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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

16 July - Surfing Picks

 Progressive Radio Network

With ALEC Exposed, Common Cause Demands an IRS Audit of Corporate-Funded Group's Gaming of State Lawmaking 

 

The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia 

The CIA runs a counterterrorism training program for Somali intelligence agents and operatives aimed at building an indigenous strike force capable of snatch operations and targeted “combat” operations against members of Al Shabab, an Islamic militant group with close ties to Al Qaeda.

( Fox training henhouse watchers )

As part of its expanding counterterrorism program in Somalia, the CIA also uses a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters, where prisoners suspected of being Shabab members or of having links to the group are held. Some of the prisoners have been snatched off the streets of Kenya and rendered by plane to Mogadishu. While the underground prison is officially run by the Somali NSA, US intelligence personnel pay the salaries of intelligence agents and also directly interrogate prisoners. The existence of both facilities and the CIA role was uncovered by The Nation during an extensive on-the-ground investigation in Mogadishu. Among the sources who provided information for this story are senior Somali intelligence officials; senior members of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG); former prisoners held at the underground prison; and several well-connected Somali analysts and militia leaders, some of whom have worked with US agents, including those from the CIA. A US official, who confirmed the existence of both sites, told The Nation, “It makes complete sense to have a strong counterterrorism partnership” with the Somali government.
The CIA presence in Mogadishu is part of Washington’s intensifying counterterrorism focus on Somalia, which includes targeted strikes by US Special Operations forces, drone attacks and expanded surveillance operations. The US agents “are here full time,” a senior Somali intelligence official told me. At times, he said, there are as many as thirty of them in Mogadishu, but he stressed that those working with the Somali NSA do not conduct operations; rather, they advise and train Somali agents. “

Misreading the Somali Threat 

On April 13 Gates explained that "there is no purely military solution" to the threat of piracy and suggested that the best strategy for dealing with hijackers like those who captured the Maersk Alabama--whom he described as "untrained teenagers with heavy weapons"--was to improve governance and economic stability.

 

66 Years Ago Today: The Nuclear Age Arrived—and the 'Cover-up' Began 

Atomic Cover-up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and The Greatest Movie Never Made

aznative at 07/16/2011 @ 11:36am

My father, who was in the Air Force, he use to tell stories of watching nuclear bombs go off in the New Mexico and Nevada deserts. Wish I had had the forethought to write his stories down. The tales he told where enough to keep a person up at night. We were stationed in Japan in the late 50's and early 60's, I use to go to the base library to read up on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as I look back, I realize that there wasn't anything but propaganda to read. What a sad and horrific time for the Japanese, and a awful and criminal time for the United States of America.

Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong

To Gorbachev's prime minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, the "moral [nravstennoe] state of the society" in 1985 was its "most terrifying" feature:
[We] stole from ourselves, took and gave bribes, lied in the reports, in newspapers, from high podiums, wallowed in our lies, hung medals on one another. And all of this -- from top to bottom and from bottom to top.
Another member of Gorbachev's very small original coterie of liberalizers, Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, was just as pained by ubiquitous lawlessness and corruption. He recalls telling Gorbachev in the winter of 1984-1985: "Everything is rotten. It has to be changed."
.....Aleksandr Bovin, wrote in 1988 that the ideals of perestroika had "ripened" amid people's increasing "irritation" at corruption, brazen thievery, lies, and the obstacles in the way of honest work. Anticipations of "substantive changes were in the air," another witness recalled, and they forged an appreciable constituency for radical reforms. Indeed, the expectations that greeted the coming to power of Gorbachev were so strong, and growing, that they shaped his actual policy. Suddenly, ideas themselves became a material, structural factor in the unfolding revolution.
The credibility of official ideology, which in Yakovlev's words, held the entire Soviet political and economic system together "like hoops of steel," was quickly weakening. New perceptions contributed to a change in attitudes toward the regime and "a shift in values." Gradually, the legitimacy of the political arrangements began to be questioned. In an instance of Robert K. Merton's immortal "Thomas theorem" -- "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequence" -- the actual deterioration of the Soviet economy became consequential only after and because of a fundamental shift in how the regime's performance was perceived and evaluated.
.... This February, the Institute of Contemporary Development, a liberal think tank chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev, published what looked like a platform for the 2012 Russian presidential election:
In the past Russia needed liberty to live [better]; it must now have it in order to survive.… The challenge of our times is an overhaul of the system of values, the forging of new consciousness. We cannot build a new country with the old thinking.… The best investment [the state can make in man] is Liberty and the Rule of Law. And respect for man's Dignity.
It was the same intellectual and moral quest for self-respect and pride that, beginning with a merciless moral scrutiny of the country's past and present, within a few short years hollowed out the mighty Soviet state, deprived it of legitimacy, and turned it into a burned-out shell that crumbled in August 1991. The tale of this intellectual and moral journey is an absolutely central story of the 20th century's last great revolution

The New Geopolitics of Food

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. 

