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07-11-09 - The Great Insurance Industry Ripoff:
- Insurance insider Wendell Potter tells the ugly truth about the insurance industry (pbs/billmoyersjournal) "With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform."
- The Consumer (That's You And Me) - The Guinea Pig:
- Nobody Knows What Nanoparticles Do -- Yet They Are in Your Food, Cosmetics, and Toys (alternet) "Now, early research on the potential hazards of nanotech is producing danger signs of its own. Workers handling nanomaterials face the biggest risks. But there are concerns for consumers, too, especially with products--like cosmetics, food and supplements--that go directly on or in the body. And with potentially toxic nanomaterials washing down the drain and into the water and soil, there's reason to worry about environmental damage as well."
- The Bush Crime Scene:
- US Government Covered Up War Crimes Committed by CIA’s Warlord (firedoglake) -- Mass murder? No big deal for George W. Bush, besides, it would be bad publicity for his wars.
- Evangenital In Charge of Science?! Good Way to Create a Dysfunctional NIH:
- Obama Puts Evangelical in Charge of National Institutes of Health -- Will His Religion Get in the Way of Science? (alternet) -- Collins was so inept leading the Human Genome Project that colleague scientist Craig Venter left in a huff after ten years and promptly raced light years ahead of Collins in the work of decoding human DNA. Although it was Venter's new public company that cracked the code, Bill Clinton lionized Collins because his was a government funded project, and Clinton made Venter take a back seat to the guy who had been stumbling along in Venter's dust after Venter had had enough and left. Now Obama is lionizing Collins again by nominating him to this critical position. Another perk for the fundies, eh Obama? But at what cost to the welfare of the nation?
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300 (apod)
07-10-09 - Steal That Vote:
- Groups say states violating voter registration law (usatoday) -- Widespread state violations target most likely Democratic voters - keep them away from the polls - when you have what is really a minority voting population, such as the Republicon Party, you have to prevent Democratic voters from voting, then rig the voting system in every way possible. A vast conspiracy? You bet! And it has worked in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008, except in 2006 and 2008, the winning candidates simply overwhelmed the vote tally manipulators. They'll be there in 2010 and 2012, but Obama's consistently broken promises and continuation and advancement of the Bush agenda will hurt Democratic chances of overcoming the Republican election stealing machine as they did in 2006 and 2008. All the Republicons need is the public perception that the candidates are very close, if not too close to call, in the polls. The right-leaning MSM will do their best to promote that perception. The machine does the rest.
- The Phony War on Drugs:
- Open letter to Congress: End the insane drug war now! (onlinejournal)
- What it means to have a Bush - ANY Bush - in the White House or other position of authority:
- New Evidence that Bush Administration Impeded 3 Investigations into Alleged Massacre of Up to 2,000 Prisoners in Afghanistan (digby)
- The United Police State of America:
- Lendman doesn't give Obama very good overall marks so far - WOW !!!
- HR 2749 - An Agribusiness Empowering Act (sjlendman)
- The Greatest Theft of All Time:
- Robert Reich: When Will The Recovery Begin? Never. (robertreich) "All we know is the current economy can't 'recover' because it can't go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin."
- Credit card firms try out new squeeze tactics (msnbc)
- Global Broiling:
- Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions (watoday/au) "The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago . . . ."
- However unlikely success might be, we can't afford to abandon efforts to cut emissions - we just don't have any better option (guardian/uk) "Yes, it is true that mitigation has so far failed. Sabotaged by Clinton, abandoned by Bush, attended halfheartedly by the other rich nations, the global climate talks have so far been a total failure. The targets they have set bear no relation to the science and are negated anyway by loopholes and false accounting. . . . On current trajectories we'll be lucky to get away with 4C. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can. . . . The IPCC also finds that, above 3C of warming, the world's vegetation will become 'a net source of carbon'. This is just one of the climate feedbacks triggered by a high level of warming. Four degrees might take us inexorably to 5C or 6C: the end - for humans - of just about everything." Also see my 05-21-09 entry (The latest MIT . . .).
- Only 49% of Americans believe humans responsible for climate change, study finds (guardian/uk) -- Frogs a'simmerin'.
