Search Episodes (Dreaming Up the Future)

Transfer - "Take Your Medicine": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist

Added 01/18/12
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Transfer - "Take Your Medicine": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist

Added 01/18/12
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Broken Arms But Not Broken Wings

Added 01/02/12
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Broken Arms But Not Broken Wings

[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 11:34:37 01/02/12
Born without arms Madanlal lives and dreams like any other. It’s 7 AM on a warm summer morning in the village of Bangaon in northwest Haryana. Outside his thatched hut, 32 year old Madanlal sits on a charpoy. With a shaving brush held tightly between his toes, he works up a rich lather on his scraggly grey beard. Once done, he carefully places the shaving brush down on the charpoy and picks up a fluorescent green plastic razor. Dexterously, one stroke at a time, he begins to shave away his thick mass of facial hair. Born without hands, Madanlal is amongst India’s some 40 million people with physical disability. Often shunned by society, the physically disabled in India are among the most excluded of groups. Schools reject physically challenged children, employers discriminate against physically impaired adults, and more often than not, families reject their physically challenged relatives leaving them to live out their lives in loneliness and even squalor. Even though India has a strong and progressive framework for disabled persons, implementation is weak. The Persons With Disabilities Act of 1995 takes into account not only the medical needs of people with disabilities but also the societal attitudes towards such people, taking into account equal opportunities, right protection and rehabilitation. However, there are hundreds and thousands of people like Madanlal who do not receive any help from the government. Madanlal expresses disappointed with the government’s lack of assistance towards him, but his spirit remains unbroken. He takes pride in the fact that he can shower, shave, cook and even sew with his two feet. When asked about the future, he says he only has two wishes – the first is to learn to drive a car and the second, to find a partner who will help him live a better life. His parents have been good to him, and are appreciative of his self-sufficiency but he cannot expect their assistance into his old age. A wife, he knows, could fill that gap. To help Madanlal please contact our Community Correspondent Satyawan Verma at 09416589987.

iPad Live 87 [Video]: Retina or bust

Added 12/20/11
9 Views

iPad Live 87 [Video]: Retina or bust

[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 02:08:25 12/20/11
Rene, Seth, and Marc Gurman from 9to5Mac talk iOS 5.1 beta 2, new wallpapers, iPad 3 rumors, 7-inch iPad rumors, iTunes Match and TV in the Cloud go international, A5 goes Texas, R%D goes Israel, best FPS games, GTA 3, Netflix, and more! This is iPad Live! Meta * Win the iOS device of your dreams in the TiPb holiday giveaway! [Week 3] * Vote now for iPad case of the year [TiPb Awards] * Vote now for the casual gaming app of the year [TiPb Awards] * 2011 Holiday Guides: iPhone and iPad gifts for last minute shoppers iOS 5.1 * Apple seeds iOS 5.1 beta 2 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV to developers * New iPad wallpapers coming with the release of iOS 5.1 * Apple takes steps to obfuscate future iOS device references from nosy bloggers iPad 3 * iPad 3 on schedule for March/April 2012 release * Rumor: Supposed iPad 3 component suggests redesign * Rumor: Apple prepping 7.85-inch iPad for second-half of 2012 to compete with Kindle Fire iTunes in the Cloud * Apple launches iTunes Match music locker service internationally * iTunes TV Shows in the Cloud now available internationally News * Apple A5 chip production happening in the great state of Texas * Apple looking to open an R%D facility in Israel Apps * Top 5 best first-person shooter (FPS) games for iPhone and iPad * Grand Theft Auto III for iPhone, iPad hits App Store * Netflix update brings new UI for iPad * App Giveaway: Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad * Microsoft OneNote now available for iPad Hosts * Rene Ritchie ( @reneritchie ) * Seth Clifford ( @sethclifford ) Special Guest * Mark Gurman ( @markgurman ) Credits You can reach all of us on Twitter @TiPb, or you can email us at podcast@tipb.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live. We're here every Sunday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT, and our companion show -- iPhone Live! -- is at the same time, on the same channel, on Wednesday nights. www.TiPb.com/live For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZENandTECH and Superfunctional, Iterate and Girls Gone Gadget and more... see MobileNations.com/shows If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us! Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Havel the Dissident: A Legacy Worth Claiming

Added 12/19/11
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Havel the Dissident: A Legacy Worth Claiming

