Daily Headlines
Fat
Bastard -- or Theodoros Pangalos, leader of the Panhellenic Socialist
Party (PASOK), Greece's equivalent to UK's Labour Party -- thinks the
little Greek kiddies should stop belly-aching. Pangalos, as you can see
from the photo below, is not bent over with hunger pains. In fact, he
looks more likely to be bent over with labour pains, but in truth he
probably just can't bend over at all.
Republican
legislators have apparently been ordered by their leadership to hold
scandal-mongering hearings but to stall any legislation for genuine
reform. The real scandal is the Republican party's devotion to
grandstanding over governance and its preference for slime over
substance.
Assault
on Wall Street is an all-American revenge movie with shoot outs that
will unsettle those at the center of financial power.
There are some positive ways to deal with evil and psychopaths that use bottom up approaches that bring out the best in people.
By Elayne Clift
Paying Attention to Climate Change Before It's Too Late
Oil covered wildlife. Sludge clogging waterways and snaking down suburban streets. The potential for disaster, especially with a transcontinental pipeline, have never been greater.
Paying Attention to Climate Change Before It's Too Late
Oil covered wildlife. Sludge clogging waterways and snaking down suburban streets. The potential for disaster, especially with a transcontinental pipeline, have never been greater.
At
a cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
announced that Israel was prepared to attack Syria for the third time
this month. Why not? He got away with it before, using the "self
defense" righteous rationale that empires employ as they increase their
power one step at a time. This is the way empires grow. It is also the
way they die, one pyrrhic victory after another.
Many
Republicans -- and some liberal Democrats -- are calling for Holder's
replacement these days. The broad Justice Department subpoena of AP
phone records is the main reason they cite. But the chance of Holder
losing his job anytime soon is not very high, absent any further
disclosures. "The president will stay with Eric Holder until the very
end," said former GOP lawmaker Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC show on
Friday.
The
threat to democracy that the president described would be complete --
as sincere activists on the right and the left would be shunted to the
sidelines of a new political landscape where corporate cash decides the
day and the boss is not a CEO but a cynical political operative named
Karl Rove.
Naval
exercises harm and kill massive amounts of sea animals every year.
This practice has recently been monitored and recorded with dire
results.
Not
only did the Church sequester the Latin Bible from the Christian
populace for a thousand years, it forbid translating the New Testament
into native languages. Robert Tyndale who defied the Church and
translated the Bible into English was burned at the stake for his
"heresy." Why would the Church distance the Christian populace from
direct contact with their holy scriptures? This article proposes a
surprising motive.
Our
lives have purpose and they arise from that purpose and the purpose is
to serve all of life. From our writings, readings, breathing,
elimination of waste, eating and so on, we fulfill our mission on
life...to support the whole of creation. Ultimately, the universe is
more verb than noun, Creativity more so than Created. It is via tapping
into the infinity of Creativity that the new can arise from the depths
of our being
By Steven Jonas
On "42:" A Movie About Racism
At one level, the movie 42, about Jackie Robinson, is a "baseball movie." But to my mind much more importantly, it's a movie about racism in the United States. Since our nation is still so heavily burdened with this way of thinking, engineered and promoted by the corporate and political interests which it serves, I regard it as an important statement and lesson for the present, as well as very well done history.
On "42:" A Movie About Racism
At one level, the movie 42, about Jackie Robinson, is a "baseball movie." But to my mind much more importantly, it's a movie about racism in the United States. Since our nation is still so heavily burdened with this way of thinking, engineered and promoted by the corporate and political interests which it serves, I regard it as an important statement and lesson for the present, as well as very well done history.
H&M
(Hennes & Mauritz), a major Swedish "fast fashion" retailer, led 30
international companies this week to commit to a new $3 billion fund to
improve the safety of garment factories in Bangladesh. Watchdog
organizations say the companies acted only because of external pressure
by activists and workers.
