Archive for May, 2010

Why The GOP Plots to Steal Your Social Security

Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

If Social Security were not working, if Social Security were not solvent, Wall St ‘fat cats’ would not be scheming to steal it! Social Security is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.

GOP supporters of the big banksters propose that Social Security be ‘privatized’, a code word for: “let’s let the big banksters play monopoly with that money. Let’s export that money, squirrel it away in offshore bank accounts where working folk will never see it or benefit from it!”

Like monies blow up and otherwise ‘wasted’ in war, monies tagged ‘social security’ will be secured for speculative or destructive use by the very, very rich, the only people to have benefited from ruinous wars of aggression against Iraq, et al. Should this come to pass, not a cent of that money will go toward the creation of a single job in the U.S.

Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Why The GOP Plots to Steal Your Social Security.

The IMF Knows How to Help America

Thom Hartmann -

The Financial Times is reporting that leading nations are still piling up debt even though there’s technically been an economic recovery. In particular, the IMF is looking at US debt over the next decade and predicting that it’ll be unsustainable if we don’t do something quick. Of course, what conservatives want to do is slash Social Security and Medicare while letting the government keep all those funds we’ve paid into the system.

Full Story: The IMF Knows How to Help America | The Smirking Chimp.

High Tech Research from U.S. Going to China with Devastating Effects on Our Ability to Compete and Our Future

American companies have been trying, and failing, to compete against state-subsidized companies all around the world. No company or industry can stand against the national champions of Europe and Asia. They often face only two possible choices; American companies can either be put out of business, or they can relocate to compete.

Increasingly, according to The New York Times, those relocations are ending up in China.

China has 1.4 billion consumers who have more collective purchasing power with each passing day. It has a government willing, and able, to pay a premium in exchange for new facilities. More importantly, China has almost no worker protections, wage standards, or environmental regulations.

Full Story: High Tech Research from U.S. Going to China with Devastating Effects on Our Ability to Compete and Our Future | Economy In Crisis.

Darkness at the End of the Tunnel

When will we wake up to the realization that some of the agreements we have signed, most specifically our agreement with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and our agreement with Canada and Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), are preventing us from doing what is in our best interest?

Currently, we are being controlled and directed – told what to do – by other nations, for their benefit and to our detriment. Our current direction in so-called “free trade” is not just hurting us – it is destroying us. One look at our current condition and present direction will clearly show we are in a mode of self destruction.

Every year the U.S. spends $1 trillion on the military, this money is stretched too thin all across the globe, yet we have no one protecting us at home economically. Despite all our fire power, we absolutely cannot determine our own fate as members of the WTO. We are now guided economically by the agreements we signed. We must, must, must be our own masters. We must be able to run our own country for our own benefit, which we, attributable to our agreements with the WTO and NAFTA, are not allowed to do.

Full Story: Darkness at the End of the Tunnel | Economy In Crisis.

U.S. fails to describe wireless industry as competitive

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission for the first time since 2002 did not describe the wireless industry as having “effective competition,” a situation one senior regulator blamed on consolidation.

The key omission was in an annual report on the state of competition in the wireless industry. The FCC on Thursday released the report, which covers 2008 and a portion of 2009.

The last time the FCC did not describe the industry as having “effective competition” was in a report released in 2002.

The lack of the key phrase could set the stage for U.S. regulators to impose policies and regulations to increase competition for consumers who are demanding more data plans on their mobile handsets to surf the Internet and watch videos.

Full Story: U.S. fails to describe wireless industry as competitive | Reuters.

Electric Car Agreement for Toyota and Tesla

In a press conference late Thursday in Palo Alto, Calif., attended by Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors, and Akio Toyoda, the president of the Toyota Motor Corporation, the companies announced they would cooperate on the development of electric cars.c

Toyota said it would buy $50 million of Tesla common stock in a deal that would be completed after the completion of Tesla’s pending initial public offering.

Tesla, which sells the electric Roadster, also announced that it would buy part of the property occupied by the now-shut Nummi plant in Fremont, Calif., operated as a joint venture for many years by Toyota and General Motors. Tesla said it would build electric cars on some part of property.

In prepared remarks, Mr. Toyoda praised Tesla’s “challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility,” which he said Toyota related to because it was “also born as a venture business.” He also said he was impressed by Tesla’s speed to market and its energy.

Mr. Musk said he looked forward to “learning and benefiting from Toyota’s legendary engineering, manufacturing and production expertise.”

Full Story: Electric Car Agreement for Toyota and Tesla – NYTimes.com.

Fishermen Report Illness From BP Chemicals

Toxicologist Says Chemicals Harmful, Can Lead To Death

More and more stories about sick fishermen are beginning to surface after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The fishermen are working out in the Gulf — many of them all day, every day — to clean up the spill. They said they blame their ailments on the chemicals that BP is using.

One fisherman said he felt like he was going to die over the weekend.

“I've been coughing up stuff,” Gary Burris said. “Your lungs fill up.”

Burris, a longtime fisherman who has worked across the Gulf Coast, said he woke up Sunday night feeling drugged and disoriented.

“It was like sniffing gasoline or something, and my ears are still popping,” Burris said. “I'm coughing up stuff. I feel real weak, tingling feelings.”

Full Story: Fishermen Report Illness From BP Chemicals – Health News Story – WDSU New Orleans.

Fmr. EPA Investigator Scott West: US Has Told BP “It Can Do Whatever It Wants and Won’t Be Held Accountable”

One month after the BP oil spill, we speak to Scott West, a former top investigator at the Environmental Protection Agency who led an investigation of BP following a major oil pipeline leak in Alaska’s North Slope that spilled 250,000 gallons of oil on the Alaskan tundra. Before West finished his investigation, the Bush Justice Department reached a settlement with BP, and the oil company agreed to pay $20 million. At the same time, BP managed to avoid prosecution for the Texas City refinery explosion that killed fifteen workers by paying a $50 million settlement.

transcript -  Video Stream -  Audio Stream -  MP3 Download

Full Story: Fmr. EPA Investigator Scott West: US Has Told BP “It Can Do Whatever It Wants and Won’t Be Held Accountable”.

Nationalize BP and Other Criminal Corporations

The Supreme Court says that corporations have the same rights as individuals. When they misbehave, shouldn’t they face consequences as serious as those imposed upon an individual?

It goes without saying that a person who commits a crime ought to face punishment proportional to the offense. Large and midsize corporations, which employ thousands of employees, have far vaster reach and power than even the wealthiest ordinary citizens. So their crimes can be breathtaking in scope. The 1984 industrial catastrophe at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India killed 15,000 people. An additional 200,000 have since suffered serious injuries. Compared to the boards of directors of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical, which bought the company in 2001, Ted Bundy was small potatoes.

Unlike small-time serial killers, however, corporations get away with murder. For at least a year, management of the Toyota auto company knew that brakes in millions of its cars might fail. A 2009 ABC News investigation found that at least 16 people had died. “Safety analysts found an estimated 2000 cases in which owners of Toyota cars including Camry, Prius and Lexus, reported that their cars surged without warning up to speeds of 100 miles per hour,” reported the network. Yet Toyota did nothing. Instead they blamed their customers, saying they were resting their floormats on the gas pedals.

Full Story: Nationalize BP and Other Criminal Corporations | CommonDreams.org.

BP Told to Use Less Toxic Dispersant in Oil Spill: Report

The US government Thursday ordered BP to use a less toxic dispersant on the expanding Gulf of Mexico oil slick, as fears mount over the scale of the environmental disaster off the southern coast.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the British oil giant 24 hours to identify a new dispersant and a further 72 hours to start using it to break up the slick.

“If BP is unable to identify available alternative dispersant products, BP must provide the Coast Guard and EPA with a detailed description of the alternative dispersants investigated, and the reason they believe those products did not meet the required standards,” the agency said in a statement.

Full Story: BP Told to Use Less Toxic Dispersant in Oil Spill: Report | CommonDreams.org.

Pesticides In Food: What To Eat And What To Avoid (PHOTOS)

With the latest news that ADHD in children is linked to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables, it is more important than ever to be aware of what we are putting on our plates. Of the 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides used annually in the US, less than .01% actually reach their intended targets–the bugs! Obviously they are completely contaminating our food, and the consequences are disastrous, with numerous national and international government agencies acknowledging the connection to various health problems–nervous system toxicity, cancer, hormone system effects, and irritation of skin, eyes, and lungs among them.

Unfortunately, due to cost and availability, organic food which is grown without any pesticides, is not a plausible option for every family. Thankfully, the Environmental Working Group has put together a ranked list of the 49 most purchased produce items, based on laboratory tests conducted by the US Department Of Agriculture Pesticide Testing Program. So if you can’t get organic, at least you know which foods are the safest, and which should be avoided.

The EWG rated the 49 food items based on a variety of measurements, including percent of detectable pesticide and multiple pesticides, average number and amount of pesticides on samples, and maximum number and amounts of pesticides per item. The list is based on an analysis of 96,000 pesticide tests the USDA and FDA conducted between 2000 and 2008. Most of the tests were conducted on produce that had been rinsed and peeled.

Full Story: Pesticides In Food: What To Eat And What To Avoid (PHOTOS).

Bank Profits Skyrocket; Big Banks Lead The Way

Bank profits soared to their highest level in two years as near-zero interest rates and lower reserves for future losses allowed U.S. banks to book an $18 billion quarterly profit in the midst of a prolonged economic downturn.

Big banks led the way, accounting for $15.6 billion, or nearly 87 percent, of the industry’s total first-quarter profit, according to a Thursday report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Defined as banks with more than $10 billion in assets, they account for about 78 percent of the industry’s total assets.

Boosted by the lower cost of funds they enjoy versus their smaller competitors, the big banks’ margin on interest rates — the difference they pay in interest versus what they charge — jumped to its highest level since 2002. Banks with more than $10 billion in assets also tripled their return on assets relative to the same period a year ago. It’s the highest level since the third quarter of 2007.

Full Story: Bank Profits Skyrocket; Big Banks Lead The Way.

California Institute Formed to Certify Safety of Consumer Products

California’s crackdown on harmful materials in consumer products is gaining a new tool: a nonprofit institute that plans to help manufacturers come up with safer alternatives.

The new Green Products Innovation Institute will help establish standards for product safety that will be used by California regulators when they begin enforcing a state law that requires manufacturers to find safer ways to make consumer products, said Maureen Gorsen, former director of the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. For example, the institute will keep a database of the chemistry of certain materials, as supplied by companies who participate in sharing information.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the measure into law in 2008, joined several large companies and other participants at an event at Google Inc.’s headquarters discussing the effort. Enforcement of the law will begin in 2011.

Full Story: California Institute Formed to Certify Safety of Consumer Products – WSJ.com.

