20 Aug - RSS SnapShot

RSS from Opit's LinkFest! at My Opera

Blacklisted News

• Point. Click. Kill: Inside The Air Force's Frantic ...
• New Army Camera Promises Super-Wide Surveillance
• C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Its Assassinati ...

  The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda , according to current and former government officials

• FBI: Arm Boston Police With M-16s to Prepare for T ...

  An FBI official said Boston police officers should be armed with assault rifles to make the city more prepared for a terrorist attack.

• Honduras: Military Coup Engineered By Two US Compa ...

Project Censored

• WALTER CRONKITE: THE END OF AN ERA – JULY 17, 20 ...

  WALTER CRONKITE: THE END OF AN ERA – JULY 17, 2009 The end of an era is a term too often over-used. But it is a term that is properly used when discussing the passing of Walter Cronkite. It is truly the end of an era in journalism. No other journalist could do what Walter did. He could cal ...

• You Can Now Find Our Investigative Research at the ...

  You can now find all of the investigative research that we have done over the years at our new and exciting Media Freedom International Website Please check the website often for news and updates.

• Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leanin ...

  By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” –Frederick Douglass ...

• Infotainment Society: Junk Food News and New ...

  By Mickey Huff and Frances A. Capell We can do the innuendo We can dance and sing When it’s said and done We haven’t told you a thing We all know that crap is king Give us dirty laundry! Don Henley, Dirty Laundry, 1982 The late New York University media scholar Neil Postma ...

• A Black President Doesn’t Mean Racism is gone in ...

  By Peter Phillips Racial inequality remains in the US. People of color continue to experience high rates of poverty, significant unemployment, police profiling and repressive incarceration. School segregation is a continuing concern among race scholars as well. According to a new Civil Rights re ...

Scoop - NZ

• SmartPay acquires ProvencoCadmus

  SmartPay has announced its acquisition of the payments division of ProvencoCadmus to become New Zealand's largest provider of EFTPOS. SmartPay shareholder, NATCOM, promotes the acquisition. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

• A Guide to Bike Shops in Auckland

  This is a guide to purchasing a bicycle with some good bike shops around Auckland. It's helpful to those who are new to cycling and wondering where to start. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

• Mogul Sued For Duping Desperate Homeowners

  Loan modifications and mortgage refinancing are the hot subject of the moment in the financial world. This is no surprise when there are around 5 million homeowners facing foreclosure with or without the government's aid and 9 million without it. This "need" has opened a practically brand new market ...

• Housing Won't Recover Until Employment Does

  Splinters of good news spurring optimism and a broad market rally over the past few months are also surrounded by various weak indications that the U.S. economy is not quite on a path of sustainable recovery-despite what is perceived by the capital markets. For example, as news across the pond poin ...

• The damage done by finance companies

  Depression, illness caused by stress, and even suicide has been brought on many people by failed finance companies. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

Independent ( London )

• Turkey kicks out tourist who exposed himself

  A drunken Northern Ireland tourist who exposed himself and attacked two policemen has been deported from Turkey.

• Brazil fraud case graduates to appeal

  Two British law graduates who falsely claimed £1,000 of belongings were stolen during a robbery in Brazil plan to appeal against a community service punishment, their lawyer said.

• Jackson doctor 'to face manslaughter charge'

  Michael Jackson's personal physician will be charged with manslaughter within the next two weeks, it was reported today.

• Mr Misery can't stop Merkel from smiling

  A green helicopter shot out of a bank of rain-sodden cloud and landed noisily on the shores of a lake that was once a giant open-cast coal mine. Thickset men in suits talking into walkie-talkies leapt from the aircraft and propelled a portly, owlish man with a shock of white hair and thick glasses ...

• Islamic scholar hits out over sacking

  The controversial Islamic theologian Tariq Ramadan has been fired from two jobs in the Netherlands for allegedly endorsing the Iranian regime by hosting a chat show on a Tehran-backed TV channel.

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• War? Israeli ambassador to US: Obama’s end-of-th ...

  Summary: Michael Oren 1) Israeli ambassador to US: Obama’s end-of-the-year deadline to Iran has been moved up to September (16 August 2009) 2) Israeli ambassador to US: Iranian nuke could wipe off Israel in seconds (4 July 2009) 3) Israeli army to train overseas for Iran strike operation (5 ...

• Wag The Dog, Again

  Summary: It is curious that in spite of the fact that there is a consensus that Iran is not yet seeking a nuclear weapon and has no capability to accumulate sufficient weapons grade uranium to do so for some time to come, US politicians and media accept without question the Israeli argument that ...

• IRAN: Under Pressure from Hawks, Obama Tacks to th ...

  Summary: But the administration is facing a great deal of pressure to move quickly to sanctions from congressional hawks - backed by hardline organisations within the so-called "Israel lobby" - who have been pushing for a tougher line against Tehran since well before the Jun. 12 elections that t ...

• Iran: Whose War?

  Summary: Huber The logical goal of Iran’s nuclear program is not possession of nuclear bombs but a thriving nuclear energy industry. Having nukes would merely make Iran a target—both Israel and the U.S. would have justification for a massive preemptive strike. We’d know they have them beca ...

• The Ever Present Military Option

  Summary: Last week, retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Wald published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal declaring "There Is a Military Option on Iran." It’s probably not a coincidence that Wald’s piece was hot on the heels of John Bolton’s "While Diplomats Dither, Iran Builds Nukes." source: ...

The Daily Galaxy

• "Avatar": James Cameron's New SciFi Thriller -The ...

  The official trailer for Avatar is here: After years of dismissing 3-D as child's play, Hollywood studios are betting that films shot and projected in the format will boost takings at the box office. James Cameron's sci-fi epic, Avatar,was filmed...

• The Daily Flash -Eco, Space, Tech (8/19)

  Aurora Australis Warms Up the Antarctic Sky Photos of the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, have become a common enough sight, but a less frequently seen phenomenon is their Southern cousin, the Aurora Australis, which create a spectacular light show...

• "The Great Silence": Why Haven't Signs of Intellig ...

  "The idea that we are the only intelligent creatures in a cosmos of a hundred billion galaxies is so preposterous that there are very few astronomers today who would take it seriously. It is safest to assume therefore, that they...

• NASA Discovers Life's Building Blocks 1st Delivere ...

  The giant molecular clouds that form the stars that fill the night sky are full of organic molecules, including carbon and other organic elements that living things are made of. It's not at all surprising, then, that NASA scientists have...

• Code Red: Military Shuts Out Scientists from Infra ...

  The military has decided to deny scientists data on incoming meteors in order to protect military secrets. Anyone who can't see any problems with this arrangement, well done on never having seen a movie -ever. Oh, and get Michael Bay...

Natural News

• Juice It Up!

  (NaturalNews) Some mornings on my way to work, I drop by the local Jamba Juice store a block from my office and down 16 ounces of carrot juice and four ounces each of wheatgrass juice and a green tea energy drink. I drink this cocktail for overall health and vitality. The wheatgrass is full of vitam ...

• Breast Cancer Screening Exposed As Near-Useless: 2 ...

  (NaturalNews) A new study has cast fresh doubt on the widespread assumption that regular mammograms save lives, showing that 2,970 women must be screened for breast cancer in order to prevent even one death. "For a woman in the screening subset of mammography-detectable cancers, there is a less than ...

• Discover the Powerful Benefits of Garlic

  (NaturalNews) Eating a clove of garlic might not be the tastiest snack in the world, but it will give you some powerful health benefits. Benefits include managing high cholesterol levels and decreasing the risk of various cancers. Garlic has been used for ages as a folk remedy for several diseases. ...

• NaturalPedia.com Delivers New Encyclopedia of Natu ...

  (NaturalNews) The internet is the vehicle by which knowledge can reach out across the planet and uplift the lives and futures of our fellow human beings. It is the ultimate teacher for those interested in learning, and it bypasses the censorship attempts of medical information "gatekeepers" like the ...

• Home Pesticides Linked to Childhood Cancers

  (NaturalNews) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a malignant disease of the bone marrow, is the most common cancer diagnosed in children. In fact, nearly one third of all pediatric cancers are cases of ALL. Although this form of cancer can be cured in many cases, in the worst case scenarios the can ...

TheGallopingBeaver

• Poseur

  Paul Krugman has always struck me as fundamentally decent and likeable man, Nobel and all (perhaps especially so, considering the award), not prone to savaging his opponents with rhetorical flourishes or reducing himself to ad hominem attacks. So when he publicly rebukes another academic and calls ...

• Forty Years Later . . . .

  For the good times . . . . (Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver )

• Netroots Nation in Second Life

  This is going to be a long post, but bear with me, it's for your own good. Look, you've been reading this blog for a while and so you probably know I'm involved in Second Life, running movies and DJing parties and generally hanging out . And you know my politics are somewhat to the left of the more ...

• Bad, bad crazy

  Southern Poverty Law Center has a new report out on the very recent rise in the number and scale of American terror groups.

• speling iz imporetunt

  As a person who spends a lot of time dealing with the insufficiency of the Roman alphabet in differentiating the subtle shades of pronunciation that can change meaning in a foreign language, I can actually sympathize with the recent error made by the flunky of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who missp ...

Media Matters for America

• In Wash. Times op-ed, attorney says Palin ...

  In an August 19 Washington Times op-ed, medical malpractice attorney Robert W. Painter pointed to the "unintended consequences" of Texas' 1999 Advanced Directives Act to argue that "for many states," Sarah Palin's claim that a provision of the House health care reform bill "would result in 'd ...

• After repeated debunkings of "death panels," cons ...

  Just as former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey backtracked on her false claim that the House health care reform bill would "absolutely require" end-of-life counseling, other conservative media figures are hedging their support for former Gov. Sarah Palin's false claim that the health care bil ...

• Cable nets still misleading on AARP membership lo ...

  Media figures on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News continue to attach significance to reports that 60,000 senior citizens have canceled their AARP membership since July 1 because of the organization's support for health care reform, often displaying large graphics of the number while discussing it. Howe ...

• UPDATED REPORT: Conservative media push 75-year-o ...

  In discussing health care reform this year, conservative media figures have revived the "socialized medicine" smear to undermine the efforts of President Obama and congressional Democrats, most recently by promoting Ronald Reagan's 1961 attacks on a legislative precursor of Medicare for the ...

• Reading FAIL: Hannity's claims to have "read the ...

  After claiming to have "read the entire bill, all 1,018 pages," Sean Hannity falsely claimed that if small businesses "don't go for the public option" under a House health care reform bill, "they're going to be punished," and that end-of-life provisions in the bill would establish "a bureaucrat ...

Global Research.ca

• Fear, Intimidation & Media Disinformation: U.K Go ...

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• Russia and Georgia: Caucasian calculus

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• British Nurses refuse to have the swine flu vaccin ...

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• Top US general visits Uzbekistan for security talk ...

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• Canada flies NATO flag in arctic showdown

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

TPM Cafe

• Health Care Reform and single payer – an Austral ...

  I write a financial blog which is republished on the largely political Talking Points Memo. I thought I better write something for both my audiences sometime – so I am jotting down my thoughts – from an Australian perspective –... Sponsored Topics: Healthcare reform - Health insuran ...

