The American war profiteers

The Center for Public Integrity ranks the total value of contracts awarded to U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, ranging from Halliburton, with $11 billion to Kollsman, Inc., an avionics and defense systems company which is listed as getting $100. Plus: I can't stop to praise the insightful best-selling book by Amy Goodman, "Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media that Love Them".

Preserve the traffic cone!

Thanks god for this society which wants to preserve the traffic cone!

Bush thinking of new ways to harm America

Finally. President Bush speaks the truth:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Bush misspoke at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion Defense spending bill in Washington, but no one in his audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted, according to the Associated Press. Plus: More Bushisms.

Eagle Rock - a natural wonder

Interesting. I wasn't aware that there is "one of many natural wonders of Southern California" right in our neighborhood: the eagle rock - created from local hot springs millions oy years ago.

A daily dosis beach

Webcam from Sunset Beach O'ahu, Hawaii.

Presidential candidate ringtones

Note to self: Maybe I need some Presidential candidate ringtones on my cell phone...

Wonderful Don Henley concert

The Eagles magic is still alive..

I know, my dear. It was not the Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine or Pearl Jam. But it was still Don Henley, the John Lennon of the legendary Eagles. I can't help: I have a history with this guy. We go wayyy back to the days when I was a student at the UCSB. That's why I HAD to see the magician behind "Hotel California" (lyrics) at the Santa Barbara Bowl. And he did not disappoint us. What a great concert that was! Plus: The pictures. The concert review. The interview with THE MAN.

New report blasts myth of the self-made man

Hey! What happened with the American dream? Start from zero, work hard and you can become a millionaire - and all that jazz? A new report by Responsible Wealth shows that the story of the guy who created his fortune all by himself is a myth. The report spotlights successful entrepreneurs such as Warren Buffet, Ben Cohen (Ben & Jerry's) and Eric Schmidt (Google) - none of them believes they did it by their own. They attribute their success to many factors, among them public schools and colleges, government investment in research and small business assistance, contributions of employees, and strong legal and financial systems. The report (PDF file) concludes that the myth of self-made success is even destructive to the social and economic infrastructure that fosters wealth creation. Google CEO Erich Schmidt admits: "Lots of people who are smart and work hard and play by the rules don't have a fraction of what I have. I realize I don't have my wealth because I'm so brilliant. Luck has a lot to do with it."Plus: Responsible Wealth is a project of United for a Fair Economy, a national non-profit devoted to putting a spotlight on the dangers of excessive inequality of income and wealth in the United States.

Books online: Google vs. Amazon

The German news website Heise describes the fierce rivalry between Google and Amazon regarding the search for books. Google launched its own (beta) version of Amazon's "Inside the book" search. As always its goal is everything else but modest: "Our mission is to provide access to all the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible" (from the FAQ of Google Print). If you want to see what this content looks like, try this Google search: inurl:print.google.com site:google.com . (For Andi)

Weekend in Santa Barbara

Heart in the sky of Santa Barbara

There used to be a time that I believed
The soft pouring rain was just the pouring rain, it wasn't me
But every new light that wasn't shiny and bright
We'll suspend the storms and the clouds in sight

Of an endless summer
An endless summer
An endless summer to be home

(From Acetone's "The Endless Summer")

Gosh. We needed this weekend so bad! We went to one of our favorite getaway destinations: the beautiful Santa Barbara. Strolling along State Street, browsing through new stores, relaxing at the beach, wining and dining at our beloved hang-outs - what could be better? (Let's not forget the great musical experience we had..) We love this place - not even the pictures can capture its beauty!

Teresa Kerry - a modern First Lady-to-be

Great article in the L.A. Times about Teresa Heinz Kerry (biography) and if the U.S. is ready for her as the First Lady. Plus: Her speech (transcript) at the Democratic Convention was so refreshing and genuine. Criticized by the Bush campaign as being too outspoken she made it clear that she can't be silenced: " I hope it will come as no surprise that I have something to say. (...) My only hope is that one day soon, woman who have all earned their right to their opinions, instead of being called opinionated, will be called smart and well informed, just like men."

