Copyright Criminals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
PBS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Promotional poster for Al-Jazeera English show, Music of Resistance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jane Mayer at the 2008 Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas, United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Weekend Edition 134 featured articles
Featured mark featured as read
'Kiss protest' held at Turkey subway station
Some 100 people kissed for several minutes at Ankara station in protest of moral warnings by subway authorities.
Worldwide protests held against Monsanto
"March against Monsanto" held in 250 US cities and dozens of other countries over genetically modified foods.
Soldier's death fuels far right march in UK
EDL supporters decry 'Islamification' of Britain after soldier was killed by two attackers reportedly of Muslim faith.
blogger-following
Video Trailer from 'Citizen Koch' Documentary That Koch Brothers, PBS Hope to Suppress
Since the influence of the Koch Brothers on PBS --- PBS! --- as
Jane Mayer documents in The New Yorker this week, helped, until now, to
suppress this film and keep it from airing on PBS, I figure it could use
all the exposure possible. So here's the trailer from Citizen Koch.
Best line belongs to former Republican-turned-independent Presidential
candidate (and former LA Governor) Buddy Roemer: "Li
Three Benghazi Myths
The Benghazi controversy’s return to Washington’s raging partisan wars
continues to portray our political culture at its worst.
So many charges have been traded, particularly during the last week,
that the average citizen might require a scorecard just to keep up with
the rancorous debate in Congressional hearing rooms as well as on Fox,
MSNBC and the blogo-twittersphere.
By my count, there
The AUMF and America’s Forever War
See below for the most important and alarming sections from
Thursday’s Senate Armed Services Hearing with senior civilian and
military officials on the Pentagon’s interpretation of legal authorities
for conducting counterterrorism operations. The hearing, “The Law of
Armed Conflict, and the Use of Military Force, and the 2001
Authorization for Use of Military Force,” contained several revelations
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blogger-following
The Corbett Report 28 unread articles // actions
This Is What A Tyranny Looks Like
by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
May 22, 2013
“Tyranny” in the popular imagination is something that exists safely in
the past. It’s the stuff of museums and oil paintings of long dead
emperors and grainy black-and-white footage of goosestepping Europeans.
“Surely there are no tyrants these days,” say the masses. “Not in our
modern western democracies.”
This is a perception that is based purely
#MarchAgainstMonsanto: The Grassroots Uprising
by James Corbett
grtv.ca
May 22, 2013
In any honest ranking of the world’s most hated corporations, Monsanto
is almost certain to find itself at the top of the list. Indeed, it is
difficult to think of a company that has affected the lives of so many
around the world, either directly through its coercive and litigious
practices against small farmers the world over, or indirectly through
the pollut
Interview 665 – Paul Craig Roberts on the Economic Dissolution of the West
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts joins us once again to discuss his latest
book, The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution
of the West. We talk about the failure of outdated macroeconomic
theories to describe the current economic context. We also debate the
role of deregulation in the current economic crisis and discuss the
political and social dissolution that American society is exp
Episode 268 – Meet John Kerry, Skull and Bones Ambassador
This week on The Corbett Report we look beyond the mainstream
narrative of John Kerry and his background to find the real connections
that have catapulted him into the corridors of power. From his
billionaire wife to his Ivy League education to his Skull and Bones
membership, we examine the real agenda of the new Secretary of State.
For those with limited bandwidth, CLICK HERE to download a smalle
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The EnvironmentaList 21 unread articles // actions
Under a Microscope
In Review: The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct
Democratic Governors Raking in Funds from Fossil Fuel Companies
Oil and gas industry campaign contributions a bi-partisan affair
On World Biodiversity Day, Remember the Taxonomists
Species are disappearing before we even know what exactly they are
US Diplomats’ Campaign GM Foods
Review of Wikileaks cables reveals effort to break down other nations' resistance to GMOs
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(title unknown) 4 unread articles // actions
The New African Photography
This six part documentary series is presented by the Aljazeera
program Artscape. It profiles six African photographers and their vision
of their continent as seen through not only their camera’s lenses,
but influenced and inspired by their personal experiences in getting the
shot to tell their stories. Click on the image below:
“Will Zuma survive his son’s ploy?” by Nkwazi Mhango
Recent security scandal and flaw in South Africa exposed President Jacob
Zuma’s weak spot. It’s reported that an Indian plane carrying a wedding
entourage landed at a military base near Pretoria contrary to the norm
and law. This act of aggression and transgression to the security of the
country regarded as Africa’s big brother, miffed and irked many people
in and outside South Africa.
