I was talking with a friend a few days ago about why America isn't beloved in Europe and abroad, and he asked me what we could do to improve our country, and improve our status worldwide in the process. This got me thinking, and naturally, after putting pen to paper, I came up with five easy solutions to our problems. Please tell me what you think, and feel free to tag whatever you want-- I didn't see any *Truth or *Ingenious tags, so I left it blank.

1. Move our military from Iraq into Iran. This would stop the fighting in Iraq, give them time to rebuild, and stabilize the Middle East. Iran wouldn't mind if our military was there for a while to keep watch on Iraq from across the border. Overall, a win-win.

2. Take guns away from police officers. Other countries don't have cops with guns, and they do just fine. Police brutality would be reduced, and our country would look more civilized for once.

3. Give tax breaks to people who drive large vehicles. We have plenty of oil for the forseeable future, and the Domestic automakers have many large SUV's and trucks that aren't being sold. Tax breaks would help stimulate sales of these vehicles, and provide new jobs making new ones. Again, a win-win.

4. Make America bilingual. Latinos are rapidly expanding in this country, and now account for 45 million people. Teaching Spanish in schools would help bring this country together, and give us new economic and cultural ties with Mexico. It would also make our citizens look smarter to the outside world; how many times have you wanted to say "I know 2 languages"? It's worked well in Quebec, it can work here too.

5. Give us Universal Health Care. Sure, it didn't work too well when Hillary tried it, but we can try again. If Canada can do it, why can't we? No wonder the Europeans think we're backward.

On May 10, 2008 Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked to produce a 4-hour program of films, music and speakers. The program will be broadcast live at the same time across the world. According to the festival organizers, "Pangea Day plans to use the power of film to bring the world a little closer together."
( more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangea_Day )
http://www.videosift.com/video/Pangea-Day-Trailer-Global-VideoFilm-Experiment
http://www.videosift.com/video/TED-Prize-wish-Unite-the-world-on-Pangea-Day
http://www.videosift.com/video/Tank-Man-See-the-World-Through-Someone-Elses-Eyes
http://www.pangeaday.org/

http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims

I just noticed that Roman, The Balkan Boy went Goldy 100! If you haven't seen his contribution to the sift, his submissions range from unique Slovenian traditional and pop music, unique perspectives on American politics, as well as helpful guides on setting up three-ways and useful definitions of sodomy.

He's been known to have his comment zingers:

http://www.videosift.com/search?q=&t=c&u=kulpims&o=hivotes&vmin=&vmax=&l=&n=&submit=Search

Here's his queue:
http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/queued
His Pqueue:
http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/pqueued

Let's give it up and pass the bong for the Balkan Boy!

http://static1.videosift.com/avatars/k/kulpims.jpg

I just noticed that Roman, The Balkan Boy went Goldy 100! If you haven't seen his contribution to the sift, his submissions range from unique Slovenian traditional and pop music, unique perspectives on American politics, as well as helpful guides on setting up three ways and useful definitions of sodomy.

He's been known to have his comment zingers:

http://www.videosift.com/search?q=&t=c&u=kulpims&o=hivotes&vmin=&vmax=&l=&n=&submit=Search

Here's his queue:
http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/queued
His Pqueue:
http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/pqueued

Let's give it up and pass the bong for the Balkan Boy!

So...I've been searching the internets for a while now for whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction found. Neocons (and their websites) seem to have claims that they were found and I'm assuming other "liberal media" (for lack of better terms) could also be biased the opposite way.

Does anybody have a link to OFFICIAL documentation that should be required stating whether or not our tax dollars were frivolously wasted or if there was some prophylaxes we've obtained through this wild goose chase.

There appears to be a debate on the Youtubes concerning this event. Some have decided to state that they will turn on every light in their house, I assume the reasoning is their way of throwing a big middle finger to the "enviro-hippies". Personally, I find this baffling, although not at all unexpected from the anonymous trolls on Youtube.

My question is this; In what way is the Earth Hour 2008 event a bad thing?

