Ralph Lawrence Carr

If you harm them, you must harm me. I was brought up in a small town where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened the happiness of you and you and you.

U.S, National Debt Clock

A more detailed National Debt Clock can be seen at http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Facebook of ...

If an egg is broken due to outside force LIFE ENDS. If it breaks from inside LIFE BEGINS. Great things always begin from inside.

TIME (1941)

America is beset by a confusion of conflicting propagandas, a Babel of voices. . ..

So said Columbia University's Professor Clyde R. Miller when he started his Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1937 on the fashionable wave of propaganda against propaganda. Last week the Institute itself was beset by conflicting propagandas. Its scholar-directors had a row.

The Institute has lately published many an analysis of war propaganda. Annoyed at the trend of these analyses, two of the Institute's directors last week announced that they had resigned. They were Professor Paul H. Douglas, of University of Chicago, and Professor Eduard C. Lindeman, of the New York School of Social Work.

Said Professor Douglas: "[The bulletins were] much more critical of many Administration policies than I wanted them to be." Said Professor Lindeman: "I am all-out for intervention. . . [The Institute] did not seem to be."

Professor Lindeman objected particularly to the Institute's April bulletin: Strikes, Profits, and Defense. Protesting that it had more propaganda than analysis, he observed: "The word millionaire is twice used in a name-calling manner."

Dr. Miller declared that the Institute had reported on Nazi and Communist propaganda as well as democratic, wailed: "Everyone wants the other fellow's propaganda analyzed, but not his own."

Chief thing the row seemed to prove: every man is a propagandist, whether he knows it or not.

Aaron Delwiche

The new URL (http://www.propagandacritic.com) was selected because it is easy to remember. The name "propaganda critic" should not be interpreted as suggesting that the author is attempting to pass himself off as "the propaganda critic." In a functioning democracy, all thinking citizens are entitled to consider themselves critics of propaganda.

Although the author holds clearly defined political views, the site is intended to be as objective as possible, holding all sides of the spectrum up to equal scrutiny. If you know of persuasion techniques or propaganda examples worthy of inclusion, please forward them to aaron@propagandacritic.com.

Adolf Hitler

The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic is in danger. Yes - danger from within and without. We need law and order! Without it our nation cannot survive.

Anthony Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson

Every day we are bombarded with one persuasive communication after another. These appeals persuade not through the give-and-take of argument and debate, but through the manipulation of symbols and of our most basic human emotions. For better or worse, ours is an age of propaganda.

Lou Morano

Last week The New York Times reported that the Defense Department is paying the Rendon Group, a Washington-based international consulting firm, $100,000 per month to help the OSI with a broad campaign that would include "black" propaganda, or disinformation -- commonly known as lies.

The OSI was created shortly after Sept. 11 to build public support abroad for the U.S. war on terrorism.

On Wednesday, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith told reporters that the Pentagon would never lie to the public.

The Rendon Group said it would not lie.

Spokeswoman Jeanne Sklarz ... "The only thing I can say is that we have not, do not, and will not engage in disinformation."

Alfred McClung Lee, Elizabeth Briant Lee

It is essential in a democratic society that young people and adults learn how to think, learn how to make up their minds. They must learn how to think independently, and they must learn how to think together. They must come to conclusions, but at the same time they must recognize the right of other men to come to opposite conclusions. So far as individuals are concerned, the art of democracy is the art of thinking and discussing independently together.

Institute for Propaganda Analysis

Seven common propaganda devices:

