Archive for August, 2010

Fox News stays silent on News Corp’s controversial $1 million donation to Republicans.

One of the top political controversies this week has been the news that News Corp., the Rupert Murdoch-led parent company of Fox News, donated a whopping $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (and $0 to the Democratic Governors Association). The contribution, noted Politico’s Ben Smith, was “new step toward an open identification between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and the GOP.” As ThinkProgress reported, it may also violate News Corp’s own “standards of business conduct.” According to a search by ThinkProgress, there has so far been no mention of the News Corp/RGA story on Fox News so far. Fox Business and FoxNews.com have also ignored the news, notes Media Matters. Also, as Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reports, Fox has even refused to allow the head of the DGA to come on and talk about it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Fox News stays silent on News Corp’s controversial $1 million donation to Republicans..

Deficit fraud Blunt calls for permanent taxpayer giveaways to the real estate industry.

Yesterday, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who is running for Missouri’s open Senate seat, unveiled his jobs plan at an event with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Blunt spends a lot of time in the document fearmongering about the deficit, saying “we must put a stop to this reckless and embarrassing culture of running up the bill and passing it along to our children and grandchildren.” He even advocates rescinding the stimulus money that has yet to be spent, which amounts be a tax increase on the middle class. But Blunt’s concern about spending evaporates when it comes to having the federal government subsidize the real estate industry, as he calls for permanently extending the home buyers tax credit:

Recently it was announced that new home purchases had fallen off more than 30%. Clearly people respond to tax incentives and the recently-expired home owners’ tax credit is no exception. Encouraging people who can afford it to purchase homes helps employ homebuilders, real estate workers, bank employees, and keeps liquidity in the market.

Full Story: Think Progress » Deficit fraud Blunt calls for permanent taxpayer giveaways to the real estate industry..

Chamber Blames Women For Pay Gap: They Should Choose The Right ‘Place To Work’ And ‘Partner At Home’

Today is the anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted the right to vote to women. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has decided to use this day of equal rights for women to argue that women are now to blame for unequal pay in the workplace. On the organization’s official blog, ChamberPost, Senior Director of Communications Brad Peck today makes the argument that the pay gap between men and women in the American workforce — women currently earn roughly 77 cents to every dollar a man earns — is “the result of individual choice rather than discrimination.” He argues that, instead of bold legislative action being taken to help correct this pay gap, women should pick the “obvious, immediate, power-of-the-individual solution: choosing the right place to work and choosing the right partner at home“:

Most of the current “pay gap” is the result of individual choice rather than discrimination. [...]

It is true that culturally speaking women are more likely to have to make the tough choices about work-life balance. But as we all seek to fit our values into a dynamic 24/7 economy, let’s not overlook the obvious, immediate, power-of-the-individual solution: choosing the right place to work and choosing the right partner at home.

Full Story: Think Progress » Chamber Blames Women For Pay Gap: They Should Choose The Right ‘Place To Work’ And ‘Partner At Home’.

The Internet Belongs to Us — Tell the FCC to Stop the Dangerous Google/Verizon Deal

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seems to see his role as a broker among corporate interests, not as their regulator. This has to change.

On August 19, the Federal Communications Commission will be in Minneapolis for a public hearing on the future of the Internet. The big question now looming over this hearing is whether the fate of the Internet has already been decided behind closed doors before the FCC has even heard what the public has to say.

This hearing should be an opportunity for the FCC Commissioners to learn from those outside of Washington, DC, as they deliberate over whether the Internet will be an open platform for public discussion and innovation or a private pathway for delivering commercial content. The two Commissioners who have agreed to attend, Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn, have been stalwart defenders of the public Interest.

By contrast, the Chairman of the FCC, Obama’s law school buddy Julius Genachowski, seems to see his role as a broker among corporate interests, not as their regulator. We have seen the results of that approach from Wall Street to the Deepwater Horizon. Now we are beginning to see it online.

Full Story: The Internet Belongs to Us — Tell the FCC to Stop the Dangerous Google/Verizon Deal | Media and Culture | AlterNet.

It’s the Beginning of the End for the American Empire

Chalmers Johnson:

Thirty-five years from now, America’s official century of being top dog (1945-2045) will have come to an end; its time may, in fact, be running out right now

In 1962, the historian Barbara Tuchman published a book about the start of World War I and called it The Guns of August. It went on to win a Pulitzer Prize.  She was, of course, looking back at events that had occurred almost 50 years earlier and had at her disposal documents and information not available to participants. They were acting, as Vietnam-era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara put it, in the fog of war.

So where are we this August of 2010, with guns blazing in one war in Afghanistan even as we try to extricate ourselves from another in Iraq?  Where are we, as we impose sanctions on Iran and North Korea (and threaten worse), while sending our latest wonder weapons, pilotless drones armed with bombs and missiles, into Pakistan’s tribal borderlands, Yemen, and who knows where else, tasked with endless “targeted killings” which, in blunter times, used to be called assassinations?  Where exactly are we, as we continue to garrison much of the globe even as our country finds itself incapable of paying for basic services?

Full Story: It’s the Beginning of the End for the American Empire | World | AlterNet.

Rolling Stone: “Just Say Now” to Legalize Marijuana

Rolling Stone has a big new article in this month’s issue about the push to legalize marijuana in California and across the country. The title of the article may sound familiar: it’s called “Just Say Now.” And our campaign gets an impressive plug:

This law-and-order approach plays well with soccer moms in Los Angeles, who often provide the swing vote in California politics. “Like most things in politics these days, it’s going to come down to the conflicted baby boomers,” says Bill Carrick, a prominent Democratic consultant based in Los Angeles. But leading Democrats are still shying away from the measure, fearing that legalization will be used against them as a wedge issue. At recent meetings, both the California Democratic Party and the California Labor Federation voted to remain neutral on Prop 19. “The Democratic point of view, which is understandable, is that we don’t want to be seen as the party of drugs and dope,” says Carrick.

In fact, advocates argue, the campaign to legalize pot could actually have the opposite effect, sparking a “burnout turnout” that will boost Democrats in November. When asked how the party can get first-time Obama voters to show up this fall, the 78-year-old chairman of the California Democratic Party, John Burton, gave a one-word answer: “Pot.” Indeed, polls indicate that legalization could lure Obama voters to the polls like no other issue. The progressive blog Firedoglake and Students for Sensible Drug Policy recently launched a “Just Say Now” campaign, both online and through college campuses, to turn out young voters.

Full Story: Rolling Stone: “Just Say Now” to Legalize Marijuana | FDL Action.

Other countries probing Bush-era torture

In June, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a Canadian man who contends that U.S. authorities mistook him for an al Qaida operative in 2002 and shipped him to a secret prison in Syria, where he was beaten with electrical cables and held in a grave-like cell for 10 months.

Four years earlier, however, the Canadian government had concluded an exhaustive inquiry and found that the former prisoner, Maher Arar, was telling the truth. Canada cleared Arar of all ties to terrorism and paid him $10 million in damages, and his lawyers say he’s cooperating with an investigation into the role of U.S. and Syrian officials in his imprisonment and reported torture.

Arar’s case illustrates what lawyers and human rights groups call a shameful trend: While U.S. courts and the Obama administration have been reluctant or unwilling to pursue the cases, countries that once backed former President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism are carrying out their own investigations of the alleged U.S. torture program and the role that their governments played in it.

Full Story: Other countries probing Bush-era torture — Why aren’t we? | McClatchy.

Toxic oil levels found in key Gulf breeding zone, scientists say

Scientists have found evidence that oil has become toxic to marine organisms in a section of the Gulf of Mexico that supports the spawning grounds of commercially important fish species.

Researchers from the University of South Florida said Tuesday that, in preliminary results, oil appears to reside in droplet form among the sediments of a vital underwater canyon where clouds of oil from the BP spill were found.

“So, indeed, the waters have a level of toxicity that needs to be recognized, and I think these were some of the first indicators that the base of the food web — the bacteria and the phytoplankton — may be affected,” said David Hollander, chief scientist on a research vessel that just returned from a 10-day trip in the Gulf.

Full Story: Toxic oil levels found in key Gulf breeding zone, scientists say | McClatchy.

Traffic May Drive Some People To Diabetes

People with chronic inflammation may be especially vulnerable

Urban air pollution — especially the particles and gases spewed by heavy traffic — can increase a senior citizen’s risk of developing type-2 diabetes, according to a new German study. If confirmed, its authors say, pollution would represent a “novel and potentially modifiable risk factor” for the metabolic disorder.

And the putative mechanism: the chronic low-level tissue inflammation that pollution triggers.

Although inflammation can be a healthy response to acute infection, chronic inflammation can damage tissues and stress the body. Several studies have linked inflammatory pollutants with diabetes, although never, as here, in a long-running study where the participants started out healthy.

For their new study, Wolfgang Rathmann and his colleagues at the Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf analyzed data from 1,775 women — all around 55 years old and healthy when they entered the study 16 to 25 years ago. Most came from coal and steel regions in Germany, although some were recruited from small towns with little industry.

Full Story: Traffic May Drive Some People To Diabetes – Science News.

Attorney General will step in to end speculation over David Kelly death

The Attorney General has signalled that he is prepared to intervene in the controversy over the death of Dr David Kelly, admitting that those who doubted his suicide “may have a valid point”.

Full Story: Attorney General will step in to end speculation over David Kelly death – Telegraph.

Is Fox the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda?

Rupert Murdoch put his money where is publications, including Faux Noise, are yesterday. He gave $1 million to the Republican Party and nothing to the Democrats.

Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that News Corp., the Fox News parent company run by Rupert Murdoch, donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) in June. As Politico’s Ben Smith noted, “The company’s media outlets play politics more openly than most, but the huge contribution to a party committee is a new step toward an open identification between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and the GOP.”

A look at News Corp’s own “Standards of Business Conduct [Murdoch delinked],” however, raises questions about whether the $1 million contribution to the RGA violations company policy:

B. Dealing With Government Officials

Employees who have dealings with government officials shall conform to the following standards:

1. All employees who contact public officials must be familiar with the applicable lobbying laws and public disclosure requirements, particularly those laws or regulations pertaining to registrations or filings that must be made by the Company.

Full Story: Is Fox the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda? » Politics Plus.

Obama Should Use Executive Power To Create High-wage Jobs, Experts Say

President Obama needn’t wait for Congress to create American jobs at higher wages, but rather could do so by using his own executive power, according to several experts and scholars contributing to a forthcoming special report by a progressive magazine.

Organized by The American Prospect and Demos, a left-leaning policy center, contributors will hold a press call on Monday to discuss specfic actions Obama could take to help struggling American workers and enhance the U.S. economy.

The forthcoming report begins with the premise that the American middle-class, anchored in good jobs, has been squeezed for 30 years. The current financial crisis has only worsened this trend. There are numerous challenges to pushing a “good jobs” agenda, including a weakened labor movement, the lack of an industrial or trade policy that addresses employment, the absence of a serious labor market policy, and government’s failure, even in a deep recession, to focus on creating living-wage jobs, the contributors to the report believe.

