Notes 82
Reminiscent of Westmoreland body counts in Viet Nam--only just the opposite. Saw the movie War, Inc last night with John Cusack, Dan Akroyd and Ben Kingsley. A funny send up of what America, Inc has become and the absurdity of surgical strikes. Imagine our guys standing by and doing the body count after a cruise missile dismembers whoever is in the way.
NATO airstrike accidentally kills 2 civilians

By Solomon Moore, Associated Press –
KABUL, Afghanistan – A NATO helicopter gunship inadvertently killed two civilians while attacking suspected insurgents in the eastern province of Khost, NATO announced Thursday.
The attack targeted a Haqqani network leader in Tere Zayi district on Wednesday, according to NATO.
"At the time of the strike, two civilians were walking near the moving targeted vehicle," NATO said. "They were previously unseen by coalition forces prior to the initiation of the airstrike. Unfortunately both were killed as an unintended result of the strike."
_____________________________________________________
This is disgusting. The Israelis have been occupying and beating and starving and treating Palestinians and the longstanding promises of an “international” community going back to the U.N. Partition Plan of 194 like dirt. And the U.S. has been the chief enabler with its roadmaps and Camp David meeting. Just like U.S. support for Mubarak and all the other corrupt dictators of the Middle East.
Gaza militants fire rockets deep into Israel

By Aron Heller, Associated Press – 27 mins ago
JERUSALEM – Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a new wave of rockets that landed deep inside Israel Thursday, defying Israeli retaliatory attacks and threats.
As the violence threatened to escalate the day after a deadly Jerusalem bombing, Israel got a boost from the visiting U.S. defense chief, who said no country could tolerate the "repugnant" attacks on its soil.
_________________________________________________________
Can you believe it. Government stands against illegal evidence gathered by wire tap and U.S. government harasses it? If only our own legal system would stand up to lawbreaking of the big boys like it does to little guys on crack cocaine. We’re represented by a bunch of strong arm thugs--and not just in Afghanistan.
Jamaica PM says US officials harassed his gov't

By David Mcfadden, Associated Press – Thu Mar 24, 7:04 pm ET
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said Thursday that U.S. Embassy officials displayed a "belligerent attitude" toward his government after Washington sought the extradition of a reputed crime boss with ties to his political party.
Golding said the U.S. Embassy's charge d'affaires pressured his justice minister to quickly hand over alleged drug kingpin Christoper "Dudus" Coke during at least two phone calls within days of his government receiving the August 2009 extradition request.
"I interpret that kind of behavior as harassment," Golding testified to a fact-finding commission examining his government's handling of the extradition request for Coke.
The prime minister resisted the U.S. extradition request for nine months, arguing Coke's indictment on gun and drug trafficking charges relied on illegal wiretap evidence. The stance strained relations with Washington, which questioned Jamaica's reliability as an ally in the fight against drug trafficking.
___________________________________________________
There is a sickness abroad and it is destroying the social contract that binds us together as a people proud to declare their Christianity on our coinage and in our public buildings but lacking in the conviction to make the Beatitudes real.
Buried Provision in House GOP Bill Would Cut Off Food Stamps to Entire Families if One Member Strikes
Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress: "All around the country, right-wing legislators are asking middle class Americans to pay for budget deficits caused mainly by a recession caused by Wall Street; they are attacking workers' collective bargaining rights, which has provoked a huge Main Street Movement to fight back. Now, a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers. GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (OH), Tim Scott (SC), Scott Garrett (NJ), Dan Burton (IN), and Louie Gohmert (TX) have introduced H.R. 1135, which states that it is designed to 'provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, to provide additional work requirements, and to provide an overall spending limit on means-tested welfare programs.'"
_______________________________________________________
The battle for absolute, unlimited freedom never goes away
Isaiah J. Poole | From Memphis to Madison: The April 4 Stand for Economic Justice
Isaiah J. Poole, Campaign For America's Future: "On April 4, we will be called on not to merely remember that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on that day in 1968, but to recall what he was about to do on the day he was shot - and why the mission he was on that day very much matters to the struggle of working people (and those who want to become working people) today. King was in Memphis to support sanitation workers who were caught in a struggle with the city's mayor that was very similar to the battle that public employees in Wisconsin were fighting with Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the state legislature."
"...an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society - cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian." -Howard Zinn,
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Paying victims of Fed security, Gov cleaning up Alabama's history for run at Presidency, home,a bad investment, Japan/ Afghanistan costs in perspective
Notes 81
Yea
Under suspicion: Millions paid to former suspects

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Mon Mar 21
In recent years the federal government or its contractors have paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits filed by people who say they were unfairly detained or harassed because of terrorism fears. The payments include:
• $2 million in 2006 to Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was jailed after FBI agents mistakenly linked him to a fingerprint found after the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
• $2.5 million in attorney fees and damages, ordered by a judge who found that the U.S. government failed to get court warrants before wiretapping the calls of an Oregon charity accused of supporting terrorists.
• $1.8 million in 2006 and 2009 to seven men detained for months in New York and New Jersey shortly after Sept. 11. Other plaintiffs in the case are still pursuing it in court, and their lawyers say it could eventually involve about 1,200 former detainees.
• $250,000 in 2009 to Abdallah Higazy, jailed for 34 days after an aviation radio was found in the safe of a hotel room he was occupying near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The radio had been left in the room by a previous guest, a pilot.
• $240,000 paid to Raed Jarrar by the Transportation Security Administration and JetBlue Airways after the TSA forced him to cover a shirt with Arabic script before boarding a flight.
• $225,000 paid by the San Francisco Police Department and a TSA contractor to Rahinah Ibrahim, who was detained at the San Francisco International Airport and lost her U.S. visa after her name appeared on a no-fly list. The Department of Homeland Security is still fighting her lawsuit.
__________________________________________________
Sometimes the wheels of justice grind very slowly
Ala. leaders apologize for handling of 1944 rape

By Bob Johnson, Associated Press – Mon Mar 21, 5:08 pm ET
ABBEVILLE, Ala. – Nearly 70 years after Recy Taylor was raped by a gang of white men, leaders of the rural southeast Alabama community where it happened apologized Monday, acknowledging that her attackers escaped prosecution because of racism and an investigation bungled by police.
"It is apparent that the system failed you in 1944," Henry County probate judge and commission chairwoman JoAnn Smith told several of Taylor's relatives at a news conference at the county courthouse.
___________________________________________________
What I’ve been saying and how I’ve been living for 20 years. Not something you’ll hear from Suzy Ormand.
Why I Am Never Going to Own a Home Again
Posted Mar 21, 2011 10:24am EDT by James Altucher in Newsmakers, Housing
Editor's Note: The following blog post was written by James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital, and originally published on his website: The Altucher Confidential.
There are many reasons to not buy a home: [By the way, I also put this in the category of Advice I want to tell my daughters, including my other article: 10 reasons not to send your kids to college.]
Financial:
A) Cash Gone. You have to write a big fat check for a downpayment. “But its an investment,” you might say to me. Historically this isn’t true. Housing returned 0.4% per year from from 1890 to 2004. And that’s just housing prices. It forgets all the other stuff I’m going to mention below. Suffice to say, when you write that check, you’re never going to see that money again. Because even when you sell the house later you’re just going to take that money and put it into another downpayment. So if you buy a $400,000 home, just say goodbye to $100,000 that you worked hard for. You can put a little sign on the front lawn: “$100,000 R.I.P.”
B) Closing costs. I forget what they were the last two times I bought a house. But it was about another 2-3% out the window. Lawyers, title insurance, moving costs, antidepressant medicine. It adds up. 2-3%.
C) Maintenance. No matter what, you’re going to fix things. Lots of things. In the lifespan of your house, everything is going to break. Thrice. Get down on your hands and knees and fix it! And then open up your checkbook again. Spend some more money. I rent. My dishwasher doesn’t work. I call the landlord and he fixes it. Or I buy a new one and deduct it from my rent. And some guy from Sears comes and installs it. I do nothing. The Sears repairman and my landlord work for me.
D) Taxes. There’s this myth that you can deduct mortgage payment interest from your taxes. Whatever. That’s a microscopic dot on your tax returns. Whats worse is the taxes you pay. So your kids can get a great education. Whatever.
E) You’re trapped. Lets spell out very clearly why the myth of homeownership became religion in the United States. Its because corporations didn’t want their employees to have many job choices. So they encouraged them to own homes. So they can’t move away and get new jobs. Job salaries is a function of supply and demand. If you can’t move, then your supply of jobs is low. You can’t argue the reverse, since new adults are always competing with you.
F) Ugly. Saying “my house is an investment” forgets the fact that a house has all the qualities of the ugliest type of investment:
Illiquidity. You can’t cash out whenever you want.
High leverage. You have to borrow a lot of money in most cases.
No diversification. For most people, a house is by far the largest part of their portfolio and greatly exceeds the 10% of net worth that any other investment should be.
For more on Altucher's personal reasons not to own a home, go here.
__________________________________________________
At least somebody can imagine ending the Afghan War.
Report: Time is now for talks to end Afghan war

