December 3, 2013

Twin Cities: Building a better bus stop

(Star-Tribune) City leaders want more people to use transit as they seek to grow Minneapolis' population, but some local urbanists feel some relatively simple improvements are being overlooked.

Case in point: Bus stops. For many people unfamiliar with local transit, the bus system at a glance can be quite intimidating.

University of Minnesota professor David Levinson has written extensively and recently at Streets.MN about what he has dubbed the "sorry state of bus stop signs" in the Twin Cities. Levinson argues that bus signs in the region provide too little information, particularly compared to other transit-friendly cities.

“If you go to most bus stops in the city of Minneapolis, the bus stop sign says 'bus stop,'" Levinson said in an interview this fall. "Which is I guess better than not having a sign at all. But if you go to another city where they care about transit, the bus stop signs provide a lot of information about where the buses are going, when they run, what the schedule is." ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/234102111.html

December 3, 2013

London Mayor Boris Johnson opens his big, stupid mouth, inserts both feet

(Independent UK) London Mayor Boris Johnson was forced to declare that “no one said IQ is the only measure of ability” when he was ambushed live on air with a short quiz and failed to give a single correct answer.

Appearing today for the first time since he controversially seemed to suggest low IQ was the reason poor people did not succeed in life, the Eton- and Oxford-educated politician was set three official IQ questions by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari.

The mayor appeared evasive when answering the questions on his regular Ask Boris radio slot, and also struggled to answer some basic queries about London Underground ticket fares.

Asked how many apples he would have if he took two apples from three apples, the Mayor replied: “You've got loads of apples mate, you've got one apple left.”

Mr Ferrari said: “You say you've got one apple? You haven't, you've got two apples.” ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-fails-to-give-any-correct-answers-when-ambushed-with-iq-test-live-on-air-8980365.html

December 3, 2013

American Family Association declares war on the imaginary War on Christmas, again.......

Scrooge Alert: Boycott Radio Shack this Christmas
November 25, 2013


AFA is calling for a limited one-month boycott of Radio Shack over the company's censorship of the word "Christmas."

For years, Radio Shack has refused to use the word Christmas on its website, in television commercials, newspaper ads and in-store promotions, despite tens of thousands of consumer requests to recognize Christmas and in spite of repeated requests from AFA to do the same.

Want proof? Go to www.radioshack.com and type "Christmas" in the search bar. As of today, the website brings up zero results.

At Radio Shack, you'll find "holiday" deals, "holiday" kickoff, "holiday" cash and a "holiday" gift guide, but you won't find "Christmas" anywhere. .................(more, sadly)

The complete piece (of ****) is at: http://www.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147541490

December 3, 2013

White, affluent residents of south Baton Rouge want to secede from the rest of the city

The predominantly white and comparatively affluent residents of south Baton Rouge want to secede from the rest of the city and form a city of their own, according to a report from the Raw Story.

What started as a repeatedly thwarted attempt to create a new school district has transformed into a broader campaign to create a new city called “St. George.” The proposed borders of St. George would encompass around 25 percent of Baton Rouge’s population, but because of the location of two major retail centers, the city would strip Baton Rouge of 40 percent of its sales tax revenue.

A study by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, reported by Baton Rouge’s the Advocate, found that the effects of the partition would be economically devastating for the remainder of Baton Rouge, immediately creating a $53 million budget shortfall. The study also raised concerns as to whether the remaining portions of Baton Rouge would be able to support public services despite the loss of tax revenue. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2013/12/02/white_affluent_residents_of_south_baton_rouge_want_to_secede_from_the_rest_of_the_city/

