Tag Archives: world

Arrest at Alaska State Fair-Freedom of Speech

I just wanted to show others the disgust I got when I watched this. A man voicing his opinion. It was also a man who was taken down by security guards who were armed. There is other videos showing the guns that the guards had-guards who are not suppose to be armed with more than pepper spray. A cop steps in and doesn't say a thing about the guards carrying illegal firearms at the State Fair. added by: RRRPirate

The World’s Greatest Threat?

Tony Blair recently remarked that radical Islam is the world's greatest threat. Although I agree that radical Islam is threatening, I don't think it's just Islam that's the problem. I think it's all extremists that we should be concerned with…(continues)… http://talkingskull.com/article/worlds-greatest-threat added by: Billy_Tarter

Postcard from Venice: On John Woo, Tsui Hark and the Glorious Nuttiness of Detective Dee

Two nights ago here in Venice, John Woo received a Golden Lion lifetime-achievement award, which may not mean much to people who have seen only his American movies. In fact, while waiting in line for a screening the other day, I heard one badge-holder (speaking English with an English accent) explaining to another who he is. I would have thought anyone in the world who’d managed to get accreditation to a major film festival would know John Woo, but apparently not.

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Postcard from Venice: On John Woo, Tsui Hark and the Glorious Nuttiness of Detective Dee

Captain Planet Turns 20, and Get His Own Holiday

Image Credit: Captain Planet @ 20 If you’re like me, when you think of Captain Planet, you’re hit with a wave of nostalgia for your 1990s childhood. But even if you’re a bit older (or younger), I’ll bet you’re excited to hear that the world’s first and only eco-superhero is turning 20 years old this month, and is getting a party to celebrate. The Captain Planet Foundation , an organization dedicated to educating youth about the environment, has declared September 15, 2010 “National Captain Planet Day.” To mark the occasion, a group of adult “Planetee… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Captain Planet Turns 20, and Get His Own Holiday

Interview: Rainforest Action Network Executive Director Rebecca Tarbotton

photo via RAN Rainforest Action Network’s new Executive Director, Rebecca Tarbotton, has big plans for the Bay Area-based advocacy group. RAN , which was founded in 1985, takes on big banks that are funding the coal industry, like JP Morgan and Chase, and it has worked to protect the world’s most threatened rainforests, like those in Indonesia that are home to endangered orangutans and tigers. Tarbotton has a lot to say about RAN’s future and where the environmental movement is going…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Interview: Rainforest Action Network Executive Director Rebecca Tarbotton

Nicki Minaj Says Pink Friday Is Her ‘Heart And Soul’

The Barbie promises debut LP will deliver so ‘every woman in this world can understand it,’ in Paper magazine. By James Dinh Nicki Minaj in “Paper” magazine Photo: Paper magazine Having collaborated with everyone from Trey Songz to Jay-Z, Young Money darling Nicki Minaj has already made a name for herself, even before dropping an album. Minaj recognizes how fortunate her journey to stardom has been, and in the September issue of Paper magazine, she opens up about her success and what her upcoming debut, Pink Friday, will represent. “This album is my heart and soul,” the rapper told the magazine. “This is me explaining every single relationship that I’ve ever been in and explaining it in a way that every woman in this world can understand it.” The LP, set for a November 23 release, will likely be saturated with Minaj’s colorful rap flow, which she explained that she learned during school. “The line was, ‘Tis monstrous’ — period. And the second line was, ‘Iago, who done it’ — question mark. Then we read it without punctuation. ‘Tis monstrous Iago who done it,” which basically gives the story away,” she recalled of an assignment reading Shakespeare’s “Othello.” “The fact that punctuation can change what you’re saying, I guess that’s why I love hip-hop — being able to say the same thing but it meaning a different thing.” But the Harajuku Barbie admitted that not everyone was always a fan of her signature rap style. “My first manager told me, ‘Stop playing around with your words, stop being funny, nobody’s going to take you seriously. You shouldn’t sound smart.’ I don’t know. I just started saying things,” Minaj said. Her unique style has of course helped fuel her rise, making her hip hop’s leading lady. And Minaj’s MTV VMA nomination for Best New Artist only highlights that fact. (She’ll go head-to-head with artists like Ke$ha and Justin Bieber in the category.) “Three years ago all my underground hip-hop heads thought I was crazy when I said this would happen but … it will happen,” she predicted. “I’m going to be in Tokyo, Paris — I’m going to go everywhere you can imagine. I’m going to own London, I mean, the sky’s the limit, and you watch what I say, I refuse to lose. I don’t know how to lose.” What do you think of Nicki’s success so far? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos Gearing Up For The 2010 VMAs! Related Artists Nicki Minaj

