The Economist - reg required. I'm on my way to vote for JS Mill, my favourite philosopher (after Karl Popper). "DEMOCRACY is the road to socialism", wrote Karl Marx: Britons seem to agree. Communism is in disarray these days, but BBC listeners have put its top brain at the front of a poll to find history's greatest philosopher.
Charlie Taylor, the man behind the vote, said Marx had "built up a commanding lead" over Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian philosopher of language, in second place.
Voters have until the first week of July to choose from a list of 20 philosophers picked by "In Our Time", a highbrow radio discussion programme. (Recent topics include theology in 12th-century Paris and "The Sublime: Defining the State of Awe".)
What explains Marx's comeback? Rick Lewis, editor of Philosophy Now magazine, puts it down to name recognition. Eric Hobsbawm, a Marxist historian, thinks it stems from "his liberation from the Soviet Union and prediction of globalisation". Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, a libertarian think-tank, blames the voters. "The BBC audience," he says "is increasingly isolated from reality".
But, given that anyone can vote on the BBC website, there might be another explanation. Such online polls are notoriously open to meddling. Time Magazine's 'Person of the Century' vote was the victim of a campaign to boost Ataturk, a Turkish politician. In 1996 Labour supporters organised the vote in another BBC poll to make Tony Blair the year's outstanding figure.
Far be it from The Economist to suggest foul play, despite Marxists' talent for poll-rigging and ballot-stuffing. Instead, we offer advice on tactical voting. Either John Locke or Adam Smith would command our vote, but neither made the shortlist. Of those remaining, J.S. Mill, author of modern liberalism and backer of both free speech and free trade, is our natural choice. Sadly, he hasn't much hope of victory.
In their place we suggest the current third-place candidate: a liberal sceptic and empiricist, a contemporary of Adam Smith and a man with a good shot at winning. Economist readers seeking to stop Marx should vote for David Hume.
#2
If people are voting tactically, then how the devil is Wittgenstein running second? I've barely even heard of Wittgenstein!
Marx is not a philosopher. He was a political economist and a fairly good pundit of his day - check out his contemporary articles on the American Civil War. I'd say that about one-third of the "philosophers" on the list weren't philosophers at all. St Thomas Aquinas? Theologian. Hobbes? Political scientist. Popper? Sociologist specializing in science. Russell? Mathmatician. Satre? Playwright. Socrates? Stonemason.
I voted for Kierkegaard. I'm a sucker for gonzo Danish angst.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2005 21:44 Comments ||
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I've barely even heard of Wittgenstein!
Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.
I'm on my way to vote for JS Mill...
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Authorities in Germany on Thursday uncovered a huge cache of arms apparently destined for mafia mobsters in Naples that includes about 1,000 firearms and more than 650 kilos of ammunition.
In addition, raids on homes and offices in five towns in the Hagen region of central Germany netted 18 kilos of explosives, police said.
A 57-year-old suspect was detained in Hamm. Police said he had just returned from Italy, where he had been detained in Naples on suspicion of links to the Camorra.
Boy, this EU stuff is starting to heat up! heh ...
Posted by: too true ||
06/24/2005 18:43 ||
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The fire seems under control as of 1750 CDT, the company that had the fire provides oxygen and other compressed gas cylinders to hospitals. Lots of exploding cylinders and the cause may be heat related.
#2
I got to drive through the smoke (complete with chlorine gas!) before the fire and police got around to shutting down the highway--- another typical day in the 'Lou...
djh - I believe we worked together at a particular institution of mass dysfunction on Locust Street. I'm still there... but I've gone over to the "dark side." How's it goin' for you?
Rats gnawing through cable helped cripple telecommunications services across New Zealand for more than four hours, an investigation has found.
But the rodents will go unpunished as the telco instead goes after the humans who were unwitting collaborators in the shutdown.
Telephone, mobile, Internet and eftpos services affecting about 100,000 customers were lost on Monday and the nation's stock exchange closed for most of the trading day because of the outage.
The interruption occurred after two service pipelines on the North Island were knocked out within hours of each other -- one by a power company post-hole digger, the other by industrious rodents.
The rats attacked cable on a bridge north of Wellington protected by a steel duct.
"Rodents being rodents, they gnaw at those entry points, they burrow underground, they find a way in," Telecom New Zealand general manager of network delivery Steve Fuller told the New Zealand Herald.
Powerless to take action against the rats for the "unavoidable" damage, Telecom is seeking compensation from the electricity company it says is responsible for knocking out the other pipeline, eliminating backup services.
Posted by: too true ||
06/24/2005 13:34 ||
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Hire an army of cats.