December 3, 2013

Who's watching the watchers?: Landmark case over "No-Fly" database

Watching the Watch List: Landmark Case Goes to Trial over Massive U.S. Terrorism "No-Fly" Database
Published on Dec 2, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org - With hundreds of thousands of people now on the government's terrorist watch lists, a closely watched trial begins today in San Francisco. Stanford University Ph.D student Rahinah Ibrahim is suing the U.S. government after she was barred from flying from Malaysia back to the United States in 2005 to complete her studies at Stanford after her name was placed on the list. The New York Times reports that the federal government's terrorist watch list, officially called the "Terrorist Screening Database," has grown to at least 700,000 people and those on the list are often subjected to extra scrutiny, prohibited from flying, and interrogated while attempting to cross borders. The government refuses to divulge who is on the list, how one can get off the list, and what criteria is used to place someone on the list in the first place. Often times, people have no idea their name's in the database until they attempt to board a flight. We speak with Anya Bernstein, associate professor at the SUNY Buffalo Law School and author of the article, "The Hidden Costs of Terrorist Watch Lists."

December 3, 2013

Uruguayan President Asks World To Help Him Legalize Weed

Uruguay’s president wants the world to lend him a hand in his quest to legalize weed.

In an interview with Brazilian daily A Folha de São Paulo published Sunday, José Mujica defended his push to legalize the limited government sale of marijuana, calling on foreign governments to support the project.

“We ask the world to help us create this experience,” Mujica told A Folha de São Paulo during an interview at his farm outside Montevideo. “It will allow us to adopt a socio-political experiment to address the serious problem of drug trafficking… the effect of the drug traffic is worse than the drug.”

A law that would give the government a monopoly on the controlled sale of legal marijuana has already passed the national legislature’s lower house. The Senate, where Mujica’s supporters hold a majority, is expected to pass the unprecedented measure as well. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/mujica-legalize-marijuana_n_4373924.html

December 3, 2013

The Naiveté of Nihilism: How Occupy challenged the way we think, speak and act upon resistance

from In These Times:


The Naiveté of Nihilism
How Occupy challenged the way we think, speak and act upon resistance.

BY Marilyn Katz


“Now that I’ve already done my best to fix the world and it didn’t work, I am at peace with the fact that it is no longer my job and won’t be again for a few more generations to come. I have settled for acts of solitary resistance and disinvolvement, at every possible turn. It’s my religion now,” writes Matthew Richards, age 21.

If these words were written by Chicago civil rights activist Timuel Black who at the age of 90 is writing his biography and was thrilled to get a birthday greeting from President Obama, I would comment on how sad it was that a man who had done so much for and given so much to the world assessed his life that way. That it was written by a 21 year old strikes me not as sad, but short sighted, more than a bit narcissistic, if not absurd.

A Failure? Is he kidding? Occupy was far from a failure; rather it was a great success. No, it didn’t topple Wall Street—that was never going to happen as a result of a takeover (rightly) of what should be public space. What it did was wake up a somnambulant nation; illuminate the reality of a fundamental change in capitalism that for some reason had eluded all for many years. 1%? 99%? These terms no longer need explanation.

What Occupy did was change our fundamental vocabulary and reveal the paradigm of the current state of capitalism. Occupy changed our language. It changed our thinking. And, perhaps most important, while it could not sustain its tactic, as an agitprop event it spawned other movements with a broader base and trajectory. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/15918/the_naivete_of_nihilism/

December 3, 2013

Thom Hartmann: The Banksters Are Now Setting Up the Crash of 2016

The Banksters Are Now Setting Up the Crash of 2016

Monday, 02 December 2013 15:05
By The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed



.....(snip).....

Right now, millions of Americans are still struggling to recover from the 2008 financial collapse.

That collapse was fueled by the housing crisis, when Wall Street banksters were running around betting on risky mortgage-backed securities that they could sell to investors and make billions from.

They were able to do that because the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and the Commodities Futures Modernization Act had blown up rational banking regulations, and, as a result, we saw things like the so-called mortgage "liar loans".

.....(snip).....

Banksters can't run the same scam as they did during the housing crisis.

So, they've found a new way to come up with real-estate-backed securities that can be turned into derivatives, worth billions in profits.