By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press – \
KABUL, Afghanistan – The war in Afghanistan has reached a stalemate and the best time to jump-start a political settlement with the Taliban is now, according to a report released Wednesday by a U.S. think tank.
The report, issued by the New Century Foundation, said the U.S. and Afghanistan's neighbors, especially Pakistan, must play key roles in any negotiations. Demands that the Taliban sever ties with al-Qaida or that foreign troops exit the nation, for example, should be considered goals, not preconditions of talks, the 126-page report said. The group also proposed that a neutral party, perhaps the United Nations, be named to facilitate the process.
____________________________________________________
Putting costs in perspective. Estimate of Japanese economic loss is now 235 billion or 4% of GDP and we are startled by amount. But U.S has been spending more than a trillion for years on military and its wars, and people are ho hum. We want to cut domestic programs like education and healthcare, not military costs.
No telling the cost to civilian production now shifted abroad to make room for major American industry--manufacture of armaments
Disaster could cost Japan $235 billion: W. Bank
by Martin Abbugao Martin Abbugao – Mon Mar 21, 6:51 am ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami could cost its economy up to $235 billion, or 4.0 percent of output, and reconstruction could take five years, the World Bank warned Monday.
"If history is any guide, real GDP growth will be negatively affected through mid-2011," the Bank said in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report.
But growth should pick up in subsequent quarters "as reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerate", it added.
Yea
Under suspicion: Millions paid to former suspects

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Mon Mar 21
In recent years the federal government or its contractors have paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits filed by people who say they were unfairly detained or harassed because of terrorism fears. The payments include:
• $2 million in 2006 to Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was jailed after FBI agents mistakenly linked him to a fingerprint found after the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
• $2.5 million in attorney fees and damages, ordered by a judge who found that the U.S. government failed to get court warrants before wiretapping the calls of an Oregon charity accused of supporting terrorists.
• $1.8 million in 2006 and 2009 to seven men detained for months in New York and New Jersey shortly after Sept. 11. Other plaintiffs in the case are still pursuing it in court, and their lawyers say it could eventually involve about 1,200 former detainees.
• $250,000 in 2009 to Abdallah Higazy, jailed for 34 days after an aviation radio was found in the safe of a hotel room he was occupying near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The radio had been left in the room by a previous guest, a pilot.
• $240,000 paid to Raed Jarrar by the Transportation Security Administration and JetBlue Airways after the TSA forced him to cover a shirt with Arabic script before boarding a flight.
• $225,000 paid by the San Francisco Police Department and a TSA contractor to Rahinah Ibrahim, who was detained at the San Francisco International Airport and lost her U.S. visa after her name appeared on a no-fly list. The Department of Homeland Security is still fighting her lawsuit.
__________________________________________________
Sometimes the wheels of justice grind very slowly
Ala. leaders apologize for handling of 1944 rape

By Bob Johnson, Associated Press – Mon Mar 21, 5:08 pm ET
ABBEVILLE, Ala. – Nearly 70 years after Recy Taylor was raped by a gang of white men, leaders of the rural southeast Alabama community where it happened apologized Monday, acknowledging that her attackers escaped prosecution because of racism and an investigation bungled by police.
"It is apparent that the system failed you in 1944," Henry County probate judge and commission chairwoman JoAnn Smith told several of Taylor's relatives at a news conference at the county courthouse.
___________________________________________________
What I’ve been saying and how I’ve been living for 20 years. Not something you’ll hear from Suzy Ormand.
Why I Am Never Going to Own a Home Again
Posted Mar 21, 2011 10:24am EDT by James Altucher in Newsmakers, Housing
Editor's Note: The following blog post was written by James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital, and originally published on his website: The Altucher Confidential.
There are many reasons to not buy a home: [By the way, I also put this in the category of Advice I want to tell my daughters, including my other article: 10 reasons not to send your kids to college.]
Financial:
A) Cash Gone. You have to write a big fat check for a downpayment. “But its an investment,” you might say to me. Historically this isn’t true. Housing returned 0.4% per year from from 1890 to 2004. And that’s just housing prices. It forgets all the other stuff I’m going to mention below. Suffice to say, when you write that check, you’re never going to see that money again. Because even when you sell the house later you’re just going to take that money and put it into another downpayment. So if you buy a $400,000 home, just say goodbye to $100,000 that you worked hard for. You can put a little sign on the front lawn: “$100,000 R.I.P.”
B) Closing costs. I forget what they were the last two times I bought a house. But it was about another 2-3% out the window. Lawyers, title insurance, moving costs, antidepressant medicine. It adds up. 2-3%.
C) Maintenance. No matter what, you’re going to fix things. Lots of things. In the lifespan of your house, everything is going to break. Thrice. Get down on your hands and knees and fix it! And then open up your checkbook again. Spend some more money. I rent. My dishwasher doesn’t work. I call the landlord and he fixes it. Or I buy a new one and deduct it from my rent. And some guy from Sears comes and installs it. I do nothing. The Sears repairman and my landlord work for me.
D) Taxes. There’s this myth that you can deduct mortgage payment interest from your taxes. Whatever. That’s a microscopic dot on your tax returns. Whats worse is the taxes you pay. So your kids can get a great education. Whatever.
E) You’re trapped. Lets spell out very clearly why the myth of homeownership became religion in the United States. Its because corporations didn’t want their employees to have many job choices. So they encouraged them to own homes. So they can’t move away and get new jobs. Job salaries is a function of supply and demand. If you can’t move, then your supply of jobs is low. You can’t argue the reverse, since new adults are always competing with you.
F) Ugly. Saying “my house is an investment” forgets the fact that a house has all the qualities of the ugliest type of investment:
Illiquidity. You can’t cash out whenever you want.
High leverage. You have to borrow a lot of money in most cases.
No diversification. For most people, a house is by far the largest part of their portfolio and greatly exceeds the 10% of net worth that any other investment should be.
For more on Altucher's personal reasons not to own a home, go here.
__________________________________________________
At least somebody can imagine ending the Afghan War.
Report: Time is now for talks to end Afghan war

By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press – \
KABUL, Afghanistan – The war in Afghanistan has reached a stalemate and the best time to jump-start a political settlement with the Taliban is now, according to a report released Wednesday by a U.S. think tank.
The report, issued by the New Century Foundation, said the U.S. and Afghanistan's neighbors, especially Pakistan, must play key roles in any negotiations. Demands that the Taliban sever ties with al-Qaida or that foreign troops exit the nation, for example, should be considered goals, not preconditions of talks, the 126-page report said. The group also proposed that a neutral party, perhaps the United Nations, be named to facilitate the process.
____________________________________________________
Putting costs in perspective. Estimate of Japanese economic loss is now 235 billion or 4% of GDP and we are startled by amount. But U.S has been spending more than a trillion for years on military and its wars, and people are ho hum. We want to cut domestic programs like education and healthcare, not military costs.
No telling the cost to civilian production now shifted abroad to make room for major American industry--manufacture of armaments
Disaster could cost Japan $235 billion: W. Bank
by Martin Abbugao Martin Abbugao – Mon Mar 21, 6:51 am ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami could cost its economy up to $235 billion, or 4.0 percent of output, and reconstruction could take five years, the World Bank warned Monday.
"If history is any guide, real GDP growth will be negatively affected through mid-2011," the Bank said in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report.
But growth should pick up in subsequent quarters "as reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerate", it added.
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Armageddon, upheaveal, revolution, rebellion and disaster--fascinating times
Notes 80
Letting go of the old order
Japan tragedy seared into the world's imagination