Too bad it is New Zealand or I would offer the services of a certified rat's bane. 14 lbs of terror to every rat, not to mention mouse or lizard within a 200 yard radius...
#5
Must be Jack the Rat's cousin from Chicago, who bit through the insulation of wires in a high voltage cabinet and shut down a whole mall. Of course, Jack was fried to a crisp.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/24/2005 21:41 Comments ||
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SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - We forgot. We forgot how good Tim Duncan could be, how good the San Antonio Spurs could be, were, are. Last night, they were good enough to be champions. Yes, the Detroit Pistons had made San Antonio look bad at times in these NBA Finals. But last night, in the crushing crucible of Game 7, the Spurs finally proved that they were tough enough to win the most demanding of their three championships in the past seven years with a gritty 81-74 win over the defending champion Pistons at the SBC Center.
----------------------
On the grand stage of a season-ending Game 7, the two teams were expected the produce stirring, memorable theatre. For much of the game, what they delivered was, once again, World War I basketball -- a possession-by-possession, trench-warfare-like battle of attrition.
My head feels like an artillery barrage is still going on. Forget about any work being done in this town today.
After six games and three quarters, it was all even. And in the fourth, it was San Antonio who answered the questions about their toughness, mental and otherwise. As a result, today a load of Detroit Pistons back-to-back championship merchandise is probably being incinerated somewhere. Feel free to check eBay to see if anybody managed to save some from the fire.
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There is a quote hung in the Spurs locker room by reporter and photographer Jacob Riis that sums up that franchise's philosophy.
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter, hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred time without as much as a crack showing in it," it reads. "Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it -- but all that had gone before."
Fittingly, the quote is reproduced in the hallway outside in French, Serbo-Croatian and Spanish -- the languages spoken by the internationally-flavoured Spurs. Last night, it was especially appropriate -- no team is harder to crack than the Pistons. But after Detroit's season of adversity and obstacles, San Antonio delivered one final blow, and the Pistons split apart, just enough. The champs are dead, until autumn at least. Boring or not, long live the champs.
Go Spurs Go!
Must. Have. More. Coffee.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2005 11:16 ||
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Does this mean bakit ball season is over? Preseason is what, July 4th?
I know we've all been waiting breathlessly for this...
Saddam Hussein's family will publish next week a novel written by the ousted Iraqi leader before the U.S.-led war, his daughter said Friday. ...and then we'll just wait for the money to roll in. "Get Out, Damned One" tells the story of a man called Ezekiel who plots to overthrow a town's sheik but is defeated in his quest by the sheik's daughter and an Arab warrior.The story is apparently a metaphor for a Zionist-Christian plot against Arabs and Muslims. Ezekiel is meant to symbolize the Jews. No kidding?
Raghad Saddam Hussein said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003 — a day before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began — and had expressed a wish to publish the book under his name. The three other novels he wrote were simply signed, "Its author."
"It was my father's will to publish this book," Raghad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. An Iraqi artist designed the cover, she said, and a Jordanian company will first publish the book in Arabic and follow with an English edition and a French translation. Raghad also wrote a dedication to her father on the book's back cover. "To the beat of the heart, to the eye and to the father of the Iraqis ... to the creator of men and heroes ... to the one who taught us all the great values," she wrote. Including killing our husbands when they "act up"...
"You, who raised our heads high, the heads of the Iraqis, the Arabs and the Muslims ... we present to you our souls ... to the father of the heroes, to my beloved and dear father, with all my respect and glory to you." Thank you, Raghead. I will think of you as I suck down Doritos in my prison cell!
Some Arab newspapers published excerpts of the novel last year without permission, the first of which appeared in the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Ali Abdel Amir, an Iraqi writer and critic who has read the whole manuscript, said the novel was similar in style to the other three attributed to Saddam. In short, it sucks. I can say that now.
Abdel Amir said "Get Out, Damned One" describes an Arab leading an army that invades the land of the enemy and topples one of their monumental towers, an apparent reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York by Islamic militants of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Asharq al-Awsat, which published the entire work over several days last year, said the manuscript was found in the Ministry of Culture after Baghdad's fall. It said it had received its copy from Saddam's physician, Alla Bashir, who fled Iraq after the war and was believed to be in Qatar. The novel opens with a narrator, who bears a resemblance to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim patriarch Abraham, telling cousins Ezekiel, Youssef and Mahmoud that Satan lives in the ruins of Babylon destroyed by the Persians and the Jews. Ezekiel is portrayed as greedy, ambitious and destructive. Youssef, who symbolizes the Christians, is portrayed as generous and tolerant — at least in the early passages."Even if you seize all the property of others, you will suffer all your life," the narrator tells him. But will I get Doritos?
