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Thursday, 25 April 2013


Daily Headlines

As a perpetual emotion machine -- producing and guzzling its own political fuel -- the "war on terror" continues to normalize itself as a thoroughly American way of life and death. Ongoing warfare has become a matter of default routine...

There area a lot, too many ways that the mainstream media have failed miserably for the most part, to discuss what happened in Boston. They're doing a predictable job covering the story of the bomber suspects, as they have been portrayed by the police, the FBI and politicians.

We may be sending a dangerous message to those who'd love to make as big a splash as those two young Chechen immigrants: if if you want to completely capture the attention of the world's leading nation for days on end, just come and blow up a few of us.

There seems to be this pervasive belief in the US that we can invade, bomb, drone, kill, occupy, and tyrannize whomever we want, and that they will never respond. If you believe all that militarism and aggression are justified, make that argument. But don't walk around acting surprised, bewildered and confounded when violence is brought to US soil as well.

By Robert Scheer
277 Million Boston Bombings
The horror of two pressure cooker bombs in Boston that has so traumatized us should help us grasp the significance of the 1.8 million bomblets dropped in Iraq over a three-week period. Obama was right to blast the use of weapons that targeted civilians in Boston as inherent acts of terrorism, but by what standard do such weapons change their nature when they are deployed by governments against civilians?

By jana claire
Drones, Sanctions, and the Prison-Industrial Complex
In prison for having protested remote-control murder by drones, the author of this article reflects on what his time inside has taught him. It may not be what the system expects.
The outpouring of violence has shaken the moral authority of Suu Kyi, as she tries to maintain the momentum of democratization through negotiation and cooperation with the power structure. Many have found her statements on the violence to be remarkably muted.

A critical concern of our time is not simply our high levels of income inequality and their negative impact on opportunity and mobility. It's how inequality and immobility become entrenched in the system -- how they replicate.

By Jana Nestlerode
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the Miranda Debate
With the recent arrest of the Boston marathon bomber, there is much public debate about the expansion of the "public safety exception" to Mirandas to include Miranda-less interrogation of terrorism suspects. But Mirandas only address the admissibility of the statements given by the arrestee. In this case, those statements are not essential to the success of the prosecution.
In Part I of this series, we examined breaking up the too-big-to-fail-or- jail banks, regulating them - especially their massive and risky derivatives trading - and more aggressively enforcing laws and regulations against security fraud.

Who exactly does the NRA represent -- its card-carrying members who were mostly in favor of expanding background checks or the gun manufacturers who thrive on being able to easily sell their machines of death?

By Mary Pitt
In The Days Before...
I have reached that stage in life where I am ready and willing to accept the title of "Old Crone" and to try to educate our people of "the days before." In this case specifically, of the days before many of the political and social programs which affect our lives today.

Organic food conglomerate Eden Foods is suing the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act, because it specifies coverage for birth control pills, which are nothing but instruments of the devil if you listen to CEO Michael Potter.

when asked to choose between environmental regulation and energy production, a whopping 94% of Americans believe in prioritizing protection of clean water and air over all else.

As societal pain increases so does the expression of hate.

Lost in Space - By MAUREEN DOWD NYTimes.com
" Everybody is continuously connected to everybody else on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Reddit, e-mailing, texting, faster and faster, with the flood of information jeopardizing meaning. Everybody's talking at once in a hypnotic, hyper din: the cocktail party from hell... The Boston Marathon bombings exposed a new phase in our experience of what David Foster Wallace called Total Noise: "the tsunami of available fact, context, and perspective." "found the ecosystem of information in a strange and unstable state: Twitter on the rise, cable TV in disarray, Internet vigilantes bleeding into the F.B.I.'s staggeringly complex (and triumphant) crash program of forensic video analysis. If there ever was a dividing line between cyberspace and what we used to call "the real world,' it vanished last week." Crowd-sourcing quickly turned into witch hunting, he noted."
This is a mesmerizing video that eventually makes you see the fire within. Absolutely fascinating. It's whirling. I find that suspicious. Enjoy!

Big finance - the too-big-to-jail banks that dominate the economy and government - is designed for financiers and does not benefit most people. That is why many are in rebellion against the looting class of Wall Street. But if we don't like Wall Street finance, what would we replace it with? What would a finance system that served and protected the people look like?

Secretary of State John Kerry connected the deaths aboard the Mavi Marmara with the dead and wounded in last week's Boston Marathon explosions. Both experiences brought grief and anger to their respective nations. Kerry's response was personal, an expression of compassion from a Bostonian to the people of Turkey, linking the Mavi Marmara to the City of Boston.

Eighty-six of the 166 Guantanamo detainees have been designated for release, but lack of resolve on the part of the administration, obstacles by Congress and a general lack of interest in the plight of these men, has left Guantanamo a human-rights abomination that is still open for business 11 years later.