Today's price hikes are driven by trends that are both elevating demand and making it more difficult to increase production: among them, a rapidly expanding population, crop-withering temperature increases, and irrigation wells running dry. Each night, there are 219,000 additional people to feed at the global dinner table. 

 

U.S. recognition of the Libyan rebel government leaves many questions unanswered

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today in Istanbul that the United States now recognizes the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council (TNC) as the country's official government. But that's only the beginning of the drive to get the rebels the financial and diplomatic help they are pleading for.
It took a full four months following the White House's decision to attack Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi for the administration to abandon its recognition of Qaddafi's regime. The administration played all sorts of word games, such as calling the TNC "the legitimate and credible interlocutor for the Libyan people," but such statements weren't enough to enable the TNC to get their hands on some of the over $30 billion of frozen assets the rebels say they need to help the Libyan people and successfully wage war against the Qaddafi regime.
(  Doug's Darkworld made the point a while back that the geography of Libya makes it a certainty that aerial bombardment will drive Qaddafi's forces into the cities . Libyans may have limited enthusiasm for being 'protected' by bombing them. Karzai would sympathize. )

The Venus Project

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Rodale 

  1. Scientists Discover Why You Love Your Dog
  2. Potassium Could Save Your Life
  3. Hold the Prescription! Consider Natural Remedies for These Ailments
  4. Beyond Fried Chicken: Southern Cuisine Can Be Healthy as Well as Tasty
  5. Surprising Source Exposes Office Workers to Questionable Chemicals
  6. The Nickel Pincher: Wild Herbs Can Save Your Summer
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  8. Prevent Lyme Disease with Showers and Fences
  9. 22 Easy Ways to Eat Fruits and Veggies Every Single Day
  10. Leave Your AC On or Turn It Off?

29 Reasons Why America Should Cut Off Ties With Israel, AIPAC And The Neocons

 

Afghanistan’s water crisis

“During three decades of turmoil in Afghanistan, water supply infrastructure has been neglected or destroyed, while the relevant institutions responsible for management and service delivery have collapsed,"

13.01.2011: The Plight Of Afghanistan’s Child Water Carriers
30.12.2010: Afghanistan: Dying from a Drink of Water
06.06.2010: Kabul the most polluted province
27.04.2010: 37 children die every hour in Afghanistan
14.09.2009: AFGHANISTAN: Health Ministry reports cholera deaths
15.07.2009: AFGHANISTAN: Unsafe housing puts Kabul residents at risk
23.04.2009: AFGHANISTAN: Sanitation woes in makeshift IDP camps
24.02.2009: Change slow for isolated Afghans
21.06.2008: Thousands of Families in Zaranj are Faced with Water Scarcity
05.03.2008: Afghanistan: Poor sanitation, bad toilets cause deaths, misery
20.02.2008: Kabul Today: No Trees, No Paved Roads, No Electricity, No Women in Sight --Only Drugs and Guns

  A Drinking Water Crisis In Haiti Long Before Earthquake Destruction

The foul water undermined everything in Haiti. It caused chronic diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis and even typhoid and cholera. The diseases filled hospital beds, kept children out of school and grown ups from work. And the water-borne diseases caused death. The Pan American Health Organization estimates that half of all the deaths in Haiti in recent years — apart from those in calamities like floods and hurricanes — have been the result of water-borne diseases. In most cases, severe diarrhea took hold. People became
dehydrated and very quickly were gone.
Many countries share Haiti’s plight. According to the World Health Organization, at least 1 billion people around the world do not have clean drinking water. Even more do not have toilets. The lack of clean water and toilets is a disaster. Each year, about two million people die from water-borne diseases. That is eight times the deaths in the Asian tsunami in 2004, and it happens every year. It is not on the radar of most Americans.