[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 20:00:00 12/19/11
Former President Havel addresses a European cultural congress on the economics of culture On a warm evening in 1991, a colleague and I found an out-of-the-way café in the old part of Prague. Two men with blank expressions stood outside. The interior was dim and close, with room for only eight or nine tables. The place was almost empty. Just a sleepy waitress, a bartender polishing glasses, and a single patron who sat alone drinking wine and chain-smoking cigarettes. The President of Czechoslovakia wasn't reviewing official papers. He was reading a book, a startlingly un-Presidential act to our American eyes. My companion, a neoconservative State Department official, already admired him for defying and defeating a Communist state. He'd impressed me by bringing a writer's sensibility and an affinity for true underground culture to his role as head of state. Václav Havel even tried to appoint Frank Zappa as his Minister of Culture. "We're not rock musicians," Zappa told a reporter back in the sixties. "We're electronic social workers." The State Department wouldn't let Zappa assume the post, but Havel had made his point to the Czech public by offering this apparatchik's position to the composer of songs like "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?" ("Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind .") We never spoke to Havel that night. It didn't seem polite to offer anything more than the curt nod of acknowledgement any café patron gives another at that hour. But Havel spoke to us, to all of us. And on the occasion of his death, the real lessons of his life's work are in danger of being lost. Today we're told that the Occupy movement is too idealistic, too naïve. Naïve? Try Havel's words if you want naïve: "May truth and love triumph over lies and hatred." Think of that as the Velvet Revolution's "one demand." Portrait of the President as a Young Freak As millions of people know, the underground playwright Havel first made his political mark in Charter 77. That group was formed to defend the Plastic People of the Universe, a banned and imprisoned rock band working in the Zappa mold of musical dissonance and cultural dissidence. The Occupy movement is not on the cultural fringe, despite what its detractors say. But Havel's movement began as a Yippie-like creature of the underworld. Charter 77 rarely had more than a thousand members. It was a strange blend of political idealism and the hippie subculture where people proudly labeled themselves "freaks" to the conventional world. Despite its later alignment with economically conservative forces, it was more Allen Ginsburg than Alan Greenspan. And it was created to defend the Plastic People of the Universe, whose grating music makes Occupy's drum circles seem like a children's choir serenading the bored residents of a home for aging veterans. Words Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité - what wonderful words! And how terrifying their meaning can be! Freedom in the shirt unbuttoned before execution. Equality in the constant speed of the guillotine's fall on different necks. Fraternity in some dubious paradise ... Havel addressed the liberal democratic West on words in the 1970s, noting that the suppression of speech can give language enormous power: > I ... live in a country where a writers' congress speech is capable of shaking the system ... a manifesto served as one of the pretexts for the invasion of our country one night by five foreign armies ... a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions. When a system has become inflexible and is in danger of collapsing, what it fears most is words. Think about that the next time you see a phalanx of cops tear down a tent city on television. Havel had been burned by language, too: > The same word can at one moment radiate great hope, at another it can emit lethal rays ... true at one moment and false the next, at one moment illuminating, at another, deceptive. On one occasion it can open up glorious horizons, on another, it can lay down the tracks to an entire archipelago of concentration camps. And as we approach an election year that will be filled with the rhetoric of freedom, this observation still resonates: > The same word can at one time be the cornerstone of peace, while at another time machine-gun fire resounds in its every syllable. Control In 1975 Havel had the presumption to write directly to Czechoslovakian head of state Gustáv Husák with a few suggestions. There's more than a passing resemblance between the fear-driven Communist society Havel condemned in that letter and the financial anxiety many Americans endure today: > The technique of existential pressure is ... universal. There is no one in our country who is not, in a broad sense, existentially vulnerable. Everyone has something to lose and so everyone has reason to be afraid. The range of things one can lose is broad, extending from the manifold privileges of the ruling caste... down to the mere possibility of living in that limited degree of legal certainty available to other citizens. Today, one out of two Americans lives in financial insecurity. Even many upper-middle-class citizens live from month to month, just one layoff notice away from medical bankruptcy or home foreclosure. "Everyone has something to lose," observed Havel. Havel's description of his 20th Century Communist society echoes our own: > The more completely one abandons any hope of general reform, any interest in suprapersonal goals and values, or any chance of exercising influence in an 'outward' direction, the more one's energy is diverted in the direction of least resistance, that is, 'inwards.'" People today are preoccupied far more with themselves ... They fill their homes with all kinds of appliances and pretty things, they try to improve their accommodations, they try to make life pleasant for themselves, building cottages, looking after their cars, taking more interest in food and clothing and domestic comfort ...They turn their main attention to the material aspects of their private lives. Havel concluded that "Despair leads to apathy, apathy to conformity, and conformity to routine (political) performance - which is then quoted as evidence of 'mass political involvement.'" Ambition Havel understood the psychology of greed and power, too. From his letter to Husák: > If it is fear which lies behind people's defensive attempts to preserve what they have, it becomes increasingly apparent that the chief impulses for their aggressive efforts to win what they do not yet possess are selfishness and careerism. It is not surprising that so many public and influential positions are occupied more than ever before by notorious careerists, opportunists, charlatans, and men of dubious record. From Prague to Washington, from Moscow to lower Manhattan, the opportunities change. But human nature never does: > Seldom in recent times has a social system offered scope so openly and so brazenly to people willing to support anything as long as it brings them some advantage; to unprincipled and spineless men, prepared to do anything in their craving for power and personal gain; to born lackeys, ready for any humiliation and willing at all times to sacrifice their neighbors' and their own honor for a chance to ingratiate themselves with those in power. Technocracy It's a historical irony that those who claim they'll govern with the most efficiency usually wind up governing with the least effectiveness. Today corporate-funded politicians from both parties argue that the country should be led by "technocrats' who'll govern without messy "ideologies." That's a false premise Havel knew well. He called it the "process by which power becomes anonymous and depersonalized, reduced to a mere technology of rule and manipulation." Washington's technocratic "bipartisans" dream of a world where, in Havel's words, the "professional ruler is (seen as) the 'innocent' tool of an 'innocent' anonymous power ... legitimized by science, cybernetics, ideology, law, abstraction, and objectivity - that is, by everything except personal responsibility to human beings as persons and neighbors." Havel's Prague is our Beltway: > States grow ever more machinelike; people are transformed into statistical choruses of voters, producers, consumers, patients, tourists, or soldiers, (where) in politics good and evil, categories of the natural world and therefore obsolete remnants of the past, lose all absolute meaning (and where) the sole method of politics is quantifiable success. Havel condemned a system of state-orchestrated political theater, and the self-perpetuating failures of imagination which mistook the indifferent and pro forma participation of its citizens for genuine democracy. And he saw its universal nature: > (It) has a thousand masks, variants, and expressions. Essentially, though, it is the same universal trend ... the essential trait of all modern civilization, growing directly from its spiritual structure, rooted in it by a thousand tangled tendrils and inseparable even in thought from its technological nature, its mass characteristics, and its consumer orientation. "The contemporary concept of 'normal' behavior is," Havel wrote, "deeply pessimistic." Responsibility "I favor 'antipolitical politics,'" said Havel, "politics not as the technology of power and manipulation, of cybernetic rule over humans or as the art of the utilitarian, but politics as one of the ways of seeking and achieving meaningful lives, of protecting them and serving them." > I favor politics as practical morality, as service to the truth, as essentially human and humanly measured care for our fellow humans. None of us--as an individual--can save the world as a whole, but . . . each of us must behave as though it were in his power to do so. Decades later he said this to the leaders of Western countries: > Today, more than ever before in the history of mankind, everything is interrelated ... Because of this, the future of the United States or the European Union is being decided in suffering Sarajevo or Mostar, in the plundered Brazilian rain forests, in the wretched poverty of Bangladesh or Somalia. Havel had glaring faults. American neocons offered him small favors during his final rise to power. He reciprocated, consciously or unconsciously, by aiding their destructive military ventures and adopting their foolish economic policies. He succumbed to the politics of personality, both his own and those of the leaders who courted him. But it would be a shame if that's all the world remembered. Havel seemed unhappy in the role of leader. It's possible than he lost sight of his deepest insights, his truest gifts. It was the outsider Havel, the dreamer of the impossible, the surrealist and absurdist, we should remember. That's the Havel who can and should inspire dissidents everywhere. "Is the human word truly powerful enough to change the world and influence history?" he once asked. With his life and his words, Václav Havel gave us his answer. He showed us the power in each individual and the responsibility that accompanies that power. At his best, and above all else, Havel was a dissident outsider who realized his power and used it. Now it's our turn.