1. Name-calling
2. Glittering generalities
3. Transfer
4. Testimonial
5. Plain folks
6. Card stacking
7. Bandwagon

レーニン

ヨーロッパの近代の繁栄は、植民地における豊富な天然資源の一方的な略奪、活用と、現地における奴隷に近い安価な労働力の使役の上に築かれた。

与謝野晶子

あゝをとうとよ、君を泣く、 君死にたまふことなかれ。

末に生まれし君なれば 親のなさけはまさりしも。

親は刃をにぎらせて 人を殺せとをしへしや。

人を殺して死ねよとて 二十四までをそだてしや。

堺の街のあきびとの 旧家をほこるあるじにて

親の名を継ぐ君なれば、 君死にたまふことなかれ。

旅順の城はほろぶとも、 ほろびずとても、何事ぞ。

君は知らじな、あきびとの 家のおきてに無かりけり。

君死にたまふことなかれ、 すめらみことは、争ひに思い舞う。

おほみづからは出でまさね、かたみに人の血を流し

獣の道に死ねよとは、 死ぬるを人のほまれとは。

大みこゝろの深ければ もとよりいかで思されむ。

あゝをとうとよ、戦ひに 君死にたまふことなかれ。

すぎにし秋を父ぎみに　おくれたまへる母ぎみは

なげきの中に、いたましく わが子を召され、家を守り

安しと聞ける大御代も 　母のしら髪はまさりぬる。

暖簾のかげに伏して泣く 　あえかにわかき新妻を

君わするるや、思へるや、十月も添はでわかれたる

少女ごころを思ひみよ、 この世ひとりの君ならで 。

あゝまた誰をたのむべき、君死にたまふことなかれ。

熊谷直実

思へばこの世は常の住み家にあらず

草葉に置く白露、水に宿る月よりなほあやし

金谷に花を詠じ、榮花は先立つて無常の風に誘はるる

南楼の月を弄ぶ輩も　月に先立つて有為の雲にかくれり

人間五十年、化天のうちを比ぶれば、夢幻の如くなり

一度生を享け、滅せぬもののあるべきか

これを菩提の種と思ひ定めざらんは、口惜しかりき次第ぞ

長谷川櫂

古典はいつでも誰もが学ぶべきもので｢新｣も｢派｣もない。古典というと、はるか昔に絶滅して今は博物館の冷たい大理石の台に横たわる竜の死骸か何かのように考えている人がいる。これはいささか愚かな早合点。正確にいうと、古典とは｢時間を超えて生き続けているもの｣。

わずか一回の短い人生を生きている我々以上に最もよく生きているもの。むしろ我々の方が古典よりも先に台の上の死骸になる。学ばずにおく手はない。古典を学ぶとは一も二もない。幾度も自分を殺すことである。そして、言葉のはるか彼方から響いてくる言葉の声に耳を澄ます。個性、才能、自己表現。そんな恥ずかしいものを見せびらかしたい人は勝手に見せびらかしてくれ。早晩、時間がきれいに洗い流してくれる。

福沢諭吉

天は人の上に人を造らず、人の下に人を造らずと云えり。されば、天より人を生ずるには、万人は万人皆同じ位にして、生まれながらの貴賎上下の差別なく、万物の霊たる身と心との働きを以て天地の間にある万の万物を資り、以て衣食住の用を達し、自由自在、互いに人の妨げを為さずして、各安楽にこの世を渡らしめ給うの趣意なり。

織田信長

神仏の教えとは、所詮、人間が創りしもの、どれもこれも妄想、迷信、絵空事に過ぎない。

Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

The Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy for Kentucky

• Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.
• What belongs to you, you tend to take care of; what belongs to no one or everyone tends to fall into disrepair.
• Sound policy requires that we consider long-run effects and all people, not simply short-run effects and a few people.
• If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.
• Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.
• Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that's big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you've got.
• Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

下川 裕治

タイ人の怠惰などというものは、それはもう日本人からしたら人格の底を失ってしまうぐらい怠惰なのであり、労働時間とか休日といったレベルの問題ではない。

---

しっかりカネを蓄え、財をなすような発想は、貧しい風土が生んだ北の美意識なのであって、豊穣な南の国ではカッコいいことでもなんでもない。確かにタイ社会において、倹約家の中国人や日本人が成功することはいとも簡単なことかもしれないが、その過程で、彼らの生き方が、「豊かさとはなんなのか」と突きつけてくる。

蔣方良

蔣經國夫人蔣方良

蔣介石看不慣長子蔣經國娶的俄國兒媳

蔣經國的夫人，原名芬娜 (Faina Ipatevna Vakhreva)，是俄國人，她和蔣經國是在俄國認識的，那時的蔣經國正在莫斯科留學。二人在婚后先后生下孝文、孝章、孝武、孝勇三男一女，全家人和睦幸福地生活在台灣。１９８８年蔣經國去世后，三個兒子也相繼去世。接連不斷受到打擊，蔣方良過著孤寂的晚年。

Birth: May 15, 1916, Belarus

Death: Dec. 15, 2004, Tai Peh Municipality, Taiwan

First Lady of the Republic of China. Also known as Chiang Fang-liang, she was the Belarussian wife of President Chiang Ching-kuo. Her family moved to Russia in World War I, but she was orphaned while still young and raised by her sister Anna. As a teenager she was a member of the Soviet Union's Communist Youth League. She met Chiang Ching-kuo while he was living in the Soviet Union, and they married on March 15, 1935. During her husband's political career with the Kuomintang, she kept a low profile due to her being Russian in a period of fervent anti-Communism. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, she never returned to her native land.

