Notes 42
A reader writes on Assange interview on 60 Minutes
EH
The shoe is on the other foot. Citizens hardly have the right to use the word privacy any longer, there are camera's, phone-taps, e-mail-taps and heaven knows what and we have to explain ourselves very humbly at every turn, all under the motto "if you are not a terrorist, you have got nothing to hide" (thank you David). So if our e-mails etc. ought to be readily accessible for them, so that they can better regulate us, how much more should their e-mails be readily accessible for us.
We pay their salaries, we are their bosses, we are supposed to be responsible for everything they do because we chose them. But we cannot take responsibility for something that is not known to us. No CEO would take responsibility for a company he has no full control over, and for full control you need full insight.
_______________________________________________
Schumer on top of this latest addiction
Sun Jan 30
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two drugs that produce a "meth-like" high and are being sold under the guise of "bath salts" would be banned as federally controlled substances under a bill unveiled on Sunday by Senator Charles Schumer.
____________________________________________________
Why is Schumer so far behind on criminalizing tobacco and companies’ license to kill?
Nicotine study opens path for anti-smoking drug
AFP/File – Scientists have pinpointed a source of nicotine craving in the brain, opening up a new path towards drug …
by Marlowe Hood Marlowe Hood – Sun Jan 30
PARIS (AFP) – Scientists have pinpointed a source of nicotine craving in the brain, opening up a new path towards drug treatments to help smokers kick their habit, according to a study released Sunday.
Tobacco kills more than five million people every year and accounts for nearly one-in-10 adult deaths, 90 percent of them due to lung cancer.
__________________________________________________
No responsibility here for unequal distribution of oil revenues. We’ve got our own wealth distribution problems. But we do set the table for how the game is played. House rules.
Face of Mideast unrest: young and hungry for jobs
Brian Murphy, Associated Press – Sun Jan 30
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Just days before fleeing Tunisia, the embattled leader went on national television to promise 300,000 new jobs over two years.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak did much the same Saturday as riots gripped Cairo and other cities: offering more economic opportunities in a country where half the people live on less than $2 a day.
The pledges-under-siege have something else in common: an acknowledgment that the unprecedented anger on Arab streets is at its core a long-brewing rage against decades of economic imbalances that have rewarded the political elite and left many others on the margins.
______________________________________________
U.S money buys different rights in different countries. We are watching it all played out right in front of us these days. In some countries like Gaza, it doesn’t buy anything from Hamas. In West Bank, it buys settlements for Israel from Abbas.
Clinton meets with Haiti presidential candidates
AFP
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Bradley Klapper And Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press – 15 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation's next leader but does insist that the president's chosen successor be dropped from the race, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.
"...an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society - cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian." -Howard Zinn,
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Egypt rises/America falls in struggle to be free
Notes 41
How we got here
Death of the Liberal Class
A book
ShareThis
Chris Hedges
October 2010 ISBN: 1568586442
For decades the liberal class was a defense against the worst excesses of power. But the pillars of this class—the press, the universities, trade unions, the Democrats, and the liberal church—have collapsed as effective counterweights to the corporate state. In its absence the needs of the poor, the working class, and even the middle class no longer have a champion. The death of the liberal class has permitted the rise of a new and terrifying political configuration. In his devastating new book, Chris Hedges chronicles the gradual corruption and decline of the liberal class, which no longer provides an institutional check to mitigate corporate control of politics, education, labor, the arts, religious institutions, or financial systems. Without any impediments, the corporate state is dismantling the last vestiges of protection for ordinary citizens once put into place by the liberal class.
______________________________________________
Getting familiar with conditions outside the U.S. Sometimes it only takes the despair of one person
The Story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the man who toppled Tunisia
Article
On December 17, authorities confiscated his produce and allegedly slapped his face.
Bouazizi became incensed.
He then drenched himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside the governor’s office. Bouazizi survived his initial suicide attempt. After being transported to a hospital near Tunis, he was visited by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali before passing away on January 4.
____________________________________________
Bill Clinton embellishes the myth of American innocence in Davos with bravura performance while rich and powerful clap. “All is well with America.”
DAN PERRY Associated Press
January 27, 2011,
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) —
Clinton spoke for an hour before an adoring audience of global leaders from business, government and academia, who interrupted his words several times with applause — never more loudly than when he said Israel should seize what he described as the chance for comprehensive peace with the Arab world.
_____________________________________________________
Why not? Man in in street getting by on $2 a day while rich and powerful build mansions. Supporting evil empires favorable to U.S oil interests
Hillary Clinton says U.S. not pushing for ouster of Egyptian President Mubarak
Clinton spoke warmly of the Egyptian military as a "respected institution" and advised it to help move the country from its current unrest to an "orderly transition."
"We are urging the Mubarak government, which is still in power; we are urging the military, which is a very respected institution, to do what is necessary to facilitate that kind of orderly transition."
She spoke to NBC's "Meet the Press," "Fox News Sunday," ABC's "This Week," CBS' "Face the Nation," and CNN's "State of the Union."
_____________________________________________
How modest and worthy and patient the goals after only 30 years of U.S support. If Mubaraks slow to transition, U.S. even slower. Why were we in such a rush in Iraq and in Afghanistan?
Clinton: Egypt must transition to democracy
WASHINGTON – The U.S. expects that the protests in Egypt will lead to free and fair elections as part of an "orderly" transition to "real democracy," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday as the Obama administration worked to get a handle on the fast-moving upheaval shaking the American ally.
__________________________________________________
What are our Marines doing in Helmand Province? Protecting the homeland or protecting our national interests. When we cut through myths, the world will change.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2011
Reporting from Camp Pendleton — Marines tell of snipers who fire from "murder holes" cut into mud-walled compounds. Fighters who lie in wait in trenches dug around rough farmhouses clustered together for protection. Farmers who seem to tip the Taliban to the outsiders' every movement , often with signals that sound like birdcalls.
When the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, deployed to the Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province in late September, the British soldiers who had preceded them warned the Americans that the Taliban would be waiting nearly everywhere for a chance to kill them.
But the Marines, ordered to be more aggressive than the British had been, quickly learned that the Taliban wasn't simply waiting.
______________________________________________________
Al Jazeera journalist welcomed to Round Table on Meet the Press 1/30/11. How quickly the enemy can become a legitimate spokesperson
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's decision on Sunday to close the offices of Al Jazeera illustrates the leading role the Arabic broadcaster has taken in reporting unprecedented popular revolts against Arab rulers.
Egypt has often harassed the Qatar-based channel since it started in 1996, setting off a revolution in Arab media in the face of state-controlled information, but it had never before tried to shut down its operations completely.
Al Jazeera, 1/29/11
Mohamed ElBaradei joins protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
ElBaradei, the former IAEA chief, is one of the best known Egyptians internationally 2/24/10 [EPA]
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has received a hero's welcome upon his return to Egypt.
ElBaradei, who arrived in Cairo on Friday, is seen as a potential presidential candidate and has repeatedly called for democratic change in Egypt since stepping down from his UN post.
One local opposition newspaper had printed flight details for his arrival under the headline "Baradei Returns" to rally people to meet him at the airport.
________________________________________________________
The Bottomless PIT. The Public was anxious to put GM out of business for lesser incompetence. Where are they now?
Military notes: More glitches again delay F-35 plan
Travis Griggs • tgriggs@pnj.com • January 30, 2011
F-35 hits keep coming
The Pentagon this month announced a slew of new problems that were discovered during testing of the next-generation F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, which already is over budget and behind schedule.
Each of these problems stands to create additional flight testing delays for the jet, which was supposed to be delivered to Eglin Air Force Base in March 2010.
The new report said flight testing could now be completed by 2016 at the earliest, barring any further problems or delays.
____________________________________________________
Toys last on list this sun day
What a couple married 66 years can tell us about Super Bowl Sunday
By T.J. Simers
From sports — otherwise known as the newspaper's 'toy' department — comes a story about a jewel of a couple, Placentia's Paul & Maxine McGhehey.
"Sometimes we think if we didn't have doctor appointments, we'd have no social life," says Maxine.
"It's not good to sit around all day in your pajamas," says Paul.
How we got here
Death of the Liberal Class
A book
ShareThis
Chris Hedges
October 2010 ISBN: 1568586442
For decades the liberal class was a defense against the worst excesses of power. But the pillars of this class—the press, the universities, trade unions, the Democrats, and the liberal church—have collapsed as effective counterweights to the corporate state. In its absence the needs of the poor, the working class, and even the middle class no longer have a champion. The death of the liberal class has permitted the rise of a new and terrifying political configuration. In his devastating new book, Chris Hedges chronicles the gradual corruption and decline of the liberal class, which no longer provides an institutional check to mitigate corporate control of politics, education, labor, the arts, religious institutions, or financial systems. Without any impediments, the corporate state is dismantling the last vestiges of protection for ordinary citizens once put into place by the liberal class.
______________________________________________
Getting familiar with conditions outside the U.S. Sometimes it only takes the despair of one person
The Story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the man who toppled Tunisia
Article
On December 17, authorities confiscated his produce and allegedly slapped his face.
Bouazizi became incensed.
He then drenched himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside the governor’s office. Bouazizi survived his initial suicide attempt. After being transported to a hospital near Tunis, he was visited by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali before passing away on January 4.
____________________________________________
Bill Clinton embellishes the myth of American innocence in Davos with bravura performance while rich and powerful clap. “All is well with America.”
DAN PERRY Associated Press
January 27, 2011,
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) —
Clinton spoke for an hour before an adoring audience of global leaders from business, government and academia, who interrupted his words several times with applause — never more loudly than when he said Israel should seize what he described as the chance for comprehensive peace with the Arab world.
_____________________________________________________
Why not? Man in in street getting by on $2 a day while rich and powerful build mansions. Supporting evil empires favorable to U.S oil interests
Hillary Clinton says U.S. not pushing for ouster of Egyptian President Mubarak
Clinton spoke warmly of the Egyptian military as a "respected institution" and advised it to help move the country from its current unrest to an "orderly transition."
"We are urging the Mubarak government, which is still in power; we are urging the military, which is a very respected institution, to do what is necessary to facilitate that kind of orderly transition."
She spoke to NBC's "Meet the Press," "Fox News Sunday," ABC's "This Week," CBS' "Face the Nation," and CNN's "State of the Union."
_____________________________________________
How modest and worthy and patient the goals after only 30 years of U.S support. If Mubaraks slow to transition, U.S. even slower. Why were we in such a rush in Iraq and in Afghanistan?
Clinton: Egypt must transition to democracy
WASHINGTON – The U.S. expects that the protests in Egypt will lead to free and fair elections as part of an "orderly" transition to "real democracy," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday as the Obama administration worked to get a handle on the fast-moving upheaval shaking the American ally.
__________________________________________________
What are our Marines doing in Helmand Province? Protecting the homeland or protecting our national interests. When we cut through myths, the world will change.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2011
Reporting from Camp Pendleton — Marines tell of snipers who fire from "murder holes" cut into mud-walled compounds. Fighters who lie in wait in trenches dug around rough farmhouses clustered together for protection. Farmers who seem to tip the Taliban to the outsiders' every movement , often with signals that sound like birdcalls.
When the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, deployed to the Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province in late September, the British soldiers who had preceded them warned the Americans that the Taliban would be waiting nearly everywhere for a chance to kill them.
But the Marines, ordered to be more aggressive than the British had been, quickly learned that the Taliban wasn't simply waiting.
______________________________________________________
Al Jazeera journalist welcomed to Round Table on Meet the Press 1/30/11. How quickly the enemy can become a legitimate spokesperson
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's decision on Sunday to close the offices of Al Jazeera illustrates the leading role the Arabic broadcaster has taken in reporting unprecedented popular revolts against Arab rulers.
Egypt has often harassed the Qatar-based channel since it started in 1996, setting off a revolution in Arab media in the face of state-controlled information, but it had never before tried to shut down its operations completely.
Al Jazeera, 1/29/11
Mohamed ElBaradei joins protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
ElBaradei, the former IAEA chief, is one of the best known Egyptians internationally 2/24/10 [EPA]
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has received a hero's welcome upon his return to Egypt.
ElBaradei, who arrived in Cairo on Friday, is seen as a potential presidential candidate and has repeatedly called for democratic change in Egypt since stepping down from his UN post.
One local opposition newspaper had printed flight details for his arrival under the headline "Baradei Returns" to rally people to meet him at the airport.
________________________________________________________
The Bottomless PIT. The Public was anxious to put GM out of business for lesser incompetence. Where are they now?
Military notes: More glitches again delay F-35 plan
Travis Griggs • tgriggs@pnj.com • January 30, 2011
F-35 hits keep coming
The Pentagon this month announced a slew of new problems that were discovered during testing of the next-generation F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, which already is over budget and behind schedule.
Each of these problems stands to create additional flight testing delays for the jet, which was supposed to be delivered to Eglin Air Force Base in March 2010.
The new report said flight testing could now be completed by 2016 at the earliest, barring any further problems or delays.
____________________________________________________
Toys last on list this sun day
What a couple married 66 years can tell us about Super Bowl Sunday
By T.J. Simers
From sports — otherwise known as the newspaper's 'toy' department — comes a story about a jewel of a couple, Placentia's Paul & Maxine McGhehey.
"Sometimes we think if we didn't have doctor appointments, we'd have no social life," says Maxine.
"It's not good to sit around all day in your pajamas," says Paul.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The indispensable internet--no turning back
Notes 40
Governments stuck with internet
Net-less Egypt may face economic doom Monday
By Wilson Rothman
Egypt's government must return Internet access to the country by Monday or perhaps suffer massive economic damage, as banks and other economic institutions return to work without the ability to conduct commerce.
"If you go beyond the weekend, real damage is done to capital flow and banking," Neil Hicks, international policy analyst for Human Rights First told msnbc.com, citing a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Egypt is part of the world's financial infrastructure, he said. "That's probably why most governments don't do this — it hurts the state and hurts the economy."
_______________________________________________
It’s people power, stupid
Jon Stewart questions Egypt's 'Twitter revolution'
By Helen A.S. Popkin
"If two speeches and a social media site is all we needed to spread democracy then why did we invade Iraq, why didn’t we just, I don’t know, poke them," Jon Stewart quipped on last night's "Daily Show."
It's funny, and also a valid dig at U.S. citizens whose social activism ends at joining a Facebook page or retweeting #Twitterrevolution. Revolutions are brought about by the people on the ground who can‘t put up with it anymore.
_________________________________________________
Palestinian losers in this manage a trois
Dozens of Israelis flee Egypt on emergency flight
By Press Daniel Estrin, Associated Press –
JERUSALEM (AP) — Officials speaking anonymously expressed concern violence could threaten ties with Egypt and spread to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday called Mubarak, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Abbas told the Egyptian leader that he is eager to see Egypt stable and secure, the agency said.
______________________________________________
Putting things in perspective. A reader writes
Egyptians know better than to look to the US for support. In the midst of the Iran uprising, Michael Jackson died and the entire nation forgot Iran and mooned over a tapdancing pedophile. The Super Bowl is in a few days so Egypt will be forgotten too.
_______________________________________________
The answer is not gutting social services. It is raising taxes. We CAN pay our bills if government stops issuing credit vouchers to banks and businesses and the super wealthy. Free lunches are over.
New York City may have to lay off 15,000 teachers: mayor
Reuters – Fri Jan 28,
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City might have to lay off 15,000 teachers if the state, grappling with a $10 billion deficit, cuts the city's education budget by $1 billion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday.
_______________________________________________
Seems like small change after international violations of torture, killing of non combatants, aggressive war etc. What happenes when laws are followed selectively.
Pakistan rebuffs call for US gunman's quick release
by Nasir Jaffry –
ISLAMABAD (AFP)
"When detained, the US diplomat identified himself to police as a diplomat and repeatedly requested immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the American Embassy said.
"Local police and senior authorities failed to observe their legal obligation to verify his status with either the US consulate general in Lahore or the US embassy in Islamabad.
"Furthermore, the diplomat was formally arrested and remanded into custody, which is a violation of international norms and the Vienna Convention, to which Pakistan is a signatory."
Governments stuck with internet
Net-less Egypt may face economic doom Monday
By Wilson Rothman
Egypt's government must return Internet access to the country by Monday or perhaps suffer massive economic damage, as banks and other economic institutions return to work without the ability to conduct commerce.
"If you go beyond the weekend, real damage is done to capital flow and banking," Neil Hicks, international policy analyst for Human Rights First told msnbc.com, citing a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Egypt is part of the world's financial infrastructure, he said. "That's probably why most governments don't do this — it hurts the state and hurts the economy."
_______________________________________________
It’s people power, stupid
Jon Stewart questions Egypt's 'Twitter revolution'
By Helen A.S. Popkin
"If two speeches and a social media site is all we needed to spread democracy then why did we invade Iraq, why didn’t we just, I don’t know, poke them," Jon Stewart quipped on last night's "Daily Show."
It's funny, and also a valid dig at U.S. citizens whose social activism ends at joining a Facebook page or retweeting #Twitterrevolution. Revolutions are brought about by the people on the ground who can‘t put up with it anymore.
_________________________________________________
Palestinian losers in this manage a trois
Dozens of Israelis flee Egypt on emergency flight
By Press Daniel Estrin, Associated Press –
JERUSALEM (AP) — Officials speaking anonymously expressed concern violence could threaten ties with Egypt and spread to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday called Mubarak, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Abbas told the Egyptian leader that he is eager to see Egypt stable and secure, the agency said.