How? They've become landlords. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/20378-the-banksters-are-now-setting-up-the-crash-of-2016

December 3, 2013

"Somebody Had to Do It First": The Story of Shirley Chisholm

"Somebody Had to Do It First": The Story of Shirley Chisholm

Sunday, 01 December 2013 00:00
By Eleanor J Bader, Truthout | Book Review

"Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change," by Barbara Winslow, Lives of American Women Series, Westview Press, 192 pages, $2013, $20.00 paperback.

Barbara Winslow's "Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change" profiles the first black - or woman - presidential candidate, a person who prided herself on being "unbossed and unbought."

Historian Barbara Winslow's fascinating portrait of trailblazer Shirley Chisholm (1926-2005) offers activists and organizers an inside look at one woman's political ascent. Although little of the material in the book is new, Winslow's synthesis and attention to race, class and gender dynamics makes it an excellent introduction to a woman who prided herself on being "unbossed and unbought." What's more, Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change acknowledges the limitations of individual achievement and credits "the great social movements of the twentieth century - including some outside the United States" for helping to boost Chisholm's influence and power.

But let's start at the beginning. Shirley St. Hill - Chisholm was her first husband's surname - was born in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class immigrants from Barbados. As the Great Depression worsened, her parents sent her and two sisters back "home," where they were reared on land owned by their grandmother, a domestic servant. Because grandma left at sun-up and did not return for 15 hours, the girls essentially were raised by their teenage aunt. "Grandmother's large house sat on a plot that provided the family's food: Sweet potatoes, yams, corn, tomatoes and root vegetables," Winslow writes. "The waters around the island provided abundant seafood, including the Barbadian staple flying fish." The girls had chores on the farm but also had access to sea, sand and an array of animals. School - one room - lasted eight hours a day and included corporal punishment. Lessons were focused exclusively on academics and religious and moral instruction. Discipline was prized. But being taught by black teachers allowed Chisholm to see people of color as competent and professionally successful, something she might not have witnessed had she remained in New York.

By the time she returned to Brooklyn, however, there was much she needed to adjust to. Not only did the weather fluctuate between brutally hot and brutally cold, the streets, buses and subways were filthy, crowded and noisy; she was terrified. Kids, however, are resilient, and Shirley quickly adapted, excelling in school and declaring that she wanted "to spend her life in the service of education."

She graduated from Brooklyn's Girls' High in 1942. "And even though she was offered scholarships to attend Vassar and Oberlin colleges, her family could not pay for room and board at an out-of-state school. Somewhat reluctantly, she applied to Brooklyn College and was admitted," Winslow writes. Tuition was free, a great boon to countless working-class and poor youths from the five boroughs. And because Chisholm could live at home and get to class by public means, she savored the opportunity. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/20168-somebody-had-to-do-it-first-the-story-of-shirley-chisholm

December 3, 2013

Eugene Robinson: Morally Questionable Go-To Weapon

from truthdig:


Morally Questionable Go-To Weapon

Posted on Dec 2, 2013
By Eugene Robinson


U.S. drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries may be militarily effective, but they are killing innocent civilians in a way that is obscene and immoral. I’m afraid that ignoring this ugly fact makes Americans complicit in murder.

It is understandable why President Obama has made drone attacks his go-to weapon in the fight against terrorists and the Taliban. Armed, pilotless aircraft allow the CIA and the military to target individuals in enemy strongholds without putting U.S. lives at risk. But efficacy is not legitimacy, and I don’t see how drone strikes can be considered a wholly legitimate way to wage war.

This is an unpopular view in Washington—especially at the White House, where Obama and his aides have done much to erase the stain on the nation’s honor left by the excesses of George W. Bush’s Global War on Terrorism. It is to his great credit that Obama ended torture, shut down the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and made a good-faith effort to close the detention center at Guantanamo.

But Obama has greatly expanded the use of drones, and his version of the terror war looks a lot like a campaign of assassination. ..............................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/morally_questionable_go-to_weapon_20131202