Netroots Nation

Listen to the AAR panel discussion. It provided great insight. Good, the bad and the Montel.

- All we have is each other.

September 1, 1939
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
'I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,'
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the dead,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
- by W. H. Auden

Politics makes people stupid.

.

Today in the San Francisco Chronicle, former S.F. Mayor Willie Brown started his Sunday column with the insider's view of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack's sacking of Shirley Sherrod. (The column is not available to non-subscribers online until tomorrow, so I can't give a link, and type the Sherrod section here.)

Under today's headline "Sherrod has long been a thorn in USDA's side" Willie Brown writes:

"...As an old pro, though, I know that you don't fire someone without at least hearing their side of the story unless you want them gone in the first place.

This woman has been a thorn in the side of the Agriculture Department for years. She was part of a class-action lawsuit against the department on behalf of black farmers in the South, For years she has been operating a community activist organization not unlike ACORN.

I think there were those in the Agriculture Department who objected to her being hired in the first place.

[snip]

But I have to add that the overreaction of the White House once again underscores Obama;s own problem with race.

This president has carefully crafted his image, and it hinges on his not being seen as a Jesse Jackson or an All Sharpton, as a flack for the NAACP or the Urban League.

In other words, he does not want to be seen as a "black" president. He wants to be seen as a president who happens to be black.

The mind-set permeates his administration. Anytime there's an issue that is clearly "black", the Obama people do no want to be associated with it in any fashion.

We saw it first in his distancing himself from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and to a lesser extent in the dust-up between police and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. And now this.

Obama has come in for considerable criticism from a number of respected and important black people. He has a Latino issues advisoer. He has an advisoer on gay rights. He has an adviser on senior issue, on labor -- but there is no African American issues adviser. There has been no big black cultural celebration at the White House.

There's only one black in his cabinet. Even George W. Bush had more blacks in positions of power than Obama.

Frankly, I think some of the sniping is unfair. Obama really is trying his best to elevate the racial climate and bring this country into the 21st century -- but there's a lot of mid-20th century left in America."

Sherrod's speech? Where or from whom did it actually originate?

If Sherrod helps run a group similar to ACORN, then discrediting her looks altogether TOO much like the successful effort across the media AND government that killed ACORN.

Reform is needed to make food safer, but the Food Safety Modernization Act S.510 also tries to club to death small farmers and markets and producers (who just happen to be a growing source of competition to Big Corporate entities AKA Food Incorporated, aka The Food Giants etc.), thereby showing its Corporatist roots! and doing the dirty work for the corporate sector!

http://www.grassrootsnetroots.org/articles/article_21293.cfm

[excerpt]

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill, S. 510, to reform the food safety system. Although reform of the industrial food supply is clearly needed, this bill threatens to create more problems than it will solve. S. 510 would undermine the rapidly growing local foods movement by imposing unnecessary, burdensome regulations on small farms and food processors - everyone from your local CSA to the small bakers, jam makers, and people making fermented vegetables to sell at the local farmers market.

JULY 2010 Update: The bill has been delayed, but it is still a real threat, so keep up the calls! You can read our earlier action alert, which includes contact information and talking points for talking with your Senators, here. The list of organizations urging Senators to support the Tester-Hagan amendment to exempt small-scale and direct-marketing producers from the most burdensome portions of the bill is now 157 strong! Read our letter here

[end excerpt]

Not Crushed, Merely Ignored
Tariq Ali on the recent killings in Kashmir
By Tariq Ali

A Kashmiri lawyer rang me last week in an agitated state. Had I heard about the latest tragedies in Kashmir? I had not. He was stunned. So was I when he told me in detail what had been taking place there over the last three weeks. As far as I could see, none of the British daily papers or TV news bulletins had covered the story; after I met him I rescued two emails from Kashmir informing me of the horrors from my spam box. I was truly shamed. The next day I scoured the press again. Nothing. The only story in the Guardian from the paper’s Delhi correspondent – a full half-page – was headlined: ‘Model’s death brings new claims of dark side to India’s fashion industry’. Accompanying the story was a fetching photograph of the ill-fated woman. The deaths of (at that point) 11 young men between the ages of 15 and 27, shot by Indian security forces in Kashmir, weren’t mentioned. Later I discovered that a short report had appeared in the New York Times on 28 June and one the day after in the Guardian; there has been no substantial follow-up. When it comes to reporting crimes committed by states considered friendly to the West, atrocity fatigue rapidly kicks in. A few facts have begun to percolate through, but they are likely to be read in Europe and the US as just another example of Muslims causing trouble, with the Indian security forces merely doing their duty, if in a high-handed fashion. The failure to report on the deaths in Kashmir contrasts strangely with the overheated coverage of even the most minor unrest in Tibet, leave alone Tehran.

On 11 June this year, the Indian paramilitaries known as the Central Reserve Police Force fired tear-gas canisters at demonstrators, who were themselves protesting about earlier killings. One of the canisters hit 17-year-old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo on the head. It blew out his brains. After a photograph was published in the Kashmiri press, thousands defied the police and joined his funeral procession the next day, chanting angry slogans and pledging revenge. The photograph was ignored by the mainstream Indian press and the country’s celebrity-trivia-obsessed TV channels. As I write, the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, and several other towns are under strict military curfew. Whenever it is lifted, however briefly, young men pour out onto the streets to protest and are greeted with tear gas. In most of the province there has been an effective general strike for more than three weeks. All shops are closed.

