On the 8 Spot

On what is the issue of this century, the rising friction between individual liberties and religion.  Which side are you on?

Clinton lambastes ‘anti-defamation’ trend round the world

Agence France-Presse | 10/27/2009 8:46 AM

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday came out strongly against laws around the world that make religious defamation a crime, saying freedom of speech and religion should be equally upheld.

“Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called ‘anti-defamation’ policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion,” she said on presenting a department report on religious freedom.

“I strongly disagree. The United States will always… stand against discrimination and persecution… But an individual’s ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others’ freedom of speech,” Clinton said.

“The protection of speech about religion is particularly important since persons of different faith will inevitably hold divergent views on religious questions. These differences should be met with tolerance, not with the suppression of discourse,” she added.

In a draft resolution adopted last month by the UN Human Rights Council, Egypt and the United States raised concerns over the rise of “negative racial and religious stereotyping of religions and racial groups” around the world.

via Clinton lambastes ‘anti-defamation’ trend round the world | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

20 percent of Metro heart attacks due to passive smoke

By Anna Valmero

First Posted 13:16:00 10/26/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Second-hand smoke causes over 20 percent of the number of heart attacks in Metro Manila, officials from the Department of Health (DoH) said on Monday.

One to seven hours of weekly exposure to second-hand smoke increases the number of heart attacks or acute myocardial infarction by 10 percent and a weekly exposure of 21 hours in turn raises the number of heart attacks by 20 percent, said DoH Secretary Francisco Duque III quoting an international study.

via 20 percent of Metro heart attacks due to passive smoke – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Hello

Performed by Beyonce

“Hello”

Oh!
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh……
I love to see you walk into the room
Body shining lighting up the place
And when you talk, everybody stops
Cause they know you know just what to say
And the way that you protect your friends
Baby, I respect you for that
And when you grow, you take everyone you love along
I love that you don’t fly me away
Don’t need to buy a diamond key to unlock my heart
You shelter my soul
You’re my fire when I’m cold
I want you to know

You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
It was many years ago
Baby when you
Stole my cool
Cause you had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hellooh oh oh oh oh

I get so excited when you travel with me
Baby, while I’m on my grind
And never would I ever let my hustle
Come between me and my family time
You keep me humble I like this hype
Cause you know there’s more to life
If I need you, you will be here
You will make the sacrifice
Don’t fly me away
Don’t need to buy a diamond key to unlock my heart
You shelter my soul
You’re my fire when I’m cold
Just want you to know

You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
It was many years ago
Baby when you
Stole my cool
You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hellooh oh oh oh oh

Gotta feel you and be near you
You’re the air that I breath to survive
Gotta hold you, wanna show you
That without you my sun doesn’t shine
You don’t have to try so hard for me to love you
Boy, without you my life just ain’t the same
You don’t have to try so hard for me to love you
You had me at hello!

You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
You had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hello
It was many years ago
When you
Stole my cool
you had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hellooh oh oh oh oh

…..

It was many years ago
When you
Stole my cool
you had me at hello
Hello
Hello
Hellooh oh oh oh oh

Nice Facts:

Tribes Levels and percent at each:

1. (2%)Life Sucks
2. (25%)My Life Sucks
3. (48%)I’m Great, You’re Not
4. (22%)We’re Great
5. (2%)Life is Great

People who build world changing tribes….

connect people who don’t know each other

—David Logan, TEDx USC

got this from prof Brad Delong’s blog.

The evidence thus suggests that a recession hits young people particularly hard, knocking them off course with effects that last for years to come. As we rebuild a new foundation for economic growth, it’s critical that we keep this in mind.

via OMB – Blog Post – Birth date, business cycles, and lifetime income.

Hey friends what’s your over and under for this??

How many Rich people from the Philippines do you think would sign a petition such as this?

Rich Germans ask for higher taxes

Fri, 10/23/2009 – 4:12pm

They’re the kind of citizens any cash-starved government would want: a group of wealthy Germans have launched a petition this week calling for higher taxes on wealthy Germans. The group claims that Germany could raise €100 billion if the richest people paid a five percent wealth tax for two years.

Germany is not known as a low-tax country–tax revenues were 37% of GDP in 2007, in line with other EU countries, and above countries like South Korea (29%) and the United States (28%). The petitioners claim, though, that those who “made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment” should put their money into an economy that, while better off than some other EU counterparts, is still facing rising unemployment through next year.

via Rich Germans want higher taxes | FP Passport.

Well this is sad news, Ow the memories!

Yahoo GeoCities closes on Oct. 26

GeoCities, once the Internet’s third most visited domain, will be shutting down on Oct. 26, taking with it thousands of user home pages and decades of data. All that information will be history…. Fortunately, some historians are making sure it’s not lost to the annals of time.

Founded in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet, what is now Yahoo GeoCities was one of the first services to offer an easy way for early Internet surfers to publish their own Web pages. Whereas most hosting options of the 1990s were expensive, thus limiting their use to more entrepreneurial pursuits, GeoCities’ free hosting space became the home for thousands of sites built around thematically oriented “neighborhoods”: conservation, fashion, military, sports, finance, travel, and more.

via Yahoo GeoCities closes on Oct. 26 – Computerworld Blogs.

Good news for indigent pinoys!

RP in talks with Thailand on rice deal

Reuters | 10/26/2009 2:52 PM

MANILA – The Philippines, the world’s biggest rice buyer, is currently in talks to purchase 200,000 tons rice from Thailand under a government-to-government (G-to-G) deal, a senior state official said on Monday.

via RP in talks with Thailand on rice deal | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

This is good news!

Free legal aid assured for victims of illegal recruitment

10/26/2009 | 04:14 PM

Victims of illegal recruitment may now be assured of free legal aid from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Quezon City Chapter after the group inked a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (Tfair) under the Office of the Vice President.

“This is indeed good news to all victims of illegal recruitment. Now we have a partner, the IBP-QC chapter, in our campaign against illegal recruitment,” said Tfair chairman and Vice President Noli De Castro in a statement.

De Castro, who is also presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFW), said the Tfair will evaluate and refer to IBP-QC “high priority” large scale illegal recruitment cases.

He said the IBP-QC will help qualified OFW victims in the prosecution of their individual or collective administrative, civil or criminal claims and actions against illegal recruiters.

As stated in the MOA, De Castro said the IBP-QC shall provide these legal services for free. “No acceptance and appearance fees shall be charged to the OFW victims and no fee shall be charged for drafting pleadings.”

via Free legal aid assured for victims of illegal recruitment – Pinoy Abroad – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

I’d gladly play in a casino like this!

A Casino for Conservation?

Category: Solutions

Posted on: October 25, 2009 3:14 PM, by Jennifer L. Jacquet

What if you could gamble for a good cause? Why not build a casino where the profits go to conservation?

The idea came to me last night while watching a BBC documentary on gambling with Louis Theroux (see preview below). The segment features a woman who has lost $4 million over the last 7 years (don’t worry, she says she had fun doing it) and a Canadian mattress man who lost somewhere over $250,000 in one weekend. Imagine if these people could lose their money and know that it ultimately wound up going toward a good cause rather than in the pockets of already rich casino owners?

via A Casino for Conservation? : Guilty Planet.