You might be a domestic extremist if…., Tell your senators: No more excuses! Vote now to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, Obama on Religion & much more

You might be a domestic extremist if… Evidently, if you don’t take kindly to having your private parts either fried or groped, you are a domestic extremist. Yep, you heard me. A domestic extremist. Now what in the heck is that? Well, TSA and Big Sis Napolitano say.

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Tell your senators: No more excuses! Vote now to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”:  The Senate Armed Services Committee recently adopted an amendment as part of this year’s defense authorization bill, which would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the law that forbids gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Your Senator’s vote will be crucial to making sure that this repeal language stays in the defense bill. Since 1994, over 14,000 service members have been discharged under DADT due to their sexual orientation. We can no longer afford to lose some of our most talented soldiers, linguists, intelligence analysts, and doctors to this discriminatory and unconscionable policy. It hurts military readiness… it hurts unit cohesion… and, it is antithetical to American values.

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Fascism through corporate control of government [Excerpt of an article by David DeGraw]

Though the precise definition of Fascism may be argued, I am talking here of Fascism as defined as the corporate control of government.

Or as the Godfather of Fascism, Benito Mussolini, once summed it up: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” In the early 1900s, the Italians who invented the term Fascism also described it as “estato corporativo,” meaning: the corporate state.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once described Fascism this way: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by … a group, or any controlling private power.”

Very few Americans would argue the fact that corporations now control our government and have the dominant role in our society.

Senator Huey Long had it right when he warned: “When fascism comes to America, it will come in the form of democracy.”

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Permanent Link to $3 billion US bribe to Israel:  $3 billion US bribe to Israel The secret talks between US and Israeli officials, aimed at convincing the Israelis to change their position regarding the settlement freeze, started to smell more and more like a bribe, with some media reports calling it the $3 billion bribe.

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Prelude to a Shutdown: The 112th Congress has not even been seated yet, but its GOP Members are already salivating over the government shutdown they plan to force next year. Make no mistake, the Republican Party’s impending shutdown will have catastrophic consequences for American workers and the U.S. economy, but it is nothing more than an escalation of the GOP’s most recent tactics. During the 111th Congress, Republicans lacked the majorities to force a shutdown, but the Senate’s arcane rules gave them all the power they needed to hollow out the executive and judicial branches of government. Indeed, in many ways the shutdown began the moment President Obama took office, and GOP senators figured out they could keep virtually any Senate-confirmed job open as long as they saw fit.

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Obama Clarifies Religious Liberty Protections, Strengthens Foundation of Faith … Of course, the Bush order stated that federal programs had to comply with the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause. ..

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Tea Timing Republicans: The second wave was the Religious Right movement of Southern Evangelicals and conservative Catholics and Orthodox Jews that coalesced in 1978-1980, …
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Boehner Staff Met With Right-Wing Activist Who Demands GOP End Abortion Or Be … But, according to an email alert obtained by Right Wing Watch, Terry’s extremism has now secured him a spot in Beohner’s inner circle. …

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5 Right-Wing Scumbags Bankrolling Dangerous (and Plain Weird) Conservative Causes: But there are plenty more right-wing sugar daddies out there. So without further ado, let’s get started! Like most neoconservatives, Adelson’s goal in life …

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Tomgram: Engelhardt, The United States of Fear -The National Security State Cops a Feel, Taking Off the Gloves (and Then Everything Else) By  Tom Engelhardt: It’s finally coming into focus, and it’s not even a difficult equation to grasp.  It goes like this: take a country in the grips of an expanding national security state and sooner or later your “safety” will mean your humiliation, your degradation.  And by the way, it will mean the degradation of your country, too.

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VelvetRevolution.us: Tell The Prosecutor To Hold Breitbart Accountable! Help us hold Andrew Breitbart, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles accountable for the violations of criminal law they committed by illegally and surreptitiously recording employees of the Baltimore ACORN office in the summer of 2009 and posting edited versions online in order to harm ACORN. www.IndictBreitbart.org is a grassroots campaign to let law enforcement officials in Maryland know that ordinary citizens want accountability for those who break the law.

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Top 10 revelations from WikiLeaks cables: On Sunday, five international news outlets published a selection of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, provided by the website WikiLeaks. The disclosure of the cables, most of them from the past three years, offers a rare unfiltered view of the secretive world of high-level diplomacy. As such, it could complicate relations with a host of friendly and unfriendly nations.

But what did we actually learn? Here are 10 key revelations from the cables:

1. Many Middle Eastern nations are far more concerned about Iran’s nuclear program than they’ve publicly admitted. According to one cable, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly asked the U.S. to “cut off the head of the snake” — meaning, it appears, to bomb Iran’s nuclear program. Leaders of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern nations expressed similar views.

2. The U.S. ambassador to Seoul told Washington in February that the right business deals might get China to acquiesce to a reunified Korea, if the newly unified power were allied with the United States. American and South Korean officials have discussed such a reunification in the event that North Korea collapses under the weight of its economic and political problems.

3. The Obama administration offered sweeteners to try to get other countries to take Guantanamo detainees, as part of its (as yet unsuccessful) effort to close the prison. Slovenia, for instance, was offered a meeting with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions.

4. Afghan Vice President Ahmed Zia Massoud took $52 million in cash when he visited the United Arab Emirates last year, according to one cable. The Afghan government has been plagued by allegations of corruption. Massoud has denied taking the money out of the country.

5. The United States has been working to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani nuclear reactor, out of concern that it could be used to build an illicit nuclear device. The effort, which began in 2007, continues.

6. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ordered diplomats to assemble information on their foreign counterparts. Documents in the WikiLeaks cache also indicate that Clinton may have asked diplomats to gather intelligence on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s plans for Iran, and information on Sudan (including Darfur), Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Iran and North Korea.

7. The State Department labeled Qatar the worst country in the region for counterterrorism efforts. The country’s security services were “hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals,” according to one cable.

8. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are tighter than was previously known. Putin has given the high-living Berlusconi “lavish gifts” and lucrative energy contracts, and Berlusconi “appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin” in Europe, according to one cable.

9. Hezbollah continues to enjoy the weapons patronage of Syria. A week after Syrian president Bashar Assad promised the United States he wouldn’t send “new” arms to the Lebanese militant group, the United States said it had information that Syria was continuing to provide the group with increasingly sophisticated weapons.

10. Some cables reveal decidedly less than diplomatic opinions of foreign leaders. Putin is said to be an “alpha-dog” and Afghan President Hamid Karzai to be “driven by paranoia.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel “avoids risk and is rarely creative.” Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi travels with a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse.

The cables were obtained, via WikiLeaks, by the New York Times, the Guardian of Britain, Der Spiegel of Germany, Le Monde of France and El Pais of Spain.

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Paul Craig Roberts: Fabricating Terror: Why does the FBI orchestrate fake terror plots? The latest one snared Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American teenager in Portland, Oregon. The Associated Press report by William Mall and Nedra Pickler (11-27-10) is headlined in Yahoo News: “Somali-born teen plotted car-bombing in Oregon.”This is a misleading headline as the report makes it clear that it was a plot orchestrated by federal agents. Two sentences into the news report we have this: “The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the [FBI] agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.” The teenager was supplied with a fake bomb and a fake detonator.

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A Holiday Letter from the Family of an Air Force Academy Graduate

Evidence Showing The USA Has Become Police State

Desecrating the Quran

The Judge Who Stole Christmas

Why Do Atheists Target Christians?

Cardinal Pell: Faithless are coarse, uncaring and without purpose

This Week In Holy Crimes

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CommonDreams.org:

Unions, Progressives Blast Administration For Pay Freeze Proposal

Deceits, Plots, Insults: America Laid Bare

Oil Companies and Banks Will Profit From UN Forest Protection Scheme

Dave Lindorff | The Yahoos are in Charge: Taking It Out on the Kids, and the Grandkids

Cornucopia Institute: Dirty Little Secret in the Natural Foods Industry: Toxic Chemical Use

Center for Public Integrity (CPI): Obama: Economic Stimulus Trumps Environmental Laws

ACLU: U.S. Pressured Germany Not to Prosecute CIA Officers for Torture and Rendition

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SOTT.net (Signs of the Times)

Linda Norgrove Killed By US Special Forces, Report Will Say: A US investigation into the death of Linda Norgrove, the British aid worker, is understood to have found that she was killed by a hand grenade thrown by American Special Forces during a botched rescue attempt. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, will tell the House of Commons this week that the aid worker was tragically killed by her would-be rescuers but that the blame for her death must lie with her kidnappers.

Real Hope Is About Doing Something: On Dec. 16 I will join Daniel Ellsberg, Medea Benjamin, Ray McGovern and several military veteran activists outside the White House to protest the futile and endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of us will, after our rally in Lafayette Park, attempt to chain ourselves to the fence outside the White House. It is a pretty good bet we will all spend a night in jail. Hope, from now on, will look like this. Hope is not trusting in the ultimate goodness of Barack Obama, who, like Herod of old, sold out his people. It is not having a positive attitude or pretending that happy thoughts and false optimism will make the world better. Hope is not about chanting packaged campaign slogans or trusting in the better nature of the Democratic Party. Hope does not mean that our protests will suddenly awaken the dead consciences, the atrophied souls, of the plutocrats running Halliburton, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil or the government.

NHS enables Facebook to track surfers on health info website: Privacy experts have expressed dismay at a decision by the NHS to allow Facebook and Google to track users on one of its sites.

Interviewed on Russia Today News, former Reagan administration official and economist Paul Craig Roberts explains what is really going on behind the recent arrests of antiwar activists in the US by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Roberts explains that the real target of and threat to the US elite are the ’9/11 truthers’ and that, through the recent arrests and similar actions, the US government is attempting to establish in the public mind that any dissent against the ‘war on terror’, including questioning 9/11, is tantamount to terrorism itself.

Flashback: The Tortured and Manipulated ‘Terrorist Threat’ Evidence: Editor’s note: This Sott.net editorial is being ‘flash-backed’ as a result of the recent Portland ‘terror’ scare. Details of that incident can be read on Sott.net here. This article shows in abundant detail the efforts that the US government and associated ‘Intel’ agencies have made over the years to manufacture ‘home-grown terrorism’

NATO Incursions of Pakistani Airspace Continues Despite U.S. Denials: Despite Pakistan’s clear-cut political stance adopted amid stern warnings and the subsequent U. S.written apology and denials, the NATO aircrafts continued breaching Pakistani airspace, raising wonders if these incursions are being used as a barometer for testing Pakistani tolerance to possibly advance further into the territory, a general fear creeping into the Pakistani policy. Since September, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gunship helicopters violated Pakistani airspace defying integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan for over half a dozen times in insurgency plagued northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwest Balochistan provinces bordering Afghanistan further fueling the rising anti-Americanism.

Global poverty doubled since 1970s: UN: The number of very poor countries has doubled in the last 30 to 40 years, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has also grown two-fold, a UN think-tank warned Thursday. In its annual report on the 49 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that the model of development that has prevailed to date for these countries has failed and should be re-assessed.

FBI apparently set up US teen blamed for fake car bomb: Boy told undercover agents he could get a gun because he’s a “rapper”; authored article containing “jihad” workout tips. An Somali-born, American teenager was apparently set up by federal law enforcement officials who posed as radical Islamic fighters and lured the young man into a plot he believed would lead him to detonate a car bomb at an Oregon Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The bomb, provided by FBI agents, was “inert” and did not pose a threat to public safety, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Oregon.

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CounterPunch.org

Ralph Nader
Missing the Mark on Deficits

Paul Craig Roberts
Fabricating Terror: the Portland “Bomb” Plot

Jonathan Cook
Wikileaks and the New Global Order

James McEnteer
Indian Givers

Winslow T. Wheeler
The Defense Budget and the Deficit: How the Plans Compare

Ramzy Baroud
Obama Surrenders Palestinian Rights

Missy Beattie
The Greedy and the Needy

Ellen Taylor
The Navy’s Toxic Tentacles

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War On You: News Without Corporate Views

Gordon Duff: Unconstitutional, Time to End the Scanner Scam

OMG… TSA Forces Woman to Cut Off Her Nipple Rings With Pliers (Video)

Wikileaks “Cablegate” operation justifies Zionist war propaganda

Assassinations, Wars and Meltdowns: Who Benefits?

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wikileak’s Document Dump

NOTHING IN THE LEAKED DOCUMENTS EMBARRASS ISRAEL ONE BIT.

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AlterNet

“A Guy Burned Alive in Front of Me”: Treating Traumatized Vets: The way we understand and use PTSD tempts all of us — providers, society, and veterans — to view the veteran as a victim, which may hurt them more than help.

Creepy Christian Patriarchy Movement Shackles Daughters to Their Fathers and Homes

5 Right-Wing Scumbags Bankrolling Dangerous (and Plain Weird) Conservative Causes

Boehner’s Staff Meets With Terrorists

WikiLeaks’ Next Target: American Bank?

Ex-German Chancellor Says Bush is a Liar

Meet Our Newest Theocrat: Christian Fundamentalist Senator Mike Lee Goes to Washington

7 Shocking WikiLeaks Revelations

The 6 Stages of Backlash Against the TSA’s Ridiculous Security Theater

Climate Change Could Cause Half the World to Lose Access to Clean Water

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Incase You Missed These – November 28th, 2010 Sunday Round-up

Belief in Demonic Possession Has Led to Great Suffering: Theories of demonic possession and the belief that exorcism is an effective cure have done unimaginable damage to countless people suffering from mental illness over the centuries. This is an important and very sad lesson about the evils to which religion can lead. Just when we think that modern science has finally displaced these dangerous myths, we find those who are determined to return us all to the Dark Ages in the name of their religion. Thus, we should not be surprised that even now in 2010 there are Roman Catholic bishops insisting that we need even more of this superstitious bullshit!

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‘You Know It’s a Myth’ Billboard Generates Controversy: If your faith is so weak that a billboard is going to destroy it, then your faith wasn’t worth keeping in the first place.

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Keep Your Eyes On The Lies: But it is.  Can you say BP?  Global warming? Global recession caused by Wall Street greed? We have to act.  Period.  Even by not acting we are acting. The only two questions are, What do we do?, and For whose benefit do we do it?

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The Most Religious States in the U.S.A. are also the Fattest: Tim Covell from Born Atheist has put together one heck of a press release about an issue those of us living in some of the more religious states of the U.S. have long observed. Using data from the Calorie Lab and Gallup, he points to a relationship between religiosity and obesity at the state level: “The most religious state, Mississippi, is also the most obese. Similarly, the second most religious state, Alabama is the second most obese. In fact, nine out of ten of the most religious states are also the most obese: Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kentucky all fall within the top ten in the religiousness and obesity ratings (see chart at the end of this media release).”

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Tim Covell says in his new book, Born Atheist: Covell points out that religionists such as drug-using, prostitute-patronizing evangelical Ted Haggard serve as examples of religionist morality.  Covell says there is no logic behind Christians’ claims of moral superiority.  Christian doctrine expects people to act immorally–to sin.  But church doctrine forgives them for their sinful conduct.  And an even bigger flaw to their claim of moral superiority is that the god they supposedly answer to is imaginary.  There is no heaven, there is no hell and there is no man in the sky who sees what they do and punishes them.”

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God bless the Christian Corporate States of America! In the year 2025

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Fire at Ore. Islamic center; no injuries: Officials say a fire burned part of a Corvallis mosque that was the occasional place of worship for a Somali-born teen who two days ago was arrested on charges of plotting a terror attack in Portland.

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(NOTE: WE CAN’T EVEN MONITOR OUR OWN ELECTIONS PROPERLY):

Mubarak snubs U.S. call for election monitors: The Egyptian government has publicly rejected U.S. demands — and President Obama’s personal request — for monitors to observe Sunday’s parliamentary elections and for adherence to international standards of transparency and fairness.

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Tribalism Promotes Religious Violence: (A Born Atheist Seeks to Counter Religious Violence): In his new book Born Atheist, Tim Covell searches to explain why religious zealots kill, and comes up with a novel explanation, tribalism. Covell explains that the West’s most influential religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all rely on ancient scriptures that give them the name, “the people of the book.” Covell says,  “The scriptures reflect the knowledge and values of their ancient authors and when they are used for modern guidance they act sort of like a time machine, inappropriately dragging outdated knowledge and values into the modern world.” “The Torah, Bible and Koran all incorporate tribalism, including the authority and even the obligation to kill those who belong to other tribes or religions,” Covell says.  For example, one Bible verse provides, “[Christians] entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.”  Similarly, the Koran provides, “[Non-Muslims] wish that you reject faith, as they have rejected faith, and thus that you all become equal, like one another. So take not . . . protectors or friends from them, till they emigrate in the Way of Allah. . . . But if they turn back from Islam, take hold of them and kill them wherever you find them.”

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Berlin Efforts to Prevent Iraq Invasion – Classified Papers Prove German Warnings to Bush:  A classified document obtained by SPIEGEL shows notes from a meeting between a top German diplomat and Condoleezza Rice just weeks before the Iraq invasion. It indicates steps by the German government to prevent the war and undermines claims in George W. Bush’s memoir that Gerhard Schröder indicated he would support the president should the US go to war.

SPIEGEL has now obtained a previously secret copy of notes taken from a conversation in February 2003 marked “Classified Information — For Internal Use Only.”

…

…  According to the notes — all in German — the meeting amounted to 90 minutes of verbal blows, which primarily stemmed from Rice’s “relatively rigorous and uncompromising” defense of the US position. The same notes indicate that Scharioth didn’t budge an inch toward Washington, either.

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The crux of the German argument was that the political costs of a war in Iraq would be “higher than (the) political returns.”

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The Germans also predicted that the real beneficiary of a war in Iraq would actually be Iran, and that a US-led attack would further complicate efforts to reach a solution in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Likewise, they prophesized that going to war would precipitate a “terrorist backlash.” Scharioth stressed that it was important “to win over the hearts and minds of the Muslim elite and youths,” according to the notes, and that this was “not to be achieved” by going to war.  …

…

During this time, the Americans were growing impatient because they wanted to launch their attack before the onset of the heat and sandstorms accompanying the warmer months of the year. …  In response, Berlin called for the inspections regime to be intensified and for the inspectors to be given more time. …Rice justifiably complained that the Germans were apparently pursuing the goal of “preventing the United States from going to war.”*

FULL STORY

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RawStory.com:

Senators, Liz Cheney want WikiLeaks leakers prosecuted

Former Bush official: GOP ‘beyond redemption’

McCain hits ‘inexperienced’ Obama for vowing ‘don’t ask’ repeal

Fox scrubs page, comments that mistook Onion for real news

Arson at mosque linked to Portland bomb suspect

North Korean artillery heard on frontline island

FBI stopped Portland bomb suspect from taking job before sting

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TruthOut.org

WikiLeaks Releases State Department Cables

DREAM Act Students Defy Deportations, Demand Vote in Congress

The Naked Truth About Capital Gains

With US-South Korea War Games, a Signal to North Korea

Israeli Government Documents Show Deliberate Policy to Restrict Food to Gaza

Next Chapter in the “Republican War Against Women”

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BuzzFlash.com

The War in Afghanistan is About Perpetual War, Not Afghanistan

With the New TSA Procedures, Virgin Airlines Should be Renamed “Don’t Taze My Junk, Bro!”

Five Reasons to Care about Haiti’s Sham Elections

The Lesson of Tom DeLay: a Jury of Our Peers Can Weigh in on the Scales of Justice

Extension of Unemployment Benefits Essential for Millions

Darrell Issa to begin Congressional Witch Hunts on Democrats

Former Schröder Spokesman Questions Bush’s Intelligence GOP “Beyond Redemption”

Scowcroft on START: ‘Partisan’ GOP Doesn’t Want To Give Obama ‘A Foreign Policy Victory’

Should Uninformed Partisan Hacks be Telling the American People What to Think and Directing Public Policy?

Thom Hartmann’s Book Review Exclusively for Truthout/BuzzFlash: “Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why”

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JoeMyGod.blogspot.com

Over the last seven days…

Alabama: Pastor Carl Lloyd arrested for sodomizing a child.
New York: Rabbi Yehuda Kolko arrested for violating order of protection against 12 year-old boy he’s accused of molesting.
Japan: Buddhist priest Nobuaki Matsumoto busted for hiring middle-school age prostitute.
Florida: Pastor Daniel Richard Robida charged with unlawful sexual acts with a child.
Ireland: Father Raymond Brady charged with molesting ten boys.
Missouri: Pastor Travis Ray Smith on trial for felony statutory rape and child molestation.
Britain: Imam Hafiz Rahman found guilty of child molestation.
Wisconsin: Father Robert Chukwu agrees to repay half of $180K he’s accused of embezzling from his parish.
Virginia: Pastor Irwin Baldwin sentenced to 90 years in prison for soliciting sex from who he thought was a 13 year-old girl. Baldwin in 82.
Britain: Father David Pearce charged with sexual assault on a child. Pearce is already in prison for similar charges.
New Hampshire: Pastor Timothy Dillmuth found guilty of failing to report child molestation.
Alaska: Pastor Shawn Justice found guilty on eight felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.
Florida: Pastor Rodney McGill found guilty of swindling $40K in a church mortgage scam. McGill was found guilty of a similar crime last year.
Manitoba: Orthodox Archbishop Kenneth William Storheim charged with two counts of sexual assault on unnamed persons.
Indiana: Pastor Robert McFadden sentenced to four years in prison for sexual abuse of a 16 year-old girl.
Pennsylvania: Father Geraldo Pinero suspended after feds raid his rectory to break up his online Ponzi schemes.

This Week’s Winner
Texas: Father John M. Fiala has been charged with hiring a hit man to murder the 12 year-old boy who has accused the priest of raping him at gunpoint. Police say Fiala offered $5000 to an informant to murder the child. In a separate pending lawsuit the boy contends that Fiala’s diocese had attempted to cover up his accusations of molestation.

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ReligionDispatches.org

To Be Rich is To Be Saved – The Economy is Sacred, Stupid: Am I stepping out of bounds by raising the possibility that perhaps a good many Christians who love this country, and who hate this president and blame the government for all that ails them, are religious in ways that are not so readily apparent in their own self-image?

Michael Vick Walks on Water: Updated: Michael Vick redeemed himself with a record-breaking performance in a 59-28 blowout of the Redskins. But without the chance to play pro football again Vick would have been just another celebrity ex-con, not the miracle he’s now judged to be.

Why I Won’t Leave the Mormon Church Alone: After her agonizing break, a former devout Mormon explains why she felt the need to write about her church.

Did Glenn Beck Watch the Same Movie We Did?: Shock jock reads Religion Dispatches blog post on-air.

The Other Puritan Dinner Party: Giving thanks for dissident Anne Hutchinson.

Hate Crimes Drop, But are Gays Safer?: Gays subject to disproportionate violence.

The Limits Of Polling To Understand The Influence Of Religion: Religion and the Election, Part II: Brookings report too narrowly defines “religious” issues to conclude religion didn’t play a role in the mid-terms.

The Pope’s “Condom Sense”:  Benedict’s remarks, clarified today, represent a “big shift.”

Glenn Beck Hijacks It’s a Wonderful Life: Claims “God will provide” for Ohio town hit hard by economic downturn.

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Salon.com

How to get completely off the grid: Too much together time? We look at super remote locales, from ice roads in Russia to a Cambodian island

“Toilets”: The hidden meaning of toilets: An expert explains what you didn’t know about toilets — from safety to cleanliness to gender politics

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Trailer for new Earthships Documentary

‘An inspiring and personal story about a group of people building sustainable housing in the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, it also serves as an introductory guide to building alternative sustainable housing, as well as describing with the use of animation, how these buildings offer solutions to today’s most important issues like: energy,water,food, shelter, sewage and recycling.

We shouldn’t assure gay teens that their lives will get better without also pledging to make equality a reality.

Straight Talk: Obama’s “It Gets Better” video, on the other hand, is primarily an anti-bullying public service announcement — about as politically risky as decrying people who kick puppies or steal old ladies’ handbags. In a message directed toward kids who feel constantly threatened, Obama chooses the safe path. He tells gay teens to stay strong and that “there is a whole world waiting for you, filled with possibilities” — which is true, unless they aspire to marriage, parenthood, or a career in military service. Indeed, within days of posting the president’s “It Gets Better” video, the Obama administration announced it would be reinstating “don’t ask, don’t tell” after a recent court ruling that ordered the military to stop enforcing the policy. Obama may want things to get better for LGBT teens, but he is not working to ensure that they do.

Federal Pay Freeze – Apply To Contractors, Too? In the news: President Obama has proposed to freeze the pay of all federal workers. Demonstrating again his unique negotiating technique of giving concessions before negotiations begin, without asking for reciprocal concessions from the other side (also known as “pre-caving”), the President today announced that the pay of all federal employees will be frozen for two years. Question: Does this pay freeze also apply to the massive privatized federal contractor workforce, and the pay of the executives of companies who administer this workforce?

10 Reasons Why You Should Get a Dog Instead of a Facelift

Backbone, Please: For an antidote to this economically insane medicine, have a look at the counterproposal written by three progressive think tanks, which proposes recovery first.

Texas Politicians Want to Drop Medicaid: Texas conservatives, unhappy that health care reform legislation will open Medicaid’s doors to millions in Texas, are considering of abandoning Medicaid in their state. Maggie Mahar looks at the facts behind Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

How To Cope With Winter Blues: Around 50% of the adult population find that, the onset of winter gets them down. The nights are drawing in and there’s a nip in the air, one in four of us will succumb to the winter blues or full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  Here are some tips that can help get you through the winter months smiling.