Gordon Livingston

One description of humans is "the animals that laugh." This could, of course, be yet another of our conceits. (Perhaps the dogs are laughing at us and we just don't get the joke.) But I think it is probable that we are unique among the creatures of the earth in our ability to appreciate our mortality and to choose how seriously to take ourselves.

There are many forms of grace — physical, intellectual, social, spiritual — each of them amazing in its own way. But to cope with inevitable loss, to face life in all its confusion and absurdity and still retain the capacity for joy, laughter, and a belief that our struggles have meaning — this is to prevail.

Larrry Coryell

Milagros Del Corral

The present state of the library world raises many questions:

• How to finance costly digitization programs in times of crisis?
• Are public/private partnerships a workable solution, bearing in mind that digitization is and always will be an on-going line of action in constant evolution?
• What kind of public/private partnerships?
• What is the future for libraries and other cultural aggregators such as Europeana or the World Digital Library?
• Will they require serious modifications in order to respond to evolving user needs?
• Will the Google Books initiative fulfil its founders´ dream of digitizing humanity’s cumulated knowledge with due respect to copyright?
• What kind of reasonable agreement should be reached between publishers and libraries in order to include orphan and out-of-print copyrighted works in a non-profit digital offer as it is the case for institutional digital libraries?
• Is linking collections to readers, equivalent to connecting contents with people?
• What will be the core of library activities in the digital era?
• How will this affect library architecture and common public spaces?

Irina Bokova

Books are both object and idea. Tangible in form, intangible in content, they express the mind of an author and find meaning in the imagination of readers. Reading is this private conversation, but books are all about sharing –- sharing experience, knowledge and understanding.

... Books are the most powerful forms of dialogue between individuals, within communities, between generations and with other societies. This unique means of dialogue must be protected. The technology of books is old, but it remains cutting-edge, functional and in some conditions irreplaceable. This does not mean that change is not happening or that we should resist it outright.

The global book market is deeply affected by the rise of e-books and downloadable content. This is transforming the industry. It is impacting on publishers. It is touching on authors and readers. The implications of this transformation will be deep and long-term.

... the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of products, about the nature of copyright today, about the role of libraries relative to on-line knowledge, about the meaning of ‘authorship’ in a world of blogs and wikis.

Donald McCullogh

In 1923, seven men who had made it to the top of the financial success pyramid met together at the Edgewater Hotel in Chicago. Collectively, they controlled more wealth than the entire Untied States Treasury, and for years the media had held them up as examples of success.

Who were they? Charles Schwab, president of the world's largest steel company; Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator of his day; Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange; Albert Fall, a member of the President's Cabinet; Jesse Livermore, the greatest bear on Wall Street; Leon Fraser, president of the International Bank of Settlement; and Ivan Kruegger, the head of the world's largest monopoly.

What happened to them? Schwab and Cutten both died broke; Whitney spent years of his life in Sing Sing penitentiary; Fall also spent years in prison, but was released so he could die at home; and the others- Livermore, Fraser, and Kruegger, committed suicide.

24.kg

Утром 21 апреля киргизские депутаты провели ритуал по изгнанию злых духов из здания парламента.

Для изгнания духов парламентарии устроили жертвоприношение, зарезав семь баранов. Где именно были зарезаны животные, не уточняется.

Спикер парламента Ахматбек Келдибеков сообщил, что на проведение ритуала из зарплаты каждого депутата было вычтено по 700 сомов (около 15 долларов). Политик отметил, что только часть собранной суммы была потрачена на баранов. Остальное, по его словам, было направлено на благотворительные цели: на счета домов престарелых и интернатов.

Есть ли какие-то признаки того, что атмосфера в парламенте (где недавно, в частности, произошло несколько драк) улучшилась, пока неизвестно.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

(1606 - 1669)

Cottage with a White Paling

17th century

Etching, printed in black ink on dark cream-colored antique European laid paper

5 1/8 in. x 6 1/4 in.

(13 cm x 15.88 cm)

Henry Clay Frick Bequest

Accession number: 1916.3.27

The Frick Collection (Not on View)

Michael J. de la Merced

Nasdaq OMX executives said on Wednesday that the company and its partner, the IntercontinentalExchange, were committed to pursuing NYSE Euronext through next April — and would take their $11.1 billion takeover bid directly to the Big Board’s shareholders if necessary.