Saddam also has been credited with writing three other books: "Zabibah and the King," "The Fortified Citadel" and "Men and a City." "Zabibah and the King" tells a story of a leader who sacrifices a luxurious life for the sake of his people. Well that's obviously not the autobiography...
"The Fortified Citadel" described the rise to power of Saddam's Baath Party. Kill him. Kill him too. Kill him also. And kill him too. The End.
"Men and a City" is widely viewed as a thinly veiled autobiography, presenting him as powerful and heroic. Sounds... kinda gay.
#2
"The mother of all fourth novels."
-- Kofi Annan, UN Daily
"Reads like an evening with my boyfriend."
-- Andrew Sullivan, Women's Underwear Daily
"It's like, got lots of big words an' stuff. I couldn't finish it."
-- Paris Hilton
"When I served in Vietnam, on a Swift boat, with my band of brothers, in Vietnam--did I mention Vietnam?--we had paperback novels, there in Vietnam, but they weren't as good as this one."
-- John F. Kerry, Congressional Record
"It reads like something written by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the work of one of my biggest . . . hey, whaddaya mean 'shut up,' Nancy? You called me 'blabbermouth!' That's not nice!"
-- Richard Durbin, C-SPAN
"Yeeeaaaaggggghh!"
-- Howard Dean, DNC Reviews
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2005 13:08 Comments ||
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PlanetDan - the Version I got off the internet started off something like "It was late one night, past midnight; too dark to play hockey, or fly a kite..."
Wonder if he knows Ward?
SALT LAKE CITY - A self-proclaimed medicine man was arrested Thursday on federal charges he lied about being an American Indian to consume and distribute peyote during religious ceremonies. Should've called them "medicinal" religious ceremonies.
James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney, 61, claims to be a member of the Oklevueha Band of Yamassee Seminole Indians. He openly uses and distributes the hallucinogen in religious ceremonies, which is allowed under federal law by members of recognized tribes.
However, federal prosecutors said Mooney's tribal membership was fraudulently obtained. Court documents said the tribe revoked it and asked him to stop using their name in connection with his religious activities. The Oklevueha Band is not a federally recognized tribe and does not use peyote in its religious ceremonies, according to court documents. But I think I'm an Indian. And I want to get high.
Mooney's wife, Linda, and Nicholas Stark, a member of Mooney's Oklevueha Earth Walks Church, were also named in the indictment. The Mooneys are scheduled to make a court appearance Friday. The Mooneys were charged in state court in 2000 for providing peyote to non-Native American church visitors, but later won a state Supreme Court decision after justices determined Utah law did not require peyote users to be members of federally recognized tribes. So we can all go to Utah and trip on peyote? Talk about a loophole...
In April, Mooney filed a federal lawsuit against the Utah County officials who unsuccessfully prosecuted him, seeking the return of seized property, including 12,000 peyote buttons, and unspecified monetary damages. 12000! Like, wow, man!
Messages left Thursday for two attorneys who have represented Mooney were not returned. We're not here right now. Please leave a message and we'll call you back when the pretty colors go away...
#3
i will admit tho it kinda odd that the noles get peyote when the nearest button was 2000 miles away, i guess movin helped, seems like they'd use happy mushrooms as a sacriment seeing as the mushroom and the noles both from the same place... lake mikosukee
#7
yeah, lotta peyote indigenous to Seminole regions
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2005 17:04 Comments ||
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The frustrating bit about peyote and its legal use is that the only legal peyote grown in the US is on two small ranches in Texas, and far less than what is needed for legitimate religious regions. However, just across the border in Mexico it all sorts, growing wild. So while indians have to wait for months to get it in the US, like they have to wait for eagle feathers, they can't bring any across the border.
#9
Xbalanke
from first person whispers and doctors stories...
It tastes worse than doggie droppings
You can't keep it down for long without special prep. (your body knows it is poison.)
A 60s hippie would have cleaned it.
Sliced it
put it inside of peanut butter and covered with bread.
rolled the sandwich into little bread covered balls.
taken three beers
swallowed with beer and no chewing while holding the nose
chugged 2 more beers to cover the taste
brushed the teeth and gargled with mouthwash
repeat the last step over and over all night as everybody tells the person their breath reeks more then dogshit.
Such a wholesome and uplifting hobbie..
It makes little johnny want to brush and brush.
The European Union must reform or risk failure as an economic bloc and social model, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday, responding to EU leaders who blame him for the collapse of their summit last week. The bloc needs a new blueprint with "urgent" reforms, Blair said, if Europe wants to meet the needs of its citizens and compete with other top economic powerhouses like the United States, China and India. "If we don't adapt, our social model is put at risk," he said.
