30 November - Demockracy and De Mock Science

Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership"

 Commenting on the revelations that several Arab leaders are urging the United States to attack Iran, Chomsky says, "latest polls show] Arab opinion holds that the major threat in the region is Israel, that’s 80 percent; the second threat is the United States, that’s 77 percent. Iran is listed as a threat by 10 percent," Chomsky says. "This may not be reported in the newspapers, but it’s certainly familiar to the Israeli and U.S. governments and the ambassadors. What this reveals is the profound hatred for democracy on the part of our political leadership."Image via Wikipedia

With regard to nuclear weapons, rather remarkably, a majority- in fact, 57–say that the region would have a positive effect in the region if Iran had nuclear weapons.

There was an election in January 2006 after the only free election in the Arab world- carefully monitored, recognized to be free- but it had a flaw. The wrong people won. Namely Hamas, which the U.S. did not want it and Israel did not want. Instantly, within days, the U.S. and Israel instituted harsh measures to punish the people of Gaza for voting the wrong way in a free election.

The next step was that they- the U.S. and Israel- sought to, along with the Palestinian Authority, try to carry out a military coup in Gaza to overthrow the elected government. This failed- Hamas beat back the coup attempt. That was July 2007. At that point, the siege gotmuch harsher. In between come in many acts of violence, shellings, invasions and so on and so forth. But basically, Israel claims that when the truce was established in the summer 2008, Israel’s reason for not observing it and withdrawing the siege was that there was an Israeli soldier- Gilad Shalit- who was captured at the border. International commentary regards this as a terrible crime. Well, whatever you think about it, capturing a soldier of an attacking army- and the army was attacking Gaza- capturing a soldier of an attacking army isn’t anywhere near the level of the crime of kidnapping civilians. 

Image via WikipediaWe should understand- and the Pentagon Papers is another case in point- that one of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the government from its own population. In the Pentagon Papers, for example, there was one volume- the negotiations volume- which might have had a bearing on ongoing activities and Daniel Ellsberg withheld that. That came out a little bit later. If you look at the papers themselves, there are things Americans should have known that others did not want them to know. And as far as I can tell, from what I’ve seen here, pretty much the same is true. In fact, the current leaks are- what I’ve seen, at least- primarily interesting because of what they tell us about how the diplomatic service works.

JoNova

Solar Panel subsidies: A billions dollars to provide cheap electricity to wealthy households

In the end the government drew money from the population-at-large to help Chinese solar panel manufacturers, and to provide “cheap” electricity to 107,000 households in mostly medium-high wealth areas. It reduced Australia’s emissions by a piddling 0.015 per cent, at an exorbitant carbon price of $300/ton.

Carbon Credits reach their true value!

I can hardly let the demise of the Chicago Climate Exchange go by without a note.

Didn’t I point out that if carbon trading was a free market, nobody would pay a cent?

Well, hail the triumph of the free market.

Now we are not even allowed to doubt?

She thinks that because she can find parallels between Tobacco and Climate Skeptics, therefore skeptics are wrong about climate sensitivity due to a trace gas. Go figure why anyone struggles to analyze ice cores when they could have just done a Google search?

I can find remarkable parallels between Lysenko and modern climate science, but I don’t bother writing a book on it. If I want answers about the climate I look at the data from the planet, not data about personalities.

The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud**And those who are too fearful to do so

Another Top International Scientist Jumps off Global Warming ‘Titanic’

Dr. Lucka Kajfež Bogataj left cold clear water between herself and her former UN shipmates by declaring that rising levels of airborne carbon dioxide probably don’t cause global temperatures to rise. The news scuppers hope for a change in fortune for the beleagured UN climate agency.

