Rev. Al Sharpton: Supreme Insult. No justice, no peace. In the most devastating and detrimental blow to Americans, the electoral process and our Constitutional right to vote, the Supreme Court has struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 4, which maps the areas that must have pre-clearance from the federal government before making any changes to their voting laws, was ruled 'unconstitutional' in a 5-4 decision today, and the ball was thrown into Congress' court. Eliminating Section 4 is just a slick, polished way of eliminating pre-clearance all together -- the very basis of the Voting Rights Act.
This outrageous ruling puts African Americans, other minorities, the poor and all oppressed groups now at the mercy of state governments, yet again. Just yesterday, I stood with Dr. Almost immediately following the Court's reprehensible ruling, we see voter suppression tactics at play. In 1965, everyone knew there was a severe problem with the way in which our electoral process functioned. The Rise Of Social Commerce. Eight Companies Ruined by Their Founders. For every Sergey Brin, there is a Michael Dell. While the Google co-founder and CEO has made his company one of the most valuable in the world with its shares reaching an all-time high, Dell has laid waste to his company. Dell and financial supporters offered to buy the company for $13.65 a share, 40% lower than what it was when Dell retook the CEO job in early 2007. Investors who bought shares a year ago have taken a haircut of more than 20%. Dell is not alone in his failure.
Click here to see the eight ruined companies Perhaps the greatest hallmark of founders who ruin their companies is that they — at least appear to — look out mostly for number one rather than the interests of the company and its shareholders. Aubrey McClendon, who was recently ousted as CEO of Chesapeake Energy, made over $100 million in 2008, and remarkably large sums in the years since then. That is in addition to the more than $20 million she made over the three years that ended in 2011. The Social Commerce Attribution Problem: IBM Says Twitter Referred 0% Of Black Friday Traffic. Twitter and Facebook usually aren’t the last click before an ecommerce buy, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t inspire or influence the purchase.
Yet IBM’s Black Friday report says Twitter delivered 0 percent of referral traffic and Facebook sent just 0.68 percent. To lure advertisers and ecommerce integrations, they have to show its not Google driving every sale. Last year IBM said Twitter generated 0.02 percent of traffic, but now the microblogging platform supposedly drove no measurable amount of traffic. If you factored in downstream visits and conversions, that percentage might not be huge, but I doubt it’s zero. As a whole IBM says social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube generated 0.34 percent of all online sales on Black Friday, down 35 percent from 2011. The lack of sales attribution, especially for paid ads, is a problem for the entire industry. These last few months, Facebook has been making a major push to get credited for downstream purchases. Google's Schmidt: 'Apple Should Have Kept Our Maps' Since Google co-founder Larry Page took over as CEO last year, he has adopted a managerial style of quiet leadership; last year, he quite literally lost his voice.
In the meantime, former CEO and current executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has been the public face of the Google, serving as a window into the company's plans for the future. Schmidt's latest public appearance was last night at the 92nd Street Y in New York, where he talked about a wide range of issues that offered some insight into where Google is headed. The interview was conducted by Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg and All Things D editor Kara Swisher. When asked about the most high-profile Google issue in the media in recent weeks—Apple's decision to drop Google Maps from iOS 6—Schmidt said, "The fact of the matter is they decided a long time ago to do their own maps… Apple should have kept with our maps... But that opinion didn't stop Schmidt from heaping praise upon Apple. David Cameron Denies Murdoch Favoritism. British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a full day’s worth of testimony on Thursday at the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics regarding whether or not he received favorable treatment from Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers.
In 2009, some months before elections, the newspapers had switched their support to Cameron’s Conservatives, who indeed prevailed in the polls. Cameron was outright dismissive that there was any covert arrangement involving “a nod and a wink.” The inquiry also focused on his hiring of former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communication director and Cameron’s handling of Murdoch’s News Corporation’s failed bid last year to gain full control of BSkyB, Britain’s biggest satellite television broadcaster. A “Cringeworthy Text” In that text, says the Guardian, “I am so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a proud friend but because professionally we’re definitely in this together!” As the New York Times observes, The association with Ms. The Brookses, friends of Mr. Wisconsin Recall Election Underway.
See twitter feeds below ~ Check back for live updates and results. Update:Live official election results here. NBC News, CNN, and others have now declared that the recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker has failed. Precincts are still reporting, however, as of 10:30 PM EST. Democratic challenger Tom Barrett conceded defeat just after 11:00 PM EST.
Earlier: Reports of long lines in key voting districts throughout Wisconsin indicate high turnout for the state's recall election today. The Chippewa Herald reports: Voters and public officials reported long lines at many Wisconsin polling places Tuesday — with Dane County Clerk Karen Peters calling the local turnout “just wild. Earlier: Wisconsinites head to the polling booth today to decide the fate of Republican Gov. Walker's opponent in the recall is Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett. Early indications, according the Wisconsin State Journal, suggest that the number of voters today could rival those in a presidential election.