The Progressive Deficit Hawk: Last February, President Barack Obama appointed Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a progressive Democrat from Chicago’s north lakefront and near north suburbs, to his 18-member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Co-chaired by Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff for President Clinton and a millionaire investment banker, and former Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson, the bipartisan but distinctly conservative commission is supposed to come up with a plan to reduce long-term growth of federal budget deficits—deficits fueled by Bush’s tax cuts, two wars, the Great Recession, programs to fight the recession, and rapidly rising health costs. In early November the two co-chairs floated their proposal, much to the surprise of commission members like Schakowsky, a former community organizer (of senior citizens, among others) and part of the House Democratic leadership team. Shortly afterward, amid a flurry of other proposals, Schakowsky presented her own, much different plan.

The Snapshot: The Public on Deficit Mania, the Bush Tax Cuts, and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: More than occasionally the discussion in Washington seems light-years removed from the public’s actual concerns. This is especially true of the discussion cultivated by conservatives. Consider public views in three areas of current political controversy: the deficit, President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, and the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the military.

Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Notable Books of 2010

Out of work, and out of benefits: Many unemployed workers exhaust their unemployment benefits before finding work, which leaves them at risk of financial ruin. A look at how extended benefits protect families from poverty, while also stimulating the economy.

National Fiscal Hypocrisy Week: Welcome to National Fiscal Hypocrisy Week. Today (Monday), Congress takes up a measure delaying by one month a scheduled 23% cut in federal reimbursements to doctors. The cut will automatically go into effect unless Congress acts. But of course Congress will act. Doctors threaten to drop Medicare patients if their rates are cut. Congress has delayed scheduled Medicare cuts for years. The best outcome would be an agreement to contain future health-care costs by allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power with drug companies and medical suppliers to reduce rates; by allowing Americans to buy drugs from Canada; by applying the antitrust laws to health insurers; and by giving the public an option to buy their health care from a government-run public option. Likelihood of any of this happening over Republican and DINO objections is zero.

Frustrated by His Own Party: FDR eventually did what many wish Obama would do — challenge the troublemakers in the party.

Tax The Rich: A Deficit Plan That Doesn’t Hit We, the People: Here is MY deficit-reduction plan. This plan does not reflect the views of anyone but myself — and maybe half the population. Unlike deficit plans from the “serious people” in DC, this one doesn’t annihilate the poor and gut Social Security and the middle class while passing even more of the benefits of our society up to a few at the top.

Parents Beware: Many Toys Still Toxic, Hazardous: Consumer group offers tips and interactive tools to help consumers shop safely.

The Power of Failure:  Despite the very dire consequences of the latest financial crisis that Wall Street perpetrated on the world, America cannot seem to shake its infatuation with Wall Street bankers and traders. We continue to shower them with riches, prestige and glory. We make movies about them. We write books about them. We seriously overpay and then envy them. The question is why? Why do we tolerate the questionable morality and behavior that too many on Wall Street get rewarded to exhibit? Why do we put up with repeated Wall Street-generated financial calamities? Why do we seem to excuse one insider-trading and pay-for-play scandal after another? Why haven’t we woken up from our generational slumber and realized that we would be better off rewarding real engineers, not financial engineers?

False Sense of Urgency over Changes to Social Security: There is enormous public confusion (much of it deliberately cultivated) about the extent of Social Security’s projected shortfall. Many policymakers and analysts point out that projections from the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Trustees show the program to be out of balance in the long-term, therefore we would be best advised to make changes as soon as possible. This paper argues that supporters of the existing Social Security system should try to ensure that no major changes to the core program are implemented in the immediate future.

Winning the Class War: The class war that no one wants to talk about continues unabated. Even as millions of out-of-work and otherwise struggling Americans are tightening their belts for the holidays, the nation’s elite are lacing up their dancing shoes and partying like royalty as the millions and billions keep rolling in. Recessions are for the little people, not for the corporate chiefs and the titans of Wall Street who are at the heart of the American aristocracy. They have waged economic warfare against everybody else and are winning big time.

Newspapers, Are They Bad For Your Health? Whilst it is accepted that newspapers can be informative, there is also a wide range of conflicting advice when it comes to current health issues and health related information in articles from newspapers especially.

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Money-Driven Medicine

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Explaining how complexity can arise through gradual evolution and debunking anti-evolutionist arguments:

 

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WarIsACrime.org:

You may not die for the Pentagon, but if you do not it will be your children or grandchildren. Would you rather go to jail for a few hours with a bunch of friends or see your grandchildren killed? Is the question getting easier?

Here’s a well kept secret: many Americans are doing something about it, and Veterans for Peace is taking the lead. We’re going to the White House on Thursday, December 16th at 10 a.m.: http://stopthesewars.org

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Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country

Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country

Truthout is proud to bring you an exclusive series from America’s No. 1 progressive radio host, Thom Hartmann. We’ll be publishing weekly installments of Hartmann’s acclaimed new book, “Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country.”

We invite Truthout readers to join us as, chapter by chapter, we explore these groundbreaking ideas for national transformation.

Rebooting The American Dream

Introduction: Back to the Future

Chapter One: Bring My Job Home!

Chapter Two: Roll Back the Reagan Tax Cuts

Visit us every Monday for a new chapter!

MORE

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Homeland Security shuts down dozens of Web sites without court order

By Daniel Tencer
Friday, November 26th, 2010 — 2:25 pm

The Homeland Security Department’s customs enforcement division has gone on a Web site shutdown spree, closing down at least 76 domains this week, according to online reports.

While many of the web domains were sites that trafficked in counterfeit brand name goods, and some others linked to copyright-infringing file-sharing materials, at least one site was a Google-like search engine, causing alarm among web freedom advocates who worry the move steps over the line into censorship.

All the shut sites are now displaying a Homeland Security warning that copyright infringers can face up to five years in prison.

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Tax the Rich: A Deficit Plan That Doesn’t Hit We, The People

Friday 26 November 2010

by: Dave Johnson   |  Campaign for America’s Future | Report

Here is MY deficit-reduction plan. This plan does not reflect the views of anyone but myself — and maybe half the population. Unlike deficit plans from the “serious people” in DC, this one doesn’t annihilate the poor and gut Social Security and the middle class while passing even more of the benefits of our society up to a few at the top.

MORE

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The US of A breaks the Soviet record

The Soviet Union couldn’t win in Afghanistan, and now the United States is about to have something in common with that futile campaign: nine years, 50 days.

MORE

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Former National Security Advisor on START: “Partisan” GOP Don’t Want to Give Obama “A Foreign Policy Victory”

Saturday 27 November 2010

by: Ben Armbruster   |  ThinkProgress | Report

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been the leading Senate Republican urging the upper chamber of Congress to ratify the New START arms control treaty with Russia. However, the Republican obstructionism that has become so routine throughout the past two years of President Obama’s tenure is standing in the way. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has been the face of the GOP hamstringing and despite the fact that this non-controversial treaty — one that closely mirrors the one President Reagan signed with the Soviet Union — has been thoroughly debated in the Senate for nearly a year, Kyl told the New York Times, “If they try to jam us [in the lame-duck session], if they try to bring this up the week before Christmas, it’ll be defeated.”

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Girl arrested for allegedly burning Qur’an

A 15-year-old girl has been arrested in the West Midlands on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English-language version of the Qur’an – and then posting video footage of the act on Facebook.

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Is squirrel eating making a comeback in America? – Austerity stew:

Grey squirrels are ubiquitous in North America – scurrying across our lawns and up our trees, burying nuts and taunting our tantalised dogs.  Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, squirrels are cute, furry and, apparently, very edible.  The notion of stewed squirrel may not tempt everybody’s taste buds, but in an age of tightening belts and financial severity, the humble abundance of the squirrel is causing some to reconsider its epicurean virtue.

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The TSA, the Right, and My Busted Watch

Friday 26 November 2010

by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

For the last several days, I have been trying to locate what would appear to be the appropriate and necessary level of angst and fury over the issue of heavy-handed TSA searches at American airports. I say “appropriate and necessary” because, well, all the noise surrounding the matter seems to suggest I have no alternative other than outrage, and if I fail to react that way, I am some sort of dupe, a fool who doesn’t understand the Constitutional issues at hand or the dangers represented by what has been described as a glaring governmental over-reach.

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A Debate on the Source of Human Morality

Matt Dillahunty, president of the Atheist Community of Austin and host of The Atheist Experience, took part in a debate on the source of human morality. It took place at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and his opponent was Father Hans Jacobse, a priest who heads the American Orthodox Institute.

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Political Marching: What’s at risk?

Marching did not always work and often ended in violence whether in Chicago’s Haymarket Square in 1886 or outside the Winter Palace in St Petersburgin 1905.

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Rewriting US history, GOP Rep claims Pilgrims fled European socialism

By Stephen C. Webster
Saturday, November 27th, 2010 — 1:52 pm

“Socialism” as a defined economic system did not emerge until the 20th century’s great industrial revolutions drove Russian laborers to unite behind Vladimir Lenin — but don’t tell that to Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO).

Akin, according to a speech given on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, instead believes it started much earlier. He claimed that the first group of settlers to set sail for the new world were fleeing an “unbiblical” socialism that had gripped their homeland.

It’s a new spin to the oft-repeated, still untrue conservative fairy tale that casts the pilgrims as America’s capitalist forefathers.

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T-Bagger and next United States Senator-elect for Florida, Marco Rubio: Deluded This Way or That Way?

If candidates want to label themselves with a faith, then let them explain those beliefs Tell us what they are without sugar-coating them. If they think Jesus turns himself into a cracker so we can eat him, let’s hear it. If they think Jews are going to hell, let’s hear it. If they only decided that black people could become priests in 1978, let’s hear it.

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Deadly Spin

An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans

Since Wendell Potter walked away from his executive position at a top health insurance company in May of 2008, he has worked tirelessly as an outspoken critic of corporate PR and the distortion and fear manufactured by America’s health insurance industry. It is a PR juggernaut that is bankrolled by millions of dollars, rivaling lobbying budgets and underwriting many “non-partisan” grassroots organizations. How would Potter know? He wrote many of the industry’s talking points himself.

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Major shift taking place away from Christianity while killing the Demons in your Mother, God disguised as a TSA agent, and much more….

Helping Promote the Teaching of Evolution in School (via Rap):

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Among young adults in the U.S., sociologists are seeing a major shift taking place away from ChristianityRecent studies have brought the trend to light. Among the findings released in 2009 from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), one stood out. The percentage of Americans claiming “no religion” almost doubled in about two decades, climbing from 8.1 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008. The trend wasn’t confined to one region. MORE

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The co-chair of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission Wyoming Republican Alan Simpson says senior’s are “greediest generation”: Deficit commission’s Simpson calls US seniors the ‘greediest generation’. Wyoming Republican Alan Simpson has a pretty low opinion of the people that have paid into Social Security all their lives and now need something back. The co-chair of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission lashed out at seniors Wednesday because they are unhappy with his ideas for reducing the deficit by cutting Social Security benefits while reducing corporate taxes.MORE

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‘Socialism and Liberation in the United States’

What we are Fighting for

November, 2010. 57 pages, perfect bound. $6.95
ISBN: 978-0-9841220-2-8 • Library of Congress: 2010937412

Excerpt: “The need for the socialist reorganization of society becomes more apparent and urgent with each passing day. While a tiny part of the population grows ever richer, tens of millions of workers here in the United States and billions of workers around the world sink deeper into poverty. Monumental advances in science and technology, which could have uplifted the many, instead have mainly enriched the few.”

This book is comprised of two documents written by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The first, “The Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation,” was adopted by the First Congress of the PSL in February 2010. It is a political program that outlines what a workers’ government would do upon a revolutionary triumph in the United States……Socialism and Liberation in the United States is a handbook for understanding the world we live in, and how to bring about meaningful change based on the power of workers and oppressed people over the corporate elite and their system of exploitation. MORE

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Piercing the Multi-Faceted Coat – Scientists are targeting pathogens’ surface proteins to battle disease:Imagine battle armor that is so effective it continually transforms itself—adapting to protect its wearer from fast-changing assaults. In the microbial realm, the wearer is a pathogen that uses its responsive armor—consisting of the varying protein coats on its surface—to fend off the host’s immune-system defenses. MORE

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The Taliban Laughs at the U.S.: In exclusive interviews with The Daily Beast’s Mushtaq Yusufzai, high-ranking Taliban commanders in Afghanistan respond to recent revelations that NATO officials were negotiating with an impostor. “Imagine,” Mohammad Hafiz, a senior Taliban commander, told The Daily Beast, “if a shopkeeper from Quetta can make a fool of them and keep them engaged in talks for months, how do they believe they can defeat the Taliban?” MORE

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The Myth of Christian Persecution in the United States: The fact is that Christians are very much privileged in the United States.  Christianity is an ideology in the US that enjoys implicit, unreflecting, and uncritical acceptance and one would have to be a complete fucking idiot to counter the fact that the mythical delusion of Christianity is dominant here. Christians are continuously told that they are special and deserve privileges. Many stores take the Christian sabbath into account and are not open for business on Sundays.  Most Christians don’t have to work on their holidays.  They can assume that television programming will be geared toward their holidays. MORE

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Allies May Hate U.S. After Latest WikiLeaks Release: The U.S. government has notified Ottawa that the WikiLeaks website is preparing to release sensitive U.S. diplomatic files that could damage U.S. relations with allies around the world. U.S. officials say the documents may contain accounts of compromising conversations with political dissidents and could result in the expulsion of U.S. diplomats from foreign postings… MORE

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Marx, Money and Modern World – Finance Capital and Imperialism Today – Theories of late capitalist development: Contemporary imperialism: There are two moments in the first  decade of the 21st century that will be  etched sharply in the historical record  for many years to come.  On 11 September 2001 the attacks by  Al-Qaeda terrorists, on the World Trade  Centre made history turn on a diabolic  course. The most right-wing adminis-  tration America had seen since the  Reagan years, took the opportunity  presented to declare a permanent war  on states and people’s considered hos-  tile to US influence. MORE – PDF DOWNLOAD

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How Palin Flunks Feminism:The governor-turned-reality-TV-star’s new book dives into feminist history—distorting and misunderstanding it every step of the way, says The Daily Beast’s Michelle Goldberg. MORE

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Picking the Colonizers’ Vegetable: The California coast, from Davenport south through Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Castroville, is brussels sprouts country. Most of this vegetable in north America comes from these fields, although a growing harvest now takes place in Baja California, in northern Mexico. In both California and Baja California, the vast majority of the people who harvest brussels sprouts, like those who pick other crops, are Mexican. In Baja they’re migrants from the states of southern Mexico. In California, they’re immigrant workers who’ve crossed the border to labor in these fields. On a cold November day, this crew of Mexican migrant workers picks brussels sprouts on a ranch outside of Watsonville. MORE

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Giving Up Christmas: Come along with me on a little journey—one that I hope is instructive to others who are struggling, not only with Christmas, but with the religiously based baggage that most of us carry from our cultures of origin. MORE

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The Death of Real News: We live now in a cable news universe that celebrates the opinions of Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly – individuals who hold up the twin pillars of political partisanship and who are encouraged to do so by their parent organizations because their brand of analysis and commentary is highly profitable. MORE

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Need Shelter? Must Show Proof of Residency: That means that before an outreach worker could give a blanket to someone staying on the street, before a meal program could serve breakfast to someone who is homeless, before somebody who is seeking to come in and spend the night outside of the frigid elements, they would have to prove and verify that they were District residents.” MORE

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Sword nut’s chilling confession: ‘I killed the demon inside her’: Unhinged actor calmly describes hacking his mother to death: ‘I didn’t kill her. I killed the demon inside her’ MORE

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Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved: From hiccups to wisdom teeth, the evolution of homo sapiens has left behind some glaring, yet innately human, imperfections The Top  MORE

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False Flag Alert: ‘US-S.Korea Joint Military Exercises Possible: “There are myriad actions the U.S. is discussing with allies, including action at the United Nations Security Council and further sanctions. No decisions have been made yet, the consultation process is in the “initial stages.”… MORE

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FBI Sting Foils Fake Bomb Plot: The FBI successfully thwarted a terrorist bombing in Portland, Oregon after following the suspect for over a year. The would-be terrorist, 19-year-old Somali immigrant Mohamed Mohamud, parked a van loaded with an explosive device near a tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland. But the FBI had replaced his bomb with a dummy and arrested Mohamud as he tried to detonate it with a cell phone. “This defendant’s chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people—even here in Oregon—who are determined to kill Americans,” Oregon’s U.S. attorney said. Mohamud is due to appear in court Monday and faces a life sentence, along with a $250,000 fine. An undercover FBI agent gave Mohamud a fake bomb as part of a sting operation that began in June 2010. FBI and police officials say that at no point was anyone in danger, but court documents reveal that Mohamud was eager to see everyone leave the ceremony “dead or injured.” MORE

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A Workers’ Answer to the Crisis: An action program for the working class in America – Over the past three years, the world witnessed dramatic, far-reaching changes and consequences. The global credit crunch resulted in a historic financial crisis. A series of corporations— a number of them ma jor icons of American capitalism—have collapsed into bankruptcy, were forced into takeovers, or were nationalized outright. Ma jor companies now depend on cash injections from the government just to stay afloat, and capital- ist governments all over the world are desperately seeking to shift the worst effects of the crisis onto one another. There is, however, one thing on which both the bosses and politicians agree: the working class must pay the costs of the crisis.  MORE – PDF DOWNLOAD

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Seven Reasons – Why God Isn’t Necessary: To provide a moral code · So you can go to heaven or stay out of hell · Someone to forgive your sins · To help with earthly problems · To explain the mysteries of the universe · To explain why things happen to us personally · Someone to talk to. MORE

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10 Ways to Make Your Living Room More Green: Obviously, the greenest choice in a remodel project would be not to remodel at all. You would not need to buy materials, nor would you contribute any waste products. But that would defeat the whole idea of making your space better. The real green remodeling question is: How to do this with the least amount of impact to the planet? MORE

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Investigative TV show on BBC ‘Panorama’ finds anti-Semitic, homophobic texts in schools: The BBC’s Panorama programme has found Antisemitis evidence that Muslim schoolchildren in England are being taught anti-Semitic and homophobic material from a Saudi textbook.  The syllabus used at a network of more than 40 weekend schools details how the hands and feet are chopped off as punishment for thieves and teaches that the penalty for gay sex is execution. MORE

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Obama’s Bush Doctrine in Korea: A key reason that Obama was elected President was his promise to abandon the Bush doctrine of unilateral foreign policy, meaning that Obama would work with other countries toward a more cooperative, peaceful world. The threat of war in Korea exposes Obama — yet again — as a dangerous copycat of Bush’s approach to global politics. A simple way for Obama to live up to his campaign promise would be to immediately agree to China’s request to continue the six party talks over the Korean situation, involving North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China, and the U.S. The last such meeting was held at the end of Bush’s term. Here is what Obama said about the six party talks on Veterans day while visiting Seoul. MORE

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TSA Agent Says “I Am God!”: “I am God…I’m in charge!” -TSA agent   What a surprise! These are the people looking after your “security”. These are the ones you are supposed to allow to scan and look at your naked body and grope your wife and daughters!  MORE

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Fox Objects to Obama’s Children’s Book – For Sitting Bull’s inclusion: Obama Book  If President Obama does anything these days, it seems to garner criticism from his detractors—including writing a children’s book. Several conservative media outlets, led by Fox News, have taken issue with Obama’s children’s book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, claiming the president appears to sing the praises of certain historical figures—including César Chávez, Georgia O’Keeffe, Sioux leader Sitting Bull, and Maya Lin—over others as role models for children. The book is written as if writing a letter to his children, with Obama asking, “Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” before guiding two little girls—his daughters, Sasha and Malia—on a journey using the lives of famous Americans to describe good qualities of character. MORE

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What Props Up the “Evil Empire”? 737 Military Bases Worldwide: When the Berlin Wall fell I was a naive young American. I thought, what a wonderful world it will be without the threat of that “Evil Empire” the Soviet Union. I thought that the US would quickly demilitarize and capitalize on the peace dividend. I thought that most of our bases would be closed around the world and the troops would make it home… MORE

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Arizona Shouldn’t Use Tax Dollars to Fund Religious Education, Says the American Humanist Association: A Republican congressman hoping to chair the powerful House Energy Committee refers to the Bible and God on the issue of global warming. Representative John Shimkus insists we shouldn’t concerned about the planet being destroyed because God promised Noah it wouldn’t happen again after the great flood. Speaking before a House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing in March, 2009, Shimkus quoted Chapter 8, Verse 22 of the Book of Genesis. He said: ‘As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.’MORE

RELATED:

Meet the GOP Science Skeptics Likely to Hold Top House Science, Energy Posts

John Shimkus, GOP Rep. Who Denies Climate Change On Religious Grounds, Could Lead House Environmental Policy

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Videos to watch:

George Carlin: “The Ten Commandments Broken Down”

The Source of Human Morality?

A Special Message from the TSA

Red State Socialism – How They Exploit Socialism Like Nazis for the Wealthy

They Got (Way) Richer, And You Didn’t. Tell Us Again Why Socialism Is Bad?: http://www.commondreams.org/further/2010/11/19-1

Red State Socialism and the Politics of Stimulus:
http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001439.htm

Conservative Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html

Socialism is good for the wealthy politicians of the USA, just ask these 114 folks, (mostly Republicans, Conservative Christians and or T-Party members): Stimulating Hypocrisy: 114 Lawmakers Block Recovery While Taking Credit For Its Success: http://thinkprogress.org/touting-recovery-opposed/

Republican Conservative Christian Sarah Palin enthusiastically practices socialism, Alaska-style: http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/581484.html

Republican Conservative Christian Rep. Bachmann’s clinic takes in thousands from “socialized medicine”: http://www.americanindependent.com/bachmann%E2%80%99s-clinic-takes-in-thousands-from-%E2%80%9Csocialized-medicine%E2%80%9D/

While it was fashionable to run on anti-federal government platforms this campaign cycle, it is hard to ignore that Alaska has a notorious love-hate relationship with federal cash. And many might say that the relationship, for the large part, actually falls more on the “love” side: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/business/19stimulus.html

GOP/Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada who railed against healthcare and earmarks got $960,000 healthcare earmark: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/revealed-republican-senator-railed-healthcare-earmarks-960000-healthcare-earmark/

Alaska Republican-Tea Party Conservative Christian Senate candidate Joe Miller, who claims Government is too big and Socialism is bad, admits taking farm subsidies: http://alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/politics/6880-alaska-senate-candidate-joe-miller-admits-taking-farm-subsidies

Joe Miller also relied on technicalities to obtain a low-income hunting and fishing license from the state of Alaska: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/homeowning-lawyer-joe-miller-sought-low-income-hunting-and-fishing-license-in-alaska.php

Joe Miller also thinks federal unemployment insurance is constitutionally questionable. But it turns out his wife benefited from it in the early part of the decade — after she left a job working for him: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/joe-millers-wife-received-unemployment-benefits-miller-called-not-constitutionally-authorized.php

Anti-Government Tea Partier Conservative Christian Sharron Angle Gets Health Care from the Federal Government: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/28/anti-government-tea-partier-sharron-angle-gets-health-care-from-the-federal-government/

The Most Hypocritical States are Usually “Red”: http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2193/1/?newsmaker=109&redirectURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Fgalleries%2Fnewsmaker%2Fpolitics%2F

Despite Saying Government Intervention Puts Industry In A ‘Coma,’ Raese’s Biz Takes Millions In Taxpayer Funds – http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/25/raese-government-contracts/

Reminder Obama is No Socialist. Don’t Insult Those of Us Who Are!

Obama’s No Socialist. I Should Know: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html

Is Obama A Socialist? Not if You Ask One: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28645

Obama is not a socialist: http://www.thedmonline.com/obama-is-not-a-socialist-1.899275

A Socialist Talks About Obama: http://www.socialistwebzine.org/2010/10/socialist-talks-about-obama.html

List of left-wing articles critical of Barack Obama- http://eng.anarchopedia.org/List_of_Left-Wing_articles_critical_of_Obama

Obama….Socialism? Hardly, Say Socialists: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2009/db20090522_329825.htm

Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them?: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/14/Obama.socialist/index.html

Happy Secular Thanksgiving with a Side of Fakeness – Fake Taliban, Fake Leader, Fake Elections, Fake Deadline = Real Trouble & More Tastey Treats

An Atheist’s Thanksgiving Dinner Grace:

Let us take a moment to think about where the food we are about to enjoy has come from and to acknowledge those who worked to bring us this food. Let us appreciate the earth, the sun, the air, and the water needed to nourish the plants and animals. Let us thank the farmer who cared for the plants and animals and the migrant worker who toiled to harvest the crops. Let us thank the laborer who processed the food, the truck driver who brought the food, and the grocery store workers who displayed it. Finally, let us thank our friends who prepared this meal and have provided us with the opportunity to be together and share each other’s company.