Voice from Yemen: Obama's Drones Stir 'Growing Hatred of America'
The young man described how a suspected US drone last week fired missiles on his small village of Wessab in Yemen and told the bipartisan panel of Senators that, "What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village, one drone strike accomplished in an instant: There is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America."
One year after the Cold War ended, Russia tried to cooperate with a U.S. national security investigation into possible treason by senior American officials only to see the information ignored. Two decades later, Russians feel their warning about a Boston Marathon bomber was ignored again.

Jeremy Scahill on "Dirty Wars" and Obama's Expanding Drone Attacks
Astounding video, incomprehensible, evil behavior on behalf of the U.S. Government. Anyone still supporting Obama may as well accept that they literally condone murder.
Begich didn't vote against this measure to expand background checks for gun purchases. He voted against allowing other senators to vote on it. So it failed, even though a majority of senators supported it and it was overwhelmingly backed by voters.

In a supplement that reads as a paid advertisement, The Dallas Morning News calls Bush's new library, "A place to learn," reporting that the former president hopes the "evenhanded treatment" of his legacy "helps satisfy visitors' intellectual curiosity." That piece is followed by a silky soft interview with the former first lady, Laura Bush, and an editorial that states that her husband "stands out as a leader whose convictions guided him."

Poking holes in the Boston Marathon bombing cover-up. Nothing here makes sense, and nothing should be taking for granted.

By William Boardman
F-35 Plans Attack Civilians
While it's too soon, perhaps, to say that the over-budget, overdue, and under-performing F-35 joint strike fighter is in a political tailspin, having its biggest Senate booster accused of pushing for political pork at the expense of his poorer constituents hasn't made the controversial stealth bomber's flight path less bumpy.

April 19th was a milestone in the emerging 21st century surveillance police state in America. Yeh, it worked like a charm. But there's a very dark side to consider.

By Linh Dinh
Postcard from the End of America: Oakland
Should London's ghost amble from his Klondike Gold Rush cabin, now preserved on Jack London Square, this friend of the downtrodden would be aghast to be surrounded on all sides by bankers, stockbrokers, lawyers, "civic leaders" and assorted war profiteers kicking it back in luxurious surroundings.


Latest Articles
Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth
Imagine that a substantial group of the most prominent astronomers insisted that the sun goes around the earth, as anyone can plainly see. There would likely be huge numbers of people who refused to accept that the earth goes around the sun. This is the state of modern economics.
The Bad and the Good: Congress and the People
A recap of the two events which define our society, during the week ending April 20, 2013.
The violence in France over the legalization of same-sex marriage may be the result of a mixture of different ideologies and discontentment, but will such a mix occur in the U.S.?

Bomber Suspects Guns Big Slap at NRA's Gun Control Obstinacy
Boston bomber suspects Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly horded a small arsenal of guns. They were automatic weapons. They did not have to go through a background check or have a permit.
With the advent of representatives chosen by special interest groups and populist movements, D.C. is beginning to look like the Great American Circus.

Taxation without representation
Ever wonder why our government seems so disconnected from the will of the people?
Supportive Culture of Learning May Fail Academically: Example from Middle East
For centuries European and American universities have been opening programs overseas. This article looks at how local cultures of learning interface with acquisition of academic curricula.
Engelhardt: Field of Nightmares
Chalmers Johnson's book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire was published in March 2000 -- and just about no one noticed. Until then, blowback had been an obscure term of CIA tradecraft, which Johnson defined as "the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people."
Does Shaq Support Censorship - He Slam Dunks Film on Famed Inmate
The Newark movie complex co-owned by famed basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal cancelled the screening of a documentary film prompting cries of censorship. This film examines imprisoned author/activist/journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, uniquely focusing on the 'who' of Abu-Jamal unlike the 'whodunit' crime focus of prior films on this contentious case.
This week, Iceland is holding the newest and most cutting edged election that the world has ever seen.Most of the citizens of Iceland are more involved than they have ever been before. Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson is one of those citizens.

The Bevill (Read: Baffle) Exclusion
In nomenclature ludicrous even by doublespeake "standards," the EPA's "Bevill Exclusion" reclassifies fluoride from an "extremely hazardous waste" to a "by-product" of the same in order to allow industry to dump it into our drinking water instead of disposing of it as a hazardous waste, which is what it most decidedly is.
Many clinical features of Hepatitis C resemble an auto-immune disease, such as the long duration, chronic nature and association with other auto-immune symptoms. According to Dr Strassburg, "Based on biochemical and clinical features, Hep C is almost indistinguishable from autoimmune hepatitis," Hep C advertising campaigns raise warning flags and serious ethical concerns about the motivations of the drug companies.

Targeting Iran
Hostile US/Israeli rhetoric is longstanding. Obama and Netanyahu consider Iran an existential threat. Claiming it turns truth on its head.
Terrorism prevention activist shares personal story of terrorism and how to prevent it.