______________________________________________
Putting things in perspective. A reader writes
Egyptians know better than to look to the US for support. In the midst of the Iran uprising, Michael Jackson died and the entire nation forgot Iran and mooned over a tapdancing pedophile. The Super Bowl is in a few days so Egypt will be forgotten too.
_______________________________________________
The answer is not gutting social services. It is raising taxes. We CAN pay our bills if government stops issuing credit vouchers to banks and businesses and the super wealthy. Free lunches are over.
New York City may have to lay off 15,000 teachers: mayor
Reuters – Fri Jan 28,
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City might have to lay off 15,000 teachers if the state, grappling with a $10 billion deficit, cuts the city's education budget by $1 billion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday.
_______________________________________________
Seems like small change after international violations of torture, killing of non combatants, aggressive war etc. What happenes when laws are followed selectively.
Pakistan rebuffs call for US gunman's quick release
by Nasir Jaffry –
ISLAMABAD (AFP)
"When detained, the US diplomat identified himself to police as a diplomat and repeatedly requested immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the American Embassy said.
"Local police and senior authorities failed to observe their legal obligation to verify his status with either the US consulate general in Lahore or the US embassy in Islamabad.
"Furthermore, the diplomat was formally arrested and remanded into custody, which is a violation of international norms and the Vienna Convention, to which Pakistan is a signatory."
Friday, January 28, 2011
Notes 39
A speech that could have been delivered by Obama--but not speeches that change things
Unrest in Egypt
January 28th, 2011
President Hosni Mubarak said he is "on the side of the people" and vowed to take steps to guarantee the rights and freedom of Egyptians, develop job opportunities and to "stand by the poor."
_________________________________________________
The unholy alliance. Israel gets twice as much foreign aid from D.C. Where were the threats when Israel was attacking Gaza using tactics the U.N. called war crimes?
Obama to Mubarak: Don't use force on your people
Calls on Egyptian leader to fulfill promises; U.S. to review $1.5 billion in aid
WASHINGTON — Increasing the pressure on Egypt's leaders, President Barack Obama said Friday that the government should refrain from using violence against protesters and his administration threatened to reduce foreign aid depending on President Hosni Mubarak's response.
Threat To Cut U.S. Aid Opens Rift With Egypt
By Nathan Guttman
Published January 09, 2008, issue of January 11, 2008.
Pro-Israel advocates in Washington refrained from contesting a congressional decision last month to withhold part of American military aid to Egypt, in what appears to be a departure from a 30-year-old unwritten understanding that Israel would help Cairo fight off any efforts to cut American assistance to Egypt.
The lack of support for Cairo among Israel’s allies in Washington so rankled the Egyptians that Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit accused the pro-Israel lobby last month of trying to “harm Egypt’s interests with the Congress,” and has prompted talk of a deepening crisis in Egypt’s relations with Israel and the United States.
__________________________________________
All we gotta do to bring Israel finally in line is cut off aid and support to it but we use them to keep the region in turmoil
Press Dan Perry, Associated Press –
DAVOS, Switzerland – A diverse panel of decision-makers and experts from the United States, Europe and the Middle East found common ground on just one thing when it comes to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program Friday: A military strike could well spark a devastating counterattack.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal urged the United States to pressure Israel to quit its own reported nuclear weapons as a way of coaxing Iran to drop its suspected weapons program as well.
___________________________________________________
A speech that could have been delivered by Obama--but not speeches that change things
Unrest in Egypt
January 28th, 2011
President Hosni Mubarak said he is "on the side of the people" and vowed to take steps to guarantee the rights and freedom of Egyptians, develop job opportunities and to "stand by the poor."
_________________________________________________
The unholy alliance. Israel gets twice as much foreign aid from D.C. Where were the threats when Israel was attacking Gaza using tactics the U.N. called war crimes?
Obama to Mubarak: Don't use force on your people
Calls on Egyptian leader to fulfill promises; U.S. to review $1.5 billion in aid
WASHINGTON — Increasing the pressure on Egypt's leaders, President Barack Obama said Friday that the government should refrain from using violence against protesters and his administration threatened to reduce foreign aid depending on President Hosni Mubarak's response.
Threat To Cut U.S. Aid Opens Rift With Egypt
By Nathan Guttman
Published January 09, 2008, issue of January 11, 2008.
Pro-Israel advocates in Washington refrained from contesting a congressional decision last month to withhold part of American military aid to Egypt, in what appears to be a departure from a 30-year-old unwritten understanding that Israel would help Cairo fight off any efforts to cut American assistance to Egypt.
The lack of support for Cairo among Israel’s allies in Washington so rankled the Egyptians that Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit accused the pro-Israel lobby last month of trying to “harm Egypt’s interests with the Congress,” and has prompted talk of a deepening crisis in Egypt’s relations with Israel and the United States.
__________________________________________
All we gotta do to bring Israel finally in line is cut off aid and support to it but we use them to keep the region in turmoil
Press Dan Perry, Associated Press –
DAVOS, Switzerland – A diverse panel of decision-makers and experts from the United States, Europe and the Middle East found common ground on just one thing when it comes to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program Friday: A military strike could well spark a devastating counterattack.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal urged the United States to pressure Israel to quit its own reported nuclear weapons as a way of coaxing Iran to drop its suspected weapons program as well.
___________________________________________________
Mubarak and the unholy alliance
Notes 39
Lucky this nation was founded in 1787 and not now. Nothing more clear about America. If you’re born here, you ARE a citizen, No taking that back or anywhere else
Arizona legislation targets automatic citizenship
Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press – Fri Jan 28
PHOENIX – Lawmakers in Arizona are proposing a bill that challenges automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, their latest foray into the national debate over illegal immigration.
____________________________________________________
What money buys.… Favor at highest levels in D.C for unsavory governments
Key White House ally lobbies on behalf of Egyptian regime
Revolution is brimming in Egypt, but the embattled government can count on a slew of high-powered K Street lobbyists to whom the Arab nation is paying $1.7 million a year.
Egypt’s heavy-hitters include Tony Podesta, who has visited the White House at least 12 times, and Bob Livingston, the Republican former chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
A group of four firms coordinate their work for Egypt under the banner of the PLM group.
______________________________________________________
Yea for this tea bagger Now if there were only 59 ore Senators with the courage to stand up to Israel
GOP senator favors cutting US aid to Israel
By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Donna Cassata, Associated Press – 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Tea party-backed Republican Sen. Rand Paul favors cutting U.S. aid to Israel as part of a deficit-driven effort to slash government spending by $500 billion this year, drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans who argue the U.S. must be unwavering in its support for the longtime Mideast ally.
_________________________________________________
All we gotta do to bring Israel finally in line is cut off aid and support to it but we use them to keep the region in turmoil
Press Dan Perry, Associated Press –
DAVOS, Switzerland – A diverse panel of decision-makers and experts from the United States, Europe and the Middle East found common ground on just one thing when it comes to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program Friday: A military strike could well spark a devastating counterattack.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal urged the United States to pressure Israel to quit its own reported nuclear weapons as a way of coaxing Iran to drop its suspected weapons program as well.
_________________________________________________
Bachman/Palin can spoil a lot of ambitious dreams if nothing else. The Fr Couglins of the new generation
Politico: Congressional Republicans fear ‘punishment’ from Michele Bachmann
Joe Scarborough’s view of this – if you’re afraid of a petite 54-year-old congresswoman from Minnesota, you don’t belong in the Washington, D.C. power structure.
“Hey listen, if you’re a Republican congressman and you’re afraid of Michele Bachmann, you don’t deserve to be in Congress,” Scarborough said. “Go home.”
___________________________________________________
If that was the only problem Jerry Jones had with his Cowboys
Dallas strip clubs worried about stripper shortage for Super Bowl weekend
Caroline May - The Daily Caller
A 9.4 percent unemployment rate? Pish posh! In Dallas-Fort Worth exotic club managers across the city are desperately seeking strippers for Super Bowl weekend.
These adult clubs currently are estimated to be experiencing a total shortage of 10,000 exotic dancers as they attempt to meet a tourist to stripper ratio of 30:1.
Lucky this nation was founded in 1787 and not now. Nothing more clear about America. If you’re born here, you ARE a citizen, No taking that back or anywhere else
Arizona legislation targets automatic citizenship
Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press – Fri Jan 28
PHOENIX – Lawmakers in Arizona are proposing a bill that challenges automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, their latest foray into the national debate over illegal immigration.
____________________________________________________
What money buys.… Favor at highest levels in D.C for unsavory governments
Key White House ally lobbies on behalf of Egyptian regime
Revolution is brimming in Egypt, but the embattled government can count on a slew of high-powered K Street lobbyists to whom the Arab nation is paying $1.7 million a year.
Egypt’s heavy-hitters include Tony Podesta, who has visited the White House at least 12 times, and Bob Livingston, the Republican former chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
A group of four firms coordinate their work for Egypt under the banner of the PLM group.
______________________________________________________
Yea for this tea bagger Now if there were only 59 ore Senators with the courage to stand up to Israel
GOP senator favors cutting US aid to Israel
By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Donna Cassata, Associated Press – 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Tea party-backed Republican Sen. Rand Paul favors cutting U.S. aid to Israel as part of a deficit-driven effort to slash government spending by $500 billion this year, drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans who argue the U.S. must be unwavering in its support for the longtime Mideast ally.
_________________________________________________
All we gotta do to bring Israel finally in line is cut off aid and support to it but we use them to keep the region in turmoil
Press Dan Perry, Associated Press –
DAVOS, Switzerland – A diverse panel of decision-makers and experts from the United States, Europe and the Middle East found common ground on just one thing when it comes to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program Friday: A military strike could well spark a devastating counterattack.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal urged the United States to pressure Israel to quit its own reported nuclear weapons as a way of coaxing Iran to drop its suspected weapons program as well.
_________________________________________________
Bachman/Palin can spoil a lot of ambitious dreams if nothing else. The Fr Couglins of the new generation
Politico: Congressional Republicans fear ‘punishment’ from Michele Bachmann
Joe Scarborough’s view of this – if you’re afraid of a petite 54-year-old congresswoman from Minnesota, you don’t belong in the Washington, D.C. power structure.
“Hey listen, if you’re a Republican congressman and you’re afraid of Michele Bachmann, you don’t deserve to be in Congress,” Scarborough said. “Go home.”
___________________________________________________
If that was the only problem Jerry Jones had with his Cowboys
Dallas strip clubs worried about stripper shortage for Super Bowl weekend
Caroline May - The Daily Caller
A 9.4 percent unemployment rate? Pish posh! In Dallas-Fort Worth exotic club managers across the city are desperately seeking strippers for Super Bowl weekend.
These adult clubs currently are estimated to be experiencing a total shortage of 10,000 exotic dancers as they attempt to meet a tourist to stripper ratio of 30:1.
Rip van Winkle awakens--Middle East connected by Facebook
Rip van Winkle awakens
Clinton: Egypt must respect citizen rights, reform
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press – WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday appealed for Egyptian authorities to respect the rights of their citizens amid a crackdown on swelling anti-government protests, and urged them to heed demands for political and economic reform.
_________________________________________________
Clinton: Egypt must respect citizen rights, reform
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press – WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday appealed for Egyptian authorities to respect the rights of their citizens amid a crackdown on swelling anti-government protests, and urged them to heed demands for political and economic reform.
_________________________________________________
LOW Finance, deadly gas and dissidents
Notes 38
The cost of doing business and the convenience of slicing up the pie in one place
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The New York Times
What's the price tag to be a Davos Man
Chief executives, government leaders and academics around the world are headed to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this week
Just to have the opportunity to be invited to Davos, you must be invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss nonprofit that was founded by Klaus Schwab, a German-born academic who managed to build a global conference in the snow.
If you want to take an entourage, say, five people, you're talking about the "Strategic Partner" level. The price tag: $527,000. (That's the annual membership entitling you to as many as five invitations. Each invitation is still $19,000 each.
__________________________________________________
The Davos safety net, the things that Davos connections make possible
Panel finds financial crisis was avoidable…
By AP Business Writers Marcy Gordon And Daniel Wagner
WASHINGTON
The government-appointed panel investigating the roots of the financial crisis says the meltdown occurred because government officials and Wall Street executives ignored warning signs and failed to manage risks.
"A combination of excessive borrowing, risky investments and lack of transparency put the financial system on a collision course with crisis," the report said.
The commission criticized the view held by some regulators that markets are "self-correcting" and banks can police themselves. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan pushed this hands-off approach for decades, at the urging of the financial industry, the report said
It also criticized bankers who got rich by creating trillions of dollars in risky investments.
The Bush and Clinton administrations, the current and previous Federal Reserve chairmen, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner all bear some responsibility for allowing the crisis to happen, the panel said
____________________________________________________
Poor American or Poor Asians. Poor is relative. Seems like there are always bloodsuckers willing to feed on the poor
Lies, Hype and Profit: The Truth About Microfinance
contributors@theatlantic.com (Kentaro Toyama), On Friday January 28, 2011,
The story of microfinance began in Bangladesh, where economist Muhammad Yunus discovered that a stool-maker from a poor village was effectively enslaved because she did not have the 22 cents that would let her to bypass usurious middlemen. Yunus made an interest-free $27 loan to her and other villagers the next day.
And so, microcredit was born. Worldwide there are now over 600 million microcredit clients with combined loans of over $100 billion outstanding. The United Nations declared 2005 to be the Year of Microcredit, and in 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Five years later, microcredit has descended into controversy. Critics question whether it is truly helping the poor or driving them further into poverty with one of the things it was intended to replace -- unfair and exorbitant lending rates. Bangladesh has launched an investigation of Yunus' Grameen Bank. A scourge of suicides by over-indebted borrowers forced the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to crack down on loans. Even Yunus himself took to the New York Times to blast "megaprofits" made by some microcredit banks
_____________________________________________________
Maybe Pvt Manning should have been arrested in Cuba
Cuban dissident released after brief detention
AP – Thu Jan 27
HAVANA - Cuban authorities have released a well-known dissident after detaining him briefly as he and other opposition figures tried to block the eviction of a woman from a home in the central city of Santa Clara.
_________________________________________________
One ml of gas deadly enough to lock down base. We don’t need to worry about WMD being ripped off abroad. We’ve got adequate supplies ofWMD is scattered around the U.S. enough to kill us all.
US base locked down over missing nerve agent
LOS ANGELES (AFP)
The Dugway Proving Ground in Utah was sealed Wednesday after a routine inventory check on sensitive materials found that a vial with less than 1 milliliter -- a quarter of a teaspoon -- of the VX nerve agent was missing.
The facility carries out tests to protect troops against biological attacks, such as those the United States feared could be used by Saddam Hussein's forces when it invaded Iraq in 2003
US authorities have long been concerned about preventing chemical, biological or nuclear materials getting into the hands of extremists who could use them to attack the United States.
The cost of doing business and the convenience of slicing up the pie in one place
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The New York Times
What's the price tag to be a Davos Man
Chief executives, government leaders and academics around the world are headed to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this week
Just to have the opportunity to be invited to Davos, you must be invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss nonprofit that was founded by Klaus Schwab, a German-born academic who managed to build a global conference in the snow.
If you want to take an entourage, say, five people, you're talking about the "Strategic Partner" level. The price tag: $527,000. (That's the annual membership entitling you to as many as five invitations. Each invitation is still $19,000 each.
__________________________________________________
The Davos safety net, the things that Davos connections make possible
Panel finds financial crisis was avoidable…
By AP Business Writers Marcy Gordon And Daniel Wagner
WASHINGTON
The government-appointed panel investigating the roots of the financial crisis says the meltdown occurred because government officials and Wall Street executives ignored warning signs and failed to manage risks.
"A combination of excessive borrowing, risky investments and lack of transparency put the financial system on a collision course with crisis," the report said.
The commission criticized the view held by some regulators that markets are "self-correcting" and banks can police themselves. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan pushed this hands-off approach for decades, at the urging of the financial industry, the report said
It also criticized bankers who got rich by creating trillions of dollars in risky investments.
The Bush and Clinton administrations, the current and previous Federal Reserve chairmen, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner all bear some responsibility for allowing the crisis to happen, the panel said
____________________________________________________
Poor American or Poor Asians. Poor is relative. Seems like there are always bloodsuckers willing to feed on the poor
Lies, Hype and Profit: The Truth About Microfinance
contributors@theatlantic.com (Kentaro Toyama), On Friday January 28, 2011,
The story of microfinance began in Bangladesh, where economist Muhammad Yunus discovered that a stool-maker from a poor village was effectively enslaved because she did not have the 22 cents that would let her to bypass usurious middlemen. Yunus made an interest-free $27 loan to her and other villagers the next day.
And so, microcredit was born. Worldwide there are now over 600 million microcredit clients with combined loans of over $100 billion outstanding. The United Nations declared 2005 to be the Year of Microcredit, and in 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Five years later, microcredit has descended into controversy. Critics question whether it is truly helping the poor or driving them further into poverty with one of the things it was intended to replace -- unfair and exorbitant lending rates. Bangladesh has launched an investigation of Yunus' Grameen Bank. A scourge of suicides by over-indebted borrowers forced the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to crack down on loans. Even Yunus himself took to the New York Times to blast "megaprofits" made by some microcredit banks
_____________________________________________________
Maybe Pvt Manning should have been arrested in Cuba
Cuban dissident released after brief detention
AP – Thu Jan 27
HAVANA - Cuban authorities have released a well-known dissident after detaining him briefly as he and other opposition figures tried to block the eviction of a woman from a home in the central city of Santa Clara.