SOURCE: An Atheist’s Thanksgiving Dinner Grace

Secular Coalition for America president Herb Silverman offers an example of a secular grace that you can use during dinner tonight

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John Corvino.  He was a good catholic boy and wanted to join the priesthood.  However, he realized he was gay and then an atheist.  He talked about the harm of religion and how it harms gay people. Here is a sample of his presentation: SOURCE

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“Private Sector” Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan accused of pocketing millions: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is facing a wave of lawsuits across the state accusing the insurance giant of pocketing millions of dollars in hidden fees from local governments and others to administer their health care plans. The state court suits — which already have cost the Blues several million dollars in verdicts and settlements — are independent of an antitrust lawsuit filed last month in federal court by the U.S. Justice Department.

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Obama’s two different Americas – On Guantánamo, Obama Hits Rock Bottom: On national security issues, there are now two Americas. In the first, which existed from January to May 2009, the rule of law flickered briefly back to life after eight years of the Bush administration. In this first America, President Obama swept into office issuing executive orders promising to close Guantánamo and to uphold the absolute ban on torture, and also suspended the much-criticized system of trials by Military Commission used by the Bush administration to secure just three contentious convictions in seven years. In addition, in April 2009 he complied with a court order to release four “torture memos” issued in 2002 and 2005 by lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which purported to redefine torture so that it could be used by the CIA (in 2002), or broadly upheld that decision (in 2005). As well as confirming the role of the courts in upholding the law, these documents contained important information for those hoping to hold senior Bush administration officials and lawyers accountable for their actions in the “War on Terror.”

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The Religious Right and the GOP: Joined at the Hip, but Who’s Calling the Shots? Republicans and the Religious Right need each other.  Neither group has much political or social power without the other’s support.  The corporatist agenda of the GOP would not win elections itself; Republicans’ success at the polls depends on them portraying themselves as the party of the socially-conservative, religious worldview.  The Religious Right can only advance their social agenda by demanding influence in Republican policy-making in return for support at the polls.  Without this relationship, Republicans would be a fringe party of big business leaders and a few wealthy individuals, while religious fundamentalists wouldn’t have a channel into the political arena for their worldview.  Which partner is the dominant one in this relationship in 2010?

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America’s Failed War of Attrition in Afghanistan: At the end of the NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal this weekend, the leadership of the Afghan Taliban issued a statement characterizing the alliance’s adoption of a loose timeline for a 2014 end to combat operations as “good news” for Afghans and “a sign of failure for the American government.” At the summit, President Barack Obama said that 2011 will begin “a transition to full Afghan lead” in security operations, while the Taliban declared: “In the past nine years, the invaders could not establish any system of governance in Kabul and they will never be able to do so in future.”

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A Conservative Christians View about the Government’s “Alien Agenda” exposed as demonic deception: When “that Wicked” is revealed he will come “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” He will come with all “deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.” Who will perish? Those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”  (2 Thess. 9,10)

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Fake Taliban Leader, Fake Elections, Fake Deadline, Real Trouble: Dennis Kucinich: “The war in Afghanistan is taking place in a netherworld where facts and common sense have no place. Elections are fake. Our deadline to withdraw is a fake. Now, we learn that a fake Taliban leader has been leading us to believe that NATO was facilitating high-level talks between Taliban leadership and the corrupt Afghan central government we’re propping up. It was truly amazing that our government said we were negotiating with high-level Taliban leadership while at the same time we were stepping up air strikes to wipe them out.”

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Anatomy of a journalistic smear job:One long-standing — and justifiable — progressive grievance is that whenever ordinary Americans allow their personal plight to enter the public sphere in a way that advances a liberal political goal, they are gratuitously probed and personally smeared by the Right.  The most illustrative example is the Frost family, who allowed their 12-year-old son Graeme to deliver a moving radio address explaining the benefits he received from the CHIP program when he was in a serious car accident, only to be promptly stalked and smeared by Michelle Malkin, among others.  Today, The Nation — a magazine which generally offers very good journalism — subjects John Tyner to similar treatment, with such a shoddy, fact-free, and reckless hit piece (by Mark Ames and Yasha Levine) that I’m genuinely surprised its editors published it.  Beyond the inherent benefit of correcting the record, this particular article is suffused with all sorts of toxic though common premises that make it worth examining in detail.

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Religious do not have monopoly on virtue, Queen tells synod – Believers and atheists equally able to contribute to country’s prosperity, says monarch: People of faith do not have a monopoly on virtue as British society was now “more diverse and secular”, the Queen told the Church of England today in an address to its governing body. Speaking at Church House, central London, she told members of General Synod that believers and atheists were equally able to contribute to the prosperity and wellbeing of the country. The Queen, who is supreme governor of the Church of England, said: “In our more diverse and secular society, the place of religion has come to be a matter of lively discussion. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue and that the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation depend on the contribution of individuals and groups of all faiths and none.”

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No child left behind, Venezuelan version:As the ruling-class assault on public education continues in the U.S., the Venezuelan government has begun distributing 350,000 laptop computers to public school children. The program, known as the Canaima Plan, is part of President Hugo Chávez’s commitment to provide all children with portable computers, school uniforms and books. At a ceremony in Caracas on Nov. 16, Minister of Education Jennifer Gil told those gathered that the Canaima Plan “allows us to keep deepening our integral and massive education system that does not involve just students, but the entire family, environment, parents, representatives, and teachers.” (Venezuelaanalysis.com) “Only in socialism is it possible to make real the rights of children,” added Gil.

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Former House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay was found guilty by a Texas jury Wednesday of money laundering and conspiracy related to campaign contributions in 2002: A jury of six men and six women delibertated for 19 hours before returning a guilty verdict. DeLay faces a sentence of 2 to 20 years for money laundering and a 5 to 99 year sentence for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Houston Chronicle reported that neither DeLay nor his family showed signs of emotion when the verdict was read. However, after court was dismissed “DeLay received a hug and a kiss from his wife” and “his adult daughter, Dani, buried her face into DeLay’s shoulder and began sobbing. DeLay’s face turned red as he fought back tears.”

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Palin’s New Book Cites Debunked George Washington Myth As Fact: Ah, Thanksgiving! – What better time to promote American history revisionism? Enter Sarah Palin. Did George Washington, pledging his oath as the first president of the United States, swear upon a Bible the words “so help me God”? You betcha, claims Palin in her new book “America By Heart: Reflections On Faith, Family and Flag.” Bunk, say historians.

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Will Congress Let Jobless Benefits Expire Four Weeks Before Christmas? Voters clearly want lawmakers to ease the nation’s unemployment pain, but a sharply divided Congress is still balking at extending jobless benefits for those out of work a long time. Unless Congress acts by Nov. 30, an estimated 2 million people slated to receive extended benefits will not get them on time, if ever. And Congress is taking this week (Nov. 22-26) off for a Thanksgiving recess. Congress reconvenes on Nov. 29.

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Roll Back the Reagan Tax Cuts

by: Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers | Book Excerpt – This is the third installment of Tom Hartmann’s groundbreaking book, “Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country.”

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.

- Andrew Jackson

When I was in Denmark in 2008 doing my radio show for a week from the Danish Radio studios and interviewing many of that nation’s leading politicians, economists, energy experts, and newspaper publishers, one of my guests made a comment that dropped the scales from my eyes.

We’d been discussing taxes on the air and the fact that Denmark has an average 52 percent income-tax rate. I asked him why people didn’t revolt at such high taxes, and he smiled and pointed out to me that the average Dane is very well paid, with a minimum wage that equals roughly $18 per hour. Moreover, what Danes get for their taxes (that we don’t) is a free college education and free health care, not to mention four weeks of paid vacation each year and notoriety as the happiest nation on earth, according to a major study done by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Happy Thanksgiving – Native blood: the truth behind the myth of `Thanksgiving Day’ (now with video)

Video: Thanksgiving: A Native American View

By Mike Ely

It is a deep thing that people still celebrate the survival of the early colonists at Plymouth — by giving thanks to the Christian god who supposedly protected and championed the European invasion. The real meaning of all that, then and now, needs to be continually excavated. The myths and lies that surround the past are constantly draped over the horrors and tortures of our present.

Every schoolchild in the United States has been taught that the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony invited the local Indians to a major harvest feast after surviving their first bitter year in New England. But the real history of Thanksgiving is a story of the murder of indigenous people and the theft of their land by European colonialists–and of the ruthless ways of capitalism.

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In mid-winter 1620 the English ship Mayflower landed on the North American coast, delivering 102 exiles. The original native people of this stretch of shoreline had already been killed off. In 1614 a British expedition had landed there. When they left they took 24 Indians as slaves and left smallpox behind. Three years of plague wiped out between 90 and 96 per cent of the inhabitants of the coast, destroying most villages completely.

The Europeans landed and built their colony called “the Plymouth Plantation” near the deserted ruins of the Indian village of Pawtuxet. They ate from abandoned cornfields grown wild. Only one Pawtuxet named Squanto had survived–he had spent the last years as a slave to the English and Spanish in Europe. Squanto spoke the colonists’ language and taught them how to plant corn and how to catch fish until the first harvest. Squanto also helped the colonists negotiate a peace treaty with the nearby Wampanoag tribe, led by the chief Massasoit.

These were very lucky breaks for the colonists. The first Virginia settlement had been wiped out before they could establish themselves. Thanks to the good will of the Wampanoag, the settlers not only survived their first year but had an alliance with the Wampanoags that would give them almost two decades of peace.

John Winthrop, a founder of the Massahusetts Bay colony considered this wave of illness and death to be a divine miracle. He wrote to a friend in England, “But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by smallpox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not 50, have put themselves under our protection.”

The deadly impact of European diseases and the good will of the Wampanoag allowed the settlers to survive their first year.

In celebration of their good fortune, the colony’s governor, William Bradford, declared a three-day feast of thanksgiving after that first harvest of 1621.

Continue: http://links.org.au/node/753

Corporate capital has pulled the plug on America, Some Christians don’t want to be taxed, Global Role of US Capitalism & more ….

Leon Trotsky’s Analysis of the Emerging Global Role of US Capitalism

By Nick Beams, 24 November 2010

The WSWS organized a panel on “The Cultural, Economic and Geo-strategic Thought of Leon Trotsky: A Retrospective Analysis 70 years after His Assassination,” at the 42^nd annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies (formerly the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies), held November 18-21 in Los Angeles. About 1,400 historians, political scientists, economists, and literary scholars presented papers on a wide array of topics.

The first paper, by David North, chairman of the WSWS Editorial Board, was published yesterday. The second paper, by Nick Beams, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) and a member of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site is presented here today. Mehring Books had a display of its literature in the exhibit hall alongside.

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“As with all of Trotsky’s theoretical work, his study and analysis of the United States and its rise to global prominence was bound up with the development of the perspective for world socialist revolution.

Trotsky, above all, conceived of the Russian Revolution as the opening shot of the world revolution. His theory of Permanent Revolution, elaborated in 1905, examined the issues confronting the Marxist movement in Russia on the basis of an analysis of the deepening global economic and political contradictions of world capitalism.”

…….

“More than 80 years ago, Trotsky noted: “In the period of crisis the hegemony of the United States will operate more completely, more openly, and more ruthlessly than in the period of boom.”[13] The United States, he wrote, would seek to extricate itself from its maladies at the expense of its rivals, above all in Europe, whether peacefully or through war. Today we can add its rivals in Asia as well. The deepening conflicts over trade, currency levels, balance of payments deficits, as well as the increasingly aggressive military activities of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the open diplomatic, as well as military, moves against China, point to the fact that a new convulsive and revolutionary period of world history has begun, driven forward by the same contradiction between world economy and the nation-state system that Trotsky placed at the very centre of his perspective”.

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“Theism vs. Secular Humanism as a basis for ethics.”

Objection: Though many sins have been committed in the name of Christ, there can be no doubt that Christianity has done far more good than harm. Can you name any other institution or organization that has done as much good as the Christian Church?

Answer: Can you name any other institution that has done as much harm as the Christian Church? Well, maybe the Nazi Party in Germany from 1933-45. After all, the Second World War, and its concomitant holocausts, resulted in the deaths of over sixty million human beings. The Christian Church, despite all its inquisitions, massacres, crusades, witch-hunts, etc., probably never reached that number. Remember though, that as Carroll and others have persuasively argued, the seeds of maniacal Nazi antisemitism fell on ground well plowed and fertilized by Christian anti-Judaism. Centuries of Christian hatred of “the perfidious Jew” made Nazi antisemitism possible, if not inevitable. Well what about Mao and the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960′s? Tens of millions were killed then; surely the Christian Church cannot be blamed for that. No, but look at what such a “defense” of Christianity has to do. Only by comparing the Christian record to the crimes of the greatest monsters of history can the Church’s record be made to look relatively benign. This is a pretty sorry showing for an institution that was supposed to be the Light of the World. As for the claim that the Church has done overall more good than harm, I can only ask “By whose measure?” or “Weighed in what scale?” How do we weigh a missionary’s solicitous care for a leper in the scale with, say, the murder of the philosopher Hypatia by a mob of Christian fanatics? Given such imponderables, I regard the claim of the Church’s overall goodness as quite meaningless.

Continue: “Theism vs. Secular Humanism as a basis for ethics”

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Hunger in America

November 17, 2010

Some 15 percent of US households, 17.4 million families or about 50 million people, were too poor to buy adequate food last year, according to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). More than a third of these households, with as many as one million children, were missing meals on a regular basis, the study found.

The number of families classified as “food insecure” according to the USDA, which administers the food stamp program, has more than tripled since 2006, before the current economic slump which has brought near double-digit unemployment. Because most people are reluctant to admit they have a problem putting food on the table, particularly when they have children, “food insecurity” was calculated from survey questions about skipping meals or running out of food stamps, combined with comparisons of income and food prices.

Virtually the sole cause of food insecurity in America—the largest producer of agricultural and food products on the planet—is lack of money. The poverty rate has risen sharply over the past three years, with an estimated 50 million people living below the official poverty line, which grossly underestimates the income needed for basic necessities.

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Corporate capital has pulled the plug on America: The conventional wisdom is that corporate capital has an enduring commitment to science, education, transportation, health and nutrition, public amenities, urban development, equal opportunity, and more. Business executives are considered solid citizens as well as savvy investors. We are told that they are interested in the modernization of the state, economy, and society as well as their own enterprises. There was at one time a grain of truth to this portrayal of the corporate class. Coming out of World War II, a broad alliance, with U.S. corporations occupying a dominant position, expanded the public sector, trained a skilled workforce, steadily improved wages and social benefits, renovated the infrastructure, built a national system of interstate highways, invested in public education, struck down the most egregious barriers of racial exclusion, and promoted vigorous economic growth. Corporate capital’s principal reason for being was still profit-making, but its profit-making strategy was tethered to the modernization of the domestic economy, state and society. MORE

Tennessee Megachurch Opposes Getting Taxed: The Tennessee State Board of Equalization doesn’t tax churches. But what about the gyms, bookstores, and cafes that are found in so many megachurches? The state decided those are not part of the Christ Church ministry — they’re “commercial enterprises” — and therefore should be subject to taxation. $425,000 in property tax, to be exact. MORE

NY Governor Makes Move to Privatize Public Schools: Part of the privatization agenda for public education In a Nov. 9 press release, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the current chancellor of education, Joel Klein, would be resigning to take a position as the executive vice president of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Cathie Black, the current CEO of the multi-billion-dollar Hearst Magazines, will be appointed as the new NYC school chancellor. MORE

Voters Strongly Back Amending Constitution To Restrict Corporate Political Spending: By a double-digit margin, voters want Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that allows unlimited corporate spending on elections, a new poll paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has found. MORE

Teacher Hafiz Rahman was supposed to be teaching the 15-year-old girl about the Qur’an but was caught molesting her: A Muslim cleric has been jailed for a year after sexually assaulting a young girl while he was meant to be teaching her the Qur’an. Hafiz Rahman, 67, was paid by families to teach their children after stepping down as a respected Imam. He went to the 15-year-old victim’s home and molested her when they were left alone. MORE

NATO’s re-branding in Afghanistan: The US lead NATO mission in Afghanistan is heating up while NATO itself struggles with the costs and its own existence. MORE

Jesus For Jews, Or Something Like That: Who the Jews “are” (from the Evangelical theological point of view) is a big deal to Christians. It should be to all Americans, too. It has a direct impact on American policy, given the sway of religion in America. MORE

Traveller patdowns to continue despite criticism: U.S. homeland security officials have no plans to back away from air passenger security patdowns despite traveler complaints that they violate privacy rights and growing congressional concern about the policy. MORE

In June, when the sophisticated Stuxnet worm was discovered in more than 100,000 computer systems around the world, including inside the industrial control systems of more than 170 nuclear power plants, it marked the dawn of a new era of cyber terrorism. MORE

Afghanistan war: US says violence reaches all-time high: Violence in Afghanistan has reached an all-time high, with clashes up fourfold since 2007, the Pentagon has said. MORE

The Two Most Essential, Abhorrent, Intolerable Lies Of George W. Bush’s Memoir: History is likely to judge Bush most harshly for two things in particular: Launching a war against a country that had not attacked us, and approving the use of cruel and inhumane interrogation techniques. And that’s why the two most essential lies — among the many — in his new memoir are that he had a legitimate reason to invade Iraq, and that he had a legitimate reason to torture detainees.MORE

Government yells “Terrorism” to justify TSA procedures: The public fury over the new TSA airport security measures intensified this week, with harrowing stories of a breast cancer survivor forced to show her prosthetic breast and a male passenger whose urostomy bag leaked urine all over him when it was roughly manhandled by airport agents during a “patdown.” MORE

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“The Breakdown of Capitalism and the Fight for Socialism in the United States”

The program of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is a fighting program for the working class. It presents a series of basic rights that must be guaranteed to all—including the right to a job, to a livable income, to education, housing and health care—and explains how these rights can be won: through the independent political organization of the working class in the fight for socialism.

Everywhere the working class is under attack. After handing out trillions to the banks, the ruling class—led by the Obama administration—is demanding austerity. The entire political establishment is moving to the right. Regardless of the outcome of the November midterm elections, the government is planning devastating attacks on social programs, mirroring similar measures adopted internationally.

As the social crisis deepens, the Obama administration is also expanding its wars abroad and launching unprecedented attacks on democratic rights—including in the recent FBI raids of antiwar activists and political opponents of US policy.

The working class in the United States is beginning to fight back. The determined resistance of workers in Indianapolis—and the formation of a rank-and-file committee to oppose the demands of the corporations and the UAW—is an initial sign. Opposition will grow, expanding throughout the country and linking up with struggles throughout the world.

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Media campaigns against “energy theft” at start of heating season

November 24, 2010

With the winter heating season underway in Michigan, the media has stepped up its coverage of the alleged “energy theft” problem gripping Detroit. Under the guise of exposing the dangers and costs associated with unauthorized connections to the gas and electrical grid, an effort is being made to provide the utility company DTE Energy with an alibi for the tens of thousands of utility shutoffs it will carry out—shutoffs that will inevitably lead to house fires and deaths.

Because of high utility prices and the ruthless policies of energy giant DTE and the state of Michigan, tens of thousands of Detroit area households will be forced to tap into the energy grid without authorization and to use unsafe methods to heat their homes—or face the prospect of freezing to death. House fires will inevitably result, such as the one that killed a young Detroit worker Saturday, which was likely caused by a space heater (See “Young worker dies in Detroit area house fire”).

The media is indifferent to the social conditions and corporate practices that have created this disaster. They are instead enlisting in DTE’s effort to pin blame on the victims.

National Public Radio’s (NPR) Sarah Hulett has done two stories on the topic over the past month, with the most recent airing on the station’s popular economics program, Marketplace, which is broadcast nationwide. Her November 22 report highlighted the efforts of DTE’s investigation unit to stop “energy theft,” implying that it was largely out of concern for “paying customers.”

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We need to stop TSA’s porno scanners and groping & much, much more…

TomDispatch: Last Saturday, Chalmers Johnson died. I’m particularly proud that, in his last years, he did much of his most penetrating analysis of American militarism and our war state for this website.  He penned his first piece for TomDispatch, “ Assassins R Us,” in November 2003, called for abolishing the CIA here in November 2004, described how the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq had opened the way for the looting of that country’s (and so the human) patrimony in “The Smash of Civilizations” in July 2005, and so on, up to August of this year when his final piece, “ Portrait of a Sagging Empire,” appeared.  (Because I knew by then that he would never write again, I introduced that piece with a little stroll of my own down memory lane — the story of how I came to edit and publish his book Blowback.)  A striking selection of the best of his recent TomDispatch pieces (as well as others) can be found in his final remarkable book, Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope. The TD search window works well if you want to explore the work of one of the great critical thinkers of our post-9/11 world.  He’s gone, but his books will outlive us all.

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We need to stop TSA’s porno scanners and groping – sign the petition to Congress to investigate the TSA. Click here to add your name.

The Mean Old Man Party Looks Forward to a Bloodbath & Rubs its Hands in Glee: It’s official now. The “daddy party” is dead. In its place, behold: The Mean Old Man Party in all its splendorous wrath. Of course, the Mean Old Man Party still clings fiercely to it’s prized “grown-up” trope, even as it threatens to crash the global economy if it doesn’t get its way right now! There’s just one problem: There isn’t a spending problem–at least not on the part of liberal Democrats. Bush’s wars, corporate welfare, sure. But as for the middle-class domestic spending that the Mean Old Man Party has its eye on destroying, the federal government isn’t “out spending wildly”. That’s just crazy uncle talk. The real budget problems we face are two-fold.

Remembering Chalmers Johnson: A true heir to the founders of a republic forged in opposition to colonialism, Chalmers Johnson gave us a modern language to explain the folly of empire.

One Nation Under God? Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, in Boston, upheld the New Hampshire School Patriot Act, which requires teacher-led recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance. The plaintiffs, The Freedom from Religion Foundation, Hanover, N.H. parents “Jan and Pat Doe” and the “Doe” children, argued that the phrase “under God,” violates the so-called Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The Court ruled that the recitation of the Pledge in schools serves as “an advancement of patriotism” and does not actively establish or promote religion. The plaintiffs had appealed a similar 2009 District Court ruling.

The stench of the police state at US airports: The new measures, introduced by the Transportation Safety Administration November 1, constitute an assault on core constitutional rights.

Even Your Cranky Uncle Can Be Thankful for Social Security: Picture everyone sitting around the table this Thanksgiving and the cranky old uncle lobs a political hot potato at you designed to push the conversation to a shouting match. He may be an inflammatory liberal or a conservative grouch, he may even try to have a Tea Party on top of your apple pie. The only sure thing is that it happens just about every Thanksgiving. But you’re in luck this year because there is a political issue that almost every American, regardless of party, age, or race agrees on according to a new poll: no one wants to see cuts to Social Security.

Keep religion out of government – Religion and law – Facing death for blasphemy: For those who want to get religion into the government, take a good look at Pakistan. A Pakistani court has sentenced a 45-year-old mother to death by hanging. She didn’t murder anyone. She didn’t even rob anyone. But she said the wrong thing.

Sins of Commissions: What $1 Billion Can’t Buy: Poor Peter Peterson, he spent $1 billion to foster public knowledge on budget issues and he couldn’t find a single person who could tell him about the Social Security trust fund. As a result, he has been running around the country making a fool of himself by announcing publicly that there is no trust fund.

How to Schedule a War: The Incredible Shrinking Withdrawal Date

Destroying the Village: The spirit on the right that says anything that is bad for Obama must be good has only grown stronger in the year since. Now that Republicans will be holding one house of Congress, they have to decide how far to go in undermining the president. Early signs are not encouraging. It is the opposition’s job to oppose, of course, and a political party must balance two sets of motivations. On one side are those telling them to gum up the works: stop policies they sincerely find distressing, and gloat when the ruling party stumbles. On the other side are those encouraging at least some cooperation: solve problems and keep the government doing its job. The first set is usually stronger and provides powerful incentives for the opposition to root for failure. But it’s one thing to hope the president fails to institute a new program you don’t like and something else entirely to hope the president fails to improve the economy or secure our common defense.

Obama: No more sermons at the soup kitchen: Faith-based organizations may no longer conduct worship services or proselytize while providing social programs funded with federal money. President Obama has amended a 2002 Executive Order from President George W. Bush that allowed faith-based social programs to get federal aid. Obama’s order mandates separation of the two activities, in time or place, and forbids making participation in a religious activity a requirement for receiving the benefits of the federally funded program.

America’s Failed War of Attrition in Afghanistan: The Obama administration is trying to kill its way to victory in Afghanistan.

Priest accused of murder for hire: The Texas Rangers and Texas state troopers arrested Rev. John Fiala after he negotiated a murder arrangement with an undercover officer at his home in Garland, Texas, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman told the San Antonio Express-News.

If GOP Hates “Job-Killing” Regulations, Why So Silent On New Rule Against Health Insurance Profiteering? Yesterday, the White House issued one of those — eek! — regulations. As part of implementing the health reform law, our federal government established a new rule to stop profiteering by private health insurance companies. As the AP reported, the regulation “calls for insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents of the premium dollar on medical care and quality. For employer plans covering more than 50 people, the requirement is 85 cents. Insurers that fall short of the mark will have to issue their customers a rebate.” As this is a government regulation, I expected congressional Republicans to rip the White House for more “job-killing rules.” For creating more “uncertainty” that makes life impossible for businesses. For “not getting it” after voters “refudiated” big government liberalism on Election Day. Yet, all I heard was silence.

Obama’s car czar faces new lawsuits in kickback scheme

Nashville church fights $425,000 tax bill: A South Nashville megachurch facing a $425,000 property tax bill is fighting the assessment on its gym, bookstore and cafe. The Tennessee State Board of Equalization, which decides tax exemptions for churches, contends those are commercial enterprises, so the portion of church property they occupy can be taxed.

