Robin Hood: Taxing the Banks to Help the Poor

Check out this campaign by Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy:

Come be a part of the world’s biggest bank job.

Haiti’s bones and banks’ bonuses

Check out this insightful–and tragic–analysis of two instances of mourning, from the Guardian newspaper over the weekend: “The World As It Is – or – Bones & Bonuses.”

Links of the Day, January 5

News

• John C. Liu is sworn in as the first Asian-American comptroller of New York City.
• Republicans are coming out strongly against consumer protection.

Sports

• TIME profiles Harvard’s Jeremy Lin.
• Why Edgar Martinez belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Miscellaneous

• The changing Oval Office.
• Avatar gets conservatives in a huff.

Links of the Day, December 1

It’s World AIDS Day. Watch this vid:

Iron Man 2:


News

• Barack will make an address tonight on Afghanistan, with preliminary reports suggesting a rapid deployment of an additional 30-35,000 troops.
• The proposed Comcast-NBC merger would be the largest media merger in recent history.
• South Africa vows to treat all HIV-positive babies (which is a big change of direction post-Mbeki).

Health care

• Latino voters see health care as the overwhelming priority.

Green

• The folks over at Treehugger debunk the global-warming-conspiracy conspiracy and critique the whole Climategate fallacy.

Finance reform

• The House is moving forward on financial regulation reform; the Senate is sluggish … very sluggish.

Miscellaneous

• My good friend Ziya looks at the different perceptions of beauty.
• Is Lasik worth thousands of dollars?

Links of the Day, October 19

News

• Hamid Karzai is stripped of his outright win in the Afghan elections. The US will not make any troop decisions until they’re sure they have a legitimate partner.
• Uruguay is implementing a "one laptop per student" in its state primary schools.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Kerry head up bipartisan climate change legislation. Pray let’s get something done!

Human trafficking

• Buying cheap goods may support human trafficking.

Miscellaneous

• Bono’s op-ed, "Rebranding America."
• Krugman’s op-ed, "The Banks Are Not Alright."
• Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman’s piece, “Goodness Precedes Greatness.”

Links of the Day, October 7

Happy birthday, Barcode! Also, baseball playoffs start today–go Dodgers!

News

• One of the most wanted suspects in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has been arrested.
• Obama’s Afghanistan strategy will not involve withdrawing troops.
• He’s also pursuing urban renewal.
• Pasadena Chief of Police Bernard Melekian steps down to take up a post in DC.
• Another ring is discovered around Saturn.

Health care

• Fox News’ Shep Smith schools Rep. John Barrasso (WY) on the public option–I’m generally not a huge fan of Fox News, but Shep Smith is one redeeming feature.
• If you had five minutes to tell me why a public option is a good thing …
• If you had nine minutes to then critique said video (in the interests of being “fair and balanced,” haha …)

Human trafficking

• The Metropolitan Police is considering disbanding its human trafficking team. What–is the problem solved already?!

Finance reform

• How private equity firms make billions by driving companies into bankruptcy.

Miscellaneous

• Charts to help you succeed in online dating.
• Check out the US electric grid.
• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan guests on the Colbert Report.
• The Minnesota Twins edge out the Detroit Tigers in an extra-innings one-game playoff to get to the postseason. (I wouldn’t bet against the Yankees clobbering them, though …)
• GOOD Magazine illustrates the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
  

Links of the Day, September 29

News

• The death toll in the Philippines tops 240.
• In Guinea, government troops open fire on opposition protesters.
• Iran takes a less belligerent pose on the international stage.

Finance reform

• Bailed-out banks are still making risky bets.

Miscellaneous

• Sarah Palin’s book, "Going Rogue," will be out on November 17. (Point 1: "Going Rogue"? Please. Point 2: That’s going straight onto my Amazon wishlist.)