_________________________________________________
One ml of gas deadly enough to lock down base. We don’t need to worry about WMD being ripped off abroad. We’ve got adequate supplies ofWMD is scattered around the U.S. enough to kill us all.
US base locked down over missing nerve agent
LOS ANGELES (AFP)
The Dugway Proving Ground in Utah was sealed Wednesday after a routine inventory check on sensitive materials found that a vial with less than 1 milliliter -- a quarter of a teaspoon -- of the VX nerve agent was missing.
The facility carries out tests to protect troops against biological attacks, such as those the United States feared could be used by Saddam Hussein's forces when it invaded Iraq in 2003
US authorities have long been concerned about preventing chemical, biological or nuclear materials getting into the hands of extremists who could use them to attack the United States.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Quaint social contract. Who are the winners and how do they collect their prize
Notes 37
THIS IS THE QUESTION
Maya Schenwar | Winning the Future for Whom?
Maya Schenwar, Truthout: "In the context of the State of the Union, and of Washingtonspeak on the whole, what does 'democracy' mean? This brand of 'democracy' certainly does not include the voices of the poor - the people who are disenfranchised due to their lack of access to basic necessities, the people who, more than anyone, need their government to care. This spectacle of contention and frustration and mess is ultimately a battle between a narrow sliver of very similar perspectives.... Does 'working together,' then, connote simply uniting the voices and interests of 'moderate' Republicans and 'centrist' Democrats, in Congress and in corporate America? A real democracy represents Gary, Indiana as boldly as it represents Washington, DC."
_________________________________________________________
FINALLY
Financial Crisis Panel Urges Prosecutions of Industry Figures
Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers: "The congressional panel examining the root causes of the nation's financial crisis voted to refer to state and federal prosecutors a wide range of potential criminal wrongdoing by financial industry figures and corporations, people involved in the deliberations said Tuesday
___________________________________________________________
Well, duh….
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated parliament on Wednesday, ending weeks of political infighting, but took a dig at the West saying "foreign interference" had been a serious problem.
The latest showdown has renewed concern about the president's credibility as an ally.
_________________________________________________________
Typical of tea baggers. They want to takes us back to things that never were
GOP invokes 1700s doctrine in health care fight
John Miller, Associated Press –
BOISE, Idaho – Republican lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are reaching into the dusty annals of American history to fight President Obama's health care overhaul.
They are introducing measures that hinge on "nullification," Thomas Jefferson's late 18th-century concept that purported to give states the ultimate say in constitutional matters.
The efforts are completely unconstitutional in the eyes of most legal scholars because the U.S. Constitution deems federal laws "the supreme law of the land." The Idaho attorney general has weighed in as well, branding nullification unconstitutional
"There's nothing in the Constitution to suggest that the states are superior to the federal government," said David Gray Adler, a constitutional scholar who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research. "We have a long string of Supreme Court decisions that reject their theory."
_____________________________________________________
What money can or tries to buy wherever it is spread around…. The option to call the shots in contact sports, including politics, especially politics
Top UConn donor wants his money (and his name) back over Huskies' new coach
By Matt Hinton
Robert G. Burton, CEO of Greenwich, Conn.-based Burton Capital Management,
reportedly didn't support the Pasqualoni hire, despite – or perhaps as a result of – having another son who played for Pasqualoni during the height of his success at Syracuse from 1997-2001 (aka "the Donovan McNabb Years"). Subsequently, he's threatened not only to revoke his donation, but also to give up his $50,000-per-year luxury suite ("You already have many other empty boxes at Rentschler. My box will just join the list."), cut off an annual $20,000 donation for summer coaching clinics, transfer all remaining scholarship dollars from football to the business school, and begin training "front line managers" for his company at Syracuse's business school instead.
At least Burton didn't threaten to drop a bomb on Hathaway's office, although the end result if he follows through may not be all that different.
_____________________________________________________
Finding a public servant who would attest to their name without reservation would be a miracle
Pope calls Joan of Arc model for public officials
AP – Wed Jan 26, VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI says public officials today would do well to model themselves on Joan of Arc, the French saint who was tried for heresy and burned at the stake for her convictions.
______________________________________________________
Our coalition of corrupt dictators and allies is falling apart
Egypt: Mubarak Faces Historic Challenge
Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service – Wed, Jan 26
CAIRO, Jan 26 (IPS) - Egyptians have demonstrated in protests rare in size and ferocity against the three-decade rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Down, Down with Mubarak," thousands chanted in downtown Cairo Tuesday. "Mubarak, it is your turn after Ben Ali," they said referring to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was topped Jan. 14 in protests in neighbouring Tunisia.
_______________________________________________________
Bank still borrowing money from Uncle Sugar for nothing to make profit on loans to others.
By Glenn Somerville and Maria Aspan – Wed Jan 26
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters)
Citigroup has spent the past year recovering from the massive losses that forced it into the government's arms during the financial crisis. The Treasury's successful auction of the warrants comes about a month after it sold off the last of its common shares in Citigroup, and a week after the bank reported its first full-year profit since 2007.
"With a full year of profitability behind us, we have built a strong foundation for sustainable and responsible growth," Citigroup spokesman Jon Diat said in a press release.
__________________________________________________________
This Modern World: Knowing and Not Knowing
Wednesday 26 January 2011
by: Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World | Political Cartoon
http://www.truth-out.org/this-modern-world-knowing-and-not-knowing67172
THIS IS THE QUESTION
Maya Schenwar | Winning the Future for Whom?
Maya Schenwar, Truthout: "In the context of the State of the Union, and of Washingtonspeak on the whole, what does 'democracy' mean? This brand of 'democracy' certainly does not include the voices of the poor - the people who are disenfranchised due to their lack of access to basic necessities, the people who, more than anyone, need their government to care. This spectacle of contention and frustration and mess is ultimately a battle between a narrow sliver of very similar perspectives.... Does 'working together,' then, connote simply uniting the voices and interests of 'moderate' Republicans and 'centrist' Democrats, in Congress and in corporate America? A real democracy represents Gary, Indiana as boldly as it represents Washington, DC."
_________________________________________________________
FINALLY
Financial Crisis Panel Urges Prosecutions of Industry Figures
Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers: "The congressional panel examining the root causes of the nation's financial crisis voted to refer to state and federal prosecutors a wide range of potential criminal wrongdoing by financial industry figures and corporations, people involved in the deliberations said Tuesday
___________________________________________________________
Well, duh….
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated parliament on Wednesday, ending weeks of political infighting, but took a dig at the West saying "foreign interference" had been a serious problem.
The latest showdown has renewed concern about the president's credibility as an ally.
_________________________________________________________
Typical of tea baggers. They want to takes us back to things that never were
GOP invokes 1700s doctrine in health care fight
John Miller, Associated Press –
BOISE, Idaho – Republican lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are reaching into the dusty annals of American history to fight President Obama's health care overhaul.
They are introducing measures that hinge on "nullification," Thomas Jefferson's late 18th-century concept that purported to give states the ultimate say in constitutional matters.
The efforts are completely unconstitutional in the eyes of most legal scholars because the U.S. Constitution deems federal laws "the supreme law of the land." The Idaho attorney general has weighed in as well, branding nullification unconstitutional
"There's nothing in the Constitution to suggest that the states are superior to the federal government," said David Gray Adler, a constitutional scholar who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research. "We have a long string of Supreme Court decisions that reject their theory."
_____________________________________________________
What money can or tries to buy wherever it is spread around…. The option to call the shots in contact sports, including politics, especially politics
Top UConn donor wants his money (and his name) back over Huskies' new coach
By Matt Hinton
Robert G. Burton, CEO of Greenwich, Conn.-based Burton Capital Management,
reportedly didn't support the Pasqualoni hire, despite – or perhaps as a result of – having another son who played for Pasqualoni during the height of his success at Syracuse from 1997-2001 (aka "the Donovan McNabb Years"). Subsequently, he's threatened not only to revoke his donation, but also to give up his $50,000-per-year luxury suite ("You already have many other empty boxes at Rentschler. My box will just join the list."), cut off an annual $20,000 donation for summer coaching clinics, transfer all remaining scholarship dollars from football to the business school, and begin training "front line managers" for his company at Syracuse's business school instead.
At least Burton didn't threaten to drop a bomb on Hathaway's office, although the end result if he follows through may not be all that different.
_____________________________________________________
Finding a public servant who would attest to their name without reservation would be a miracle
Pope calls Joan of Arc model for public officials
AP – Wed Jan 26, VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI says public officials today would do well to model themselves on Joan of Arc, the French saint who was tried for heresy and burned at the stake for her convictions.
______________________________________________________
Our coalition of corrupt dictators and allies is falling apart
Egypt: Mubarak Faces Historic Challenge
Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service – Wed, Jan 26
CAIRO, Jan 26 (IPS) - Egyptians have demonstrated in protests rare in size and ferocity against the three-decade rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Down, Down with Mubarak," thousands chanted in downtown Cairo Tuesday. "Mubarak, it is your turn after Ben Ali," they said referring to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was topped Jan. 14 in protests in neighbouring Tunisia.
_______________________________________________________
Bank still borrowing money from Uncle Sugar for nothing to make profit on loans to others.
By Glenn Somerville and Maria Aspan – Wed Jan 26
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters)
Citigroup has spent the past year recovering from the massive losses that forced it into the government's arms during the financial crisis. The Treasury's successful auction of the warrants comes about a month after it sold off the last of its common shares in Citigroup, and a week after the bank reported its first full-year profit since 2007.
"With a full year of profitability behind us, we have built a strong foundation for sustainable and responsible growth," Citigroup spokesman Jon Diat said in a press release.
__________________________________________________________
This Modern World: Knowing and Not Knowing
Wednesday 26 January 2011
by: Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World | Political Cartoon
http://www.truth-out.org/this-modern-world-knowing-and-not-knowing67172
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Obama veers over the edge
Notes 36
An organization that works with business. I thought that was Obama’s government.
AP Interview: Gingrich calls for replacing EPA
AP – Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, Tuesday, Jan. 25, …
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Mike Glover, Associated Press – 1 hr 56 mins ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Tuesday for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, which he wants to replace with a new organization that would work more closely with businesses and be more aggressive in using science and technology.
_____________________________________________
Excesses of unbridled military are staggering.
Mock city rises at Marine base for urban training
Julie Watson, Associated Press –
SAN DIEGO – A mock city roughly the size of downtown San Diego has risen in a remote Southern California desert to train military forces to fight in urban environments.
The $170 million urban training center was unveiled Tuesday at the Twentynine Palms military base, 170 miles northeast of San Diego
__________________________________________________
Dollar to a doughnut, Merrill made money on this deal. The system’s way of rewarding fraud.
Merrill paying $10M to settle SEC fraud charges
AP – Tue Jan 25, 1:57 pm ET
NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch on Tuesday agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle civil securities fraud charges by regulators who accused the firm of misusing customers' order data to make trades for its own account and for failing to disclose trading fees.
______________________________________________
License to steal. The price we pay to keep puppet in power in Afghanistan
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that more than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years -- “packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanes.” Only so much of that could be drug money. The bulk, presumably, was skimmed from U.S. aid and logistics spending.
And that’s just what people are declaring. The Journal calculated the $3 billion figure based on Afghan customs records, noting: “More declared cash flies out of Kabul each year than the Afghan government collects in tax and customs revenue nationwide.”
WASHINGTON -- The revelation that Afghanistan's vice president was caught carrying $52 million in cash last year in a Persian Gulf tax haven (and was allowed to keep it) is only the latest bit of evidence that countless billions of U.S. taxpayer money have been wasted in Afghanistan due to mismanagement, fraud and endemic corruption.
The latest disclosure comes courtesy of the international whistleblower website WikiLeaks,
_______________________________________________
Imperial presidents break law with impunity.
Report: Bush administration broke law in '06 races
WASHINGTON – In the runup to the 2006 midterm election in which Republicans lost control of the House, the Bush administration repeatedly broke the law by using federal funds to send Cabinet secretaries and other high-level political appointees to congressional districts of GOP candidates in tight races, according to a government report.
OSC found that 10 agencies used federal funds to pay for political appointees to travel to events supporting Republican candidates in 2006 in an operation monitored closely by the White House Office of Political Affairs. The report says that aspects of OPA that came in conflict with the Hatch Act during the Bush era "have apparently existed for decades."
_________________________________________________
Can’t afford to cut off that gun trade and undermine the 2nd Amendment BUT we can spy on citizens and abuse 1st Amendment without objection
U.S.: Gun raids show cartels at work in Arizona
'Straw buyers' amass hundreds of assault rifles, federal officials say
By Michael Isikoff National investigative correspondent
NBC News NBC News updated 1/25/2011 5:03:45 PM ET 2011-01-25T22:03:45 -
Federal officials say they have new evidence that Mexico's most violent drug cartels are exploiting U.S. guns laws to acquire massive quantities of assault rifles and other firearms for use in their war against the Mexican government.
___________________________________________________
Getting guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. PAY for enforcement.
After the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2006, Congress passed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act that created incentives for states to improve the reporting of background information to the NICS database. While it helped (increased the number of records in the database from 300,00 to 1.1 million), the database is still over a million records short.
The mayors effort focuses on two major components: Fully fund the NICS Improvement Act and strengthen procedures for compliance with the law, and fix the gun show loophole by requiring reasonable background checks at gun shows.
Their proposals are supported by more than 90% of the public, including gun owners.
______________________________________________________
What happens when you reduce regulation
Why a Gruesome Pennsylvania Abortion Clinic Had Not Been Inspected for 17 Years
Marian Wang, ProPublica: "While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many, the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics - a policy that continued until just last year. According to the grand jury report [PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers."
__________________________________________________
Time to stop being penny wise and pound foolish. Pay the bills. Raise taxes.
California Shows Corporate Subsidies Impoverish Us All
William L. Pelote, Sr., Truthout: "For years now, Californians have been told that we must choose between cutting public services and public service employees, or budget Armageddon. However, this is a false choice that has been driven more by political rhetoric than actual reality.... What we must bear in mind instead is that there is a direct relationship between California's quality of life and the quality of its public services and the people who provide those services. Economists agree that diminishing public service jobs and benefits will slow California's economic recovery and increase unemployment. These are unacceptable outcomes. That is why we must find the courage to confront the root cause of our state's structural budget deficit."
____________________________________________________
What it took 165 years to establish, the Courts since 2000 have managed to destroy--an independent and trustworthy Supreme Court
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
In recent months, Antonin Scalia has declared in speeches that there is nothing in the Constitution that guarantees rights for women, that the 17th Amendment allowing for the popular election of senators was a mistake, that legislative intent should not be considered in a SCOTUS ruling, and far too many more "Scaliaisms" to recount in a short column. Some of them are just plain stupid – and deadly.
Take Scalia's dissenting court opinion in 2009 that nothing in the Constitution prevents an innocent man from being put to death: "This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."
And that is entirely consistent with a charge by Common Cause that Scalia and Clarence Thomas attended Koch Brothers-sponsored political planning sessions before the Citizens United Ruling (just over a year ago) that advanced the interests of the oligarchy present at the confabs.
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Thomas failed to report his wife's income on his financial disclosure report – for five years. It added up to $680,000 from the Heritage Foundation.
____________________________________________________
The U.S.is the quarterback at the center of a vast collusion in government corruption
Juan Cole | The Corruption Game: What the Tunisian Revolution and WikiLeaks Reveal
Juan Cole, TomDispatch.com: "Here's one obvious lesson of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011: paranoia about Muslim fundamentalist movements and terrorism is causing Washington to make bad choices that will ultimately harm American interests and standing abroad. State Department cable traffic from capitals throughout the Greater Middle East, made public thanks to WikiLeaks, shows that U.S. policy-makers have a detailed and profound picture of the depths of corruption and nepotism that prevail among some 'allies' in the region."
An organization that works with business. I thought that was Obama’s government.
AP Interview: Gingrich calls for replacing EPA
AP – Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, Tuesday, Jan. 25, …
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Mike Glover, Associated Press – 1 hr 56 mins ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Tuesday for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, which he wants to replace with a new organization that would work more closely with businesses and be more aggressive in using science and technology.
_____________________________________________
Excesses of unbridled military are staggering.
Mock city rises at Marine base for urban training
Julie Watson, Associated Press –
SAN DIEGO – A mock city roughly the size of downtown San Diego has risen in a remote Southern California desert to train military forces to fight in urban environments.
The $170 million urban training center was unveiled Tuesday at the Twentynine Palms military base, 170 miles northeast of San Diego
__________________________________________________
Dollar to a doughnut, Merrill made money on this deal. The system’s way of rewarding fraud.
Merrill paying $10M to settle SEC fraud charges
AP – Tue Jan 25, 1:57 pm ET
NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch on Tuesday agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle civil securities fraud charges by regulators who accused the firm of misusing customers' order data to make trades for its own account and for failing to disclose trading fees.
______________________________________________
License to steal. The price we pay to keep puppet in power in Afghanistan
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that more than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years -- “packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanes.” Only so much of that could be drug money. The bulk, presumably, was skimmed from U.S. aid and logistics spending.
And that’s just what people are declaring. The Journal calculated the $3 billion figure based on Afghan customs records, noting: “More declared cash flies out of Kabul each year than the Afghan government collects in tax and customs revenue nationwide.”
