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Bad News!
There are so many must-read
articles in today's newsletter, you're going to have a hard time
figuring out which ones to read first.
One you might not consider at first is Relentless Bayou Corne Sinkhole Nearly 30 Times Original Size (UPDATED with Cave-In Video)
the sinkhole has grown to cover over 20 acres. It's HUGE and still growing.
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best,
rob kall
  Daily Headlines
Blowing the lid off of the conspiracy to impoverish the world.
Wednesday's
sentencing marks one of the most important watersheds in U.S. history.
It marks the day when the state formally declared that all who name and
expose its crimes will become political prisoners or be forced, like
Edward Snowden, and perhaps Glenn Greenwald, to spend the rest of their
lives in exile. Our nation has become a vast penal colony.
Facing
decades in prison, Pvt. Bradley Manning explained that patriotism drove
his decision to reveal crimes hidden in classified documents. Now, it's
up to President Obama to decide if he will pardon Manning or continue a
strategy of making his punishment an example to others, as Norman
Solomon notes in this open letter.
When
it comes to real men, men who have shown great courage in the face of
enormous risk to their future lives and freedom, we live in times when
some of the most courageous are LGBT.
This article discusses the relationship between knowledge, hidden knowledge/secrets, state secrets, and power.
If a nuclear device is ever smuggled into the US, we might have Dick Cheney to thank for it.
By Meryl Ann Butler
Relentless Bayou Corne Sinkhole Nearly 30 Times Original Size (UPDATED with Cave-In Video) 
Over
a year after the largest sinkhole ever discovered appeared, the
sinkhole is almost 30 times larger, and containment does not appear to
be any closer.
Having
seen his 16-year-old son volunteer at a homeless center, Andy Kessler,
this champion of the rich was motivated to develop a plan to solve
homelessness. Here it is: Stop dishing out soup to those people and shut
down all the shelters.
Everyone
knows that Washington forced its UK puppet to violate law in order to
serve Washington. One wonders if the British will ever decide that they
would be better off as a sovereign country. The White House denied
involvement in Miranda's kidnapping, but refused to condemn the illegal
action of its puppet.
How
hard is it to get hired in a slaughterhouse or on factory farm? Can you
fog a mirror? Can you start this afternoon? There is not a long line to
fill jobs whose descriptions are, "Remove dead animals from 98 degree
ammonia-infused pens wearing face mask, $8 an hour possible, depending
on experience," or "Determine sex of newborn chicks and grind up
unwanted males for dog food: $6 dollars an hour; chance for
advancement."
When
President Obama appointed Mary Jo White to head the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), Jack Lew for U.S. Treasury Secretary, and has
floated the idea for weeks that Larry Summers could become Chairman of
the Federal Reserve, he critically undermined the already low disregard
the public holds toward Wall Street's regulators.
Bradley
Manning plans to live as a woman named Chelsea and wants to begin
hormone therapy as soon as possible, the soldier said Thursday, a day
after being sentenced to 35 years in prison for sending classified
material to WikiLeaks.
We've
had a good run, but the Near Term Extinction movement and others are
saying that it's pretty much over for humans. Oh, well.
By Seymour Patterson
Does the Choice of a Fed Chairman Matter? Larry Summers' resume both qualifies and disqualifies him for the job of chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. Janet Yellen has real hands-on experience working at the Fed. But ultimately, it is President Obama's call and he will make that selection--and if his recent public support for Larry Summers is foreshadowing the president's selection, then it might be fair to say the choice has already been made.
In
a poll illustrating the cognitive dissonance of Republicans - at least
the ones in the state of Louisiana - results show that they believe
President Obama is more to blame for the poor response of the federal
government to Hurricane Katrina than George Bush.
Many
homeless people in Columbia, South Carolina are facing an arduous
choice: vacate downtown or be arrested. Here's how the initiative, which
was spearheaded by Councilman Cameron Runyan (D), will work. Police
officers will now be assigned to patrol the city center and keep
homeless people out. They will also be instructed to strictly enforce
the city's "quality of life" laws, including bans on loitering, public
urination, and other violations. And just to ensure that no one slips
through, the city will set up a hotline so local businesses and
residents can report the presence of a homeless person to police.
