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By Tracy Turner
Before there was Occupy
Wallstreet, there was Woody Guthrie and his political songs during
the days of the Dust Bowl, the great depression of the 1930's.
Many within the Occupy Wallstreet Movement (for that is what
Occupy is, a political movement) lean left, towards Progressivism,
Socialism and perhaps even Communism. Who can blame them, the
Democratic left itself has sold out to Corporatism, Oligarchism
and Plutarchism?
By Jim Freeman
By Rob Kall
By Dylan Ratigan
By Rev. Dan Vojir
The statement of a teenage
lesbian is awaited by the world: and if it should point to a hate
crime...
By Bill van Auken
By William Barclay
By Lenore Daniels
By Sandy Shanks
By Russ Baker
When almost no media
anymore question these barely disguised coups against
uncooperative standing governments, we are in very deep trouble.
Because if we can't count on the media to tell us what is going on
in far-off places, what may we expect of them closer to home? We
are witnessing a crisis for journalism that is nothing less than a
crisis for democracy itself.
By Steven Forrest
In an ideal world ruled by
the just, some monitoring would be acceptable to preserve our
nations against those who would do us harm but anytime one gives a
corrupt system power to pry into their lives, those entrenched
within the bowels of it's offices will always want more and more
until all freedoms of privacy become a distant memory and
corruption takes the place of representation.
Did the Big Bang
need a "Creator" to start the universe?
Our universe could have
popped into existence 13.7 billion years ago without any divine
help whatsoever, researchers say... "The Big Bang could've
occurred as a result of just the laws of physics being there,"
said astrophysicist Alex Filippenko of the University of
California, Berkeley. "With the laws of physics, you can get
universes"... The origin of the laws of physics remains a
mystery for now, he added, one that we may never be able to
solve. "The 'divine spark' was whatever produced the laws of
physics," Filippenko said. "And I don't know what produced that
divine spark. So let's just leave it at the laws of physics." -
I think I have a better idea.
By Dennis Loo
By shamus cooke
By David Swanson
Why Jesus Died
Kucinich lends
moral support to postal hunger strike
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio) on Monday helped kick off a hunger strike of postal
workers protesting what they say is an effort to privatize and
dismantle the cash-strapped United States Postal Service. The
strike -- which includes 10 postal workers, union activists and
supporters, but not Kucinich himself -- is the latest in a long
saga of efforts to reform the postal service as it faces a dim
financial future. While lawmakers generally agree that postal
reform is necessary, they disagree on the specifics.
By Joan Brunwasser
I think you would be
hard pressed to find someone who thinks that speaking out
against human trafficking is offensive. That being said, I think
the edgy and unique nature of this project will draw attention,
which is what makes it so great. At first glance, it could look
questionable but that will draw people in and make them stop. We
pride ourselves in pushing the envelope a bit.
Citing the Angola
3 case, TIME says "It's Time To End Solitary Confinement in U.S.
Prisons "
This week, the Angola 3
and the broader issue of torture in US prisons was the focus of a
Time Magazine essay. Time's Adam Cohen writes: In April, Albert
Woodfox and Herman Wallace marked a grim anniversary. The two
Louisiana State Prison inmates, both in their 60s, had been held
in solitary confinement for 40 years. Amnesty International
condemned their punishment as "cruel, inhuman and degrading" and
called it a violation of human rights law...Last week's
congressional hearing is the biggest step yet in the drive to end
or curb solitary confinement. Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat
of Illinois, said he intends to introduce a bill to reform how
solitary confinement is used in federal prisons. The anti-solitary
confinement campaign has one more factor working in its favor: the
current weak economy. At the hearing, Senator Durbin noted that
solitary confinement is extremely expensive..
The truth about
the Fast and Furious scandal - Investigation
A Fortune investigation
reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall
into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to
believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and
political bloodlust... Irony abounds when it comes to the Fast
and Furious scandal. But the ultimate irony is this: Republicans
who support the National Rifle Association and its attempts to
weaken gun laws are lambasting ATF agents for not seizing enough
weapons--ones that, in this case, prosecutors deemed to be
legal.
