Sarah Palin: Smarter than a 5th grader?

Matt Damon on Sarah Palin

[Politics for Dummies]: The Declaration of Human Rights

[Thumbs Up!]: Playing for Change: Music for Peace

[Politics for Dummies]: US Healthcare for dummies

[Boo]: The President's Brain is Missing

[Thumbs Up!]: Queen Rania of Jordan to address stereotypes

Sounds like a fascinating endeavour by Queen Rania of Jordan. We indeed all have our preconceived ideas about cultures and people unknown to us, stereotypes that are often outdated. Queen Rania is trying to address the perceptions we might have of the Arab world by answering to comments made by Youtubers over the next couple of weeks. It is a brilliant attempt to use the most trendy internet platform to help overcome the increasingly wide gep between cultures of the middle east and the west. If you feel you have a word to say, or if you simply want to get a chance to better understand the arab culture, chim in for this exciting debate.

[Street Wisdom]: Conventional Wisdom by Mark Leibovich

"Today, new swarms of self-styled pundits can formulate conventional wisdom, or merely advance it, in any number of forums — e-mail, cable, blogs, talk radio. Conventional wisdom now just seems to bubble up, fatherless, with minimal brain work or reflection behind it. Its life cycle — the creation, debunking and subsequent hand-wringing of “old” conventional wisdom — has been radically compressed."

[Boo]: Bush booed at 2008 Nationals Home Opener

Watching my favorite Philip DeFranco show on YouTube (that guy is really amazing), I came upon this video hosting George W. Bush, booed by several thousand guests at the Nationals stadium in Washington. This brilliantly emphasizes how unpopular the president has gotten, and what lows he has reached in approval ratings. His unpopular move to increase the size of troops in Iraq, his mismanagement of the economy, and his aggressive foreign policies have smashed his popularity, even deep in the republican ranks. "Bush’s overall approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low, while more than twice as many (64 percent) disapprove of the way he's handling his job," according to CBS News in a poll published earlier this year.
In Europe, his unpopularity has been phenomenal early on. An inarticulate president, who barely remembers the name of foreign leaders and knows little, if nothing, of the countries outside his own will certainly not draw much sympathy.
Lame Duck was not moved, to say the least, by the booing taking place in Washington's stadium and would certainly have echoed the crowd.

[Thumbs Up!]: Tap Project: Safe children with a glas of tap water

A simple yet powerful idea. A concept that could dramatically change the life of thousands of children. "A single glass of water can make a difference for children around the world…" What we take for a given - access to safe drinking water - causes in other parts of the world where such access is not granted the death of 6,000 children every day. "The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five."

The idea is simple: for each glass of tap water you order in a restaurant and would normally get for free, you pay a buck. The result has a huge impact: every dollar you add to your bill will finance 40 liters of clean and safe water for children around the globe. New York has taken the lead in this project in 2007, but UNICEF plans to expand it to many of the largest American cities in 2008. Check out the participating restaurant, and make your night out a thrilling charitable event: http://tapproject.org/about/mission

[Democracy in Action]: I got a crush on Obama

We've seen and heard it all. We kind of know the programs, although we doubt they ever will be implemented. Common', it's politics! It's not about action plans, it's about convincing and cogent ideas - they just need to sound good, but no one will really be held accountable for implementing them... or not. So why should we sincereley vote on themes rather than on personality?
I think many of us got a crush on Obama. He's young, brilliant, he's an activist who sticks to his values and goes beyong party lines. He's someone our generation can connect to, unlike Ms. Clinton. She's way to pretentious, way too much Washington. She's a good ole politics veteran. Obama has done community projects and has never emphasized raising a personal fortune. His public service and his dedication to America have proven way more valuable. Why then still wonder who our votes should go to!!

[Boo]: Mr. Spitzer had some fun last night

I was terribly surprised by the way the press has been handling the whole issue. Let's be candid: Spitzer is a fool who got caught sleeping with a hot callgirl. Period. He sealed the deal and has now to live with the consequences.
But he seemed, notwithstanding his great stupidity, to have found a fantastic friend in the press. The newspapers have to convey the news - it's their duty - but they have all the latitudes in how they frame the issue. And lets face it: they have been pretty clement. Portraying the issue as an unfortunate mishappening is pretty odd to say the least. And no matter how many articles I read, I perversly came to feel sorry for the public attention the governor gathered. I was almost apologetic for even watching/reading the news - until I realized that he deserves being caught.
If you take the public oath and dress yourself in the armor of the warrior of ethics, it better be more than a facade. But if you can't uphold the same standards for yourself than you preach for others, you have nothing to do in such a position. His stepping down should have occured quicker and should have been sought for by the press and the public opinion with more vehemence. I just hope he has been more careful with issues of national security than with his own "personal belongings". A good friend of mine, Daisy, kept on saying that "at the most difficult moments in life, you should raise your head high, take a deep breath and say: Now I´m fucked!"
When I come to watch the CNN video of Spitzer addressing the public, I wonder whether he addresses a bunch of leniant idiots. He makes us feel as if we brought him into that imbroglio. He must certainly have been a very convincing prosecutor (well, he was, just ask the Wallstreet guys). That's good public relations, make it a case study.
To cut the long story short, keep the facts in mind while watching the governor leave the room. And don't let your anger for being cheated on be washed away by the milk-boy attitude of some journalists.


P.S: By the way, that's the girl Spitzer owes his downfall to:

[Artists for Democracy]: Linkin' Park has an eye on civil rights

[Thumbs Up!]: Ali G Harvard Commencement Speech

No more boring but high ranking politicians or trivial business leaders: this time, Lame Duck watched Ali G on the Harvard court, yack, yack!