Skip to main content

Home/ Politically Minded/ Group items tagged Homes

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Levy Rivers

Obama the Delegator Picks When to Take Reins - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • He does not stir dissent simply for dissent’s sake, but often employs a Socratic method of discussion, where aides put ideas forward for him to accept or reject. Advisers described his meetings as “un-Clintonesque,” a reference to the often meandering, if engrossing, policy discussions Bill Clinton presided over when he was president.
  • But Mr. Obama’s ease belies a more controlling management style. For all the success his campaign has enjoyed with grass-roots organizing, the operation is highly centralized around Mr. Axelrod; David Plouffe, the campaign manager; Robert Gibbs, the communications director; Pete Rouse, his Senate chief of staff; Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend from Chicago; and a handful of senior advisers that has barely changed since he opened his campaign in January 2007.
  • Mr. Obama’s circle of advisers takes seriously his “no drama” mandate. It is a point of pride in his campaign that there have been virtually no serious leaks to the news media — small leaks are immediately investigated — about internal division or infighting. He is a careful reader of daily newspapers and magazines (titles from Foreign Affairs to Maxim are stocked on his campaign plane). He takes his briefing books — three-ring binders filled with political memorandums and policy discussions — to his hotel room or home every night, but aides say how well he reads the materials may depend on what is on ESPN.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “He’ll say, ‘that is not my voice,’ ” said Jim Margolis, a senior media consultant to Mr. Obama who oversees television advertising. “Definitely this isn’t somebody you just throw the script to and he’ll say anything that comes up on the screen. He tries to make sure that he’s got his imprint on it.”
Levy Rivers

Rob McKay: Small Is the New Big in Progressive Politics - Politics on The Huffington Post - 0 views

  • The grab for this group of voters has generally been coordinated by a seasoned team of professional campaign staff operating in war rooms and spending millions in mobilizing voters. But new efforts among progressive voters, musicians, and grassroots groups are saying the way to be "big" in '08 is to "go small." And how resources are spent in this election and after, could determine whether the Democratic Party is about short-term voter excitement or permanent citizen engagement.
  • This new group of efforts focuses on local leadership, small circles, and cultural organizing. They are taking their strategies from the anti-slavery movement, groups like craigslist, and most surprisingly, a new Christian movement. "
  • Potts and other organizers note that while overall church attendance has steadily declined since the 1990s, a new form of church has taken off--the house church. Unlike traditional churches, the house church movement doesn't meet in a specific house of worship, but instead, as the name suggests, in people's homes.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • They note the key to the success of these churches is threefold: 1. Shared values rather than on autocratic rule. 2. Peer circles, rather than as a large, rigid, top-down hierarchy. 3. Leading through inspiration rather than by formal authority, allowing, but not forcing, others to follow them.
  • As Potts, who is organizing with musicians during 08, puts it "The conservatives have churches every Sunday, progressives have concerts every night." From an organizing perspective, concerts are for progressives what churches have been for conservatives.
Neil H

Culture11 - 0 views

  •  
    A site comprised of thinking American conservatives, a pleasant change from all the unthinking authoritarians that seem to dominate that side of American politics today
Skeptical Debunker

BBC News - Irish arrests over 'plot to kill Swedish cartoonist' - 0 views

  • The Vilks controversy arose in 2007, when his entry in an arts project was published by the newspaper. It pictured a dog with the head of a bearded man in a turban. Several Muslim countries protested against the picture. At the time, Swedish officials expressed regret at any hurt caused to Muslims' feelings, but said the government could not prevent the publication of such drawings because of media freedom rules. The case came about a year and a half after a series of depictions of Muhammad in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper caused an uproar in early 2006. Those cartoons sparked protests from Muslims around the world. Dozens of people were killed in riots. Muslims regard any image of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemy. In January, one of the cartoonists whose drawing appeared in Jyllands-Posten, the Dane Kurt Westergaard, was targeted in his own home, allegedly by a Somali radical Muslim with an axe. Mr Westergaard, who escaped unharmed, had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Mr Vilks told The Associated Press news agency that the telephone threats in January had come from "a Swedish-speaking Somali. He reminded me about what had happened to Westergaard and threatened with a follow-up and that 'now it's your turn'."
  •  
    Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for depicting the Prophet Muhammad, police say. The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police statement did not confirm this. Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper. Islamic militants put a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on his head. Mr Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two death threats he had received by telephone in January.
Skeptical Debunker