Full Story: On The Hill: Obama Should Use Executive Power To Create High-wage Jobs, Experts Say.

Do-it-yourself solar power for your home

Imagine outfitting your house with small, affordable solar panels that plug into a socket and pump power into your electrical system instead of taking it out.

That’s the promise of a Seattle, Washington-based start-up that is working to provide renewable energy options — solar panels and wind turbines — for homes and small businesses. The panels cost as little as $600 and plug directly into a power outlet.

The company, Clarian Power, aims to be the first to bring a plug-in solar power system to the market, in 2011.

Clarian’s president, Chad Maglaque, says the company’s product is different from existing micro-inverters, which convert solar panels’ power into AC current. Maglaque says his system has built-in circuit protection, doesn’t require a dedicated electrical panel and plugs directly into a standard electrical outlet.

Full Story: Do-it-yourself solar power for your home – CNN.com.

Rand Paul’s Answer To Kentucky’s Drug Epidemic: Help ‘Rich People’

Last week, Kentucky Senate candidate and Tea Party darling Rand Paul (R) told the AP of his desire to cut federal funding for undercover drug investigations and drug treatment programs that are “badly needed” in his state. While recognizing drugs as a “scourge,” Paul didn’t think Kentucky’s high-profile drug problem was “a real pressing issue.” His Democratic opponent and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway blasted Paul for being widely “out of touch with drug abuse woes” in the state, warning that “his policies would actually hurt the people of of Kentucky.” The AP suggested that he may lose votes over his stance.

In the face of the uproar, Paul is walking back his dismissal of the problem. In a local WYMT-TV interview yesterday, Paul insisted that, as “a physician and a father,” he is “very concerned” and thinks “we need to everything we can to stop drugs.” But, as the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent notes, “it’s unclear whether his clarification will help much.” Because Paul, in feeling that the government solution is “still failing,” went on to offer his own answer to drug problem – help rich people:

“I personally think we’ve been trying the government solution, and maybe there are some good aspects to it. But we’re still failing, and we’re not getting rid of the drug problem,” Paul said.

Full Story: Think Progress » Rand Paul’s Answer To Kentucky’s Drug Epidemic: Help ‘Rich People’.

‘Shadow RNC’ Unveils Obstructionist GOP Agenda Proposal: ‘Stop,’ ‘End,’ And ‘Block’ Progressive Policy

Republicans often bristle at being called the “party of no,” yet they have thus far failed to articulate a clear positive agenda with new ideas about how to govern. Earlier this year, former Bush advisor Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie helped form American Crossroads as part of proliferation of new conservative advocacy groups that were quickly dubbed the “Shadow RNC,” and were designed, in part, to help generate these new ideas.

But today, Crossroads GPS, the advocacy arm of American Crossroads, will release a proposed platform on which Republicans should run in November that is based almost entirely on obstruction. As the conservative Daily Caller notes, “instead of things they think the GOP should do, the agenda…is made up mostly of things they think Republicans should oppose or eliminate.” Indeed, Crossroads GPS is even calling the platform an “emergency intervention to stop” President Obama’s policies:

The program calls on the GOP to “stop” the Bush tax hikes from expiring at the end of the year, to “end” stimulus projects deemed to be “wasteful,” to “call a ‘timeout’” on Obama’s health care bill, to enact a “moratorium” on “government handouts to banks, automakers, labor unions and other politically-connected interests,” to “block” any bill putting a price on carbon emissions, and to “stop stalling” on securing the border.

Full Story: Think Progress » ‘Shadow RNC’ Unveils Obstructionist GOP Agenda Proposal: ‘Stop,’ ‘End,’ And ‘Block’ Progressive Policy.

19 of the 22 states suing government over ObamaCare accept grant money from health care law.

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that 45 states and the District of Columbia “will receive $1 million in grant funds to help improve the review of proposed health insurance premium increases, take action against insurers seeking unreasonable rate hikes, and ensure consumers receive value for their premium dollars.” The $46 million are part of the $250 million in rate review grant dollars authorized by the new health care law. Indeed, interest is so high that states that oppose the health law applied for grants. As the Wonk Room points out, 19 of the 22 states that are suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the health care law will receive $1 million each to improve their rate review capabilities. Below is a sampling:

Full Story: Think Progress » 19 of the 22 states suing government over ObamaCare accept grant money from health care law..

Republicans Are Poised to Trash Conservative Principles, As Usual, to Stop the NY Muslim Center

Remember how the Republican Party abandoned its principles during the Bush years — the hundreds of billions they borrowed from communist China to pay for government programs and war supplementals, because, as Dick Cheney said, “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter”; remember their disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq, followed by their 180-degree flip-flop in 2003 on their firm opposition to nation building in 2000; their corrupt and incompetent fiscal mismanagement; their passing a law in March 2005 to force the federal government to intervene in the Terri Schiavo end-of-life case, a bill Bush rushed back to Washington from his Easter vacation to sign; the legal shenanigans deployed by top GOP officials, including, among many others, Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales as well as George Bush and Dick Cheney in order to avoid responsibility for their own malfeasance and ineptitude; and on and on?

Now, even though they’re not yet back in power, Republicans are already tossing conservative principles overboard. In an effort to pander to their tea-bagger base, they are in a full-court press to force the government to intervene in the construction of the Park 51 Islamic center near New York City Hall, also known as the (not at) Ground Zero (not a) mosque.

But don’t take my word for it — I’m the sort of partisan progressive-liberal Democrat that makes Glenn Beck cry like a little baby. Here is a conservative, Josh Barro, writing for the National Review’s website, a gold-plated bastion of right wing propaganda and spin, calling out his conservative brothers and sisters on their willingness to shove principles aside to stop the dang mosque:

Full Story: Pensito Review » Republicans Are Poised to Trash Conservative Principles, As Usual, to Stop the NY Muslim Center.

Scientists: Indications of oil on gulf floor

A scientific expedition has found indications that there is oil in the sediments at the bottom of a deep underwater canyon, raising new questions about the lingering impact of BP’s spill on the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at the University of South Florida reported Tuesday that they had found “what appears to be oil” in the sediments of the DeSoto Canyon.

The canyon is a cut through the raised continental shelf off Florida’s Gulf Coast, between 2,600 and 3,200 feet deep.

In a news release, the university said that further tests were needed to determine if what the crew’s instruments found was, in fact, oil — and if that oil came from BP’s runaway Macondo well. The tests they have used so far, which involve UV light, can return similar results from oil, other minerals, and even living plankton.

Full Story: Post Carbon: Scientists: Indications of oil on gulf floor – David A. Fahrenthold.

‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Imam Helped FBI With Counterterrorism Efforts

In March 2003, federal officials were being criticized for disrespecting the rights of Arab-Americans in their efforts to crack down on domestic security threats in the post-9/11 environment. Hoping to calm the growing tempers, FBI officials in New York hosted a forum on ways to deal with Muslim and Arab-Americans without exacerbating social tensions. The bureau wanted to provide agents with “a clear picture,” said Kevin Donovan, director of the FBI’s New York office.

Brought in to speak that morning — at the office building located just blocks from Ground Zero — was one of the city’s most respected Muslim voices: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. The imam offered what was for him a familiar sermon to those in attendance. “Islamic extremism for the majority of Muslims is an oxymoron,” he said. “It is a fundamental contradiction in terms.”

It was, by contemporaneous news accounts, a successful lecture.

Flash forward six-and-a-half years, and Feisal Abdul Rauf occupies a far different place in the political consciousness. The imam behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic cultural center near those same FBI offices has been called “a radical Muslim,” a “militant Islamist” and, simply, the “enemy” by conservative critics. His Cordoba House project, meanwhile, has been framed as a conduit for Hamas to funnel money to domestic terrorist operations.

Full Story: ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Imam Helped FBI With Counterterrorism Efforts.

David Stockman and the GOP Welfare State

Mat Taibbi:

I’m a little late in taking notice of this hilarious and extraordinary piece of punditry, but it strikes me that not enough attention has been paid to the recent self-crucifying New York Times editorial written by Ronald Reagan’s former budget chief and economic Svengali, the notorious Richie Rich weasel David Stockman.

Stockman, if you remember, was the perfect Picture of Dorian Gray Republican counter-persona hiding behind the broad-shouldered, muscular cowboy image Reagan projected when he was lecturing the world about how poor people had to give up the welfare tit and do their own damn work. The self-reliant tough-guy act was the public face of Republican economics, but laboring quietly behind the facade was Stockman, a rail-thin bean-counting geek with giant glasses who preached the supply-side lunacy of giving the rich a helping hand in the ostensible hope that wealth would magically trickle downhill.

Stockman was once the arch-priest of supply-side economics, but he’s had a conversion over the years. In a piece blasting the legacy of Republican economic policy entitled “The Four Deformations of the Apocalypse” Stockman essentially argues that Reaganomics evolved into a policy that fused the worst aspects of the traditional economic strategies of both the right and the left:

Full Story: David Stockman and the GOP Welfare State — RollingStone.com.

BP Is Telling Fishermen Not To Report Tar Balls

While officials claim most of the oil from America’s worst-ever spill has disappeared, fishermen hired by BP are still finding tar balls—and being instructed to hide their discoveries.

Two weeks ago, as federal officials prepared to declare that some three-quarters of the estimated 5 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf over three months had disappeared, Mark Williams, a fishing boat captain hired by BP to help with the spill cleanup, encountered tar balls as large as three inches wide floating off the Florida coast.

Reporting his findings to his supervisor, a private consulting company hired by BP, the reply, according to his logbook came back: “Told—no reporting of oil or tar balls anymore. Don’t put on report. We’re here for boom removal only,” referring to the miles of yellow and orange containment barriers placed throughout the Gulf.

Full Story: BP Is Telling Fishermen Not To Report Tar Balls.

NRDC and Gulf Groups Call on Federal Agencies to Improve Seafood Safety Testing Post Oil Spill

NRDC and Gulf Groups Call on Federal Agencies to Improve Seafood Safety Testing Post Oil Spill

Groups Concerned that FDA and NOAA Safety Protocols Lack Transparency and Could Be Strengthened to Ensure Long-Term Public Health

WASHINGTON – August 17 – Today the Natural Resources Defense Council and almost two dozen Gulf Coast groups called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to strengthen the current protocols and data relied on to determine whether seafood is safe for consumption and when to re-open areas for fishing. The groups claim that over the long term, if current procedures are not improved, they may not protect communities most vulnerable to contaminated seafood. The groups specifically request that all sampling protocols and data be made publicly available online to increase transparency and improve public confidence in the monitoring program.

“With the opening of shrimping season and near-daily re-opening of fishing areas, seafood safety is a major issue right now,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, a senior scientist with the NRDC. “The government needs to show it is putting strong safety criteria and testing standards in place to ensure that the seafood from the Gulf will be safe to eat in the months and years to come.”

Full Story: NRDC and Gulf Groups Call on Federal Agencies to Improve Seafood Safety Testing Post Oil Spill | CommonDreams.org.

85% of new drugs ‘offer few benefits’

Drug companies were accused today of conning the public by hyping up patented medicines with little new to offer while downplaying their side-effects.

