Silenced Majority Portal

Bat Boy & Bachmann: Separated at Birth?

Miss Kittin in Tel Aviv

Walmart Spreading to Africa

Wal-Mart Eyes Growth In Africa - Forbes.com

They may buy something called "MassMart."  Walmart's stock has been pretty flat this year but still has generated alot of income for its major stockholders.  

"Ann" Coulter Tells Gays, "Marriage Is Not A Civil Right - You're Not Black"

"Marriage is not a civil right. You're not black." It was part of a larger argument on which she later elaborated, telling the crowd that the 14th Amendment only applies to African-Americans and that it does not, in fact, apply to women, LGBT people or other minorities.

Read more - if you can stomach it - she was talking to GOProud (Gay Republicans) -

Ann Coulter At Homocon: 'Marriage Is Not A Civil Right. You're Not Black.' | TPMDC

Search for Science - Scene from New Documentary on Extinction of Quiet Places

(Thanks Alan Castle - the guy in the doc is from WA state)

Libraries Being Outsourced in Several States - Dale Carnegie Would Roll Over in His Grave

(Thanks to Robin in AZ)

A private company in Maryland has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system. Now the company, Library Systems & Services, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.
(skip)  Can a municipal service like a library hold so central place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?  “There’s this American flag, apple pie thing about libraries,” said Frank A. Pezzanite, the outsourcing company’s chief executive. He has pledged to save $1 million a year in Santa Clarita, mainly by cutting overhead and replacing unionized employees. “Somehow they have been put in the category of a sacred organization.”

(more at As L.S.S.I. Takes Over Libraries, Patrons Can’t Keep Quiet - NYTimes.com)

There used to be this wonderful discipline called LIBRARY SCIENCE.  With nonunion employees and cuts in pay and benefits, libraries will be staffed by someone with less education than it takes to be a Barnes & Noble clerk.  (Bye bye small wonderful bookstores already.)

US has a high ILLITERACY rate (I have a whole collection of rightwing political signs with atrocious misspellings.)  Many of the people who want English as an official (or only) language in America have not even mastered the basics themselves.

Here I am writing from Paris, where I'm staying next to the old Biblioteque Nationale (a new one was built in the more suburban 13th district.)  It's stately, as is the Royal Garden that I can see out the window, where people are READING!!  As they are on the subway, and not cheap novels.  The average graduate with "le Bac" (high school diploma) is the equivalent of an American Associate of Arts graduate (two years beyond high school.)  This is true regardless of occupation (though there may be different tracks.)

It is becoming almost "elite" in the US to even get an education.  First of all, the state doesn't help.  (A BA used to be free for tuitionin the CA system.)  Tuition is now so much that my son's in-state tuition was approx. $1000/class.  I used to pay $10/credit hour (a class was 3-5 credits.)  I got 3 degrees for $1200 and my Work/Study was IN THE LIBRARY.  How ironic.  

Our local library system (Seattle) has reduced hours and they recently furloughed employees for a week and closed the system.  It's not tax base - it's priorities.  We could pay for useless wars, but not libraries. Wonder if the new libraries will stock a lot of "Left Behind" books about the Rapture and censor progressive political books?  Or maybe a bunch of those Texas textbooks that revise history to the right will be ordered.

US is going down the tubes.

Pentagon Burning Books

Not A Joke: The Pentagon Just Destroyed Thousands Of Books | Mediaite

Last week the Pentagon destroyed thousands of copies of a single book. The book was Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s new memoir “Operation Dark Heart”, about his time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team, and the Pentagon was so determined the public not read portions of it they purchased all 9,500 copies of it directly from its publisher, St. Martins, with the express purpose of destroying it.

Swarms of Stink Bugs Headed to Washington D.C.

Stink Bugs | Washington | Mediaite

They smell like old socks if you crush them.

Paris: Street Art (Jeff Aerosol, Mimi the Clown & More)

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These were photographed on rue Mouffetard on the Left Bank & near Le Pompidou (Beaubourg) & at Palais de Tokyo on the Right Bank

Americans Still Way Fatter Than French

Past and projected overweight rates

Unfortunately, even in France, 1 in 10 people are overweight.  There are signs for McDonalds, Subway etc. where young people go.  They are encouraged to eat whenever hungry or bored, instead of at mealtime, as is the long-time custom.  When buying clothes, a "large" here is a "medium" in US.  Paris is very fashionable and there are alot of young people and models walking around but it is still not so common to see overweight people.

Still, it is always a shock to return home to US and see much heavier adults in the airports.  We'll go home through Iceland, where we saw a lot of hefty people, even though Iceland Air didn't feed us a morsel.  Sure enough, they rank up there a little.  Mexico is #1, US is #2.  Australia, New Zealand and the UK are "up there."  France didn't even rank in the top 14.

Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit not Fat - France Key Facts

Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit not Fat

Most Overweight Nations: OECD Report (PHOTOS)