Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Sunday, 31 August 2014


 Daily Headlines
...accusations of a major Russian "invasion" of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the "intelligence" seems to be of the same dubious, politically "fixed" kind used 12 years ago to "justify" the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now.

This is part two of the transcript of my interview with James C. Scott. We talk aboutAnarchy, State Decreed Patronymic Naming, Vernacular Knowledge, Bottom-up Urban Planning, centralization vs. decentralization
The former Russian provinces, which Soviet party leaders carelessly attached to Ukraine at a time when it seemed to make no difference as all were part of the Soviet Union, are now independent republics with their own governments. The West pretends that this isn't so, because Washington and its puppet capitals don't recognize the independence of formerly captive peoples.

By Sally McMillan
Borders, Borders
The Middle East is in chaos. It's time to fix the mistakes of the past. It's time to find ME, not Western, solutions. Why not let the UN try to fulfill its role to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war?
By Eric Zuesse
More than 50,000 U.S.-backed Troops Are Fighting in Ukraine's Civil War. Why?
Clearly, Obama has been the aggressor; Putin is playing defense in Ukraine, just as JFK did in the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the USSR was trying to station nuclear missiles in our backyard.
35% of American Adults Have Debt 'In Collections' - Slashdot
According to a new study by the Urban Institute, 35% of U.S. adults with a credit history (91% of the adult population of the U.S.) have debt "in collections" -- a status generally not acquired until payments are at least 180 days past due. Debt problems seem to be worse in the South, with states hovering in the 40%+ range, while the Northeast has it better, at less than 30%.
Dozens of major GOP donors, Wall Street Republicans, and corporate lobbyists have told Politico that if Jeb Bush decides against running and Chris Christie doesn't recover politically, they'll support Hillary Clinton. "The darkest secret in the big money world of the Republican coastal elite is that the most palatable alternative to a nominee such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas or Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky would be Clinton," concludes Politico.

Libertarians want to abolish Social Security, screw over working-class Americans, and take all the money that would go towards Social Security and invest it in Wall Street, so that their wallets can get even bigger. There's over $2.5 trillion sitting in the Social Security Trust Fund right now. They don't want to have any responsibility for society. Screw society!
This article explores what I think has become just about a mental illness-- the desire for "more" and the corollary "bigger." This is a disorder that has been stoked and encouraged by the media, even by political leaders. But is it really what we want, and is it at all healthy or normal?
Few consider Washington Times, founded by the Unification Church to fight Communism, a valid news source. Still the paper's "news" this week that Chicago carriers were stopping crime is right out of the Onion
By Eric Zuesse
Diane Ravitch Condemns 'Accountability', I Dissent, She Responds. So: Let's All Discuss It.
The consequences of rating teachers according to how much they improve their students' performance will be very different from the consequences of rating teachers according to simply how well their students perform.
The United States is indeed the Great Satan leading the world astray with its beliefs that limitless wealth brings happiness, that bombing can be a humanitarian act, and that "fearing for our lives" justifies killing others.

By Suzana Megles
Who Wears Fur Today?
Cleveland Armory, who was truly a defender and champion for animal welfare and concern for suffering animals, would often end his talks with - Why can't we be kind? Much kinder than would be my question - Why are we so cruel?
Mitch McConnell Runs Away From Reporters After Leak Of Secret Speech To the Kochs
In the leaked audio, McConnell admitted that the Kochs run the Republican Party, and that he will be carrying out their agenda if Republicans win the majority in the Senate. The leak of the secret speech combined with McConnell's promise to shut down the government if Obama doesn't do what he wants has led to McConnell literally running away from the media. In an interview eight days ago, McConnell threatened government shutdowns. The backlash caused by his annoucement of his strategy caused him to change his tune during an interview with CNN, "I'm the guy that's gotten us out of the shutdowns that some of our members have pushed us into in the past. That does not mean that you should send the president a total blank check with no restrictions at all on how the money is spent."
Plastic bags create a direct threat to wildlife, like the Pacific leatherback sea turtles, that mistake the bags for food. A study of more than 370 leatherback sea turtle autopsies found that one in three had plastic in their stomach, most often a plastic bag.

