30.Sept.2012, PART TWO: Craziest Religious People, Culture of Delusion, Right to Blaspheme, Brainwashed by Junk Food, Corporate Stranglehold on Democracy, Terror of U.S. Drone Warfare, WikiLeaks as 'Enemy,' Increasing Internet/Phone Surveillance by DOJ, Plot Against Occupy, Affirmative Action Could Be Dead, Vote Against the 2-Party Plutocracy, Phoenix Mayor and Food Stamp Budget, Whoopi Goldberg vs. Ann Coulter
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Judge Kills Lobbyist Attempt To Force Way On To Government Advisory Boards
In a blow against corporate power on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled against six lobbyists who sued over the Obama Administration’s new rules on corporate lobbyists on advisory committees. These rules, put into place in 2009, prevent registered lobbyists from serving on industry trade advisory committees which advice the Commerce Department or U.S. Trade Representative. By so doing, the new rules prevent corporate or foreign influence over commerce and trade decisions, an issue which has become rampant over the past few decades as our manufacturing and trade strength has eroded.
Why Do the Craziest Religious People Get the Most Attention?
There’s no question that religion can have some ugly moral and social consequences. The homophobic and misogynist attitudes of many American Evangelicals come straight out their sacred texts. So do the Islamic concepts of “dhimmitude” and jihad. So does the Jewish notion of favored bloodlines. So do Mormon and Scientologist recruiting practices.
A writer's greatest disappointments are readers who have knee-jerk responses. Not all readers, of course. Some readers are thoughtful and supportive. Others express thanks for opening their eyes. But the majority are happy when a writer tells them what they want to hear and are unhappy when he writes what they don't want to hear.
As I predicted last week, the Organization of Islamic Conference has seized on the controversies regarding an anti-Islam video clip on YouTube and satirical cartoons about Mohammed in a French magazine to renew its call for a global ban on "blasphemy." The OIC is, in effect, not only announcing that Muslim states in general have no intention of allowing real freedom of conscience and speech, but they want to bully the West into eliminating those freedoms as well. http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=439991
How to Win an Ideological War
Against a fanatical foe, any suggestion of compromise or acceptance of the enemy ideology is taken as a sign of weakness.
9 Frightening Things About America's Biggest Police Force
he NYPD is the biggest police force in the country, with over 34,000 uniformed officers patrolling New York's streets, and 51,000 employees overall -- more than the FBI. It has a proposed budget of $4.6 billion for 2013, a figure that represents almost 15 percent of the entire city's budget.
A new study, “Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan,” describes the terrorizing of Pakistan’s civilian population by US drone assaults.
US military brands Assange, WikiLeaks as “the enemy”
Secret US Air Force documents reveal that the American military has branded WikiLeaks and its editor Julian Assange as “the enemy”, placing them on a legal par with Al Qaeda and threatening them with the same treatment: indefinite detention without trial, and death.
ACLU documents show increasing phone and internet surveillance by Department of Justice
Justice Department reports recently revealed by the ACLU show a dramatic increase in electronic surveillance, suggesting yet again that it's become common practice among law enforcement agencies. The ACLU surveyed three years of reports from the Attorney General, recording when the Department of Justice asked for pen register or trap and trace surveillance.
70 Percent of Americans Favor Auditing the Federal Reserve
Despite increasing interest in the Federal Reserve’s actions since the 2008 financial crisis, few polls have asked Americans about auditing the nation’s central bank.
100 Million to Die by 2030 If World Fails to Act on Climate
More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday.http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32572.htm
Religious liberty emerges as sensitive political issue
Earlier this month, in nearly identical benedictions at the two national political conventions, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York talked about the importance of religious liberty. He called it "the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding."
A Crucible of Political Disenchantment: 'Dismiss Whatever Insults Your Own Soul'
Weltschmerz [from German; from Welt (world) + Schmerz (pain)] delineates the type of sadness experienced when the world revealed does not reflect the image of the world that one believes, or has been led to believe, should exist. The corporate/consumer state (as well as, its scion, the present day presidential election cycle) has brought us, as a people, into a wilderness of weltschmerz.
Millions of Americans will soon vote for either the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate not because they deeply believe that he is absolutely the best possible president the country needs and can have. No, they will know that they are compromising and choosing the lesser of two evils, mainly because most people know that both major parties and their candidates stink. The lesser evil is still a loser.
Banks are as major speculators in the global food market while millions face starvation. In the backdrop of global food crisis, banks are speculating with food.
A third of DHS major IT development projects over schedule or budget, or both In a report (.pdf) dated Sept. 26, auditors say that DHS has 363 ongoing IT investments during the fiscal year on which DHS spends an estimated $5.6 billion. Eighty-three of those projects are "major," meaning they're important either in sheer size or through their intended (positive) impact on DHS operations. http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/third-dhs-major-it-development-projects-over-schedule-or-budget-or-both/2012-09-26
Supreme Court to Revisit Affirmative Actionfter a U.S. appeals court struck down race-based college admissions in Texas 16 years ago, the first Mexican American woman elected to the state Legislature proposed a simple change that transformed education in the state.
Terrorism by Drone: How U.S. Bombing Makes Pakistani Civilians Endure a Living Hell
Two top university law schools conducted a nine month investigation into CIA drone strikes, finding that civilians are subjected to almost constant trauma.
A Culture of Delusion
