Framing the news

Look at this segment on ABC News on the ruling that what the NSA is doing is Unconstitutional.

Just the wording alone is alarmist:

CIA Spy Ruling Could Be a Major Setback for the War on Terror

(sorry for the large type)

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The segment states that this is a victory for Edward Snowden. (!)

Wow.  Just wow.  Journalists…er, um, people who get a paycheck pretending to be journalists…who didn’t do their job in the first place, making it imperative for someone else–in this case Edward Snowden–to do what they should have been doing are putting this as a victory for him.

Instead, they should be saying this is a victory for our democracy.

This is a victory for upholding our Constitution.

They frame it as a blow to the war on terror when, as the judge states, there is no evidence that this has saved lives.

And eavesdropping on friendly countries…? How is that helping the war on terror?  Is Angela Merkel a terrorist?

 

Boiling the frog…

Idle No More has a virtual “teach-in” up on the web (scroll down) by Sharon Venne.   It’s a really interesting piece on the historical treatment of the indigenous and how s-l-o-w-l-y their culture and their land has been “disappeared”.

As she says in her talk, it goes on over such a slow period of time, that one doesn’t realize what is happening until it’s almost too late….like the frog put in a pan of water that the heat is turned up so slowly that the frog doesn’t realize it’s being boiled to death.

It’s really worth watching it all the way through–she has such a good story to tell of her own struggle to get an education.  She tells the story of not being able to read until going to university.  (By the way, Literacy Volunteers are out there to help folks learn to read–check with your local library). She was continually kept in stress mode by them not sending her monthly stipends on time so she could pay her rent.  God Bless the administrator who helped her.

She makes an important point at about 29:00 minutes in– of what sounds like the precursor to “corporations are people, too”.  If anything, we need to pay better attention to what is going on in other countries…especially to the poor and minorities…because it seems to be a worldwide power grab–given that there have been austerity measures all over the globe and attacks on teacher’s unions and such.  More here.

And here.

Rick Berman: gun for hire

Deutsch29 has an excellent blog up on the *cough* Center for Union Facts (CUF) running a full page ad in the NY Times. Upon closer examination, our old friend, Rick Berman, gun for hire, is behind CUF, among other organizations.   Note the letter from his son, David.  Pretty sad, eh?

AFT has a short video up on the 5 myths about school performance.

 

Oklahoma earthquakes and fossil fuel wastewater

I suspected this all along.

Also–someone posted this link in the comments section on the Top 10 ingredients used in fracking.  You might recall that Nurse Cathy Behr was made ill when coming in contact with these toxins!

Allen Dulles and his brother

Elliott at firedoglake has this preview of a book salon today at 5:00 p.m. EST.  Wow.  Just listening to the short video just sends the mind reeling….if there were any reason for limiting the power of the defense dept, and especially defense contractors, this is IT.  Dulles had entirely too much power to manipulate situations towards his own personal goals instead of what was best.  And his warped view of what freedom means is just stunning….it’s all about the money.

A wiki entry on JFK and Allen Dulles here.

I’ve read a couple of blogs on JFK and the CIA theories, and Huffpost mentions Senator Hart, who was on the Church Committee to investigate. He put it on the press’ failure to follow up on the witnesses being shot and other leads.  He also states that nobody wants to put this out there because whomever did it is still “out there”.  Well, I don’t know about that particular person or persons, since it was 50 years ago….but yeah, there are still mercenaries born every minute who would just as soon shoot you as look at you.  It’s called courage, Gary, when you speak out even though you’re scared.

Another Presbyterian, Maggie Kuhn, spoke the phrase:  “Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.”

Funny that she and Allen Dulles could be of the same faith with such opposing views…

Mother Jones: Hypocrisy of Bill and Melinda Gates

Diane Ravitch has a blog up with a link to Mother Jones article on the hypocrisy of Bill (and Melinda) Gates.   It’s a really great read on how slick Billy operates.

I heart Valerie Plame

Valerie Plame was on CNN talking with Wolf Blitzer a little while ago.  I tried to locate her interview on their site…but it’s nowhere on there and I’m too tired to look deeper for it.

She talked about the newest revelation of the CIA operative in Iran…who disappeared while on assignment.  She said the analyst who sent him there had no business doing so.  A further explanation on CBS stated that three analysts were fired after his disappearance.

Plame stated that since 9/11, the defense dept has been overtaken by defense contractors.  She named the amount, but I forget how much– a large amount, though.  She is all for cutting the amount of defense contractors to shrink the dept back to manageable size. (paraphrasing)

Watch your back, Valerie.  John F. Kennedy had the same thoughts….

 

Tell the USDA No GMO apples

organic consumers has this up on the latest nonsensical bioengineered frankenfood product…

…because it makes soooo much sense to bioengineer an apple not to turn brown…

Anybody else have deja vu about Alar??

From the story:

But in 2005, the last year results were available, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found pesticide residues on 98 percent of the apples it tested. All the residue was at levels within federal guidelines.

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Yum.

The problem with reports like this is that they try to say the Alar scare was over the top and scaring people needlessly….when they should be scaring people because we’re living in a toxic soup.  This has to be part of the reason people are so apathetic towards chemicals being used in their homes, their workplaces, their food, their water, their soil, and their air….

<sigh>

Washington State Judge rules against Charters

Well, this is welcome news–a judge has ruled that public funds cannot be used for charters under private management.  Yes!!  A win for public schools!