Their doomed ‘ship,’ the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been sailing on an ill wind ever since it was struck by that Climategate‘torpedo’ last year.

he Slovenian climate professor made the chilling announcement last month in an obscure foreign language journal that has only now been translated into English. The lambast came in the publicationDelo Polet (18/11/2010), translated into English as, “Inconvenient Truth.” Inside Bogataj publishes a paper entitled, “The more we know, the better. “

Ahoy! Beware More Icebergs in Colder Oceans

Concluding the nautical metaphor comes Argo*, the official world sea temperatures record (as much as 80% of the earth’s heat is held in the oceans). It seems our oceans are getting very cold according a survey from the world’s top 50 international laboratories—so perhaps we may see more icebergs forming to snare that rudderless IPCC ship?

Climate Deception Is A Crime Against Humanity?

Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres of the UN Framework Convention on Climate (UNFCC) said “Let me be clear - there is no magic bullet, no one climate agreement that will solve everything right now,” “To expect that is naive. However, I am certain the world can do this step by step, but only if we keep on walking firmly in the right direction, including at Cancun.” She is talking about stopping or controlling climate change. Clearly Ms. Figueres knows nothing about climate science or doesn’t want to know. 

here is nothing to solve except how the world was deceived that humans are the sole cause of climate change and therefore it can be controlled. It’s a delusion of modern, technologically, and bureaucratically arrogant people. She should know the cost of the delusion that human CO2 is causing climate change has produced. How people are being subjected to serious social and economic harm that borders on atrocities. Maybe her degree in anthropology would help her resolve this and other resulting issues.  Maybe she could explain how a group of people who falsified data, practiced inaccurate and inadequate science, convinced governments to introduce completely unnecessary and harmful policies, and fooled the Nobel Committee into giving them a Peace Prize. To call what they did a contribution to peace is an intellectual farce. But it is not a farce to consider that it appears to fit the definition ofCrimes against Humanity.  Mass atrocities are organized crimes whose perpetrators need money, weapons, transportation, and other means to commit widespread and systematic violence against civilians. A country, commercial entity, or individual enables mass atrocities when it provides resources, goods, services, or other practical support to the perpetrator, and when this support is a critical ingredient in the commission of the atrocities.

Antarctic ice reveals trapped secrets of climate change

Set for its opening by Prince Charles on Friday, the gallery has been designed to outline the basics of climate science and explain why researchers believe human activity is now having a pronounced impact on weather patterns. "This gallery will show how scientists have acquired their knowledge about Earth's climate history – with our ice cores providing some of the most telling examples," says museum director Chris Rapley.


Air gets trapped by snow as it falls. Then more snow falls on top. Pressure builds up and snow is eventually converted into ice – with air bubbles trapped inside. The deeper you drill, the older the ice – and air bubbles – that you find. "If you drill several kilometres down you find samples that are almost a million years old," says Rapley. "That is why we think of ice cores as treasure troves of climate history."

DRUG TRAFFIC AND STATE IN MEXICO: THE HISTORY OF A CENTENARY ARRANGEMENT

A lot has been said about the historical link between drug traffic and the State in Mexico. Nevertheless, there have been few attempts dedicated to study this phenomenon in a rigorous way. 

This link has been real, without a doubt, and goes beyond famous cases such as Mario Villanueva, the “narco” governor (currently imprisoned in the United States) or former antidrug czar General Gutiérrez Rebollo (imprisoned in Mexico). It has been, in order to synthesize, one more of the edges of the Mexican authoritarian regime under the PRI (Party of the Institutionalized Revolution), who held the presidency until 2000. It is, however, a problem that extends itself beyond the democratic transition of the country. 

........

The nexus between drug trafficking and State in Mexico is centennial and has followed a certain path. Nevertheless, it has lately undergone several important changes result from the economic globalization, the alterations in the world-wide drug market, and the peculiar process of Mexican democratization. To that situation we have to add the absence of a vision shared by all the political forces in the matter of security. At this point, we are all hostages of a punitive paradigm (imported from the United States) that reproduces what it tries to solve: the violence. This is where we are now. 

Could Congress have prevented the BP mess? A report reveals that a law enacted after the Exxon Valdez to avoid future oil spills was deprived of cash by lawmakers.