Blair described himself as being passionately in favor of the EU Setting out an agenda for his country's six-month EU presidency, Blair described himself to the European Parliament as being passionately in favor of the EU. But he insisted on the need for reform. "It is not a crisis of political institutions, it is a crisis of political leadership," Blair said. "It is time to give ourselves a reality check, to receive the wake-up call."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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I though ol' Tony was well-spoken - and here he's got his tenses all mixed up. Sheesh.
It's rare that an author wants to see his most famous work taken out of print.
But that's the case with Willaim Powell's "The Anarchist Cookbook," a guide to weapons and bomb-making, written 36 years ago, during the turbulent 1960s, by a 19-year-old fresh out of high school.
Powell has taken the unusual step of renouncing his work in an author's review on Amazon.com, one of many retail venues still selling the book.
"I have recently been made aware of several websites that focus on 'The Anarchist Cookbook,'" writes Powell. "As the author of the original publication some 30 plus years ago, it is appropriate for me to comment."
Powell explains that the book was written during 1968 and part of 1969 soon after he graduated from high school.
"At the time, I was 19 years old and the Vietnam War and the so-called 'counter-culture movement' were at their height," he recalls. "I was involved in the anti-war movement and attended numerous peace rallies and demonstrations. The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight in a war that I did not believe in."
He says he did most of the research in the New York City Public Library, gleaning most of the contents from military and Special Forces manuals.
"I submitted the manuscript directly to a number of publishers without the help or advice of an agent," he writes. "Ultimately, it was accepted by Lyle Stuart Inc. and was published verbatim without editing in early 1970. Contrary to what is the normal custom, the copyright for the book was taken out in the name of the publisher rather than the author. I did not appreciate the significance of this at the time and would only come to understand it some years later when I requested that the book be taken out of print."
Powell says the central idea to the book is that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change.
"I no longer agree with this," he writes.
Since it was published, Powell married, had children and became a teacher.
"These developments had a profound moral and spiritual effect on me," he writes. "I found that I no longer agreed with what I had written earlier and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the ideas that I had put my name to. In 1976 I became a confirmed Anglican Christian and shortly thereafter I wrote to Lyle Stuart Inc. explaining that I no longer held the views that were expressed in the book and requested that 'The Anarchist Cookbook' be taken out of print. The response from the publisher was that the copyright was in his name and therefore such a decision was his to make not the author's. In the early 1980s, the rights for the book were sold to another publisher. I have had no contact with that publisher (other than to request that the book be taken out of print) and I receive no royalties."
Powell calls it "unfortunate" that the book remains in print.
"I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of 'The Anarchist Cookbook' and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued," he concludes. "I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print."
So now he's got a family and doesn't approve of the book's philosophy anymore? Too bad he didn't think of other families before he published that crap.
Anon5089 - I certainly hope it's "error-ridden and quite dangerous to the would-be user."
Hmmmmm - wonder if somebody hurt by bad instructions in the book could sue the publisher or the author? Or maybe the family (there's that word again) of the deceased could sue....
At least lawyers would be good for something. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2005 15:31 Comments ||
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So now he's got a family and doesn't approve of the book's philosophy anymore? Too bad he didn't think of other families before he published that crap.
Heh. Take a number and go sit down next to Madonna, Mr. Powell.
More than 9 million American consumers fall victim to identity theft each year.
But the most underpublicized identity theft crime is one in which thieves defraud state governments of payroll taxes by filing fraudulent unemployment claims.
It can be a fairly lucrative scheme, too. File a false unemployment claim and you can receive $400 per week for 26 weeks. Do it for 100 Social Security numbers and you've made a quick $1.04 million. It's tough to make crime pay much better than that.
The victims in this crime--the state work force agencies that tirelessly oversee our unemployment insurance programs and the U.S. Department of Labor--are reluctant to discuss this topic for obvious reasons.
The net result of this fraud is that unemployment taxes are going up. While credit card companies invest extraordinary amounts of money to detect identity fraud, state governments are lagging behind on investing in systems that could detect and deter fraud. Moreover, some federal IT initiatives that could slow down unemployment insurance claims fraud are moving at a glacial pace.
The slow response of state and federal agencies is quickly threatening the integrity of the unemployment insurance system. It turns out that crime is a very efficient market and word spreads quickly. Got a stolen Social Security number? You can more easily turn it into money by defrauding the government than by defrauding the credit card companies.
The net result of this fraud is that unemployment taxes are going up, and that makes it that much harder for small businesses and big businesses to do business. Even more, higher payroll taxes slow down economic growth because they make it more expensive to hire new employees.
