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20:00:00 01/19/12
Games Hit The Museum and Katy Perry...Game Maker? - Press Pause Daily
[LESS INFO] 29 VIEWS | ADDED 20:00:00 01/19/12
Games prepare to hit the museum and Katy Perry, Game Maker?
SHOW NOTES:
Story 1:
There has been a big fight over the last few years over whether games can be considered art. In my opinion, that fight has now been rendered mooooooot!
The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. is hosting an exhibit called The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect we are bound to see a lot of classic and unique video-game artists.
The exhibit will launch on March 16th, this exhibit will be three days of panel discussions with game industry veterans such as founder Nolan Bushnell of Atari. The exhibit is featuring retrospectives and movie showings such as Tron, and The King of Kong.
In the announcement, guest curator Chris Melissinos stated that “Video games are increasingly expressive and a prevalent medium within modern society...In the 40 years since the introduction of the first home video game, the field has attracted exceptional artistic talent.”
I’m curious to know who the critics are claiming this not to be art? Picasso and Mattisse snobs with their noses in the air. Come and face reality suckers! (arrow to the knee meme?)
The exhibit will run until September 30th, after which it will head out on the road.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/72024/smithsonian-preparing-art-of-video-games-opening
Stor y 2:
Now when I say Katy Perry what’s the first thing that pops into your head?
Talented singer? Interesting videos? Russell Brand?
How about video game maker? No?...yeah me either.
Well it looks like Ms. Perry is getting into the game business with a recent report that she has entered into a partnership with Electronic Arts to create multiple games in the company’s popular Sims franchise.
The first collaboration will be a collector’s edition of the upcoming Sims 3 expansion called Showtime, which will include many Katy Perry themed items for your Sim, including clothing, hair, a guitar, and stage props.
Katy will also star in new advertising for the series, and is pretty psyched to be involved with the game. She said “I always like to think of myself as a cartoon, and now I'm a Sim!"
You know, I am actually at a loss for words.
Well anyway, if you are interested in a little more pop in your Sims, the expansion will release sometime in March.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/72028/katy-perry-items-to-star-in-multiple-sims-games
That will do it for your daily dose of Press Pause. You can always find all our episodes over at presspause.mevio.com . You can also check them out over at our Youtube channel: youtube.com/presspausemevio .
1 Views
00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
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Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
0 Views
00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
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Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
3 Views
07:41:54 12/28/11
On "If I were a poor Black kid"...
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 07:41:54 12/28/11
[ VIDEO ] Joe Hicks discusses the controversy over Gene Marks' blog post at Forbes entitled " If I were a poor Black kid ". Basically he asks, "Why can't white people contribute to the national dialogue on race and racism?"
It does seem like a cop out to just tell someone that they have nothing to say because they're not a poor Black child so they can't relate in any way. I've had a white geography teacher in high school - GO FALCONS - who said that he could relate because he was poor. Of course the conclusion could be that he thinks all Blacks are poor, but that's only a thought and not necessarily based on reality.
All the same Marks bounces off of a recent speech by President Obama in Kansas where he discussed the gap between the rich and the poor:
> The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia . The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.
I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.
It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.
If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.
And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet . Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all. You will see at the end of this posting links to several rebuts to Marks' comments. I will add my two cents just as Hicks and those other links have.
I didn't go to the very best schools in Chicago. I'd say my old elementary school was an average at best school and my old high school - when I attended - was one of the worst. My marks weren't that great in elementary school but for some reason my marks in high school were often in the honor roll range. With that in mind though I consider that a fluke today.
My time in high school wasn't a time to seek out options. I never thought of my grades as a ticket mainly because they were had too easy. It was never a challenge academically and who knows how that would've been weathered. The serious challenge was in college where I struggled to keep up.
If only I had the tools back then that the young people have today to help me study and understand the various subjects. I wouldn't just be ahead of my peers but it would be light years ahead of them. But when I was in public school most of those tools did not yet exist.
In spite of the nay sayers - and I will get to one in a moment - Marks isn't wrong. Make the best grades you can where you are take advantage of all the tools you can. Don't have a PC at home go somewhere to use one, especially the library. At that there are people at your school who if you establish a relationship with them will help you move forward.
This nay sayer, well is making more of this than he realizes:
> No believer in Bell Curv-ish nonsense about black intellectual inferiority, Marks makes clear that the children about whom he speaks are no less capable than his own kids. Of course, one wonders just how much of a compliment Marks really intends for this to be, given his strange habit of dissing his offspring, on more than one occasion, as rather unintelligent, unmotivated, promiscuous and even inclined to petty criminality. Not sure what kind of asshole says things like this about his children in print, but I suppose we can leave that discussion for another day.
No doubt Marks would say that he was simply encouraging poor African American kids to take personal responsibility for their success. He might even say that by acknowledging unfair and unjust structural inequity (and even, indirectly, white privilege), he was doing so in a politically ecumenical way. Certainly Marks would perceive his words and intentions as quite different from those of right-wingers whose hectoring of the poor so often involves blaming those at the bottom of the nation’s economic hierarchy for their station in life. To Marks, poor black kids are not to blame for the position in which they find themselves, but they nonetheless hold the keys to their own liberation, and if they would simply follow his sage counsel they could surely make it, like anyone else: even the cerebrally challenged and oversexed spawn who slumber each night just down the hall from he and his wife.
There is much one could say about Marks’s advice — rather typical bootstrapping fare about studying hard, coupled with a more modern emphasis on becoming a techie like him, and thereby, presumably, an irresistible college or job applicant — and most of it has been said already. Like, for instance, this piece , or this one , or this one , or maybe this one , all of which eloquently critique the privileged and naive mindset displayed by Marks, and explain how even when poor kids of color do everything right, the structures of society are too often set up to help them fail anyway.
