Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 22 May 2013


Daily Headlines

Syria Comment blogger Joshua Landis drew the necessary conclusions; "Whoever gets their hands on the oil, water and agriculture, holds Sunni Syria by the throat. At the moment, that's al-Nusra. Europe opening up the market for oil forced this issue. So the logical conclusion from this craziness is that Europe will be funding al-Qaeda."

On May 9 Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory recorded carbon dioxide levels of 400 parts-per-million (ppm). Earth hasn't had these levels since 3 to 5 million years ago, when temperatures were 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F warmer than now, and sea levels were 16 to 131 feet higher than today. Congressional Republicans respond to scientists' warnings with skepticism or outright denial, and are totally opposed to doing anything about it.

By David Swanson
Connecticut Advances Conversion from War to Peace Economy
Forty-nine states now have a model.
TV commercials and TV sitcoms are celebrating lying and deception, glorifying many of the characteristics of sociopaths. This is bad for our culture.

The burgeoning "scandal" over how the IRS chose for review 75 applicants for tax-exempt status puts on full display an unfortunate tendency in journalism--to quote people accurately without explaining the underlying context. Yes, it is as wrong for IRS employees to select groups to scrutinize based on their names as it is for police to stop and frisk young people based on the color of their skin. Still, the facts here are not so black-and-white as with racial profiling.

On Monday, Guatemala's Constitutional Court overturned the conviction of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, an army general who ruled as de facto president from 1982 to 1983. On May 10, Ríos Montt, 86, was found guilty by a three-panel tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in the slammer; he is the first former head of state in the Americas to stand trial for genocide. But less than two weeks later, Guatemala's highest court threw out all proceedings in the case dating back to April 19.

By Hamad S Alomar
The Real Bank, The Paper Bank
There are two banks in every commercial bank. There is the paper bank and there is the real bank.
Eight years ago, in an opinion warning of the "violent consequences of the assumption of religious authority by government," retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor offered a challenge to her fellow conservative justices eager to weaken the wall of separation between church and state: "[t]hose who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?"

It's one thing to chronicle sparse details about these U.S. led NATO attacks. It's quite another to sit across from Afghan men as they try, having broken down in tears, to regain sufficient composure to finish telling us their stories. "What can we do," they asked, "when both sides are targeting us?"

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.

A federal court has approved a class-action lawsuit for people impacted by the giant Louisiana sinkhole.

A British woman tweeted about how she hit a cyclist with her car and then drove off without helping him. But then the cops tweeted back.

By Mick Meaney
Xbox One: Constantly Listening To Conversations
With the announcement of Microsoft's next generation gaming console, the Xbox One, it has emerged that the new system carries a device that will be 'constantly listening' to gamer's conversations.
"Citizen Koch" Filmmakers Issue Statement about Public TV Dropping Support
After much thought, we decided to go public with our experience hoping that, like the film itself, it will spark conversation about how power wielded by high-dollar political donors like Charles and David Koch distorts the public dialogue.
We're independently owned and operated, which means we can run the business for the long term and make decisions that are consistent with our values. Half of what we sell is handmade, half is made here in the US and about one-third is made from recycled materials. And we don't sell any products that contain leather or involve killing animals.

Shredding privacy is the essence of Tumblr's appeal to Yahoo, and even though it has said it will retain the social networking site's founders in key positions, one way or another that very personal data will be mined and inevitably fall into what users will discover to be the wrong hands. That is truly scary.

By Bruce E. Levine
The Green Shadow Cabinet and a Mental Health Declaration of Independence
As the Green Shadow Cabinet's Assistant Secretary of Health for Clinical Mental Health, my first action is to propose a Mental Health Declaration of Independence from Big Pharma. I invite a public reaction to this declaration, which is both abolitionist and restorational:
After the trauma of Monday's 3rd Uranus/Pluto square, this Friday's Sagittarius Full Moon Eclipse can help you let go of your old mindset--old categories are no longer viable. We all need a Mind shakeup, because we are no longer living the world we've been taught to expect. It's time to hone our left-brain logic and open to our right-brain imagination if we want to get through our cultural transformation.

Ms. Stahl and her employer had two honorable choices: They could have defended her role on the Peterson Advisory Board, or they could have acknowledged that it was inappropriate and announced her resignation. They did neither. Apparently they simply removed her name from the list without comment.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said messages he got from a British agency included speculation he was framed by Swedish officials seeking his extradition. The messages from the Government Communications Headquarters, obtained through an official request for information, included discussions by the government eavesdropping agency that speculated he was being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition for questioning on rape allegations

VIDEO: In the military, following orders isn't a choice, it's an obligation. So what happens when a soldier says no? Joe Glenton was that soldier. When ordered to re-join the British army deployment in Afghanistan he fled. When he eventually returned he spent time in a military prison. He emerged a convinced anti-war campaigner. So is his a story of cowardice or bravery?

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN) agitated against food aid for poor Americans included in the Farm Bill during last week's House Agricultural Committee debate, accusing the government of stealing "other people's money." Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has already been decimated in both the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill, cutting off nearly 2 million working families, children, and seniors from food assistance.

Sunday Times Investigation Censored: US Ties to Al-Qaeda Chief
FBI Translator and Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds reveals US State Dept. pressure on UK media to stop publishing of vital facts concerning covert US operations in Central Asia. Longstanding ties to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda leader, among other devastating revelations, have been censored. This happened after being confirmed by intelligence and Pentagon high officials.
Military lawyers for former CIA captives held at Guantánamo are appealing to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to intervene in what they describe as deteriorating conditions and leadership failures on a scale similar to the Vietnam War's My Lai Massacre. Hagel is a Vietnam combat veteran. The military lawyers call death among the detainees "imminent ... whether by suicide, starvation, organ failure or associated complications."