The plane
“Where is the Black Church?” by Derryck Green
Op-ed submission by Project 21
Problems infecting and affecting the black community must be addressed
in a serious and sincere manner. Many of these problems center around
moral values that were once readily available and in abundance among
black Americans. Now they are increasingly becoming rare.
To deal with this crisis, there should be a focused and concentrated
effort, originating within black
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Did You Know 3 unread articles // actions
Monsanto’s Monopolistic Greed
The Growing Global Challenge to Monsanto’s Monopolistic Greed
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
May 25, 2013 “Information Clearing House” – The common problem we face
is the power of concentrated wealth and monopolistic corporate
interests. This has created a crony capitalist economy that uses
government to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the people,
often threatening our basic nece
Attempted Abduction In Renfrew Bogus
ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION IN RENFREW BOGUS
May 15 2013
Police in Renfrew are now saying that a reported attempted abduction
Monday (May 13) did not happen. They are not saying who made up the
story but a full investigation of the reported attempt to grab a 10 year
old girl has led them to determine the incident never happened. Police
thank members of the public for their assistance and they are contin
Child Abduction Attempt in Renfrew Bogus, Ontario, Canada
Sent out the story to everyone the other day. It has since been
found that the report was false. So if you come here to view the story
it has been deleted.
ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION IN RENFREW BOGUS
May 15 2013
Police in Renfrew are now saying that a reported attempted abduction
Monday (May 13) did not happen. They are not saying who made up the
story but a full investigation of the reported attempt to
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Obsidian Wings 8 unread articles // actions
Star Trek could use a Hard Reboot
by Doctor Science
I was not looking forward to Star Trek: Into Darkness, though I am a
ST: The Original Series fan.
By which I mean, because I am a ST:TOS fan.
[the following post is *spoiler-free* with regard to ST:ID -- I started
working on it weeks before the movie came out. I'll put up a spoilery
post at some other time.]
The thing about ST:TOS that you whippersnappers may not realize is
Your cockroaches are going to win Friday open thread
by liberal japonicus
The NYTimes had this cheery science tidbit.
Some populations of cockroaches evolved a simple, highly effective
defense against sweet-tasting poison baits: They switched their internal
chemistry around so that glucose, a form of sugar that is a sweet
come-hither to countless forms of life, tastes bitter.
Your other 'we're doomed' thoughts are welcome here.
Failita, or, Lolita and the problem of the unreliable narrator
by Doctor Science
Brand, Gerhard. "Lolita." Magill's Survey Of American Literature,
Revised Edition (2006): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 May
2013.The novel works on many levels: It is a remorseless satire of
middle-class, immature America and a seriocomic commentary on
Continental-American cultural relations. More profoundly, it is a moving
romance in the medieval tradition of courtly
Hoisted from the comments
hoisted by liberal japonicus
If you enjoyed The Christmas Rats story by our own 'Jill Kearney', you
will want to download the rest of the book for you Kindle. The title is
The Dog Thief and Other Stories. It’s available as a Kindle download.
[ed. note $0.99, a steal!!] The author says: The author is listed as
Jill Kearney, which is not my real name. One of the stories is about
stealing a d
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Syria Comment 8 unread articles // actions
Sheikh al-Yaqoubi Elected to the NC—its first non-Brotherhood-aligned religious figure
The Rise of the Sufis
by Matthew Barber—This story first appeared on Syria Comment
Newly-elected to the Syrian National Coalition, Sheikh Mohammad
al-Yaqoubi is moderate, influential, and ready to go to work
From the beginning of the uprising, mainstream Syrian Sunni ‘ulema—the
traditional scholars who have spoken for Islam for centuries and who
most Syrians recognize as the quintessential vo
Documentary: Where the war still echoes
Where the war still echoes is a documentary produced by IRIN, a
news service run by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs .
