One of the myths of capitalism is that shareholders own corporations and that a majority can determine policy and the compensation of the top executives. While theoretically this may be true, in practice it’s blatantly false. Shareholders are passive investors in companies along for the ride with the top executives in the drivers’ seat. Of course, one wouldn’t expect … [Read more...] about Corporate Ownership by Shareholders? Not a Chance
Egypt’s Morsi Says He’ll Rethink Camp David Accord and Build Stronger Iran Ties
It is quickly seeming evident that more than just an election with the kind of person-on-top shift that implies has taken place in Egypt: Mohammed Morsi's government will "reconsider the Camp David Accord," the 1979 treaty declaring peace between Egypt and Israel, the newly-elected president told Iran's state-run Fars News Agency today. Morsi was also quoted as saying that … [Read more...] about Egypt’s Morsi Says He’ll Rethink Camp David Accord and Build Stronger Iran Ties
Healthcare on a Wire
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Will We Love the Health Care Law if it Dies?
WASHINGTON -- Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court may make possible something that has yet to happen: an honest and complete discussion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And if it throws out all or part of the law now popularly known as "Obamacare," we will need a fearless conversation about how a conservative majority of the court has become a cog in … [Read more...] about Will We Love the Health Care Law if it Dies?
Bubbles and the Collapse
I used to worry about peak oil but not so much now. The thing that is going to get our civilization first is the 30 plus year old leverage bubble bursting. The tech bubble and and housing bubbles were just sub bubbles of the over all leverage bubble and this is nothing new. Nichole Voss explains at from about 13:00 to 19:00 in the video below. Foss had a great line … [Read more...] about Bubbles and the Collapse
Contempt of Congress
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This Just In: John F. Kennedy Is Still Alive (But In My Dreams): Report From 20 Paws Ranch
(PORTIONS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN JANUARY 2009) I can remember some but by no means all of my dreams, which are seldom erotic, rarely nightmarish and more often than not mundane, frequently involving people and places that I have known, although the people are in places different than where I have known them, while the places are conglomerations of, say, a old farmhouse … [Read more...] about This Just In: John F. Kennedy Is Still Alive (But In My Dreams): Report From 20 Paws Ranch
A Gallery of Jerry Sandusky Guilty Cartoons
CLICK HERE to see gallery of Jerry Sandusky guilty cartoons. … [Read more...] about A Gallery of Jerry Sandusky Guilty Cartoons
The Secret to Science’s Success
[This is the 4th in the series Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship] Man is a creature who makes pictures of himself, and then comes to resemble the picture. – Iris Murdock The title of Mark Twain’s What Is Man? poses a question that humans have pondered for millennia. Our species modestly calls itself Homo sapiens—Man, the wise. We’ve also been dubbed Man, … [Read more...] about The Secret to Science’s Success
A Note to Newt
I have just returned from a trip through the Austin-San Antonio-Corpus Christi “corridor” during which I bought regular gas for $2.99 a gallon, saw another station selling it for $2.97 and saw other prices ranging from $3.02 to $3.29 a gallon, with some a little higher. This was after reading in USA Today that the national average price for regular gasoline price has gone … [Read more...] about A Note to Newt
What Were These Adults Thinking?
You have to wonder, what were the adults thinking this was funny thinking? And if I was the parent, I'd be thinking, "I think it's time I go see a lawyer." … [Read more...] about What Were These Adults Thinking?
How we got a bad Supreme Court (and how to make it better)
Bad? This isn't about particular decisions (though some have been really bad) or about particular justices (though there are a couple of real ringers). It's just that the size of the Court and the way its members are chosen make for mediocrity at best. Jonathan Turley, legal scholar at George Washington, is very critical. He calls for reform. The Court is not sacred, nor … [Read more...] about How we got a bad Supreme Court (and how to make it better)
Lincoln, Vampires and Disneyland
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It’s Nice to be Emperor (Guest Voice)
It's Nice to be Emperor by Michael Reagan If you don't like something or want to get something done, you don't let little things like the Constitution get in your way. For more than three years Emperor Obama has been behaving as if the separation of powers is a pesky fly to be swatted away whenever it becomes too annoying. If Congress doesn't pass the legislation he … [Read more...] about It’s Nice to be Emperor (Guest Voice)
Associated Press-GfK Poll: One Quarter of Voters Remain Uncommitted
A new AP/GfK poll finds the 2012 Presidential race is more up in the air than ever -- but a Pew Research Poll suggests Romney could benefit from higher GOP engagement. They shrug at President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. They're in no hurry to decide which one to support in the White House race. And they'll have a big say in determining who wins the … [Read more...] about Associated Press-GfK Poll: One Quarter of Voters Remain Uncommitted
Egyptians Elect MB Islamist Morsi
Even though the military will retain most of the power, I expect that minorities, Christian and otherwise, will flee Egypt shortly. Washington Post: Egypt’s electoral commission announced Sunday that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi would be sworn in as president, becoming the Arab world’s first elected Islamist head of state after more than a year of popular … [Read more...] about Egyptians Elect MB Islamist Morsi
‘Europe Deserves its Humiliation’ (Financial Times Deutschland, Germany)
Things appear to have come to a boiling point at the G20 Summit in Mexico last week, with the emerging economies gleefully lecturing their former instructors in the European Union. This editorial from Germany's Financial Times Deutschland hopes the humiliation serves as good medicine for a European Union 'disintegrating amid bickering about national interests.' The Financial … [Read more...] about ‘Europe Deserves its Humiliation’ (Financial Times Deutschland, Germany)
95-Year-Old Attack Dog Bites Bill Maher
With his stroke-slurred speech, my ancient friend Kirk Douglas the other night responded to Bill Maher’s aggressive ignorance with the anatomical suggestion that so many of us, liberal and conservative, have been longing to hear someone make on bleepless HBO. Ostensibly congratulating Kirk on a book about restoring screenwriter Dalton Trumbo from the Hollywood blacklist of … [Read more...] about 95-Year-Old Attack Dog Bites Bill Maher
Moscow’s Military Action in Syria a ‘Gift’ to Washington (An Nahar, Lebanon)
In Syria, is Moscow changing traditional post-Cold War roles with the United States? For Lebanon's An Nahar, columnist Ali Hamada writes that the downing of a Turkish Air Force jet by Russia weapons - if not personnel - shows that Russia, instead of taking advantage of the consequences and mistakes of American intervention, is now likely to be the one taken advantage of by … [Read more...] about Moscow’s Military Action in Syria a ‘Gift’ to Washington (An Nahar, Lebanon)
Sandusky Guilty as the Mob Howls
I do know something about a couple of things, after all. Thursday, this issue came up on Facebook: Facebook screencap @8:10 PM PDT 22 June 2012 I only say this because, when the Jerry Sandusky defense attorney came out and spoke half an hour ago, he said precisely that. Sandusky wanted to testify, they told him it would be disastrous, since the Prosecutor could have … [Read more...] about Sandusky Guilty as the Mob Howls