WASHINGTON -- The revelation that Afghanistan's vice president was caught carrying $52 million in cash last year in a Persian Gulf tax haven (and was allowed to keep it) is only the latest bit of evidence that countless billions of U.S. taxpayer money have been wasted in Afghanistan due to mismanagement, fraud and endemic corruption.
The latest disclosure comes courtesy of the international whistleblower website WikiLeaks,
_______________________________________________
Imperial presidents break law with impunity.
Report: Bush administration broke law in '06 races
WASHINGTON – In the runup to the 2006 midterm election in which Republicans lost control of the House, the Bush administration repeatedly broke the law by using federal funds to send Cabinet secretaries and other high-level political appointees to congressional districts of GOP candidates in tight races, according to a government report.
OSC found that 10 agencies used federal funds to pay for political appointees to travel to events supporting Republican candidates in 2006 in an operation monitored closely by the White House Office of Political Affairs. The report says that aspects of OPA that came in conflict with the Hatch Act during the Bush era "have apparently existed for decades."
_________________________________________________
Can’t afford to cut off that gun trade and undermine the 2nd Amendment BUT we can spy on citizens and abuse 1st Amendment without objection
U.S.: Gun raids show cartels at work in Arizona
'Straw buyers' amass hundreds of assault rifles, federal officials say
By Michael Isikoff National investigative correspondent
NBC News NBC News updated 1/25/2011 5:03:45 PM ET 2011-01-25T22:03:45 -
Federal officials say they have new evidence that Mexico's most violent drug cartels are exploiting U.S. guns laws to acquire massive quantities of assault rifles and other firearms for use in their war against the Mexican government.
___________________________________________________
Getting guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. PAY for enforcement.
After the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2006, Congress passed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act that created incentives for states to improve the reporting of background information to the NICS database. While it helped (increased the number of records in the database from 300,00 to 1.1 million), the database is still over a million records short.
The mayors effort focuses on two major components: Fully fund the NICS Improvement Act and strengthen procedures for compliance with the law, and fix the gun show loophole by requiring reasonable background checks at gun shows.
Their proposals are supported by more than 90% of the public, including gun owners.
______________________________________________________
What happens when you reduce regulation
Why a Gruesome Pennsylvania Abortion Clinic Had Not Been Inspected for 17 Years
Marian Wang, ProPublica: "While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many, the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics - a policy that continued until just last year. According to the grand jury report [PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers."
__________________________________________________
Time to stop being penny wise and pound foolish. Pay the bills. Raise taxes.
California Shows Corporate Subsidies Impoverish Us All
William L. Pelote, Sr., Truthout: "For years now, Californians have been told that we must choose between cutting public services and public service employees, or budget Armageddon. However, this is a false choice that has been driven more by political rhetoric than actual reality.... What we must bear in mind instead is that there is a direct relationship between California's quality of life and the quality of its public services and the people who provide those services. Economists agree that diminishing public service jobs and benefits will slow California's economic recovery and increase unemployment. These are unacceptable outcomes. That is why we must find the courage to confront the root cause of our state's structural budget deficit."
____________________________________________________
What it took 165 years to establish, the Courts since 2000 have managed to destroy--an independent and trustworthy Supreme Court
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
In recent months, Antonin Scalia has declared in speeches that there is nothing in the Constitution that guarantees rights for women, that the 17th Amendment allowing for the popular election of senators was a mistake, that legislative intent should not be considered in a SCOTUS ruling, and far too many more "Scaliaisms" to recount in a short column. Some of them are just plain stupid – and deadly.
Take Scalia's dissenting court opinion in 2009 that nothing in the Constitution prevents an innocent man from being put to death: "This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."
And that is entirely consistent with a charge by Common Cause that Scalia and Clarence Thomas attended Koch Brothers-sponsored political planning sessions before the Citizens United Ruling (just over a year ago) that advanced the interests of the oligarchy present at the confabs.
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Thomas failed to report his wife's income on his financial disclosure report – for five years. It added up to $680,000 from the Heritage Foundation.
____________________________________________________
The U.S.is the quarterback at the center of a vast collusion in government corruption
Juan Cole | The Corruption Game: What the Tunisian Revolution and WikiLeaks Reveal
Juan Cole, TomDispatch.com: "Here's one obvious lesson of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011: paranoia about Muslim fundamentalist movements and terrorism is causing Washington to make bad choices that will ultimately harm American interests and standing abroad. State Department cable traffic from capitals throughout the Greater Middle East, made public thanks to WikiLeaks, shows that U.S. policy-makers have a detailed and profound picture of the depths of corruption and nepotism that prevail among some 'allies' in the region."
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
evolution vs creation
Notes 35
From a Reader summing up reality and the difference between Science and Religion
I saw a thing the other night about the stereopticans and the creation of the third dimension by our eyes from superimposing the images of the left eye and the right eye on the brain that transformed the composite into a three dimensional universe. Conclusion, we create our own reality and the accepted reality is the result of common agreement about what it really is--with a number of variants by groups that do not agree with it.
Science has become as much of a religion as any other, requiring leaps of faith for evolution etc. The difference between scientific religion and theological religion is that science agrees its faith is a moving target that is constantly changing as a result of new
evidence. Religion locks itself into what it believes to be immutable.
Upshot, Life is a remarkable experience for which there is no parallel and no absolute explanation. We make it what it is.
________________________________________________________
Finally somebody gets it
Ex-Minn. governor sues over body scans, pat-downs
Amy Forliti, Associated Press – Mon Jan 24
MINNEAPOLIS – Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration on Monday, alleging full-body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Ventura is asking a federal judge in Minnesota to issue an injunction ordering officials to stop subjecting him to "warrantless and suspicionless" scans and body searches.
_______________________________________________________
Let’s see if Russia decides not to waste a crisis
MOSCOW – The Russian state RIA Novosti news agency says an explosion at Moscow's busiest airport has killed 23 people and wounded 130.
________________________________________________________
Israelis want it all and, honest brokers that we are, we are enabling them
No One Looks Good Here, writes The Guardian's editorial board: "It is hard to tell who appears worst: the Palestinian leaders, who are weak, craven and eager to shower their counterparts with compliments; the Israelis, who are polite in word but contemptuous in deed; or the Americans, whose neutrality consists of bullying the weak and holding the hand of the strong. Together they conspire to build a puppet state in Palestine, at best authoritarian, at worst a surrogate for an occupying force."
TIME
By TONY KARON – Mon Jan 24
A trove of more than 1,600 secret Palestinian documents whose release by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news organization and Britain's Guardian newspaper began on Sunday could be post-mortem for Obama‘s Peace Process. The documents, allegedly leaked from within the Palestinian negotiating infrastructure and not part of the WikiLeaks Cablegate dump, detail an increasingly desperate yet futile effort by Palestinian negotiators to tempt Israel into a deal by conceding more and more ground, while pleading in vain with U.S. officials for help. And in the longer term, they could even prove politically fatal to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeeb Erekat and his boss, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
_______________________________________________
Society for whom the bells toll--another Mayan disappearance
Europe Begins to Run Short of Water
Pavol Stracansky, Inter Press Service: "Half of the Czech Republic’s population could face water shortages because of climate change, a top climate change expert has warned. The country has become one of the driest in the EU, according to local media, and climatologists say the land, and crucial underground water supplies, are drying up.... Climatologists and meteorologists in central Europe have said that the region is seeing more and more extreme weather including long periods of dry and hot weather in the summer, severe flooding and bitter winter weather."
__________________________________________________________
Rahmy finally runs out his string of running over the law and anybody else. Nor Obama nor Clinton can run Illinois politics
Court: Emanuel cannot run for mayor
Judges say former White House chief of staff is not a Chicago resident
Former White House Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel looks on during a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gilani of Pakistan at the Blair House in Washington, DC on April 11, 2010.
msnbc.com staff and news service reports 2011-01-24
An Illinois appellate court on Monday threw former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel off the ballot for Chicago mayor because he didn't live in the city in the year before the election.
___________________________________________________
The terrorists killing us are not al Quaida but Big Tobacco and individual American Loughners
TIME
By ROMESH RATNESAR
In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy, you might think that such high-profile alarm would center on the shortcomings of America's mental-health system or the inadequacy of the country's gun laws. You would be mistaken. Instead, some members of the political class remain fixated on what they regard as a greater national emergency: the purported rise of "homegrown" Islamic terrorists.
Though acts of violent extremism by U.S. Muslims appear to have grown, their potency has not. American Muslims remain more moderate, diverse and integrated than the Muslim populations in any other Western society. The paranoia about homegrown terrorism thus vastly overstates al-Qaeda's strength and reflects our leaders' inability to make honest assessments about the true threats to America's security.
________________________________________________
The movie Deliverane delivered every day and innumerable mutations someplace in the U.S.
Henry A. Giroux | America's Culture of Cruelty
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "The recent murderous acts of violence committed by Jared Lee Loughner in Arizona cannot be reduced to the mental instability of a young man out of touch with reality. Nor can such a horrendous act be reduced to a breakdown in civil discourse. Such rationales are too easy, and emulate what Frank Rich has called 'classic American denial.' There is a deeper order of politics behind this murderous act, one that the American public is inclined to ignore. More specifically, the general responses to this violent act are symptomatic of a society that separates private injuries from public considerations, refusing to connect individual acts to broader social considerations."
__________________________________________________________
Let’s see, how many people would an hundred million feed for a year? All the soup kitchens in America? Maybe Schmidt will donate it. He doesn’t need it.
On Monday January 24, 2011, 7:58 am
NEW YORK (AP) -- Google says it has awarded $100 million worth of equity to outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt.
_________________________________________________
From a Reader summing up reality and the difference between Science and Religion
I saw a thing the other night about the stereopticans and the creation of the third dimension by our eyes from superimposing the images of the left eye and the right eye on the brain that transformed the composite into a three dimensional universe. Conclusion, we create our own reality and the accepted reality is the result of common agreement about what it really is--with a number of variants by groups that do not agree with it.
Science has become as much of a religion as any other, requiring leaps of faith for evolution etc. The difference between scientific religion and theological religion is that science agrees its faith is a moving target that is constantly changing as a result of new
evidence. Religion locks itself into what it believes to be immutable.
Upshot, Life is a remarkable experience for which there is no parallel and no absolute explanation. We make it what it is.
________________________________________________________
Finally somebody gets it
Ex-Minn. governor sues over body scans, pat-downs
Amy Forliti, Associated Press – Mon Jan 24
MINNEAPOLIS – Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration on Monday, alleging full-body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Ventura is asking a federal judge in Minnesota to issue an injunction ordering officials to stop subjecting him to "warrantless and suspicionless" scans and body searches.
_______________________________________________________
Let’s see if Russia decides not to waste a crisis
MOSCOW – The Russian state RIA Novosti news agency says an explosion at Moscow's busiest airport has killed 23 people and wounded 130.
________________________________________________________
Israelis want it all and, honest brokers that we are, we are enabling them
No One Looks Good Here, writes The Guardian's editorial board: "It is hard to tell who appears worst: the Palestinian leaders, who are weak, craven and eager to shower their counterparts with compliments; the Israelis, who are polite in word but contemptuous in deed; or the Americans, whose neutrality consists of bullying the weak and holding the hand of the strong. Together they conspire to build a puppet state in Palestine, at best authoritarian, at worst a surrogate for an occupying force."
TIME
By TONY KARON – Mon Jan 24
A trove of more than 1,600 secret Palestinian documents whose release by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news organization and Britain's Guardian newspaper began on Sunday could be post-mortem for Obama‘s Peace Process. The documents, allegedly leaked from within the Palestinian negotiating infrastructure and not part of the WikiLeaks Cablegate dump, detail an increasingly desperate yet futile effort by Palestinian negotiators to tempt Israel into a deal by conceding more and more ground, while pleading in vain with U.S. officials for help. And in the longer term, they could even prove politically fatal to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeeb Erekat and his boss, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
_______________________________________________
Society for whom the bells toll--another Mayan disappearance
Europe Begins to Run Short of Water
Pavol Stracansky, Inter Press Service: "Half of the Czech Republic’s population could face water shortages because of climate change, a top climate change expert has warned. The country has become one of the driest in the EU, according to local media, and climatologists say the land, and crucial underground water supplies, are drying up.... Climatologists and meteorologists in central Europe have said that the region is seeing more and more extreme weather including long periods of dry and hot weather in the summer, severe flooding and bitter winter weather."
__________________________________________________________
Rahmy finally runs out his string of running over the law and anybody else. Nor Obama nor Clinton can run Illinois politics
Court: Emanuel cannot run for mayor
Judges say former White House chief of staff is not a Chicago resident
Former White House Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel looks on during a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gilani of Pakistan at the Blair House in Washington, DC on April 11, 2010.
msnbc.com staff and news service reports 2011-01-24
An Illinois appellate court on Monday threw former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel off the ballot for Chicago mayor because he didn't live in the city in the year before the election.
___________________________________________________
The terrorists killing us are not al Quaida but Big Tobacco and individual American Loughners
TIME
By ROMESH RATNESAR
In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy, you might think that such high-profile alarm would center on the shortcomings of America's mental-health system or the inadequacy of the country's gun laws. You would be mistaken. Instead, some members of the political class remain fixated on what they regard as a greater national emergency: the purported rise of "homegrown" Islamic terrorists.
Though acts of violent extremism by U.S. Muslims appear to have grown, their potency has not. American Muslims remain more moderate, diverse and integrated than the Muslim populations in any other Western society. The paranoia about homegrown terrorism thus vastly overstates al-Qaeda's strength and reflects our leaders' inability to make honest assessments about the true threats to America's security.
________________________________________________
The movie Deliverane delivered every day and innumerable mutations someplace in the U.S.
Henry A. Giroux | America's Culture of Cruelty
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "The recent murderous acts of violence committed by Jared Lee Loughner in Arizona cannot be reduced to the mental instability of a young man out of touch with reality. Nor can such a horrendous act be reduced to a breakdown in civil discourse. Such rationales are too easy, and emulate what Frank Rich has called 'classic American denial.' There is a deeper order of politics behind this murderous act, one that the American public is inclined to ignore. More specifically, the general responses to this violent act are symptomatic of a society that separates private injuries from public considerations, refusing to connect individual acts to broader social considerations."
__________________________________________________________
Let’s see, how many people would an hundred million feed for a year? All the soup kitchens in America? Maybe Schmidt will donate it. He doesn’t need it.
On Monday January 24, 2011, 7:58 am
NEW YORK (AP) -- Google says it has awarded $100 million worth of equity to outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt.
_________________________________________________
Monday, January 24, 2011
Obama, the piecemeal president
Notes 34
Our “piecemeal president”
What does President Obama really believe?
Christian Science Monitor
By Jacob Bronsther – Fri Jan 21
New York
Obama surfed into the White House on a wave of seeming principle: change, bipartisanship, reason, deliberation, pragmatism.
They are so general that they provide little analytical or moral traction. He will never support tax cuts for the rich, until he will. He criticizes Bush's expansive view of presidential war powers, then adopts it. The list goes on.
There is no well of enduring principle upon which he seems to draw.
In 2009, The New York Times asked Obama: "Is there a one word name for your philosophy? If you're not a socialist, are you a liberal? Are you progressive?..." Obama's answer, "No, I'm not going to engage in that," underscored his fear of labels. That fear is curbing his ability to initiate a new era of liberalism. To create a lasting movement, Obama, like Reagan and FDR, must set down principles that apply to changing circumstances. His thin methodological principles are not up to the task.
So far he's the piecemeal president
______________________________________________________
The need to cut through the myths of America that permit so much unpardonable destruction
"Greatest Nation" Rhetoric Roars Back
Robert Jensen, Truthout: "[The] expression of American exceptionalism is unexceptional in US political history, but it roared back stronger than ever in 2010, especially in the rhetoric of the Tea Party movement. As it becomes harder to ignore the United States' decline as an economic power - which will limit the capacity for imperial marauding around the world - the inclination of most mainstream politicians to assert our greatness will intensify. Those of us with radical or progressive politics need to challenge these kinds of slogans when we talk with friends, family and co-workers.... It is neither churlish nor malevolent to want to honestly assess the accomplishments and failures of one's country. Rather, it is the obligation of every citizen."
________________________________________________________
The cost of unbridled greed
Is America Too Corrupt to Keep Up?
David Sirota, Truthout: "A sovereign nation investing its wealth in its domestic economy seems like a no-brainer, especially during a global recession. But in this crazy age of American politics, even that has become a controversial notion. This is the subtext of a dispute that simmered beneath the pomp and circumstance of this week's U.S.-China summit.... China's industrial policy success carries a basic lesson: When a nation couples public spending with incentives that encourage domestic corporate investment, an economy tends to grow its own wealth-building industries. That's simple enough to understand, right? Evidently, not within our own government."
__________________________________________________________
A story suitable for WikiLeaks. Right up there with the Bourne Identity series
Green zone, movie, Matt Damon, 2010
Storyline
Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundsgate. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundsgate is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundsgate told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth.
_______________________________________________
Somebody finally gets it. Reducing social security and medicare benefits is de facto increase in taxes for most Americans.
