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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

26 Aug - AlterNet + OpEd News

Forums are interesting

al Quaeda never existed in the manner in which we've been led to believe.
It was created i.e. the name was, as a prosecution tactic during the 1998
trial of the accused bombers of the embassy in Kenya. US prosecutors
wished to use RICO statutes against the defendants, and to do so requires
that there be an organization to which a crime can be linked. They thus
created this idea of al Quaeda as the network behind the bombing.
According to those cited in the BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares,
which lays it all out, Bin Laden was just a very wealthy guy and true
believer who would give small cells of terrorists money to carry out their
own actions. He didn't plan the actions. None of the groups looked to him
for leadership. There was no network.

Our government invented it and it proved a politically and strategically
valuable myth. At the same time, it made these small terrorist cells
appear much more powerful and committed to an ideal than they actually are
or were, so both sides played to the myth for all it was worth. After 9/11
the Bushies sold this idea like there was no tomorrow. Rumsfeld and Cheney
went round talking about sophisticated and lavish underground installations
with their own power sources. In the film, they show Rumsfeld on television
with all these elaborate charts of the alleged installations in Tora Bora,
with him really playing up this comic book super villain vision.
Americans, being the credulous and childish people we are, bought it hook
line and sinker. When troops finally made it up to where these Dr. No /
Goldfinger like secret installations were said to be located they found
only holes in the ground, no hi tech installations, no caches of
sophisticated weaponry, no evidence of much of anything, but it seemed no
one cared much that they'd been and were continuing to be lied to.

Briffits

Millions of Tons of Plastic Debris Floating in the Oceans is Now Thought to be Toxic

Shipment of 800 Billion in New Currency AMERO to China in Advance

Jinnah is out of the dock
http://blog.dawn.com:91/dblog/2009/08/21/jinnah-is-out-of-the-dock

Ecological disaster looms in Colombia : Mining companies granted rights over unique habitats yet to be explored by science
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/colombia-mining938.html


Global Policy Forum


Following the Trail of Toxic Trash

cambodiatrashliving01
Picture Credit: AFP
Recently, Brazil received a shipload of toxic waste from Britain. Brazil imported what was thought to be plastic material for recycling. This toxic trash shipment violated international law under the Basel convention. Today, there are increasing cases of rich countries exporting toxic waste material in this way. The Basel ban is difficult to enforce and the United States has vigorously opposed it.
Read more...

Climate Disobedience Is on the Rise

powerplant
Picture credit: Treehugger

Activists have increasingly drawn attention to the serious effects of global warming. A small group of British Greenpeace protesters shut down a coal-fired power plant for a day, an action that eventually led to a change in UK government policy. Some hope that this kind of action will influence the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Hundreds of people are getting prepared to demonstrate on the streets of Copenhagen.

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Gaza Bonanza

SC_-_Palestine_-_Gaza_truck
Picture Credit: EPA
The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) controls the type and amount of food allowed to enter the occupied territories of Palestine. Products are placed on and off the forbidden list of 'luxury goods' in a manner which make COGAT's rules and bans seem both unpredictable and nonsensical. But by artificially creating demand for some goods in Gaza, it allows Israeli farmers to get rid of their surpluses, thus stabilizing prices in Israel.

Read more...

African Union Declaration Against the ICC not What it Seems

IL_-_Gaddafi_and_al_Bashir_-_AP
Picture Credit: AP
In a recent resolution allowing Omar al Bashir to travel freely in Africa, the African Union reaffirmed its opposition to the ICC 's indictment of the Sudanese President by the Court. To this day, the ICC has selected only four cases for prosecution, all of them against Africans. This has fueled criticism condemning the Court as a tool of Western imperialism, leading some African countries to express a growing distrust in its rulings. This resolution does not reflect Africa's unity against the ICC, rather it highlights the balance of power in the region and AU President Omar Gaddafi's influence on the decision.

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Potential Development of IMF's Resources

IMF_laht.com
Picture Credit: LA Herald Tribune
In April 2009, the G20 agreed to a stimulus package of US$ 750 billion to be given to the IMF to fight the economic crisis. However, donor countries have not yet met their financial commitments. The author of this article takes note of the missing funding but he doubts whether the stimulus package could have had a positive effect on developing countries. The paper examines the Fund's lending policies, the potential of SDRs and the fiscal space for low income countries.
Read more...

Workers Occupy UK Factory

vesta
Picture Credit: MorningStar
In a fight to save more than 600 jobs, workers have occupied a factory on the Isle of Wight. The factory produces wind turbines and is owned by the Danish company Vesta. The workers have every reason to be angry. Although the heads of the factory claim that demand for the turbines is falling across northern Europe, the company recently reported a 59 percent increase in sales to over $1.4 billion. The closure of the Vesta’s factory would have a devastating effect on the local economy.
Read more...