William Brittain-Catlin

... new offshore centres will emerge – the bets are already on Malta, Mauritius and the Seychelles – as trailblazers for the second coming of offshore capitalism, and they will give those hungry for profit and inordinate wealth a margin of risk and reward not available in the slumbering onshore world.

The outcome we know already: offshore capitalism will destroy our economies in a repeat performance of all that we have witnessed these last few years.

But this need not happen; the economic gods have not determined our fate. With the removal of tax havens and offshore finance from the world, we can safely and securely build a new onshore polis. The responsibility is ours. We can and must determine our own fate.

Jeremy

End Tax Haven Secrecy is a brand new campaign that launched this week. It’s an alliance that includes Christian Aid, Oxfam, ActionAid, and The Tax Justic Network, and the campaign is geared up to get action on tax havens on the agenda at the G20 gathering in Cannes in November. French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be among the politicians targetted, as he will have a crucial role in hosting the summit.

Tax havens remain a huge drain on the global economy, a place for wealthy elites and global corporations to avoid paying their share. They rob developing countries of around $160 billion in unpaid taxes every year, which is more than they receive in aid.

End Tax Haven Secrecy

James K. Boyce

Tax havens have gotten a lot of press lately. In Britain, the UK Uncut movement has mounted demonstrations across the country against tax dodging by large corporations and wealthy individuals – making the connection between profits parked abroad and deficits and budget cuts at home.

Last month in the U.S., The New York Times revealed that GE, one of the nation’s largest companies, earned 46% of its revenue in the U.S. over the last three years but booked less than one-fifth of its profits there, shifting most of its booked profits to low-tax countries. In 2010, taking advantage of loopholes in U.S. tax laws (for which the firm had lobbied Washington lawmakers), GE paidnegativetaxes: despite $5.1 billion in declared pre-tax U.S. profits, the firm received a $3.2 billion tax credit. This and other blatant examples of corporate tax dodging are inspiring the birth of US Uncut, an American cousin of the British movement.

Nicholas Shaxson

The offshore world is around us. Over half of world trade passes, at least on paper, through tax havens. Over half of all bank assets, and a third of foreign direct investment by multinational corporations, are routed offshore. Some 85 percent of international banking and bond issuance takes place in the so-called Euromarkets, a stateless offshore zone that we shall soon explore. Nearly every multinational corporation uses tax havens, and their largest users — by far — are on Wall Street.

Tax havens don't just offer an escape from tax. They also provide wealthy and powerful elites with secrecy and all manner of ways to shrug off the laws and duties that come along with living in and obtaining benefits from society - taxes, prudent financial regulation, criminal laws, inheritance rules, and many others. Offering these escape routes is the tax havens' core line of business. It is what they do.

孟浩然

春眠不觉晓

处处闻啼鸟

夜来风雨声

花落知多少

Vivien de Saint Martin

ILES.	KIL. carrés	HAB. au 1er janv. 1880	HAB. par kil. carrés
Nippon	224 731	27 242 847	121
Kiousiou	55 735	5 212 997	133
Sikok	18 222	2 618 142	141
Avadzi	566	177 353	313
Iki	136	33 488	246
Tsou-sima	684	30 187	44
Oki	340	30 747	90
Sado	860	105 496	121
Japon proprement dit	284 283	35 451 257	125
Yézo	78 426	163 353	1,8
Kouriles	14 826
Riou-kiou	4 828	310 543	61
Bouin	81	156	2
Empire du Japon	582 447	35 923 313	94

Internet

It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be: a friend; a companion; a lover; a brother; a father; a master; a chef; an electrician; a carpenter; a plumber ; a mechanic; a decorator; a stylist; a sexologist ; a gynaecologist; a psychologist; a pest exterminator; a psychiatrist; a healer; a good listener; an organizer ; a good father; very clean; sympathetic; athletic ; warm; attentive; gallant; intelligent; funny; creative; tender; strong; understanding; tolerant ; prudent; ambitious; capable; courageous ; determined; true; dependable; passionate; and compassionate.

without forgetting to: give her compliments regularly; love shopping; be honest; be very rich; not stress her out; not look at other girls.

and at the same time, you must also: give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself; give her lots of time, especially time for herself; give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes.

