Contemporary classical: A primer So here, O fictive reader, are answers to some of the questions that, over the years, I’ve heard you ask. These answers are the equivalent of a one-day tour of a major metropolis, pointing out a few highlights to give you a general sense of the landscape of living composers, hoping that you’ll return to visit, in depth, whatever grabs your interest. This is not a “best of” guide, but rather an aide to orientation: Whatever your individual taste, these are pieces worth exploring. Michael Lewis The Wolf Hunters of Wall Street By MICHAEL LEWIS How a band of outsiders discovered that the stock market was rigged — and set out to change it. April 6, 2014, Sunday Shorting Reform Dear Wall Street: here’s a plan to shape financial reform to your advantage.
SourceWatch Koch Spy Agency Led by Voter Fraud Huckster The Kochs have been complaining about a "lack of civility in politics" as they seek to boost their public image--but one of their top operatives helped propel perhaps the most egregious case of race-baiting voter fraud hucksterism in recent years. At the same time that the Kochs have been on a PR blitz, publicly spinning an image of themselves as well-intentioned patriots trying to make the world a better place and decrying "character assassination," they've been quietly ramping up a clandestine surveillance and intelligence gathering operation focused on their perceived political enemies, Ken Vogel reports at Politico. At the helm of this "competitive intelligence" operation is a man named Mike Roman, Vice President of Research for Kochs' Freedom Partners and who was paid $265,000 last year, according to Freedom Partners' recent tax filing. Read the rest of this item here.
Shakesville Anti-Apartheid Activist Helen Suzman Dies Former South African politician and anti-apartheid crusader Helen Suzman, a white woman who was once the only member of parliament to openly oppose the system of racial separation in South Africa, died Thursday at her home in Johannesburg. She was 91. BBC: Archbishop Desmond Tutu said his country owed her an enormous debt in the struggle against apartheid. “She really was indomitable,” he said. Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Achmat Dangor told the Associated Press news agency that she was a “great patriot and a fearless fighter against apartheid”. Mrs Suzman, who first entered the South African parliament in 1953, was a thorn in the side of the apartheid regime, says the BBC’s Peter Biles, in Johannesburg.
PROGRESSIVE RE INDEX ACTIVISM AMERICAN NOTES ARTS & CULTURE COLLEGE CITIES CREEPING COUP CYBER NOTES DC LOCAL NEWS DEVOLUTION DRUG INDUSTRY DRUGS ECOLOGY ELITE ETHNOGRAPHY FOREIGN AFFAIRS GAY MARRIAGE GOVERNMENT FINANCES GUNS HEALTH & SCIENCE HEALTH PLANS The Progressive Review (formerly the Idler and the DC Gazette) was first published in 1964 and is one of the oldest alternative journals in America. Regularly ahead of the curve, the Review has opposed federal drug policy for over 40 years, was a lonely media voice against the massive freeways planned for Washington, was an early advocate of bikeways and light rail, supported neighborhood commissions later adopted in DC, and helped spur the creation of the DC Statehood Party and the national Green Party, In November 1990 it devoted an entire issue to the ecologically-sound city and how to develop it.
Contest The IRE Awards is the annual contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. recognizing the best in investigative reporting by print, broadcast and online media. After judging, all entries are placed in IRE's Resource Center story library so that IRE members may learn from others' triumphs and troubles. The contest helps identify techniques and resources used by the entrants. The awards recognize outstanding investigative work in several categories. The top award given is the IRE Medal. » Outside The Beltway New Deal 2.0 PublicChristian American Civil Liberties Union So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy. -- ACLU Founder Roger Baldwin The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. These rights include: Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. Your right to equal protection under the law - protection against unlawful discrimination.
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (/ˈtɒlkiːn/ TOL-keen;[a] 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford from 1945 to 1959.[1] He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[7] Forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning "dead celebrity" in 2009.[8]