From the "Victim" of a Pedophile
Personalized blogs with a built-in readership. Whether you write original work or cross-post your previously published work, let us bring the readers to you. [Interesting and thought provoking article on pedophilia, more factual and less emotional than most I've seen. In important topic, particularly when you start to realize the extremely extensive nature of this behavior.]
With salt water as its fuel, which it converts to electricity, it has a top speed of over 200 mph and has now been approved for public road use in Europe.

Teachers are lazy, greedy, and overpaid. At least that's what many on the Tea party wing believe. Here's why they're wrong (again)
By Remi Brulin
Israel's decades-long effort to turn the word 'terrorism' into an ideological weapon
The article focuses on the history of the Israeli discourse on "terrorism," and the central role Benjamin Netanyahu played in shaping it in the 1980s.
By Franklin Lamb
No American Arms for Lebanon To Fight ISIS until Civil Rights for Palestinians
For Palestinians, a microcosm can be said to be that Lebanon's sects continue to deprive them of the basic civil right even to work and pressure are building not just for an intifada but for a jihadist revolt across Lebanon.
By David Chester
Sudan--Child Slavery
In this remarkable speech Simon Deng, an ex-child/slave from Sudan explains that what has been going on in the genocidal situation of this part of North Africa is a far truer expression of what Arab terrorists seek to achieve, than the small scale of the hostities and loss of life that is getting all the world's attention in Gaza.
Is history repeating itself? Not exactly, and not yet, but the same stupid cast of characters seems to be rising to the occasion.

Over the past six years after every election, a relatively common question is why do so many Americans dependably vote against their own self-interests. Despite poor white people in southern red states barely surviving on slave wages, welfare, food stamps, and no adequate healthcare, they routinely vote for Republicans openly campaigning on driving their constituents deeper into poverty. It is true that opposition to Democrats as surrogates for an African American President is driven by racial animus, but even that fails to explain poor white voters electing abusive Republicans promising to eliminate programs that keep them alive and block Democratic attempts to lift them out of poverty.
The prominent Bahrain human rights activist and critic of the ruling family, Maryam al-Khawaja, has been arrested by authorities on her arrival at the Gulf state's airport.
Professor William Lazonick's essay on U.S. corporations, "Profits Without Prosperity," shows why American workers are losing out in today's economy.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the United States' fresh sanctions against Iranian entities and companies run counter to the Geneva deal between Tehran and the six world powers, warning that Washington's continued hostile moves have made Iranians distrustful of the US. Asked by NBC network if the new US sanctions would damage the chance for striking a final deal with the world powers, the president said other 5+1 member states have not taken any action that Iran could deem as a damage to the talks since the Geneva deal was signed in November, and "the United States is the only country that Iran holds deep doubts about its good will for the settlement of the nuclear standoff."
Where is the justice? Since 1997, Monsanto has filed 145 lawsuits, or on average about 9 lawsuits every year for 16 straight years, against farmers who have "improperly reused their patented seeds." The biotech giant hasn't lost a single case, either. Not one. This includes when farmers tried to sue Monsanto over cross-pollination of their organic crops with GMO seed. For example, a federal court dismissed one of those cases, saying that it couldn't protect Monsanto against unfair lawsuits should they side in the farmers' favor.
Global Warming (what experts call Climate Change) is a dire threat to the health and well-being of millions of Americans. In the coming decades it will do trillions of dollars of damage to the American economy. Imagine what the city of Miami is worth; but much of it is doomed. We have locked in a four foot sea level rise over the next 80 years or so. But that is an average. In some places it will be higher (the ocean is not smooth). There will be episodes of rapid rise and storm surges leading to substantial coastal flooding for some towns and cities.
By andre vltchek
India is where?
Is India a genuine democracy? The author argues that it is not, in fact India is a nation like the US, no more than a formal democracy in which a plutocracy controls all the shots and the masses count for little or nothing.
By molly cruz
Old Bones
To vote for Hillary Clinton, I'd have to abandon a conviction that has evolved over the decades, as I've been around a while. I don't have high hopes for her as Commander in Chief.

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"berry" (song poetry)
...o, berry, o, berry, o, berry, o... (Song poetry)

 Best News Links from the Web
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview to air Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press," that President Barack Obama had been "too cautious" in his response to the threat posed by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. "I think I've learned one thing about this president, and that is he's very cautious. Maybe in this instance, too cautious." "I do know that the military, I know that the State Department, I know that others have been putting plans together," the senior lawmaker added.
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 14:09