• America's Neo_Fascism

  I had an epiphany this afternoon. I was watching Chris Matthews and this spokesperson for the Gun Owners of America was on. He defended all the people bringing Semi Automatic rifles to Obama events. So Matthews asked him, "Do... Sponsored Topics: Chris Matthews - Gun Owners of America - United St ...

• Against the Fantasy of a Self-Aerating Media Syste ...

  Two must-read posts here and here by James Fallows, on the question of how the wingnuts have got so much mileage out of blatantly false claims about the Obama-Will-Kill-Grandma and other not-so-funny insanities of the month. One of Fallows' readers... Sponsored Topics: James Fallows - China - Uni ...

• Is Netanyahu Keeping Some of his Team in Dark on S ...

  Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon sent this note out on Twitter earlier today: Hopes the rumored settlement freeze is just a rumor, because it hasn't gone through appropriate forums. This is the best news I've heard in a while.... Sponsored Topics: Danny Ayalon - Israel - Benjamin ...

• Modelling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – Part VI

  This is the money post. I put Parts I, II, III, IV and V together to come to the surprising conclusion that both Fannie and Freddie survive. This conclusion is highly-non-consensus and has substantial political and investment implications. Also I... Sponsored Topics: Freddie Mac - Fannie Mae - ...

TruthOut

• Split on Health Care Goes Beyond Public Option

  House Republicans introducing health care legislation. (Photo: Robert Giroux / Getty Images) read more

• Afghan Media Refuse to Censor Election Reporting

  Kabul - Afghan journalists charged Wednesday that their government was violating the constitution by trying to censor reports of violence on election day, and they vowed to flout the order issued by an administration that appears increasingly hostile toward the media. read more

• America the Delusional

  "Birthers." Guns at presidential rallies. The tenor of our discourse is mutating into irrational hysteria. At least a dozen people openly displaying everything from an AR-15 assault rifle to 9-millimeter Beretta sidearms were in the crowd outside the hall where Obama spoke in Arizona on Mon ...

• Six US Troops Die in Afghanistan Ahead of Election

  Kabul - The US military said Wednesday six American troops were killed in Afghanistan, as militants killed six election workers amid growing fears on the eve of the presidential election that insurgents would mar the vote. Two troops were killed in gunfire in the south on Wednesday, the U.S. ...

• CBS News Pioneer Don Hewitt Dies at 86

  New York - Don Hewitt, the CBS newsman who invented "60 Minutes" and produced the popular newsmagazine for 36 years, died Wednesday. He was 86. He died of pancreatic cancer at his Bridgehampton home, CBS said. read more

The Heathlander

• A culture of fear

  Pankaj Mishra dissects the ‘culture of fear’ being manufactured by a recent spate of books and articles warning of an impending ‘Eurabia’: ‘Ordinary Muslims in Europe, who suffer from the demoralisation caused by living as perennial objects of suspicion and contempt, are far from thinking ...

• Fighting the fash

  Anti-fascist activists successfully confronted the BNP’s ‘Red, White and Blue’ hatefest [.pdf] (see also this Channel 4 report) in Codnor yesterday: One of the favourite chants of the day was reportedly: “We are black, white, Asian and we’re Jew / And they’re many, many more of us than ...

• Silencing civil society

  Former Israeli military commander Efran Efrati recently testified to the BBC that Palestinian children are ‘routinely ill-treated’ by Israeli soldiers: “You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he’s really shaking… Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the ci ...

• Gaza Freedom March

  For those who don’t know, Norman Finkelstein and others are organising a mass non-violent global march on Gaza to break the siege. Some updates: - Gaza Freedom March website: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/ - YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/GazaFreedomMarch - A list of peop ...

• The latest anti-Hamas meme: “child brides”

  Last week, Hamas sponsored a mass wedding celebration in Gaza, perhaps in an attempt to reverse its flagging poll ratings: ‘Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip. Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar ...

Water - AlterNet

• When it Comes to Water, Can Corporations and Commu ...

  The latest fight between activists and companies such as Coke and Nestle is about who really owns water -- corporations or communities.

• The Fiji Phenomenon: It's a Human Rights and Envir ...

  How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?

• Mining's Destructive Legacy on Waterways

  Scientists are now beginning to see that mining's most lasting damage may be the massive amounts of debris dumped into valley streams.

• The CA Legislature Unveiled 5 New Water Bills -- A ...

  I would urge that California's water warriors hold their opinions until they actually read and digest these bills.

• Vitaminwater's Empty Calories Are at the Heart of ...

  Vitaminwater tells its customers to "hydrate responsibly." That means not drinking 125-calorie sugar rushes like ... Vitaminwater.

TruthHugger

• Texas Progressive Alliance – August 17, 2009

  It’s time for preseason football games, but the Texas Progressive Alliance is always in midseason form. Here are this week’s blog highlights. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why we put up with temper tantrums and intimidation from the far right? Everyone should have their say in our d ...

• Without Health Options – Where Is Your Voice? Op ...

  Who needs health care

• Republicans Have Government Insurance, Why Can’t ...

  For weeks I have been listening to all the BS Republicans have spewed about health care reform. Republicans shouted it was socialized medicine and when that didn’t work they came up with other untruths. The fact of the matter is all members of Congress use the public option plan. Republicans are w ...

• Retire Early In Self Defense Could Be A Mistake †...

  /h3> Collect Now, or Later? Timing Your Social Security Benefits With the current state of US and world economy, the alternative to jumping out a window, committing a heinous crime or planting your pup tent under an overpass, is retire early and collect your meager social security check at gene ...

• Texas Progressive Alliance – July 13, 2009

  It’s Monday and it’s time for another version of the Texas Progressive Alliance weekly highlight reel. Off the Kuff suggests that a pro-science PAC could do a lot of good, nationally and in Texas. WCNews at Eye On Williamson reminds us that despite the brouhaha over transportation during the rec ...

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

• Barack Obama, front man for the ‘man’ By Willi ...

  By William Bowles Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Creative-i 16 August 2009 I contend that ever si

• A World of Paradox and Contradiction by Gary Sudbo ...

  by Gary Sudborough Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Aug 15, 2009 When I was a student of chemistry

• Plutocracy Tightens Its Chokehold: American Dream ...

  By Robert S. Becker Featured Writer Dandelion Salad www.beyondchron.org August 19, 2009 Capitali

• Lending A Hand To Our State and Local Economies, P ...

  by Michael Sauvante Featured Writer Dandelion Salad For A Green America August 19, 2009 Capitalis

• Global War and Dying Democracy: The Revolution of ...

  by Andrew Gavin Marshall Featured Writer Dandelion Salad August 13, 2009 Part 1: Global Power and

Unexplained Mysteries

• Cave complex beneath Giza Pyramids ?

  British explorer Andrew Collins has claimed to have discovered an extensive series of chambers and tunnels underneath the Pyramids of Giza that is bei...

• Are UFO sightings linked to sci-fi films ?

  Recently released documents in the UK have shown that UFO sightings over the country increased five-fold in the same year that the movie Independence ...

• Ink found in Jurassic-era squid

  Palaeontologists have managed to extract ink from a fossilised squid and used it to draw with, the fossil is believed to be 150 million years old plac...

• Dark energy may not actually exist

  The theoretical dark energy thought to account for over 70% of the universe might not actually exist. A team of mathematicians have allegedly devised ...

• FOIA documents confirm Roswell debris study ?

  Newly released FOIA documents have reportedly confirmed that officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force base contracted the Battelle Memorial Institute t...

Grassroots

• Building a Movement, Haitian Style

  pigs.jpg I spent the better part of last week crisscrossing Haiti’s arid Northwest with Grassroots International’s partner the National Congress of the Peasant’s Movement of Papay (MPNKP). MPNKP is best known to our allies and friends fo ...

• Resilient Hondurans Lead The Way To Protect Democr ...

  IMG00292.jpg Today, thousands of people will fill the streets of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. They are students, housekeepers, children and farmers from different parts of country—many of whom walked 10-12 miles a day to get to the ...

• Yes, We Can - But Will We Join Our Neighbors to Re ...

  More than a month after the military coup in the Central American country of Honduras (for which the term “banana republic” was originally coined due to the overwhelming influence of U.S. fruit corporations in that country), the junta is still in power and shows little real sign of budging. re ...

• They Are Afraid of Us, Because We are Not Afraid o ...

  Tom Loudon from our ally the Alliance for Responsible Trade, which is a member of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (a Grassroots International grantee) is currently in Honduras as part of an international human rights monitoring delegation. Today, August 11th, the Global Day of Action for Honduras, h ...

• On the Global Day of Action for Honduras, Donate y ...

  Want to do something simple to help support Honduran democracy and keep the crisis in the public eye? Donate your status! It’s free, easy, and can make a huge impact. Right now, the corporate news media is mostly silent about what’s happening on the ground in Honduras and the role of US polic ...

Climate

• August 20, 2009

  Australian Parliament Sets Renewable Energy Target (AP) Australia's Parliament passed a law today to require that 20% of the country's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, matching European standards and up from about 8% now. Another Record for U.S. Renewable Electricity (Renewable ...

• August 19, 2009

  Lobbyists Sent 13 Fake Letters to Hill (The Politico) A lobbying firm working for a coal industry group sent lawmakers 13 fraudulent letters opposing the House climate bill — five more than initially believed, a House committee has revealed. US Unions, Green Groups to Stump for Climate Chang ...

• August 18, 2009

  Young Activists from 110 Countries Want Climate Action (AFP) More than 800 young environmental activists from 110 countries on Monday began a UN-organized meeting described as the biggest-ever youth gathering on climate change. U.S. Wind Capacity Targets to be Missed Amid Slowdown (Financial ...

• August 18, 2009

  Young Activists from 110 Countries Want Climate Action (AFP) More than 800 young environmental activists from 110 countries on Monday began a UN-organized meeting described as the biggest-ever youth gathering on climate change. U.S. Wind Capacity Targets to be Missed Amid Slowdown (Financial ...

• August 17, 2009

  China Study Urges Greenhouse Gas Peak in 2030 (Reuters) China should set firm targets to limit CO2 emissions so they peak around 2030, a new study by some of the nation's top climate policy advisers has proposed ahead of key UN talks. Canadian Government to Drop Intensity Targets, Follow US Le ...

TomDispatch

• Tomgram: Withdrawing by Bike from Iraq

  [ Note for TomDispatch Readers: So it's sayonara for a couple of weeks. I'm taking my usual August break. TomDispatch will return sometime the week of August 24th, but will be on a limited posting schedule through Labor Day. Let me take this opportunity once again to thank those of you who hav ...

• Tomgram: Mark Engler, Protesting at Climate Groun ...

  We're so past the Roman Empire by now that it's probably time to update the phrase "fiddling while Rome burns." What about, for instance, "writing fake letters ostensibly from real non-profit groups to weaken a climate-change bill while the planet burns"? It's true. According to the New York Ti ...

• Tomgram: Jamail and Lazare, Lost in Military Limb ...

  [ Note for TomDispatch Readers: In Chalmers Johnson's recent piece, "Three Good Reasons to Liquidate Our Empire," the mission of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) was mischaracterized. It has now been corrected at the piece. ] It's not exactly a secret that the U.S. Army and the U.S. M ...

• Tomgram: John Feffer, Their Martyrs and Our Heroe ...

