Sunday, January 25, 2009

01-25-09
  • Economic Shakedown:
    • The Banks Have Stolen Enough; It’s Time to Take Them Over, by Dean Baker (firedoglake) - Long overdue. Banks all over Europe have already been nationalized. It is well past the time to do the same here with every bank that has had to be bailed out with taxpayer billions. Then they will make the loans necessary to help get this country back on its feet.
      • UPDATE 01-26-09: Pssst, Let’s Nationalize The Banks. We Just Won’t Talk About It. (firedoglake)
      • UPDATE 01-26-09: Nationalization of U.S. banks gets a new, serious look (iht)
  • Conservative Media Watch:
    • Buzzflash comments, "Why Does the Corporate Mainstream Media Act Like Lapdogs for Republican Presidents and Attack Dogs for Democratic Presidents? Good Question, But Look at Who is Holding Their Leash and You'll Find Your Answer." (mediamatters)
      • The Refs (digbysblog)
      • See also my entry 01-19-09 (After failing to . . .)
      • U.S. Media Ignore Call for 'Criminal Investigation' of Bush Torture (fair)
    • Links to track: Media Matters For America - FAIR
  • Obamamania:
    • Bill Moyers Journal: Williams and Harris-Lacewell (pbs) - His inauguration, expectations of his administration.
    • 01/24/09: President Obama's Weekly Address (youtube) - WH You Tube Channel (youtube)
  • Military-Industrial Complex:
    • Obama's War on Terror - First Blood:
      • President Obama orders air strikes on villages in Pakistan tribal area, killing 18 (guardian) - "The first attack yesterday . . . destroyed two houses and killed 10 people. One villager told Reuters . . . that of nine bodies pulled from the rubble of one house, six were its owner and his relatives; Reuters added that intelligence officials said some foreign militants were also killed. A second attack hours later also in Warizistan killed eight people." How many military targets were killed? Who were they? After these incidences, the military nearly always says they successfully took out military targets with minimal "collateral damage". Later investigation often proves otherwise (example). So far, the "collateral damage" in Iraq adds up to more than 100,000+ dead innocent men, women and children. How many will it be in Pakistan and Afghanistan? See also my entry on 01-01-09 (Palestinian Massacre in . . .).
    • U.S. Shame - Guantanamo/Secret Prisons:
      • Obama 'whitewash' can't repay prison horror: ex-inmate (afp) - What compensation for false imprisonment and abusive treatment will the U.S. afford those prisoners deemed unnecessarily imprisoned?
      • Guantanamo Case Files in Disarray (washingtonpost) - Individual prisoner information scattered among agencies and files incomplete.
        • Obama Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages (washingtonpost)
        • UPDATE 01-26-09: Crappy Record-Keeping: A Feature, Not a Bug (emptywheel)
    • Israel/U.S. Shame - Palestinian Oppression/Atrocities Using U.S. Supplied Weapons of War:
  • Global Warming:
    • A Drop of Sea Water Teaming With Life at the Bottom of the Marine Food Chain (microscopyu)
    • Warmer Seas Will Wipe Out Plankton, Source of Ocean Life (commondreams)
      • UPDATE 01-28-09: Krill in decline: Antarctic food chain under threat (bbc) - "Experts reckon that global warming may be affecting the krill population."
  • Annular Eclipse: The Ring of Fire (apod)
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