"In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on 'the Wall Street Bubble Mafia' — investment bank Goldman Sachs. The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is 'an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories' and a spokesman adding, 'We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good.' Taibbi shot back: 'Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it.' Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi's piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues."
"A Mere Outline for One Aspect of a Book on Mystery Catalysts, Guerrilla Playfare, neoism, booed usic, Mad Scientist Didactions, Acts of As-Beenism, So-Called Whatevers, Psychopathfinding, Uncerts, Air Dressing, Practicing Promotextuality, Imp Activism, CircumSubstantial Playing, etc.."
"It is important to recall this at Year 40 because so much of the air this weekend will be filled with droning from the respectability elite within the LGBT movement—the spiritual descendants of the queer men who would not join in the original fracas, who fled the scene in horror, and who bitterly denounced the rebels for upsetting their convenient and closeted apple cart."
"The bigger question today is whether we’re still capable of showing real freedom and real inner courage in the face of all who would diminish us and try to wedge us into their safe categories—especially in the face of persons safely ensconced within the respectable gay movement who would do this.
This is still a revolution of the human spirit. It’s not going to be predictable and safe."
"Religion Dispatches is a daily online magazine dedicated to the analysis and understanding of religious forces in the world today, highlighting a diversity of progressive voices and aimed at broadening and advancing the public conversation."
"Back in 1980, a mysterious set of stones bearing a message for civilization in various languages appeared in Georgia. From Christian dispensationalist symbol of the New World Order to Native American “power-nexus” to the interpretations of Contemporary Pagans, UFO buffs, and New Agers, the Guidestones are a spiritual and political Rorschach test."
"The history of the Guidestones is ultimately an interesting study in the heterogeneous nature of symbols. To build something so extraordinary with so little explanation created a vacuum of meaning."
"In 1900, the Earth was attacked by ruthless invaders from the planet Mars. The Martian's 80 ft tall, heat-ray spewing, Tripod battle machines laid waste to the planet, but the invaders ultimately fell prey to Earth’s tiny bacteria.
Fourteen years later, Man has rebuilt his shattered world, in large part by utilizing captured Martian technology. Equipped with giant, steam-powered Tripod battle machines, the international rapid reaction force, A.R.E.S., is Mankind’s first line of defense against the return of the rapacious Martian invaders. Based in a massive fortress complex at the south end of Manhattan Island, the young warriors of A.R.E.S. train under the leadership of Secretary of War, Theodore Roosevelt, and the grim General Kushnirov.
"For Wright, the next evolutionary step is for practitioners of Abrahamic faiths to give up their claim to distinctiveness, and then renounce the specialness of monotheism altogether. In fact, when it comes to expanding the circle of moral consideration, he argues, religions like Buddhism have sometimes “outperformed the Abrahamics.” But this sounds like the death of God, not his evolution. And it clashes with Wright’s own proposal, drawn from work in evolutionary psychology, that we invented religion to satisfy certain intellectual and emotional needs, like the tendency to search for moral causes of natural events and the desire to conform with the people who surround us. These needs haven’t gone away, and the sort of depersonalized and disinterested God that Wright anticipates would satisfy none of them. He is betting that historical forces will trump our basic psychological makeup. I’m not so sure."
"Philosophers of the Enlightenment saw beauty as a way in which lasting moral and spiritual values acquire sensuous form. And no Romantic painter, musician, or writer would have denied that beauty was the final purpose of his art.
At some time during the aftermath of modernism, beauty ceased to receive those tributes. Art increasingly aimed to disturb, subvert, or transgress moral certainties, and it was not beauty but originality—however achieved and at whatever moral cost—that won the prizes. Indeed, there arose a widespread suspicion of beauty as next in line to kitsch—something too sweet and inoffensive for the serious modern artist to pursue."
"A spectre is haunting the world, just as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto of 1848. This time, however, it is not the spectre of communism but that of neoliberalism.(1) Just as Marx and Engels reported of ‘a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre,’ there is once again an alliance, whether holy or unholy, that has formed to chase the ghost of neoliberalism from the world stage.
In any case, it is a curious alliance that has committed to fighting neoliberalism: Religious leaders and artists, environmental activists and globalisation critics, politicians of the left and the right as well as trade unionists, commentators and academics. They all share a passion to unmask neoliberalism as an inhuman, anti-social, and potentially misanthropic ideology or as a cynical exercise by strangely anonymous forces that wish to exploit the world to their own advantage."