Clearly, companies that have sensitive data must take the proper steps to protect the data. But it's public awareness and governmental systems that ultimately will save the day. Here's what needs to happen:
Admitting the Problem
Kathy Moore, chief of the Employment Security Office of Special Investigations for Washington state, has started talking publicly about the amount of fraud making its way through the system. Other states need to follow suit and acknowledge that unemployment fraud is hurting small- and big-business economics. Discussing the problem will help rally the allocation of funds needed to adequately address the problem.
Investment in fraud detection software
Software is available on the market that is specifically designed to detect and prevent unemployment insurance fraud, including individual fraudsters and organized fraud rings. Most states have not yet invested in this software. They need to do so--fast.
Accelerating National New Hire Database plan
The soon-to-be-released National New Hire Database will put a dent in individual unemployment frauds. Currently, if a crook works in Illinois and makes unemployment claims in Michigan, it's unlikely the crime will be detected. The new database will make it easier to cross-match new hire data with unemployment claim data to catch those crooks who falsely claim they are unemployed while collecting a paycheck for their job. Let's pick up the pace on this initiative. We've been working on it for far too long.
A national stolen Social Security database
An unemployment claim that is fraudulently made on a stolen Social Security number would be easier to detect if there were a national database of stolen Social Security numbers. At the current time, this initiative isn't even being discussed in the halls of Congress, even though it should be near the top of their agenda. If and when a database is created, the only caveat is that it must possess airtight security features.
A business-as-usual approach by state and federal government agencies won't get the job done.Increase fraud penalties
If a criminally minded individual is contemplating defrauding state and federal government, he or she needs to know punishment will be swift and severe. A slap on the wrist is not a helpful deterrent.
More federal funds for state agencies
The ability of state agencies to fight unemployment insurance fraud is constrained in large part by the funding they receive from the federal government. State work force agency directors and employees have the skills and talent to fix this problem. What they don't have are enough funds. The Bush administration's 2006 budget includes both funding requests and a set of legislative proposals that will strengthen the integrity of the unemployment insurance system. Approval of these welcome initiatives needs to happen sooner, rather than later.
These problems are fixable. Everyone benefits from making it tough to commit unemployment insurance fraud. But a business-as-usual approach by state and federal government agencies won't get the job done. It's true that the government is being mauled by unemployment insurance fraud, but let's not blame the victim. Working together, we can stop fraud dead in its tracks.
Posted by: too true ||
06/24/2005 13:25 ||
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And this is a surprise because....?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2005 15:25 Comments ||
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More educationnal PC madness. I sux at maths (and at life in general, but that's not the point), but twisting this unique universal language to suit political aims is just plain crazy. What's wrong with theses people?
Diane Ravitch, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
It seems our math educators no longer believe in the beauty and power of the principles of mathematics. They are continually in search of a fix that will make it easy, relevant, fun, and even politically relevant. In the early 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of these could be easily performed on a calculator. The council preferred real life problem solving, using everyday situations. Attempts to solve problems without basic skills caused some critics, especially professional mathematicians, to deride the "new, new math" as "rainforest algebra."
In a comparison of a 1973 algebra textbook and a 1998 "contemporary mathematics" textbook, Williamson Evers and Paul Clopton found a dramatic change in topics. In the 1973 book, for example, the index for the letter "F" included "factors, factoring, fallacies, finite decimal, finite set, formulas, fractions, and functions." In the 1998 book, the index listed "families (in poverty data), fast food nutrition data, fat in fast food, feasibility study, feeding tours, ferris wheel, fish, fishing, flags, flight, floor plan, flower beds, food, football, Ford Mustang, franchises, and fund-raising carnival."
Those were the days of innocent dumbing-down. Now mathematics is being nudged into a specifically political direction by educators who call themselves "critical theorists." They advocate using mathematics as a tool to advance social justice. Social justice math relies on political and cultural relevance to guide math instruction. One of its precepts is "ethnomathematics," that is, the belief that different cultures have evolved different ways of using mathematics, and that students will learn best if taught in the ways that relate to their ancestral culture. From this perspective, traditional mathematics—the mathematics taught in universities around the world—is the property of Western Civilization and is inexorably linked with the values of the oppressors and conquerors. The culturally attuned teacher will learn about the counting system of the ancient Mayans, ancient Africans, Papua New Guineans, and other "non-mainstream" cultures.