  The way you imagine someone engaged in a suicide attack depends, not surprisingly, on which end of the attack you happen to be on -- in cultural, if not literal terms. In American films and pop culture, there were few acts more inexplicable or malevolent in the years of my childhood than those of ...

• Tomgram: Frida Berrigan, 64 Years Too Late and No ...

  As another August 6th approaches, let me tell you a little story about Hiroshima and me: As a young man, I was probably not completely atypical in having the Bomb (the 1950s was a great time for capitalizing what was important) on my brain, and not just while I was ducking under my school desk ...

Smirking Chimp

• Hey, (Cowering-In-The-)Barracks Forshame Obummer: ...

  Both President Obama's health care plan and his presidency are going down the toilet. This is well, and right, and just as it should be. Obama is turning out to be a disastrous president, wholly unsuited for the times and our national and global challenges, and his job approval ratings reflect this. ...

• Why the Right's Propaganda Works

  Many on the Left are blaming President Barack Obama and middle-of-the-road Democrats for maneuvering health-care reform into a fast-approaching head-on collision. And some of that criticism is well deserved for foolishly letting Republicans get their hands on the wheel at all. But American liber ...

• Health care mobs = Swift Boat Vets. And the press ...

  Here we go again. During August's summer daze, right-wing mini-mobs (egged on by corporate interests) have run wild at town hall meetings, propagating all kinds of smears and misinformation in an effort to derail an important Democratic campaign. Yet the mini-mob members have been treated as deeply ...

• Poll: 36% Think Health Reform Is a Good Idea; 42% ...

  A new survey released today indicates the steep challenges facing the Obama administration in selling its health care reform proposals to the American people, as 36% agree that health reform is a good idea while 42% are unsure what the word "idea" means. The concept of a public option divided those ...

• Health Co-ops: The Three-Card Monte of Healthcare ...

  Feel the fool? Well, you should. Or at least you will if you let them get away with the latest health care reform bait and switch. This weekend the Obama administration backed away from the public health insurance option. Instead they say they are open to “health insurance cooperatives,” instea ...

Ten Percent

• Afghan Elections

  Gareth Porter for IPS reports- Afghanistan’s presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his powerful warlord allies have planned to commit large-scale electoral fraud that could have ...

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 3)

  ‘Most of the Taliban were long gone before the first bombs fell…And so, in Farah as with the rest of my country, many lives were needlessly lost.’ Glued to the radio Malalai and her family experienced the invasion first through global media reports then as terrifying air strikes rained ...

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 2)

  ‘the same donkey, only with a new saddle.’ Malalai and her family returned to Afghanistan in 1992, she was just fourteen and remembers Farah as a terrifying place as the civil war raged. Young girls would be abducted off the street, raped and killed by roaming gangs, Mujahideen troops would ...

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 1)

  ‘The truth is like the sun: when it comes up nobody can block it out or hide it’ Malalai Joya is an Afghan woman, the youngest MP in the Loya Jirga and barred from it since 2007 because a woman telling the truth is still forbidden in Afghanistan. In her book Raising My Voice she attempts [.. ...

• Ezra Nawi’s Sentencing Now Scheduled For 21st Se ...

  Dear friends and supporters, Ezra’s sentencing process started this morning (Aug 16′ 2009). Ezra and the “Committee for Ezra Nawi” wish to thank and express our appreciation to all those who testified on his behalf, came to court, wrote letters or signed petitions. As part of today’s hea ...

Paul Krugman

• Short(s) notes

  I'm traveling, so posting will be light to nonexistent for the next few days. Herewith a few notes.

• Nick Beaudrot explains it all

  Going with the flow (chart).

• Black cats

  Choking on one's own snark.

• The other Bush bubble

  All about Jeb.

• The public option as a signal

  The public option has become not so much a symbol as a signal, a test of whether Obama is really the progressive activists thought they were backing.

No Quarter

• The Economy Is Still Going South

  If you have bought in to the false hope that the economy has hit bottom and has turned a corner then think again. I had a chat this week with a banker friend who works for Wachovia. Wachovia, in case you forgot, was taken over by Wells Fargo. My friend told me [...]

• A Different Take On Secretary Clinton’s Africa T ...

  Faithful NQ reader, CG, mentioned recently that the Washington Post actually did a very nice article on Secretary Clinton’s recent trip to Africa. Well, you coulda knocked me over with a feather. This morning, in my daily “DipBlog” from the State Department, sure enough, there it was, along ...

• Remembrance of Things Past - Part 1 (of 3)

  I think we need to remember how we got into this domestic politico/economic mess. We have a tendency to put one foot in front of the other and just Keep on Truckin’, but sometimes it pays to turn around and review what’s been happening - gives you sense of perspective. This is a multi-layered me ...

• How Big a Pay Reform Wave?

  On Friday, detailed compensation plans for the top 25 earners at seven companies — American International Group, Bank of America, Citigroup, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial, General Motors and GMAC — were delivered to the offices of Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s bailout bonus czar ...

• Obama Blinks; Health Care Reform “Just A Suggest ...

  OK, so I’m putting words in his mouth, but if the shoe fits, let him sleep in it! Turns out our big bad POTUS can’t take the heat, so he’s leaving the kitchen, probably sneaking down to the basement to help his mother-in-law put a hex on his political enemies. Unconfirmed reports by undead sou ...

Environmental Graffiti

• 15 Spectacular Shots of Comet McNaught
• The Insane Bull Riders of Tamil Nadu
• The North Pacific Gyre: 100 Million Tons of Garbag ...
• Bolivia’s Interminable Mirror to the Sky
• Graffiti Is Watching You…

Foreign Policy in Focus

• Book Review: 'The Future of Global Relations'

  America is on the way out. Are regions on the way in?

• Global Spin Doctors

  FPIF's weekly update.

• Kosovo, East Timor, R2P, and Ian Williams

  Noam Chomsky refutes Ian Williams' claim that NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999 did not precipitate atrocities in Kosovo.

• Lack of North American Leadership

  The three amigos met in Guadalajara and failed to usher in a new paradigm of North American cooperation.

• Learning from the British in Iraq

  History suggests that the United States won't be leaving Iraq any time soon.

Therapy News

• Rare Gene Translates Social Rejection into Physica ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Basic responses to social rejection are experience throughout life, and may contribute to a negative self-image or feelings of depression in some people. But in others, such responses may be secondary to a physically manifested hurt. A study recently performed at the ...

• Marriage - The Impact of Resentment on Relationshi ...

  By Barbi Pecenco Kolski, MA As a marriage counselor, I often hear people say they are no longer in love with their partner. They really believe that they have fallen out of love. However, quite often, what has happened is that they weren’t attending to both big and small issues in their relationsh ...

• Orthorexia Nervosa: When the Diet-Conscious are To ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline A large number of mental health professionals are likely familiar with the symptoms and consequences of various eating disorder types such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A fixation on the volume of food consumption is a serious concern for which many seek therapy, b ...

• Study Looks at the Brain’s Reaction to Verbalizi ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline There is a distinctly relieving aspect to coming clean about one’s emotions, whether it’s within the safety and confidentiality of a therapist’s office or simply in the presence of a friend. Seeking to understand why verbally identifying emotions has such a stro ...

• Take a Hike: Research Supports Time Outdoors as an ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Summary The benefits of being outdoors have often been documented in terms of the healthy effects of sunlight. Despite concerns over too much sun exposure, a reasonable amount of regular sunshine can help boost Vitamin D levels and support a greater mental well-being, leading ...

Mountaintop Removal

• Another pro-coal group enters the mix (Charleston ...

  CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Another pro-coal alliance has joined the growing array of groups fighting for an industry that has become a focal point for the nations energy debate. Grassroots efforts supporting coal seem to be growing in West Virginia, most rece...

• No Headline (The Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

  Scott Milam and Stolen Moments, 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21. Visit www.paramountartscenter.com . Paramount Arts Center, 1300 Winchester Ave., Ashland. $20.

• Soapbox (The Durango Telegraph)

  2009-08-20

• Writer Supports Effort To Make ‘Coal Country’ ...

  Rob Perks of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who has been a tireless opponent of mountaintop removal says: “We wouldn’t tolerate this kind of resource exploitation anywhere else in the country – not in the Sierras, not in the Adirondacks – but we seem able to treat Appalachia as if it ...

• Pancake weather: WNC Read-for-All novel offers viv ...

  There may be no better insider's view of a community visited by mountaintop removal than Ann Pancake's novel “Strange as This Weather Has Been.”

Memeorandum

• Kennedy, looking ahead, urges that Senate seat be ...

  Frank Phillips / Boston Globe : Kennedy, looking ahead, urges that Senate seat be filled quickly — Seeks law change for interim post — Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the ...

• Prospect's Starr to Progressives: Thanks for Being ...

  Scarecrow / Firedoglake : Prospect's Starr to Progressives: Thanks for Being Pawns; Now Chill on the PO — There is something of value when elites tell you the truth, even while they're insulting you. So when the courageously anonymous *cough* senior White House official told the Washington ...

• Bernanke, a Hero to His Own, Can't Shake Critics ( ...

  Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times : Bernanke, a Hero to His Own, Can't Shake Critics — WASHINGTON — Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, no longer looks sleep-deprived. — He still works seven days a week, but earlier this month he took two days off — for the first ti ...

• C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Ji ...

  Mark Mazzetti / New York Times : C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists — WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operati ...

• CNN Fails to Report Woman Comparing Obama to Hitle ...

  John McCormack / Weekly Standard : CNN Fails to Report Woman Comparing Obama to Hitler is a Lyndon LaRouche Democrat — CNN's Larry King showed the above video of Barney Frank laying the smack down on a woman at a townhall meeting who compared Obama to Hitler. CNN left out the fact that th ...

Energy & Environment News

• Drilling Ordeals Are Said to Set Back a Big Geothe ...

  A major test of geothermal energy, already under review because it could induce earthquakes, has fallen behind schedule over other problems, federal scientists said.

• Continuing Education: Sustainability Field Booms o ...

  Universities and community colleges are responding to a demand from the public for degrees or ad hoc courses on sustainability.

• Toyota Falling Behind Rivals in Race to Go Electri ...

  Mitsubishi and Nissan hope to leapfrog Toyota and G.M. by focusing on battery-powered cars rather than hybrids like the Prius and the Volt.

• Oil Industry Backs Protests of Emissions Bill

  Companies say new policies from Washington could cost them billions of dollars and raise prices for consumers at the pump.

• More Fake Letters to Congress on Energy Bill

  Investigators have uncovered a total of nine letters sent to Congress falsely claiming to be from charities expressing opposition to climate change legislation.

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 5.0, Molucca Sea

  Thursday, August 20, 2009 06:50:52 UTC Thursday, August 20, 2009 02:50:52 PM at epicenter Depth : 35.00 km (21.75 mi)

• M 5.5, Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia

  Wednesday, August 19, 2009 02:55:08 UTC Wednesday, August 19, 2009 09:55:08 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

• M 5.1, southwestern Ryukyu Islands, Japan

  Tuesday, August 18, 2009 23:47:58 UTC Wednesday, August 19, 2009 08:47:58 AM at epicenter Depth : 24.80 km (15.41 mi)

• M 5.1, Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia

  Tuesday, August 18, 2009 09:28:58 UTC Tuesday, August 18, 2009 04:28:58 PM at epicenter Depth : 35.00 km (21.75 mi)

• M 5.6, southwestern Ryukyu Islands, Japan

  Monday, August 17, 2009 10:15:06 UTC Monday, August 17, 2009 07:15:06 PM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

China Dialogue

• The Ilisu Dam’s uncertain future

  A controversial project in south-eastern Turkey hangs in the balance, writes Elizabeth Angell. The government sees it as necessary, but opponents say it will incur great social and ecological costs. Since a group of European backers withdrew funding in July, the fate of the controversial Ilisu dam â ...

