How Are US Religious Fundamentalists Any Different Than Middle Eastern Ones?
Are we to believe that a fundamentalist in a suit is less scary than a fundamentalist in a beard, even if both are spouting hatred against women?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32282.htm
The Children Are Still Dying: Violence is Not News
Somewhere in my home I have a set of photo albums I rarely go near. I fear the flood of cruel memories that might be evoked from looking at the countless photos I took during a trip to Iraq. Many of the pictures are of children who developed rare forms of cancer as a result of exposure to Depleted Uranium (DU), which was used in the US-led war against Iraq over two decades ago.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32278.htm
The Human Cost of War on Iran
As Israeli leaders engage in frenzied posturing over a possible military strike on Iran, we again have pundits, experts and commentators speculating how an Israeli offensive would play out. They search for the meaning behind the inflammatory rhetoric of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and ponder the impact of a war on Western political, strategic and economic interests.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32276.htm
Building Resilience In A Changing Climate
Climate shocks are on the way. We’ve already spewed so much carbon into the atmosphere that a cascade of worsening crop failures, droughts, floods, and freak storms is virtually guaranteed. You, your family, and your community will feel the effects.
http://www.countercurrents.org/heinberg250812.htm
Talking Wikileaks, Assange, Manning, Occupy, And More
Before recently taking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange had been detained by British authorities longer than Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator who ordered the killing of thousands of dissidents in Chile. Ultimately, British authorities decided to let Pinochet go free instead of sending him to Spain to face charges of crimes against humanity. On the other hand, British authorities were preparing to ship Assange to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault allegations.
http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz250812.htm
Paul Ryan, an Entitlement Destroyer
avid Brooks in today's New York Times commits the standard error of pundits who want to appear neutral but know the Romney-Ryan plan would be a disaster for America. He asserts that Ryan makes a serious effort at entitlement reform. "If you believe entitlement reform is essential for national solvency, then Romney-Ryan is the only train leaving the station."
Four Ways Ohio Republicans are Already Stealing the 2012 Election
The Ohio Republican Party has moved four ways to steal America's 2012 election. The Buckeye State is almost certain to emerge as a decider in this year's presidential election, and the GOP is moving fast to ensure victory, no matter what it takes.
If you Like NAFTA, You'll Love TPP
We have been secretly negotiating a new agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and are nearing completing the final details of this agreement. We have had 600 of our best corporate lobbyists providing input and have successfully excluded Congress, our own corporate media, and the general public from the negotiations. Once implemented, this agreement will hard code corporate dominance over sovereign governments into international law that will supercede any federal, state, or local laws of any member country. This agreement will grant new corporate privileges and rights, while limiting governments and protective regulations.
Picture shows officer holding document with instructions to arrest WikiLeaks founder whether he leaves in diplomatic car or bag
US SEP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BEGINS INTERNATIONAL TOUR
US Socialist Equality Party (SEP) presidential candidate, Jerry White, has begun his international tour, arriving in Sri Lanka yesterday.
The Republican National Convention: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
ext week's Republican convention in Tampa has, of course, been choreographed down to the tiniest detail. The stage set, we're told, has been meticulously engineered to convey "warmth, approachability and openness". Much thought has been given to avoiding last-minute disruptions by supporters of Ron Paul, or by anarchists wielding acid-filled eggs. Nor are we likely to see the high drama of the 2008 party conventions, marked as they were by historical firsts, most notably the first nomination of a vice-presidential candidate based on under three minutes' vetting by her party.
Israeli Inquiry Into Rachel Corrie Death Insufficient
he US ambassador to Israel has told the family of an American pro-Palestinian activist who was killed in Gaza in 2003 that the US government remains dissatisfied with the Israeli army's decision to close its official investigation into the incident.
GOP: A Party That Hates Women
issouri GOP senatorial candidate Todd Akin's absurd comment that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape" is disgusting. It also points to a deeper problem within the GOP.