TOKYO – There are events in history that sear themselves into the world's collective imagination, and enter the realm where myth meets heartbreaking reality.
Japan's tragedy is one of those events. Already, it seems reasonable to surmise it could prove one of the most significant calamities of our time — one that shapes policies, economies, even philosophies for decades to come in an increasingly interconnected world.
There is the sheer, surreal force of the images emerging from afflicted zones: cars perched on rooftops, ships sitting in rice paddies, helicopters in a David-and-Goliath battle against radiation-spewing nuclear reactors.
And the way it haunts us with some of our most basic fears: Death by water. Or rubble. Or nuclear fallout.
__________________________________________________
Fallout fro Wiki Leaks continues, even if more muted by U.S. intimidation. The truth behind the scenes, it seems, is too unbearable to be born by the innocent public
US ambassador to Mexico quits amid WikiLeaks furor…
By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
MEXICO CITY – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned Saturday amid furor over a leaked diplomatic cable in which he complained about inefficiency and infighting among Mexican security forces in the campaign against drug cartels.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Paris to meet with U.S. allies on Libya, said Carlos Pascual's decision to step down was "based upon his personal desire to ensure the strong relationship between our two countries and to avert issues" raised by President Felipe Calderon.
______________________________________________________
I wonder why the suffering of Libyan resistance fighters is worse than the millions oppressed in Gaza.. I wonder where Obama has been when their lives were being destroyed. It’s about oil, stupid, the European supply and the war lead by Europeans.
Gadhafi vows 'long war' after US, allies strike

By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya –
State television said Gadhafi's supporters were converging on airports as human shields.
"We promise you a long war," he said. Gadhafi vowed a "long war" against the international military force that struck at his forces with airstrikes and dozens of cruise missiles that shook the Libyan capital early Sunday with the sound of explosions and anti-aircraft fire. In the capital of the rebel-held east, the Libyan leader's guns appeared to go silent.
"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."
____________________________________________________
When the people who manufacture the war material and give themselves and their children to the armies, when they resist, we will finally have peace
Protesters outside White House urge Obama to help Libya
February 19, 2011|By Mary Grace Lucas, CNN
"We have people that are risking their lives, who are finding ways to send their messages, their videos, their recaps, their recounts of what's been going on," Sahad said. "They're asking us, 'Where is the media? Where is the rest of the world? We don't have cameramen down here. We don't have Anderson Cooper down here. We don't have people on the ground level to give us support and to show the rest of the world what we've been going though.'"
"What's going on the ground in Libya reminds me of what happened 15 years ago," El Shafei said. "They're saying (Gadhafi) shut the emergency rooms and he shut communication, and some district in Libya, the electricity, the water lines, and people are dying."
_______________________________________________________
Maybe the world is rebelling en masse against the status quo and the Tea Party was the tip of the spear in the U.S. that will liberate a liberal resurgence in a way Obama only promised to do.
Tanks deploy in Sanaa as top army general defects

By Ahmed Al-haj, Associated Press –
SANAA, Yemen – Three army commanders, including a top general, defected Monday to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as army tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the Yemeni capital.
The most senior of the three officers is Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a longtime confidante of Saleh and commander of the army's powerful 1st Armored Division. Units of the division deployed Monday in a major square in Sanaa where protesters have been camping out to call for Saleh to step down.
__________________________________________________
Or maybe is upheval will carry us backward as the Tea Party is trying to do--witness the assault on union gains for workers--instead of forward
Cruise missile blasts Gadhafi's compound near tent
By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya – A cruise missile blasted Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound in an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, and fighter jets destroyed a line of tanks moving on the rebel capital. The U.S. said the international assault would hit any government forces attacking the opposition.
"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gadhafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.
______________________________________________________
In a growing number of communities, the evidence of hopelessness grows deeper
AP Enterprise: Indian youth suicide crisis baffles
By Matt Volz, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
POPLAR, Mont. – Chelle Rose Follette fashioned a noose with her pajamas, tying one end to a closet rod and the other around her neck. When her mother entered the bedroom to put away laundry, she found the 13-year-old hanging.
Ida Follette screamed for her husband, Darrell.
He lifted his child's body, rushed her to the bed and tried to bring her back.
"She was so light, she was so light. And I put her down. I said, 'No, Chelle!'"
But the time had passed for CPR, he said, his voice fading with still raw grief. His wife sat next to him on the couch, sobbing at the retelling.
Here on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, a spasm of youth suicides had caused alarm and confusion even before Chelle's death.The Follettes had talked with her about other local children who had killed themselves. She had assured her parents that they need not worry about her.
Letting go of the old order
Japan tragedy seared into the world's imagination

TOKYO – There are events in history that sear themselves into the world's collective imagination, and enter the realm where myth meets heartbreaking reality.
Japan's tragedy is one of those events. Already, it seems reasonable to surmise it could prove one of the most significant calamities of our time — one that shapes policies, economies, even philosophies for decades to come in an increasingly interconnected world.
There is the sheer, surreal force of the images emerging from afflicted zones: cars perched on rooftops, ships sitting in rice paddies, helicopters in a David-and-Goliath battle against radiation-spewing nuclear reactors.
And the way it haunts us with some of our most basic fears: Death by water. Or rubble. Or nuclear fallout.
__________________________________________________
Fallout fro Wiki Leaks continues, even if more muted by U.S. intimidation. The truth behind the scenes, it seems, is too unbearable to be born by the innocent public
US ambassador to Mexico quits amid WikiLeaks furor…
By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
MEXICO CITY – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned Saturday amid furor over a leaked diplomatic cable in which he complained about inefficiency and infighting among Mexican security forces in the campaign against drug cartels.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Paris to meet with U.S. allies on Libya, said Carlos Pascual's decision to step down was "based upon his personal desire to ensure the strong relationship between our two countries and to avert issues" raised by President Felipe Calderon.
______________________________________________________
I wonder why the suffering of Libyan resistance fighters is worse than the millions oppressed in Gaza.. I wonder where Obama has been when their lives were being destroyed. It’s about oil, stupid, the European supply and the war lead by Europeans.
Gadhafi vows 'long war' after US, allies strike

By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya –
State television said Gadhafi's supporters were converging on airports as human shields.
"We promise you a long war," he said. Gadhafi vowed a "long war" against the international military force that struck at his forces with airstrikes and dozens of cruise missiles that shook the Libyan capital early Sunday with the sound of explosions and anti-aircraft fire. In the capital of the rebel-held east, the Libyan leader's guns appeared to go silent.
"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."
____________________________________________________
When the people who manufacture the war material and give themselves and their children to the armies, when they resist, we will finally have peace
Protesters outside White House urge Obama to help Libya
February 19, 2011|By Mary Grace Lucas, CNN
"We have people that are risking their lives, who are finding ways to send their messages, their videos, their recaps, their recounts of what's been going on," Sahad said. "They're asking us, 'Where is the media? Where is the rest of the world? We don't have cameramen down here. We don't have Anderson Cooper down here. We don't have people on the ground level to give us support and to show the rest of the world what we've been going though.'"
"What's going on the ground in Libya reminds me of what happened 15 years ago," El Shafei said. "They're saying (Gadhafi) shut the emergency rooms and he shut communication, and some district in Libya, the electricity, the water lines, and people are dying."
_______________________________________________________
Maybe the world is rebelling en masse against the status quo and the Tea Party was the tip of the spear in the U.S. that will liberate a liberal resurgence in a way Obama only promised to do.
Tanks deploy in Sanaa as top army general defects