"The Language of Love, Lust, Sex and All the Many-Splendored Things in Between in Teenspeak - Jockspeak - Menglish - Slanglish - Spanglish Gaylese - Americanese - Britspeak - Ozslang - Funetic Populo-Vulgar Speech - T-Shirt & Net Shorthand Pompo-Verbosity & other Figurative Lingos"
"Bay has never cared much about continuity before, but Transformers 2 never once even cares about making sense. Bay isn't raping our childhoods in TF2; he is raping continuity in the most savage, brutal way imaginable.
When the Bayformers defenders say you should turn your brain off and enjoy the film, I think they must mean it literally. Because if you think about any part of what's going on at all, it's really, really fucking stupid."
"Critical consensus on Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is overwhelmingly negative. But the critics are wrong. Michael Bay used a squillion dollars and a hundred supercomputers' worth of CG for a brilliant art movie about the illusory nature of plot."
"Roland Fargo Crump began his career at Walt Disney Studio as an "In-Betweener" in Animation at the age of twenty-two. The Studio offered a wealth of opportunity to the young artist. His fascination with propellers led to a display in the Studio Library. Walt was intrigued by the colorful, spinning objects and the artist who developed them. He moved Rolly out of Animation and into what was then WED (the original Imagineering company) and he became one of the first Disney Imagineers. The little propellers became the inspiration for the Tower of the Four Winds which he designed for 'It's a Small World' attraction at the 1964 World's Fair.
Rolly's Disney career spanned more that 40 years with a few interruptions. During those interruptions he created his own companies and worked on projects around the world. In 2004 Rolly was honored with the Walt Disney Legends Award—–a prestigious award that acknowledges those outstanding individuals who helped create the Magic of Disney."
"ROA gives an idea as to how efficient management is at using its assets to generate earnings. If Wall Street and investors had been focusing on GM’s ROA in 2003, they would have seen that it was a train wreck about to happen.
But it’s not just GM as the Deloitte report points out, it’s the whole corporate economy. By masking their absolutely dismal performance in the last 40 years in ROA, by taking on more and more debt to juice ROE, both Wall Street and America’s corporate elite are engaged in a massive shell game, in which the average investor is the mark."
"The Esoteric Book Conference is an annual international event to bring together authors, artists, publishers and bookmakers working in the field of esotericism. In addition to presentations by notable authors and scholars, the conference opens it doors to publishers and booksellers showcasing new & used books as well as rare and hard-to-find esoteric texts. For two days the conference hosts the largest selection of esoteric books under one roof. Contemporary esoteric publishing, finepress book arts and antiquarian texts are offered to augment the libraries of readers, scholars and collectors alike."
"Take a Stand, SIT FOR CHANGE: 2nd Annual Sit-A-Thon is a dynamic, informative and inspiring daylong event, featuring hourly sessions of sitting, walking and moving meditation; yoga; green and healthy lifestyle exhibits; and live music and spoken word. SIT FOR CHANGE is an invitation for individuals, groups and organizations "to take a stand and sit for change" in their communities, cities and the world by inviting them to explore new ideas for creating social change.
Hosted by the Center of Transformative Change (CXC). CXC is the first national center entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a more effective, more sustainable movement of social justice for all.
Saturday, September 19, 2009 in conjunction with the International Day of Peace, Global Mala for Peace, National Yoga Month and Fall Equinox celebrations."
"I resent this report that we are high as a kite and making crop circles! I haven't been stoned since 1971. A few young hoppers eat the wrong plant and you trash our species in the news. What's this world coming to!
Wally Baby, Australia Bush"
"THE CAMELOT PROJECT is designed to make available in electronic format a database of Arthurian texts, images, bibliographies, and basic information. The project, begun in 1995, is sponsored by the University of Rochester and prepared in The Robbins Library, a branch of Rush Rhees Library. The Camelot Project has been designed by Alan Lupack, Director of the Robbins Library, and Barbara Tepa Lupack."
"The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use."
"Clem's got it exactly right. We've been in an undeclared class war for years - and working-class and middle-class families have been losing." (Did someone undeclare the pervasive and permanent class war at some point?)
"This belief that the world should be ruled by intelligent people with poor social skills doesn't have an official name, but we can call it nerdocracy."
"The star witness at the hearing was a former public relations executive for major health insurers whose testimony boiled down to this: Don't trust the insurers."
"Ingenix performed an important function, Hemsley said, because paying whatever doctors charge 'is simply not economically tenable.'"
"The reason we generally like markets is that the profit incentive spurs useful innovations. But in some markets, that's not the case. We don't allow a bustling market in heroin, for instance, because we don't want a lot of innovation in heroin creation, packaging and advertising. Are we really sure we want a bustling market in how to cleverly revoke the insurance of people who prove to be sickly?"
"This list shows the 40 entries that were clicked on most frequently in May 2009. The figures in brackets show the word's position in the previous month's top 40."