The Fed and Foreclosures

They have pursued foreclosures in violation of borrowers' rights to due process, as revealed by the recent robo-signing scandal. And, despite having been bailed out for their mistakes, they have pursued their self-interest, not the public interest, when it comes to modifying bad loans. They have resisted reducing principal balances for troubled borrowers, for instance, because that could force them to take losses they would rather delay.

Now, despite mounting evidence of borrower mistreatment, the Federal Reserve has proposed a rule that would disable the most effective legal tool that borrowers have to fight foreclosures.

WikiLeaks: Interpol issues wanted notice for Julian Assange

Gareth Porter: "Evidence" against Iran certainly fraudulent

SECRET MILITARY MINI-SHUTTLE CLEARED FOR LANDING

Canada Surrenders Sovereignty and Privacy to U.S. Secure Flight Program

Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Aeronautics Act would require Canadian airline carriers that fly over the U.S. to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with passenger information. This includes name, date of birth, gender, as well as passport and itinerary details when applicable. Airlines landing in the U.S. already have to supply this information, but allowing personal data to be shared on passengers who are only flying through American airspace essentially shreds existing Canadian protection and privacy laws. Bill C-42 complies with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Secure Flight Program which would take effect globally at the beginning of next year. Most Canadian commercial flights pass over the U.S. while en route to Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe which in many cases would give the DHS the final say on who is allowed to travel to and from Canada. 

U.S. proved natural gas, crude oil reserves soar - EIA

Related articles

• Deadly fictions (powerlineblog.com)
• Noam Chomsky on the Economy, US Midterm Elections, Climate Change, and Haiti Part 2 (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• The betrayal of Gaza by Noam Chomsky (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• Noam Chomsky: There is a solution to the Israel-Palestine issue (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• Abbas asks Israeli PM to try Palestinians' peacemaking commitment - Xinhua (news.google.com)
• Aid groups say Gaza still struggling - AFP (news.google.com)
• Noam Chomsky: Pressure Points - How can we promote justice in Israel and Palestine? (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)

14 Oct - Foreclosures,Framing & Fat

Why Are Bailed-Out Banks Breaking into Struggling Borrowers’ Homes?

On the issue of foreclosures. Last week a Florida woman named Nancy Jacobini revealed an agent hired by her bank broke into her home after she fell behind on her mortgage payments. Nancy Jacobini of Orange County was inside her home when she heard the intruder. Thinking she was being burglarized, she called 911.

That was Nancy Jacobini on MSNBC. Chase has apologized for the incident, but Jacobini has hired an attorney to pursue legal action against the bank. Well, we’re joined now from Tampa, Florida, by Nancy Jacobini’s lawyer Matthew Weidner. He’s a consumer rights and foreclosure defense attorney and a frequent blogger on foreclosure issues at his mattweidnerlaw.com.

....She is not in foreclosure with this bank, and so she would have no reason to suspect that someone other than a burglar would be breaking into her home. And so, she goes running into the bathroom with her cell phone, she’s dialing 911, and she is just absolutely terrified. And it turns out, after the sheriffs are there, that this individual says that he’s hired by the banks.

Now, what’s so terrifying about this episode is this is not at all unique. I have examples from all around the country where these banks, these jackbooted thugs that are hired by the banks, are kicking down the doors of people’s homes all across the country. The thing to keep in mind, you know, the problems that are existing across this country are not isolated to people in foreclosure. And I think why this particular incident has caught the attention of people across the country is because they recognize that, wait a minute, if this happened to Nancy, then this could happen to me.
The story as it’s told is that she was behind in her payments, but she wasn’t even in foreclosure. So, when you’re in foreclosure, this is fine?
It’s not at all fine ever. But this happens to people in foreclosure. Look, the problem is, they’re doing this when folks are not even in foreclosure. I’ve got examples all across the country where no foreclosure has even been filed. I think we’re going to find examples of people that are in formal modifications with the banks, where they have agreed, because the borrowers are making payments, that nothing at all will happen, but these jackbooted thugs continue with their work. You know, there are examples where people are living in their homes, where they leave for a week or so, where they go on vacation, and these jackbooted thugs are kicking down the doors. And unfortunately, the jackbooted thugs that are representing the banks are emboldened by this.I confront law enforcement with these issues. Law enforcement, if you can get them to come out to the home, oftentimes won’t take a report of these activities. If they do happen to take a report of the bank’s breaking in and taking property, they will almost always determine that no crime has been committed, and there’s nothing at all that we can do. That really is what’s so disturbing and troubling is that, you know, our law enforcement, that work for us locally, are working now for the banks and saying that what these banks are doing is acceptable. And I’m here to tell you it absolutely is not. I mean, let’s keep in mind that one of the fundamental principles, a core value of this country, has been property ownership. We should have a right to be secure within our castles, within these homes that we own. And unfortunately, this foundation is being shaken by these banks.