REAL ESTATE INVESTING THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY IN YOUR LIFETIME

Added 11/30/11
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REAL ESTATE INVESTING THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY IN YOUR LIFETIME

[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 23:00:00 11/30/11
http://www.realestateinvesting-gurureview.com/ Currently, the greatest real estate investing opportunity in our lifetime exists and its all because of foreclosures. Foreclosures have created an over saturated inventory, which resulted in low prices & interest rates. The market conditions are perfect for real estate investing. Learn how to capitalize on the current market and predict opportunities in other areas for real estate investing while identifying investment cycles for the best time to buy & sell. Profitable deals are everywhere for real estate investing. FSBOs, short sales, auctions, REOs even multi-family and commercial properties. You can invest in real estate for cash flow, hold properties for long term equity and appreciate, or flip the properties to other real estate investors for quick cash, or rehab and sell to end buyers for huge profits. Exit strategies are numerous with real estate investing. You can generate an income from real estate investing while helping people sell their problem properties and headaches. Many times the real estate investor is seen as the hero. Take advantage of real estate investing resources that let you run your business on automatic. http://www.realestateinvesting-gurureview.com/real-estate-investing-resources.html Create a turnkey investment plan with real estate investing and you will work at your own pace, have more time for family & leisure, and earn more than you would at a typical 9-5 job. Also, due to real estate investing, you can also secure your retirement, build your dream home, and create a better future for your family. Everyone thinks you need a mountain of cash for real estate investing? Not true, never use your own money for real estate investing, instead implement strategies that use OPM for financing. With an education in real estate investing gain the confidence and the skills to get the deal and earn your financial freedom. Get the details at http://www.realestateinvesting-gurureview.com/ Your real estate investing business is going to have to kick it up a notch to stay in the game and at the top. Stay up to date with innovative real estate investing programs, courses, software, and technology, that are built to take advantage of opportunities in today's market. Get the power to grow your real estate business with strength and certainty. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ReiGuru BLOG: http://www.realestateinvesting-gurureview.com/real-estate-investing-blog.html TWITTER: http://twitter.com/#!/rei_guru_review