- Top Climate Scientist Dr. James Hansen Calls Obama's Climate Bill "less than worthless" (huffpo) "Let's pass a bill, any bill, now and improve it later, they say. The real naïveté is their belief that they, and not the fossil-fuel interests, are driving the legislative process. The fact is that the climate course set by Waxman-Markey is a disaster course. Their bill is an astoundingly inefficient way to get a tiny reduction of emissions. It's less than worthless, because it will delay by at least a decade starting on a path that is fundamentally sound from the standpoints of both economics and climate preservation."
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- The Pillars of Eagle Castle (apod)
07-09-09 - And another, yet another broken Obama promise - Did this man mean ANYTHING he said, other than "I want to be your president"? His poll numbers are finally starting to show that his overwhelming initial public confidence is beginning to drop. I wonder why.
- Obama campaign vow of public debate on health care fading (mcclatchydc)
- Hey there, you with the halo - Don't you know it's a sin to lie? Religious fruitcakes routinely lie about about researchers' work:
- Researchers complain about religious right distortion of their work (pam)
- More Concealment - NSA Power Expanding Appreciably Under Obama:
- NSA Sets Up Very Large Special Unit to Tamp Down Any Suggestion That US Government Had Any Involvement in the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (rt madsen video) -- NSA, me thinks thou dost protest too much.
- Yet More Obama Bait-And-Switch Lying Brings Out AIDS Activists:
- AIDS activists shut down US Capitol rotunda over Obama reversal on AIDS policy (americablog - rollcall)
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- Fermi's Gamma-ray Pulsars (apod)
07-08-09 - Revolving Door Between Foxes' Den and the Henhouse:
- Fox to Guard Henhouse? Former Monsanto VP May Be Named To Head FDA Safety Working Group (crooksandliars) -- Good going, Mr. President, we wouldn't want you to step out of Bush II's persona and upset our perceptions of you.
- Military-Industrial Profiteers:
- Vietnam War Architect Robert McNamara Dies at 93: A Look at His Legacy With Howard Zinn, Marilyn Young & Jonathan Schell (democracynow video)
- 100,000 reasons to shed no tears for McNamara (mcclatchydc)
- Turley: "The Obama Administration continues its retention and expansion of abusive Bush policies — now clearly Obama policies on indefinite detention." (Greenwald at salon)
- Ex-Military Commissions Prosecutor Says the System Is Unsalvagable (thepoliticalcarnival)
- The Art of Timing: OR, will conveniently timed cyber attacks now lend popular support to Obama's plans to impose greater internet surveillance? How many times have we seen this before?
- White House among targets of sweeping cyber attack (yahoo) -- Since Bush politics reign supreme in the WH again, isn't it time to dust off the color coded warning system again to keep the populace scared witless? After all, it gets draconian bills passed and gives cover for stolen elections.
- US Policy of Meddling in Latin American Populist Governments Is Alive And Well:
- Parenti Implicates Obama in the Honduras Coup (commondreams) -- Parenti is not the only one to question Obama's participation (madsen video)
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- The Dark River to Antares (apod)
07-07-09 - Speaking out of both sides of the administration's mouth. Biden says yes, Obama says no. Average them out.
- Obama: U.S. not giving Israel green light to attack Iran (cnn) -- We've seen Obama use apparent contradictions several times like this before. They usually mean bad news for the underdog in the situation. They send the message he really wants his principal target audience to hear, then he seems to follow up with the opposite message so the world won't think he's another monster like Bush II. Well, I've got news for you. Obama IS another Bush. Bush III, to be exact. Never go only by what these lying liars say. Watch their actions. Obama has already shown us all we need to see in order to know what kind of man he really is.
- Global Broiling, According to Climate Change Pessimist and Father of Gaia Theory:
- The Dark Side of Climate Change: It's Already Too Late, Cap and Trade Is a Scam, and Only the Few Will Survive (alternet) “There is no tipping point, just a slope that gets ever steeper . . . .”
