http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/28
[A]n estimated 2,266 veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they did not have health insurance. That "translates to six preventable deaths per day" and more than twice the number killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.
Great article:
http://www.alternet.org/world/143828/afg
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/0
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/health/h
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opini
The embassy compound, which cost more than $700 million to build, covers 104 acres along the Tigris River. Which means it's not an embassy, but a major, permanent military base in the heart of Iraq. Our "embassy" lets us swim in Saddam Hussein's private pools. Our "embassy" gets regularly fired upon. But wouldn't ya believe, Cheney couldn't even expand the US empire competently?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/world/m
I didn't find A Serious Man to be funny, although some of you might enjoy the overpowering Jewiness to the whole setting. I also found the ending to be hugely disappointing. The acting was strong and the writing was realistic, but usually when they make a movie that adds up to nothing I had a much better time during the journey.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/opinio
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/2
There was no 'love story' of any thematic kind: it was apparently just a catchy subtitle for the film. It took the most scattershot approach to critiquing "capitalism" and never focused on one thing long enough to really examine it.
Granted, Moore is not a theoretical sort-- he's more interested in taking a phenomenological approach of just seeing what is happening and who is hurt and killed from it. He's not that interested in spelling out specific solutions either. He advocates getting mad at the gilded class screwing over everyone else, he showed co-ops as a democratic alternative to our normal workplaces, and he advocated resisting/striking and forming unions. But that's all.
If people want to learn about what's wrong with what currently passes for capitalism, they would be much better off reading the excellent book, When Corporations Rule the World by David Korten.
It starts with Woody Harrelson getting a perfect role for him, adds an awesome cameo (I won't give it away), and stirs in a surprisingly good soundtrack. It just seemed to hit all the right notes. Strongly recommended.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2
Here's the text of the nobel award announcement:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”