An ugly anti-Muslim chauvinism accompanies India’s violence. It has been open season on Muslims since 9/11, when the liberation struggle in Kashmir was conveniently subsumed under the war on terror and Israeli military officers were invited to visit Akhnur military base in the province and advise on counter-terrorism measures. The website India Defence noted in September 2008 that ‘Maj-Gen Avi Mizrahi paid an unscheduled visit to the disputed state of Kashmir last week to get an up-close look at the challenges the Indian military faces in its fight against Islamic insurgents. Mizrahi was in India for three days of meetings with the country’s military brass and to discuss a plan the IDF is drafting for Israeli commandos to train Indian counterterror forces.’ Their advice was straightforward: do as we do in Palestine and buy our weapons. In the six years since 2002 New Delhi had purchased $5 billion-worth of weaponry from the Israelis, to good effect.
http://www.zcommunications.org/not-crushed-merely-ignored-by-tariq-ali

Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west
A state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness

Jul 25, 1853:
California Rangers kill Joaquin Murrieta

In a macabre instance of rough frontier justice, California Rangers claim a $6,000 award by bringing in the severed head--preserved in whiskey--of outlaw Joaquin Murrieta.

In the early months of 1853, a wild band of desperadoes began terrorizing Calaveras County in central California. Law officers believed a shadowy character named Joaquin Murrieta led the outlaws, although confusion abounded since there were at least four other desperadoes named "Joaquin" in the territory.....
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/california-rangers-kill-joaqu...

Thus sayeth the history channel.

Others disagree:

Joaquin Murrieta

Joaquin Murrieta (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (ca. 1829–July 25, 1853?), also called the Mexican or Chilean Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a semi-legendary figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. He was either an infamous bandit or a Mexican patriot, depending on one's point of view. Murrieta was partly the inspiration for the fictional character of Zorro. His name has, for some political activists, symbolized resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California. The "Association of Descendants of Joaquin Murrieta" is devoted to putting forth that Murrieta was not a "gringo eater," but instead that "He wanted to retrieve the part of Mexico that was lost at that time in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo...."

Bitter dispute surrounds the figure of Joaquin Murrieta, who he was, what he did, and many of his life's events. This is well summarized by the words of historian Susan Lee Johnson:

"So many tales have grown up around Murrieta that it is hard to disentangle the fabulous from the factual. There seems to be a consensus that Anglos drove him from a rich mining claim, and that, in rapid succession, his wife was raped, his half-brother lynched, and Murrieta himself horse-whipped. He may have worked as a monte dealer for a time; then, according to whichever version one accepts, he became either a horse trader and occasional horse thief, or a bandit...."

Becoming an outlaw

Some alleged he went to California in 1849 to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush. But instead of opportunity, he encountered racism and discrimination. While mining for gold, he and his wife supposedly were attacked by American miners jealous of his success.[2] They allegedly beat him senseless, then raped his wife. However, the source for this series of tragic events is disputed as it was a dime novel written in 1854 (The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta by John Rollin Ridge).[2] Historian Frank Latta, in his book Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs contended that the band was made up of family and friends, and that they regularly engaged in illegal horse trade with Mexico, after helping Joaquín kill at least six of his tormentors.
[edit] Orders for arrest and his supposed death

Historically, Murrieta was one of the so-called "Five Joaquins" listed on a bill passed in the California state legislature in May 1853, whereby a company of 20 rangers were hired for three months to hunt down Joaquin Botellier, Joaquin Carrillo, Joaquin Ocomorenia, Joaquin Muriata [sic] and Joaquin Valenzuela, and their banded associates.

On May 11, 1853, Governor of California John Bigler signed a legislative act creating the "California State Rangers", led by Captain Harry Love (a former Texas Ranger). The California Rangers were paid $150 a month and stood a chance to share the $1,000 governor's reward. On July 25, 1853, a group of Rangers encountered a band of armed Mexican men near Pacheco Pass in San Benito County, 50 miles (80 km) from Monterey. A confrontation took place, and two of the Mexicans were killed. One was claimed to be Murrieta, and the other was thought to be Manuel Garcia, also known as Three-Fingered Jack, one of Joaquin's most notorious associates.[4] A plaque (California Historical Landmark #344) near the intersection of State Routes 33 and 198 now marks the approximate site of the encounter.
A poster advertising the display of the supposed head of Murrieta in Stockton, CA. 1853
[edit] Murrieta's head

The Rangers severed Three-Fingered Jack's hand and the alleged Murrieta's head as proof of the outlaws' deaths, and preserved them in a jar of alcohol.[2] The jar was displayed in Mariposa County, Stockton, and San Francisco, and later traveled throughout California; spectators could pay $1 to see them. Seventeen people, including a Catholic priest, signed affidavits identifying the head as Murrieta's, alias Carrillo, enabling Love and his Rangers accordingly received the reward money....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murrieta

It's all good, from Diego to tha Bay

http://s0.ilike.com/play#2Pac:California+Love:380927:s374463.11534833.28...

90,000 documents reveal inner workings in Afghan occupation...unreporterd killings...Obama Adm. denies hiding facts...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10757344

ALSO--

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/25/afghanistan-war-logs-wikileaks_...

...Arthur James Balfour, the British statesman best remembered for issuing the British declaration of support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was born....

Israeli-Arab leader heads to jail

Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has turned himself in to Israeli authorities to start a five-month jail sentence.

Salah was convicted of assault for an incident that took place in 2007 during a demonstration in occupied East Jerusalem, in which court documents suggested he insulted a border policeman and spat in his face.