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- The Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust (apod)
07-06-09 - Nut-Job Republicons:
- Looney Tunes character Sarah Palin threatens to sue critical journalists (bradblog) - Journalists say 'Bring On the Depositions!' (bradblog)
- Military-Industrial Profiteers:
- John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire (democracynow)
- Robert McNamara, Architect of Illegal Vietnam War, Dies at 93, Never Prosecuted As a War Criminal (wapo)
- Chalmers Johnson, Baseless Expenditures (tomdispatch)
- UK weapons inspector, Dr. David Kelly, who was found dead was writing expose (rawstory)
- Will We See a Real Reset with Russia? (thenation)
- Global Broiling:
- Permafrost melting a growing climate threat (reuters) -- Like most new global broiling reports, this one also shows the situation to be much worse than anticipated. Anyone feel like a frog on the stove?
- Fascism in the United States:
- Thom Hartmann: Fascism Coming to a Court Near You - Corporate Personhood and the Roberts' Court (commondreams) "As the 1983 American Heritage Dictionary noted, fascism is: 'A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.' . . . And the only way the modern Republican Party can recover their power over the next decade is to immediately clear away all impediments to unrestrained corporate participation in electoral politics. If a corporation likes a politician, they can make sure he or she is elected every time; if they become upset with a politician, they can carpet-bomb her district with a few million dollars worth of ads and politically destroy her. And it looks like that's exactly what the Roberts Court is planning."
- The Biggest Theft in History:
- Taibbi: New Secrecy Rule Lets Goldman Sachs Control Stock Prices Unmolested by Public Scrutiny (alternet) "The new rule means the public will no longer be able to tell if large investment banks are manipulating the stock market for their own gain." -- More change we can believe in.
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- Unknown Dark Material on Mercury (apod)
07-05-09 - The Biggest Theft in History:
- Biden Says Administration Misread Depth of Recession (wsj)
- Krugman: What didn’t the vice president know? (nytimes) -- World-renowned economists were saying at the time that the watered-down stimulus package was not enough, but politicians being politicians, know best, you know.
- Biden Ignores Warnings Of Krugman, Stiglitz, Roubini And Others (huffpost) -- Mimicking Condaleeza Rice's ridiculous assertion about airplanes flying into the WTC.
- Finally, someone else has dared to touch the subject - should be obvious to any intelligent person:
- Robert Parry: Republicans, a Threat to the Republic? (consortiumnews) -- But don't forget, they're only the generally preferred footsoldiers of the Power Elite who control both parties as if they were one. It just so happens, the loonies are concentrated in the RW. The deep pocketed elite who fund them are the real villains who also should be held accountable. It is and always has been a class war - the elite feel entitled to everything they want and use government to leverage it to them. They're the ones who need their wings clipped - severely. Problem is, they have so totally commandeered this country that there is no longer any reliable law enforcement arm. They own the sheriff and the judge.
- MIC - Coups R Us - US Wants to Clean Out Populist Presidents From South America, Zelaya Is Only One of the Names on the List:
- Madsen: Despite Obama's Actions Since Honduran Coup, US Also Was a Player Along With the Honduran Military (madsenreport) Watch this entry to see if the article goes into the public domain in a few days.
- The Outrage That is Called the American Healthcare System: Republicons Fight Improvement, But ...
- Healthy Examples: Plenty of Countries Get Healthcare Right (bostonglobe)
- MIC - Is Neocon Obama Ready to Let Israel Attack Iran? Sounds Like It.
- Biden: US will not stand in Israel's way on Iran (jpost) -- So neocon Biden is now singing McCain's song, too.
- Isn't it curious that this happens just as the incoming chief of IAEA says there "is no concrete evidence Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons"? (jpost) -- This even though the US's trouble-making companion black hole Israel itself has a no-longer-secret nuke arsenal and possibly as many as 400 bombs -- This reminds me that the UN investigators reported no WMD in Iraq just prior to Bush's illegal invasion, and of course the other factoid that the FBI says it has no hard evidence that the FBI's most wanted list does not cite Osama bin Laden for attacking the U.S. on 9/11 because it says they have no hard evidence of his involvement.
- Also: Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran (timesonline)
- No, Virginia, Man Is Not the Center of the Universe:
- Genesis Mission's Hard Impact (apod)
