Category Archives: politics

Accepting responsibility

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…is the first step towards correcting the problem….Washington Post hasn’t quite gotten *there* yet.  The media was absolutely culpable for instilling fear into the public and credibility into the Bush Administration where no credibility existed.

What’s worse is that they are still giving air time to Cheney, et al, as if this guy has any credibility at all.

From the New York Times:

Most notably, Mr. Cheney defends his position on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, the Iraq war and the use of waterboarding with his usual aplomb and deft obfuscation. Other key players, including George W. Bush, have acknowledged mistakes and expressed dismay over decisions that proved misguided. Mr. Cheney says he did nothing wrong and has no regrets.

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One incident is almost chilling. Barton Gellman, a journalist and the author of a Cheney biography, recounts how in 2004 Mr. Cheney fought Justice Department lawyers who had determined that the top-secret, warrantless surveillance program that he had pushed for was illegal. Mr. Cheney was so insistent on keeping the wiretaps going that he kept Mr. Bush, then in his re-election campaign, out of the loop until the 11th hour, when two dozen Justice Department lawyers and the F.B.I. director threatened to resign

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And let’s not forget the profit factor for Cheney.  More here.  Blood on your hands, Dick.

Here’s a good article on those that were promoting the Iraq War through the media.  They use powerful words and the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us…or a fool….”  Hard to go against the grain when put in that context…I tried talking with a friend about it, but she was military and absolutely refused to believe that there was any doubt there were WMD’s.  They wouldn’t lie to her….

The media is very powerful in influencing people.  And the fact that Ronnie Reagan removed the Fairness Doctrine has had huge impacts in our ability to get both sides of a story in order to flush out the truth.  The press is no longer obligated by law to present the whole picture instead of something that suits them.  The fact that in my community there are nothing but rightwing radio announcers is testament to how unfair and unbalanced our media is…

Not only Reagan, but Clinton allowed media consolidation.   The media owners get to promote their own political views and world views without having to air the opposing side’s views.

From the article:

(This is my beef, also, about what happened in Fort Wayne last June–save for one station on Friday night, there was no live broadcast talking about the super storm.  NO ONE was live on the air on the next day, Saturday, telling people where they could go for cooling stations, when the power would be back on, how many people were affected (so folks would know that it was going to be awhile to get power and to plan accordingly.))

 

January 18, 2002 A train carrying hazardous materials derails at 1:30 a.m. in Minot, North Dakota, spilling 210,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia in an incident federal regulators call “catastrophic”. Clear Channel Communications owns six out the seven commercial stations in Minot. Minot authorities say when they called with the warning about the toxic cloud, there was no one on the air who could’ve made the announcement. Clear Channel says someone was there who could have activated an emergency broadcast. But Minot police say nobody answered the phones.

Frankenfish and other nightmares…

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From PR Watch:

Frankenfish salmon coming to your table, whether you like it or not.

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…because they couldn’t destroy voter access by destroying ACORN….

…note the “guilty until proven innocent” mindset that seems to be the way things have become in the U.S. instead of innocent until proven guilty.

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More on the dangerous food industry trying to keep you from knowing what the hell is in your food or how badly they treat the animals.

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Take action against Fix the Debt.

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Promoting  “activist” judges….conservative activist, that is….

 

 

Your food

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The Organic Farmers network of New York has posted this:

Message

Begin forwarded message:
> From: “Amy Little” <amylittle@hvc. rr.com>
> Date: March 14, 2013 11:36:40 AM CDT
> Subject: Action needed today on Biotech and GIPSA Riders
>
> From: Amy Little, NESAWG
> Action Alert and Mobilization TODAY
>
> The Senate released its Continuing Resolution (appropriations legislation) that includes “riders” on 2 big issues. Legislative riders are controversial policy provisions that “hitch a ride” on appropriations bills that otherwise deal only with funding matters in order to escape full and open debate in the committee that has jurisdiction over the relevant policy area.
> 1. The “Biotech Rider” would undercut current biotech safety regulations by striping federal courts of their authority to halt the sale and planting of illegal, potentially hazardous GE crops, and compel the USDA to allow continued planting of that same crop upon request regardless of its potential to cause transgenic contamination in the food supply and ecosystem.
> 2. The “GIPSA Rider” overrides the GIPSA rule that protects farmers from abuses by the meat industry, by denying contract producers protection under the Packers and Stockyards Act .
>
> TODAY, Senator Jon Tester plans to introduce two amendments that removes those riders from  the Continuing Resolution. Many organizations that participate in NESAWG are issuing alerts and mobilizing phone calls and emails.
>
> Please consider making a call to your Senator’s DC office, alerting your lists to take action, and spreading the word quickly.
> You can find your Senators’ phone numbers here: http://bit.ly/ findmySenator
>
> Many organizations have issued alerts, here is the basic message:
>
> “Please tell the Senator to vote for two amendments to the Continuing Resolution introduced by Senator Jon Tester of Montana that protect family farmers from abuses by the meat industry and support review of biotechnology products. These two amendments will stand up for family farmers, ensure that independent producers have a fair chance in the livestock market, and ensure that courts can review biotechnology products.”
>
>
> From the NSAC Blog: This is an affront to justice and fairness for farmers and is an unfortunate example of legislating on an appropriations bill on behalf of a very few powerful corporations.
>
> Phone calls are needed right now, but Food and Water watch has an on-line letter campaign athttps://secure3. convio.net/ fww/site/ Advocacy? pagename= homepage& page=UserAction& amp;id=591& autologin= true& JServSessionIdr0 04=w8pdw3w8a5. app340a

Pope Francis

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When I heard that the new pope had a degree in Philosophy, my first thought was he has the equivalent of a Liberal Arts degree! He is humble and lives his life that way….

