1 March - Articles of Note

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Homeland Security (Photo credit: Truthout.org)

 Despite my earlier carping, when I rolled out Google  Reader today the format was changed from the last time I used it. I thought it more like Google Dashboard feed

from New Economic Perspectives by Mitch Green

By Michael Hudson

I have just returned from Rimini, Italy, where I experienced one of the most amazing spectacles of my academic life. Four of us associated with the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) were invited to lecture for three days on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and explain why Europe is in such monetary trouble today – and to show that there is an alternative, that the enforced austerity for the 99% and vast wealth grab by the 1% is not a force of nature.
The conference was organized by reporter Paolo Barnard, who had studied MMT with Randall Wray and realized that there was plenty of demand in Italian mass culture for a discussion of what actually was determining the living conditions of Europe – and the emerging financial elite that hopes to use this crisis as an opportunity to become the new financial lords carving out fiefdoms by privatizing the public domain being sold off by governments that have no central bank to finance their deficits, and are tragically beholden to bondholders and to Eurocrats drawn from the neoliberal camp.
The size of the audience filling the sports stadium to hear our economic explanation of how a real central bank should operate to avoid austerity and promote rather than discourage employment showed that the government’s attempt to brainwash the population was not working. (For a visual of the magnitude, see this). The attempt to force TINA logic on the population is not working any better than it did in Harvard’s Economics 101 class, from which students recently walked out in protest against the unreaslistic parallel universe thinking. Its appeal is mainly to intelligent but ungrounded individuals (not yet post-autistic). They are selected as useful idiots and trained to draw pictures of the economy that exclude analysis of the debt overhead, rentier free lunches and financial parasitism. One needs to be very clever, after all, to imagine a system that “saves the appearances” of an unrealistic Ptolemaic system. Any positive role for government and a real central bank not oppressed under the thumb of private-sector bankers and financial engineers seeking to suck the economic surplus out of nations much as military conquerors did in past centuries.

Homeland Security Feared ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Violence

from Truth Frequency News by admin

The DHS has reinvented itself as a secret police unit to spy on political activists
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Department of Homeland Security feared that the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations would turn violent during their height last year, according to a leaked document obtained by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Whether you support the goals of Occupy Wall Street or not, this is yet another example of how the federal agency, which was created under the auspices of protecting the United States from terrorist attacks, is primarily concerned with keeping tabs on citizens who express their First Amendment rights.

“The five-page report – contained in 5 million newly leaked documents examined by Rolling Stone in an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks – goes on to sum up the history of Occupy Wall Street and assess its “impact” on everything from financial services to government facilities,” writes Michael Hastings.

The document also details how much of DHS’ information was obtained through monitoring Twitter feeds from OWS activists, underscoring once again the fact that the federal agency is spying on social media as part of a chilling effect on free speech, belying claims made earlier this month by DHS representatives that the agency is only concerned with messages relating to natural disasters.

Homeland Security’s fear that the demonstrations could lead to violence is summarized in the final paragraph of the document.

“The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence. While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI).”

Not only did Homeland Security monitor the development of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, many of the raids on OWS camps across the country were “coordinated with help from Homeland Security,” according to a Justice Department official.

Full Article

( Whew !  I wonder what the FBI reaction is to their traditions being moved to a new department )

Bush Era Torture Architect Calls for Indefinite Detention of Americans

from Truth Frequency News by admin

The Intel Hub
March 1, 2012
called for the indefinite detention of any American that the government claims is a terrorist.
Paul Joseph Watson, writing for Infowars.com, noted his ties to torture:

In his position as OLC head, Bradbury is widely acknowledged as one of the primary architects of the Bush torture program, having provided legal opinions that justified the kind of abuse that came to light in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib scandal, which included torture by hanging, beating prisoners to death, raping women, and sodomizing detainees with batons and phosphorescent tubes.

An article published on Raw Story also details Stevens disgusting history and quotes the ACLU in regards to how ridiculous it is that this man was called as an “expert witness.” (anti American criminal)
“It’s nothing short of chilling that the Senate Judiciary Committee would have as a witness one of the architects of the torture program,” American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Chris Anders told Raw Story on Tuesday. “This is a person who wrote several memos that provide legal justification for the torture program during the Bush administration, and wrote memos on how to try to circumvent legal protections that Congress had put in place to block the use of torture and abuse of detainees.

UK fuel poverty deaths ‘horrifying’
New Findings Tell of Magnetic Fields Effect on Humans

17 States Considering State Banks

from Truth Frequency News by admin

AllGov

Taking a cue from North Dakota, a large number of state governments are considering the establishment of a state bank.

