Building a Nation of Know-Nothings

Remember the moment: a woman with matted hair and a shaky voice rose to express her doubts about Barack Obama. “I have read about him,” she said, “and he’s not — he’s an Arab.”

McCain was quick to knock down the lie. “No, ma’am,” he said, “he’s a decent family man, a citizen.”

That ill-informed woman — her head stuffed with fabrications that could be disproved by a pre-schooler — now makes up a representative third or more of the Republican party. It’s not just that 46 percent of Republicans believe the lie that Obama is a Muslim, or that 27 percent in the party doubt that the president of the United States is a citizen. But fully half of them believe falsely that the big bailout of banks and insurance companies under TARP was enacted by Obama, and not by President Bush.

Read more:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/building-a-nation-of-know-nothings/?src=me&ref=general

Criterion Collection Top 10

Every month, Criterion Collection asks—a filmmaker, a programmer, a writer, an actor, an artist—to select their ten favorite movies available from the Criterion Collection and jot down their thoughts about them. The entries (from people like Steve Buscemi, Dennis Lehane, Ramin Bahrani, and Sonic Youth) are often surprising, and always entertaining.

http://www.criterion.com/explore/top10

Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness

This six part series on philosophy is presented by popular British philosopher Alain de Botton, featuring six thinkers who have influenced history, and their ideas about the pursuit of the happy life.

Watch full documentary here:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/philosophy-guide-to-happiness/

The World's Best Countries

Explore the World's Top 100 Countries

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

Secrets of the World's Best School Systems
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/16/secrets-of-the-world-s-best-school-systems.html

The World's Real Winners
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/16/the-world-s-real-winners.all.html

Terrorist Babies

Watch Anderson Cooper grill Texas Republicans on supposed "Terror Babies." Classic...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/anderson-cooper-stuns-gop_n_678650.html

And...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/13/anderson-cooper-grills-lo_n_681421.html

Fed Up Flight Attendant Makes Sliding Exit

After 20 years as a respected flight attendant, Steven Slater had learned to be calm when dealing with rude passengers.

But that was until one flyer snubbed his plea to sit down during landing and snarled: "F*** off."

Mr Slater told passengers to remain seated upon landing. But when a passenger started collecting her belongings from the overhead bin, disregarding the instructions, Mr Slater tried to stop her but was hit in the head by the baggage and became irate.

As the plane touched down, Slater went berserk and yelled through the tannoy at her: "To the motherf***** who just told me to f*** off, f*** you. I've been in this business 20 years. And that's it, I'm done."

Passengers looked on in astonishment and the first officer tried to restrain him. But Slater ripped off his tie, grabbed a beer and launched the emergency exit chute. He then slid down, calmly walked to his Jeep in the staff car park and drove home. (Awesome!!)

Passenger Phil Catelinet revealed: "He was smiling. He was happy he'done this." Another added: "He said he had a bad day and this passenger had set him off. I thought it was a crazy way to quit."

Slater, 39, is apparently highly regarded by airline bosses and is a member of the in-flight values committee. But nothing could stop him from...

Read more here:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/11/air-steward-s-amazing-tantrum-over-rude-flier-115875-22479498/

Southwest Light and other videos

Southwest Light by Tom Lowe
http://vimeo.com/10859897

Preguntas Hermosas by Superfad

http://vimeo.com/12380705

Cinnamon Chasers by Saman

http://vimeo.com/6540668