A Dying African Lake, Polluted, Overfished; Bad And Getting Worse

Lake Victoria, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, is suffering. It is polluted with raw sewage and it is muddy from the erosion of soil from nearby hills that have lost trees and shrubs to people in search of firewood. Like Lake Chad in West Africa and a few other lakes around the world, it has also been shrinking. Parts of Lake Victoria are clogged with hyacinths and algae. All of this has been thinning out the fish.
“The lake is dying,” said Dr. Raphael Kapiyo, the head of environmental studies at Maseno University in Kisumu, an East African trading post of a city with about 400,000 people.
Kisumu has a sewage treatment plant, Dr. Kapiyo said, “but it is far from adequate and a lot of raw sewage flows directly into the lake.” Sewage spills into the lake from Uganda and Tanzania, as well. Rivers flowing into the lake pick up the runoff from farms: cattle waste and fertilizers and pesticides. The pollution might be worse were it not that the millions of poor, small farmers in East Africa use fewer chemicals than farmers in many places.

Joseph B. Treaster:
Water and The World


A Problem Worse Than Cholera

image
Joseph B. Treaster
Editor, One Water
MIAMI -- Cholera is working its way through Haiti. It is killing people and terrifying everyone. Medical help and money has been pouring in – not enough money, the United Nations says, but a lot of money, a lot more money than has been....
Read More

Florida Lake: Could It Kill Again?

PAHOKEE, Fla.—Glenn Gannon stood in dusty, steel-toed boots and white hard hat on the grassy dike at Lake Okeechobee, one of the biggest lakes in America and one of the most...
Read More

In An African Slum, Dreaming About Things So Close, Yet So Far

KIBERA, Kenya— The little girl in the faded blue dress stood on a bare hillside in one of the most desperate slums in Africa, the mud-walled houses behind her packed so close together that their rusty tin roofs overlapped. She looked out across a ...
Read More

Turkey casts off reaching water crisis with Iraq 

Iraq Cabinet Secretary General Ali Al Allak had warned on April 13 during a festival organized by the Cabinet Secretariat General regarding the wetland agreement and means to preserve it, that problems, obstacles and challenges might be awaiting if a political national stand was not taken as to Iraq’s getting a fair share of water. He also added that the country is facing great challenges as to keeping the wetlands and the marshes. 

Water, Another Crisis for Iraq

“A country dominated by arid desert landscapes, it has one of the most extensive irrigation systems in the world but years of war, underinvestment and sanctions have prevented it from properly harnessing what little water it has left. Iraq’s main rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, provide little relief to the parched plains as hydroelectric dams in neighboring Turkey, Iran and Syria have stemmed the water flow.”

Chaudhry explains that:
  • Water levels in the rivers have dropped
  • Failing crops have forced possibly millions of people out of rural areas and into cities
  • 83 percent of sewage is discharged untreated
  • Government disorganization means improvement projects are delayed
  • US Government reconstruction efforts include sewage and water, but can’t solve the whole problem
  • Oil production requires huge amounts of water (1.6 barrels of water for each 1 barrel of oil), so personal and agricultural consumption competes with economic development
In addition we find that:

 Musing over the common circumstances reminded me of a common factor - 'war'  aka occupation

 From the 'Water' file - a Common Dreams find

How the U.S. intentionally destroyed Iraq's water supply - the secret behind the sanctions 

The original 'water' file from Opit's LinkFest! at My Opera - Oldephartteintraining II

Propaganda Matrix

 
10 Signs That The American People Are Starting To Freak Out About The Condition Of The Economy
All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing.

• Please Consider Supporting Our Work With a Donation

Obama warns of economic “Armageddon”
US President Barack Obama pressed polarized lawmakers Saturday to avert what he called economic “Armageddon”.

US Recognizes Al-Qaeda War Criminals As Libya’s Official Government
…allowing the US to directly fund, arm, and support with US troops, the Al-Qaeda tied war criminals operating out of Benghazi.

Secrets of the RAND CORP Exposed
Alex and crew visit the RAND Corp and cover the mushroom cloud and more.

• Infowars News Brief From Southern California

Water system at Fukushima breaks again
A unit treating radioactive water at Japan’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was shut down after a pipe junction snapped, officials said.

Treasury To Stop Funding Its Market Manipulation Fund To Delay US Bankruptcy
Tim Geithner was just forced to resort to the final debt ceiling extension measure.

NSA whistleblower sentenced to one year’s probation
A former high-ranking US intelligence official was sentenced Friday to a year’s probation.
Campaigners seek arrest of former CIA legal chief over Pakistan drone attacks
Campaigners against US drone strikes in Pakistan are calling for the CIA’s former legal chief to be arrested and charged with murder.
CYBERSPACE: Pentagon Declares the Internet a “War Domain”
The Pentagon released a long-promised cybersecurity plan Thursday that declares the Internet a domain of war.
Federal Court Rules TSA Violated Law By Introducing Body Scanners
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the TSA violated federal law by rolling out radiation firing body scanners in airports without soliciting public comment. The court will allow use of the scanners to continue, however.