Whether
in the military or civilian world, more soldiers in that room have been
affected by this issue than anyone will know. But now they know they
can talk about it if they need to. Now they know their brother or sister
in arms to the left or
By John Bruhns
It's Time to Get Real on Immigration
It is understandable why many in this country want the borders closed. Preventing terrorist attacks is of prime importance to them. After all, as a nation of laws we need to uphold our standards, and terrorism is a legitimate concern. Having said that, I cannot think of any terrorist attack carried out by undocumented Mexicans residing in the United States.
It's Time to Get Real on Immigration
It is understandable why many in this country want the borders closed. Preventing terrorist attacks is of prime importance to them. After all, as a nation of laws we need to uphold our standards, and terrorism is a legitimate concern. Having said that, I cannot think of any terrorist attack carried out by undocumented Mexicans residing in the United States.
At
Smokedown Prohibition V Adam Kokesh is targeted for arrest even though
it is obvious he isn't smoking marijuana. This happened on May 18, 2013
at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA
By Dave Lindorff
Official Story has Odd Wrinkles: A Pack of Questions about the Boston Bombing
Surveillance photos of the Tsarnaev brothers arriving at the Marathon finish line wearing packs suggest they couldn't have been carrying heavily-loaded pressure-cooker bombs in their bags, says TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff
Official Story has Odd Wrinkles: A Pack of Questions about the Boston Bombing
Surveillance photos of the Tsarnaev brothers arriving at the Marathon finish line wearing packs suggest they couldn't have been carrying heavily-loaded pressure-cooker bombs in their bags, says TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff
The
right continues to denigrate themselves by their overt racism. No one
in their right mind can interpret President Obama's Morehouse speech as
anything but brilliant. They can!
By Mahdi Haile
Enough Is Enough! No More Looting of Somalia's Oil!
In reading Katrina Manson's article "Oil Thrown on the Fire" at the Financial Times website, I saw again that, with every passing year, Somalis are losing more and more control of their own country to international criminals all over Africa and Europe. Kenya and Norway are the latest entrants in the scramble for Somalia's resources.
Enough Is Enough! No More Looting of Somalia's Oil!
In reading Katrina Manson's article "Oil Thrown on the Fire" at the Financial Times website, I saw again that, with every passing year, Somalis are losing more and more control of their own country to international criminals all over Africa and Europe. Kenya and Norway are the latest entrants in the scramble for Somalia's resources.
The
Washington Post reports that James Rosen, the chief Washington
correspondent for Fox News, was subjected to intense government
monitoring as part of an investigation into possible leaks of classified
information about North Korea in 2009. The intrusion on Rosen was more
severe than that of the AP reporters, whose phone call records were
grabbed as part of a separate national security leaks investigation. The
feds obtained authorization to seize information showing Rosen's
communication with "any other source" related to the leak and also
demanded Google turn over IP addresses and other metadata stored by the
reporter's Gmail account.
By Tom Engelhardt
Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford: Congress Tweeted While America Burned
Three days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed a joint resolution called an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). You might remember it. In layman's terms, it was a carte blanche for the Bush administration to go to war wherever it wanted, whenever it wanted, however it wanted, under the guise of fighting anyone who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the September 11th attackers
Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford: Congress Tweeted While America Burned
Three days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed a joint resolution called an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). You might remember it. In layman's terms, it was a carte blanche for the Bush administration to go to war wherever it wanted, whenever it wanted, however it wanted, under the guise of fighting anyone who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the September 11th attackers
There
are plenty of legitimate criticisms to level at the current
administration, starting with the ongoing illegal terror wars,
un-investigated corporate abuses of labor, drone strikes, closing GITMO,
etc. But there will never be a serious investigation as long as the
"morans" are running the place, Just this endless sea of pointless
hearings and time-wasters.
Google,
Amazon, Starbucks, every other major corporation, and every big Wall
Street bank, are sheltering as much of their US profits abroad as they
can, while telling Washington that lower corporate taxes are necessary
in order to keep the US "competitive." Baloney. The fact is, global
corporations have no allegiance to any country; their only objective is
to make as much money as possible.