GOP's State of the Union Responder Would Set Higher Taxes on Middle-Class Than Millionaires
Pat Garofalo, Think Progress: "House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) was announced today as the Republican who will be responding to President Obama's State of the Union address next week. Ryan has gained a (largely unearned) reputation as a fiscal hawk due to his radical Roadmap for America's Future, under which the U.S. budget will eventually be balanced (after federal debt surpasses 100 percent of GDP), mostly via privatizing Social Security and Medicare. According to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, the Roadmap would raise taxes on 90 percent of Americans, while dramatically lowering them for millionaires. In fact, a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that Ryan's plan would ultimately translate into middle-class tax rates being higher than those for millionaires."
__________________________________________________________
WikiLeaks: 1 percent of diplomatic docs published
Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press –
LONDON: Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini drew considerable attention when he described the WikiLeaks release as the "September 11 of world diplomacy."
WikiLeaks has given the world's public an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at U.S. diplomacy. Among the most eye-catching revelations were reports that Arab countries had lobbied for an attack on Iran, China had made plans for the collapse of its North Korean ally, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had ordered U.S. diplomats to gather the computer passwords, fingerprints and even DNA of their foreign counterparts.
Over and over again, the cables captured world leaders lying — to each other, to their allies, and to their own citizens.
Diplomacy "comes across as a scheming, duplicitous profession — which it kind of is," said Carne Ross, a former British diplomat who resigned over the Iraq war.
The cables are laced with cynicism.
___________________________________________________
What are the tea baggers saying about his rise in taxes, cut off oil imports. Hell no. Some increases are acceptable as long as they are business related and not part of public services.
Higher pump prices coming your way this spring
By SANDY SHORE, AP Business Writer Sandy Shore– Fri Jan 21
Gas pump prices that are around $3 a gallon now may seem like a bargain by the time your kids are on Easter egg hunts.
Pump prices have risen nearly 9 percent since Dec. 1 and topped $3.10 a gallon this week. That's the highest level since October 2008. The price may rise or fall a little over the next few months, but analysts expect it to range between $3.20 and $3.75 gallon by March and April ahead of the summer driving season.
____________________________________________________
We have become the gold standard for 28 other countries illegally snatching people off the street. Our policies have made international thuggery legitimate.
Use of extrajudicial rendition in Uganda terror case sparks controversy
Christiand Scinence Monitor,
By Scott Baldauf – Fri Jan 21
Nairobi, Kenya
While condemned by human rights activists and the European Parliament, and criticized by some US military officials as "counterproductive," renditions are seen by at least 28 US allies as a necessary weapon in the battle against terrorism. Estimates of the number of renditions since the US-led war on terror began after 9/11 are educated guesses, but some human rights organizations put the number over 1,000, and the British human rights group Cageprisoners estimates that 88 men, women, and children have been subjected to extrajudicial transfers from Kenya as of 2007.
"This is happening on a global scale," says Asim Qureshi, executive director of Cageprisoners, which tracks renditions and treatment of terrorism suspects at detention centers such as Guantánamo Bay and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. "What is interesting about Uganda is that their efforts are quite open. I don't think any help is being given by the Kenyan government in this case."
__________________________________________________
Seems terrorism is common around the world, not just in Muslim Middle East
Car bomb blast kills Mexican policeman
AFP – Sat Jan 22, 7:40 pm ET
PACHUCA, Mexico (AFP) - A policeman was killed and three others wounded Saturday when an abandoned car rigged with explosives detonated in the central state of Hidalgo, local police said.
_____________________________________________________
Who really cares about Ivanka getting knocked up? Or me performing my toilette? What happened to private and personal?
LOS ANGELES — Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, is pregnant.
"I have been wanting to share some amazing news with you all for some time ... I'm pregnant!" she Tweeted.
______________________________________________________
Our “piecemeal president”
What does President Obama really believe?
Christian Science Monitor
By Jacob Bronsther – Fri Jan 21
New York
Obama surfed into the White House on a wave of seeming principle: change, bipartisanship, reason, deliberation, pragmatism.
They are so general that they provide little analytical or moral traction. He will never support tax cuts for the rich, until he will. He criticizes Bush's expansive view of presidential war powers, then adopts it. The list goes on.
There is no well of enduring principle upon which he seems to draw.
In 2009, The New York Times asked Obama: "Is there a one word name for your philosophy? If you're not a socialist, are you a liberal? Are you progressive?..." Obama's answer, "No, I'm not going to engage in that," underscored his fear of labels. That fear is curbing his ability to initiate a new era of liberalism. To create a lasting movement, Obama, like Reagan and FDR, must set down principles that apply to changing circumstances. His thin methodological principles are not up to the task.
So far he's the piecemeal president
______________________________________________________
The need to cut through the myths of America that permit so much unpardonable destruction
"Greatest Nation" Rhetoric Roars Back
Robert Jensen, Truthout: "[The] expression of American exceptionalism is unexceptional in US political history, but it roared back stronger than ever in 2010, especially in the rhetoric of the Tea Party movement. As it becomes harder to ignore the United States' decline as an economic power - which will limit the capacity for imperial marauding around the world - the inclination of most mainstream politicians to assert our greatness will intensify. Those of us with radical or progressive politics need to challenge these kinds of slogans when we talk with friends, family and co-workers.... It is neither churlish nor malevolent to want to honestly assess the accomplishments and failures of one's country. Rather, it is the obligation of every citizen."
________________________________________________________
The cost of unbridled greed
Is America Too Corrupt to Keep Up?
David Sirota, Truthout: "A sovereign nation investing its wealth in its domestic economy seems like a no-brainer, especially during a global recession. But in this crazy age of American politics, even that has become a controversial notion. This is the subtext of a dispute that simmered beneath the pomp and circumstance of this week's U.S.-China summit.... China's industrial policy success carries a basic lesson: When a nation couples public spending with incentives that encourage domestic corporate investment, an economy tends to grow its own wealth-building industries. That's simple enough to understand, right? Evidently, not within our own government."
__________________________________________________________
A story suitable for WikiLeaks. Right up there with the Bourne Identity series
Green zone, movie, Matt Damon, 2010
Storyline
Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundsgate. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundsgate is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundsgate told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth.
_______________________________________________
Somebody finally gets it. Reducing social security and medicare benefits is de facto increase in taxes for most Americans.
GOP's State of the Union Responder Would Set Higher Taxes on Middle-Class Than Millionaires
Pat Garofalo, Think Progress: "House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) was announced today as the Republican who will be responding to President Obama's State of the Union address next week. Ryan has gained a (largely unearned) reputation as a fiscal hawk due to his radical Roadmap for America's Future, under which the U.S. budget will eventually be balanced (after federal debt surpasses 100 percent of GDP), mostly via privatizing Social Security and Medicare. According to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, the Roadmap would raise taxes on 90 percent of Americans, while dramatically lowering them for millionaires. In fact, a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that Ryan's plan would ultimately translate into middle-class tax rates being higher than those for millionaires."
__________________________________________________________
WikiLeaks: 1 percent of diplomatic docs published
Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press –
LONDON: Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini drew considerable attention when he described the WikiLeaks release as the "September 11 of world diplomacy."
WikiLeaks has given the world's public an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at U.S. diplomacy. Among the most eye-catching revelations were reports that Arab countries had lobbied for an attack on Iran, China had made plans for the collapse of its North Korean ally, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had ordered U.S. diplomats to gather the computer passwords, fingerprints and even DNA of their foreign counterparts.
Over and over again, the cables captured world leaders lying — to each other, to their allies, and to their own citizens.
Diplomacy "comes across as a scheming, duplicitous profession — which it kind of is," said Carne Ross, a former British diplomat who resigned over the Iraq war.
The cables are laced with cynicism.
___________________________________________________
What are the tea baggers saying about his rise in taxes, cut off oil imports. Hell no. Some increases are acceptable as long as they are business related and not part of public services.
Higher pump prices coming your way this spring
By SANDY SHORE, AP Business Writer Sandy Shore– Fri Jan 21
Gas pump prices that are around $3 a gallon now may seem like a bargain by the time your kids are on Easter egg hunts.
Pump prices have risen nearly 9 percent since Dec. 1 and topped $3.10 a gallon this week. That's the highest level since October 2008. The price may rise or fall a little over the next few months, but analysts expect it to range between $3.20 and $3.75 gallon by March and April ahead of the summer driving season.
____________________________________________________
We have become the gold standard for 28 other countries illegally snatching people off the street. Our policies have made international thuggery legitimate.
Use of extrajudicial rendition in Uganda terror case sparks controversy
Christiand Scinence Monitor,
By Scott Baldauf – Fri Jan 21
Nairobi, Kenya
While condemned by human rights activists and the European Parliament, and criticized by some US military officials as "counterproductive," renditions are seen by at least 28 US allies as a necessary weapon in the battle against terrorism. Estimates of the number of renditions since the US-led war on terror began after 9/11 are educated guesses, but some human rights organizations put the number over 1,000, and the British human rights group Cageprisoners estimates that 88 men, women, and children have been subjected to extrajudicial transfers from Kenya as of 2007.
"This is happening on a global scale," says Asim Qureshi, executive director of Cageprisoners, which tracks renditions and treatment of terrorism suspects at detention centers such as Guantánamo Bay and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. "What is interesting about Uganda is that their efforts are quite open. I don't think any help is being given by the Kenyan government in this case."
__________________________________________________
Seems terrorism is common around the world, not just in Muslim Middle East
Car bomb blast kills Mexican policeman
AFP – Sat Jan 22, 7:40 pm ET
PACHUCA, Mexico (AFP) - A policeman was killed and three others wounded Saturday when an abandoned car rigged with explosives detonated in the central state of Hidalgo, local police said.
_____________________________________________________
Who really cares about Ivanka getting knocked up? Or me performing my toilette? What happened to private and personal?
LOS ANGELES — Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, is pregnant.
"I have been wanting to share some amazing news with you all for some time ... I'm pregnant!" she Tweeted.
______________________________________________________
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Minority report, Tom Cruise, arresting people for what they think
Notes 33
We are already arresting people for crimes they might commit a la movie Minority Report. What concerns me is the risk of labeling every political dissident as a risk who needs locking up in an institution. That’s the next step in our race to rewrite judicial system.
An American Suicide Terrorist
William John Cox, Truthout: "As we evaluate the cause and effects of the Tucson murders, assign responsibility and seek solutions, we must continue to uphold the freedom of speech while taking reasonable steps to avoid violent consequences. Political speech has always been inflammatory in the United States, but perhaps due to the increasing militarization of the nation, politicians and commentators have come to routinely talk about 'hunting' and 'targeting' political opponents.... As best we can, given the Second Amendment as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court, we must do everything we can to legally ensure that mentally disturbed people, including those under the influence of highly-charged, political speech, cannot purchase, possess and carry concealed firearms, particularly those with combat capabilities."
_____________________________________________________
Difficult to rouse any passion against wars here. Must be really difficult in Israel
In Israel/Palestine, Occupation Has No Future
"In the Fall of 2009 I had the privilege of following a delegation of US veterans and war resisters traveling to Israel/Palestine to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an effort to strengthen connections between the US and Israeli anti-militarist movements and to share their experiences of refusing to be part of an occupying army.... My latest film, Occupation Has No Future: Militarism + Resistance in Israel/Palestine, is the result of dozens of exchanges and encounters during the month that [I] spent in Israel/Palestine.... Through conversations with Israeli conscientious objectors, former soldiers, and civil society activists ... the consequences of Israeli domestic policy are revealed in stark terms, not only for the Palestinian people, but for Israeli civil society as well."
________________________________________________________
How neat. Being able to lever public fear and support by controlling the estimates of the danger. Sort of like the threat levels established by Ashcroft for air travel.
After failed Iran nuclear talks
ISTANBUL –
Israeli officials now talk of a three-year window — until 2014 — before Iran can make a bomb. That compares with projections of 2011 just three years ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told NBC's "Today" show earlier this week that the new Israeli estimates are "very significant." The delay, she said, "gives us more of a breathing space to try to work to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
______________________________________________
Obama defends U.S. soil against possible attack by North Korea. It’s not China OR North Korea that are in America’s back yard. Typical of U.S. ludicrous sense of the world’s threats to its sovereignty.
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Obama warned his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao, that if Beijing did not step up pressure on North Korea, Washington would redeploy its forces in Asia to protect itself from a potential North Korean strike on U.S. soil.
______________________________________________
There will be no end and no embarrassment for the broken compact with the American people
WASHINGTON – The U.S. awarded a no-bid, $266 million contract for a lucrative electricity project in southern Afghanistan despite promising last year to seek competitive bids, The Associated Press has learned.
The U.S. Agency for International Development made the change despite criticism over how it has managed billions of dollars spent on reconstruction contracts.
In January 2010, the agency said companies would compete for the project, which was awarded to Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan. USAID had chastised the company for cost overruns and busted deadlines on a diesel-fueled power plant in Kabul.
________________________________________________
With a godfather like D.C., how can you fail? Xe nee Blackwater, one of America’s stellar international corporations, is teaching ruthless lessons with the gun first paid for by D.C. through special forces training and then by government contracts funding an off the books Middle East private army to hide the cost of the Iraq war.
Blackwater Invades Somalia
by Mishima
Sat Jan 22, 2011 at 04:57:46 AM PST
Blackwater the mercenary army run by Erik Prince from North Carolina has obtained a contract from several Middle Eastern governments to fight piracy originating in Somalia. Given Blackwater's record no Xe services prior record the out come of this operation will only lead to further tragedy for the Innocent while the perpetrators continue to operate with impunity.
Even though Blackwater and its agents have committed numerous illegal transgressions while in the employee of the U.S. government lucrative contracts continue to come thier way. How can you faio with a godfather like that?
_________________________________________________
The long hand of U.S. extra judicial proceedings, pirating people for rumors, not money.
Nairobi, Kenya – They came for Ismail Abubakar at nightfall on Aug. 9, 2010, plucking him from an outdoor market near the mosque where he had just finished teaching young Kenyans how to read the Quran.
Three months later, Abubakar and two dozen other bombing suspects were released for lack of evidence. But the story of his rendition, and the ongoing detention of nine other Kenyans for the bombing, highlights a troubling pattern of extra-judicial abduction and human rights abuses as Africa increases efforts, often at the request of US counterterrorism officials, to combat rising Islamic terrorism.
__________________________________________ __________
Deciding the successful model for the future
China’s on the correct path--"They are thinking each and every day about how to educate their work force, rebuild their infrastructure, enter into new markets," Obama said in November, after wrapping up a 10-day Asia trip. "We should feel confident about our ability to compete, but we are going to have to step up our game."
Congress is on the wrong path, cutting costs instead of raising taxes: Some House Republicans have promised to cut $100 billion from the budgets of domestic agencies. They plan to vote next week on a resolution setting appropriations for the rest of the year at 2008 levels, in place before Obama took office.
We are already arresting people for crimes they might commit a la movie Minority Report. What concerns me is the risk of labeling every political dissident as a risk who needs locking up in an institution. That’s the next step in our race to rewrite judicial system.
An American Suicide Terrorist
William John Cox, Truthout: "As we evaluate the cause and effects of the Tucson murders, assign responsibility and seek solutions, we must continue to uphold the freedom of speech while taking reasonable steps to avoid violent consequences. Political speech has always been inflammatory in the United States, but perhaps due to the increasing militarization of the nation, politicians and commentators have come to routinely talk about 'hunting' and 'targeting' political opponents.... As best we can, given the Second Amendment as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court, we must do everything we can to legally ensure that mentally disturbed people, including those under the influence of highly-charged, political speech, cannot purchase, possess and carry concealed firearms, particularly those with combat capabilities."
_____________________________________________________
Difficult to rouse any passion against wars here. Must be really difficult in Israel
In Israel/Palestine, Occupation Has No Future
"In the Fall of 2009 I had the privilege of following a delegation of US veterans and war resisters traveling to Israel/Palestine to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an effort to strengthen connections between the US and Israeli anti-militarist movements and to share their experiences of refusing to be part of an occupying army.... My latest film, Occupation Has No Future: Militarism + Resistance in Israel/Palestine, is the result of dozens of exchanges and encounters during the month that [I] spent in Israel/Palestine.... Through conversations with Israeli conscientious objectors, former soldiers, and civil society activists ... the consequences of Israeli domestic policy are revealed in stark terms, not only for the Palestinian people, but for Israeli civil society as well."
________________________________________________________
How neat. Being able to lever public fear and support by controlling the estimates of the danger. Sort of like the threat levels established by Ashcroft for air travel.
After failed Iran nuclear talks
ISTANBUL –
Israeli officials now talk of a three-year window — until 2014 — before Iran can make a bomb. That compares with projections of 2011 just three years ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told NBC's "Today" show earlier this week that the new Israeli estimates are "very significant." The delay, she said, "gives us more of a breathing space to try to work to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
______________________________________________
Obama defends U.S. soil against possible attack by North Korea. It’s not China OR North Korea that are in America’s back yard. Typical of U.S. ludicrous sense of the world’s threats to its sovereignty.
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Obama warned his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao, that if Beijing did not step up pressure on North Korea, Washington would redeploy its forces in Asia to protect itself from a potential North Korean strike on U.S. soil.
______________________________________________
There will be no end and no embarrassment for the broken compact with the American people
WASHINGTON – The U.S. awarded a no-bid, $266 million contract for a lucrative electricity project in southern Afghanistan despite promising last year to seek competitive bids, The Associated Press has learned.
The U.S. Agency for International Development made the change despite criticism over how it has managed billions of dollars spent on reconstruction contracts.
In January 2010, the agency said companies would compete for the project, which was awarded to Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan. USAID had chastised the company for cost overruns and busted deadlines on a diesel-fueled power plant in Kabul.