...
And it’s this last point that we might do well to explore further. Fact is, Gene Marks knows his readership at Forbes . He knows that it includes virtually none of the people to whom he is ostensibly offering advice, which means that he isn’t really giving them advice at all; rather, he is inviting his mostly white, mostly affluent audience to engage in a perverse moralistic voyeurism at the expense of impoverished African American youth, almost none of whom that readership will ever meet, and whom they will, in fact, go out of their way to avoid. He is offering a kind of secret white-male handshake to others in the club, assuring them that the problems of urban poverty are not theirs to fix, that they are off the hook as it were, and isn’t that a relief? That Marks may not be as vile in his desire to blame the poor for their status as some, hardly acquits him of the charge that by pandering to the biases of his readership, he has, with some 700-odd simple (and simplistic) words, managed to reinscribe all the worst of their prejudices, many of which one can see on grand display in the readers’ comments section of the original article. Make no mistake, Gene Marks’s column is contempt cloaked as compassion and bigotry dressed up as benevolence. And it can do nothing but contribute to the indifference and even antipathy towards the poor that those who rely on Forbes for insights already possess in ample supply. Starting with that last paragraph it's true, Forbes may not have a significant audience in poor inner city communities. Without having to purchase a subscription you can always go to a library to access past issues of magazines. Also with internet access you can access magazines as well and blog posts such as this one which surely don't require a subscription.
As for Mr. Tim Wise who wrote the above excerpts, how is he going to call that man out for what he refers to his kids. Yeah it may be wrong to say your kids are very bright, but somewhere out there some parent is doing it. I also recognize that Marks is merely a commentator who is definitely using his platform to say what he wants to say.
The main point surely Marks is making is that his children are not much different than poor inner city children. Just that they have different opportunities living in a different part of the Philadelphia area than the inner city children. Perhaps even different expectations from parents, perhaps different staff and different schools. He didn't write the "poor black kid" piece to denigrate his children.
I think what he wrote was real. It shouldn't be impeached merely for that reason. That alone is weak! Although to Mr. Wise's credit he is at least has some suggestions for Marks to put his money where his mouth is. Marks could always help get the information out aside from using his platform at Forbes.
4 Views
17:30:23 11/25/11
Thank You - For the Occupation, For the Intensity, For Lettin' Me Be Myself Again
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 17:30:23 11/25/11
It's like the old-timers always said: Don't quit before the miracle happens.
While the Arab Spring showed that people can still accomplish the impossible, Our political debate was frozen in corporate cynicism. Now everything has changed. For the United States, spring came in autumn. Who says miracles don't happen?
Like a Prayer
A few months ago I prayed for something. Granted, it wasn't the kind of prayer that's sanctioned by any ecclesiastical authority. And, okay, maybe it wasn't exactly a "prayer." I guess the technical term for it would be "blog post." But trust me, it was a prayer.
I'd been asked to write something for the Fourth of July, and I wrote we have to fight a new war, a " war of independence from corporate politics ." To be honest, those words felt Utopian even as I wrote them. Still, I never doubted them. The words were born out of the desperate sense that so many of us shared, a sense that our society is collapsing. And that it will keep on collapsing unless we change the way we think.
I wasn't arguing for any particular policy or platform. "The problem isn't just with politicians, or even the system," I said then. "The problem is dependence itself."
Oh, come on. How starry-eyed can you get? Stop depending on politicians? Declare psychic and political independence from celebrity-driven politics and media-made leaders? I'd always considered myself a realist, but this was almost embarrassingly idealistic.
Except for the fact that it happened.
Passionate Intensity
Like so many others, I had grieved and raged over the lack of commitment displayed by good people. Cynics, robber barons, and American warlords are hard at work degrading - and downgrading - this country. In a strange set of parallels, we were reenacting the stories of the Third World countries we'd invaded. Like them, we were becoming a nation where servile or fearful politicians served a cynical oligarchy while the people's way of life died all around them.
Some might call it karma - or simply "payback."
But whatever you call it, the forces of hate and greed were running wild. The "two-party" system seemed to offer nothing in response except a) posturing, b) surrender, and c) a politics of compromise that seemed to amount to little more than ... well, see "a)" and "b)", above. Good people were fighting for better policies, and I tried to play my part. But too many of us focused on the prose of politics and not its poetry.
Meanwhile, too many politicians got lazy quoting Bill Clinton's hack line: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It can be, of course. But before our eyes, the "good" became the enemy of the "perfect" and the mediocre became the enemy of the good. Then the cynical became the enemy of the mediocre, and democracy began to die.
Meanwhile the other side gained its momentum with every passing month, fueled by a pseudo-populist movement ginned up by corporate-funded political hacks. A nation that had rejected the politics of greed and oligarchy at the ballot box was even more suffocated by it than before. No wonder so many people were uninspired, discouraged, despondent. Some people quoted William Butler Yeats:
The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
The good people who did burn with passionate intensity were in danger of turning the torch on themselves. " The game is over," wrote Chris Hedges . "We lost. The corporate state will continue its inexorable advance until two-thirds of the nation is locked into a desperate, permanent underclass."
As boom times came back to Wall Street, depression - emotional as well as economic - entombed the majority. But the suffering of the majority turned invisible inside the Beltway, as politicians debated deficits in a broken economy. It was like debating water conservation while the house burned down.
The Condition of Everything
Miles of commentary have been written about the Occupy movement. As the occupations gained steam, people criticized them for their lack of specific policy demands. But they were right not to issue specific demands. They were declaring independence from a frame of mind, a set of assumptions that led to passive acceptance of an unacceptable system.
And they had passionate intensity.