There
are plenty of others who will arise in new moments, which is a good
thing, since the physics of climate change means that the movement has
to win some critical victories in the next few years but also last for
generations. Rooftop by rooftop, we're aiming for a different world, one
that runs on the renewable power that people produce themselves in
their communities.
Stop Intimidating Journalists and Their Families
Secret Court Rebuked N.S.A. on Surveillance - CHARLIE SAVAGE and SCOTT SHANE, NYTimes.com
MISLEADING IS ANOTHER WORD FOR LYING.
By John Whitehead
The NSA: "The Abyss from Which There Is No Return' We now find ourselves operating in a strange paradigm where the government not only views the citizenry as suspects but treats them as suspects, as well.
By Eric Zuesse
Louisiana Republicans Blame Obama for the 2005 Hurricane Katrina Failures Louisiana Republicans blame Obama not Bush for Katrina disaster in 2005
By Rob Hager
Obama vs. Snowden: Part 2: Obama's Hollow "Reforms" for Making the Surveillance Program More Transparent. 
what
Obama claims as his own new proactive initiative for "review" was
already commanded by Congress nearly a decade ago as an institutional
process.
By Sam Amer
To Achieve Economic Democracy- Revolt Is What We Must To rebalance our economy, we need to revolt to change our economic laws
Bradley
Manning, moments after being sentenced to 35 years in prison, turned to
his attorney David Coombs and told him, "It's okay ... I'm okay,
everything is going to be okay." Coombs said it was the first time a
client had cheered him up after a verdict.
By Bradley Manning
Bradley Manning's Post Sentence Statement: 'Sometimes You Have to Pay a Heavy Price to Live in a Free Society' 
'Sometimes You Have to Pay a Heavy Price to Live in a Free Society' | Common Dreams
By Andrew Schmookler
The Spirit that Drove Us to Civil War is Back-- Who Chose War II: Responsibility for the Civil War The polarization that drove the nation into Civil War came more from one side of the conflict than the other. It was the South that upset the balance, insisting that it prevail regardless. The North was mostly reactive.
By Eugene Elander
What next, the guillotine for Whistleblowers? Just as the French Revolution had the awful guillotine mass beheadings to terrorize the population, America now has such terror tactics as the vastly excessive sentence of Bradley Manning for merely telling us facts we need to know. President Obama should commute his sentence, in common decency and simple humanity, now.
A
cynic might say: What's the point of asking President Obama for
clemency, when he's in charge of the system that put Manning in prison?
President Obama is indeed in charge of the system that put Manning in
prison. That's why he's the correct address for the appeal for clemency.
Latest Articles
Kurdish women Guerrillas on Front Line of War against Sex Slavery in Syria!
Consequently, we are appealing to feminists, and all others who have compassion and respect for their sisters and fellow human beings to support peace for the Kurdish people, and victory for their forces in Syria and other parts of Kurdistan as they struggle against attacks, especially on women, from Islamic terrorist organizations. The desperate situation in Syria is all too familiar to the Kurdish people who, after 1400 year
Obabma's Biggest Mistake? Well let me see...?
Keeping WBAI Alive
Article discusses the plight of WBAI, the most important progressive radio station in the country, and what the owners are doing to turn the station around.
Sometimes
what is supposed to be humorous for everybody turns out to be funny for
only one group of people. Here's my take on this film.
Corporate Charades: Introduction and Part 1. Ethics Programs
A corporation is made up of many parts. Some of them are charades. One of them is the corporate ethics program. This article is about it. Other articles will eventually follow on the other parts. The next essay will be about corporate social responsibility programs.
The author has objectively explained the saga being embarked on by the South Asian adversaries alongside Line of Control (LOC.)