But after reading this….well, the bit of hope that a new light was coming over the horizon was short-lived…

The article states that the church was publicly endorsing the dictatorship while Bergoglio was helping the victims behind the scenes.  It says he never mentioned this before because of humility.

Well, I think there is a difference between humility and cowardice.  Being a leader requires one to speak out to one’s heart…and if Bergoglio was against the dictatorship, he should have said so.  People were being murdered.

I’m thinking about the Underground Railroad…and how folks there had to go about things in a secret manner, but they weren’t leaders of a church…so I’m having difficulty understanding the thinking that one should support such a government in public?

And the “War on God” thing?  Yeah, that sounds extreme…small glimmer of hope fading fast…

Pakistan and Iran…

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…have a new pipeline going in…

Monday’s ceremony comes just days before the Pakistani government’s term is set to expire and could be designed to win votes by making the ruling Pakistan People’s Party look like it’s addressing the energy crisis. It also allows the government to thumb its nose at the United States, which is widely unpopular in Pakistan despite billions of dollars in U.S. military and civilian aid.

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And then there’s this.

…my “antenna” is going up on these two stories.  Perhaps not related, but I’m just wondering at the timing of the story? Why now?  Or is this a case of making an accusation in order to get the U.S. to placate Afghanistan? Is he perhaps fishing for more $$$ in aid? Does this have anything to do with the pipeline being built in Afghanistan and now this new pipeline threatens the profits they hoped to make on it—and they see the U.S. as not doing enough to block the new pipeline?

Time will tell…

…meanwhile, the innocent bystanders will continue to pay the price…

Drug pushing psychiatrists….

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I found this obit yesterday.  Wow….it never ceases to amaze me how depraved people can be…

“A large proportion of the people who have gotten involved in research in this area have been harebrained and irresponsible — Timothy Leary being the most notorious example — and a lot of the stuff that has been published reflects that,” Klee told the Baltimore Evening Sun in 1975.

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Klee was quoted in the article as saying he took LSD to see what it was like because he couldn’t give a drug to someone without experiencing himself.  Did he had anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, and other drugs, too?  How much did the LSD affect his own performance and brain function?  Did it alter his perception of what happened to not only himself but the poor saps that were experimented upon?

It is good that he finally came clean and reported yet another experiment on the unsuspecting….but it would have been better had he refused to participate and blown the whistle on the whole scheme to begin with.

My thoughts on Leary here.

Sea Otter

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My nature calendar has the Sea Otter for this month’s animal.  They are just too, too cute. 

The article mentions that they are threatened by pollution.  Here’s the National Geographic page on them–explaining in a little more detail.

~~A side note~ they had the link to the manatee/sea lion deaths on the National Geographic page, so I thought I’d post it, too.  The poor manatees have been endangered for awhile–I used to vacation in the Sarasota, Florida, area, many years ago, and it was a problem for the manatees to get hit by boats, killing them or injuring them severely.

What this article doesn’t explain is how the cat feces is making its way to the oceans…is it the flushable kitty litter that enters the waterways?  Is it trash that contains kitty litter being dumped in the oceans?  It would be easier to address the problem if we knew the cause and made people aware of it.

I also think it is much, much more than the kitty litter.  The mercury/heavy metal poisoning is a problem, too.  And one has to consider that if they are finding prescription drugs in our water supply, it is likely to have made it to the oceans, as well.  According to this, they have made it into the other bodies of water. More here.

Here’s a more up to date article on marine pollution.  Would one say that selfish shellfishers are troublemakers? (sorry couldn’t resist).

As the article states, the sea otters help the kelp forests by controlling the feeding populations.  Without kelp, we humans would be in serious trouble as kelp is a natural source of iodine and other minerals.  The Native Americans would make trips to the oceans (if they were not along the coastline) to gather the seaweed because they knew of its value.  Our thyroids don’t function without iodine.

(And that picture is just gorgeous, too)

 

 

In harmony with nature

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Bhutan is the first country to go entirely organic.  Good for them!  Note that they see this as not only a practical idea, but they incorporate their spirituality in their reverence for nature.  It’s not easy, as the article states, because it’s hard to reorient oneself to farming without chemicals.  Chemicals are just too, too easy.  It takes creative thinking and hard work to do the right thing.

<sigh> I wish the so-called progressive America did the same.  (Remember when the United States used to lead the world?)

No, we’re not the leaders anymore….

…we’d much rather do stupid stuff like genetically engineer a life form and then persecute farmers into bankruptcy for using that technology unknowingly.

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In other environmental news, Canadian Prime Minister Harper is being urged to walk away from yet another trade agreement.

From the article:

The Australian government decided in 2011 it would stop including these rights and investor-state dispute settlement in its trade and investment agreements. Many countries, including South Africa and India, are rethinking their investment treaties because of the way corporations and law firms have abused them to undermine democracy and public policies globally. Several Latin American countries are cancelling their investment treaties for the same reason.

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Again, I ask, “remember when the U.S. used to lead the world….?”  Why are other countries doing the right thing while America lists like a battered ship in the sea?