• Africa looks to the sun and wind

  Amid surging demand for electricity -- and frequent blackouts – the continent is embracing renewable energy sources. Kenya is set to host the biggest African wind farm, Xan Rice reports. One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa’s most ambitious venture in the ba ...

• Geoengineering: plastic forests

  Could synthetic trees help to cool the planet? chinadialogue continues its series that examines geoengineering proposals from scientists around the world. What’s the big idea? Forests of synthetic “trees”, designed to capture and store carbon dioxide, could be used to effectively offset cl ...

• Removing chemicals from our food

  Recent studies show that food safety in China still needs improvement. Organic production is the answer, argues Jiang Gaoming. Here he explains how to make the shift. Environmental group Greenpeace recently tested vegetables purchased in supermarkets and markets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou at ...

• Beginning of the end for oil?

  Greenpeace and others see the industry approaching a tipping point, thanks to price declines, technological advances and climate policies. Controversial investments in Canadian tar sands may be doomed. David Teather reports. A long-term decline in the demand for oil could undermine the huge investme ...

Daily Censored

• Give ‘Em Hellraisers!

  Read the full story at MoJo Articles [For the rest of MoJo's Mini College Guide, read 10 Cool Schools, 8 Unusual Scholarships, and 6 Cutting Edge Jobs.] Climate Change Last December, 500 young people from more than 50 countries converged at a United Nations climate change conference in Poland, wher ...

• Acid Crime Survival Zambia

  Read the full story at Byline Portal by Sally Chiwama, Women News Network, USA – Zambia has yet to create a legal framework for the clear prosecution of acid criminals. Zambian women are the majority of targets. Detailed legislation is desperately needed. …

• Methane Seeps from Arctic Sea-Bed

  Read the full story at Byline Portal by Judith Burns, BBC, UK – Scientists say they have evidence that the powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping from the Arctic sea-bed. …

• CIA Sought Blackwater’s Help in Plan to Kill Jih ...

  Read the full story at CommonDreams.org Headlines by Mark Mazzetti WASHINGTON – The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to curr ...

• O’Reilly Goes After Healthcare Reform and Barney ...

  Read the full story at News Hounds On last night’s O’Reilly Factor’s Talking Points Memo (8/19/09), O’Reilly thundered, “Barnie Frank on the offense over health care.” “I’m not saying Barnie Frank is offensive . . . trying to convince Americans that the government should run the nati ...

AlterNet's Breaking News

• 21 killed as Somali forces attack Shebab
• Fighting in central Somalia 'kills 21'
• Hurricane Bill weakens: US authorities
• Afghans vote for president despite violence
• N.Korea holds US talks, plans to send team to S.Ko ...

Institute for Policy Studies

• Their Martyrs and Our Heroes

  Powerful, developed countries have suicide bombers too.

• Taxing Wealth for the Common Good

  Business leaders and wealthy individuals call for a repeal of the Bush-era taxes on high incomes.

• The Destruction of the Black Middle Class

  Left out of the commentary on race and class over the Gates affair has been talk of the increasing impoverishment — or, we should say, re-impoverishment — of African Americans as a group.

• Asia's Axis of Evil?

  Burma and North Korea are the pariahs of Asia. Are these birds of a feather flocking together?

• Obama: Renegotiate NAFTA as You Promised

  Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. leaders should scrap their failed "Security and Prosperity Partnership" and begin overhauling the North American Free Trade agreement at an upcoming Guadalajara meeting.

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Switzerland turns a profit on UBS stake sale

  LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland sold its stake in its largest bank, UBS, at the top end of its price range, a source said on Thursday, making a profit from last year's rescue deal.

• "Putpockets" give a little extra cash

  LONDON (Reuters) - Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets.

• Afghans vote despite sporadic violence

  KABUL (Reuters) - Two Taliban insurgents were killed in a gunbattle in the Afghan capital on Thursday as millions voted in an anxiously awaited presidential election marked by sporadic violence across the country.

• Germany's Merkel again most powerful woman: Forbes

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is among the world's 100 most powerful women in a list topped for the fourth consecutive year by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a Forbes ranking released on Wednesday.

• U.S./UBS deal ramps up pressure on tax havens

  MIAMI (Reuters) - More overseas tax havens could turn into traps for tax cheats as the U.S.-Swiss settlement over UBS AG invigorates an international campaign to flush out hideaways for illicit or undisclosed money.

Godspace

• Celtic Prayer Retreat is Over

  MSA’s 18th Annual Prayer retreat is over. Â We had a great time up on Camano Island and I thought that those of you who cannot make it to the Pacific Northwest would be interested in some of the prayers and photos from the event. Â Maybe you would like to conduct your own mini retreat based [. ...

• Playing Children’s Games As Spiritual Practi ...

  It is a bright and sunny morning in Seattle with the promise of a hot day ahead. For most of us it is a work day but I think that if we were honest with ourselves we would rather be out playing with the kids so this post below by Julie Clawson seemed appropriate. Julie describes [...]

• Intergenerational Friendships as Spiritual Practic ...

  I am back from the MSA Celtic retreat on Camano Island (more on that later) and realizing that my expectations of what I could accomplish were a little unrealistic. And then our internet was down all morning and I was just about pulling my hair out trying to get caught up. What ever happened to ...

• Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice

  I am now back from Australia and as you can imagine the posts for my series on What is a Spiritual Practice have been mounting up while I have had limited internet access and less time to focus on such things. Â Thanks for your patience and for your prayers during this challenging season. Today’ ...

• Editing your Life: The Spiritual Discipline of Edi ...

  I am sitting in Sydney on a beautiful but crisp winter’s morning watching the rainbow lorikeets out in the trees. Â My Dad’s funeral is over and I will head back to Seattle in 2 days time. Â I have been very aware of prayer and the grace of God in the midst of this. Â Thanks to [...]

Equality Trust

• Shattering the myth of equality

  An article by Boris Frankel in Melbourne's newspaper 'The Age'.

• Polly Toynbee: This bold equality push is just wha ...

  Polly Toynbee writing about the new Equality Bill today's Guardian. "Harriet Harman's bill is a frank recognition of the role of class in Britain. A decade earlier, it might have had a real impact..."

• Seumas Milne: This naked display of class egotism ...

  "It's more than a week since Alistair Darling's budget, but the howls of protest haven't stopped for a day ever since. That's not been the public sector employees facing a harsh squeeze on jobs and pay who've been squealing, or the million workers expected to join the dole queues in the next year, ...

• Bob Holman on social breakdown

  Bob Holman writes in the Glasgow Herald about the evidence in The Spirit Level.

• Inequality is the root of our unhappiness

  Former director of the Institute of Education Peter Mortimore, writing in today's Education Guardian.

IntelNews

• News you may have missed #0073

  Homeland Security denies involvement in domestic spying case. Sudan's new spy chief speaks to the press. US special operations forces can't exploit intelligence.

• News you may have missed #0072

  Emirates to go after former French spy. Analysis: Government secrecy alive and well under Obama. Was US man caught in FSB honey trap operation a CIA agent?

• BBC releases archival documents on KGB spy Guy Bur ...

  The BBC’s archive unit has released 24 previously unpublished documents on Guy Burgess, a British-born KGB double spy who defected to Moscow during the early stages of the Cold War.

• News you may have missed #0071

  CIA denies Panetta is about to resign. Burma says it is not pursuing secret nuclear plans. Is US war in Afghanistan turning into a counter-narcotics operation?

• Czechs, Russians expel diplomats in escalating spy ...

  The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered two Czech diplomats out of Russia on Tuesday, one day after the Czech Republic expelled two members of staff of the Russian embassy in Prague.

Res'Eau-WaterNet

• Too Many Canadians Without Safe Water: $5.2M to He ...

  For six million Canadians, quenching their thirst isn’t a matter of simply turning on the kitchen faucet.

• Dr. David Wilkinson appointed Director of the Clea ...

  RES'EAU-WaterNET researcher Dr. David Wilkinson was recently appointed Director of the Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC), beginning July 1, 2009.

• Walkerton Clean Water Centre Receives Ontario Mini ...

  The Walkerton Clean Water Centre (WCWC) – a RES’EAU-WaterNET partner – received the 2008 Emerald Award for innovation from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment at an awards ceremony held on March 3, 2009.

• Filling the glass

  Innovation Canada : Showcasing Research Excellence in Canada

PDA AMERICA

• End the War in Afghanistan and Pakistan! Change do ...

  President Barack Obama was elected on a platform of CHANGE and with hopes for diplomacy, not war! As the war in Iraq winds down, more troops have been sent to Afghanistan. Some in the Pentagon ...

• Western & Southern U.S. Region Conference Call - A ...

  On this months call we discussed national news, IOT reports and state reports.

• IOT: Health Care Call 8-18-2009

  Our Healthcare NOT Warfare Co-Chair, Donna Smith, gave us an update on Single Payer from the Hill and also answered member's questions.

• A Progressive Response to Mitch Stewart & OFA

  Dear Mitch Stewart & OFA, I am glad you are still Organizing for America — we need the activated grassroots energy that swept Mr. Obama into office to keep things moving forward. But I have ...

• Progressive Democrats take a stand on health care

  From the RNN: The Real News Network Some members of Congress are going to fight for a robust public option and a single-payer amendment VIDEO CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE An amendment introduced by representative Anthony ...

Marler Blog

• Safeway Recalls Ground Beef in Arizona, California ...

  In cooperation with Beef Packers, Inc.’s (Cargill's) recall of 825,769 pounds of ground beef linked to an outbreak of salmonellosis , Pleseanton, California Safeway, Inc. is recalling fresh ground beef products sold between June 6 through July 14, 2009, at stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, ...

• Number rises to 30 of those infected with Hepatiti ...

  Another lawsuit on behalf of a customer sickened in the Milan McDonald’s outbreak was filed today in the Circuit Court of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Rock Island County. The lawsuit was filed against McDonald’s Inc., and Kevin Murphy, the owner of the McDonald’s restaurant at 400 West ...

• JBS Swift E. coli Beef Banned from Mexico - What W ...

  OK, I admit, Lou Dobbs (and all the cable yammering heads) drive me nuts. Mainly because they prey on peoples' fears (left and right) and they are smart and sane enough (O.K., exclude Beck and Hannity) to know better. Lou is particularly bothersome with his constant complaints of illegal immigrant ...

• Another Peer reviewed Award - My mom would be prou ...
• Hurricane Bill Heads towards the East Coast

  Adapted from AP: The first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season has gathered strength with sustained hot air of up to 135 mph, the US National Hurricane Centre said. Hurricane Bill at this time posed no threat to food manufacturers in the Gulf of Mexico but authorities in Bermuda have warned restau ...