An estimated 85% of new drugs offer few if any new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse, a study has concluded.

The author of the research delivered a damning attack on “Big Pharma” at a meeting of sociology experts in the US.

Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a “market for lemons” – one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact.

Full Story: 85% of new drugs ‘offer few benefits’ – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent.

L-Visa Programs Brimming with Abuses

Millions of Americans are today unemployed because the free market is not working for them. Millions of Americans have lost their homes because the free market did not work for them or for the banks. Before the health care bill passed last January millions could not get health care because the free market worked for them when they were healthy but often did not work at all when they needed care.

The L-1 visa program allows companies to transfer (from within the company) foreign employees to the U.S. who are either management/executives or have specialized knowledge of the company. The L-1 visa program was first initialized in 1970 by Congress and allows ample opportunities for abuse.

Combine this with the growing popularity of outsourcing and you arrive at the inevitable result: the number of L-1 visa transfers has shifted from 75,000 in 1992 to an average of just under 360,000 per year in 2007-2009, according to figures from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The L-1 temporary visa, which allows foreign employees to work in the U.S. for five or seven years, is available to those who were employed outside the United States at an American subsidiary for at least one year out of the three years prior to an application. Despite the fact that the L-1 visa is technically a temporary visa, L-1 visa holders do not need to maintain a legal intent to return to their former country of residence. Abandoning any intention of returning, a “nonimmigrant” can easily petition for permanent resident status, making something of a mockery of the idea of the “temporary worker.”

Full Story: L-Visa Programs Brimming with Abuses | Economy In Crisis.

The Myth of the Free Market

Millions of Americans are today unemployed because the free market is not working for them. Millions of Americans have lost their homes because the free market did not work for them or for the banks. Before the health care bill passed last January millions could not get health care because the free market worked for them when they were healthy but often did not work at all when they needed care.

The free market sent jobs to China and Mexico, India and Taiwan. The free market encouraged subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations that were collages of numbers that the market itself did not understand. The free market encouraged insurance companies to compete for ways not to pay for health care rather than to encourage ways to provide health care.

During the years of the Bush administration’s free market advocacy, Bear Stearns collapsed, Merrill Lynch failed, and Lehman Brothers collapsed. The free market enabled Goldman Sachs to act as if it believed in securities that it sold to others while at the same time betting with its own money that these securities would fail. To knowingly induce buyers with misinformation is intentional fraud, but the free market did not and has not ever protected against intentional fraud.

Full Story: The Myth of the Free Market | CommonDreams.org.

Mankind is using up global resources faster than ever

The growing world population and increasing consumption has pushed the world into ‘eco-debt’ a month earlier this year, according to the latest statistics on global resources.

Full Story: Mankind is using up global resources faster than ever – Telegraph.

The Public Pension Outrage and Alan Greenspan’s Pension

In recent weeks, there has been a serious effort by the conservatives and even many centrists to whip up anger at public sector workers over their pensions. The basic story is that public sector workers get better pensions on average than their private sector counterparts. At the same time, most state and local pension funds have large shortfalls, implying that additional government revenue will be needed to keep them solvent.

This is supposed to make people really angry at public sector workers. The right-wing noise factory has been whipping up the hostility at public employees, sensing that they may have another ACORN on their hands. A New York Times columnist even called on retired public employees to give back pensions for which they worked and have solid legal claims.

We should recognize the attack on public sector workers for what it is: a sleazy case of scapegoating that it is intended to divert people’s attention from the real villains in this economy, the Wall Street boys and the inept economic policymakers who took the economy to ruin and seem intent on leaving it there.

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | The Public Pension Outrage and Alan Greenspan’s Pension.

Ga. scientists: Gulf oil not gone, 80 pct remains

Georgia scientists say their analysis shows that most of that BP oil the government said was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is still there.

The scientists say as much as 80 percent of the oil still lurks under the surface. The Georgia team said it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved is actually gone. The report from University of Georgia and other scientists came from an analysis of federal estimates.

Earlier this month federal scientists said that only about a quarter of the oil remained and the rest was either removed, dissolved or dispersed.

Full Story: Ga. scientists: Gulf oil not gone, 80 pct remains – Yahoo! News.

Judge rejects Citigroup’s settlement with SEC

A federal judge refused Monday to accept a $75 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup, marking the second time this year that a judge has questioned whether the agency had exacted the proper sanction from a major bank.

During a hearing on the settlement, Judge Ellen S. Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised questions about the SEC’s investigation into Citigroup and how it decided on the size of the penalty and on the individual executives who also face sanctions, according to lawyers who were present. She asked why company shareholders must ultimately bear the price of the sanction, and why the agency charged only two executives with wrongdoing when more senior executives were involved.

Huvelle demanded additional information from the SEC and Citigroup, ordering the parties to file briefs and scheduling a hearing for late September. Through spokesmen, the SEC and Citigroup said they would provide the judge with all the requested information.

Full Story: Judge rejects Citigroup’s settlement with SEC.

The Hidden Health Benefits of Alcohol?

As someone who will turn 65 in less than six months, I noted with interest the New York Times article that summarized a new government report on drinking and the elderly.

Before doing that, I should note that the 2010 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans is saying some radical things about alcohol. That is, the expert report by the committee for the alcohol section of the guidelines declared that:

Strong evidence consistently demonstrates that compared to nondrinkers, individuals who drink moderately have lower risk of coronary heart disease…

Full Story: Stanton Peele: The Hidden Health Benefits of Alcohol?.

Why The GOP’s New Culture War Issues May Burn Them

Howard Fineman:

Immigration, Ethics, and Islam

The GOP’s shortsighted immigration play.

Full Story: Fineman: Immigration, Ethics, and Islam – Newsweek.

Birther Queen Orly Taitz Smacked Down By Supreme Court On ‘Frivolous’ Litigation Fine

The Supreme Court has upheld a $20,000 fine against a leader of the movement challenging President Barack Obama’s citizenship.

The high court on Monday refused to block a federal judge’s October 2009 ruling that required California lawyer and dentist Orly Taitz to pay the $20,000 fine for filing a “frivolous” litigation. The judge said Taitz attempted to misuse the federal courts to push a political agenda.

Taitz sued in Georgia federal court on behalf of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes. Rhodes sought to avoid deployment to Iraq by claiming Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

Full Story: Birther Queen Orly Taitz Smacked Down By Supreme Court On ‘Frivolous’ Litigation Fine.

AP-GfK polls show Obama losing independents | Raw Story

AP-GfK polls show a bad economy is turning independents against Obama and other Democrats.

Independents who embraced President Barack Obama’s call for change in 2008 are ready for a shift again, and that’s worrisome news for Democrats.

Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this November’s elections, according to combined results of recent Associated Press-GfK polls. That’s way down from the 52 percent of independents who backed Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain two years ago, and the 49 percent to 41 percent edge by which they preferred Democratic candidates for the House in that election, according to exit polls of voters.

Independents voice especially strong concerns about the economy, with 9 in 10 calling it a top problem and no other issue coming close, the analysis of the AP-GfK polls shows. While Democrats and Republicans rank the economy the No. 1 problem in similar numbers, they are nearly as worried about their No. 2 issues, health care for Democrats and terrorism for Republicans.

Full Story: AP-GfK polls show Obama losing independents | Raw Story.

OPS: probably because he’s been acting like a Republican, and no one who voted for him voted for that

At&t claims net neutrality is oppressive

US TELECOM AT&T has come out in support of Google’s contention that wireless communications are different than wireline Internet services.

Last week Google and Verizon agreed on a deal that left wireless communications free to be carved up by telecoms operators and tiered for commercial exploitation. Given Google’s stance as a supporter of net neutrality, it has faced widespread criticism and even had 100 or so demonstrators outside its doors claiming that it had sold out.

Google defended its deal with Verizon by saying that its users simply misunderstood technology and that wireless was somehow different from wired technology. It comes as no big surprise that AT&T has also adopted this patronising position to concur with Google and Verizon, its largest competitor.

Full Story: At&t claims net neutrality is oppressive – The Inquirer.

Scarborough: ‘Screw’ GOP if I’m booted for defending mosque | Raw Story

White House claims politics played no role in Obama’s mosque remarks

At least two prominent Republicans are going against the bulk of their party to say that Muslims have every right to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

Monday morning, conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough found himself agreeing with former Bush advisor Mark McKinnon that Muslims have a right to build the controversial mosque.

Full Story: Scarborough: ‘Screw’ GOP if I’m booted for defending mosque | Raw Story.

Chinese meditation technique shown to elevate brain function | Raw Story

A Chinese-influenced meditation technique appears to help the brain regulate behavior after as little as 11 hours of practice, according to a study released Monday.

Researchers at the University of Oregon and Dalian University of Technology charted the effects of integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a technique adapted in the 1990s from traditional Chinese medicine and practiced by thousands in China.

The research to be published in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 45 test subjects, about half of whom received IBMT, while a control group received relaxation training.

Full Story: Chinese meditation technique shown to elevate brain function | Raw Story.

Former Bush Adviser Mark McKinnon Rips GOP’s Stance On Mosque: ‘We’re Reinforcing Al Qaeda’s Message’

On Morning Joe earlier today, a pair of leading Republicans — host Joe Scarborough and former Bush strategist Mark McKinnon — blasted the GOP for its xenophobic and unconstitutional stance against American Muslims’ right to build a new Islamic center in lower Manhattan.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has claimed that the new Islamic center project “would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.” Referencing that quote, Scarborough expressed angry disdain at Gingrich’s intolerance. “I don’t know where to begin,” Scarborough said. “To suggest that someone trying to build a tolerance center for moderate Muslims in New York is the equivalent of killing six million Jews is stunning to me.”

McKinnon then chimed in, arguing that the debate surrounding the Cordoba House project is contrary to his party’s principles. “We may get our membership [by the GOP] revoked,” McKinnon joked. “Screw ‘em,” Scarborough responded. McKinnon then said that the GOP’s stance is “reinforcing al Qaeda’s message”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Former Bush Adviser Mark McKinnon Rips GOP’s Stance On Mosque: ‘We’re Reinforcing Al Qaeda’s Message’.

Cato’s Pat Michaels admits 40 percent of funding comes from big oil.

In a telling exchange with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria yesterday, long-time polluter apologist Pat Michaels admitted that “40 percent” of his funding comes from the oil industry. Michaels, introduced as “a scientist who now works for the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank that strongly opposes caps to carbon dioxide,” has promoted global warming denial for decades, funded by a network of oil and coal companies and their ideological allies. Michaels initially denied that he is funded by the petroleum industry, but backtracked under steady interrogation by Zakaria:

ZAKARIA: Let me ask you what people wonder about, advocates like you. They say —

MICHAELS: I’m advocating for efficiency.

ZAKARIA: Right. But people say that you’re advocating also for the current petroleum-based industry to stand pat, to stay as it is, and that a lot of your research is funded by these industries.

MICHAELS: Oh, no, no. First of all, what I’m saying is —

ZAKARIA: Well, is your research funded by these industries?

