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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.

Monday, January 24, 2011

24 January - Netvibes RSS Updates

Insufficient shear reinforcement let main reba...Image via Wikipedia
Welcome to Vote for Democracy.org
http://votefordemocracy.org  
Hat Tip exMI.blogspot.com
This site's only objective is to foster an environment where ideas on how to govern are fully discussed and the public is allowed and encouraged to demonstrate their agreement or disagreement using our online voting mechanism.
Voting will be focused on the 2012 federal and state governors races. Each and every Tuesday their will be a roster of 6 candidates maximum that you can choose from for each office. These 6 will be comprised of the top 4 vote getters from the previous week's ballot and the top 2 write-in candidates. You will be able to vote from 6:00am to 11:59PM EST each Tuesday. Results will be available within hours once voting has closed.


Argentine Farmers End Protest: For Now
http://en.mercopress.com/2011/01/24/argentine-farmers-end-protest-for-now

Farmers began a weeklong strike last at midnight last Monday because of unhappiness over the export quota system, which they claim favours millers and large exports companies over farmers as they are paid below the international price by undermining competition in the local market.
In an interview published in the Argentine press, Agriculture Minister Julian Dominguez said “the farmers are not going to get us to change the measures we have taken.”

He added “Argentine is on its way to a position in which the government will intervene more and more in grain trade, so as to guarantee sufficient supplies for the internal market.”

County, residents battling approval of chicken project
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/news/local/County_residents_battling_approval_of_chicken_project_114481324.html
Bernice Edwards, a member of the Friends of the Chain Lakes, fears that allowing the 95,000 broiler-chicken operation to set up next to a wetlands that serves as headwater to the lakes will put them at risk.

Area residents are concerned that the manure spreading that will need to take place could contaminate the three lakes — which are popular with fishers, boaters and swimmers — that stretch south beginning about 10 km southeast of Ponoka.

“Our concern is keeping these lakes clean. The more they allow these CFO*s (confined feeding operations) to come too close to this region, then their big problem is: where do they put their manure.”

There are already a number of confined feeding operations, including a pair of dairy farms and a pig farm, within five km and all must find land to spread their manure. The spreading is happening closer to the lakes each year and adding a huge poultry operation only adds to the problem.
( Aka CAFOs and identified as polluting the entire Mississippi Basin Aquifer. Bluebloggin,Berry Street Beacon, and Grist all had articles noted in the original Oldephartteintraining on WordPress - now defunct. See 'Water - Wealth & Power' and 'Corporate Farming' in the Topical Index for more. )

Earthquake risk identified in apartments, but not released to residents
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_17182743?source=rss&nclick_check=1
Eight years after a survey counted 2,630 earthquake-vulnerable "soft story" apartments in Santa Clara County, little progress has been made in publicly identifying, inspecting and fixing these buildings.

The pancake collapse of an apartment complex during the 1994 Northridge earthquake that killed 16 people exposed the dangers of buildings with weak first floors, called soft stories. The recent flurry of moderate earthquakes in the South Bay is a further reminder of the risk.

To identify the scope of Santa Clara County's problem, San Jose State engineers estimated that about 90,000 residents live in these apartments -- but their findings, published in 2003, have languished.

What consumers need to know about electric car batteries
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_17150192?source=rss
The plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt and all-electric Nissan Leaf, the first mainstream plug-ins to reach the market, both offer battery warranties good for 100,000 miles or eight years.

Clinton unveils U.S. policy on Internet freedom
http://www.voltairenet.org/article168204.html
The United States belief in that ground truth is what brings me here today.
( On the Terms of the Powerful
Translating Propaganda and Thinking the Unthinkable

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21052.htm
When you go to a foreign country, it is common to bring a translation dictionary to help curb the confusion that comes with trying to understand a foreign language. Likewise, in American politics, we also need a translation guide to understand mainstream discussion given the universal double standards, egotistical national chauvinism, and internalized elite values.

Propaganda in the US rests mostly in what is not said, but rather assumed. Such a system of indoctrination is extremely powerful as it serves the purpose of making certain thoughts not so much undesirable, but unthinkable, strikingly reminiscent of Orwell's depiction of totalitarian control and manipulation of the English language in his novel, 1984.

The language of US propaganda is indeed a foreign tongue to anyone who takes seriously the factual historical record, the nature of powerful institutions, and fundamental human decency with respect for human rights.
For any serious social and political discussion to materialize, it is imperative that we understand the vocabulary put forth by our cultural managers in order to dismantle the prevailing system of thought control and indoctrination.

