Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
The corporate takeover of California is on hold according to the latest polls out of the nation’s largest state. Just nine days before the election, the Los Angeles Times and University of Southern California poll shows a nearly impossible uphill battle for the big business ticket of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina.
Among likely voters in the governor’s race, Brown leads Whitman 50% to 38%. In the race for United States Senator, two term Senator Barbara Boxer maintained an 8% lead. The leads by Democrats come from a brand new constituency, those who "never" go to church. More on that later.
I am not a politician, thankfully, but I do ask for your support. I am hoping to speak on politics/media at the National Media Reform Conference taking place in Boston this April.
For that to occur, I shall need your vote. So if you can be so kind as to help me out, I promise to fight to nominate Sean Paul Kelley as our next Fed Chairman...
We all know the fable: the rugged individualism of small-town America, where you can make a go of it on your own, where neighbors sit out on the porch and talk away the hours at night over iced tea, a gun is your best friend against the varmints that infest your woods, where the local high school still holds sock hops and the church is the place to go if you need a hot meal or some clothes.
Our 100 largest metropolitan areas constitute a new economic geography, seamlessly integrating cities and suburbs, exurbs and rural towns. Together, they house almost two-thirds of our population, generate 74% of our gross domestic product (GDP) and disproportionately concentrate the assets that drive economic success: patents, advanced research and venture capital, college graduates and Ph.D.s, and air, rail and sea hubs.
I awoke about 3am on Sunday morning Australian time, and unable to get back to sleep I got online to find sj, an old agonist bulletin board friend informing me that Stumpy had died.
. . . is really fellating India in this article. I'm really rather quite impressed. See, here's why: I've been to Aurangabad. I was there a year and a half ago. Yes, things can change in a year and a half, but not that much. But it isn't news and it isn't a sign of growing national wealth when 150 rich high caste Indians go out and buy a Benz. Note how closely cropped the photo of the new housing development is? I'll bet you anything there is a lot going on around the edges of the photo. And then there is the other photo: a reflection in the window, lots of greenery and a flashy new car. But note the high walls and heavy security on the gates to keep the rabble out.
There really is no beating back this idea that India is the next big thing, is there?
. . . people always refer to Qat users as "highly addicted?" I've tried Qat, while in Ethiopia and found it much like strong coffee, with out the caffeine jitters. It's really not that big a deal. Of course, people in the West talk about Qat in Yemen and Ethiopia and especially Somalia as having all kinds of economic externalities. But this reinforces our own conceits. How much of an externality is wine and other fermented substances? How many people have a couple of glasses of wine every night to 'take the edge off?'
You might think this a poor analogy, but then that would be the point. How much money is wasted on social lubricants that we most certainly can do without and that have very real costs to society? Like I said, it highlights our own conceit. I'd love to see a Somali, Yemeni or Ethiopian writer go all out concern trolling and say, "ahh, there is a growing Christian backlash to alcohol as they harass suburban alcoholics rushing in to the liquor stores."
The message here is this: if it is strange it must be bad.
. . . they know how to protest. Go read Ian for why the protests in France matter so much. The French way of protest is definitely the kind of protest I could get behind. Real, sustained action that presents a significant cost to the elites. Of course, there is nothing like that here in the land of the free; we don't need protests because we're free! Our idea of freedom, however, is 150 channels of crap on the tube, the ability to drive the gas guzzler of our choice and the freedom to bomb whichever little brown people flavor of the month is out there.
The Texas Rangers beat my beloved New York Yankees last night to earn their first Pennant.
They also gained their first berth in the World Series.
They've exorcised the Yankees demon and won convincingly on their home field.
Congratulations, Texas and Texas fans. They out hit, out pitched and outplayed (but not outspent) the Yankees the entire series.
The simple fact that the Rangers are in the World Series is yet more proof that good things do happen when George W. Bush leaves the scene. I mean, seriously, who trades Sammy Sosa?
Will any candidate speak out like this today knowing that he or she would assuredly go to jail for sedition as Debs did in 1918? But they don't face jail, just the fear that they'll lose their precious office. Why vote for such weaklings?
And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose - especially their lives.