It’s very important: never to forget: birthdays; anniversaries; arrangements she makes; etc.

---

It's not difficult to make a man happy. A woman only needs to: leave him alone.

Sarah Scrafford

Is it the end of Libraries as we know them?

We’re undergoing a revolution in the way information is accessed and disseminated. Traditional models of learning and acquiring knowledge have given way to new-fangled innovations that are collectively referenced under the umbrella term Web 2.0. Today, encyclopedias have bowed down to Wikipedia, the local grapevine has shriveled with the advent of the blog, books have closed their pages in deference to the germination of OpenCourseWare and newspapers are being forced to maintain an online presence or be forgotten altogether.

In this rapidly changing scenario, one has to ponder the questions –

• Is this the end of libraries as we know them?
• How sustainable and relevant are they in the midst of this information explosion we are experiencing through the world wide web?
• What do libraries have to do in order to keep up and prevent being left out?
• Does the advent of e-books and free information on the Internet spell doom for the paper and print books we knew so intimately till now?

The answer to all these posers can be summed up in one phrase – you can’t beat technology, you just have to join it. Libraries must thus be willing to embrace change as a friend rather than reject it as an enemy without even trying to establish a rapport with it.

温家宝

注重对社会转型期道德文化建设的研究。从一定意义上讲，文化是制度之母。一种社会制度的形成、巩固和发展，需要有相应的文化为其提供指导和奠定基础。我国改革开放30多年来，伴随经济社会的发展和民主法制的推进，文化建设有了很大的进步。同时也必须清醒地看到，当前文化建设特别是道德文化建设，同经济发展相比仍然是一条短腿。举例来说，近年来相继发生“毒奶粉”、“瘦肉精”、“地沟油”、“彩色馒头”等事件，这些恶性的食品安全事件足以表明，诚信的缺失、道德的滑坡已经到了何等严重的地步。一个国家，如果没有国民素质的提高和道德的力量，绝不可能成为一个真正强大的国家、一个受人尊敬的国家。党中央、国务院高度重视文化建设，我们的文化建设除了生产更多健康有益、丰富多彩的精神文化产品，满足人民群众日益多样化的文化需求外，还要把加强同市场经济、民主法治、和谐社会建设相适应的道德文化建设放到更加突出、更加重要的位置上来，这是今天我特别想强调的一个重大问题。要在全社会大力加强道德文化建设，形成讲诚信、讲责任、讲良心的强大舆论氛围。这不仅是维护正常生产生活和社会秩序的需要，也有利于从根本上铲除滋生唯利是图、坑蒙拐骗、贪赃枉法等丑恶和腐败行为的土壤。在新的历史条件下加强道德文化建设，是一项复杂而艰巨的社会系统工程。我们要把依法治国和道德建设紧密结合起来，深化政治体制改革、经济体制改革、文化体制改革、司法体制改革，完善法律法规，使有道德的企业和个人受到法律的保护和社会的尊重，使违法乱纪、道德败坏者受到法律的制裁和社会的唾弃。同时，我们要从绵延数千年的中华优秀传统文化中汲取营养，从世界优秀的文明成果中取长补短，从而培育具有时代精神、自尊自信、深入人心的社会主义道德风尚。我希望，参事室、文史馆发挥自己的独特优势，在这方面做出卓有成效的努力。

Dumbarton Oaks

In the late summer and early fall of 1944, at the height of the Second World War, a series of important diplomatic meetings took place at Dumbarton Oaks. Their outcome was the United Nations charter that was adopted in San Francisco in 1945. At these meetings, officially known as the Washington Conversations on International Organization, Dumbarton Oaks, delegations from China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States deliberated over proposals for the establishment of an organization to maintain peace and security in the world. Among the representatives were Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989); US Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1871–1955); Wellington Koo (1887–1985), Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom; and Edward Wood (the Earl of Halifax) (1872–1959), British Ambassador to the United States, each of whom chaired his respective delegation.

