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POPSLondon's Little People Project he Little People Project: it's a guilt-free street art project. Tiny little figures (tiny! Smaller than a dime!) are placed around London. Most of them will never be noticed, but I like to imagine some kid will find some of these someday and be delighted by the surreal magic of the world. --John Brownlee, Wired Blogs: Table of Malcontents Like Amelie finding the little boy's treasure box in her wall-- I'd like to imagine that too.
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POPSWal-Mart "You Bastards"!!!! The company persuaded a federal district court judge and the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to award it the full amount, even though Shank's family had paid for the lawsuit. Nor did it matter that the settlement covered a fraction of her expenses and losses. Wal-Mart's healthcare plan clearly states that it gets first dibs on any money recovered by injured employees. Such provisions aren't uncommon in health plans, and Wal-Mart isn't the first to enforce one. Doing what the law allows isn't the same as doing the right thing, however. The company made itself whole at the expense of a helpless former employee who will never be whole again. Instead of having some resources to improve her care, Shank will receive only the basic services afforded her by Medicaid and Social Security. Nor will the trust fund be in a position to reimburse Medicaid (i.e., taxpayers), which stood to collect any unspent money upon Shank's death.
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POPSFear Factor: How Herd Mentality Drives Us
"Whether it's the fear of being the odd person out, whether it's the fear of uncertainty or the fear of losing your shirt in the market, the fear starts to compel you to do something, because a million years ago, that fear meant you probably had to run or fight," Berns said. But reactions that saved our ancestors from saber-toothed tigers don't make as much sense on the floor of the Stock Exchange. Financial historian Jeff Madrick says that's how we got into trouble in the first place - by developing the notion that the stock is highly rational. "That encouraged this herd behavior," he said. "People would say, 'The stock market is right. Let's get in here.' That was the mythology that fed the herd behavior." So the group think that helped build the bubble is now leading the charge to pop it. "I think there's probably a panic now," Madrick said. Berns agreed: "You could call it panic; I would." But the Bronx Zoo's Pat Thomas says, "It's definitely a survival mechanism."
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POPSThe "Out-of-control" Military Machine Citizens must fight the militarism that's choking our democracy. Given the power and money of the military lobby, we're not likely to get any encouragement from either party or any presidential candidates, at least not at first. But we can force the issue into the dialogue and remember who listened and who didn't. Call it politics for the long run, the politics of hope with a sharper edge.
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POPSCheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran
MORE; The issuance of orders for Neo-Con mass media arms to push for an assault on Iran also puts the U.S. on red alert for a terror attack, whether real or manufactured, which Dick Cheney has already promised will immediately be blamed on Iran no matter who the real culprits are. On August 1st, 2005 the American Conservative reported that Cheney had tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan involved a massive air strike on Iran which included the use of nuclear weapons. The publication reported that, "The response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States," meaning that any such attack will immediately be blamed on Iran and any evidence to the contrary will be buried. The London Times reported on Sunday that the Pentagon had finalized plans for a 3 day blitz designed t
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POPSIn China we trust Now that the U.S. government has bailed out a number of our largest financial institutions, Morgan Stanley is turning to China. The irony is that when our government bails out Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, AIG, etc., they get the money from China too. So either way, this whole freaking mess on Wall Street is resulting in the U.S. becoming more and more indebted to China.
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POPSIncome-Inequality Gap Widens The gap between the affluent and the poor is growing larger every day in this country and all over the world. The despair that accompanies poverty is seen by many as the primary cause of many of the world's most serious problems. Terrorism, disease, war, political unrest, hunger, malnutrition, polluted water, racial intolerance, crime, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide all can be traced to poverty. Nothing will test the moral foundation of humanity more than how mankind addresses this issue and nothing will be more important to our physical and spiritual survival.
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POPSWhy no outrage over foreclosures? Why do we automatically assume the buyers are at fault? Did they risk other peoples' money? Did they know we were in a housing bubble? Was it explained that the ARM would default if their home value declined? Why do we let professional sales-people make money leading people into the largest purchase in their lives without issuing precautions that first-time homebuyers often do not understand? And why is the homebuyer the loser, rather than the shyster that sold them a loan they could not possibly have understood? Why do we let them take our homes away?
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POPSWhat Is Emotional Intelligence? can it measured? BBC Horizon program takes seven people who are some of the highest flyers in their field - a musical prodigy, a quantum physicist, an artist, a dramatist, an RAF fighter pilot, a chess grandmaster and a Wall Street trader. Each is put through a series of tests to discover who is the most intelligent?
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POPSFirst 2008 Voter Fraud Arrest: It's a Republican!
For those following the empty Republican smear campaigns against ACORN, a voter registration organization, it might come as some surprise to now hear the first actual arrest for voter registration fraud is a Republican -- working for the California Republican Party - funded by a friend of John McCain. Whew! This is what the Republican campaign has been based on -- make false charges and start smear campaigns about Democrats doing voter fraud....while you're the one actually doing voter fraud. Make false charges and start a smear campaign about Obama being a "socialist," when the reality of $Trillion dollar Wall Street Socialsim stares us all in the face (and the financial giveaway gets worse). Besides specific evidence that would make these charges stick (the criminal registered in another state different from where he lives) this is just the tip of the iceburg and why he was arrested: The policies of his group was scam and unlawful, tricking people to register Republican! &
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POPSThe True Cost of Rewarding Greedy Bankers Note the names of some of these great institutions that rewarded greed. Note the immediate cost to UK taxpayers. I would be interested to see figures relating to the taxes of US citizens' tax bills compares. (Oh, meanwhile, Barclays in London have just guaranteed 2.5 billion dollars in bonuses and salaries to a firm called Lehmans that they just bought a bit of.)
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POPSBattle of the Brains Can you think of 100 different uses for a sock? How would you cope with glasses that turn everything upside down? What's your emotional intelligence? Can you create a work of art in ten minutes? BBC Horizon takes seven people who are some of the highest flyers in their field - a musical prodigy, a quantum physicist, an artist, a dramatist, an RAF fighter pilot, a chess grandmaster and a Wall Street trader. Each is put through a series of tests to discover who is the most intelligent. a must see!
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POPSMcCain's Radical Agenda "This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone. You would think that with some of the most venerable houses on Wall Street crumbling like sand castles right before our eyes, we’d be a little wary about spreading this toxic formula even further into the health care system. But we’re not even paying much attention. "
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POPSBravo For Bush And Bravo For The Traders
Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime. The congressional ban on offshore drilling expires September 30, so that becomes a key date. A new report from Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California. There’s also a “gang of 10” in the Senate, five Republicans and five Democrats, that is trying to work a compromise deal on lifting the moratorium. So it’s possible a lot of action on this front could occur much sooner than people seem to think. Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry.
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