'Epic' Fire
Forces Tens of Thousands to Flee in Colorado
A record-breaking heat
wave in Colorado has generated what one local fire chief called
a 'firestorm of epic proportions' and forced approximately
32,000 people to flee their homes near the town of Colorado
Springs. Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved
into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs,
Colo., June 26, 2012.
By Sam Pizzigati
Charts: The
Supreme Court's Rightward Shift
If the Supreme Court
strikes down all or part of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a.
Obamacare, it will undoubtedly cement the Roberts court's
reputation as the most conservative in years. That's not an
entirely a matter of opinion. Thanks to an amazing trove of data
collected by law professors Andrew Martin and Kevin Quinn and the
Supreme Court Database, the court's rightward trajectory can be
confirmed.
OECD Warns US
Against Immediate Deficit Cuts
A new report from an
international economic organization makes a strong case that
many of the Obama Administration's policies that Republican
Party leaders decry as radical and socialist are in fact
uncontroversial, fact-based ideas embraced by experts from 34
developed countries.
By Chris Lamb
By Stephen Lendman
By Robert Reich
The GOP's highest-ranking
member of Congress said his "number one aim" is to unseat
President Obama. For more than three years congressional
Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to do just that.
They couldn't care less if they mangle our government in pursuit
of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the
filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress
in history.
By earl ofari hutchinson
By Robert Parry
On Sunday, the Washington
Post published a column accusing President Obama and his campaign
of lying for calling Mitt Romney a "corporate raider" who
outsourced jobs. But the writer, Glenn Kessler, now acknowledges
that he was aware of new evidence that buttressed the campaign's
charge.
US Live Fire off N. Korean Coast Celebrates US War 10 Facts of
History Condemn US
"U.S. troops participated in
the live-fire training exercise, June 22, three days prior to the
62nd anniversary of the start of Korean War." This is an appropriate
occasion to review the horrible truth about Wall Street's key
investment program for Korea reaching back to 1905 at a time when
the Yankee trader was breaching the monopoly of European Colonial
Powers in Asia, butchering in the Philippines and looting Beijing.
Poem,Citizens
United,Exploitation
A Baby Whale, A Tortoise Cat, and a Cruel Horse Round-up
Magnitsky Bill Drags Senators into Foreign Plot
Boland Amendment Redux
It won't be long until we
are bombing the crap out of Syria. We might be bombing Iran at the
same time. Many Americans think this is a great idea. It doesn't
matter that neither nation has attacked us, that isn't a
prerequisite for warring against another nation. Maybe we'll see
Ahmadinejad getting a machete up his ass like we saw with Gadhafi.
That should be good for Obama's percentage points in the polls.
If angry aliens did attack
Earth, 21% would call the Hulk in to deal with it, 12% would call
Batman, and 8% would call Spider-Man." There is some rational news
in this sea of insanity, however, and it's refreshing to read that
the religiously insane global-climate-change deniers lost a key
battle in their war to rid the world of all non-Biblical
scientific research.
The fact that Republican
claims of massive regulatory burdens are so out of line with
reality should be a cause of ridicule. The media should be
pressing them to produce some evidence to back up what they are
saying. After all, the public has a right to know whether the
people running for or holding office are completely out touch with
reality.
Why Media's Health Care Reform Coverage Was Even Worse Than
You Thought
The news coverage of the
health-care debate provided by the "liberal media" represented a
godsend to the Republican Party and the larger conservative
movement. Coverage was stacked overwhelmingly in their favor in
terms of the volume of GOP talking points stressed. The net
results from the skewed coverage? Less than 20 percent of
Americans say they have a clear understanding of what's actually
in the health-care law.
It's Time to Examine the "Job Creators" by David George
Tom Engelhardt: A Subprime Education in a Subprime World
Did Arizona Senate Candidate Jeff Flake Lobby For Apartheid In
South Africa? The Audio Recording Says Yes
Recently, we learned two
important things about Mitt Romney. First, he would rather see the
American economy fail than President Barack Obama win. Second, the
extent of his hypocrisy is amazing. While he laments the toll that
outsourcing has taken on our workers and economy, he amassed a
fortune by investing in companies that outsourced American jobs.