In the wake of the financial and mortgage crises, proponents are pushing for states to rely less on large national private banks and establish state-run financial institutions.

North Dakota serves as the model for this new experiment that 17 states are looking at. However, the state bank in North Dakota, the only one of its kind in the U.S., is not new, having been in operation since 1919.

With the Bank of North Dakota, financing is made available to support loans to students, farmers and others, while the bank’s profits go into the state budget to help provide more revenue for government programs.

Some states, such as Idaho and Vermont, have introduced legislation to study the idea of starting a state bank. Other states, like New Hampshire, Virginia, Hawaii, Washington and California, are debating bills that would create a state bank.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Move Our Money: New State Bank Bills Address Credit and Housing Crises (by Ellen Brown, Web of Debt Blog)

Hawaii House Democrats Consider Establishing a State Bank (by Malia Zimmerman, Hawaii Reporter)

Solution to the Banking Crisis? Look to North Dakota (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Greens call for details on secret Assange charges

from Truth Frequency News by admin

ABC
The Greens have called on the Federal Government to reveal whether it knew about secret United States charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
An email from staff at private US intelligence agency Stratfor, released by WikiLeaks, refers to an indictment on Assange.
“We have a sealed indictment on Assange,” said the short email from Stratfor’s vice-president of intelligence Fred Burton to analysts at the security firm.
The information comes with the request to protect the information and not to publish.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam wants Prime Minister Julia Gillard to say whether the Government will defend the 40-year old Australian against possible extradition to the US.
“The Australian Government needs to take a very straight line on this with the Obama administration that we will not permit and we will not tolerate his transfer to the United States to face charges that could potentially land him in prison or in a hole like Guantanamo Bay, as David Hicks did, potentially for decades,” he said.
“What we need to know is whether the Australian Government was tipped off, or whether the Prime Minister read about this in The Sydney Morning Herald this morning.”
But the Federal Government says it is not aware of any US charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
Full Article

Wanted: Food & Farm Bill that rewards healthy soil

from Pesticide Action Network by Margaret Reeves

The 2012 Food and Farm Bill discussions on Capitol Hill are underway. The first Senate hearing, held this week, focused on conservation. Among other important topics addressed: the idea of tying crop insurance payments with soil conservation. We say yes, definitely!
This month and next the Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), will hold three more hearings. Hearings in the House begin next month. PAN and our allies in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) will be closely following the debates.
read more

An Example of How Anti-Medical Marijuana Policies Kill Patients

from Truth Frequency News by admin

Federal Jack
(REASON TV)   Norman Smith seemed to be making progress in his liver cancer recovery at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, Calif. He had some of the best doctors in the world, he was on a transplant list and he had completed a successful clinical trial that had his doctors dubbing him a “miracle man.”
Then, his cancer returned and two months before he was would have received a transplant, he was de-listed for smoking marijuana prescribed by his oncologist at Cedars-Sinai. Now, if he doesn’t receive a transplant, he will die.
“It’s only my life that I’m fighting for,” says Smith. “What do I have to hide? I have nothing to hide.”
Smith’s situation represents one of the first battles being fought over the place of medical marijuana in medicine and it has left him in limbo.

from Discovery News by Nic Halverson Collusion Download

A new Firefox add-on lets you watch Big Brother right back.

 

Google privacy policy changes March 1: How to clear your search history, account information

from Truth Frequency News by admin

Washington Post

By Hayley Tsukayama

Google’s new privacy policy is set to go into effect tomorrow, March 1 — making it as good a time as any to do some maintenance on your account.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, Google account holders have a few ways to control what they share with the company. Here’s a refresher course on how to use your Google privacy settings.
The first and easiest way to use Google but keep the company from collecting information on you is to use the company’s services without signing in to your account. YouTube, Search and Maps don’t require users to be logged in to use the services, though even signed-out users will still see ads based on their search terms, etc.
If you, like many people, are constantly signed in to your Gmail account throughout the day, things get a little more complicated.
Users can turn off the setting that allows Google to record their search history. To get to this menu, go to www.google.com/history or head to the “Account Settings” menu from the top navigation bar you see when signed in to your Google account. Scroll down to the “Services” section. From here, you can pause, edit or remove all Web History. On some accounts, you can also go to the “Products” section of your account settings and click the “Edit” link next to “Your Products.”
Full Article
 

Action Against Electoral Fraud / Action contre la fraude électorale | Posted March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

Action Against Electoral Fraud / Action contre la fraude électorale



Monday, 5 March 2012
12:00 until 15:00
Parliament Hill

Confirmed speakers/Orateur(trice)s confirmé(e)s:

***Pat Martin, NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre @ TBA
***Ben Powless, Indigenous Rights Activist @ 12:05
***Tyler Sommers, Democracy Watch @ 12:15
***Alex Hill, Ottawa-West Nepean provincial Green Party candidate @ 1:15
***Arun Smith and Shane Davis-Young, Canadians Against Electoral Fraud/Canadien(ne)s contre la fraude électorale

There will be time as well, starting at 1:30 for people gathered to express their grievances personally.