Hollywood effected by novel reading decline

Hollywood Reporter: A recent report that fewer than half the adult American population reads novels or other literature in its spare time (post from July 23) is not good news for Hollywood. Plus: The importance of the "most important bestseller list in the U.S." - the one from the New York Times - is relative. Most of the books that appear on the N.Y. Times best-seller list will sell fewer than 200,000 copies. This number is less than one tenth of one percent of the US population. It is also a tiny fraction of the number of people who tune in to the least popular sitcom on any of the TV networks.

A daily dosis beach

Webcam from the famous surfer's beach Steamer Lane near Santa Cruz, California.

Blog about getting older

Most older people are happy, employed and active, but you wouldn’t know that from the popular media which routinely portrays them as feeble, decrepit and foolish. Now, Time Goes By, the first and only Website to examine what it’s really like to get older, takes on the common stereotype and is creating a popular and vibrantly interactive dialogue among a global audience that includes baby boomers, seniors and interestingly, some younger folks too. The new blog has already reached five on a scale of ten on Google’s Website importance rankings, a rarity for non-political Weblogs in their first year. It covers, in essays published five days a week, cultural attitudes toward older people, age discrimination in the workplace, coming to terms with one’s aging appearance, social life, the politics of aging, sex, health and anything that touches on the blog’s tagline, “What It’s Really Like To Get Older.”

Action thriller with marionettes

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park", have a new feature film coming up. "Team America: World Police" is a action thriller which features marionettes acting out the story. It's about an elite special missions force which learns that a power hungry dictator is brokering weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. The heroes embark upon a harrowing mission to save the world. The movie's slogan couldn't be better: "Putting the 'F' back in Freedom". The Parker/Stone adventure hits U.S. theaters October 22 - ten days before the Presidential election. A coincidence? The film trailer is hillarious!

Costs of the Iraq war

This counter shows the current costs of the war in Iraq for the United States. When I checked the last time it was at nearly 126 billion dollars. According to the website the U.S. could have fully funded global anti-hunger effort for 5 years with this amount of money. Or could have funded word-wide AIDS programs fo 12 years. Or could have hired 2397 additional public school teachers for one year. Or could have paid health insurance for 53919 children. Or just could have given 1750 dollars to each American household.

Reports behind terror alert were years old

Ahhh. New revelations about the sources which led to the raise of the threat level. The NYT reports:

Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.

Again: why am I not surprised?

Long live Cornholio!

Are you threatening me?

I have to admit it: Thanks to Leslie I got hooked up to the totally cool and supersilly world of Beavis and Butthead! Needless to say that my favorite episode is "The Great Cornholio" (the full script). Plus: the best - this website offers the "Cornholio Soundboard" with tons of audio snippets, for the sickest die-hards fans (hi Les)..

Brainfood for bookworms

The internet is an endless resource for book lovers. I just discovered Bookslut - a monthly web magazine and daily blog with lots of literary news, books reviews, commentaries and other insights. Plus: Not to forget my favorite website for brainfood, Arts & Letter Daily.

Battleground poll: big Kerry lead

The latest Battleground poll by Zogby Interactive shows John Kerry ahead in 13 of the 16 battleground states. That is his biggest lead - in terms of the number of states - since Zogby began conducting twice-a-month online polls in late May.

A daily dosis beach

Webcam from Morro Bay, California.

Hope is on the way, part II

Two men - one plan.

Very interesting! John Kerry and John Edwards have just published a book outlining their plan "to make America stronger at home and respected in the world". Here is the overview - here is the full text version to download.

Terrorist threats politiced?

“I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President Bush he plays this trump card, which is terrorism. His whole campaign is based on the notion that "I can keep you safe, therefore at times of difficulty for America stick with me," and then out comes Tom Ridge. It's just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there's some of both in it.”
Howard Dean's reaction on CNN after the raise of the threat level.

Orange is our favorite color

Here we go again! The federal government has raised the terror alert level to "high" - this time only for specific targets, financial services sectors in New York City, Washington, and Newark, N.J., citing remarkably detailed intelligence showing that al-Qaida operatives have been plotting for years to blow up specific buildings with car or truck bombs. But authorities said they do not know when the operatives were planning to carry out any of the bombings. Politics of fear or for real - who knows..