New York primary results: Rangel survives
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)
has won the Democratic nomination in his Harlem-based district,
paving the way for a 22nd term in Congress as he turned aside a
crowded primary field Tuesday. With 84 percent of precincts
reporting, Rangel led state Sen. Adriano Espaillat 45 percent to
40 percent. The AP has called the race for Rangel.
Willem Buiter: Spain And Italy Will Need Bailouts
After Spain's bank
bail-out, Cyprus or Italy will be the next euro area countries to
apply for a troika bail-out, in our viewWe believe the need for a
sovereign bail-out for Spain and Italy will be driven by a lack of
affordable access to market funding and a lack of credibility of
the respective sovereigns' commitments to engage in sufficient
fiscal and structural reform.
Major US Retirement Fund Divests From Caterpillar
After a long campaign by
human rights activists urging divestment from Israel, the US
retirement fund TIAA-CREF has removed the Caterpillar corporation
from its socially responsible investment fund, a divestment of $72
million from Caterpillar. Caterpillar Corporation, based in
Illinois, is a focus of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS)
movement due to its sale of equipment used by Israel to demolish
Palestinian homes.
News Corp.'s Murdoch Said to Consider Splitting Company
News Corp. (NWS) is
considering breaking up the company into two publicly held
entities after a phone- hacking scandal at its U.K. newspapers
increased pressure to cordon off the publishing business. Murdoch
is contemplating the breakup -- a move some investors have sought
for years -- after a hacking scandal threatened the company's
holdings in satellite-TV company British Sky Broadcasting Group.
News Corp. has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for financial advice
on the plan.
Student loan rate deal reached, Senate leaders say
Top leaders in the Senate
say they have reached a deal on freezing student loan rates for
another year, though they are still deciding the mechanics for how
the proposal should make its way through the Congress in the final
busy days before lawmakers leave Washington for a week-long July 4
holiday. "We're very close to having everything done. But until we
get everything done, nothing's done," Reid said.
Prominent Americans urge Ecuador to accept Julian Assange's
asylum request
A letter signed by leading
US figures in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's
application for political asylum in Ecuador has been delivered to
the country's London embassy. Among those who signed the letter
were Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky and Danny Glover.
Other signatories included the author Naomi Wolf, comedian Bill
Maher and Daniel Ellsberg, the former US military analyst turned
whistleblower, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and has been
a long-standing supporter of Assange.
Eugene Robinson: One country, one immigration law
The majority opinion,
written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, points out something that
many who seek to participate in the immigration debate fail to
understand: "As a general rule, it is not a crime for a removable
alien to remain present in the United States." That's right. It's
not a crime for "illegal" immigrants to live and work here without
the proper documents. By "here" I mean all 50 states. The United
States is one country with one immigration policy, and the Supreme
Court means to keep it this way.
How Jan Brewer and Many Others Got the Supreme Court's
Immigration Ruling Wrong
The Supreme Court declined
to block the "papers, please" provision of the law--which Brewer
refers to as its "heart"--that requires local authorities to check
the immigration status of anyone they arrest. But the high court
did not find the controversial provision constitutional, and so it
was not "upheld." It's anyone's guess how the court might
ultimately rule on the "papers, please" provision, Justice Anthony
Kennedy's opinion gives very specific guidance on how that part of
the law should be enforced. That suggests that in the future, the
court could very well find the provision unconstitutional--meaning
that Brewer's celebration was beyond premature.
China Embraces Ponzi-Bonds
Severe Reactions Higher than Thought in Children with Food
Allergies
Young children with
allergies to milk and egg experience reactions to these and other
foods more often than researchers had expected, a study reports. The
study also found that severe and potentially life-threatening
reactions in a significant number of these children occur and that
some caregivers are hesitant to give such children epinephrine, a
medication that reverses the symptoms of such reactions and can save
lives.
Nanotube 50,000 Times Thinner than a Human Hair
At the right temperature,
with the right catalyst, there's no reason a perfect single-walled
carbon nanotube 50,000 times thinner than a human hair can't be
grown a meter long.
Have a Seat! The Most Impressive One Around!
Scientists have invented a
new toilet system that will turn human waste into electricity and
fertilizers and also reduce the amount of water needed for
flushing by up to 90 per cent compared to current toilet systems.
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