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June 30, 2007
Are you a bright?
Think about your own worldview to decide if it is free of supernatural or mystical deities, forces, and entities. If you decide that you fit the description above, then you are, by definition, a bright!
Posted by doctormatt at 11:41 PM
Go Left TV
GoLeft.TV - Liberal video presentations
Posted by doctormatt at 11:20 PM
Economic collapse coming soon
Liquidity Nightmare... Drowning In Cash
The Facts Or The "Con" In Con-Game:
In 2005, Stephen King, managing director of economics at HSBC and also a columnist for the Independent.uk news site stated that there was a crisis of faith among central bankers. Two years later, we can see why this confession should have read as: central bankers must stick to their pseudo-religious tones to proliferate public delusions of invincibility.
Continue reading "Economic collapse coming soon"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:16 PM
June 27, 2007
Current key Supreme Court rulings
Courtesy of The Daily Show
Posted by doctormatt at 09:30 PM
June 25, 2007
Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
More Americans accept theory of creationism than evolution
PRINCETON, NJ -- The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27847
Continue reading "Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution"
Posted by doctormatt at 09:23 PM
June 24, 2007
Only 28 "full" democracies in the world
Almost half the countries in the world can be classified as democratic but only 28 "full democracies", which are mostly developed nations with the exception of Uruguay and Costa Rica from Latin America according to the latest report from The Economist.
In "The World in 2007", the British weekly magazine analyzed the level of democracy in 167 countries with the five categories:
Electoral process and pluralism
Functioning of government
Political participation
Political culture and
Civil liberties.
Continue reading "Only 28 "full" democracies in the world"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:13 PM
June 22, 2007
Is having God on your side always advantageous?
Well, a new study from the US says not necessarily so.
The broad ranging study compares data from 18 developed democracies and it shows societies with higher levels of belief also have higher levels of societal dysfunction.
The US was the most religious country in the study, with around 90 percent of people believing in a higher power, and it also showed the highest murder rates, highest levels of child mortality and highest levels of sexually transmitted disease and teenage pregnancy.
More.... Radio show
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/amsterdamforum/051111amfor
Posted by doctormatt at 11:38 PM
What is “income”?
Lavin v. Marsh, 644 F.2nd 1378, 9th Cir., (1981)
Continue reading "What is “income”?"
Posted by doctormatt at 05:48 PM
1040 Checkmate?
DOJ Dismisses Felony Tax Prosecution
-- With Prejudice -- After PRA Defense Raised
Evidence OMB Complicit In Income Tax Fraud
DOJ & IRS Petitioned To Explain
On May 12, 2006 in Peoria, Illinois, the attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) begged the court to dismiss all charges against IRS victim Robert Lawrence in federal District Court.
The motion for dismissal came on the heels of a surprise tactic by Lawrence’s defense attorney Oscar Stilley.
The tactic threatened exposure of IRS’s on-going efforts to defraud the public. The move put DOJ attorneys in a state of panic that left them with only one alternative: beg for dismissal, with prejudice.
Stilley’s tactic paid off. Sixty days earlier, the DOJ had indicted Lawrence on three counts of willful failure to file a 1040 form, and three felony counts of income tax evasion. The federal Judge dismissed all charges with prejudice, meaning the DOJ cannot charge Lawrence with those crimes again.
Continue reading "1040 Checkmate?"
Posted by doctormatt at 05:39 PM
June 19, 2007
Countdown to coverage
On July 1, Massachusetts state law requires every adult to have health insurance if affordable plans are available.
There are many options. The following is a guide to those choices.
More than 135,000 Massachusetts residents who were previously uninsured have gotten free or subsidized coverage under the state's landmark health insurance law. The initiative established Massachusetts as the first state to require every resident to have coverage.
An estimated 250,000 to 350,000 people remain uninsured. The law mandated the expansion of Medicaid and the establishment of new state-subsidized insurance and lower-cost private plans. It also pressed businesses to provide insurance for their workers. Here are answers to some key questions about the insurance requirement.
Continue reading "Countdown to coverage"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:58 AM
June 15, 2007
Truth or Consequences video
Video of trial of Bush and Cheney
Play performed in Chattanooga at Barking Legs Theater
Posted by doctormatt at 03:34 AM
June 14, 2007
You can fool some of the people all of the time and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."
-- George W. Bush, joking at a Gridiron Club dinner, Washington, D.C., March 2001
Posted by doctormatt at 11:45 PM
The Mother Ship Lands in Iraq
U.S. "Embassy"
The Colossus of Baghdad - Wonder of the Imperial World
by Tom Engelhardt
Continue reading "The Mother Ship Lands in Iraq"
Posted by Admin at 03:36 PM
ACLU Hears Administration’s Plan for Spying Law, Says Congress Cannot Legislate Without Investigating
WASHINGTON - JUNE 13 - In a meeting today with the office of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the American Civil Liberties Union rebuffed attempts to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The ACLU and other privacy groups and academics met with the DNI at the invitation of the DNI to discuss the broad changes that the Bush Administration and Department of Justice are seeking to make to FISA.