A call for a new Constitution and reigning in on the out of control Federal/State sale of the government. A call for goverment that serves the people.

Henry Kissinger's quote recently released by Wikileaks,"the illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer", likely brought a smile to his legions of elite media, government, corporate and high society admirers. It is unlikely, however, that the descendants of his more than 6 million victims in Indochina, and Americans of conscience appalled by his murder of non-Americans, will share in the amusement.

Washington's efforts to delegitimize the election mark a significant escalation of US efforts at regime change in Venezuela. Not since its involvement in the 2002 military coup has the US government done this much to promote open conflict in Venezuela.

American Militarism: Part One (Rachel Maddow)
On April 14th Rachel Maddow spoke at the University of Pennsylvania to describe and decry the many reasons why war has become so extremely easy to initiate in the United States.
The strategy from Blue Line and its partners to ignore climate change played into the hands of polluters, which sought to suppress support for the bill by spreading doubt about the consensus over the science. It was a novel approach. In nearly every Western industrialized country that has implemented economy-wide carbon controls, reformers have talked about the effects of climate change.

The article provides an overview of the American food system and how it promotes corporate agribusiness rather than family farms, how Congress favors genetic engineering and opposes organic. Our agriculture system has a huge impact on climate change and water. Food is a human right. It is often the biggest part of the local economy but ignored by economic planners.

Unfortunately, freedom as practiced in the U.S. has its drawbacks. It has encouraged an often heartless individuality that disregards serious levels of poverty. It has allowed the evolution of interest group politics that often works against national interests in both domestic and foreign policies.

The new movie, "42," tells the story of Jackie Robinson, but it also makes this writer think about how much of America's progressive social agenda has either not been accomplished or has eroded over the years.

Media Coverage of Boston Bombings Shows Human Life Is Valued by Different Standards
Westerners are often oblivious to the harm that their own governments cause other nationals. Claims in Western courts have been dismissed when other nationals (especially from third world countries) have submitted them.
50 Years After MLK's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," What Can We Learn?
Taking note of an important anniversary, lost in the hubbub of the daily news.
The Terror Next Time
What if the Boston bombers were two Pakistani kids whose family had been wiped out by an Obama drone strike? Americans might finally get an idea of the horror they've been responsible for.
When Will We Ever Learn?
It is certainly appropriate to honor the victims of the 1983 US Embassy bombing but it is no less appropriate to honor the other tragedies in Lebanon during this period under review that precipitated it. In her closing remarks this week, Ambassador Connelly noted that in her opinion, "the bombing of the US Embassy taught us the stakes of involvement in this region." Has it?
As with so many unspoiled ecosystems, the world's largest, most perfect biobay in danger. As is Vieques, itself. And on Earth Day it is worth noting how our military maneuvers almost destroyed the island, and continues to threaten the population with abandoned by-products from our weapons of war.

In considering a cause of death of one of the alleged perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing, the Massachusetts medical examiner may have to fend off pressure to make the facts fit officialdom's storyline.

This success has a thousand parents. While MD-AGV was focused on banning military assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,others were concerned about addressing handgun violence that daily plagues our cities, and about the public health aspects of gun violence. When we are clear about our message,knowledgeable about the legislative process, our elected officials know it. They must also know that we will vote this issue.

There are absolutely no witnesses saying the brothers dropped the bombs. They did it because the FBI says so. Washington is about to join the glittering ranks of Mubarak-era Egypt, Bahrain and Uganda. As that nasty little piece of work, Senator Lindsay Graham, put it, now ''the homeland is the battlefield.'' And you're an enemy combatant if we say so.

Over the last two years, the US has witnessed at least three other episodes of mass, indiscriminate violence that killed more people than the Boston bombings did. The word "terrorism" was almost never used to describe that indiscriminate slaughter of innocent people, and none of the perpetrators of those attacks was charged with terrorism-related crimes.

A report on the Gina McCarthy hearings

By projecting its own evil onto its intended targets, USA 'gets away' with war crime after war crime.

How to Help your Employees, Administrators, and Students Understand What Unites Them - and What Makes Them Unique
Too many countries, especially those here in the Middle East, are focusing on high-stakes exams instead of making the classroom reflect more of what we experience in the real world. In this paper the author encourages colleagues, trainers, and teachers across two continents to strive to use simulations and simulation games in class and in training sessions. He focuses on on well-known simulation on culture: BARNGA.

Best News Links from the Web
Although police feared he was heavily armed, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding, according to multiple federal law enforcement officials. Authorities said they were desperate to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev so he could be questioned. The FBI, however, declined to discuss what prompted the gunfire.