Senate passes massive Wall Street regulation bill

..without addressing Too Big To Fail

Prodded by national anger at Wall Street, the Senate on Thursday passed the most far-reaching restraints on big banks since the Great Depression. In its broad sweep, the massive bill would touch Wall Street CEOs and first-time homebuyers, high-flying traders and small town lenders.

The 59-39 vote represents an important achievement for President Barack Obama, and comes just two months after his health care overhaul became law. The bill must now be reconciled with a House version that passed in December. A key House negotiator predicted the legislation would reach Obama’s desk before the Fourth of July.

The legislation aims to prevent a recurrence of the near-meltdown of big Wall Street investment banks and the resulting costly bailouts. It calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large failing financial firms. It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the 2008 economic crisis, and it creates a new consumer protection agency.

It would impose new restraints on the largest, most interconnected banks and demand proof that borrowers could pay for the simplest of mortgages.

Full Story: Senate passes massive Wall Street regulation bill.

New York governor proposes new soda tax to raise $815 million

New York Governor David Paterson on Thursday proposed lifting the sales tax on diet soda, while adding a new “sugar tax” to full-calorie drinks, in a fresh bid to boost revenue for the cash-strapped state.

The proposed tax would generate $815 million annually, a Paterson spokesman said.

Paterson’s original “soda tax” proposal, which would have raised $1 billion per year as the state struggles to close a $9.2 billion budget deficit, was rejected by the state legislature amid strong opposition by the beverage industry.

In the new version, diet sodas would become cheaper while the more unhealthy drinks would go up in price.

Full Story: New York governor proposes new soda tax to raise $815 million – Yahoo! News.

Congress Told Oil Gusher Jetting Up To 104,000 Barrels Per Day

A professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University testified to a House subcommittee yesterday, saying that the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher is actually much worse than BP’s estimate of 5,000 barrels per day.

Citing a 20 percent margin of error, he claimed the well is jetting between 76,000 and 104,000 barrels per day, but noted that a more accurate reading would come from observing the well over time.

If the gusher cannot be stopped and is allowed to drain itself over the course of years, it will likely result in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil pouring into the ecologically sensitive Gulf and circulating elsewhere through the Gulf stream.

Full Story: Congress Told Oil Gusher Jetting Up To 104,000 Barrels Per Day – Stephen C. Webster – Brave New Hooks – True/Slant.

After blocking CBS crew, Coast Guard denies ‘BP rules’

As BP withholds information on impact of massive oil spill, Coast Guard says that ‘embedded’ media have been allowed to cover response effort

As oil from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico approached the US coastline, a CBS News crew was threatened by the US Coast Guard with arrest if they attempted to film a beach in South Pass, Louisiana.

“When we tried to reach the beach … a boat of BP contractors with two Coast Guard officers on board told us to turn around under threat of arrest,” CBS’s Kelly Cobiella reported on Tuesday.

“This is BP’s rules, it’s not ours,” an officer can be seen calling from the other boat in the CBS vide

Full Story: After blocking CBS crew, Coast Guard denies ‘BP rules’ | Raw Story.

Watchdog groups file FOIA requests to learn true extent of oil spill

Amid rising suspicions that BP may be concealing the true extent of the Gulf oil spill, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Greenpeace have filed four Freedom of Information Act requests seeking documents and video feeds.

“It is impossible to understand why the government hasn’t already made the video feed and other records documenting the impact of the spill public,” explained CREW executive director Melanie Sloan. “Americans have the right to any information that would allow an accurate assessment of the true dangers this oil spill has created.”

The requests were sent out late on Wednesday to the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

According to the Huffington Post, as of Wednesday BP had “relented” and agreed to release “a live video feed of the gushing oil well in the Gulf,” which was was supposed to be posted at the website of Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. At the time of writing, however, the website appeared to be unreachable, and several Twitter posts were suggesting that “Markey's 'award-winning website' gonna need more bandwidth.”

Full Story: Watchdog groups file FOIA requests to learn true extent of oil spill | Raw Story.

US team creates first ‘synthetic life’

US researchers have developed the first self-replicating bacteria cell controlled by a synthetic genome, in a breakthrough which raises new issues about recreating life in a test-tube.

“This is the first synthetic cell that’s been made,” said lead researcher Craig Venter, unveiling the culmination of 15 years of research.

“We call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information in a computer.”

The team said it now hopes to use the method it has developed “to probe the basic machinery of life and to engineer bacteria specially designed to solve environmental or energy problems.”

Full Story: US team creates first ‘synthetic life’ – Yahoo! News.

US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair resigns

Dennis Blair, President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, resigned Thursday following a series of intelligence failures and a tenure marked by rocky internal struggles.

A retired Navy admiral, Blair was the third director of national intelligence, a position created in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Director of National Intelligence position was created by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks to oversee the nation’s intelligence services and report directly to the president.

“It is with deep regret that I informed the president today that I will step down as director of national intelligence effective Friday, May 28th,” Blair, a retired admiral, said in a statement to US intelligence workers.

Full Story: US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair resigns | Raw Story.

NC request for Amazon user records unconstitutional: ACLU

Saving money on entertainment purchases is something most Americans can get behind. But not all agree that buying stuff on the Internet should be tax and duty free. However, many people in the “anti-Tea Party movement” who champion paying taxes to help government work draw the line if privacy is potentially breached.

“The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of North Carolina today sent a letter to North Carolina Secretary of Revenue Kenneth Lay reiterating concern over a recent request by the state Department of Revenue (NCDOR) for the private records of Amazon.com customers,” an ACLU press release sent to RAW STORY notes. “The letter informs Lay that the ACLU will take legal action on behalf of North Carolina residents who are Amazon.com customers if NCDOR persists in its demand for their constitutionally protected private information. Specifically, the letter says the ACLU and its clients will intervene in an existing lawsuit brought by Amazon.com to stop NCDOR from collecting individually identifiable information that could be linked to specific purchases made on Amazon.com.”

According to the lawsuit filed by Amazon in the Western District of Washington in April, NCDOR issued a request to Amazon for the purchase records since August 2003 of customers with a North Carolina shipping address in order to impose taxes on the purchases. Amazon has apparently already provided the NCDOR with product codes that reveal the exact items purchased – including books on the subjects of mental health, alcoholism and LGBT issues. Amazon has withheld individually identifiable user information, including names and addresses that could be linked back to the individual purchases, but asserts that the NCDOR continues to insist that such information be disclosed. In its letter today, the ACLU asserted that such disclosure would violate the constitutional rights of thousands of North Carolina consumers to read and purchase the lawful materials of their choice, free from government intrusion.

The following can be attributed to Aden Fine, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project:

Full Story: NC request for Amazon user records unconstitutional: ACLU | Raw Story.

Progressive Texas Board Of Education Candidates Promise To Undo Textbook Changes

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has faced national scrutiny and ridicule in recent months for its right-wing revisions to the state’s social studies and history curriculum. Changes have included requiring students to learn the difference between legal and illegal immigration, examine “documents that supported Cold War-era Sen. Joseph McCarthy,” and study prominent right-wing political figures.

This massacre to the state’s educational system is engineered by the SBOE’s bloc of far-right conservatives, who have little to no background in education policy. Members include Cynthia Dunbar, a Republican who has called public education a “tool of perversion.” There’s also Chairman Don McLeroy, a dentist who has stated, “The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel.”

There’s beginning to be a backlash against these far-right members, however. McLeroy lost his primary to a more moderate Republican candidate, and Dunbar is not running for re-election. Yesterday, ThinkProgress spoke to Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau, two Democrats who are running for SBOE in Districts 10 (Dunbar’s area) and 5, respectively. Both of them stated that the SBOE has lost focus and abandoned other areas of its mission in the quest to politicize the Texas’ curriculum, said that constituents are frustrated with the negative attention, and promised to try to repeal the textbook revisions:

Full Story: Think Progress » Progressive Texas Board Of Education Candidates Promise To Undo Textbook Changes.

Morning Joe Crew Rip Gingrich For His ‘Sick,’ ‘Shameful,’ ‘Pure Wingnuttery’ Nazi Comparison

As ThinkProgress has noted, Newt Gingrich’s latest book, To Save America, argues repeatedly that the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are a “secular-socialist machine” that “represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.” Gingrich has defended his assertion in recent media appearances, saying that “it’s a question of finality” and “if the secular socialist machine wins, we are going to be in a country which no longer resembles America.”

Gingrich’s comments have already elicited outrage from those outside the conservative echo chamber. On Monday, former GOP congresswoman Susan Molinari called his Nazi comparison “outrageous” and “crazy.” On Morning Joe today, former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough and his guests unleashed on Gingrich for making the “sick” and “shameful” comparison:

– “That’s sick. I hope you sell books. I hope you apologize for that shameful remark,” said Scarborough.

– “This is pure wingnuttery. It’s the worst thing about it is you know that Gingrich is extremely scholarly, highly educated historian. So it’s even more lamentable if he starts to revert to this kind of rhetoric,” said The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown.

Full Story: Think Progress » Morning Joe Crew Rip Gingrich For His ‘Sick,’ ‘Shameful,’ ‘Pure Wingnuttery’ Nazi Comparison.

On second attempt, Senate breaks GOP-led filibuster of Wall Street reform bill.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) attempted to invoke cloture on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulatory reform bill. However, the attempt failed 57-42, due to a number of factors: the absence of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) changing his vote, and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) refusing to end debate without consideration of provisions that would strengthen the bill. Today, Reid moved to invoke cloture again, and due to Specter’s arrival and Brown switching to yea, the vote succeeded, 60-40.

Full Story: Think Progress » On second attempt, Senate breaks GOP-led filibuster of Wall Street reform bill..

Nightmare scene as oil smothers Louisiana wetlands

Crude oil spread through fragile US marshlands Thursday, a month after a drilling rig blast released a devastating spill that now threatens Florida, Cuba and even beyond.

Oil has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico since the massive April 20 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 and ruptured an underwater well pipe.

While British Petroleum said Thursday that a tube was now siphoning away 3,000 barrels of oil a day from the leak, a nightmare scene was unfolding in Louisiana wetlands.

“The day that we have all been fearing is upon us today,” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said Wednesday after seeing thick oil washing into the state's coastal marshlands.

Crude is also being dragged towards Florida's popular tourist beaches and fragile coral reefs, by an oceanic current that could wash oil ashore on the state's coastline in as little as six days, before carrying it up the US East Coast and even into the Gulf Stream.

Full Story: Nightmare scene as oil smothers Louisiana wetlands — Signs of the Times News.

MONSANTO COMES A CROPPER

Jim Hightower |

As an old TV ad used to say: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”

Monsanto corporation, however, still has not taken Mother’s advice. This giant chemical maker became a veritable Frankenstein in the 1990s, genetically engineering new organisms in an effort to fool Mother Nature for fun and profit. But Momma got mad – and now she’s kicking Monsanto’s butt all across the country.