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Nicki Minaj Says Pink Friday Is Her ‘Heart And Soul’

Earth’s Animals Face GRIM Future | Major Extinction Event Is Taking Place

Earth's animals face grim future Major extinction event taking place, with many wondering what animals will disappear from the planet forever Getty Images: Two of the most important and plentiful groups of marine animals 250 million years ago were corals and brachiopods, also called lamp shells. After the Great Dying, corals were almost wiped out By Jennifer Viegas updated 9/2/2010 2:34:41 PM ET Corals, big mammals and many tropical species could all go extinct in the not too distant future, predict scientists who are attempting to forecast the fate of today's animals by studying what happened to those in the distant past. A complication is that no prior mass extinction event on the planet was driven by a single species. In a period of more than a half-billion years, only three such extinction events appear to have been as devastating as the present one, which is being caused by humans. “We're 100 percent responsible for it,” John Alroy, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University, told Discovery News. “There is no precedent at all for what we're doing,” he added. “All well-understood extinctions in the deep fossil record are tied to environmental changes that were not triggered by the behavior of individual species, such as the asteroid impact 65 million years ago that wiped out the terrestrial (non-avian) dinosaurs.” Alroy used the Paleobiology Database, which compiles data from nearly 100,000 fossil collections worldwide, to track the fate of major groups of animals during Earth's most massive extinction event 250 million years ago: the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, also known as the “Great Dying.” Alroy, whose findings are published in the latest issue of the journal Science, focused on marine animals, since the fossil record includes many such species. He determined that two of the most important and plentiful groups of marine animals 250 million years ago were corals and brachiopods, also called lamp shells. After the Great Dying, corals were almost wiped out. “There are almost no early Triassic coral fossils in the world,” explained Alroy, who added that corals “eventually recovered all of their lost diversity.” The lamp shells, on the other hand, never recovered. While they're still in existence, they exhibit little diversity and not many of them are around compared to other animal populations. He said these are just a few examples from the past that demonstrate how a species-rich animal group may not necessarily fare well after a major extinction event. The rules governing their, and other animals', diversity change over time, and really go off the chart during and after mass extinction events. Species-rich animal groups “could happen to be very vulnerable to the particular mechanism that creates a particular mass extinction,” he said. They could also lose all of their subspecies, or “during the scramble to fill empty niches after a mass extinction, rival groups may get there first, making it difficult for a group to get back where it was.” Alroy is particularly worried about today's corals. “They don't seem to do well when there's a big environmental change,” he explained. “It's possible that future reef builders won't be corals at all. At different times in the past, reefs have been built by such organisms as sponges and clams.” Mammals with big body sizes, highly endemic tropical species, and certain plants may also die out before this latest extinction event concludes, Charles Marshall told Discovery News. Marshall is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also directs the university's Museum of Paleontology. He wrote an accompanying “Perspectives” article in the latest Science. Marshall agrees with Alroy that studying past extinctions and diversity patterns can help us to learn what makes different groups of animals more or less prone to dying out. In terms of humanity's impact on the planet, Marshall also agrees that “we have no evidence of a single species causing such havoc.” “However,” he added, “if you are willing to broaden the taxonomic scope a little, when cyanobacteria started producing oxygen in abundance, they basically poisoned the world, converting it from one that was primarily anoxic (without oxygen) to one that was oxic.” added by: EthicalVegan

Glenn Beck Launches New Website ‘The Blaze’ to Counter the Huffington Post

Watch out Rupert Murdoch, Glenn Beck has got news on his mind. Yes, contrary to much media speculation over the weekend that Mr. Beck’s next venture might be a run for political office, turns out he wants to join the crew of weary warriors in the world of online news gathering. His new website is dubbed “The Blaze.” According to Beck, the site is intended to give folks a helping hand. “If you are like me,“ Beck said in a statement, “watching the news or reading the paper can be an exercise in exasperation. It's so hard to find a place that helps me make sense of the world I see.” “We want this to be a place where you can find breaking news, original reporting, insightful opinions, and engaging videos about the stories that matter most,“ he added. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Election-2010/Vox-News/2010/0831/The-Blaze-reviews-… added by: ibrake4rappers13