"Congress enacted FISA with the intention of protecting Americans from the very sort of domestic wiretapping the administration has engaged in," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Amending FISA after the fact would only serve to legitimize and reward the president's illegal actions. There is no legitimate need to expand FISA and the argument that this law cannot keep up with technology is flatly false. "
Posted by doctormatt at 09:24 AM
June 13, 2007
Preview film - War Made Easy
Based on the book War Made Easy:
How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Narrated by Sean Penn, and produced by the superb independent filmmakers at the Media Education Foundation, War Made Easy is a powerful indictment of the current U.S. warfare state and a call to action. I’m hoping it will inspire a nationwide surge of antiwar activism.
Continue reading "Preview film - War Made Easy"
Posted by Admin at 07:42 PM
June 09, 2007
Cheney betting against the Dollar
Originally posted 6/2/06
Vice President Dick Cheney's financial advisers are apparently betting on a rise in inflation and interest rates and on a decline in the value of the dollar against foreign currencies. That's the conclusion we draw after scouring the financial disclosure form released by Cheney recently.
As of the end of last year, Cheney and his wife, Lynne, held between $10 million and $25 million in Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt fund (VWSTX, news, msgs) (it's impossible to be more precise because the disclosure form lists holdings within ranges). The fund's holdings of tax-free municipal bonds mature, on average, in a little more than a year -- meaning that the fund should hold up well if rates rise.
Continue reading "Cheney betting against the Dollar"
Posted by Admin at 11:48 PM
Did we invade Iraq to keep oil denominated in Dollars?
URL
http://www.ichblog.eu/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&id=55983
Posted by Admin at 11:32 PM
The Real Reason for Bush’s Invasion of Iraq is a National Security Secret
By Paul Craig Roberts
War without cause is murder, not war.
American soldiers have been fighting and dying in Iraq since 2003, and Americans do not know why.
All the reasons President Bush gave us for his war are false. Bush said he invaded Iraq “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.”
We now know that these were false claims. Disinformation about Iraq was produced by a special unit within the Pentagon run by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith. The unit operated outside the normal intelligence channels of the CIA and DIA. Its purpose was to create false intelligence to enable Bush to initiate war with Iraq.
Continue reading "The Real Reason for Bush’s Invasion of Iraq is a National Security Secret"
Posted by Admin at 11:27 PM
June 08, 2007
Bargaining with Russia to contain Iran
RELATIONS BETWEEN the United States and Russia have hit their lowest point since the Cold War. Just last week , Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of igniting a global arms race and blasted those "who want to dictate their will to all others regardless of international norms and law" -- a comment clearly aimed at the United States. That comes on top of Putin's remarks earlier this spring, in which he appeared to liken the United States to Germany's Third Reich. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Russia, at times, "seems to think and act in the zero-sum terms of another era."
This growing tension has real and dangerous implications for US security: Washington is struggling to get Russia's help in sanctioning Iran for its nuclear program -- one of the top American defense priorities. If we in the United States want that help, we need to offer something in return.
Continue reading "Bargaining with Russia to contain Iran"
Posted by Admin at 12:11 PM
June 07, 2007
David Swanson audio
Interviewed by Matthew Rothschild on Progressive Radio.
http://www.progressive.org/radio_swanson07
David is a co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet coalition and the Washington director of Democrats.com and ImpeachPAC.org. We talk about impeachment, and about the Presidential race, as Swanson is working for Dennis Kucinich.
Posted by doctormatt at 12:25 AM
Progressive radio shows on the internet
http://www.opednews.com/progressive_radio.htm
Posted by doctormatt at 12:15 AM
Noam Chomsky - Interventions
Audio and transcript of interview regarding his new book.
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=1566
Posted by doctormatt at 12:09 AM
The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement
Audio of Scott Ritter - former U.N. weapons inspector
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1615/1/
Posted by doctormatt at 12:05 AM
The Price of Free Airwaves
As a member of the Federal Communications Commission, I often hear how fed up Americans are with the news media. Too much “if it bleeds it leads” on the evening news and not enough real coverage of local issues. Too little high-quality entertainment and too many people eating bugs.
It doesn’t have to be this way. America lets radio and TV broadcasters use public airwaves worth more than half a trillion dollars for free. In return, we require that broadcasters serve the public interest: devoting at least some airtime for worthy programs that inform voters, support local arts and culture and educate our children - in other words, that aspire to something beyond just minimizing costs and maximizing revenue.