The documentary series follows a family of Syrian refugees over the
course of a year, from their arrival to Za’atari camp in Jordan in
December 2012. Selim and Leila were farmers in Der’aa, southwest Syria,
until the day their village was shelled by gover
Is Jabhat al-Nosra breaking apart?
by Aron Lund for Syria Comment
There’s been some very interesting reports about conflicts within Jabhat
al-Nosra, the salafi-jihadi rebel group that has been designated an
al-Qaida-connected terrorist organization by the USA and several other
countries.
The background
If you follow Syria, you’re already familiar with the outlines of this,
but here’s the very short version:
In a recorded voice stat
Do the Massacres in Bayda and Banyas Portend Ethnic Cleansing to Create an Alawite State?
Do the Massacres in Bayda and Banyas Portend Ethnic Cleansing to
Create an Alawite State?
by Joshua Landis, Syria Comment, May 13, 2013
Map showing the cities of Latakia – Baniyas – Tartus on the Syrian coast
This question is taken up in two thoughtful articles by Hassan Hassan
and Michael Young. Hassan Hassan argues that “sectarian cleansing is not
being conducted for the purpose of establishing
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INFRASTRUCTURIST 3 unread articles // actions
Five Reasons Electric Cars Will Have Trouble Catching On
With the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf set to hit the
streets very soon, and the Ford Focus Electric now scheduled to
appear late next year, many people are asking whether Americans are
ready to embrace electric cars. Some clearly are: GE already declared
its intention to buy 25,000 EVs(including 12,000 Volts). But many
believe the masses won’t be moving [...]
How Often Is the Gas Tax Raised? Most Americans Have No Clue
The federal gas tax. It needs to be raised. We’ve hammered this
point home enough. Our infrastructure needs help, and that help involves
money, and that money has to come from somewhere. Politicians know
this. But they won’t touch the gas tax with a ten-foot pole. Why not?
Because come election time, no one wants to [...]
The World’s 10 Greatest Large Urban Parks
Everyone knows what a urban park looks like, right? It tends to
be a parcel of green space in a sea of asphalt and concrete and glass.
But, of course, there are innumerable variations on that principle. We
thought it would be fun to take ten of the world’s largest, most famous,
and most [...]
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Phronesisaical 3 unread articles // actions
Syria’s chemical weapons pose a decade-long problem for the world
That's the title of another op-ed from me and Aaron Stein at the Globe and Mail.
Bits and Pieces - April 29, 2013
Too much stuff happening.Jared Bernstein is collecting news
stories about the damage being done by the sequester. Here's this week's
collection.Why didn't 2,400 tons of ammonium nitrate at West plant
raise concerns?The blunt logic of Russian power.Forgiveness and
reconciliation need to factor into many more international
situations.Richard Haass: How to build a second American century.
Bits and Pieces - April 28, 2013
Bush and the West explosion: the untold story of deregulating
chemical plantsCharlie Stross changes his mind on nuclear
disarmament.What we need to know about Syrian chemical weapons (by me)
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They gave us a republic... - Front Page 25 unread articles // actions
Obama *is* pretty dastardly, but is he Mark Mardon/'Weather Wizard' Dastardly?
By @BginKC
It's a pretty safe bet that if something is batshit crazy it originated
with Alex Jones. I used to laugh at him, but now I don't. He isn't funny
any more, he's dangerous and his lunacy is falling on heavily armed,
militant, right-wing, radical, violence-prone ears.
The man obviously isn't well. The conspiracies he concocts are the
product of a mind that is definitely p
GOP: Party of Crybabies
By @TedFrier
The GOP is a "party of crybabies." Or so says Jonathan Bernstein in
today's Salon, reprieving one of my biggest pet peeves, which is the
presumption by conservatives that freedom of speech entails the freedom
from criticism for one's opinions - no matter how absurd or obscene
those opinions might be.