Tout le monde aura la chance, après 13h30 de s'adresser personellement leurs griefs contre le scandale des appels trompeurs.


With possible electoral fraud in 40 ridings across this country, the legitimacy of this government's majority, and of the government itself, is called into question. While Elections Canada and the courts investigate institutionally, it is Canadians who have true power, true control.

We demand an independent public inquiry.

We demand a nullification of the results in all 40 ridings and by-elections.

We demand true accountability.

We urge every Canadian to contact their Member of Parliament and Senators and demand respect for our democratic processes.

-------------------------------------------------------

Avec possibilité de fraude électorale dans plus de 40 circonscriptions, la légitimité d'un gouvernement majoritaire conservateur, et même la légitimité de l'élection du gouvernement m ême, est en question. Bien qu'Elections Canada porte enquête et qu'il y a des affaires juridiques portées devant les cours, le vrai pouvoir démeure dans les mains de tous et toutes les Canadiens et Canadiennes de prendre action.

Nous éxigeons une enquête publique indépendante.

Nous éxigeons l'invalidation de tout résultat dans les 40 circonscriptions impliquées, et des nouvelles élections partielles.

Nous éxigeons que tous et toutes les Canadiens et Canadiennes prennent action en écrivant aux députés et sénateurs demandant le respect pour notre démocratie.

Source: Facebook

 

Council of Canadians willing to take legal action to defend democratic rights | March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
March 1, 2012

Council of Canadians willing to take legal action to defend democratic rights

Ottawa - The Council of Canadians announced today that it is canvassing its members and other Canadians to determine the extent to which the “robo-calls” and other dirty tricks during the May 2011 federal election may have undermined basic democratic principles in ridings across the country.

“We are deeply concerned about the recent media reports that many voters were misled, harassed or otherwise subjected to dirty tricks that may have impaired their ability to freely cast their ballots. While we applaud the fact that all parties are urging Elections Canada to investigate these serious allegations, we believe the victims here are the electors. We intend to find out from them the full extent of the nefarious campaigns,” said Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians.

Members of the Council of Canadians are committed to preserving Canadian democracy. Being able to participate freely in elections is at the very heart of that democracy. To ensure the widest possible input, the Council is partnering with other social justice groups, including Leadnow and others, and thus the survey questionnaire will be made available to a significant number of Canadians in each of the affected ridings.

“The Council is committed to ensuring that victims of electoral dirty tricks understand their right to defend their democratic franchise, including by making an application to the Court to have the election in their riding declared null and void under the Canada Elections Act” said Steven Shrybman, a public interest lawyer who is legal counsel to the Council of Canadians in this matter.

“All Canadians should be concerned if the rights of any of them to freely participate in an election have been impaired. We invite Canadians who were affected by any of these dirty tricks to contact us immediately,” concluded Mr. Neil.

The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest social justice organization, with 75,000 supporters from coast to coast.
 

For more information:

Dylan Penner, media officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs, Facebook

http://www.canadians.org/media/other/2012/01-Mar-12.html
Council of Canadians

An Open Letter To European Citizens | March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

February 29, 2012

An Open Letter To European Citizens,

Tanisi, I am writing today to express the support of First Nations in Canada for Europe to implement the Fuel Quality Directive transport legislation, as it currently exists. We understand that the Government of Canada has been engaged in a very intense lobby effort called the Pan European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy, which explicitly labels Canada’s First Peoples as “Adversaries” to the Canadian people and state. It is important to know that Canada’s tar sands industry is fundamentally at its core a human rights scandal that has given our country a black eye internationally. First Nations Peoples are not enemies to Canada; we are quite simply concerned with the ideological position this government has taken in setting its policies related to massive extractive development happening in Northern Alberta at the expense of our health and fundamental human rights.

