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- Democracy Now with Amy Goodman | TV Channel

- America's #1 Populist Jim Hightower On Air

- Mark Fiore Animated Political Cartoons ^

- Documentary - Bilderberg and the Obama Deception
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Jewish TV Channel ^

Al Arabiya News Channel - Home Page ^

- Real clear Politics Daily Rundown - Impressive, Far Ranging, Warmly Recommended ^

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Top StoriesUpdate | Friday, 2.02pm EST |

Update | Friday, 2.02pm EST | From the Ground: BP Criminality | Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence ^
Huffington Post - By Riki Ott - Friday, june11, 2010

Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.

Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.

Editor - One thing is certain, when there is a major region-wide disaster of incredible proportions together with blatant human irresponsibility, both governmental and corporate, you can't hide it in a dust bin. Unless, of course, the sanitation truck picks it up before the public learns about it. Unless the dust bins are too numerous for easy and quick disposal. Unless the corporation and government agencies are careless about hiding the truth. The result is somewhat analogous to catching Johnny with a swath 0f Belgian chocolate on his face and hands and three boxex of chocolate gone-a-missin' from the cupboard.

Next time we'll use more force' - Israeli Navy prepares for expected arrival of 2 more activist ships ^
Jerusalem Post / AP - By Yaakov Katz and JPost .com Staff - June 1, 2010

Israel will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent ships from breaking the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, a top Navy commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," the officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war."

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International News

Plumes of Oil Deep in Gulf Are Spreading Far, Tests Find ^
The New York Times - By Justin Gillis Campbell Robertson and John Broder - - Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Tests conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida found that the concentrations of oil-related chemicals in the water were generally low. Still, the tests confirmed that some toxic compounds that would normally be expected to evaporate from the surface in a shallow-water oil spill were instead spreading through the ocean.

Mark Fiore Animated Cartoon | A Message from BP - The oil company wants to blame the spill on us! ^

Brits Critisize American Criticism ^
Slate - Thursday, June 10, 2010
BP has agreed to expedite payments to Gulf Coast residents affected by the oil spill. According to the AP, the Obama administration had pressed BP to speed up payments, especially those to businesses that have been shut down by the disaster. But that's about the only thing BP has done right recently. Another AP story reveals that before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP's spill response plans were littered with "glaring errors and omissions." The 582-page document listed as a potential consultant one envrionmental expert who was dead. Others were listed with incorrect names or phone numbers. The plan describes walruses, sea lions, sea otters, and seals as "sensitive biological resources," despite the fact that none of these animals live in the Gulf.

It also contains "wildly false assumptions about oil spills," both how to evaluate them and how to clean them up. American lawmakers are furious. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the AP report "paints a picture of a company that was making it up as it went along," and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., helpfully suggested dunking BP executives in oil. But across the pond, the British citizens whose fortunes are tied to that of British Petroleum are getting tired of the constant criticism. "When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves," the mayor of London said. Brits are enraged at the suggestion that BP stop paying out dividends, an idea which sent BP stock diving yesterday. According to the New York Times, BP dividends account for one-eighth of the payments made to British pensioners.

Editor - It is often forgotten that buying stocks in the market place is a form of gambling, pure and simple. Sometime, regretably, you lose, sometime you win - just like at the casino.

BP and Officials Block News Coverage of Oil Spill / Blowout and More ^
Truthout - Thursday 10 June 2010

Mark Fiore Animated Cartoon | Little Green Man - What would an extraterrestrial think of our oil dependency? ^

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United States Government
Barack Obama finding out 'whose ass to kick' over oil spill ^
The Guardian - By Adam Gadatt - Tuesday, June 8, 2010

US president defends his handling of Gulf oil spill, telling NBC he would have already sacked BP chief Tony Hayward.
Editor - "Kick ass" - Quite a dramatic use of the English language under the circumstances, Prez, especially given that you don't control BP. More to the point, what are you doing in the realm of your responsibilities in the case of national catastrophes as chief honcho of the US government? Do we have another 'Katrina Missing president' in the Whie House? Four trips to the Gulf Coast in a week to talk to the fishermen there doesn't qualify as the best use of of constitutional duties and time in the evolving situation. Punto.

Editor - Meanwhile, of course, Obama has been abroad in the land raising funds at several political events. Washington, it seems, is in a somnelent state of never-never land. This is a national-cum-international emergency requiing major application of science. new institutional structures, technology and deep thinking. BP is incapable of putting all that together. Its Forte is making money. Meanwhile our president is touring Louisiana "assessing the sitation" by talking to the fishermen. To repeat a quote from today's edition, "The only recognizable feature of hope is action." I'm sorry to say that raising funds from the 'politically blind' is not likely to be the kind of action he needs to take avoid having to vacate the White House in January 2013.