The reason this matters is that one important measure of the health of a
democracy i
Calls for Obama Impeachment Increasing -- Literally
By @TedFrier
Last night I got my first call at home from a right wing outfit called
the Conservative Majority Fund that was soliciting contributions to
impeach President Obama for trashing the Constitution - first by taking
away our guns and now by using the IRS to destroy the liberties of
conservatives.
My not-too-far-out-on-a-limb prediction is that this lynch mob hysteria
is likely to escalat
Will Says Obama "Lawless" for Standing Up For Labor
By @TedFrier
Not so long ago, George F. Will was fully on board with those who said
that corporations were people, my friend, and so ought to be allowed to
dump unlimited piles of money into American elections to buy themselves a
democracy.
Now, Will sees "George Wallace-like lawlessness" in a requirement by the
National Labor Relations Board that employers post notices informing
workers
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red 27 unread articles // actions
Photographic Proof Of Alternative Universe
Some people persist in denying the Reality of alternative
universes. This is silly. But then, there you go. Humans: silly.
Fact is, as Dr. Che Guevera of the Havana Institute for Theoretical and
Applied Physics once observed, there are “one, two, many universes.”
Some of these universes are very far from the one occupied in this
moment by those here reading red. In such a faraway universe, one mig
Lawman Fingers Flowers As Spies
At the age of 15 he taught himself French and never told anyone
about it and never spoke to anyone in French for the next 40 years. In
Juan Para he bought himself a hotel room for two years with money he had
saved and organised a schedule to learn how to drink. In the first
three months he forced himself to disintegrate his mind. He would vomit
everywhere. In a year he could drink two bottles a da
Friday News Dump
—Yesterday on the Sean Klannity radio show I heard the second
generation of the insane Paul clan indicate that not only is he running
for president in 2016, but he would like his three nutso
teabagger mates—fellow Cro-Magnon senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Marco
Rubio, all of whom are also planning to run for president—to get out of
the race immediately and endorse him. They are all loons, and se
Somebody Has To Do It
Tonight I watched again Some Mother’s Son. The middle film of the
Jim Sheridan/Terry George trilogy. Focusing on individuals caught up in
the modern IRA struggle to free the six northern counties of Ireland
from the occupation of the British.
George, in this film co-screenwriter and director, served three years in
Maze Prison. Interned on charges of being an Irishman present in an
automobile where
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Politicol News 21 unread articles // actions
US Senate Votes Against GMO Labels and Against Consumers Rights
US Senate votes against GMO Labels on food containing GMO, voting
against the Bernie Sanders-Vermont- Amendment while a global war
against Monsanto begins a consumer backlash. Read more →
OFA Launches Attack on Republican Climate Deniers
Organize For Action launches attack on Republican Climate Deniers
as part of the need for new legislation on the environment and fewer
wars in the Middle East. Read more →
GOP Culture of IRS Non-Profits and A Presumed Scandal
The GOP Culture of Scandals on Meet the Press continues to show
the objectives of the Tea Party to flow dark money in politics into the
2014 mid-terms.Read more →
Why the GOP Can’t Stand Obamacare
The GOP fear of Obamacare, scandals in Washington This Week and
Ed Shultz tackles the GOP 38th bill to destroy Obamacare, farm bill.
Read more →
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Craig Murray 31 unread articles // actions
The Sky Has Not Fallen
The shocking death of Lee Rigby quite naturally appals us all.
The intention of the crazed little group who conceived this killing was
to make it as horrible as possible in order to scare people.
Horrible, sociopathic violence happens to people from time to time.
They have done since Cain killed Abel, metaphorically or literally as
you choose. Here is another headline today, just as horrific:
A
Yes Scotland Meeting Edinburgh
Am back in Edinburgh and speaking at a Yes Scotland meeting on
Friday 24 May at the Columcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace, Edinburgh
at 7pm.