( I note he likes that word 'emboldened'...a favourite with the lot writing trope about 'terrorists.' )

 What’s the point of foreclosure? If we granted every single foreclosure that’s pending right now across this country, what would happen to those homes? We can’t get people qualified to get in homes as it is.

( It drains families' savings and wrecks process securing equity. Would it be too outrageous to hypothesize that was the point ?  i.e. Further sabotage of the current financial system and savaging the 'middle class' . 

If that were the case, you'd need further and better particulars on who are the parties and companies engaging in these practices. The drive to establish competitive advantage - dominance - often leads to destructive behaviour...'war' by other means. 

Cancer is a runaway growth of particular cells in the body which destroy it. 'Corporate Persons' - the new oxymoron - are simply the current vehicle for robber barons. ) 

Matt Weidner Blog

Oops, I lost my summons! Oops, I lost my summons! (Repeat 9,000 times)

Our entire foreclosure process, and now a significant portion of the title to real property in this country now rests on the shoulders of largely unregulated, unpoliced and until now, unnoticed subset of the foreclosure mill/foreclosure cockroach community.  The Private Process Servers.  Who are process servers?  In Florida, a Plaintiff must personally hand an original summons issued by the court, along with the lawsuit to every defendant in a foreclosure case.  The Sheriff appoints private parties to serve these lawsuits on these people, but any knucklehead can become a process server.  The requirements are to become a process server are defined in Florida Statutes, but here’s the bombshell.

THERE IS SO MUCH BAD SERVICE OF PROCESS FLOATING ACROSS THIS STATE THAT IT’S GOING TO MAKE THE ROBOSIGNER CONTROVERSY SEEM SMALL

 

"Smear" Now Means Telling the Truth About Right Wingers

by: Ted Frier

What the conservative movement and its media have been able to accomplish over the past decade or so is to provide a protective and hospitable climate in which views that had been confined to the lunatic fringe have been able to come out of the wilderness and take part in the activities of a major political party.

That is the major attraction among right wing audiences for angry demagogues like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter.  These demagogues give their audience permission to come out of the closet and express primitive rages that a more censoring and "politically correct" culture might have told them they need to suppress.

What the far right has been able to do, in other words, is create a separate, alternative universe - a bubble -- in which lunatic and anti-social beliefs are welcomed with open arms. As a consequence, outsiders who do not share this right wing worldview are accused of engaging in "smears" -- not so much for fabricating falsehoods against right wingers, but merely for exposing their toxic and preposterous ideas to the disinfecting sunlight of a larger and more skeptical national audience. The "smear," in other words, lies not in malicious invention but in exposing the racist or the crackpot to his or her true self.    

Right wing conservatives are anti-social authoritarians who are out of place in a pluralist, democratic society.  And they know it.  And this is why the 2010 election may well go down as the first national campaign in American history in which the candidates of a major party are so extreme that they must run for national office while deliberately avoiding both the public and the media through which that public gets most of its information.

And the only way that Tea Party candidates are able to run for political office while shunning the electorate at the same time is because they can avail themselves of Fox News.

"Fox is something new -- something for which we do not yet have a word," says Eric Alterman in his brilliant new column. "It provides almost no actual journalism. Instead it gives ideological guidance to the Republican Party and millions of its supporters, attacking its opponents and keeping its supporters in line."