Here’s the background: Monsanto marketed a weedkiller labeled “Roundup” to farmers. But the weedkiller also tended to kill the crops. Thus, Monsanto’s mad scientists artificially manipulated the genes of corn, cotton and soybean seeds to produce crops that – hocus pocus! – could absorb mega doses of Roundup without croaking. These patented seeds, called “Roundup Ready,” helped Monsanto sell oceans of its weedkiller.

Full Story: Jim Hightower | MONSANTO COMES A CROPPER.

How Corrupted Drug Companies Deceive and Manipulate Your Doctor

Dr. Beatrice Golomb, Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Diego, masterfully exposes the corruption that has metastasized like a tumor throughout the pharmaceutical and medical industries, in the video above.

If you have any doubt about drug companies being riddled with conflicts of interest, those doubts will be shattered after seeing the evidence she presents.

The corruption has become so prolific that it has literally debased medical science.

In the above linked Chicago Breaking News article, Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is quoted as saying:

“Science is not a democracy where people’s votes decide what is right. Look at the data, look at science and make a decision based on science that has been published.”

What he is really advocating is for you to blindly believe in “facts” that may have been produced in the midst of MASSIVE conflicts of interest.

Before you assume the science in medical journals is credible, let’s take a look at what is going on behind the scenes of editing and publishing in medical science.

Full Story: How Corrupted Drug Companies Deceive and Manipulate Your Doctor « Wake-up Call.

House votes to expand national DNA arrest database

Millions of Americans arrested for but not convicted of crimes will likely have their DNA forcibly extracted and added to a national database, according to a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

By a 357 to 32 vote, the House approved legislation that will pay state governments to require DNA samples, which could mean drawing blood with a needle, from adults “arrested for” certain serious crimes. Not one Democrat voted against the database measure, which would hand out about $75 million to states that agree to make such testing mandatory.

“We should allow law enforcement to use all the technology available to them…to reduce expensive and unjust false convictions, bring closure to victims by solving cold cases, better identify criminals, and keep those who commit violent crime from walking the streets,” said Rep. Harry Teague, the New Mexico Democrat who sponsored the bill.

Full Story: House votes to expand national DNA arrest database | Politics and Law – CNET News.

Bangkok Grows Calm, but Social Divisions Remain

Two months of tension and violence ended with a whimper on Thursday as the last exhausted group of protesters filed out of a Buddhist temple where they had taken refuge, bewildered and frightened, some in tears.

As they shuffled past a smear of blood on the ground that told of the recent fighting, a line of female police officers in black berets comforted them, touching their shoulders and murmuring: “Don’t be afraid. You’re safe now. Have a safe journey home.”

But it felt, on this morning after a political convulsion unlike anything anyone here has seen, that the country’s future was anything but safe.

“It was tragic,” said Anusart Suwanmongkol, a senator who supports the government. “Yesterday was the most tragic day in my memory, in Thai history. Nobody gained anything. Nobody won. The country lost.”

Full Story: Bangkok Grows Calm, but Social Divisions Remain – NYTimes.com.

Prime mortgages going bust at an alarming rate

Aftershocks from the nation’s financial crisis continue rumbling through the housing sector as fixed-rate mortgages held by the safest borrowers accounted for nearly 37 percent of new foreclosures during the first three months of this year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.

Additionally, more than one in 10 homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments in the first quarter — a record, the association said. That’s up from 9.47 percent in the last three months of 2009.

Prime loans, those made to the safest borrowers with the highest credit scores, account for almost 66 percent of outstanding U.S. mortgages, so their rising foreclosure numbers are troubling.

Full Story: Prime mortgages going bust at an alarming rate | McClatchy.

Senate Leadership Wants Immediate Inspection Of All Offshore Oil Rigs Across The United States

The federal government should undertake “immediate and enhanced” inspections of all offshore drilling rigs and production platforms in the United States, to head off another potential monster oil spill, the Senate Democratic leadership says.

All five of the Senate’s top Democrats urged President Obama to order such inspections in a letter Wednesday, as upwards of 100,000 barrels of oil a day continue to leak into the Gulf of Mexico.

An explosion last month on an offshore drilling platform leased by energy giant BP, known as Deepwater Horizon, has unleashed the ongoing environmental and economic disaster that likely will be larger than the notorious 1989 ExxonValdez spill.

Full Story: On The Hill: Senate Leadership Wants Immediate Inspection Of All Offshore Oil Rigs Across The United States.

Scientists Fault Response of Government to Oil Spill in Gulf

Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true scope.

The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the scope of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean. They are especially concerned about getting a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.

The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean. And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate analysis of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well.

Full Story: Scientists Fault Response of Government to Oil Spill in Gulf – NYTimes.com.

New drug reverses even ‘untreatable’ cancers

Cancer patients may be offered new hope in the form of a harmless virus which can reverse even apparently untreatable forms of the disease when injected into tumours.

Full Story: New drug reverses even ‘untreatable’ cancers – Telegraph.

BP withholds oil spill facts — and government lets it

BP, the company in charge of the rig that exploded last month in the Gulf of Mexico, hasn’t publicly divulged the results of tests on the extent of workers’ exposure to evaporating oil or from the burning of crude over the gulf, even though researchers say that data is crucial in determining whether the conditions are safe.

Moreover, the company isn’t monitoring the extent of the spill and only reluctantly released videos of the spill site that could give scientists a clue to the amount of the oil in gulf.

BP’s role as the primary source of information has raised questions about whether the government should intervene to gather such data and to publicize it and whether an adequate cleanup can be accomplished without the details of crude oil spreading across the gulf.

Full Story: BP withholds oil spill facts — and government lets it | McClatchy.

Woman Ordained As Catholic Priest, Denied Catholic Burial By Church

A Chicago woman who devoted her life to the Catholic Church and advocated that the church accept women as priests died Monday, and now the church will not allow her to be buried at her own parish.

Janine Denomme was ordained a priest in April by a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, according to Chicago Public Radio. Though the church excommunicates women who pursue ordination, Denomme had “always wanted to be a priest,” and decided to be ordained anyway.

Denomme was diagnosed with cancer before she was ordained, and blogged about her relationship with the church and dealing with her illness. The Windy City Times reports:

Full Story: Janine Denomme, Woman Ordained As Catholic Priest, Denied Catholic Burial By Church.

Gulf Oil Spill: Still No One Knows How Much Oil Is Leaking Or Where It Will Head Next

A suggestion box or publicity stunt? BP has received thousands of ideas from the public on how to stop a blown oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, but some inventors are complaining that their efforts are getting ignored.

Oil-eating bacteria, bombs and a device that resembles a giant shower curtain are among the 10,000 fixes people have proposed to counter the growing environmental threat. BP is taking a closer look at 700 of the ideas, but the oil company has yet to use any of them nearly a month after the deadly explosion that caused the leak.

“They’re clearly out of ideas, and there’s a whole world of people willing to do this free of charge,” said Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive Inc., which has created an online network of experts to solve problems.

BP spokesman Mark Salt said the company wants the public’s help, but that considering proposed fixes takes time.

Full Story: Gulf Oil Spill: Still No One Knows How Much Oil Is Leaking Or Where It Will Head Next.

OPS: Obama’s katrina

Another Monthly Drop In Lending By Biggest Bailed-Out Banks

The biggest recipients of taxpayer bailouts cut lending again, at a rate twice that of smaller lenders, new federal data show.

The nation’s biggest banks that still owe taxpayers for the extraordinary support they were given in 2008 cut lending by about $9 billion from February to March, or one percent, according to a new report by the Treasury Department.

Smaller banks that took TARP money cut their lending by $4.1 billion, or just under half a percentage point.

The decline in lending was even more pronounced in consumer loans: community lenders cut lending to consumers and households by about $1.2 billion, or about 0.43 percentage point, month over month.

The six biggest banks that have yet to repay their TARP money cut consumer lending by just under $9 billion, or 1.6 percent, Treasury data show.

A list of the biggest banks and the amount they still owe:

Full Story: Another Monthly Drop In Lending By Biggest Bailed-Out Banks.

Texas State Board Of Education Swamped With Criticism Over New Textbook Guidelines

Conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education were defiant Wednesday as a parade of critics came before them, most urging a fresh rewrite of new classroom social studies guidelines and a delay of a scheduled vote to adopt them.

Critics, including the president of the NAACP, a former U.S. education secretary and the committee that wrote the draft guidelines being edited by the board, complained that the proposal has become a vehicle for political ideology, has watered down the teaching of the civil rights movement and slavery and reveals a lack of historical knowledge from the board.

The standards will guide how history and social studies are taught to some 4.8 million public school students over the next 10 years.

“Of course it’s political,” Republican David Bradley said to one critic who complained that the process was too focused on politics rather than history. “So what’s your solution

? Would you support a benevolent dictator?”

Full Story: Texas State Board Of Education Swamped With Criticism Over New Textbook Guidelines.

Gulf Oil Spill: Markey Demands BP Broadcast Live Video Feed From The Source

UPDATE: BP has relented and will release a live video feed of the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a press release from Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). The video is expected to be posted to Markey’s website, globalwarming.house.gov, sometime tonight, according to Markey’s office. Check back later.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on Wednesday lashed out at BP for hiding the true extent of its now four-week-old oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and demanded that the oil company and the Coast Guard make a live video feed from the source of the leak continuously available to the public.

The few videos BP has released so far have been short and of poor quality, but the footage of filthy plumes of oil and gas endlessly billowing into the Gulf’s clear waters has nevertheless given the public a visceral sense of what’s at stake — and has given some scientists reason to believe that BP’s 5,000-barrel estimate for daily flow is off by a factor of 10, 20, or even more.

Full Story: Gulf Oil Spill: Markey Demands BP Broadcast Live Video Feed From The Source.

Two Dems Help Defeat Senate Cloture Vote On Wall Street Reform

Two Democrats voted against ending debate on Wall Street reform in the Senate on Wednesday, helping defeat a motion for cloture that could have cleared the way for a final vote before the end of the week and capping off a day of stubborn opposition from all sides.

Democrats Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Russ Feingold (Wisc.) joined all but two Republicans to defeat the cloture motion filed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), 57-42. A successful cloture motion would prevent rank-and-file Democrats from continuing to offer amendments to strengthen the bill.

Harry Reid had made the vote a leadership test, making the Democratic defections that much more meaningful. Reid vented his frustration.

“I know how to count votes,” Reid said. “A Senator broke his word with me. Broke it.”

Full Story: Two Dems Help Defeat Senate Cloture Vote On Wall Street Reform.