Bill Maher: "The Only Thing You Need to Know About Todd Akin and Anatomy: He's an A**hole"
During the New Rules segment on last night's Real Time, Bill Maher asserted: "New rule: No one in America can waste another second thinking about Todd Akin and his theory that you can't get pregnant unless your eggs are asking for it.
Interview With a Lapsed Christian Virgin Shows Why "Purity" Messages Are So Messed Up
Bill Moyers on Nuns, Faith, and Politics
On last night's episode of Moyers & Company, Bill Moyers spoke to Sister Simone Campbell and Faith & Reason Institute founder Robert Royal about the recent dynamic between nuns, their faith, and politics.
World's Biggest Commodities Trading Company Excited to Cash in on Drought, Hunger
In this day and age it's not surprising to see multinationals drooling over profits -- at whatever expense that may mean to the less fortunate. Things are apparently no different for Glencore, the biggest commodities trading company.
Joseph Farah’s Pretense to Christianity
I’m speaking here as a member of a religious minority but I know atheists – the non-religious minority – can feel me too. We both get the same treatment, after all. Atheists get lumped together with actual Pagans in the new ”paganization” of America conservative Christians love to go on about.
Best social media tools for journalists
What are today’s most popular social media tools? I proposed a short list on the Social Journalism Educators group on Facebook
Realism About America’s Influence
Roger Cohen recently argued that despite “the enduring centrality of American power” and “the nation’s immense capacity for renewal,” “even all the right choices for the United States will not alter the rise of India and China.”
Do We Need an Army of Hackers to Fight a Cyber War?
Despite all signs that America is facing an imminent cyber threat from state-sponsored global hackers – maybe something even on the scale of a cyber Pearl Harbor - we continue to plod along in rather nonchalant fashion.
How Darwin Can Save Your Marriage
The point of marriage, after all, is to grow old with someone and develop a sense of trust. Infidelity happens in half of all marriages. Many end in divorce. The institution of marriage seems to be in big trouble, but Ryan says an understanding of the way humans evolved can help us cope.
The Five Most Under-Reported Stories of the Summer
The competition is tough, as the London Olympics, the presidential campaign and the tragic Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattinson break-up have sucked up most of the media oxygen in recent months. But these five issues especially demand far more attention than they’ve received this summer.
Only 2 percent of Canadians deny climate change
The survey comes on the heels of Alberta Premier Alison Redford's recent push for a National Energy Strategy, which would address the future of Canada's oil and gas industries, and its approach to carbon management.
Most genetic mutations come from your father
Humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers, and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's, researchers have found in the largest study of human genetic mutations to date.
For Paul Ryan, Rape And Incest Are Just Another ‘Method Of Conception’
Ever since Todd Akin accidentally said out loud what Republicans actually think of rape and pregnancy, the GOP has been furiously trying to distance themselves from their own stance on the issue. With the volume of condemnation coming from Republicans and right-wing pundits, it might sound reasonable to think that they disagree with Akin and that his position was simply too extreme.
Yet another failed attempt to argue for free will
Oy gewalt, and this defense of free will appears in Harvard Magazine, the vehicle of my alma mater. In a short piece called “Two steps to free will,” Craig Lambert presents the pro-free-will views of Robert Doyle, of the university’s department of astronomy. Note that at the outset Lambert states the problem as one of dualism, a view that many compatibilists claim, nobody really holds. I disagree, of course, for it’s the view of millions of religious folks.
Neither candidate seems to be paying much attention to the country's lowest economic bracket
Don't Let'em Persecute Wikileaks, It'll Make Journalists Criminals Around the Globe
If Mr. Assange is extradited to the United States, the consequences will reverberate for years around the world, argue Michael Moore and Oliver Stone.
5 Countries Where You Don't Have to Work Yourself to Death to Make Ends Meet
America is no worker's paradise.