十二代 沈壽官

十五代 沈壽官

私はよく灯台のことを考える

灯台は動かずに

光を放ち続けている

自由ではない

船は動くことができる

自由だ

でも動かない灯台が

光を放ち続けなければ

船は漆黒の闇の中で

自由を失い

一寸たりとも

動くことができない

灯台は動かずに

光を放ち続けている

Ellise C. Weaver

If I were the wind

I would caress your hair

Softly, gently, turning it in the air

Wanting, wishing I could hold it in my possession

Selfishly wanting my infinite obsession

If I were a songbird

I would sing you a tune

Sprightly, pleasantly, increasing your boon

Filling your ears with fervent adore

Making my way to your heart evermore

If I were the rain

I would shower your skin

Hoping, dreaming of soaking it in

Trickling, meandering closer still

If only it were possible to get my fill

Karel van Wolferen

... the United States is home for a people whom I admire (most of the time), but who to me appear to be in the midst of moral and political crises that can, as yet, shake up the world some more. Almost all my American friends tend to agree. I am fascinated and concerned and want to continue following this closely. I am of course aware that, unlike the Japanese, Americans on the whole do not take too kindly to what foreigners may have to say about them if that leads to negative interpretations. But, so be it. The United States is far too important to be left to Americans to discuss.

... That odd but fascinating nichibei relationship, as it is known in Japan, should be particularly interesting for Europeans thinking about the possibilities of forming a friendly but independent power on the world stage.

Micheline Mason

She was wearing Wellington boots

With bright stripes of red, black, orange and white

Made for jumping in puddles

And she had found one

A big one

Deep and dark and muddy

Just waiting for her

But her family were in a hurry, already walking away

“Anna, come on, it is time to go!”

Anna did not follow

She was completely enchanted by her study.

Stepping slowly into the deepest spot

She watched the water ripple away from her feet.

She stepped forwards.

More ripples appeared and disappeared.

She turned and kicked at the water.

Thousands of droplets

Showered the path

Leaving black dots shining in the sun.

Sue Lambe

Park Avenue Armory

Paul Handley

The International Monetary Fund on Monday urged the US to begin addressing its yawning budget deficit this year rather than putting off the pain and missing G20 fiscal targets.

In its semi-annual measure of global economic health, the IMF said the US will likely grow more slowly than originally forecast in January -- 2.75 percent instead of 3.0 percent.

It said that slack domestic demand, high unemployment and still-depressed housing prices will continue to dog the world's largest economy, and that the huge government deficit will limit its ability to address those problems.

Even so, the IMF, echoing the ongoing battle in the US Congress over taxes and government spending, urged Washington not to try to borrow and spend its way back to economic health.

With a federal budget gap estimated at 10.8 percent this year, it said Washington will find it difficult to achieve its Group of 20 goal of halving the deficit between 2010 and 2013.

Jason Liebman

Howcast has established itself as a company that knows how to scale the creation and distribution of high-quality, short-form instructional lifestyle content for multiple viewing platforms, and we’re looking forward to moving into serial Web programming to broaden our appeal and reach new audiences and advertisers. With supplemental content and compelling personalities, CHO embodies the next iteration of Web programming.

Thom Weidlich

Merscorp Inc., operator of the electronic-registration system that contains about half of all U.S. home mortgages, has no right to transfer the mortgages under its membership rules, a judge said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Grossman in Central Islip, New York, in a decision he said he knew would have a “significant impact,” wrote that the membership rules of the company’s Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, don’t make it an agent of the banks that own the mortgages.

Jared Cohen

There's a generation gap between young people who are socialized and brought up with these technologies and an older generation that's coming a bit late to them (and that questions them before they embrace them); there are downsides to both.

And there's an innovation gap between companies that innovate for luxury environments -- i.e., free and open societies -- and repressed populations which use things innovatively.

Tony Cartalucci

In 2008, the Alliance of Youth Movements held its inaugural summit in New York City. Attending this summit was a combination of State Department staff, Council on Foreign Relations members, former National Security staff, Department of Homeland Security advisers, and a myriad of representatives from American corporations and mass media organizations including AT&T, Google, Facebook, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and MTV.

One might suspect such a meeting of representatives involved in US economic, domestic and foreign policy, along with the shapers of public opinion in the mass media would be convening to talk about America's future and how to facilitate it. Joining these policy makers, was an army of "grassroots" activists that would "help" this facilitation.

What we see is not a foundation from which all activists can work from, but a foundation that has a very selective group of activists working on "problem spots" the US State Department would like to see "changed." Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eastern Europe, Venezuela, and even Thailand - where ever protesters and movements are working to undermine governments non-conducive to corporate America's agenda, you will find Movements.org supporting their efforts.