UC Berkeley Police Defend Response to 'Occupy Cal' Protests

Added 11/30/11
3 Views

UC Berkeley Police Defend Response to 'Occupy Cal' Protests

[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:46 11/30/11
The video above was the scene as police in riot gear viciously beat peaceful student activists with their batons in front of Sproul Hall on the University of California at Berkeley campus Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, in Berkeley, CA. What follows here is an open letter from the UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association, addressed to the campus community and to the UC Board of Regents in response to the events of Nov. 9 and the criticism their actions that day elicited. > An Open Letter to UC Berkeley Students, Faculty, Administration & Regents from the UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association It is our hope that this letter will help open the door to a better understanding between UC Berkeley police and the University community. The UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association, representing approximately 64 campus police officers, understands your frustration over massive tuition hikes and budget cuts, and we fully support your right to peacefully protest to bring about change. It was not our decision to engage campus protesters on November 9th. We are now faced with “managing” the results of years of poor budget planning. Please know we are not your enemy. A video clip gone viral does not depict the full story or the facts leading up to an actual incident. Multiple dispersal requests were given in the days and hours before the tent removal operation. Not caught on most videos were scenes of protesters hitting, pushing, grabbing officers’ batons, fighting back with backpacks and skateboards. The UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association supports a full investigation of the events that took place on November 9th, as well as a full review of University policing policies. That being said, we do not abrogate responsibility for the events on November 9th. UC Berkeley police officers want to better serve students and faculty members and we welcome ideas for how we can have a better discourse to avoid future confrontations. We are open to all suggestions on ways we can improve our ability to better protect and serve the UC Berkeley community. As your campus police, we also have safety concerns that we ask you to consider. Society has changed significantly since 1964 when peaceful UC Berkeley student protesters organized a 10-hour sit-in in Sproul Hall and 10,000 students held a police car at bay – spawning change and the birth of our nation’s Free Speech Movement. However proud we can all be of UC Berkeley’s contribution to free speech in America, no one can deny this: Our society in 2011 has become an extremely more violent place to live and to protect. No one understands the effects of this violence more than those of us in law enforcement. Disgruntled citizens in this day and age express their frustrations in far more violent ways – with knives, with guns and sometimes by killing innocent bystanders. Peaceful protests can, in an instant, turn into violent rioting, ending in destruction of property or worse – the loss of lives. Police officers and innocent citizens everywhere are being injured, and in some instances, killed. In the back of every police officer’s mind is this: How can I control this incident so it does not escalate into a seriously violent, potentially life-threatening event for all involved? > While students were calling the protest “non-violent,” the events on November 9th were anything but nonviolent. In previous student Occupy protests, protesters hit police officers with chairs, bricks, spitting, and using homemade plywood shields as weapons – with documented injuries to officers. At a moment’s notice, the November 9th protest at UC Berkeley could have turned even more violent than it did, much like the Occupy protests in neighboring Oakland. Please understand that by no means are we interested in making excuses. We are only hoping that you will understand and consider the frustrations we experience daily as public safety officers sworn to uphold the law. It is our job to keep protests from escalating into violent events where lives could be endangered. We sincerely ask for your help in doing this. Like you, we have been victims to budget cuts that affect our children and our families in real ways. We, too, hold on to the dream of being able to afford to send our children and grandchildren to a four-year university. Like you, we understand and fully support the need for change and a redirection of priorities. To students and faculty: As 10,000 students surrounded a police car on campus in 1964, protesters passed the hat to help pay for repairs to the police car as a show of respect. Please peacefully respect the rules we are required to enforce – for all our safety and protection. Please respect the requests of our officers as we try to do our jobs. To the University Administration and Regents: Please don’t ask us to enforce your policies then refuse to stand by us when we do. Your students, your faculty and your police – we need you to provide real leadership. We openly and honestly ask the UC Berkeley community for the opportunity to move forward together, peacefully and without further incident – in better understanding of one another. Thank you for listening. In short, the brutal beating suffered by the UC Berkeley students weren't the fault of the officers involved because the protesters could have used lethal force . One huge problem here is the lack of any evidence to back up the claims of the UC Davis police that the students were on the verge of using lethal force. The students, however, have plenty of video footage and photographs of the officers beating the crap out of them with batons - you know - evidence .