Obama's Empire: An Unprecedented Network of Military Bases That is Still Expanding

global_network_usa2
Picture Credit: Photobucket

Barack Obama always said he would maintain for the US "the strongest military on the planet." His national security team is committed to "rebuilding and re-strengthening alliances around the world to advance American interests and American security." Today, with Obama as commander-in-chief, Washington is expanding its military base network. After the declaration of war on terror and right to pre-emptive war, the US military has an unprecedented global reach.

Read more...

Food and Energy: An Inflationary Duet

Agriculture_euroblogg.eu
Picture Credit: Euroblogg.eu

Food production and energy consumption are closely interlinked. Due to the heavy use of fertilizer, the agriculture industry depends more than ever on energy inputs. The long-term trend of high energy prices threatens the food system. The environmental movement favors a return to local and organic farming in order to close the inflationary price gap.

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Afghanistan and the New Great Game

SC_natural_resources_afgh_getty_images
Picture Credit: Getty Images
The official focus on humanitarian and security concerns in Afghanistan is masking strategic energy interests. Afghanistan shares borders with Middle Eastern countries rich in oil and natural gas. Neighboring Turkmenistan has the third largest natural gas reserves in the world, which can only be brought to the international market through pipelines. This makes Afghanistan a "strategic piece of real estate" in the larger pipeline rivalry opposing the US and Russia.

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US Wealthy Opt to Surrender Their Citizenship

oct06_thind2
Picture Credit:AFP
Today, offshore tax havens have to comply with transparency rules, so a growing number of wealthy US citizens are handing in their passports. Under US tax law, the worldwide income of any US citizen or resident is subject to tax. The offshore centers have been a safe haven for the wealthy Americans trying to escape taxes , but now that's about to change. When giving up their citizenship, the US citizens expect to buy a passport elsewhere, where the tax rate is low.
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A Basic Income Program in Otjivero

namibia
Picture Credit: Spiegel Online
A coalition of aid organizations has tried a new approach to aid. The experiment is taking place in Otjivero, Namibia, in a settlement of 1000 inhabitants. The organizations hand 100 Namibia dollars (13$) to each village citizen, every month. The money is distributed without expecting anything in return. The experiment has proven to be a success in lifting the citizens out of poverty. Many villagers have started their own firms and are now able to sustain their own livelihood. This suggests that people can find a way out of poverty, provided they get the right kind of help.
Read more...

Geneva Conventions Turn 60

IL_red_cross_cdn.wn.com
Picture Credit: cdn.wn.com
Conflicts have changed dramatically since the Geneva Conventions were drafted in 1949. Their 60th anniversary has brought to the forefront the question of their relevance in modern warfare characterized by a vanishing distinction between soldier and civilian. Human rights groups argue that the Conventions have proved able to adapt to changing circumstances. Any attempt to "update" the conventions could weaken rather than improve the protection granted to individuals.

Read more...

Freelance Diplomats Lend a Hand to Would–Be–States

diplomacy
Picture Credit: AVC

Independent Diplomat, a non-profit group, provides guidance to emerging states on how to approach foreign governments and international organizations. The organization uses existing diplomatic channels to help its clients gain international recognition, as emerging states often lack experience of dealing with international bureaucracies. Assisting "nations - in - waiting" to gain international attention is crucial for us says Independent Diplomat member Soren Jessen-Petersen.

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Joining the Alliance

lawfirms
Picture Credit: AFP
Markets for legal services across the Asia Pacific region are among the fastest growing in the world. Now, international legal associations seek to attract Asian law firms. With large networks of clients, the associations can help the local firms to expand and attract new customers. However, a membership in an association requires a big investment and can be too costly for the emerging Asian firms.
Read more...

Brown Plans New Rules for UK Citizenship

UkCitizenship
Picture Credit: PA
The UK seeks to change its regulations on British citizenship. The new set of rules requires applicants to pass a test and win points before earning the right to carry a UK passport. The proposed measures come after record numbers of migrants entered the UK recently. With the new system, it may take up to 10 years to earn the right to stay.
Read more...

UN News

UN News Centre - Top Stories

A world of news from the world organization.
UN News Centre


Why bleed Balochistan?


An unspecified but large number of Baloch nationalist leaders and political workers have gone missing even after the inception of the democratic government following the 2008 election. ‘Missing’ of course is a polite euphemism for abduction by security forces and intelligence sleuths.

Those who have been spared are either in hiding or lying low for fear of incarceration. The rest are raising a rebellion from abroad; those here are threatened with arrest unless they watch what they say. Why this humiliation of the Baloch in their own homeland?

Who's Behind the Rash of Suicide Bombings in Iraq?