MICHAELS: Not largely. The fact of the matter is —

ZAKARIA: Can I ask you what percentage of your work is funded by the petroleum industry?

MICHAELS: I don’t know. 40 percent? I don’t know.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Cato’s Pat Michaels admits 40 percent of funding comes from big oil..

Conservative Base Erupts At Tancredo For Jeopardizing GOP Chances With His Third-Party Candidacy

Last week, businessman and tea party hero Dan Maes defeated former congressman Scott McInnis to secure the GOP nomination for governor in Colorado. Both candidates stumbled to the primary under the weight of scandal. Maes’ razor-thin victory finally offered the GOP a chance to unite behind the GOP nominee against Denver Mayor and Democratic nominee John Hickenlooper.

However, during his victory celebration, Maes pointed out the “800-pound gorilla in the room” preventing conservative unity: former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Tancredo, who is now running a third-party candidacy under the umbrella of the American Constitution Party, abandoned the GOP in July after both McInnis and Maes failed to heed his demand that they drop out of the race. Deeming them “unelectable,” Tancredo believes he has “a better resume” as a committed conservative.

But his application is not faring well with the conservative base. On the same day he announced his candidacy, Colorado Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams and 21 state Tea Party leaders lambasted Tancredo for jeopardizing a conservative victory. And this Saturday, a defiant Tancredo was met by “a somewhat hostile crowd” at a Vail Valley 9.12 Project event in Colorado. The group of “constitutional conservatives” slammed Tancredo for pursuing the type of candidacy that he once said “guarantee[s] the re-election of liberals”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Conservative Base Erupts At Tancredo For Jeopardizing GOP Chances With His Third-Party Candidacy.

REPORT: Partisan Spending On Judicial Elections Soars

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that a West Virginia State Supreme Court judge should have recused himself from a case involving Massey Energy because of an “extreme” conflict of interest. Massey CEO Don Blankenship had spent $3 million to get the judge elected, even running ads accusing the lawyer’s opponent of voting to free an incarcerated child rapist and of allowing that rapist to work in a public school.

An exhaustive study released today, however, shows that big-money influence in judicial elections is hardly limited to that case. A trio of nonpartisan policy groups — the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the National Institute of Money in State Politics — found that spending on state Supreme Court races has more than doubled in the past 10 years. From 2000 through 2009, $207 million dollars were spent on judicial races, with much of the money coming from partisan special interest groups. Among the study’s findings:

–Special interest groups and party organizations accounted for 52 percent of all national TV spending in 2009 — “the first time that noncandidate groups outspent the candidates on the ballot.”

Full Story: Think Progress » REPORT: Partisan Spending On Judicial Elections Soars.

The New War of the Christian Crusaders

Know-Nothings of 2010

By DAVID ROSEN

The building of a Muslim community center in an abandoned building two blocks from the site of New York’s former World Trade Center has become the latest controversy in America’s long fought religious wars. The construction of the center, often referred to as a mosque, has become the latest rallying issue for the Christian right, Tea Party proponents and Republican operatives in their war to impose moralistic and corporatist values on America.

It is too early to know how the Muslim center issue will be resolved, but it is clear that the rantings of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Abe Foxman (of the Anti-Defamation League) and others have played an important role pushing a local issue into the center-stage of national politics. Since the horrendous attacks of 9/11, Muslims in general and American Muslims in particular have been the targets of an undeclared religious war promoted by Christian fundamentalists and self-serving Republicans. For some among these religious zealots, Islam is a threat to their belief that the U.S. is a white Protestant nation. Over the last four centuries, Quakers, Mormons, Catholics, Jews and many others have been targets of religious persecution, often the victims of imprisonments, hangings, lynchings and other acts of violence.

Rightwing ranters might well not know the history of religious intolerance in America, but they are surely aware that they are fueling a deep-seated rage among a certain scary segment of the Christian populous. This round in the ongoing religious culture wars has yet to explode into the ugly violence that took place in the aftermath of 9/11, and one can only hope that the current controversy will not lead to attacks on Muslims.

Full Story: David Rosen: Know-Nothings of 2010.

‘Patriot’ Paranoia: A Look at the Top Ten Conspiracy Theories

Southern Poverty Law Center:

Conspiracy theorizing has flourished as a virtual art form in all nations and across all political persuasions. But the American radical right has to be considered a strong contender for the title of modern conspiracy champion. A vast body of academic literature exists exploring this history, of which Richard Hofstadter’s 1964 essay, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” is the most famous. Hundreds of books and articles have chronicled the rise (and fall) of an unceasing march of disparate conspiracy-based movements that, at different points in American history, have trembled before and warned against imaginary threats posed by Catholics, Mormons, Jews, American Communists, Freemasons, bankers, and U.S. government officials and agencies.

Scholars continue to debate the psychological and sociological origins of conspiracy theories, but there is no arguing that these theories have seen a revival on the extreme right in recent years. Over the last two decades, a far-right conspiracy culture of self-proclaimed “Patriots” has emerged in which the United States government itself is viewed as a mortal threat to everything from constitutional democracy to the survival of the human race. This conspiracy revival — which has been accompanied by the explosive growth of Patriot groups over the last year and a half — kicked into overdrive with the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, who is seen by Patriots as a foreign-born Manchurian candidate sent by forces of the so-called “New World Order” to destroy American sovereignty and institute one-world socialist government.

Since Obama’s election, the constituent theories within the overarching narrative of the New World Order have increasingly made inroads into the mainstream national discourse. Thanks to conservative cable news hosts like Glenn Beck (of Fox News) and Lou Dobbs (formerly of CNN), conspiratorial rants about FEMA concentration camps and the “North American Union” have been beamed directly into the living rooms of millions of Americans. Websites popular with Tea Party conservatives, meanwhile, have further stoked fears of a socialistic one-world government takeover by “un-American” forces. Joseph Farah’s WorldNetDaily.com, for example, has grown its influence by peddling paranoia about the president’s birth certificate and AmeriCorps’ “domestic armies.” Earlier this year, the John Birch Society, a group with a long history of hatching and promoting wild conspiracy theories (including the idea that President Eisenhower was a communist agent), co-sponsored the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual powwow of leading conservatives and Republican Party figures. Speakers at this year’s conference included such mainstream names as Washington Post columnist George Will, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Full Story: ‘Patriot’ Paranoia: A Look at the Top Ten Conspiracy Theories | Southern Poverty Law Center.

Bed Bug Infestation Is Scaring Millions Of Americans

Outbreaks of bed bugs, soaring in the most unexpected places — like CNN’s headquarters — stoke some of our deepest fears.

Peter Krask stepped out of his New York City apartment one day last year, shut the door, and walked away forever, leaving behind almost everything he owned.

He carried away only a few items of clothing, personal records, and his computer.

Krask’s apartment was infested with bedbugs. Savoring warmth, they swarmed in his DSL port, light fixtures, carpets and furniture. They’d feasted on him nightly for a year — which he spent visiting doctors in an increasing state of panic over the rashes inflaming his buttocks and other body parts before finally ascertaining the cause.

It was Cimex lectularius, the flat, cockroach-colored, lentil-sized pest whose favorite food is not just warm blood but human blood. Bedbugs are back, bigtime. According to a National Pest Management Association study, outbreaks have soared 81 percent nationwide since 2000. Their sudden resurgence in all fifty states of a formerly bedbug-free nation has caught off-guard not just the medical and pest-control industries but millions of ordinary people who now apply costly, time-consuming, potentially toxic and inconclusive strategies for slaughtering insects that inhabit indoor environments both soft and hard and can lie in wait without eating for up to a year. Finding hosts, they feed by night, doubling in size as they suck.

Full Story: Bed Bug Infestation Is Scaring Millions Of Americans | Personal Health | AlterNet.

Top Dem Test Drives 2010 Anti-Bush Message

A top House Democrat fleshed out his party’s argument for the critical 2010 midterm elections that continues to lay the nation’s problems at the feet of former president George W. Bush.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democrats House campaign operation, essentially continued what has been a longstanding Democratic theme, which is while the U.S. economy is not yet robust, it’s in a much better position than it was when Bush left office early last year.

Van Hollen, who also is a top assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, delivered his message Friday in an interview with Candy Crowley, of CNN. Van Hollen appeared on the cable news channel to debate Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who, Van Hollen says, is guilty of a “little bit of revisionist history.”

Full Story: On The Hill: Top Dem Test Drives 2010 Anti-Bush Message.

The Truth About China As #2

Robert Reich:

It’s official. China is now #2. Its economy (measured in nominal GDP for the second quarter) is now bigger than Japan’s (according to numbers released today from the Japanese government). And at the rate it’s growing, China could be the world’s biggest economy in a little more than a decade (Goldman Sachs says by 2027, PricewaterhouseCoopers says by 2020).

Don’t be misled by these numbers. The important thing isn’t China’s ranking, nor the total value of China’s production, nor even the extraordinary speed by which China has reached #2.

What’s most important is the share China’s production received and consumed by the Chinese themselves. The problem is it continues to drop.

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Truth About China As #2).

WikiLeaks prepares to release more Afghan war files

WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said his organisation is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file.

The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organisation’s initial release of some 76,000 war documents.

That extraordinary disclosure, which laid bare classified military documents covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010, has angered US officials, energised critics of the NATO-led campaign, and drawn the attention of the Taleban, which has promised to use the material to track down people it considers traitors.

Full Story: WikiLeaks prepares to release more Afghan war files – Technology – NZ Herald News.

Harvard University fund sells all Israel holdings

No reason for the sale was mentioned in the report to the SEC.

In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University’s endowment.

Harvard Management Company stated in its 13-F Form that it sold 483,590 shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) for $30.5 million; 52,360 shares in NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) for $1.67 million; 102,940 shares in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) for $3.6 million; 32,400 shares in Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) for $1.1 million, and 80,000 Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) shares for $1.8 million.

Full Story: Harvard University fund sells all Israel holdings – Globes.

Attacking Social Security

Paul Krugman:

Social Security turned 75 last week. It should have been a joyous occasion, a time to celebrate a program that has brought dignity and decency to the lives of older Americans.

But the program is under attack, with some Democrats as well as nearly all Republicans joining the assault. Rumor has it that President Obama’s deficit commission may call for deep benefit cuts, in particular a sharp rise in the retirement age.

Social Security’s attackers claim that they’re concerned about the program’s financial future. But their math doesn’t add up, and their hostility isn’t really about dollars and cents. Instead, it’s about ideology and posturing. And underneath it all is ignorance of or indifference to the realities of life for many Americans.

About that math: Legally, Social Security has its own, dedicated funding, via the payroll tax (“FICA” on your pay statement). But it’s also part of the broader federal budget. This dual accounting means that there are two ways Social Security could face financial problems. First, that dedicated funding could prove inadequate, forcing the program either to cut benefits or to turn to Congress for aid. Second, Social Security costs could prove unsupportable for the federal budget as a whole.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Attacking Social Security – NYTimes.com.

France urged to repay Haiti billions paid for its independence | World news | The Guardian

Leading activists write to Nicolas Sarzoky urging president to repay more than €17bn to help earthquake-hit country rebuild

A group of international academics and authors has written to Nicolas Sarkozy calling on France to reimburse the crushing “independence debt” it imposed on Haiti nearly 200 years ago.