Image and title via Shakesville

I read the news today, oh boy: Euro reaches fresh high against dollar. And to think when the euro was introduced back in 1999 that many foreign exchange experts said it was "toilet currency". Now it looks primed to take over the US dollar as the currency of choice. Check it out. (Look at each chart, and notice how rival currencies are in an overall rise against the US dollar over the past year. The British pound sterling has been the most volatile of the four below, for reasons that I'm frankly unable to explain. Still, the British pound has generally increased in value versus the dollar over the past year.):

Euro vs. US dollar

Here's how it stacks up against other major currencies:
British pound vs. US dollar
Swiss franc vs. US dollar
Japanese yen vs. US dollar

Hell, even the Canadian dollar and the US dollar are damn near equal:
Canadian dollar vs. US dollar

The US dollar has been the benchmark by which all other currencies have been judged since WWII. Virtually every nation on Earth has at least a portion of their holdings denominated in US currency. Thanks to both record trade and government deficits, a recession, and a rapidly shrinking dollar, this will soon end the United States' 60+ year dominance in the currency market.

What does all this mean? Hell, I'm not an economist, so don't ask me any specifics, but I will offer this generalization about what this means to the American economy: We're screwed. By corollary I can also offer this second sweeping generalization about the economies of the remaining 190 nations on the globe: You're probably screwed too. When the US went through the Great Depression, so did the rest of the world. I can't see how that will differ greatly this time around.

Is there an economist in the house? Please correct me if I'm wrong, and please back your opinions with resources that are easy to understand for the lay person. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Or is it the other way around? Okay, maybe I'm dumb AND stupid, but some other Sifters are not. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and we won't be fooled again.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia today, thus ending the final chapter in the break-up of former Yugoslavia.
You can read about it here.
A recently leaked memo from the meeting of US and Slovene diplomats few months ago on the issue of Kosovo (Slovenia has presidency of the EU from 1.1.2008 till july when France takes over) leads me to believe that Slovenia, as a former member of Yugoslavian federacy, will be the first to recognise the new independent state, with US following the move.
Russia will not be pleased and will probably have something to say in the UN's security council meeting this week (according to foreign minister Sergei Lavrov). Serbia will not give up so easy but its defense minister already said Serbia will not use force against Kosovo (diplomatic and economic sanctions are expected though from both Russia and Serbia).
There's certainly a lot of tension in the air between US and Russia right now and this is only going to make it worse.

Links:
Reuters
More background on Kosovo from ForeignAffairs.org
MSNBC News

This started as one of my comments on one of the (more embarassing) scientology protest videos, delivered me a couple of comments on my profile, and got me to thinking what my real views on this subject are.

It is my intent to have a dialogue with all of you honestly, openly and with no personal malice or prejudice. Let's get this whole subject out in the open with everyone's thoughts and feelings so that we can look at it in the light of day and see if we can all evolve our understanding of the problems, the benefits, and each other.

>>>>
I am not wishing ill on those that protest an evil organisation, I am Ripping The Shit out of the mindless vegetoid slugs in this particular video who are devaluing and embarassing one of the most important social/internet phenomena of the 21st Century, which is a movement against a cult disguised as a religion.

I hold the same disgust toward scientology as I do toward judeo-christianity, which has delivered us the most violent century in ALL of human history, the 20th.

Whilst attacking the cult is commendable and to be wholeheartedly encouraged, the underlying social issues and problems created by consumerism and materialism that lead vast numbers of people to seek some kind of meaning in all manner of religions, cults and fads are being completely missed by everyone involved.

In many ways, the movement against scientology is the same type of beast as a religious cult, with the vegetoid masses signing up to feel part of something noble and larger than life.

So who do we blame for all of this? Well let's start with all of those organisations preaching religious tolerance. Religious tolerance has ALWAYS created a smokescreen for hideousness. It's about time that was said by the way.

What do we do about it? Remove the smokescreen of religious tolerance and all of the nastiness born from organised religion will suddenly spring into the light of day. Think about if *your* religion would survive such a removal of the Smokescreen of Religious Tolerance.

What about real spirtuality and the belief that under the cloak we are in fact divine and spirtual beings? People will always seek out this truth for themselves, as they have done for more than ten thousand years *without* the presence of corrupting religions and labels.

I'm not preaching existentialism. Since the industrial era rationalism and science have tried to remove the magic and the sheer weirdness of reality, yet all along every single one of us KNOWS from our own experiences that life isn't rational and reducible, that there is an ever present 'other' and irrationality to reality. In fact this is the brick wall that science has been banging its head against now for 50 years, the latest attempt at rationalism being to remove Time itself from the equations.