________________________________________________
With a godfather like D.C., how can you fail? Xe nee Blackwater, one of America’s stellar international corporations, is teaching ruthless lessons with the gun first paid for by D.C. through special forces training and then by government contracts funding an off the books Middle East private army to hide the cost of the Iraq war.
Blackwater Invades Somalia
by Mishima
Sat Jan 22, 2011 at 04:57:46 AM PST
Blackwater the mercenary army run by Erik Prince from North Carolina has obtained a contract from several Middle Eastern governments to fight piracy originating in Somalia. Given Blackwater's record no Xe services prior record the out come of this operation will only lead to further tragedy for the Innocent while the perpetrators continue to operate with impunity.
Even though Blackwater and its agents have committed numerous illegal transgressions while in the employee of the U.S. government lucrative contracts continue to come thier way. How can you faio with a godfather like that?
_________________________________________________
The long hand of U.S. extra judicial proceedings, pirating people for rumors, not money.
Nairobi, Kenya – They came for Ismail Abubakar at nightfall on Aug. 9, 2010, plucking him from an outdoor market near the mosque where he had just finished teaching young Kenyans how to read the Quran.
Three months later, Abubakar and two dozen other bombing suspects were released for lack of evidence. But the story of his rendition, and the ongoing detention of nine other Kenyans for the bombing, highlights a troubling pattern of extra-judicial abduction and human rights abuses as Africa increases efforts, often at the request of US counterterrorism officials, to combat rising Islamic terrorism.
__________________________________________ __________
Deciding the successful model for the future
China’s on the correct path--"They are thinking each and every day about how to educate their work force, rebuild their infrastructure, enter into new markets," Obama said in November, after wrapping up a 10-day Asia trip. "We should feel confident about our ability to compete, but we are going to have to step up our game."
Congress is on the wrong path, cutting costs instead of raising taxes: Some House Republicans have promised to cut $100 billion from the budgets of domestic agencies. They plan to vote next week on a resolution setting appropriations for the rest of the year at 2008 levels, in place before Obama took office.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Olberman's had enough
Notes 32
When you daily address the absurdities and inequities of the American scene and try to give witness to them and restore sanity, you end up distraught and burned out. We’ll miss ye, Keith.
Keith Olbermann gives abrupt goodbye to MSNBC show
Writer David Bauder, Ap Television Writer – Sat Jan 22
NEW YORK – Keith Olbermann was MSNBC's most popular personality and single-handedly led its transformation to an outspoken, left-leaning cable news network in prime time. Despite that, he often seemed to be walking on a tightrope with his job. Friday night, it snapped.
MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines insisted Olbermann's exit had nothing to do with the acquisition of parent company NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval last week.
______________________________________________
A few years ago, an historian said history was dead. Now democracy may be dead.
Does "Democracy" Still Mean Anything? (And in Case It Does, What Is It?)
Zygmunt Bauman, Truthout: "Henry A. Giroux wonders how one can possibly explain 'the electoral sweep that just put the most egregious Republican Party candidates back in power?'... One is the successful creation of 'punitive justice and a theatre of cruelty' as the political formula accepted (or at least acceptable) by the majority of Americans. The other is the accelerated pace of 'social amnesia': The most outrageous misdemeanor of the rulers, not so long ago a cause of public outcry, is pushed aside or forgotten altogether in time for the midterm elections. But there is another possibility as well, one that is perhaps too gruesome for the future of democracy to be seriously broached. It is the possibility - nay, the likelihood - that the link between public agenda and private worries, the very hub of the democratic process, has been broken, with each of the two spheres rotating by now in mutually isolated spaces….”
____________________________________________
Common Cause alleges that both justices were paid guests at exclusive gatherings organized by Koch Industries, where conservative business leaders and elected officials secretly strategized around elections. The justices were among those who provided the critical votes in the 5-4 ruling, a ruling that has prompted an unprecedented flood of corporate expenditures on electoral campaigns over the last year.
On Anniversary of Citizens United Ruling, Calls for DOJ to Investigate Scalia and Thomas
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!: "Today marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. We speak with Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, which has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice urging it to investigate whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves from the case last year because of a conflict of interest."
______________________________________________
Oh, hell, why wouldn’t you expect Obama to put wolf in charge of hen house when his re-election is at stake? He’s a blessed pragmatist. To hell with principle.
Volcker Out, Immelt In on Economic Board
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times News Service: "President Obama will name Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive officer and chairman of General Electric, on Friday to run his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who is stepping down, the White House said. Mr. Immelt will chair a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that Mr. Obama intends to create by executive order.... The changes signal what the White House describes as 'a new phase of our recovery,' a shift from crisis to job creation."
_______________________________________________
Ancient Aphorism: To the victor belongs the spoils and corporations are collecting on their investments
Court and Chevron's "Crude" Attacks Continue
Thursday 20 January 2011
by: Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
A recent Fortune magazine cover proclaimed it "the most pro-business court we have ever seen," and, as the Times more understatedly noted last month, "It is clear ... that the Supreme Court these days is increasingly focused on business issues."
Joe Berlinger's back is against the wall. Last week the independent filmmaker, already facing crushing debt from legal bills, was dealt a major blow in his continuing fight against the third-largest company in America: Chevron.
In May, federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered Berlinger to turn over to Chevron more than 600 hours of raw footage used to create the film, how Ecuadorians challenged the pollution of rivers and wells from Texaco's drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field, a rainforest disaster savagely damaging the environment and the local population's health that's been described as the Amazon's Chernobyl.
In case you missed the Times story over the holidays, it was headlined "Justices Offer Receptive Ear to Business Interests." Scholars at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago prepared a report analyzing nearly 1,500 Supreme Court decisions across almost six decades. It found that, "The Roberts court, which has completed five terms, ruled for business interests 61 percent of the time, compared with 46 percent in the last five years of the court led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in 2005, and 42 percent by all courts since 1953."
_________________________________________________
When you daily address the absurdities and inequities of the American scene and try to give witness to them and restore sanity, you end up distraught and burned out. We’ll miss ye, Keith.
Keith Olbermann gives abrupt goodbye to MSNBC show
Writer David Bauder, Ap Television Writer – Sat Jan 22
NEW YORK – Keith Olbermann was MSNBC's most popular personality and single-handedly led its transformation to an outspoken, left-leaning cable news network in prime time. Despite that, he often seemed to be walking on a tightrope with his job. Friday night, it snapped.
MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines insisted Olbermann's exit had nothing to do with the acquisition of parent company NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval last week.
______________________________________________
A few years ago, an historian said history was dead. Now democracy may be dead.
Does "Democracy" Still Mean Anything? (And in Case It Does, What Is It?)
Zygmunt Bauman, Truthout: "Henry A. Giroux wonders how one can possibly explain 'the electoral sweep that just put the most egregious Republican Party candidates back in power?'... One is the successful creation of 'punitive justice and a theatre of cruelty' as the political formula accepted (or at least acceptable) by the majority of Americans. The other is the accelerated pace of 'social amnesia': The most outrageous misdemeanor of the rulers, not so long ago a cause of public outcry, is pushed aside or forgotten altogether in time for the midterm elections. But there is another possibility as well, one that is perhaps too gruesome for the future of democracy to be seriously broached. It is the possibility - nay, the likelihood - that the link between public agenda and private worries, the very hub of the democratic process, has been broken, with each of the two spheres rotating by now in mutually isolated spaces….”
____________________________________________
Common Cause alleges that both justices were paid guests at exclusive gatherings organized by Koch Industries, where conservative business leaders and elected officials secretly strategized around elections. The justices were among those who provided the critical votes in the 5-4 ruling, a ruling that has prompted an unprecedented flood of corporate expenditures on electoral campaigns over the last year.
On Anniversary of Citizens United Ruling, Calls for DOJ to Investigate Scalia and Thomas
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!: "Today marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. We speak with Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, which has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice urging it to investigate whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves from the case last year because of a conflict of interest."
______________________________________________
Oh, hell, why wouldn’t you expect Obama to put wolf in charge of hen house when his re-election is at stake? He’s a blessed pragmatist. To hell with principle.
Volcker Out, Immelt In on Economic Board
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times News Service: "President Obama will name Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive officer and chairman of General Electric, on Friday to run his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who is stepping down, the White House said. Mr. Immelt will chair a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that Mr. Obama intends to create by executive order.... The changes signal what the White House describes as 'a new phase of our recovery,' a shift from crisis to job creation."
_______________________________________________
Ancient Aphorism: To the victor belongs the spoils and corporations are collecting on their investments
Court and Chevron's "Crude" Attacks Continue
Thursday 20 January 2011
by: Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
A recent Fortune magazine cover proclaimed it "the most pro-business court we have ever seen," and, as the Times more understatedly noted last month, "It is clear ... that the Supreme Court these days is increasingly focused on business issues."
Joe Berlinger's back is against the wall. Last week the independent filmmaker, already facing crushing debt from legal bills, was dealt a major blow in his continuing fight against the third-largest company in America: Chevron.
In May, federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered Berlinger to turn over to Chevron more than 600 hours of raw footage used to create the film, how Ecuadorians challenged the pollution of rivers and wells from Texaco's drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field, a rainforest disaster savagely damaging the environment and the local population's health that's been described as the Amazon's Chernobyl.
In case you missed the Times story over the holidays, it was headlined "Justices Offer Receptive Ear to Business Interests." Scholars at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago prepared a report analyzing nearly 1,500 Supreme Court decisions across almost six decades. It found that, "The Roberts court, which has completed five terms, ruled for business interests 61 percent of the time, compared with 46 percent in the last five years of the court led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in 2005, and 42 percent by all courts since 1953."
_________________________________________________
Friday, January 21, 2011
Giffords, an American reality check
Notes 31
American Optimism vs. reality.Why we misunderstand conditions in the rest of the starving, impoverished world and in the inequities of our own country. Typical of media dishonesty.
The front part of her skull is missing. One eye is gone. She is a web of tubes keeping her alive. Her brain needs constant draining. She can’t swallow. She is paralysed on one side and her brain can't move her legs. If she survives, she will never function better than a damaged child. That’s the hard reality of prognosis for her rehabilitation.
HOUSTON – She heard them, smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The caravan carrying Rep. Gabrielle Giffords swept past cheering crowds Friday as she left the hospital in Tucson, Ariz., where she dazzled doctors with her recovery from being shot in the head two weeks ago, and was moved to Houston for rehabilitation.
______________________________________________
Infuriating. The (liberal) Obama started this with GM bailout. Let the states raise taxes like Illinois did instead of reneging on their guarantees to their citizens
A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens
MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, On Thursday January 20, 2011
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions.
Discussions about something as far-reaching as bankruptcy could give governors and others more leverage in bargaining with unionized public workers.
Discussion of a new bankruptcy option for the states appears to have taken off in November, after Mr. Gingrich gave a speech about the country’s big challenges, including government debt and an uncompetitive labor market.
“We just have to be honest and clear about this, and I also hope the House Republicans are going to move a bill in the first month or so of their tenure to create a venue for state bankruptcy,” he said.
________________________________________________
Unlimited budget for war. Need to make the budget unlimited for peace. Give Peace a chance.
23-story rocket blasts off in California
By Brett Michael Dykes, Fri Jan 21,
On Thursday afternoon the Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle, 235 feet tall -- roughly 23 stories--was the largest rocket ever to launch from the West Coast.
The three-engine rocket is thought to carry a top-secret U.S. spy satellite, the Times said, that is "capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below."
_______________________________________________________
No sperm, eggs, zygotes, fetuses, possibilities, or potentialities defined as citizens in Constitution to which Santorum refers. Why can’t they get it after all these centuries. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God”s.
Thu Jan 20, 12:58 pm ET
Santorum invokes Obama’s race in abortion debate
By Holly Bailey
Rick Santorum says President Obama should be against abortion because Obama is black.
"The question is -- and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer: Is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no," Santorum says.
____________________________________________
A reader writes
The al-Qaida leader questioned why the French would consider the resistance against Nazi German troops occupying their nation in World War II to be heroic while the fight against French and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is labeled terrorism.
"Why do you judge in a double standard?" he said
_________________________________________________
Birds from heaven. Makes you wonder what else is at risk
According to the Christian Science Monitor:
"The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.
"Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans."
______________________________________________
The American Way. Nothing is sacred
A reader writes about donation to restore Roman Colliseum
Does this mean he gets naming rights now??? Is it now going to be called the "Tod's Luxury Leather Goods and Shoes Colosseum"?
_______________________________________________
American Optimism vs. reality.Why we misunderstand conditions in the rest of the starving, impoverished world and in the inequities of our own country. Typical of media dishonesty.
The front part of her skull is missing. One eye is gone. She is a web of tubes keeping her alive. Her brain needs constant draining. She can’t swallow. She is paralysed on one side and her brain can't move her legs. If she survives, she will never function better than a damaged child. That’s the hard reality of prognosis for her rehabilitation.
HOUSTON – She heard them, smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The caravan carrying Rep. Gabrielle Giffords swept past cheering crowds Friday as she left the hospital in Tucson, Ariz., where she dazzled doctors with her recovery from being shot in the head two weeks ago, and was moved to Houston for rehabilitation.
______________________________________________
Infuriating. The (liberal) Obama started this with GM bailout. Let the states raise taxes like Illinois did instead of reneging on their guarantees to their citizens
A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens
MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, On Thursday January 20, 2011
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions.
Discussions about something as far-reaching as bankruptcy could give governors and others more leverage in bargaining with unionized public workers.
Discussion of a new bankruptcy option for the states appears to have taken off in November, after Mr. Gingrich gave a speech about the country’s big challenges, including government debt and an uncompetitive labor market.
“We just have to be honest and clear about this, and I also hope the House Republicans are going to move a bill in the first month or so of their tenure to create a venue for state bankruptcy,” he said.
________________________________________________
Unlimited budget for war. Need to make the budget unlimited for peace. Give Peace a chance.
23-story rocket blasts off in California
By Brett Michael Dykes, Fri Jan 21,
On Thursday afternoon the Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle, 235 feet tall -- roughly 23 stories--was the largest rocket ever to launch from the West Coast.
The three-engine rocket is thought to carry a top-secret U.S. spy satellite, the Times said, that is "capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below."
_______________________________________________________
No sperm, eggs, zygotes, fetuses, possibilities, or potentialities defined as citizens in Constitution to which Santorum refers. Why can’t they get it after all these centuries. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God”s.
Thu Jan 20, 12:58 pm ET
Santorum invokes Obama’s race in abortion debate
By Holly Bailey
Rick Santorum says President Obama should be against abortion because Obama is black.
"The question is -- and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer: Is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no," Santorum says.
____________________________________________
A reader writes
The al-Qaida leader questioned why the French would consider the resistance against Nazi German troops occupying their nation in World War II to be heroic while the fight against French and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is labeled terrorism.
"Why do you judge in a double standard?" he said
_________________________________________________
Birds from heaven. Makes you wonder what else is at risk
According to the Christian Science Monitor:
"The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.
"Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans."
______________________________________________
The American Way. Nothing is sacred
A reader writes about donation to restore Roman Colliseum
Does this mean he gets naming rights now??? Is it now going to be called the "Tod's Luxury Leather Goods and Shoes Colosseum"?
_______________________________________________
Fetuses not written into Constitution, only citizens
Notes 31
No sperm, eggs, zygotes, fetuses, possibilities, or potentialities defined as citizens in Constitution to which Santorum refers. Why can’t they get it after all these centuries. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God”s.
Thu Jan 20, 12:58 pm ET
Santorum invokes Obama’s race in abortion debate
By Holly Bailey
Rick Santorum says President Obama should be against abortion because Obama is black.
"The question is -- and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer: Is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no," Santorum says.
____________________________________________
American Optimism vs. reality. Why we misunderstand conditions in the rest of the starving, impoverished world the inequities in our own country. One eye is gone. Part of her skull is blown away. She is a web of tubes keeping her alive. Her brain needs constant draining. She can’t swallow. She is paralysed on one side and can’t move her legs. If she survives, she will never function better than a damaged child. That’s the hard reality.
HOUSTON – She heard them, smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The caravan carrying Rep. Gabrielle Giffords swept past cheering crowds Friday as she left the hospital in Tucson, Ariz., where she dazzled doctors with her recovery from being shot in the head two weeks ago, and was moved to Houston for rehabilitation.
______________________________________________
Infuriating. The (liberal) Obama started this with GM bailout. Let the states raise taxes like Illinois did instead of reneging on their guarantees to their citizens
A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens
MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, On Thursday January 20, 2011
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions.
Discussions about something as far-reaching as bankruptcy could give governors and others more leverage in bargaining with unionized public workers.
Discussion of a new bankruptcy option for the states appears to have taken off in November, after Mr. Gingrich gave a speech about the country’s big challenges, including government debt and an uncompetitive labor market.
“We just have to be honest and clear about this, and I also hope the House Republicans are going to move a bill in the first month or so of their tenure to create a venue for state bankruptcy,” he said.
________________________________________________
Unlimited budget for war and neat technological successes. Need to make the budget unlimited for peace. Give Peace a chance.
23-story rocket blasts off in California
By Brett Michael Dykes, Fri Jan 21,
On Thursday afternoon the Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle, 235 feet tall -- roughly 23 stories--was the largest rocket ever to launch from the West Coast.
The three-engine rocket is thought to carry a top-secret U.S. spy satellite, the Times said, that is "capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below."
