Rusticred Rants

Social entrepreneurs building the new Jamaica

2011-01-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

Social entrepreneurs building the new Jamaica

I have a soft spot for Jamaica because my wife has her origins their. Outside of that Jamaica has produced some wonderful music artists including the great Bob Marley.

But wait there is more to Jamaica and this article provides an insight into how social entrepreneurs are helping to inspire and change the country.

Can History Repeat Itself?

2011-01-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

I discovered this article while reading social news at the Huffington Post. What is remarkable about this article is it accurately describes the strategy taken by the right over the last two years in the USA.
The recent elections in November provided the right with gains and proved that their strategy gained traction.

The link to this article is here.

Tea Party Origins and the future of the USA

2011-01-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Tea party was started only two months into Obama's presidency was it spontaneous or was it planned.

According to various pundits on the right the Tea party was a reaction to the trillion of dollars spent on bailing out the banks and rescuing the auto industry.

Cue Ricky Santelli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or-EKjfVCoA&feature=related

Here are extracts from an article claiming Santelli's rant was scripted.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/rick-santellis-faux-rant/

“How did a minor-league TV figure, whose contract with CNBC is due this summer, get so quickly launched into a nationwide rightwing blog sensation? Why were there so many sites and organizations online and live within minutes or hours after his rant, leading to a nationwide protest just a week after his rant?

What hasn’t been reported until now is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names in the Republican rightwing machine, from PR operatives who specialize in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns (called “astroturfing”) to bigwig politicians and notorious billionaire funders. As veteran Russia reporters, both of us spent years watching the Kremlin use fake grassroots movements to influence and control the political landscape. To us, the uncanny speed and direction the movement took and the players involved in promoting it had a strangely forced quality to it. If it seemed scripted, that’s because it was.

What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.”

“Within hours of Santelli’s rant, a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com sprang to life. Essentially inactive until that day, it now featured a YouTube video of Santelli’s “tea party” rant and billed itself as the official home of the Chicago Tea Party. The domain was registered in August, 2008 by Zack Christenson, a dweeby Twitter Republican and producer for a popular Chicago rightwing radio host Milt Rosenberg—a familiar name to Obama campaign people. Last August, Rosenberg, who looks like Martin Short’s Irving Cohen character, caused an outcry when he interviewed Stanley Kurtz, the conservative writer who first “exposed” a personal link between Obama and former Weather Undergound leader Bill Ayers. As a result of Rosenberg’s radio interview, the Ayers story was given a major push through the Republican media echo chamber, culminating in Sarah Palin’s accusation that Obama was “palling around with terrorists.” That Rosenberg’s producer owns the “chicagoteaparty.com” site is already weird—but what’s even stranger is that he first bought the domain last August, right around the time of Rosenburg’s launch of the “Obama is a terrorist” campaign. It’s as if they held this “Chicago tea party” campaign in reserve, like a sleeper-site. Which is exactly what it was.
This looks like more than a coincidence. This is now a very serious charge.
I have no insight as to whether this is true or not — but it certainly deserves a serious response from both Santelli and CNBC. If its false, then they should say so, and demand an apology from Playboy.
But if any of it is true, well then, Santelli may have to fall on his sword, and CNBC may owe the public an apology.

Another group who have been seen as instigators of the Tea Party is the Sam Adams Project

For what its worth The Tea Party far from being a spontaneous movement was in reality a group who continued campaigning against Obama after their chosen candidate for President John MCain failed to win the Presidency.

Their success has been in part engendered by the Right wing media led by Fox News who have sponsored many Tea Party events and politicians such as ex governor of Alaska Sarah Palin.

What is clear though is that the impact of the Tea Party has changed the politics of The USA in the short term whether the democrats can expose the forces behind this movement will be key to them winning the 2012 elections.

THE BIGOT'S HANDBOOK

2011-01-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

THE BIGOT'S HANDBOOK

Although this article was written in 1995 it is remarkably relevant today after the infestation of American politics By Tea Party.

Im not by nature either a pessimist or realist but in the case of Human nature I do realize that people make decisions everyday to protect their own interest's what they don't realize however, is their own interests are interconnected in ways which they are still to comprehend.

We are not civilized if our poor are not looked after

2010-12-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

“What is the definition of civilization?

That which determines how the majority of the population in any given state or country is culturalized will determine the extent of the countries civility.

We are further in technological capabilities than our, capabilitieses in understanding the complexities of human social interaction. This can be demonstrated by the need for political society to determine how each individual in the state should live their lives Laws enacted will always modify such behaviors. Whether this is altruistic or invasive can be determined by the nature of that state or society, i.e. whether its top down or flat in its managerial structures.

The poorhouse is the ultimate failure of civil society as it does not demonstrate an ability to serve all its citizens.”

THE ARTWORK OF NIALL O LOUGHLIN: Rebecca Ferguson caricature

2010-12-23T13:48:00.001-08:00

THE ARTWORK OF NIALL O LOUGHLIN: Rebecca Ferguson caricature

Bush On Bush Not very Watchable

2010-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

The context of Bush attempt to revise his legacy is interesting.

However what is certain is that The Obama administration is slowly but surely cleaning the mess, but what the Right wing sees as radical is seen in a totally different light by others

Empathy and Violence the Choices

2010-11-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have found this article from the Science Daily
Please read it is an eyeopener.
ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2010) — Researchers from the University of Valencia (UV) have investigated the brain structures involved with empathy -- in other words, the ability to put oneself in another person's position -- and carried out a scientific review of them. They conclude that the brain circuits responsible for empathy are in part the same as those involved with violence.

"Just as our species could be considered the most violent, since we are capable of serial killings, genocide and other atrocities, we are also the most empathetic species, which would seem to be the other side of the coin," says Luis Moya Albiol, lead author of the study and a researcher at the UV.

This study, published in the most recent issue of the Revista de Neurología, concludes that the prefrontal and temporal cortex, the amygdala and other features of the limbic system (such as insulin and the cingulated cortex) play "a fundamental role in all situations in which empathy appears."

Moya Albiol says these parts of the brain overlap "in a surprising way" with those that regulate aggression and violence. As a result, the scientific team argues that the cerebral circuits -- for both empathy and violence -- could be "partially similar."

"We all know that encouraging empathy has an inhibiting effect on violence, but this may not only be a social question but also a biological one -- stimulation of these neuronal circuits in one direction reduces their activity in the other," the researcher adds.

This means it is difficult for a "more empathetic" brain to behave in a violent way, at least on a regular basis. "Educating people to be empathetic could be an education for peace, bringing about a reduction in conflict and belligerent acts," the researcher concludes.

Techniques for measuring the human brain in vivo, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, are making it possible to find out more about the structures of the brain that regulate behaviour and psychological processes such as empathy.

This explains why it is important to nurture the early years carefully as it will determine the character of children.

2012 How to win back the American people.

2010-11-16T15:11:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting video worth watching, as it has clues to how the Democrats can win back the House.

Geithner on the USA Economy.

2010-11-16T05:22:00.000-08:00

At least he is confident.

Expect the bounceback to start in the next quarter