In Canada, Indigenous Peoples have legally binding Treaties between Canada and our sovereign Indigenous Governments. These treaties states that the lands of First Nations cannot be compromised by uncontrolled development or threaten First Nations culture and traditional ways of life. Until recently, the remote community of Fort Chipewyan relied on an 80% subsistence diet. But now, pollution, boreal forest and ecosystem loss and habitat fragmentation is a direct threat to the cultural survival of Fort Chipewyan and other First Nation peoples living near the tar sands. People are simply too afraid to drink the water or harvest plants and animals. Some do anyways, to ensure the preservation of knowledge, though the risks are great. In British Columbia (BC), pipeline projects (Europe being one potential destination for tar sands crude) would cross already devastated salmon aquatic habitat and ecologically sensitive landscapes with potential spills that would further decimate the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples. The lands crossed by pipelines in BC are located on unceded territory, creating jurisdictional concerns for the governments of BC and Canada who have no legal right to grant permits for pipeline projects within these unceded lands, but they do so anyway.

The government of Canada has legally been forced by First Nations to consult with Indigenous communities about development projects. But consultation is just that, telling a community a project is being proposed that may or may not have impacts to a First Nation and the recognition of its Treaty rights. As of yet, there is no legal framework within the Constitution of Canada that recognizes the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for the right of First Nations to say “No” to a proposed development. In 2010, Canada signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), however with qualification, objecting to the FPIC principles. Rather, the Alberta and Canadian government rely on junk science put forth by industry and ignore the real concerns and well being of First Nation peoples. As such, the battle over the tar sands mining comes down to the fundamental right to exist as Indigenous peoples. The tar sands are a human rights issue.

National chief fears crime bill to cause another lost generation | March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

National chief fears crime bill to cause another lost generation

Wednesday February 29, 2012
Rick Garrick - Wawatay News


National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo believes overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the prison system will get worse under the federal government’s Bill C-10.

“First Nations have not been, we have not been, I have not been involved or engaged on this bill and I am very concerned about its implications,” Atleo said during the Assembly of First Nation’s National Justice Forum, held Feb. 21-23 in Vancouver. “The issue of justice really impacts all of us as First Nations, wherever you come from.”

Atleo said the 500 missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls from across Canada points to deep systemic issues, noting First Nation treaty rights and jurisdiction have yet to be honoured and recognized in Canada.

“The underlying reasons have yet to addressed as to why and how our people end up interacting with the criminal justice system,” Atleo said. “Everything from the fallout from the residential schools to the Indian Act to the deep poverty to the lack of supports in our communities for health, child welfare, education and poverty are some examples of the deep roots causes that we have to get to.”

Atleo said many people at the Justice Forum said the passing of Bill C-10, in many respects, is like repeating the residential school era all over again.

“We’re losing our people from their homes and putting them into institutions,” Atleo said. “It clearly will lead to increasingly, disproportionately impacting of First Nations people in this country.”

Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, was passed by the House of Commons on Dec. 5, 2011 and is currently on referral to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs after passing Second Reading in the Senate on Dec. 16, 2011.

 

2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

Truth and Reconciliation Commission releases interim report

By Robin Dudgeon
Updated 13 hours ago


File photo...Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation chief Irvin McIvor said although he likes some of what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed in its Interim Report there is still much that needs to be done for residential school survivors.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its Interim Report, Friday along with a historical publication called They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and Residential Schools.

‘They Came for the Children’ examines the history of residential schools in Canada, the effect and consequences of the system, and its ongoing legacy. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Interim Report reflects activities undertaken by the TRC since June 2009.

The report contains 20 recommendations that touch on five areas: operation of the Commission, education, support for survivors, reconciliation, and commemoration. It includes a brief summary of what the Commissioners have heard directly from as many as 3,000 former students and staff since its creation in 2007 as part of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Irvin McIvor, chief of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, was personally affected by the Sandy Bay residential school. He is a day school survivor who is currently involved in a class action lawsuit against the government, looking to be included in the compensation package.....

For full article read here
http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3487179

 

These stories must be told | March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

These stories must be told


Times Colonist February 29, 2012



The stories told at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings are hard to hear, but they need to be told.

The about what happened in the residential schools and to commission's mandate is "to learn the truth inform all Canadians about what happened in the schools." That understanding is necessary, not only for residential school survivors and their families, but for the whole country.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/The ... /story.html#ixzz1ntalfSuZ
Times Colonist

 

Plenty of blame for the drug crisis | March 01 2012

from Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

Plenty of blame for the drug crisis

Category: NEWS
Created on Thursday, 01 March 2012 13:05
Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00
Published Date

By Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen

There are only so many ways the people of remote Northern Ontario can say "help us" before they begin to wonder whether anyone is listening.

