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QotD: Ideas Don't Die
"You can kill a man,
but you can't kill an idea."
--Medgar Evers before his own assasination
but you can't kill an idea."
--Medgar Evers before his own assasination
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QotD: Crisis Provokes Change
Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change.
When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken
depend on the ideas that are lying around.
That, I believe, is our basic function:
to develop alternatives to existing policies,
to keep them alive and available
until the politically impossible becomes
the politically inevitable.
--Milton Friedman
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Word of the Day: AGNOTOLOGY
I am an agnotologist, no doubt. That is to say, I am fascinated with all that we do not know, with the gray areas and uncertainties of life, death, and everything. Agnostic = Doesn't Know. Agnotology = Study of Ignorance. Science depends on us being very clear about what we do not know yet, so that we can devise ways to try to find out.
( Great article here from the NY Times )
( Great article here from the NY Times )
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Gun Silencer Sales to Civilians Up 37% in One Year
If factoids could speak, what would this one say? To me it whispers ominously: "We want to kill and not get caught" and "We are willing to give our personal info to the ATF and pay lots of money for the gadget that will let us do the deed." Silencers often cost more than the guns they quiet.
US sales of silencers went from 285,000 in 2011 to 360,000 in 2012. According to the ATF there's now a 9 month waiting period for registration approval, and applicants must provide the ATF with a photo and fingerprints, and pay a $200 tax.
The assault rifle buying binge provoked by the Newtown shooting has tapered down, and those same people are getting set up with silencers, flashlights, laser scopes, stocks, pistol grips and rail systems for attaching other accessories.
SOURCE
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/22/news/companies/gun-silencer-sales/
US sales of silencers went from 285,000 in 2011 to 360,000 in 2012. According to the ATF there's now a 9 month waiting period for registration approval, and applicants must provide the ATF with a photo and fingerprints, and pay a $200 tax.
The assault rifle buying binge provoked by the Newtown shooting has tapered down, and those same people are getting set up with silencers, flashlights, laser scopes, stocks, pistol grips and rail systems for attaching other accessories.
SOURCE
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/22/news/companies/gun-silencer-sales/
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Get Ron Paul to Speak at Your Event
He's retiring from congress at age 77, and going on a speaking tour. He has signed on with the Greater Talent Network to book his speaking schedule. Should be interesting to see what this senior statesman does in his retirement from congress. He's not done yet.
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/political-potpourri/2012/dec/6/ron-paul-hire-liberty-free-market-speaker-circui/
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/political-potpourri/2012/dec/6/ron-paul-hire-liberty-free-market-speaker-circui/
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Ron Paul People are a Big Bother for Romney in Maine
"I think it has the potential to be quite explosive," Potholm says. "I don't think the Ron Paul people are particularly interested in whether Obama is defeated or not. I think that's long passed as their number one objective."
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/23206/Default.aspx
The way I see it, the Republican party has lost all credibility and is ripe for takeover. And the Ron Paul people are more interested in resurrecting a fiscally conservative party (from the fascist ashes) than they are in ousting Obama. And Obama is more ready for that revolution than Romney is.
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/23206/Default.aspx
The way I see it, the Republican party has lost all credibility and is ripe for takeover. And the Ron Paul people are more interested in resurrecting a fiscally conservative party (from the fascist ashes) than they are in ousting Obama. And Obama is more ready for that revolution than Romney is.
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QotD: Do Something
No one has to do everything but everyone has to do something.
--GreenDot
--GreenDot
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Medicare to Pay Docs Significantly Less $$$ in 2012
On 11/1 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Medicare reimbursement for physicians would be cut by 27.4% in 2012---instead of the 29.5% that was previously planned. Doctors that get by on federal payment for seeing older folks are SOL. Older folks are likely to be in a pickle too, as fewer docs will stick with them, given the hoop jumping required to get paid diddley in the first place. As a naturopath I won't qualify for medicare payment in the first place, so I have limited sympathy for those physicians who consider this cut to be akin to a death sentence. The medscape article suggests that nearly 13% of family physician practices may have to close due to the decrease in financial viability. There is another way for us to take care of our elders. We just haven't found it yet.
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QotD: Freedom
People demand freedom of speech
as a compensation for
the freedom of thought
which they seldom use.
-Kirkegaard
as a compensation for
the freedom of thought
which they seldom use.
-Kirkegaard
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The last time I had a thought about Romney was 2007
And I disagreed with him then. He was spouting off then about how there should not be a religious litmus test for presidents. My response: I will not vote for anyone who takes on "faith" things that are insane to me. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with common sense. I also won't automatically do whatever somebody says I "should", being fundamentally skeptical and rebellious (like a good American). Romney doesn't rate a tag. I sure hope he never gets elected president, and he's the only intelligent one out of the whole pack of media-covered Republican candidates. Wish the media would cover Ron Paul... well I guess they do, just not as much as I would like. He just took in over $3 million buckaroos in small donations in the last 5 days. So I guess I'm not the only fan.
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Heinberg's Memo to the #Occupy Movement
http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/523782-memo-to-the-occupied-movement-a
His point: we need a new paradigm, because the era of oil-fueled expansion, growth and "progress" is OVER. The new paradigm must involve a sustainable economic model which will be more local.