Republicans
are hyping the flap over Benghazi talking points by calling it "worse
than Watergate," a false narrative that Bob Woodward has helped along by
ignoring new evidence connecting Richard Nixon's sabotage of Vietnam
War peace talks in 1968 to his political spying in 1971-72.
By Stephen Pizzo
Watch At the Sausage Factory
One of the first, and most important, things I learned when I started covering Washington many years ago was that there was not one, but two Washington's. There was the elected Washington, and unelected Washington. One was temporary, the other permanent.
Watch At the Sausage Factory
One of the first, and most important, things I learned when I started covering Washington many years ago was that there was not one, but two Washington's. There was the elected Washington, and unelected Washington. One was temporary, the other permanent.
Latest Articles
This
entire civilization is in free fall to something entirely new. When we
hit the bottom and the system shatters completely we will all be aware
of it. Right now places like OPED allow us to see what is happening even
now when things still work in many ways and places
In
today's world, there are several ways people are becoming more
self-sufficient and less dependent on corporations and government. Some
of these community movements are known as Transition Towns, Permaculture
and there are others. This article explores this movement in
relationship to a rapidly growing community based business, "Little Free
Libraries".
Contrary
to what the MSM tells us, most people are not idiots. I think that most
Americans can look at their lives and pretty much come to this
conclusion; they are not living as well as their parents did. There are
many Americans who really don't believe that the new American "normal"
of working two part-time jobs with no health benefits isn't a "be all,
end all" situation.
This Memorial Day, Let's Remember Women in War
Now that women can enter combat officially, it's a good time to remember the many roles women have played during wartime, whether military or civilian.
Now that women can enter combat officially, it's a good time to remember the many roles women have played during wartime, whether military or civilian.
Best News Links from the Web
Illegal Detention (video)
Five members of The Panic Hour were followed into the City Hall rail station in Center City Philadelphia. Kyle Prouty was illegally searched and detained by SEPTA police officer Nicole Lawson at 3:20pm on 5/20/13. Kyle was charged with "disorderly conduct" "obstructing a highway and other public passage" and "resisting arrest". The people in this video had just left an arraignment hearing for Adam Kokesh and Nikki Allen Poe who were kidnapped from a peaceful marijuana rally on 5/18/13. They are currently being held illegally in Federal Detention at the Federal Detention Center 700 arch street Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
Five members of The Panic Hour were followed into the City Hall rail station in Center City Philadelphia. Kyle Prouty was illegally searched and detained by SEPTA police officer Nicole Lawson at 3:20pm on 5/20/13. Kyle was charged with "disorderly conduct" "obstructing a highway and other public passage" and "resisting arrest". The people in this video had just left an arraignment hearing for Adam Kokesh and Nikki Allen Poe who were kidnapped from a peaceful marijuana rally on 5/18/13. They are currently being held illegally in Federal Detention at the Federal Detention Center 700 arch street Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
The
American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange, or ALICE, is a
one-stop, web-based, public library of progressive law on a wide range
of issues in state and local policy. As our name may suggest, ALICE may
be understood as a very partial antidote to ALEC (American Legislative
Exchange Council), the corporate-backed group that has for nearly 40
years provided model state law and connection to corporate lobbyists to
its nearly 2,000 state legislator members. Like ALEC, ALICE is a
values-based nonprofit and offers model legislation over a broad range
of state and local issues. But we're easily distinguished from our
counterpart. Our values are to promote, not destroy, economic fairness,
environmental sustainability, and effective democratic government. Our
model laws are public, not secret. They're written by public interest
advocates and volunteers, not paid corporate lobbyists.
New
government figures underscore the staggering long-term consequences of
military sexual assaults: More than 85,000 veterans were treated last
year for injuries or illness linked to the abuse, and 4,000 sought
disability benefits. While women are more likely to be victims, men made
up nearly 40 percent of the patients the VA treated for conditions
connected to what it calls "military sexual trauma."