The sentence was nine months initially, but reduced to five months by a Jerusalem court earlier this month. Salah has always denied the charges.

"We are going to jail today in defence of al-Quds (Jerusalem). It would not surprise us if Israel divide Jerusalem by force," Salah told a crowd in front of his prison on Sunday.

The alleged assault reportedly took place during a protest outside the Dung Gate in the southern wall of the Old City where the Israeli authorities were carrying out restoration work near the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. It has been the scene of several outbreaks of violence over the course of the decades-old Israeli-Arab conflict.

Last May, Sheikh Raed Salah, was acquitted by a Jerusalem court in connection with rioting in the city three years ago. The court found the charges against him were inconsistent with witness testimony and video evidence produced by defence. The court also found him not guilty of involvement in an illegal gathering.

Salah has been detained on a number of occasions, most recently after taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla stormed on May 31 by Israeli naval commandos in an operation which left nine Turkish activists dead.

Israel's Arab community numbers 1.3 million, about 20 per cent of the population. It is made up of descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state.

Arab Palestinians during the British mandate and before the creation of Israel numbered close to two million.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/07/201072594748492849....

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated 2 November 1917) was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that

"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration,_1917

with Aaron Russo

Have you seen it or heard of him?

Interview w. Aaron Russo

Reflections And Warnings - An Interview With Aaron Russo {Full Film}
on YouTube

Russo tells a interesting story about his friendship with Nick Rockefeller (it won't be totally new to you but still it is chilling every time I hear it this info, esp. the 9/11 plans etc.)

this includes the info about Women's Lib acc. to Rockefeller
it will knock your socks off - it did mine

Let me know how you liked the interview. One thing is for sure, it is not boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGAaPjqdbgQ&feature=related

----
Arron Russon made a very important film in 2006

America: Freedom to Fascism (2006)

I haven't seen it yet but ordered it from Netflix - but you can see the full film on YouTube as well

This film received almost 5 stars from the viewers on Netflix - doesn't happen v. often.

xo

Whoa. Blankenship as Corporatist guru? Is he saying the more people(the population) are expendable, the more his own profits and quality of life go UP? Or something like that.

http://www.greenhomesvista.com/news/massey-ceo-blankenship-on-mine-disas...

[excerpt]

Blankenship's pro-business message boiled down to this: "At the end of the day, productivity divided by population equals quality of life." That maxim earned him wild applause from half a dozen ringers at a back table.

[end excerpt]

• Hundreds of civilians killed by coalition troops
• Covert unit hunts leaders for 'kill or capture'
• Steep rise in Taliban bomb attacks on Nato
• Read the Guardian's full war logs investigation

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-militar...

...n a statement, the White House said the chaotic picture painted by the logs was the result of "under-resourcing" under Obama's predecessor, saying: "It is important to note that the time period reflected in the documents is January 2004 to December 2009."

The White House also criticised the publication of the files by Wikileaks: "We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact the US government about these documents, which may contain information that endanger the lives of Americans, our partners, and local populations who co-operate with us."

The logs detail, in sometimes harrowing vignettes, the toll on civilians exacted by coalition forces: events termed "blue on white" in military jargon. The logs reveal 144 such incidents....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-militar...

Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs: 'They show the true nature of this war'

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, explains why he decided to publish thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world

"They're not getting paid, it's part of their sentence"

-----An early death is part of their sentence?
The clean-up work is deadly. All The locals should move away from this region immediately. I hear more and more about the deadly toxins and the deadly health problems - the toxins (they spray at night) are so strong they are destroying even the fishing boats. Mainstream servant news is not telling the truth and Mr. and Mrs. Obama don't either. Unbelievable.

=====
BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle

By Abe Louise Young

July 24, 2010 "The Nation" -- In the first few days after BP's Deepwater Horizon wellhead exploded, spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup workers could be seen on Louisiana beaches wearing scarlet pants and white t-shirts with the words "Inmate Labor" printed in large red block letters. Coastal residents, many of whom had just seen their livelihoods disappear, expressed outrage at community meetings; why should BP be using cheap or free prison labor when so many people were desperate for work? The outfits disappeared overnight.

Work crews in Grand Isle, Louisiana, still stand out. In a region where nine out of ten residents are white, the cleanup workers are almost exclusively African-American men. The racialized nature of the cleanup is so conspicuous that Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, sent a public letter [1] to BP CEO Tony Hayward on July 9, demanding to know why black people were over-represented in "the most physically difficult, lowest paying jobs, with the most significant exposure to toxins."

read here

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26011.htm

Published on Saturday, July 24, 2010 by The Independent/UK
Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah 'Worse Than Hiroshima'
The shocking rates of infant mortality and cancer in Iraqi city raise new questions about battle

by Patrick Cockburn

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study....

...He added that the US commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in command. Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: "My guess is that they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill those inside."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/24-0

U.S. tries to calm Iraqis over hazardous waste

"We don't use the word 'hazardous,' because in Arabic that translates into chemical, biological, and nuclear waste," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza said during a tour of the site.

"Everything we do here, as we process these materials, is so there is no 1/8adverse3/8 effect on Iraqis. No materials are left behind," Lanza said. "This highlights how we are not only good stewards here, but our relations with the Iraqi people."

American commanders in Iraq are working to demonstrate that they are clearing the country of tens of millions of pounds of U.S.-made hazardous waste in an effort to rebut claims that U.S. troops are leaving behind a toxic legacy as they withdraw.