_______________________________________________________
A reader writes
The al-Qaida leader questioned why the French would consider the resistance against Nazi German troops occupying their nation in World War II to be heroic while the fight against French and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is labeled terrorism.
"Why do you judge in a double standard?" he said
_________________________________________________
Birds from heaven. Makes you wonder what else is fallin down.
According to the Christian Science Monitor:
"The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.
"Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans."
______________________________________________
The American Way. Nothing is sacred
A reader writes about donation to restore Roman Colliseum
Does this mean he gets naming rights now??? Is it now going to be called the "Tod's Luxury Leather Goods and Shoes Colosseum"?
_______________________________________________
No sperm, eggs, zygotes, fetuses, possibilities, or potentialities defined as citizens in Constitution to which Santorum refers. Why can’t they get it after all these centuries. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God”s.
Thu Jan 20, 12:58 pm ET
Santorum invokes Obama’s race in abortion debate
By Holly Bailey
Rick Santorum says President Obama should be against abortion because Obama is black.
"The question is -- and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer: Is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no," Santorum says.
____________________________________________
American Optimism vs. reality. Why we misunderstand conditions in the rest of the starving, impoverished world the inequities in our own country. One eye is gone. Part of her skull is blown away. She is a web of tubes keeping her alive. Her brain needs constant draining. She can’t swallow. She is paralysed on one side and can’t move her legs. If she survives, she will never function better than a damaged child. That’s the hard reality.
HOUSTON – She heard them, smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The caravan carrying Rep. Gabrielle Giffords swept past cheering crowds Friday as she left the hospital in Tucson, Ariz., where she dazzled doctors with her recovery from being shot in the head two weeks ago, and was moved to Houston for rehabilitation.
______________________________________________
Infuriating. The (liberal) Obama started this with GM bailout. Let the states raise taxes like Illinois did instead of reneging on their guarantees to their citizens
A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens
MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, On Thursday January 20, 2011
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions.
Discussions about something as far-reaching as bankruptcy could give governors and others more leverage in bargaining with unionized public workers.
Discussion of a new bankruptcy option for the states appears to have taken off in November, after Mr. Gingrich gave a speech about the country’s big challenges, including government debt and an uncompetitive labor market.
“We just have to be honest and clear about this, and I also hope the House Republicans are going to move a bill in the first month or so of their tenure to create a venue for state bankruptcy,” he said.
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Unlimited budget for war and neat technological successes. Need to make the budget unlimited for peace. Give Peace a chance.
23-story rocket blasts off in California
By Brett Michael Dykes, Fri Jan 21,
On Thursday afternoon the Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle, 235 feet tall -- roughly 23 stories--was the largest rocket ever to launch from the West Coast.
The three-engine rocket is thought to carry a top-secret U.S. spy satellite, the Times said, that is "capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below."
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A reader writes
The al-Qaida leader questioned why the French would consider the resistance against Nazi German troops occupying their nation in World War II to be heroic while the fight against French and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is labeled terrorism.
"Why do you judge in a double standard?" he said
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Birds from heaven. Makes you wonder what else is fallin down.
According to the Christian Science Monitor:
"The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.
"Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans."
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The American Way. Nothing is sacred
A reader writes about donation to restore Roman Colliseum
Does this mean he gets naming rights now??? Is it now going to be called the "Tod's Luxury Leather Goods and Shoes Colosseum"?
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Reclaiming the air and the natural selection of seed stock
Notes 30
Naming and claiming the Commons
Rewriting the "Tragedy of the Commons"
Wednesday 19 January 2011
by: Bill McKibben | YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
What cooperation and sharing have to do with saving the world.
Things we share are called commons, which simply means they belong to all of us. Commons can be gifts of nature—such as fresh water, wilderness and the airwaves—or the products of social ingenuity like the Internet, parks, artistic traditions, or the public health service. But today much of our common wealth is under threat from those hungry to ruin it or take it over for selfish, private purposes.
If we are to somehow ward off the coming catastrophes, we have to reclaim this atmospheric commons. We have to figure out how to cooperatively own and protect the single most important feature of the planet we inhabit—the thin envelope of atmosphere that makes our lives possible. Wrestling this key prize away from Exxon Mobil and other corporations is the great political issue of our time, and some of the solutions proposed have been ingenious—most notably the idea put forth by commons theorist Peter Barnes and others that we should own the sky jointly, and share in the profits realized by leasing its storage space to the fossil fuel industry. For that to work, of course, we would have to reduce that storage space quickly and dramatically. Barnes’ Cap-and-Dividend plan offers one way to make that economically and politically feasible.
_______________________________________________
When I was in Kauai a couple of years ago, natives were worried about Monsanto
Experimental farm contaminating local seeds through pollination by bees, butterflies
Ryan Stock, Truthout: "'A fabulous Easter gift,' commented Monsanto Director of Development Initiatives Elizabeth Vancil. Nearly 60,000 seed sacks of hybrid corn seeds and other vegetable seeds were donated to post-earthquake Haiti by Monsanto. In observance of World Environment Day, June 4, 2010, roughly 10,000 rural Haitian farmers gathered in Papaye to march seven kilometers to Hinche in celebration of this gift. Upon arrival, these rewarded farmers took their collective Easter baskets of more than 400 tons of vegetable seeds and burned them all. 'Long live the native maize seed!' they chanted in unison. 'Monsanto's GMO [genetically modified organism] and hybrid seed violate peasant agriculture!'"
_______________________________________________
Biggest arm of self serving propaganda in the government
Countering Pentagon Propaganda About Prisoners Released From Guantanamo
Andy Worthington, War Is A Crime: "For several years now, one organization in the US government has persistently undermined attempts to have a grown-up debate about the perceived dangerousness of prisoners at Guantanamo, and the need to bear security concerns in mind whilst also trying to empty the prison and to bring to an end this particularly malign icon of the Bush administration's ill-conceived response to the 9/11 attacks. That organization is the Pentagon, and its habit of issuing announcements regarding the alleged recidivism of prisoners released from Guantanamo - without documentation to back up its claims - has also exposed a startling lack of journalistic integrity in the mainstream media."
_________________________________________________
Obama’s picks for Administration supported vested interests not transformation but he persists in pretending to be the good guy--and we buy it
Evidence of an American Plutocracy: The Larry Summers Story
Matthew Skomarovsky, LittleSis: "Larry Summers' path to the Obama administration, and his record within it, are symptomatic of a new American plutocracy, and his new job at Harvard will keep the gears of corruption greased. Summers rose to power under the protective wing of Wall Street and Democratic Party mogul Robert Rubin. He aggressively advanced Rubin's program of financial deregulation and faithfully rescued his cronies when deregulation went wrong. Despite the economic catastrophes these policies have contributed to, Summers and other Rubinites have continued their political ascendancy in recent years, filling top positions in the Obama administration
_____________________________________________________________
Propagating the myth. Keeping the faith
Ira Chernus | How the Power of Myth Keeps Us Mired in War
Ira Chernus, TomDispatch: "When I try to figure out why we are still in Afghanistan, though every ounce of logic says we ought to get out, an unexpected conversation I had last year haunts me. Doing neighborhood political canvassing, I knocked on the door of a cheerful man who was just about to tune in to his favorite radio show: Rush Limbaugh. He was kind enough to let me stay and we talked. Conservatives are often the nicest people - that's what I told him - the ones you'd like to have as neighbors. Then I said: I bet you're always willing to help your neighbors when they need it. Absolutely, he replied. So why, I asked, don't you to want to help out people across town who have the same needs, even if they're strangers--because we’re nice people and THEY are not.
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Christian model does not work any better at solving world’s problems than Chinese model--but the Chinese ARE at peace. No imperial policy there.
WASHINGTON – Chinese President Hu Jintao denied his country is a military threat despite its arms buildup. "We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development," Hu told the luncheon. "We do not engage in an arms race, we are not a military threat to any country. China will never seek to dominate or pursue an expansionist policy."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said House members "raised our strong, ongoing concerns with reports of human rights violations in China, including the denial of religious freedom and the use of coercive abortion" as a result of China's one-child policy.
Naming and claiming the Commons
Rewriting the "Tragedy of the Commons"
Wednesday 19 January 2011
by: Bill McKibben | YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
What cooperation and sharing have to do with saving the world.
Things we share are called commons, which simply means they belong to all of us. Commons can be gifts of nature—such as fresh water, wilderness and the airwaves—or the products of social ingenuity like the Internet, parks, artistic traditions, or the public health service. But today much of our common wealth is under threat from those hungry to ruin it or take it over for selfish, private purposes.
If we are to somehow ward off the coming catastrophes, we have to reclaim this atmospheric commons. We have to figure out how to cooperatively own and protect the single most important feature of the planet we inhabit—the thin envelope of atmosphere that makes our lives possible. Wrestling this key prize away from Exxon Mobil and other corporations is the great political issue of our time, and some of the solutions proposed have been ingenious—most notably the idea put forth by commons theorist Peter Barnes and others that we should own the sky jointly, and share in the profits realized by leasing its storage space to the fossil fuel industry. For that to work, of course, we would have to reduce that storage space quickly and dramatically. Barnes’ Cap-and-Dividend plan offers one way to make that economically and politically feasible.
_______________________________________________
When I was in Kauai a couple of years ago, natives were worried about Monsanto
Experimental farm contaminating local seeds through pollination by bees, butterflies
Ryan Stock, Truthout: "'A fabulous Easter gift,' commented Monsanto Director of Development Initiatives Elizabeth Vancil. Nearly 60,000 seed sacks of hybrid corn seeds and other vegetable seeds were donated to post-earthquake Haiti by Monsanto. In observance of World Environment Day, June 4, 2010, roughly 10,000 rural Haitian farmers gathered in Papaye to march seven kilometers to Hinche in celebration of this gift. Upon arrival, these rewarded farmers took their collective Easter baskets of more than 400 tons of vegetable seeds and burned them all. 'Long live the native maize seed!' they chanted in unison. 'Monsanto's GMO [genetically modified organism] and hybrid seed violate peasant agriculture!'"
_______________________________________________
Biggest arm of self serving propaganda in the government
Countering Pentagon Propaganda About Prisoners Released From Guantanamo
Andy Worthington, War Is A Crime: "For several years now, one organization in the US government has persistently undermined attempts to have a grown-up debate about the perceived dangerousness of prisoners at Guantanamo, and the need to bear security concerns in mind whilst also trying to empty the prison and to bring to an end this particularly malign icon of the Bush administration's ill-conceived response to the 9/11 attacks. That organization is the Pentagon, and its habit of issuing announcements regarding the alleged recidivism of prisoners released from Guantanamo - without documentation to back up its claims - has also exposed a startling lack of journalistic integrity in the mainstream media."
_________________________________________________
Obama’s picks for Administration supported vested interests not transformation but he persists in pretending to be the good guy--and we buy it
Evidence of an American Plutocracy: The Larry Summers Story
Matthew Skomarovsky, LittleSis: "Larry Summers' path to the Obama administration, and his record within it, are symptomatic of a new American plutocracy, and his new job at Harvard will keep the gears of corruption greased. Summers rose to power under the protective wing of Wall Street and Democratic Party mogul Robert Rubin. He aggressively advanced Rubin's program of financial deregulation and faithfully rescued his cronies when deregulation went wrong. Despite the economic catastrophes these policies have contributed to, Summers and other Rubinites have continued their political ascendancy in recent years, filling top positions in the Obama administration
_____________________________________________________________
Propagating the myth. Keeping the faith
Ira Chernus | How the Power of Myth Keeps Us Mired in War
Ira Chernus, TomDispatch: "When I try to figure out why we are still in Afghanistan, though every ounce of logic says we ought to get out, an unexpected conversation I had last year haunts me. Doing neighborhood political canvassing, I knocked on the door of a cheerful man who was just about to tune in to his favorite radio show: Rush Limbaugh. He was kind enough to let me stay and we talked. Conservatives are often the nicest people - that's what I told him - the ones you'd like to have as neighbors. Then I said: I bet you're always willing to help your neighbors when they need it. Absolutely, he replied. So why, I asked, don't you to want to help out people across town who have the same needs, even if they're strangers--because we’re nice people and THEY are not.
_____________________________________________________________
Christian model does not work any better at solving world’s problems than Chinese model--but the Chinese ARE at peace. No imperial policy there.
WASHINGTON – Chinese President Hu Jintao denied his country is a military threat despite its arms buildup. "We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development," Hu told the luncheon. "We do not engage in an arms race, we are not a military threat to any country. China will never seek to dominate or pursue an expansionist policy."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said House members "raised our strong, ongoing concerns with reports of human rights violations in China, including the denial of religious freedom and the use of coercive abortion" as a result of China's one-child policy.
7% the tipping point pushing us over the cliff
Notes 28
Can’t pay the bill on the back of workers and students and the elderly.
AUSTIN, Texas – Public education in Texas is facing billions in proposed budget cuts that would include slashing arts education, pre-kindergarten programs and teacher incentive pay as lawmakers take on a massive deficit with the promise of no new taxes.
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Maybe Republicans could set tax rates at Eisenhower levels instead. By thinnest of margins in 2010, Republicans won 65 seats and are determined to turn the country upside down
by Chris Bowers
Sun Jan 16, 2011
A 7% national popular vote victory is a landslide in contemporary American politics. Democrats showed this in 2006 when they took back the House of Representatives with a 6.49% victory. President Barack Obama again made this point in 2008, when he defeated Senator John McCain by 7.27%. Just eleven weeks ago Republicans provided a third example when they won the national popular vote for Congress by 6.83%. A 7% victory isn’t just a win--it’s a thumping, a shellacking, or some such catch-phrase.
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Getting the word out and making it a matter of conviction like the NRA does
Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon | A Time for Action - Not Servility
Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, RootsAction: "While Washington pundits are talking up a new civility, many progressives are bracing for the old servility - a bipartisanship that is servile to a corporate elite that is unquenchably greedy and more powerful than ever. But this is not a time for despair. It's a time for new activism - built upon one of the great achievements of the last decade: the rise of independent media."
________________________________________________________
Time to keep the money home. RAISE TAXES
Think China Has a Big Stake in US Business? Not Yet
Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers: "China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. government bonds, but it's made only modest investments in the nuts and bolts of the U.S. economy. China lags far behind its Asian and European competitors in direct investment in the US - taking stakes in manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses and other businesses. In fact, cash-rich China is near the back of the pack."
___________________________________________________________________
The rats under the rocks are overreaching. Maybe America will be revulsed by what it has done.
Is decline in workers’ power behind slow job growth?
By Zachary Roth
"For corporate America, the Great Recession is over. For the American work force, it's not."
That's how David Leonhardt of the New York Times puts it.
Leonhardt, a respected economics columnist for the Times, appears to disagree. One "obvious" explanation for slow job growth, he argues, is a shift in power away from workers and toward management. Leonhardt writes.
"For all their shortcomings," Leonhardt writes, "unions remain many workers' best hope for some bargaining power."
______________________________________________________________________
Escape from emptiness. Make your life mean something
I Joined the Peace Corps Because of Angelina Jolie
by Sean Smith Info
“When I was famous for just being an actress, my life felt very shallow,” Jolie said.
So I was seeking something authentic when I arrived in India, and I got more than I bargained for. A reported 43 percent of Mumbai’s 18 million people live in slums, and the depth of poverty is soul-sickening. By the time I met with Jolie, I felt raw and rattled, and I was eager to learn how she coped with this kind of suffering in her role as a U.N. ambassador. She said it was painful, yes, but it wasn’t debilitating because she was active. Her work was bringing attention to crises in the world. “If I couldn’t do that, I don’t know how I’d be around it, because I’d feel helpless,” she told me as we drove through the city. “You know, we all go through stages in our life where we feel lost, and I think it all comes down to having a sense of purpose. When I was famous for just being an actress, my life felt very shallow. Then when I became a mom and started working with the U.N., I was happy. I could die and feel that I’d done the right things with my life. It’s as simple as that.”
__________________________________________________
An abandoned dream financed through FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE
MAC, a middle class of homeowners
by Douglas A. McIntyre, Michael B. Sauter and Charles B. Stockdale
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The single biggest problem in the U.S. real estate market is simple: There are very few homebuyers.
That seems obvious, but the "buyers' strike" has caused house prices to drop, along with an epidemic of foreclosures. What's worse, the long depression in real estate is probably not over. S&P has forecast that home prices will drop by 7% to 10% this year. The S&P Case-Shiller Index has dropped for most of the 20 largest real estate markets over the last several months. RealtyTrac recently reported that more than 1 million homes were foreclosed upon in 2010.
Many economists argue that the housing market may take four or five years to recover. Even if that's proven to be true, the all-time highs of 2006 may never be reached again.
_____________________________________________________
Can’t pay the bill on the back of workers and students and the elderly.
AUSTIN, Texas – Public education in Texas is facing billions in proposed budget cuts that would include slashing arts education, pre-kindergarten programs and teacher incentive pay as lawmakers take on a massive deficit with the promise of no new taxes.
_____________________________________________________
Maybe Republicans could set tax rates at Eisenhower levels instead. By thinnest of margins in 2010, Republicans won 65 seats and are determined to turn the country upside down
by Chris Bowers
Sun Jan 16, 2011
A 7% national popular vote victory is a landslide in contemporary American politics. Democrats showed this in 2006 when they took back the House of Representatives with a 6.49% victory. President Barack Obama again made this point in 2008, when he defeated Senator John McCain by 7.27%. Just eleven weeks ago Republicans provided a third example when they won the national popular vote for Congress by 6.83%. A 7% victory isn’t just a win--it’s a thumping, a shellacking, or some such catch-phrase.