UC Berkeley Police Defend Response to 'Occupy Cal' Protests

Added 11/30/11
3 Views

UC Berkeley Police Defend Response to 'Occupy Cal' Protests

[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:46 11/30/11
The video above was the scene as police in riot gear viciously beat peaceful student activists with their batons in front of Sproul Hall on the University of California at Berkeley campus Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, in Berkeley, CA. What follows here is an open letter from the UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association, addressed to the campus community and to the UC Board of Regents in response to the events of Nov. 9 and the criticism their actions that day elicited. > An Open Letter to UC Berkeley Students, Faculty, Administration & Regents from the UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association It is our hope that this letter will help open the door to a better understanding between UC Berkeley police and the University community. The UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association, representing approximately 64 campus police officers, understands your frustration over massive tuition hikes and budget cuts, and we fully support your right to peacefully protest to bring about change. It was not our decision to engage campus protesters on November 9th. We are now faced with “managing” the results of years of poor budget planning. Please know we are not your enemy. A video clip gone viral does not depict the full story or the facts leading up to an actual incident. Multiple dispersal requests were given in the days and hours before the tent removal operation. Not caught on most videos were scenes of protesters hitting, pushing, grabbing officers’ batons, fighting back with backpacks and skateboards. The UC Berkeley Police Officers’ Association supports a full investigation of the events that took place on November 9th, as well as a full review of University policing policies. That being said, we do not abrogate responsibility for the events on November 9th. UC Berkeley police officers want to better serve students and faculty members and we welcome ideas for how we can have a better discourse to avoid future confrontations. We are open to all suggestions on ways we can improve our ability to better protect and serve the UC Berkeley community. As your campus police, we also have safety concerns that we ask you to consider. Society has changed significantly since 1964 when peaceful UC Berkeley student protesters organized a 10-hour sit-in in Sproul Hall and 10,000 students held a police car at bay – spawning change and the birth of our nation’s Free Speech Movement. However proud we can all be of UC Berkeley’s contribution to free speech in America, no one can deny this: Our society in 2011 has become an extremely more violent place to live and to protect. No one understands the effects of this violence more than those of us in law enforcement. Disgruntled citizens in this day and age express their frustrations in far more violent ways – with knives, with guns and sometimes by killing innocent bystanders. Peaceful protests can, in an instant, turn into violent rioting, ending in destruction of property or worse – the loss of lives. Police officers and innocent citizens everywhere are being injured, and in some instances, killed. In the back of every police officer’s mind is this: How can I control this incident so it does not escalate into a seriously violent, potentially life-threatening event for all involved? > While students were calling the protest “non-violent,” the events on November 9th were anything but nonviolent. In previous student Occupy protests, protesters hit police officers with chairs, bricks, spitting, and using homemade plywood shields as weapons – with documented injuries to officers. At a moment’s notice, the November 9th protest at UC Berkeley could have turned even more violent than it did, much like the Occupy protests in neighboring Oakland. Please understand that by no means are we interested in making excuses. We are only hoping that you will understand and consider the frustrations we experience daily as public safety officers sworn to uphold the law. It is our job to keep protests from escalating into violent events where lives could be endangered. We sincerely ask for your help in doing this. Like you, we have been victims to budget cuts that affect our children and our families in real ways. We, too, hold on to the dream of being able to afford to send our children and grandchildren to a four-year university. Like you, we understand and fully support the need for change and a redirection of priorities. To students and faculty: As 10,000 students surrounded a police car on campus in 1964, protesters passed the hat to help pay for repairs to the police car as a show of respect. Please peacefully respect the rules we are required to enforce – for all our safety and protection. Please respect the requests of our officers as we try to do our jobs. To the University Administration and Regents: Please don’t ask us to enforce your policies then refuse to stand by us when we do. Your students, your faculty and your police – we need you to provide real leadership. We openly and honestly ask the UC Berkeley community for the opportunity to move forward together, peacefully and without further incident – in better understanding of one another. Thank you for listening. In short, the brutal beating suffered by the UC Berkeley students weren't the fault of the officers involved because the protesters could have used lethal force . One huge problem here is the lack of any evidence to back up the claims of the UC Davis police that the students were on the verge of using lethal force. The students, however, have plenty of video footage and photographs of the officers beating the crap out of them with batons - you know - evidence .

Updated: The Shocking Truth About Naomi Wolf's Factless Assert...

