Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be
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The countries, companies and organizations that need us need a rogue nation that does bad things. That is, I am sad to say, what the US has become.
Residential segregation and other societal racist structures increases health risks and mortality. David Williams and other scholars empirically illustrate the problem...and the potential interventions.
By Daily kos
Here's what happens when someone wants to use your "public" info to intimidate you. (Updated) 
Daily Kos: Here's what happens when someone wants to use your "public" info to intimidate you. (Updated)
It looks like Edward Snowden and the series of articles Glenn Greenwald and colleagues have published at the Guardian have flushed out and or exposed some un-desirables.
My shortest but perhaps most incisive OEN article, this one points out the real harm resulting from Obamaheads' Orwellian usurpation of the word "progressive." Not only are many voters deceived but, what's worse, genuine progressives--the pro-democracy left--have others steal their own most effective rallying banner and are thereby crowded out and marginalized. I offer "centrist Democrats" as an honest alternative for Obamans.
By Jim Kavanagh
Egypt's Groundhog Day Revolution I watch the unfolding events in Egypt with a sense of unease, even dread. In the accounts I've read so far from the Egyptian street, I get the sense that, where two years ago there was an elation married with great hope, now there is something more like muted glee accompanied by a sinking feeling.
NSA has, for years, systematically tapped into the Brazilian telecommunication network and indiscriminately intercepted, collected and stored the email and telephone records of millions of Brazilians. The claim that any other nation is engaging in anything remotely approaching indiscriminate worldwide surveillance of this sort is baseless.
Note to Edward Snowden and his worrywarts in the press: Spying is only spying when the subject doesn't want to be watched.The leaker's flight path, with the Feds and the press in farcical flat-footed pursuit, captured far more of the public's attention than the �substance of his leaks. That's not his fault. The public was not much interested in the leaks in the first place. It was already moving on to Paula Deen. Whatever the fine points of the NSA's snooping, anyone who cared could surmise enough of the big picture to be wary long before the Snowden leaks filled in graphic details.The NSA is crying wolf when it claims that his disclosures are an enormous boon to terrorists, unless you believe terrorists are morons. There have been NSA leakers before Snowden, and they provided plenty of connectable dots.
OEN's long leadership in the alternative media makes it the natural place to announce publication of my book, "Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters," and its findings: Hidden elites control our presidents. The evidence is everywhere, including in several unpopular recent positions by President Obama on drones, Syria's civil war, and domestic surveillance by NSA.
Morsi was in office for about a year and never had effective control of an economy that has been derelict for decades. He was even accused of increasing the influence of the United States in Egypt. These accusations made little sense and were probably propaganda moves made in an effort to destroy the new government altogether.
By Suzana Megles
A Needed Change in Research Protocul I hope there will be a time when we realize that animal suffering counts for something. Sadly, some people I know don't even want to hear about it. I'm a firm believer that if you care about snimsl suffering, you will also care about human suffering.
Article focused upon a full-time workingman's scary plight to make financial ends meet.
With Obama in power, MSNBC talking heads reacted to the Snowden disclosures like Fox News hosts did when they were in hysterical damage control mode for Bush--with ridiculously fact-free claims and national chauvinism that we've come to expect from the "fair and balanced" channel. We need strong, independent media not enmeshed with the corporate/political power structure and not allied with one of the two corporate parties.
By earl ofari hutchinson
Why so Many Believe Blacks Are America's Racists A recent Rasmussen poll found that more Americans by a wide margin think blacks are more racist than whites. This also included a significant percent of blacks who according to Rasmussen said that they consider more blacks racist than whites or Hispanics. The poll was sloughed off, mocked, and skewered by some.
The notorious Westboro Baptist Church took to social media to praise God for the deadly Arizona wildfire that killed 19 firefighters, and threatened to picket funerals and the public memorial. On Thursday, the group repeatedly tweeted a new release declaring members would protest Tuesday's service at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.
State news media initially reported that Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat and a vocal critic of Egypt's last three leaders, had been chosen as prime minister, a move that would have given the generals who ousted President Mohamed Morsi a head of government likely to appeal to the country's liberals and to the West. But within hours, the fissures that had vexed Mr. Morsi's rule re-emerged to undo the reported decision. The ultraconservative party Al Nour, the one Islamic faction that had backed the military takeover, said it would refuse to work with Mr. ElBaradei because of his liberal views.
This article describes in some detail the specific actions and behaviors of President Obama during his time in office that document he has been an extremely poor leader. We are only beginning to experience the consequences of a very poor choice, coupled with the total incompetence and corruption of the two political parties.
Texas to Legalize Rape Since It Doesn't Lead to Pregnancy
I thought legalizing murder through "Stand Your Ground" laws was horrible, but these *ssholes have outdone themselves with this. One can now rape any "hottie" because it doesn't lead to pregnancy. My God what have we become?
An Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety. Television footage showed the top of the fuselage was burned away and the entire tail was gone. One engine appeared to have broken away. Pieces of the tail were strewn about the runway. Emergency responders could be seen walking inside the burned-out wreckage.
The team of panelists, Dr. Michael Hudson, Dr. Cay Hehner, and Chair Andy Mazzone reconvened this year on June 8, 2013 at Pace University's Left Forum. The title of this year's panel was "Wall Street's War to Impose Austerity." This is a review of that presentation.
Latest Articles
Crucial European positions in the trade talks may already be compromised due to the wide-scale surveillance. EU officials do not want the issue of America's covert spy program to be the elephant in the room which nobody talks about. Britain may also have some explaining to do on the sidelines of next week's trade talks. It has had access to the US internet monitoring program since at least June 2010.