10 Reasons Not to Burn the Qur’an

Ten Reasons Not to Burn the Qur'an in response to Dove World Outreach Center's plan to burn copies of the Qur'an on the 9th anniversary of 9/11. We hope our Ten Reasons will help bring about greater awareness, understanding and healing on this sad anniversary. Ten Reasons Not to Burn the Qur'an ONE Dove World Outreach Center: The Koran* teaches that Jesus Christ, the Crucified, Risen Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords was NOT the Son of God, nor was he crucified (a well documented historical fact that ONLY Islam denies). This teaching removes the possibility of salvation and eternal life in heaven for all Islam's believers. They face eternal damnation in hell if they do not repent. * Islam is not a new religion, but traces its roots to Abrahamic monotheism, which teaches that God is one. God is one means that God has no parents, spouse, son or daughter. Therefore, God is considered indivisible and incomparable in any way, shape or form to any other living creature. * This idea can also be found in the Hebrew Scriptures in the form of the first of the Ten Commandments and elsewhere in the Bible. * The belief that Jesus was not crucified also predates Islam. For example, the Docetans were among Jesus' early followers, who also claimed he was never crucified and that another was crucified in his stead. * The Qur'an also teaches that Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet and a messenger of God, equal to Mohammad himself. TWO Dove World Outreach Center: The Koran does not have an eternal origin. It is not recorded in heaven. The Almighty God, Creator of the World, is NOT its source. It is not holy. Its writings are human in origin, a concoction of old and new teachings. This has been stated and restated for centuries by scholars since Islam's beginnings, both Moslem and non-Moslem. * The Qur'an is considered to be God's word, delivered to Mohammad via Gabriel, and recited by Mohammad to his followers. Scholars tend to diverge greatly in their opinions on this subject. * The Qur'an is among one of the only holy books that attests that the Bible is of divine origin, and the first to ever do so. That is a second good reason not to burn the Qur'an. THREE Dove World Outreach Center: The Koran's teaching includes Arabian idolatry, paganism, rites and rituals. These are demonic, an ongoing satanic stronghold under which Moslems and the world suffer. * The Qur'an is unequivocally against idolatry and satanic worship. Anyone who makes these claims cannot possibly have read and understood the Qur'an and should at least thoroughly read what he/she is attempting to disparage. FOUR Dove World Outreach Center: The earliest writings that are known to exist about the Prophet Mohammad were recorded 120 years after his death. All of the Islamic writings are contradictory and inconsistent. Maybe Mohammad never existed. We have no conclusive account about what he said or did. Yet Moslems follow the destructive teachings of Islam without question. * The Qur'an is an independent text and is very different from the Hadith, histories and biographical literature which should not be confused with the former. * The Qur'an is one of few prophetic books that have been so well preserved and that give an accurate rendition of the prophet's communication. It is thereby one of the world's greatest treasures. That is a fourth good reason not to burn the Qur'an. FIVE Dove World Outreach Center: Mohammad's life and message cannot be respected. The first Meccan period of his leadership seems to have been religiously motivated and a search for the truth. But in the second Medina period he was “corrupted by power and worldly ambitions.” This led to political assassinations and massacres which continue to be carried out on a regular basis by his followers today. * Mohammad lifestyle was exemplary and he lived very simply, preferring to give his money to the poor. Few can match his kindness towards his enemies. For example, when he and his followers conquered Mecca, he did so peacefully and did not punish its pagan inhabitants, even though they had tortured and oppressed them. There is no evidence that he ever ordered a political assassination or a massacre. * The Qur'an teaches forgiveness of Jews, Christians and people of other religions, even when they harm Muslims. SIX Dove World Outreach Center: Islamic Law is totalitarian in nature. There is no separation of church and state. It is irrational. It is supposedly immutable and cannot be changed. It must be accepted without criticism. * Islamic law is a pre-modern system of law and changes all the time. It should not be confused with the Qur'an, which is unchanging, even though its interpretation can vary. * The Qur'an is the one scripture that teaches not to take up rabbis, priests and other clergy and give them the authority to delineate religious law. Following the Qur'an, all human beings equal before God. SEVEN Dove World Outreach Center: Islam is not compatible with democracy and human rights. The notion of a moral individual capable of making decisions and taking responsibility for them does not exist in Islam. The attitude towards women in Islam as inferior possessions of men has led to countless cases of mistreatment and abuse for which Moslem men receive little or no punishment, and in many cases are encouraged to commit such acts, and are even praised for them. * The Qur'an does not delineate a particular political system for Muslim to follow. * The Qur'an is known for giving rights to minorities and other vulnerable peoples. For example, it has given women the right to life, independent ownership of property, wages, divorce, marriage, inheritance, maintenance, good treatment, etc. EIGHT Dove World Outreach Center: A Muslim does not have the right to change his religion. Apostasy is punishable by death. * A Muslim has a God-given right to change his/her religion, if they should so choose-the Qur'an clearly states “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256). NINE Dove World Outreach Center: Deep in the Islamic teaching and culture is the irrational fear and loathing of the West. * The Qur'an does not endorse hatred of anyone and does not privilege any human being over another on the basis of race, origins or country. “O Humankind, we have created you from a male and a female and have made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another.” (49:13). TEN Dove World Outreach Center: Islam is a weapon of Arab imperialism and Islamic colonialism. Wherever Islam has or gains political power, Christians, Jews and all non-Moslems receive persecution, discrimination, are forced to convert. * These claims are not supported by historical fact–if non-Muslims were forced to convert, there would be no Christian and Jewish minorities in Muslim-majority countries today. * As for “Arab imperialism”, Mohammad's last sermon states: “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.” * Islam literally means “peace-making”–it is the causative Form IV of the root “salam,” which means wholeness, peace, well-being and safety. * Muslims have never embarked on a campaign to burn the Bible in any of its forms. It is the Qur'an insists on freedom of worship-“Let there be no compulsion in religion.” * The correct reference is “Qur'an”, not “Koran” http://www.codepink.org/article.php?id=5545 http://barenakedislam.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/book-burning.jpg?w=460&h=3… added by: pinkpanther