Added 11/26/11
5 Views

Updated: The Shocking Truth About Naomi Wolf's Factless Assertions

[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 17:30:07 11/26/11
In an article for The Guardian , Naomi Wolf wrote this: > In other words, for the DHS to be on a call with mayors , the logic of its chain of command and accountability implies that congressional overseers, with the blessing of the White House, told the DHS to authorise mayors to order their police forces – pumped up with millions of dollars of hardware and training from the DHS – to make war on peaceful citizens. This follows the ongoing meme that DHS has coordinated the Occupy crackdowns on a national level; that they are orchestrating the violence behind the clearing of Zuccotti Park and others. Wolf carries this to her conclusion: > So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not. It's a factless, incendiary assertion dripping in hyperbole, grounded in speculation that's been going on for a couple of weeks now. It began with a tweet. A tweet from Michael Moore speculating that the coordination seemed like something being coordinated by DHS and sanctioned, nay, possibly even requested, by the Obama administration. Here are the two links Wolf provides as evidence: One to Wonkette ; the other to Washingtonsblog.com . Both articles point back to this absurd article on the Examiner.com site (a very, very right-wing Phil Anschutz, write-out-of-your-butt-with-no-evidence kind of site). Washingtons Blog goes one step further, updating with this: > (And for those who are understandably doubtful about Examiner.com as a news source, here’s an AP story from a couple hours ago that verifies everything except the specific mention of DHS coordination. ) Got that? The headlines on both of these stories (Wonkette and Washingtons Blog) were splayed across the sites in very large heading fonts: “Homeland Security Coordinated….” and yet the AP confirms everything BUT DHS coordination. Still, that didn’t stop Wolf from ignoring the AP story entirely and writing a piece for the Guardian that included links to bolster her argument that are as factless as her hyperbole, and stem from right-wing sites with anonymous sources. No one has a source, no one has any evidence, and the originating story which Michael Moore and now Naomi Wolf breathlessly spread quotes an anonymous source with the promise of still more to come in the future, from a "reporter" for Examiner.com who no one seems to know . Miraculously, this "reporter" got a tip from DHS that no national reporter received, and even though Mr. Ellis walks back his original accusation, he promises updates in the future. Well, it’s the future. It’s two weeks later and crickets from Mr. Ellis. Mission accomplished, though. Ask people who are paying attention to the OWS movement and they’ll swear up and down that yes, it was coordinated by DHS because MICHAEL MOORE and now NAOMI WOLF say so. Truth: We don’t know. It isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility for mayors to consult with DHS. After all, that’s what they’re there for. To help local and state governments deal with threats, real, rumored or perceived. At best, one can conclude that maybe they did, and maybe they didn’t coordinate, and if they did coordinate, no one knows to what extent they did or whether there was any sort of "blessing" and/or mandate from DHS to what they ultimately chose to do. The best anyone can say is "maybe". But if Wolf were not trying to stoke an international narrative she has chosen, she would have had a look at Portland, where there is some evidence that DHS was consulted because the occupiers were adjacent to federal land. > There is another line of thinking out there that runs directly counter to the federal-coordination theory: Ruiz wouldn’t comment on this, but one well-placed city source said, in fact, that the feds were mostly inclined to leave Schrunk Plaza open. It was city officials who cajoled them into getting on board—lest they watch most of Occupy’s camp merely move several hundred feet south onto federal land. Which would have been awkward for the city. But also interesting. Should you accept as fact the idea that the feds were reluctant and the city pushed them along? NO. Why? Because it’s attributed to an anonymous source with nothing to back it up, which makes this theory as worthy as the DHS coordination theory, or just speculation with no facts behind it. Josh Holland at AlterNet also notes: > Ironically, the occupation that arguably maintains the best relationship with local officials is Occupy DC, and the Washington, DC government is directly overseen by Congress. Look, if DHS somehow instructed these cities to dress up their cops in riot gear, pepper spray kneeling protesters, use billy clubs to keep them from crossing imaginary borders, and ultimately throw the lot of them out, then yes, by all means shake your fist. But it's irresponsible for Wolf to publish such incendiary accusations -- accusations of real, physical civil war -- in an international publication, to cite magical articles with unsourced accusations and call it fact. Some might actually call it a lie. Wolf's hyperbole does harm to the OWS movement and those honest people out there conducting themselves peacefully and with clear intent, because she intentionally tried to stir the fires of anger and discontent and anti-government sentiment on an international level. She should have to either retract or clarify her accusations. Update Joshua Holland has written his own excellent response to Wolf's specific accusations. > When you don’t “connect” wholly disparate “dots,” what you get is far less dramatic. Mayors in a handful of cities, responding to local political pressures, decided to break up their local occupations — decisions that were announced to the press well in advance — and were advised as to how best to do so. One doesn’t have to like that fact to recognize that it’s hardly shocking, and anything but a sinister assault on local communities’ autonomy. Also, regarding PERF's* involvement, an interview with the director in The Boston Phoenix : > But what is PERF? And what role, if any, did it play in the police actions? According to PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler, not the one he had hoped. His organization is more concerned with improving police practices and policies, he said. He cited a report PERF published in June, which gives advice that runs exactly counter to how Occupy has been handled in most cities — emphasizing communication, respect for the First Amendment, and avoidance of violent methods at nearly all cost. "Over the years, we've taken on racially biased policing, violent crime, the Gates-Crowley thing in Cambridge," he said. "It's not always pretty, and it's not easy, but I think we owe it to the public to identify best practices." * PERF is the Police Executives' Research Forum, a group who views themselves as a progressive organization dedicated to reducing police brutality and establishing best practices for police officers in various situations. Until recently, they've been a big target of the right wing for their support of gun control laws.

Updated: The Shocking Truth About Naomi Wolf's Factless Assert...

