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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 2, 2012
from Txchnologist
complete list with photos is at: http://www.txchnologist.com/2012/white-glove-service-the-world%E2%80%99s-10-busiest-subway-systems
White Glove Service: The World’s 10 Busiest Subway Systems
April 26th, 2012
Tokyo and its famed white-gloved shoving service, which helps pack the crowded subways trains, may be the world’s busiest public transport system but it’s under pressure from its Asian neighbors. In the past decade, other Asian cities have populated their undergrounds with busy commuters. Indeed, underscoring Asia’s growing economic clout, today the region is home to seven of the world’s 10 busiest transit systems. This trend could foster a new loose economic rule: As GDP grows, urbanites go underground.
1. Tokyo
......
4. Beijing
......
8. Paris
......
10. Mexico City
The World’s 10 Busiest Subway Systems
from Txchnologist
complete list with photos is at: http://www.txchnologist.com/2012/white-glove-service-the-world%E2%80%99s-10-busiest-subway-systems
White Glove Service: The World’s 10 Busiest Subway Systems
April 26th, 2012
Tokyo and its famed white-gloved shoving service, which helps pack the crowded subways trains, may be the world’s busiest public transport system but it’s under pressure from its Asian neighbors. In the past decade, other Asian cities have populated their undergrounds with busy commuters. Indeed, underscoring Asia’s growing economic clout, today the region is home to seven of the world’s 10 busiest transit systems. This trend could foster a new loose economic rule: As GDP grows, urbanites go underground.
1. Tokyo
......
4. Beijing
......
8. Paris
......
10. Mexico City
May 2, 2012
from Consortium News:
Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism
May 2, 2012
Exclusive: President Obama signed a U.S.-Afghan strategic agreement on May 1, committing U.S. combat forces to withdraw by the end of 2014 while leaving behind U.S. counter-terrorism teams for another decade. But Obama and his aides still duck a full debate over the causes of terrorism, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
By Ray McGovern
John Brennan, President Obama’s chief adviser on counter-terrorism, has again put on public display two unfortunate facts: (1) that the White House has no clue as to how to counter terrorism; and (2) (in Brennan’s words) “the unfortunate fact that to save many innocent lives we are sometimes obliged to take lives.”
In a speech on April 30, Brennan did share one profound insight: “Countries typically don’t want foreign soldiers in their cities and towns.” His answer to that? “The precision of targeted [drone] strikes.” Does he really mean to suggest that local populations are more accepting of unmanned drones buzzing overhead and firing missiles on the push of a button by a “pilot” halfway around the world?
Beneath Brennan’s Orwellian rhetoric lies the reality that he remains unable (or unwilling) to deal with, the $64 question former White House correspondent Helen Thomas asked him repeatedly on Jan. 8, 2010, about why terrorists do the things they do:
Brennan: “Al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.” .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/02/not-explaining-the-why-of-terrorism/
Ray McGovern: Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism
from Consortium News:
Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism
May 2, 2012
Exclusive: President Obama signed a U.S.-Afghan strategic agreement on May 1, committing U.S. combat forces to withdraw by the end of 2014 while leaving behind U.S. counter-terrorism teams for another decade. But Obama and his aides still duck a full debate over the causes of terrorism, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
By Ray McGovern
John Brennan, President Obama’s chief adviser on counter-terrorism, has again put on public display two unfortunate facts: (1) that the White House has no clue as to how to counter terrorism; and (2) (in Brennan’s words) “the unfortunate fact that to save many innocent lives we are sometimes obliged to take lives.”
In a speech on April 30, Brennan did share one profound insight: “Countries typically don’t want foreign soldiers in their cities and towns.” His answer to that? “The precision of targeted [drone] strikes.” Does he really mean to suggest that local populations are more accepting of unmanned drones buzzing overhead and firing missiles on the push of a button by a “pilot” halfway around the world?
Beneath Brennan’s Orwellian rhetoric lies the reality that he remains unable (or unwilling) to deal with, the $64 question former White House correspondent Helen Thomas asked him repeatedly on Jan. 8, 2010, about why terrorists do the things they do:
Brennan: “Al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.” .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/02/not-explaining-the-why-of-terrorism/
May 2, 2012
[font size="4"]Coroner: UK spy found in sports bag likely killed[/font]
Associated PressBy DAVID STRINGER | Associated Press – 1 hr 39 mins ago
LONDON (AP) — A coroner said Wednesday a British spy whose naked body was found inside a locked sports bag was likely killed in a criminal act, but acknowledged the riddle of how he met his mysterious death may never be solved.
