Friday, May 24, 2013

24 May - News Notes

An enlargeable relief map of OmanAn enlargeable relief map of Oman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
  http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/

Occupy Monsanto » March Against Monsanto – May 25, 2013
occupy-monsanto.com
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world's food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Mons...
FOCUS: Tom Engelhardt | The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
Engelhardt writes: "In the case of the terrarists - and here I'm referring in particular to the men who run what may be the most profitable corporations on the planet, giant energy companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and Shell - you're the one who's going to pay, especially your children and grandchildren."
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 http://primarysources.newsvine.com/_news/2007/08/21/905477-social-networks-dummy-corporations-and-the-many-faces-of-the-cia
Social Networks, Dummy Corporations and the Many Faces of the CIA
primarysources.newsvine.comOn June 18, in response to Freedom of Information Act provisions and in an attempt to comply with the requirements of an Executive Order, the Central Intelligence Agency released over 700 pages of its most closely held secrets, called 'The Family Jewels' and posted them on its  …

Senate Passes School Security Secrecy Bill | WPRI..com
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9AYDF2YCQ
Maxine Waters Confirms "Big Brother" Database 2013
www.youtube.com"The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," Representative Maxine Waters told Roland...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIGdWsxHJlM
Facebook CIA connection
www.youtube.comDo you have a facebook? First ask about the funding Follow the money trail... This video reveals the true aim of the Facebook conspiracy: Data mining for the..
www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk
Police swooped on the homeless, grabbing sleeping bags and food parcels donated by the public, in co-ordinated raids around the


A Modest Proposal Concerning the Rights of the Inhabitants of Persia

:( Senate endorses Israeli strikes on Iran

It has been a tough 24 hours for anyone who wants to see a brighter future for Iran.
Last night, the Senate passed a resolution giving U.S. support for potential Israeli military strikes against Iran. The House, meanwhile, advanced new broad sanctions that will hurt ordinary Iranians and undermine diplomacy. The forces for war are mobilizing quickly.
Meanwhile, we learned that Iran's Guardian Council excluded numerous candidates from the presidential election process. Iran’s authoritarianism is solidifying, as I wrote yesterday in Huffington Post.
The Senate action to greenlight military strikes is not binding, but it is a key and necessary step towards another disastrous war of choice. And the undemocratic actions of Iran's rulers may not be wholly unexpected, but they are another staggering sign of the regime's disregard for the aspiration of the Iranian people. 
But while these events present new challenges, we have been here before. Together.
We have stopped Congress' pro-war measures three times before. We blocked a naval blockade resolution in 2008. We halted measures greenlighting Israeli strikes in 2010 and 2012. And we forced hawks in Congress in the past year to make explicitly clear there is no lawful authorization for war with Iran. And we have stood together against the abuses of Iran's government, including during the 2009 Green Movement-led protests, and in support of the Iranian people through establishment of a UN human rights monitor, increased student visas, targeted human rights sanctions, and humanitarian sanctions relief.
Clearly the events of the past day are dispiriting. But now is not the time to give up.  
We must redouble our efforts and rise to these challenges together.
If you are still in this fight--if you are still committed to prevent war and support a brighter future for the Iranian people--today is the day we need you to show it. 
I will need you to take three steps: 
1. There is a major opportunity to impact U.S. policy and make a difference for Iranians in the near term ahead of the elections. Join us and send a letter to President Obama to tell him it is time to lift sanctions on iPhones, modems, VPNs, and other tools that people in Iran can use to connect with one another.
2. Make a tax deductible donation online of $100 or any amount that is right for you to ensure that we can sustain and win this fight! 
3. Send this email to five friends and encourage them to stand up as well!
We can't do this without you.
Sincerely,

Trita Parsi
President
__________________________
National Iranian American Council
1411 K St. NW  Ste. 250
Washington, DC 20005 
ph: (202) 386-6325
Web: www.niacouncil.org
Blog: www.niacINsight.com
Facebook: facebook.com/niacouncil

