The Identity Ideology of Anders Breivik

The book 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence which, interestingly enough, was first made publicly available on the Internet by Kevin Slaughter, an ordained minister in Anton LaVey (1930-1997)’s Church of Satan.

Looking at his Facebook profile, one immediately notices Breivik’s strong interest in Freemasonry and his photograph in full Masonic regalia. The apron identifies him as a member of a St. John’s Lodge of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons, the “regular” Masonic obedience in Norway. The circumstance that he was indeed a member of the Søilene St. John’s Lodge in Oslo has been confirmed by the Order, which proceeded to expel Breivik only after his imprisonment.

By Massimo Introvigne

Como chegamos ao estado a que chegamos

O Pacto de Estabilidade e Crescimento (PEC) é um instrumento «estúpido» e «rígido», uma vez que não permite alterar decisões em conjunturas adversas. Quem o diz é o presidente da Comissão Europeia.
TSF

A History of College Grade Inflation

'A' is the most common grade in US Colleges: «A stunning 43% of all grades in the United States are now A's... By the end of the last decade, A’s and B’s represented 73 percent of all grades awarded at public schools, and 86 percent of all grades awarded at private schools».
NYT

The Clash of Generations

“When the cold war ended, we thought we were going to have a clash of civilizations. It turns out we’re having a clash of generations.”
Thomas Friedman, NYT

Do Low Tax Rates On Rich People Actually Ruin The Economy?

BI

Don’t blame Moody’s for a messy euro crisis

In the short run, the only way to bring the private sector into a voluntary scheme is a debt swap, to be organised by the European financial stability facility. That is currently not possible because the EFSF is not allowed to purchase bonds in secondary markets.

If the rules on the EFSF were relaxed, it could offer to buy up Greek debt at a discount, say 20 per cent, in exchange for its own AAA-rated bonds. The sellers would have to register a loss, but at least they end up with good securities. There would be no reason for the rating agencies to act.

In the long run, the only solution is a eurozone bond, which you can think of as an extended secondary-market purchase programme by the EFSF. This is why the short-term and long-term solutions are identical. Of course, it will not be called a eurozone bond. The Germans had a wonderful euphemism to describe the debt they raised to pay for unification: Sondervermögen, or “special wealth”. The EU will come up with a similarly misleading name. let us not kid ourselves however: a eurozone bond it will be.
FT

O Perigo das Leis Raciais

Eles são gêmeos idênticos, mas...segundo a UnB, um é branco e o outro é negro. A decisão da banca da Universidade de Brasília que determina quem tem direito ao privilégio da cota mostra o perigo de classificar as pessoas pela cor da pele - coisa que fizeram os nazistas e o apartheid sul-africano
Veja

Voluntary Greek debt plan ‘unrealistic’

“I think we have to accept that a voluntary contribution is unrealistic,” Mr de Jager told the Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad after a meeting on Wednesday in London with George Osborne, the British chancellor.
FT

RTP

Os contribuintes pagam a contribuição audiovisual através da factura da electricidade. E o Estado paga uma compensação às eléctricas por estas cobrarem este valor. O Governo de José Sócrates determinou um aumento de 11% desta compensação.
JN