December 2011
33 posts
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Point/Counterpoint: No Blood For Oil vs. Exactly... →
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WatchFrom 9/11 to 2011: Militarized U.S. Police Forces and Domestic Drones
Must-watch report from Democracy Now! about the militarization and dronification of police forces in American states, towns, and cities:
A new report by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that since 9/11, local law enforcement agencies have used $34 billion in federal grants to acquire military equipment such as...
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Are most Democrats in favor of Obama's secret... →
If a Republican were in the White House, rest assured most Democrats would be going nuts about how this administration has gone too far with its immoral foreign policy. But since we’re living under the Obama brand and not the Bush brand, the response has been one big, metaphorical shrug.
The Obama administration has expanded the robot war from inside Pakistan, where it was restricted to...
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Repressing Democracy, With American Arms →
Kudos to Nicolas Kristof of the NYTimes for zeroing in on American military and diplomatic support of Bahrain’s tyrannical regime. We need to put an end to holding up dictators and monarchs that kill their own people.
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Documentary Film: "Hot Coffee" (2011) →
Ever hear of the case where the lady spilled coffee on herself and then actually had the audacity to sue McDonalds for a ridiculous amount of money?
What you heard is probably not true.
Susan Saladoff, in her extraordinary first feature, explores the corporate propaganda machine and American right-wing political machinations behind “frivolous lawsuits” and “tort reform”...
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Real Populism vs. Fake: OWS is not the Tea Party... →
Paul Street does a good job summarizing in this piece why these movements should not be considered reflections of each other, and why OWS has tapped into something core.
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Matt Taibbi: A Christmas Message From America's... →
Rolling Stone: Chase “helped” Greece mask its debt problem for years by selling a similar series of swaps to the Greek government. The bank then turned around and worked with banks like Goldman Sachs to create a thing called the iTraxx SovX Western Europe index, which allowed investors to bet against Greek debt.
In other words, Chase knowingly larded up the nation of Greece with a crippling...
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If they work, should placebos be used in clinical... →
The New Yorker: This year, Harvard created an institute dedicated wholly to the study of placebos, the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter…The program was formed to explore an idea that even twenty years ago would have seemed preposterous: that placebos—given deliberately—might be deployed in clinical practice. As medicine.
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WatchNATO Forced to Admit Air Strikes Killed Dozens of Libyan Civilians, Contradicts Initial Denials
Democracy Now!: NATO has admitted for the first time Libyan civilians were killed and injured during its seven-month bombing campaign that led to the ouster and death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The acknowledgment came after a New York Times investigation revealed at least 40 civilians, and...
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The latest in neuromarketing →
Financial Times: My electroencephalography (EEG) session typifies the experience of hundreds of subjects who have their brains scanned every day in laboratories around the world, in the cause of better marketing….Subjects’ EEG brainwaves showed that the orchard design scored best on attention, emotional appeal and memory retention.
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WatchOccupy Wall Street: The Lego Set.
Advertisment targeting children as imagined by Slate.
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WILL Radio - 12/19/11 - Noam Chomsky goes deep...
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WatchYes Minister, the UK, and Europe
The very funny British television sitcom Yes Minister, a 1980s show which lent an insider’s perspective on the workings of British government (and reportedly a favorite of Maggie Thatcher, in power at the time), offered this satirical analysis of the UK’s historical position on European integration, one that still appears relevant. This clip is...
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WatchHave you heard of Private Bradley Manning?
Manning has been imprisoned and isolated under torturous conditions by the US military, and denied access by Congressmen, human rights groups, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, as he awaits trial on charges of releasing government documents, including evidence of war crimes, to journalists. Today was Manning’s first day in...
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The Horrifying Erosion of American Civil... →
The New York Times summarizes the indefinite detention bill that has now passed Congress and that Obama is reportedly about to sign into law that will, incredibly, make it permanently legal for any future President to put American citizens in military prison for life without charges or trial.
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Christopher Hitchens →
RIP Christopher Hitchens, dead at 62.
Some of my favorite Hitchens:
1) Hitchens debates on whether or not the Catholic church is a force for good in the world.
2) The 2002 documentary, The Trials of Henry Kissinger, after a 2001 book by Hitchens.
3) In a classic speech, Hitchens defends freedom of expression, especially for the most detestable views.
4) A very good 2006 in-depth profile of...
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Durban Climate Summit Wrap-Up: Too Little, Too... →
Democracy Now!: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, has ended with an agreement to start negotiations for a new legally binding climate treaty to be decided by 2015 — and to come into force by 2020. Negotiators also agreed to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol and the initial design of a Green Climate Fund. Many environmental groups say the...
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Depression and Democracy →
Paul Krugman sounds the alarm on the threat to base democracy and the rise of authoritarianism in Europe.
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2008 U.S. Financial Crisis Bailout: $29 Trillion? →
Economist L. Randall Wray tallies Federal Reserve bailouts at $29 trillion. He has his critics.
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Los Angeles City Council Calls for Constitutional... →
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to support a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to clearly establish that only living persons — not corporations — are endowed with constitutional rights and that money is not the same as free speech. The vote makes Los Angeles the first major city in the U.S. to call for an end to all corporate constitutional...
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Documentary: "Encirclement: Neoliberalism Ensnares... →
A very helpful—and poorly distributed—doc on international political economy over the last 30 years, including detailed discussions of history, philosophy, media, education, finance, and Bretton Woods institutions.
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Use of drones in USA airspace increasing →
Must-read analysis/information, complied by Glenn Greenwald:
“As of the 2010 year-end report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there were already ‘more than 270 active authorizations for the use of dozens of kinds of drones” (35% held by the Pentagon, 5% by Homeland Security and others by the FBI).’”
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Q&A: Gene Sharp on Non-Violent Struggle →
AJE: Gene Sharp, a humble, 83-year-old intellectual, has been credited with promoting non-violent struggle around the world.
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George Orwell on the Evil Iranian Menace →
Beware hyperbole on Iran. Glenn Greenwald cuts through the nationalism in this piece with searing logic. Has the Obama administration already begun a covert war with Iran?
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The Rebirth of Social Darwinism? →
Robert Reich: William Graham Sumner brought Charles Darwin to America and twisted him into a theory to fit the times. Few Americans living today have read any of Sumner’s writings but they had an electrifying effect on America during the last three decades of the 19th century.
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How Republicans are being taught to talk about... →
“I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death,” said Frank Luntz, Republican propagandist extraordinaire. Chris Moody reports from the Republican Governor’s convention in Florida this week, where many in the audience wanted to know how best to talk about Occupy Wall Street. Luntz gave tips to Republican state executives on how to talk about...
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Occupy Santa Cruz Takes Over Bank Building [Video] →
KSBW/NBC: Dozens of Occupy Santa Cruz protesters took over the old Wells Fargo building on River Street.
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Pregnant NYT photojournalist Lynsey Addario... →
This story is heartwrenching for so many reasons. Stay strong, Lynsey.
NYT Examiner: We get upset when the face is known to us, even by association: New York Times; hostage in Libya; journalist. The fact is this happens all the time, to other 27-week pregnant women with no editor to write the IDF and stand up for them. If you cut them, do they not bleed? And if you wrong them, will they not...
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Senate Votes To Let Military Detain Americans... →
The rule of law in America is about to take another big hit: Unless Obama vetos this bill, it will become legal for the military to indefinitely detain a US citizen without charge, simply for being labeled a terrorist by those in power. For more info, see here. And to petition Obama to move ahead with the veto, go here.
November 2011
32 posts
1 tag