Hundreds of barrels of all types and all colors — filled with everything from discarded lithium batteries and oil filters to powerful chemicals such as hydrochloric acid — are stacked in a dusty compound on a U.S. base at Tikrit, north of Baghdad.....

The U.S. military has been stung by recent news reports that portrayed a profligate dumping of hazardous materials, in violation of Pentagon rules. The Times of London reported that "open acid canisters sit within easy reach of children, and discarded batteries lie close to irrigated farmland."

The Times did not give details of those two cases. But it did quote a Fallujah scrap dealer with blistered skin on his legs and hands, saying: "I got this when I worked on what was supposed to be American scrap metal." The dealer said a doctor told him "these are the effects of dangerous chemicals."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/23/98059/us-tries-to-calm-iraqis-over...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/23/98088/researchers-confirm-subsea-g...

The Closing Program at Network Somethingrather ;-)(ending with Al Franken)

starts with a group of people, Project Gulf Impact, led by Max Smith, who discusses the serious health disaster at the Gulf.
This is a must see section of this Program IMO.

It starts at close to 6:50

don't miss
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8492742

-----
I didn't watch the rest except for most of Al Franken. Thought I give him a chance but As expected, he was lame as can be. Talked about Bush time (of course, what else) and our "brilliant and inspiring" President and the "historic reforms" (health and financial systems) accomplished by the Dems in Congress *sigh*

Sunday, July 25, 2010
UPDATE: Venezuela will suspend all oil shipments to the US in the event of an attack

...Chavez was to meet with Fidel Castro, recently recuperated and active again in his nation's politics, and was scheduled to give the key address at the Moncada commemoration.

"After reviewing intelligence reports and other information all night, I have decided to suspend my trip to Cuba", declared Chavez on Sunday before tens of thousands of members from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). "The possibility of an armed attack against Venezuela from Colombia is too high, and therefore I will remain in the country".

Chávez also warned the US government that in the event of a military attack against Venezuela from Colombia or elsewhere, all oil supply will be suspended. "Let the United States know, that if any aggression is waged against us, we will cut off all oil supply to them. Not a single drop of oil for the United States!"

Venezuela currently supplies more than 15% of US oil needs, but also has seven oil refineries in US territory and over 14,000 gas stations run by CITGO, a Venezuelan-owned company. In January, the US Geological Survey (USGS) determined that Venezuela has the largest recoverable oil reserves in the world, with over 500 billion barrels and counting.

On July 1, Costa Rica, a nation whose constitution prohibits the presence of any armed forces, agreed to allow 46 warships and 7000 US marines inside its territory. Last October, Colombia signed a 10-year agreement permitting the US to occupy seven military bases and all civilian installations as necessary within its territory....
http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/07/update-venezuela-will-suspend-all-oil....

Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah
Submitted by ghettodefender on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 8:40pm.

-----I saw this earlier and couldn't believe it: Worse Than Hiroshima and Nagasaki

"He added that the US commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in command."

Shocking.

bridge on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 8:21pm.
{& of course Leah & NORA & others}
& ghettodefender on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 8:43pm AND ALL LISTINGS

tsk tsk
... ...
"what a to do to die this day...etc" ...or IN A BAD {NOT GOOD} DEATH ANY DAY! WTF

ooxx ;) ...also to some no longer here

How will Obama handle this one?

Such corporate exploitation of people evidently based on skin color and social status ("prison class" -- is that a separate social class perhaps?) needs to be addressed. Or will it be greeted with the same Elite view as expressed by Bush Crime Family Mother Barbara Bush when she said of Katrina refugees living in stadium barracks "this is working out very well for them"....?

and nora on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 10:33pm
GRRR

Submitted by Ms_Anthrope on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 1:33am.
"knowing" joke - especially "to roll the bones".
---

re Leonard Cohen's song Everybody Knows

I think you need to help me with this joke ;-)
What does "to roll the bones" mean?

----
The news is just horrible these days and its going on like this for months, years now

The news from Fallujah is absolutely shocking - the poor poor people :-(

To Roll The Bones is to Roll The Dice or Die

... I have heard it as a "pirate say'n" ALL my Life - OR A GAMBLER SAY'N. :)

When I was young and on my own I watched MANY OLD MOVIES {at night} in my TEENS & EARLY 20s.

*** ***

re News from Fallujah ...the poor poor people :(

-- that is why I still cry each time in LOTR and Pippin told by Gandalfto light the beacons : To Give Warning ... but WTP are advised yet CONSTANTLY REFUSES TO SEE/Sea

I think U & I see things in a similar way Bridge, BTW. ;):(

I think someone knows "what is out there" and is "programing" to "try" and "educate" some... eye-roll ... it reminds me what I know... and what many refuse to SEE/SEA!

I was a part of a "testing" at 'SC that is now used as to WHO is "TRAINABLE" TO FOLLOW ORDERS and WHO the gov can MANIPULATE to FIGHT. SO SAD! And the THICKHEAD Concrete Thinkers are "puppets".

When my iTunes Podcasts automatically updated this time,it also gave me a Whole New Duplicate Peter B Collins Podcast Section Complete with the last 8 newest podcasts Which I Already Had on My Original Peter B Collins Podcast Section/Box..

The last time this happened,Yes The Last Time This Happened,I deleted the New Duplicate Podcast Section & that took care of the problem duplicate..

This Time unfortunately,when I tried that on this New Duplicate Peter B Collins Podcast Section/Box,it Deleted the Whole Peter B Collins Podcasts
Sections/Boxes..BOTH OF THEM..Just Great,NOT !