_____________________________________________________
Getting the word out and making it a matter of conviction like the NRA does
Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon | A Time for Action - Not Servility
Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, RootsAction: "While Washington pundits are talking up a new civility, many progressives are bracing for the old servility - a bipartisanship that is servile to a corporate elite that is unquenchably greedy and more powerful than ever. But this is not a time for despair. It's a time for new activism - built upon one of the great achievements of the last decade: the rise of independent media."
________________________________________________________
Time to keep the money home. RAISE TAXES
Think China Has a Big Stake in US Business? Not Yet
Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers: "China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. government bonds, but it's made only modest investments in the nuts and bolts of the U.S. economy. China lags far behind its Asian and European competitors in direct investment in the US - taking stakes in manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses and other businesses. In fact, cash-rich China is near the back of the pack."
___________________________________________________________________
The rats under the rocks are overreaching. Maybe America will be revulsed by what it has done.
Is decline in workers’ power behind slow job growth?
By Zachary Roth
"For corporate America, the Great Recession is over. For the American work force, it's not."
That's how David Leonhardt of the New York Times puts it.
Leonhardt, a respected economics columnist for the Times, appears to disagree. One "obvious" explanation for slow job growth, he argues, is a shift in power away from workers and toward management. Leonhardt writes.
"For all their shortcomings," Leonhardt writes, "unions remain many workers' best hope for some bargaining power."
______________________________________________________________________
Escape from emptiness. Make your life mean something
I Joined the Peace Corps Because of Angelina Jolie
by Sean Smith Info
“When I was famous for just being an actress, my life felt very shallow,” Jolie said.
So I was seeking something authentic when I arrived in India, and I got more than I bargained for. A reported 43 percent of Mumbai’s 18 million people live in slums, and the depth of poverty is soul-sickening. By the time I met with Jolie, I felt raw and rattled, and I was eager to learn how she coped with this kind of suffering in her role as a U.N. ambassador. She said it was painful, yes, but it wasn’t debilitating because she was active. Her work was bringing attention to crises in the world. “If I couldn’t do that, I don’t know how I’d be around it, because I’d feel helpless,” she told me as we drove through the city. “You know, we all go through stages in our life where we feel lost, and I think it all comes down to having a sense of purpose. When I was famous for just being an actress, my life felt very shallow. Then when I became a mom and started working with the U.N., I was happy. I could die and feel that I’d done the right things with my life. It’s as simple as that.”
__________________________________________________
An abandoned dream financed through FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE
MAC, a middle class of homeowners
by Douglas A. McIntyre, Michael B. Sauter and Charles B. Stockdale
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The single biggest problem in the U.S. real estate market is simple: There are very few homebuyers.
That seems obvious, but the "buyers' strike" has caused house prices to drop, along with an epidemic of foreclosures. What's worse, the long depression in real estate is probably not over. S&P has forecast that home prices will drop by 7% to 10% this year. The S&P Case-Shiller Index has dropped for most of the 20 largest real estate markets over the last several months. RealtyTrac recently reported that more than 1 million homes were foreclosed upon in 2010.
Many economists argue that the housing market may take four or five years to recover. Even if that's proven to be true, the all-time highs of 2006 may never be reached again.
_____________________________________________________
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
save your Confederate money. Slavery is coming back
Notes 27
Taking back America--pretty soon slavery will be popular again
New Ala. gov: Just Christians are his family
AP – Gov. Robert Bentley delivers a speech after being sworn in during the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol …
Jay Reeves, Associated Press – Tue Jan 18
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.
"Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother," Bentley said Monday, his inauguration day, according to The Birmingham News
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Obama proves he’s a loser by trying to be a winner. Perhaps, instead of continuing to transfer wealth to the wealthy, Obama could focus review on how to achieve a more equal distribution of wealth based on benefits derived
from the Nation’s natural resources and the productivity not only of capital but of labor.
Obama announces review of government regulations
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
In an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Obama said some government regulations have placed "unreasonable burdens on business -- burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs."
He said he would require that in the future government agencies "ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth."\
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Lies, damned lies, and Republican Congressmen
FACT CHECK: Shaky health care job loss estimate
Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press –
WASHINGTON
A recent report by House GOP leaders says "independent analyses have determined that the health care law will cause significant job losses for the U.S. economy."
It cites the 650,000 lost jobs as Exhibit A
What CBO actually said is that the impact of the health care law on supply and demand for labor would be small. Most of it would come from people who no longer have to work, or can downshift to less demanding employment, because insurance will be available outside the job.
"The legislation, on net, will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount _roughly half a percent_ primarily by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply," budget office number crunchers said in a report from last year.
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Obama’s tax policy for businesses is headed wrong way. Easiest way to keep money home is to let the government tax it and spend it since corporations are spending it abroad where they can make more money.
China cuts loan target; foreign investment hits record
On Tuesday January 18, 2011
By Soo Ai Peng and
Aileen Wang
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters)
Data which showed China drew a record amount of foreign investment in December and for all of 2010 underscored the difficulties it faces in draining its economy of an abundance of money that is helping to fuel inflation.
_____________________________________________________
Trying to put out the fire of protest against abominable conditions
2 Egyptian men attempt self-immolation
CAIRO – Two Egyptian men, possibly inspired by events in Tunisia, attempted to set themselves on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo, just a day after another man burned himself in front of parliament.
Police managed to quickly extinguish the fire engulfing lawyer Mohammed Farouq Mohammed el-Sayed after he set himself alight outside the prime minister's office and he was rushed to hospital with minor burns.
Taking back America--pretty soon slavery will be popular again
New Ala. gov: Just Christians are his family
AP – Gov. Robert Bentley delivers a speech after being sworn in during the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol …
Jay Reeves, Associated Press – Tue Jan 18
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.
"Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother," Bentley said Monday, his inauguration day, according to The Birmingham News
_________________________________________
Obama proves he’s a loser by trying to be a winner. Perhaps, instead of continuing to transfer wealth to the wealthy, Obama could focus review on how to achieve a more equal distribution of wealth based on benefits derived
from the Nation’s natural resources and the productivity not only of capital but of labor.
Obama announces review of government regulations
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
In an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Obama said some government regulations have placed "unreasonable burdens on business -- burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs."
He said he would require that in the future government agencies "ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth."\
_____________________________________________
Lies, damned lies, and Republican Congressmen
FACT CHECK: Shaky health care job loss estimate
Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press –
WASHINGTON
A recent report by House GOP leaders says "independent analyses have determined that the health care law will cause significant job losses for the U.S. economy."
It cites the 650,000 lost jobs as Exhibit A
What CBO actually said is that the impact of the health care law on supply and demand for labor would be small. Most of it would come from people who no longer have to work, or can downshift to less demanding employment, because insurance will be available outside the job.
"The legislation, on net, will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount _roughly half a percent_ primarily by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply," budget office number crunchers said in a report from last year.
__________________________________________________
Obama’s tax policy for businesses is headed wrong way. Easiest way to keep money home is to let the government tax it and spend it since corporations are spending it abroad where they can make more money.
China cuts loan target; foreign investment hits record
On Tuesday January 18, 2011
By Soo Ai Peng and
Aileen Wang
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters)
Data which showed China drew a record amount of foreign investment in December and for all of 2010 underscored the difficulties it faces in draining its economy of an abundance of money that is helping to fuel inflation.
_____________________________________________________
Trying to put out the fire of protest against abominable conditions
2 Egyptian men attempt self-immolation
CAIRO – Two Egyptian men, possibly inspired by events in Tunisia, attempted to set themselves on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo, just a day after another man burned himself in front of parliament.
Police managed to quickly extinguish the fire engulfing lawyer Mohammed Farouq Mohammed el-Sayed after he set himself alight outside the prime minister's office and he was rushed to hospital with minor burns.
Monday, January 17, 2011
News unfit to print
Notes 26
How corporations became incarnate
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "We the People are the first three words of the Preamble to the Constitution; and from its adoption until the Robber Baron Era in the late nineteenth century, people meant human beings. In the 1886 Santa Clara case, however, the court reporter of the Supreme Court proclaimed in a 'headnote‚' - a summary or statement added at the top of the court decision, which is separate from the decision and has no legal force whatsoever - that the word person in law and, particularly, in the Constitution, meant both humans and corporations."
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ETC.
State Employee Actions: layoffs and furloughs ... Actions and Proposals to Balance FY 2011 Budgets: State Employee Actions: Furloughs and Layoffs
Maryland Politics: Maryland state worker layoffs coming
...Rendell administration announces 50 state employee layoffs
...Layoff Tracker: Budget cuts cost 159 Florida state workers jobs
More State Employee Layoffs Anticipated With Budget Cuts ...
______________________________________________
For whom the bell tolls--The ultimate message that a society has failed to deliver on the promises of social contract
Tunisia copycat burnings in 3 North African countries
By Marwa Awad and Lamine Chikhi Marwa Awad And Lamine Chikhi – Mon Jan 17, 8:08 am ET
CAIRO/ALGIERS (Reuters) – The self-immolation that set off the protest wave which toppled Tunisia's leader has led to apparent copycat protests in other north African states, with four men setting themselves on fire in Algeria and one each in Egypt and Mauritania.
In Cairo, a man set himself ablaze on Monday near parliament in a protest against poor living conditions.
______________________________________________________________
Why don’t we go to war against Arizona, maybe against every state where domestic terrorists have used weapons to kill innocent victims?
Extremist Killing Is as American as Apple Pie: Murders Grow on the Far Right Four Decades After Martin Luther King
Stephan Salisbury, TomDispatch: "The landscape of America is littered with bodies. They've been gunned down in Tucson, shot to death at the Pentagon, and blown away at the Holocaust Museum, as well as in Wichita, Knoxville, Pittsburgh, Brockton, and Okaloosa County, Florida. Total body count for these incidents: 19 dead, 26 wounded. Not much, you might say, when taken in the context of about 30,000 gun-related deaths annually nationwide."
Remarks of Jeh C. Johnson at Martin Luther King Observance Day, The Pentagon January 13, 2011
For his efforts, Martin Luther King, the man we honor today alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, was the target of government surveillance and harassment. He was also the target of racist insults, bricks, bottles, numerous death threats, a knife in the chest in Harlem in 1958, and finally, he was murdered in Memphis in 1968.
The most controversial and difficult stand Dr. King took the final year of his life was against the war in Vietnam. Other civil rights leaders urged him to remain silent on the issue, not to alienate President Lyndon Johnson, who had been their best friend on civil rights.
In accepting his own Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, our President recognized that, in response to an unprovoked terrorist attack, war is inevitable to secure peace, and that the role of the military is to keep peace.
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Ex-banker says he's giving Wikileaks files on rich
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – LONDON – A former Swiss banker on Monday supplied documents to WikiLeaks that he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.
Rudolf Elmer, an ex-employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, said there were 2,000 account holders named in the documents, but refused to give details of the companies or individuals involved.
"I do think as a banker I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," said Elmer, who addressed reporters at London's Frontline Club alongside WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
"I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. From that point of view, I wanted to let society know what I know. It is damaging our society," Elmer said.
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In name of anti-terrorism, unprecedented international lawbreaking and invasion of privacy
Swiss lawmakers angry at alleged US spying program
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press John Heilprin, Associated Press – Mon Jan 17, 8:47 am ET
GENEVA – Angry Swiss lawmakers called Monday for the ouster of U.S. diplomats suspected of illegally spying on people around their diplomatic missions, in a standoff over the use of counterterrorism measures.
The Swiss government said it has demanded a stop to any surveillance and is investigating the scale of what it calls an unauthorized spying program by the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Geneva and the U.S. embassy in Bern.
The probe follows outrage in Iceland, Norway and Sweden over reports that U.S. diplomats were monitoring some of their countries' citizens — including allegedly taking pictures of street demonstrations and of people deemed security risks, sparking a wave of anti-American sentiment.
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Our heroes defending our border against dangerous hordes. Sound like Gaza has come to the American border?
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (Reuters) – The parents of a Mexican teenager allegedly killed last year by a bullet fired by a U.S. Border Patrol agent across the Rio Grande river, on Monday sued the U.S. government for $25 million.
The U.S. Border Patrol says Sergio Hernandez Guereca, 15, was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande river last June when Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side shot him to death.
The FBI has said that he was attacking the border agents with rocks at the time.
The incident was videotaped by several individuals and was broadcast on the Spanish-language Univision television network, and posted on the internet.
"We have seen brutality captured on video tape that stuns us as a country, when we think that law enforcement are trained and should not do that," Bob Hilliard, attorney for the Mexican family
said.
How corporations became incarnate
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "We the People are the first three words of the Preamble to the Constitution; and from its adoption until the Robber Baron Era in the late nineteenth century, people meant human beings. In the 1886 Santa Clara case, however, the court reporter of the Supreme Court proclaimed in a 'headnote‚' - a summary or statement added at the top of the court decision, which is separate from the decision and has no legal force whatsoever - that the word person in law and, particularly, in the Constitution, meant both humans and corporations."
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ETC.
State Employee Actions: layoffs and furloughs ... Actions and Proposals to Balance FY 2011 Budgets: State Employee Actions: Furloughs and Layoffs
Maryland Politics: Maryland state worker layoffs coming
...Rendell administration announces 50 state employee layoffs
...Layoff Tracker: Budget cuts cost 159 Florida state workers jobs
More State Employee Layoffs Anticipated With Budget Cuts ...
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For whom the bell tolls--The ultimate message that a society has failed to deliver on the promises of social contract
Tunisia copycat burnings in 3 North African countries
By Marwa Awad and Lamine Chikhi Marwa Awad And Lamine Chikhi – Mon Jan 17, 8:08 am ET
CAIRO/ALGIERS (Reuters) – The self-immolation that set off the protest wave which toppled Tunisia's leader has led to apparent copycat protests in other north African states, with four men setting themselves on fire in Algeria and one each in Egypt and Mauritania.
In Cairo, a man set himself ablaze on Monday near parliament in a protest against poor living conditions.
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Why don’t we go to war against Arizona, maybe against every state where domestic terrorists have used weapons to kill innocent victims?
Extremist Killing Is as American as Apple Pie: Murders Grow on the Far Right Four Decades After Martin Luther King
Stephan Salisbury, TomDispatch: "The landscape of America is littered with bodies. They've been gunned down in Tucson, shot to death at the Pentagon, and blown away at the Holocaust Museum, as well as in Wichita, Knoxville, Pittsburgh, Brockton, and Okaloosa County, Florida. Total body count for these incidents: 19 dead, 26 wounded. Not much, you might say, when taken in the context of about 30,000 gun-related deaths annually nationwide."
Remarks of Jeh C. Johnson at Martin Luther King Observance Day, The Pentagon January 13, 2011
For his efforts, Martin Luther King, the man we honor today alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, was the target of government surveillance and harassment. He was also the target of racist insults, bricks, bottles, numerous death threats, a knife in the chest in Harlem in 1958, and finally, he was murdered in Memphis in 1968.
The most controversial and difficult stand Dr. King took the final year of his life was against the war in Vietnam. Other civil rights leaders urged him to remain silent on the issue, not to alienate President Lyndon Johnson, who had been their best friend on civil rights.
In accepting his own Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, our President recognized that, in response to an unprovoked terrorist attack, war is inevitable to secure peace, and that the role of the military is to keep peace.
_____________________________________________________________
Ex-banker says he's giving Wikileaks files on rich
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – LONDON – A former Swiss banker on Monday supplied documents to WikiLeaks that he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.
Rudolf Elmer, an ex-employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, said there were 2,000 account holders named in the documents, but refused to give details of the companies or individuals involved.
"I do think as a banker I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," said Elmer, who addressed reporters at London's Frontline Club alongside WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
"I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. From that point of view, I wanted to let society know what I know. It is damaging our society," Elmer said.
__________________________________________________
In name of anti-terrorism, unprecedented international lawbreaking and invasion of privacy
Swiss lawmakers angry at alleged US spying program
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press John Heilprin, Associated Press – Mon Jan 17, 8:47 am ET
GENEVA – Angry Swiss lawmakers called Monday for the ouster of U.S. diplomats suspected of illegally spying on people around their diplomatic missions, in a standoff over the use of counterterrorism measures.
The Swiss government said it has demanded a stop to any surveillance and is investigating the scale of what it calls an unauthorized spying program by the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Geneva and the U.S. embassy in Bern.
The probe follows outrage in Iceland, Norway and Sweden over reports that U.S. diplomats were monitoring some of their countries' citizens — including allegedly taking pictures of street demonstrations and of people deemed security risks, sparking a wave of anti-American sentiment.
____________________________________________________
Our heroes defending our border against dangerous hordes. Sound like Gaza has come to the American border?
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (Reuters) – The parents of a Mexican teenager allegedly killed last year by a bullet fired by a U.S. Border Patrol agent across the Rio Grande river, on Monday sued the U.S. government for $25 million.
The U.S. Border Patrol says Sergio Hernandez Guereca, 15, was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande river last June when Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side shot him to death.
The FBI has said that he was attacking the border agents with rocks at the time.
The incident was videotaped by several individuals and was broadcast on the Spanish-language Univision television network, and posted on the internet.
"We have seen brutality captured on video tape that stuns us as a country, when we think that law enforcement are trained and should not do that," Bob Hilliard, attorney for the Mexican family
said.
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