Campus Hypocrisy: Marijuana Is Safer, But Students Are Pushed to More Dangerous Booze

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Why Do Angry, Right-Wing Mobs Get Media Respect?

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America

Media and Technology: Meanwhile, the media has always lashed out at liberal protesters.

Thanks to EPA You May Be Unknowingly Drinking Water Contaminated With Weed Killer

Danielle Ivory, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Water: One of the nation's most widely-used herbicides has been found to exceed federal safety limits in drinking water.


US Senator Ted Kennedy Dies at 77

AFP

Politics: The last of the Kennedy brothers, who dominated US politics for decades, has died of brain cancer, his family said Wednesday.


You. At a Town Hall Meeting. 5 Questions You Should Ask

Adele M. Stan, Joshua Holland, AlterNet

Politics: Those raucous health-care town halls aren't over yet. That's where you come in.

The 8 Weirdest Ways to Go Green
Mike Sowden, EcoSalon

Environment: From the solar-powered bikini that can charge your iPod to the benefits of eating free range snails, here's few things you may not have thought of yet.


Meet Larry Summers’s Ex-Boss, a Billionaire with a Blood Feud
Mark Ames, eXiled Online

Politics: If you judge a person by the company they keep, then Obama's top economic advisor has some serious splainin' to do.


'Just Food': Inflammatory New Book Attacking Local Food Movement Has One Grain of Truth Buried Under Heaps of Manure
Kerry Trueman, AlterNet

Environment: "Just Food" is framed as the lament of a lapsed locavore who has been driven into the arms of Agribiz by food-mile militants who, according to him, number in the millions.


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There Are More Slaves Today Than at Any Time in Human History
Terrence McNally, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: One writer spent four years inside the world of modern-day slavery; an industry that produces huge profits and countless wasted lives.


The White House Needs to Go a Lot Further with the Torture Inquiry
John Nichols, TheNation.com

Rights and Liberties: The investigation into torture could be thwarted by a GOP counter-attack and an echo chamber determined to protect Bush and Cheney.


Is Glenn Beck Finished?
Tana Ganeva, AlterNet

A Color of Change campaign has cost Beck's show 36 advertisers so far. Will Fox decide he isn't worth it?


Desperate Food Industry Tries to Tar Michael Pollan and Organic Produce
Vanessa Barrington, EcoSalon

Health and Wellness: With growing numbers of food-conscious consumers, big corporations are trying to sully the reputation of alternatives to their style of agriculture.


Political Fireworks Over Torture Prosecutor: Report Reveals Threats to Kill Children, CIA Director in 'Screaming Match'
AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: Senate Dems and progressives are pushing for AG Eric Holder to expand the investigation that CIA director Leon Panetta has threatened to quit over.


It's Robbery: Health Care Proposals in Congress Look More Like a Rip-Off Than Reform
Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Health and Wellness: The health plans rattling around Congress are designed to force you to buy a defective product: Bad private insurance.


Obama Can't Afford to Take Right-Wing Lunatics Seriously Anymore
Frank Rich, The New York Times

Politics: A GOP senator's apologia for far-right fanatics bearing arms at presidential events -- that the government makes them do it! -- cannot stand.


Right-Wing Militias Are Resurging -- Will They Produce More Terrorists Like Timothy McVeigh?
David A. Love, The Progressive

Reproductive Justice and Gender: After a decade out of the spotlight, the militant rightwing “Patriot” movement is on the rise.


Pressuring Obama To Ditch the Defense of Marriage Act Is AlterNet's Top Take Action Campaign This Week
Byard Duncan, AlterNet

Take Action: DOMA is an offensive relic. Time to give it the boot.


As If Limbaugh and Beck Weren't Bad Enough, the Granddaddy of Hate Radio Is Back on the Air
Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet

Media and Technology: Bob Grant taught a generation of conservative talkers how to channel white rage, until a listener boycott helped push him off the air. Now he's back.


Rachel Maddow: The Growing Threat Posed by Gun-Strapped Right-Wingers at Obama's Townhalls
Rachel Maddow, Frank Rich, MSNBC

Health and Wellness: Rachel Maddow and Frank Rich discuss the use of intimidation as a political tactic.


Holder Tapping Prosecutor to Probe 'Nearly a Dozen' CIA Interrogations
Stephen Webster, Raw Story

Rights and Liberties: America's torture debate is nowhere near over.


'Superjuices' Touted as Cures for Cancer, Swine Flu and the Recession -- Are They Dangerous Scams?
Stan Cox, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: Those expensive juices with exotic ingredients promise a healthy body and a fat income. But can they pull you through a recession and a health-care crisis?


Why Do Women Orgasm?
David P. Barash, Dr. Judith Eve Lipton, National Sexuality Resource Center

Sex and Relationships: Scientists are still mystified about the evolutionary advantages of many aspects of women's sexuality.


