05.Nov.2012 - America's Dismal Choice, Prop 37 & Corporate Lies, Choose Sides on Climate Change, U.S. Drone Killings, Red Cross Response, Occupy Leads relief Efforts, Democracy Danger Signs, Romneyism, Rise of the Peer Progressive, the S&M Election, America's Deplorable Human Rights Record, End Raging Cronyism, Voting for Your own Extinction, What the Bible Says About Rape
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America's Dismal Choice
With speculation now centered on how Superstorm Sandy’s impact may affect the U.S. election result, the final presidential debate, which focused on foreign policy, might seem like a distant event to American voters.But for the rest of the world, this was an event that mattered. As many pundits have noted, if the rest of the world were voting in the U.S. presidential election, the third presidential debate would probably have proceeded differently.http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/03-1
Prop 37 and Corporate Lies in the Post Truth Era
As a historic vote with profound implications for the future of our food system nears, the question becomes whether a campaign with limitless resources and a disdain for the truth can defeat an overwhelmingly popular idea supported by a grassroots army, and over 3000 public interest organizations: the right to know what's in the food we eat and feed our families.
We Can't Afford the Silencing of the Voice of "We, the People"
We use the metaphor "herding cats" to describe a situation in which someone tries to govern the collective behavior of creatures who have only individual goals and agendas, and little interest in being governed.
'The Time to Choose Sides on Climate Change Is Now'
As the devastation from "superstorm" Sandy continues for millions, Up host Chris Hayes urged viewers on Saturday that the time to choose sides on climate change is now. While "we want our government first and foremost to keep us safe," it has neglected to heed warnings from climate scientists and the manifestations of climate change we have seen in extreme weather events. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/03-0
‘OK, Fine. Shoot Him.’ Four Words That Heralded a Decade of Secret US Drone Killings
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually gets all the credit for the first US drone targeted killing beyond the conventional battlefield. But it was the military which gave the final go-ahead to kill on November 3 2002. Lt General Michael DeLong was at Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Florida when news came in that the CIA had found its target. The deputy commander made his way down to the UAV Room, showing live video feeds from a CIA Predator high above Marib province in Yemen. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/03
A Cure for America's Corruptible Voting System
hen I went to vote last week in New York City, using an absentee ballot (because I will be out of the country on election day), I had a surreal experience that was also very ordinary: I marked my ballot – put it, as advised by the nice man behind the counter, into a sealed envelope, handed it to him and … nothing.
he American Red Cross struggled on Friday to reassure beleaguered New York City residents that its disaster-relief efforts were at last getting up to speed, after the agency's delayed arrival in devastated areas of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens drew intense criticism.
s the lights come back on in lower Manhattan, the power imbalance in parts of the city worst hit by Sandy is more literal than ever. Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods like Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens were able to celebrate Halloween as usual, but just blocks away, many residents of the Red Hook Houses, the city's second-largest housing project, are without electricity, heat, or running water, and growing increasingly desperate. Red Hook, like other areas with overheard power lines, could wait another ten days or longer for juice, according to Con Edison. So far, Red Hook has received little help from the city or FEMA, and a team of Occupy protestors have been heading relief efforts.
itt Romney's “closing argument” redefines chutzpah. “You know that if the President is re-elected, he will still be unable to work with the people in Congress,” Romney said on Friday. He warned of a government shut-down, or another debt-ceiling crisis – two examples of Congressional Republicans taking the economy hostage for partisan gain – if Barack Obama emerges victorious next week. If elected, Romney promised not to “pass partisan legislation.”
hat's the state of mind this weekend of the conservative outrage machine? With regard to liberals, I think it's fair to say as of Saturday that most of us (excepting your allowed-for percentage of nervous nellies) expect Barack Obama to win. If he somehow doesn't, we'll be surprised and deeply depressed. But provided the outcome doesn't involve some kind of Florida-style shenanigans, in a couple days' time, we'll come to terms with it.
y now, in these last remaining days before the election of 2012, we have learned enough about the beliefs of the Republican presidential candidate to see them as a worldview all its own – a kind of creed that explains Mitt Romney. Those who say he has no principles are selling him short.