How Sarah Palin Could Beat Obama in 2012: Two words: Michael Bloomberg.

Father: I lost custody due to agnosticism: A father of three is fighting the system he claims wrongfully took his young children. He says his visitation was cut because of his religious beliefs. The father argues being agnostic cost him everything.

Remembering Chalmers Johnson: A true heir to the founders of a republic forged in opposition to colonialism, Chalmers Johnson gave us a modern language to explain the folly of empire.

Afghan Farce: Talking is still the way out. But, as Casey Stengel said, can’t anyone here play this game?

Obama’s Failures… and Ours

Does It Matter What The Public Wants Or Needs? I guess that’s a rhetorical question these days because more and more obviously the answer is no. It matters what the plutocrats want, and they know how to get what they want. Public opinion is “engineered” or at least “managed.” When it can’t be managed it is ignored and the effort shifts to our elected officials, who are led to believe the public wants what the plutocrats want using elite opinion leaders, astroturf, front groups or flat out cash.

San Antonio archdiocese sued in abuse case: The alleged victim in this case was a trusting altar boy and student in the parish school. White befriended the boy after intervening to stop bullies who were beating him up. One time, the church pastor, Father Joseph Hybner, walked in on the two dressing after a sexual assault in White’s bedroom, the suit claims. Hybner “yelled” and “scolded” White, who was soon transferred.

War Is a Lie

Corporate Rewards: Controlling U.S. Trade Policy: Real men, real human beings, with feelings and families, fought and died at Gettysburg to preserve the Union, to ensure, as their president, Abraham Lincoln, would say later, that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Perversely, afterwards, non-humans commandeered the constitutional amendment intended to protect the rights of former slaves. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court expanded those rights – ruling that corporations have a First Amendment free speech right to surreptitiously spend unlimited money on political campaigns. Today, Lincoln would have to say America’s got a government of the people by the corporations, for the corporations.

How Militias, Racists and Anti-Semites Found a Home in the Tea Party, What Would Jesus Buy? & More to be Thankful for….

“If you are engaged in an act of cruelty, there is an easy, effective way to silence your critics and snatch some space to carry on. Tell us all that your religion requires you to do it, and you are “offended” by any critical response. Erect an electric wire fence around your nastiest actions and call it “respect”.

There’s a good example of this religious modus operandi playing out on a dinner table near you – and this week, we found out it is becoming more and more common. In Britain, it is a crime to kill a conscious cow or sheep or chicken for meat by slashing its throat without numbing it first. The reasons are obvious. If you don’t numb an animal, it screams as you hack through its skin, muscle, trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins and major nerve trunks, and then it remains conscious as it slowly drowns in its own blood – a process that can take up to six minutes. So we insist that an animal is stunned before its throat is slashed, to ensure it is deeply unconscious.

There isn’t much humanity in our factory farming system, but this is – at least – a tiny sliver of it, at the end.

But there is a loophole in the law. You are allowed to skip all this and slash the throats of un-numbed, screaming animals if you say God told you to. If you are Muslim, you call it “halal”, and if you are Jewish you call it “kosher”.”

Continue: ‘The religious excuse for barbarity’  Why are we sitting silently while our treatment of many of our animals regresses to the standard of the sixth century?‘ by Johann Hari

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“We Are at War”: How Militias, Racists and Anti-Semites Found a Home in the Tea Party: In places like rural Montana, the Tea Party is working hand-in-glove with Patriot movement radicals — many of whom have close ties to neo-Nazis and anti-government armed militias.

Harsh Digital Copyright Bill Stopped — for Now: A single senator stalled a bill that would give the government the ability to shut down websites allegedly participating in copyright infringement. It will trample free-speech rights and give the government the ability to censor controversial websites.

Take Action: Defeat the Scanners and Gropers: A few committed individuals are working together to effect positive change. If we don’t take action, however meager and ineffective it may seem at first, the ability to opt out may soon disappear. We may soon find these porno-scanners on our roads, in our train stations and sports stadiums. We must end this dangerous and invasive technology here and now!

WHICH SENATORS GOT PAID OFF TO SUPPORT S.510 – THE ‘FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT’?: The following is a list of U.S Senators and the Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that these Senators received from Special Interest Groups to either support or oppose S.510 – The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act. I have listed the names of the Senators, the Party and State, and the amount of Special Interest Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that they received

CIA Must Disclose Data on Human Experiments: A federal magistrate in San Francisco ordered the CIA to produce specific records and testimony about the human experiments the government allegedly conducted on thousands of soldiers from 1950 through 1975. They used 7,800 soldiers as guinea pigs…

A New Take on Political Ideology: An evolutionary psychologist proposes a new framework for understanding the root causes of our political beliefs.

TSA Molestation Searches – It’s for the children – Literally: The searches aren’t to keep anyone safe. The searches aren’t intended to impress or annoy adults who remember the pre-communist America and pre-communist American freedom. The purpose is to get children used to maximally invasive government and nor….

US launches giant eavesdropping satellite: The United States has placed in orbit a vast reconnaissance satellite reputed to be the largest eavesdropping device ever launched into space.

Income Inequality Linked to Senate Standoffs: New research finds that as income inequality rises in a given state, the voting patterns of that state’s senators become more polarized.

Arizona State University aims to keep military lab secret: Building 561 is a secure two-story brick structure with an interior wrapped in copper sheathing that can block the most powerful transmissions of communications devices. The relic from the Cold War is the most secure facility in what was formerly…..

10 Ways to Outfox Cops That Are Abusing Their Powers to Trick You: What few people understand, but police know all too well, is that your constitutional rights only apply if you understand and assert them.

A New Reason to Blame, or Thank, Your Mother:  New research finds that the quality of early maternal caregiving impacts a child’s emotional relationships once he or she arrives at early adulthood.

Siding with ‘foreign central banks’:  Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the outgoing chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, slammed Republicans today for siding with “foreign central banks” in debates over monetary policy.

Pittsburgh Bans Fracking (and Corporate Personhood): A historic new ordinance bans natural gas drilling while elevating community decision making and the rights of nature over the “rights” associated with corporate personhood.

Wikileaks: Next batch of secret documents seven times larger than Iraq war logs: Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks said Monday it was planning to publish nearly three million more secret documents in its next mass release of confidential material, according to its Twitter feed.

Mobilizing in the Fifth Domain: With the president’s permission, the Pentagon can now fight cyberbattles inside the U.S. — and why that’s worrisome.

Critics Slam Obama Administration for ‘Hiding’ Massive Saudi Arms Deal: The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congress…

Chalmers Johnson, Visionary Scholar on Empire and Decline of America Passes Away: With one word, “blowback,” Chalmers Johnson explained the folly of empire in the modern age.

ABC producer says TSA agent felt inside her underwear: Pat-down ‘worse than the gynecologist,’ producer says

Who Cares If It’s All Meaningless Anyway?: A startling proportion of the population, the existentially indifferent, demonstrates little concern for meaning in their lives.

Were Fake Documents Planted to Encourage an Attack on Iran?: Documents at the center of the case against Iran show telltale signs of fraud.

This Really Is the Worst Election Ever: The Wesleyan Media Project has studied the glut of U.S. midterm congressional TV ads and determined we’ve set a new low in negativity — and perhaps a new high in information.

6 of Glenn Beck’s Most Paranoid, Dangerous Attacks on Progressives: From smearing progressive funder George Soros to visionary Van Jones, Beck reveals his dark impulses and abhorrence for social justice.

Deficit Death by a Thousand Cuts:  The U.S. government’s deficit was created piece by billion-dollar piece. The bipartisan debt commission’s suggestions offer specific incremental steps to reverse that process.

They are So Old School: The Echoes of History and the Bigotry of the New Right in the Age of Obama: As I said during the 2008 presidential campaign, I prefer my racism straight with no chaser. For this reason, I have often flirted with writing an Op-Ed simply called, “Why Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich, Palin and the New Right Should Just Call Barack Obama a Nigger and Get It Over With.”

Pentagon Seeks Private Contractor to Move Weapons Through Pakistan/Afghanistan: The United States military is in the process of taking bids from private war contractors to secure and ship massive amounts of US military equipment through sensitive areas of Pakistan into Afghanistan where it will then be distributed to various US Forward Operating Bases and other facilities.

What Would Jesus Buy?: As retailers’ “Black Friday” approaches, research shows that commerce and Christmas have a long history of coexistence, and the psychological effect may be generally positive.

May TSA force you — via $11,000 fine: May TSA force you — via $11,000 fine — to submit to an admittedly no probable cause frisk to deter others from shopping airport checkpoints?  May the Chicago police randomly frisk you in the neighborhood to…..

More Reasons Not to Skip Your Broccoli: A University of Illinois study shows that healthy gut flora and daily doses of broccoli — even when it’s been cooked to within an inch of its life — help fight cancer.

The 7 Creepiest Things About the TSA’s “Porno Scanners”: The invasive scanners can see your tampons, give you cancer and make your grandmother cry — and they’re not cheap. Why do we keep using them?

Washington’s Abortive Scientific Renaissance: The new administration was expected to usher in a new era of scientific learning infusing government policy. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way.

Because Transportation Security Administration officials didn’t provide port authorities with test results on biometric card readers… the authorities bought the costly equipment without knowing whether it worked, according to the Government Accountability Office.

What Scientists Really Think About the TSA Naked Body Scanners: Scientists with the University of California at San Francisco were so worried that they wrote a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology in April, 2010 raising “a number of red flags” on the scanners’ safety.

Hey America, Government Doesn’t Suck: Hating government and dismissing its work force as incompetent has become second nature, much to the chagrin of a work force that doesn’t share those opinions.

A Day of Security Glitches, 1&1 and Facebook: A couple of new things filtered into the SANS Internet Storm Center this week, one being a security glitch from the ISP and domain provider 1&1. Turns out that if a user had registered a domain with the company, and opted for the private registration, those private registrations were still published in the WHOIS records. If you’ve used this service recently to register a domain, you should definitely check the records to see if this has affected your domain name.

Welfare Reform Failing Poor Single Mothers“Stretched Thin: “Both Hands Tied,” and “The War on Welfare” are three new books that highlight welfare reform’s failure to address the enduring poverty of single mothers and their children.

DoD Investigating Nine Cases of “Terrorism-Related Acts” by US Military and Contractors?: Buried within the new Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, “Contingency Contracting: A Framework for Reform,” is the eye-opening revelation that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service has nine open investigations into alleged “Terrorism-Related Acts” by “U.S. contractor personnel, U.S. Military, Government personnel.”

Farm Wars Public Service Announcement – Chemtrails: Farm Wars  Breathing got ya down? FEMA wants to help.

Bacteria ‘R’ Us: Emerging research shows that bacteria have powers to engineer the environment, to communicate and to affect human well-being. They may even think.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – game with glimpses horrors of war: Tom Walker looks at the fuss over Call of Duty: Black Ops, the fastest-selling video game ever.

Where The TSA is Concerned: We Are All German Jews Now: The introduction of so-called porno scanners at America’s airports and the egregious pat downs of airline travelers have turned every American into a German Jew.

Americans’ belief in an all-powerful God will only increase during our current period of economic and political instability. The Psychological Seesaw of God and Country: New research suggests that when faith in government decreases, belief in an all-powerful deity rises.

Austerity politics: It’s nonsense to think of the economy heading downward again into a double-dip recession when most Americans never emerged from the first dip. We’re still in one long big dipper.

TSA Trains America To Love Iris Scan Biometric ID Cards: Are the naked body scanners and the probing of our privates nothing more than a way of conditioning us to love the idea of Iris Scan Biometric ID cards?

From deflected permanent revolution to the law of uneven and combined development: Political revolutions sometimes have social aspects and social revolutions always have political implications, but the terms nevertheless indicate an essential difference. Political revolutions are struggles within society for control of the existing state, but which leave the social and economic structure intact……They may involve more or less popular participation, may result in more or less improvement in the condition of the majority, but ultimately the class that was in control of the means of production at the beginning will remain so at the end (although individuals and political organisations may have been replaced on the way), and the class that was exploited within the productive process at the beginning will also remain so at the end (although concessions may have been made to secure its acquiescence or participation).

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Here are a few videos from Youtube that covers a man interogated and detained by TSA April 2009, because he had some $5,000 on his person. This insane TSA behavior has been going on for a while:

It’s Official: Rich Declare War on the Middle Class, 4 Common Myths about the War on Terrorism, What the US Public Doesn’t Know About US Empire & More

It’s Official: Rich Declare War on the Middle Class

by Robert Freeman

For the past thirty years the rich have been waging war on the middle class.  It’s been astonishingly effective, partly because it has been undeclared.  But even that pretense is now being abandoned.  The President’s National Deficit Commission has effectively declared that the rich will now go after what is left of working and middle class wealth and will take whatever steps are necessary to seize it.  If allowed to succeed, their plan will reduce Americans to a state of serfdom.

Ronald Reagan began the war on the middle class with his “supply-side” economics.  Its very purpose, according to David Stockman, Reagan’s Budget Director, was to transfer wealth and income upwards.  It cut the marginal tax rate on the highest income earners from 75% to 35% while dramatically expanding spending for war.  The results were two-fold:  massive federal debt and an astonishing rise in the share of income and wealth going to those who were already the wealthiest people in the world.

The national debt quadrupled between 1980 and 1992.  George W. Bush would repeat Reagan’s policies and double it again between 2000 and 2008.  Meanwhile, the share of national income going to the top 1% more than doubled, from 9% to 24%.  The share going to the top one-tenth of 1% of income earners more than tripled.  We now have the most unequal distribution of income in the developing world and the inequality is growing rapidly.

MORE

4 Common Myths about the War on Terrorism

by Reese Erlich

I’m finishing up a 25-city book tour that took me from New York and Chicago to Elizabethtown, PA, and Spearfish, SD. I met with college students, farmers and laid-off workers. Most people in the US now oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I found a lot of confusion about the War on Terrorism.

Isn’t it true that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims?

Well, just asking the question reveals a lot about how those in power have manipulated our concept of terrorism.

To begin, I point out that plenty of non-Muslims have carried out terrorist acts. Here’s a partial list.

• Timothy McVeigh was convicted of detonating a truck bomb in front of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, which resulted in 168 deaths. He was Catholic.
• In 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish-American Israeli settler in the West Bank city of Hebron opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 29 and wounding 150. He died at the scene, and his grave later became a pilgrimage site for extremists in Israel.
• Murderers of abortion doctors in the US frequently carry out their crimes in the name of evangelical Christianity.
• In 2010, in a protest against federal government policies, Joseph Stack flew a plane into an Austin building housing IRS offices. He came from a Christian background and ranted against all religion.

I understand if you didn’t think of those examples right away. We’ve been conditioned to think of terrorists as foreigners, or people trained by foreigners, preferably dark skinned people with a grudge against the West. But a white guy with a bomb trying to kill civilians for political purposes is still a terrorist.

Targeting civilians with political violence is terrorism, whether carried out by individuals, groups or governments. But the US government and major media have so distorted the word that virtually anyone who uses violence to oppose US policy is branded a terrorist. Conversely, anyone using violence against civilians to support US policy is a freedom fighter.

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Slam Dunk: What the US Public Doesn’t Know About US Empire

by Tom Engelhardt

Last year, it was Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq.  This year, it’s Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.  Next year, it could easily be Afghanistan, Pakistan, Diego Garcia, Bahrain, and Turkey.  Or of course they could choose to play in Japan (with a special stop in Okinawa), South Korea, Colombia, and for a little sun and surf, the Bahamas.  And while they’re at it, the same way bands used to love playing the Palladium, they could make a triumphal return to Guantanamo Bay to bring a little cheer back into American lives, just as they did in 2005.  Or they could break out their new camouflage-colored b-ball (which on recent tours sometimes replaces their iconic red, white, and blue one), and as they’ve done in the past, slam dunk their way onto U.S. aircraft carriers on duty in places like the Persian Gulf.

Oh, come on! You haven’t guessed by now?  We’re talking about the Harlem Globetrotters on their never-ending basketball tour and dropping in no less eternally at the “front lines” of the American war on whatever.  In recent years, to entertain the troops, they’ve visited more than 25 U.S. military bases in all of the countries above, not to speak of Djibouti, Portugal, and others.  (And yes, Virginia, aircraft carriers, with the populations of American small towns, aregiant, floating military bases.)

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Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback & The Sorrows of Empire, Dead at 79

The Impact Today and Tomorrow of Chalmers Johnson

by Steve Clemons

Next week, Foreign Policy magazine and its editor-in-chief Susan Glasser will be releasing its 2nd annual roster of the world’s greatest thinkers and doers in foreign policy. I have seen the list — and it’s impressively creative and eclectic.

There is one name that is not on the FP100 who should be — and that is Chalmers Johnson, who from my perspective rivals Henry Kissinger as the most significant intellectual force who has shaped and defined the fundamental boundaries and goal posts of US foreign policy in the modern era.

Johnson, who passed away Saturday afternoon at 79 years, invented and was the acknowledged godfather of the conceptualization of the “developmental state“. For the uninitiated, this means that Chalmers Johnson led the way in understanding the dynamics of how states manipulated their policy conditions and environments to speed up economic growth. In the neoliberal hive at the University of Chicago, Chalmers Johnson was an apostate and heretic in the field of political economy. Johnson challenged conventional wisdom with he and his many star students — including E.B. Keehn, David Arase, Marie Anchordoguy, Mark Tilton and others — writing the significant treatises documenting the growing prevalence of state-led industrial and trade and finance policy abroad, particularly in Asia.

Today, the notion of “State Capitalism” has become practically commonplace in discussing the newest and most significant features of the global economy. Chalmers Johnson invented this field and planted the intellectual roots of understanding that other nation states were not trying to converge with and follow the so-called American model.

……

Before 9/11, Johnson wrote the book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. After the terrorist attacks in 2001 in New York and Washington, Blowback became the hottest book in the market. The publishers could not keep up with demand and it became the most difficult to get, most wanted book among those in national security topics.

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The Evolving Nature of Terrorism Nine Years after the 9/11 Attacks Testimony

Presented Before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee

By Peter Bergen,  ‘New America Foundation‘  September 15, 2010

My testimony will consider four broad questions: A. What kind of the threat does al-Qaeda and its allies now pose to the United States? B. Who are the American recruits to these groups over the past couple of years? C. What kinds of targets are these groups likely to attack in the future, and what kinds of new tactics might they use? D. What factors are helping or hindering these groups.

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Reactions to President Obama’s Faith-Based Executive Order

Matt Taibbi on Deluded Tea Partiers, Ayn Rand and How the U.S. Is Like the Soviet Union

The Tragic Trap of Christian Marriage

Why Do Americans Keep Getting Suckered By Right-Wing Lies?

Did Father Lose Custody of Children Because of his Agnosticism?

Will There Be a Marriage of Obama the War Maker and the Militaristic Tea Party?

What Is and Isn’t An ‘Act of God’?

Israeli Soldiers Who Used 9 Year Old As Human Shield Face No Jail Time

An Evil God?: Introduction – A Journey Through the Dark Parts of the Bible

Ugandan Genocide, “kill the gays” bill, On Schedule

GOP Continues to Sabotage START Treaty, Even as Military Leaders Urge Passage

Catholic Church to Amp-Up the Culture Wars

Economist: TSA Screenings Will Cause More Deaths

What The TSA Screenings Mean For Sexual Assault Survivors

Fischer: God Honors Those Who Inflict “Massive Casualties” Because “Christianity is Not a Religion of Pacifism”

Conservatives May Deprive Millions of Jobless Benefits Just in Time for the Holidays

Obama’s Supposed “Religion Dilemma” and American Exceptionalism

Gays Attacked in Uganda After Mag Publishes Info

Tax Corporations, Tax Wealth, Tax the Highest Income Earners, Tax Income From Investments

Did Religion Matter in the Election? (Part I)

The War on Christmas will be waged on the field of internet polls

The full-body scanners also involve unspecified amounts of radiation, which several scientific and medical groups, not just the tin-foil hat types, have expressed concerns about.

Religious Freedom Victory in Tennessee

If Ensign Votes To Repeal DADT, Expect the Right To Suddenly Care About His Infidelity

Conservative Christian Political Failure, Tony Perkins says; Soldiers Will Quit if Gays Can Serve Openly

Fanatics Defame Murdered U.S. Soldiers

Obama’s Supposed “Religion Dilemma” and American Exceptionalism

A Guide to Christian Clichés and Phrases

Pastor who said Facebook was ‘portal to infidelity’ had four-way relationship

Family Research Council (FRC), American Family Association (AFA) Among New Organizations Designated “Anti-Gay Hate Groups” by The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) RELATED: ‘18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda‘

Help Unmask the Mystery Senators Blocking Community Radio!

Yes, Bush is “Technically” a War Criminal

Taxpaying citizens should have right to bring Establishment Clause suits

US, NATO commit to indefinite occupation of Afghanistan

How to Fight the Religious Right A guide to defending yourself against Fundamentalist Christians

Columnist to Atheists: Stop Being Mean with Your Billboards

NEW BOOK: ‘War Is A Lie’ by David Swanson, exposes virtually all lies about all wars in history.

 

The #1 book on Amazon is by George W. Bush and the #1 nonfiction book is by Glenn Beck. Please purchase this book there on November 22, to knock them out of the top spots. And buy one for all your friends and your congress member to help prevent an attack on Iran, as well as to correct the lies in Bush’s new book.

WAR IS A LIE is a thorough refutation of every major argument used to justify wars, drawing on evidence from numerous past wars, with a focus on those wars that have been most widely defended as just and good. This is a handbook of sorts, a manual to be used in debunking future lies before future wars have a chance to begin.

“David Swanson despises war and lying, and unmasks them both with rare intelligence. I learn something new on every page.” — Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR and author of Cable News Confidential.

MORE INFORMATION: http://davidswanson.org/warisalie

Pot growers portrayed as terror threat, What the government calls “enhanced” pat down amounts to rape & More light reading…

“Consider what the new “pat down” procedures mean. Government agents will physically fondle your genitals. Consider this description from a woman who recently was subjected to what can only be called sexual assault.

She felt along my waistline, moved behind me, then proceeded to feel both of my buttocks. She reached from behind in the middle of my buttocks towards my vagina area.

She did not tell me that she was going to touch my buttocks, or reach forward to my vagina area.

She then moved in front of my and touched the top and underneath portions of both of my breasts.

She did not tell me that she was going to touch my breasts.

She then felt around my waist. She then moved to the bottoms of my legs.

She then felt my inner thighs and my vagina area, touching both of my labia.

She did not tell me that she was going to touch my vagina area or my labia.

The government calls this “enhanced” pat down. This amounts to rape, as far as I am concerned. We literally have reached the point where government agents demand our compliance to allow them to fondle us in a manner that would put anyone else in prison as a sex offender. And YOU HAVE NO CHOICE, you are their slave who must obey or give up your natural right to travel.”

Continue: ‘The absolute perversion of government.’

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“It should be easy to remind principled leftists that the president isn’t on their side. Congress isn’t on their side. The Supreme Court isn’t on their side. And, perhaps most painfully, activist groups that stood up to Bush are all too frequently not on their side, either. Too many groups that marched against abuses when they were Bush’s and Cheney’s abuses have been de-fanged by the con job that’s persuaded them that Obama really wants to do the right thing, really wants to, if they’ll just give him a little time and keep supporting him.”

Continue: ‘Offshoring War: How Obama—and Those Moments of Silence—Insult Military Sacrifice‘

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Does Free Will Exist? “When you go to the restaurant and choose spinach tart, there must be a reason for your choice, we feel. Perhaps you don’t feel like asparagus today. Why? Perhaps you had asparagus last week. Or perhaps you feel that spinach tart goes better with the wine you’ve already ordered. But of course, there would have been reasons to choose asparagus instead (eg, you like it very much). So the fact that you did not choose asparagus does not mean that you had no reason for choosing it. Why then did you not choose it?”

America’s Changeable Civil War “A century and a half after the first state seceded from the Union, a lively debate over what caused the Civil War continues.”

Pot growers portrayed as terror threat, “What were they smoking? Federal, state and local officials carrying out a counter-terrorism drill in Northern California Wednesday played out a scenario in which local marijuana growers set off bombs and took over the Shasta Dam, the nation’s second largest, to free an imprisoned comrade.”

Last month the war entered its 10th year. So far this year, 431 U.S. soldiers have been killed, by far the highest tally of any year since 2001for a total of 1,378 American soldiers killed. Last year’s total: 317. The war’s evolution has the grim distinction of annually breaking the record of US soldiers’ deaths nine years in a row. Add to that the soldiers killed from NATO and other allied countries, and the tally rises to 2,203. Add the Afghan tally, which registers barely or not at all in most Americans’ idea of the war, and we’re into the tens of thousands, with nothing gained and less settled: The Taliban controls most of the country. The US and NATO militaries are pulling off isolated, tactical victories, but they’re not altering the overall equation. There’s no victory here–not one to preserve, certainly not one that can be gained.”

Proposed Social Security cuts: seniors hit, millionaires glide “Proposals for major cuts in Social Security floated by the deficit commission co-chairs are an attempt to “bully” seniors “while Wall Street millionaires just skate on through scot-free.”