US, Cuba discuss Gulf of Mexico oil spill

US and Cuban officials were meeting Wednesday to discuss the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a US official said Wednesday as experts warned it was being dragged eastward toward Florida and possibly Cuba.

“I can confirm that they are ongoing and they are going on at the working level,” Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman, told reporters when asked if US and Cuban officials were involved in talks about the spill.

However, he could give no details about when the talks began, where they were taking place, or who was involved.

In Paris, the European Space Agency said Wednesday that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has entered the Loop Current, a powerful conveyor belt that flows clockwise around the Gulf towards Florida.

Full Story: The Raw Story | US, Cuba discuss Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

CDC misled District residents about lead levels in water, House probe finds

The nation’s premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District’s drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized more thorough internal research showing that the problem harmed children across the city and continues to endanger thousands of D.C. residents

A House investigative subcommittee concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made “scientifically indefensible” claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing noticeable harm to the health of city residents. As terrified District parents demanded explanations for the spike in lead in their water, the CDC hurriedly published its calming analysis, knowing it relied on incomplete, misleading blood-test results that played down the potential health impact, the investigation found.

The city utility says lead levels have been in the safe range in D.C. water since 2006, after a chemical change to reduce lead leaching. But the House report raises concerns about children in 9,100 residences citywide with partial lead-pipe replacements. Their parents may not know CDC research has found that children in such homes are four times more likely to have elevated lead in their blood.

Full Story: CDC misled District residents about lead levels in water, House probe finds.

Arizona Official Threatens to Cut Off Los Angeles Power as Payback for Boycott

A member of Arizona’s top government utilities agency threw down the gauntlet in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, threatening to cut off the city’s power supply as retribution for the city’s boycott of Arizona.

If Los Angeles wants to boycott Arizona, it had better get used to reading by candlelight.

That’s the message from a member of Arizona’s top government utilities agency, who threw down the gauntlet Tuesday in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by threatening to cut off the city’s power supply as retribution.

Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, wrote the letter in response to the Los Angeles City Council’s decision last week to boycott the Grand Canyon State — in protest of its immigration law — by suspending official travel there and ending future contracts with state businesses.

Full Story: FOXNews.com – Arizona Official Threatens to Cut Off Los Angeles Power as Payback for Boycott.

NAACP president: Texas curriculum will turn world ‘upside down’ for kids | Raw Story

Previewing the tone of his testimony in Austin on Wednesday ahead of a crucial vote, NAACP president Ben Jealous forcefully condemned the influential Texas State Board of Education’s slew of pending revisions to history and social studies curriculum.

The modified curriculum – approved in March on a party line vote and facing a final motion this Friday – diminishes Thomas Jefferson’s significance and commitment to secularism, tempers criticism of McCarthyism, downplays Darwin’s theory of evolution, and emphasizes the “conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.”

“It’s outrageous,” Jealous said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “It’s going to lock kids into the dark ages, where the whole world’s been turned upside down – where Thomas Jefferson is not a founding father, there’s no good reason to talk about [the first black Justice] Thurgood Marshall, and Joe McCarthy is a hero.”

Full Story: NAACP president: Texas curriculum will turn world ‘upside down’ for kids | Raw Story.

Republicans’ ‘YouCut’ Gimmick Leads Them To Propose Ending Successful Jobs Program

Last week, House Republicans launched a gimmicky website called “YouCut,” which asked visitors to vote on which item out of a pre-chosen set they would like to see axed from the federal budget. Republicans promised to bring a bill to the House floor nixing the item that received the most votes.

The problem with this is two-fold. For starters, eliminating every single one of the proposed YouCut items would amount to cutting 0.017 percent of the federal budget. This highlights the fundamental unseriousness of Republican claims that you can significantly reduce the federal budget deficit by targeting small-ball spending programs. But second, the ultimate “winner” of the contest is a successful jobs program that was fundamentally mischaracterized and misunderstood by the GOP.

With about 29 percent of the 280,000 votes cast, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund led the pack. House Republicans called the fund a “backdoor way to undo” welfare reform that “incentivizes states to increase their welfare caseloads.” Of course, phrased that way, the program sounds absolutely awful!

But as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out, neither of those claims are actually true. While the Emergency Fund does provide payments to families facing financial emergencies, it does so with stringent work requirements. In addition, it’s enabling states “to place 186,000 unemployed individuals in subsidized jobs by the end of the summer”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Republicans’ ‘YouCut’ Gimmick Leads Them To Propose Ending Successful Jobs Program.

Rand Paul Not An Anomaly: More Fringe Tea Party Candidates Set To Knock Off Favored GOP Candidates

Last night, fringe tea party Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) sailed to victory in his primary over Trey Grayson, the GOP candidate favored by Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and much of the Republican establishment. Not only did heavyweight Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani stump for Grayson, but shadowy GOP front groups, like the American Future Fund — which casts itself as a tea party group — ran harsh attack ads hitting Paul. Paul’s success comes shortly after tea party candidates defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) in the Utah primary, and tea party candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) forced Charlie Crist out of the Republican Party.

Republican operatives orchestrated the tea party movement to lay the foundation for Republican electoral gains. However, the far right tea parties have been uncontrollable, demanding that Republican candidates support extreme positions like eliminating Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Education, and even the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Paul’s success has already sent ripples throughout the GOP establishment, with other ramifications in Kentucky and for upcoming GOP primaries:

Full Story: Think Progress » Rand Paul Not An Anomaly: More Fringe Tea Party Candidates Set To Knock Off Favored GOP Candidates.

McCain: Enforce Immigration Laws On Undocumented Workers, But Not On Businesses That Hire Them

Since Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed the state’s new anti-immigrant bill into law last month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been a fervent supporter. The law gives state police broad power to identify, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants. McCain, who called the law a “good tool,” said last night on Fox News that he is “proud of the work” Brewer is doing on immigration, and justified the law “because the federal government would not enforce its responsibilities.”

But while McCain offers support for this new draconian law targeting day-laborers and other undocumented immigrants, he is not in favor of enforcing laws prohibiting employers from hiring undocumented workers. Instead, he would rather “secure the borders” before holding Arizona businesses accountable to the law:

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: What about businesses who hire people who are not documented?

MCCAIN: Once we secure the borders we should prosecute employers to the fullest extent of the law that hire someone that’s in this country illegally.

“Why can’t we do those two things at the same time?” Van Susteren asked. “We should get the borders secure so there is not this symptom which is people coming to this country and working illegally,” McCain replied. Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » McCain: Enforce Immigration Laws On Undocumented Workers, But Not On Businesses That Hire Them.

BP CEO Hayward Bets On ‘Very, Very Modest’ Impact From Disaster

Tony Hayward, CEO of oil giant BP, is betting that the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster will be “very, very modest.” Even though a million gallons of crude have flooded into the Gulf of Mexico every day since the exploratory rig exploded nearly a month ago, Hayward told Fox News sister network Sky News on Tuesday that he is largely unconcerned:

I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest. It is impossible to say and we will mount, as part of the aftermath, a very detailed environmental assessment as we go forward. We’re going to do that with some of the science institutions in the U.S. But everything we can see at the moment suggests that the overall environmental impact of this will be very, very modest.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » BP CEO Hayward Bets On ‘Very, Very Modest’ Impact From Disaster.

Rand Paul: ‘The Hard Part of Believing in Freedom’ Is Opposing Ban on Whites-Only Lunch Counters

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one of the greatest accomplishments of the twentieth-century, banning whites-only lunch counters and similar discrimination in hiring, promotions, hotels and restaurants. Yet, in a recent editorial board interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul explained why he believes that this landmark law should not apply to private business owners:

INTERVIEWER: Would you have voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

PAUL: I like the Civil Rights Act in the sense that it ended discrimination in all public domains, and I’m all in favor of that.

INTERVIEWER: But?

PAUL: You had to ask me the “but.” I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners—I abhor racism. I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant—but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership. But I absolutely think there should be no discrimination in anything that gets any public funding, and that’s most of what I think the Civil Rights Act was about in my mind.

Watch it

Full Story: Think Progress » Rand Paul: ‘The Hard Part of Believing in Freedom’ Is Opposing Ban on Whites-Only Lunch Counters.

Mortgage Deliquencies Drag on Economic Recovery

The mortgage crisis is dragging on the economic recovery as more homeowners fall behind on their payments.

Analysts expect improvement soon, but the number of homeowners in default or at risk of foreclosure will have a lingering effect on the broader economy.

More than 10 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment in the January-March period, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. That’s a record high and up from 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 9.1 percent a year earlier.

Around 4.3 million homeowners, or about 8 percent of all Americans with a mortgage, are at risk of losing their homes. They have either missed at least three months of payments or are in foreclosure, the trade group’s top economist said Wednesday.

Full Story: Mortgage Deliquencies Drag on Economic Recovery – NYTimes.com.

Mother of all gushers could kill Earth’s oceans

Imagine a pipe 21 inches wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the planets’ largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn’t contained, it could poison all the oceans of the world.

“Well if you say the fire hose has a [20],000 psi pump on the other end yes! No comparison here. The volume out rises geometrically with pressure. Its a squares function. Two times the pressure is 4 times the push. The Alaska pipeline is 4 feet in diameter and pushes with a lot less pressure. This situation in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning dangerous.” — Paul Noel (May 2, 2010)

Full Story: Mother of all gushers could kill Earth’s oceans.

Reagan Revolution Home To Roost – America Drowning In Debt

“Watch what we do, not what we say.” (Famous Republican advice.)

The Reagan Revolution was first and foremost about cutting the taxes paid by the rich and corporations. Now, almost 30 years later, the United States of America is drowning in debt. And that is exactly what they wanted to happen.

The Plan

There were the reasons for the tax cuts Reagan said, and there was the plan Reagan had. Reagan SAID that there was this thing called the “Laugher Curve” that he said proved cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue. But what they were saying was a smokescreen, something to tell the rubes. Increasing government revenue was the last thing Reagan and his cohorts wanted. They knew (and have since said so) cutting taxes would lead to terrible deficits. They called this a “strategic deficit.” This was the plan.

Bankrupting our government (We, the People) was the plan and today we can see that it was what they did. They didn’t want revenue to increase because the idea was to “starve the beast.” Reagan called it “cutting their allowance.”

Full Story: Reagan Revolution Home To Roost – America Drowning In Debt | OurFuture.org.

Big Bank Lobbyists Fighting Financial Reform Outnumber Pro-Reform Lobbyists by 11-1

New Public Citizen Report Shows Firepower Wall Street Is Bringing to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON – May 18 – Wall Street is pulling out the stops to get a financial reform bill that changes as little as possible.

Since the beginning of 2009, nearly 1,000 lobbyists have worked on at least one of nine key bills designed to rewrite the rules governing derivatives, a new Public Citizen report shows.