AutoblogGreen

• AutoblogGreen for 08.20.09

  Chevy Volt's 230 mpg rating, ad campaign comes under fire from Bill Ford, AdAge Ford says the number is "meaningless" to consumers. REPORT: Eberhard drops lawsuit against Tesla No official co ...

• Toyota's "Harmony Floralscapes" bloom along LA, SF ...

  Filed under: Hybrid , Etc. , Marketing/Advertising , Toyota Toyota's "Harmony Floralscape" - Click above for high-res image gallery Toyota's TV ads for the 2010 Prius feature a world of flowers blooming whenever the iconic hybrid drives by. This visual message is now available in the physical wo ...

• AutoblogGreen for 08.19.09

  Bill Nye the Science Guy luvs electric cars And he's not shy about it. EV club members get first rides in Coda Automotive electric sedan Could the vanilla style actually work in the EV's favo ...

• AutoblogGreen for 07.29.09

  Aptera newsletter reveals production interior, doesn't answer every question Will this calm the trouble in Apteraville? Spy Shots: Is this Porsche 911 mule hiding a shocking secret? What's th ...

• AutoblogGreen for 07.30.09

  Honda Insight sales withering with competition from Prius They might not be true competitors, but Prius sales are crushing Insight sales. Tesla lawsuit update: Eberhard not declared one ...

IPS - Inter Press Services

• SPORTS: Women Carry a New Punch

  JERUSALEM, Aug 20 (IPS) - Thanks to Clint Eastwood's blockbuster film 'Million Dollar Baby', his heroine Hilary Swank helped raise significantly the profile of women who climb into the boxing ring.

• GERMANY: Terror Plot Emerges as Secret Service Ga ...

  BERLIN, Aug 20 (IPS) - It was announced as a terror plot busted. German police had captured three young Muslim men in the small village Medebach-Oberschledor, some 450 km southwest of Berlin Sep. 4 in 2007. The police declared they had seized 730 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide, enough to make ...

• TRADE: Namibia Caught in Stand-Off Between South ...

  WINDHOEK, Aug 20 (IPS) - Access to the European markets is not a goal Namibia wants to accomplish at all costs. Neither is the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) holy. What counts in the country’s realpolitik approach is a close relationship with its neighbours, especially regional economi ...

• AFGHANISTAN: Stolen Land and Political Power

  KABUL, Aug 20 (IPS) - Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission says that in the last seven months they have received 12 complaints about stolen land. The complaints cover the map, ranging from Wardak, Panjsher and Kapisa, to Parwan and Kabul.

• Q&A: ‘Young People Should Not Be Sitting ...

  BANGKOK,, Aug 20 (IPS) - Having shaken up the conventions of banking by arguing that credit is a fundamental right to help the poor in his native Bangladesh get loans for small business ventures, Muhammad Yunus has set his sights on another shake-up: university education.

The Intelligence Daily

• India, hub of human trafficking in South Asia: rep ...

• Biologists urged to watch for neurological weapons

• Britain: Home Office ignores ID card hacker

• Arms Expert Warns New Mind Drugs Eyed by Military

• Abkhazia runs out of oil reserves

My AntiWar

• CIA Sought Blackwater’s Help in Plan to Kill ...
• Poll: Americans’ Mood Sours on Afghan War
• Baghdad’s Deadliest Day in 18 Months
• Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 103 Iraqis Killed; 583 Ir ...
• US Airstrike Kills Four Afghan Police

Open ID

• Yahoo - Gallery

Rogue Government.com

• Futurologist: Global Warming will make us have se ...

  Tourism futurologist Ian Yeoman, from New Zealand’s University of Wellington, gave an preview of what the world could be like in 2050, shaped by global warming.

• Tight budget quashes US space ambitions: panel

  US ambitions for manned space exploration have hit a major hurdle in the wake of severe budget constraints, according to preliminary findings of a panel appointed by President Barack Obama.

• IRS gets access to 5,000 Swiss bank accounts

  The Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal with the Swiss government, gaining access to thousands of UBS AG accounts that Americans might have used to avoid paying taxes.

• Europe and Russia sign Mars exploration deal

  The European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday signed a deal with its Russian counterpart Roscosmos to cooperate on two Mars exploration projects, Russia's Interfax news agency reported

• Time Magazine Article On Geoengineering

Innovation Canada

• Testing ground

  Think of it as a case of lab life trying to imitate real life. From behind a two-way mirror, researchers observe and record medical staff trying to use intravenous drug pumps and other devices while being continuously interrupted by a Code Blue or other emergencies that could cause them to make mist ...

• Ocean view

  The winch at the rear of the ship slowly lowers a 13-tonne steel capsule about the size of three minivans into still water in early July. The shell, painted a garish yellow, is a trawl-resistant frame designed to deflect fishing nets. More important, once settled on the ocean floor, the capsule will ...

• Space reader

  (Article courtesy of the University of Windsor) Bill McConkey probably won’t be around to see the day when humans are finally able to travel tremendous stretches through outer space to distant planets such as Jupiter. When they do make that journey, however, they’ll owe a significant debt of gra ...

• Filling the glass

  Walkerton, Ont., North Battleford, Sask., and the Kashechewan First Nation Reserve, in Northern Ontario, have all become high-profile — and tragic — examples of what can go wrong when a community’s drinking water becomes contaminated. Surprisingly, they are not alone. At any given time, 1,700 ...

• i2eye with Bartha Maria Knoppers

  “Don’t plan your career — be curious.” That’s the credo that Bartha Maria Knoppers, the new director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, espouses — and one she lives by. Knoppers turned her love of books into a master’s in c ...

Signs of the times

• UK: 50,000 A-level students to miss out on place a ...

  The government stands accused today of abandoning its commitment to get more school-leavers into university, triggering an unprecedented scramble for degree places when students discover their A-level results this morning. University applicants face the most intense competition ever after ministers ...

• Farmacology: Antibiotics resistance generated at f ...

  Ellen Silbergeld, Eng '72 (PhD), recalls that she did not want to go to the seminar. She was a professor of epidemiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1999 when her department's chairman needed an audience for the seminar's presenter, a candidate for a faculty position. Silberg ...

• Found: first amino acid on a comet

  An amino acid has been found on a comet for the first time, a new analysis of samples from NASA's Stardust mission reveals. The discovery confirms that some of the building blocks of life were delivered to the early Earth from space. Amino acids are crucial to life because they form the basis of pr ...

• Recessions produce soldiers for war economy: Unive ...

  Unemployed graduates are fighting it out for a career in the army or navy. The Defence Forces have been flooded with applications for 42 cadetships that were advertised earlier this month. In the past 11 days, 1,641 applications have been received -- an average of 39 for each of the 30 army and 12 n ...

• Scientists Create First Three-dimensional Global M ...

  As tags on household appliances warn, water conducts electricity extremely well. Now, scientists have found that enhanced electrical conductivity in parts of Earth's mantle may signal the presence of water far below our planet's surface. The researchers created the first global three-dimensional ma ...

Threat Level

• TJX Suspect Was Near Plea Agreement Until New Char ...

  Accused TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is set to go to trial next month in New York, was close to reaching a comprehensive settlement with federal prosecutors when new charges were levied against him this week in New Jersey, according to his lawyer. Rene Palomino, Jr., told the New York Times that ...

• Lawyer: FBI Paid Right-Wing Blogger Charged With T ...

  A notorious New Jersey hate blogger charged in June with threatening to kill judges and lawmakers was secretly an FBI “agent provocateur” paid to disseminate right-wing rhetoric, his attorney said Wednesday. Hal Turner, the blogger and radio personality, remains jailed pending charges over his r ...

• BSA Softens Anti-Piracy Message

  The Business Software Alliance has a new anti-piracy video that for the first time uses humor instead of scare tactics to get out its message. The alliance, consisting of about 80 companies — including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe — is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of Amer ...

• Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC

  Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate who drew the ire of a congressman two years ago when he published information about a serious breach in airline security, has been hired by the Federal Trade Commission to work in the division of privacy and identity protection in its Bureau of Co ...

• TJX Hacker Charged with Heartland, Hannaford Breac ...

  The constellation of hacks connected to the TJX hacker is growing. Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, a former Secret Service informant who is already awaiting trial over his involvement in the TJX hack, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey, along with two unnamed Russia-based conspira ...

PERRspectives : Blog

• America Wins When Democrats Go It Alone

  Back in January, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman presciently warned President Obama about the GOP's bad faith in negotiating the stimulus bill, announcing, "Look, Republicans are not going to come on board." Now Krugman's paper is reporting the White...

• CBS Slams AARP, Promotes Right-Wing ASA Instead

  As its 2003 support for President Bush's overpriced, unfunded and deeply flawed Medicare prescription benefit showed, the AARP can make some strange political bedfellows. In a segment Monday slamming the 40 million member organization over role in the current health...

• Obama Falling Victim to Krugman's Law. Again.

  Following President Obama's lead, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Sunday announced that a public option is "not the essential element" of the administration's health insurance reform push. Sadly, that development seems to signal that, as with the...

• Right-Wing Rage: Recurring Symptom of a Preexistin ...

  There's nothing new under the sun, especially when it comes to the frothing at the mouth right-wing rage over health care reform. But thanks to the 24/7 media's transformation of politics into just another form of entertainment, delusional Birthers, deceitful...

• Health Scare: When Politics is Entertainment

  "When politics is just another form of entertainment," I lamented in a presentation on the 2008 campaign last year, "the first thing that suffers is the truth." And so it is with the incendiary health care debate and so much...

Blackspot News Feed

• British Citizen Speaks Out About Health Care

  Thanks to Walter Brasch for sending this to me.by Rita InklovichDandelion SaladAugust 20, 2009I am English (and a dual citizen of England and the United States) and I am increasingly frustrated with the misinformation reported regarding socialized medicine. Several opponents of health care reform– ...

• Countdown: To Help The White House Understand! + W ...

  MoxNewsDotComAugust 19, 2009 more about “Olbermann Special Comment To Help The…“, posted with vodpod***Countdown – Wendell Potter – Who pays for how much health carefiredoglakeAugust 19, 2009 more about “Countdown – Wendell Potter – Who pays…“, posted with vodpodseeMaddow: Stealt ...

• Split on Health Care Goes Beyond Public Option

  House Republicans introducing health care legislation. (Photo: Robert Giroux / Getty Images) read more

• Afghan Media Refuse to Censor Election Reporting

  Kabul - Afghan journalists charged Wednesday that their government was violating the constitution by trying to censor reports of violence on election day, and they vowed to flout the order issued by an administration that appears increasingly hostile toward the media. read more

• Six US Troops Die in Afghanistan Ahead of Election

  Kabul - The US military said Wednesday six American troops were killed in Afghanistan, as militants killed six election workers amid growing fears on the eve of the presidential election that insurgents would mar the vote. Two troops were killed in gunfire in the south on Wednesday, the U.S. ...

Consortium News

• Why the Right's Propaganda Works

  The Right's success in selling lies about President Obama's health reform derives from its media clout, writes Robert Parry. August 19, 2009

• A Power Equal to a Thousand Words

  Filmmaker David Kasper reflects on President Obama's troubling decision to conceal photographic evidence of war crimes. August 18, 2009

• Fromme-Peltier: Inequality of Mercy

  Does Indian leader Leonard Peltier deserve mercy like "Squeaky" Fromme, ask Dennis Bernstein and Miguel Gavalan Molina. August 18, 2009

• PanAm103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?

