Not hearing much about this in mainstream news

Israel Abducts Nobel Laureate, Former U.S. Congresswoman | Foreign Policy Journal

The Free Gaza Movement announced in a press release on Tuesday that its boat The Spirit of Humanity had been intercepted by the Israeli navy while en route from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies to the Palestinian people.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Washington's Blog

As economic writer and attorney Ellen Brown has tried to teach to Obama, Schwarzenegger, and anyone else who will listen, the way out of the economic crisis is to stop paying interest to private banks for the creation of credit, and to return to the system of government-issued credit used by the Founding Fathers to create prosperity for the people and to gain independence from their oppressors.

Belief We Can Change In

Watching Obama Morph Into Dick Cheney by Paul Craig Roberts -- Antiwar.com

A despairing country elected a president who promised change. Americans arrived from every state to witness in bitter cold Obama’s swearing-in ceremony. The mall was packed in a way that it has never been for any other president.

The people’s good will toward Obama and the expectations they had for him were sufficient for Obama to end the gratuitous wars and enact major reforms. But Obama has deserted the people for the interests. He is relying on his non-threatening demeanor and rhetoric to convince the people that change is underway.

The change that we are witnessing is in Obama, not in policies. Obama is morphing into Dick Cheney.

Obama has not been in office four months and already a book could be written about his broken promises.

I'll go on the record as saying that I'm not terribly surprised it's all going this way. The biggest and best change that came out of last year's elections was how people felt they could hope once more. That feeling is beginning to wane as folks realize that a bait-and-switch was pulled without their realizing it.

Agave Azul

Looks like a painting- but it's actually waterwall. Cool, huh? I want to go back and get a better picture with something other than my Blackberry.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Freedom for all!

I was invited to be part of this freedom tag this afternoon via @euskir


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Instructions:



This is a big game of freedom tag. Yes, you do have all the time in the world to feel free!



Works this way:



When you’ve been tagged, create a blog or Facebook post in which you identify your 23 favorite ways to tap into your ever present sense of freedom, then tag 23 other people, including me, to do the same.



We should try things off each of our lists. : )



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1. Strum my mountain dulcimer in the middle of a crowded airport, singing "shaddap, Joe Biden, life begins outside the cage."

2. Walk hand-in-hand with my wife and drink beers the size of Seattle.

3. Go into the backyard wearing nothing but a smile and wave at the Google Earth satellites.

4. Lay in the sunshine with our dog, Bella, and count how many shades of blue are in the sky.

5. Spend ten years not listening to the radio or watching t.v.

6. Leap into the nearest available ocean.

7. Smile at people of all races.

8. Dance to the rhythm of life.

9. Holler and stomp because sometimes, it's just too good and too much to hold inside.

10. Hang off of 420 feet of rollercoaster talkin' 'bout "WHEEEE!"

11. Turn around and face upside down across from my daughter, Casey, who is doing the same thing, on the Gravitron ride at the fair.

12. Play Native American Flute in stairwells and stone canyons.

13. Nothing.

14. Everything.

15. Something.

16. Post blogs and send links regarding the asinine things that our government does in the name of democracy.

17. Shout, "I know you're listening" to those who are.

18. Leave a clause in my will that states I desire a party and not a funeral.

19. Allowing my cats to roam around in the yard, knowing that it satisfies the beast in each of them.

20. Knowing that I can enjoy the quiet acoustic nature of music, and then crank it through a distortion pedal and turn it up to 11.

21. Not cutting my hair for almost 13 years.

22. Working for myself and NOT the man.

23. Believing in the God that I choose to believe.

Aloha,

Bing

12.

Wash your hands of it!

The World from Berlin: 'Panic Can Spread More Quickly Than Swine Flu' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

"If one surfs on Twitter a bit too long, one would get the unavoidable urge to run out to the nearest pharmacy and buy some Tamiflu together with a surgical mask."

"Of course it is wonderful how quickly information can be communicated these days. The problem lies in evaluating that information. The media or individuals publishing on the Internet can make mistakes, panic themselves, and infect other people. And this spreads much more quickly than the swine flu."

"There is little left over from the last pandemic candidate, bird flu, apart from a lot of fear. Naturally caution is required for every epidemic, including swine flu. However, panic is never the right antidote."

Swine Flu Twitter Panic?

Swine flu: Twitter's power to misinform | Net Effect

The question of whether we need to somehow alter our global information flows during global pandemics is not a trivial one. A recent New York Times piece highlighted how a growing number of corporations like Starbucks, Dell, and Whole Foods are turning to Twitter to monitor and partially shape conversation about particular brands or products. What the piece failed to mention was that conversations about more serious topics (like pandemics- and their tragic consequences) could be shaped as well.