These lobbyists have overwhelmingly represented organizations opposing or attempting to water down proposed regulation, according to Public Citizen’s analysis of lobbying disclosure data filed with the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lobbyists representing opponents of strong derivatives reform have outnumbered pro-reform lobbyists by more than 11-to-1 (903 to 79 lobbyists). Among the clients represented by the anti-reform lobbyists were the nation’s five largest banks, several major financial trade associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Full Story: Big Bank Lobbyists Fighting Financial Reform Outnumber Pro-Reform Lobbyists by 11-1 | CommonDreams.org.

Shocking NASA Image: Never-Seen-Before Southeast Oil Slick Arm

A startling new image released by NASA today shows a massive column of oil extending out Southeast towards the open ocean.

This column has not been visible in any satellite photos taken so far and will no doubt change the estimated extent of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

Full Story: Kevin Grandia: Shocking NASA Image: Never-Seen-Before Southeast Oil Slick Arm.

Republican Cracks Deepen: Tea Party Enthusiast Wants McConnell’s Resignation

Exposing further fissures within the GOP, a longtime conservative activist is taking aim at the Senate’s top Republican in the wake of tea party favorite Rand Paul’s Senate win in Kentucky.

Paul defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson in Tuesday’s Republican primary. Paul had the backing of the so-called tea party activists, while Grayson was seen as the establishment candidate, backed by the Bluegrass State’s senior senator, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

An opthamalogist, Paul is the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the dark horse, libertarian-minded candidate for president in 2008. As the Republican nominee, Rand Paul now will face Democrat Jack Conway in the November general election for that Senate seat from Kentucky.

Full Story: On The Hill: Republican Cracks Deepen: Tea Party Enthusiast Wants McConnell’s Resignation.

Texas ready for textbook showdown

Is Texas on the verge of rewriting history, or just correcting it?

The answer depends on whom you listen to on the state’s Board of Education, which is poised to vote this week on new social-studies curriculum standards that could significantly shape what Texas children — and perhaps those outside the nation’s second-largest state — are taught in the classroom.

Social conservatives on the 15-member Republican-dominated board are optimistic they will be able to push through curriculum changes that, according to board member and conservative Texas lawyer Cynthia Noland Dunbar, “promote patriotism.”

Full Story: Texas ready for textbook showdown – Life- msnbc.com.

BP and Coast Guard Blocking Media from Public Beaches

Video -

CBS has footage of their reporters being turned away from a public beach in Louisiana where they were filming oil washing up on shore.

“This is BP’s rules, it’s not ours,” someone aboard the boat said. Coast Guard officials told CBS that they’re looking into it.

According to Mother Nature Network’s Karl Burkhart, his contacts in Louisiana have given him unconfirmed reports of equipment being turned away or confiscated.

Watch it:

Full Story: BP and Coast Guard Blocking Media from Public Beaches.

Big Oil Trade Group Seeks To Punish Tulane For Environmental Law Clinic

A bill to strip funds from Tulane University if its environmental law clinic sues a government agency or business was killed in committee by the Louisiana State Senate on Wednesday afternoon, dealing a blow to a proposal that alarmed environmentalists.

Tulane Environmental Law Clinic director Adam Babich told the Huffington Post that he is glad the bill was deferred, adding that he was disappointed at the amount of misinformation about the clinic’s work that was expressed in the Senate hearing. He added that he has sat down several times with the bill’s advocate, the Louisiana Chemical Association, an oil and chemical industry trade group, to hear its concerns with no result: “Their fundamental problem is that they don’t want our clients to have lawyers.”

————————-

EARLIER: In the latest chapter of a long-running battle in Louisiana, a trade group which represents oil and chemical companies has teamed up with some state lawmakers to try to punish Tulane University for the actions of the school's environmental law clinic.

Full Story: Big Oil Trade Group Seeks To Punish Tulane For Environmental Law Clinic.

2010 on track for warmest year on record

Consistent with what NASA scientists projected earlier this year, 2010 is currently on track to be the warmest year since global instrumental records began in the late 1800s. According to recently released data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), April 2010 was the warmest April on record, beating out 1998 for the title, and the period from January to April was the warmest such period on record.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for April was 14.5 degrees Celsius (58.1 degrees F), which was .76 C (1.37 F) above the 20th century April average, NOAAs's preliminary climate records show. Separately, global ocean temperatures were the warmest on record for April while global land temperatures were the third warmest.

For the period January through April, NOAA found that the global combined land and ocean average surface temperature of 13.3 degrees C (56.0 F) was the warmest January through April on record, and was .69 degrees C (1.24 F) above the 20th century January-to-April average.

Do satellite temperature records tell a similar story? Keep reading…

In addition, the 12-month running average temperature set a new record high in April, a milestone highlighted by Joe Romm of the Climate Progress blog. Romm wrote:

Full Story: 2010 on track for warmest year on record – Capital Weather Gang.

BP And Goldman Sachs Sued For Oil Fraud

Dozens of small oil and gas producers across Oklahoma and the Midwest are suing Goldman Sachs, BP and ConocoPhillips, claiming the defendants conspired to defraud them out of proceeds for crude oil they delivered just before the collapse of Oklahoma-based pipeline giant Semgroup in the summer of 2008.

With this lawsuit, filed in Oklahoma district court, we’re one step closer to finding out if Goldman Sachs was responsible for helping to goose oil prices to record highs in the summer of 2008 by conspiring against Semgroup in massive crude oil trades. As first detailed by Forbes Magazine a year ago in this article, Semgroup collapsed into bankruptcy under $3 billion in short sale losses on oil futures trades. Goldman, through its J. Aron commodities division, was Semgroup’s largest counterparty, and appears to have been responsible for giving Semgroup its final push off the cliff by unleashing a massive margin call on Semgroup as oil prices spiked. Billionaire John Catsimatidis, who has settled his own Semgroup-related suits in the past year, has asserted that Goldman’s actions may have helped push up the price of oil to its record of $147 a barrel.

J. Aron and other big oil traders like BP regularly bought thousands of barrels of physical crude oil from Semgroup, which in turn bought the oil from the plaintiffs. Those plaintiffs still haven’t received more than $400 million they’re owed for their oil, because J. Aron and other counterparties still owed money from Semgroup refuse to pay.

Full Story: BP And Goldman Sachs Sued For Oil Fraud « The Energy Source – Forbes.com.

Politicians Ignore Keynes at Their Peril

Dean baker

John Maynard Keynes explained the dynamics of an economy in a prolonged period of high unemployment more than 70 years ago in The General Theory. Unfortunately, it seems very few people in policymaking positions in the United States or Europe have heard of the book. Otherwise, they would be pushing economic policy in the exact opposite direction than it is currently heading.

Most wealthy countries have now made deficit reduction the primary focus of their economic policy. Even though the US and many eurozone countries are projected to be flirting with double-digit unemployment for years to come, their governments will be focused on cutting deficits rather than boosting the economy and creating jobs.

The outcome of this story is not pretty. Cutting deficits means raising taxes and/or cutting spending. In either case, it means pulling money out of the economy at a time when it is already well below full employment. This can lower deficits, but it also means lower GDP and higher unemployment.

Full Story: Politicians Ignore Keynes at Their Peril | CommonDreams.org.

Capitalism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls

According to the conventional wisdom, the US is a center-Right country. But a new poll by Pew casts doubt on that idea. It shows widespread skepticism about capitalism and hints that support for socialist alternatives is emerging as a majoritarian force in America’s new generation.

Carried out in late April and published May 4, 2010, the Pew poll, arguably by the most respected polling company in the country, asked over 1500 randomly selected Americans to describe their reactions to terms such as “capitalism,” “socialism,” “progressive,” “libertarian” and “militia.” The most striking findings concern “capitalism” and “socialism.” We cannot be sure what people mean by these terms, so the results have to be interpreted cautiously and in the context of more specific attitudes on concrete issues, as discussed later.

Pew summarizes the results in its poll title: “Socialism not so negative; capitalism not so positive.” This turns out to be an understatement of the drama in some of the underlying data.

Yes, “capitalism” is still viewed positively by a majority of Americans. But it is just by a bare majority. Only 52% of all Americans react positively. Thirty-seven percent say they have a negative reaction and the rest aren’t sure.

Full Story: Capitalism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls | CommonDreams.org.

The-90 Minute Solution: How Building in Periods of Renewal Can Change Your Work and Your Life (POLL) (VIDEO)

The only way to meet rising demand is to work longer hours, more continuously and stay connected 24/7.

Welcome to the crazy credo that many of us now live by, encouraged by the companies that employ us, in a world that’s been wildly accelerated by technology.

It’s also completely contrary to everything we know about what makes it possible for human beings to perform at the highest level.

The human body is hard-wired to pulse. To operate at our best, we need to renew our energy at 90-minute intervals — not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

Full Story: Tony Schwartz: The-90 Minute Solution: How Building in Periods of Renewal Can Change Your Work and Your Life (POLL) (VIDEO).

Homeboy Industries, Nation’s Largest Anti-Gang Program, Lays Off 300 Workers

For over 20 years, Father Greg Boyle has worked to help Los Angeles gang members rebuild their lives. The organization Boyle founded, Homeboy Industries, has become the nation’s largest anti-gang program, offering substance abuse counseling, tattoo removal, educational programs and more to ex-gang members. Through Homeboy Industries’ multiple business ventures, the organization has also provided jobs for former gang members in multiple sectors, including working at a cafe, installing solar panels and silk-screening T-shirts.

Now, facing an overwhelming financial struggle, the organization has been forced to lay off 300 employees. Homeboy Industries will continue to provide services to the community, provided former staff members can lend their time on a volunteer basis. The nonprofit needs an estimated $5 million to stay afloat — Father Greg Boyle hopes “somebody will rescue us.”

CNN reports.

WATCH:

Full Story: Homeboy Industries, Nation’s Largest Anti-Gang Program, Lays Off 300 Workers.

1,000 American Deaths In Afghanistan: A Sad Milestone

A suicide bomb attack in Kabul overnight claimed the lives of 18 people, including five U.S. servicemen. This attack pushed the war effort in Afghanistan past one of those grim milestones. Per today’s New York Times:

On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed the second 500 in fewer than two. A resurgent Taliban active in almost every province, a weak central government incapable of protecting its people and a larger number of American troops in harms way all contributed to the accelerating pace of death.

This grim occasion — and the Times noting of the acceleration in U.S. deaths — reminds me that I’m often left with the impression that most observers regard counterinsurgency as a “soft” form of military engagement, more public relations than warmaking. This isn’t the case. The strategy actually demands that countersurgent forces accept greater risks. Here’s the relevant material from the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual.

Full Story: 1,000 American Deaths In Afghanistan: A Sad Milestone.