By Ahmed Al-haj, Associated Press –
SANAA, Yemen – Three army commanders, including a top general, defected Monday to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as army tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the Yemeni capital.
The most senior of the three officers is Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a longtime confidante of Saleh and commander of the army's powerful 1st Armored Division. Units of the division deployed Monday in a major square in Sanaa where protesters have been camping out to call for Saleh to step down.
__________________________________________________
Or maybe is upheval will carry us backward as the Tea Party is trying to do--witness the assault on union gains for workers--instead of forward
Cruise missile blasts Gadhafi's compound near tent
By Hadeel Al-shalchi And Ryan Lucas, Associated Press –
TRIPOLI, Libya – A cruise missile blasted Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound in an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, and fighter jets destroyed a line of tanks moving on the rebel capital. The U.S. said the international assault would hit any government forces attacking the opposition.
"I feel like in two days max we will destroy Gadhafi," said Ezzeldin Helwani, 35, a rebel standing next to the smoldering wreckage of an armored personnel carrier, the air thick with smoke and the pungent smell of burning rubber. In a grisly sort of battle trophy, celebrating fighters hung a severed goat's head with a cigarette in its mouth from the turret of one of the gutted tanks.
______________________________________________________
In a growing number of communities, the evidence of hopelessness grows deeper
AP Enterprise: Indian youth suicide crisis baffles
By Matt Volz, Associated Press – Sun Mar 20
POPLAR, Mont. – Chelle Rose Follette fashioned a noose with her pajamas, tying one end to a closet rod and the other around her neck. When her mother entered the bedroom to put away laundry, she found the 13-year-old hanging.
Ida Follette screamed for her husband, Darrell.
He lifted his child's body, rushed her to the bed and tried to bring her back.
"She was so light, she was so light. And I put her down. I said, 'No, Chelle!'"
But the time had passed for CPR, he said, his voice fading with still raw grief. His wife sat next to him on the couch, sobbing at the retelling.
Here on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, a spasm of youth suicides had caused alarm and confusion even before Chelle's death.The Follettes had talked with her about other local children who had killed themselves. She had assured her parents that they need not worry about her.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Making Big Tobacco invisible and the materializin other lies of language
Notes 79
When will the U.S. strangle the manufacture of cigarettes, stop subsidizing growers, and get serious about eliminating the deadly impact of smoking?
UK Tobacco Display Ban, Plain Packaging Requirement Move Forward
March 16th, 2011
The British government said earlier this week that it plans to ban the display of tobacco products and may even introduce a plain packaging requirement, a concerted effort to curb smoking, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Coinciding with the publication of the plan, the government also launched a formal consultation on ways to reduce the effect of tobacco packaging, including introducing plain packaging
The British American Tobacco (BAT) , producer of Dunhill cigarettes blasted the government’s announcement, saying that it will have economic consequences for small retailers.
“We are disappointed the government didn’t properly consider the views of the tens of thousands of smaller retailers nationwide who are worried about costly shop refits, losing trade to big supermarkets and the black market, especially against a backdrop of tough economic times,” a BAT spokesperson said.
____________________________________________________
Stupidity can be infectious OR what did the boss say he’d like to read
Paul Krugman | All Aboard the Collectivist Train
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "Columnist George Will wrote a piece recently for Newsweek on President Barack Obama's high-speed rail initiative that was truly bizarre. 'So why is America's 'win the future' administration so fixated on railroads, a technology that was the future two centuries ago? Because progressivism's aim is the modification of (other people's) behavior,' Mr. Will wrote. 'Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons - to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use ... the real reason for progressives' passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans' individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.' It is astonishing to see Mr. Will - who is not a stupid man - embracing the sinister progressives-hate-your-freedom line with regard to train travel."
_______________________________________________________
Tempest in a teapot? Lotsa money to be made selling nuclear tea kettles while risking the end of tea
Can US Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
John Sullivan, ProPublica: "As engineers in Japan struggle to bring quake-damaged reactors under control, attention is turning to U.S. nuclear plants and their ability to withstand natural disasters. Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has spent years pushing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission toward stricter enforcement of its safety rules, has called for a reassessment. Several U.S. reactors lie on or near fault lines, and Markey wants to beef up standards for new and existing plants."
_____________________________________________________
If the public can’t be screwed one way, corporations will find another, more devious way.
The Toll Road to Serfdom
Tuesday 15 March 2011
by: Ellen Dannin | American Constitution Society | Op-Ed
If you want to experience a real disconnect, find out how highway privation actually works and then read the glowing raves by infrastructure privatization boosters.
They claim that privatization transfers risk to the private contractor, while providing high quality infrastructure that a cash-strapped public cannot otherwise afford. They say that the public will have easy drives with new roads and new lanes, all assisted by the installation of the latest tolling and messaging technology.
Today's deals include terms intended to make the toll road drivers' only alternative. Commonly found "noncompete" terms forbid building or improving "competing" road or mass transit systems. They may also require what is called "traffic calming" but which means by narrowing lanes or making other changes to make alternative routes unpleasant or less useful. Other contract terms require that the government "partner" compensate private contractors for "adverse actions," such as promoting car pooling to lower air pollution and urban congestion that could affect revenues. For the next 40 years, the HOT lanes contract with Transurban of Australia and Fluor Corporation of Texas requires Virginia to reimburse the private companies whenever Capital Beltway carpools exceed 24 percent of the traffic on the carpool lanes - or until the builders make $100 million in profits.
______________________________________________________
The Japanese don’t believe their government. The intelligence community does not believe Petraeus. Nobody to believe anymore.
Washington Smackdown: Petraeus vs. "Substantial Drawdown"
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Gen. David Petraeus spoke yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, and is speaking today before the House Armed Services Committee, selling Congress a 'progress' story about the war in Afghanistan that isn't believed by US intelligence analysts. Whether members of Congress choose to believe Petraeus' reassurances over the assessments of the US intelligence community ('who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?') could prove decisive in determining whether the July drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan that President Obama has promised will be 'token,' as the Pentagon
____________________________________________________
Now U.S has gained control of U.N. metrics. No place to turn for facts
UN Reported Only a Fraction of Civilian Deaths From US Raids
Gareth Porter and Shah Noori, Inter Press Service: "The number of civilians killed in U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids last year was probably several times higher than the figure of 80 people cited in the U.N. report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan published last week, an IPS investigation has revealed. The report also failed to apply the same humanitarian law standard for defining a civilian to its reporting on SOF raids that it applied to its accounting for Taliban assassinations."
_________________________________________________
“Surgical” can have deadly different meanings depending which end of the knife you are on.
Taking the War Out of Air War: What US Air Power Actually Does
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: "Over the years, Afghan civilian casualties from the air have waxed and waned, depending on how much air power American commanders were willing to call in, but they have never ceased. As history tells us, air power and civilian deaths are inextricably bound together. They can't be separated, no matter how much anyone talks about 'surgical' strikes and precision bombing. It's simply the barbaric essence, the very nature of this kind of war, to kill noncombatants."
________________________________________________________
So much for surgical. It assumes you can identify the arget AND hit it on the button
Pakistan army chief condemns US drone attack

By Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press –
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's army chief strongly condemned a U.S. drone attack that killed more than three dozen people Thursday, saying the missiles struck a peaceful meeting of tribal elders near the Afghan border.
When will the U.S. strangle the manufacture of cigarettes, stop subsidizing growers, and get serious about eliminating the deadly impact of smoking?
UK Tobacco Display Ban, Plain Packaging Requirement Move Forward
March 16th, 2011
The British government said earlier this week that it plans to ban the display of tobacco products and may even introduce a plain packaging requirement, a concerted effort to curb smoking, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Coinciding with the publication of the plan, the government also launched a formal consultation on ways to reduce the effect of tobacco packaging, including introducing plain packaging
The British American Tobacco (BAT) , producer of Dunhill cigarettes blasted the government’s announcement, saying that it will have economic consequences for small retailers.
“We are disappointed the government didn’t properly consider the views of the tens of thousands of smaller retailers nationwide who are worried about costly shop refits, losing trade to big supermarkets and the black market, especially against a backdrop of tough economic times,” a BAT spokesperson said.
____________________________________________________
Stupidity can be infectious OR what did the boss say he’d like to read
Paul Krugman | All Aboard the Collectivist Train
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "Columnist George Will wrote a piece recently for Newsweek on President Barack Obama's high-speed rail initiative that was truly bizarre. 'So why is America's 'win the future' administration so fixated on railroads, a technology that was the future two centuries ago? Because progressivism's aim is the modification of (other people's) behavior,' Mr. Will wrote. 'Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons - to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use ... the real reason for progressives' passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans' individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.' It is astonishing to see Mr. Will - who is not a stupid man - embracing the sinister progressives-hate-your-freedom line with regard to train travel."
_______________________________________________________
Tempest in a teapot? Lotsa money to be made selling nuclear tea kettles while risking the end of tea
Can US Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
John Sullivan, ProPublica: "As engineers in Japan struggle to bring quake-damaged reactors under control, attention is turning to U.S. nuclear plants and their ability to withstand natural disasters. Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has spent years pushing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission toward stricter enforcement of its safety rules, has called for a reassessment. Several U.S. reactors lie on or near fault lines, and Markey wants to beef up standards for new and existing plants."
_____________________________________________________
If the public can’t be screwed one way, corporations will find another, more devious way.
The Toll Road to Serfdom
Tuesday 15 March 2011
by: Ellen Dannin | American Constitution Society | Op-Ed
If you want to experience a real disconnect, find out how highway privation actually works and then read the glowing raves by infrastructure privatization boosters.
They claim that privatization transfers risk to the private contractor, while providing high quality infrastructure that a cash-strapped public cannot otherwise afford. They say that the public will have easy drives with new roads and new lanes, all assisted by the installation of the latest tolling and messaging technology.
Today's deals include terms intended to make the toll road drivers' only alternative. Commonly found "noncompete" terms forbid building or improving "competing" road or mass transit systems. They may also require what is called "traffic calming" but which means by narrowing lanes or making other changes to make alternative routes unpleasant or less useful. Other contract terms require that the government "partner" compensate private contractors for "adverse actions," such as promoting car pooling to lower air pollution and urban congestion that could affect revenues. For the next 40 years, the HOT lanes contract with Transurban of Australia and Fluor Corporation of Texas requires Virginia to reimburse the private companies whenever Capital Beltway carpools exceed 24 percent of the traffic on the carpool lanes - or until the builders make $100 million in profits.
______________________________________________________
The Japanese don’t believe their government. The intelligence community does not believe Petraeus. Nobody to believe anymore.
Washington Smackdown: Petraeus vs. "Substantial Drawdown"
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Gen. David Petraeus spoke yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, and is speaking today before the House Armed Services Committee, selling Congress a 'progress' story about the war in Afghanistan that isn't believed by US intelligence analysts. Whether members of Congress choose to believe Petraeus' reassurances over the assessments of the US intelligence community ('who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?') could prove decisive in determining whether the July drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan that President Obama has promised will be 'token,' as the Pentagon
____________________________________________________
Now U.S has gained control of U.N. metrics. No place to turn for facts
UN Reported Only a Fraction of Civilian Deaths From US Raids
Gareth Porter and Shah Noori, Inter Press Service: "The number of civilians killed in U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids last year was probably several times higher than the figure of 80 people cited in the U.N. report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan published last week, an IPS investigation has revealed. The report also failed to apply the same humanitarian law standard for defining a civilian to its reporting on SOF raids that it applied to its accounting for Taliban assassinations."
_________________________________________________
“Surgical” can have deadly different meanings depending which end of the knife you are on.
Taking the War Out of Air War: What US Air Power Actually Does
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: "Over the years, Afghan civilian casualties from the air have waxed and waned, depending on how much air power American commanders were willing to call in, but they have never ceased. As history tells us, air power and civilian deaths are inextricably bound together. They can't be separated, no matter how much anyone talks about 'surgical' strikes and precision bombing. It's simply the barbaric essence, the very nature of this kind of war, to kill noncombatants."
________________________________________________________
So much for surgical. It assumes you can identify the arget AND hit it on the button
Pakistan army chief condemns US drone attack

By Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press –
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's army chief strongly condemned a U.S. drone attack that killed more than three dozen people Thursday, saying the missiles struck a peaceful meeting of tribal elders near the Afghan border.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
American manipulation of world events for better or ill
Notes 78
The risks of nuclear power in Japan and at Yucca Mountain. There’s no failsafe system.
Japan faces serious radiation leak from quake
By Press Jay Alabaster And Todd Pitman, Associated Press –
TAGAJO, Japan – Radiation spewed Tuesday from a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe that prompted the government to tell people within 19 miles (30 kilometers) to stay indoors to avoid exposure.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
"The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said.
He warned there are dangers of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid potential health risks from the radiation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a fourth reactor at the complex was on fire and more radiation had been released.
"Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower," Edano said.
______________________________________________________
The difference state and local politics made in the recovery effort in Louisiana
U.S. shows growing alarm over Japan nuclear crisis
By Jeff Mason And Tom Doggett – Thu Mar 17,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) –The U.S. military has ordered its forces to stay 50 miles away from the plant, the Pentagon said. There are at least 55,000 members of the U.S. forces in Japan and offshore assisting the relief operation.
"All of us are heartbroken by the images of what's happening in Japan and we're reminded of how American leadership is critical to our closest allies," Obama said in Washington.
_________________________________________________________
For good or ill, the U.S. government interferes in covert and overt ways to influence elections in the Americas and around the world—often not in favor of democracy
Why U,S Government has reason to be worried about nuclear news from Tokyo
Bungling, cover-ups define Japanese nuclear power
By Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer –
TOKYO – Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.
Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.
The legacy of scandals and cover-ups over Japan's half-century reliance on nuclear power has strained its credibility with the public. That mistrust has been renewed this past week with the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. No evidence has emerged of officials hiding information in this catastrophe. But the vagueness and scarcity of details offered by the government and Tepco — and news that seems to grow worse each day — are fueling public anger and frustration.
"We don't know what is true. That makes us worried," said Taku Harada, chief executive of the Tokyo-based Internet startup Orinoco. Harada said his many American friends are being urged to leave the capital while the Japanese government says the area is safe, probably to avoid triggering panic.
"Everything is a secret," said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. "There's not enough transparency in the industry."
In 1989 Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co., but nothing happened — for years. He decided to go public in 2000. Three Tepco executives lost their jobs.
______________________________________________________________
The reality is “whistleblowers” are not loved by the power establishment regardless of who is in power or what the laws are. They are detested as disloyal and they are punished. The Public Good be damned.
Top lawmaker protests 'whistle-blower' demotion
By Press Ted Bridis, Associated Press –
WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department demoted a senior career employee who confidentially complained to the inspector general that political appointees were improperly interfering with requests for federal records by journalists and watchdog groups.
The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigating those practices told the Obama administration that the decision "appeared to be an act of retaliation" and warned, "Obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime." The department responded that it had done nothing wrong.
__________________________________________________________
Forget the Somali pirates who only hold hostages for money.The truth is there is a conflict between the U.S. and its allies and those who would oppose its world view. The U.S. is the largest exporter and profiteer of military weaponry in the world—to places like Baharain and Saudi, Arabia and Guatemala and Honduras and places in between. And they get help in crippling their competitors from places like Israel.
Arms from Iran: A Rash of Intercepted Shipments
By Karl Vick / Jerusalem – Thu Mar 17
The fall of Hosni Mubarak not only left Iran with one less enemy, it also loosened Egypt's control of the Sinai Peninsula - the preferred route for smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian enclave is ruled by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that Iran funds and arms. Iran is evidently eager to exploit opportunities in the Sinai.
On Tuesday, Israeli commandos boarded the container ship Victoria in the Mediterranean. Opening containers listed on the manifest as holding lentils and cotton, the Israelis found 2,400 mortars, 67,000 Kalashnikov rounds, and a half dozen C-704 land-to-sea missiles and radar systems to guide them. There were instruction books in Farsi, the language of Iran. The vessel had previously stopped in Syria, Iran's major ally in the region, and was on its way to the Egyptian port of Alexandria.
"The assumption is that Iran is always trying to smuggle more weapons,'' says Miri Eisin, a retired Israeli colonel with a background in intelligence. "They don't have any incentive not to smuggle weapons."
_______________________________________________________
South Africa says can't hold Aristide hostage
By Michelle Faul, Associated Press –
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa said Thursday it cannot hold former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hostage if he wants to return home, and actor Danny Glover jetted into the country to escort him back after seven years in exile.
"What I should stress is that we are not sending former President Aristide to Haiti. He was given the passport by the government of Haiti and we can't hold him hostage if he wants to go," Chabane was quoted as telling a news conference.
Glover, the chair of TransAfrica social justice forum, asked why former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier could return to Haiti unhindered and not the twice democratically elected Aristide.
"People of good conscience cannot be idle while a former dictator is able to return unhindered while a democratic leader who peacefully handed over power to another elected president is restricted from returning to his country by external forces," Glover wrote on the TransAfrica Forum website.
The risks of nuclear power in Japan and at Yucca Mountain. There’s no failsafe system.
Japan faces serious radiation leak from quake
By Press Jay Alabaster And Todd Pitman, Associated Press –
TAGAJO, Japan – Radiation spewed Tuesday from a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe that prompted the government to tell people within 19 miles (30 kilometers) to stay indoors to avoid exposure.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
"The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said.
He warned there are dangers of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid potential health risks from the radiation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a fourth reactor at the complex was on fire and more radiation had been released.
"Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower," Edano said.
______________________________________________________
The difference state and local politics made in the recovery effort in Louisiana
U.S. shows growing alarm over Japan nuclear crisis
By Jeff Mason And Tom Doggett – Thu Mar 17,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) –The U.S. military has ordered its forces to stay 50 miles away from the plant, the Pentagon said. There are at least 55,000 members of the U.S. forces in Japan and offshore assisting the relief operation.
"All of us are heartbroken by the images of what's happening in Japan and we're reminded of how American leadership is critical to our closest allies," Obama said in Washington.
_________________________________________________________
For good or ill, the U.S. government interferes in covert and overt ways to influence elections in the Americas and around the world—often not in favor of democracy
Why U,S Government has reason to be worried about nuclear news from Tokyo
Bungling, cover-ups define Japanese nuclear power
By Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer –
TOKYO – Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.
Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.
The legacy of scandals and cover-ups over Japan's half-century reliance on nuclear power has strained its credibility with the public. That mistrust has been renewed this past week with the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. No evidence has emerged of officials hiding information in this catastrophe. But the vagueness and scarcity of details offered by the government and Tepco — and news that seems to grow worse each day — are fueling public anger and frustration.
"We don't know what is true. That makes us worried," said Taku Harada, chief executive of the Tokyo-based Internet startup Orinoco. Harada said his many American friends are being urged to leave the capital while the Japanese government says the area is safe, probably to avoid triggering panic.
"Everything is a secret," said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. "There's not enough transparency in the industry."
In 1989 Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co., but nothing happened — for years. He decided to go public in 2000. Three Tepco executives lost their jobs.
______________________________________________________________
The reality is “whistleblowers” are not loved by the power establishment regardless of who is in power or what the laws are. They are detested as disloyal and they are punished. The Public Good be damned.
Top lawmaker protests 'whistle-blower' demotion
By Press Ted Bridis, Associated Press –
WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department demoted a senior career employee who confidentially complained to the inspector general that political appointees were improperly interfering with requests for federal records by journalists and watchdog groups.