To Nationalize or Bail Out? “Although nationalization sounds like socialism, it is actually what is supposed to happen under our capitalist system when a major bank goes bankrupt. The bank is put into receivership under the FDIC, which takes it over. What fits the socialist label more, in fact, is the TARP bank bailout, sometimes called “welfare for the rich.” The banks’ losses and risks have been socialized but the profits have not. The bankers have been feasting on our dime without sharing the spread.”

The Scourge of Juristocracy “When rights are at issue, Americans instinctively turn to the courts. It is an undemocratic habit that they have exported, along with the underlying institutions, with dismaying success.  The United States may not be the world’s indispensable nation, as its secretary of state famously claimed a dozen years ago, but it has certainly been the indispensable inspiration in the global spread of democracy. The irony is that while this has not led to a great deal of imitation of American institutions such as the presidency, the single most widely replicated feature of the American political system is also its most undemocratic one.”

Fox News Trots Out Torture Advocate John Yoo To Criticize Obama Over Ghailani Trial Derailed By Use Of Torture “If there’s one thing you have to admire about Fox News, it’s their chutzpah. As part of its attack coverage of the trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee and terror suspect Ahmed Ghailani, The O’Reilly Factor brought on the author of the Bush torture memos, John Yoo, to blame discuss the Obama administration’s failure to win more convictions on its decision to try the case in civilian court. But somehow, nobody got around to mentioning the fact that the prosecution was hampered by tainted evidence, thrown out because it had been obtained via “extremely harsh interrogation methods” – during the Bush administration. Instead, substitute host Laura Ingraham accused the Obama administration of wanting terrorists to “game the system.”

The Afghanistan deficit “Federal deficit commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, and some other “experts,” are telling us we have to make a raft of cuts that will hurt working-class people, in order to reduce the deficit. On Tuesday, the White House unveiled an Afghanistan plan that sees U.S. troops remaining there until at least the end of 2014. The U.S. will introduce the new plan at the NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, which begins on Friday.”

Drawing the Line on Tax Breaks The billionaires are on the warpath. “They want more, more, more. The top 1 percent now controls more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. Not enough! In 2007, the top 1 percent of U.S. income earners made 23.5 percent of all income — more than the bottom 50 percent combined. Not enough! The share of income going to the top 1 percent has nearly tripled since the mid-1970s. Not enough! Eighty percent of all new income earned from 1980 to 2005 has gone to the top 1 percent. Not enough!”

Getting Beyond ‘Left’ and ‘Right’  Part One: A deal with the devil

Getting Beyond ‘Left’ and ‘Right,’ Part Two  Another tradition

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US Media Hides US War of Aggression’s Toll on Fallujah’s Babies and Adults:

Thanksgiving Without God, With God, Either way… No Thanks

“The United States used to send military aid to opposing political regimes in countries it wanted to see overthrown. These days the United States sends a different type of aid, US taxpayer money is paying for “democracy promotion”, a way for the US to influence elections in other countries that will help the US agenda abroad. Lawyer and Author Eva Golinger points out there are many organizations in other countries that are open to this funding, when it comes under the disguise of democracy promotion.”

Continue: ‘US using democracy promotion as disguise for regime change‘ by Eva Golinger November, 19th 2010

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“As its prayerful name announces, Thanksgiving Day involves the bending of knees. To whom, after all, would celebrants give thanks if not to “Him”? Residents of Plymouth in the Massachusetts colony, headed by Gov. William Bradford, initiated the tradition in 1621, at least according to the conventional account. Historians have questioned whether Plymouth really was the site of the first Thanksgiving, whether the date is accurate, and whether early colonial events were not more akin to carnivals with feasts than holy days with formal services. Regardless of when, where or how they did so, the grateful didn’t thank goodness or luck; they thanked God. The date for acting on this religious impulse remained unsettled for the next couple centuries.”

Continue: ‘No Thanks‘ by John G. Rodwan, JR.

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PROOF FOX LOVERS ARE DUMBER THAN NPR LOVERS….NO WONDER FOX CALLS THEM NAZI’S, JUST LIKE WHAT HITLER DID TO THE JEWS…DEMONIZE THOSE YOU ENVY AND HATE:

Fact Nazis – The combined findings on a rate-per-lie basis:

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November 19th, 2010

Thanksgiving Without God

New Age Christianity: The Crossless Gospel of Deception

The religious overtones of Thanksgiving

How Corporate America Is Pushing Us All Off a Cliff

The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

Catholic School Censors Newspaper Article by Gay Teenager

Crisis of the Global Financial System: Collapse in Consumer Spending, Unemployment, Rising Prices

Obama Leads War On Working Class by Bruce Gagnon + Is Obama a Socialist?

Biotech company secretly releases millions of GM mosquitoes in Cayman Islands

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Guide to Command of Negro Naval Personnel

Europe’s Dirty Secret: Financial Elite Looting Public Treasuries

Pentagon blows up thousands of homes in Afghanistan

Haitians Barricade Streets in Protest of UN – Amy Goodman

9/11 workers accept dust pay deal

16 of the Dumbest Things Americans Believe — And the Right-Wing Lies Behind Them

Panic Strikes Trinidad and Tobago School After ‘Devil Attack’

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: We Aren’t Getting Out of Afghanistan or Even Iraq

Italian Priest’s Trial Shines Light On Pedophilia

How Can We Expect Wall St. Thieves to Stop Stealing Unless We Throw Them in Prison?

Stop the Drone Killings

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Louisiana Textbook Council Rules in Favor of Science-Based Textbooks: “The Louisiana Family Forum, a religious right organization, recently protested the new Louisiana science text books on the basis of the credibility given to Darwin’s theory of evolution. After hearing the group’s concerns, the state’s Textbook/Media/Library Advisory Council voted in favor of the textbook’s content in an 8-4 decision, noting that fundamentalist concepts should not interfere with science curriculum.”

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Congressman Grayson (D-Fla.) gives some ideas of what the rich can do with the extra $83,000 they will get each year from the Republican’s plan for tax cuts. But Rep. Grayson has a better idea:

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Huckabee Calls For Lawmakers To Ignore Court Rulings They Disagree With: “Huckabee is, of course, wrong about the separation of powers — and embarassingly so. While Congress does have the authority to overrule court decisions that wrongly interpret its own acts, the whole point of having a Constitution is that it draws lines that can’t be crossed by elected officials.  What’s the point of announcing that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” if Congress can ignore any court decision preventing it from establishing a religion? Indeed, even Huckabee doesn’t agree with Huckabee’s stance on the separation of powers.”  MORE

(NOTE: Conservative Christians should be round up and exterminated….oh wait, did I say something to offend someone? Did the Quakers have a right to not be hung, what law was it that allowed Christians freedom from persecution? I believe the “Liberal/Left” motivated law that stopped Christians from being tossed to the lions for entertainment was a wrong call by the courts/ruler/royalty and I believe this decision should be repealed, then I would like to run for president. Oh, and Huckabee used to be really fat, and even though he lost tons of weight, the damage he did to his body while eating like a pig, will not be 100% unfurled, and the healthcare costs for the rest of us, as long as he is connected to government, will be very expensive. I believe all folks who get government funded/subsidized health/medical/dental care, should be denied this because those American’s who are paying for this, can hardly pay for their own…and honestly, who wants to pay for someone’s health care when those people want to see them suffer economically (US unemployed not getting unemployment extensions, thanks to most Republicans/Conservative Christians), mentally (Veterans who clearly suffer from PTSD who are denied the proper care thanks to most Republicans/Conservative Christians) and kill those abroad, (Uganda ‘Kill the Gays’ Law, thanks to most Republicans/Conservative Christians)? So back to my first thought…..Conservative Christians should be round up and exterminated….whose with me?)

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College Religious Debate (Pastafarians vs. Christians):

US Senate Judiciary Committee approves Internet censorship bill, Torture and the ‘Problem’ with the Courts, Drop Dead Conservatism: Kicking the Jobless When They’re Down & More

“That incorrigible 18th-century radical Adam Smith, speaking of England, observed that the principal architects of power were the owners of the society—in his day the merchants and manufacturers—and they made sure that government policy would attend scrupulously to their interests, however “grievous” the impact on the people of England; and worse, on the victims of “the savage injustice of the Europeans” abroad.

A modern and more sophisticated version of Smith’s maxim is political economist Thomas Ferguson’s “investment theory of politics,” which sees elections as occasions when groups of investors coalesce in order to control the state by selecting the architects of policies who will serve their interests.

Ferguson’s theory turns out to be a very good predictor of policy over long periods. That should hardly be surprising. Concentrations of economic power will naturally seek to extend their sway over any political process. The dynamic happens to be extreme in the U.S.”

Continue: ‘Outrage, Misguided’ by Noam Chomsky, 11-12-2010

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US Senate Judiciary Committee approves Internet censorship bill: “The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act took one step closer to becoming a reality today as the US Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the bill. This bill is still far from becoming law of course, but to make it to the halls of congress it needs committee approval — and today it got just that. There wasn’t even any opposition, it just passed with flying colors — making the MPAA quite happy but others disappointed.” (11/18/10)

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union member Karen Silkwood was killed on November 13, 1974: “Karen Silkwood Remembered”

Torture and the ‘Problem’ with the Courts: “The civilian trial of terrorism suspect Ahmed Ghailani, who was linked to the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, was unsatisfying to those who believe that accused terrorists should not be tried in civilian courts. To them, the scoreboard tells the story: Ghailani was convicted on one count, and acquitted on over 280 other charges.”

Why Some Millionaires Say No To The Bush Tax Cuts: “Most of the media this week ignored two significant mass defections from the Chamber of Commerce line that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans must be extended indefinitely, even though doing so will worsen the federal deficit and won’t help produce middle-class jobs. President Obama and and Democrats in Congress should take this as a sign to stand firm against a “compromise” that locks in what has already proved to be disastrous economic policy.”

Required to remove her prosthetic breast for inspection: Uniformed flight attendant, after going through full-body scanner, also is subjected to a “pat-down”. After full-hand contact, she is required to remove her prosthetic breast for inspection.

Report: Congressmen prospered amid recession: “Times might be tough for most Americans but not for the well-heeled lawmakers in Congress. The personal wealth of members of Congress collectively increased 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, even as the broader economic downturn eliminated thousands of jobs for ordinary Americans, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics released yesterday. In the House, the study found, median wealth grew to $765,010, up from $645,503 in 2008. In the Senate, median wealth grew from $2.27 million in 2008 to $2.38 million in 2009.” (11/18/10)

Torture: The Great American Export:  “. . . the United States and its minion states continue to flout what is perhaps the most important barometer of civilization.”

AZ: Budget cuts stop Phoenix man from getting a new liver: “A liver-disease patient missed his opportunity for an organ
transplant Tuesday, becoming the most dire example yet of an Arizonan denied life-saving medical care because of budget cuts to the state’s health-care system for the poor. … Arizona legislators earlier this year decided to stop paying for certain transplants based on analyses by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.” [editor's note: But if you tried to sell the guy a lobe from YOUR liver at an affordable price, the organ bureaucrats would tell you that involving money violates "ethics." Apparently "ethics" are only for the little people, not for governments and hospitals - TLK] (11/17/10)

Drop Dead Conservatism: Kicking the Jobless When They’re Down: :A couple of years ago I started writing about something I called “Drop Dead Conservatism,” and attempted to define it: “High on delusion, denial, and derision, it’s the face of a conservatism unequipped to recognize — let alone meet — the challenges America and the world now face, and blind to the possibility drowning itself in irrelevance. It’s the face of a conservatism that, facing the failure of its ideology, has more anger than answers.” That was just after the 2008 election, when I hoped that perhaps we were rid of that kind of conservatism.”

Why the left needs to thank Howie Hawkins and Dan LaBotz:”These classic Democratic Party intellectual snobs and insiders are forever counting votes instead of preparing sound policy. They then seriously look for ways to keep opposing views off the table.”

Why the TSA gets to grope us: “The Transportation Safety Administration is bringing the war home — and the American people don’t like it one bit. Stories of TSA outrages are everywhere, from the ‘Don’t touch my junk’ guy to that photo of a nun in full robes being searched by a TSA thuglet. Talk radio is up in arms, Judge Napolitano is having a conniption, and both liberals and conservatives seem to be uniting around a general consensus that this level of intrusiveness cannot be allowed to stand. Yet what is to be done?” (11/19/10)

You can’t be extradited for a political crime: “No country officially admits that it holds political prisoners. For instance, Cuba, Myanmar, Iran, and North Korea all deny imprisoning anyone for political crimes. The reality, of course, is much different. For instance, Cuba acknowledges sentencing ‘counter-revolutionaries’ for offenses such as ‘disseminating enemy propaganda’ to long prison terms. The Cuban government may not want to admit these counter-revolutionaries are political prisoners, but the reality is that it is their opposition to the Castro regime that resulted in their incarceration. Officially, the United States holds no political prisoners in its jails. It also denies ever having political prisoners. Unfortunately, the reality is again quite different.” (11/19/10)

Cops bust seven men playing chess in upper Manhattan park

Did The Rich Cause The Deficit? “Washington is inundated with deficit commissions. The country has piled up a huge debt because we cut taxes for the wealthy and borrowed to make up the difference. But everyone says we can’t fix the problem by raising taxes on the rich in a recession because taxes “take money out of the economy.” Is there a factual basis for this idea, or is it just one more corporate/conservative-generated piece of “conventional wisdom” bamboozlement?”

Uncovering the Costs of War: “The next time you hear a news story about the plans of President Obama’s Deficit Commission remember Kim Gamel’s article entitled, “Hundreds of projects left abandoned, incomplete as US hands off to Iraqis” (Star Tribune, Aug. 29, 2010). In it, Gamel documents the $5 billion in taxpayer funds wasted on incomplete projects in Iraq. An abandoned $40 million prison and an incomplete $100 million sewage treatment plant stand as monuments to a failed reconstruction born from an equally futile military adventure.”

Obama Allows Religious Discrimination in Hiring to Continue: “On Wednesday, President Obama signed an executive order modifying the “Faith-Based Initiatives” program first established by former President Bush in 2001….however, President Obama decides to continue allowing religious organizations to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religious belief.

Put up a fight for flight: “I remember the first time I had to remove my shoes to get through airport security. While putting them back on, someone joked that eventually we’ll be taking off all our clothes to get through security. I laughed. But I’m not laughing now.” (11/18/10)

Economic Recovery for the Few

Ohhh, America, You’re So Strong: “The conservative use of American exceptionalism as a political sword today is perversely revealing. There’s something off when the first generation of Americans that is less educated than its parents feels a deep need to be told how unique it is. Or that a generation that’s handing off epic debts and a chronically dysfunctional political process (among other woes) demands that its leaders keep toasting its fabulousness. Especially when other nations now offer more upward mobility, and a better blend of growth with equity, than we do – arguably the best measures of America’s once-exceptional national performance. Wouldn’t it bolster Americans more to be told that we can meet the challenges of this moment? Wouldn’t we be better off striving to be exceptional at solving our common problems?”

Privacy or state monopoly on info?: “Anticipating new controls and the creation of an agency under the Federal Trade Commission to regulate Internet privacy, the administration has assembled a task force to investigate strategies for supervising data submitted to web sites. The move, thought to ‘mark a turning point in Internet policy’ and a departure from the approaches of earlier administrations, tracks the European Union’s recent emphasis on a somewhat histrionically termed ‘right to be forgotten.’ Whatever that bit of poetic subterfuge means, protection of personal information is not — as European Commissioner Viviane Reding has declared — a ‘fundamental right,’ at least not in the way that she or President Obama apprehend the notion.” (11/17/10)

Saying Goodbye to Compassionate Conservatism: ” It’s hard for liberals (believe me, I know) to fathom that there are any parts of the Bush legacy we might miss. But imagine if the main result of the Tea Party is a “correction” of the Bush creed involving a move away from its most open and tolerant features and a rebellion against even the idea that compassion is a legitimate object of public policy. A conservatism that abandons the redeeming side of Bushism will not be an improvement on the old model.”

An invasion of privates: “When it comes to protecting against terrorism, this is how things usually go: A danger presents itself. The federal government respondswith new rules that erode privacy, treat innocent people as suspicious and blur the distinction between life in a free society and life in a correctional facility. And we all tamely accept the new intrusions, like sheep being shorn. Maybe not this time. The war on terrorism is going to get personal. Very personal.” (11/18/10)

Lawsuit wins justice for shackled 6-year-old: “Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has won another victory for children in the Deep South. We sued the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) on behalf of a first-grader who was handcuffed and shackled at school. The settlement reached with the RSD prohibits this treatment in its schools and all school security personnel will receive formal training.”

We’re all gonna die, and someone is gonna profit from it: “There is no free market in this country. There is only socialism for the rich. And because capitalism has sucked the very marrow from our bones, unimpeded, we all suffer. And pretty soon somebody is gonna die while we fret about TSA goons diddling children and saving scans of hot chicks.” (11/18/10)

This Thanksgiving Season: Top Ten Reasons To Remind You Why You Should Be Thankful For Your Pet.

YOU ALWAYS HAVE SOMEBODY:

1. Eagerly awaiting your return home, even if you were gone for only a minute.

2. To motivate you to go on that daily walk.

3. Waiting for you in bed ready to snuggle and keep you warm at night.

4. Hungry to share your next meal – no more eating alone.

5. Willing to listen to you with a friendly, non-judgemental ear.

6. Committed to stick by your side, even if you’re wrong.

7. Ready to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.

8. Prepared to help clean up your kitchen floor whenever you accidentally spill.

9. Offering you perfect company even when you feel like being alone.

10. To forgive you, even when you can’t forgive yourself.

(Source: TailsInc.com, Beantown Tails, Nov 2010)

Afghanistan war myths: ‘The truth is killing us’ & More………..

“Or, even more succinctly and famously, in a 1993 letter Goldwater wrote to The Washington Post: “You don’t need to be ‘straight’ to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.”

~ ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Care’ by Michael Winship, Thursday 18 November 2010

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Afghanistan war myths: ‘The truth is killing us’

Killing the Poor Instead of Taxing the Wealthy in Arizona

The Power of the President

Air Force Academy Excludes Group That Exposed Proselytizing of Military Personnel From “Religious Respect” Conference

Homeless Women Veterans Need More Help (RELATED: 6-29-2010 Republicans Object To Bill For Homeless Veterans)

Veterans in 2010 by the Numbers

Universal Human Rights in Progressive Thought and Politics: John Halpin, William Schulz, and Sarah Dreier explore the origins of human rights principles and how they fit into progressivism.

FBI pressuring Google, Facebook to allow ‘back doors’ for wiretapping

Professor who downplayed oil spill has federal government contracts

A report suggests that Iran is being framed for nonexistent nuclear weapons. This looks similar to the “yellow cake” lies fabricated against Iraq and used as the casus belli for the illegal invasion of that unfortunate people.

‘Recovery, Interrupted:  Gulf Coast Communities of Color Five Years After Hurricane Katrina‘, a new report by the Center for Social Inclusion

End of Free Internet: US Senate Committee Approves Internet “Blacklist” Bill

This Modern World: Raising the Social Security Age

U.S. cites repression of religious freedom around the world

Republican Congressman Blasts GOP for Denying Global Warming

The Progressivism of America’s Founding

Terror case: Is one conviction and 284 acquittals a success?

Wall Street quietly seeks to undo new financial rules

When Money Talks, Who Listens (Besides Politicians)?

The religious excuse for barbarity

Tell President Obama: Reject Social Security Cuts

Peter LaBarbera: Why Did a Gay Man Get Treated with Respect?!

Mourning in America: Death of the Middle Class

Go Forth and Spread the Good News!… but Not On Facebook

Evangelical Christians in Brazil have apparently banned the use of USB connections after claiming the technology is the mark of Satan-worshippers

US bottom of health care survey of 11 rich countries

TSA could have chosen a less intrusive screening machine

If you grow peanuts in this country, the government will pay you to keep them in storage—instead of selling them

Attorney General Eric Holder is reversing a controversial Bush administration policy under which numerous defendants have waived their right to DNA testing even though that right is guaranteed under federal law

Dear politicians, political consultants, activists, and pundits: The election is over. The votes have been cast. You won or lost.  So shut it. Just shut up

Living in the Age of Imposed Amnesia: The Eclipse of Democratic Formative Culture

Conservative Christian Organization Going After Gay TSA Workers, ‘Medal Of Honor’ only given for mass killing, Christians: If you cant do your job, quit & More pleasant news……..

“The rise of the neoliberal warfare system was also the moment when new forms of religious fundamentalism (or better, “neo-fundamentalism”) emerged across the world. Whether Evangelical political Christianity, militant Salafi Islam or settler Judaism, such religious movements represent what French scholar Olivier Roy astutely describes as “holy ignorance”, whereby religion and the larger secular culture no longer form the kind of organic whole in which each can temper the more destructive tendencies of the other. Such closed and hostile forms of religious and cultural belief and practice quickly entered into dangerous synergy both with militarism and the kind of ideology that celebrates personal and corporate aggrandisement.”

Continue: ‘The Why and Where of Where We Are’

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“In a world marked by profound class divisions and social inequality, to talk about “democracy”— without talking about the class nature of that democracy and which class it serves—is meaningless, and worse. So long as society is divided into classes, there can be no ‘democracy for all’: one class or another will rule, and it will uphold and promote that kind of democracy which serves its interests and goals. The question is: which class will rule and whether its rule, and its system of democracy, will serve the continuation, or the eventual abolition, of class divisions and the corresponding relations of exploitation, oppression and inequality.” ~ Bob Avakian, Chairman of the RCP,USA

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“President Obama dropped a bipartisan bombshell today, announcing he will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom next year to ex-President George H.W. Bush.” MORE

The Road to Socialism USA: Unity for Peace, Democracy, Jobs and Equality. MORE

Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa cited the Bible in arguing that God was against immigration reform. MORE

Air Force Academy Addresses Proselytization Problems:  “The Air Force Academy has gotten well-deserved flack in the past for proselytizing problems and being something of a Christian-only club despite the complaints of atheists. Now, the Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting that a “panel of experts” has okayed a new plan to teach religious tolerance — including First Amendment right.” MORE

Why We Are Angry at the TSA: As long as it’s just Muslims being tortured instead of Grandma being strip-searched, the price of liberty is all too abstract. MORE

Anti-gay group targets gay TSA workers:  “Americans For Truth About Homosexuality argues sexuality matters when it comes to same-sex pat-downs at airports. Amid recent controversy over airport pat-downs, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality is calling for the Transportation Security Administration to institute some “common-sense, healthy ‘discrimination’” by banning “self-acknowledged homosexuals” from doing security screenings, “so as to avoid [passengers] being put in sexually compromising situations.” It goes without saying that AFTAH is motivated by hate and homophobia, and the group’s press release is dripping with bigotry: “The reality is, most traveling men would not want Barney Frank to pat them down at the airport security checkpoint. Neither would it be fair to assign Ellen DeGeneres to pat down female travelers.” (Way to call out the two homosexuals you know!) This also taps into a shameful history of gay people being shut out of certain professions and treated as though they’re incapable of controlling their rabid desire and acting professionally — whether it’s as a TSA agent or a Boy Scout leader.” MORE

Some conservative Democrats have started to cave on Social Security.  Senator Mark Warner of Virginia says “we have to” raise the retirement age. Peter Orzag, who is President Obama’s former director of the Office of  Management and Budget, is urging progressives to support Social Security cuts. MORE

Bush III?: Beware: Jeb Bush appears to be keeping the door cracked for a 2012 presidential run. MORE

The Republican Sole Jobs Initiative – Extend Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich: “But let the rich keep their tax cut and we are told by Boehner and McConnell that a gazillion jobs will magically “trickle down from Jackson Hole,” …..  “The truth is the tax cut will provide no jobs until consumers – that’s workers! – ability to buy returns. Give a business owner a million dollars a day in “incentives” – if no one is coming in the store, there will be not be a single job.” MORE

State Department Issues 2010 Report On International Religious Freedom: “The U.S. State Department released its 2010 Report on International Religious Freedom. The annual report to Congress is mandated by Section 102 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998″. MORE

GOP Priorities: According to the GOP, equal pay for women and food safety do not deserve a vote in the Senate because they’re bad for the bottom line. MORE

We’ve ‘Feminized’ Medal Of Honor By Not Giving It To Soldiers Who Kill More People: “Bryan Fischer, the “Director of Issues Analysis” for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, was unhappy yesterday that President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to a soldier for saving lives. This, Fischer wrote on his blog, shows that the Medal of Honor has been “feminized” because “we now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.” MORE (NOTE: Conservative Christians are the largest threat to all Americans and the world. EVERY-TIME you hear one complaining about another religion or group of people, they are the ones guilty of whatever it is they are accusing others of. This is how conservative Christians have spread their message and become so wide spread around the world. These people should be hunted down and eliminated, exterminated, because they will only bring more pain, oppression, suffering, hatred and war onto the rest of the world.)

