Summer McDonald: Birth Certificate One Week, Death Certificate the Next

Summer McDonald: Birth Certificate One Week, Death Certificate the Next: "I just don't find news reports of the violent death of anyone a reason to celebrate and/or joke. Seriously, folks, this is why they hate us."

Daily Kos: Founding Fathers and Wealth

Daily Kos: Founding Fathers and Wealth: "Republics, they concluded, require an equitable distribution of wealth. Where wealth concentrates, political power can never be democratically shared. Locke's conception of human nature was that we are capable of self-rule - that is, especially through the facility of reason, arguing that individuals can be (largely) trusted to manage their own affairs in ways that are (more or less) consistent with the interests and well-being of others. However Hobbes suggested

if human beings are primarily self-interested and desire-driven - we are not capable of self-rule. On the contrary: our ruthless competition with one another to satisfy individual desires will quickly lead to what Hobbes calls 'the war of each against all,' a 'state of nature' in which life is 'nasty, brutish, and short.' Hobbes' conception of human nature leads us to an either/or: either we enjoy freedom from society and its laws - resulting in chaos; or we give up this freedom for an authoritarian regime - and enjoy a social order established by force. By contrast, if Locke is right - if human beings are naturally rational. social, and thus capable of self-rule - then we don't need an authoritarian regime to save us from ourselves. For Locke, our reason is crucial precisely as it is able to determine for us appropriate goals or en"

Are We All Black Americans Now? | The Nation

Are We All Black Americans Now? | The Nation: "Under the shadow of lynching, black Americans learned what it meant to feel, as West describes, “unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, and hated for who they are.” After 9/11 far too many Americans, unaccustomed to this sense of collective intimidation, felt helpless to halt an unjustified war or the erosion of civil liberties. Thus, whether or not they were black, Americans were “niggerized” by the attacks."

Japan Crisis Isn't Yet Grasped by the Markets - NYTimes.com

Japan Crisis Isn't Yet Grasped by the Markets - NYTimes.com: "The details of this catastrophe were unforeseeable, leading some to conclude this was a black swan event — something so wildly unexpected, so enormous in its impact, that it seems to defy our understanding and expose the fragility of our knowledge of the world. How could anyone have predicted this?
And yet in 2007, Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, escaped a disaster at its huge Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, on the opposite side of Japan, when that plant was damaged by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake — three times as large as what the plant was designed to withstand. Tepco basically lucked out last time."

A plan for new U.S. jobs, from China

A plan for new U.S. jobs, from China: "If the United States and China are going to begin to rebalance their economies, China needs to bring more jobs to the United States.
For years, there wasn't much progress. As of 2008, Chinese companies had invested less than a total of $5 billion in the United States, even as U.S. firms had made $50 billion in capital investments in China and employed tens of thousands of Chinese workers.
But since 2009, Chinese investment in the United States has exploded - jumping about 150 percent to almost $12 billion in total, according to new figures from Rhodium Group, a New York-based consultancy. Today, Chinese firms employ at least 10,000 Americans."

Reefer in a Bottle? The New Sedating Sodas | Food | AlterNet

Reefer in a Bottle? The New Sedating Sodas | Food | AlterNet: "According to CNN Health, beverages such as Malava Novocaine, Drank, Unwind, Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda, and Slow Cow (sold in Canada) are marketed as helping people unwind."

Firedoglake

Firedoglake: "But then, as Bill “Book of Virtues” Bennett might have told Salter — in between slot-machine benders at casinos — when you’re a Republican, there’s no need to live up to those values you pretend to champion when you’re writing op-eds or speeches, or preening in front of cable TV cameras. The bottom line is all about creating a brand, not an actual quality product"