The open letter to the French president says the debt, now worth more than €17bn (£14bn), would cover the rebuilding of the country after a devastating earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people seven months ago.

Its signatories – including Noam Chomsky, the American linguist, Naomi Klein, the Canadian author and activist, Cornel West, the African-American author and civil rights activist, and several renowned French philosophers – say that if France repays the money it would be a solution to the shortfall in international donations promised following the earthquake.

Full Story: France urged to repay Haiti billions paid for its independence | World news | The Guardian.

Pentagon Holding U.S. Hostage To Endless Wars

Besides holding Afghanistan and Iraq hostage, the Pentagon today is holding American civilization itself hostage to its imperial designs. That’s because war beggars civilized life and ceaseless war beggars civilization unceasingly.

As the great political commentator Walter Lippman put it during the Viet Nam War, “All the plans of the Great Society here at home, all the plans for the rebuilding of backward countries in other continents will all be put on the shelf, because war interrupts everything.” In the American Warfare State that prevails today most of every tax dollar collected goes to wage war and the Pentagon spends more for war than all 50 states combined spend for peace. No better example exists than the protest of 750 scientists at the National Institutes of Health who said their basic infectious disease research had been subverted by spending on bioterror research. War interrupts everything: rebuilding our cities, public schools and community colleges, water-works and sewerage systems, housing, mass transit, hospitals, new business start-ups, parks and playgrounds,and the funding of the fine arts.

Lippman went on to give advice that nearly every occupant of the White House has since disregarded: “We are not the policeman of mankind. We are not able to run the world, and we shouldn’t pretend that we can. Let us tend to our own business, which is great enough as it is. It is very great. We have neglected our own affairs. Our education is inadequate, our cities are badly built, our social arrangements are unsatisfactory. We can’t wait another generation.”

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: Pentagon Holding U.S. Hostage To Endless Wars.

Demons Cause Influenza, Suggested Peer-Reviewed Medical Journal Paper. But it Gets Worse.

“One final consideration that one might have is whether the illness was inflicted by a demon or devil. The Bible always tells if an illness is caused by a demon or devil… The victims often had what sounded like a convulsion when the demon was cast out. In our index case, demonic influence is not stated, and the woman had no apparent convulsion or residual symptomatology.” — from “Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time” published in Virology Journal on July 21, 2010

Can demon possession cause Influenza ? To even ask the question presupposes a lot – that demons exist, for one thing, that they can infest humans and, obviously, that they can cause disease.

It’s one thing for a peer-reviewed medical journal to publish a paper that makes such claims. But what if leading American politicians could be found praying together with religious leaders who claim homosexuality is caused by demon possession and who practice exorcism ? What if leading politicians are friends with professed witch hunters?

Full Story: Talk To Action | Demons Cause Influenza, Suggested Peer-Reviewed Medical Journal Paper. But it Gets Worse..

Churches trying to get Oil Money

This news article states that some churches are already seeking money from BP because of the oil spill, and others are considering it.

What is interesting is that the Assemblies of God, usually identified as one of the worst of the Dominionist denominations is mentioned (one of their smaller churches is mentioned as having applied for a large sum of money).

They are so adamant about “free markets” and “lowering taxes” and “reducing spending”- yet here they are with their hands out.  Knowing how they pressure their members to give-give-give (give until it HURTS was a common theme when I belonged years ago), I doubt that their profits are so reduced that they can’t stay in business.  I find it ironic and a bit disgusting about how they preach against “big government” and that a few Republicans (long identified as being steeplejacked- see dogemperor and others) have even considered the BP money to be a “shake-down”, yet those churches (the source of the steeplejacking) are demanding money.

I’d almost bet those churches don’t really need that money- and I fear that most of it will go into the pockets of the rich and not help the ordinary people- who need it the most.  I’m even more concerned that as ordinary people loose their livings, they will be put through the punitive wringer waiting for the homeless and very poor (gotta fix those broken poor people, you know- it’s their own fault!).

Full Story: Talk To Action | Churches trying to get Oil Money.

Should British soldiers be dying for the rights of Afghan women? No.

An expert who knows the Pashtuns intimately says we are wasting our time trying to change their society

The case of Bibi Sanubar, the Afghan widow brutally flogged and shot dead by the Taliban for the crime of being pregnant, caused outrage in the wes. Earlier in the month, Time magazine published a truly shocking picture of Aisha, an 18-year-old girl whose nose had been cut off because she had run away from her inlaws. With so much talk recently of political reconciliation with the Taliban leadership, their attitude towards women is fast becoming as urgent and emotive a topic as it was when they first came to power in the mid-1990s.

However nauseating the treatment of Bibi or Aisha, it would be a mistake to let our stomachs rule our heads. However much westerners would like to see change in Afghan society, this was never the reason our military went to Afghanistan – and nor does it justify our staying there now. The US commander in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, is wary of mission creep and sought to clarify this point in November 2009. “Let us not forget why we are in Afghanistan,” he said. “It is to ensure that this country cannot become once again a sanctuary for al-Qaida.” Women’s rights are important, but they have no direct bearing on the threat from al-Qaida.

This does not mean the west should stand by in silence. On the contrary, it is our duty to go on arguing the case for gender equality and to keep Afghans engaged in that old debate. But we have no right to be shrill and it will do no good to dictate. If social change is to come, it must come from within, which, eventually, it will.

Full Story: Should British soldiers be dying for the rights of Afghan women? No. | James Fergusson | Comment is free | The Observer.

Human noise pollution in ocean can lead fish away from good habitats and off to their death

The growing amount of human noise pollution in the ocean could lead fish away from good habitat and off to their death, according to new research from a UK-led team working on the Great Barrier Reef.

After developing for weeks at sea, baby tropical fish rely on natural noises to find the coral reefs where they can survive and thrive. However, the researchers found that short exposure to artificial noise makes fish become attracted to inappropriate sounds.

In earlier research, Dr Steve Simpson, Senior Researcher in the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences discovered that baby reef fish use sounds made by fish, shrimps and sea urchins as a cue to find coral reefs. With human noise pollution from ships, wind farms and oil prospecting on the increase, he is now concerned that this crucial behaviour is coming under threat.

He said: “When only a few weeks old, baby reef fish face a monumental challenge in locating and choosing suitable habitat. Reef noise gives them vital information, but if they can learn, remember and become attracted towards the wrong sounds, we might be leading them in all the wrong directions.”

Full Story: Human noise pollution in ocean can lead fish away from good habitats and off to their death.

Countdown to Financial Collapse: The Economic Recovery is Not Recovering

by Danny Schechter:

Financial journalist Charles Gasparino whose career trajectory took him from Newsweek to CNBC to Fox News was on with Bill O’ Reilly doing what the host of the factless Factor likes to do the most: promote Fox News. In the course of their self-promotional banter, Gasparino let sip an unverifiable story about a meeting of top CEOs speculating about whether President Obama really is a secret Socialist.

Stories like this, invented or not, freak a White House ever eager to reassure the business world of their loyalties. That is no doubt why Robert Gibbs, the President’s Press Secretary took a whack at the “professional left,” a statement he later said had been “inartful” but did not withdraw.

Writing on OpEd News, Kevin Gosztola was not surprised:

“While circumstantial, the best evidence for why Gibbs would feel like uttering the aforementioned remarks is the shift of money from Wall Street to Republicans ahead of the election… The Democrats earned 57 percent of campaign contributions from securities and investment industries.

The situation compels the Obama Administration, especially White House press secretary Gibbs, to whip the left and the sections that are most listened to by voters into line not only because money from business interests needs to swing back the other way but because disappointed and disillusioned voters will likely stay home, not donate to Democratic Party campaigns, not make phone calls, and refuse to go door-to-door canvassing prior to Election Day if they do not fall in line.”

According to a preliminary analysis, the Center for Responsive Politics reports that “individuals and political action committees linked to the financial and real estate sectors swung hard to the Republicans with their giving since last year….

Full Story: Countdown to Financial Collapse: The Economic Recovery is Not Recovering.

The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee

click to buy now

A simple sit-in at an administration building becomes the catalyst for a surreal, Kafkaesque, hellish fifteen years for Dr. Stuart Jeanne Bramhall in her compelling new book “The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.” Dr. Bramhall, a practicing Seattle-based psychiatrist tells in chilling detail how attending a seemingly innocent meeting to protest racial abuse at a local school triggers a covert government plot to destroy the cause and her life.

Dr. Bramhall’s work confirms the myth of the “Vast right wing conspiracy” that was dismissed by the mainstream media when it was coined by then first Lady Hillary Clinton. It is a country where no person or secret is safe. People who you trust are not to be trusted. Harassment, violence and murder are tools used to subvert the Progressive agenda and the people who advocate it.

Lest you think “The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee” is just tell the story of one woman’s struggle to fight the system, it is much more than that. Dr. Bramhall’s amazing tale also involves the Kennedy assassination, the government’s “War” on AIDS, the plot against single player healthcare, suppression of African Americans and much more. Paranoia is real. Schizophrenia is not just a mental disorder, it’ a weapon.

A psychological thriller of the first order, “The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee” is also a cautionary tale. CIA and FBI operatives are indeed among us. Opposing the agenda of Corporate America is not tolerated. Those that try fight the good fight, but the establishment will stop at nothing to stay in power. Dr. Bramhall’s harrowing tale is testament to that

Review by: Stuart Kreisman

The Jobs Crisis: What Hit Us?

Bob Burnett:

The US is stuck in an economic quagmire featuring near ten percent unemployment. As politicians argue about the solution — massive tax cuts or increases in Federal spending — what’s missing is a succinct analysis of the problem. Why has America lost 8 million jobs?

The roots of the jobs crisis stretch back to the Ronald Reagan presidency when conservative economic ideology began to dominate American political discourse. At the forefront of this philosophy were three malignant notions: helping the rich get richer will inevitably help everyone else, “a rising tide lifts all boats;” markets are inherently self correcting and therefore there’s no need for government regulation; and the US does not need an economic strategy because that’s a natural consequence of the free market.

What followed was a thirty-year period where America’s working families were abandoned in favor of the rich. Inequality rose as middle class income and wealth declined. As corporate power increased, unions were systematically undermined. As CEO salaries soared, fewer families earned living wages.

Full Story: Bob Burnett: The Jobs Crisis: What Hit Us?.

A Tale Of Two Expenses

Paul Krugman :

Social Security outlays are projected to rise from 4.8 percent of GDP now to 6 percent of GDP in 20303 2030 (yes, Doris put her paw on the Fcat button). This is a huge crisis, requiring complete overhaul of the system.

Defense spending rose from 3 percent of GDP in 2001 to 4.2 percent last year; you should also add a couple of tenths of a percentage point for non-defense security spending. This was no big deal — certainly not a reason to reconsider the tax cuts sold back in 2001 as easily affordable given large projected budget surpluses.

Just saying.

Full Story: A Tale Of Two Expenses – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com.

