Economics, civics, constitutional law, Supreme Court cases, AP Economics teaching resources, and classroom lessons by a retired social studies teacher.
""Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease. Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies. M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.""
This is why the UN, it, uh, well, uh, just read the short article and see if you can believe it yourself THEN formulate you own opinion of the UN and its efficacy...
""Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest." Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website. Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States. FOXNews.com learned of the press release only after being alerted to it by Anne Bayefsky director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.""Click HERE to continue reading..
President Obama directly or obliquely ( I don't know the context) compared the oil spill to 9/11. He is shown in this photo eating a snow cone on a beach in the Gulf Coast, presumably reassuring people and encouraging them to not cancel vacations and to come visit the area. Good enough, I support that. After 9/11 President Bush encouraged people to "go shopping" because the economy was tanking. Of, course he got alot of flack and derision, and perhaps deservedly so. Is there a double standard in the media? In politics? Are the situations similar or different? Remember, I did not make the analogy, the President did. One could say, well, in 9/11 people died and it was crass to encourage shopping. Again, I did not use the 9/11 analogy....What do you think???
"In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11, I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come," he told the US political website Politico"
I am watching C-SPAN right now...the House is voting on a resolution to establish June 20th as American Eagle Day...So far no one is voting against it!! Finally a bi-partisan issue we can all agree on...I am fully supportive and would NEVER suggest they (Congress) better things to do. Actually, it may be a good thing they are doing this. Keeps them out of trouble....Update while writing this---Resolution PASSES! 360 to 0...wonder where the other 75 Members are? Happy American Eagle Day!! :)
I like the fact that is listed as "For Sale By Owner"---I appreciate the President trying to save the taxpayers the commission on the sale--- :)
""As we looked through the latest properties to hit the market this weekend, we came across a rather famous address that is apparently now for sale: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW -- aka The White House. Redfin has the executive lodging listed for $10 million. The 55,000 square-foot property has a price per square foot of $182. Obviously this is an error. It looks like Redfin software pulled an example listing from the website Owners.com by mistake. That example listing was the White House. We have e-mailed Redfin for comment. Aside from the price per square foot calculation, the thing that we like best about the listing is that it is for sale by owner."" (source: HERE) HT: Drudge Report.
Economics jokes! At the margin, they are REALLY funny!! :) Also, see video at the end from a bonified Economics Comedian (no, not an oxymoron) Caution: Some are "inside baseball"...HT: Economists Do It With Models (yes, that is the name, visit it!!)
Q: How many Chicago School economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have already done it.
Q: How many mainstream economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two. One to assume the existence of ladder and one to change the bulb.
Q: How many neo-classical economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: It depends on the wage rate.
Q: How many conservative economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. The darkness will cause the light bulb to change by itself.
Q: How many B-school doctoral students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: I’m writing my dissertation on that topic; I should have an answer for you in about five years.
Q: How many investors does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None - the market has already discounted the change.
Q: How many Keynesian economists does it takes to change a light bulb?
A: All. Because then you will generate employment, more consumption, dislocating the aggregate demand to the right.
Q: How many marxists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: None - the bulb contains within it the seeds of its own revolution.
Q: How many economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Seven plus or minus ten.
Q: How many economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Irrelevant - the light bulb’s preferences are to be taken as given.
Given 1000 economists, there will be 10 theoretical economists with different theories on how to change the light bulb and 990 empirical economists laboring to determine which theory is the *correct* one, and everyone will still be in the dark.
Q: How many economists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Eight. One to screw it in and seven to hold everything else constant.
I dont know if this Congressman can't take the pressure and cracked; hates people who ask questions; or these "ambush interviews" (by partisans of BOTH parties) are out of control. The kid did not really have a question, ("Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" What is that??) he was looking to provoke. HOWEVER, he should not have assaulted/restrained the young man such as he did. What should he do? Resign? Be censured? Get arrested? Most assuredly you will see this video on the mainstream news in the the next couple of days....Source: DrudgeReport
Please read the article and watch the video and see that my blog title is not rhetoric. This was the topic for our Junior World Affairs Council at my school this year. We should not be complicit in financing conflicts where 9 year olds serve in military positions in the open and with common knowledge in the international community....Just my opinion...(see video the accompanies the story below)
""It is well known that Somalia’s radical Islamist insurgents are plucking children off soccer fields and turning them into fighters. But Awil is not a rebel. He is working for Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, a critical piece of the American counterterrorism strategy in the Horn of Africa.
According to Somali human rights groups and United Nations officials, the Somali government, which relies on assistance from the West to survive, is fielding hundreds of children or more on the front lines, some as young as 9. Child soldiers are deployed across the globe, but according to the United Nations, the Somali government is among the “most persistent violators” of sending children into war, finding itself on a list with notorious rebel groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army. Somali government officials concede that they have not done the proper vetting. Officials also revealed that the United States government was helping pay their soldiers, an arrangement American officials confirmed, raising the possibility that the wages for some of these child combatants may have come from American taxpayers.""
Click HERE for Video of Child Soldiers TODAY "working" in Somalia---VERY COMPELLING and SAD to watch...
A MUST READ article if you follow the war in Afghanistan!! There is a VERY interesting development in Afghanistan. The discovery of previously unknown vast quantities of minerals (notably Lithium, which is used in batteries for an array of electronics) has the potential to be a blessing or a curse. The Congo has a severe problem of "Conflict Minerals" for electronics. Unless stability and rule of law become the norm in Afghanistan then, well, watch out. The competition for access to these areas of riches will become intense and nasty...Stay tuned for this one...They (the Afghans) now have something more than Poppies to fight for now...
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan. The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe. An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries. While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war. “There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
Not sure how I feel about this. I am a law and order type person, but also believe in due process. Can due process take place in 4 days? Maybe, in South Africa, anyway...
""South Africa offered reassurance over security at the football World Cup when two men were sentenced on Sunday to 15 years in jail only four days after robbing journalists at gunpoint. The men were convicted of stealing goods worth R38,000 ($5,000, €4,100, £3,350) from three journalists – two from Portugal and one from Spain – at a hotel room in the town of Magaliesburg. They were arrested on Thursday, barely 24 hours after the incident, and brought before a dedicated World Cup court charged with delivering fast-track justice. The men, together with an accomplice accused of receiving stolen goods, were placed on trial and then convicted and sentenced on Sunday. “The manner in which the investigation was conducted and finalised sends a stern message that our warnings to criminals were not empty threats,” said Nathi Mthethwa, the police minister""
I am assuming this is real and not photoshopped...Notice the BP logo for the gas station in the upper left portion of the photo...HT: The Big Questions
This could be the GREATEST thing ever!! RadioShack has put it's catalogs from 1939 to present ONLINE. Click on a year and thumb though the book! These are the actual catalogs. Amazing how they changed over the years. It is GREAT fun to pick your year of birth and see how much has changed AND how much things have decreased in price, technology-wise---Time well spent...HT: EconLog
Go HERE for an inflation calculator to see how much something is in today's dollars...
I hear from time to time students and adults say that a business HAS to take your money, no matter what. Business CAN refuse cash or types of cash. They don't have to take 5,000 pennies for payment for something AND they don't have to take $100.00 bills. The Department of Treasury website says this:
""The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.""
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