Monday
Jan242011
Breaking News: A shot in arm to prevent pregnancy
January 24, 2011 Indian doctors give go-ahead to radical new contraceptive method despite complaints from users in London
Forging his way through the predictable UK media censorship: Dr Andrew Wakefield Responds to Measles Outbreak in Swansea
Entries from January 1, 2011 - January 31, 2011
January 24, 2011 Monday
Jan242011
The State of the Union’s Schools: What We'd Like to Hear from Obama, But Won’t
January 24, 2011 While everyone knows that Barack Obama's State of the Union speech is likely to continue to push for the agenda that we've been facing in Race to the Top — privatization, more testing and test based "accountability," Arne Duncan's meanderings, more charter schools, and the other policies that have taken the nation's public schools further towards ruin than anything imagined when George W. Bush was President — we can at least try an imaginary alternative. Hence, the following wording from a State of the Union speech that we won't hear (at least not from the current President of the United States):
Monday
Jan242011
The State of the Union: What the President Should Say
January 24, 2011 The President will have to devote a big part of his speech to the economy, but which economy? Corporate profits are up but jobs and wages remain in the doldrums. People with lots of financial assets, or who are deemed “talent” by large corporations, are enjoying a solid recovery. But most Americans continue to struggle.
Friday
Jan212011
Bonuses for Bankers, Bankruptcy for Public Services
January 21, 2011 So, now we know about the $15bn-plus 2010 pay package for Goldman Sachs partners and employees [1]. The top rungs will get their many millions each [2], with lesser and lesser amounts going down the GS hierarchy. The mass of its more than 35,000 employees will, as usual, get much, much less than the top. In addition, the appreciation of Goldman's share prices likewise adds billions to employees who got stock options, which were likewise distributed very unequally throughout the firm. The unequal division of rewards within Goldman Sachs mirrors and mocks the far larger social divide it feeds.
Friday
Jan212011
Tony Blair's Wilful Misrepresentation: Deliberately Manipulated the Facts to Justify the Invasion of Iraq?
January 21, 2011 Charles Anthony Lynton Blair, QC., is set to reappear before the Chilcot Inquiry into the assault on Iraq, on Friday 21st January, with an inside source reported commenting: "There is a feeling ... he wilfully misrepresented the facts." Goodness, surely not. Personally, one scene encapsulates the invasion - before it even began. I checked in to a small family hotel, on the corniche, in Mosul, northern Iraq. Mosul is in hauntingly beautiful, ancient, Nineveh province, of which Masefield wrote: "Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, rowing home to haven, in sunny Palestine, with a cargo of ivory, and apes and peacocks, sandalwood, cedarwood and sweet white wine." The wine came from Mosul grapes. The romance is undimmed, from the spine tinglingly beautiful remains left by the Assyrian Kings (721 BC-626 BC) to the great flocks of birds, who blacken the sky at dawn and dusk, their song rising and falling, filling the senses. I climbed the steep steps to the entrance and anticipated the beams and the "Welcome, welcome, welcome home ..." The lobby was deserted.
Friday
Jan212011
Obama Trapped by Myth
January 21, 2011 When I try to figure out why we are still in Afghanistan, though every ounce of logic says we ought to get out, an unexpected conversation I had last year haunts me. Doing neighborhood political canvassing, I knocked on the door of a cheerful man who was just about to tune in to his favorite radio show: Rush Limbaugh. He was kind enough to let me stay and we talked.
Friday
Jan212011
Poll: Trust in Fox News in Sharp Decline; PBS is Most Trusted
January 21, 2011 PBS the most trusted name in news Raleigh, N.C.- As its affiliated Republican Party's fortunes rose in the last year, Fox News' have declined. In January 2010, PPP showed Fox as by far the news outlet most trusted by American voters. In this month's poll, Fox is still relied on by more than some other competitors but is far behind PBS, tested for the first time. PBS is the only group trusted by a majority and distrusted by fewer than 40%.
Friday
Jan212011
Halfway Through Term, Obama Still Hasn’t Earned His Nobel Prize
January 21, 2011 When President Obama took office, he vowed to repair the damage done to America’s moral standing on the global stage. You may have hoped that human rights would become an organizing principle of our foreign policy. That the U.S. would finally try to engage pariah states like Iran and North Korea, or that Obama’s presidency would elevate the voices of grassroots movements in economic and environmental policy discussions. In 2011, you’ve probably either lowered your expectations or discarded your hopes.
Friday
Jan212011
Vaccine Seizures: Feds Checking Out Post-Flu-Shot Seizures In Young Kids
January 21, 2011 Government officials are investigating an apparent increase in fever-related seizures in young children after they got a flu shot.
Friday
Jan212011
Microcredit: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 2011 Unraveling the confusion behind microcredit: how some models help alleviate poverty, while others exploit the poor to make the rich richer.