Jobless millions signal death of the American dream for many

Even the criminals have fallen on hard times in America’s poorest city as the long-term unemployed struggle to keep a grasp on normality

Richard Gaines is one of the best-known faces on Camden’s Haddon Avenue. It is a rough-and-tumble street, lined with cheap businesses and boarded-up houses, and is prey to drug gangs. Gaines, 50, runs a barbershop, a hair salon and a fitness business. He works hard and is committed to his community. But Haddon Avenue is not an easy place to make a living in the best of times. And these are far from the best of times.

Just how badly the great recession has struck this fragile New Jersey city, which is currently the poorest in America, was recently spelled out to Gaines. In happier times – whatever that might mean for a city as destitute as Camden – local businesses on Haddon Avenue could at least rely on a bit of trade from those who made their money on the street.

Young men bought flashy clothes and got sharp haircuts and always paid in cash. But no longer. The economy is now so bad in Camden that even the criminals are struggling and going short. “Even the guys who got money from illegal means really don’t want to spend it,” Gaines said.

Full Story: Jobless millions signal death of the American dream for many | World news | The Observer.

Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield

Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, where U.S. and other foreign forces are trying to tame a Taliban-led insurgency.

The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.

“I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated,” he told Reuters.

Full Story: Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield | World | Reuters.

OPS: Don’t you wonder how long ago this was actually identified?  The timing of this ‘news’ is interesting.  Now we will never leave.

Report: Doctors not asked about Lockerbie bomber’s release

‘I was surprised when I heard he was being released,’ doctor tells newspaper

Four doctors who treated the Lockerbie bomber for cancer were not consulted over his release from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, according to a report.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was freed in August 2009 because Scottish officials said he was believed to have only three months to live.

However, ahead of the first anniversary of the Libyan’s release Friday, The Sunday Times newspaper in the U.K. said that none of the four cancer specialists had been asked about his release.

They were cited in a report on Megrahi’s case by Andrew Fraser, the Scottish Prison Service’s director of health and care, but their names were blacked out.

Full Story: Report: Doctors not asked about Lockerbie bomber’s release – World news – Europe – msnbc.com.

OPS: BP owns England just as EXXON owns the US

UNEMPLOYED 99ERS TAKE ACTION PUT AN END THE THE SHAME struggling Americans

While American families are using unemployment benefits to make ends meet while searching for work, Republicans in the Senate are filibustering a bill that would extend these benefits We can’t take unemployment benefits away from struggling Americans We have not seen the jobless rate so high since the 1930s. When so many Americans are in need, why would we pull unemployment benefits out from underneath them

Full Story: YouTube – UNEMPLOYED 99ERS TAKE ACTION PUT AN END THE THE SHAME struggling Americans.

The U S War Addiction

Mike Papantonio – Ring of Fire

“Fundamentalist Christians Are No Better Than Fundamentalist Muslims”

11 August, 2010 MSNBC

How Our Decider-in-Chief Decides: Decisionmaking and the Obama Presidency

John Dean:

Nothing is more important in the American presidency than decision-making. It is, in fact, the very essence of the job. Presidential decisions can and do shape our history, for better or worse. Rarely, though, does the decision-making style of presidential candidates receive much attention during a campaign. One exception was the 2008 presidential race, where it was very much an issue. Now that President Obama has been in office for some eighteen months, it is appropriate to take a look at his decision-making skills.

Over time, a president’s supporters and detractors will inevitably have reason to disagree with some of the decisions he makes. But I believe that it is the way a president makes major decisions that is of importance. Not even a president’s top staff will agree with all his actions. But a president’s ability to engage in intelligent decision-making to deal with the countless matters that arrive on his desk is vital to the well-being of the nation.

President Bush’s Dreadful Decisions Made Decision-Making An Issue in 2008

Bad decisions by a president have serious consequences. We are still dealing with the fallout from the horrific decisions of the last president — unilateral preemptive attacks on perceived enemies who were incorrectly suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction; ever-escalating costs for two unbudgeted wars; shaming the nation with torture techniques; wrecking a strong and flourishing economy inherited from his predecessor, etc., etc. Most decisions that were made by George W. Bush employed no real process or considered thought whatsoever.

Full Story: How Our Decider-in-Chief Decides: Decisionmaking and the Obama Presidency.

Judge Revokes USDA Approval Of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Sugar Beets, Orders Review

A federal judge has revoked the government’s approval of genetically altered sugar beets until regulators complete a more thorough review of how the scientifically engineered crops affect other food.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White Friday means sugar beet growers won’t be able to use the modified seeds after harvesting the biotechnology beets already planted on more than 1 million acres spanning 10 states from Michigan to Oregon. All the seed comes from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Additional planting won’t be allowed until the U.S. Department of Agriculture submits an environmental impact statement. That sort of extensive examination can take two or three years.

Full Story: Judge Revokes USDA Approval Of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Sugar Beets, Orders Review.

Medical treatment carries possible side effect of limiting homosexuality

A prenatal pill for congenital adrenal hyperplasia to prevent ambiguous genitalia may reduce the chance that a female with the disorder will be gay. Critics call it engineering for sexual orientation.

Each year in the United States, perhaps a few dozen pregnant women learn they are carrying a fetus at risk for a rare disorder known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The condition causes an accumulation of male hormones and can, in females, lead to genitals so masculinized that it can be difficult at birth to determine the baby’s gender.

A hormonal treatment to prevent ambiguous genitalia can now be offered to women who may be carrying such infants. It’s not without health risks, but to its critics those are of small consequence compared with this notable side effect: The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual. Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.

That such a treatment would ever be considered, even to prevent genital abnormalities, has outraged gay and lesbian groups, troubled some doctors and fueled bioethicists’ debate about the nature of human sexuality.

Full Story: Medical treatment carries possible side effect of limiting homosexuality – latimes.com.

OPS: apparently proving that people are BORN homosexual and it’s not something they can pray away

White House may drop deepwater drilling moratorium early

Now that the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history has effectively been stopped, the White House is considering an early end to its moratorium on deepwater drilling.

But four months after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, regulators have only started to make good on promises to overhaul drilling. Tough measures are stalled in Congress. A $1 billion emergency response network proposed by the industry won’t be operational for another year.

And while doomsday scenarios from the BP spill, like oil washing up the East Coast, have not come to pass, there are no guarantees that drilling will be any safer once it does resume.

What’s changed is “not enough to make a big difference,” said Charles Perrow, a Yale professor who has studied the spill in the Gulf.

Full Story: White House may drop deepwater drilling moratorium early | Raw Story.

NOAA, FDA to Test for Corexit in Gulf Seafood After All

In a rather sudden about-face, U.S. government officials say they will begin testing gulf seafood for the presence of dispersants used to combat the BP oil spill.

The move, according to The Associated Press, is meant to assure an anxious public about the safety of consuming fish, shrimp and oysters caught in the Gulf of Mexico, where chemical dispersants such as Nalco’s Corexit 9500 have been sprayed liberally throughout the cleanup effort. BP says that, to date, approximately 1.8 million gallons worth of dispersant have been used to help break down an estimated 205.8 million gallons of oil.

Reached this afternoon, Nalco spokesman Charlie Pajor told Surge Desk that the company was unaware of the government’s decision to test for the chemicals.

“We’ve always favored science-based testing,” Pajor said. “So if NOAA and FDA plan to go forward with further tests, we’re all for it.”

Pajor also pointed out that the last time BP used Corexit was shortly after the Macondo well was sealed in mid-July.

Full Story: NOAA, FDA to Test for Corexit in Gulf Seafood After All.

Nadler Dismantles Right-Wing Arguments Against Mosque: ‘We Do Not Put The Bill Of Rights…Up To A Vote’

This morning on CNN’s State of the Union, New York congressmen Jerrold Nadler (D) effectively dismantled the arguments of his fellow Empire State colleague Peter King (R), who has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the new Islamic center project in lower Manhattan.

King argued that, while he respects Muslims’ “right” to build a new center, “they should listen to public opinion” and “should voluntarily move the mosque away from Ground Zero.” Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, explained, “We do not put the Bill of Rights…to a vote. The reason we have a Bill of Rights is that you have your religious rights…whether majorities like you or not, frankly.”

Nadler then addressed the biggest fallacy of the right-wing argument: namely, that in their opposition to the Islamic center, they are ascribing collective guilt on all Muslims for the terrorist acts of 9/11:

Full Story: Think Progress » Nadler Dismantles Right-Wing Arguments Against Mosque: ‘We Do Not Put The Bill Of Rights…Up To A Vote’.

Gaza’s Poisoned Water

This article follows an August 6 one discussing Palestinians Denied Access to Water, found through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/palestinians-denied-access-to-wate…

It explained how Israel exploits Palestinian water resources, using most of it, forcing them to find ways to get by. Water, of course, is essential to life, rights to it natural and usufructuary. Belonging to everyone as part of the commons, it must be used, not owned or abused, an essential truth Israel corrupts.

On August 5, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) published the latest in its “Narratives Under Siege” series, titled “There’s Something in the Water: The Poisoning of Life in the Gaza Strip.”

“THIS BEACH IS POLLUTED” signs dot Gaza City beaches, posing serious health hazards because of daily raw sewage dumped into the Mediterranean Sea through 16 discharge sites along the coast. Yet thousands fill them despite the dangers, including children, taking advantage of one of their few sources of respite – available, convenient, and free, but not safe.

For Gazans, the sea is part of their lives – to fish, gather with family, swim, and for children, play in the sun on hot days, a joy this writer recalls growing up on America’s Atlantic coast. Summers were always the best time. The memories remain.

Full Story: Gaza’s Poisoned Water | War Is A Crime .org.

The Fight Against Fracking: New York Senate Passes Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing

When politicians refer to natural gas as a “clean” alternative to oil and coal, they seldom mention a commonly used technique called horizontal hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.

But in New York, residents were concerned enough about the long-term environmental, health, and economic fallout of fracking that they convinced the state Senate to institute a moratorium on the practice. In a 48-9 bipartisan landslide, state leaders voted to prohibit fracking for nine months so they can evaluate the environmental and health impacts of the practice before deciding how to continue.

“It was absolutely the result of thousands of citizens weighing in with their senators,” said Katherine Nadeau, director of the Water and Natural Resources Program for Environmental Advocates of New York. “When that many people call, write, and show up, it gets results. The other side was spending obscene amounts of money, but the more compelling argument was that there have been serious tragic repercussions to drilling.”

Full Story: The Fight Against Fracking: New York Senate Passes Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing.

Forget a Double Dip. We’re Still in One Long Big Dipper.

Robert Reich :

It’s nonsense to think of the economy heading downward again into a double dip when most Americans never emerged from the first dip. We’re still in one long Big Dipper.

More people are out of work today than they were last year, counting everyone too discouraged even to look for work. The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week to highest level since February. Not counting temporary census workers, a total of only 12,000 net new private and public jobs were created in July — when 125,000 are needed each month just to keep up with growth in the population of people who want and need to work.