This is my first entry as a speaker into the referendum campaign, and I
am excited – and nervous – about it. I have of course given quite
literally hundreds of speeches, on every continent, in the last nine
years. I have spoken before official committee
Looking for Gulnara
This video is in Russian but is pretty self-explanatory. While in
Geneva we decided to look for Gulnara Karimova’s US25 million dollar
home, to see how the proceeds of forced child labour are spent.
Regular readers will recall the EU Commission insisted to me there is
“no reliable evidence” of what is in truth the use of millions of forced
child labourers in the Uzbek state owned cotton plantat
Alisher Usmanov
Now officially Britain’s wealthiest man, Alisher Usmanov has
perhaps the world’s most carefully manicured Wikipedia entry. This
article looks interesting and worrying. Can anyone do a good
translation? Automatic web translators seem to struggle with it even
more than usual. Please do not post any automated translations.
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NolanChart.com 41 unread articles // actions
Legislating morality is happening now, it's time Christianity arose
by Mark Vogl: It's not a question of whether, but in what
direction! One Christian's arguement for legislating from the Bible.
Time for a halt to government expansion into my personal life!
by Mark Vogl: President Obama and the socialist - communists
believe I am an asset of their state. They are absolutely confused on
who works for who.
Hail Caesar - A Tribute to Senator Trunzo, A Quiet Giant Part 1 of 2
by Mark Vogl: He is a small, quiet, thoughtful man who played a
huge role in political and governing issues in NY for three decades!
Benghazi Investigation Entirely Misses the Big Picture
by Kenn Jacobine: Why investigate an event that shouldn't have happened anyway?
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Obsolete 15 unread articles // actions
Falling into their trap.
Considering the way that New Labour under Blair responded to 7/7
and then the foiled "liquid bombs" plot (John Reid was on Newsnight last
night once again claiming 2,500 people would have been killed, ignoring
the fact the cell had never succeeded in making such a bomb and that
the experts themselves had major difficulties in doing so), the
coalition's reaction to the murder yesterday of Lee Rigby
Sigh.
Let's get something straight. The murder in Woolwich this
afternoon was not a terrorist attack. If it was, then there are
somewhere in the region of 500 terrorist incidents a year in this
country, more if you include assaults that are intended to kill but fail
to do so. It doesn't matter that reports suggest a serving soldier is
the victim, although that is yet to be confirmed, that the
A sort-of review of The Fall.
Whenever someone says that films or TV designed to be frightening
don't scare them, it's difficult not to regard it as a boast. It is
after all typically blokeish to maintain that regardless of the
atmosphere a movie tries to create, despite how much ketchup is thrown
against the lens and however loud the bang that signals it's time for
the audience to jump is, none of it has ever and
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Centauri Dreams 21 unread articles // actions
Star Trek, Star Tech
Tau Zero’s founding architect (and the former head of NASA’s
Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project) weighs in on the kind of
technology we see in the new Star Trek movie and ponders what it would
take to make at least some of it real.
by Marc Millis
Another Star Trek film just hit the screen – with the venerable Starship
Enterprise and its iconic warp drives and in-flight gravitation. How
close
text
At the 2012 100YSS Symposium, Heath Rezabek presented what he
calls the ‘Vessel Archives’ proposal, a strategy for sustaining and
conveying Earth’s cultural and biological heritage that was directly
inspired by Gregory Benford’s Library of Life
DH Edit:
At the 2012 100YSS Symposium, Heath Rezabek presented what he calls the
“Vessel Archives” proposal, a strategy for sustaining and conveying
Earth’
heath3
At the, Heath Rezabek presented what he calls the ‘Vessel
Archives’ proposal, a strategy for sustaining and conveying Earth’s
cultural and biological heritage that was directly inspired by Gregory
Benford’s Library of Life proposal (preprint available here).
http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figsharehis major concern is in “improving
the prospects for Earth-originating life through the longevity of o
heath2
At the 2012 100YSS Symposium, Heath Rezabek presented what he
calls the ‘Vessel Archives’ proposal, a strategy for sustaining and
conveying Earth’s cultural and biological heritage that was directly
inspired by Gregory Benford’s Library of Life proposal (preprint
available here). http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.157109
Heath tells me his major concern is in “improving the prospects for Eart
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In These Times 36 unread articles // actions
How to Handle the IRS Scandal? Reverse Citizens United
The IRS, always friendless, now is a pariah. Republicans can’t stop
condemning it. Democrats can’t stop agreeing.
