a scratch pad for half-formed thoughts by a liberal political junkie who's nobody special. ''Hard Heads, Soft Hearts'' is the title of a book by Princeton economist Alan Blinder, and tends to be a favorite motto of neoliberals, especially liberal economists.
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Partners In Health - IHSJ READER, MARCH 30, 2012

Kai Wright (Colorlines) - Travyon Martin

E:

Zimmerman has a HISTORY of violence & confronting people. Assaulting a police officer & being dis-respective to another police officer, assaulting his ex-girlfriend, someone he trailed in a store reported that he felt Zimmerman was about to get violent because he suspected him of shoplifting, on one job he threw a lady who broke her ankle.... The evidence is all over the web, just have to search for the facts. TRAYVON'S GIRLFRIEND WAS ON THE PHONE as she HEARD him being PUSHED after Trayvon asks Zimmerman WHY is he following him & Zimmerman asks what he's doing there. The phone goes dead. The CNN TIMELINE & phone records back up her statement. Only 3 of the incidents are here:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/03/zimmermans_father_is_a_retired_judge_and_his_son_has_avoided_serious_charges_before.html

I'm praying for Zimmerman actually because he's obviously sick. Praying for the Martins that the truth wont be covered up. Trayvon was obviously defending himself... At the point where Zimmerman draws his gun he was no longer close to Trayvon so he could have fired a warning shot in the air. If Trayvon was still on top of him as he claimed , he would have had Trayvon's blood ALL over him. . .

Zimmerman seems to have been caught in a verifiable lie that the person screaming for help is him, when the audio analysis shows that it is not. Also, there are reports of the young witness who's being quoted as supporting Zimmerman's account, feeling heavily pressured / coerced to confirm Zimmerman's story.

Robert Salonga and Chris De Benedetti (Oakland Tribune) - Oakland university shooting: Family remembers San Leandro's Doris Chibuko as genuine, generous; husband said she raised alarm about accused gunman

MATTHEW ROSENBERG (NYT) - 6 Afghans and 3 G.I.’s Are Killed by Bomber

THOM SHANKER, ERIC SCHMITT and ALISSA J. RUBIN (NYT) - U.S. Sees Iran in Bids to Stir Unrest in Afghanistan

Reporters Without Borders - Iran: AN APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS OF OPINION

SANDEEP DIKSHIT (Hindu) - Iran to provide details of suspects in New Delhi car bomb attack

BERNARD ARONSON (NYT) - Can Brazil Stop Iran?

I do hope Brazil plays a constructive role in Israel-Iran relations. But the Aronson op-ed should not be interpreted as "Let's bribe Brazil so we can go to war with Iran".

Mike Riggs (GOOD) - Heal Thyself: Why I Promised to Donate My Kidney to a Stranger

JEFFREY GOLDBERG (Atlantic) - A Pre-Passover, Pre-Easter Analysis-and-Link Festival

. . .the CIA believes Iran is moving forward on its nuclear program at a brisk pace. . .

Would Goldberg support Iran's nuclear program, if he was Iranian? How does he react to the fact that even Iranian Green Movement leaders support the Iranian nuclear program? Does Goldberg support the US nuclear program? Does he support the Israeli nuclear program?

Amanda Marcotte - Suspect in Wisconsin terrorist attack arrested

SHIBLEY TELHAMI and STEVEN KULL (NYT) - Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully

Laura Rozen - Iran nuclear talks set to resume, diplomats say

Peter Beinart - JW Review ‘Disservice’ To Readers

Yvonne

I (who fled the Holocaust as a child) have been waiting more than 20 years ,ever since I saw the conditions in the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, for voices like Peter Beinart's.

Brad Delong - ANDREA LOUISE CAMPBELL'S SISTER-IN-LAW VS. NINO SCALIA

Digby - The culture of smartness

. . .This segment of "Up With Chris Hayes" with Karen Ho, author of Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street examines the big question: why doesn't Wall Street care about killing their golden goose?" It's something that's befuddled me from the beginning of the financial crisis.

