January 2011
“anybody over the age of 16 who takes Ayn Rand seriously should be .. …pitied”
– mariser
As Paul Krugman recently quoted,
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted,...
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
– Aldous Huxley (via momopotato)
"Most Minimum Wage Earners Can't Afford... →
ryking:
Remember that when some right-winger declares how awesome it would be if the minimum wage was completely abolished.
“Tea parties are but the latest manifestation of right wing reactionary...”
– This Is Protest (via ryking)
A Whispering Neuron in the Nascent Mind of the... →
One of the first books I picked up was David Brin’s Earth. It turned out to be exactly what I was seeking. Brin is a prolific writer, and someone who has made extensive use of the web to dissiminate his ideas and speculations about the future, humanity and life in general. Earth was orginally published in 1991 — fifteen years is forever for a near-future novel these days, but this book...
“Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher’s...”
–
Emile Cioran
(via claytoncubitt)
“The first thing we need to recover is the knowledge that peace is a result and...”
– Scot McKnight (via azspot)
The Top 10 Science Books of 2010 →
2010 in Politics
squashed:
The Good
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repealed
Extended unemployment benefits secured for another 14 months
Payroll tax holiday creates a (somewhat) more progressive tax structure
Financial Reform
NEW START Ratified
Benefits extended to same-sex partners of federal employees
Fair Sentencing Act increases the threshhold of felony possession of crack cocaine to prevent the racially...
“If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then...”
– The 14th Dalai Lama (via revolutionnow)
“Sometimes life is a constant battle against the nostalgia of a time that can...”
– Jason Myers (via quote-book)
“The onus is now on the drug companies that own patents on key AIDS medicines to...”
– Elodie Jambert, Pharmaceutical Coordinator for MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines in the MSF special report Ten Stories That Mattered in Access to Medicines in 2010 (via doctorswithoutborders)
“Just as the highest and the lowest notes are equally inaudible, so perhaps, is...”
– Allan Watts (via revolutionnow)
Politico's 10 Worst Decisions of 2010
liberalsarecool:
They must have seemed like good ideas at the time. But the politicos who made these bad decisions are surely looking back on 2010 and kicking themselves.
A bad decision isn’t just a gaffe — something that slips out when your mouth runs ahead of your brain. It’s something you do on purpose, like doubling down on that thing you shouldn’t have said, talking trash about your own...
1 tag
thenoobyorker:
FUCKING HYPOCRITES EACH AND EVERY ONE: The Ivory Coast presidential scandal is the latest example of classic hypocrisy by Western power institutions.
“No longer can heads of State, and other actors, be sure that they can commit atrocious violations and get away with it,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi...