Greenspan: Dumb Americans Deserve Unemployment
The former boss of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, said the reason Gen-Xers are unemployed and suffering from a lower standard of living is because they are lazy, stupid, and unproductive.

Syrians mount biggest protests so far, 12 killed
Syrian security forces shot dead at least 12 protesters on Friday as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country.
Bohemian Grove: Where the Elite Meet to Eat (and Conspire)
Despite the club’s motto: “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here,” (see club emblem, above left) plenty of business, both economic and political, has been done there.
ACTIVIST VICTORY: Oak Park Drops Charges Against Julie Bass and Her Vegetable Garden
No possible jail time for Julie Bass after planting a front yard vegetable garden.

Alex Jones on gay rituals of Bohemian Grove
Past participants at the all-male Bohemian Grove party have included presidents, foreign royalty and Hollywood elite.

Woman Gropes TSA Agent’s Breast at Security Checkpoint
When the public does it, it’s felony abuse; if a TSA agent does it, they are just doing their job.

Violent Mexican Drug Cartel Video Game Has Politicos Up in Arms
Ricardo Boone Salmon, a congressman in Mexico’s Chihuahua State, wants to outlaw “Call of Juarez: The Cartel,” a violent video game centered around Mexico’s drug war.

Ron Paul on FOX News with Martha MacCallum taking about his new Ad and the Debt Limit
Congressman Ron Paul weighs in on the debt ceiling crisis.

Heavy clashes erupt in western Libya
Heavy clashes between revolutionary forces and forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi have erupted in the town of Bir Ghanam in Libya’s Western Mountains.

Confirmed: Federal Reserve Policy is Killing Lending, Employment and the Economy
The Federal Reserve has been intentionally discouraged banks from lending to Main Street – in a misguided attempt to curb inflation.

“They’re Going to Cut Back the Bone and They’re Going to Keep the Fat…”
They’re Going to Try to Panic the Population into Acquiescing in a Democratic Party Sellout by Cutting Back Payments to the People.
Front Yard Gardener Faces New Charges
Despite the fact that city authorities have temporarily dropped a case against Oak Park resident Julie Bass for growing a vegetable garden in her front yard after the story received nationwide attention, Bass has now been hit with a new criminal charge for owning unlicensed dogs, clear evidence says Bass that she's the victim of a vendetta.

Obama demands debt decision as global alarm spreads
“I want to do the largest deal possible,” a well-placed Democratic official quoted Obama.

U.S. to recognize Libyan rebels as legitimate government
The United States is granting Libyan rebel leaders full diplomatic recognition as the governing authority of Libya.

• NATO chief calls for more planes to bomb Libyan targets
NATO jets violate Pakistani airspace
Several NATO fighter jets have violated Pakistani airspace, making low flights into the country’s troubled tribal northwestern regions.
Gold And Silver Likely To Go Parabolic Due To ‘Global Shockwaves’ If U.S. Defaults
Gold is some 0.5% lower against the U.S. dollar and most currencies today but is higher in Australian dollars as the Aussie fell on Australian and global economic growth concerns.
• U.S. Considers Asset Sale To Pay Bills If Debt Limit Is Not Raised
Manufacturing Gauge Slumps as Core Inflation Gains
Inflation at highest pace in three years.

I arrest you in the name of the Earth
Julia Gillard’s green bureaucracy includes police.


 

AMERICA GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST’S “SOFT POWER WAR”

  The new Zogby (poll) clearly indicates what other polls and ongoing contact with people who live in the Middle East reveal:  “public diplomacy”—or however else one wants to describe U.S. efforts to persuade Middle Eastern publics to support initiatives and positions that hurt their interests and offend their values—does not work.  The key to strategic success in the Middle East, for the United States or any other country, is good policy, grounded in a sober appreciation of regional realities. 
On this point, the Zogby poll suggests that the most popular country in the Middle East, right now, is Turkey, under Prime Minister Erdoğan’s AKP government.  Turkey—a country that, while maintaining its NATO membership, calls Israel to account for its continuing occupation of Palestinian lands, declines to side with the United States when it judges that U.S. policy on particular issues is going in counter-productive directions, and has forged an important strategic relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Might there be some lessons for the United States in that?    
( Counterpoint. I would suggest public diplomacy does a fine job of distracting Westerners with nonsense, as it is designed to do. )

The Cryptic Cosmology of Synchromysticism

The Vision and Circles of Power

 NASA'S PROJECT BLUEBEAM

Sweet Liberty

 

 

 

Posted by opit at 9:37 PM

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