Assange, Activist Media Sue US Over Manning Trial Secrecy

Anne Sewell, Digital Journal
Sewell reports: "Pfc. Bradley Manning is fighting to avoid a life sentence after he admitted to leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to WikiLeaks."
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Jonathan Collyer | It's Not Just Your Privacy, It's Your Personhood
Jonathan Collyer, Reader Supported News
Collyer writes: "All the objects of technology that came before our birth, all the concepts, words, and cultures were there to greet us with all their intentions and hidden meanings."
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White House Admits Four US Citizens Were Killed by Drone Strikes
Dan Roberts, Guardian UK
Roberts reports: "[Eric] Holder claimed one of the US citizens killed, Anwar al-Awlaki, was chief of external operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) and had been involved in plots to blow up airplanes over US soil. However, Holder said three others killed by drones - Samir Khan, Abdul Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki and Jude Kenan - were not 'specifically targeted.'"
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Jonathan Chait | The Climate-Change Wars Begin This Summer
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
Chait writes: "Harry Reid is warning that, unless Republicans stop routinely filibustering Obama's nominees for cabinet and judicial positions - that is, unless they adopt the high threshold that Senate Democrats accepted for blocking Bush's nominees - he will change the Senate rules to ban such filibusters, just as Republicans had threatened under Bush."
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 Huge news!

Just hours ago the long-awaited Federal Court ruling on election fraud was released, and as a valued supporter I want you to be among the first to hear it.

In a clear and bold statement, Judge Richard Mosley wrote: "I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election."

While his ruling stopped short of annulling election results, this is a powerful victory for Kay Burkhart, Ken Ferance, Yvonne Kafka, Bill Kerr, Sandra McEwing, Tom Parlee, Jeff Reid and Peggy Walsh Craig – the eight brave Canadian voters who launched their legal challenges and the thousands of us who continue to stand behind them.

The judge raised grave concerns that the fraudulent calls "struck at the integrity of the electoral process by attempting to dissuade voters from casting ballots for their preferred candidates. This form of 'voter suppression,' was, until the 41st General Election, largely unknown in this country."

From the outset, the eight applicants argued that the fraudulent robocalls were widespread, targeted and centrally organized – which is precisely what Judge Mosley found. "I am satisfied that it has been established that misleading calls about the locations of polling stations were made to electors in ridings across the country, including the subject ridings, and that the purpose of those calls was to suppress the votes of electors who had indicated their voting preference in response to earlier voter identification calls," and that "the most likely source of the information used to make the misleading calls was the CIMS database maintained and controlled by the CPC [Conservative Party of Canada], accessed for that purpose by a person or persons currently unknown to this Court."

Of course the CPC will try to paint this as a victory, but they have nothing to celebrate. That is unless an attempt to steal the election using their database, to which only senior Conservative Party members have access, is a cause for rejoicing. This is a serious indictment of the CPC.

Judge Mosley himself praised the eight applicants for their virtue, while chastising the Conservative MPs. "It has seemed to me that the applicants sought to achieve and hold the high ground of promoting the integrity of the electoral process while the respondent MPs engaged in trench warfare in an effort to prevent this case from coming to a hearing on the merits."

And Mosley even made special note of their shameful obstructionist tactics, stating, "Despite the obvious public interest in getting to the bottom of the allegations, the CPC made little effort to assist with the investigation at the outset despite early requests. I note that counsel for the CPC was informed while the election was taking place that the calls about polling station changes were improper. While it was begrudgingly conceded during oral argument that what occurred was "absolutely outrageous", the record indicates that the stance taken by the respondent MPs from the outset was to block these proceedings by any means."

Now you and I need to step up to support Kay, Ken, Yvonne, Bill, Sandra, Tom, Jeff and Peggy once again. The Federal Court has found fraud and this isn't over.

The applicants have an automatic right to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada – and the Council of Canadians is committed to standing with them every step of the way.

