Jim Mohr of Gonzaga University trying to figure out what makes one group of people hate another. He is developing a new academic field on the topic though the Institute for Action Against Hate at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
and another term for this...?
On his maiden Asia swing, Obama has made a vivid display of his own trademark style — the diplomacy of deference.
...
White House aides say the approach is deliberate — part of Obama’s determination to deliver on his campaign promise of directly engaging friends and enemies alike, giving America a less belligerent posture abroad.
“I think it’s very important for the United States not to assume that what is good for us is automatically good for somebody else,” Obama told the students at the town hall, in Shanghai. “And we have to have some modesty about our attitudes towards other countries.”
Yeah. Human Dignity and Freedom of the Individual—just another choice among equals…
The approach also invests deep faith in the power of Obama’s personal presence—a belief that a calm and reasonable style will summon calm and reasonable responses around the world.
“He believes in vigorous engagement around the world — in strong alliances, in confronting our adversaries and standing up for human rights by making these points in a very public way,” Axelrod said. “He is confident. He’s someone who’s leading from strength and a deep belief in who America is and what we stand for. That confidence is reflected in the way he conducts himself on the world stage.”
He really thinks we’re all on drugs, doesn’t he?
A senior administration official called the bow to Emperor Akihito a “sign of respect,” adding that the depth of the bow reflected “the level of respect.”
“This is part of what the president says all the time — that he wants to be mindful of other cultures,” the official said. “That doesn’t take anything away from our culture.”
mindful…
Axelrod said skepticism about Obama’s approach is a reflection of the nation’s “A.D.D. political culture, in which every day is Election Day and people want all results immediately.
Keep molesting that chicken, David. We buy it—Mmm… mmm ...mmm.
11/18 at 09:28 AM •
(16) Extra Credit • Pass it on...
Levi Johnston was lie-telling about how much he bared for Playgirl. Despite reports, he didn’t pose full frontal.
~ * ~
People who will be viewing online or in print are going to be short changed. A spokesperson for Playgirl told Us magazine that Johnston did not go full frontal and essentially called his camp a bunch of lairs for suggesting as much.
Sorry, guys.
In 2002 Responsible Travel became one of the first travel companies to offer customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter the planet-warming emissions
But in October, Responsible Travel canceled the program, saying that while it might help travelers feel virtuous, it was not helping to reduce global emissions. In fact, company officials said, it might even encourage some people to travel or consume more.
“The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.“‘
Offsets, he argues, are distracting people from making more significant behavioral changes, like flying less.
duh
Being with all these inspired people seems to have filled my head with a zillion ideas for musical endeavours that could easily save the world.
Easily.
My response was to place a park bench on a newly formed iceberg or floating ice-shelf off the fast-moving coast of West Greenland. A bench which, in its fragility and remoteness, becomes a silent witness of the dramatic changes that are occurring in the Arctic.
A bench with nobody to sit on.
The rest. Please bring your own 100% post-consumer recycled barf bag.
Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with .................
*drumroll*
you need your disco
Stepperg
“Ladies & Gentlemen of the jury ...”
...Obama said those offended by the legal privileges given to Mohammed by virtue of getting a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won’t find it “offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”
Hu Go, Bama!
Obama quickly added that he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed’s trial. “I’m not going to be in that courtroom,” he said. “That’s the job of the prosecutors, the judge and the jury.”
...uh .... er… uh....
[Holder says] “I have every confidence the nation and the world will see him for the coward he is,” ... “I’m not scared of what (Mohammed) will have to say at trial — and no one else needs to be either.”
Holder says the public and the nation’s intelligence secrets can be protected during a public trial in civilian court.
“We need not cower in the face of this enemy,” Holder says. “Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready.”
For?
Srsly. Is taunting what’s really best for the people of Manhattan? Izzat that there noo Smart Diplomacy™ we back-woods redneck ideologically-stuck moe-rahns are too un-subtle to comp-re-hend, hm?
“I think this notion that we have to be fearful that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake,” Obama said…
“special powers” WTF’nFF R U on about?!?!?
“We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power — civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic and others — to win,” Holder says.
11/18 at 07:13 AM •
(15) Extra Credit • Pass it on...
Improper payments by the U.S. government to people, firms and contractors rose sharply to $98 billion in fiscal 2009 and President Barack Obama plans new rules to clamp down, the White House said Tuesday.
Over half the mistakes were made in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and although some of the deterioration reflected stricter measurement, it also showed the need for healthcare reform…
...higher government spending due to the recession, explained a big part of the jump in government waste....
...We don’t think there are a lot of them…
Officials tell ABC News, so far, they have found 700 mistakenly credited congressional districts…
More than 15 million taxpayers may owe the government $250 or more because of how the IRS last spring set up President Barack Obama’s tax break that was designed to help consumers spend the U.S. economy out of recession.
Individuals with more than one job and married couples in which both spouses work may have to repay the government $400, either through a smaller tax refund or a larger tax bill…
live from Planet Larry…
Head Mook: The “Conservatives” are the problem with the Republican Party....
lesser Lympian:I don’t think there is a difference anymore.
bonus Lympian quote o the ding dong day:
There is one problem with Levi. He’s too stupid to tell a lie.
Retirees and Vets Allowed to Salute Flag
Traditionally, members of the nation’s veterans service organizations render the hand-salute during the national anthem and at events involving the national flag while wearing their organization’s official head-gear. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 contained an amendment to allow un-uniformed servicemembers, military retirees, and veterans to render a hand salute during the hoisting, lowering, or passing of the U.S. flag. A later amendment further authorized hand-salutes during the national anthem by veterans and out-of-uniform military personnel. This was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which Former President Bush signed on Oct. 14, 2008.
via Chrissie
H/T 
~ ref ~
FYI, this is what it looks like when an ACTUAL oppressive, totalitarian theocracy crushes dissent.
Iran has sentenced five people to death over the unrest that followed the country’s disputed June presidential election, state television reported Tuesday.
[...]
Iran began a mass trial in August of prominent opposition figures and activists, accusing them of a range of charges from rioting to spying and plotting what authorities have called a “soft revolution” to topple the country’s Islamic rulers.
But yeah, don’t let that get you down, you were all so terribly brave in speaking out against Bush. Have a cookie.
Shit, have a Nobel Prize.
It’s a little long. Not Bill Whittle long. I present below a brief excerpt, and I suggest that you read the rest.
You might like it.
Americans—remember them?—should be asking themselves what it means that a woman of traditional American values can be so reviled, so relentlessly, so unscrupulously, so take-no-prisoners viciously. She doesn’t need to become president to perform an invaluable role. Why is she so popular in the heartland? Because she is us. A good-hearted ambitious American doing her best to offer her best. If they—and who are they, exactly?—hate her so much, then it has to be the case that she’s only a symbol of the hatred they feel for all the rest of us. If ordinary average Americans ever figure this part of the equation out, the ‘liberals’ are done forever. I’m thinking Sarah Palin is making that outcome more likely.
[ 56% of 1,502] Americans [ polled by the AP ] don’t want to shoulder the cost of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul themselves. They think
the richsomebody else should pay for it....
$1,591,200
Total Personal Staff members for other first ladies paid by taxpayers:
Jackie Kennedy: 1
Roseline Carter: 1
Barbara Bush: 1
Hilary Clinton: 3
Laura Bush: 1
Michele Obama: 22
Melissy in Texas