Benjamin Fulford

The United States occupation forces in Japan are staging a major strategic defeat because they know the Japanese defense establishment knows it was elements of the US military that set off the March 11, (311) tsunami attack against Japan. This attack used nuclear weapons drilled into the seabed by submarines and not HAARP according to senior Pentagon Sources. In addition, four months ago they overruled Japanese authorities and placed deadly plutonium into the number 3 reactor at Fukushima, according to the governor of Fukushima prefecture. This was to provide a nuclear cover story for the seabed atomic attack, pentagon sources say. Needless to say, the ring-leaders of this attack are now in hiding and know they will be found.

Wesley Stace

Je ne peux en dire plus ici… Chacun voit ce qu'il veut voir.

Je suis un songwriter classique, plutôt dans une chaîne qui va de Dylan à Brassens en passant par Gainsbourg ou Françoise Hardy.

Being a musician is a very sociable thing to do, and it makes it a very good balance with being a writer, which is a very solitary thing to do — so on that level alone I think they complement each other very well. As processes go, they’re completely different: You can write a song on a plane or a train or the back of a napkin in a bar. But a novel … I need to sit around and have seas of days on either side of me to cushion myself in and relax.

One slightly annoying thing about it is that everybody always wants you to get your guitar out at a reading. It’s like, “Come on, you don’t ask so-and-so to cook because he can also cook.”

La Manche Libre

Identifiés grâce à des caméras de vidéo-surveillance, dix jeunes, dont huit mineurs et une fille de 14 ans, ont été interpellés par la police le 4 avril dans la cité du Bois-Perrier à Rosny-sous-Bois, en Seine-Saint-Denis. Ils sont accusés d’avoir lynché un garçon de 19 ans dans un couloir souterrain de la gare RER de Noisy-le-Sec.

L’agression, d’une violence inouïe, a laissé la victime entre la vie et la mort : éclatement du foie et hémorragie intra-crânienne. Le motif de cette sauvagerie dépasse l’imagination. Le garçon était de la cité des Indes à Sartrouville (Yvelines), mais il sortait avec une fille de la cité de Rosny-sous-Bois, et les huit jeunes "n’auraient pas supporté qu’une fille habitant le même quartier qu’eux fréquente un jeune de Sartrouville", explique l’un des enquêteurs...

Mobile inepte, violence totale : "Une affaire de territoire amoureux", raconte la préfecture en termes enjolivés. La police parle plus rudement : "C’est une affaire de jeunes de cité qui n’ont pas grand-chose dans le cerveau", estime Michel Marrec, secrétaire du syndicat de police USGP-FO de la Seine-Saint-Denis. Le soir de l’agression, d’autres violences se déroulaient dans la région parisienne.

Geneviève Comby

... les enfants heureux ont ... plus de chances de devenir des adultes heureux. En tout cas, ils réussissent mieux leur parcours scolaire et sont, ensuite, plus satisfaits de leur travail. Ils ont une vie sociale plus intense, plus de contacts avec leurs amis et leur famille, de même qu’une plus faible probabilité de souffrir de troubles psychiques.

Seule ombre à ce tableau idyllique: les enfants bien dans leur peau divorcent plus une fois adultes.

中国国务院新闻办公室

美国的民主是金钱的民主。

美国无视自身存在的严重人权问题，却热衷于推行所谓“人权外交”，将人权作为丑化别国形象和谋取自己战略利益的政治工具，这充分暴露了其在人权问题上实行双重标准的伪善面目和借口人权推行霸权主义的不良图谋。

美国是世界上暴力犯罪最严重的国家，公民的生命、财产和人身安全得不到应有的保障。美国每年约有１／５的人成为各种犯罪行为的受害者，这一比例居全世界之首。美国枪支管理松懈，泛滥成灾。

美国政府侵犯公民权利和政治权利的情况相当严重。公民隐私遭到侵犯，警察滥施暴力和刑讯逼供现象严重，冤案错案频发。美国极力标榜和鼓吹互联网自由，而实际上，美国对互联网的限制相当严格。

美国在国际人权领域的纪录劣迹斑斑。美国发动的伊拉克战争和阿富汗战争造成大量平民伤亡。美国拒绝参加一些重要的国际人权公约和履行国际义务。

Irakli Metreveli

Hayastan Shakarian denies cutting the fibre-optic cable that provides Internet for much of Armenia

Marcus Richards, Felicia A. Huppert

... teenagers rated positively by their teachers were significantly more likely than those who received no positive ratings to have higher levels of well-being later in life, including a higher work satisfaction, more frequent contact with family and friends, and more regular engagement in social and leisure activities.