Gay Teacher Goes To Work Wearing “Out” T-Shirt:  “Defying recent efforts to demonize and penalize openly gay teachers, Matt Tratner, a beloved teacher and guidance counselor at New York’s prestigious John Bowne High School, went to work today wearing a shirt that boldly states “OUT And I’m not alone.” MORE

12 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind: “Federal Employees And Members Of Congress Are Getting Rich While Those Of Us Who Pay Their Salaries Suffer” MORE

“A World, and a System of Unemployment  It’s an all too familiar scene in every city in the U.S.: houses and businesses are abandoned and boarded up; entire neighborhoods lie derelict; factories that once employed hundreds or thousands are ghostly hulks, their time long since passed. Youth—overwhelmingly Black and Latino—with no jobs and no hopes of getting one hang out, passing the time and trying to figure a way to scrape some cash together while everything around them crumbles. But there’s no work, and no prospects for work.” MORE

Scapegoating Federal Workers: As conservative deficit hawks go looking for new targets, expect to hear a lot about outsized federal paychecks. MORE

GOP Fails to Kill NPR Funding: “Today, good judgment prevailed as Congress rejected a move to assert government control over the content of news,” NPR said in an official statement.” MORE

Executive Order Adopts New Criteria For Organizations Receiving Faith-Based Grants: “President Obama today signed an executive order (full text) making changes in the operations of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.” MORE

Obama Clarifies Rules On Faith-Based Partnerships: “Americans United said it was disappointed that the executive order Obama signed will allow public money to go directly to houses of worship and permit publicly funded faith-based charities to display religious art, icons, scriptures and other symbols.  The order also does not address discrimination in hiring by faith-based charities that receive federal funds.” MORE (NOTE: Conservative Christianity is going to destroy America, and the world for that matter. Any religion that has the power to have laws and orders to lean in their favor, only creates oppression, death, hatred and war. From ‘witch trials’ in the past, to todays; stoning woman to death, burning ‘witches, and killing gays in Uganda. Seems not much has changed in centuries when it comes to religious extremism. Religion in the name of “war” and “freedom” use terrorism to get their message out. Constantine did not spread the word of his god with the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and Hilter did not just say “Jews are bad”. Conservative Christianity in the USA only dangers the American people and the world. Their behavior will assure more blow back, much worse that 9/11. I hope I am dead and buried before te next religious war, that will surely include the USA as one of those who use their military to terrorize non-believers into submission.)

Injection of religion in House speaker’s race could spark probe: “The three members vying for the speaker’s post in the Texas House decried the injection of religion into the contest, criticizing outside activists calling for the selection of a conservative Christian over current Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.” MORE

The Origin of America’s Intellectual Vacuum: “Those who remained in charge of American intellectual thought went on to establish the wider “heresy of leftism” in the name of academic objectivity. And they have succeeded. Universities stand as cowardly, mute and silent accomplices of the corporate state, taking corporate money and doing corporate bidding. And those with a conscience inside the walls of the university understand that tenure and promotion require them to remain silent.” MORE

Nevada Republican Sharron Angle — who fell short in her quest to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid earlier this month — found herself back in the spotlight on Wednesday after questionable comments she reportedly made towards the end of her campaign came to light. MORE

The Vacancy Crisis: Obama has made fewer judicial nominations than any president in recent history — with disastrous consequences. MORE

“Sometimes dictators have good ideas,” explained the Tea Party darling at a private campaign event, according to Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston. At the Las Vas Sun, he writes, “Her staff fretted the line would get out. It did not. Until now.” MORE

Founder of the Conservative group the Judicial Watch Says Obama is a  ‘Political Jihad Promoting Islam’: President Barack Obama is on a “political jihad promoting Islam around the world,” said Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative group Freedom Watch USA, at a panel on Wednesday. MORE

The Cowardice of America at War: “We were occupying their country—and they hate us. I was not crying for Meari, though God knows, he and his family deserve our tears. I was crying for my country, for the cowardice of our leaders who continue to send the same brave young men out again and again to die rather than admit they have no chance as strangers in a strange land.” MORE

Gay Student refused the ability to graduate from highschool speaks out: “….when she approached John Benardello, the principal in charge of the senior class, she said he only put her down and said she should drop out due to her “unhealthy lifestyle.” MORE

Illinois Village Sued For Refusal To Accommodate Jehovah’s Witness Employee: “Robinson had religious objections to registering domestic partnerships.” MORE

Tea Party, Republican Activists Circulate Anti-Semitic E-Mails Against Presumptive Texas Speaker: “..the Dallas Morning News reported that several of the Tea Party activists in the aforementioned coalition have been circulating e-mails with anti-Semitic messages against Strauss, who is Jewish” MORE

Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R) furthered his campaign against President Obama Tuesday, a man that he has before characterized as “God’s punishment on us,” by introducing a bill that would require future presidential and vice-presidential candidates to produce “the original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen” to the Texas secretary of state. MORE

Senate Republicans Are Against Woman Being Paid the same as Men: – Vote Unanimously Against Bill To Help Guarantee Fair Pay MORE (RELATED: Advocates for women’s equality denounced yesterday’s unanimous Republican vote to kill a bill that would have strengthened enforcement of women’s right to equal pay. MORE)

Democrats Ask Republicans Supporting Health Care Repeal To Forgo Their Own Coverage

CONSTITUTION For The New Socialist Republic In North America (Draft Proposal) From the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA  (PDF)

George Washington ran the first Guantanamo and Resisting U.S. imperialism: Is it just bad policies or the system? & So much more…

“ In the summer and fall of 1794, President George Washington, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and General Henry Lee began making mass arrests of American citizens. Authorized neither by warrants nor by any resolution of Congress, federal troops rousted from beds, rounded up, and detained on no charge hundreds of people against whom the executive branch knew it had no evidence. Officers administered warrantless searches and seizures of property and subjected detainees to harsh conditions and terrorizing interrogation. Some victims were told they’d be hanged unless they gave false testimony against the elected officials who had vainly opposed this and other executive-branch policies and operations.

After spending various lengths of time in privation and fear, most of the detainees were released. Detachments of troops meanwhile arrived at every home, in a region defined solely for the purposes of this operation, and required every male over the age of eighteen to sign an oath of loyalty to the government. Not surprisingly, most people complied.

Then, in the winter, the few remaining detainees were marched almost 400 miles to the capital, poorly shod and clothed, under the authority of an officer well-known by his superiors for the pleasure he took in denigrating prisoners. On arrival, the suspects were paraded in the streets as victory trophies, then imprisoned under conditions that were even more extreme than normal. Some still hadn’t been charged with a crime. Others had been charged only because the presiding federal judge – whom President Washington’s orders explicitly subordinated to an ad hoc military authority – himself felt intimidated by the federal troops and allowed indictments on what he later said he considered insufficient evidence.

In the end, therefore, juries indicted few and convicted almost none of the prisoners, many of whom had been left in jail for many months. Failure to prosecute didn’t inhibit the president from stationing federal troops indefinitely in the region where he’d rounded up those and so many others. The military occupied the area, directing and assisting the civil judiciary. In that process, the sovereignty of the United States was at last established.”

Continue: ‘Libertarians, Socialists, and the Whiskey Rebellion’ by William Hogeland

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• Bush Photoshops Rove out of Plame Scandal: In his new book, George W. Bush repeatedly challenges the charge that he misled the country into the Iraq war. He writes, “I didn’t like hearing people claim I had lied about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” But while defending his integrity, he presents assertions that are outright false: for instance, that Iraq had a WMD infrastructure and was pursuing such weapons at the time of the invasion (it did not and was not), and that Saddam Hussein had refused to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors (he was not fully cooperating with inspectors, but the inspectors had reported Iraq’s cooperation was increasing). His account is often selective—such as when he recounts a 2003 meeting with Tony Blair and fails to mention that at this session he (Bush) raised the possibility of kick-starting the Iraq war with a phony provocation. But Bush’s selectivity is glaringly apparent when he recounts one of the dark moments of his presidency: the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Continue

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November 17th 2010

• Obama Wimps Out on Tax Cuts

• The Gaming Bill and religious fundamentalism

• Visit  CIA kids’ section of the CIA website, which offers a history geared towards school children that is utterly whitewashed of all the coups, murder, violence and oppression the agency has perpetuated over the years in the name of the “cool” Cold War.

• The Coming Tea Party Civil War: The tea party’s social conservative and libertarian wings are poised for a showdown that could decide the fate of the movement. —Stephanie Mencimer

• Twenty-First Century Blowback? As Prospects Dim in Iraq, the Pentagon Digs in Deeper Around the Middle East

• Dispersants’ Toxic Legacy: New research suggests the EPA were wrong with their cheery assurances on BP spill dispersants. —Kate Sheppard

• “…..if nonviolence is to appeal at all, we must realize that our own lives, secure as they seem, are not naturally safe. We’re just richer, better armed, more powerful.”

• “Karl Rove, Tea Party advocates and Republicans generally resort to the most outrageous lies to test the gullibility of their base and anyone else who lets their logical guard down. If they get away with it, they will know to what extent they can push the envelop to lead America down their wayward path.”

• “America was religiously pluralistic at the time of its founding and has become more so. American colonists learned early that when people of different religions disagree, they can do one of two things: Kill each other or live in peace. They chose the latter.”

• Resisting U.S. imperialism: Is it just bad policies or the system?

• How can human rights activists strengthen their responses to religious fundamentalisms?

• “…..the CIA helped Nazi war criminals enter and remain in the US in the name of Cold War science, and former President Bush cheerfully admitting  that he had ordered the waterboarding of detainees, gives an even  greater sense of aphasia at the descent of the country’s political  culture and moral compass.”

• Spelling Bee’s Infiltrated By Jesus: “I knew it was the last time reciting so I wanted to let the spirit flow through me,”

• Hunger in America: While 50 million Americans are suffering hunger or are at risk of it, the US political system is focused entirely on the plight of millionaires facing a tax increase December 31.

• Christian Conservative Media Mogul, Pat Robertson’s Organizations Persist in Calls for Probe of Congressional Muslim Staffers: On the Christian Broadcasting Network yesterday, Jordan Sekulow claims to have identified “a problem within Islam.”

• Imagine that, a Conservative Christian who doesnt want anyone to have equal rights wants special rights for his Conservative Christian friends:  “That person is not going to get on an airplane,” Pistole said in response to a question from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., on whether the TSA would provide exemptions for passengers whose religious beliefs do not allow them to go through a physically revealing body scan or be touched by screeners.”

• Evolution as a liberal cultural weapon

• Willow Palin Facebook Posts: Homophobic Slurs…

• Obama, Bush and America’s Limits: “If there was one philosophy that dominated the Bush administration’s early years it was the notion that the best way to preserve American power was to exercise it unilaterally. The more constraints the U.S. voluntarily acquiesced to, the weaker it would become, and by bucking international institutions and even abrogating existing treaties, America would strengthen our position. The prime advocates of this approach–Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and John Bolton–were effectively arguing that might made right.”

• Mounting evidence of British war crimes in Iraq: Will the USA follow? Don’t hold your breath waiting

• Evangelical Leader Warns Christians on US Economy, Debt

• Nation Torn by Bullying Suicides, Pastor Says He’s Gay

• Tea Party’s fundamentalist passion poses a danger: “Since for fundamentalists their people are a chosen people who have a special covenant with the Creator, everything should be good in their lives and land as long as they hold to His law. Things are going wrong; therefore the covenant needs to be renewed and those that have strayed from the path must be brought back into the fold, or cast out. The constitution is the new 10 commandments for God’s chosen people. It is not negotiable.”

• Why All the Silly Devil Talk Should be Taken Seriously

• Social changes that may undermine nonbelief

• Gay Republicans Ask for Social Issue Ceasefire: Which is like walking into the lion’s den and asking kindly not to be eaten for supper.

• The Tea Party Illusion

• The Christian Right in Context: Building a Christian America

• Historical fine-tuning: Right-wing religious populism with fascist overtones haunts the political landscape.

• Stop Policing the Borders of Christianity

• Dianelos on the Moral Argument

• Climate Scientists Strike Back – A year after ClimateGate, can a trio of scientists clear the air of global warming misinformation?

• Louisiana Panel Votes in Favor of Science Textbooks: Louisiana Family Forum behind creationist attack.

• The Sentence “God exists” – Part 6

• 25 visionaries who are changing your world: The 2010 Utne Reader Visionaries come from many backgrounds and disciplines. What they have in common is that rare ability to dream of a better future—so vividly and so passionately—that it inspires them and others to action.” Expect activists, journalists, designers, hackers, writers and researchers to appear on this list. And be sure to click on the bios for each visionary!
  

The Insane Prelude To The Corporate Takeover Of The Planet, The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America & More…

• The Insane Prelude To The Corporate Takeover Of The Planet

• Humanist Tolerance is Nothing like Religious Bigotry

• The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America – Full Report

• With God on Our Side — Christian Zionism Exposed

• New U.S. House Majority Leader pledges allegiance to Israel over America

• Two presidents and their justifications: Bush and Obama

• Democrats and the rule of law

• Revealed: Government Report On “U.S. Aid for Ex-Nazis”

• The Richest Corporate-Board Directors

• Conservatives Lindsey Graham and Michele Bachmann agree: No more earmarks, except for their earmarks

• Take Action! How We Can Save OUR Economy

• Why has George Bush Senior (US President # ) just flown trillions of dollars worth of financial instruments and gold to Singapore?

• The Yemen Hidden Agenda:  Behind the Al-Qaeda Scenarios, A Strategic Oil Transit Chokepoint

• Geo-political power shifted from America to China

• The Financial Oligarchy Reigns: Democracy’s Death Spiral From Greece to the United States

• Why George W. Bush and cohorts should worry

• Will U.S. status as world’s top arms and weapons seller come back to haunt America

• High Frequency Terrorism: How the Big Banks and Federal Reserve Maintained Their Death Grip Over the United States

• The Real Reason For Obama’s Trip To India: The Sixth Biggest Arms Deal In U.S. History

• The Covert Origins of the Af-Pak War – The Road to World War III

• The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

• Billionaire Launches Campaign to Slash Social Security

• The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression – It Is a Class War

• Videotapes Of British Troops Torturing Iraqis Revealed

• Secret Docs Show U.S.-Backed Indonesian Special Forces Unit Targets Papuan Churches, Civilians

• Fighting Back: Ridding America of the Warmongers

• Dead Sea Scrolls Cover-up Continues

• We Need A Rally To Restore The Rule Of Law And/Or The Constitution

• S 510 would give Monsanto unlimited power over all US seed, food supplements, food and farming

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Source: http://further-left-forum.blogspot.com/2010/10/global-banking-cartel.html

The Road To World War III

The Global Banking Cartel Has One Card Left To Play

By David DeGraw
The Public Record
Sep 26th, 2010

Road To World War III

When we analyze our current crisis, focusing on the past few years of economic activity blinds us to the history and context that are vital to understanding the root cause. What we have been experiencing is not the result of an unforeseen economic crash that appeared out of the blue with the collapse of the housing market. It was certainly not brought on by people who bought homes they couldn’t afford. To frame this crisis around a debate on economic theory misses the point entirely. To even blame it on greedy bankers, while essentially accurate, also misses the most vital point.

This crisis is the direct result of a strategic economic attack on the existence of a middle class and democracy worldwide. The stock market and economy have become weapons of mass oppression manipulated by an imperial banking cartel to impose order and exploit the masses. This crisis boldly represents the manifest evolution of the fascist spirit reasserting itself as the dominant ideology.

Any fairytale notions of the United States being a democratic republic built on the rule of law have been utterly dispelled. As a nation we have been bred and conditioned to be dangerously naïve to the darker forces which operate beyond the spotlight of the mainstream media. We have been blinded to what has been developing throughout the world.

The economic imperialism that has now blown-back to the United States and Europe has been evolving for decades and can be directly traced back to the end of World War II, to the birth of the CIA, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Continue: http://further-left-forum.blogspot.com/2010/10/global-banking-cartel.html

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“America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can’t ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can’t lose what you lacked at conception.

“Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight.”

–James Ellroy, American Tabloid. Source: American Samizdat

 

Religion Dispatches:

• Better Dead Than ‘Fed’: Behind Palin’s Dig at ‘Unbiblical’ Fed “Cease and desist” was Sarah Palin’s rebel yell at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week, in a speech attacking the Fed’s plan to buy up $600 billion in government debt to stimulate the US economy.

• Controversial Mary Statue Weeps Because ‘We’re Killing This World’ For three months, the city of Windsor, Ontario was abuzz with the story of a Virgin Mary statue that wept tears of oil. Ensconced in a small shrine built on Fadia Ibrahim’s front lawn, the statue attracted hundreds of pilgrims, though it caused havoc for neighbors, city officials, and…

• Conservative Republican Muslim Condemns Fox Report on Congressional Staffers as “Anti-Muslim Bigotry” By Sarah Posner: The tradition of prayer events for Muslim staffers on the Hill dates back to Newt Gingrich’s days as Speaker.

• Fox News “Report” Targets Group Led by McConnell Staffer By Sarah Posner: Minority Leader staffer is vice-president of group Fox claims has hosted terrorist sympathizers.

• LDS Church Declares Support for Utah Compact on Immigration Reform By Joanna Brooks: Opposes separation of working families, radical anti-immigrant legislation.

• Fox Makes Mockery Of Promise To Rein In Beck’s Anti-Semitism By Sarah Posner: Even after talks with Jewish leaders, Beck persists in promoting anti-Semitic tropes.

• Islam in Conflict with Democracy? A Response to Stanley Fish A week before an election that saw Oklahoma pass Measure 755, forbidding the use of international and Shari’ah law in state courts, Literary theorist and New York Times contributor Stanley Fish penned a piece for the Times.

World Socialist Web Site:

• US corporate executives back at the trough: Bonuses for CEOs at the largest US firms rose by 11 percent last year as millions of workers remain mired in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

• Texas execution in 2000 based on false evidence

• Lame duck US Congress moves to cut taxes for rich, end of benefits for unemployed: The 111th US Congress has entered its final session, with Democratic leaders signaling their willingness to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Breaking News and Commentary from ‘Citizens for Legitimate Government’:

• 70 percent chance pathogen could be released from planned US biodefense lab –Report questions safety of planned biodefense lab [451 million-dollar federal bl*wjob] 15 Nov 2010 The federal government has underestimated the risks of building a lab for researching [creating] dangerous animal diseases in a densely populated area in the heart of cattle country, a report released Monday contends. The National Research Council’s report notes that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security itself has estimated that there is a 70 percent chance a pathogen could be released from the lab within 50 years, and that it could cause up to $50 billion in damages. The $451 million lab would be built on the north side of the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.

• Government to compensate ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees 15 Nov 2010 Former detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp are in line for UK government compensation totalling in the millions of pounds. They are among about a dozen former prisoners who will be granted the out-of-court settlement. At least six of them alleged British security forces were complicit in their torture before they arrived at Guantanamo. The Cabinet Office said a ministerial statement would be made on Tuesday.

Alternet.org:

• Obama’s Greatest Betrayal: The Coming Sell-Out to the Super Rich and What It Means for the Rest of Us

• The wealthy now see victory within reach, through regressive taxation and the slashing of public spending on anything except more bailouts for the financial oligarchy.READ MORE

• Hedges: We’re Losing Our Intelligence — How the Purge of True Dissent Has Starved Our Discourse

• True intellectual dissent was wiped out long ago. For the most part, universities stand cowardly, silent accomplices of the corporate state, doing corporate bidding. READ MORE

• Kentucky’s National Defense Strategy: “Reliance on Almighty God”

• Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate are demanding the state acknowledge “reliance upon Almighty God” in its Homeland Security department. READ MORE

• Situation in Michigan exposes the religious right’s greatest fear – strong lgbt youth

• 50,000 People Face Humanitarian Disaster — In South Dakota The Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation was devastated by a snowstorm. And the government did next to nothing. READ MORE

• Ginni Thomas Stepping Down from Far-Right Think Tank By Adele Stan | AlterNet

• Gay 14-Year-Old Bravely Defends Teacher to Michigan School Board By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd | AlterNet

• Atheist Group Prepares for Holidays With Ad Campaign Tackling “Biblical Morality” By Sarah Seltzer | Alternet

ClimateAndCapitalism.com:

• The World Food Crisis: Causes and Solutions Video: Peter Rosset presents the Food Sovereignty vision defended by La Via Campesina

• Ecosocialist Resources, 23 Another C&C round-up of recent articles we think should be read by green lefts and left greens

• Speculation and climate driving up food prices The profit system is starving people …

LeftI.blogspot.com:

• The dishonest broker President Barack Obama responds to an Israeli announcement of 1800 (!) new housing units (1000 in one place, 800 in another, all of them racist to the core in that they are intended for Jews only) in occupied Palestine by calling the action “never helpful.” Really? That’s it? Because there are about a billion things that are “never helpful” to the alleged “peace negotiations” that are (not) going on. McDonald’s Happy Meals. Glee. Avocados. All those things are “never helpful” to peace negotiations. What Israeli colonization is, is hurtful to the “peace process.” “Damaging” if you like. “Fatal” even. Anything stronger than “never helpful.”

• Bring the Boys Home – Freda Payne

• “We’re taking back our country” First of all, who is this “we” and “our” that the right-wing is talking about? The “real” Americans, as opposed to the fake, Kenyan-born ones who have been in power for the last two years? The “white” ones instead of the Black and Latino ones? And what is this “taking back”? Was there a coup that “took” the country away from the people I don’t know about? Were the current crop of elected officials not put in office by the same electoral process that just put the new crop in? [Actually it wasn't quite the same, since there was less corporate money involved, but we'll let that slide]

The American Leftist:

• The Second Reagan Revolution (Part 14)

 

The Party for Socialism and Liberation:

• The need for socialism

• A step forward in the class struggle

• Republicans triumph with fake populism A mass anti-capitalist movement is needed to defeat the right

• Oil and the Left: An interview with Imre Szeman November 13, 2010

 

MORE:

• Dismissal of Torture Case Executive Director Douglas A. Johnson supports a New York Times staff editorial.

• End the wars – Spend our money on human needs

• SB1070 x Prison Economics We recently came across an NPR article that speaks about the role of prisons and the benefits prison makers have to gain with the implementation of the SB1070 law with the expected increased of imprisoned immigrants.  Check it out.  On a related note, an example of the absurdity surrounding arrests and SB1070, an friend of OBEY was recently arrested, along with 23 other students, professionals, and activists, in Los Angeles for civil disobedience against SB1070.  The group is now being slammed with serious charges of resisting arrest which faces up to a year in jail.   Below is a link for more information about the case and a place to show your support.

• January 4, 2006 – National Security Agency Whistleblower Warns Domestic Spying Program Is Sign the U.S. is Decaying Into a “Police State” Former NSA intelligence agent Russell Tice condemns reports that the Agency has been engaged in eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without court warrants. Tice has volunteered to testify before Congress about illegal black ops programs at the NSA. Tice said, “The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state.” [includes rush transcript], but it must be heard and seen.

• Rethinking the Role of Race in the Modern Tea Party Movement

• What’s New: Online Guide To The Communist Manifesto. November 15, 2010, The Communist Manifesto is considered one of the most influential political manuscripts ever written. This important manuscript was commissioned by a Paris-based organization called the Communist League, and it was composed by German communist thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was first published on February 21, 1848.

• America’s Outrageous War Economy November 13, 2010

• The Hijacked Commission November 12, 2010

• Free Speech on Trial November 12, 2010

• Take A Stand For Peace Stop These Wars

• The FED and the Great Resession That Won’t Go Away Rick Wolff

 

Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines:

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA
The Brad Blog
Ohio Election Fraud
Rotten in Denmark
Blackboxvoting.org
Help America Recount
Votergate
Verifiedvoting.org
Voteprotect.org
Blackboxvoting.com
Instant Runoff Voting
Black Box Notes
Diebold Variations

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Why Does The USgov Outsource Immigration Deportation? Just Another Way To Not Be Held Accountable For Their Behavior!

“The world is entering a new and more dangerous stage of the capitalist crisis. Behind the growing global conflicts lies the danger of a war in which the manipulation of currencies gives way to the exchange of bombs.

Among the principal factors underlying the global disequilibrium is the long-term economic decline of the United States. However, the American ruling class, utterly ruthless in the defense of its own material wealth, will not hesitate to use the two principal tools it still has at its disposal—the US dollar and the US military—to offset this decline.

Over the past month, and especially since the election, the Obama administration has taken a sharply more militarist posture—indicating an extended US military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, escalating its threats against Iran and hinting at war with China over its territorial disputes with Japan. The US is aggressively courting potential allies in a conflict with China. That this offensive coincides with a renewed assault on the American working class is not accidental—imperialism, Lenin noted, is reaction all down the line.

Within the framework of the present economic system, there is no peaceful way out of the impasse into which the ruling class is leading mankind. To the danger of war, the international working class must give its own response: social revolution.”

~ Joseph Kishore,  Full Article: ‘After the G20 summit’ 15 November 2010

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Food Insecurity

Millions of people worldwide suffer from hunger and undernutrition . A major factor contributing to this international problem is food insecurity. This condition exists when people lack sustainable physical or economic access to enough safe, nutritious, and socially acceptable food for a healthy and productive life. Food insecurity may be chronic , seasonal, or temporary, and it may occur at the household, regional, or national level.

The United Nations estimates there are 840 million undernourished people in the world. The majority of undernourished people (799 million) reside in developing countries, most of which are on the continents of Africa and Asia. This figure also includes 11 million people located in developed countries and 30 million people located in countries in transition (e.g., the former Soviet Union). The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly 11 percent of U.S. households are food insecure, with approximately one-third of these households experiencing moderate to severe hunger.

Related:

Food-insecure: Referring to the situation when people need to live with hunger and fear starvation. (Medicine.net)

Food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades. (WikiPedia.com)

The Growing Threat of Food Insecurity in America 11-08-2010 “When discussing the Great Recession, there are two standards for measuring its impact on the average household. The first is unemployment, which is currently hovering at 9.6%, down from a high of 10.1% in October 2009. The second is foreclosures, which hit a 50-year high in 2007 and have risen every year since then.”