So then had to Re-Re-Subscribe to Peter B Collins Podcast..

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEIR ARE ONLY 8 PAST SHOWS SHOWING UP NOW IN THE PAST SHOWS LIST !
WHERE ARE THE OVER 100 PAST PODCASTS/SHOWS THAT I HAD SAVED ? ? !

I Hope you folks at iTunes will fix this problem & give me back my MISSING Peter B Collins Podcasts & FIX YOUR AUTOMATIC PODCAST UPDATER SO IT STOPS DUPLICATNG PODCAST THAT YOU ARE ALREADY ARE SUBSCRIBE TO..

And,Yes I Mad..

Us having to waste So Much Time when your system decides to go spastic on us Customers..

Thank you,Michael..

Grrrrr !

*Thanks for letting me vent.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

The Century of the Self

How politicians and business learned to create and manipulate mass-consumer society.

Why Socialism?

By Albert Einstein

This essay was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).

Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

-

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jul/26/press-freedom-wik...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/26wiki.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/26/world/main6713548.shtml

accept no more excuses

hold your head up
resist rebel and remake.

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT
by Michael Snyder
(Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com)

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Here are the statistics to prove it:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

Giant Sucking Sound

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.
For links in article go here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wipe...

...Thanks Nobody.
Your lifes value has been calculated to the penny..
Submitted by Nobody on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 2:34am.
http://samsedershow.com/node/5922#comment-413260

Hayward transferred.

Is this supposed to make us think a head has "rolled"?

It is not enough. Hayward and felon BP need to be indicted for the murderer of 11 people, COUNTLESS wild animals and sealife, and the Gulfcoast economy and Culture.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

Killing the Middle Class means killing the tax base -- and that serves the Power Elite because their economic goal is to force the nation to its knees so that it will capitulate to PRIVATIZATION. And PRIVATIZATION is the Corporate Elite version of divvying up a nation the way Royalty and Aristocracy used to do it. Therefore, PRIVATIZATION is essentially a backward march, a reactionary scheme, rightwing to the extreme. And it is being pursued by the Corporatists of both Rep and Dem extraction.

The People REALLY need to stop thinking of Dem Corporatists as different than the Reps when it comes to economic goals! They are the same when it comes to financial goals!

Where Corporatists differ from one another is the same place the Royals and Aristocracy differed one from another: Some aristocrats treated their serfs/slaves better than other aristocrats treated theirs.

Remember this the next time a few Dems okay a weak bill that provides the bare minimum of legislation for treating U.S. Citizens with humaneness.

Is our conceptualization of what are U.S. political parties represent comprehensive enough to allow for observing this? I don't think so. We have this left-right political spectrum and it is not functional in dealing with this. I think it leads to dissonance in perception and blocks people from acknowledging that Dems are not going to halt the continuing assaults on U.S. workers and the middle class or anything the else (like continuing to drill offshore or crisscross wildlife preserves with oil pipelines).

Four to six weeks? Really?

Monday, July 26
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/there_are_hund...

[excerpt]

There are hundreds of thousands of patches of oil in the Gulf as a result of the BP oil spill, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said in a press briefing in Washington, D.C.

Allen said the shoreline could continue to be impacted by the spill for four to six weeks even though officials could shut down the well permanently in about two weeks.

[end excerpt]

http://www.peoplesworld.org/iraqi-union-offices-raided-solidarity-campai...

On Wednesday, July 21, Iraqi authorities pounced on offices of the country's electrical workers' union nationwide, closing the offices and seizing all equipment, assets and records. This draconian act was carried out on the order of the Ministry of Energy, evidently without any prior judicial determination.

A translated version of the order, provided by the British Trades Union Congress, under which this attack took place, the government's aim is to "prohibit all trade union activity in its ministries and departments, and to stop all official...interaction and communication with the trade unions that operate within the Ministry and its departments and sites. The ministry of electricity and in coordination with the police is ordered to close all trade union offices and bases and to take control of unions' assets, properties and documents and furniture and computers with proper listing of all the items seized. The concerned directorates of the ministry must take immediate legal action against those who resort to the use or threat of violence aimed to damage public properties...."

The order goes on to mandate a sifting through of union leaders so that the government can decide which of them will lose his or her union positions. The Terrorism Act cited was put in place in 2005 at the height of the U.S. occupation.

When the United States invaded Iraq, one thing it did not change was the anti-union laws that had been imposed by dictator Saddam Hussein.

The action has been protested by Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the United Kingdom.

To send messages of protest, go to LabourStart ActNow.

[end excerpt]

Slavers active in both sex trafficking and labor trafficking...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6192/slavery_in_our_time

[excerpt]

News » July 21, 2010

Slavery in Our Time
For the first time, the U.S. government acknowledges modern-day slavery in the United States.

By Michelle Chen

The media often focus on stories of young girls lured into prostitution rings. But government data suggest that “more foreign victims are found in labor trafficking than sex trafficking,” particularly in “above ground” sectors like hotel work and home healthcare.SHARE THIS ARTICLE | One-hundred-and-fifty years after the abolition of slavery, the State Department has acknowledged that people in the United States continue to be bought and sold as property.

The department’s 2010 “Trafficking in Persons” (TIP) report, a global review of human trafficking and civic and legal responses to it, lists the United States for the first time among the nations that harbor modern-day slavery.