  From the Archive: The Obama administration won't question the weak evidence in the PanAm 103 bombing conviction. By William Blum.

• Israel Evicts Palestinians from Homes

  Israeli police ousted two Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem, drawing rare U.S. criticism, reports TheRealNews. August 17, 2009

CounterPunch

• Eugenia Tsao : Inside the DSM: The Drug Barons' C ...
• Dave Lindorff : The Worst and the Best Thing to Ha ...
• Yonatan Preminger : The Strategy Behind Israel's M ...
• Wajahat Ali : The Detention of Shah Rukh Kahn
• David Michael Green : Guess What? He's a Terrible ...

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• Jerusalem shop owners close in protest of arbitrar ...

  Palestinian-owned shops in the Old City of Jerusalem closed on Wednesday, protesting multiple arbitrary fines by West Jerusalem municipal officers, who have invaded several shops and harassed the owners. Isr ...

• Children's demo Bil'in ()
• A tough country (Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

  There is no difference morally or in principle between dropping bombs on houses and senseless murder in the streets, between the army's wiping out a targeted individual and the underworld doing the same, but ...

• Palestinians call settlement freeze reports an "Is ...

  The Palestinian Authority said Wednesday the that reports of an unofficial Israeli freeze in construction in Israeli West Bank settlements was a 'new deceiving Israeli maneuver.' 'Israel's new position is no ...

• Embattled Hamas shows its moderate face (Mel Fryk ...

  The Islamic resistance movement Hamas's rule of Gaza is facing protracted political and military opposition from within Gaza, other Palestinian territories and abroad. On Saturday a guerrilla group put down ...

Planetsave

• Greenpeace Exposes Oil Industry’s Really Dirty F ...

  We can’t expect much from the oil industry, but Greenpeace’s newest finding is as ugly as it gets. Read more of this story »

• Freshwater Dreams and Schemes

  The North American Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of freshwater, about one-fifth of the world’s available freshwater supply. For more than 25 years, residents of the Great Lakes region have feared large-scale public works projects to take freshwater from the Lakes to thirsty, faster- ...

• Coal Strip Mine Would Destroy Salmon Streams in Co ...

  PacRim Coal’s plan to strip mine coal right through 11 miles of salmon-bearing streams in Alaska would destroy critical wetlands and headwater streams beyond the point of restoration, according to three new studies by scientists. The salmon fisheries along the Chuit River would be severely damaged ...

• Tourist Mosquitoes Threaten the Galapagos

  If you could declare a home town of evolution it would be the Galapagos Islands. Back in 1835 a sea sick young naturalist, Charles Darwin, landed on the Galapagos to conduct a little research. That research was the genesis of Darwin’s seminal work “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural ...

• Growing Acid in our Oceans: A Looming Threat to Se ...

  This picture is a picture of the beautiful Monterey, California coastline. This is where I grew up. It is famous for it’s beautiful sea life. Sea otters, jelly fish, sea lions, kelp forests all populate the Monterey coast. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. Yet, with all th ...

Water Quality - WordPress

• HEIRS Research: Water Contaminants, Hydrogen Sulfi ...

  Background: In several blogs we have described some of the health consequences of hydrogen sulfide.

• Why are my goldfish changing colors? - Water Garde ...

  Why are my goldfish changing color? Water Gardens & Features Q & A Q: Why are my goldfish ch

• Flooded Fields for Birds

  National Geographic features “Walking Wetlands” – flooded fields for shorebirds.

• Déjà vu

  Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant: 301(h) waiver denied! Today’s guest blogger is Kirsten

• Parkinson's Disease: Rural Well Water Linked to Pa ...

  Rural Well Water Linked to Parkinson’s Disease wordpress:

Public Citizen in Texas

• Why Does Big Oil Hate Our Freedom?

  As you may have read elsewhere on our blog, we tried to attend the “Energy Citizens” rally in Houston yesterday but were turned away. Even far-right teabaggers, brought out to the event by FreedomWorks and a promise of a free meal, weren’t allowed in, despite actually being sympatico with Big ...

• Houston’s Energy Citizens Company Picnic

  Yesterday the Public Citizen Texas team drove down to Houston to crash the American Petroleum Institute’s Energy Citizen event. Billed as a “grassroots” rally against the cap and trade bill currently before Congress, this event was nothing more than a company picnic. About 2500 energy empl ...

• Big Oil Astroturf rally in Houston more company pi ...

  Your intrepid friends at Public Citizen tried to attend the astroturf “Energy Citizens” rally yesterday in Houston. We’re busy pulling together our bloggings and all the footage we shot, but keep checking back here for updates throughout the day. We were not allowed in the meeting, as we d ...

• Austin Energy’s Generation Plan: More Renewables ...

  It has been less than 24 hours since I received a copy of Austin Energy’s Generation Plan recommendation and there’s a lot here to like. Before I get to the highlights, let me just say that those of you who spoke up, filled out the survey, played the sim game and demanded more renewable ener ...

• Grassroots vs Astroturf- the difference in citizen ...

  Most people have a good general conception of what a real grassroots movement looks like: citizens get outraged over some injustice or inequity and get organized and get active. These campaigns are built from the bottom up. And what happens when you don’t have a grassroots movement but want to ...

Press TV

• 'Tens of' Afghan polling centers fail to open

  Election authorities claim turnout in Afghanistan's elections is 'very good' despite reports saying militants have prevented tens of polling centers from opening.

• 21 killed in fresh Somalia unrest

  At least 21 people have been killed in a sudden eruption of violence in central Somalia after pro-government forces clashed with rebels.

• Karroubi to have his own satellite channel?

  Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi has taken the first steps toward setting up a satellite TV network, called Saba, a report says.

• Several cabinet nominees 'likely to be rejected'

  The Vice-Speaker of Iran's Parliament has said several of President Ahmadinejad's proposed ministers might be rejected by the assembly.

• UN official gravely concerned over settlement acti ...

  A senior UN official has voiced 'grave concern' over Israel's continued settlement activities in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank.

Axis of Logic

• U.S.: Troy Davis must "prove his innocence" after ...

• Money is God, Greed is King and Corruption Runs th ...

• Latin America: Social Movements in Times of Econom ...

• The 'Anti-Starbucks' Starbucks

• Exclusive: Kill Them All and Cover Them with Bulls ...

They Gave Us a Republic

• The Nightowl Newswrap

  There is a word that describes this sort of thing...it's on the tip of our tongues but we can't come up with it... maybe a reader can help us out? Remember last winter, when the stimulus package was being debated and republicans were trying to get out of taking the money and mocking the things that ...

• Do the math - the 39

  Cross posted from Show Me Progress Via Fired Up from Think Progress :Public Policy Polling [pdf] released a poll today with a sample of 909 voters taken from August 14th to 17th. The margin of error is +/-3.3%. Q3 Do you think the government should stay out of Medicare? Yes 39% No 46% Not Sure 15% [ ...

• The Nightowl Newswrap

  You're missing the point of elections, idiots. "Afghanistan has called on domestic and foreign media not to cover any violence on the day of the presidential election in case such reports scare away voters." The ones scared away by violence you don't want anyway; the ones disgusted by your cowardic ...

• You Shouldn't Have Apologized, Jack

  The first independent poll of the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky has Dan Mongiardo up 39-31 over Jack Conway among Democratic respondents. Cross-tabs aren't available yet, and the respondents weren't likely voters, but only one politically significant thing has happened in this race in the last month, ...

• The funniest political news of the year.

  Cross posted from Show Me Progress Chad Livengood of the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader "re-tweeted" my comment about Vicky Hartzler (r - to the right of Attila the Hun ) challenging Representative Ike Skelton (D) (Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee) in Missouri's Fourth Congressional ...

Care 2

• PETITON - Tell Obama: The public option is NOT opt ...

  Help us remind President Obama that part of the reason he won the presidency was his plan to enact major health care reform that included a public option, a provision that 76% of Americans support...In Obama we trust, should we?...Sign the petition! Submitted by David Buchan to US Politics & Gov't ...

• Romeo The Cat's Rescue Store

  We’re so excited to offer these adorable rescue magnets and stickers as another way to raise funds for our FURPOWER beneficiaries. A generous portion of every sale goes to the organization of the month so tell your friends! Submitted by Ginger Geronimo to Animals | Note-it! | Add a Commen ...

• Wave of Baghdad blasts kills at least 75

  BAGHDAD -- A truck bomb tore through Iraq's Foreign Ministry Wednesday, knocking out concrete slabs and windows and leaving a mass of charred cars outside as a wave of explosions around Baghdad killed at least 75 people. Submitted by Terry West to World | Note-it! | Add a Comment

• Become a part of the effort to STOP the round-up o ...

  We are asking for a $5.00 donation (coffee money) to take a legal step to challenge some new laws that could stop the gathers at Sheldon! S.1579 must be re-written to protect all the wild horses Submitted by Terry West to Animals | Note-it! | Add a Comment

• Urge IL Property Owners' Association to Halt Cruel ...

  Apple Canyon Lake Property Owners' Association (POA) is allegedly considering lethal methods to control resident deer in Apple River, Illinois. According to our complainants, POA officials are planning to reduce the size of the deer herd living in and Submitted by Cher C. to Animals | Note-it! ...

GreenBiz

• U.S. Colleges Set a Green Course

  The number of colleges and universities going green is growing at an incredible pace as many students will soon learn in returning to campus for the upcoming school year.

• Cash for (Electronic) Clunkers

  The Cash for Clunkers program has inspired a range of imitators, offering incentives for outdated, inefficient products ranging from refrigerators to servers. A company named Gazelle wonders why the same can't be done for unwanted electronic gadgets.

• IT's Critical Role in a Low-Carbon Economy

  IT is the bridge that connects virtually all our efforts to measure, manage and reduce our environmental footprint. IT also presents significant opportunities to increase energy efficiency in operations and the environmental responsibility of products manufactured by the industry. Bonnie Nixon of HP ...

• The Bottled Water Business Takes Another Licking

  In another sign that the worm has turned on the bottled water industry, Mother Jones magazine has an in-depth look at the impacts of FIJI Water on the planet and the island nation itself.

• Climate Corps: How to Harvest Savings by Greening ...

  Green leasing is becoming more popular in real estate these days as building owners and tenants find themselves codependent when it comes to reducing consumption.

Reuters Global

• India, Pakistan : re-opening the wounds of Partiti ...

  A new book by former Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh challenges the conventional belief in India that Mohammad Ali Jinnah's insistence on a separate Muslim homeland forced the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

• All change for Nigeria?

  All looks set to change for corporate Nigeria after the central bank's bailout of five troubled banks and the removal of bosses who were at the top of the business elite.

• It’s all the fault of those people who work ...

  PHOTO CREDITS: Tango REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci Bubbles REUTERS/Claro Cortes Grasshoppers REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci Ants REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate

• North Korea’s “Dear Leader” open ...

  A North Korean traffic officers directs cars on the streets of Pyongyang under a new umbrella. Photo provided by North Korea's official KCNA news agency on August 13, 2009.