Targeting Tea Party groups for scrutiny, even if through incompetence,
not intention, turned the IRS into a nasty carbuncle on the governing
body.
Carbuncles are never good. Strength-sapping, painful, ugly, they’re to
be avoided. Here’s the thing, though: while every politician i
Where the Real Danger Lies
“The operation was a success, but the patient died.” Nowhere may that
old saw be more apt than about the likely outcome of the Board of
Education’s decision on Wednesday to close 50 neighborhood schools.
They say this truly radical operation is necessitated by a dearth of
funds and a diminishing number of students attending the targeted
schools (although those numbers are disputed). But are th
Is Your Town in Transition?
When I set out to investigate the appeal of Transition, a
sustainability movement that has spread to 1,105 towns in 43 countries
over the past eight years, I started with what I thought was a basic
question: What are "Transition Towns" transitioning to?
"Resilience," I was told. "What does that mean?” I asked, thinking
vaguely of steel. “The ability to absorb shocks to a system!
Not Your Grandma’s Wooden Nickel
The American idiom “Don’t take any wooden nickels!” predates the 1930s,
but that era’s bank crises did lead to the actual use of wooden
currency. When local banks failed or were inaccessible in the Pacific
Northwest, some merchants and towns issued wooden money as a stopgap.
The wooden nickels circulated as IOUs until the banks became accessible.
The principles behind the wooden nickel are sti
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Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center 11 unread articles // actions
Engineer at Elite Army Weapons Lab Tied to Racist Groups
A young research engineer at the U.S. Army’s elite chemical and
biological research laboratory in Maryland has close ties to two racist
groups espousing white nationalist views, one of which has called for a
homeland for white people.
John Stortstrom, a mechanical engineer who works for the Army at its
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), was [...]
SC Governor Names White Nationalist to Reelection Committee
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the daughter of Indian
immigrants and just the third person of color to be elected governor of a
Southern state.
So, one might think she would want nothing to do with racists and
anti-immigrant extremists. Not so, apparently.
In anticipation of her 2014 re-election campaign, the Tea Party darling
has put [...]
Veteran Skinhead Forms New Racist Club, Peddles T-shirts on Internet
Some skinhead organizers, well, it seems, just can’t stop
organizing the next generation of racist clubs, claiming they’ve now
found the right formula. Take the case of Brien James, a tattoo shop
owner from Indiana.
A household name in some racist circles, James has been organizing or
attempting to organize neo-Nazi skinhead gangs since his teens. [...]
Once Again, White Nationalists Sully Immigration Debate
Opponents of immigration reform legislation have been trying to
steer clear of white nationalists lately, hoping to keep their
opposition to citizenship for undocumented Latino immigrants free from
the taint of racism.
But they just can’t seem to run fast enough.
Last week, a major Heritage Foundation report about the supposed costs
of illegal immigration was pilloried [...]
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WWF - Latest News 25 unread articles // actions
Photos offer rare glimpse into panda habitat
Beijing – WWF today released dozens of photographs and video
footage of endangered species captured by camera traps in the
mountainous giant panda reserves in China, marking this year's
International Day for Biological Diversity. The images and footage,
rarely seen before, showcase an array of endangered species in their
remote habitats in southwestern Sichuan Province, including giant panda,
A second chance for a trapped whale shark
20 May, 2013: Fishermen in the Sonmiani Bay have successfully
released a juvenile whale shark trapped in their fishing nets. A tuna
gillnet operating along the Balochistan coast caught the 3.5 metre whale
shark accidentally. The captain of the vessel, Muhammad Ismail, a
fisherman trained by WWF-Pakistan to release endangered animals trapped
in nets, took great care to ensure the whale shark was fr
The Carpathian Convention at 10: On the map, but much left to do
By Andreas BeckmannThe Carpathians turn 10 years old this month.