Partisans of social justice mathematics advocate an explicitly political agenda in the classroom. A new textbook, "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers," shows how problem solving, ethnomathematics and political action can be merged. Among its topics are: "Sweatshop Accounting," with units on poverty, globalization, and the unequal distribution of wealth. Another topic, drawn directly from ethnomathematics, is "Chicanos Have Math in Their Blood." Others include "The Transnational Capital Auction," "Multicultural Math," and "Home Buying While Brown or Black." Units of study include racial profiling, the war in Iraq, corporate control of the media, and environmental racism. The theory behind the book is that "teaching math in a neutral manner is not possible." Teachers are supposed to vary the teaching of mathematics in relation to their students' race, gender, ethnicity, and community.
This fusion of political correctness and relevance may be the next big thing to rock mathematics education, appealing as it does to political activists and to ethnic chauvinists.
It seems terribly old-fashioned to point out that the countries that regularly beat our students in international tests of mathematics do not use the subject to steer students into political action. They teach them instead that mathematics is a universal language that is as relevant and meaningful in Tokyo as it is in Paris, Nairobi and Chicago. The students who learn this universal language well will be the builders and shapers of technology in the 21st century. The students in American classes who fall prey to the political designs of their teachers and professors will not.
#1
One of its precepts is "ethnomathematics," that is, the belief that different cultures have evolved different ways of using mathematics, and that students will learn best if taught in the ways that relate to their ancestral culture
Oh no! Oh shit! Please make it stop. Please keep it out of Title 1 and keep it out of Florida.
Amen.
/praying to whoever's out there
I'm shocked! Shocked! Debra Saunders
DON'T BE FOOLED by the slick propaganda of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The organization may claim to champion the welfare of animals, as the many photos of cute puppies and kittens on its Web site suggest. But last week, two PETA employees were charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty each, after authorities found them dumping the dead bodies of 18 animals they had just picked up from a North Carolina animal shelter into a Dumpster. According to the Associated Press, 13 more dead animals were found in a van registered to PETA. The arrest followed a rash of unwelcome discoveries of dead animals dumped in the area. According to veterinarian Patrick Proctor, the PETA people told North Carolina shelters they would try to find the dogs and cats homes. He handed over two adoptable kittens and their mother, only to learn later that they had died, without a chance to find a home, in the PETA van. "This is ethical?" Proctor railed over the phone. "I don't really think so." But it says "ethical" in their name? You mean that's not true? My faith in moonbats just went way WAY down.
This is not the first report that PETA killed animals it claimed to protect. In 1991, PETA killed 18 rabbits and 14 roosters it had previously "rescued" from a research facility. "We just don't have the money" to care for them, then PETA-Chairman Alex Pacheco told the Washington Times. The PETA animal shelter had run out of room. We had to destroy them to save them.
The Center for Consumer Freedom, which represents the food industry, a frequent target of PETA campaigns, released data filed by PETA with the state of Virginia that shows PETA has killed more than 10,000 animals from 1998 to 2003. "In 2003, PETA euthanized over 85 percent of the animals it took in," said a press release from the lobby, "finding adoptive homes for just 14 percent. By comparison, the Norfolk (Va.) SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals and Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent." Do they mention that in the brochure?
The Center's David Martosko considered PETA's hefty budget -- reportedly, $20 million -- and many contributions from well-heeled Hollywood celebrities, then figured, "PETA has enough money in the bank to care for every unwanted animal in Virginia (where it has its headquarters) and North Carolina." As long as the celebs feel good about themselves when they fork over the cash. That's whats important.
PETA prefers to spend donations, apparently, not caring for flesh-and- blood animals entrusted to it but on campaigns attacking medical researchers, meat-eaters or women wearing furs. It is as if PETA prefers the idea of animals to animals themselves. It's a lot easier to say you care about them than to actually take care of them. Cheaper too.
Why does PETA kill animals that might otherwise find a home?
I repeatedly phoned PETA, but never reached an official who would answer my questions. PETA's Web site spun the story under the banner, "PETA helping animals in North Carolina" with an emphasis on its efforts to "solve the animal overpopulation in North Carolina." Here's more: "PETA has provided euthanasia services to various counties in that state to prevent animals from being shot with a .22 behind a shed or gassed in windowless metal boxes -- both practices that were carried out until PETA volunteered to provide painless death for the animals." Make that painless deaths for animals that could have found love.
Besides, PETA always has been about killing animals. A 2003 New Yorker profile included PETA top dog Ingrid Newkirk's story of how she became involved in animal rights after a shelter put down stray kittens she brought there. So she went to work for an animal shelter in the 1970s, where, she explained, "I would go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldn't stand to let them go through (other workers abusing the animals.) I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day." Got some "issues" there maybe, Ingrid?