Added 11/26/11
2 Views

Updated: The Shocking Truth About Naomi Wolf's Factless Assertions

[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 17:30:07 11/26/11
In an article for The Guardian , Naomi Wolf wrote this: > In other words, for the DHS to be on a call with mayors , the logic of its chain of command and accountability implies that congressional overseers, with the blessing of the White House, told the DHS to authorise mayors to order their police forces – pumped up with millions of dollars of hardware and training from the DHS – to make war on peaceful citizens. This follows the ongoing meme that DHS has coordinated the Occupy crackdowns on a national level; that they are orchestrating the violence behind the clearing of Zuccotti Park and others. Wolf carries this to her conclusion: > So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not. It's a factless, incendiary assertion dripping in hyperbole, grounded in speculation that's been going on for a couple of weeks now. It began with a tweet. A tweet from Michael Moore speculating that the coordination seemed like something being coordinated by DHS and sanctioned, nay, possibly even requested, by the Obama administration. Here are the two links Wolf provides as evidence: One to Wonkette ; the other to Washingtonsblog.com . Both articles point back to this absurd article on the Examiner.com site (a very, very right-wing Phil Anschutz, write-out-of-your-butt-with-no-evidence kind of site). Washingtons Blog goes one step further, updating with this: > (And for those who are understandably doubtful about Examiner.com as a news source, here’s an AP story from a couple hours ago that verifies everything except the specific mention of DHS coordination. ) Got that? The headlines on both of these stories (Wonkette and Washingtons Blog) were splayed across the sites in very large heading fonts: “Homeland Security Coordinated….” and yet the AP confirms everything BUT DHS coordination. Still, that didn’t stop Wolf from ignoring the AP story entirely and writing a piece for the Guardian that included links to bolster her argument that are as factless as her hyperbole, and stem from right-wing sites with anonymous sources. No one has a source, no one has any evidence, and the originating story which Michael Moore and now Naomi Wolf breathlessly spread quotes an anonymous source with the promise of still more to come in the future, from a "reporter" for Examiner.com who no one seems to know . Miraculously, this "reporter" got a tip from DHS that no national reporter received, and even though Mr. Ellis walks back his original accusation, he promises updates in the future. Well, it’s the future. It’s two weeks later and crickets from Mr. Ellis. Mission accomplished, though. Ask people who are paying attention to the OWS movement and they’ll swear up and down that yes, it was coordinated by DHS because MICHAEL MOORE and now NAOMI WOLF say so. Truth: We don’t know. It isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility for mayors to consult with DHS. After all, that’s what they’re there for. To help local and state governments deal with threats, real, rumored or perceived. At best, one can conclude that maybe they did, and maybe they didn’t coordinate, and if they did coordinate, no one knows to what extent they did or whether there was any sort of "blessing" and/or mandate from DHS to what they ultimately chose to do. The best anyone can say is "maybe". But if Wolf were not trying to stoke an international narrative she has chosen, she would have had a look at Portland, where there is some evidence that DHS was consulted because the occupiers were adjacent to federal land. > There is another line of thinking out there that runs directly counter to the federal-coordination theory: Ruiz wouldn’t comment on this, but one well-placed city source said, in fact, that the feds were mostly inclined to leave Schrunk Plaza open. It was city officials who cajoled them into getting on board—lest they watch most of Occupy’s camp merely move several hundred feet south onto federal land. Which would have been awkward for the city. But also interesting. Should you accept as fact the idea that the feds were reluctant and the city pushed them along? NO. Why? Because it’s attributed to an anonymous source with nothing to back it up, which makes this theory as worthy as the DHS coordination theory, or just speculation with no facts behind it. Josh Holland at AlterNet also notes: > Ironically, the occupation that arguably maintains the best relationship with local officials is Occupy DC, and the Washington, DC government is directly overseen by Congress. Look, if DHS somehow instructed these cities to dress up their cops in riot gear, pepper spray kneeling protesters, use billy clubs to keep them from crossing imaginary borders, and ultimately throw the lot of them out, then yes, by all means shake your fist. But it's irresponsible for Wolf to publish such incendiary accusations -- accusations of real, physical civil war -- in an international publication, to cite magical articles with unsourced accusations and call it fact. Some might actually call it a lie. Wolf's hyperbole does harm to the OWS movement and those honest people out there conducting themselves peacefully and with clear intent, because she intentionally tried to stir the fires of anger and discontent and anti-government sentiment on an international level. She should have to either retract or clarify her accusations. Update Joshua Holland has written his own excellent response to Wolf's specific accusations. > When you don’t “connect” wholly disparate “dots,” what you get is far less dramatic. Mayors in a handful of cities, responding to local political pressures, decided to break up their local occupations — decisions that were announced to the press well in advance — and were advised as to how best to do so. One doesn’t have to like that fact to recognize that it’s hardly shocking, and anything but a sinister assault on local communities’ autonomy. Also, regarding PERF's* involvement, an interview with the director in The Boston Phoenix : > But what is PERF? And what role, if any, did it play in the police actions? According to PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler, not the one he had hoped. His organization is more concerned with improving police practices and policies, he said. He cited a report PERF published in June, which gives advice that runs exactly counter to how Occupy has been handled in most cities — emphasizing communication, respect for the First Amendment, and avoidance of violent methods at nearly all cost. "Over the years, we've taken on racially biased policing, violent crime, the Gates-Crowley thing in Cambridge," he said. "It's not always pretty, and it's not easy, but I think we owe it to the public to identify best practices." * PERF is the Police Executives' Research Forum, a group who views themselves as a progressive organization dedicated to reducing police brutality and establishing best practices for police officers in various situations. Until recently, they've been a big target of the right wing for their support of gun control laws.