Continue reading "The Price of Free Airwaves"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:00 AM
June 03, 2007
Judge orders God to break up into smaller Deities.
Calling the theological giant's stranglehold on the religion industry "blatantly anti-competitive," a U.S. district judge ruled Monday that God is in violation of anti-monopoly laws and ordered Him to be broken up into several less powerful deities.
"The evidence introduced in this trial has convinced me that the deity known as God has willfully and actively thwarted competition from other deities and demigods, promoting His worship with such unfair scare tactics as threatening non-believers with eternal damnation," wrote District Judge Charles Elliot Schofield in his decision. "In the process, He has carved out for Himself an illegal monotheopoly."
Continue reading "Judge orders God to break up into smaller Deities."
Posted by doctormatt at 10:36 AM
Top 10 signs you're a fundmentalist Christian
10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
Continue reading "Top 10 signs you're a fundmentalist Christian"
Posted by doctormatt at 04:49 AM
Justice Department acted to repress Democrat vote count
Keith Olbermann video.
Courtesy of Truthout.org
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050807A.shtml
Posted by doctormatt at 04:34 AM
Cost of Iraq war - Bill Moyers video
Courtesy of Truthout.org
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051407A.shtml
Posted by doctormatt at 04:24 AM
Kucinich speaks about the War in Iraq
MoveOn's virtual town hall meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJPGjDGFno
Posted by doctormatt at 04:05 AM
Winning the war on drugs
Asylum Street Spankers Video
URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVkk6fH2u0Y
Posted by doctormatt at 03:59 AM
Stick a yellow ribbon up your SUV
Asylum Street Spankers Video
URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8
Posted by doctormatt at 03:48 AM
Ex-spy Plame vows to battle CIA over free speech
An ex-spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide vowed on Saturday to press on with lawsuits against Cheney and the CIA for the sake of freedom of speech.
"Just as we have to be vigilant to protect our national security -- something I believe in passionately -- we have to be vigilant to protect our freedom of speech and First Amendment rights," Valerie Plame Wilson said in a speech at a book convention.
Plame and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday against top CIA officials for blocking publication of her memoir on national security grounds.
Continue reading "Ex-spy Plame vows to battle CIA over free speech"
Posted by doctormatt at 03:38 AM
June 02, 2007
White House follows new path to secrecy
A newly disclosed effort to keep Vice President Dick Cheney's visitor records secret is the latest White House push to make sure the public doesn't learn who has been meeting with top officials in the Bush administration.
Over the past year, lawyers for President Bush and Cheney have directed the Secret Service to maintain the confidentiality of visitor entry and exit logs, declaring them to be presidential records, exempt from a law requiring their disclosure to whoever asks to see them.
Continue reading "White House follows new path to secrecy"
Posted by doctormatt at 09:54 PM
U.S. is a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador
OTTAWA - Frank McKenna, Canada's former ambassador to Washington, referred to the United States on Friday as "a theocratic state" in which Christian evangelicalism plays a big role in the Republican administration.
"Right now the United States is in many ways a theocratic state, not dissimilar to some of the other religious states in the world where religion has a huge part to play in government."
He referred to a current congressional investigation in Washington into whether partisan political and religious loyalties were used in the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and immigration judges. He also alluded to a report that 150 graduates of a Christian evangelical school have worked at the White House in recent years.
Continue reading "U.S. is a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador"
Posted by Admin at 07:47 PM
Anatomy of Love
In 1992, anthropologist Helen Fisher, in her ground-breaking book the Anatomy of Love, postulated three main phases of love:
Lust - an intense longing.
Attraction - an action that tends to draw people together.
Attachment - a bonding progression.
Generally love will start off in the lust phase, strong in passion but weak in the other elements. The primary motivator at this stage is the basic sexual instinct. Appearance, smells, and other similar factors play a decisive role in screening potential mates.
Continue reading "Anatomy of Love"
Posted by doctormatt at 04:43 PM
Jealousy and homicide
Jealousy over real and/or perceived infidelity is among the most frequently cited causes of domestic homicides in the United States.
Helen Fisher (Anthropologist)
Anatomy of Love: The Natural History of Monogamy, Adultery, and Divorce
(1992) p. 284-285
Posted by doctormatt at 04:28 PM
Oral Sex can kill, but not before it makes you happy!
http://theneedsofthefew.blogspot.com/2007/05/medusan-in-box-oral-sex-can-kill-but.html
As a Medusan I deal with the ephemeral not the profane. As a columnist for Newsnet, the interplanetary news service headquartered on Babel, I am often assigned work I consider profane.