That's right. PETA assails other parties for killing animals for food or research. Then it kills animals -- but for really important reasons, such as running out of room. Martosko hopes animal lovers will learn that their donations will do more good at a local animal shelter than at PETA. "For years," he added, "we thought that PETA just cared for animals more than they cared for humans. But now it seems they don't care much for either."
No lie about not caring for people. In 2003, Newkirk hectored late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat because a terrorist blew up a donkey in an attempt to blow up people. Newkirk also told the New Yorker the world would be a better place without people. She explained why she had herself sterilized: "I am opposed to having children. Having a purebred human baby is like having a purebred dog; it's nothing but vanity, human vanity." Nice lady...
Now you know. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals doesn't really like people. PETA has no use for ethics. And PETA kills animals. But it's for their own good! Don't you see that? Hope your house don't get firebombed lady.
#5
PETA is widely believed by show dog people to have released a number of valuable and deeply loved dogs at shows, several of whom were hit by cars or starved, wandering confused in strange-to-them places. IIRC they took credit for several such releases a few years ago but now won't publicly admit to them after the threat of some hefty lawsuits.
I've been at shows where the club was notified of attempts to release dogs. We all try to look out for one another's dogs back in the parking / grooming areas even more carefully now and I've personally warned off a couple of scruffy types mouthing snide nasty slogans around my exercise pens / grooming table at shows.
One retired professional handler will occasionally tell the story of finding two young animal rights types about to release crated dogs in his care. They were surprised to find that this older, short, compact man holds a black belt in judo ... and yes! unfortunately a bone or two were broken in the tussle. Theirs, not his.
I'm all for Newkirk not reproducing, however, either biologically or ideologically.
#7
I thought it was common knowledge that PETA was against the very idea of pets. In that light, slaughtering the animals rather than placing them makes sense -- they don't end up pets, after all.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/24/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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I would like to see some of those PETA fascists try to monkey business around some 200+ lb Bullmastiff...
{heh heh heh}
Or even a 135 lb Rottweiler male maybe after the scent of a female dog in heat is placed where the PETAs would have to pick it up on themselves or their clothing before they could get at the dog they were trying to vandalize...
{heh heh heh}
#15
As we all know it has nothing to do with Animials and everyting to do with Communist/Socalist agenda.
I saw one of these self rightous ass wipes in a brand new SUV plastered with PETA bumper stickers near Vale Colorado. I flipped his ass off. Stupid wankers.
More than 200 international human rights and civic groups yesterday urged the African Union and the UN to stop Zimbabwe's government destroying the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poor city dwellers. In a joint statement, the groups said the campaign was "a grave violation of international human rights law and a disturbing affront to human dignity".
There. That oughta do it.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe defends the drive as an urban renewal initiative against illegal buildings and traders, but his political opposition, which has its base among the urban poor, says the month-long campaign is meant to punish its supporters.
The international groups, including Amnesty International and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said the number of people affected was conservatively estimated as at least 300,000. The UN puts the figure as high as 1.5 million, though Zimbabwe's police only acknowledge about 120,000.
Bands of armed thugs Police have torched or bulldozed tens of thousands of shacks and street stalls since launching the blitz on May 19. Other buildings have been torn down by their owners at gunpoint. Two children, aged one and one-and-a-half years, died this month after they were crushed by rubble during the demolition of their houses, the state media reported yesterday.
The UN said it planned to send a special envoy to Zimbabwe to assess the situation.
From AI to the UN. In the meantime, the bulldozers keep rolling ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This is what the US is facing in our OWN COUNTRY thanks to the robed asshats, known as the SC.
#3
And Bob and wifey will be shopping in Paris again this summer... If our special forces can manage to kill Princess Diana in Paris surely they can dispatch Bob in a similarly effective manner...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/24/2005 4:49 Comments ||
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Security Council members agreed on a plan Thursday to send more peacekeepers and police to Ivory Coast in a bid to get the country's peace process back on track.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the current council president, said a council resolution authorizing 850 more troops and 375 police would be put to a vote on Friday. It was virtually certain to be approved. France had wanted more troops to complement the 6,200-strong mission but faced opposition, including from the United States on the swelling costs of peacekeeping.
No doubt the French offered to pick up the tab ...
``It was the best compromise we (could) get, you know this is life in the council,'' de La Sabliere said. ``We have accepted, because we think there was a kind of urgency.''
Council members also agreed they could transfer troops from another U.N. mission in Sierra Leone if necessary. De La Sabliere said that could be some 1,200 troops for now.
Rebels aided and abetted by the French at times have controlled the northern half of Ivory Coast since a failed coup attempt in September 2002 sparked a civil war in the world's top cocoa producer. A French-brokered peace deal in January 2003 has failed to hold. In a peace accord signed April 6, warring parties agreed to end hostilities and disarm.