Thoughts
after Manning's sentencing statement. In this statement, he's certainly
not the Bradley Manning that we want him to be. He's not, in other
words, the Bradley Manning that we have been producing in our political
discourse -- and that we must continue, with all due attention to his
utterances, but grounded in our own understanding of his all-important
actions, to produce.
The Affordable Care Act is not the single-payer system we really need, but it will save people's lives -- maybe even min.
A
military judge sentenced 25-year-old Bradley Manning to 35 years in
prison for leaking classified documents including evidence of U.S. war
crimes and proof the U.S. public was being manipulated. Yet, the
perpetrators of the crimes and lies face no accountability in an
upside-down case of moral justice.
Of
course, even though hateful cowards like Ted Nugent and Rush Limbaugh
deny the charge, their antipathy for Barack Obama derives from the
President's ethnicity. Back in the good old days, majority rule meant
that good old boys were guaran-damn-teed to come out on top every time.
How's that for an illusion of democracy?
How
is it that a guy who exposes war crimes gets 35 years, and a guy who
commits them gets pardoned, asked TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff,
pondering the draconian Manning verdict.
Despite
the fact that seven of the 39 men who signed the US Constitution in
1787 did not meet the "natural-born citizen" standard, there was just
enough fear at the time that a foreign-born monarch would take charge of
the newly formed United States to cause the clause to be added. It is
time to get over the fears of 226 years ago and embrace the
Enlightenment vision.
Manning's
lawyer David E. Coombs had previously asked the judge for leniency,
requesting a sentence that did not "rob him of his youth." Coombs argued
that Manning's leaks had not endangered the US. The prosecution had
sought a 60-year sentence, arguing the stiff term would deter others
from leaking classified information.
The
US and the UK governments go around the world threatening people all
the time. It's their modus operandi. They imprison whistleblowers. They
try to criminalize journalism. They threatened the Guardian with prior
restraint and then forced the paper to physically smash their hard
drives in a basement.
First
do no harm. That's a tenet of medical ethics that future doctors
worldwide are taught in medical school. If only the people we elect to
represent us were required to take such an oath. Florida state lawmakers
recently passed a law that will allow health insurance companies to
gouge Floridians and will actually be required by law to mislead their
Florida customers about why they're hiking their premiums.
A
new surveillance system BOSS (Biometric Optical Surveillance System) is
being developed under a contract to a military contractor by Homeland
Security to screen crowds & automatically identify people by their
faces. Not quite ready for prime time (est. some 5 yrs. down the road)
it will add to the gov'ts surveillance arsenal further making a mockery
of the Constitutions 4th Amendment against unreasonable searches &
seizures.
Just
as mixing in the dispersant Corexit increases oil contamination 52
times, this reckless, high-rolling oil delinquent dispatches its latest
PR campaign from hell.
Impeachment
fever is raging in the Republican party. Or is it defunding Obamacare?
Or shutting the government down? Whatever it is, it has nothing to do
with governing.
Reinforcing the Self-Serving Myth that Blacks Kill Whites Because They're White
The predictable happened as soon as the race of the three teens charged in the Oklahoma slaying of Christopher Lane, a young white Australian baseball player was known. Two are black. The cry immediately went up yet again that whites are in dire peril from being victimized, and likely murdered by young blacks.  Best News Links from the Web
San
Diego Mayor Bob Filner has agreed to resign as part of a deal reached
this week with city officials, NBC 7 News has learned. Filner, spotted
leaving City Hall with packing boxes Wednesday night, will formally
vacate the office following a closed session of City Council Friday,
according to several sources. In the last six weeks, more than a dozen
women have come forward with tales of alleged sexual harassment and
unwanted sexual advances.
As
countries worldwide ramp up their fight to reduce smoking, free-trade
agreements have become a weapon of choice for multinational tobacco
companies to challenge the most stringent rules. The Obama
administration announced 15 months ago that it would push for language
in a pending Pacific Rim trade deal protecting the authority of national
health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, to impose
tough anti-smoking measures. The administration has so far failed to
move forward with the proposal apparently bowing to strong opposition
from powerful business groups. With Top cigarette makers paying legal
fees for the Ukraine, Honduras and Dominican Republic, against Australia
before the World Trade Organization, a trade versus the health agency
rights, how much closer to Fascist policies must U.S. trade policies get
for "We the People" to realize our Republic is in peril.