I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again: When OccupyDC marched down K Street, in the early days of the movement, a young security guard asked an older one what they were protesting. "I'm not sure," said the older man. "But I think they're objecting to ..." He circled his hands to indicate the environment around him. ".... the condition of everything. "
By objecting to the condition of everything, the Occupiers changed the political dialog in this country. By rejecting leaders and insisting on self-governance through General Assemblies, they taught us by example how to escape emotional dependence. Like William Butler Yeats, they understood that you can't distinguish the dancer from the dance.
One of the movement's most articulate and forceful advocates is Chris Hedges.
Recalling Democracy
The Wisconsin uprising had been going on for months, even in the dark days of July. The miracle of Wisconsin is that it's still going on. People there occupied their capitol to protest laws designed to break the middle class, laws written by corporate America's "ALEC" division. Then they mounted recall efforts against recently elected GOP State Senators, reducing their majority and draining resources from their coffers.
Now Gov. Walker is facing a recall. The struggle in Wisconsin isn't about "Democrats" against "Republicans." It's about resisting politicians that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of corporate America.
The people of Wisconsin showed the country how to resist. Now they're showing us how to persist.
And just this month, Ohio voters rejected an ALEC-inspired initiative to strip that state's workers of rights. Maine voters rejected a move to overturn election-day registration, another attempt to restrict the ability of lower-income citizens to vote. And Mississippi rejected a definition of prenatal rights so extreme that many anti-abortion advocates were disturbed by its implications for the rights, health, and safety of women.
Like I was saying: Miracles.
Radical Innocence
But elections aren't the point. They can be a reflection of the change we need, but they're not the change itself. The real changes are personal. "When I remake a song," said Yeats, "it is myself that I remake." The Rolling Stones said "It's the singer, not the song."
We misunderstood our own power. We were being distracted and manipulated by fear and anger. Our minds, our souls, were being manipulated by what the Native American poet and activist John Trudell calls "the mining of the essence." One of the reasons we were powerless is that we believed we were powerless. That's even true economically. "All money is a matter of belief," said Adam Smith.
We needed to push our fear and anger away to see the obvious truths all around us: The corporations rule our political process. That our democracy is dying. That Wall Street is filled with people who broke moral (and sometimes actual) laws and forced the rest of the country to pay the price. We had to see with fresh eyes.
"All hatred driven hence," wrote Yeats, "the soul recovers radical innocence."
Our political process has become too cynical. Even reasonable and very moderate ideas favored by a majority of Republican voters, as well as others - a breakup of five or six too-big-to-fail banks, a public option health plan that's only available to one American in twenty - were declared impossible.
We needed an infusion of radical innocence, the innocence of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. We sometimes think of innocence as something childlike and weak. But innocence has great power. Innocence changes the world.
We needed that radical innocence,and we got it. What we do with it now is up to us.
Can we commit ourselves to moving forward, to persevering against all odds? The future's unwritten. But we know what's happening right now. The political dialog has shifted in a way that seemed impossible a few months ago. I don't know how you feel about that, but I know how I feel.
I feel thankful. So thankful, in fact, that I'm gonna let Sam & Dave tell you all about it. Take it away, fellas:
2 Views
16:00:57 11/01/11
Ron Paul Tries To Justify His Desire To End Federally Backed Student Loans
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:57 11/01/11
I am no fan of Ron Paul's libertarian beliefs. There are some components to his ideas that align with liberals such as civil liberties and ending unjust wars, but if young people who recently jumped on his boat realized what his economic policies are outside of attacking the Fed, anti-Iraq/Afghan war and phrases like "economic liberty" and "freedom," they would drop him like a hot potato.
Candy Crowley asks him to explain his beliefs that federal student loans should not exist to the millions of college students that depend on them.
They are so 1965. >
CROWLEY: One of the things that you have proposed there have been some controversy about is to begin to phase out, as you explain it, federal student loans to folks who want to go to college, federally backed student loans, that you want to phase out over time. At some point then you would have people who really don't qualify for private loans, who couldn't walk into a bank and say my son needs to go to college and I need a loan. They simply won't qualify. Are there just some people who won't be able to go to college that want to in a Paul administration?
PAUL: No, I don't think so. Anybody who's ambitious enough will get to go to college. The problem is college costs to much. And with the good intentions of giving people houses at discount, you know, it ends up with a house bubble and the people who are supposed to be helped lose their house, same way with the education. The attempt to help people in education, all you do is you don't get better education, you end up actually pushing the price of education up. So we've delivered now hundreds of thousands of students graduating with a trillion dollars worth of debt? And no jobs? So it is a totally failed policy.
Only a generation ago we didn't have government programs and people worked their way through college. And I was able to get through medical school and college. But it wasn't so expensive. So it's the inflation, the problems with the government. As soon as the government gets involved for good intentions, there's always unintended consequences and almost inevitably it back fires.
And besides, let's say it did sort of work -- and it does work for some people. Some people get an education at the expense of others. But why should people who are laborers who never get to go to college, why should they be taxed to send some of us through college? So it not even a fair system when it works.
But obviously it doesn't work. And that's why it is coming to an end. And now they have to talk about, well, we're going to have to bail out everybody, bail out housing and now bail out the student loans. But that's not the answer. The answer is looking toward the cause and the cause is spending, debt, printing money, inflation, too much government, loss of confidence in the free market, loss of confidence in liberty is what it is. And where is the responsibility? The responsibility is on the individual and family to take care of their needs, not federal bureaucracy. It just doesn't work.
CROWLEY: But would you admit that there are people who need federal help, be it an education or be it in housing, or food stamps, I mean that kind of thing.
PAUL: Yeah, there's always some needs. The market isn't perfect. But instead of having a trillion dollars worth of debt in a medical care system that's totally broke down, you would always have some needs.