Gary Gensler's Conversion to Financial Reformer - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Today, he is emerging as one of the nation’s archreformers, pushing to impose some of the most stringent new financial regulations in history. And as the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the leading contender to oversee the complex derivatives contracts that played a central role in the financial crisis and, in turn, the Great Recession, he is in a position to influence the outcome. It may seem an unlikely conversion, but it is one that has won the approval of Brooksley E. Born, of all people, a former outspoken head of the commission. She sounded alarms more than a decade ago about the dangers hiding in the poorly understood derivatives market and was silenced by the same Washington power brokers that counted Mr. Gensler as a member. Mr. Gensler opposed Ms. Born, according to people who worked at the commission in the 1990s, and in 2000 played a significant role in shepherding through Congress deregulation measures that led to explosive growth of the over-the-counter derivatives market. That was then. These days, Ms. Born is convinced of Mr. Gensler’s reformist zeal, as he takes on Wall Street in what is becoming one of the fiercest battles over regulation in the postcrisis era. “I think he is doing very well,” she said in an interview. “He certainly seems to be committed to robust oversight of derivatives and limiting excessive speculation and leverage.” The proposals championed by Mr. Gensler, if adopted by Congress, would substantially alter what is now a largely unregulated market in over-the-counter derivatives, financial instruments used by companies and investors to protect themselves and bet on moves in variables, like interest rates or currencies, and to speculate. The proposals include forcing the big banks that sell derivatives to conduct their trades in the open on public exchanges and clear them through central clearinghouses, so that any investor can see the prices that dealers charge their customers. Today, those transactions are bilateral and private.
  •  
    For 18 years, Gary G. Gensler worked on Wall Street, striking merger deals at the venerable Goldman Sachs. Then in the late 1990s, he moved to the Treasury Department, joining a Washington establishment that celebrated the power of markets and fought off regulation at almost every turn.
  •  
    Maybe he has "SEEN THE LIGHT" (had an almost "religious" conversion to the benefits of regulation). Then again, maybe his old employer (Goldman Sachs) - having become the "biggest and baddest" in the regulation-less free-for-all (including getting bailout funds through AIG for credit-default-swap "insurance" on derivatives) - wants to "cement" their position with regulation preventing any other party from doing what they did (and he is willing to help them in that regard)!?
  •  
    Maybe he has "SEEN THE LIGHT" (had an almost "religious" conversion to the benefits of regulation). Then again, maybe his old employer (Goldman Sachs) - having become the "biggest and baddest" in the regulation-less free-for-all (including getting bailout funds through AIG for credit-default-swap "insurance" on derivatives) - wants to "cement" their position with regulation preventing any other party from doing what they did (and he is willing to help them in that regard)!?
Keith Sweat

Best Mandurah Houses - 1 views

I was amazed when I visited Natures Walk house and land packages Perth which have stunning home designs. Homebuyers like me would surely prefer living in this very nice community inside contemporar...

Mandurah houses

started by Keith Sweat on 10 Jun 11 no follow-up yet
James Stewart

Thank Doctor Cleanduct for the Cleaner Air We Breathe - 2 views

I have a sister who is suffering from asthma. So when she visited my house she was so happy because she said she can breathe easily. So I told her it was because I had my HVAC system cleaned regula...

ducted heating cleaning

started by James Stewart on 22 Sep 11 no follow-up yet
Leigh Ann Smith

Amazing House and Land Packages in Perth for First-time Buyers - 1 views

As a first-time homebuyer, I looked for house and land packages in Perth that would fit my idea of a dream house. Natures Walk offers stunning home designs; many homebuyers like me were lucky to ha...

Mandurah houses

started by Leigh Ann Smith on 14 Sep 11 no follow-up yet
David Corking

Replace Police With Spin Doctors « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG - 0 views

  • testing an age old theory about what happens when you approach a 6ft riot cop and tell him to fuck off repeatedly?
  • I blame Globalisation. Lets test this theory by choosing six other countries in the world, going over to each country one at a time, walking up to a riot cop and telling him to fuck off repeatedly. Compare injuries on return to UK. If you return to UK.
  • Will this person now be arrested for verbally abusing a Police Officer? If not, why not?
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • canteen culture of the mindless violence of the few backed up by the silence of the many.
  • As an A+E nurse would it be right for me to strike each and every member of the public if and when the became aggressive?
  • The Police should be held to a higher standard than other services, surely you are trained professionals and as such should be able to deal with the provacation in a much more proportional way?
  • it was against their clients human rights to be filmed with out their consent
  • When it’s not practical for you to be arrested because it would take police resources away from the lines then you deserve to get a shove. If you come back, then you deserve to be struck (something home office approved).
  • You ARE PROFESSIONALS and this kind of insta-agression is something that the public could gain at a fraction of the cost from a security guard. No one is denying that being a police officer is a difficult job at times
  • Sadly people are people, maybe he was wrong to hit her, she was maybe wrong for confronting him in the first place. All I can say that is if a uniformed officer tells me not to do something I don’t do it. Full stop.
  •  
    Other countries are worse. So? The rest of us would be jailed for assault if we hit someone with a stick in response to extreme provocation.
David Corking

HomeBuy Direct - Housing - Communities and Local Government - 0 views

  • they will be invited to choose one of the HomeBuy Direct properties brought forward by the developers.
    • David Corking
       
      Why do the developers get to choose? Why can't all new homes below x value be eligible, as in Northern Ireland?
  •  
    Apparently Darling gave this scheme an extra 80 million pounds in today's budget.
The Ravine / Joseph Dunphy

Human Rights at Home: The Chicago Police Torture Archive - 0 views

  •  
    Chicago's "finest", hard at work.
Chiki Smith

Effectively Seize Cheating Partner - 1 views

I am in a relationship for two years. My husband and I were okay until such time that he turned out cold to me and I could not point out the reason why he acted that way. He came home late at night...

cheating partners

started by Chiki Smith on 14 Oct 11 no follow-up yet
Natureswalk Au

House and Land Packages with Contemporary Designs - 1 views

When I visited Natures Walk's house and land packages, I have seen the stunning home designs. Homebuyers like me have decided to live in this very nice neighbourhood that has contemporary-designed ...

Mandurah houses

started by Natureswalk Au on 16 Oct 11 no follow-up yet
« First ‹ Previous 81 - 97 of 97
Showing 20 items per page