Let's move this to sift talk and get everyone's thoughts. If people want to attack scientology then they better be ready to face the really hard questions and the bigger picture.



In reply to this comment by QuadraPixel:
Then why do you wish such ill on those that protest an evil organization, that you have no association with?

In reply to this comment by Irishman:
As I said before Kommie, I'm an eschatologist, not a scientologist.

In reply to this comment by QuadraPixel:
Wow, now that's a little harsh, but not when it comes from a SCIENTOLOGIST.
http://www.videosift.com/video/Busted-for-Interbulating-a-scientology-party
http://www.videosift.com/video/Cult-of-Scientology-takes-over-Clearwater-Police-Dept

In reply to this comment by Irishman:
Personally I'd like to see every single person in that video joining a suicide death cult as soon as possible.

3,303,000 Z$ and rising according to:
http://www.worldometers.info/

I've posted the "worldclock" in the past, but this new site is fascinating. It really gives you some stuff to think about. I was surprised by a number of the figures... Since January 1st, this year, Over 500,000,000 cigarettes have been produced! WTF. Suddenly I'm thankful that I work and live on a smoke-free campus. And I continue to be blown away by the amount of coal and oil we are capable of mining and pumping. That's some serious infrastructure.

In other news, Oil might not actually be a "fossil fuel." ::boggle::

More

There is no wealth as great as knowledge, and there is no poverty as destitute as ignorance. What interests me is not money, not fame, not physical goods, but ideas and their relation to the future of humankind. The greatest thing that distinguishes us from animals is our propensity for thinking about the distant future, the distant past, and planning. No other animal plans twenty years in advance. But seldom do people think about what the world will be like in a thousand years, or a million years, or a billion years. The earth is 4.5 billion years old, but it will be at least 5 billion years until the Sun's luminosity increases enough to boil the oceans as it becomes a red giant. Barring any orbital decay that moves earth out of the habitable zone, or another mars-size impact, or a Venus-like runaway greenhouse effect, or a nuclear holocaust, life on earth will survive until then. The first animals evolved approximately 600 million years ago. The first animals were wormlike creatures in a Precambrian sea. If there is still civilization on Earth in one billion years, it may be as different from us as we are from worms. It may, qualitatively, be to us what we are to worms. It may be our direct descendants or the descendants of some other species. This is a humbling thought. But first we must evade looming environmental catastrophe. Economics is fundamental within human society, and part of an important interdisciplinary understanding that must be cultivated to enable democratic action to delay the death of our precious civilization. The only reason free oxygen exists on earth is because of billions of years of photosynthesis that has bound up carbon below. But now our “invisible hand” is on a mission to extract every bit of oil and coal that can be produced for less than the market price of each, no matter what pristine habitat may be thereby damaged. A high fossil fuel tax is needed to internalize the negative externalities of fossil fuel use.

BBC News has a funny story about the Library of Congress finding out a little about the outside world.

"One of the world's largest libraries has reversed a controversial decision to reclassify Scots authors as English."

Those are the claims by ABC News, and me being from Denmark had to tell it to someone - the sift seems the obvious choice, as only happy, joyous people roam these particular streets.

Here's the news bit, which apparently will be release as a video "Watch the story "Friday" on 20/20" at 10 p.m. ET"
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1

So if anyone want to know the secret behind happiness, ask a Dane.. (not a .. dutchman) ;-)

And, if you have NO IDEA what or where Denmark is, feel free to ask away. More complex questions about good old DK are also welcome.

http://buffalobeast.com/122/50mostloathsome2007.html

It's rude and ridiculous, but it is entertaining and often pretty observant in its criticism. Look for some of the people we complained about a lot last year (Gonzales, Huckabee).

7 Countries (with large US dollar holdings) are considering abandoning the US dollar.

It’s no secret that the dollar is on a downward spiral. Its value is dropping, and the Fed isn’t doing a whole lot to change that. As a result, a number of countries are considering a shift away from the dollar to preserve their assets. These are seven of the countries currently considering a move from the dollar, and how they’ll have an effect on its value and the US economy.

1. Saudi Arabia

2. South Korea

3. China

4. Venezuela

5. Sudan

6. Iran

7. Russia

http://www.currencytrading.net/2007/7-countries-considering-abandoning-the-us-dollar-and-what-it-means/