As of this very moment, we're launching an urgent public appeal to raise the $70,000 needed to cover the applicants' Supreme Court appeal.

They only have eight days to file, so there's no time to waste. And the only thing standing in their way is legal costs.

Can they count on your support? Your contribution of $24, $52 – or as generous as you can be – will help them pursue this to the highest court in the country.

Such an unprecedented attack on the most fundamental of our democratic rights demands nothing less.

With hope and resolve,


Maude Barlow
National Chairperson

OpEd News

By Paul Craig Roberts
Why Disinformation Works
Whenever a stunning episode occurs, such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon bombing, most everyone whether on the right or left goes along with the government's explanation, because they can hook their agenda to the government's account.
A bold assertion that--in wake of the deep disrepute Bush and Co. brought to corporate fascism--Obama may find his real legacy in proving its savior. Also, a clever (and I hope, insightful)analyis of Obama's timing, speculating that he's starting to show signs of open fascism (and hence normalize it) for an event where it will be needed most--his almost guaranteed, wildly irresponsible approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
A series of scandals that began last year with the abuse of young recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland has roiled the Pentagon and stoked calls to remove the discretion over sex-assault cases from the hands of commanders.
By Veena Trehan
Monsanto, Christa, and Me
What do stories of GMOs and sexual violence have in common? Too often, the tragic ending.
By Clinton Callahan
Preparing Yourself
Rob Kall's timely observation included a key to personal action when he said: "I'm coming to believe that the answer to rescuing America is not to take the giant corporate behemoth head on. Mammals did not make war with the dinosaurs. They were ready to adapt when the world changed." Next-culture human mammals are relocalizing and building communities that will survive. Do your thoughtmaps allow you to adapt?
We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don't have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night. A possibility might be "terracide" from the Latin word for earth.
It is most telling that over two years after the Syrian uprising-turned bloody civil war, the US continues to curb its involvement by indirectly assisting anti-Bashar al-Assad regime opposition forces, through its Arab allies and Turkey. Even its political discourse is indecisive and often times inconsistent.
The strangest thing about the public release on May 15 of 100 or so emails relating to Benghazi talking points was that the White House had already made these same emails available to Congress roughly two months earlier.
How many gun rights activists does it take to change a light bulb? 301. 100 to blame the burned out bulb on a gun-free zone; 100 to call the replacement a threat to their constitutional rights, 100 to post prepper remarks about Hitler and the ATF and 1 to change a light bulb.
The president and chief executive officer of a medical equipment company invoked the Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing Wednesday, declining to answer questions about aggressive marketing tactics used to sell scooters, sleep apnea machines and other home medical supplies to Medicare recipients who may not need or want them. Jon Letko of U.S. Healthcare Supply LLC, based in Milford, N.J., exercised his constitutional right not to incriminate himself at the hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight.
One of the methods used to extract information from Muslim inmates in Guantanamo was to apply sexual interrogation techniques a former guard at the camp said. Such degradation methods were used on innocent men. He claims that it is the inmates' religious perseverance in the face of pain and humiliation that convinced him the US was not fighting for the right cause.
Why Are we Not calling this Fascism?
A video Interview with Chris Hedges on Russia Today (RT.com)
By William Dunkerley
British Litvinenko Coroner Goes Rogue
The inquest into the 2006 death of Alexander Litvinenko has gone beyond farce. The London coroner is now breaking all the rules in pursuit of a personal who-done-it crusade.
President Obama plans to open a new phase in the nation's long struggle with terrorism on Thursday by restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the CIA. to the military. As part of the shift in approach, the administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged for the first time that it had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that its actions were justified by the danger to the United States.
By Franklin Lamb
How Lebanon's Palestinians Are Being Pulled Into Syria's War
This single act by Lebanon's Parliament, would help repair Shia-Sunni
If given the attention it deserves, an important new book entitled "Facing the US Prison Problem 2.3 Million Strong," is certain to make significant contributions to the public discussions of US prison policy. The author, Shawn Griffith, was released last year from Florida's prison system at the age of 41, after spending most of his life, almost 24 years, behind bars, including seven in solitary confinement.
When Maureen Gard goes running, the flashbacks come: riding in the platoon leader's car, the jokes about her bra size, the fondling and the pinning her down. A report in April based on a 2011 Pentagon health survey found that more than one out of five female respondents said they experienced unwanted sexual contact by another service member, and nearly a third of military women with gender-related stress were sexually assaulted while in the military.
Prosecutors in the case against the WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning have decided to drop one of 22 counts against him, but are pressing ahead with the most serious accusation, that he "aided the enemy." Should Manning be found not guilty to having aided the enemy, he still faces a further 20 counts carrying an overall maximum sentence of more than 150 years. At a minimum, the soldier has already pleaded guilty to lesser charges, of prejudicing the good order and discipline of the military by leaking information, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Did the Pentagon cry wolf over sequestration?
A funny thing happened on the way to a predicted disaster: The Pentagon is learning to live with the automatic budget cuts its leaders had warned would threaten national security if they took effect. The change from near-hysteria to sober assessment starts at the top with new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a former maverick Republican senator from Nebraska who's long pushed for serious restructuring of military spending. He replaced Leon Panetta in February.
By John Whitehead
Operation Vigilant Eagle: Is This Really How We Honor Our Nation's Veterans?
Despite the fact that the U.S. boasts more than 23 million veterans who have served in World War II through Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the plight of veterans today, while often overlooked, is common knowledge: impoverished, unemployed, lacking any decent health benefits, homeless, traumatized mentally and physically, struggling with depression, thoughts of suicide, marital stress.
Journalists do not need -- and should not seek -- an array of special protections to do their jobs. But journalists and their sources do need to know that information can be shared without the threat of unwarranted -- and self-serving -- government surveillance of necessary conversations.
By David Swanson
Obama Promises His Speech Will End Some Day
President Obama is expected to announce that the eternal war on the world will have an end.
By earl ofari hutchinson
GOP Mute on Apple and Other Corporations Corporate Welfare Grab
The news that Apple paid zero taxes on tens of billions in income on its overseas operations, investments, and sales grabbed a momentary headline but stirred little more than a yawn among GOP leaders. There's little surprise here for several well-known and deeply troubling reasons.
The post-Ahmadinejad incumbent will inherit an ultra-fragmented political landscape; a lot of people blaming the government's appalling management as well as international sanctions for their plight; and the same hardcore hostility displayed by the US, Israel and the Sunni axis. Hangin' on in quiet desperation seems to be the popular Iranian way.