The report was a long time in coming. In 2001, when Washington was rolling out landmark anti-trafficking legislation, Maria, a Mexican woman, testified before the House Committee on International Relations on her experience with sex slavery in Florida. “If any of the girls refused to be with a customer, we were beaten. If we adamantly refused, the bosses would show us a lesson by raping us brutally. We worked six days a week, twelve hours a day. Our bodies were sore and swollen. If anyone became pregnant we were forced to have abortions. The cost of the abortion was added to the smuggling debt,” she said.

The report gives the United States high marks for its efforts to combat trafficking, but victims remain scattered throughout the workforce, hidden from view: the captive migrant tomato picker, the prostitute bonded by a smuggling debt, the domestic servant working without pay.

The media often focus on stories of young girls lured into prostitution rings. But government data suggest that “more foreign victims are found in labor trafficking than sex trafficking,” particularly in “above ground” sectors like hotel work and home healthcare. Estimates vary, but the number of victims worldwide could be more than 12 million children and adults.

Today’s slave trade capitalizes on vast inequalities, sharpened by economic globalization, that spur migration across national borders. Many governments have instituted anti-trafficking policies, but with uneven success. The TIP report states that 23 countries got an “upgrade” in the ranking of their anti-trafficking programs. But 19 countries were “downgraded” due to “sparse victim protections, desultory implementation, or inadequate legal structures.”

Despite the country’s relative wealth and sophisticated legal system, slavery trickles into the United States through deep cracks in labor and immigration laws.
...
[more at link]

Some churches sound worried, don't they?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article166468.html

[excerpt]

Of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, 21 have voiced objection to the European Court of Human Rights decision on the question of crucifixes in schools.

The affair has impassioned Italy for several years. Mrs Soile Lautsi had asked the administration of her children’s local school to remove the crucifixes from their classrooms. When the request was refused she took legal action. In 2005, the Italian Administrative Tribunal ruled against her on the grounds that “the crucifix is the symbol of both Italian history and Italian culture and, in consequence, of Italian identity, and the symbol of the principles of equality, liberty and tolerance as well as of the secularity of the State.”

However, on 3 November 2009, the Court at Strasbourg condemned this judgement, affirming that: “the compulsory display of the symbol of a faith during the performance of a public service, particularly in classrooms, limits the right of parents to educate their children according to their beliefs as well as the right of children being educated to believe or not to believe.”

Taking issue with this decision, Armenia, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Romania, the Russian Federation and San Marino lodged an objection with the Court, which heard their case on 30 June 2010. Subsequent to the hearing, Albania, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia (FYSM), Moldova, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine, added their support to the objection.

The reason for this sudden executive revolt against the Court becomes clear in light of the alliance concluded last May between the metropolitan Hilarion (in charge of external relations of the Orthodox patriarchate of Moscow) on behalf of the patriarch Cyril I, and Pope Benedict XVI. The separate Catholic and Orthodox churches decided to join forces against the secularization of European societies.

[end excerpt]

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/key-omission-memo-destroy-...

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/oil-hits-louisianas-largest-seabird-nesting-area[excerpt]

[excerpt]

by Matthew Brown
...

The government counts only oiled birds collected for rehabilitation or found dead, for use as evidence in the spill investigation. Oiled birds in the many nesting areas that dot the Gulf coast typically are left in place and not counted in official tallies.

Researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology said Wednesday that they had spotted the oiled pelicans on Raccoon Island over the past several days. The spit of land lines the Gulf outside the state's coastal marshes. An estimated 10,000 birds nest on the island in Terrebonne Parish.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Lisa Williams said state and federal observers had documented only 68 oiled pelicans on Raccoon Island.

Biologist Marc Dantzker with Cornell - considered one of the nation's premier institutions for bird research - said about 30 to 40 of the pelicans spotted by his group were oiled "head-to-tail." Many more had visible blotches of oil.

Dead birds also were seen, although no count was available for those.

"This is a major oiling event of an incredibly important seabird colony," Dantzker said. "Many of these birds will be dead soon - weeks and months. These blotches are deadly."

Even a small amount of oil can kill birds because it hampers their ability to regulate their body temperature.

The Raccoon Island colony was established by the state in the 1980s. Its successful expansion epitomized restoration efforts that brought brown pelicans off the endangered species list last year.
...
[more at link]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/white-house-backed-release-of...

[excerpt]

July 26...

THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya.

Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.

The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on grounds that he had terminal cancer.

The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.

Scottish ministers viewed the level of US resistance to compassionate release as "half-hearted" and a sign it would be accepted.

The US has tried to keep the letter secret, refusing to give permission to the Scottish authorities to publish it on the grounds it would prevent future "frank and open communications" with other governments.

In the letter, sent on August 12 last year to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and justice officials, Mr LeBaron wrote that the US wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime.

The note added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose."

[more at link]

==================================

Did BP give the White House a call? Or better still, schedule a round of golf? Sheesh.

This article charges dumping by a mining company is polluting the regional water supply--

http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...

WHY did U.S. remove the weapon? Was it ever used? Will there be questions asked in Congress? Is it now considered another TORTURE DEVICE like the taser? "Pain Ray"? "Death By Being Microwaved Alive Ray" is more like it....

[excerpt]

U.S. withdraws ‘pain ray’ from Afghan war zone

Last updated at 3:46 AM on 25th July

Pulled out: The Active Denial System, or 'Pain Ray' has been withdrawn from Afghanistan by the US military

A ‘pain ray’ that blasts the enemy with unbearable heat waves hasbeen pulled out of Afghanistan by the US military.
The Active Denial System (ADS), which cost about £42 million to develop, was on the brink of being deployed to disperse members of the Taliban as they attacked US forces.
The weapon, which causes immense pain to subjects but no lasting physical damage, was pulled from the war zone last week but US army chiefs in Afghanistan have stayed silent about the reason for the U-turn.