As Alterman notes, with the single exception of Mitt Romney, every major Republican contender for President is now on contract with Fox.

It's odd to say the least for a "news organization" to have the future subjects of its news reports on its own paid staff, he says. And by employing the entire GOP presidential field, Fox is also able to prevent any other news organization from getting face time with these potential future presidents.

As Alterman reports, when C-SPAN Political Editor Steve Scully tried to get an interview with Sarah Palin, he was actually told he needed Fox's permission. Not surprisingly, he didn't get it.  And neither have the producers at NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC. "We have tried to book many of them, but they have always refused, saying they are exclusive to Fox," said a network staffer.

NPR staff told to stay away from Colbert, Stewart rallies if not covering them

Political activity:
* NPR journalists may not run for office, endorse candidates or otherwise engage in politics. Since contributions to candidates are part of the public record, NPR journalists may not contribute to political campaigns, as doing so would call into question a journalist’s impartiality.

* NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers, nor should they sign petitions or otherwise lend their name to such causes, or contribute money to them. This restriction applies to the upcoming John Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies.

* You must not advocate for political or other polarizing issues online. This extends to joining online groups or using social media in any form (including your Facebook page or a personal blog) to express personal views on a political or other controversial issue that you could not write for the air or post on NPR.org.

* NPR journalists may not serve on government boards or commissions.

UAE-Canada aviation talks collapse  

Reports that the UAE is set to deny Canadian Forces access to a key military base near Dubai. That will affect Canadian troop movement to and from Afghanistan.The UAE is Canada's largest trade partner in the Middle East and North Africa with bilateral trade of over $1.5 billion

 

Loonie hit parity after coming within hair's breadth Wednesday 

( Now that the snowbirds can afford to winter in the U.S. ... will they want to ? )

 

Let's call Trans-Asia what it really is...Pipelineistan 

by: Blue Girl

 What we are in the middle of now is a geopolitical struggle between India and Pakistan, and it is only about energy in the sense that pipelines to supply China with hydrocarbons need to run through the area. Mostly it is about water and control over Kashmir - and the strife over Kashmir is just a petticoat to hide the fact that there is a water war going on between Pakistan and India.

 China's economy is thirsty, and so it's drinking deeper and planning deeper yet. It craves Iraq's oil and Turkmenistan's natural gas, as well as oil from Kazakhstan. Yet instead of spending more than a trillion dollars on an illegal war in Iraq or setting up military bases all over the Greater Middle East and Central Asia, China used its state oil companies to get some of the energy it needed simply by bidding for it in a perfectly legal Iraqi oil auction.

Meanwhile, in the New Great Game in Eurasia, China had the good sense not to send a soldier anywhere or get bogged down in an infinite quagmire in Afghanistan. Instead, the Chinese simply made a direct commercial deal with Turkmenistan and, profiting from that country's disagreements with Moscow, built itself a pipeline which will provide much of the natural gas it needs.
No wonder the Obama administration's Eurasian energy czar Richard Morningstar was forced to admit at a congressional hearing that the US simply cannot compete with China when it comes to Central Asia's energy wealth. If only he had delivered the same message to the Pentagon.

Of carrots and sticks and carrot sticks

by: Blue Girl

We have a looming healthcare crisis heading down the pike, and if we don't do something about it now, obesity and the obesity-related diseases will not only strangle our healthcare system, it will be responsible for a generation that will, for the first time since this country came to be, not only live shorter lives than their parents, but they won't enjoy the same quality of life their parents did.

What I can tell you anecdotally is that every single one of the things that have gotten the blame for the epidemic, from lack of physical activity to fast food and soda pop as dietary staples, I have observed to exist, so this is a 'big picture' problem if ever there was one.  
It's a hell of a mess and the fix will be multifaceted and complex, and it will involve more than just offering healthy choices. Kids will have to be enticed to make the choices to eat the healthy food when it is offered.