Honda Robot "Asimo" Rocks at Dubai Motor Show

Added 11/21/11
5 Views

Future Nasa Rocket To Be Most Powerful Ever

Added 09/14/11
0 Views

Future Nasa Rocket To Be Most Powerful Ever

Added 09/14/11
0 Views

Lowkey Ft Immortal Technique Voices Of The Voiceless

Added 08/30/11
7 Views

Lowkey Ft Immortal Technique Voices Of The Voiceless

[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 04:46:23 08/30/11
Verse 1: (Lowkey) "From West 10 to the West Bank, I write righteous rhymes with my right and wrestle the devil with my left hand, Never work for a Zionist, never been a yes man, My art is like Rembrandt painting pictures of death camps, The average person is allergic to the words of wisdom, This is for everyone of Saddam's Kurdish murder victims, And all the pure souls that never had the chance to speak, Truth pumps in my arteries and causes my heart to beat, For soldiers haunted and tortured by guilty memories, Who realised too late to reveal their real enemy, It's all dead wrong For every victim of racist persecution from Auschwitz to Hebron, My words may sting cowards, For people that were atomised by the Thermate in the Twin Towers Those living through the wars, Ask me what I do this for, Put the world in its place before it put you in yours, Chorus: (Singer) What happens under darkness shall come to light, Can't silence us even though you try, (Lowkey) You can try to avoid us but it's pointless You can never avoid the voices of the voiceless (Singer) Take our freedom, Can't take our pride, Come what may we will survive, (Lowkey) You can try to avoid us but it's pointless, You can never avoid the voices of the voiceless Verse 2: (Immortal Technique) Keep my third eye hidden under my New York fitted, A crazy unmarried man that deserves to be committed, The future is encrypted in my troubled lyrics, Dream that I've been somewhere for weeks, then wake up in a couple minutes, Sweat dripping with visions of population control, Thoughts overflowing my world like the melting of the North Pole, My people are targeted by military crack committees, So I'm bucking at the feds like natives in Rapid City, Reality savage, my words are like a riot in Paris, The voice of the voiceless, that voice is social imbalance, So stand strong or sit harder in your mental palace, Blinded inside a Kingdom united to its old habits, But now, Middle Passage coming, War Chant, African drumming, Gatling gun humming, Rapid fire mechanism, reckless living, That checks the rhythm of perfectionism, Slave condition, While you're singing God save the system, (Chorus) Verse 3: (Lowkey) Detain my body, but you can't imprison my mind, If it's my time I'll probably die with my fist in the sky, These are the thoughts of a man who can't escape from his coma, Cries of a young virgin girl who got raped by them soldiers, (Immortal Technique) Birthing a screaming bastard, post colonial nation, Subject to childhood diseases, famine, war and inflation, Education moulded you into your masters image, And you forgot who the fuck you were before the war was finished (Lowkey) You're hearing the ghosts of Nagasaki, You're hearing Hiroshima, Beautiful babies being born with the weirdest features, You might never see me in the charts, But Inshallah my seed can see peace in Iraq, (Immortal Technique) But peace and freedom can never be given, That's historically forbidden, Cos only collision is the recipe, Changing the course of destiny, So I'm strapped with weaponry, (Lowkey & Immortal Technique) Cos the government don't give a fuck about protecting me. (Chorus)

Lowkey Ft Immortal Technique Voices Of The Voiceless

Added 08/30/11
66 Views

Lowkey Ft Immortal Technique Voices Of The Voiceless

[LESS INFO] 66 VIEWS | ADDED 04:46:23 08/30/11
Verse 1: (Lowkey) "From West 10 to the West Bank, I write righteous rhymes with my right and wrestle the devil with my left hand, Never work for a Zionist, never been a yes man, My art is like Rembrandt painting pictures of death camps, The average person is allergic to the words of wisdom, This is for everyone of Saddam's Kurdish murder victims, And all the pure souls that never had the chance to speak, Truth pumps in my arteries and causes my heart to beat, For soldiers haunted and tortured by guilty memories, Who realised too late to reveal their real enemy, It's all dead wrong For every victim of racist persecution from Auschwitz to Hebron, My words may sting cowards, For people that were atomised by the Thermate in the Twin Towers Those living through the wars, Ask me what I do this for, Put the world in its place before it put you in yours, Chorus: (Singer) What happens under darkness shall come to light, Can't silence us even though you try, (Lowkey) You can try to avoid us but it's pointless You can never avoid the voices of the voiceless (Singer) Take our freedom, Can't take our pride, Come what may we will survive, (Lowkey) You can try to avoid us but it's pointless, You can never avoid the voices of the voiceless Verse 2: (Immortal Technique) Keep my third eye hidden under my New York fitted, A crazy unmarried man that deserves to be committed, The future is encrypted in my troubled lyrics, Dream that I've been somewhere for weeks, then wake up in a couple minutes, Sweat dripping with visions of population control, Thoughts overflowing my world like the melting of the North Pole, My people are targeted by military crack committees, So I'm bucking at the feds like natives in Rapid City, Reality savage, my words are like a riot in Paris, The voice of the voiceless, that voice is social imbalance, So stand strong or sit harder in your mental palace, Blinded inside a Kingdom united to its old habits, But now, Middle Passage coming, War Chant, African drumming, Gatling gun humming, Rapid fire mechanism, reckless living, That checks the rhythm of perfectionism, Slave condition, While you're singing God save the system, (Chorus) Verse 3: (Lowkey) Detain my body, but you can't imprison my mind, If it's my time I'll probably die with my fist in the sky, These are the thoughts of a man who can't escape from his coma, Cries of a young virgin girl who got raped by them soldiers, (Immortal Technique) Birthing a screaming bastard, post colonial nation, Subject to childhood diseases, famine, war and inflation, Education moulded you into your masters image, And you forgot who the fuck you were before the war was finished (Lowkey) You're hearing the ghosts of Nagasaki, You're hearing Hiroshima, Beautiful babies being born with the weirdest features, You might never see me in the charts, But Inshallah my seed can see peace in Iraq, (Immortal Technique) But peace and freedom can never be given, That's historically forbidden, Cos only collision is the recipe, Changing the course of destiny, So I'm strapped with weaponry, (Lowkey & Immortal Technique) Cos the government don't give a fuck about protecting me. (Chorus) My TIP JAR