The Major Economic Ideas We Live By Are Shockingly Flimsy
Economists’ insistence that their discipline is like physics sounds a little nervous. Did you ever hear a physicist boast to the world that physics is like economics?
How Privacy in America Went Virtually Extinct in Just a Decade
Unless we challenge the idea that we should concede our rights to protect our safety, it'll get even worse.
Why Our Politicians Can't Stop Lying
Getting to the bottom of an eternal question.
Federal appeals court rejects graphic cigarette label requirement
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website]ruled [opinion, PDF] Friday that tobacco companies do not need to print graphic warnings of the dangers of smoking on cigarette packages. In a 2-1 decision, the DC Circuit struck down a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] regulation that requires tobacco companies to display graphic images such as a man smoking a cigarette through a hole in his throat.
Federal appeals court dismisses challenge to funding of embryonic stem cell research
Another Brave, Anonymous Campaign Whistleblower
The Washington Post has done it again. Reporter Felicia Sonmez (8/17/12) somehow got a Republican campaign adviser to spill the beans on the Ryan/Romney relationship
A political analyst condemns the US administration for failing to address the budget deficit and leading the country to recession and joblessness, Press TV reports
Raped, Pregnant, And Sued For Custody? One Woman’s Horrific Story
Shauna R. Prewitt, a lawyer in Chicago, has an absolutely terrible and horrifying story to tell. When she was twenty-one years of age, she was raped. Contrary to the belief of some conservatives, this rape conceived a child. Shauna Prewitt, like a surprising thirty percent of women who conceive by rape, decided to keep the child.
Studies Show Increase In HIV Rates Linked To Abstinence-Only Sexual Education
The study, using numbers from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, shows “that in 2011, 73 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases and 76 percent of newly diagnosed AIDS cases in Louisiana were among African-Americans, and that the disease is starting to affect younger and more vulnerable populations within the black community.”
A Critical Mass for Real Food
The old logic of the slave plantation is still the logic of our industrial food system, 500 years in the making. There’s a new way of thinking taking off.
You Were Right When You Waved That “No Blood for Oil” Sign. Iraq Was About Oil
It was never exactly rocket science. You didn’t have to be Einstein to figure it out. In early 2003, the Bush administration was visibly preparing to invade Iraq, a nation with a nasty ruler who himself hadn’t hesitated to invade another country, Iran, in the early 1980s for no purpose except self-aggrandizement.
The Bush administration had its warrantless wiretapping program, which initially circumvented FISA. Some time after the New York Times disclosed the existence of the program, however, the government announced that it had reached an understanding with the FISA court as to how to bring the program—the details of which are still classified—under the auspices of the FISA. This arrangement, however, did not last long. In 2007, something spooked the FISA court, and it issued a ruling that triggered a crisis—in which the intelligence community asserted that important areas of collection would grind to a halt if Congress did not act. That provoked Congress first to pass a temporary measure (the PAA) and later a more permanent bill: The FAA, which is now up for renewal.
As a companion piece to yesterday's story of an ACLU attorney who was peppered with nosy questions at Burlington International Airport comes the tale of a Michigan journalist who took offense at this new approach to "security" and declined to play along.
The Closing of American Academia
t is 2011 and I'm sitting in the Palais des Congres in Montreal, watching anthropologists talk about structural inequality.
Syrian Rebels Caught Using Captured Prisoners As Suicide Bombers
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| The body of a shooting victim is moved by the New York City Coroner near the site of the Empire State building where a gunman opened fire shooting several bystanders before being killed by police in New York, August 24, 2012. (Reuters/Keith Bedford) |
CIA outsources harsh interrogations to its allies
My Life as the Daughter of a Cult Leader
In the wake of Jack Schaap’s
removal as pastor, here’s a TEDx talk by Linda Murphrey, daughter of Jack Hyles.
Why I Am No Longer a Creationist
From the author: I’m no longer a creationist or a Christian… these videos are some of the reasons why.
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Steve Dustcircle can be found at:
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