Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A Class Divided


Elliott divided her class by eye color — those with blue eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes.

Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott.

On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group. What happened over the course of the unique two-day exercise astonished both students and teacher.

On both days, children who were designated as inferior took on the look and behavior of genuinely inferior students, performing poorly on tests and other work. About one hour.

Doomsday Called Off


In this eye-opening documentary viewers will discover how the most respected researchers from all over the world explode the doom and gloom of global warming. Humans stand accused of having set off a global climate catastrophe by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Once all of these satellites were strung together, we could then look at the temperature change overtime, and the strange thing we found is that there is very little change in the global temperature. And this was a surprise because the surface temperature showed an increase, but this bulk of the atmosphere, the real climate system was not. And that then caused us to realize that the human effects of climate are likely not happening the way we think they are.

The prophecy of doom is clear and media pass on the message uncritically. Now serious criticism has arisen from a number of heavyweight independent scientists. They argue that most of the climatic change we have seen is due to natural variations. They also state that if CO2 is to play a role at all -it will be minuscule and not catastrophic! This story presents a series of unbiased scientists as our witnesses. We will hear their eloquent criticism of the IPCC conclusions illustrated by coverage of their research work. About 45 minutes.

Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis


When the world's financial bubble blew, the solution was to lower interest rates and pump trillions of dollars into the sick banking system. "The solution is the problem, that's why we had a problem in the first place". For Economics Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, the Catch 22 is self-evident. But interest rates have been at rock bottom for years, and governments are running out of fuel to feed the economy. "The governments can save the banks, but who can save the governments?" Forecasts predict all countries' debt will reach 100% of GDP by next year. Greece and Iceland have already crumbled, who will be next?

The storm that would rock the world, began brewing in the US when congress pushed the idea of home ownership for all, propping up those who couldn't make the down payments. The Market even coined a term, NINA loans: "No Income, No Assets, No Problem!" Enter FannieMae and FreddieMac, privately owned, government sponsored. "Want that vacation? Wanna buy some new clothes? Use your house as a piggie bank!" Why earn money to pay for your home when you can make money just living in it? With the government covering all losses, you'd have been a fool not to borrow.

The years of growth had been a continuous party. But when the punchbowl ran dry, instead of letting investors go home to nurse their hangovers as usual, the Federal Reserve just filled it up again with phoney money. For analyst Peter Schiff, the consequence of the spending binge was crystal clear: "we're in so much trouble now because we got drunk on all that Fed alcohol". Yet along with other worried experts, he was mocked and derided during the boom.

Have you taken out a mortgage, invested capital or bought shares? If you have, likelihood is you lost out in the latest bust. Governments promised decisive action, the biggest financial stimulus packages in history, gargantuan bailouts: but what crazed logic is this, propping up debt with...more debt? This documentary brings an entirely fresh voice to the hottest topic of today. Length, 46 minutes.

If Drugs Were Legal

The BBC tries to explore what a legal drug system might look like. Planning freedom is always risky but it has some points worth considering. About one hour.





Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Cost of the War on Drugs


A short introduction by FEE as to why the war on drugs is a mistake. About 4 minutes.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Déjà vu all over again.


The second video is 5 minutes and it a reading of a letter from Mildred Loving about marriage equality.



Here Ted Olson and David Boies discuss their efforts to expand marriage equality.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Constitutional Case for Marriage Equality


About 7 minutes, produced by the Cato Institute.