This excellent documentary, produced by Al Jazeera, gives a capsule history of Egypt from the time of Nasser to the present day under Mubarak. The underlying theme is the ever-present frustration of the Egyptian people with an autocratic and insular government that doles out progress like porridge to an orphan. It is probably the clearest explanation of the recent history of this pivital country you will see. Note: the complete video is 47 minutes long…
Welcome to Amerika where most, but not all, of the news is fit to watch. Apparently Comcast (my provider) doesn’t think we should watch Al Jazeera. I might see something wrong about their vision of the world. And you thought this sort of censorship only happened in China? Think again…
Al Jazeera English Blacked Out Across Most Of U.S.
Ryan Grim | Huffington Post | 30 Jan 11
WASHINGTON – Canadian television viewers looking for the most thorough and in-depth coverage of the uprising in Egypt have the option of tuning into Al Jazeera English, whose on-the-ground coverage of the turmoil is unmatched by any other outlet. American viewers, meanwhile, have little choice but to wait until one of the U.S. cable-company-approved networks broadcasts footage from AJE, which the company makes publicly available. What they can’t do is watch the network directly.
Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. – including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. – cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera. That corporate censorship comes as American diplomats harshly criticize the Egyptian government for blocking Internet communication inside the country and as Egypt attempts to block Al Jazeera from broadcasting.
A little musical diversion brought to you by the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Note: I suggest you click on the lower right icon to play this at full screen. Then plug in your ear phones and turn up the volume full blast. Enjoy…
On December 22nd, in the face of unanimous bipartisan support, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (Bill S.372) was killed at the last minute when a mystery Senator placed what’s called an “anonymous hold” on the bill. This bill had already been passed by the Senate earlier in December and by the House earlier that same day, but in the final vote on the reconciled bill, which is designed to protect government workers from being punished – as they usually are – for exposing illegality, waste and corruption – it was shut down by a lone anonymous hold. NPR’s “On the Media,” in conjunction with the Government Accountability Project, would like to hold our government accountable. Below is a video explaining this issue with links to how you can contact your Senator to determine if they are the single, anonymous holdout preventing this important bill from passage…
The President’s new emphasis on the importance of investing in education, infrastructure, and basic research in order to build the nation’s long-term competitive capacities is appropriate. For the last three decades the federal government’s spending on these three essentials has declined as a percentage of its total spending, arguably threatening America’s technological and economic leadership.
But the President’s failure to address the decoupling of American corporate profits from American jobs, and explain specifically what he’ll do to get jobs back, not only risks making his grand plans for reviving the nation’s “competitiveness” seem somewhat beside the point but also cedes to Republicans the dominant narrative.
Exciting news, folks. Obama and team say they’re recalibrating, recasting, retooling and rebranding his presidency! And they’ve come up with a dandy new slogan to sum it all up and get America moving again. Ready? “Win the future.”
Paul Krugman’s singular expression on the State of the Union (SOTU) speech…
Meh!
Paul Krugman | NYTimes | 26 Jan 11
So, I’ve read the text, and find it hard to extract any theme. We’re going to invest in the future — but we’re also going to freeze domestic spending. So mixed signals — and although there were no numbers, given the further assurance that the freeze won’t affect anything important, this has to mean that the investment plans are small change.
Paul Krugman’s singular expression on the State of the Union (SOTU) speech…
Meh!
Paul Krugman | NYTimes | 26 Jan 11
So, I’ve read the text, and find it hard to extract any theme. We’re going to invest in the future — but we’re also going to freeze domestic spending. So mixed signals — and although there were no numbers, given the further assurance that the freeze won’t affect anything important, this has to mean that the investment plans are small change.
Isaac Isimov was famous for predicting the future. Listen to what he had to say about the idea that some day everyone on the planet would have access to all the information in the world…
Isaac Isimov predicts the Internet
_______________________________________________________________________________ Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards. His works have been published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System.
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