Glenn Beck Hits 2010 Ratings LOW

Glenn Beck has hit a new low for the year — literally.

Beck’s Fox News program saw its worst ratings of 2010 Friday, averaging just 1.776 million total viewers. Of course, that’s more than his competitors — MSNBC’s “Hardball” (528,000), CNN’s “Situation Room” (481,000) and HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight” (197,000) — combined, but it represents a continuation of a trend that began last month.

For the month of April, Glenn Beck suffered his first year-over-year decline since joining Fox News in January 2009, declining 7% in total viewers and 6% in the demo compared to April 2009. Moreover, Beck shed 28% of his audience between January and April in both total viewers and the demo.

Friday’s program was Beck’s fifth worst since joining Fox News.

Politicususa’s Jason Easley notes that Friday’s total was “50% off of [Beck's] peak audience of 3.4 million” total viewers.

Beasley also writes that Beck is losing viewers because he sees himself as a political force more than an entertainer:

Full Story: Glenn Beck Hits 2010 Ratings LOW.

Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard

The Obama administration is actively trying to dismiss media reports that vast plumes of oil lurk beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, unmeasured and uncharted.

But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what’s visible — the slick on the Gulf’s surface — and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.

The one ship associated with NOAA that had been doing such research is back in Pascagoula, Miss., having completed a week-long cruise during which scientists taking underwater samples found signs of just the kind of plume that environmentalists fear could have devastating effects on sea life of all shapes and sizes.

Meanwhile, the commander of the NOAA vessel that the White House on Friday claimed in a press release “is now providing information for oil spill related research” told HuffPost on Tuesday that he’s actually far away, doing something else entirely.

Full Story: Gulf Oil Spill: Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard.

Goldman Sachs Wants Your 401(K)

Goldman Sachs Seeks Bigger Share of 401(k) Accounts

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., fighting a fraud lawsuit from U.S. regulators who accuse the company of misleading investors, is trying to persuade more Americans to trust the firm with their retirement funds.

The New York-based company is promoting alternative asset funds and designing target-date funds that provide guaranteed income to grab a bigger piece of the $2.7 trillion 401(k) market, said Bill McDermott, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and head of its defined-contribution business.

“We understand risk and we understand asset allocation,” said McDermott, who joined the firm in February to strengthen its retirement-plan products and marketing. “We’re looking to leverage that for the 401(k) market.”

Full Story: Goldman Sachs Seeks Bigger Share of 401(k) Accounts (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

GOP Blocks Three Key Anti-Wall Street Amendments

Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from voting on three amendments Tuesday that are strongly opposed by Wall Street.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top-ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, rose to object to a vote on one of the most talked-about amendments, cosponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Levin-Merkley would ban commercial banks from trading for their own benefit with taxpayer-backed money.

Shelby also objected to an amendment from Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) that would rein in predatory practices of payday lenders and one from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would have banned naked credit default swaps, which were at the heart of the financial crisis. Dorgan’s amendment was expected to fail, but Levin-Merkley had been surging in recent days.

When it looked as if Levin-Merkley had at least 50 votes, the threshold was moved up to 60. Now that it appears within striking distance of 60 votes, the new tactic is to deny it a vote altogether.

Negotiations around Levin-Merkley have been going on throughout the day, with Levin and Merkley working out details of the bill with holdouts. But without an opportunity for a vote on the floor, those successful negotiations add up to little.

Full Story: GOP Blocks Three Key Anti-Wall Street Amendments.

Tar balls found along shore in Key West

The Coast Guard reported that 20 tar balls were found Monday night along the shore at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West. Samples are being sent to a laboratory for analysis.

As BP engineers continue to work on Tuesday to contain and eventually plug the deep sea oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists tracking the spread of oil disagreed on whether it had entered a powerful ocean current that could carry the crude as far east as Florida and potentially damage sensitive reefs in the Keys.

On Monday night, the Coast Guard reported that 20 tar balls were found along the shore at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West. Samples of the tar balls — found by park rangers and ranging in size from three to eight inches in diameter — will be sent to a laboratory for analysis, according to the Coast Guard.

In Washington, a top Interior official charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling resigned, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the administration’s handling of the emergency at the same time she said it was largely dependent on BP to respond to the crisis.

Full Story: Tar balls found along shore in Key West – Gulf Oil Spill – MiamiHerald.com.

Bill for Afghan war could run into the trillions

Bill for Afghan war could run into the trillions

The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a 59-billion-dollar spending bill, of which 33.5 billion dollars would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan.

However, some experts here in Washington are raising concerns that the war may be unwinnable and that the money being spent on military operations in Afghanistan could be better spent.

“We’re making all of the same mistakes the Soviets made during their time in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, and they left in defeat having accomplished none of their purposes,” Michael Intriligator, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, said Monday at a half-day conference hosted by the New America Foundation and Economists for Peace and Security.

“I think we’re repeating that and it’s a history we’re condemned to repeat,” he said.

Full Story: Bill for Afghan war could run into the trillions | Raw Story.

OPS: I heard it again today reported on  Hartmanns’s show: “There are only  about 100 Taliban in Afghanistan…the militarys plan is to force them into the hills. “  So HOW MUCH ARE WE SPENDING ON 100 PEOPLE?

US, China, Russia agree on ’strong’ Iran sanctions: Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday that the major world powers have clinched “strong draft” UN sanctions in a response to an Iran-Turkey-Brazil deal.

In a surprise announcement before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Clinton said the draft resolution would be circulated later Tuesday to the 15-member UN Security Council, which includes Brazil and Turkey.

“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide,” Clinton told senators.

Full Story: US, China, Russia agree on ’strong’ Iran sanctions: Clinton | Raw Story.

Study: US missile defense plans based on ‘technical myths’

Scientists fear ‘flawed and dangerous’ plan will result in ‘foreign policy disaster’

US missile defense plans are based on “technical myths” and interceptors have mostly failed to knock out incoming warheads in military tests, a new study argues.

Two American scientists reviewed 10 tests of the SM-3 “kill vehicle,” designed to take out ballistic missiles, and concluded that the interceptor succeeded in directly hitting mock warheads in only one or two cases.

“This means that, in real combat, the warhead would have not been destroyed but would have continued toward the target and detonated in eight or nine of the 10 SM-3 experimental tests,” wrote George Lewis of Cornell University and Theodore Postol of MIT in the latest issue of “Arms Control Today.”

Full Story: Study: US missile defense plans based on ‘technical myths’ | Raw Story.

Former GOP Congresswoman Susan Molinari: Gingrich’s Nazi Comparison Is ‘Crazy’ And ‘Outrageous’

With the release of his latest book, To Save America, former House speaker Newt Gingrich has been on a media tour, arguing that liberals in Congress and the Obama administration are trying to create “a country which no longer resembles America.” In his book, Gingrich claims that “the secular-socialist machine” — by which he means “the Obama-Pelosi-Reid team” — “represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.” On Fox News Sunday this past weekend, host Chris Wallace challenged Gingrich on that quote, asking if it was a “wildly over the top” comparison. Gingrich said it wasn’t:

WALLACE: You also write this, and let’s put it up on the screen. “The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.” Mr. Speaker, respectfully, isn’t that wildly over the top?

GINGRICH: No, not if by America you mean the historic contract we’ve had which says your rights come from your creator, they’re unalienable, you’re allowed to pursue happiness. I mean, just listen to President Obama’s language.

Full Story: Think Progress » Former GOP Congresswoman Susan Molinari: Gingrich’s Nazi Comparison Is ‘Crazy’ And ‘Outrageous’.

Alabama teacher uses a hypothetical assassination of Obama in lesson on ‘angles’ and ‘parallel lines.’

The Secret Service investigated a teacher in Jefferson County, Alabama after he “he picked the wrong example” and used a hypothetical assassination of President Obama to teach angles to his geometry students, the Birmingham News reports:

The teacher was apparently teaching his geometry students about parallel lines and angles, officials said. He used the example of where to stand and aim if shooting Obama.

“He was talking about angles and said, ‘If you’re in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president,’ ” said Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class.

Full Story: Think Progress » Alabama teacher uses a hypothetical assassination of Obama in lesson on ‘angles’ and ‘parallel lines.’.

UPDATE: Obama assassination teacher placed on leave by district

Beck Officially Partners With Corporate Lobbyist Front Group To Help Elect Far-Right Republicans

While the Tea Party movement has tried to portray itself as organic and grassroots, it has had, in reality, several powerful, well-funded interests backing it up. Two of those entities have been Fox News host Glenn Beck and Dick Armey’s corporate front group FreedomWorks. Beck regularly cheerleads for the protests, often broadcasts live from their events, and has even helped them raise money. FreedomWorks staffers have given valuable logistical and administrative astroturf support to the Tea Parties.

Today on its Twitter page, FreedomWorks announced that it was officially partnering with Beck:

The tweet links to a video on the YouTube page of FreedomWorks Action — the c4 advocacy arm of the organization — of Beck explaining the partnership:

BECK: I have to tell you, this was a hard decision for me to take on FreedomWorks, and here’s why: because I don’t want to send the message to you that the way to restore our republic is through the political process only. And I was afraid that you would hear “FreedomWorks” and you would say, “Well, wait a minute, what does that mean? I think you do. I think you do. I think you need to get onto every bandwagon you can get onto right now.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Beck Officially Partners With Corporate Lobbyist Front Group To Help Elect Far-Right Republicans.

Grassley Signs On To Estate Tax Bill That Could Exempt His Entire Fortune While Affecting Few Others

President Bush’s massive tax cuts for the rich included a provision that repealed the estate tax in 2010. The tax has yet to be reinstated, though the House passed a bill late last year to set the tax at the 2009 level. Under the 2009 rate, estates worth less than $3.5 million pay no taxes at all, while larger estates pay 45 percent of anything above that threshold. As a bill to reinstate the estate tax is negotiated in the Senate, some senators have been pushing to cut this tax on millionaires to 35 percent, while raising the exemption to $5 million.

Today, the National Journal reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) signed on to the plan, which could represent an enormous tax break for his family. Grassley is worth between $2.1 and $5.2 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, so his entire estate could be exempted under a $5 million exemption.

Moreover, Grassley’s proposed tax cut would affect few families other than his own. Under the 2009 rate, 99.8 percent of estates owe no estate tax at all. If these levels were made permanent, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out that “[o]nly three percent of taxes owed” would be from estates that are, like Grassley’s, worth less than $5 million. The vast majority of current estate tax revenue comes from the “extremely wealthy,” with 62.5 percent of revenue coming from estates worth more than $20 million.

Full Story: Think Progress » Grassley Signs On To Estate Tax Bill That Could Exempt His Entire Fortune While Affecting Few Others.