It turns out that it's at least partially attributable to completely skewed incentives that create an irresponsible belief system called IBGYBG: "I'll be gone, you'll be gone.". . .

I think IBGYBG, the difference between what pays off in the short term and what pays off in the long term, is one of the key reasons, though not the only one, why laissez-faire does not work, while the mixed economy does.

Andrew Sullivan (The Dish) - The Crisis Of Christianity, Ctd

Closing the chat with the story of Fr. Mychal Judge's extraordinary life was apt. (I went to that Franciscan church for most of the years I lived in NYC, and it is a place full of powerful and humble spiritual leaders.) Fr. Mychal lived the Franciscan dictum: "Proclaim the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words."

Let me end with one final snapshot of what I mean by a Christian life. Father Mychal Judge went to serve the sick with AIDS at the very start of the epidemic, when no one knew what was contagious, what it was, and many patients were quarantined and abandoned by their families. When they saw him in his monastic garb, they refused to let him in their hospital rooms, they were so alienated by "the church." And this man waits outside until they are asleep, then goes in and gently lifts up the sheet and massages the feet of the sick as an act of love and deference. He was one of the last who rushed into the World Trade Center to be with the firefighters he was assigned to minister to. He came out dead in their arms. He didn't even have a bank account.

He lives as Jesus does. He - and countless others like him, unknown but faithful - is the church. Why would anyone want to leave a place where he remains?

Sarah Kliff (Wonkblog) - Reconciliation

— A powerful shot from the Military Photographer of the Year slide show.

(Via @AnnieLowrey) ABDIWELI MOHAMED ALI (FP) - We're Winning This Fight

GREGORY MANN (FP) - The Mess in Mali

JIM YARDLEY (NYT) - Maid’s Cries Cast Light on Child Labor in India

Natalia Antonova (Guardian) - The deadly rape case that shocked and shamed Ukraine

Juan Cole (Informed Comment) - Rafsanjani: Iran does not Want Nukes, Should improve relations with US, Saudi

Lior Sternfeld (Informed Comment) - The Paradox of Israeli Politics

Lindsay Beyerstein (CLEAR IT WITH SIDNEY) - Announcing the 2012 Hillman Prizes

LATOYA PETERSON (Racialicious) - Requiem for Sepia Mutiny

ARTURO (Racialicious) - 4-5-12 Links Roundup

Latoya Peterson - Before The Internet…

A long running joke among my friends and coworkers is exactly how many jobs I’ve held. Once, when I was explaining the three projects I chose to work on simultaneously, a friend of mine was like, “Who do you think you are, Hey Mon?”. . .

Violet Socks - I Am Caterpillar, Hear Me Roar

Doctor Science (Obsidian Wings) - The Mind-Killer

Susie Madrak - Holy Thursday

KCET Redcat - After Dinner with Andre - Andre Gregory (2006)

Andre Gregory as he reads from his new play Bone and shares stories and digressions about his past and the world in which we live. The play is a series of love songs written in verse, read here by Gregory, Larry Pine, and Julie Haggarty.

Malcolm Gin - Caltech: The Mechanical Universe Series on Google Video (2008)

Wikipedia - The Mechanical Universe (1985)

Question for Krugman/Keen: What do you think is the appropriate monetary/fiscal/banking policy for India? China?

question for economists: any relationship between "share of total wealth in the form of debt" / "share of total wealth in the form of equity" and macroeconomically interesting events? Does the ratio of debt : equity change much over time/place?

A somewhat related question: if wealth can only take 2 forms, debt or equity, and the private-sector debt market has collapsed, and the private-sector equity market is also shaky, wouldn't the prescription to eliminate public sector debt simply result in a massive reduction in private sector wealth?

next post: 4/20/2012

posted by Anonymous at 1:32 AM