Latest Articles
Wendell Jones has moved to rezone the building site that had been given to Occupy for as long as they needed it. A week earlier, he'd had it cleared by the police under the guise of new restrictions, but making the People's Mike illegal has drawn fire, and it has also galvanized OWS into taking on city council. Sue Winston had all but lost control of the meeting, when news arrived from the site that even left Jones speechless.
Washington has a new meme in town, trying to give fresh impetus to the Benghazi Blowback Bandwagon still circling the White House in hopes of finding something worse than Watergate, or at least as bad as Iran-Contra.

Whenever one of our cities gets a star turn as host of some event such as a national political gathering or the Super Bowl, its first move is to tidy up--by having the police sweep homeless people into jail, out of town, or under some rug. But Houston's tidy-uppers aren't waiting for a world-class event to rationalize going after homeless down-and-outers. They've preemptively outlawed the "crime" of dumpster diving.

While men still comprise the overwhelming majority of our troops and officers, the number of women has risen substantially in the last decade. Unfortunately, so has the numbers of rapes and other sexual assaults. In fact, military women are much more likely to be sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed by an enemy.
In Pennsylvania, there is no parole allowed for those sentenced to life in prison. This has become an issue in the discussion of incarcerated veterans and PTSD. This is discussed in a speech given on Armed Forces Day to the Vietnam Veterans of America inmate Chapter 466 inside Graterford Prison outside Philadelphia.