The Declining Value Of Work

One of the great joys that men in free societies have long enjoyed is the ability to earn an honest wage for an honest day of work. In particular, the amazing capitalist engine that powered the U.S. economy for decade after decade greatly rewarded the incredible hard work and industriousness of the American people. America was known as the land of opportunity, and we built the largest middle class in the history of the world by working incredibly hard. But today, all of that is fundamentally changing. Thanks to rapid advances in technology, and thanks to the globalization of the work force, the labor of American workers is rapidly losing value. Automation, robotics and computers have made many jobs obsolete. Today one man can do the work that a hundred men used to do. Not only that, but today American workers literally have to compete against workers from all over the globe. Global corporations often find themselves having to choose whether to build a factory in the United States or in the third world. But in the third world workers often earn less than 10% of what American workers earn, corporations are often not required to provide any benefits to workers, and there are usually hardly any oppressive government regulations. How can American workers compete against that?

The truth is that labor is now a global commodity. How can an American worker compete against a desperate, half-starving worker in the third world that will work like mad for a dollar an hour?

But this is what we get for letting the politicians push “free trade” down our throats.

Most American workers had no idea that free trade would mean that they would suddenly be competing for jobs against workers in the Philippines and Malaysia.

But that is the cold, hard reality of globalism.

Full Story: The Declining Value Of Work.

John Hagee Said God Sent Hitler to Hunt the Jews. Now He Wants to Be the Comeback Kid.

Pastor John Hagee, discredited by his God-sent-Hitler-to-hunt-the-Jews comment that surfaced during the 2008 presidential campaign, is on the comeback trail.

Pastor John Hagee, the head of a 19,000-member Texas mega-church and the founder of Christians United for Israel, a powerful lobbying group, has, in recent months, mounted an all-out public relations campaign to rehabilitate his image. Can the shouting prophet of the End Times be scrubbed clean?

If, sometime in the future, a conservative Israeli politician was able to get legislation passed through the Knesset establishing a Christian Zionist Hall of Fame in Israel, you can bet your bottom shekel that Pastor John Hagee would be among those voted into the Hall’s first class. Since being shunned by Senator John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign –- after the senator had eagerly sought his endorsement — over a tape that had Hagee bellowing his belief that Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God to chase Europe’s Jews to Israel, the San Antonio, Texas-based pastor has been on the comeback trail. And while he might never wear the mantle of “The Comeback Kid,” Hagee has soared back into the good graces of many well-connected and politically powerful Americans and Israelis.

However, not all is smooth sailing. In order to regain his foothold within an often skeptical Jewish community, Team Hagee must confront persistent critics, and another more daunting obstacle: his sermons, speeches and writings. In this major public-relations battle, Team Hagee has attacked the Obama Administration for being too rough on Israel, J Street –- a liberal Jewish organization — and has responded directly to articles raising questions about Hagee and the dangers of a muscular Christian Zionism.

Full Story: John Hagee Said God Sent Hitler to Hunt the Jews. Now He Wants to Be the Comeback Kid. | BuzzFlash.org.

Family Values GOP Rep To Resign Over Affair (VIDEO)

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), a champion of abstinence education and traditional family values, will resign effective Friday after an affair with a female staffer in his district office, he announced today.

He said in a statement that he “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.” And he blamed the atmosphere in Washington for forcing him to make the move:

“In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain. I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process.”

Full Story: Family Values GOP Rep To Resign Over Affair (VIDEO) | TPMMuckraker.

OPS:  It’s not the act, it’s the pomposity, hypocrisy and lies.

How the War Depresses the U.S. Economy

Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

The cost of Bush’s war on Iraq, left to Obama to ‘finish’ and clean up, passed the one trillion dollar mark some time ago but has yet to support or prove the old lie that ‘wars are good for the economy’. Where is the evidence that the $Trillion$ spent murdering and torturing people in a nation that was, in fact, no threat to the United States, has created a single job on the home front? In fact, those $Trillion$ blown up in Iraq are lost forever –not having created a single new job.

Instead, manpower that might have been employed in productive industries was diverted to destructive and false causes. Instead of creating futures, we will be lucky to escape a tragic past!

The fact is, war is parasitic, destructive not of enemies but of the home front economy. Even if the U.S. should win militarily, the war is lost on the home front where it continues to be paid for by the subversive and depressive effect it has had upon productive industries and activities that provide real jobs, viable opportunities, exports!

War is not only a ‘racket’, as Gen. Smedley Butler so famously declared, it is a parasite!

Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: How the War Depresses the U.S. Economy.

Rep. Anthony Weiner Wants FTC and SEC Action for Goldline, Beck and the FOX Gold-Shilling Narrative

Critics have reprimanded Glenn Beck before for his advertising-turned-conservative-talking-point shilling for Goldline in the past, but never quite on the level that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) demands now.

Beck has long held a close relationship with the gold seller, including advertisements throughout his radio career with spots on his show and ads placed openly on his website. The conflict arises from the fact that Beck’s content, full of blatant fear mongering about the potential decline of society and of paper money, appears to fit too perfectly with Goldline’s advertising agenda. In effect, Beck’s content seems driven by his advertising, and since Beck’s rhetoric tends toward the extreme, it presents a noticeable danger to the public.

Weiner has served notice that he has had enough of Beck’s crass shilling for the gold industry. Weiner has taken note of the conservative strategy to promote gold as a safe bet in the current political and economic climate. Though consumers would need gold to exceed record highs to reach a return on their investment, while the hosts promoting the gold reap the benefits in simply selling to those consumers now. Consequently, commentators like Beck, who have invested in the gold they advertise and thus have a vested interest in its doing well, can push the narrative of the decaying U.S. to benefit themselves, regardless of its distance from reality.

Full Story: Rep. Anthony Weiner Wants FTC and SEC Action for Goldline, Beck and the FOX Gold-Shilling Narrative | BuzzFlash.org.

Killing Our World

by: William Rivers Pitt,

“I wanted to destroy everything beautiful I’d never have,” wrote Chuck Palahniuk in his novel,”‘Fight Club.” “Burn the Amazon rain forest. Pump chlorofluorocarbons straight up to gobble the ozone. Open the dump valves on supertankers and uncap offshore oil wells. I wanted to kill all the fish I couldn’t afford to eat, and smother the French beaches. I wanted the whole world to hit bottom … I wanted to breathe smoke. I wanted to burn the Louvre. I’d do the Elgin Marbles with a sledgehammer and wipe my ass with the Mona Lisa. This is my world, now.”

This is our world now, indeed. All those terrible things Palahniuk’s protagonist wanted to do, well, most of them are happening or have already happened. The Louvre is still there, for now, and neither the Marbles nor the “Mona Lisa” have been violated, but as for the rest of that rant … yeah, they’re pretty much fact.

Our world.

The Boston Globe web site put together a series of pictures detailing the inexorable advance of spilled petroleum in the Gulf, the slow dread of aftermath from the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon nearly a month ago. I’ve been staring at them for the last hour, and I’m beginning to believe I have lost the capacity to weep.

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Killing Our World.

Now independent thinkers are considered diseased by psychiatry

Psychiatrists have been working on the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and, in it, they hope to add a whole slew of new psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, many of these disorders are merely differences in personality and behavior among people.

The new edition may include “disorders” like “oppositional defiant disorder”, which includes people who have a pattern of “negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures.” Some of the “symptoms” of this disorder including losing one’s temper, annoying people and being “touchy”.

Other “disorders” being considered include personality flaws like antisocial behavior, arrogance, cynicism or narcissism. There are even categories for people who binge eat and children who have temper tantrums.

Full Story: Now independent thinkers are considered diseased by psychiatry.

OtherWords: Supremely Important: Genetically Engineered Crops

More questions are being raised about the long-term impact of these crops on the environment.

Fifteen years after farmers and agribusinesses began planting genetically engineered crops in our nation’s fields, we still know very little about their long-term environmental, economic, and social consequences.

The Supreme Court is finally getting involved. It recently heard a case involving Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa, which is resistant to the herbicide Roundup. Farmers, including many that use pesticides and herbicides and others that don’t, asked that approval for this variety of alfalfa be blocked.

They argued that the Department of Agriculture hasn’t completed a required environmental impact statement yet. Farmers fear that GE alfalfa will cross-pollinate with conventional or organic alfalfa that hasn’t been engineered. Organic certification prohibits genetically engineered crops entirely. What’s more, this kind of contamination could block exports to many other countries, particularly countries within the European Union, who have not approved biotech crops.

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its decision this summer. However it rules, more questions are being raised about the long-term impact of these crops on the environment.

Full Story: OtherWords: Supremely Important: Genetically Engineered Crops.

U.S.: Overflowing Prisons Spur Call for Reform Commission

Despite the lacklustre performance of so-called “blue ribbon commissions” in the United States over the years, sponsors of the latest proposal – the National Criminal Justice Commission – are optimistic that it will become a reality and that its recommendations will be taken seriously by the president, Congress and the U.S. public.

The reason, says its sponsor, Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, is that “America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace”.

He added, “We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration.”

Given the chequered history of blue ribbon commissions in the nation's capital, a spokesman for Sen. Webb told IPS that “with nearly 40 Democratic and Republican cosponsors, there is a strong likelihood of success”.

Full Story: U.S.: Overflowing Prisons Spur Call for Reform Commission – IPS ipsnews.net.

BP Trying To Hide Toxic Oil with Corexit Chemical Dispersant Agent?

BP Embraces Exxon’s Toxic Dispersant, Ignores Safer Alternative

It has been confirmed that the dispersal agent being used by BP and the government is Corexit 9500, a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by Nalco Holding Company of Naperville, IL. Their stock took a sharp jump, up more than 18% at its highest point of the day today, after it was announced that their product is the one being used in the Gulf. Nalco’s CEO, Erik Frywald, expressed their commitment to “helping the people and environment of the Gulf Coast recover as rapidly as possible.” It may be that the best way to help would be to remove their product from the fray. Take a look at some of the facts about Corexit 9500:

A report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. entitled “Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview” states that “Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527, and Corexit 9580 have moderate toxicity to early life stages of fish, crustaceans and mollusks (LC50 or EC50 – 1.6 to 100 ppm*). It goes on to say that decreasing water temperatures in lab tests showed decreased toxicity, a lowered uptake of the dispersant. Unfortunately, we’re going to be seeing an increase in temperatures, not a decrease. Amongst the other caveats is that the study is species-specific, that other animals may be more severely affected, silver-sided fish amongst them.

Oil is toxic at 11 ppm while Corexit 9500 is toxic at only 2.61 ppm; Corexit 9500 is four times as toxic as the oil itself. Sure, a lot less of it is being introduced, but that’s still a flawed logical perspective, because it’s not a “lesser of two evils” scenario. BOTH are going into the ocean water.

Full Story: Oil Spill – BP Trying To Hide Toxic Oil with Corexit Chemical Dispersant Agent?.