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

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".

By Dave Lefcourt
Hypocrisy from Oklahoma Senators Inhofe and Coburn in Wake of Tornado Striking Constituents in Moore, Oklahoma
Both U.S. senators from Oklahoma, Sen. James Inhofe & Sen. Tom Coburn in January voted against the supplemental appropriations bill that was targeted for the victims of Hurricane Sandy that tore into N.Y & N.J. Now comes the monster tornado that ripped thru Moore, Okla. on Monday & now they're both singing a different tune w/ disaster striking their constituents in Okla.
By David Glenn Cox
And Here We Are
Jack Lew is a former hedge fund manager for Citigroup and manager of its alternative investments unit, with oversight over Citigroup's subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Hong Kong and he's the new Treasury Secretary.

Today's people may read of the circumstances of "The Days Before," but they cannot be expected to truly understand them. It is possible to survive without welfare, Social Security, and Medicaid, but to those forced to live without them, there is a whole lot of miserable existence which only the heroic among us can survive.

Republicans won't let go of their conspiracy theory about some nefarious "cover-up" in "talking points" for Ambassador Susan Rice's TV interviews on the Benghazi attack. But they should at least have better skills for detecting a real cover-up, since they've had direct experience.



Latest Articles
"N" Bomb Dropped in Malcolm X Park, Defused by Drum Circle
It was mother's day, and this was the last thing I wanted to document. But there she was in the middle of the drum circle at Malcolm X Park in Washington DC, putting out waves of negative energy. Maybe she was on something, unstable, likely self-hating - cause she was intensely focused on provoking people, into reacting, in the worst way, perhaps by smashing her in the face. It was ugly and part of me did not want to film
Saving Two Birds with One Stone
Whether they believe in Global Warming or not, most scientists will agree that our sea levels are rising. But did you know that we are also starting to run out of fresh water? 33% of the world is already experiencing a fresh water crisis, and by 2050 that number will be over 60%. What if there was a way to fix both problems at the same time, and it could almost power itself? Sound like a good investment?
Shakespeare, My Love to Him
These days, dream, To exchange dream, To smile and love Romeo and Juliet
By Mahdi Haile
Robbery victims assisted by thieves
In the aftermath of Second World War, in a meeting held on 24th October 1945 in San Francisco, the Charter of United Nations Organization was finalized and countries liberated from the AXIS Forces were named "Occupied Enemy Territories" and they were recognized as existing countries. In the line with the UN Charter.
Offending people is a necessary part of journalism and the fact that something produces offense is not evidence that it is invalid. Having media outlets afraid to publish opinions which offend people is a menacing state of affairs that nobody should want.

The best GOP method to elevate an illegitimate president they want to crush is formally impeach him without a smoking gun. That would cap a decade of losing, boomeranging political scheming.


Best News Links from the Web
An Imperfect Immigration Bill Survives - NYTimes.com
Employees of the Department of Homeland Security. Leaders of two of their unions have joined antireform hard-liners in trying to kill the immigration bill, showing an unbending hostility to its goals.The letter is a screed, a grab bag of misdirection, scary talk and lies. the letter throws ominous words into the debate, like "aliens," "gangs," "smuggling" and "9/11," Its aim to stoke unfounded fears: "If this legislation were enacted tomorrow," Immigration and it says, they "would continue to be powerless to effectively enforce our nation's laws and provide for public safety." That is a strange wail as illegal border crossings have plunged, and President Obama is deporting more than 400,000 people a year, a record pace. The letter also falsely charges that the bill "appears to provide no tangible provisions for increased border security," when in fact it contains billions ...
This article was removed and then republished due to complaints about journalism integrity...Here are the editor's comments -- "Recently there has been much give and take about a column published on our website, and the decision to remove that column. During the past few days, people have speculated that Al Jazeera succumbed to various pressures, and censored its own pages. We should have handled this better, and we have learned lessons that will enable us to maintain the highest standards of journalistic integrity."

Just hours after the storm hit, Senator Coburn said that he would not support providing disaster aid to his own constituents unless it is offset by other federal spending cuts. Oklahoma's senior senator, Jim Inhofe (R), declined to endorse Coburn's position. Inhofe, who called the Hurricane Sandy relief bill a "slush fund" before voting against it, insisted that the situation in Oklahoma is "totally different." Happily for the citizens of Moore, their senators' controversial positions will not prevent victims from receiving some immediate help. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that "right now, FEMA has sufficient resources" to respond to the disaster, and added that "the president has made clear that we will make sure Oklahoma has the resources that it needs, including the resources that have already been announced."

This is an important campaign against Facebook's acceptance of depictions of violence against women - often described as "humor" - while rejecting photos of breastfeeding mothers, or other hate speech.

Ed Notes Online: Astounding NY Times Editorial Spells Doom for Ed Deform: Was Brent Staples Absent Today?
After 12 years of outright support of Bloomberg ed policies and for ed deform in general, along with some of the worst coverage of local and national education issues this editorial is a sign that the increasing messages of outrage emerging from every area of the city are reaching their mark. The school system has indeed gone overboard in relying on standardized testing. Tests need to be a means to the end of better instruction, not the pedagogical obsession they have become. Yes, Mr. Bloomberg has shown disdain for consultation, as in his rush to close underperforming schools without the full and meaningful involvement of affected communities. The system needs to strengthen neighborhoods' connection to schools Shoehorning them into existing school buildings over local objections can alienate parents and reinforce among students a harmful sense of being separate and unequal.
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 22:09