BP vs Obama's Climate Complacency ^
ahm Emanuel persuaded the President to play it cool on climate legislation. But post spill, can he bring some heat to the game?
Mother Jones - By Eric Pooley - Thursday, June 10, 2020

Engulfed by the worst environmental disaster in US history, Barack Obama is trying to change the subject. On May 26 the president pledged to "keep fighting to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation," and on June 2 he declared, "The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean-energy future." Pivoting from oil spill to climate bill makes sense; a mandatory, declining cap on emissions is America's best chance to wean itself off of fossil fuels—and Obama's best chance to wring some good out of the catastrophe. With the Senate expected to vote today on Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) call to march in the wrong direction—a resolution stripping the EPA of the power to regulate greenhouse gases—this will clearly be a battle. But what did the president mean by "keep fighting?" As the campaigners on the front lines of the climate war know, Obama has not yet begun to fight.

Editor - How about starting by easing Emanuel out of his White House post?

Will Obama Break Sweat on Climate Legislation? ^
Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Monday, June 7, 2010

Here's the president on March 31st, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: "Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy."

Here he is on May 26th, as political pressure starts to really build over the hole in the bottom of the sea that BP somehow seems unable to plug: "We're not going to be able to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use. The planet can't sustain it." Still, he added quickly, there's no need for any dramatics: "We're not going to transition out of oil next year or 10 years from now."

And here is the president last Wednesday, after yet another gimcrack solution at 5,000 feet under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico had gone awry, and real anger at the administration's lackluster performance crested: "[T]he time has come to aggressively accelerate [the transition from fossil fuels.] The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future."

The question is: which one is the real Obama? Has he really been transformed by the oil spill in the Gulf, or is he merely trying to ride out the public reaction with stronger words? I think the answer is as murky as the water off Mobile. We don't know because so far it's all words—the closest he's come to specifics is that pledge that we won't be off oil in a decade.

Editor - Have you noticed? Obama rarely speaks in specifics. Almost no clear policy statements in which he announces grounds for concrete action. Few indications of movement within his administration to handle the nation's problems. So far he's no FDR.

Harry Reid vs. the Oath Keeper Wanna-Be ^Mother Jones - By Dave Gilson - Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Sharron Angle won yesterday's primary to become Nevada's Republican candidate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's seat. She may have never advocated bartering for health care with chickens, as her opponent Sue Lowden did, but Angle already has some issues. Beyond embracing the Tea Party, she's also reached out to the Oath Keepers, the fringe patriot group whose core membership of cops and soldiers are gearing up to resist the Obama administration's anticipated slide toward outright tyranny.

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Activism at the Ground Level

The only recognizable feature of hope is action.
-- Grace Paley

"The strength of a democracy is, as in nature, in the roots, not in the flamboyant leaves and flowers that wither and die after a couple of terms in public office."
-- Editor, homosapiens.ki

Action Alert | Stop the Spread of Genetically Engineered Trees ^
Democracy in Action -Current

Act now! Send an email to the nation’s top retail office supply stores and insist that they reject paper products from GE trees!
Organic Consumers Association - Current.

Pentagon Manhunt ^
The Daily Beast - By Philip Shenon - Friday, June 11, 2010

Anxious that Wikileaks may be on the verge of publishing a batch of secret State Department cables, investigators are desperately searching for founder Julian Assange. Philip Shenon reports. Plus, Daniel Ellsberg tells The Daily Beast: "Assange is in Danger."

(This story has been updated to reflect new developments on Assange's whereabouts, including the cancelation of a scheduled appearance in Las Vegas this Friday night.)

Pentagon investigators are trying to determine the whereabouts of the Australian-born founder of the secretive website Wikileaks for fear that he may be about to publish a huge cache of classified State Department cables that, if made public, could do serious damage to national security, government officials tell The Daily Beast.

The officials acknowledge that even if they found the website founder, Julian Assange, it is not clear what they could do to block publication of the cables on Wikileaks, which is nominally based on a server in Sweden and bills itself as a champion of whistleblowers.

Assange Is in Some Danger' ^
The Daily Beast - By Samuel P. Jacobs - Friday, June 11, 2010

As feds hunt for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange in hopes of preventing him from publishing diplomatic secrets, Samuel P. Jacobs talks with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg about why he should stay out of America—and why some things should be kept secret.