Hunger and Food Insecurity in the United States: One of the most disturbing and extraordinary aspects of life in this very wealthy country is the persistence of hunger. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that in 2008:

• Of the 49.1 million people living in food insecure households (up from 36.2 million in 2007), 32.4 million are adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million are children (22.5 percent of all children).
• 17.3 million people lived in households that were considered to have “very low food security,” a USDA term (previously denominated “food insecure with hunger”) that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This was up from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.
• Very low food security had been getting worse even before the recession. The number of people in this category in 2008 is more than double the number in 2000.
• Black (25.7 percent) and Hispanic (26.9 percent) households experienced food insecurity at far higher rates than the national average.

What do hunger and food insecurity mean in the United States?
Very simply, hunger is defined as the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food. When we talk about hunger in America, we refer to the ability of people to obtain sufficient food for their household. Some people may find themselves skipping meals or cutting back on the quality or quantity of food they purchase at the stores. This recurring and involuntary lack of access to food can lead to malnutrition over time.

 

Child Food Insecurity:

 

Food insecurity is defined as a condition of uncertain availability of or inability to acquire safe, nutritious food in socially acceptable ways.  Broadly speaking, this corresponds to the condition of hunger or at risk of hunger.  This map represents the percentage of food-insecure children in each state.   This percentage is calculated by dividing the number of food-insecure children in each state (and in the United States) by the total number of children in each state (and in the United States).  The data are from the most recent survey, and are two year averages, 2005-2007.

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A Lebanese man who was being held in Saudi Arabia under suspicion of being a sorcerer is no longer facing the death penalty, due to intervention by the courts

The G20 summit exposed the inability of the United States to impose its will on the other powers.

Attacker That Sharpened Facebook’s Defenses

USGov outsourcing deportation is unfair and unjust with little oversight

Openly Gay Student Defends Teacher at School Board Meeting

Christians On “Glee”

Fight Big Oil’s Government Influence

Throwing shoes for free speech! – Protesters threw shoes at cardboard cutouts of Gates, Clinton, PM Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

Flawed projects prove costly for Afghanistan, U.S.

Non-Dairy? Misleading Labels

With glaciers melting, Congress will…. attack the scientists!

Punish Animal Fight Attendees

Separate Oil and State

1,000 Pigs Starve To Death On Abandoned PA Farm

Oil Change International: It’s Time To “Clean Up The Senate”

Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Not Welcoming For Wildlife

The Comcast/NBC merger, and how to stop it!

‘Family of Secrets…the real story of George W. Bush and the Bush Dynasty’ – By Journalist/Author Russ Baker

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TruthOut.org

Monday 15 November 2010

Thom Hartmann | Rebooting the American Dream: Bring My Job Home!
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: “The simple fact is that we no longer make computers or TVs or clothes or power tools or toys or pretty much anything in the USA, except military hardware, processed food, and pharmaceuticals. So when we ‘stimulate’ our economy by putting money into the pockets of working people, they go to Wal-Mart and buy things made in Asia – creating jobs in that part of the world. So here is the first big way we can reboot the economy: lose our recent fascination – obsession, really – with ‘free trade,’ get back to protectionism, and impose tariffs (import taxes) on imported consumer goods as we used to do.”
Read the Article

Chris Hedges | The Origin of America’s Intellectual Vacuum
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: “The blacklisted mathematics instructor Chandler Davis, after serving six months in the Danbury federal penitentiary for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), warned the universities that ousted him and thousands of other professors that the purges would decimate the country’s intellectual life.”
Read the Article

Advocates Say Democrats Fumbled HIV/AIDS Funding Before GOP Takeover
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: “The GOP’s midterm election gains and partisan disputes in Congress have put struggling HIV/AIDS programs in a precarious situation. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last week with promises to slash domestic spending and even attempt to repeal health care reform, prompting concern among advocates fighting HIV/AIDS.”
Read the Article

Cary Fraser | The Ten-Year Crisis
Cary Fraser, Truthout: “The Bush presidency marked a serious deterioration in the image of the American presidency both at home and abroad. While there has been a tendency to focus on the foibles of Bush as president, there was a larger political context that suggests that the United States had entered a period of profound crisis in 2000. Bush had inherited a White House that was badly damaged by the rise of the ‘rabid’ right in American life that gained momentum during the Clinton administration.”
Read the Article

Spotlight G-20: Fed Bashing at the G-20: A Return to the Gold Standard, Anyone?
Gerald Epstein, TripleCrisis.com: “A strange thing happened on the way to the G-20 meetings: world elite opinion has turned against the Federal Reserve’s ‘quantitative easing’ (QE) program, the only significant ‘Keynesian’ macroeconomic policy being implemented anywhere in the face of massive unemployment in much of the developed world; and this criticism is garnering some support from strange places, including among some progressive economists. With all the hub-bub, the mercantilist policies of Germany and China and the pre-Keynesian Gold Standard-like stance of the European Central Bank (ECB), are getting a virtual free ride. Meanwhile, the true villain is escaping scrutiny all together: the elite consensus that there is too much sovereign debt in the world and so there cannot be any more fiscal expansion.”
Read the Article

News in Brief: Rangel Ethics Case Moves on Without Rangel, and More …
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) asked for more time to put together a legal fund, but was denied; Cindy McCain retracts opposition to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; UN issues moratorium on experimental geoengineering; unemployment benefits nearing expiration; Aung San Suu Kyi keeps fighting for democracy; banks fund lawsuits to profit from payouts.
Read the Article

White House Says Child Soldiers Are O.K., if They Fight Terrorists
Michelle Chen, Colorlines: “The phenomenon of child soldiers, like genocide, slavery and torture, seems like one of those crimes that no nation could legitimately defend. Yet the Obama administration just decided to leave countless kids stranded on some of the world’s bloodiest battlegrounds. The administration stunned human rights groups last month by sidestepping a commitment to help countries curb the military exploitation of children.”
Read the Article

McCain Moves the Goal Posts Again on DADT
Alex Seitz-Wald, Think Progress: “This week, Cindy McCain caused a stir when she seemingly broke with her husband, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), on the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy when she appeared in an ad calling for repealing the ban on gays serving openly. As the ranking GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. McCain has led Republican opposition to repealing DADT, so his wife’s high-profile call for repeal was noteworthy, especially considering that the Senate may take up the policy during the lame duck session of Congress, which begins tomorrow.”
Read the Article

Dean Baker | Aqua Buddha and the Number 21
Dean Baker, Truthout: “At this point most of the country has heard the story of ‘Aqua Buddha.’ According to an anonymous account, during his college days, Kentucky Sen.-elect Rand Paul dragged a woman down to a river and told her to bow down to the river, which he referred to as ‘Aqua Buddha.’ His opponent in the campaign tried to make an issue out of this incident by implying that Paul worshiped the river as a god. Whatever the truth of this incident, it doesn’t come close to the silliness exhibited by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit commission.”
Read the Article

Tom Engelhardt | The Stimulus Package in Kabul
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: “While Americans fight bitterly over whether the stimulus package for the domestic economy was too large or too small, few in the U.S. even notice that the American stimulus package in Kabul, Islamabad, Baghdad, and elsewhere in our embattled Raj is going great guns. Embassies the size of pyramids are still being built; military bases to stagger the imagination continue to be constructed; and nowhere, not even in Iraq, is it clear that Washington is committed to packing up its tents, abandoning its billion-dollar monuments, and coming home.”
Read the Article

Stephen Pitt | The Koch Brothers’ Solution
View the latest illustration from Stephen Pitt, showing the Koch Brothers uber First Amendment rights.
View the Illustration

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CommonDreams.org

Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 5:09 PM

Robert Jensen | Projecting Power or Promoting Peace: The Prophetic Call for Justice, Kindness, Humility

Tom Engelhardt | Our Imperial Stimulus Package: War to the Horizon

Naomi Klein | G20 Trials and the War on Activism

Robert Kuttner | What Planet Are Deficit Hawks Living on?

Michelle Chen | White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, if They Fight Terrorists

Sarah Anderson | Food Shouldn’t be a Poker Chip

Center for Biological Diversity: Deadly Pesticide Endosulfan Finally Banned in United States

Food & Water Watch: Troubling Emails Reveal Federal Scientists Fear FDA Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon: “Maybe They [the FDA] Should Watch Jurassic Park.”

Friends of the Earth: Congress Urged to End Multi-Billion Tax Credit for Dirty Corn Ethanol in Lame Duck Session

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR): Growth of Ex-Offender Population in United States Is a Dramatic Drag on Economy

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Information Clearing House Newsletter
News You Won’t Find On CNN
November 15, 2010

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” -Thomas Jefferson

“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.” -Noam Chomsky

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq: “1,421,933″

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq:  4,745

Number Of  International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 2,215

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan: $1,107,799,981,041

How The Zionist Press Reacts To Criticism Of Israel British Politician: ‘Israel is the Root Cause of Terrorism’:  Liberal Democratic peer asks why world allows Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to continue – “Is it Holocaust guilt?”  By JONNY PAUL

Masters And Servants of War, By Clancy Sigal: I grew up believing in the nobility of military service. But today, I mainly feel angry at those who profit by others’ sacrifice.

China to the US: Stop With the Monopoly Money, By Eric Margolis: The US government is stoking worldwide inflation in order to lower its outstanding debt by repaying creditors with depreciated dollars. The rest of the world is boiling angry at Washington.

The Coming Sell-Out to the Super Rich, What It Means for the Rest of Us. By MICHAEL HUDSON: The argument is made that “The rich create jobs.” After all, somebody has to build the yachts. What is missing is the more general principle: Wealth and income inequality destroy job creation.

When Fascism Masquerades as Populism, By Charles Sullivan: With its reliance on corporate money and financial contributions by the wealthy, the U.S. electoral system provides movement in only one direction: to the right.

The Stench of American Hypocrisy, By Paul Craig Roberts: The ignorant population of the “Great American Superpower,” buried in fear propagated by a Ministry of Truth, has acquiesced in the total destruction of the US Constitution and their civil liberties.

The view from China: US forces world to donate blood: The world should come up with a powerful tool to bridle the US dollar and the people managing it.

Fed’s ability to influence market could be over: The Federal Reserve took the first step in a $600 billion plan to boost the economy Friday. The same day, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index tumbled to its worst weekly loss in three months. It wasn’t just a coincidence.

People on unemployment face big cut: It’s ironic: Even as the conspicuous consumption season revs up to a screaming pitch over the next few weeks, in the same period millions of Americans are at risk of losing the ability to buy so much as a gum ball.

Sundays Are For Sermons: Religion’s Special Rights in the USA and Theocracy

ATTACKS ON PUBLIC FUNDED SCHOOLS:

OBAMA SUPPORTS ALL TAXPAYER’S PAYING FOR PRIVATE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA, and those who would like to have their taxes go to where they are supposed to: public schools, are denied that ability or argument in court. Another SPECIAL RIGHT and BENEFIT of being a Christian in the USA. Its no wonder Obama doesn’t support equal rights for gay people, he still kissing the ass of the White Christian Man, like some of his predecessors:

Taxpayers Should Have Right To Challenge Aid To Religious Schools, AU Tells High Court November 2, 2010. The right of taxpayers to challenge public funding of religious education must be preserved, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told the U.S. Supreme Court.

Religious Schools and Tax Credits – “It is no different than if you give your charitable deduction to a church, and the church discriminates based on whatever religion it is, whether it’s Jewish or Muslim or whatever it happens to be.”

Religious Right activists are moving to undermine Louisiana’s public school science curriculum – “…claiming the state’s biology textbooks give too much credibility to Darwin’s theory.”

Religious Schools And Bias: America Must Not Vouch For Parochial Discrimination – “…all these programs really do is funnel taxpayer money to religious and other private schools – which is voucher proponents’ real goal.”

Voucher Revival?: ‘School Choice’ Proponents Are Targeting New Congress – “The polls have been closed for less than 48 hours, and proponents of religious school voucher subsidies are already on the march. D.C. Parents for School Choice issued a statement yesterday claiming that Tuesday’s election results will increase the chances of continuing a District of Columbia program that funnels federal taxpayer dollars to religious education.”

100 most influential Americans list is out – November 12, 2010 ” Courtesy of University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse’s blog.  Alexander Hamilton is listed at #5.  Thomas Jefferson, disappointingly is listed at #3.  From the get go, independent America has been far more Hamiltonian than Jeffersonian.  So, I would have reversed that order, with Jefferson at #5 and Hamilton and #3.”

Misplaced Priority: House Ed. Panel Plans To Push D.C. School Vouchers -November 10th, 2010 “The Washington Times reported yesterday that “key House Republican lawmakers say they will push a popular school-voucher program that was canceled by the Obama administration.” The reference here is to a voucher scheme in Washington, D.C., that was strong-armed through Congress during the George W. Bush years. The “experiment” was authorized for five years and has expired (although currently participating students are being allowed to continue their enrollment). It did nothing to boost student academic achievement, served mainly to prop up financially shaky religious schools at taxpayer expense and included private schools that hired uncertified teachers who lacked college degrees.”

The Christian Nation Controversy – November 14, 2010 “Was America founded, in a political-theological sense, on a “Christian heresy?””

Dear Conservative Christians: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law”. ~ Romans 13:8 (NIV).

Stupendous, Spectacular, Staggering Saturdays and Stunning, Super, Superb, Sundays: Silly Scoops and Spiels Sermonized for Stunning, Stupefying, and Striking Studying

“Conservative Christians are the largest, most dangerous and insidious threat to the United States of America, all Americans, as well as all the people of the world. They should be exterminated before the rest of the world is, because of them. What Hitler said about the Jews, should be used to understand these evil Conservative Christians, because they truly are the Enemy and responsible for all of mankind’s suffering.” ~ Me, Nov 13th, 2010

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“In America, it’s far more shameful to owe money than it is to steal it.” ~ Matt Taibbi

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“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

~ 1 Timothy 2:12 (New International Version)

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Doubting Jesus’ Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box?

By Kris D. Komarnitsky

“This book considers the historical veracity of Jesus’ resurrection with special emphasis on the rise of the earliest known Christian beliefs and traditions: Jesus died for our sins, was raised on the third day, and appeared to many people (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). “A Great Introduction to the Topic.”"

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The Great American Stick-Up: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street

For Wall Street, the holy grail was not cash handouts but a deconstruction of the complex public-private partnership ushered in by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

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November 13, 2010

Reinventing a War Criminal: Defending the Bush Legacy

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DNA Tests Undermine Evidence In Texas’ Last Execution Under Bush – “…..DNA tests completed this week at the request of the Observer and the New York-based Innocence Project show the hair didn’t belong to Jones after all. The day before his death in December 2000, Jones asked for a stay of execution so the strand of hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by then-Gov. George W. Bush.”

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How will tax cuts for rich reduce deficit? – “It’s impossible to take the mission of the “Deficit Reduction Commission,” which this week released an outline of its proposals, seriously when the co-chairs propose slashing taxes on the very rich—dropping the top rate from 35% to 23%—thereby adding tens of billions to the deficit. Or how about increasing the deficit by restricting Congress’ ability to collect taxes on income made by corporations or individuals outside the United States, thereby reducing or eliminating taxes on American expatriates and revenues companies earn abroad? Two top CEOs estimated that “American companies have about $1 trillion in profits stashed abroad,” as a New York Times editorial put it, but were unwilling to bring the money home if the money were subject to normal tax rates.”

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The Conjugation of Church and State – “The integration of religion and government is detrimental to our society because it undermines our Founding Fathers’ core values, encourages discrimination and persecution, and furthers the myth that true morality is only possible through the belief in a superior being. A glimpse into America’s recent past shows us how the power of fear and persuasion can undermine a nation’s entire history in only a few years. During the unofficial “religious revival,” which coincided with the “Red Scare” of the 1950′s, people were encompassed by religious propaganda. Evangelist Billy Graham came to fame and warned that Americans would die of a nuclear holocaust unless they claimed Jesus Christ as their savior.”

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The Minnesota Family Council says it will push for a statewide vote in 2012 to ban gay marriage – “Previous attempts in 2004, 2005 and 2006 were blocked by the state’s old Democratic-controlled Senate.”

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Economy sucks for most, but not for Wall Street where profits still boom

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Pentagon Radically Reducing Oversight of Contracts Worth Tens of Billions of dollars “… contractors and their government allies would block Defense Contract Audit Agency’s (DCAA) from exposing contractor ripoffs.”

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Creationism reliably comes up as a prominent example of the danger of conservative monotheist influence

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Post-Katrina Shootings Witness: Cop Said Looters ‘Deserved To Be Shot’ – 11-12-10 “A former New Orleans police officer on trial for gunning down a man outside a strip mall in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath said after the shooting that looters are “animals” who “deserved to be shot,” a fellow officer testified Friday.”

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Wars, Torture & the New Normal Won Big in Midterm Election

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Bush Memoir Says No Need to Apologize for Iraq War – “In an interview with NBC television to promote the book, the former president says the invasion was the right decision to make, and he feels no need to apologize.  He contends that Iraqi citizens are better off without Saddam, whom Mr. Bush calls a “homicidal dictator.”

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Veterans Day! Long Live Violent Death! WMD! and Rule by Investment Bankers!

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The Nature of Information: A Doorway to a Postreligious World – “Atheism is not a worldview and provides no understanding of the nature of the universe; it is simply a denial of the existence of God and it is essentially useless as a contribution to our understanding of the world. So, the question arises—if there is no God, what is the nature of the universe and how can we understand it and our place in it? In particular, how can we explain the nature of mind, consciousness and the human spirit in a way that is consistent with the idea of an otherwise apparently wholly physical or material universe? There is only one pathway for developing such an alternate worldview that is credible, reliable and consistent with modern knowledge, and that is through science; specifically, it entails developing a clear understanding of the nature of something called “information.”"

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What Progressive Need to Do Next: Become Teachers and Storytellers

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President Obama issued a new Executive Order -  “… to restrict the pervasiveness and abuse of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) designations. These designations are used to conceal many types of government information from the public.”

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Tea Partiers Protest Clean Water Rules Meant To Prevent Bladder Cancer – “An attempt by a Kentucky water district to raise rates in order to meet clean water regulations has become political, with a local Tea Party organization stepping in and arguing that the county should simply ignore federal rules.”

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“If the answers to prayer are merely what God wills all along, then why pray?” Dan Barker, ‘Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist’ (Madison, WI: FFRF, 1992), p. 108.

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Surveillance State USA; Wholesale War on Dissent In America

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Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups – “The leaders of President Obama’s deficit commission sparked criticism from both sides of the political aisle Wednesday for proposing broad cuts to federal programs.”

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The Dark Side of Horse Racing – “I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 responded. I feel that the very least they can do is to instruct that the priests give one sermon a year on compassion to animals. I am still waiting for that sermon. I also belong to Catholic Concern for Animals – founded in England in 1929. (They are on the internet) I recently sent a sample copy of their bi-monthly publication called the ARK to the 8 Catholic bishops of Ohio. Only ONE kindly responded. Somehow we have to reach the Christian teaching magisterium. There is next to nothing re animal concerns and compassion for them. They basically believe that animals are the lesser of God’s creation and that gives us the right to do anything we want to them. Way wrong. We need to change their mindsets. The animals are God’s first and He expects us to treat them compassionately.“

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The Anti-Private Citizen approach of the US Senate

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On Torture and Prosecuting the President – “We can not forgive a President simply because he was the President, who thought under the circumstances he was doing the right thing, ignorant and irresponsible and un-American and criminal as that was. We must prosecute relentlessly, across the aisle, anyone and everyone who was privy to this information and did nothing to expose or stop it as well as anyone and everyone who does not come forward, who would obstruct the pursuit of justice towards this end. That a full scale investigation and prosecution of torture might “hurt the morale” of the CIA is no argument against it. From everything I’ve been reading about our CIA lately, more than a little humility and downsizing might be in the country’s best interest. My heart really bleeds for the CIA….and the KGB.”

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Republicans have Obama exactly where they want him – “In The New Republic, William Galston writes that Barack Obama has John Boehner “right where he wants him,” because of polls showing that Americans want Republicans and Democrats to work together.”

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See How Your Senator Scores on Secular Values – “A primary responsibility of the Secular Coalition for America is to harness the power of our community – our Secular Activists and our ten member organizations – to influence legislation and votes on Capitol Hill. Even seemingly unrelated bills can have hidden aspects that directly affect Secular Americans or touch upon issues close to our hearts (such as a recent jobs bill that hid within it an amendment to fund DC’s private religious schools with taxpayer money).”

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Glenn Beck’s Horrific Lie -  “Beck twisted the story further until he came out with this inexcusable lie on his radio show: “Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” ….. “Michelle Goldberg has a terrific article in The Daily Beast explaining how Beck’s two part series on Fox News Channel about George Soros was classic anti-Semitism. He even named the series “Puppet Master.” Nazi propaganda used to call Jews the “wire pullers.”"

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Obama Team’s Deficit Cutting Proposal: Benefit the Few, Harm the Many

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Public Like A Frog: “Where all are guilty, no one is” – “Once again, partisan Democrats are reeling in shock and humiliation, boggled by a familiar scenario — the sheer velocity of their reversal of fortune and the Republican right’s perennial ascendency. Democrats implore, why is it voters occupying less than privileged positions in the economic order evince such ardor embracing the principles of a political creed dedicated to their exploitation for the benefit of a ruthless few? There is truth in the one-liner that Democrats bandy: Anyone from the working or middle class who votes Republican is suffering from Battered Wife Syndrome. Although one is tempted to retort, anyone who votes for either one of the corporate/National Security State parties is closer to a half-senile spinster who still believes her prince will come. “

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Texas officials covered up dangerously radioactive tap water for years – “Texas officials charged with protecting the environment and public health have for years made arbitrary subtractions to the measured levels of radiation delivered by water utilities across the state, according to a series of investigative reports out of Houston.”

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The Hijacked Commission – “A process meant to deal with the nation’s long-run fiscal problems has been hijacked on behalf of an ideological agenda.”

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To what shrinking extent do the rich any longer need the rest of us?

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Why naturalism? – Naturalism is the “hypothesis that the natural world is a closed system” in the sense that “nothing that is not a part of the natural world affects it.” As such, “naturalism implies that there are no supernatural entities,” such as gods, angels, demons, ghosts, or other spirits, “or at least none that actually exercises its power to affect the natural world.”[1] And without miraculous interventions into nature from a spiritual realm, neither prayer nor magick are more effective than a placebo.

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Come and Get It! Prisoners Served Expired Food, “Not for Human Consumption”

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Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Astronomers Launch New Campaign to Eavesdrop on E.T.

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Insider Trading in the Halls of Congress? October 28, 2010 “Wall Street Journal reported that 72 congressional aides had recently traded shares of stock in companies that their bosses help oversee.”

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Talking Critically About Religion: The Last Taboo – “Representative John Shimkus (R-Ill), a Christian man who begins every day with a Tweet containing a Bible verse reminding Democrats and Republicans alike of God’s wrath, may become the next chair of the House Energy Committee. Ordinarily this fact wouldn’t trouble me, but his Teapublican ideological commitments and evangelical Christianity–in relation to this position and its responsibilities–do. Why? Because Mr. Shimkus firmly believes that no one should worry overmuch about climate change because God promised not to destroy the earth again after Noah’s flood. And, of course, he also believes there is no reason to suppose that the founders intended a separation of church and state. He is not alone. Approximately one-half of the newly elected Congress and many of the old hands agree with him. So, at a time in our history defined by a genuine threat to our environment to say nothing of our inability to come up with an energy policy to combat our dependence on oil, we find that our duly elected representatives are unwilling to tackle the problem because it doesn’t accord with their religious beliefs.”

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With God on Our Side — Christian Zionism Exposed – “The truth is that when it comes to pandering to powerful religious/ethnic “blocs” in the US the biggest game in town is the across the board bowing to the white Evangelical “base” of the Republican Party. That’s the bloc of voters that adds up to real numbers, as high as a third of the American voting population. It’s the Christian Zionists who have driven American foreign policy over a cliff. (I’m speaking here as the proud father of a Marine, who was sent to war in the Middle East, again and again.) Christian Zionists continuously jeopardize our future by putting the promotion of harebrained interpretations of biblical “prophecy” ahead of the well being of both Israel and the US.”

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Bush’s Waterboarding Admissions Damage International Law Experts Say – “London-based human rights organization Amnesty International is calling on the United States to investigate  torture in the wake of President George W. Bush’s recent public  admissions that he authorized waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques.” While promoting his memoirs, former U.S. President George W. Bush says he believes that the use of waterboarding in interrogations, a form of simulated drowning, saved lives. Amnesty International researcher Rob Freer says the admission should prompt U.S. action. “He admits essentially to authorizing acts which constitute torture under international law, and torture is a crime under international law and the U.S. is under obligation to investigate any allegations of torture and to bring those responsible to justice,” he said.”

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America’s Devolution Into Dictatorship

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LMAO …. The USA locks up people all the time and supports child rapists and torturers:

Obama’s statement on Suu Kyi’s release:

“While the Burmese regime has gone to extraordinary lengths to isolate and silence Aung San Suu Kyi, she has continued her brave fight for democracy, peace, and change in Burma. She is a hero of mine and a source of inspiration for all who work to advance basic human rights in Burma and around the world. The United States welcomes her long overdue release.