But that was in existence before 1965 but there was nobody out in the streets without medical care, nobody out in the streets that -- there were more people under bridges now than there were back then.
And also, there were loans. People do loan. But even if they have difficulty, you know, sometimes it takes people six years to go through college and sometimes it takes people four years. But back then, there were jobs available. The whole thing was the cost was so much lower.
So, yes, it will not be perfect but what we have now is this catastrophic mistake where people have a pseudo education and no jobs and all debt. I mean we've indentured them for a long, long time to come. So we have to challenge the status quo on how we run our economy and run this country.
There were many more union jobs back in 1965 so I'd like that, but that's something he probably didn't think about. African Americans needed the Civil Rights Act passed as a beginning to start being treated like normal people, but he is against that along with the Disabilities Act. By the way, how does he know how many people were living under bridges back in those days? Let me ask Ron Paul a simply question: Does he know how much a single college text book costs for one class? How about as much as $400. if you're in your late teens and early twenties, how long would it take you to be able to afford that text book? Oh, maybe Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich's charitable supporters would just supply as many books as are needed for every student. Hey, I'm sure they'll pick up Newt's next Tiffany's bill at least. My bad.
9 Views
07:45:00 09/15/11
RnRTV #256: Sting Writing Musical, Mick and Keith and Is Chad Chad?
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 07:45:00 09/15/11
Rock news from Rock n Roll TV to flip your lid! Hosted by Share Ross. This episode: Sting is co-writing a musical; Mick and Keith drama again as Stones approach 50th anniversary; Leslie West new album; Coldplay and Rihanna hookup; Chad Smith reveals the Will Ferrell truth.
Sting is set to co-write a musical based on the lives of people in his home city of Newcastle. The story titled the Last Ship will feature music and lyrics from Sting and is set in the 1980's and revolves around a priest, an industrial titan and a former shipyard worker.
Mick and Keith - Mick and Keith - Mick and Keith. Mick has said that he'd like the Stones to be given a plaque for their 50th anniversary next year but that Keith wouldn't be allowed to come to the ceremony. Is he mad because Keith mocked the size of his manhood in his autobiography? Anyway, the band played their first gig at London's Marquee Club in 1962 and Mick has explained the band probably would not tour to celebrate their half century mark but would like a plaque to be unveiled at the venue instead.
Legendary guitarist and Mountain founder Leslie West is releasing Unusual Suspects, his first new album in five years with guest guitarists including Slash, Zakk Wylde, Billy Gibbons and Steve Lukather. Leslie recently had to have a leg amputated in order to save his life and says he will have to figure out how to play guitar while standing on one leg.
Iggy Pop has had to postpone a batch of US gigs due to fractured bones in his foot.
U2's 360 degrees was the biggest concert tour in history and now, Bono has announced they will be taking a long hiatus.
Coldplay have confirmed that Rihanna has contributed vocals to a track set to appear on their forthcoming new album.
Julian Lennon is set to release his first album in 13 years titled Everything Changes. Look for that next month.
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WHATEVER:
Selena Gomez was sporting a Justin tattoo but it turned out to be temporary.
Britney Spears is getting engaged. Britney Spears is not getting engaged.
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Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith knows people think he looks like movie star Will Ferrell but says he doesn't see the likeness himself. But he admits that sometimes he finds it easier to allow people who've mistaken him for Ferrell to continue in their belief. He explains that typically, other drummers or fans of the band will come up to him and ask to have their photo taken with him. Then someone else walks up and says, "Will Ferrell?" Chad says, "No." then they'll be like… "You're lyin' man. I just saw you taking pictures with that dude. Why do you have to be like that?" Chad says he and his doppelganger only met once and Will looked him up and down and said, "You're very handsome" and walked away.
Who would have thought the British Invasion would still be here? Bands like the Rolling Stones just keep on rockin'. And jewelry that is high quality and sparkling and shining, will give a lifetime of pleasure to the recipient. Now you can use our Ice.com coupon code and Diamond promo code to save 20% off your purchases there! Find out more about these promo codes and get some bling!
18 Views
18:43:16 09/03/11
Kthread Brycedotvc When People Ask Me The Hardest Part Of
[LESS INFO] 18 VIEWS | ADDED 18:43:16 09/03/11
kthread : >
brycedotvc : >
When people ask me the hardest part of being a VC, I have a pretty canned answer. It’s one I’ve used a lot over the last 10 years that I’ve been doing this, tho it’s grown more nuanced over time.
The hardest part of my job is that we are one step removed from making the actual things we fund. We don’t actually build the products, we don’t actually close the big sales, we don’t actually make the decisions that drive the businesses we fund. We give input at varying degrees of forcefulness. We make introduction and dive into back channels for feedback. We play a roles as supporting cast in the companies we fund, never getting to play the lead.
And sometimes that’s hard.
It’s hard when people you fund, people you genuinely care about, ignore your advice. It’s hard to watch them step on landmines you told them were in their path. It’s hard when you see something broken they choose not to fix. It’s hard when the company you thought you were funding becomes something entirely different. It’s hard when the cash runs out.
In the early days of developing a response to this question I would often say that VCs don’t actually make anything, we just fund the makers that do. I’ve since changed my tune on that, and this video taps into why.
It’s a short clip of the slam poet, Taylor Mali, recounting an exchange with a lawyer who questioned him about how much money he made as a teacher by asking “what do you make?”. Taylor flips that question into a moving riff on what a teacher makes that might surprise you. It might inspires you too.
You see, there’s a lot of noise out there in startup land. Caterina touches on this in her excellent post from last night: >
I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs in their 20s who are knowledgeable about the valuations various Y Combinator startups have attained, know the names of all the angel investors in the Valley, have in-depth knowledge of the Facebook diaspora and their doings, have opinions on various Zynga acquisitions, and know exactly how to get Andrew Mason on the line…it boggles the mind. These are good things to have in your tool kit. But I want to hear about things out there that they love. About loving the thing they’re building.