Coroner Fiona Wilcox said it was unlikely that the demise of code breaker Gareth Williams, 31, would "ever be satisfactorily explained," despite a 21-month police inquiry, and seven days of expert evidence to an inquest hearing.
Williams worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the MI6 overseas spy agency when his remains were found in August 2010 at his London apartment, in the bag and inside a bathtub.
Wilcox said the spy was likely killed either by suffocation or poisoning in a "criminally meditated act" and acknowledged it was possible that an intelligence agency colleague may have been involved. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/coroner-uk-spy-found-sports-bag-likely-killed-132247514.html
Well, duh
[font size="4"]Coroner: UK spy found in sports bag likely killed[/font]
Associated PressBy DAVID STRINGER | Associated Press – 1 hr 39 mins ago
LONDON (AP) — A coroner said Wednesday a British spy whose naked body was found inside a locked sports bag was likely killed in a criminal act, but acknowledged the riddle of how he met his mysterious death may never be solved.
Coroner Fiona Wilcox said it was unlikely that the demise of code breaker Gareth Williams, 31, would "ever be satisfactorily explained," despite a 21-month police inquiry, and seven days of expert evidence to an inquest hearing.
Williams worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ but was attached to the MI6 overseas spy agency when his remains were found in August 2010 at his London apartment, in the bag and inside a bathtub.
Wilcox said the spy was likely killed either by suffocation or poisoning in a "criminally meditated act" and acknowledged it was possible that an intelligence agency colleague may have been involved. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/coroner-uk-spy-found-sports-bag-likely-killed-132247514.html
May 2, 2012
BRUSH, Colo. – An escaped cow in Brush made its way to a fast food restaurant Monday afternoon.
At around 3:30 p.m., the cow was spotted in the middle of Highway 71. By the time authorities arrived the cow had made its way over to the porch of a nearby McDonalds.
Police recognized the cow and called the owners to come pick it up.
No word if the cow placed an order.
http://kdvr.com/2012/04/24/cow-on-the-loose-wanders-to-mcdonalds/
Cow on the loose wanders to McDonalds
BRUSH, Colo. – An escaped cow in Brush made its way to a fast food restaurant Monday afternoon.
At around 3:30 p.m., the cow was spotted in the middle of Highway 71. By the time authorities arrived the cow had made its way over to the porch of a nearby McDonalds.
Police recognized the cow and called the owners to come pick it up.
No word if the cow placed an order.
http://kdvr.com/2012/04/24/cow-on-the-loose-wanders-to-mcdonalds/
May 2, 2012
from In These Times:
Occupy’s Meme Warrior
Adbusters’ Kalle Lasn on Occupy and a resurgent Left.
BY Joel Bleifuss
.......(snip).......
What challenges does the Occupy movement face?
It is a replay of what happened in 1968 when an insurrection in the Latin Quarter of Paris exploded onto campuses and cities around the world. For a few brief moments it looked like the first global revolution. Occupy is round two of 1968. Young people around the world have this sinking feeling that the next 30, 40 or 50 years of their lives will be one big black hole of ecological and political and financial and personal crisis. And if you are facing that sort of prospect you realize that unless you stand up and fight for a different kind of future, you don’t have a future. Unlike 1968, it is going to have legs.
We on the Left have become an ineffective, whiny, complaining, finger-pointing kind of movement that hasn’t had a new out-of-the-box idea for a couple of generations. Everything we’ve tried, including the Battle of Seattle and all sorts of anti-globalization movements, has fizzled out.
A power struggle is going on in the movement, between the old vertical type of a Left and a new young Left that has social media at its finger tips and isn’t so enamored with the old wolf pack mentality but is ready to do things in a much more horizontal way without leaders – sometimes even without demands. The question is: In this tussle between the old Left and the new Left, who will win? And if temporarily the old Left triumphs then we’re in for a hard year this year and possibly even next, but bit by bit this movement does herald a new Left. This movement has made the Left cool again.
How does one build counter-hegemonic power and get beyond “crowd sourcing,” which is really what the Occupy general assemblies are?