Two months after Ivory Coast's rebels and government signed the deal, the crisis in Ivory Coast has only gotten worse with rising tension and new violence. The two sides have agreed to meet in Pretoria, South Africa next week to try to jump-start the process.
I'd get worried if the UN types start talking about a 'roadmap'.
The draft resolution circulated Thursday backed those efforts and urged the two sides to get back to the peace process.
That's going well, doncha think?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Rights groups showed a smuggled video Thursday of hundreds of thousands of poor Zimbabweans living in the open in the winter cold after the government tore down their homes in what it describes as an urban renewal project. At news conferences in Africa and at the United Nations, more than 200 international human rights and civic groups said the campaign, known as Operation Drive Out Trash, was "a grave violation of international human rights law and a disturbing affront to human dignity." Police prevent journalists from filming the demolitions, so the footage was collected clandestinely by the church-based Solidarity Peace Trust.
The groups, including London-based Amnesty International and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, released the footage showing bewildered families sleeping in the open in the winter cold after police torched and bulldozed their shanty town homes. Street markets were also targeted, their stalls left in smoldering ruins. Zimbabwe opposition leaders, who have their base among the urban poor, say the monthlong campaign is meant to punish their supporters for voting against the ruling party in recent parliamentary elections. President Robert Mugabe has described Drive Out Trash as an urban renewal campaign.
The Zimbabwean government pledged Thursday to build new houses for those it has made homeless. After a seven-hour meeting of the government's highest policy-making body, Zimbabwe spokesman Ephraim Masawi was quoted on state radio as saying military personnel would lead national and provincial reconstruction committees being formed immediately.
Norm Geras, perhaps the most honorable and honest Socialist out there today (I'm serious), has a big page on his blog about the agony of Zimbabwe, and has a link to pictures that are heart-wrenching. Damn, but we need a Special Forces team to take out Bob. US, UK, Aussie, whoever's willing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This is the UK's mess, Zim was a UK colony under it's former name. The SAS needs to pay Bob a midnight visit.
#2
I don't care who does it. I don't care how humane or inhumane it is not. Just do it. Millions of people can get on with enjoying life as soon as it is done. I don't normally think that killing leaders is the way to go. But some things are blindingly obvious.
#3
It's wrong for me to be so callous. On second thought, so I can sleep better with myself at night, let's capture him and him over to PETA. It's the humane thing to do.
MULTAN: A man stoned his 45-year-old wife to death on suspicion of having an affair with a man in the same area at Jalalpur Pirwala late on Wednesday night. Jalalpur Pirwala Saddar Police said Asghar had reported that his sister Jannat Mai (45) was married to Bashir for about 30 years. He said she allegedly had an affair with Kammu and that offended Bashir. Bashir stoned his wife to death on Wednesday night, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't think we can understand the primitive way they treat their women worse than farm animals....
But of course they would never in a million years understand that a Bachelor is selected to pick his favorite from 25 women on national TV, then celebrates by going on a walk with his favorite and her dog... Ain't love grand...
Charlie O'Connell & Sarah Brice with Lucy the Chevialier Spaniel
#2
Heh. Looks like a bra stickin' outta ol' Charlie's back pocket there, Big Ed. I see li'l Sarah's strap peeking out on her shoulder - so it ain't hers... 25 did ya say? Could only pick one, huh? On-air, ya mean? Myns. They all be the same - cuz they be wired that way.
#4
I pick up after mine in a hick town. On a farm one may not care but in town, it's neither courteous nor sanitary to have high concentrations of animal waste in proximity to people.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/24/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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#5
Mrs D. Exactly... Charlie is trying to be a good citizen...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The European Union must reform or risk failure as an economic bloc and social model, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday, responding to EU leaders who blame him for the collapse of their summit last week. The bloc needs a new blueprint with "urgent" reforms, Blair said, if Europe wants to meet the needs of its citizens and compete with other top economic powerhouses like the United States, China and India. "If we don't adapt, our social model is put at risk," he said.
More than 200 international human rights and civic groups yesterday urged the African Union and the UN to stop Zimbabwe's government destroying the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poor city dwellers. In a joint statement, the groups said the campaign was "a grave violation of international human rights law and a disturbing affront to human dignity".
MULTAN: A man stoned his 45-year-old wife to death on suspicion of having an affair with a man in the same area at Jalalpur Pirwala late on Wednesday night. Jalalpur Pirwala Saddar Police said Asghar had reported that his sister Jannat Mai (45) was married to Bashir for about 30 years. He said she allegedly had an affair with Kammu and that offended Bashir. Bashir stoned his wife to death on Wednesday night, he added.