The ADS, which has been in development for almost 20 years, works by firing a beam of high-frequency waves at the speed of light.

The beam can cover a person’s entire body, causing agonising pain as it heats water and fat molecules beneath the skin’s surface.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297361/US-withdraws-p...

How can the Obama Adm. say that the release of the documents

a/ may threaten the success of the coalition operations,

and at the same time say

b/ the information is nothing new, just common knowledge, nothing to see here, move along....

Huh?

On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff

But not household consumer and home gardener use as well (since householder use almost equals ag use I think)?

Pesticide makers may sue EPA...Or lobby to destroy the Endangered Species Act....

[excerpt]

U.S. farmers may face crackdown on pesticide use

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The nation's farmers could face severe restrictions on the use of pesticides as environmentalists, spurred by a favorable ruling from a judge in Washington state, want the courts to force federal regulators to protect endangered species from the ill effects of agricultural chemicals.

The eight-year-old ruling by a federal judge in Seattle required the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency to review whether 54 pesticides, herbicides and fungicides were jeopardizing troubled West Coast salmon runs.

The agencies moved recently to restrict the use of three of the chemicals, including a widely used one with the trade name Sevin, near bodies of water that flow into salmon-bearing streams, and they're considering restrictions on 12 additional chemicals. The Washington State Department of Agriculture says such restrictions would prevent pesticide use on 75 percent of the state's farmland.

A federal judge in California has issued a similar ruling that involves 11 endangered and threatened species and 75 pesticides in the San Francisco Bay area.

Rather than continuing to file piecemeal lawsuits, the Center for Biological Diversity says it will file a broader suit this summer that involves nearly 400 pesticides and almost 900 species that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Washington state officials said the restrictions that could result from that lawsuit could affect agricultural production significantly in at least 48 states.

Dan Newhouse, the director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, who farms hops, apples, cherries and other row crops on 600 irrigated acres in the Yakima Valley, said that if the courts ordered far-reaching restrictions, "farmers across the country will have significantly fewer tools at their disposal to manage plant pests and disease."

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that 20 to 40 percent of global crop production is lost annually because of weeds, pests and disease.

Manufacturers of agriculture chemicals have threatened to sue the EPA, alleging that the agency's method of crafting restrictions is riddled with "major flaws" and the industry wasn't asked to participate.

Newhouse said there was so much uncertainty that it was impossible to tell how widespread or dramatic the effects of tighter restrictions might be. In Washington state, however, he said, "I am coming to believe every farmer would be impacted one way or another."
...

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/25/98047/us-farmers-may-face-crackdow...

One of the Wikileaks documents revealed this incident where a drone got "lost".... Not very foolproof technology, eh? And the war-for-profit Death Cult names this thing a "Reaper" as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26warlogs.html?_r=1

[excerpt]

SEPT. 13, 2009 | BADAKHSHAN PROVINCE

Incident Report: A Lost Drone

Flying over southern Afghanistan on a combat mission, one of the Air Force’s premier armed drones, a Reaper, went rogue.

Equipped with advanced radar and sophisticated cameras, as well as Hellfire missiles and 500-pound bombs, the Reaper had lost its satellite link to a pilot who was remotely steering the drone from a base in the United States.

Again and again, the pilot struggled to regain control of the drone. Again and again, no response. The reports reveal that the military in Afghanistan lost many of the tiny five-pound surveillance drones with names like Raven and Desert Hawk that troops tossed out like model airplanes to peer around the next hill. But they had never before lost one of the Reapers, with its 66-foot wingspan.

As a last resort, commanders ordered an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet to shoot down the $13 million aircraft before it soared unguided into neighboring Tajikistan.

Ground controllers picked an unpopulated area over northern Afghanistan and the jet fired a Sidewinder missile, destroying the Reaper’s turbo-prop engine. Suddenly, the satellite link was restored, but it was too late to salvage the flight. At 5:30 a.m., controllers steered it into a remote mountainside for a final fiery landing. Read the Document »

As the Afghanistan war took priority under the Obama administration, more Special Operations forces were shifted from Iraq to conduct secret missions. The C.I.A.’s own paramilitary operations inside Afghanistan grew in tandem — as did the agency’s close collaboration with Afghanistan’s own spy agency.

Usually, such teams conducted night operations aimed at top Taliban commanders and militants on the “capture/kill” list. While individual commandos have displayed great courage, the missions can end in calamity as well as success. The expanding special operations have stoked particular resentment among Afghans — for their lack of coordination with local forces, the civilian casualties they frequently inflicted and the lack of accountability.

[end excerpt]

It appears Corporatism (Fascism) operates seamlessly--

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/07/24/epa-whistleblower-federal-go...

[excerpt]

EPA Whistleblower Says Federal Government Covering Up Lethality Of Corexit And Lying About BP Gulf Oil Spill Water Samples To Save BP Billions

...

Democracy Now has published a shocking interview with a top EPA official, Hugh Kaufman, who tells us that NOAA and the EPA are covering up the lethal effects of the neurotoxin pesticide dispersants and lying about Gulf Oil Spill water samples to save BP billions of dollars in fines.

In the interview with Democracy Now! Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, reveals some appalling details to the public.

Here are some highlights of the revelations made by Hugh Kaufman.

Well, Corexit is one of a number of dispersants, that are toxic, that are used to atomize the oil and force it down the water column so that it’s invisible to the eye.