In the next few years there will be what I call a “meme war” – a war of really big ideas within economics. Will we be able to pull off a paradigm shift from neoclassical economics to this new ecological or bionomic or psychonomic discipline that is bubbling underneath the surface? Will we be able to change our current dysfunctional marketplace into one in which the price of every product tells the ecological truth? Will we be able to impose Robin Hood taxes and dismantle this global casino with more than $1 trillion a day flushing around the system in derivatives and credit default swaps and other financial instruments? ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13093/occupys_meme_warrior
Occupy’s Meme Warrior
from In These Times:
Occupy’s Meme Warrior
Adbusters’ Kalle Lasn on Occupy and a resurgent Left.
BY Joel Bleifuss
.......(snip).......
What challenges does the Occupy movement face?
It is a replay of what happened in 1968 when an insurrection in the Latin Quarter of Paris exploded onto campuses and cities around the world. For a few brief moments it looked like the first global revolution. Occupy is round two of 1968. Young people around the world have this sinking feeling that the next 30, 40 or 50 years of their lives will be one big black hole of ecological and political and financial and personal crisis. And if you are facing that sort of prospect you realize that unless you stand up and fight for a different kind of future, you don’t have a future. Unlike 1968, it is going to have legs.
We on the Left have become an ineffective, whiny, complaining, finger-pointing kind of movement that hasn’t had a new out-of-the-box idea for a couple of generations. Everything we’ve tried, including the Battle of Seattle and all sorts of anti-globalization movements, has fizzled out.
A power struggle is going on in the movement, between the old vertical type of a Left and a new young Left that has social media at its finger tips and isn’t so enamored with the old wolf pack mentality but is ready to do things in a much more horizontal way without leaders – sometimes even without demands. The question is: In this tussle between the old Left and the new Left, who will win? And if temporarily the old Left triumphs then we’re in for a hard year this year and possibly even next, but bit by bit this movement does herald a new Left. This movement has made the Left cool again.
How does one build counter-hegemonic power and get beyond “crowd sourcing,” which is really what the Occupy general assemblies are?
In the next few years there will be what I call a “meme war” – a war of really big ideas within economics. Will we be able to pull off a paradigm shift from neoclassical economics to this new ecological or bionomic or psychonomic discipline that is bubbling underneath the surface? Will we be able to change our current dysfunctional marketplace into one in which the price of every product tells the ecological truth? Will we be able to impose Robin Hood taxes and dismantle this global casino with more than $1 trillion a day flushing around the system in derivatives and credit default swaps and other financial instruments? ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13093/occupys_meme_warrior
May 2, 2012
from 24/7WallStreet:
ADP & TrimTabs Showing Much Weaker Payrolls Ahead of Unemployment Report
Posted: May 2, 2012 at 8:25 am
The market better get ready for a low reading on the jobs front this Friday when it comes to payrolls. There are two very weak readings which are going to sour the expectation, one from ADP and one from Trim Tabs.
Friday’s expectation for nonfarm payrolls is expected to be 165,000 or so per the consensus target for April from Bloomberg’s survey of economists. That is against only 120,000 in March. It is now
looking like the number will not only be shy of expectations. The reading from the Labor Department could now even show a sequential decline.
ADP showed this morning that only 119,000 payrolls were added in April. Dow Jones had a target of 175,000 and Bloomberg was even higher at 183,000 for consensus targets. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://247wallst.com/2012/05/02/adp-trimtabs-showing-much-weaker-payrolls-ahead-of-unemployment-report/#ixzz1tipnZzqb
ADP & TrimTabs Showing Much Weaker Payrolls Ahead of Unemployment Report
from 24/7WallStreet:
ADP & TrimTabs Showing Much Weaker Payrolls Ahead of Unemployment Report
Posted: May 2, 2012 at 8:25 am
The market better get ready for a low reading on the jobs front this Friday when it comes to payrolls. There are two very weak readings which are going to sour the expectation, one from ADP and one from Trim Tabs.
Friday’s expectation for nonfarm payrolls is expected to be 165,000 or so per the consensus target for April from Bloomberg’s survey of economists. That is against only 120,000 in March. It is now
looking like the number will not only be shy of expectations. The reading from the Labor Department could now even show a sequential decline.
ADP showed this morning that only 119,000 payrolls were added in April. Dow Jones had a target of 175,000 and Bloomberg was even higher at 183,000 for consensus targets. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://247wallst.com/2012/05/02/adp-trimtabs-showing-much-weaker-payrolls-ahead-of-unemployment-report/#ixzz1tipnZzqb
May 2, 2012
Ah, the rich......such patriots they are.....