Sami and I want to let you know that we’re finally playing a show with our dear friends Blue Cranes this Sunday evening. It’s actually a three band bill with us starting off the show, followed by a band called Gojogo from Oakland (Indian-influenced drums, bass and violin from what I hear…), and then Blue Cranes, breathing life and funk into original jazz-oriented tunes. I’m going to try not to gush too much, but the Cranes are one of the greatest groups of musicians I have encountered in my life, and you’re truly doing yourself a disservice if you have not yet exposed yourself to their joyful, intoxicating music. Just Anna’s oh-so-humble opinion! :-)
Here are the details, and a beautiful original poster painted by Jeremy Dubow!
Blue Cranes
Gojogo
Walking Home
Sunday June 28th, 2009
doors 8pm, show 8:30pm
Gallery Homeland
in the Ford Building
2505 SE 11th Ave.
ALL AGES!
$6-12 suggested
"The common thread is technology. Communication tools used by activists in repressive environments can also be used by humanitarian organizations responding to unfolding crises, and vice versa. Mapping tools developed for crisis mapping can also be used by digital activists to coordinate nonviolent action. In short, if a piece of technology works in a humanitarian crisis setting or repressive context, the technology will work anywhere.
The normative motivation behind this blog is based on the recognition by 'many scholars and practitioners that the techniques associated with strategic nonviolent social movements are greatly enhanced by access to modern information communication technologies, such as mobile telephony, short message service (SMS), email and the World Wide Web, among others' (Walker 2007)."
"In order to remain on the offensive against repressive regimes, nonviolent civil resistance movements need to ensure they are up to speed on digital security, if only for defense purposes. Indeed, I am particularly struck by the number of political activists in repressive regimes who aren’t aware of the serious risks they take when they use their mobile phones or the Internet to communicate with other activists."
"Never drink the zavarka undiluted. It has a strong narcotic effect, causing intense heartbeat, hallucinations and restlessness. This effect has been widely used by captives in Russian prisons and forced labor camps, since tea has always been included into the rations of the prisoners. The name of tea-based narcotics in the Russian criminal slang is "chephyr". If you introduce Russian tea-drinking into some non-Russian company, don't forget to label the zavarka pot! Otherwise, ignorant people might drink its content, and die of a heart attack as a consequence. You, in turn, may face lawsuits or vendetta depending on the culture you live in."
Come join us as we explore Pagan Prayer Beads. We will review a bit of prayer bead history, ancient and not so ancient. We will examine the construction and usage of Pagan Prayer Beads, looking at such questions as: What type of beads are good for prayer beads? What size, materials, and colors are appropriate to a prayer bead project? What different intentions can prayer beads hold? We will be looking specifically at Daily Practice Prayer Beads, Honoring Prayer Beads, Spell Prayer Beads, Community Prayer Beads and Networking Earth Temple Homes Prayer Beads.
There is room for 10 participants. We will reserve spots for the first 10 folks who register. We will then make a waiting list of those who registrations come after the first ten in the order that we receive them.
We will be sending you more information on what to specifically to bring to the workshop in a post-registration letter. In the meantime, please read the prayer bead materials at: Pagan Prayer Beads
May we all dare to dwell in beauty, balance and delight.
Where -
SE Portland, Oregon
When -
July 10 - 12 Friday evening: 7:00 - 9:00 PM Saturday: 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM (including time for breaks, lunch and dinner) Sunday: 1:00 - 5:00 PM
Costs -
$75 - $150 sliding scale (plus materials)
To register contact Dawn at: 503.231.0210 or dawnisidora@comcast.net (we will ask for a deposit of $25 to hold your space — as of today, workshop is approximately half filled)
"When the FBI investigated the landmark 1972 porno movie 'Deep Throat,' the case touched the highest levels of the FBI, even its second-in-command W. Mark Felt, the shadowy Watergate informant whose 'Deep Throat' alias was taken from the movie's title.
The FBI documents newly released to The Associated Press reveal the bureau's sprawling and ultimately vain attempt to stop the spread of a movie some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and others saw as simply decadent."
"The Brooklyn Museum’s archaeological expedition to the Precinct of Mut at South Karnak took to the field again in January-March 2008. The season’s work is chronicled in words and pictures in the 2008 Dig Diary on the museum’s website. The photographs presented here offer a glimpse beyond the Precinct. Photos and commentary are both by Mary McKercher, photographer for the Mut Expedition.
One of the most wonderful things about Egypt is the light: the strong golds and reds of dawn and sunset, the sharp shadows of mid-morning and afternoon, and even the blaze of the sun at noon are a photographer’s dream. Many of the photos here owe their interest to the quality of the light."