• Pakistan’s Enemy No.1

  An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis consider the United States to be the greatest threat to the nation, far more than traditional rival India, and the Taliban, according to a new poll.

Ezra Klein

• Tab Dump

  • AHRQ's National Healthcare Disparities Report. • The impediments to change on climate change. • Can't remember if I already linked to this Tom Philpott post on farming. • Mike from Rortybomb is holding down the fort at the Baseline Scenario this week, with predictable awesome results. ...

• Americans Hate Everyone, Believe Everything

  Wednesday's Wall Street Journal/NBC poll (pdf) is disappointing stuff. It's not so much that the American people have turned against Obama's health-care reform effort as they've turned against the legislative process in general. The graph at the right tells the story well: Americans disapprove of th ...

• The Power of Unpopularity

  The White House is hinting -- and by hinting, I mean saying -- that recent comments from Republicans are beginning to persuade them to abandon all hopes of bipartisanship. This could be because they're actually abandoning hopes of bipartisanship or because they want to signal a willingness to abando ...

• Steve Pearlstein Responds on the Public Option

  Steve's column arguing that Democrats should drop the public option is here . My response is here . This is his response to my response. You got all that? We agree that if there is to be a public option, it ought to be transformational. I think the cooperatives hold out a promise for that, if struc ...

• Reforming Social Security

  The Social Security trust fund is on the brink of exhausting itself. On the list of problems the government faces, this isn't a big one. But it's worth doing something about, at some point. Here's what Brad DeLong would do . The smart thing to do would be for Congress this fall to (a) uncap FICA- ...

Booman Tribune

• Open Thread

  I have no Internet connection right now so I can only blog thru the iPhone. Please let me know what's going on in the world because I have no teevee either.

• Why Good Government Matters

  What follows describes only one example of the adverse consequences of the conservative ideology which has dominated our politics for so long, but it is one which is highly symbolic of the massive failure of so many Republican policies which were crammed down our throats over the last eight years by ...

• We Have Work to Do

  Mark Ambinder reports: A White House official conceded today that Obama would have to weather anger from liberals for a while. More worrisome, officials said, was the growing belief that Obama's brand is being tarnished. A new Pew poll shows that voters don't think Obama is working with Republ ...

• Wanker of the Day: Steven Pearlstein

  Steven Pearlstein wanks in the Washington Post: Enough already with the public option! It is not the be-all and end-all of health-care reform. It is not the long-awaited safety net for the uninsured. And if, as many liberals hope, it turns out to be nothing more than Medicare for All, it won't ...

• A Little Truthfulness

  I don't think there is a lot of honesty about the public option. Most Democrats support single-payer health care. They like the public option because it allows them to get health insurance without paying a corporation for the privilege. They hope that a public option will do exactly what the Repu ...

European Tribune

• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 20 ...

  A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1901 – Birth of...

• Wednesday Open Thread

  Wednesday!...

• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 19 ...

  A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1881 – George Enescu,...

• Tuesday Open Thread

  How was your day?...

• Monday Open Thread

  Time to chat!...

Futurismic

• Charlie Stross on the future of nuclear power

  Charles Stross has made an interesting point on the view that there is only a very short supply of useable nuclear fuel: firstly, the supply of known uranium deposits will only last 80-100 years if we don’t recycle it and start burning MOX. I’d like to note that today’s light water reactors ar ...

• Charlie Stross on the future of nuclear power

  Charles Stross has made an interesting point on the view that there is only a very short supply of useable nuclear fuel: firstly, the supply of known uranium deposits will only last 80-100 years if we don’t recycle it and start burning MOX. I’d like to note that today’s light water reactors ar ...

• The Iron Cage of Fantasy: World of Warcraft, City ...

  If modern gaming is all about escapism, why do we choose to escape to virtual worlds that contain so many of the negative pressures of the world we’re trying to leave behind? ### I’d like to begin this column by discussing escapism. Describing something as “escapistâ€� has always st ...

• The Iron Cage of Fantasy: World of Warcraft, City ...

  If modern gaming is all about escapism, why do we choose to escape to virtual worlds that contain so many of the negative pressures of the world we’re trying to leave behind? ### I’d like to begin this column by discussing escapism. Describing something as “escapistâ€� has always st ...

• Has publishing given up on male readers?

  Via GalleyCat comes an article by one Tom Matlack, who thinks that the publishing business has given up on trying to attract male readers. The core of this theory seems to be based on his failure to find a publisher for a proposed anthology of what GalleyCat describes as “first-person stories abou ...

Yahoo! Canada News

• YahooCanadaNews: MK here for Y! CA News. Not just ...

  YahooCanadaNews: MK here for Y! CA News. Not just your mom says eat your veggies. So does StatsCan. http://bit.ly/O6IQ1

• YahooCanadaNews: Signed nude pic of former U.S. fi ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Signed nude pic of former U.S. first lady uncovered amid Warhol junk http://tr.im/wGJ4

• YahooCanadaNews: Taliban gunmen storm Afghan capit ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Taliban gunmen storm Afghan capital on eve of vote http://tr.im/wGlG

• YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Canadian ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Canadian inflation rate hits lowest level in 56 years http://tr.im/wGlx

• YahooCanadaNews: Obama's team shares winning strat ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Obama's team shares winning strategies with NDP http://tr.im/wsSV

Global Elite

• President European Commission Advocated World Gove ...

  Jurriaan Maessen. Infowars. July 24th, 2009 On September 7, 1992, two term President of the European Commission Jacques Delors gave a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affa ...

• Billions of People Expected to Die Under Current C ...

  Barbara Minton, Natural News, July 21st, 2009 Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the d ...

• Bioweapons, Dangerous Vaccines, and Threats of a G ...

  Stephen Lendman, Global Research, July 7th, 2009 Although international law prohibits the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, America has had an active biological warfare progr ...

• Today we’re all prisoners in the USA

  Papers, Please! June 2, 2009 As of today, June 1, 2009, even U.S. citizens are officially prisoners in the USA, or exiles barred from entering our own country without the government’s ...

• Biopiracy, GM Seeds and Rural India "Over 100,000 ...

  Priya Kumar, Global Research, June 2, 2009 The reality for the average Indian remains the same: agricultural cultivation and the ability to farm is the bedrock of rural living. With its historical practices, values, and communal sentiments of ...

Al Jazeera

• Lockerbie bomber to be released

  Scottish justice minister says Abdel Basset al-Megrahi will be released from prison.

• Afghans vote amid security fears

  Voter turnout key for presidential poll's credibility after Taliban threats.

• Fresh violence strikes Baghdad

  Two killed in bicycle bombing, a day after blasts left 101 dead in Iraqi capital.

• New lead poisoning case hits China

  "More than 1,300 children ill" in Hunan province in country's second case in a week.

• Ahmadinejad unveils new cabinet

  New faces could be challenged as Iranian president puts choices to parliament.

Green Inc. - NYT

• Ranking Universities by 'Greenness'

  Who's the greenest of them all? Several ranking systems have emerged to offer their take on universities.

• Where Recycling Plastic Bags is Mandatory

  Four states have now adopted mandatory bag recycling legislation, as have a handful of cities.

• Plastic Bag Wars Poised to Continue

  In the wake of Seattle voters' decisive rejection of a proposed 20 cent fee on paper and plastic bags, the anti-bag coalition has vowed to press for an all-out ban on the bags.

• Germans Seek to Spark Electric Car Market

  Care companies are asking governments to help them roll out models powered by electrons rather than hydrocarbons.

• Retrofitting Dams to Generate Electricity

  About 97 percent of the dams in the United States do not generate power. Some companies along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers are starting to change that by adding power generation units to existing dams.

Dot Earth News

• A New View of Humanity's Planet

  An artist with a penchant for detail and vast scale explores the human imprint on Earth.

• Coming of Age as a Person and Species

  Does a film on sex and insecurity offers lessons on humanity's global growth spurt?

• Energy Frontiers: Space Solar, Hot Lots

  A closer look at potentially transformational energy ideas.

• Data Gap on Atlantic Storms and Warming

  More questions raised about recent hurricane trends.

• A Billion Teenagers, for Better or Worse

  Some of the world's poorest and most turbulent regions are witnessing explosive population growth, meaning enormous numbers of teenagers and children.

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

• Introducing Feidt Design LLC - yr handy electronic ...

  You better believe it! I filed for Feidt Design LLC with the Secretary of State a week ago, and got the certificate on Friday! Here's the intro message. (And there was much rejoicing!!) It's a lot of fun to set up a new biz :-) Thanks for visiting Feidt Design! Hey all, Thanks for stopping by the ...

• Thanks to Rose for finding my phone! Plus: I'm sta ...

  I nearly had a horrible day today, leaving my trusty old Helio phone on a bench at the University of Minnesota mall. A good samaritan named Rose picked it up and called the Boiler Room coffee shop back after I tried the phone. I got it back! Thanks a ton, Rose, you saved yet another messy situation ...

• Hat tip for Joaquin Phoenix conspiracy

  Not a bad idea! Which makes this potentially one of the greatest performances any modern actor has ever given -- or at least one of the most baldly courageous. The closest comparison would have to be Andy Kaufman's utter commitment to his obnoxious Tony Clifton persona, but Phoenix is going Kaufman ...

• Tough times south of the border

  Duly noted: Mexican TV reporter ducking stray bullets: Hat tip to the thoughtful Texas farmer Don , who knows what you ought to know about the War On Drugs. This video was recently the #1 most discussed from Mexico on YooToob... Plus, don't miss the five stages of complete social collapse! http://c ...

• Pirate Bay Trial and Kopimi: The Kopimi Manifesto

  I can't say I get it. But I like it. In these apocalyptic and bitchy times, it is high time to get some sarcastic Swedish hacker philsophy out there. Now is the time. The spectrial is apparently the place. How could we forget the Pirate Bay Spectrial?! They released a Pirate Bay Manifesto - POwr, Br ...

AlterNet Top Stories

• MSNBC's Maddow Show Propels Growing Scandal Over W ...

  Now Christian media have started digging into the story.

• Obama Versus the Angry White Men

  Economic recovery won't silence the mobs attacking healthcare reform. Obama must reclaim the moral high ground.

• Would You Buy a Bag of Lays Chips If They Ran Dece ...

  Frito-Lay is trying to co-opt a movement designed specifically to provide an alternative to industrial food.

• Campus Hypocrisy: Marijuana Is Safer, But Students ...

  The stats for death and injury tied to alcohol on campus are staggering, yet students are more harshly punished for pot -- which is far more benign.

• Would You Buy a Bag of Lays Chips If They Ran Dece ...

  Frito-Lay is trying to co-opt a movement designed specifically to provide an alternative to industrial food.

Threat Level

• TJX Suspect Was Near Plea Agreement Until New Char ...

  Accused TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is set to go to trial next month in New York, was close to reaching a comprehensive settlement with federal prosecutors when new charges were levied against him this week in New Jersey, according to his lawyer. Rene Palomino, Jr., told the New York Times that ...

• Lawyer: FBI Paid Right-Wing Blogger Charged With T ...

  A notorious New Jersey hate blogger charged in June with threatening to kill judges and lawmakers was secretly an FBI “agent provocateur” paid to disseminate right-wing rhetoric, his attorney said Wednesday. Hal Turner, the blogger and radio personality, remains jailed pending charges over his r ...