IBM to hire up to 800 for new center in Missouri

IBM Corp. said Monday that it’s hiring up to 800 technical jobs for a new service center in Columbia, Mo.

The center will provide information technology services and business process outsourcing to IBM customers. It is the third such center IBM has opened in the last 18 months. The other two are in Dubuque, Iowa, and Lansing, Mich.

IBM will start hiring this summer and the new center, at 2810 LeMone Industrial Blvd., will open in the fall after a renovation. Jobs range from entry level positions to professionals.

The center will mainly support U.S. clients and their needs, including server systems operations and maintenance of hardware and software systems.

Full Story: IBM to hire up to 800 for new center in Missouri – BusinessWeek.

Massive underwater oil cloud may destroy life in Gulf of Mexico

Over a week ago, I published an article here on NaturalNews questioning the media spin on the massive oil spill in the Gulf. That story, entitled Is Gulf oil rig disaster far worse than we’re being told? (http://www.naturalnews.com/028749_G…), stated the following:

“It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on in the Gulf right now, especially because there are so many conflicting reports and unanswered questions. But one thing’s for sure: if the situation is actually much worse than we’re being led to believe, there could be worldwide catastrophic consequences. If it’s true that millions upon millions of gallons of crude oil are flooding the Gulf with no end in sight, the massive oil slicks being created could make their way into the Gulf Stream currents, which would carry them not only up the East Coast but around the world where they could absolutely destroy the global fishing industries.”

Now, barely one week later, it turns out that the oil slick is FAR worse than what we were being told.

USA Today now reports:

Full Story: Massive underwater oil cloud may destroy life in Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf oil spill: Senators call for criminal, civil charges against BP

Eight senators urged U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric J. Holder on Monday to open up an inquiry of oil giant BP in connection with the April 20 well blowout that has been pouring an estimated 210,000 gallons of crude daily into the Gulf of Mexico.

The senators — seven Democrats, including California’s Barbara Boxer, and one independent — asked Holder to examine whether BP “made false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.”

The letter comes on the heels of last week’s congressional hearings in which executives for the companies involved in the disaster were grilled by separate panels.
Full Story: Gulf oil spill: Senators call for criminal, civil charges against BP | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times.

Michael Moore & Me

Senator Bernie Sanders

This week’s Senator Sanders Unfiltered features a question from filmmaker Michael Moore. Submit your own video question for next week’s show here. “Unfiltered” is produced by Brave New Films. Stay up-to-date with “Unfiltered” on Facebook. Follow Bernie on Twitter.

Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit, it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas and that’s a good thing. But on the other hand, especially since the Reagan era, what we have seen in this country is an unfettered type of cowboy capitalism, and the result of that has been, that the people on top have made out like bandits and many of them are bandits. Today in America we have a situation that is quickly moving out of control.

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: Michael Moore & Me.

Economic Power: Boycott BP

“Boycott BP into bankruptcy” – said Cindy Sheehan. Amen.

Economic boycotts can be very powerful and change the world for the better. Sadly, too few Americans use their personal spending power to advance worthy goals. An immediate opportunity is for people to stop buying BP gasoline. After all, it is clear that BP acted irresponsibly and likely criminally in using offshore oil drilling technology that posed enormous risks to public and worker safety as well as our natural environment in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly far beyond.

Make BP suffer where it hurts, where it can truly harm them. Send a clear signal that we will get revenge as consumers with an environmental conscience. An immediate boycott of BP could do much to make the company compensate the incredible number of people that will suffer very much because of the humongous oil spill that should have been prevented. We cannot depend on BP acting responsibly; nor can we count on the government or the courts for delivering timely justice.

There is a Boycott BP page on Facebook. Show your support. Over at the Public Citizen Web site you can sign a petition: “Take the Beyond BP Pledge! Drive a car? Like the occasional fountain drink? Send a clear message to BP by boycotting its gas and retail store products. Don't spend a cent of your hard-earned money to feed the bottom line of a corporation that has a sordid history of negligence, willfully violates environmental regulations, and is spewing thousands and thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. I pledge to boycott BP for at least three months.” Public Citizen has also created a Facebook group “1,000,000 Strong to Boycott BP.”

Full Story: Economic Power: Boycott BP | Economy In Crisis.

Chinese Restrictions Hurting Multinational Companies

The mercantilist practices of the Chinese government are rankling many executives of foreign multinational companies operating in China, making them feel as though the “deck is stacked against them,” according to The New York Times.

A growing sense of economic nationalism in China has led to a slew of policies that discriminate against multinational corporations while benefiting state-owned domestic businesses. In the past year alone, China has filed over a dozen trade-related cases against multinationals and the nations they operate out of, implemented a strict “buy Chinese” policy and limiting the export of some materials to force companies to move operations to China.

“There are some policies of the Chinese government that many countries have raised concerns about, including the United States,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said, according to The New York Times.

Full Story: Chinese Restrictions Hurting Multinational Companies | Economy In Crisis.

Shep Smith SCOLDS BP CEO: ‘At Least Act Like You Care’ (VIDEO)

Fox News anchor (and Mississippi native) Shep Smith ripped the BP CEO over his comments on the Gulf oil spill Friday on his Fox News show.

BP CEO Tony Hayward told a British newspaper that the oil spill was a relatively small leak in the scheme of the Gulf of Mexico, and that he expected many frivolous lawsuits over the spill.

Smith’s full comments (via):

Mr. Hayward, that Gulf is the source of life for millions upon million of people, and plants, and other creatures on this earth. Jobs are lost, beaches and birds are tarred, fisheries are closed, tourists are canceling, economies are threatened, and people from Florida to Texas are in some cases concerned for their very livelihoods, and you speak of ‘comparative volume’?

Mr. Hayward, British Petroleum has caused the proud people of the Gulf Region great pain. If you think your statements on this subject are helping your company’s cause — you are wrong. And if you think the people of the Gulf Region and the rest of America will take lying down without a fight a poorly handled aftermath of what your company has done to our Gulf and our people – you are horribly mistaken.

Full Story: Shep Smith SCOLDS BP CEO: ‘At Least Act Like You Care’ (VIDEO).

NYT’s Douthat: Tea Party And Other Populist Moments Mask Power Elite

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat rather deftly packs the lion’s share of free-floating discontent that I’ve been feeling into a sharp shot, contending that in this seemingly “populist moment” — where public discontent appears to be in full flower — behind the scenes, all of the existing power structures are essentially retrenching.

But look through these anti-establishment theatrics to the deep structures of political and economic power, and suddenly the surge of populism feels like so much sound and fury, obscuring the real story of our time. From Washington to Athens, the economic crisis is producing consolidation rather than revolution, the entrenchment of authority rather than its diffusion, and the concentration of power in the hands of the same elite that presided over the disasters in the first place.

Douthat goes on to cite copious examples: the sturdy persistence of “too big to fail” institutions, President Barack Obama’s retention of the unitary executive powers that the Bush White House claimed as its own and the perverse way that the protege’s of yesterday’s failures remain in charge. Meet the new Committee to Save the World, same as the old Committee to Save the World.

Full Story: NYT’s Douthat: Tea Party And Other Populist Moments Mask Power Elite.

K Street Protest: Dozens Storm D.C. Bank Branches, Block K Street Intersection

Dozens of noisy purple-shirted SEIU protesters stormed a Bank of America branch near the U.S. Capitol on Monday, forcing the bank to close down as confused customers looked on and tellers retreated to an interior room.

Other groups from SEIU and National People’s Action were set to stage protests at BofA’s and JPMorgan Chase’s lobby shops downtown as part of a daylong anti-K Street extravaganza.

A security guard told HuffPost the branch would be closed only temporarily.

From there, the group blocked an intersection in D.C.’s tiny Chinatown, then stopped by a Citibank branch. “Corporate greed has got to go!”

At 11:00 a.m., hundreds of protesters from SEIU and National People’s Action merged at the offices of Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta, who boasts Bank of America among his massive client list. “We’re fired up to take down Wall Street,” they chanted.

Full Story: K Street Protest: Dozens Storm D.C. Bank Branches, Block K Street Intersection.

Bad week ahead for Massey CEO

Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship has a tough week ahead. Blankenship, whose actions at the Massey helm have been under scrutiny after a massive explosion at the company’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers last month, will face shareholders tomorrow at the company’s annual meeting.

Angered over Massey’s flawed safety record, CtW Investment Group, a shareholder with voting rights, has called for Blankenship’s resignation and is now seeking a management shakeup by urging the removal of three Massey directors.

“In our view, Massey’s alarming record of non-compliance ultimately reflects the board’s fundamental inability to exercise independent oversight of Donald Blankenship, a domineering Chairman and CEO who fosters a reckless, ‘production first’ culture and takes a confrontational approach to regulators, shareholders and workers,” CtW wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Full Story: Bad week ahead for Massey CEO: The Swamp.

Tornadoes, Quakes, and the Myth of Karma

They say Karma’s a bitch. They’re too unkind. Recent floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes reveal her as a coolly indifferent, altogether inscrutable customer.

One wag noted a few years ago that the map of the Confederate slave states is pretty much the same as the map of today’s Bible Belt. True. And it doesn’t take a lot to see that those maps overlap nicely with a map of major tornado activity in the U.S.

So why exactly does Heaven so happily pummel the region that is God’s last, best hope for bringing salvation and good values to His beloved creation?

But I realize that’s just a matter of a conservative Christian perspective. A devout Muslim in Iran might say that his country is God’s last, best hope to stabilize the world.

Full Story: Rob Asghar: Tornadoes, Quakes, and the Myth of Karma.

Successful Immigrant Returns To Ethiopia, Brings His Hometown Their First Ambulance

Sebri Omer emigrated from Ethiopia to the United States as a young man and began to seek the American Dream. He went to college and now has a family and a successful small business, as owner of a gas station.

When he returned to Ethiopia, however, he was shocked by what he saw. Rampant disease and a desperate need for a hospital in his hometown of Harar. He sold half of his businesses and began to fund such a hospital. Just recently, he delivered to Harar the town's very first ambulance.

Daryn Kagan reports on Omer's projects through her website and in her book, “What's Possible.”

WATCH:

Full Story: Successful Immigrant Returns To Ethiopia, Brings His Hometown Their First Ambulance.

At least three senators who oppose secret holds have holds of their own – TheHill.com

At least three senators who want to end the practice of placing secret holds on nominees and legislation have holds of their own, according to a survey by The Hill.

Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) are collectively blocking two Obama administration nominees and two bills as they push to end secret holds.

Feingold and Baucus have signed on to a letter being drafted by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on the subject, while Inhofe is co-sponsoring a resolution by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to ban secret holds.

Full Story: At least three senators who oppose secret holds have holds of their own – TheHill.com.