The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigating those practices told the Obama administration that the decision "appeared to be an act of retaliation" and warned, "Obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime." The department responded that it had done nothing wrong.
__________________________________________________________
Forget the Somali pirates who only hold hostages for money.The truth is there is a conflict between the U.S. and its allies and those who would oppose its world view. The U.S. is the largest exporter and profiteer of military weaponry in the world—to places like Baharain and Saudi, Arabia and Guatemala and Honduras and places in between. And they get help in crippling their competitors from places like Israel.
Arms from Iran: A Rash of Intercepted Shipments
By Karl Vick / Jerusalem – Thu Mar 17
The fall of Hosni Mubarak not only left Iran with one less enemy, it also loosened Egypt's control of the Sinai Peninsula - the preferred route for smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian enclave is ruled by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that Iran funds and arms. Iran is evidently eager to exploit opportunities in the Sinai.
On Tuesday, Israeli commandos boarded the container ship Victoria in the Mediterranean. Opening containers listed on the manifest as holding lentils and cotton, the Israelis found 2,400 mortars, 67,000 Kalashnikov rounds, and a half dozen C-704 land-to-sea missiles and radar systems to guide them. There were instruction books in Farsi, the language of Iran. The vessel had previously stopped in Syria, Iran's major ally in the region, and was on its way to the Egyptian port of Alexandria.
"The assumption is that Iran is always trying to smuggle more weapons,'' says Miri Eisin, a retired Israeli colonel with a background in intelligence. "They don't have any incentive not to smuggle weapons."
_______________________________________________________
South Africa says can't hold Aristide hostage
By Michelle Faul, Associated Press –
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa said Thursday it cannot hold former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hostage if he wants to return home, and actor Danny Glover jetted into the country to escort him back after seven years in exile.
"What I should stress is that we are not sending former President Aristide to Haiti. He was given the passport by the government of Haiti and we can't hold him hostage if he wants to go," Chabane was quoted as telling a news conference.
Glover, the chair of TransAfrica social justice forum, asked why former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier could return to Haiti unhindered and not the twice democratically elected Aristide.
"People of good conscience cannot be idle while a former dictator is able to return unhindered while a democratic leader who peacefully handed over power to another elected president is restricted from returning to his country by external forces," Glover wrote on the TransAfrica Forum website.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Working the system
Notes 77
In an industry where 20% of the employees were on the temporary injury list last season and the employer makes a fortune on the last men standing, what is to be expected?
Players chip in to save coach’s life after Clippers decline medical coverage
By Kelly Dwyer
Seven years ago, former Los Angeles Clippers head coach Kim Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Howard Beck brought this column to Trey Kerby's attention, and he brought it to our attention. And now we're passing the feel-good savings on to you, in the form of an anecdote that reveals that NBA players Corey Maggette(notes), Marko Jaric(notes), Chris Kaman(notes) and Elton Brand(notes) all chipped in to pay for expensive life-saving surgery for Hughes, after the Clippers organization (read: Donald Sterling, noted worst person in the world) declined to cover the costs.
Declined to cover the cost of a surgery that would save their employee's life. While playing rent-free in an often sold-out arena in America's second-biggest television market. Unyieldingly evil.
Gary Woelfel has the original story:
"Those guys saved my life," Hughes said. "They paid the whole medical bill. It was like $70,000 or more. It wasn't cheap.
Hughes said he will be forever grateful to Brand, Jaric, Kaman and Maggette. In fact, Hughes said every time he runs into any of them, he thanks them from the bottom of his heart..
"Kim thanks me every time he sees me; he does that every single time," Maggette said smiling. "I've said to him, 'Kim, come on. You don't have to do that. You're good.'
_______________________________________________________
It’s the declining tax rate, stupid.
Chart shows low tax burden for rich
By Zachary Roth – Wed Mar 16
We hear a lot these days about how government spending has led to a deficit that could pose a major long-term threat if it goes unaddressed. It's true that government has of late grown under both Democratic and Republican presidents.manageable. Via Felix Salmon, a fascinating (and strangely beautiful!) chart, compiled by Stephen Von Worley at the DataPointed blog, drives home that point, and a few others. If the bottom of the chart showed more red and less blue, our deficit problem would be a lot more manageable..
In a nutshell, the chart shows that until around 1940, tax burdens were low for everyone, in historical terms. Then they rose sharply for everyone until about 1970. At that point, the rich and poor began to diverge. Those making around $10,000 to around $50,000 per year enjoyed a comparatively low-tax period in the 70s, but by the early 80s they were taxed slightly higher than the historical average. In the 2000s, their tax rate came back down a bit. By contrast, those making more than roughly $200,000 a year saw a sharp decrease in their tax burden starting in the 80s. That trend has continued to this day.
It's clear, then, that across the board, today's tax rates are low by historical standards--and for the rich they're very low.
The chart also has implications for another topic we've written about here before--wealth and income inequality. As you can see, no one's taxes today are particularly high by historical standards, but those making $1 million or more per year--that is, roughly the top 1 percent--enjoy the lowest burden, relative to past rates.
At a time when a horde of stats indicates that the gap between rich and poor has widened into chasm--and when Congress and the White House are set to argue again later this year about whether to permanently extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich--it's well worth keeping this bigger picture in mind.
[Editor’s Note: Unable to duplicate chart]
___________________________________________________________
50 years past due
Tampa port seeks car ferry service to Cuba
By Robert Green – \
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) – The Port of Tampa hopes to start passenger and car ferry service between Tampa and Cuba under President Barack Obama's relaxed travel restrictions, a port spokesman said on Wednesday.
"There has been interest by some companies in starting the service," said spokesman Andy Forbes.
He said one of those companies was United Caribbean Lines of Orlando, which has applied to the United States to operate ferry service between Cuba and Tampa, Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
"We're waiting for approval and could start as early as this fall," United Caribbean Chief Executive Bruce Nierenberg said in a telephone interview.
The Cuban government would also have to agree to the deal.
_________________________________________________________
We could use high speed trains and cars using photo voltaic cells--or we could risk nucleae disaster. The smart money is on nuclear disaster. That’s where the profit is.
Eugene Robinson | Nuclear Power, on the Brink
Eugene Robinson: "Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea - a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more self-sufficient and significantly mitigate global warming, all at the same time. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil.... The cascading sequence of system failures, partial meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was touched off by a once-in-a-lifetime event: the most powerful earthquake in Japan's recorded history, which triggered a tsunami of unimaginable destructive force. It is also true that the Fukushima reactors are of an older design, and that it is possible to engineer nuclear plants that would never suffer similar breakdowns. But it is also true that there is no such thing as a fail-safe system. Stuff happens."
________________________________________________________
GE’s technology not state of the art--but least expensive and coming to the U.S.
Will General Electric Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of Its Nuke Plants in Fukushima?
Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening: "GE, the company that boasts that it 'brings good things to life,' was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 9.1 earthquake and a huge tsunami."
__________________________________________________________
The U.S, through the State Department and the Pentagon has been training security forces around the world, including in Central and South America to protect corrupt governments that are our allies.
How the Tiny Kingdom of Bahrain Strong-Armed the President of the United States
Tuesday 15 March 2011
by: Nick Turse | TomDispatch | Report
The men walking down the street looked ordinary enough. Ordinary, at least, for these days of tumult and protest in the Middle East. They wore sneakers and jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts. Some waved the national flag. Many held their hands up high. Some flashed peace signs. A number were chanting, “Peaceful, peaceful.”
Up ahead, video footage shows, armored personnel carriers sat in the street waiting. In a deadly raid the previous day, security forces had cleared pro-democracy protesters from the Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain’s capital, Manama. This evening, the men were headed back to make their voices heard.
The unmistakable crack-crack-crack of gunfire then erupted, and most of the men scattered. Most, but not all. Video footage shows three who never made it off the blacktop. One in an aqua shirt and dark track pants was unmistakably shot in the head. In the time it takes for the camera to pan from his body to the armored vehicles and back, he’s visibly lost a large amount of blood.
Human Rights Watch would later report that Redha Bu Hameed died of a gunshot wound to the head.
The bullet that took Bu Hameed’s life may have been paid for by U.S. taxpayers and given to the Bahrain Defense Force by the U.S. military.
______________________________________________________
Seems everything is for sale in Pakistan. Makes you wonder what the cost of a nuke is.
'Blood money' frees CIA contractor in Pakistan