Whether Aung San Suu Kyi is living in the prison of her house, or the prison of her country, does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes that could change Burma. It is time for the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners, not just one.

The United States looks forward to the day when all of Burma’s people are free from fear and persecution. Following Aung San Suu Kyi’s powerful example, we recommit ourselves to remaining steadfast advocates of freedom and human rights for the Burmese people, and accountability for those who continue to oppress them.”

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“Robin Hood is my hero, we all could learn a thing or two from him. I live my life daily by his ideology.” ~ Me

BOOK: ‘Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All’ by David Fitzgerald

“The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action.”

~ Albert Einstein (Source: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/)

 

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‘Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All‘

Author David Fitzgerald

 

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An Atheist Christmas Coloring Book:

 

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Michael Haas, in his book George W. Bush, War Criminal? alleges that president G. W. Bush committed 269 war crimes. These war crimes can be read on Haas’s website USWarCrimes.org

 

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ADDICTED TO WAR

Bob Woodward’s new book “Obama’s Wars” makes
it crystal clear that the new president and his vice
president and their top advisors, including retired
generals, knew that the Afghanistan war could not be won.
Yet, they agreed to a “compromise” and sent first 30,000 more
troops in March 2009 and then another 30,000 as part of the
“surge” seven months later.

Woodward quotes Gen. David Petraeus as saying, “You
have to recognize also that I don’t think you win this war. I
think you keep fighting. … This is the kind of fight we’re in for
the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.”

A lot more people are dying right now but that is a small
price to pay. Maybe it doesn’t even feel like a cost at all to
the millionaire politicians and the great “heroes” like David
Petraeus. In front of the cameras they will speak solemnly
and sadly about the sacrifice of the soldiers and the debt
that the country owes them for their bravery. But these guys
are politicians. Behind the scenes it’s all about them, their
position and their standing.

They are also businessmen, and war is their enterprise.
Each of the “defense” contractors rakes in multibillions
after shelling out millions in lobbying fees to bribe willing
members of Congress. They hire countless numbers of former
high-ranking military and civilian Pentagon officials who
then move back and forth from government to the executive
boardrooms. Here are a few examples:

“The day I left the military,” said retired Army Gen. Henry
Hugh Shelton, “my phone started to ring off the hook.” Since
retirement, Shelton was hired by several major defense
contractors, including Northrop Grumman, M.I.C. Industries,
Protective Products of America and Anteon International.
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers was chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff under President Bush during the criminal
invasion of Iraq and has sat on the boards of Northrop
Grumman and United Technologies. Last year the two
companies took home $16.1 billion and $7.1 billion in
Pentagon contracts respectively.

Marine Gen. Anthony Charles Zinni has also worked for
multiple defense contractors, including M.I.C. Industries,
BAE Systems, DynCorp and Veritas Capital. He also sits
on the board of the MHI Hospitality Corporation, which
operates Hilton and Holiday Inn hotels. Veritas Capital is the
parent company of defense giant Dyncorp, and has received
multibillions in Pentagon contracts in recent years. “In
every case they found me,” said Zinni of his many defense
contracting employers (New York Times, June 19, 2005).

Gen. James L. Jones Jr. is a former Marine Corps
Commandant, the highest-ranking official in the Marines. He
is currently President Obama’s national security adviser and
serves on defense giant Boeing’s board of directors. In 2009
the company received $20.9 billion in Pentagon contracts
after shelling out $16.9 million in lobbying fees.

The current deputy secretary of defense, William Lynn
was once a lobbyist for Raytheon, the $25 billion-a-year
defense contractor that makes the Army’s Patriot missile
system and the Navy’s Tomahawk missile. While serving in
that position Lynn raked in millions.

The people of the United States are being used as pawns
in the most cynical way. The invasions of Afghanistan and
Iraq were based on a colonial fantasy of Bush and his gang
that the United States could use its vast military power to
subdue all countries that defied Washington’s dictates and
intimidates all others.

The invasions failed. The occupied people refuse to
become colonial slaves once again. That period has ended
forever but the Pentagon intends to fight on as Petraeus put it
“for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.”

The people of the United States will act to stop this
madness. Waiting for the politicians to stop the Pentagon is a
lost cause.

 

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Democracy and Class Society

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is proud to announce the publication of the summer 2008 issue of the quarterly Socialism and Liberation. The issue features 121 pages of analysis and is designed to provide much-needed clarity on what is and what is not at stake in the bourgeois elections.

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‘There is Power in a Union’ – The past, present and future of America’s labor movement

Republicans don’t have the votes to repeal health care reform, but they are determined to use their newly-won control of the House to fight it every step of the way.

Christian Calls Islam a Superstition

Alert: capitalists want to raise retirement age to 70

To save us from global warming: God, according to John Shimkus, a representative from Illinois who is one of four Republicans seeking to run the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Shimkus told Politico that his faith in the Bible and God’s word that “the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood” reassures him that the government should not worry about climate change.

Pro-life leaders: GOP is ‘on probation.’ Evangelical Christians were largest constituency in the electorate in 2010 midterm elections

Tennessee Mosque Trial Turns Into Anti-Muslim “Circus”

The Senselessness of Guantanamo – Chicago Lawyer Joseph Marguiles’  ‘Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power’

Campaign Cash: Citizens United Becomes Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for Corporate Criminals

The U.S. Christian Right and the Attack on Gays in Africa

White House Staffers Got a Bigger Raise Than You Did Last Year

The Return of Unreality-Based Government

Eight Myths of Justice – Innocent Americans are routinely convicted and incarcerated. The new book ‘False Justice’ explains how

In Ms. Magazine, Kathryn Joyce explores the shadowy world of “crisis pregnancy centers,” anti-choice ministries that pose as full-service reproductive health clinics, but offer no real health services.

Outrage, Misguided - “People see that the bankers who were largely responsible for the financial crisis and who were saved from bankruptcy by the public are now reveling in record profits and huge bonuses. Meanwhile official unemployment stays at about 10 percent. Manufacturing is at Depression levels: one in six out of work, with good jobs unlikely to return.”

‘Progressive’ is defined as the advance of the common good within any evolving democracy that resists the worst extremes of conservatism.

Republicans triumph with fake populism November 11, 2010. A mass anti-capitalist movement is needed to defeat the right

Guide to the Christian Right “The Christian Right is a series of groups that compose both a social movement and a political movement. It has components that stretch from the Conservative Right to the Hard Right.”

Groups Promoting Oppression or Right-Wing Agendas – “This annotated list is designed as a reference guide for anyone who may easily be confused by the enormous number of unfamiliar or similar sounding names that surface when one begins to study the U.S. political Right and what has come to be known as the Culture Wars.”

McDonald’s gets waiver to avoid health ‘reform’ regulations – Mega-corporation gets political friends to give them a pass

Active-duty and veterans say: Spc. Kirkland was killed by the military!

Hero of the Week: Gov. Pat Quinn – “Congratulations to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) for his reelection during the red tide struck midwest elections last week. One of his first actions after the election was to push the legislature to pass a proposed Civil Unions bill. While separat-but-equal is always second choice to full marriage equality, this is a real step in the right direction. Given the conservative swing in his state, this was a bold move and the right thing to do.”

Did George W. Bush Plagiarize His Memoir?

The Surreal World – Class anxiety, hyperconsumption and mocking the poor, for your viewing pleasure.

Founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Ralph Reed says Obama Needs to be More “Christ-like,” like Sarah Palin

Slavery in Our Time For the first time, the U.S. government acknowledges modern-day slavery in the United States – One-hundred-and-fifty years after the abolition of slavery, the State Department has acknowledged that people in the United States continue to be bought and sold as property.

Truth Wins Out (TWO) Calls On The World Bank To Drop ‘Ex-Gay’ Hate Group From Charity List

Renovation as a Way of Life – David Owen’s  ‘Sheetrock & Shellac: A Thinking Person’s Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement’

GOP Can’t Be Trusted Until They Embrace Birtherism – “Alan Keyes in his latest column for WorldNetDaily suggests that the war between “Obama’s Mao Zedong-style forced march to socialism” and people who “love liberty” comes down to the question of Obama’s eligibility to serve as President. Keyes claims that while the GOP’s sins of massive spending, elitism, and political moderation are bad, their refusal to endorse Birtherism outright is even worse.”

Obama’s India Trip Aimed at CEOs, Not U.S. Workers

Our Political Insanity in Three Headlines: Tax Breaks for the Rich, More War, and Cuts to Social Security

The Resurgent Right: Why Now? – “This is not the first time the United States has swung dramatically to the right. Periodically throughout US history, right-wing forces have thrived, promoting such themes as white supremacy, scapegoating of Jews, violent opposition to unions, and rabid anti-communism.”

Patrick Henry College – God and Country: A college that trains young Christians to be politicians.

Recession Election – “The rough equivalent of the ’29 crash—the collapse of Lehman Brothers—took place on September 15, 2008, the day that John McCain declared that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” It was a mere seven weeks until Election Day. The economy had been an issue well before that, of course. Under the Bush Administration and its tax cuts, growth was sluggish. All of its fruits, such as they were, trickled up to the top, mostly to a tiny sliver atop the top: by 2007, the richest one per cent were claiming almost a quarter of total national income, their highest share since 1928. (When Ronald Reagan launched the era of modern conservatism, it had been one-tenth.)”

Postal Worker Secretly Films Customer’s Racist Rant

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This is what is commonly known as an admission of War Crimes

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New Domestic Surveillance Program a Platform for Prejudice:

 

“After September 11, 2001, Congress ordered the creation of an “information sharing environment” to improve communication between law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Instead of better “connecting the dots,” the government and law enforcement executives developed a problematic system to generate more data dots concerning everyday activities. This counterproductive effort threatens to erode community trust and clog intelligence pipelines with junk data derived from racial, ethnic, religious, and ideological bias. While information sharing is a worthy goal, the shift in focus to “non-criminal activity” can only make the task harder; it is problematic for a democratic society from the standpoints of both safety and civil liberties.”

 

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ProsecuteOfficials.org

“This website outlines what must be done to prosecute civil and military officials, legislators, judges, corporation executives and other who have broken the law, using humane, discreet, restorative justice and reconciliation. As outlined in HumaneJustice.org

Prosecutions are absolutely necessary to end wars, torture, the recession and poverty. and to have justice and a fair rule of law. We must spend at least as much time on prosecutions as on demonstrations and marches.

Time is ripe for massive change. Many of our public servants have and are breaking laws. Others know this is happening but are not doing anything about it.

There is strength in numbers. We must work together. Otherwise they will pick us off one at a time as they are attempting to do to Private Brad Manning.

There is more than enough work for everyone. Individuals need not be a lawyer or even a paralegal to help.”

MORE: http://www.prosecuteofficials.org/

 

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Have you heard the good news?

Source: http://www.atheistrev.com/2010/11/have-you-heard-good-news.html

Why Atheists Are Better Prepared for Death Than Believers, Liberal Group Accuses Obama of Reneging on Promises…. AGAIN

Friday, 11-12-2010

Why Atheists Are Better Prepared for Death Than Believers – When religious people are faced with the possibility that death might really, truly be the end, they’re often not prepared.

Not much has changed – November 12, 2010: Liberals Fear Obama Is Caving on Their Agenda …… December 23, 2009: Liberal Group Accuses Obama of Reneging on Promises

Do You Want A Congressional Pay Cut? – Some people are calling for a Congressional pay cut as a symbolic gesture.

How Republicans and Their Big Business Allies Duped Tens of Millions of Evangelicals into Voting for a Corporate Agenda – The bible-thumping white underclass have given a big boost to the corporate bottom line. Tens of millions of American voters got duped badly in the 2010 election. The bible-thumping white underclass thought they hit back at what they regarded as the nefarious forces trying to “take our country away.”

Watchdog wants probe of Google’s ‘unusually close’ ties to Obama – As House Republicans plan an ambitious oversight agenda for the next session of Congress, a watchdog group is calling for a probe into a company that it says is far too cozy with the Obama administration: Google.

No One Cares About Child Soldiers if They’re in Guantanamo -USgov invented 4 new “war crimes” to find one person in Guantanamo. This was very sticky situation, CIA drone attacks killing innocent people may fall under this, so the USgov had to word these new laws carefully. And here comes GWBush, unabashed war criminal, happily admitting to what the US once hung the Japanese for… doing; water boarding. This is why “they” want to kill us!

Consumer group demands hearing on Google ‘Wi-Spy’ – Consumer Watchdog, an ardent critic of Google, wants lawmakers to hold a hearing on the company’s collection of private data. Ardent Google critic Consumer Watchdog has called on Congress to hold hearings on a major privacy breach by the Internet search engine giant, and insists that CEO Eric Schmidt should come to Washington to testify.

Horrifying: Woman Forced by Police to Say Officer Didn’t Rape Her

Obama Reportedly Agrees to Allow Rich Bigger Tax Cut Than Middle Class – David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Barack Obama, says that the White House has conceded to Republicans in giving into tax cuts for the wealthy.

Despite the successful test, supporters of NASA’s shuttle program are still strongly against relying on the private sector for space flight. – NASA has awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract for 12 flights to the space station beginning in 2012, providing the company is first certified for space flight. The company spent $400 million developing the rocket, half of which came from NASA.

An Empire Going Kaput – Hers is a stirring image of the contradictions of a developing nation; mine is of an empire going kaput. How much longer can our 21st century country run on 19th century infrastructure?

Cooking Light’s No-Meat Thanksgiving Meal – For the Well Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, Cooking Light offers an entire vegetarian holiday meal, built around two hearty dishes, delicious starters and sides and a mouth-watering oatmeal and syrup treat for dessert.

A History of Health Care Reform – For almost a century, presidents and members of Congress have tried and failed to provide universal health benefits to Americans.

RED STATES LIKE TEXAS had the highest rate of uninsured, says report Sept 2010. No Worries, the rest of us; “We the People” folks, will take care of those who dont think they should have to pay for other’s health care, by taking care of them…how lucky for them.

Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity: In Defense of Tim Wise - The anti-racist activist has stepped once more into the cross-hairs of the New Right and the tea bagger GOP crowd.

Religious right group wants a million people to pray for Sen. Jim DeMint

Uncovered: Coping With, and Without, Insurance – Covered by an inadequate plan, denied insurance or voluntarily without insurance – six men and women share their experiences.

U.S. to store another $400m worth of emergency military equipment in Israel Equipment to stand at Israel’s disposal in an emergency; hike will bring the value of American military equipment stockpiled in Israel to $1.2 billion by 2012.

GOP ego grows – Psycho talk: Rep. Joe Barton, who is running to become Chairman of the House Energy Committee, recently compared himself to Gen. George Patton.

With the World Economy on the Brink, America Must Start Producing for Itself Again – The country’s predicament is a historic emergency that cannot wait for market solutions. America must start producing for itself.

Jehovah’s are upset that Atheists wont shut up about their beliefs

This Was Really in a Jehovah’s Witness Publication…? The Jehovah’s Witnesses put out a monthly magazine called Awake! which is a companion publication to the Watchtower. In this month’s issue (PDF), the cover story on “Atheism on the March” has a very interesting beginning…

Republicans triumph with fake populism

Debt panel plus tax cuts equals starving beast

Marines’ ‘Gumpathon’ across US raises money for injured buddies

Obama set to escalate secret war in Yemen U.S. has already killed dozens of people, including civilians, in air strikes, and that may be just the beginning

US troops ‘OK with gay ban end’

Troops basically OK serving with gay people Results of the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” review leak

Is Terrorism being used to erode free speech rights?

In Spain, Pope Benedict lambasts ‘aggressive secularism’

Government harassing and intimidating Whistle Blower Bradley Manning supporters

A Christian Calls Out Christian Movies

Debt panel plus tax cuts equals starving beast

‘How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires, and the American Way of War’

by Dominic Tierney

Amazon.com Product Description

Americans love war. We’ve never run from a fight. Our triumphs from the American Revolution to World War II define who we are as a nation and a people.

Americans hate war. Our leaders rush us into conflicts without knowing the facts or understanding the consequences. Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan define who we are as a nation and a people.

How We Fight explores the extraordinary doublemindedness with which Americans approach war, and reveals the opposing mindsets that have governed our responses throughout history: the “crusade” tradition-our grand quests to defend democratic values and overthrow tyrants; and the “quagmire” tradition-our resistance to the work of nation-building and its inevitable cost in dollars and American lives.

How can one nation be so split? Studying conflicts from the Civil War to the present, Dominic Tierney has created a secret history of American foreign policy and a frank and insightful look at how Americans respond to the ultimate challenge. And he shows how success is possible. His innovative model for tackling the challenges of modern war can mean longstanding victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, by rediscovering a lost American warrior tradition.

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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE: Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 8:04 PM

“A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.” -Aldous Huxley -

“The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them” - Gene Roddenberry

“There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.”- Hartley Shawcross

“Then it must also be admitted, my friend, that men who are harmed become more unjust.“- Plato

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,421,933″
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq:  4,745
http://www.icasualties.org/oif/

Number Of  International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan: 2,203

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
$1,105,983,585,363
http://www.costofwar.com/

Zero Based Terrorism By Philip Giraldi If, as FOX news pundits frequently claim, terrorism is all part of a worldwide “Islamofascist” conspiracy to establish the Caliphate and kill unbelievers, it is all pretty lame. Continue

Paying To Be Raped By Sibel Edmonds Where are you macho and good ole cowboy mentality testosterone walking bags when your wives and daughters are being fondled, squeezed, and intimately probed? Continue

Why George W. Bush Should Still Worry By Bill Quigley Bush Pens True Crime Book, No Justice for CIA Destruction of 92 Torture Tapes. Continue

Harper on Israel: Is the Prime Minister Mentally Sound? By Murray Dobbin Watching and listening to Stephen Harper’s bizarre and unnerving speech about anti-Semitism and Israel raises the question as to whether or not the man is mentally fit to be prime minister. Continue

Public Like A Frog: “Where All Are Guilty, No One Is” By Phil Rockstroh Millions have been murdered worldwide so that these entitlement-maddened monsters can keep their SUVs topped-off with gas, and their fat brats’ greedy gobs stuffed with Hot Pockets & Juicy Juice.” Continue

America’s Devolution Into Dictatorship By Paul Craig Roberts This Justice (sic) Department, which routinely frames and railroads the innocent, argued in Federal Court on November 8 that the US government, if approved by the president, could murder anyone it wishes, citizens or noncitizens, at will. Continue

Thank a Vet? By Laurence M. Vance It is high time that Americans stop holding veterans and current members of the military in such high esteem. Continue

US soldier kills Afghan policeman: A US soldier with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) shot dead an Afghan policeman in southern Kandahar province Thursday noon, a source revealed. Continue

Five Factors Driving American Decline, Seven Intellectual Traditions That Fed the American Revolution, Seven Steps to Save American Democracy & more

Five Factors Driving American Decline

by Elena Sytcheva

The following is adapted from Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country, by William Greider.

These five major elements are driving the deterioration of American prospects:

(1) Globalization’s net negative consequences for the country

“The US economic engine is running on empty, borrowing vast sums of capital from abroad to stay afloat. We borrow to pay for the privilege of consuming more than we produce—that is, living beyond our means.”

“The US has accumulated more than $5 trillion in indebtedness to foreign creditors over the last 15 years.”

(2) Militarism and it’s dominance of U.S. foreign policy

“America’s military power remains truly awesome and spans the globe, but its uses have been expanded far beyond the original idea of national defense. The military now attempts to direct other nations’ politics by “projecting power”—deploying troops and forward bases to distant places where no obvious enemy exists.”

“The global reach of American deployments and strategies for keeping out new enemies are magnifying the risks for Americans rather than reducing them.”

(3) The triumph of free-market ideology and it’s deconstruction of an equitable society

“For the last thirty years, conservative reforms like the deregulation of industries and finance and regressive tax reduction have gradually eviscerated the government’s protective mantle. Families were exposed to the harsh edges of market forces. Businesses and banks were freed to innovate and maximize returns, but also discard their long-standing obligations to workers and society.”

“One million households in the uppermost tier—the top 1 percent—now collectively earn the same amount as the 60 million families who make up the lower two-thirds of the economic ladder.”

(4) The ecological crisis and the coming scarcity of oil

“Coping with both of these threats requires a profound industrial transformation—the thorough redesign and retooling of virtually every product and production process.”

“The United States is not alone in facing these challenges, but we are particularly vulnerable, first because our society consumes more than any other nation and is wasteful on a bloated scale, and second because the United States lags far behind other advanced nations in developing ways to cope with the well-understood imperatives. Global warming is the greatest and most obvious danger, but it is compounded by the overall destruction of nature as industrial capitalism steadily encroaches upon and undermines the finite capacities of the land, air, water, and ecosystems needed to support all life on earth. The industrial transformation that is now required must also simultaneously invent a system for producing alternative fuels that can replace hydrocarbons.”

(5) Our decayed democracy and the paralysis of reform

“The political factor trumps all the others. Major policy shifts that could begin to address these large wounds are effectively stymied. The same business and financial interests that profit robustly from the status quo stand in the way. Representative democracy has been captured and deformed by these interests, and the voters are distanced from those in power. Both parties collude to insulate themselves from voter retribution.”

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Excerpt: A People’s History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass

June 21, 2009

A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story

By Diana Butler Bass

Introduction

After Jesus

In the mid–1990s I was having dinner with a friend. Although she studies religion professionally, she claims no personal faith. Somehow the conversation turned to my Christian commitment, part of my life that has perplexed her.

“I don’t understand how you still [...]

Read the full article →

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Six American Utopias

Even before the American Revolution, the prospect of a new world fired utopian imaginations. John Winthrop, for instance, declared that New England would be “as a Citty [sic] upon a Hill,” where he and his followers would live in harmony with God’s laws. According to William Goetzmann’s Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism, utopian communities existed throughout early American history. Utopian thinking reached the height of its popularity in the nineteenth century, when both Europeans and Americans alike struck out for the continent’s wide-open interior, hoping to build the perfect society. He writes:

“Many Americans were impatient with the workings of established institutions, especially government. They looked upon the new republic as the land of social experimentation, establishing their own self-contained Utopian communities that ran counter to many traditional and individualistic values. . . . Thus, in one sense, the social upheavals in Europe, the desperate dreams of the persecuted and downtrodden, were projected onto nineteenth-century America. This increased the social ferment of the period and heightened the tendency to think in terms of grandiose models, symbols, large generalizations, climactic events, and a coming millennium.”

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Seven Intellectual Traditions That Fed the American Revolution

June 2, 2009

[Posted by Paul Gleason]

According to William H. Goetzmann’s Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism, the colonists’ revolt drew on seven intellectual traditions.

1. Classical literature. Goetzmann writes, “In their numerous references to antiquity, revolutionary thinkers relied most heavily upon the literature of the Roman Republic, and the writings of authors, [...]

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538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal [excerpt]

June 24, 2010

There are hundreds of ways to lead a more environmentally friendly, socially conscious, and liberally minded life–and have fun in the process. Read the full article →

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Seven Steps to Save American Democracy

May 29, 2009

The following is excerpted from A Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy by Michael Waldman.

Fixing the Vote

1. End Voter Registration as We Know It

Every American adult citizen should be able to vote, period. That will require a shift in how we see this most basic right, and a new system for [...]

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Book List: ProgressiveReader.com/

Enough: Why the World’s Poor Starve in an Age of Plenty by Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman

Hopes and Prospects by Noam Chomsky

How To Win a Fight With a Conservative by Daniel Kurtzman

Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover by Katrina vanden Heuvel (ed.)

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini

Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America by Cass R. Sunstein

Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America 1877-1920 by Jackson Lears

Rediscovering Values: On Main Street, Wall Street, and Your Street by Jim Wallis

Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know–and Doesn’t by Stephen Prothero

Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal

Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America by Rich Benjamin

Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower by Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Audacity of Greed: Free Markets, Corporate Thieves, and the Looting of America

The Backlash by Will Bunch

The Betrayal of American Prosperity by Clyde Prestowitz

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

The Compassionate Carnivore: Or, How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old Macdonald’s Farm, Reduce Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat by Catherine Friend

The Conservatives Have No Clothes: Why Right-Wing Ideas Keep Failing by Greg Anrig

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

The Death of Why? The Decline of Questioning and the Future of Democracy by Andrea Battista Schlesinger

The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right by David Neiwert

The End of America: A Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf

The End of Food by Paul Roberts

The Evolution of God by Robert Wright

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

The Future of Faith by Harvey Cox

The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Foreign Policy Hubris

The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism by Matthew Carr

The Inheritance: The World Obama Inherits and the Challenges to American Power by David E. Sanger

The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America by Stephen Johnson

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich

The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism by Roger D Hodge

The Nation Guide to the Nation by the Editors of the Nation Magazine

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter

The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics With an 18th-Century Brain by George Lakoff

The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America by Robert Scheer

The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, And Our Country by John Podesta

The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be by Mike Lux

The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti

The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop It by Antonia Juhasz

The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education by Craig M. Mullaney

The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works by Henry Waxman

Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy by Sidney M. Milkis

Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Destroying the American Dream by Arianna Huffington

Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey J. Kaye

Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America’s Airwaves by Bill Press

True Compass: A Memoir by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum

Water Consciousness: How We All Have to Change to Protect Our Most Critical Resource by Tara Lohan (ed.)

What the Heck are You Up To, Mr. President? Jimmy Carter, America’s “Malaise,” and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country by Kevin Mattson

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins

The Bible: A Biography