Pics

Robert Reich: Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O'Reilly Calls Me A Communist

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:58:53 -0400

Robert Reich: Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O'Reilly Calls Me A Communist:

Bill O’Reilly, the tumescent personality of Fox News, said on his Friday show “Robert Reich is a communist who secretly adores Karl Marx.” (This came after Fox News’ Neil Cavoto called me a “sanctimonious twit” for suggesting the rich should pay more in taxes.)

O’Reilly’s accusation is odd, to…

Cuba Plans Massive Shift to Mixed Economy

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:36:30 -0400

Cuba Plans Massive Shift to Mixed Economy:

brosephstalin:

(Reuters) - Cuba will move nearly 50 percent of the state’s economic activity to the “non-state” sector, a senior Communist party official said at the weekend, the latest signal the island is headed toward a mixed economy.

Cuban President Raul Castro has hammered away at the need for the state to become more efficient and get out of secondary economic activity such as farming and retail services since taking over for his ailing older brother, Fidel, in 2008.

China and Vietnam adopted similar measures in the last few decades of the 20th century as they began to shift to what is known as market socialism.

“Today, almost 95 percent of gross domestic product is produced by the state. Within four or five years between 40 percent and 45 percent will result from different forms of non-state production,” a long-time Communist party political bureau member, Esteban Lazo Hernandez, said in a speech to the Havana city government.

Lazo, who is considered by many to be the Communist party’s top ideologue, said the increased private business and the tax revenue the move would generate meant local government needed to improve its efficiency in order to cope with the shift, according to clips of his speech broadcast by state-run television on Sunday.

(Read More)

Major media companies lobbying against political ad transparency | The Raw Story

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:33:11 -0400

Major media companies lobbying against political ad transparency | The Raw Story:

The corporate owners or sister companies of some of the biggest names in journalism 2014 NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and dozens of local TV news outlets 2014 are lobbying against a Federal Communications Commission measure that would require broadcasters to post political ad data on the Internet.

As we have recently detailed, political ad data is public by law but not easy to get because it is kept only in paper files at each station. The FCC has proposed fixing that by requiring broadcasters to post online the details of political ad purchases, including the identity of the buyer and the price.

(ProPublica has been inviting readers and other journalists to send in the files to be posted as part of our Free the Files project.)

Over the past few months, several major media companies have dispatched top executives or outside lobbyists to the FCC to oppose the proposed rule or to push a watered-down version, disclosure filings show. (The FCC will vote on the issue April 27.)

Governor Malloy on Signing Bill to Repeal Capital Punishment

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:31:23 -0400

Governor Malloy on Signing Bill to Repeal Capital Punishment:

kohenari:

This afternoon, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation that replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole; here’s a portion of his statement upon signing:

My position on the appropriateness of the death penalty in our criminal justice system evolved over a long period of time. As a young man, I was a death penalty supporter. Then I spent years as a prosecutor and pursued dangerous felons in court, including murderers. In the trenches of a criminal courtroom, I learned firsthand that our system of justice is very imperfect. While it’s a good system designed with the highest ideals of our democratic society in mind, like most of human experience, it is subject to the fallibility of those who participate in it. I saw people who were poorly served by their counsel. I saw people wrongly accused or mistakenly identified. I saw discrimination. In bearing witness to those things, I came to believe that doing away with the death penalty was the only way to ensure it would not be unfairly imposed.

Connecticut becomes the seventeenth state to abolish capital punishment and the fifth in five years.

Governor Malloy’s full statement is here.

cooking-confessions: Nutella Lovers Cheesecake Ingredients: 1...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:16:59 -0400

cooking-confessions:

Nutella Lovers Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted

5 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

3 (8 ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup Nutella

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, for garnish

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse together the graham crackers, powdered sugar and hazelnuts.

Add the butter and pulse a couple more times to incorporate.

Press into a 9 inch springform pan. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and sugar.

Add the vanilla extract.

Blend in the eggs, one at a time and mix until full incorporated before adding the next.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes. Cool at room temperature and then chill at least 6 hours.

To make the ganache, stir together the Nutella and cream over low heat until completely blended together.

Cool 30 minutes. Spread on top of cheesecake and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Chill until firm. Cut and serve.

wyaaan: Eiffel explosion of stars (by Ingiro)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:09:38 -0400

wyaaan:

Eiffel explosion of stars (by Ingiro)

wyaaan: tetris (by spreephoto.de)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:08:21 -0400

wyaaan:

tetris (by spreephoto.de)

wyaaan: (via “Tree of Life” (explored!) | Flickr - Photo...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:08:08 -0400

wyaaan:

(via “Tree of Life” (explored!) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

exterra: flower owl (by Ernesto JT)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:50:20 -0400

exterra:

flower owl (by Ernesto JT)

Photo

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:42:57 -0400

wyaaan: Passing by (by BB (O.ö))

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:40:05 -0400

wyaaan:

Passing by (by BB (O.ö))

ruineshumaines: Norddeutsche Landesbank by Behnisch...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:39:23 -0400

ruineshumaines:

Norddeutsche Landesbank by Behnisch Architekten, Hannover, Germany.

The building occupies an entire city block and serves as an important linking element between the various activities which define the neighbouring quarters of the city: retail, commercial, residential, cultural, sport and leisure. Through varying heights a building emerges which gently integrates itself in the existing fabric of the city.

In accordance with urban-planning guidelines, the shallow-plan perimeter building is aligned with the existing streets, complementing the pattern and scale of its surroundings. Read more here

wyaaan: The Dark Hedges (by Klarens)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:34:52 -0400

wyaaan:

The Dark Hedges (by Klarens)

wyaaan: Divine Light III (by  David.Keochkerian )

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:32:33 -0400

wyaaan:

Divine Light III (by  David.Keochkerian )