On Wednesday, doctors, nurses, addictions experts and First Nations officials again pleaded with the federal government for urgent help dealing with the prescription drug crisis engulfing remote communities, especially now that Oxy-Contin has been delisted by the Ontario government.

"We have a public health catastrophe on our hands and no one is stepping up to take responsibility," Nishnawbe Aski First Nation Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatawabin told a press conference in Toronto. "Our communities have minimal access to medical services to help cope with withdrawal symptoms. Our people have a right to timely and effective health care."....

For full article read here
http://www.firstperspective.ca/news/6 ... blame-for-the-drug-crisis
The First Perspective

 

NEW: Stratfor's pathetic 'intelligence' on Occupy Movement

from CENSORED NEWS by brendanorrell@gmail.com

Photo Reuters

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Wikileaks released e-mails about the Occupy  movement today, revealing that Stratfor global intelligence forwarded news articles, gossip, and even a Tea Party blog about the Occupy Movement.

The selection also reveals the type of "intelligence" that the US Army, Navy and Airforce are all paying tens of thousands of dollars for, according to US government contracts. The "global intelligence" is based on readily available news reports, blogs and Stratfor's hyperbole.

Hide Your YouTube History from Google's New Privacy Policy [Video]

from Lifehacker by Whitson Gordon

Google's new privacy policy means that your YouTube history can be stored and used by all other Google products. If you'd rather keep your search and viewing history private, you can do so from YouTube's settings. Here's how. More »

Asia Is World's Largest Petroleum Consumer - US Plays Second Fiddle In The Oilchestra From Now On

from TreeHugger by John Laumer

Asia

Stop paraquat in palm plantations

from Pesticide Action Network by Pesticide Action Network

Pesticide use on the massive palm oil plantations throughout Asia and the Pacific are putting the health of communities and agricultural workers at risk. Next week, PAN's office in the region will press palm oil companies to stop use of the most dangerous pesticides, including the infamous herbicide paraquat.
PAN's resolution and petition will be presented on March 8 to the meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organization made up of companies that produce, market, invest and trade in palm oil, as well as environmental and other nonprofit organizations. The list of companies involved includes U.S. giants such as Cargill, Nestle, and Unilever.
read more

Kesha Rogers: The Time for Bullshit Must End. It’s Glass-Steagall or Die


The entire financial system is crashing all around the British Oligarchy and Obama’s Wall Street backers, and they are going for an immediate dictatorship, which will be imposed, if we don’t defeat them now. Obama is the instrument through which the Empire is set to pull a coup against the U.S.
To end this, means immediately ramming through Glass-Steagall and removing the British puppet Obama from the White House now, by invoking the 25th Amendment, Section 4 of our U.S. Constitution.
The population is ready for honest leadership that will fight for them. Citizens know that neither political parties nor members of Congress are representing them, because they have refused to tell the truth, and fight on these terms. And the population does not like it. The time for negotiating is over.
We are calling on State and local leaders to take action now. Force Congress to push through Glass-Steagall and let’s destroy this British monetarist system once and for all.
We must restore a credit system modelled on the principles of our U.S. Constitution to end this system of monetarism and implement credit for emergency aid to the states for long-term productive development. To restore a mission to our nation and put millions of people back to work in productive jobs.
This is the fight that must be waged if we are to save the nation.

from Lifehacker by Dusty Wright

Android devices have the same security flaw as iOS devices, law enforcement does not need a warrant to search your phone, and AT&T clears up the confusion regarding what an unlimited data plan really means. More »

Next Live Interview: The Latest Exoplanet News from Kepler

from Universe Today by Nancy Atkinson

Artist's conception of "Super-Earth" exoplanet Kepler-22b, which is about 2.4 times larger than Earth. Credit: NASA.

Coming up next in our series of live interviews with astronomers and scientists is a discussion of the latest news from the Kepler mission. Joining us will be Darin Ragozzine, a postdoctoral researcher with the Kepler mission, at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who studies transiting exoplanets, as well as the theory and dynamics of Kuiper belt objects.The live interview will be a Hangout on Air, and be on Friday, March 2 at 18:00 UTC, 1 pm EST, 10 am PST. To watch the Hangout on Air, circle Fraser on Google+ and watch his feed for the link to the Hangout. There you can join in on the conversation and post your questions for us.
If you aren’t on Google+, you can also watch it live on the CosmoQuest Hangouts page, where there is also a place to post comments and questions. If you can’t watch live, we’ll post a recording of the Hangout later on UT.