(Bloomberg) Rich Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship rose sevenfold since UBS AG (UBSN) whistle-blower Bradley Birkenfeld triggered a crackdown on tax evasion four years ago.
About 1,780 expatriates gave up their nationality at U.S. embassies last year, up from 235 in 2008, according to Andy Sundberg, secretary of Geneva’s Overseas American Academy, citing figures from the government’s Federal Register. The embassy in Bern, the Swiss capital, redeployed staff to clear a backlog as Americans queued to relinquish their passports.
The U.S., the only nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside, is searching for tax cheats in offshore centers, including Switzerland, as the government tries to curb the budget deficit. Shunned by Swiss and German banks and facing tougher asset-disclosure rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, more of the estimated 6 million Americans living overseas are weighing the cost of holding a U.S. passport.
“It started with the fallout from UBS and non-U.S. banks feeling it’s too risky to deal with Americans abroad,” said Matthew Ledvina, a U.S. tax lawyer at Anaford AG in Zurich. “It will increase because Fatca will require banks to track down people, some of whom will make voluntary disclosures before renouncing their citizenship.” ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-01/wealthy-americans-queue-to-give-up-passports-in-swiss-capital.html
May 2, 2012
(New York, NY — Kristen Meinzer, The Takeaway) A typical story on The Takeaway morning radio program receives up to a dozen listener comments. Stories that strike a particular cord receive closer to two or three dozen responses. But a story we covered this month received nearly seventy five comments from more than twenty states across the country.
The story was about young people driving less. According to a new study, co-authored by Tony Dutzik and Benjamin Davis of the Frontier Group, 16- to 34-year-olds without driver’s licenses rose to 26 percent in 2010 from 21 percent a decade earlier. Younger drivers are driving almost a quarter fewer miles than they used to. At the same time, biking, walking, and other driving alternatives rose among young people in the past decade.
We asked our younger listeners to tell us if they’re driving less and, if so, why.
The top reason was the cost of the gas, as well as the cost of cars.
And a listener from Evans, Georgia texted:
The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/04/30/young-people-are-driving-less-and-explaining-why/
The "Sans Auto" Generation
(New York, NY — Kristen Meinzer, The Takeaway) A typical story on The Takeaway morning radio program receives up to a dozen listener comments. Stories that strike a particular cord receive closer to two or three dozen responses. But a story we covered this month received nearly seventy five comments from more than twenty states across the country.
The story was about young people driving less. According to a new study, co-authored by Tony Dutzik and Benjamin Davis of the Frontier Group, 16- to 34-year-olds without driver’s licenses rose to 26 percent in 2010 from 21 percent a decade earlier. Younger drivers are driving almost a quarter fewer miles than they used to. At the same time, biking, walking, and other driving alternatives rose among young people in the past decade.
We asked our younger listeners to tell us if they’re driving less and, if so, why.
The top reason was the cost of the gas, as well as the cost of cars.
And a listener from Evans, Georgia texted:
It’s all about the cost. Jobs are scarce or poorly paying and cars, gas, and insurance are expensive...............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/04/30/young-people-are-driving-less-and-explaining-why/
May 2, 2012
Published on May 1, 2012 by lauraflanders
Laura Flanders sat down with professor and author Noam Chomsky, to discuss his latest publication, OCCUPY, OWS, anarchism, racism, corporate power and cooperative potential. Recorded 4/24/12 at MIT for Free Speech TV.
Laura Flanders: Chatting with Chomsky
Published on May 1, 2012 by lauraflanders
Laura Flanders sat down with professor and author Noam Chomsky, to discuss his latest publication, OCCUPY, OWS, anarchism, racism, corporate power and cooperative potential. Recorded 4/24/12 at MIT for Free Speech TV.
May 2, 2012
Sustainability Summit: Unleashing Our Creative Genius with Keynote Speaker, David Korten. Saturday, April 14, 2012, South Puget Sound Community College, Minnaert Center for the Arts.
Sustainability Summit: Unleashing Our Creative Genius, David Korten, pts. I & II
Sustainability Summit: Unleashing Our Creative Genius with Keynote Speaker, David Korten. Saturday, April 14, 2012, South Puget Sound Community College, Minnaert Center for the Arts.
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