Not since the government began to measure the ups and downs of the busines cycle has such a deep recession been followed by such anemic job growth. Jobs came back at a faster pace even in March 1933 after the economy started to “recover” from the depths of the Great Depression. Of course, that job growth didn’t last long. That recovery wasn’t really a recovery at all. The Great Depression continued. And that’s exactly my point. The Great Recession continues.

Full Story: Robert Reich (Forget a Double Dip. We’re Still in One Long Big Dipper.).

Angels in America

Frank Rich:

TO appreciate how much and how unexpectedly our country can change, look no further than the life and times of Judith Dunnington Peabody, who died on July 25 at 80 in her apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York.

The proper names in her biographical sketch suggest a stereotype from a bygone New Yorker cartoon: Miss Hewitt’s Classes, the Ethel Walker School, Bryn Mawr, the Junior League. She “was introduced to society,” as they said of debutantes back then, at the Piping Rock Club, Locust Valley, N.Y., in 1947. As the fashionable wife of Samuel P. Peabody in the decades to follow, she shared the society pages with Pat Buckley, Babe Paley and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But to quote Tracy Lord, the socialite played by Katharine Hepburn in the classic high-society movie comedy “The Philadelphia Story,” “The time to make up your mind about people is never.” In 1985, Judith Peabody, a frequent contributor to the traditional good causes favored by those of her class, did the unthinkable by volunteering to work as a hands-on caregiver to AIDS patients and their loved ones.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Angels in America – NYTimes.com.

Poll: News Media Is Just As Unpopular As Least Popular Political Group: Republicans in Congress

Last week we learned from the new Wall St. Journal/NBC poll that the most unpopular group in politics today is the Republicans in Congress.

While Pres. Obama has the approval of just under half the respondents in the poll, and congressional Democrats have a troubling 33 percent approval among voters, the Boehner-McConnell team in Congress is at an all time low of 24 percent.

Now a new Gallup finds that the news media is just 1 point more popular with the public than congressional Republicans, 25 percent/24 percent:

Full Story: Pensito Review » Poll: News Media Is Just As Unpopular As Least Popular Political Group: Republicans in Congress.

Scrap Bush tax cut for very wealthy

Robert Reich:

The economy is slouching backward because consumers can’t and won’t spend enough to revive it. Congress hasn’t done anything to fill the gap, and it looks like the only issue it will be debating is who, if anyone, should pay more taxes next year — just the very rich, everyone, or no one? The cuts enacted by George W. Bush will expire in January, and with midterm election pending in November, we’re about to be treated to months of tax demagoguery.

From a strictly economic standpoint — as if economics had anything to do with this — it makes sense to preserve the Bush tax cuts at least through 2011 for the middle class. There’s no way consumers — who comprise 70 percent of the economy — will start buying again if their federal income taxes rise while they’re still struggling to repay their debts, can’t borrow more, can no longer use their homes as ATMs, and are worried about keeping their jobs.

But the same logic doesn’t apply to people at the top, earning over $250,000, who represent roughly 2 percent of tax filers. Restoring their marginal tax rates to what they were during the Clinton administration (36 percent and 39 percent) won’t inhibit their spending. They already save a large portion of what they earn, and already spend what they want to spend. (During the Clinton years the economy created 22 million net new jobs, and unemployment dropped to 4 percent.)

Full Story: Scrap Bush tax cut for very wealthy – KansasCity.com.

Far-Right, Lawless “Sovereign Citizen” Movement Growing

It had been one of those mornings for West Memphis, Ark., police officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans. By 11:00 on May 20, they’d already spent three hours monitoring a suspicious rental truck and vehicle with Arizona license plates parked at a local motel, trying to determine whether the truck contained a shipment of illegal drugs. As members of the West Memphis Police Department’s drug interdiction team, their job was to stop the seemingly endless flow of narcotics that passed through their town on busy Interstate 40. Officer Paudert called it in, and the West Memphis chief of police arrived at the scene to assess the situation.

When it was discovered that the truck and car was nothing more sinister than a grandmother moving her family, the good-natured ribbing began.

After all, the chief of police was not just the officers’ boss; he was Brandon Paudert’s father.

“I told them to get off their butts and get back on the interstate,” Chief Bob Paudert recounted later. “They were really laughing.”

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Far-Right, Lawless “Sovereign Citizen” Movement Growing.

OPS:  There is a religion component to this that the author has chosen to ignore

Michael Moore & Me

by Senator Bernie Sanders:

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.

The Plenitude Path to Sustainability

click here to buy now

by Juliet Schor:

Despite the lack of policy progress on climate change and ecosystem degradation there is no shortage of solutions currently on offer. While the specifics may differ, those getting most attention share one characteristic—they focus on technological change. Whether it’s Pacala et al’s wedges, Jeffrey Sachs’ plan to reduce carbon emissions through plug in hybrids and carbon capture and storage, McKinsey’s cost abatement curve approach, or Jacobson and DeLucchi’s 100% renewables by 2030 plan, the emphasis is on technology. Most conspicuously lack a number of obvious changes that would reduce emissions and footprint. They barely address households’ lifestyles and “behavioral” changes (the first McKinsey report calls these too “difficult”), ignore changes in distribution of assets and structure of enterprises, and are light on the conditions of knowledge generation and dissemination. Furthermore, with the exception of the green jobs literature, they generally fail to integrate their analyses with current labor market conditions. As readers of this blog are well aware, the dominant discourse also pays scant attention to the equity implications and opportunities of environmental policy.

In Plenitude: the new economics of true wealth, I argue against the techno-fix approach. We also need deeper, systemic change that incorporates economic structures, the rate and pattern of growth, as well as alterations in cultural and social norms. Technology is heroic, but the task of making a grossly unbalanced system sustainable on its back alone is asking too much. Grappling with not only emissions reductions, but the full material requirements of a shift to a new energy paradigm, plus an additional 2 billion people requires technology plus.

But even more importantly, a wider array of changes is also a desiderata for a transition to a truly sustainable economy. That’s because what was efficient (or even just profitable, to put a finer point on it, and differentiate between true efficiency and profitability) in an industrial economy is not what is efficient, optimal or profitable in an ecologically-oriented economy.

Full Story: The Plenitude Path to Sustainability « Real Climate Economics.

Detroit Goes From Gloom to Economic Bright Spot

After a dismal period of huge losses and deep cuts that culminated in the Obama administration’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift.

Jobs are growing. Factory workers are anticipating their first healthy profit-sharing checks in years. Sales are rebounding, with the Commerce Department reporting Friday that automobiles were a bright spot in July’s mostly disappointing retail sales.

The nascent comeback is far from a finished product. Foreign competitors are leaner and stronger, accounting for more than half of all car sales in this country. The sputtering economic rebound is spooking investors and consumers alike, threatening to derail some of Detroit’s gains. And talks next year on a new contract with the United Automobile Workers could revive old hostilities.

Still, the improving mood here reflects real changes in how Detroit is doing business — and a growing sense that the changes are turning the Big Three around, according to industry executives and analysts tracking the recovery.

Full Story: Detroit Goes From Gloom to Economic Bright Spot – NYTimes.com.

Technical Gauge ‘Hindenburg Omen’ Senses Stock Gloom

Technical Gauge and Its Creator Sense Stock Gloom; ‘Good Conspiracy Theories’?

Forget about Friday the 13th. Many on Wall Street took to whispering about an even scarier phenomenon—the “Hindenburg Omen.”

The Omen, named after the famous German airship in 1937 that crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., is a technical indicator that foreshadows not just a bear market but a stock-market crash. Its creator, a blind mathematician named Jim Miekka, said his indicator is now predicting a market meltdown in September.

Wall Street has been abuzz about whether the Hindenburg Omen will come to bear, with some traders cautioning clients about the indicator and blogs pondering all the doom and gloom. But Andrew …

Full Story: Technical Gauge ‘Hindenburg Omen’ Senses Stock Gloom – WSJ.com.

15 Economic Statistics That Just Keep Getting Worse

A little over a week ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner penned an article for the New York Times entitled “Welcome To The Recovery” in which he touted the great strides that the U.S. economy was making. But with unemployment still dangerously high and with foreclosures and personal bankruptcies continuing to set all-time records, should we really be talking about a “recovery”? The truth is that the numbers don’t lie, and statistic after statistic shows that the economic fundamentals continue to get progressively worse. The U.S. government can continue to try to pump up with economy with more debt, but the reality is that there is not going to be a legitimate “recovery” until consumer spending rebounds. Consumer spending makes up the vast majority of U.S. GDP. But without good jobs, consumers are not going to be able to spend money. Unfortunately, our jobs base continues to be erode as millions upon millions of middle class jobs are shipped over to China, India and dozens of third world nations by the global predator corporations that now dominate the world economy.

The U.S. government cannot create real wealth out of thin air. It can borrow even more money and flood the economy with even more paper currency, but the short-term “buzz” that creates does absolutely nothing to solve our long-term economic problems.

It is the private sector that actually creates wealth. But unfortunately, over the last several decades we have allowed that wealth to become highly concentrated. Now the giant global predator corporations have decided that American workers aren’t really that desirable after all. They are slowly taking away their factories and their offices and they are moving them to where people are willing to work for one-tenth the pay.

Full Story: 15 Economic Statistics That Just Keep Getting Worse.

Evangelicals’ Stealth Mission to Sneak Jesus into Our Public Schools

Fundamentalist evangelists are hiding their religious agenda to sneak into public schools and preach to a captive audience of students.

United Methodist minister David Jenkins was meeting with fellow clergy last year in the small Kansas community of Sharon Springs when one of the pastors made what sounded like a routine request.

The clergyman noted that the Todd Becker Foundation was coming to town, and the evangelical Christian organization, which purports to warn youngsters about the dangers of drunk driving, wanted to line up local religious leaders to help with its presentation.

What struck Jenkins as odd was the venue: It was to take place at Wallace County High School.

Full Story: Evangelicals’ Stealth Mission to Sneak Jesus into Our Public Schools | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

Enforce Act Would Prevent Foreign Countries from Evading U.S. Laws

The United States has witnessed consistent annual trade deficits since 1975. This is largely in part due to the Unites States’ “free” trade and monetary policies. The United States’ trade deficit thus far for 2010 stands at over $278 billion and growing. The United States has lost jobs and our ability to compete as a result of “free” trade. Steps must be taken to equalize trade amongst other nations so the United States and its citizens are no longer exploited.

That is exactly what eleven U.S. senators are attempting with the newly introduced Enforcing Orders and Reducing Circumvention and Evasion Act, also know as the Enforce Act, which would give the U.S. Commerce Department the ability to prevent foreign countries from evading U.S. trade laws.

According to TradeReform, the legislation highlights the dubious methods utilized by exporters from developing countries – in particular China – which have included such methods as mislabeling shipments and re-routing goods through third-party countries “in an attempt to fool customs officials and circumvent U.S. trade laws designed to promote fair and free trade.”

Full Story: Enforce Act Would Prevent Foreign Countries from Evading U.S. Laws | Economy In Crisis.

Time for the U.S. to Man the Floodgates and Stop “Free Trade”

The KOR-US FTA is the largest FTA since NAFTA and will open up the floodgates to the passing of other FTAs currently on hold.