Adam Goldman And Anne Gearan, Associated Press – 51 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Pakistan abruptly freed the CIA contractor who shot and killed two men in a gunfight in Lahore after a deal was sealed Wednesday to pay $2.34 million in "blood money" to the men's families. The agreement, nearly seven weeks after the shootings, ended a tense showdown with a vital U.S. ally that had threatened to disrupt the war on terrorism.
In an industry where 20% of the employees were on the temporary injury list last season and the employer makes a fortune on the last men standing, what is to be expected?
Players chip in to save coach’s life after Clippers decline medical coverage
By Kelly Dwyer
Seven years ago, former Los Angeles Clippers head coach Kim Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Howard Beck brought this column to Trey Kerby's attention, and he brought it to our attention. And now we're passing the feel-good savings on to you, in the form of an anecdote that reveals that NBA players Corey Maggette(notes), Marko Jaric(notes), Chris Kaman(notes) and Elton Brand(notes) all chipped in to pay for expensive life-saving surgery for Hughes, after the Clippers organization (read: Donald Sterling, noted worst person in the world) declined to cover the costs.
Declined to cover the cost of a surgery that would save their employee's life. While playing rent-free in an often sold-out arena in America's second-biggest television market. Unyieldingly evil.
Gary Woelfel has the original story:
"Those guys saved my life," Hughes said. "They paid the whole medical bill. It was like $70,000 or more. It wasn't cheap.
Hughes said he will be forever grateful to Brand, Jaric, Kaman and Maggette. In fact, Hughes said every time he runs into any of them, he thanks them from the bottom of his heart..
"Kim thanks me every time he sees me; he does that every single time," Maggette said smiling. "I've said to him, 'Kim, come on. You don't have to do that. You're good.'
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It’s the declining tax rate, stupid.
Chart shows low tax burden for rich
By Zachary Roth – Wed Mar 16
We hear a lot these days about how government spending has led to a deficit that could pose a major long-term threat if it goes unaddressed. It's true that government has of late grown under both Democratic and Republican presidents.manageable. Via Felix Salmon, a fascinating (and strangely beautiful!) chart, compiled by Stephen Von Worley at the DataPointed blog, drives home that point, and a few others. If the bottom of the chart showed more red and less blue, our deficit problem would be a lot more manageable..
In a nutshell, the chart shows that until around 1940, tax burdens were low for everyone, in historical terms. Then they rose sharply for everyone until about 1970. At that point, the rich and poor began to diverge. Those making around $10,000 to around $50,000 per year enjoyed a comparatively low-tax period in the 70s, but by the early 80s they were taxed slightly higher than the historical average. In the 2000s, their tax rate came back down a bit. By contrast, those making more than roughly $200,000 a year saw a sharp decrease in their tax burden starting in the 80s. That trend has continued to this day.
It's clear, then, that across the board, today's tax rates are low by historical standards--and for the rich they're very low.
The chart also has implications for another topic we've written about here before--wealth and income inequality. As you can see, no one's taxes today are particularly high by historical standards, but those making $1 million or more per year--that is, roughly the top 1 percent--enjoy the lowest burden, relative to past rates.
At a time when a horde of stats indicates that the gap between rich and poor has widened into chasm--and when Congress and the White House are set to argue again later this year about whether to permanently extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich--it's well worth keeping this bigger picture in mind.
[Editor’s Note: Unable to duplicate chart]
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50 years past due
Tampa port seeks car ferry service to Cuba
By Robert Green – \
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) – The Port of Tampa hopes to start passenger and car ferry service between Tampa and Cuba under President Barack Obama's relaxed travel restrictions, a port spokesman said on Wednesday.
"There has been interest by some companies in starting the service," said spokesman Andy Forbes.
He said one of those companies was United Caribbean Lines of Orlando, which has applied to the United States to operate ferry service between Cuba and Tampa, Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
"We're waiting for approval and could start as early as this fall," United Caribbean Chief Executive Bruce Nierenberg said in a telephone interview.
The Cuban government would also have to agree to the deal.
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We could use high speed trains and cars using photo voltaic cells--or we could risk nucleae disaster. The smart money is on nuclear disaster. That’s where the profit is.
Eugene Robinson | Nuclear Power, on the Brink
Eugene Robinson: "Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea - a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more self-sufficient and significantly mitigate global warming, all at the same time. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil.... The cascading sequence of system failures, partial meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was touched off by a once-in-a-lifetime event: the most powerful earthquake in Japan's recorded history, which triggered a tsunami of unimaginable destructive force. It is also true that the Fukushima reactors are of an older design, and that it is possible to engineer nuclear plants that would never suffer similar breakdowns. But it is also true that there is no such thing as a fail-safe system. Stuff happens."
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GE’s technology not state of the art--but least expensive and coming to the U.S.
Will General Electric Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of Its Nuke Plants in Fukushima?
Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening: "GE, the company that boasts that it 'brings good things to life,' was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 9.1 earthquake and a huge tsunami."
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The U.S, through the State Department and the Pentagon has been training security forces around the world, including in Central and South America to protect corrupt governments that are our allies.
How the Tiny Kingdom of Bahrain Strong-Armed the President of the United States
Tuesday 15 March 2011
by: Nick Turse | TomDispatch | Report
The men walking down the street looked ordinary enough. Ordinary, at least, for these days of tumult and protest in the Middle East. They wore sneakers and jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts. Some waved the national flag. Many held their hands up high. Some flashed peace signs. A number were chanting, “Peaceful, peaceful.”
Up ahead, video footage shows, armored personnel carriers sat in the street waiting. In a deadly raid the previous day, security forces had cleared pro-democracy protesters from the Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain’s capital, Manama. This evening, the men were headed back to make their voices heard.
The unmistakable crack-crack-crack of gunfire then erupted, and most of the men scattered. Most, but not all. Video footage shows three who never made it off the blacktop. One in an aqua shirt and dark track pants was unmistakably shot in the head. In the time it takes for the camera to pan from his body to the armored vehicles and back, he’s visibly lost a large amount of blood.
Human Rights Watch would later report that Redha Bu Hameed died of a gunshot wound to the head.
The bullet that took Bu Hameed’s life may have been paid for by U.S. taxpayers and given to the Bahrain Defense Force by the U.S. military.
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Seems everything is for sale in Pakistan. Makes you wonder what the cost of a nuke is.
'Blood money' frees CIA contractor in Pakistan

