Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday 18 May 2013


 Daily Headlines

In January, it seemed the restart of San Onofre Unit 2 would be a corporate cake walk.

Within a generation, Scranton has lost hundreds of factories of all kinds, with the only manufacturer left the General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems plant. This jibes perfectly with our national policy, for we have stopped making anything that anyone can use or wear, only mega weapons that will blow up the entire planet.
By Bob Burnett
Republicans Aren't Christians
Whether it's fiscal austerity, Benghazi, or opposition to gun control, the Republican Party is remarkably disciplined. Day after day, press conference after press conference, Republican members of Congress speak from the same hymnal. But it's not a Christian hymnal. While the Republicans claim to be true believers they actually eschew the moral teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
By Danny Schechter
The News That Isn't In An Age of Missing Information
How accurate are all the Scandal Stories we are reading. New Dissector Danny Schechter asks:
If it becomes known that a person is a sociopath or psychopath-- a predator without conscience, who uses and abuses others, often by luring them into trusting friendships-- should that person be banned ...?

Political correctness has mandated a sexually integrated military, with women (and openly gay men) living and working alongside testosterone-soaked heterosexual men who have come to believe they are exempt from the rules us lowly civilians must live by. Is it any wonder that rape is part of the military culture?
We are certainly living in the midst of a very dark period in American history. This is a nation that is not advancing, it is regressing; it is no longer growing, it is rapidly declining. This is a country that possesses monumental wealth but, at the same time, is plagued by a myriad of critical problems that seem to be insurmountable.
The President Obama of 2013 who is feigning outrage over the IRS adding extra scrutiny to nonprofit applications being filed with the words Tea Party in their title is not the same man who singled out Americans for Prosperity in a speech in 2010. Promising to resist their insidious power grab back then, now the President folds like a cheap suit.
The Justice Department seizure of AP phone records is horrible but what's behind it and what could horrible is a lot worse.
Once again the military and mainstream press are searching for all the reasons for troop suicides except for the quadrupling of drugs being prescribed that cause suicide.
How I ended my homelessness.

Through an Envision This! interview with Lillian Lake, the article takes the opportunity to place our individual lives in the context of universal process while also highlighting the miraculous ecological and community building work this woman does in Maine.
In celebration of National Short Story Month, Seamus Scanlon, Erika Wurth, Matt Mendez and Sterling Holywhitemountain answered five questions about short stories for me.
This is my review of the movie Beasts Of Southern Wild
By David Swanson
No Koch News: A Movement to Unsubscribe
Wow are people outraged!
By Suzana Megles
Our Collective Shame
Are you and I satisfied going through life- doing absolutely nothing to rectify its ills or make it a better place for humans and animals alike? Maybe this post will help you decide.

Dr. John McDougall, a pioneer in encouraging dietary changes over drastic medical intervention, offers some perspective on Angelina Jolie's recent revelation.
We've decided to highlight 24 TED talks specifically around food issues that we found compelling and worth sharing.
Mega corporations have abandoned U.S. workers by entrenching "pull-down" trade agreements that make it easier than ever to ship jobs and whole industries to fascist and communist regimes abroad which keep their workers near serfdom. Having wages that go backwards into the future means workers cannot afford the basic necessities of life for themselves and their children.

By Karl Grossman
Fundamental IRS Change Called For
President Obama got it right and wrong when he stated, "If you've got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous, it is contrary to our traditions." He was incorrect in saying "it is contrary to our traditions" for the IRS has for decades gone after organizations and individuals that take stands in conflict with the government at the time. Fundamental change is called for.
The Obamam administration seems to be obsessed with leaks and "national security."

Attempts by the Israeli diamond industry to get diamond buyers from Dubai to attend a diamond fair in Israeli were scuppered by BDS activists who highlighted the links between Israeli diamonds and the funding of Israeli war crimes in Palestine.
By David Swanson
Drone Pilots Expose Politicians' Lies
... drone pilots have begun talking to the media. And they describe policies that bear a lot closer resemblance to reporting from the areas where the missiles strike. These pilots should be brought before Congress.
By Tom Engelhardt
Andy Kroll: A Democracy of the Wealthy
Once upon a time, the election season began with the New Hampshire primary in early March and never really gained momentum (or much attention) until the candidates were chosen and the fall campaign revved up. Now, the New Hampshire primary is in early January, and by then, the campaign season has already been underway for a couple of years.
The Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press reporter's phone records reveals the Obama administrations true intent which is to intimidate & cow truth tellers from exposing secret gov't actions & wrongdoing to investigative reporters. These are police state tactics, not something unilaterally exercised by the Executive branch in a Constitutional democracy.

Governor Scott must veto the big bank friendly foreclosure bill, HB 87. Florida is #1 in foreclosures and about to get out of control if this bill stands.
By Scott Baker
Wall Street's War To Impose Austerity
Pace University Left Forum Panel with Dr. Michael Hudson, Dr. Cay Hehner, Dave Kelley, and Chair Andy Mazzone.
Washington has a new meme in town, trying to give fresh impetus to the Benghazi Blowback Bandwagon still circling the White House in hopes of finding something worse than Watergate, or at least as bad as Iran-Contra.

By Kathy Malloy
Hypocrisy, Neocon Style
It would be easier to find the outrage in the twin IRS and AP "scandals" if the very same Neocons had never justified the Bush Crime Family's illegal snooping over and over again. Or poo-poo the violations of privacy by illegal wire taps with the oxymoronic mantra -- "freedom isn't free?"
Obama is allowing the fires to dominate because he has not defined his core agenda. During the 2012 campaign it appeared to be restoring jobs, rebuilding the middle class, and reversing the scourge of widening inequality. Since then, though, the core has evaporated -- leaving him and his administration vulnerable to every pyromaniac on the Potomac.

 Latest Articles

It is due to kindness (Poem)
What is true is that in a so long period you are acquaint with my heart.
La Terreur Moderne
prose poetry
Is sequestration just the One Percent's way of trying to hit the American people with an austerity program? I think it is. and I also think it is time to give voice to our extreme displeasure on the impasse in Washington. Tea Party types say they fear the "tyranny of the Majority," but they seem to have no problem with a tyranny of a minority, as long as they are the minority. Let's end this NOW!

Obama Needs Congress to Close GTMO, but Not to Use Drones?
When the Senate finally held a hearing on drones, Obama refused to send a rep. He says he can't close GTMO because of Congress, yet he's killed thousands with drones without Congressional approval.

 Best News Links from the Web

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released new draft rules for fracking on public lands Thursday afternoon that would vastly weaken safeguards against the highly toxic gas extraction process, which has already done untold damage to public water, land and air. As Earthjustice reports, the new version "eliminates protections included in the version proposed last year and fails to include safeguards demanded by environmental and public health advocates."

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law on Thursday in a symbolic move aimed as much at healing internal Republican rifts as demonstrating dogged party opposition to "Obamacare." The 229-195 vote occurred largely along party lines and marked the 37th time the House has voted to repeal or defund the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is now in the final months before full implementation on January 1. Like previous attempts to dismantle the law, the measure will likely go nowhere in the Democratic-run Senate.
President Obama on Thursday ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria even if proof emerges that Syrian forces have used lethal chemical weapons. "This is " an international problem," Obama said at a White House news conference with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in the region would think that U.S. unilateral actions " would bring about a better outcome."
President Obama on Thursday appointed senior budget adviser Daniel Werfel as the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, as that agency manages a scandal stemming from its targeting of conservative groups. The appointment is effective May 22. Obama on Wednesday demanded and accepted the resignation of the acting IRS commissioner, Steven Miller.