Was "Straight" Marriage Ever Really Straight?
Rethinking the nature of "straight" marriage could demand a painful honesty and humility that history has yet to suggest our species is capable of.
Largely ignored by the press in the healthcare reform debate is the equity question -- the fair distribution of healthcare to those who need it, a leveling of barriers (cost barriers or other kinds) to care, largely because the framers of the law never talked about it. As the press begins to unravel the ironies laced through the health reform law, it's good to think about giving voice to those who will be left out.
The Military Commissions for trying alleged al-Qaeda terrorists always had the risk of becoming Kafkaesque kangaroo courts with little credibility among people around the world, a danger that has become more and more acute as the process moves forward.
The EU can mandate that governments arrange for deposit insurance, but if funding is inadequate to cover a systemic collapse, taxpayers will again be on the hook; and if they are unwilling or unable to cover the losses (as occurred in Cyprus and Iceland), we're back to the unprotected deposits and routine bank failures and bank runs of the 19th century.
We need new ideas to solve new problems. Yet we seem to be mired in dead ones.
Green Party Members Criticize Philadelphia City Council
Philadelphia Greens criticise City Council for going on vacation without funding the public schools.
If you think the government is the only one snooping into your life, you're as wrong as a Tea Party officer at a civil rights rally. You are the problem, and the reason why there is data on everyone--everywhere.
 Best News Links from the Web
Photo caption: 'A demonstrator holds a sign with a photograph of Edward Snowden during 4 July celebrations in Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/REUTERS' 'Staff from the National Security Agency got more than they bargained for when they attempted to recruit students to their organisation earlier this week "'
According to the US edition of the UK newspaper The Guardian's website: 'Spanish foreign minister declines to say where information came from that NSA whistleblower was on Bolivian leader's flight.'
Meditation Enhances Empathy
David DeSteno, Prof of Psychology at Boston University describes an experiment in the Sunday NYTimes. People who randomly assigned to practice meditation for 8 weeks were more likely to behave compassionately toward a stranger with a broken leg. The experiment didn't address broader measures of wellbeing, resilience, ability to handle the unexpected, let alone that undefinable thing called "happiness".
NYT: In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of NSA
In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation's surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the NSA the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyber-attacks. [Also peace activists, environmentalists and any journalist who tells too much of the truth.] The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents with no public scrutiny....The 11-member FISA court was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But it has now quietly become a parallel Supreme Court.
Ball State hires intelligent design leader to teach astronomy
Here's a brain teaser for you. In my opinion the "How" and "Why" are two distinct questions, not mutually exclusive; but here we have a variety of thoughts on the subject.
Essayist and "The Fluency Of Light: Coming of Age In a Theater of Black and White" author Aisha Sabatini Sloan writes: "When I heard that Rodney King had died, two details in particular stuck out to me. One was that he died in a swimming pool. The other was that, earlier that day, somebody had heard him scream."
Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him. The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daneil Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board. Shortly after, Morales also said Bolivia would grant asylum to Snowden, if asked. On Saturday, Venezuela's offer was given a warm reception by an influential member of the Russian parliament.
At least 28 students and one teacher have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a boarding school in Nigeria's northeast. Survivors being treated for burn and gunshots wounds said some students were burned alive in the attack on the Government Secondary School in Mamudo town in Yobe state early on Saturday.
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was chosen as Egypt's interim prime minister, according to sources close to the presidency. A military source confirmed that the former UN nuclear watchdog chief was to be sworn in later on Saturday, three days after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi. The news came as thousands of Morsi supporters massed in Nasr City and other place across Egypt to reinforce their demand for the reinstatement of the ousted leader.
The political ground may be shifting under the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama unexpectedly added a brief passage on the pipeline project to a major address laying out his second-term climate change agenda. He said he would approve the remaining portion of the 1,700-mile pipeline from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries only if it would not "significantly exacerbate" the problem of carbon pollution. He added that the pipeline's net effects on the climate would be "absolutely critical" to his decision whether to allow it to proceed.
Texas, whose lax regulatory climate has come in for scrutiny in the aftermath of the West explosion, went into a special session of its state legislature on Monday to push through an omnibus abortion bill designed to regulate 37 abortion clinics out of existence. But the 2013 session will come to a close without any significant action to impose safeguards on the 74 facilities in the state that contain at least 10,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate.
With fewer than a dozen flowering plants out of 300,000 species accounting for 80 percent of humanity's caloric intake, people need to tap unused plants to feed the world in the near future, claims a plant geneticist. [These figures have always astounded me, along with the variety of combinations that creative cooks come up with. DG]
Despite the fact that Manning is being tried in a military tribunal with less than his full constitutional rights, there is reason to hope that the government's case is so weak that he will not be convicted. Judge Colonel Denise Lind stated that in order to prove their charge of 'aiding the enemy' the prosecution must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Manning had "a general evil intent," in that he "had to know he was dealing, directly or indirectly, with an enemy of the US." At the close of the prosecution's case on Wednesday, after 14 days and 80 witnesses, they were not able to produce the Acceptable Use Policy, which laid out the terms of his access to classified information. Speculation abounds that the document exists in the Army's possession but its contents would actually tend to exonerate Manning.
Humor Feds' Deconfliction - Short Film
ForbiddenKnowledgeTV Alexandra Bruce June 18, 2013 Your Tax Dollars at work. |