Some
of the materials Manning leaked, published by WikiLeaks, pointed to
potential human rights violations and breaches of international
humanitarian law by US troops abroad, by Iraqi and Afghan forces
operating alongside US forces, and by military contractors. Yet the
judge had ruled before the trial that Private Manning would not be able
to defend himself by presenting evidence that he was acting in the
public interest.
Despite
the NSA's statements to the contrary, it looks like the intelligence
agency doesn't know everything that whistleblower Edward Snowden took
from them after all. Intelligence officials told NBC News that the NSA
was still "overwhelmed" with the work of finding out what else Snowden
has. The news comes just two days after British authorities detained
journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda for nearly 9 hours.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron has personally intervened in a desperate
attempt to bring further revelations about Britain-U.S. spying scandal
to a halt. News that Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood had contacted the
Guardian dragged Cameron into a storm over Britain's response to media
coverage of secrets leaked by Snowden. Critics accused the UK government
of using scaremongering tactics to suppress further revelations which
could be damaging to London and Washington.
In
this riveting interview, Antoinette Tuff says, "I'm not the hero. I was
terrified." A gunman had walked into an elementary school near Atlanta
with an assault rifle and other weapons, ready to kill himself and
others around him. Tuff says she spent about an hour with him, telling
him about her life, and how hardships can be overcome. She told him she
loved him, and he put down his guns and surrendered. (Don't miss the
end, and have tissues ready!)
On
a two-day tour this week in the Northeast, where he has a strong base
of support, Obama will grab the microphone while Congress is still out
on a five-week summer break and cast Republicans as obstructionists. The
trip to New York and Pennsylvania is a chance for him to rally public
opinion to his side ahead of fall clashes with Republicans on the
budget.
On
Monday Bolivian President Evo Morales launched an anti-corruption
campaign called "Caravan for Sheer." At the launch of the campaign on
Monday in La Paz, President Morales warned that "if there will be
corruption, all the perpetrators will go to jail, no privileges." For
two months, this caravan will visit 21 cities in Bolivia to deliver a
direct message to the Bolivian population promoting values "-"-like
honesty, transparency, ethics and integrity, according to its
organizers.
Inasmuch
as the way people treat animals reveals their character, the way we
mass produce animals for human consumption reveals much about our
nation’s character. That character is being tested even now on Capitol
Hill. Kathleen Parker explains why Steve King's farm bill amendment
should be killed.
The
bee-pocalypse: beginning nearly a decade ago, honeybees started dying
off at unusually and mysteriously high rates----this past winter, nearly
one-third of U.S. honeybee colonies died or disappeared...honeybees
keep dying and bees keep collapsing. That's bad for our food
system--bees add at least $15 billion in crop value through pollination
in the U.S. alone, and if colony losses keep up, those pollination
demands may not be met and valuable crops like almonds could wither.
Progress in Pinning Blame for the Assassination of Popular Pakistani PM
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 by a crazed individual acting alone. She was the eldest daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister of Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which she led. She served as PM twice herself, and was favored to be returned to power in the 2008 election when she was assassinated. Now the NYTimes reports that a Pakistani court has indicted Pervez Musharraf, in connection with her assassination. Pervez ruled Pakistan previously after he came to power in a military coup.
Could
it be that President Obama intends to try and close the only agency in
Washington that assists the nation's 28 million small businesses? The
corporate giants that have so much power in Washington have been pushing
to close the SBA since Ronald Reagan was president. The reason they
want the agency closed is pure and simple, greed. By combining the SBA
with the Department of Commerce the 23 percent small
business-contracting program will be slowly dismantled. Eventually, 100
percent of all federal contracts will go to the corporate giants that
rule the roost in Washington and the Department of Commerce.
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