So, to hell with all that noise. It’s just a big mass of envy, chatter and FOMO . Let’s get excited and make things .
So, no, as a VC I don’t actually make the products we fund. I don’t make the headlines our founders do. And I don’t make the companies that change the world.
But I do make things.
I make palms sweat when I step into a conference room to hear a first pitch. I make questions that cut through you like a ginsu cuts through a tin can. I make poseurs walk and founders walk the talk. I make hearts sink when my number appears on caller ID. I make entrepreneur’s hearts break when I say “no” and founders high five when I say “yes”. I make parents proud of kids they feared could never keep a job. I make it possible for moms and dads to put bread on the table when their ambition outstrips their savings. I make founders believe when they can’t and doubt when they shouldn’t. Sometimes I make a difference. Sometimes I just make a mess. And, sometimes I make a leader by being someone’s first follower.
Now, what do you make?
It’s labor day weekend. Some will relax and unplug. Some will hunker down and work. But I hope all of you who watch this video will take time to think about what you are really making which is why it’s required weekend viewing here on BRYCE DOT VC.
There is a lot about being an entrepreneur that is gross. Not just hard beyond measure, but gross, and one of those is the way twentysomethings talk about exactly what Caterina points up in the passage Bryce quotes here.
I don’t know all the names of all the VCs and angels; I never will. I don’t want to try on ideas until a one fits a market and attempt to quickly exit and make everyone a pile. I may very likely never make it into a mentor program (I’ve been rejected from Techstars twice); I don’t look like three young guys with a kinda boring but investable enterprise idea, like most of those in the classes of grads I didn’t make it into.
I wear loudass vintage dresses. I make things that people love. For the past decade, I have helped international brands create content that proves them credible and interesting.
Give me a little more time to tell you about what happened with Galvanize , and know that I am making something very different, but similarly with love, and it’s going to take a while. It’s a big idea, it’s going to save a few people’s lives (not kidding), and I am going to finally be able to explain to my mom what it is that I do.
And while I am making this thing, I am going to keep teaching graduate students about how communities work, because they will create the tools we use next. If they don’t know how the Web started and what it looks like when things are made for love and the pleasure of creation before product/market fit and all the rest of that, then all of us in tech are really in trouble.
39 Views
22:30:00 08/23/11
Studio Guest Michael Heise
[LESS INFO] 39 VIEWS | ADDED 22:30:00 08/23/11
Our studio guest is Michael Heise, Allianz Group Chief EconomistDW-TV: Michael Heise, please tell us, how much of a "Bad Bank" is the ECB in your opinion? Michael Heise: I don't think it is a Bad bank and I don't think it will become one. I think the criticism is a little bit overstated. We do have a crisis of confidence in the eurozone: there is a current lack of trust in the currency and I think it is the obligation of the ECB to do something about it and these purchases of government bonds are a means to calm down nerves on the markets. How else would the ECB do its job and keep inflation under control without the bond buying programme? I think it's something that should be temporary. The criticism is warranted in the sense that this cannot be a long-term strategy for the ECB to buy bonds in huge amounts like the US Fed did. It's a temporary relief in this crisis until we've upgraded European the financial fund which should be coping with the job of managing the debt crisis in Europe. It's not really the ECB's job. But as yet it's helpful to have the ECB. DW-TV: Critics say the ECB is no longer independent - do you agree? Michael Heise: No I don't really agree with that. It's part of the mandate of the ECB to preserve financial stability in the eurozone. This is more with a view towards transactions but nonethless, the crisis we have here is a threat to the stability of financial markets. So I think it is warranted for the ECB to intervene. DW-TV: Stability is something we haven't seen in quite a while. Reforms take time - does the Eurozone have enough time? Michael Heise: We're taking too much time. Especially given the difficult political constellation in Europe with many independent voices and differing views. It takes too much time to get clear reforms going. The countries themselves have enacted neccessary refoms so I think that has improved. But on the European level, I think we need to speed up. DW-TV: And given the daily barrage of bad news, who can blame anyone for being insecure these days? How do you cope? Have you got an emergency plan ready for when the big crash happens, or do you have nerves of steel? Michael Heise: I also try to prepare for some heavy times on the financial markets. Human beings are not rational and neither are financial markets. So you always have to expect sudden unexpected falls of the market that have great momentum. That's something we have experienced without a lot of economic indication that this is warranted, so you always have to be prepared for these times. DW-TV: How big a role do rumours and anxiety play in this scenario? Michael Heise: Rumours can have a very strong impact. Financial markets are scenarios for the future, about expectations, what might happen in the future, and rumours or small news can sometimes change the view of many market participants and then you have herding behaviour. The markets go in one direction with a lot of force. DW-TV: The markets have been volatile almost without a break since the start of the global financial crisis Shares of European Banks plummeted at the end of 2008 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. And in recent months, shares tumbled further amid fears the Eurozone debt crisis could spread and the US economy fall back into recession. How should investors deal with "bad" news? Sit and wait, or react? Michael Heise: I think the banking problems that we see presently on stock markets and other markets are different from the ones that we saw when we had Lehmann. There is more transparency. What the real problem is mainly is the sovereign debt crisis. Many banks are quite loaded with sovereign debt. There is a lot of intertwinement in the banking markets, as we know, so there is some lack of confidence in the banking market. But this is not as severe as it was with Lehmann. So I think investors should not flee out of these stocks. DW-TV: What will it take for the markets to fully recover and calm down again? Michael Heise: We need a solution for the sovereign debt issues. We need to recreate confidence that this is under control. Governments in individual countries have been enacting reforms. That is quite favourable but on the European level, things are not going as fast as they should. Interview: Marion Jones
