You are viewing this from http://www.dustcircle.com.

Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook for exclusive content.

__________________________

U.S. Mortality Rate: Deaths Surpass 2.5 Million For The First Time

U.S. deaths surpassed 2.5 million for the first time last year, reflecting the nation's growing and aging population. The increase of about 45,000 more deaths than in 2010 was not surprising. The annual number of deaths has been generally rising for decades as the population has swelled.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/us-mortality-rate_n_1953215.html

Remember Iraq? Romney, Obama Fail To Make War Major Part Of Campaign

In his major foreign policy speech on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the "costly gains made by our troops" in Iraq are now eroding due to President Barack Obama's "abrupt withdrawal."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/iraq-romney-obama-bush_n_1952385.html

One-third of humanity: peasant rights in the United Nations
The United Nations are moving towards a finalization of a UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. In 2007 the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples boosted these rights in many national constitutions. Will western governments put their objections aside?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/marc-edelman/one-third-of-humanity-peasant-rights-in-united-nations

The US media’s schizophrenic approach to mass shootings

A shooting memorial in Aurora. Demotix/Gene Tewksbury. All rights reserved.

Yet again, the Aurora shooting showed how far away we are from truly "color blind" media reporting on crime. It is time to reflect on how being a white, middle-class male may also be part of the equation.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/audrey-ann-lavallee-belanger/us-media%E2%80%99s-schizophrenic-approach-to-mass-shootings

Christian Zionists Back Israel’s Risky Policy Decisions
Christian Zionists increasingly act as if they were religious Jews until the End. They refer to the year 5773; many have changed their day of Sabbath from Sunday to Saturday; some have made aliyah through the use of suspect Jewish ancestry, or are on indefinitely renewed tourist visas; they donate millions of dollars indirectly to settlements activity and provide various IDF battalions military equipment; their national allegiance is seemingly stronger to Israel than America, as illustrated by their condemnation of US policy that criticizes Israel because Israeli policy is understood as God sanctioned and therefore infallible; and they make pilgrimages to Israel less to celebrate Christ and more to “witness the incoming” of Jews to Israel.http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/christian-zionists-back-israels-risky-policy-decisions/

Losing our religion: One in five Americans are now ‘nones’
Labeled “nones” because they claim either no religious preference or no religion at all, their ranks have hit 46 million people. Much of the growth is among young people -- one in three U.S. adults under 30 are now considered nones.
http://www.religionnews.com/faith/beliefs/Losing-our-religion-One-in-five-Americans-are-now-nones

DHS: Our Reports To Congress Are Successful Bullshit

Okay, it's official. I no longer believe that our Department of Homeland Security is an actual government agency with important work to do. No, I now believe that it is a series of highly subtle performance art pieces designed to make us laugh at the sheer audacity of dumb government. We already know about the agency's boss, who is in charge of cybersecurity, not bothering to use the internet. And then there is the DHS's highly touted fusion centers being both a waste of money and a detriment to the very freedoms they're supposedly protecting.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121004/18132820601/dhs-our-reports-to-congress-are-successful-bullshit.shtml

Giving online customers the chance to pay what they want works

The Humble Indie Bundle shows most do the right thing which helps offset the people who don't give a damn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/09/customers-pay-what-want

9 Things That Show Mitt Romney Is Morally Bankrupt

It’s not that hard to be good to your family and friends. If true morality is evidenced by how one treats strangers, Romney’s reputation as a moral actor should be under water.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/9-things-show-mitt-romney-morally-bankrupt

Why America's Empire Never Achieves Its Goals

The U.S. military reigns supreme. Yet nowhere can it achieve its goals, however modest.

http://www.alternet.org/world/why-americas-empire-never-achieves-its-goals

Poor Kids Getting Prescribed ADHD Meds They Don't Need, Against Their Will

A doctor who prescribes the meds said, "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid."

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/shocking-children-pumped-full-speed-only-realistic-way-do-well-cash-strapped-schools

Deal With the Devil: Monsanto vs Own Growers

he case of Vernon Bowman v Monsanto is headed to the Supreme Court, a case in which Monsanto is fighting against one of its own GMO farmers. Mr. Bowman is a farmer from Indiana who grows soybeans, and has challenged the biotech giant over its official agreement.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/13878-deal-with-the-devil-monsanto-vs-own-growers

US, Israel Have Plan for Joint 'Surgical Strike' Against Iran

Obama has a military option plan against Iran -- a "joint U.S.-Israeli surgical strike," and he should communicate it to diffuse comments from Romney that he has not been tough enough on Iran and has not issued a "red line," according to a report published Monday in Foreign Policy.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/10/09-3

How the US Quietly Lost the IED War in Afghanistan

Although the surge of “insider attacks” on U.S.-NATO forces has dominated coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2012, an even more important story has been quietly unfolding: the U.S. loss of the pivotal war of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the Taliban.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/10/09-0

American Empire: A Disaster on Autopilot

Americans lived in a “victory culture” for much of the twentieth century. You could say that we experienced an almost 75-year stretch of triumphalism -- think of it as the real “American Century” -- from World War I to the end of the Cold War, with time off for a destructive stalemate in Korea and a defeat in Vietnam too shocking to absorb or shake off.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/09-4

Go for the Jugular: What a Real Attack on Mitt Romney and the 1% Could Look Like

I agree with Deepak Bhargava that President Obama’s record “is more mixed” than critics and admirers admit, that progressives must refocus our attention on Congress and statehouse elections, and that elections are a “necessary but not sufficient condition for a revival of progressive politics.”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/09-1

Why America Needs White History Month

The Republican presidential campaign has persuaded me. Not to vote for Mitt Romney, God no. They have, however, convinced me of something else I previously considered unthinkable. In some ways, the idea betrays my black nationalist inclinations, but having witnessed the GOP's flailing for the past year and a half as they've tried to mount a campaign to unseat President Obama, I've finally come around.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/09-11

Drones: A New Death From Above
Download mp3 • Download 1 minute Preview

Buying Power: Corporate Money in Politics
Download mp3 • Download 1 minute Preview

Cops Harass, Grope, and Threaten Teenager “For Being a F*cking Mutt"