• BSA Softens Anti-Piracy Message

  The Business Software Alliance has a new anti-piracy video that for the first time uses humor instead of scare tactics to get out its message. The alliance, consisting of about 80 companies — including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe — is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of Amer ...

• Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC

  Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate who drew the ire of a congressman two years ago when he published information about a serious breach in airline security, has been hired by the Federal Trade Commission to work in the division of privacy and identity protection in its Bureau of Co ...

• TJX Hacker Charged with Heartland, Hannaford Breac ...

  The constellation of hacks connected to the TJX hacker is growing. Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, a former Secret Service informant who is already awaiting trial over his involvement in the TJX hack, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey, along with two unnamed Russia-based conspira ...

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Switzerland turns a profit on UBS stake sale

  LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland sold its stake in its largest bank, UBS, at the top end of its price range, a source said on Thursday, making a profit from last year's rescue deal.

• "Putpockets" give a little extra cash

  LONDON (Reuters) - Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets.

• Afghans vote despite sporadic violence

  KABUL (Reuters) - Two Taliban insurgents were killed in a gunbattle in the Afghan capital on Thursday as millions voted in an anxiously awaited presidential election marked by sporadic violence across the country.

• Germany's Merkel again most powerful woman: Forbes

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is among the world's 100 most powerful women in a list topped for the fourth consecutive year by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a Forbes ranking released on Wednesday.

• U.S./UBS deal ramps up pressure on tax havens

  MIAMI (Reuters) - More overseas tax havens could turn into traps for tax cheats as the U.S.-Swiss settlement over UBS AG invigorates an international campaign to flush out hideaways for illicit or undisclosed money.

Godspace

• Celtic Prayer Retreat is Over

  MSA’s 18th Annual Prayer retreat is over. Â We had a great time up on Camano Island and I thought that those of you who cannot make it to the Pacific Northwest would be interested in some of the prayers and photos from the event. Â Maybe you would like to conduct your own mini retreat based [. ...

• Playing Children’s Games As Spiritual Practi ...

  It is a bright and sunny morning in Seattle with the promise of a hot day ahead. For most of us it is a work day but I think that if we were honest with ourselves we would rather be out playing with the kids so this post below by Julie Clawson seemed appropriate. Julie describes [...]

• Intergenerational Friendships as Spiritual Practic ...

  I am back from the MSA Celtic retreat on Camano Island (more on that later) and realizing that my expectations of what I could accomplish were a little unrealistic. And then our internet was down all morning and I was just about pulling my hair out trying to get caught up. What ever happened to ...

• Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice

  I am now back from Australia and as you can imagine the posts for my series on What is a Spiritual Practice have been mounting up while I have had limited internet access and less time to focus on such things. Â Thanks for your patience and for your prayers during this challenging season. Today’ ...

• Editing your Life: The Spiritual Discipline of Edi ...

  I am sitting in Sydney on a beautiful but crisp winter’s morning watching the rainbow lorikeets out in the trees. Â My Dad’s funeral is over and I will head back to Seattle in 2 days time. Â I have been very aware of prayer and the grace of God in the midst of this. Â Thanks to [...]

Pine River World News

• Paul Craig Roberts: Americans: Serfs Ruled by Olig ...

  The following column is reprinted with permission from Paul Craig Roberts. Americans: Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs © Paul Craig Roberts August 19, 2009 Americans think that they have "freedom and democracy" and that politicians are held accountable by elections. The fact of the matter is that the U. ...

• It's official: Healthcare Reform is Dead

  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Global Research. It's Official: Healthcare Reform is Dead © Global Research By Shamus Cooke August 18, 2009 The "transparent government" that President Obama guaranteed during his electoral campaign has become yet another broken promise ...

• PERU: Native group threatens to seize oil faciliti ...

  IntelTrends - The following article is from Latin America news agency, Prensa Latina, Havana. Indigenous Ultimatum to Peru Government © Prensa Latina August 18, 2009 Lima, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) - The regressive count for the restart of protests of indigenous in the zone of the Amazon takes on ...

• Afghanistan election sham

  The following commentary is from the Tehran Times. Afghanistan election sham © Tehran Times By Salman Ansari Javid August 17, 2009 Some 40 candidates are contesting in Afghanistan's second presidential election in its history on Thursday. Afghans are expected to go to the polls with enthusiasm a ...

• Iraqi MP demands to establish headquarters of Yeme ...

  IntelTrends - The following article is from al-Sahwa. Iraqi MP demands to establish headquarters of al-Houthi rebels in Baghdad © al-Sahwa August 16, 2009 (Sahwa Net) - Head of Iraq parliament's Foreign Committee Sheikh Hamam Hamaudi has called for establishing a headquarters for al-Houthi rebe ...

Opit Exhibits Bias

( This is stuffed in the Links column. Since I needed to give people who wanted to know my thoughts a place to find them...a collection. )

• Reality Check - Iran
• Iran - Selective Outrage - Phony Menace
• Trade, Currency, Atrocity
• Tactics of Terror, Declaring Enemies
• US _ Russia Disarmament Negotiation - related data
• Memorial Day Weekend
• Amanda Marcotte and Memory Lane
• Satire and Analysis
• Miscellaney and Iran
• Everyone is Your Enemy
• Anecdote
• Oldephartte on Iraq
• Channeling Commentary
• little indian's historical notes
• Browsing Extermination Campaigns
• 27 April BlogViews
• Hit 'Em When They're Down

PsyBlog

• Brainstorming Reloaded

  · Why brainstorming is ineffective and how to fix it. Brainstorming was once thought a fantastic way for groups to generate new ideas. Although not as fashionable as it once was, brainstorming is still frequently used in business and, often inadvertently, for all sorts of personal decisions; peop ...

• Consumer Psychology

  · How and why we consume and how our beliefs, ideas and senses influence consumption. Peter Drucker, the management consultant, famously argued that about 80% of all products and services fail or fall well short of targets within six months of launching. Clearly markets have little understanding ...

• Why Left to Right Punches Are More Aggressive, Pow ...

  Reading and writing from left to right is a skill so well-practised, so ingrained in language, that it's easy to ignore. Yet, according to some research, the direction in which language flows could have implications that spread into many other areas of our experience. Consider that people are often ...

• Persuasion: The Right-Ear Advantage

  If you want someone to comply with a random request for a cigarette, you should speak into their right ear, according to a new study by researchers in Italy. Marzoli & Tommasi (2009) had a female confederate visit a disco and approach 176 random people asking for a smoke. Clubbers were about twice ...

• 10 Rules That Govern Groups

  Much of our lives are spent in groups with other people: we form groups to socialise, earn money, play sport, make music, even to change the world. But although groups are diverse, many of the psychological processes involved are remarkably similar. Here are 10 insightful studies that give a flavou ...

After Downing Street.org

• Administration Makes Progress on Resettling Detain ...

  Administration Makes Progress on Resettling Detainees By Peter Finn | Washington Post The Obama administration has secured commitments from nearly a dozen countries willing to accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay and is increasingly confident about its ability to transfer a large majority of the pr ...

• Where Cancer Sufferers Get Only Painkillers

  Where cancer sufferers get only painkillers | IRINNews Some 500 tons of donations of medical equipment which flooded the Strip after Israel’s military offensive ended on 18 January sits idle in warehouses. Few donors consulted the health ministry or aid agencies working in Gaza to find out what p ...

• Poll: 39% Think Government Should Stay Out of Medi ...

  In a "back to basics" moment, Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, NC got a surprising response to this recent poll question: Q3 Do you think the government should stay out of Medicare? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If you’re not sure, press 3. Yes .............................................. ...

• Larry King Interviews R.A.M.'s Stan Brock

• Weekly Address: Real Conversations About Health In ...

Grist - News

• Let’s (re)do school lunch

  It’s time to get active in the campaign to improve school lunches, says Kurt Michael Friese.

• Ruminations on the Obama era, with a side of spicy ...

• Cheap-chicken ad from KFC hides true cost of food; ...

• For a quick fix to school-lunch woes, pack an appe ...

• Stalking the wild leeks of spring

  What could improve a forest walk in early spring? Spotting a bunch of that delicious wild relative of the leek known as the ramp.

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Water Power

water floods pollution

'Water buffaloes' got it all wrong

Los Angeles Times

- Aug 19, 2009

- 10 hours ago

Supporters of water development think the fight is between farmers and fish. It's not nearly that simple. By George Skelton Capitol Journal The "water ...

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Gov. sets conditions for water legislation

Los Angeles Times

- Aug 18, 2009

- Aug 18, 2009

By Bettina Boxall The chances that Sacramento will break the stalemate on California water policy this summer grew dimmer Tuesday when Gov. ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Marin water board OKs desalination plant

San Francisco Chronicle

- Aug 20, 2009

- 6 hours ago

Marin County's largest water utility voted Wednesday night to build a plant that will convert about 5 million gallons of seawater into drinking water for ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Water Main Break Shuts Road in Alexandria

Washington Post

- Aug 19, 2009

- 22 hours ago

By William Branigin and Greg Gaudio A water main break in Alexandria shut down a section of South Reynolds Street on Wednesday morning, forcing commuters to ...

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To Do

renewable recycling conservation

INSTANT VIEW 2-Australia's renewable energy target law

Reuters

- Aug 20, 2009

- 9 hours ago

CANBERRA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Australia passed laws on Thursday mandating the generation of 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy, which could ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

The Renewable Landscape: A Look at Clean Energy in Asia

Reuters

- Aug 19, 2009

- 13 hours ago

Recently, South Korea boldly asserted its competitiveness in the clean energy race by announcing its five-year plant to invest 2% of its GDP in renewable ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

8 airlines to use renewable synthetic diesel for ground equipment

Los Angeles Times

- Aug 18, 2009

- Aug 18, 2009

By Tiffany Hsu Eight major airlines have agreed to use renewable synthetic diesel fuel for their ground service equipment at Los Angeles International ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Australia govt seeks talks on emissions scheme

Reuters

- Aug 20, 2009

- 9 hours ago

The renewable laws aim to come into effect on January 1 next year and target production of 45000 gigawatt hours of clean energy by 2020. ...

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Human Habitat

ecology water energy

Port Angeles to receive Ecology funds for harbor development

Peninsula Daily

- Aug 20, 2009

- 7 hours ago

By Tom Callis PORT ANGELES -- The city will receive up to $230000 through 2010 from the state Department of Ecology to plan for development of Port Angeles ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Tasmanian Devils Being Wiped Out by Social Ties

FOXNews

- Aug 19, 2009

- 23 hours ago

The study will be published in the journal Ecology Letters. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) resides only on the island of Tasmania, ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Concerns about Ecology, Terrorism Cast Shadow over Sochi Games

Georgiandaily

- Aug 19, 2009

- 19 hours ago

Vienna, August 19 – Russian environmental activists and a major German newspaper today added their voices to those, like the members of the Circassian ...

clipped from Google - 8/2009

The Ecology Center's Basic Needs series: Clothing

Interior Design

- Aug 20, 2009

- 2 hours ago

Last week I attended a lecture at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, California. The 3rd of their 4-part "Basic Needs" series focused on Shelter, ...

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