most disappointing to me in the beginning,” Al-Mutawa said on a recent visit to Detroit. “You have two birthplaces: You have the birthplace of Islam, which initially rejected it (and) the birthplace of democracy and tolerance, this country, that I’m now facing resistance in – the two natural places for this product.”
Below, watch Al-Mutawa discuss “The 99” during a TED talk last year:
Al-Mutawa’s reputation in the Middle East and elsewhere has grown since the 2006 debut of “The 99,” as well as its rollout into animation. The series is named for the 99 qualities the Quran attributes to God: strength, courage, wisdom and mercy among them.
The comic book spawned a TV series and 26 half-hour episodes of the 3-D animated version of the “The 99” have been sold to broadcasters. They are expected to be released early next year in more than 50 countries, and a second season is in production.
Al-Mutawa, a U.S.-educated psychologist from Kuwait, has been promoting “Wham! Bam! Islam!“ a PBS documentary that tells the story of ”The 99″ from an idea hatched during a cab ride to its raising of $40 million in three calls for investors. The promotional push is supporting the animated series, the vehicle by which his company hopes to turn a profit.
“The 99” grew out of his childhood love of Batman, Superman and their superhero brethren, along with a desire to provide role models for his five young sons.
“Basically, `The 99′ is based on Quranic archetypes, the same way that Batman and Superman are based on Judeo-Christian and Biblical archetypes. And just like Batman and Superman are secular story lines, so too are `The 99,’” he said.
“It seemed to me that the only people using mass media when it came to things to do with religion – at least my religion – were people who were doing very destructive things. So the question was how do I challenge that in a way that’s secular yet cannot be dismissed as Western?”
Critics on both sides of the religious and cultural divide see subversion in Al-Mutawa’s superheroes. Some hardline Muslims say the series subverts their faith by embodying the attributes in human characters, while a few non-Muslim American critics have labeled it sneaky Islamic indoctrination.
Al-Mutawa said it took investment by an Islamic investment bank to make his series “halal,” or acceptable to Saudi officials. The nation’s government-run broadcaster has since bought the rights to the animated series. So has The Hub cable network in the U.S. – though the latter has indefinitely postponed airing it after some critical columns and blog posts.
“One of the comments on the blogs that ended up delaying us was someone who warned that we can’t let the Muslims brainwash our children like the Mexicans did with `Dora the Explorer,’” Al-Mutawa said. Religious News Service has more:
“Be prepared for the latest exercise in Muslim propaganda,” warned Adrian Morgan, editor at Family Security Matters, a conservative website, in a column last year. “Are we going to see ass-kicking Christian superhero nuns, called Faith, Hope and Charity, whooping sinner’s butts and sending Satan into hell? It is doubtful.”
A few weeks later, New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser griped that “Wonder Woman-style cleavage has been banned from the ladies,” in “The 99,” and “male and female characters are never alone together.”
Still, he’s measuring broader acceptance in other ways. Al-Mutawa worked with DC Comics last year on a six-issue crossover that teamed “The 99” with The Justice League of America.
“They start out with distrust between the two teams of superheroes – Superman punches one of my guys early on,” Al-Mutawa said. “And then they figure out during the arc that it’s the bad guys causing the distrust.”
Robin Wright, author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” said Al-Mutawa has “been way ahead of the curve in figuring out how you challenge extremism and how you create alternative role models to Osama bin Laden or Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah’s leader) for kids and adults.”
Muslim characters are rare in U.S. comic books but there have been some inroads.
Marvel Comics has Dust, a young Afghan woman whose mutant ability to manipulate sand and dust has been part of the popular X-Men books.
“I don’t view a Muslim superhero as avant garde,” Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso said. “Muslims comprise approximately 23 percent of the world’s population, and we like our comics to reflect the world in its diversity.”
Dust wears a robe and veil to observe Muslim hijab, or modest dress. Another character, M, is a woman of Algerian descent who only recently revealed her faith in the pages of “X-Factor.” Like millions of other Muslim women in the real world, she “does not observe hijab, and often dresses quite provocatively,” Alonso said.
Other characters have not been so accepted. In late 2010, DC Comics introduced Nightrunner, a young Muslim hero of Algerian descent raised in Paris. He’s part of the global network of crime fighters set up by Batman alter-ego Bruce Wayne. Conservative bloggers decried the move, noting that instead of tapping a native French person, they opted for a minority.
Frank Miller, whose dark and moody take on Batman in “The Dark Knight Returns” in 1986 energized the character, has taken a different tack in his latest work, “Holy Terror,” which tells the story of The Fixer and his efforts to stamp out Islamic terrorists.
The graphic novel initially took root as a look at Batman’s efforts to fight terrorism, something that grew out of Miller’s experiences of being in New York during 9/11. As he worked on it, it became apparent that it wasn’t suitable for the DC character.
“As I developed it and worked on it, the subject was too serious and the character’s actions were not Batman,” he said.
The book has been criticized as anti-Islamic propaganda, but Miller says that’s not his notion.
“I lived through a time when 3,000 of my neighbors were incinerated for no apparent reason. I lived through the chalky, smoky weeks that followed and through the warplanes flying overhead and realized that, much like my character, The Fixer, I found a mission,” he said.
As for “The 99,” he said has not seen it but welcomes Al-Mutawa’s efforts.
“I come in with my own very pro-Western-they-attacked-my-city-point of view,” Miller said. “If other people have other points of view to bring in, I just welcome it.”
Al-Mutawa called “Holy Terror” par for the historical course for Islam.
“There’s no denying that terrible things have happened in the name of my religion – as they have in the names of most religions, if not all religions,” he said. “As human beings, we’re a little bit lazy. We don’t like to change the schemas in our minds. We like to fit new information into existing schemas. That’s why to some people anything to do with Islam is going to be bad.”
Occupy L.A. Speaker: “One of the speakers said the solution is nonviolent movement. No, my friend. I’ll give you two examples: French Revolution, and Indian so-called Revolution.
Gandhi, Gandhi today is, with respect to all of you, Gandhi today is a tumor that the ruling class is using constantly to mislead us. French Revolution made fundamental transformation. But it was bloody.
India, the result of Gandhi, is 600 million people living in maximum poverty.
So, ultimately, the bourgeoisie won’t go without violent means. Revolution! Yes, revolution that is led by the working class.
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
"Scour this report, identify all those areas in which we can act administratively without additional congressional authorization and just get it done," President Obama said today to a "Jobs Council" meeting.
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;
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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.
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