Rereadings: In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki. In Praise of Shadows Junichiro Tanizaki First published in Japanese 1933. English translation, Leete's Island Books 1977 In his delightful essay on Japanese taste Junichiro Tanizaki selects for praise all things delicate and nuanced, everything softened by shadows and the patina of age, anything understated and natural - as for example the patterns of grain in old wood, the sound of rain dripping from eaves and leaves, or washing over the footing of a stone lantern in a garden, and refreshing the moss that grows about it - and by doing so he suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well.
He writes of drinking soup from a lacquerware dish as a form of meditation. Tanizaki's relish in the world and its ordinary pleasures offers a sharp contrast to the functional, plastic, disposable aesthetic of modern western life. The Dangers of Light Pollution on Insect Ecosystems. Urban astronomers and insomniacs aren’t the only ones affected by light pollution. New research shines a sickly-orange spotlight on the impact our streetlights may have on insect populations and biodiversity. “Insects provide crucial services to humans, such as pollination and decomposition to organic matter,” researcher Thomas Davies told Discovery News. “We are facing an insect biodiversity crisis.” Davies and his team, who are members of the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute, conducted an experiment using insect traps in Helston, Cornwall, UK.
For three days and nights, they placed the traps near streetlights and measured them 30 minutes before sunrise and sunset. The traps that were closest to streetlights picked up a significantly higher number of bugs, even during the day. “The range of effects of light pollution are really very diverse,” he said. Related Articles Navy Underwater Testing May Impact Marine Life More Than Previously Thought. 'The Artist' tops Golden Globe nominations - Entertainment News, Award Central. Lisa Kaas Boyle: Corporate Personhood on Trial. December, 2011 arrived bearing gifts for those opposed to the concept of "corporate personhood" as set forth in the U.S. Supreme Court Decision "Citizens United.
" On December 6th, after 45 minutes of public testimony from a crowd that swelled past capacity into an overflow chamber of LA's City Hall, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to support a resolution calling on The United States Congress to amend the Constitution to clearly establish that only living persons -- not corporations -- are endowed with constitutional rights and that money is not the same as free speech. The vote makes Los Angeles the first major city in the U.S. to call for an end to all corporate constitutional rights.
Albany, New York made a similar resolution also by a unanimous vote. In January 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission a bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. But U.S. Saving Our Democracy. The Constitution of this country has served us well, but when the Supreme Court says that attempts by the federal government and states to impose reasonable restrictions on campaign ads are unconstitutional, our democracy is in grave danger. That is why I have introduced a resolution in the Senate calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I did not do this lightly. In fact, I had never done it before. The U.S. constitution is an extraordinary document. I strongly disagree with the ruling. The ruling has radically changed the nature of our democracy. At a time when corporations have more than $2 trillion in cash in their bank accounts and are making record-breaking profits, the American people should be concerned when the Supreme Court says that these corporations have a constitutionally-protected right to spend shareholders' money to dominate an election as if they were real, live persons.
Does anybody really believe that that is what American democracy is supposed to be about? MacGregor Thomson: Should Bernie Sanders Run For President? “Kill me before you kill a fellow Maldivian”: President condemns calls for religious violence “Kill me before you kill a fellow Maldivian,” President Mohamed Nasheed has said, after several slogans calling for the “slaughter of anyone against Islam” were published yesterday on a website calling for a religious protest on December 23. The organisers of the protest yesterday removed the slogans calling for murder, attributing them to “a mistake on the technical teams’ side.”
The website, 23December.com, this morning appeared to have been targeted by hackers, replaced with green skulls and the statement “We’ll come out against you with machetes if you protest.” The original site promoting the protest is now back up at the domain. Speaking at a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally last night, President Nasheed promised that should the protests target Maldivians, “The government and MDP will come out in defence of the people. We’ll not come out on the streets with the defence forces but with bare hands. Religious figures were yesterday quick to publicly condemn the calls for violence. How Boeing got away with breaking the law - Boeing. Republicans won’t have the National Labor Relations Board’s case against Boeing to kick around anymore – though no doubt they’ll keep flogging its corpse.
On Friday, the NLRB announced it was dropping its most famous investigation in years. The union that had brought the case, the International Association of Machinists, asked the NLRB to relent following a compromise reached with management. The IAM is touting its deal as a better alternative than pursuing the NLRB case. They’re right – which is a damning measure of how poorly the Obama administration defends workers’ human rights.
At a time of high unemployment and stagnating wages, the Boeing case shows why it is so hard for workers to collect a larger share of national income. It highlights Republicans’ resolute defense of law-breaking big business, and President Obama’s lack of equivalent fire in defense of the 99 percent. At stake was a simple question of law. Boeing did, so the IAM filed charges last year. Wearable, Wireless Sensors Beat Power Demands. Spiritual retreat. Sandip Hor Mystical Like many other Indians, I grew up listening to and reading tales from Ramayana, which seeded early in my life the desire to touch one day the grounds of Ayodhya, where the great mythical epic is believed to have come to life.
