Humpday Humor: The Adventures of George Carlin's Son

George Carlin talks to Johnny Carson about the adventures of his son "Mandrake".

Twitter Misunderstands Rights and Privileges

The people who run Twitter are asking for permission to exercise their right to free speech.

This all stems from government spying programs targeting users of the social media platform.  In response Twitter wants to inform the public of the extent of the dragnet on their website.

Unfortunately the lawyers at Twitter are displaying a misunderstanding of "rights" and "privileges".  This is peculiar because humans don't need permission to exercise rights, especially those laid out in the Bill of Rights.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Link to AP story

How The Terrorists Won and ESPN Lost

Bristol, Connecticut is a small town located 103 miles north of New York City.  It is known mostly for being the home of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, a.k.a. ESPN.

The popular media outlet is owned by The Walt Disney Company which also controls ABC News.

John Athayde/Flickr

In Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales published the highlights of their five hundred interviews with people at the sports network.*

Chapter six delves into the events at ESPN in the days after the 9/11 attacks in New York and D.C.  One comment here jumps right off the page.

Martin Luther King Gets Angry About Media Hypocrisy

"The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war." 

- Martin Luther King Jr.

One year before his death Martin Luther King Jr. began speaking out against the U.S. attack on Vietnam.  Not only did he defend the rights of brown people in Southeast Asia but he also grasped the economic devastation that militarism brings to residents of both sides of the war.  

"And you may not know it, my friends, but it is estimated that we spend $500,000 to kill each enemy soldier, while we spend only fifty-three dollars for each person classified as poor, and much of that fifty-three dollars goes for salaries to people that are not poor.  

 So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor, and attack it as such." 

In addition to his grievances with racism, militarism and economic exploitation King also criticizes the press.

Short, Honest Debate About Income Inequality

A self-proclaimed "progressive" engages in a debate about income inequality.  Cara Santa Maria at least comes off sounding honest.

Here is the 3-minute clip from the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast...

Humpday Humor: The Pledge of Allegiance

"This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing.  This is not a form of brainwashing."

Credit: The Whitest Kids U'Know

Do Free People Need Passports?

Public Enemy's Chuck D asks if human beings really need permission to visit the Earth?

*Clipped from Breaking The Set.

Video Clip of the Day: "Legalizing" Drugs (circa 1980)

Over three decades ago Doug Casey appeared on the Phil Donahue show.  One hotly debated topic at the time was the "legalization" of drugs.

You can read more of Doug's popular political philosophy in Totally Incorrect: Conversations With Doug Casey

Humpday Humor: Bad Actors on "The News"

Abby Martin from RT exposes the Mindless Media Parrots:

Humpday Humor: How CIA Sabotages Torture Report

For years U.S. taxpayers have been trying to find out the truth about the CIA's decade long torture program.  In response CIA agents have attempted to sabotage the public's view into their crimes.

The Huffington Post outlines one of their cover-up tactics:

According to sources familiar with the CIA inspector general report that details the alleged abuses by agency officials, CIA agents impersonated Senate staffers in order to gain access to Senate communications and drafts of the Intelligence Committee investigation. 

Humpday Humor: "Government-Friendly" Media

The New York Times reports that El Impulso, Venezuela's oldest newspaper, is closing it's doors after 110 years in circulation.

Their take on media in the South American country:

..."the share of independent media has fallen, with opaque or government-friendly buyers taking over outlets and softening their editorial line."

Is this unintended or just subtle humor printed in the NYT?

Broad-casting vs. Narrow-casting

For the last half-dozen years podcast's have filled consumer needs across the spectrum.  Whether you are in the business community, news media, professional entertainment or just looking to reach people in your local community this new medium could be for you.

Dan Carlin explains how content producers are benefiting from this new form of "narrow-casting"...

*clip from Smart People Podcast

600 Murder Suspects On The Run in Pennsylvania

These Men Are Hunting 600 Violent Criminals 

(photo: BUTCH COMEGYS/AP)

In Pennsylvania the search is on for more than six-hundred murder suspects who are on the run.

Tonight hundreds of families are hoping that Pennsylvania State Troopers find those responsible for the death of their loved one.

Fortunately with all the resources being spent on this manhunt we expect at least a handful of murder suspects to be apprehended by police this week.  Stay tuned...  


*in Philadelphia alone there are over 600 active murder investigations.  

Standing Up For Your Rights Is A Gift

Last week someone made a call complaining that two people were engaging in "lewd acts".  An employee of the Los Angeles Police Department showed up to the scene.  After questioning the female suspect the employee responded by handcuffing her.

Danielle Watts ended up in handcuffs because she refused to show her papers.    

Danielle Watts in handcuffs 

This week Watts was interviewed on CNN.  Here is a clip of the exchange...

Anchorwoman: 

Why wouldn't you just give them your ID?

Danielle Watts: 

"Because I believe in America and what it stands for.  I believe in freedom.  A country that calls itself the land of the free and home of the brave.  If I'm within my constitutional rights to say 'NO unless you are charging me with a crime, I will not be giving you my ID', that is a right that I stand up for".

Watts goes on to add that standing up for her rights "was a gift and a blessing".

Story from CNN

Better Than Term Limits...99% Pay Cuts

The platform on which Harry Browne ran for president of the U.S. in 2000 included a $400 annual salary for congresspeople.  

Listen to his very aggressive (but simple) plan for his first day in the oval office....  

Video from C-SPAN.

Teaching Kids Violence

An interesting blog post by Michael Kaplan at The Forward.

Israel

Of course it is not just in Israel that adults encourage children to "pretend" violence.  Kids playing army is common the world over.

Iraq

Russia

What are the repercussions of these games?  Are they meaningless?  Just boys being boys or does "acting" out pretend violence breed the potential for real violent acts?

The Purpose of Television

Actor Richard Kind explains the entire purpose of television in under 20 seconds...

Clip from Kevin Pollak's Chat Show

It's Not the College Degree That Matters

Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight.com posted a piece about research done by Payscale on the value of a college degree.  Of little surprise Payscale found that the total ROI from a degree handed out by a "top" school was significant.  They claim a twenty-year earnings difference of over $800,000 for someone graduating from these "top" schools compared to someone who only graduated from high school.

But there is one major flaw in this comparison.  On average the person who goes to work full-time right after high school versus the person who is accepted into MIT or Stanford will have different personal attributes which dramatically effect lifetime earnings.

Generally, there will be differences in:

• Previous school performance 
• IQ
• Work ethic
• Upbringing
• Household income
• Books read
• Essays written 

Of course there are other differences which are not quantifiable at all.  Many of these factors are determined well before the future high earning college graduate steps foot onto campus.

A more honest (and difficult) study would attempt to estimate lifetime earnings on these multitude of factors as opposed to one blunt outcome like being handed a piece of paper by the dean from MIT.    

The full 538 article can be read here.

Who owns The Economist?

With a worldwide distribution of 1 million influential owners and managers The Economist sets parameters for the global political & economic discussion.  A million people may not sound like a lot unless of course they are the right people.  This stuff is read by high income earners with cushy job titles.  

Observe the full-page ads that ran in the Nov 17, 2012 issue:

• Oracle
• Rolex
• Louis Vuitton
• Charles Schwab
• CKGSB (trained 2,500 Chairman & CEOs who lead companies with $1 trillion in annual revenues)
• Volkswagen
• Bulgari
• Northern Trust
• Ford
• BlackRock

Save for the car companies, these companies make their bread by selling products and services to the global 0.2%.  Consider that Rolex and Louis Vuitton spent $154,000 each on these ads to run the week of Thanksgiving in the U.S.