Steven Thorpe

“As a fiction writer, she’s absurd,” says author and Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, who is arguably the most opinionated Homo sapiens since Rand herself. “But if you’re young and not particularly wanted and not particularly brilliant, reading Atlas Shrugged provides all the feelings of compensation one might need for any period of terrifying inadequacy.”

From “The Bitch is Back” – http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/200911/ayn-rand-dick-books-fountainhead?currentPage=1

Although it is said that the origins of Zwarte Piet are unknown, it seems most plausible that Zwarte Piet is a continuation of the much longer held tradition of depicting Sinterklaas in the company of a dark skinned man, thought to be the Devil. He is also depicted as the slave of Sinterklaas. This was due to the pervasive belief amongst Europeans that the Devil would resemble a Moor. The first mention of Zwarte Piet in Dutch literature refers to him as a beggar on the street, after Sinterklaas helps him, he promises to stay with Sinterklaas, and help him. It has later been argued that Zwarte Piet was of Italian or other Southern European origin however this interpretation fails to explain the predominant images of Zwarte Piet, who often is depicted in the style of the classic darky icons, contemporaneous with the spread of darky iconography.^[1]

Moreover, in recent years, in an attempt to soften the racist overtones, it is said that Zwarte Piet is black because he has to climb down the chimneys with the presents for the children. This story also falls short of explaining the Blackfaced, googly-eyed, red-lipped Zwarte Piet dolls, die cuts and displays adorning store windows at this time of year, alongside brightly packaged and displayed, holiday merchandise.^[2]

Due to the increased awareness surrounding the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands there has been recurring debate around the character of Zwarte Piet.

Continue Reading – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet

From critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC personality Charles Gasparino comes a sweeping examination of the most recent volatile, anxiety-ridden era in our nation’s socioeconomic history. The Sellout traces the implosion of the financial services business back to its roots in the late 1970s when Wall Street embraced a new business model predicated on taking enormous risks. It shows how a backwater business involving the trading of risky bonds packed with mortgages showered countless billions in profits on the financial industry but sowed the seeds of its ultimate demise. Gasparino walks readers through Wall Street’s three-decades’ love affair with risk, revealing a trail of culpability—from the government bureaucrats who crafted housing policies that encouraged homeownership, to the Wall Street firms that underwrote and invested in risky debt, to the mortgage sellers who handed out loans to people without the financial wherewithal to pay them back, to the homeowners who became convinced they could afford mansions on blue-collar wages. The ongoing tumult in financial markets and the global economy began when some of our most esteemed financial institutions, our government, and even average citizens abdicated their collective responsibilities, eventually selling out investors and selling off the American Dream itself.

In the spirit of classics such as Barbarians at the Gate and Liar’s Poker, this page-turning narrative captures how avarice, arrogance, and sheer stupidity eroded Wall Street’s dominance and profoundly weakened the financial security of millions of middle-class Americans. Eye-opening and engrossing, The Sellout provides the most thorough investigation to date of this latest gilded era.

“Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. Nothing ages like happiness.”

“Corporate bragging is sharing with others how incredibly busy you are and how very hard you work.” Carlson goes on to say that he has “yet to see a single person even slightly interested in hearing about someone else’s busyness.” – http://tinyurl.com/kvgjvm

“Summer’s almost over. It’s sad, isn’t it? Makes you want to – I don’t know – reach out and hold it back.” – Jay Gatsby