Beyond The 6th Of November; The Rise Of The Peer Progressive As the 2012 US presidential election looms, the familiar red and blue fever spreads across television and computer screens like another World Series or Superbowl. This election is no different than any other, as the corporate two party duopoly propagates the illusion of choice and sucks people into a presidential charade between two sock puppets that essentially work for the same bosses. http://www.countercurrents.org/hayase041112.htm
Peddling A Zionist Ticket To Nowhere Addressing mesmerised fans from Australian Palestine solidarity in Adelaide, Evans, former Attorney-General and Foreign Minister of Australia, former Head of the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Chancellor of the Australian University, offered a grandiose crumb of righteous insistence that Australia should be on the right side of history by supporting Palestine's bid for statehood recognition in the UN General Assembly. http://www.countercurrents.org/vlazna041112.htm
A Quick Guide to Mitt's 10 Most Destructive Guiding Principles
Despite its contradictions and ellipses, Romneyism has an internal coherence.
The last weekend of the 2012 US presidential election campaign was marked by rallies for both Democratic President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a handful of closely contested states, while the deluge of television commercials continues right up to the opening of the polls on Tuesday.
Obama tells us that we better lick his boots or we will face the brute down the hall, Mitt Romney. After all, we wouldn’t want the bad people to get their hands on these newly minted mechanisms of repression. We will, if we do not behave, end up with a more advanced security and surveillance state, the completion of the XL Keystone pipeline, unchecked pillage from Wall Street, environmental catastrophe and even worse health care. Yet we know on some level that once the election is over, Obama will, if he is re-elected, again betray us. This is part of the game. We dutifully assume our position. We cry out in holy terror. We promise to obey. And we are mocked as we watch promises crumble into dust.
Broken US System Needs Watching: International Election Observers Could Face ArrestTuesday's national election in the US is shaping up to be a bruising affair, with both parties hiring armies of lawyers to fight over likely contentious battles over voter access to polling stations, dealing with long lines that could prevent people from voting after polls officially close, the counting of votes cast, and now, the right of international inspectors from the respected Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the process. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Broken-US-System-Needs-Wat-by-Dave-Lindorff-121104-664.html
America's Deplorable Human Rights Record Far and away, America's human rights record is the world's worst. No other nation approaches its unprincipled history. Earlier crimes against humanity were largely internal and regional. Twentieth century ones went global. New millennium ones elevated atrocities and other human rights abuses to an unprecedented level. It keeps rising. America is guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some. http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-s-Deplorable-Human-by-Stephen-Lendman-121104-10.html
The “debates” revealed that not only the candidates but also the entire country is completely tuned out to every real problem and dangerous development. For example, you would never know that US citizens can now be imprisoned and executed without due process. All that is required to terminate the liberty and life of an American citizen by his own government is an unaccountable decision somewhere in the executive branch. http://www.darkmoon.me/2012/you-are-voting-for-your-own-extinction-by-paul-craig-roberts/
Judaism: A Threat to Humanity Judaism, like all of the “revealed”/hearsay man-made religions, breaks the people of the world down to “us versus them.” In Christianity and Islam the “us” are the believers and the “them” are the non-believers. In Judaism this also holds true to a point. However, in Judaism much importance is placed on being an ethnic/racial Jew and not merely a religious Jew. For example, a person who has aJewish mother but who does not believe in Judaism is considered by Judaism and religious Jews to be a Jew. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/10/31/judaism-a-threat-to-humanity/
What the Bible Says About Rape
Christians of many stripes are scrambling to distance themselves and their religion from Republican comments about rape. But a literal interpretation of the Bible is quite disturbing.
'm so struck with America's human spirit as Hurricane Sandy has left a trail of destruction in its wake, destroying homes and businesses and turning the lives of so many upside down. And yet people remain unbowed - New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, first responders, hospital workers, National Guard and countless others - are pulling together, as they always do, in the face of tragedy. And this would be the case whether or not a Presidential election were running in the background.
The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which authorized the federal government to impose an income tax on individuals, will turn 100 years old on February 3. It is unlikely that many corks will pop in celebration. But they should, because the income tax plays a central role in ensuring American democracy. More to the point of contemporary politics, the Sixteenth Amendment was designed precisely to protect the 47 percent of Americans Mitt Romney has reviled.
The Democratic Party is at risk of becoming irrelevant. I have spoken with so many Republicans who, when arguing for Governor Romney, have made the startling point that it does not really matter who is president. Both parties are more or less the same. I believe now that if the Democratic Party continues to fight for the same old issues, it will be abandoned, and cease to exist. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maxwell-kennedy/democratic-party-_b_2072910.html