21 Views
09:15:18 08/09/11
My Thoughts On Beyonce PREGNANT - I Will Have A Baby "When I Am Ready" Review
[LESS INFO] 21 VIEWS | ADDED 09:15:18 08/09/11
"Beyonce got stuck talking baby talk again in a recent interview. You'd think by now these folks would know better than to ask Beyonce about getting pregnant, but some people never learn. SMH: ""My ambition is to continue to learn about the world and to eventually have a family,"" the singer-actress, who turns 29 on Sept. 4, tells You magazine, published by Britain's Mail on Sunday. Pressed for specifics, Knowles -- who was the subject of pregnancy rumors last winter -- says she can offer ""no dates, no times -- it will happen when I am ready."" When she does have a child, it will add another major element to an already hectic life. Finding a balance amid the craziness, Knowles admits, is sometimes hard. ""I love so many different things, and to have the discipline to turn certain things away and focus on one thing at a time so that I can give it 100 percent is really hard,"" she says. ""Probably the biggest challenge in my life is time -- making sure I have time to be a wife, to be a singer, to be a songwriter, to be an actor and still have time for my clothing line and now for my perfume [Heat]."" We wouldn't be surprised if this chick takes birth control pills, has an IUD and has Norplant, the way she talks about family planning. She's on the Halle Berry baby plan. Hov will have an AARP card before they have a kid. On a more positive note, BeyBey showed some love to her girlfriends, telling the mag: ""I love being a woman and I love being a friend to other women,"" she says. ""I think we learn a lot from our female friends -- female friendship is very, very important. It's good to support each other, and I do try to put that message in my music."" How sweet... *Gags*"
31 Views
22:30:00 05/31/11
Studio Guest: Wolfgang Gerke, Market Expert
[LESS INFO] 31 VIEWS | ADDED 22:30:00 05/31/11
We talk with Wolfgang Gerke about the financial crisis in Europe and how we can learn from historical experiences. We also ask him, how one could solve the problems caused by heavily indepted municipalities.DW-TV: Mr. Gerke, you can probably tell us from a financial point of view what can we learn from history? Wolfgang Gerke: We can learn a lot from history, but sometimes we forget to. I think a financial crisis is a little like a dangerous virus and we know how to fight the virus, but then we get a mutation. Then we have to relearn how to fight the new virus. If you take the policies of central banks in the past and at the moment, then I fear that we haven't learned from history. We are taking so much cheap money for all the investment bankers, especially in the United States, and money under the inflation rate so we are producing the next crisis. The next crisis could perhaps lead to hyper-inflation here in Germany, like we've seen in the 1920s - is that a possibility? It's a possibility but I don't think we'll go that way. For sure there are so many debts worldwide - in the US, in Greece, in Germany too - trillions. What will happen with all these debts, the next generation has to pay for all these debts, and that means we will pay with less good money. That means inflation. I have no fear that the euro will not stay, there are so many problems outside Europe that the euro will be a stong currency. The Chinese will want to have some euros, and not only the dollar in their portfolio, but the possibility to buy with euros will be influenced by inflation rates between 3 and 4 percent. The situation in Greece, what difference would it make? I mean there are some experts who say that Greece should long have left the Eurozone and returned to their own currency. Would that make a difference? We made a wrong policy in Greece. We pretended to save Greece and we were saving French and German banks. For sure they had difficulties and we had to do something, but it was the wrong way. We could help Greece with a haircut, we could help Greece with a time out from the euro, that would be more interesting for tourists coming to Greece, so we will have all these problems in the future and I see in the moment no real solution. Let’ turn into another subject. When I don't pay my bills I get into trouble. At least when I don't pay them on time. Municipalities can wait. How is that possible? That shouldn't be possible. Everyone has to pay their bill and if it's public money I think you have to be the first one who is paying the bills. But they try to save interest rates and they do so. So they should be leading by good example. But it also has to do with the fact that they want to save money because they are in debt. They are heavily indebted, municipalities. How did that happen? There are two ways to be in debt. One is, and that isn't acceptable, that you have the wrong management. We often have very poor professional management, but the other way is some have difficulties. They lost jobs and these jobs are outside perhaps even of Germany and one has to help them. But that's very expensive, so they try to do it another way, a not acceptable way. And the way that you just indicate of course is that some of these municipalities turned to the financial markets, tried their luck speculating a bit with taxpayers money. They tried to get very fast and easy money by speculating but this was a way into the casino. We must say that someone who doesn't know what he is buying in the financial market shouldn't do so. For sure there were some banks doing a good job for themselves there and they earned much money, but you cannot blame them, you have to blame yourself, and if you don't know what financial product you are buying, you shouldn't do so. And especially if it is a financial product that is known to be quite complicated. Like credit default swaps. After the crisis they started to get into criticism, and they're still being traded. How come? It's a quite complex financial product but you can understand it if you are a professional you learn the market, and therefore I would say don't do anything against products, but if you don't understand them you shouldn't speculate on long-term and short-term interest rates, that's dangerous if you have the unopen position. Understanding money, handling money isn't always that easy. Can be complicated and that's why we've been living with debts for centuries. Are debts something that we will have to live with for the rest of our lives? Yes we have to do so. It's not so difficult for someone my age, but my sons suffer that problem and we will get higher inflation rates. Wolfgang Gerke, then let's take a look now at the current level of debt here in Germany. Let's take a closer look at the clock which keeps ticking: every second, debt is growing by 2,279 euros -- so since the start of our programme, the total amount of German debt has risen by over three and a half million Euros ! Sobering thought. The last one we have time for today. Wolfgang Gerke, thank you very much for joining us. Interview: Monika Jones
56 Views
22:30:00 05/31/11
Studio Guest: Wolfgang Gerke, Market Expert
