Democracy for billionaires

Guess who wrote this:

“The U.S. government should become the protector of the Palestinian people’s right to have a decent amount of land. The desire of some Israelis to use security as an excuse to grab more Palestinian land should be blocked by Washington even if that requires employing financial or other leverage to compel the Israeli government to behave reasonably on the issue of settlements. It is vital to our credibility in the entire Middle East that we insist on an end to Israeli expansionism. It is vital to our humanitarian duty to the Palestinian people that we protect the weaker party from the stronger power. It is vital that the world sees that our total support for Israeli security is not matched by a one-sided support for more extreme Israeli territorial demands.”

Noam Chomsky? No. Tony Judt? No. Norman Finkelstein? No. Give up? It was [Read more…]

ACLU sues Obama administration over assassination secrecy

In October of last year, the ACLU filed a FOIA request to have the Obama administration release the legal and factual information relating to the killing of three American citizens: Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, all killed by drone attacks. The administration not only refused to release any information, it would not even admit the existence of a targeted killing program. So yesterday the ACLU sued the government for the release of documents containing the “factual and legal basis” for these actions. As the lawsuit says [Read more…]

What your major says about your family members

I came across a study that reports:

We surveyed an entire class of high-functioning young adults at an elite university for prospective major, familial incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders, and demographic and attitudinal questions. Students aspiring to technical majors (science/mathematics/engineering) were more likely than other students to report a sibling with an autism spectrum disorder (p=0.037). Conversely, students interested in the humanities were more likely to report a family member with major depressive disorder (p=8.8×10−4), bipolar disorder (p=0.027), or substance abuse problems (p=1.9×10−6).

Since my older daughter majored in engineering and the younger in humanities, that must mean that our family has a good chance of developing a fairly good set of neuropsychiatric disorders, no?

Film: Game Change

I do not particularly care for films that re-tell real political history based on the reports of journalists who cover the campaigns. They too often deal with the second level of politics and avoid the more important third hidden level that deals with the oligarchic influence on the system itself.

But I will make an exception and likely see Game Change, the new HBO film [Read more…]

Has global warming tapered off?

Observational or experimental data, if plotted on a graph, consist of a set of discrete points. There are potentially an infinite number of lines that can be drawn through those points. In some cases, the data itself suggests an overall rising or lowering trend but whether the relationship is a simple linear one or more complicated is not often easily discernible with the naked eye. We have to impose a curve based on prior expectations of [Read more…]

The Daily Show on private equity companies

A few days ago, I wrote about how private equity companies like Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital worked. Jon Stewart adds to that story.

To get hints on how to view clips on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. This show was broadcast on January 31, 2012.