Every now and then I enjoy watching Europe, reading their news, it seems less bloated with political turmoil. But not anymore. The crises, and Europe’s seemingly inability to properly address it, feels like a cancer on a continent that is too beautiful, too rich in history, too amazing to ignore, yet increasingly feels like business as usual.
Europe on Friday awoke to a changed world. The European idea as we know it is in the process of dissolving into thin air. The monumental postwar project of a peacefully unified continent where all member states hold hands in friendship collapsed overnight.
No interesting in striving for a union.
The grass is definitely not greener on the other side. I’m staying here watching from afar.
But a fantastic article showing a great opportunity:
The euro crisis has exposed a kind of creative momentum that is in the process of creating something new. A new Europe. It is an entity which Chancellor Angela Merkel calls a “fiscal union.” But in reality, Europe is on the path toward becoming a federal country.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, two unions contend that Initiative 1183 is improper because it breaks rules that legislation cannot address more than one subject.
Blablablabla… That’s democracy of the new era. If I loose, I sue. Lovely.
But who counts?
GOP candidates think Africa is a country? And they are applying for the job of ‘Leader of the free world’?
You can say what you want, this matters to me.
Germany must get a handle on neo-nazi terrorism.
‘Wehret den Anfaengen’. It’s already way to late for that.
John Cheese on Cracked: 5 Ways We Ruined the Occupy Wall Street Generation:
#5. Making You Ashamed to Take Manual Labor Jobs:
… first we’re told that we’d be flipping burgers if we don’t go to college, then the same people tell us we’re entitled assholes if we refuse to flip burgers.
Great article.
An apology can be exactly what is needed to start the rebuilding of trust in society.
But according to the Global Environment Facility, incandescents still make up 50-70% of worldwide sales and China’s move forms a striking contrast to the US government’s backsliding on the issue. This summer Republicans drove a bill through the House of Representatives stripping all funding for government enforcement of improved lighting efficiency standards, which come into force next year.
Overall, China has pledged to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16% and cut carbon emissions by 17% in the five years to 2015.
There is something so fundamentally wrong with Republicans, I don’t even know where to begin. This is why I hate living here sometimes. What a fucking backward country on issues like this.
And back from July:
‘Republicans declare victory for freedom after House votes on lightbulbs’
Under Tea Party pressure, the House of Representatives voted on Friday to cut federal government spending on the environment by more than $1bn.
Victory for Freedom. What a bunch of bullshit.
Germany has found itself 55bn euros ($78bn; £48bn) richer after discovering an accounting error at Hypo Real Estate (HRE), the troubled bank it nationalised in 2009.
That $77.8 billion people.
Writer Mark Twain coined the phrase “the Gilded Age” to describe that period of rapid growth, a time when the dazzling exterior of American life actually concealed mass unemployment, poverty and a society ripped in two.
I was wrong, America doesn’t hold Hollywood celebrities on a throne and allows them nobility status. It’s Wall Street bankers.
Okay, not prohibition at all. But here in my State hard liquor is sold by State owned liquor stores. No private sales allowed. In free market capitalistic America. WTF is that all about?
Vote YES on 1183.
Initiative 1183, a ballot measure that will appear on the November 2011 statewide ballot, will privatize the distribution and sale of liquor in Washington state, provide hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenues to state and local governments, and increase consumer choice and convenience — while strengthening regulations governing the sale of liquor. It also updates some laws regulating the wholesale distribution of wine.
Maybe what we should have done with this $5,000 – and with the ODA’s budget, and with the PBIA’s budget – is turn them over to Mathias. He says in the post that several people at the evening meeting thanked him for having been advocating and doing many of the things PPS recommends steadily since he’s been in town; I couldn’t agree more. Giving him some funding to expand his activities seems like a sensible, obvious way to improve downtown to me; I think empowering talented people who are part of the community is far likelier to produce results than flying somebody across the country to spend a couple of days here…
I posted this already on Everyday Olympia. Thad summarizes his thoughts on the PPS visit in Olympia from earlier in the month.
It’s fascinating to me, that we are so reluctant to trust local voices, local businesses and rather over and over again reach for out-of-towner brings the great truth from far away.
BTW, I have some great ideas for my town, if we can get this cash flowing that Thad speaks of, I am ready to get moving!
U.S. Troops to Leave Iraq by Year’s End, Obama Says
One down, how many more wars to go?
By Lemony Snicket:
11. Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending.
Hat tip: John Gruber
Let’s not forget the importance of land use and resource allocation.
Activists in Germany and other parts of Europe are planning similar demonstrations. On Saturday, the protesters plan to occupy public spaces across Germany. Are the similarities between the US and Germany great enough for the movement to take off?
Portland plastic bag ban takes effect Saturday.
Sometimes you have to legislate what’s good for you.
And many stores are offering shoppers alternatives. For example at Safeway stores customers will also be able to purchase much thicker reusable plastic bags for ten cents.
You see America, this is free-market capitalism.
When you take a person, in this case an American, and you break them down to their base elements, you’ve got their body and their brain. If you’re given the opportunity to govern these people, you try, with every waking moment to strengthen these elements if you want your nation to have a future that’s worth a damn. There will be nothing else if you don’t attend to these basic raw materials, which are being ignored by too many in Washington, D.C. Health care and education aren’t sexy, but America runs on Americans. Make them strong. If you’ve been given the honor to hold a position of true responsibility in this country—which is traveling down a tough patch of road—this is your job, before any other.
#Occupy that one!
Open letter Max Udargo on Daily Kos:
Do you really want the bar set this high? Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week? Is that your idea of the American Dream?
The 8-hour workday and the 40-hour workweek became a standard by which we judged our economic success, and a reality check against which we could verify the American Dream.
Far more, in the shadow of skyscrapers all across the country, the target is capitalism itself.
Paul Krugman:
Given this history, how can you not applaud the protesters for finally taking a stand?
On You Make Olympia I sit down with my city’s council and mayoral candidates. Take a look behind the stump speech and talking points.