India’s Unsafe ‘Nukes’

from News Center PK by News Center Pk

By Lt Col Zaheerul Hassan (R)
A committee of experts, appointed by the Tamil Nadu government in connection with the safety aspects of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNNP) submitted its report to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on February 28, 2012, indicating a crucial stage in the debate over the project. In this regard, the State government also invited the People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) representatives for talks on next day.
However, on above mentioned report visible clashes has been noticed between government sponsored scientists and private but straight former scientists who were really worried about the lives of the local living around the project. In this regard M.R. Srinivasan, a former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy commission and member of experts committee while talking to the media reporters said that “Let the government have a cool view of the report,” but ” I have not taken back my words on the issue despite that few government officials are satisfied over the issue.”
He further explained that on February 20, after visiting the nuclear plant and holding talks with PMANE representatives in Tirunelveli, Dr. Srinivasan had said the state-of-the-art safety features incorporated in the reactor had made it a ‘third generation plus’ reactor. S. Iniyan, Director of Centre for Energy Studies, Anna University, D. Arivuoli, Professor, Department of Physics, Anna University and former IAS office L.N. Vijayaraghavan are the other members on the committee.
Meanwhile, Mr. Udayakumar has sent a legal notice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for insinuating that the anti-Kudankulam protests were funded by United States and the Scandinavian non-government organisations. Advocate M. Radhakrishnan, who sent the notice on behalf of Mr. Udayakumar, said the Prime Minister had made a “false statement with an intention to harm his client’s reputation”.
Notably, security of Indian nuclear programme always remained questionable remained. Number of accidents, theft cases ,killing of scientists and staff through torturing ohave been observed on various Indian nuclear plants . Whereas Pakistan being a responsible atomic power, has adopted strict measures at its nuclear plants so as to save the lives of their employees and the nearby population, yet India’s record of poor nuclear safety has surprised the international community in the era of ongoing nuclear age. In this respect, in the end of November 2009, more than 90 Indian workers suffered radiation due to contamination of drinking water at the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka. Indian media got the story when many suffered persons were hospitalised, and it became impossible for New Delhi to conceal the tragedy.
( Somebody added tritium laced deuterium dioxide to the staff  water fountain )

from Lifehacker by Adam Dachis

Dropmark offers super simple drag-and-drop file sharing, like a number of web apps before it, but if you want to use it for more you can create presentations, slideshows, and collaborate with others just as easily. More »

from Discovery News by Jesse Emspak

Weather Underground turns to crowdsourced data to improve forecasts and make them really, really local.

Nam On The Rio Grande

from The Agonist - thoughtful, global, timely

Via War Is Boring:

Don’t accuse Texas of being gun-shy. This morning, the Lone Star State commissioned the second out of six armored gunboats now being sent to the Rio Grande to fight Mexico’s drug traffickers.
...The boats have drawn comparison to Vietnam-era Patrol Fast Craft boats, or Swift Boats. But they’re a bit smaller, with a length of 34 feet in comparison to the Swift Boat’s 50. Swift Boats were also armed with high-explosive mortars, which will not be on board the gunboats. Still, they’re pretty menacing. The gunboats will reportedly carry an arsenal of six mounted machine guns apiece.

What could possibly go wrong?

PAN's global tribunal got Dow's attention

from Pesticide Action Network by Pesticide Action Network

Recently released emails reveal that Dow Chemical Co., one of the Big 6 pesticide corporations on trial in December's landmark Permanent People's Tribunal, was watching the tribunal very closely.
WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files earlier this week, a release including over five million emails from Stratfor, a company that "provides intelligence services to large corporations." The emails reveal at least half a dozen separate mentions of the tribunal during November and December of last year.
read more

from In These Times by Eve Ottenberg

Who gets to write a war's history determines how it is viewed for generations.

No matter what the Harpers or the Del Mastros say ...

from by Dave

It is bovine coprology. (Yes, yes. Look it up).

Via Greg we are reminded that the denials of Harper and any of his goons is fiction based on fiction. The facts were there on election day.

Voters in ridings across Canada are being warned not to trust calls telling them to go to different polling stations, according to Elections Canada.

Elections Canada has had reports from several ridings from voters in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia who claim to have been given false information that directed them to the wrong place to vote.

Written not this past week but on 2 May, 2011 - The date of the last federal election.