In this case, these dispersants were used in massive quantities, almost two million gallons so far, to hide the magnitude of the spill and save BP money.

And the government—both EPA, NOAA, etc.—have been sock puppets for BP in this cover-up.

Now, by hiding the amount of spill, BP is saving hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in fines, and so, from day one, there was tremendous economic incentive to use these dispersants to hide the magnitude of the gusher that’s been going on for almost three months.

Congressman Markey and Nadler, as well as Senator Mikulski, have been heroes in this respect.

Congressman Markey made the BP and government put a camera down there to show the public the gusher.

And when they did that, experts saw that the amount of material, oil being released, is orders of magnitudes greater than what BP and NOAA and EPA were saying. And the cover-up started to evaporate.

…

… People who work near [Corexit] are hemorrhaging internally [but the] EPA now is taking the position that they really don’t know how dangerous it is, even though if you read the label, it tells you how dangerous it is.

… for example, in the Exxon Valdez case, people who worked with dispersants, most of them are dead now.

The average death age is around fifty.

It’s very dangerous, and it’s an economic—it’s an economic protector of BP, not an environmental protector of the public.

...

[more at link]

A Nato rocket attack on a village in Afghanistan last week killed 52 civilians, including women and children, the office of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said in a statement.

Based on reports from the Afghan National Directorate of Security, a house in Regey village in Sangin district of the southern Helmand province was hit with a rocket launched by Nato troops on Friday.

Karzai has offered his condolences via telephone to the mourning families and called on Nato troops to "put into practice every possible measure to avoid harming civilians during military operations".

The Afghan president has ordered the National Security Council to investigate the incident, Sediq Sediqqi, head of media relations at the presidency, said earlier.

Helicopter attack

Reports surfaced on Saturday that a helicopter gunship fired on villagers who had been told by fighters to leave their homes as a firefight with troops from Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was imminent.

According to witness accounts, men, women and children fled to Regey village and were fired on from helicopter gunships as they took cover.

Abdul Ghafar, 45, told AFP, a French press agency, that he lost "two daughters and one son and two sisters" in the attack.

He and six other families fled to Regey, about 500 metres from their village of Ishaqzai, after being warned about the imminent battle, he said.

Men and women took shelter in separate compounds, he said, ahead of an expected firefight between Taliban fighers and Nato troops.

"Helicopters started firing on the compound killing almost everyone inside," he said, speaking at the Mirwais hospital in Kandahar city.

"We rushed to the house and there were eight children wounded and around 40 to 50 others killed."
Ghafar said he took three girls and four boys to the Kandahar hospital....
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/07/2010726143021529494.html

A yacht constructed from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles has docked in Sydney, Australia after four months crossing the Pacific Ocean.

The ocean journey, which ended on Monday, was organised to raise awareness about the perils of waste plastic.

A crowd of around 100 well-wishers erupted into cheers as David de Rothschild, the expedition leader, and his crew finally docked at port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum.

De Rothschild, a descendant of the well-known British banking family, exchanged high fives and hugs with his crew, pumping his fists into the air in victory.

Speaking to the media, de Rothschild said he hoped the Plastiki would highlight, in an enlightened way, the growing problem of plastic in the world's oceans.

"It doesn't need to be po-faced, it doesn't need to be a chore. It can actually turn out to be a great adventure and that's hopefully what the Plastiki has done," he said.

Plastic threat

De Rothschild, 31, said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 that said pollution, and particularly plastic waste, was seriously threatening the world's oceans.

He decided a good way to prove that rubbish can be effectively reused was to recycle some of it to construct a boat.

The boat is almost entirely made up of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made of sugar cane and cashews, and includes other materials too....
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/07/20107261059309216...

About 300 indigenous protesters have surrounded a hydroelectric plant under construction in the Brazilian Amazon city of Aripuana, preventing 100 workers from leaving the site.

Government officials were expected to arrive in the region on Monday to negotiate with the indigenous, who object to the Dardanelos dam being built on an ancient burial ground....
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/201072633742668258.ht...

http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=...

Scientists are regularly blown away by the complexity, power, and sheer number of microbes that live in our bodies. “We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies,” said George Weinstock of Washington University in St. Louis. But the microbiome, as it’s known, remains mostly a mystery. “It’s as if we have these other organs, and yet these are parts of our bodies we know nothing about.”
Dr. Weinstock is part of an international effort to shed light on those puzzling organs. He and his colleagues are cataloging thousands of new microbe species by gathering their DNA sequences. Meanwhile, other scientists are running experiments to figure out what those microbes are actually doing. They’re finding that the microbiome does a lot to keep us in good health. Ultimately, researchers hope, they will learn enough about the microbiome to enlist it in the fight against diseases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13micro.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/world/asia/27cambodia.html?_r=1&adxnnl...

No sentence could measure up to the atrocities Duch committed, he added.

“Even if we chop him up into two million pieces it will not bring our family members back,” he said. “We have to move on now.”

[An important] thing to remember about Taft-Hartley is that, while it became the law of the land despite the veto of President Harry Truman, it was congressional Democrats who assured its passage. Liberals and progressives like to place the blame on anti-union Republicans, but it was the Democrats themselves who pushed it across the finish line.

Fact: A majority of the Democrats in congress voted to override Truman’s veto. While many were Southerners (“Dixiecrats”), many were not. Had the Democrats simply supported their president—had they provided working people with the economic equivalent of the same privileges guaranteed to citizens under the Bill of Rights—Taft-Hartley would not have become law.