[LESS INFO] 56 VIEWS | ADDED 22:30:00 05/31/11
We talk with Wolfgang Gerke about the financial crisis in Europe and how we can learn from historical experiences. We also ask him, how one could solve the problems caused by heavily indepted municipalities.DW-TV: Mr. Gerke, you can probably tell us from a financial point of view what can we learn from history? Wolfgang Gerke: We can learn a lot from history, but sometimes we forget to. I think a financial crisis is a little like a dangerous virus and we know how to fight the virus, but then we get a mutation. Then we have to relearn how to fight the new virus. If you take the policies of central banks in the past and at the moment, then I fear that we haven't learned from history. We are taking so much cheap money for all the investment bankers, especially in the United States, and money under the inflation rate so we are producing the next crisis. The next crisis could perhaps lead to hyper-inflation here in Germany, like we've seen in the 1920s - is that a possibility? It's a possibility but I don't think we'll go that way. For sure there are so many debts worldwide - in the US, in Greece, in Germany too - trillions. What will happen with all these debts, the next generation has to pay for all these debts, and that means we will pay with less good money. That means inflation. I have no fear that the euro will not stay, there are so many problems outside Europe that the euro will be a stong currency. The Chinese will want to have some euros, and not only the dollar in their portfolio, but the possibility to buy with euros will be influenced by inflation rates between 3 and 4 percent. The situation in Greece, what difference would it make? I mean there are some experts who say that Greece should long have left the Eurozone and returned to their own currency. Would that make a difference? We made a wrong policy in Greece. We pretended to save Greece and we were saving French and German banks. For sure they had difficulties and we had to do something, but it was the wrong way. We could help Greece with a haircut, we could help Greece with a time out from the euro, that would be more interesting for tourists coming to Greece, so we will have all these problems in the future and I see in the moment no real solution. Let
14 Views
22:38:34 03/07/11
Serj Tankian INTERVIEW Imperfect Harmonies, System of a Down, and Armenia Genocide
[LESS INFO] 14 VIEWS | ADDED 22:38:34 03/07/11
http://causecast.org/music
http://axisofjustice.net
Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) on the Armenian Genocide, creating the Axis of Justice , and how music can be a powerful tool to let causes be known.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Serj Tankian: "Yes, It's Genocide" is the first song that I've ever written in Armenian, and it's on my new record "Imperfect Harmonies." We started working with the Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian Youth Federation in trying to use the song as a way of getting attention to the awareness, having to do with the Armenian Genocide.
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire, which is the pre-cursor to the government of Turkey today, committed massacre and genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. They also killed Greeks, Assyrians, Jews. It started with the philosophers, the senators, and- kind of the thinkers- being arrested in Istanbul and hung in public format, taken into the army for "work camps," but they weren't work camps, they were just all killed. And then the women and children were put out of their homes within 24-hour notice, pogrom in the desert, through the Deir ez-Zor desert, toward Syria, which was also part of the Ottoman Empire at the time.
The hypocrisy of the denial of the Armenian Genocide led me to think, 'if this truth- how can this truth be denied in a known democratic country like ours, and why?' And that realization led me to go, 'how many other truths are there out there?' And that opened my eyes to all sorts of injustices.
Axis of Justice, we started Axis of Justice around 2000, Tom Morrello and myself. It was a way of bringing together activists and fans of music and musicians into dealing with the nonprofit world, into dealing with causes and activism. We realized- we started with Ozzfest in 2002, we realized there were all these booths selling merchandise and tattoos and all these things, but there was no one selling knowledge, you know what I mean? So we became an umbrella organization at first for Amnesty and Greenpeace and a number of other NGO's, later on grew into our own organization. There's always something new going on because we don't have one cause, our cause is injustice, you know. Or justice, I should say.
Brandon Deroche: What do you attribute your overall awareness to? What path in life I guess you can say, what keeps you there?
Serj Tankian: Curiosity. I never thought about that before, so thanks for asking that. But the activism part came from the hypocrisy of the denial of genocide that I learned about that opened my eyes to other things. And sensitivity and compassion opened up from that knowledge of so many injustices, and then the curiosity keeps me kind of on the edge of trying to find out what else is out there. It's an incredibly exciting time where, you know because of the internet and technology, we have so much information at our fingertips, yet what are we doing with that information? We're not asking the 'why?' We know the details, and we take them for granted, because they're available, they're so amply available, but we're not asking why. And that why is very important, why something has come to its fruition. And that's not on Google, believe it or not. Because that requires understanding of the whole issue, not a wikipedia page, you know?
Brandon Deroche: We've been working on a campaign, for a continuation of Haiti relief efforts, specifically driven by music, and the goal for that is to kind of take the network that has come together and be able to apply it to Darfur, or homelessness, or any other cause that it's about, and really just people who want to be doing something to create a better world in a sense.
Serj Tankian: In the case of Haiti, I think obviously not far from our shores, I think it's very important to carry through with those obligations. Not just raise the money, but make sure that we have organizations that are taking the aid to where it goes, construction where it's necessary, obviously. Construction is a part of it, because the aid is keeping people alive, but if they're all living in shanty-types of getups, than it's really hard to secure their existence with another- whether it's a hurricane or an earthquake or whatever. It's no secret that with the growth of populations and the diminishing of natural resources on the planet, we're kinda looking at a weird graph. In other words, we can't continue to live our lives this way. And sometimes we always say well how can I make a difference, or how can one person make a difference, it's the accumulation of all of our awareness that can definitely make a difference, that's what it really comes down to.
