News -- July 12, 2006

Militarism and the Corporate Welfare State - "Constitutional government was established in Iraq in 1922. Prior to the 1991 U.S. invasion, Iraq was in essence a socialist government, since most of its political and economic infrastructure, including its burgeoning oil industry was nationalized. Despite Saddam Hussein's abuse of the constitution (the U.S. is suffering similar abuses under Bush), the Iraqi people enjoyed a high standard of living and many freedoms. This allowed them benefits such as socialized health care and access to free higher education that Americans have never known. All of those freedoms and the high standard of living were demolished with the U.S. invasion and permanent occupation of Iraq. A huge corporate fire sale was under way. ... With the U.S. occupation the Iraqi Constitution was torn asunder and replaced with a new charter that places Iraq under virtual corporate rule. Under the U.S. imposed Corporate Constitution, the Iraqis no longer have access to clean water, reliable electricity, medicine, healthcare, or higher education. Ownership of Iraq's once prosperous economy, including her extensive oil fields, was transferred from the Iraqi people to U.S. corporations. This is the democracy we have brought to Iraq, punctuated by suffering, misery, and death. When innocent blood flows so too does the money. See how the stocks of Halliburton and Bechtel rose with the invasion and occupation of Iraq."

Russia's Fifth Column - "The Americans are after Putin's scalp for the same reasons they went after Milosevic and Saddam: not for their crimes, both real and imagined, but because he insistently defies them. Instead of bowing to the wishes of the would-be hegemon and its Middle Eastern ally, the Russkis are selling missiles to Damascus and doing business with Tehran. And now, flush with funds from rising oil prices, Putin is flexing his muscles, picking the crippled Russian bear up off its knees. Nothing could enrage the Americans more: after all, they thought they won the Cold War, fair and square. Don't the Russians know they're beaten?"

An increasingly confident Russia poses problems for U.S. - "Now, buoyed by billions of dollars in oil and natural gas surging through its pipelines each month, and rushing to leave behind 15 years of post-Soviet purgatory, Russia increasingly is trying to reclaim its status as a great power - and a rival to the United States."

Israel calls Hizbollah capture of soldiers act of war - "Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed up to seven Israelis in violence on either side of the Lebanese border on Wednesday, further inflaming Middle East tensions." -- War. It is our nature.

Israeli President in Spiraling Sex Scandal - "Israel's president is being dogged by allegations of sexual harassment in a spiraling scandal that has pushed the country's violent standoff with Hamas off the front pages."

Jewish Law And Torture - "In sum, according to Jewish law and ethics, torture in the context of war is no more problematic than death itself, and is permitted by the general license to wage war. ... We all pray for a time when the world will be a peace — but until that time arrives, Jewish law directs the Jewish state and the American nation to do what it takes (no more, but no less, either) to survive and prosper ethically in the crazy world in which we live." -- Ok, first off this article from The Jewish Week makes torture sound respectable. How many of you knew about the Vietnam scenario that is mentioned? And second: what's with the comment "Jewish law directs the Jewish state and the American nation..."? Interesting.

'The politics of greed' - "I don't get it. What's the percentage in keeping the minimum wage at $5.15 an hour? After nine years? This is such an unnecessary and nasty Republican move. Congress has voted seven times to raise its own wages since last the minimum wage budged. Of course, Congress always raises its own salary in the dark of night, hoping no one will notice. But now it does the same with the minimum wage, quietly killing it. Anyone who doesn't think this is a country where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer needs to check the numbers--this is Bush country, where a rising tide lifts all yachts." -- You read that correctly. Seven times in nine years.

Novak: Rove was a source in outing Plame - "Columnist Robert Novak said publicly for the first time Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valeria Plame."

Poland wins Auschwitz name change - "The United Nations has agreed to rename Auschwitz concentration camp to stress that Nazi Germans, not Poles, were responsible for the world's most notorious death camp, Poland's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday." -- And another important word goes down the memory hole.

Fetus v. Woman Smackdown - "I don’t think anyone is arguing that pregnant women should be doing drugs and smoking, but these laws are a slippery slope."

Top 100 Executives by Total Compensation -- Check out the list.

BAYER dumps AIDS infected drugs overseas - "Bayer dumped AIDS infected drugs for hemophiliacs (mostly children) in Europe, Asia, and Latin America after it was told by the FDA that it could not sell it here. The FDA not only let it happen - they covered it up." -- Check out the accompanying video.

Cable companies recession-proof? - ""Cable looks to us like an ideal defensive," Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a report Tuesday. "The average American family watches more than eight hours of television per day. They'd sooner disconnect their refrigerator than miss...'The Sopranos.'"" -- Pathetic.

Save the National Weather Service - "The bill would likely stop up-to-date weather reporting and funnel it instead to private sector organizations such as Accu-Weather. Many may not realize but there is an incredible wealth of information on the National Weather Service's websites that delight professional meteorologists, amateurs such as my self, weather nerds and storm trackers, and other researchers. All issued for free (in a sense, because you've already paid for it through your tax dollars.) Santorum's bill would make you have to pay for it. Even though you've already paid for it."

The US of A and the Beautiful Game - "When football comes to mean football in the USofA it will indicate that US awareness of and appreciation for the rest of the word will have grown and matured significantly. And if THAT where to happen? Well maybe we can visualize other miracles--a Unites States of America that included all America's states--North, South and Central, for example. And maybe we can then go even further and conceive a world order based not on US military and financial dominance but on beauty. When that day comes we will realize yet another reason to call world football what it is--The Beautiful Game!"

This Is a Computer on Your Brain - "A new brain-computer-interface technology could turn our brains into automatic image-identifying machines that operate faster than human consciousness."

Choosing baby's sex to be outlawed - "Sex selection of babies for non-medical reasons is set to be outlawed in the UK under Government plans for a shake-up of embryology regulation."

World's first 3-D crop circle found in English field - "Experts have been left in awe of the intricacy of the latest sighting, which is 360-feet in diameter, on a wheat field in Oxfordshire. The formation gives an impression of looking down on skyscrapers from above and was only spotted last week by a microlite pilot."

The extinction of mass culture - "The advent of 300 channels and the Internet has fragmented audiences - and the explosion of choice has left us poorer."

Blogger's quest ends with keys to house - "One year ago, the 26-year-old blogger from Montreal set out to barter one red paper clip for something and that thing for something else, over and over again until he had a house. On Wednesday the quest is ending as envisioned: MacDonald is due to become the proud owner of a three-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot home provided by the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan. MacDonald and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, expect to move there in early September."




Quote of the Day
"There are bigger things happening here than me and you."
~ Peter Parker, Spiderman 2