Actually when you are soaring the heights of the universe in a non-corporeal body contemplating the known universe even typing a few sentences on Lindsey Lohan’s latest nipple slip will drag you down. I don’t want to complain about the heavy handedness of some of my editors in print, so I will do it behind their backs.
Posted by doctormatt at 02:16 PM
City must pay atheists group for violating Constitution
The settlement doesn't carry legal precedent but avoids larger payout.
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton defended on Tuesday the city's Day of Faith anti-violence rally held in August, even though it means the city must pay an atheist group $5,000 in attorneys fees and avoid holding nonsecular events in the future.
A settlement reached Friday requires the city to write New Jersey-based American Atheists Inc. a letter saying it did not intend to violate the First Amendment and will warn department heads against financing programs that "foster excessive entanglement with religion."
Continue reading "City must pay atheists group for violating Constitution"
Posted by doctormatt at 02:07 PM
Hitchens vs. Hedges; Atheist vs. Believer Clash Ignites Audience
Visualize this spectacle: a debate between a neocon and a progressive. The subject is religion. One of them is there to defend religion, to praise God, to cheerlead for even the most devout. The other -- his opponent -- is an atheist. He skewers deities and those who follow deities. He calls them evil. Toxic. Childish. He mocks doctrine. Railing that the devout want to kill us and control the world, he is on a mission, as it were, to vanquish missions. You'd expect the liberal to be the atheist and the neocon to vouch for the devout. No-brainer, right? Well, no.
As Christopher Hitchens debated Chris Hedges in a Berkeley auditorium last Thursday night, it was Hedges who praised the pious. And it was 9/11-neocon Hitchens who railed against "Abrahamic man-made filthy propaganda," proclaiming that "human emancipation begins when this nonsense ends."
Continue reading "Hitchens vs. Hedges; Atheist vs. Believer Clash Ignites Audience"
Posted by Admin at 12:07 PM
Religion demographics research
Thinking of starting a church?
It pays to do a local market research study first.
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/cong/congregational_studies_methods_web.html
And what do most Americans believe about religion?
You may be suprised!
A 2004 random sample of U.S. citizens finds that a majority (72%) believe in life after death. Approximately 16% do not believe in life after death, with the remaining 12% being undecided.
More...
http://www.thearda.com/
Posted by doctormatt at 11:42 AM
Welcome back, Dr. Jack!
While you were gone we here in Oregon passed the nation's first and most logical Physician-Assisted Suicide law, the Oregon Death With Dignity Act. Under it, after a process involving two doctors, and a lot of other screening, those who have a prognosis of six months to live or less, can get (usually) a fatal dose of liquid Nembutal and die peacefully, surrounded by family and friends (if they choose) or in solitude.
The religious fanatics who run things in Washington tried to knock out the law, Dr. Jack. It went to the U.S. Supreme Court. We won.
We're sorry you went to jail for the concept of controlling one's death the way one controls one's life.
Continue reading "Welcome back, Dr. Jack!"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:35 AM
Bush Nominates Homophobic Surgeon General Who Wants To Cure Gays
Last week, President Bush nominated James W. Holsinger to become the next Surgeon General of the United States:
As America’s chief health educator, he will be charged with providing the best scientific information available on how Americans can make smart choices that improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury. … I am confident that Dr. Holsinger will help our Nation confront this challenge and many others to ensure that Americans live longer, better, and healthier lives.
But as BarbinMD points out, Holsinger’s nomination to be “America’s doctor” is troubling. He has a long history of prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Some examples:
Continue reading "Bush Nominates Homophobic Surgeon General Who Wants To Cure Gays"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:29 AM
US debt could trigger dollar collapse, UN warns
The United States dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt, the United Nations warned today.
United States debt, which had now deepened to well over $3 trillion, might turn out to be unsustainable in the rest of 2007 or next, putting further downward pressure on the United States dollar, Rob Vos, the Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference.
He pointed out that since its peak in 2002, the dollar had depreciated vis-à-vis the major currencies by some 35 per cent and by 25 per cent against a broader range of other currencies.
Continue reading "US debt could trigger dollar collapse, UN warns"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:08 AM
The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger.
The SaveNetRadio Coalition
Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!).
If the increased rates remain unchanged, the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. Internet radio needs your help! The Internet Radio Equality Act has recently been introduced in both the House (H.R. 2060) and Senate (S. 1353) to save the Internet radio industry.
Please call your senators and your representative to ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act by clicking below.
Posted by doctormatt at 11:03 AM
June 01, 2007
Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?
As the nation focused on whether Congress would exercise its constitutional duty to cut funding for the war, Bush quietly issued an unconstitutional bombshell that went virtually unnoticed by the corporate media.
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007, would place all governmental power in the hands of the President and effectively abolish the checks and balances in the Constitution.
Continue reading "Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?"
Posted by Admin at 11:29 AM