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23:30:33 01/17/11
8 Year Old Raps Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me Parody (by MattyBRaps)
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 23:30:33 01/17/11
8 Year Old Raps Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me Parody (by MattyBRaps)
Hi, I'm MattyB and I'm 8 years old. I want to be a rapper and an artist when I grow up! I've ALWAYS loved Hip-Hop... ever since I was a little kid! A lot of people have shown me support by leaving me super nice comments on my videos and subscribing to my YouTube channel and becoming my friend but... sometimes people say mean things too. I'm learning that even when people say negative things about you... the most important thing you should do is respond in love and just keep doing whatever it is that you're passionate about. Like what I did in this video! This is my Cover/Remix I did to the popular song, "Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment and be sure to support me if you like my rap by clicking the "like" button, saving to favorites, and subscribing to my channel! Your support means so much to me! MattyB Links: www.Facebook.com www.Twitter.com www.Dailybooth.com Check out more of my videos at www.MattyBRaps.com! Keep following your dreams! Lyrics Verse 1 Just a kid with a dream I rap cause I love it and yeah it's a lot of hard work I'm only 8 years old! I wanna be the best MC that you ever have heard Spread love not hate 'cause even when it feels at times like it's less preferred Once you say mean things... You never can quite take back those awful words Look at who I am and judge my actions not what people say I really I wanna do right in the world but I disagree with people's hate So I'mma keep chasing after mine HA ... From: MattyBRaps Views: 1430074 13115 ratings Time: 02:22 More in Music
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16:30:00 12/31/10
Bill Belichick Press Conference - 12/31/2010
[LESS INFO] 8 VIEWS | ADDED 16:30:00 12/31/10
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Friday, December 31, 2010. BB: An early Happy New Year to everybody. Hope the holidays have been good. Q: Can we expect a drop kick this weekend? If so, who would be the person to do that? BB: That's a good question. Maybe we will have tryouts this afternoon and see who can drop kick. I don't know if we have too many people that can drop kick. Doug [Flutie] was a real exception to that. He would get out there and bang them threw and after a while you didn't really think much of it. I haven't seen anybody do that in a while on the football field. Q: You don't practice it? BB: Sometimes you see guys fooling around. Doug would stand out there before practice and after practice and hit a couple. It would look pretty good and I would think, %lsquoMaybe he can do that,' but I haven't seen any of that. [Watching] offensive lineman or whoever throwing the ball around sometimes you just notice that. Or watching a guy punt or kick or something you say, %lsquoDid he do that at some other point in his career or whatever?' I can't say that I've seen any drop kicks since Doug. After Doug did it, a few guys within the next couple weeks would say, %lsquoOh I can do that.' Q: You have had a number of successful years in the last decade or so. How important is it to maintain momentum with the bye week coming up? BB: I don't know. I don't know. Each year is different and every game is different. We'll worry about the rest of the year when we get to the rest of the year, but right now we are just worried about this week. Q: I know you do what's in the best interest of the football team all the time, so how do you get to that spot? What do you evaluate to get there? BB: Well, part of it is individual players. Each individual player's situation is different: how long they play, what their health is, what they need, what the team needs, what our opponent is doing, what we ...
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05:02:19 12/11/10
Video: APD close to identifying unknown women
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 05:02:19 12/11/10
today albuquerque police released a new picture of another mysterious woman they're trying to identify who could be connected to the west mesa case. we should warn you, the photographs you are about to see could be disturbing. the latest picture is the one on the top, farthest to the right. there are seven women in all. although some appear to be unconscious, police think all of the women were alive in the pictures. our own jeff maher took these pictures to the streets today -- to see if he could find anyone who knows the women. he continues our team coverage with what he found. jeff. police need all the help they can get in this case. so, i spent hours on the streets tonight approaching people along central with these pictures. and sure enough, i eventually found someone who claims to know one of these women. out on the streets -- word, gets around. and faces don't always get lost in the crowd. that's why, the streets can sometimes be the best source of information. with the cardboard cut- out i made of the mysterious seven women, i drove up and down central, and hit the pavement, hoping to catch a break. "we're just trying to see if anyone has seen them or heard from them. no, never seem them? ok. thanks." "we're just asking people if you recognize any of them. no, i don't, i wish i could help, it's sad." "we're just trying to find people, who know any of these women, police are trying to identify them. no, i don't recognize any of them. you don't recognize any??? after a rough couple of hours -- we finally found somebody. "they could be connected to the west mesa case, do you recognize any of them at all? i recognize her, but that's it. you recognize her? uh-huh. who is she? she's just from the streets, i don't know her name, but i recognize her from the streets." this person pointed out this woman ashe one she recognized. she says the last time she saw her was four years ago. she remembers the tattoo on the back clearly. and she says the woman -- is still alive. "they say she's around still, but i don't know where she is" "i mean, is it a surprise to you when people you know, disappear? from the streets? yes it is. what goes through your mind? that could be me, or what happened to the, stuff like that." if you can help them identify any of the women, just call the west mesa hotline at 877-765- 8273. back to you. so far albuquerque police have received about one-hundred tips since we first aired the women's photographs yesterday. late tonight, we talked with one albuquerque police detective who was featured in tonight's dateline special. she says five detectives are working the phones right now in anticipation of national tips that could start coming in. well of course we hope to get all of the girls identified, any tips leading to any persons involved in 118th street and any information on women that we currently have missing police say the tips they've gotten so far have been local. investigators think they have identified some of the seven women, and are in the process of verifying the identities. the investigation into the buried bodies started february 2009. christine ross was out walking her dog - when the dog found a bone sticking out of the dirt. to find a detailed time line of the west mesa bodies investigation--- from the first discovery of a human bone-- to the latest developments just log onto our website kob dot- com.//