Adam Goldman And Anne Gearan, Associated Press – 51 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Pakistan abruptly freed the CIA contractor who shot and killed two men in a gunfight in Lahore after a deal was sealed Wednesday to pay $2.34 million in "blood money" to the men's families. The agreement, nearly seven weeks after the shootings, ended a tense showdown with a vital U.S. ally that had threatened to disrupt the war on terrorism.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
tragedy trumps absurdity for the moment
Notes 76
Looking for hope in sea of government propaganda, while the public happily drinks its ration of koolaid
John Pilger | How the So-Called Guardians of Free Speech Are Silencing the Messenger
John Pilger, Truthout: "As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar. Colonel Gaddafi is 'delusional' and 'blood-drenched' while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis, who have kidnapped and tortured in our name, are entirely sane, never blood-drenched and once again the arbiters of 'stability.' But something has changed. Reality is no longer what the powerful say it is. Of all the spectacular revolts across the world, the most exciting is the insurrection of knowledge sparked by WikiLeaks."
________________________________________________________________
The ultimate victims of U.S. policy of sanctions against offending countries
Humanitarian Pays With Life for Feeding the Children of Iraq
Katherine Hughes, Truthout: "February 26, 2011, marks the eighth anniversary of the imprisonment of Dr. Rafil Dhafir. Dhafir continues to pay the price for feeding the children of Iraq during the US- and UK-sponsored UN sanctions against that country. According to the United Nations' own statistics, every month throughout the 1990's, 6,000 children under the age of five in Iraq were dying from lack of food and access to simple medicines. Three senior UN officials resigned because of what they considered a 'genocidal' policy of sanctions against Iraq. Dhafir's charity, Help the Needy (HTN), openly sent food and medicines to starving civilians in Iraq during the brutal embargo. Seven government agencies investigated Dhafir and HTN for many years. They intercepted his mail, email, faxes and telephone calls; bugged his office and hotel rooms; went through his trash; and conducted physical surveillance. They were unable to find any evidence of links to terrorism, and no charges of terrorism were ever brought against Dhafir."
________________________________________________________-
A catastrophe for the Japanese and a hard way to find out how FEMA performed during Katrina\
Explosion at Japan nuke plant, disaster toll rises
By Associated Press Eric Talmadge And Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press –
IWAKI, Japan – An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor amid fears that it was close to a disastrous meltdown after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
Footage on Japanese TV showed that the walls of the reactor's building had crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame standing. Puffs of smoke were spewing out of the plant in Fukushima, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Iwaki.
"We are now trying to analyze what is behind the explosion," said government spokesman Yukio Edano, stressing that people should quickly evacuate a six-mile (10-kilometer) radius. "We ask everyone to take action to secure safety."
________________________________________________________
What can be said
Japan Nuclear Crisis Spreads to Third Plant
Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: "Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were facing serious cooling problems at three more. The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort."
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Screw the public. Drill, Baby drill. The rewards of oil production now trump the education of the kids, not just defense and diplomatic policy.
Pennsylvania's Corbett Expands Conservative War on the Middle Class
Linn Washington Jr., This Can't Be Happening: "Swinging a sledge hammer, Pennsylvania's first-term Republican Governor Tom Corbett smashed into educational spending and state worker jobs during his first-ever budget address, following in the footsteps of his conservative cost-cutting confederates across the nation. While Corbett proposes slashing over a billion dollars in funds for pre-K through college, he spares the Keystone State's burgeoning billion-dollar Marcellus Shale natural gas industry from his call for 'shared sacrifice' to close a $4-billion gap in the state's budget."
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Cost is not the issue for the military industrial complex when it comes to manufacturing a failed plane.
One Creature That Deserves Extinction: The V-22 Osprey
John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus: "Some animals should be endangered. Consider the V-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, costs more than a $100 million apiece, killed 30 personnel in crashes during its development stage, and survived four attempts by none other than Dick Cheney to deep-six the program. Although it is no longer as crash-prone as it once was, the Osprey's performance in Iraq was still sub-par and it remains a woefully expensive creature. Although canceling the program would save the U.S. government $10-12 billion over the next decade, the Osprey somehow avoided the budget axe in the latest round of cuts on Capitol Hill.
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May they all learn the lesson of the Midas Touch. Nobody deserves to earn 9 billion dollars from some muscle bound cretans hammering each other into unconsciousness except in a society that has gone insane.
Lockout, decertification leave NFL in limbo
NFL labor talks break off, leading to lockout, decertification -- and limbo for 2011 season
Howard Fendrich, AP Pro Football Writer, On Saturday March 12, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) -- All along, the NFL said it was certain the players' union would decertify and head to court.
All along, the union insisted the league's owners were planning to lock out the players.
And that's exactly what happened.
Unable to decide how to divvy up $9 billion a year, NFL owners and players put the country's most popular sport in limbo by breaking off labor negotiations hours before their contract expired. At midnight, as Friday became Saturday, the owners locked out the players -- creating the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 and putting the 2011 season in jeopardy.
Looking for hope in sea of government propaganda, while the public happily drinks its ration of koolaid
John Pilger | How the So-Called Guardians of Free Speech Are Silencing the Messenger
John Pilger, Truthout: "As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar. Colonel Gaddafi is 'delusional' and 'blood-drenched' while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis, who have kidnapped and tortured in our name, are entirely sane, never blood-drenched and once again the arbiters of 'stability.' But something has changed. Reality is no longer what the powerful say it is. Of all the spectacular revolts across the world, the most exciting is the insurrection of knowledge sparked by WikiLeaks."
________________________________________________________________
The ultimate victims of U.S. policy of sanctions against offending countries
Humanitarian Pays With Life for Feeding the Children of Iraq
Katherine Hughes, Truthout: "February 26, 2011, marks the eighth anniversary of the imprisonment of Dr. Rafil Dhafir. Dhafir continues to pay the price for feeding the children of Iraq during the US- and UK-sponsored UN sanctions against that country. According to the United Nations' own statistics, every month throughout the 1990's, 6,000 children under the age of five in Iraq were dying from lack of food and access to simple medicines. Three senior UN officials resigned because of what they considered a 'genocidal' policy of sanctions against Iraq. Dhafir's charity, Help the Needy (HTN), openly sent food and medicines to starving civilians in Iraq during the brutal embargo. Seven government agencies investigated Dhafir and HTN for many years. They intercepted his mail, email, faxes and telephone calls; bugged his office and hotel rooms; went through his trash; and conducted physical surveillance. They were unable to find any evidence of links to terrorism, and no charges of terrorism were ever brought against Dhafir."
________________________________________________________-
A catastrophe for the Japanese and a hard way to find out how FEMA performed during Katrina\
Explosion at Japan nuke plant, disaster toll rises
By Associated Press Eric Talmadge And Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press –
IWAKI, Japan – An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor amid fears that it was close to a disastrous meltdown after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
Footage on Japanese TV showed that the walls of the reactor's building had crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame standing. Puffs of smoke were spewing out of the plant in Fukushima, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Iwaki.
"We are now trying to analyze what is behind the explosion," said government spokesman Yukio Edano, stressing that people should quickly evacuate a six-mile (10-kilometer) radius. "We ask everyone to take action to secure safety."
________________________________________________________
What can be said
Japan Nuclear Crisis Spreads to Third Plant
Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: "Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were facing serious cooling problems at three more. The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort."
_______________________________________________________________
Screw the public. Drill, Baby drill. The rewards of oil production now trump the education of the kids, not just defense and diplomatic policy.
Pennsylvania's Corbett Expands Conservative War on the Middle Class
Linn Washington Jr., This Can't Be Happening: "Swinging a sledge hammer, Pennsylvania's first-term Republican Governor Tom Corbett smashed into educational spending and state worker jobs during his first-ever budget address, following in the footsteps of his conservative cost-cutting confederates across the nation. While Corbett proposes slashing over a billion dollars in funds for pre-K through college, he spares the Keystone State's burgeoning billion-dollar Marcellus Shale natural gas industry from his call for 'shared sacrifice' to close a $4-billion gap in the state's budget."
________________________________________________________________
Cost is not the issue for the military industrial complex when it comes to manufacturing a failed plane.
One Creature That Deserves Extinction: The V-22 Osprey
John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus: "Some animals should be endangered. Consider the V-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, costs more than a $100 million apiece, killed 30 personnel in crashes during its development stage, and survived four attempts by none other than Dick Cheney to deep-six the program. Although it is no longer as crash-prone as it once was, the Osprey's performance in Iraq was still sub-par and it remains a woefully expensive creature. Although canceling the program would save the U.S. government $10-12 billion over the next decade, the Osprey somehow avoided the budget axe in the latest round of cuts on Capitol Hill.
___________________________________________________________________
May they all learn the lesson of the Midas Touch. Nobody deserves to earn 9 billion dollars from some muscle bound cretans hammering each other into unconsciousness except in a society that has gone insane.
Lockout, decertification leave NFL in limbo
NFL labor talks break off, leading to lockout, decertification -- and limbo for 2011 season
Howard Fendrich, AP Pro Football Writer, On Saturday March 12, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) -- All along, the NFL said it was certain the players' union would decertify and head to court.
All along, the union insisted the league's owners were planning to lock out the players.
And that's exactly what happened.
Unable to decide how to divvy up $9 billion a year, NFL owners and players put the country's most popular sport in limbo by breaking off labor negotiations hours before their contract expired. At midnight, as Friday became Saturday, the owners locked out the players -- creating the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 and putting the 2011 season in jeopardy.
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