Have Republicans Turned Into a Weird Religious Cult?
Johann Hari, Independent UK

The faith-based thinking of many conservatives spreads and contaminates the rational. No wonder so many buy the right-wing's absurd propaganda.


How Our Health System Screws Over Women
Sharon Lerner, The Nation

Health and Wellness: To be sure, no group is doing well under our network of private insurers. But women fare particularly badly.


Wal-Mart Faces Its Day of Reckoning
Frank Nelson, Miller-McCune.com

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Wal-Mart's relentless growth and Darwinian competitiveness have created a world that is increasingly inhospitable to its own success.


The Truth About the Afghan Election
Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch

World: What foreign reporting of elections in both Afghanistan and Iraq misses is that many ordinary Afghans and Iraqis see their governments as rackets run by political gangsters.


The Health Insurance Racket Is Manufacturing Entertainment Value from Pulling the Plug on Grandma
Joe Bageant, JoeBageant.com

Health and Wellness: "There ain't any health care debate going on, Bubba. What is going on are mob negotiations about insurance, and which mob gets the biggest chunk of the dough."


Why Breast Implants Are Deflating Along with the Economy
Vanessa Richmond, The Tyee

Reproductive Justice and Gender: Many women who invested in big busts are in deflationary mode.


Terror from the Right: 75 Plots, Conspiracies and Racist Rampages Since Oklahoma City
Southern Poverty Law Center

Rights and Liberties: Including plots to bomb government buildings, banks, refineries, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politicians and more.


Michael Moore on His Latest: 'I Made This Movie As If It Was Going to Be the Last I Was Allowed to Make'
Diane Sweet, Raw Story

Media and Technology: Moore is back with his new movie, 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' wearing his trademark baseball cap to go after corporate America.


More Evidence That Marijuana Prevents Cancer
Bruce Mirken, Marijuana Policy Project

DrugReporter: New study finds that marijuana smokers have a lower risk of head and neck cancers.


Health Care Mobs = Swift Boat Vets... And the Press Plays Dumb, Again
Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America

Health and Wellness: Mini-mob members being treated as deeply important newsmakers is reminiscent of August 2004.


The Top 10 Greenest Schools in the U.S.
Sierra Magazine

Environment: A must-read guide to the most eco-friendly U.S. colleges.


Stop the Humiliating 'Sex-Testing' of Champion Runner Caster Semenya
Dave Zirin, Sherry Wolf, The Nation

Reproductive Justice and Gender: South African runner Caster Semenya shouldn't be the one humiliated by "gender testing"-- it's the outdated views of athletic officials that are embarrassing.


Obama, Ignoring Local Outrage, Set to Expand U.S. Military Presence in Colombia
Moira Birss, AlterNet

World: Obama continues to defend the expansion of U.S. military operations in Latin America, but against what threat?


How Yawning Got One Court Spectator Six Months in the Slammer and Other Disturbing Acts of Judicial Tyranny
Liliana Segura, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: When judges take on airs and lash out in fits of whimsical bullying, innocent people can end up paying the price with jail time -- or their lives.


How Pharma Giants Are Getting Rich By Calling Our Life Problems 'Medical Disorders'
Eugenia Tsao, CounterPunch

Pharma companies have waded into helping us with life problems far beyond the biological -- they claim to cure our social maladies.


Former CIA Agent: "What the Agency Was Doing With Blackwater Scares the Hell Out of Me"
Jeremy Scahill, The Nation

World: The dark history behind the explosive revelations of Blackwater's role in the CIA's assassination program.


Black Conservatives in the Age of Obama
Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet

Politics: The most prominent voices for conservatism in African American communities continue to be those of Christian church leaders.


Health Care Rats Come Out of the Woodwork
Matt Taibbi, True/Slant

PEEK: On both sides of the "debate," pundits' main concern seems to be that readers are demanding the public option, in spite of what they're being told.


7 Delicious Meat Alternatives (and Not a Lick of Tofu in Sight)
Sarah Irani, EcoSalon

Health and Wellness: Cutting back on meat consumption is one of the most significant ways to help the planet. And it doesn’t require subsistence on tofu.


Obama and the Dems Just Sound Too Wonky on Health Care
George Lakoff, AlterNet

Politics: Barack Obama ran the best-framed presidential campaign in history. How is it possible that he and his team are communicating so poorly on health care?


Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future
Chris Mooney, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Basic Books

Environment: Science matters- to politics, the economy, and our future. But do Americans really understand and appreciate that?


Meet the Man Who Is Taking On Glenn Beck

Post by Staff

Video: ColorofChange.org's James Rucker talks about the campaign that has been stripping Beck of advertisers one by one. More »

Krugman: "The Argument Against the Public Option is Sheer Nonsense"

Video: Paul Krugman lets 'em have it on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." More »

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