So, when in Lucknow recently, I waste no time to make a day trip to the legendary quarter, located only 130 km away from the Uttar Pradesh state capital. Like Varanasi and Mathura, it’s a pilgrimage destination. Hindus refer to it as Ram Janmabhoomi, believing it to be the birthplace of Ramji, the central personality of Ramayana, and regarded as the seventh manifestation of Lord Vishnu. “However, this holy land of vast religious and historic significance is not just confined to the Hindus, but equally attractive to Buddhists, Jains and Muslims as well,” tells Mangal, our guide, as we begin meandering through the streets of the laidback town soaked in sublime antiquity. During later period of time, other religions too flowered on its landscape.
Ramayana row divides India. Ramayana row divides India By Sudha Ramachandran BANGALORE - India's liberal intellectual tradition has received a stunning blow with the removal of an essay that celebrates diversity from Delhi University's BA history (honors) syllabus. The decision marks the "surrender of academic freedom to political pressure", eminent Indian historian Romila Thapar has lamented. The essay in question is the late A K Ramanujan's Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translations.
Written in 1987, the essay drew attention to the "astonishing" number of "tellings" of the Indian epic, Ramayana (the story of Ram) over the past 2,500 years in different languages, regions and mediums. "Just a list of languages in which the Rama story is found makes one gasp: Annamese, Balinese, Bengali, Cambodian [Khmer], Through the centuries, some of these languages have hosted more than one telling of the Rama story. Delhi University refused to drop Ramanujan's essay back in 2008. Children's films: Bollywood wakes up from its slumber. Are Humans Still Evolving? A recent study suggests that humans aren’t exempt from evolutionary pressures. Despite using culture and technology as ways of adapting to new environments, humans, like all other living things on Earth, undergo genetic changes as a response to conditions around them — or in this case, favorable traits in their genes.
In other words, we’re all still evolving. Most discussion about our evolutionary history focuses on macroevolution, or changes occurring over long periods of time, including why our teeth are smaller when compared with our ancestors’ and how our species may have interacted with Neanderthals. NEWS: What’s Punctuated Equilibrium? Instead, the study’s authors provide an example of microevolution, or changes tracked in a few generations.
The team, led by Canadian researchers, studied the small island town of Ile aux Coudres, located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Quebec. NEWS: Pets Vital to Human Evolution. Israel's national museum and the web giant Google launch digital Dead Sea scrolls. From Barracks to the Battlefield: Clean Energy Innovation and America's Armed Forces. Milow.
Virtually noise-free Eco Whisper Turbine unveiled. Manolo Blahnik, M. Patmos Make Eco-Friendly Shoes From Waste Tilapia Skins, Cork. Suspected Russian Spy Was Sleeping With UK Politician And European Officials. Top 10 Things On Buzznet on El Rich's Blog. Art for the Soul. Freuds love letters reveal jealous fits, cocaine experiments. ‘Super PAC’ American Crossroads seeks permission to feature candidates in ads. Join EMILY's List Today. Craft Project Disasters - Bad Handmade Crafts. 'Stuck' quantum matter waves prove theory. Senate Hearing Puts Focus on Charitable Deduction - Government & Politics Watch.
Broadcast Yourself. World News: Keystone XL pipeline hearing underway. Best of Rugby-WM: Haltet den irischen Nackten! - Sport. 96-Year-Old Chattanooga Woman Denied Voting ID. New social media site helps strangers meet for dinner | Business | Deutsche Welle | 06.10.2011. Watch Alex Reaffirms Jesse Ventura's Facts On 9/11 Stand Down Order Online. The Richard Lazzara Daily. Holocaust Memorial Museum Receives $17.2 Million Bequest. Ancient Aliens: The Series - S03E04 Aliens and Temples of Gold - Watch Free Documentary Online - History Channel, Kevin Burns. #cantieredellestorie. Tevatron Shuts Down After 28-Year Run. 17-yr-old jumps into Ganga. Punjab governor Taseer's killer sentenced to death - PAKISTAN. Sanjeev Bhatt | Arrest | Inevitable | Narendra Modi | Gujarat | WikiLeaks files: U.S. envoys helped Mormons worldwide. Bernie Sanders With Keith Olbermann: "Wall Street Protests Are About To Get MUCH Bigger"
Part of the PATRIOT Act ruled to be unconstitutional. Polio rises by 50% in Balochistan. Mural at San Jose Int'l Airport saved | Stuck at the Airport. Facebook forms PAC for political donations - Post Tech. Ashley Judd and Defenders of Wildlife on the Idaho Wolf Hunt. Copyrights and images from Marilyn Monroe's first photo shoot to be auctioned. The Richard Lazzara Daily. Spain: Foreign Children Take Six Years To Learn Language Used In School. SCOLA.org.
ONE-MINUTE RECAP: How FOX'S Zooey Deschanel Sitcom "The New Girl" Became This Season's Early Breakout Hit.