News & Current Affairs
News: Now Sh-t is Going Crazy in Egypt!
Read more on the Egypt unrest: The New York Times | Al Jazeera
– Sh-t is WILD for the Night in Tunisia Right Now!
– Did Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Try to Use the Tunisia Riots to ‘Pull a Palin.
Lessons from Portugal: A Look at the Fallacy of the ‘War on Drugs’
Maybe the answers are in Portugal (see the video above) and (not what you think), the Netherlands.
Related:
– Op-Ed by Fernando Henrique Cardoso (former president of Brazil, 1995-2002): The war on drugs is lost. [Toronto Star]
Hit the jump for Reason TV’s interview with author, Glenn Greenwald who wrote a Cato Institute policy paper titled, Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies.
Video: Trailer for Bjorn Lomborg’s Cool It Documentary
Bjorn Lomborg, author of the book The Skeptical Environmentalist, is not a nut-job global warming denier. He just thinks the debate around the topic has become over-heated and alarmist and says the solutions to address the problem are a lot less expensive and cumbersome than those currently being discussed. As you can imagine, Lomborg is a controversial figure in climate change and environmental circles. The film, Cool It (trailer above) examines this controversy. Hit the jump to also watch his 2007 TED presentation on what ‘Our priorities for saving the world’ should be.
Related:
Peter Howell: Bjorn Lomborg: Get smart before going green. [Toronto Star]
Cool It online – website | facebook |
Bjorn Lomborg online – twitter | website
Hey Conservatives: The Founding Fathers were for ‘Socialized’ Medicine & State-Mandated Health Care!
So says Rick Ungar in an intriguing post on his Forbes magazine blog, The Policy Page:
“The ink was barely dry on the PPACA when the first of many lawsuits to block the mandated health insurance provisions of the law was filed in a Florida District Court.
The pleadings, in part, read –
The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage.
State of Florida, et al. vs. HHS
It turns out, the Founding Fathers would beg to disagree.
In July of 1798, Congress passed – and President John Adams signed – “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance.”
If you didn’t click that link to read the Act, hit the jump to read a copy the legislation, “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.”
[via The Young Turks]
Read an Excerpt from O: A Presidential Novel
The last campaign had tested his self-control. The eighteen-hour days, the frenetic travel, the bad food, the loss of autonomy, and the silly expectations imposed on him. The ersatz patriotism. The feigned conviviality with strangers who asked him outlandish questions. suffering the predictable whining of reporters who swooned to his message of change but were themselves averse to change. You dropped two points in a poll or said something obviously true but too blunt for ears trained to detect danger in honesty and they were at your throat. People crowding you every waking minute. Take a few days to recharge or a couple of hours to shoot some hoops or take your wife out, and you’re cocky or lackadaisical.
But he had kept it together, mostly. In private, he could become cross when mistakes occurred or when assurances proved false or when pressed to conform to campaign orthodoxies he thought stupid. But staff who had experienced his displeasure marveled at his ability to appear unbothered and focused in public. He didn’t overreact to unexpected setbacks. He never acted impulsively when surprised. Never let his instincts, which were as insistent as any politician’s, overcome his reason. Never seemed to give a [expletive] when reporters or griping party insiders were concerned he wasn’t hustling enough, responding to attacks quickly enough, worrying enough. He never appeared anxious over the outcome or desperate for the office. He told his story. He was different and he would make the stupid, maddening business of Washington politics different.
[Click the ‘more…’ or ‘continue reading’ links below link to read the rest of the excerpt, courtesy NYT]
Related:
Obama inspired book is political science fiction. [Toronto Star]
#DK11: The album, This One Goes To Eleven… OUT NOW