David H. Petraeus, who resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency last November after having an extramarital affair with his biographer, will serve as a visiting professor at the City University of New York next academic year. Petraeus said he looked forward to leading a seminar "that examines the developments that could position the United States -- and our North American partners -- to lead the world out of the current global economic slowdown."

In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.

A new review of insect pollinators of crops and wild plants has concluded they are under threat globally from a A new review of insect pollinators of crops and wild plants has concluded they are under threat globally from cocktail of multiple pressures, and their decline or loss could have profound environmental, human health and economic consequences. Globally, insects provide pollination services to about 75% of crop species and enable reproduction in up to 94% of wild flowering plants. Pollination services provided by insects each year worldwide are valued at over US$200 billion.

Green Shadow Cabinet Opened on Earth Day | Green Shadow Cabinet
Dr. Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, the 2012 Green Party presidential and vice-presidential nominees, will unveil the Green Shadow Cabinet this coming Monday, April 22nd, Earth Day at http://www.GreenShadowCabinet.US. The Cabinet will operate in the tradition of shadow cabinets in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, responding to actions of the government in office, and demonstrating that another government is possible.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney spent their entire eight-year reign enriching their cronies. In addition, during their time in office they didn't do one solitary thing to help America, or the American people, and that's been the Republican record for nearly ONE HUNDRED YEARS. The GOP has a clear and irrefutable one hundred year record of swindling the American people, which I clearly lay out in the following link . . . MORE

Research into acclaimed titles for very young children finds messages encouraging 'consumer involvement' and 'attachment to objects'. Should we buy into the thesis? This article raises other questions that aren't being asked. For example, are we passing along inappropriate values to our children by not being more discriminating about which books we purchase for young children?

Film actors Nisha, Arjun climbing Mt Everest without permission
Climbing Mt. Everest without permission is different from not climbing Mt. Everest with permission.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in a death in the Boston Marathon Bombings, was read his Miranda rights at his hospital bedside Monday after the Justice Department invoked Miranda's public safety exception. A federal magistrate judge read the rights to Tsarnaev, an American citizen of Chechen descent, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Tsarnaev nodded his head to answer the judge's questions, and answered "no" when asked if he could afford a lawyer. He remained in serious condition at the hospital. The Justice Department said Friday that Tsarnaev would not immediately be read his Miranda rights and would be questioned by the department's High-Value Interrogation Group. ABC News and NBC News reported that Tsarnaev was answering questions in writing on Sunday night.

FDA Approved New Drug Despite Ongoing Investigation of Lab Misconduct
Last week, ProPublica reported that the Food and Drug Administration allowed dozens of medications to stay on the market, even though the research designed to prove their safety and effectiveness was undermined by "egregious" violations at a major pharmaceutical research laboratory in Houston. New information shows that even after the FDA had cited the lab for falsifying data and other misconduct, the agency issued a brand new approval to a drug tested there.The FDA has refused to reveal the names of any of the approximately 100 drugs affected by the fraud at the Houston lab of the firm Cetero Research, saying that to do so would reveal confidential commercial information. ProPublica was able to identify five of those drugs, and now we’ve found a sixth. This one was approved after the agency had already cited the Houston lab for misconduct.
Children as young as four are becoming so addicted to smartphones and iPads that they require psychological treatment.Experts have warned that parents who allow babies and toddlers to access tablet computers for several hours a day are in danger of causing “dangerous” long term effects. Dr Graham said that young technology addicts experienced the same withdrawal symptoms as alcoholics or heroin addicts, when the devices were taken away. He warned that the condition prevented young people from forming normal social relationships, leaving them drained by the constant interaction.

It's never a good thing for your campaign when you take out a full-page ad in a local paper explaining why you trespassed on your ex-wife's property. Like, ever. But, that's exactly what former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford did over the weekend in the Charleston Post and Courier. Sanford, who until the allegations of trespassing hit last week was expected to win the May 7 special election primary for the 1st congressional district seat he held from 1996 until 2002, is clearly reeling and trying to put an end to the questions raised by his behavior.

In what can only be described as a grotesque display of lawlessness and incendiary rhetoric, Hagel declared Iran a "real threat" and said that the US would stand by the Israeli state if the latter chose to launch a preemptive military strike on the Islamic Republic. "The bottom line is that Iran is a threat, a real threat," Hagel told reporters while onboard his weekend flight to the Middle East. Hagel flew into Tel Aviv bearing gifts worth $10 billion in the latest American military hardware, including upgraded precision-guided missiles, stealth radar equipment, V22 Osprey transport warplanes and the giant 135-KC refueling aerial tankers.

Earlier this week, the United States Senate failed to approve an amendment calling for stricter background checks on gun purchases. Much has been made of the fact that close to 90 percent of the country supports some form of increased background checks, as well as the fact that Senate rules required 60 votes for the measure to pass, as opposed to a simple majority, by which the measure would have passed.
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