Happy children were also much less likely than others to develop mental disorders throughout their lives - 60% less likely than young teens that had no positive ratings.

The study not only failed to find a link between being a happy child and an increased likelihood of becoming married, they found that the people who had been happy children were actually more likely to get divorced. One possible factor suggested by the researchers is that happier people have higher self-esteem or self-efficacy and are therefore more willing and able to leave an unhappy marriage.

Economist Intelligence Unit

GlobalArchitectsGuide.com

Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy', equality and freedom have been identified as important characteristics of democracy since ancient times. These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to the legislative process. For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has equal weight, no restrictions can apply to anyone wanting to become a representative, and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.

There are several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than others. However, if any democracy is not structured so as to prohibit the government from excluding the people from the legislative process, or any branch of government from altering the separation of powers in its own favor, then a branch of the system can accumulate too much power and destroy the democracy. Representative Democracy, Consensus Democracy, and Deliberative Democracy are pseudo-democracies because they do not allow direct citizen participation in the legislative process.

Udfl

Democracy as a form of government dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks. “Democracy” is actually a word of Greek origins using the Greek prefix “Demos” meaning people and the suffix “cracy” meaning to rule. Therefore, the meaning of “democracy” is literally “rule by the people”. The ability of the people to rule means that all who are considered citizens self-govern. Modern western democratic politics owes much of its heritage to the ancient Greeks. The main difference between the ancient and modern variants of the form of governments is who were considered citizens or people. The ancient Greeks only considered landowning males citizens whereas modern Western democracies allow political, enthnic, racial and religious minorities to vote. Ancient Greek democracy was the democratic politics in its purest sense when the “people” actually governed themselves directly when landowning males all gathered in the council of the Athenian city-state to discuss and vote on the political issues of their day. However, as with all human inventions, democracy has improved over the years and became more flexible to address potential for tyranny of the majority, or in the case of Athenian civilization – the minority.

Bob Herbert

While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite. It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.

So what we get in this democracy of ours are astounding and increasingly obscene tax breaks and other windfall benefits for the wealthiest, while the bought-and-paid-for politicians hack away at essential public services and the social safety net, saying we can’t afford them. One state after another is reporting that it cannot pay its bills. Public employees across the country are walking the plank by the tens of thousands. Camden, N.J., a stricken city with a serious crime problem, laid off nearly half of its police force. Medicaid, the program that provides health benefits to the poor, is under savage assault from nearly all quarters.

The poor, who are suffering from an all-out depression, are never heard from. In terms of their clout, they might as well not exist. The Obama forces reportedly want to raise a billion dollars or more for the president’s re-election bid. Politicians in search of that kind of cash won’t be talking much about the wants and needs of the poor. They’ll be genuflecting before the very rich.

In an Op-Ed article in The Times at the end of January, Senator John Kerry said that the Egyptian people “have made clear they will settle for nothing less than greater democracy and more economic opportunities.” Americans are being asked to swallow exactly the opposite. In the mad rush to privatization over the past few decades, democracy itself was put up for sale, and the rich were the only ones who could afford it.

サンケイスポーツ

テレビ東京は３１日、東日本大震災の報道にからみ視聴者から約６００件の抗議をメールと電話で受けていたことを明らかにした。

同局では震災発生直後の１１日午後２時５４分から１２日午後１１時５５分まで、災害報道で最長となる３３時間１分の特別報道番組を連続放送。その後レギュラーのアニメ番組「テガミバチ」（土曜後１１・５５）を放送した。この対応に「アニメ番組を流すのは不適切」などの抗議が殺到したという。

この日都内で開いた定例会見で、島田昌幸社長は「激励も９０件ほど頂いたが、多くがおしかり。貴重な意見として生かしたい」と話していた。

A man in Hokkaido

To everybody in the U.S. 7th Fleet: Thank you. The Japanese people will not be beaten.

Deutscher Wetterdienst

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.

We must be the change we wish to see.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.

God has no religion.

Koenraad Elst

The common denominator in all these costly mistakes was a lack of realism. Gandhi refused to see the realities of human nature; of Islamic doctrine with its ambition of domination; of the modern mentality with its resentment of autocratic impositions; of people's daily needs making them willing to collaborate with the rulers in exchange for career and business opportunities; of the nationalism of the Hindus who would oppose the partition of their Motherland tooth and nail; of the nature of the Pakistani state as intrinsically anti-India and anti-Hindu.

This Is Indexed

GraphJam