Government officials tell The Daily Beast that they are searching for Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, whom they believe is in possession of State Department secrets leaked to him by an Army intelligence specialist now under arrest. As Assange, the Australian champion of whistleblowers cancelled a public appearance in Las Vegas Friday night, The Daily Beast talked with Daniel Ellsberg, the legendary leaker of the Pentagon Papers about Assange’s safety and what he would do if he were in possession of the State Department’s confidential traffic. Since standing trial for providing state secrets to newspapers—he was acquitted in 1973—Ellsberg has become an author and activist.

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Communities and Species

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Video | Penny earns her name: Pennies removed from duck ^
LINK ^

USA | Anti-Tax Voters Bring Hard Times to Colorado Springs - Video ^
Truthout - Thursday, June 10, 20

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Economy and Finance

- Bloomberg Economic News ^

Bloomberg Current Worldwide Financial News

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Energy

Op-Ed | Europe Energized ^
The New York Times - Tuesday, June 8, 2010
It could learn plenty by looking across the Atlantic.

The average European today emits half the carbon of an average American and uses far less electricity. It takes 40 percent more fuel for an American car to drive a mile than a European car. Europe overall has managed to reduce its ecological footprint to half that of the United States for the same standard of living.

How has Europe managed this? Through smart, strategic government policy, working closely with the private sector, to advance incentives and regulations that encourage the necessary behavior from consumers, households and businesses.

While the U.S. has resorted to ill-fated strategies to secure more oil — including recent calls for more offshore drilling — the European landscape has been slowly transformed. Picture windmills, tidal turbines and solar panels on rooftops dotting the European landscape, and vast solar arrays with tens of thousands of panels that have tracking technology to follow the sun.

Then add “smart” energy-efficient buildings that monitor the temperature and sunlight to open and close window panels and blinds automatically. Imagine harnessing the body warmth of 250,000 daily commuters to produce heat for a nearby office block, with high-speed trains circling it all, linking major cities, whisking passengers in carbon-friendly efficiency. All of these inventions and more are becoming reality in Europe.

Europe leads the world in the production of wind power — the U.S. has less than half of Europe’s wind capacity and China barely a third. Solar power has also surged, with photovoltaic capacity in the European Union growing at an annual rate of 70 percent.

Other energy forms are being developed, including geothermal, biomass and small-scale hydro. Captain Nemo’s dream of power from the sea has taken the form of large cylindrical “sea snakes” bobbing in the ocean, transforming wave motion into electric power, as well as underwater “seamills” — turbines churning in the currents, producing carbon-free power.

Renewable energy technologies have proliferated in Europe. Energy companies are required to pay producers of wind and solar power three times more per kilowatt than they pay for conventional power. That has created economies of scale allowing renewable technologies to expand.

Editor - Let's face it -- the US does not have a modern national energy policy that one could write home about. The American society is largely limping along on late 19th century energy solutions, together with a lapsing and dangerous 20th century nuclear ennergy dead-end approach. It is past time when goverment should set up an integrated national commission of scientists, technologists and thinkers to study Europe's strategies and practical solutions for fossil free energy -- with working groups to move the strategies off the desktop into visible institutions and proects across the land and out of the doo-doo of political ineptitude in Congress and the White House. It's already past time to jerk ourselves out of the 19th and 20th century lock of ground-dependent energy into 21st century air, solar and water based solutions.

We are depending on energy that built out-of-date industrial-based life styles while Europe charges ahead in the use of advanced technologies to sustain and enrich communal life. Can the Obama administration and Congrss lead the nationn out of the present morass of political bickering and personal upstaging too much experienced in recent years. More and more doubtful as American culture and life approaches a basket-case scenario. And, does this useless and seemingly endless drama with a low blood count lead us further from a healthy political and economic life style? In sum, for this task Obama shoul dump a sizeabe number of his current advisers and show some Truman-FDR-ish spunk to put a brake on America's decline and show a fresh face to the world. If you can't see the picture yet, keep your eyes open, turn on the neurons in your head. A and think about this over the next months.

AND, Oh yes, turn off your television sets. the're not conducive to thinking. It would be intersting to know, in fact, proportion of tme in front of the flickerin screen in devoted to sleeing. I gave mine away when Bush invaded Iraq and my head, devoid of endless militay and political punditry has been noticeably clearer since. Thinking incidentally, they say, promotes brower-wrinkling. Of course, you can always use Botox to dispel the impession that you are a thinking person, God forbid.