New Evidence Of Controlled Demolition On 9/11

(There are several videos click the link above to see them all) The International Center for 9/11 Studies has secured the release of hundreds of hours of video footage and tens of thousands of photographs used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for its investigation of the collapse of the World Trade Center Twin Towers and Building 7. This material is being released to the Center under the Freedom of Information Act, in response to a lawsuit the Center filed against NIST. The Center filed a FOIA Request with NIST on January 26, 2009, seeking production of “all of the photographs and videos collected, reviewed, cited or in any other way used by NIST during its investigation of the World Trade Center building collapses.” Following several unsuccessful attempts to get NIST to even acknowledge receipt of the Request, the Center was forced to file a lawsuit on May 28, 2009. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the Request was assigned a reference number, and NIST began periodically releasing batches of responsive records. To date, the Center has received over 300 DVDs and several external hard disk drives that contain responsive records – more than 3 terabytes of data so far – and NIST has indicated that additional records will be released in the future. We are currently looking at the best ways to distribute these materials to interested researchers and journalists around the world. It has taken NIST more than 8 months so far to produce a partial archive of photographs and videos in their possession, but we hope to be more efficient in our efforts. Because of the huge volume of data, we are working on a wiki-style website to facilitate review and discussion of any interesting items that are discovered by researchers. Justin Keogh, our Chief Technical Officer, is preparing the website and materials for release. The first batch of materials we are releasing is a group of video clips sent to us on an external hard disk drive labeled “NIST WTC Investigation Cumulus Video Clips.” We believe NIST entered these clips into a searchable database called the Cumulus database, and used them as the basis for the investigation and reports. Researchers may be interested to see which video clips NIST determined were important to its investigation, and compare these clips to the raw footage we release at a later date. Justin will be posting more details about the data release in the next week or two. Any questions about the FOIA Request, lawsuit, or data release should be submitted via the Contact Us page at the Center’s website: http://www.ic911studies.org/Contact_Us.html Although the Center has extremely limited resources with which it can review this mountain of data, several interesting items have already been discovered. Below are five items the Center has uncovered so far. The items below have not been altered from the original provided by NIST, except in three cases where a short section of footage was extracted from a much longer video. Otherwise, no alterations have been made to the video or audio. For the best viewing experience, you should watch all of the videos below in the highest resolution available. We will supplement the list below in the coming days and weeks. 1. Video Footage of Explosion Before Collapse In the video below, at about the 0:59 mark, a high-pressure explosion occurs in one of the Twin Towers, below the impact zone, while the building is still standing. In the final report on the collapse of the Twin Towers issued by NIST, it appears to attempt an explanation for this explosion by suggesting it is a smoke puff resulting from a pressure pulse inside the building, perhaps from a collapsing wall or ceiling, or sudden opening of a door. (See NCSTAR1-5A, p. 52) However, as can be seen from the screen capture below, it isn’t merely smoke and dust being ejected. There appears to be a massive object being ejected along with the explosion. 2. Audio Evidence of Explosions During Collapse Several videos released to the Center have clear audio tracks that contain distinct sounds of explosions occurring at the World Trade Center. These audio tracks provide support to the many eyewitness statements referring to explosions occurring when the buildings collapsed. Explosions can be heard at the initiation of the South Tower collapse in the following two videos. The explosions are clear enough at normal volumes, but turning your speaker volume up a bit can help provide a full appreciation of the sound. added by: im1mjrpain