Despite Obama’s rhetoric against unfair free trade policies during his election campaign, the president has fulfilled none of his promises regarding either NAFTA or the tax code, both of which promote unfair trade for American businesses. In the 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Democratic debate Obama said, “It is absolutely critical for us to understand that NAFTA was an enormous problem.”

During the 2007 AFL-CIO Democratic primary, Obama actually vowed to take steps to amend NAFTA “immediately” after being elected.

“I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada to try to amend NAFTA because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now,” Obama said. “And it should reflect the basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street, it should also be good for Main Street.”

Full Story: Time for the U.S. to Man the Floodgates and Stop “Free Trade” | Economy In Crisis.

Russia Puts U.S. Poultry Producers in Limbo

U.S. poultry exports to Russia were scheduled to resume this month after the two nations struck a deal to end the Russian ban on U.S.-made chicken products, but it appears that Moscow officials are backing out at the last minute.

The ban had been in place since January after Russian officials raised concern about chicken products cleaned with chlorinated water. The trade row appeared to be resolved after President Barack Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in June.

Some American chicken producers have already begun packing and shipping poultry products to be sent to Russia, according to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Full Story: Russia Puts U.S. Poultry Producers in Limbo | Economy In Crisis.

Corporatist Elites’ Democratic days are numbered

David Sirota:

Call me an ’80s junkie, but when I saw the results of this week’s closely watched Colorado election, I immediately thought of “Spaceballs.” In that Mel Brooks masterpiece, a Darth Vader spoof named Dark Helmet says “evil will always triumph because good is dumb.” Make it “dumb and broke,” and you have a powerful explanation for incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s narrow primary victory over former state legislator Andrew Romanoff.

In just the 20 months since being appointed to fill the vacated Senate seat of now-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Bennet became one of Congress’ top recipients of corporate cash. A wealthy businessman who had never held elected office before, he ultimately raised and spent almost $6 million on his campaign – more than any primary candidate in the history of Colorado. He was additionally aided by the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America’s phone-banking, by President Barack Obama’s full-throated endorsement and by the built-in advantages that come with a taxpayer-financed Senate office.

Romanoff, by contrast, swore off special-interest money from the beginning. As a former state House speaker with a deep grassroots network throughout Colorado, he constructed a scrappy campaign on less than $2 million of mostly small-dollar, in-state contributions. In the relatively few ads he was able to afford, he juxtaposed his own progressive economic platform with Bennet’s odious Senate votes to protect the big banks, oil firms and health insurance companies that Americans despise and that financed Bennet’s campaign.

Full Story: Elites’ Democratic days are numbered | OregonLive.com.

Anderson Cooper Stuns GOP Rep. On ‘Terror Babies’: ‘They Did Not Tell Me You Were Going To Grill Me’ (VIDEO)

Texas Republican state legislator Rep. Debbie Riddle was not prepared for Anderson Cooper Tuesday night.

Riddle appeared on “Anderson Cooper 360″ to discuss the threat of “terror babies” — a supposed threat in which terrorist organizations send pregnant women to the United States to have their children, who would be US citizens but trained and raised abroad to be terrorists and could enter and leave the US without raising suspicion.

Riddle based her claims on her conversations with “former FBI officials” but Cooper demanded evidence.

“What former FBI officials?” he asked. “What evidence is there of some sort of long-term plot to have American babies born here and then become terrorists?

Full Story: Anderson Cooper Stuns GOP Rep. On ‘Terror Babies’: ‘They Did Not Tell Me You Were Going To Grill Me’ (VIDEO).

Grayson: “Politico Is Part Of A Permanent Government That Was Established Under Bush Administration”

Politico Is A RAG! We Use It To Wrap Fish! Congressman Alan Grayson

David Kelly ‘suicude’ death inquest may be reopened

Attorney general considers move after experts say official finding on scientist’s death was ‘extremely unlikely’

The attorney general is considering re-opening the inquest into the death of government scientist David Kelly, it has emerged.

A spokesman for Dominic Grieve, who has the power to go to the high court and ask for a new inquest, said he was reviewing the case in light of fresh calls for the weapon inspector’s death to be investigated.

“He remains concerned about this matter and is considering how to take it forward with his ministerial colleagues,” said the spokesman.

Full Story: David Kelly death inquest may be reopened | Politics | The Guardian.

Activists pressure Google on net neutrality

A protest organized by MoveOn.org, Free Press and other advocacy groups angered by Google’s recently proposed rules on governing Internet access drew about 70 activists to the online giant’s Mountain View headquarters on Friday.

The animated group carried signs that read “Google Don’t Be Evil,” with devil horns and a pointed tail emerging from the company’s name; chanted slogans as creative as “hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go”; and sang “democracy requires net neutrality” to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

The gathering on Google’s corporate campus was the latest example of a simmering backlash over an agreement announced this week between the company and Verizon to advance a set of federal rules that many say betray Google’s earlier support for an open Internet.

Full Story: Activists pressure Google on net neutrality.

GOP Candidate Frank Guinta’s Mystery Bank Account Sparks Ethics Concerns Within Party

The ongoing ethics saga involving Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has sent Democratic operatives on a frenetic chase to find problem lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle.

There have been some successes in the Senate where the sordid extramarital messes of both David Vitter (R-La.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) have become inviting targets.

The House has proved less fruitful.

Full Story: GOP Candidate Frank Guinta’s Mystery Bank Account Sparks Ethics Concerns Within Party.

Scientists Create Invisibility Cloak Made From Silk

Readers of the Harry Potter series will recall a shimmering cloak that granted its wearer the power of invisibility. Outside the world of wand-toting wizards and witches, that fantastical notion has become closer to reality.

Scientists at Tufts and Boston University have created a small “invisibility cloak” made of a gold-etched silk.

The 1-cm square “cloak,” made of a unique new metamaterial, works only on terahertz waves (T-rays) for now, but researchers hope in the near future to apply the same principles to make the material work at other wavelengths, and, with time, visible light spectrum.

Full Story: Scientists Create Invisibility Cloak Made From Silk.

GOP Trying To Destroy Social Security (VIDEO)

President Barack Obama used the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats’ support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it.

Seventy-five years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday: “We have an obligation to keep that promise, to safeguard Social Security for our seniors, people with disabilities and all Americans — today, tomorrow and forever.”

Some Republican leaders in Congress are “pushing to make privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress this fall,” Obama said.

He contended that such privatization was “an ill-conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market.”

Full Story: Obama Weekly Address: GOP Trying To Destroy Social Security (VIDEO).

OPS: Well, they’ve been trying that since FDR and so far no President of either Party as allowed them to. How ’bout you big guy?

No Shock: AT&T Backs Different Rules for Wireless in Net Neutrality

In a move that surprises no one, AT&T weighed in to support an idea behind a plan from Google and Verizon that would exempt wireless networks from rules requiring equal treatment of Internet traffic

But the views of the telecom company are a drop in the bucket when compared with the furor the proposal ignited through most of the tech world.

“Wireless is simply different,” wrote Joan Marsh, AT&T’s vice president of federal regulatory, in a post on an official company blog. “Wireless networks simply cannot provide the same amount of capacity as wireline networks,” and thus have to be able to manage traffic, she wrote in the post, which didn’t take a stance on specific aspects of the Google-Verizon proposal but argued that wireless shouldn’t be governed by the same rules.

The need to manage traffic is one of the key points often cited by opponents of “net neutrality” — the idea that Internet providers should not deliberately slow or block Internet sites and services. Companies like phone and cable providers say they sometimes need to do that if a particular service is hogging capacity.

Full Story: No Shock: AT&T Backs Different Rules for Wireless in Net Neutrality – Digits – WSJ.

Hate fish? Can’t eat veg? Doctors study picky eaters

How many people can’t stand the texture of fish, can only stomach grilled chicken or refuse to eat their vegetables?

Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina are compiling the first global registry of “picky eaters” in the hope of discovering why some people have trouble with food.

They believe it may help find a genetic reason for some eaters’ intense dislike of certain foods, like broccoli, or beans with a “fuzzy” texture.

They note some eaters’ pickiness is so deep-seated it interferes with their jobs, their relationships and their social lives.

“This is an area that is vastly under-explored,” says Dr Nancy Zucker, director of the Duke University Center for Eating Disorders.

Full Story: BBC News – Hate fish? Can’t eat veg? Doctors study picky eaters.

Social Security Keeps 20 Million Americans Out Of Poverty, Report Finds

As Social Security approaches its 75th anniversary on Saturday, the program is playing an especially vital role in reducing poverty across America during the worst economic crisis since the Great Recession.

If benefits were to be significantly cut, 19.8 million more Americans would be thrust in poverty, according to a recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In addition to supporting the elderly, Social Security is currently keeping more than 1 million children and more than 5 million adults below the age of 65 above the poverty line.

Cuts to Social Security would be especially devastating for older women, the report shows. While 11.9 percent of women over the age of 65 are currently below the poverty line, nearly half of them would be poor if they no longer received benefits.

Full Story: Social Security Keeps 20 Million Americans Out Of Poverty, Report Finds.

40 Religious Leaders Denounce Sarah Palin and Fox’s Hate Speech

Forty different Catholic, evangelical, mainline Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders and scholars came together to release a statement condemning the hate language of Fox News, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich as it relates to the so called Ground Zero mosque, “Fear-mongering and hateful rhetoric only undermine treasured values at the heart of diverse faith traditions and our nation’s highest ideals.”

The statement released by Faith In The Public Life condemned the religious bigotry of Gingrich, Palin, and Fox News, “As Catholic, evangelical, mainline Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders and scholars committed to religious freedom and inter-religious cooperation, we are deeply troubled by the xenophobia and religious bigotry that has characterized some of the opposition to a proposed Islamic center and mosque near where the World Trade Center towers once stood.”

Full Story: 40 Religious Leaders Denounce Sarah Palin and Fox’s Hate Speech.

Feds say well’s not dead yet, more drilling needed

BP’s broken oil well is not dead yet.

The government’s point man on the crisis said Friday that the blown-out well is not securely plugged to his satisfaction and that the drilling of the relief well – long regarded as the only way to ensure that the hole at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico never leaks oil again – must go forward.

“The relief well will be finished,” said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. “We will kill the well.”

Work on the relief well was suspended earlier this week because of bad weather. Allen did not say when it would resume, but when the order comes, it could take four days to get the operation up and running again.

Full Story: Feds say well’s not dead yet, more drilling needed.

Senate nominee Alvin Greene charged with showing porn to college student

The man whose unexpected victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary for the US Senate sparked concerns of voting fraud has been indicted for showing obscene materials to a college student, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Alvin Greene, an unemployed former military service member, won the June primary to run for the Senate despite being an almost complete unknown in South Carolina politics, prompting many within the Democratic Party to question the legitimacy of his victory.

The AP reports:

Greene was indicted Friday on two charges, including a felony charge of showing pornography to a South Carolina college student.

A Richland County grand jury indicted Green for disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity — a felony — as well as a misdemeanor charge of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent.

Full Story: Senate nominee Alvin Greene charged with showing porn to college student | Raw Story.