It is ntersting, incidentally, that I placed this comment under the 'Energy' section. I could just as easily have popped it into the "Education' or "Actvism" sections, but maybe that would have been a little too 'pushy'

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Environment

Video | China's 'cancer villages' reveal dark side of economic boom ^
The Guardian - By Jonathan Watts - Monday, June 7, 2010

Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it ^
The Guardian - By John Vidal, Environment Editor - Sunday, May 30, 2010

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Food and Nutrition

Stop patenting the food chain! Meat now claimed as invention by multinational company of Monsanto ^

As experience from the US shows, patents on seeds and increasing market concentration are leading to drastic increase in seed prices, reduced choice in seeds and soaring dependencies for farmers. Meanwhile the Department of Justice and state attorneys general in several US states are investigating whether Monsanto Company has abused its market power to lock out competitors and raise prices in seeds. The coalition of 'No Patents on Seeds is warning that market concentration will even increase if the abuse of patent law is not stopped. The coalition is supported globally by more than 200 organisations. The organisations are demanding a clear change in policy and practise of patent offices. Governments are urged to to revise the patent laws in order to exclude patents on seeds, animals and parts thereof.

Je veux savoir ce que je mange. Est-ce trop en demander?

Monsanto, which started out as one of the planets largest chemical companies is also responsible for such chemical compounds as Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, PCBs and genetically-engineered crops.

Link TV Exposes the Rape of Latin American Environment and Human Health by the European and American Soy Industry ^
Link TV - Current

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Religion and Philosophy

Update - 06/11/10 01:42 PM | Pope Begs Forgiveness Over Sex Abuse - Promises Action ^
Huffington Post - By Nicole Winfield - Friday, june 11, 2010

ATICAN CITY — Addressing the clerical abuse scandal from the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. At a Mass celebrated by 15,000 priests from around the world Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness Friday from victims and promised to "do everything possible" to protect children.

While symbolic, Benedict's pledge failed to satisfy victims groups who said promises were useless without a clear-cut action plan to root out pedophile priests, expose the bishops who protected them and change the Vatican policies and culture that allowed abuse to continue.

Dare We Call This Religion? | The Extremist Christians Are Growing Stronger ^
Truthout ?Truthdig - By Chris Hedges - Monday, June 7, 2010

Tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement known as the Christian right, have begun to dismantle the intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment. They are creating a theocratic state based on "biblical law," and shutting out all those they define as the enemy. This movement, veering closer and closer to traditional fascism, seeks to force a recalcitrant world to submit before an imperial America. It champions the eradication of social deviants, beginning with homosexuals, and moving on to immigrants, secular humanists, feminists, Jews, Muslims and those they dismiss as "nominal Christians"—meaning Christians who do not embrace their perverted and heretical interpretation of the Bible. Those who defy the mass movement are condemned as posing a threat to the health and hygiene of the country and the family. All will be purged.

The followers of deviant faiths, from Judaism to Islam, must be converted or repressed. The deviant media, the deviant public schools, the deviant entertainment industry, the deviant secular humanist government and judiciary and the deviant churches will be reformed or closed. There will be a relentless promotion of Christian "values," already under way on Christian radio and television and in Christian schools, as information and facts are replaced with overt forms of indoctrination. The march toward this terrifying dystopia has begun. It is taking place on the streets of Arizona, on cable news channels, at tea party rallies, in the Texas public schools, among militia members and within a Republican Party that is being hijacked by this lunatic fringe.

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Science and Technology

- Bloomberg Index of Current Science News ^

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Social Issues

Mark Fiore Animated Cartoon | Police State Pete - Who Won't the Cops Arrest in Arizona ^

Deepwater Horizon widow asks: how do I tell my children their father is dead? ^

Her testimony, given in Louisiana before a visiting congressional committee today, brought raw emotion and a human element to the often technical discussion of blowout preventers and well control during the extensive hearings into the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon that has devastated the Gulf of Mexico.

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Archive of Miscellany

- Dance Video | MICA | "Blame It On The Girls ^

- Musical Group Video | Neville Brothers - Yellow Moon ^

- Out of the Hills | Jesus Is Coming Soon -The Oak Ridge Boys ^

- Musicians mix Coldplay and Taylor Swift together - Enjoy ^

- Music Video | "Democracy Is Coming to the USA" - Leonard Cohen ^

- usic Video | Leonard Cohen | "First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin ^

- Music Video | Jordan Page - "Listen" | What If This Happened On Your Street? ^

- Music Video | Jordan Page - "Pendulum ^

- Music video - Neville Brothers performing "Fearless ^

- Video - The Arts of Peace vs Violence ^

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