Kochs file suit against Cato Institute

from The Impolitic by Libby Spencer

Strange but true. The Koch brothers filed suit against their own think tank yesterday in a bid to seize control of Cato Institute.

Details are sketchy at the moment, but at issue are the Cato holdings of the recently deceased former chairman of Cato, which represent 25% of the shares. It's clear the Kochs want to wrest control of Cato by preventing the grieving widow from gaining control over the shares. It's possible Cato’s current president Edward Crane is siding with the widow, as he is a named defendant. Otherwise, since there's only four shareholders, there would be nothing to litigate and the Kochs would automatically gain majority control under a three person board. Imagine what they could do with that.

Money is certainly not the issue here as the shares are only worth one dollar each. Clearly it's about power. Think Progress has a link to the Koch's complaint and supporting exhibits.

Strong and Growing Evidence of What?

from The Earth and Man: Setting the Stage by Harry Dale Huffman

I have submitted the following comment to real-science.com, on why we are still seeing alarmist warnings about anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the media, when so many now know better:

It is basically a matter of "cover your backside", or bargaining for their future credibility, by both alarmists and "lukewarmers"--they want to set up the public to believe that they are just going by the "best evidence" and that, at worst, the evidence is not good enough to decide just yet whether AGW, or the greenhouse effect of increasing temperature with increasing CO2, is real. The alarmists will insist upon "AGW is real and dangerous" as long as they can, and only admit, over as many years as they can stretch it, that the growing evidence is looking more and more against the present "consensus" belief. And the "lukewarmers" are helping them, by also insisting the greenhouse effect is real, and forcefully stating at every opportunity that those who deny it are a lunatic fringe. Well, some scientists like me KNOW (and all should know, by now) there is no such greenhouse effect, AT ALL, and in fact that the very idea is incompetent. As a competent scientist (but with strong experience in piercing to the heart of a problem), it took me, from knowing nothing (and caring nothing) about the climate debate, only one year to come across, and immediately focus upon, the strongest evidence against the consensus (the lapse rate structure of the atmosphere, already long known in the Standard Atmosphere), and quickly nail down the definitive evidence that proves the incompetence of that consensus (my Venus/Earth temperature comparison, which not only totally invalidates the greenhouse effect, but also corrects climate science on a whole handful of basic errors in physical understanding of the warming of the atmosphere--including the amazing abuse of the Stefan-Boltzmann formula at the heart of the "settled science" of the radiative transfer theory, that underpins the greenhouse effect hypothesis--and confirms the stable Standard Atmosphere model as THE equilibrium state of our atmosphere, rather than a climate balanced on the razor edge of "radiative forcing" and routinely subject to "runaway climate"). What I did in a year, of casual internet study of the debate, climate scientists had 20 years to do, since the Venus data was first obtained by the Magellan spacecraft, in October 1991, and it could have been done by any student, much less climate science "expert", at any time. That scandalous reality, of the incompetence of all of science, to allow a false consensus to suborn all of our institutions, is what everyone who has aided or abetted that crime against science wants to keep the public from knowing. This should be the front-page news around the world (as I have been writing, on many web sites, for more than a year), but even 97% of skeptics refuse to heed it (and thus show themselves emotionally prejudiced, to the point of incompetence as scientists). The science is not hard, as I have proved to my professional scientific satisfaction, though the "avoiders" (the greenhouse effect believers) want to paint it so. The EGOS of 97% of the debaters, on both sides of the AGW debate, are on the line (not their funding).

from Big Dan's Big Blog by Big Dan

(BDBB Jan 16) People Who Believe The Official 9/11 Story, Who Otherwise Seem Intelligent, Believe In Non-Scientific, even MAGICAL, Supernatural MIRACLES

Syria: The Exile or Justice Ultimatum

( This rather reminds me of Bush's ultimatum to Saddam. I'm sure with the examples from Iraq,Egypt and Libya to reflect upon this will give impetus to keeping foreigners out. Nothwithstanding known proclivities of the military to indulge in Noreiga style extractions. That and the history of  'justice' in Gitmo, abu Ghraib and Bagram tell all one needs to know about barking dogs. That and the entries in 'Law' where Bush, etc. have exemption through Get Out of Jail Free cards - for their war crimes. )

from Penny for your thoughts by Penny

Where to begin? Always such a problem....

The news is reporting the NATO backed fighters in the Babr Amr suburb/district of Homs made a “tactical retreat” from the area.
This first reason given for the retreat is totally bogus. I will get to what is most likely the real reason in short order

“A statement by the Baba Amr rebels brigade says the decision was made to spare some 4,000 civilian residents who insisted on staying in their homes.”

