1. Long Live the King – I’d like to start off the day by wishing a special happy birthday to my good friend, the King of Cambodia, King Sihamoni. 58 years young! Keep up the good work buddy!
2. 200,000 - Yesterday marked a big milestone for TenThingsIThink/CooperinCambodia – the 200,000th hit. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for some big changes in the coming weeks.
3. Fox News Takes on Rape in the Peace Corps – When you consider all the good work the Peace Corps does around the world it’s really a shame that this is the story that seems to generate the most interest…
4. Student Weddings – It’s strange when a student invites you to their wedding – especially when that student is 17 and in 11th grade.
And then I remember that I come from the country of 16 and Pregnant…
5. Sorcery in Cambodia - Peace Corps Volunteer Terry McCoy has written a crazy article about the killing of suspected sorcerers in rural Cambodia: (Cambodia: Where Fear, Magic, and Murder Intertwine). Apparently a couple of people are killed for this reason every year. Insane.
6. The People vs. Goldman Sachs – Another MUST READ from Matt Taibi: The People vs. Goldman Sachs. The evidence is there, it’s time for a trial…
Defenders of Goldman have been quick to insist that while the bank may have had a few ethical slips here and there, its only real offense was being too good at making money. We now know, unequivocally, that this is bullshit. Goldman isn’t a pudgy housewife who broke her diet with a few Nilla Wafers between meals — it’s an advanced-stage, 1,100-pound medical emergency who hasn’t left his apartment in six years, and is found by paramedics buried up to his eyes in cupcake wrappers and pizza boxes. If the evidence in the Levin report is ignored, then Goldman will have achieved a kind of corrupt-enterprise nirvana. Caught, but still free: above the law….
When it came time for Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein to testify, the banker hedged and stammered like a brain-addled boxer who couldn’t quite follow the questions. When Levin asked how Blankfein felt about the fact that Goldman collected $13 billion from U.S. taxpayers through the AIG bailout, the CEO deflected over and over, insisting that Goldman would somehow have made that money anyway through its private insurance policies on AIG. When Levin pressed Blankfein, pointing out that he hadn’t answered the question, Blankfein simply peered at Levin like he didn’t understand….
This isn’t just a matter of a few seedy guys stealing a few bucks. This is America: Corporate stealing is practically the national pastime, and Goldman Sachs is far from the only company to get away with doing it. But the prominence of this bank and the high-profile nature of its confrontation with a powerful Senate committee makes this a political story as well. If the Justice Department fails to give the American people a chance to judge this case — if Goldman skates without so much as a trial — it will confirm once and for all the embarrassing truth: that the law in America is subjective, and crime is defined not by what you did, but by who you are.
7. Quote of the Week – “Sarah Palin…was tweeting about the fact that Obama will not release the picture of Bin Laden dead and she said, ‘He should stop pussyfooting around and release the photos.’ Yes. Because the guy who ordered the SEAL’s into a sovereign country without permission and killed public enemy number one is a pussy. And the woman who quit her job as the governor of a state with no people after half of a term and won’t do an interview with anyone but Greta Van Susteren is a bad ass.” Bill Maher
And speaking 0f Sarah Palin, it’s worth checking out this Atlantic article by Joshua Green: (The Tragedy of Sarah Palin) From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?
8. Newt - To celebrate Newt Gingrich’s announcement that he is officially running for President, Mother Jones Magazine has compiled a list of some of Newt’s all time best lines: (Newt in His Own Words: 30 Years of Bomb Throwing). Here are a few of my favorites…
- 1992 While campaigning for President George H. W. Bush in Georgia, Gingrich uses Woody Allen as a symbol for what Democrats want to do to America: “Woody Allen had non-incest with his non-daughter because they were a non-family.” He adds, “It fits the Democratic Party platform perfectly.” Bush distances himself from the remarks.
- 1994 He sums up his political philosophy: “People like me are what stand between us and Auschwitz. I see evil all around me every day.”
- 2004 Gingrich tells Fox News that liberal financier George Soros’ opposition to George W. Bush might be due to his ties to drug cartels: “[He] wants to spend $75 million defeating [President] George W. Bush because Soros wants to legalize heroin.”
- 2007 “We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.” Two years later, Gingrich unveils a new Spanish-language website, The Americano.
- 2011 Gingrich tells the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody that he was driven to his cheat on his previous two wives because of his one true love: America. “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate.”
Can’t wait for more highlights from out on the campaign trail.