His point: we need a new paradigm, because the era of oil-fueled expansion, growth and "progress" is OVER. The new paradigm must involve a sustainable economic model which will be more local.
Ron Paul gets 2nd in Iowa Straw Poll and Media Ignores Him
But lucky for us at least Jon Stewart noticed.
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QotD: Dirt in the Cogs
If everyone throws a few shovels full of dirt
into the cogs of the Machine
then the Machine can't function.
--Dana Walker of Olympia
into the cogs of the Machine
then the Machine can't function.
--Dana Walker of Olympia
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- fda,
- food,
- gardening,
- government,
- herbs,
- revolution,
- safety,
- supplements,
- vit b
The FDA's plan to kill the supplement industry with a thousand paper cuts
Pretty interesting overview of the newest attack here on Natural News: FDA's scheme to outlaw nearly all nutritional supplements created after 1994 would destroy millions of jobs and devastate economy. In the new proposed rules synthetic nutrients are exempted. The target of administrative control appears to be animal and plant-derived supplements. Botanicals. There are many health practitioners who prefer to use natural products as opposed to chemically synthesized ones. But the FDA wants to put us under. It's too dangerous to eat plants and animals; the content is not standardizable. We don't really know what's in there.
More here. You can make noise there too by signing the petition if you care.
And I did not know this, but the FDA has already banned the P5P form of vitamin B6---which some people cannot manufacture on their own and must get from their diet. They're basically trying to trap us into purchasing pharmaceuticals when relatively inexpensive natural alternatives exist. Because some people need to take top quality B6 for life (because of inherited metabolic handicaps), they see a market, just like any drug they can get you to buy for life. It's much more profitable for pharmaceutical corporations to make drugs that you need forever more.
It's time to start gardening, folks. They can't keep us from eating the weeds that grow by our house.
More here. You can make noise there too by signing the petition if you care.
And I did not know this, but the FDA has already banned the P5P form of vitamin B6---which some people cannot manufacture on their own and must get from their diet. They're basically trying to trap us into purchasing pharmaceuticals when relatively inexpensive natural alternatives exist. Because some people need to take top quality B6 for life (because of inherited metabolic handicaps), they see a market, just like any drug they can get you to buy for life. It's much more profitable for pharmaceutical corporations to make drugs that you need forever more.
It's time to start gardening, folks. They can't keep us from eating the weeds that grow by our house.
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The Constitution Lobby: Give Me Liberty .Org
This org is attempting to unite everyone who'd like to induce our governing officials at all levels to respect and adhere to this founding document. It's a pretty cool idea, because they're avoiding any party affiliation, hoping to simply get more citizens involved in keeping an eye on things.
Still Supporting Ron Paul
Today is the Ron Paul campaign-starting Money Bomb. I already contributed. Even though many people do not take him seriously, any opportunity to get his ideas better represented in the public discourse is beneficial to the Republic. I ride the line between left and right. If the two ever should meet we would have a new middle position, different from the existing one that has sold out.
Here's where you too can give $20.12 or more to keep the debate going:
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/
( ruminations )
Here's where you too can give $20.12 or more to keep the debate going:
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/
( ruminations )LJ plays a part in Russian rebellion
Another Russian language user just added me as a friend. I knew that there are a lot of Russians on LJ but until today I didn't know that LJ is playing a part in the efforts of the Russian intelligentsia to share information and circumvent state efforts to control all media. Learned of this thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neptunia67. I hope that LJ can withstand the attacks and continue to serve as a mode of communication for these people.
Things have come a long way since Roman Leibov, a literary scholar and social critic, launched the first Russian-language blog on LiveJournal in early 2001. Ten years later, cyberspace has become a powerful force in Russia for community action. In fact, blogging on LiveJournal.com has become a potent force for checking the corruption and power of the Russian state. Yesterday, this blogging community - which has faced frequent attacks recently - came under an unprecedented "sustained and powerful" attack. At 2 pm (4/5/11?), a massive attack targeted the top 5 blogs on LiveJournal, including Aleksei Navalny's blog (whose has just launched a new crowd-sourcing website called RosPil to combat state corruption). As LiveJournal administrators were responding to this attack, hackers targeted another 30 popular LiveJournal bloggers and communities. The attack - a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) - was successful in knocking LiveJournal offline.
SOURCE
http://putinwatcher.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-war-on-russian-activist-bloggers.html
neptunia67. I hope that LJ can withstand the attacks and continue to serve as a mode of communication for these people.Things have come a long way since Roman Leibov, a literary scholar and social critic, launched the first Russian-language blog on LiveJournal in early 2001. Ten years later, cyberspace has become a powerful force in Russia for community action. In fact, blogging on LiveJournal.com has become a potent force for checking the corruption and power of the Russian state. Yesterday, this blogging community - which has faced frequent attacks recently - came under an unprecedented "sustained and powerful" attack. At 2 pm (4/5/11?), a massive attack targeted the top 5 blogs on LiveJournal, including Aleksei Navalny's blog (whose has just launched a new crowd-sourcing website called RosPil to combat state corruption). As LiveJournal administrators were responding to this attack, hackers targeted another 30 popular LiveJournal bloggers and communities. The attack - a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) - was successful in knocking LiveJournal offline.
SOURCE
http://putinwatcher.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-war-on-russian-activist-bloggers.html
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