Sparing 4,000 civilians, really?
Where was the rebels concern for these civilians when they holed themselves up in what is basically a suburb of the city of Homs ??
Why did they plant themselves in a residential area?
How come our intrepid main stream media doesn’t ask that question? 
I will suggest to you they planted themselves smack dab in the residential area, and began terrorizing the residents with sniper fire, while they attempted to carve out a zone that was going to be the next NATO no fly zone.
All those stories we have been given about government snipers surrounding the residential areas to target civilians were as bogus as this most recent claim of NATO's goons all of a sudden having concern for the citizens they had drawn into their destabilization agenda.

The snipers were backed/trained/armed whatever by NATO. They were terrorizing the citizens. The fact that snipers were “set up all around the area” tells us that these NATO goons were not allowing any people into Homs unless they knew who it was in advance.
Within hours of the withdrawal of the NATO backed goons, the International Red Cross is going into help. It would make sense that the Syrian Army present will also aid the residents along with the Red Cross.

Within hours of the rebels' withdrawal, President Bashar al-Assad's government granted permission for the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter the besieged neighbourhood of Baba Amr in Homs on Friday.

"The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent received today from the Syrian authorities the green light to enter Baba Amr tomorrow to bring in much-needed assistance, including food and medical aid, and to carry out evacuation operations,"

So here is another question that the main stream media hasn’t dared to ask.
Who was not allowing humanitarian aid into the suburb?
Smart money says it was the NATO backed fighters.
Tough to terrorize a population with outside observers around, isn’t it? .....Speaking of Libya and it’s NATO backed regime aiding the destabilization of Syria.
This was reported just yesterday
Libya to give Syrian opposition $100 million in aid


Compare that to this. The word inane comes to mind. Vapid might do as well. Yet Eric has his moments. This just might not be one of them.

The Ambiguous Morality of Foreign Intervention in Syria

from (title unknown) by Eric Martin of TPR

As the atrocious violence in Syria intensifies, more and more people seem to be saying that the outside world–the United States, the United Nations, the Arab League, the “West,” the “international community”–has a moral obligation to intervene, with force if need be, in order to stop the killing there. I don’t think the moral case for intervention is nearly as clear as those calls presume it to be, and I’d like to explain why.
I’ll start with two moral principles. First, murder is wrong. Second, when choosing among various possible courses of action, we should select the one that will produce the greatest happiness without violating any fundamental rights. The first of these principles is virtually universal. The second is more specific to modern liberalism, but I suspect it is accepted by many of the people calling for more forceful intervention in Syria.
Now, bearing those two principles in mind, let’s think about the morality of intervening in the following situations. Assume that there is no police force to call, and that you are better armed than the neighbor in question.
read more

Rahm's Corporate Pals Running CPS School Closings and CPS School Openings

from Schools Matter by Jim Horn

After years of malignant neglect by the Daley Machine in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel is now in charge of completing the school corporatization plan that has fully taken shape since 2000.  Emanuel last year appointed the former head of the corporate welfare outfit, the Academy of Urban School Leadership (AUSL), to head his covey of appointed toadies on the CPS "Board of Education."

From Democracy Now:
As students across the country stage a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education, we look at the nation’s largest school systems—Chicago and New York City—and the push to preserve quality public education amidst new efforts to privatize schools and rate teachers based on test scores. In Chicago, the city’s unelected school board voted last week to shut down seven schools and fire all of the teachers at 10 other schools. In New York City, many educators are criticizing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration after the release of the names of 18,000 city teachers, along with a ranking system that claims to quantify each teacher’s impact on the reading and math scores of their pupils on statewide tests. "The danger is that if teachers and schools are held accountable just for these relatively narrow measures of what it is that students are doing in class, that will become what drives the education system," says Columbia University’s Aaron Pallas, who studies the efficiency of teacher evaluation systems. "The effects of these school closings in [New York City] is one of the great untold stories today," says Democracy Now! education correspondent Jaisal Noor. "The bedrock of these communities [has been] these neighborhood schools, and now they are being destroyed."

Jordan hit by rare snow storm

from The Coming Crisis by Lynsey

Jordan's capital, Amman, experiences heavy snow as rare weather conditions hit the gulf region. More than half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian desert, and winter temperatures average around 13°C. But the region is being affected by a polar depression, and experts say the cold weather is expected to continue. Source

Ask and Answer Questions About Troubleshooting PC Hardware [Help Yourself]

from Lifehacker

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with. More »

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