9. Tough Luck - So the Knicks got swept by the Celtics, and the Celtics got destroyed by the Heat. Now I’m no basketball scholar, but that can’t bode well for the future. I’ll give it another year before Knicks fans lose interest again.
10. Bizarre Campaign Ads – Apparently the newest campaign strategy is to make crazy/bizarre political ad’s and hope that they go viral. Check it out…
From Dan Adler, who is running for Congress in Southern California:
And from Nick Sacco who is running for Mayor in North Bergen New Jersey:
Only in America!
“I don’t know where you be from, but I be from North Bergen, mon.”
Priceless. And only in…New Jersey.
Just getting back from a day of classes at DA where KBE actually taught his Cambridge class ( very impressive) and where we discovered that his freshman year hall resident was a former PCV!
Still have a full day ( and night!) of activities ahead of us but the sun is shining and there are certainly alot of happy campers in the house!
Wish you were here!
Congrats on 200,000 plus hits.
And happy birthday to your new friend the king!
Miss you.
xo
So so so so what a mark, what a day, what a play and my fucking history was removed from my google searh. bloody google bloody freaks. about to carry out some black magick in five mins, enjoy Kali and her devine aftermath may she wreak havoc upon the pathetic beings who push a few buttons, share a few lines and think theyre in control. control my dears is being able to think for one self independently of any influence at all. ass soon as your thoughts are controlled, and be ware that group psychology is one of the simplest ways the mid-evolutionary field human mind can be controlled, you are denied your place in the universe as meaning something, anything at all. ten things i think are: 1 – be your own person 2 – choose your own path, your own thoughts and beliefs 3 sheep suck, arty farty sheep with no concept of copy right laws suck more 4 keys are nothing more than a tool for a tool who wants entry 5 a key given by one person to another to open an entry is not a winning situation or controlling situation, it is permission of entry whoaaaah 6 – my children have a night light, the ladybird sucked balls but im sure the good sammys will like it 7 – surveillance upon surveillance looks like paranoia, be careful where one treads bccause your mental health is your most important asset 8- make your life a documentary to establish the nuances of those who bother with big brother and highlight reality from criminal mind sets being led like sheep to act in criminal ways 9 – days will come when finally those so interested in the lives of others will mature and realise theyve yet to experience living life themselves 10 – photos being manipulated is not art fools its plain fucking disturbing and group art of pass the piccie and have a personal five minute crack at adding your own thing to it, well an 8 year old may find that creative and fun. surely some of you can summon the courage and self awareness and sense of self to attempt to produce independent art in the public spot light….for those who cant hack reality go kill yourself and fall in line with Darwinism survival of the fittest that is and yes it goes without saying you all get a “nice try” smiley face scratch and sniff sticker you can stick somewhere wbere no one will notice it except all the sheep who cant even find originality and independence of thought as to where to place their sticker but heck that sticker gives them a warm fuzzy glow, a sense of belonging in the herd…Kali stands beside me. The sheeps day of reckoning has come. you are absolutely nothing in the whole scheme of things. Look at your reflection. How sure are you that what you see is what another would see. How prepared are you to stand alone, accept your choices in behaviours and actions, take accountability and responsibility as a start to cognitively recognising some amount of self respect. May Kali terrorise your psyches to your senses. Dream in the subconscious. strategise to live the life you want to live in your consciousness. Dont confuse reality with dreaming. Remember fantasy, role play and games are merely genres. “I am the master of my ship, I am the master of my fate” will play on your mind during your mortal life at some stage or another. How much time have you spent being the master of your ship and how much time have you been merely a deckhand. Life is to be lived. It is a waste to spend it so fixated on another that tunnel vision sets in and you lose your voice in making any real changes that matter to you in the world and community you live in. Now turn off your computer and spend time engaging in your own life.
Ps id like to check out the Kali searh that has been erased from todays history. Seriously there is no competition or control in deleting items from someones history. It is very immature and juvenile. I sense jealousy surrounds me, seriously dont envy me, dont think you lead me and certainly dont follow me. Now there’s over ten things to think about. I hope your numeracy allows you to comprehend and digest each of my suggestions in order for you to feel at peace with your life and at peace with your being. May Kali show no mercy and reflect the feeling of strength and calm i feel towards any persons who have participated in any of this. I have a wonderful wonderful life, i am gifted, i am intelligent, I am independent and I am loved. I hope for my children to live their lives and be blessed as I am. The truth prevails. It is what it is and always will be. Humility, compassion and grace together with faith in self and certainty of place in universe are characteristics of people who’s lives have touched mang people. Head towards the light and celebrate your own life. Your parents believe in you.