NPR is fighting hard to keep it's sliver of federal funding. On the Hill, Anthony Weiner aims his arrows at the Republicans.
And at least one Republican, Ron Paul, understands that our Nation's (destructive) money pit is Afghanistan, not NPR. Every week we spend four times more on our military adventure in Afghanistan than we spend for one year on funding domestic public media (we spend a lot more on propaganda devoted for international audiences than we spend on domestic programming).
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
What follows is not real data; it is only my hunch. What would the result be if Americans could vote, using a secret ballot, on the following option: Would they rather have widespread democracy in the Middle East or cheap oil at home? Would they rather support continued US coddling of corrupt Middle East leaders who keep order with violent crackdowns or would they prefer that the people of these countries have freedom of speech and free elections?
Let's assume the price of a gallon of gas would go up an additional 50 cents if the people of Middle Eastern countries (e.g., Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq) kicked out all the remaining brutal dictators and changed over to meaningful self-rule--some meaningful form of democracy. Would Americans vote for their pocketbook or for high ideals? I suspect that the result would be something like this:
Check out this terrific video called "Ants - Nature's Secret Power." It is a study of ants, of the elaborate miniature cities of ants, and the collective architect that designs these exquisite cities. Ant experts Bert Holldobler provides commentary regarding these highly coordinated super-organisms. In the clip below, scientist pore tons of concrete into a huge underground ant colony in order to study the structure, and it is surreal.
You can view the entire video at Hulu. watch as the ants repel a bear attack at the 5 minute mark, and then watch these same ants overwhelm an entire bee hive to obtain honey. Watch them maintaining their own domesticated animals (including mealy bugs) at the 8 minute mark.
I learned that ants evolved from wasps about 100 million years ago. The males' only job is to mate with the queen. In some species males can be used to fertilized the queen many years after they have died. All of the workers are female. All ant species function as superorganisms. Specialization among highly coordinated ant in Argentina is discussed at the 18 minute mark. This documentary comments often on the chemical communication signals exchanged by ants (e.g., at the 37 minute mark). And check out the fungus gardens maintained by some ants (43 minute) through the use of elaborate air conditioning vents. The above excerpt regarding an ant colony excavation can be found at the 54 minute mark of the full video.
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