Best News Links from the Web
Biden has long, deep ties to the Jewish community -- Obama actually picked him in 2008 in part to reassure skittish Jewish Democrats. Biden indeed offered fulsome, heartfelt praise in his remarks, before wandering into highly uncomfortable terrain and delivering a speech that is likely to be quoted by anti-Semites for years and decades to come.
Couldn't resist THE joke, though this one's probably on us. I supply a link to the new link about Obama being in bed with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)--an enemy of the common good usually associated with the hard right. But in his I'll-take-the-bottom lackey "favors" to plutocrats, Obama apparently swings both ways. My own notorious--but popular--recent OpEdNews article about the sick Barack-and-Penny tango can be found on OEN as "Barack Obama--and the Sick, Twisted Dynamic of Racism."
Newsroom - Video/Audio: Bernie Sanders - Gas Price probe
The average price for a gallon of gas has gone up by more than 41 cents in the past five months. Supply and demand? Hardly. The price hikes come at a time when U.S. oil inventories reached a three-decade high while demand for gasoline is lower than four years ago when prices averaged only $2.30 a gallon. So Bernie is pushing for an investigation into oil price manipulation like one already underway in Europe. He also would set a 30-day deadline for federal regulators to use emergency powers to curb excessive speculation in crude oil markets. Both ideas were offered as amendments to a bill now before the full Senate. Watch Bernie's speech Read The Guardian on gas price in Europe
Priorities | ThinkProgress
'One of the more unfortunate developments in recent years is the new status quo within the GOP of demanding that emergency disaster aid be offset with cuts elsewhere in the budget, something previously only a minority of members of Congress like Sen. Coburn demanded. This callous new standard led Republicans, including Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe (R), to vote en masse against aid to the victims of Superstorm Sandy. BOTTOM LINE: Taking care of our fellow citizens when they are in need is what we do in America. Instead of playing politics with tragedies, we need to make sure people get the help they need when disaster strikes."
Despite Keynesians' Victory, Economic Policy Holds - By EDUARDO PORTERNYTimes.com
"Two economists -- Lawrence H. Summers of Harvard, President Obama's former chief economic adviser; and Brad DeLong of the University of California, Berkeley -- proposed in a recent paper that at the rock-bottom interest rates that prevail today, government spending to encourage growth would in fact pay for itself. In the United States, they concluded, it would lighten the nation's future debt burden -- not increase it. What explains the gap between theoretical victory and policy defeat? Voters appear to want everything -- including more jobs and a smaller deficit. Is resistance to fiscal stimulus simply a matter of political tactics? Do Republicans automatically oppose anything coming from a Democratic administration they loathe?" Some interesting reasons are given in this intelligent piece...
The Obama administration Wednesday for the first time acknowledged killing four U.S. citizens in "counterterrorism operations" abroad. The deaths of three of the Americans -- Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki, and Samir Khan, all of whom were killed in drone strikes in Yemen in 2011 -- had been previously reported. The death of the fourth, Jude Kennan Mohammad, a Florida native apparently killed in Pakistan, had not been.
The idea of violence against women being humorous is disgusting. Facebook needs to rethink its policies.
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has been relentless in his criticism of Republicans who voted against funding Hurricane Sandy relief efforts that would have benefited the people of his state. One of those Republicans was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who is now calling for aid for his state in the wake of Monday's tornado, calling the two situations "totally different." But King says he won't hold Inhofe's "hypocrisy" against the people of Oklahoma.
Is your face getting hot right now? Do you feel an itch or a burn around your eyes, your mouth, perhaps a tightening in your throat? Are you finding it difficult to breathe? Focus? Swallow? Here, let me adjust the frequency. It is, after all, a new and experimental WiFi system we're testing in your home, very powerful, located in that box near your very delicate skull.

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