Terrorist:
1) Anybody that the US fights against, 2) People who defend themselves from US attack, and 3) Perpetrators of terrorism whose terror doesn't serve US power

Privately Contracted Security Forces:
Mercenaries or paid killers unaccountable to the public

The state-backed public broadcaster the BBC said Monday it would close 200 websites over the next two years in a drive to slash costs and reshape online content.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110124/tuk-uk-britain-bbc-cuts-fa6b408.html


The "Evil Guys List"? 
"Free Journalism" in the Service of US Foreign Policy
The Role of Reporters without Borders

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18995
An organization calling itself Reporters Without Borders (RWB; French: Reporters sans frontières, or RSF) has just named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, China’s President Hu Jintao, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to their list of Forty Worst Predators of Press Freedom for 2010. Most significant about their list of ‘bad guys’ is the geopolitical relation of those leaders and those countries to the current ‘enemies list’ of the US State Department. That is no accident, as becomes clear when we look more closely at who funds RWB.

  Ask Not
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2011/01/23/ask-not-2
This last week was the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. I listened to it—twice. So, how good was it?

I agree with William Safire (as reported in Peter Grier’s Christian Science Monitor article) that JFK’s address stands as one of the best four political speeches of all time. It aroused my patriotism anew. I had been feeling so powerless, like Big This and Big That were in control of our lives and there was nothing I or anyone else could do about it. Yet, so much whining. So much “let’s gore your ox, but not mine.” So many assertions of entitlement for just being on the planet. And feeling so totally screwed.

Then JFK utters the most famous line from his remarkable speech. “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

In reverence, I got to wondering what little me could do—even if only small acts. I came up with a list that I hope to keep adding to.

Oh, and what are the other three best political speeches of all time? Those would be Abraham Lincoln’s two inaugural addresses (that clearly inspired Kennedy’s speech) and FDR’s 1933 address (“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”)

PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST
California judge approves landmark settlement in teacher layoff case
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/01/california-judge-approves-landmark-settlement-in-teacher-layoff-case.php
The class action suit accused the state of violating the California Constitution [text] by failing to provide equal opportunity in education and violating the privileges and immunities clause by adhering to a "last-hired, first-fired" layoff policy. The attorneys argued that policy was responsible for the firing of effective teachers which decimated the educational quality at the Plaintiff's schools.
Commission concludes Israel did not violate international law in flotilla raid
3:01 PM ET, January 23
 Sudan referendum voters overwhelmingly in favor of secession
2:21 PM ET, January 23
 California judge approves landmark settlement in teacher layoff case
5:01 PM ET, January 22
"Military Harassing David House, Jane Hamsher for Visiting Bradley Manning"
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/military-harassing-david-house-jane-hamsher-visiting-bradley-manning
Welcome to Bananastan, USA. Where the real media of the day get detained by the military and their car towed away and the fake media will probably file a report blaming them for being angry Bloggers.
Update below the fold...FDL has a statement up of their version of what wenbt down including this quote:
House and Hamsher were stopped and detained by military police who provided no explanation of detainment aside from a statement from one MP that his orders to detain had “come from the top.”
Go on and read the rest.


SPECIAL COVERAGE
No New NAFTA
FDL coverage of the new NAFTA-style Korean Free Trade Agreement
Private Bradley Manning
Investigating the inhumane conditions of Private Manning's detention
Just Say Now
Campaign to legalize marijuana
Foreclosure Fraud
Firedoglake uncovers foreclosure fraud across the nation
Prop 8 Trial
Liveblogging the landmark case in marriage equality and civil rights


Zodiac signs may shift with wobbling Earth

Explosion at Moscow's busiest airport

At least 30 people have died following an explosion at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow: report. » Latest details
 80 fuel tankers enter Afghanistan from Iran
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=692&ad=24-01-2011
Iran authorities today (January 23) allowed the fuel tankers of the Afghan traders to cross into Afghanistan. About 1,600 oil tankers have been blocked by the Iranian authorities. It was learnt that Iran has not been allowing fuel tankers of the Afghan traders to cross for the last two months.
Peshawar News
‘PPP-S will provide platform to tribes’
PESHAWAR (APP): Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (S), and former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao ... Full Story
What Mian Iftikhar says, what traffic cops do F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: What Mian Ifthikhar says and what the traffic police does are two different things as the following ... Full Story
Govt claims to complete road 8 months ahead of time
PESHAWAR (APP): The construction of embankment on River Swat is in full swing which will protect over ... Full Story
Afghanistan News
Political uncertainty looms as lawmakers’ meeting ends MPs re-send request to Karzai asking him to dissolve special court
KABUL (Agencies): Political uncertainty lingered in Afghanistan on Sunday after a meeting of elected ... Full Story
Taliban inflict losses to foreign forces
HERAT: (AIP): The Taliban Sunday claimed to have caused heavy losses and casualties to the foreign and ... Full Story

oNew York Times
oTech Crunch


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