The venerable mountains have of course been around for longer – at
least 66 million years in fact. But it has been only relatively recently
that the Carpathians, which stretch across seven countries in Central
and Eastern Europe, have really come into focus and gained a common
identity as a mountain range with unique qualities, trad
Total to keep out of Virunga World Heritage Site
Addressing investors in Paris today, Total Chairman and CEO
Christophe de Margerie affirmed that the company will not explore for
oil within the boundaries of Virunga National Park in Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC). Responding to questions posed by conservation
group WWF, de Margerie told the annual shareholder meeting that Total is
making a "commitment to respect the current limits" of the pa
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ArmsControlWonk 14 unread articles // actions
Is the Musudan Real?
The other day, I posted an entry at 38North outlining three
scenarios for North Korea — that North Korea would eventually test a
Musudan, that China has stayed Kim Jong Un’s hand for the moment and
that North Korean politics have aligned against a test.
Two readers — Markus Schiller and Anon O’Moose — wrote in to observe
that the piece would have been stronger had I considered a fourth
scenario: w
Ritualized Anxieties over BMD
In November 1996, I had the good fortune to attend an ISODARCO
conference in Chengdu, with the added bonus of a side trip to visit
China’s nuclear laboratory complex at Mianyang. Back then, ISODARCO – an
enterprising Italian NGO founded in 1966 by Edoardo Amaldi and Carlo
Schaerf — had somehow managed to corner the market on Track II
conversations on strategic issues with Chinese counterparts. Not
FYRP: This Will Be on the Test
After escaping the clutches of a term paper draft, it returns!
Associated Press | Whoops. Seems like the people in charge of the most
powerful weapons known to man just weren’t up to the job, and needed a
bit of extra training. Not the first mistake of this manner.
Navy Live | Apparently, the Navy actually listens to talk about nuclear
force cuts. Hint: it doesn’t really like it.
Breaking Defen
Inspections at Minot
I have a new column up at Foreign Policy (“Death Wears Bunny
Slippers”) considering this recent story at the Air Force has suspended
17 ICBM launch officers are Minot Air Force Base and initiated
proceedings against another.
The column is largely an act of media criticism. After several Air
Force mishaps relating to the handling of nuclear weapons systems came
to light in 2007 and 2008, many of u
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Pesticide Action Network 11 unread articles // actions
USDA hits pause on new GE crops
In a welcome turn, USDA announced last week that it will take a
closer look at new genetically engineered (GE) crops before allowing
them on the market. The approval of Dow's 2,4-D-resistant corn and soy,
as well as Monsanto's dicamba-resistant soy and cotton, will be put on
hold until Environmental Impact Statements are completed.
The decision to conduct a more thorough investigation come
Whose food system? Court sides with Monsanto.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the much anticipated
Monsanto v. Bowman case, addressing whether the corporation's patent
protections extend past the initial sale and use of their RoundUp-Ready
seeds. Unfortunately the justices landed on the side of Monsanto,
reaffirming the stranglehold corporations have on seeds — and our food
system.
I had hoped the Supreme Court might finally dr
Healthy food & farms: How will Congress vote?
I am neither a farmer nor an octogenarian, yet images of the
disastrous U.S. dust bowl of the 1930s are forever etched in my memory.
What I am is a mom, who is well aware of how children's health is linked
to the food our kids eat — in all kinds of ways. And these two things
are are inextricably linked through our food system, and the policies
that shape it.
How farmers treat the soil and how
Protecting kids? Moms are on the job.
I'm looking forward to Sunday morning. Breakfast in bed, flowers
and chocolate — plus sweet, handmade cards from kids who often don't
take the time to say thanks. What's not to like?
But I also like the fact that Mother's Day was actually founded to
celebrate moms taking action to protect their children and communities.
And it's in that spirit that I'd like to honor all the
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