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth. Eugene V. Debs, Canton Ohio, 1918
To begin, I’m about 3/4s through with Eric Herm’s book, Son of a farmer, child of the earth. Pretty good considering I just began reading yesterday, (or bad perhaps, if you consider I have a job and work needing done).
Because I haven’t finished reading Eric’s book, I’ll not offer a review, but I can say that Eric addresses many of the conundrums I too face. We share a strikingly similar view of the world.
Unfortunately, just about every solution Eric proffers raises more questions than answers with me, as I’d guess, my ideas would with Eric. To his credit, Eric’s book is not the theoretical work of some cloistered academic, but instead that of a working man, trying to implement lessons he teaches in the real world.
CNN - The site will soon publish 400,000 secret documents that are expected to give a never-before-seen, uncensored view of the Iraq War. A source close to WikiLeaks said the material covers the period from 2004 through 2009 -- nearly the entirety of the conflict, which began in 2003. On August 31, President Obama declared the combat mission in Iraq over.
The number of documents in this anticipated leak could dwarf the Afghan War Diary which WikiLeaks published in July. The massive, searchable database containing more than 70,000 classified documents about the Afghanistan War is regarded as the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history and garnered international headlines.
The ground-level view of the war was a much bleaker portrait than the official one from Washington.
• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse
• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks
Alternet - Having food resiliency is as much about learning how to store and use food properly as it is about growing it. The key is learning interdependence not independence.
In an age of erratic weather and instability, it's increasingly important to develop a greater self-reliance when it comes to food. And because of this, more than ever before, farmers are developing new gardening techniques that help achieve a greater resilience. Longtime gardener and scientist Carol Deppe, in her new book The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times, offers a wealth of unique and expansive information for serious home gardeners and farmers who are seeking optimistic advice. Do you want to know more about the five crops you need to survive through the next thousand years? What about tips for drying summer squash, for your winter soups? Ever thought of keeping ducks on your land? Read on.
(Disclaimer: Nothing herein should be construed as the official stance of The Agonist or its editorial staff. These are the personal opinions and observations of the author)
The anger I generated with my piece the other day, The Liberal Mandate was both gratifying and angry-making. I admit to being a little annoyed by some of the more...and I'll be polite...strident stances based on principle that I read.
"Annoyed" being the operative word. At 53, I'm too old and too jaded, and having twenty plus years' experience in Internet flame wars (dating back to The Well and Echo), too bored to be more than that.
What's it like to be one of the principal keepers of "The Worst-Kept Secret" (as Israel bomb historian Avner Cohen calls it in his new book)? David Danieli, the deputy director general and head of the policy division of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, was recently interviewed by Yossi Melman for Haaretz. Some background: at this year's General Conference of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), the Arab states, along with Iran, sought to pass a resolution calling for Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Here's my prediction for the Senate races. I see the Democrats holding on to a 54 seat majority. If this happens, watch the rules for the new Senate. Will Reid keep to that 60 vote cloture requirement that's been used to kill any progressive legislation? Duh, of course he will!
My predictions don't matter that much (or at all) but the Presidential Atlas is a gem. You can get raw data, review past elections, and participate in a forum. It's an excellent resource. The site is without any bias whatsoever. Dave Leip collects the data and you get real election results, unlike those provided on election night. A good deal of voting results come in up to a month after the election. Membership is free, right column.
–Ken Buck, Colorado’s Republican Senate candidate, was once an assistant federal prosecutor.
–There was an Aurora gun dealer who sold guns illegally and had 37 counts thrown at him. This was a violation of federal law, nothing to sneeze at.
– Ken Buck didn’t pursue the prosecution.
–Ken Buck shared information with the defense team. That’s right, he tipped them off. How’s that for law enforcement? Then he resigned. Was he forced to?
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Aug. 6 that the Park Service's regulation forcing individuals or small groups to obtain a permit for First Amendment-protected activities was unconstitutional. But the court upheld the agency's policy of setting aside designated park areas for larger demonstrations and the sale of printed material after applicants obtained a permit.
The Justice Department declined to appeal the ruling.
An appeals court granted an Obama administration request for a freeze of a judge’s order telling the military to stop enforcing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Just pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of the "they had to appeal it" argument.
Myth America
The Texas Rangers beat my beloved New York Yankees last night to earn their first Pennant. 
Eugene V. Debbs on War - Who would dare say this today?
