Thoughtful, Global, Timely
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By Michael Collins, on October 17th, 2013  Republicans party after big vote The Money Party’s latest training exercise with live ammunition (aimed at us) is over for a while. At the last minute, the geniuses in your nation’s capitol got it together long enough to pass a relatively clean budget resolution and raise the debt limit for a few weeks. The bill also included some intrusive income verification requirements for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare from the people who say they hate the government in their business.
The after-deal spin is simply revolting. Talking head after head said that Boehner couldn’t control his caucus and decided to let the nihilist wing of the Republican Party (aka tea party) learn a real life lesson in politics. You see, in addition to being a political hack and philanderer, Boehner is also a great teacher. He let the forty or so tea party representatives run wild to show them just what happens when you you behave like idiots. They might as well have said that pigs live in trees, the founding fathers smoked dope, or something equally ridiculous. Continue reading Uncontrollable Boehner and the Bait and Switch Index
By steeleweed, on October 18th, 2013
By actor212, on October 17th, 2013  What has two thumbs and no friends? So, you know who else besides Weaker Boener stepped on his dick with the shut-down? This guy:
Continue reading Cruz-in’ for a Bruisin’
By adrena, on October 16th, 2013 TruthOut/Buzzflash, By Mark Karlin
On Thursday night, October 17, one of the three “nobel prizes” for agriculture — The World Food Prize — will be awarded to the executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto (who specializes in GMO research), Dr. Robert T. Fraley.
Also receiving one of the coveted agricultural honors is Dr. Mary-Dell Chilton, founder and distinguished science fellow, Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. Syngenta is a competitor to Monsanto in the global GMO and pesticide market.
According to the website of The World Food Prize:
The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing — without regard to race, religion, nationality, or political beliefs — the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
The Prize recognizes contributions in any field involved in the world food supply — food and agriculture science and technology, manufacturing, marketing, nutrition, economics, poverty alleviation, political leadership and the social sciences.
The World Food Prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people. By honoring those who have worked successfully toward this goal, The Prize calls attention to what has been done to improve global food security and to what can be accomplished in the future.
Even US Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated the Monsanto and Syngenta “laureates,” when the prizes were announced earlier this summer:
More at the link
By Tina, on October 16th, 2013
By actor212, on October 16th, 2013
By Raja, on October 16th, 2013 Journalist who broke stories about widespread NSA surveillance leaving to pursue ‘once-in-a-career journalistic opportunity’
The Guardian, October 15
Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke a string of stories about widespread electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency based on files leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, has announced that he is leaving the Guardian.
In a statement posted on his blog, Greenwald said: “My partnership with the Guardian has been extremely fruitful and fulfilling. I have high regard for the editors and journalists with whom I worked and am incredibly proud of what we achieved.
“The decision to leave was not an easy one, but I was presented with a once-in-a-career opportunity that no journalist could possibly decline.
“Because this news leaked before we were prepared to announce it, I’m not yet able to provide any details of this momentous new venture, but it will be unveiled very shortly.”
By Michael Collins, on October 15th, 2013  Damaged Unit 3, left, and Unit 4 of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are seen in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., Japan) Cryptome photographs Just when you think that things couldn’t get worse, we have a typhoon of the decade headed for the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility. Dispelling the myth of ubiquitous perfectionism in Japan, the Tokyo Electric and Power Company (TEPCO) has done a bad job of reducing the risk posed by the nuclear plants. Earthquakes pose the greatest risk but typhoon are up there for serious damage and potential radiation risks. TEPCO finally asked for foreign assistance just recently.
Strong typhoon heads for Japan and Fukushima nuclear plant – South China Morning News, Oct 15
A typhoon described as the “strongest in 10 years” was closing in on Japan on Tuesday, on a path that will take it towards the precarious Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of nearly 200 kilometers per hour near its centre and bringing heavy rains, was in the Pacific south of Japan on Tuesday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The storm was moving north at 35 kilometres per hour, according to the agency. Continue reading Typhoon with 200 mph winds headed for Fukushima Wednesday afternoon
By steeleweed, on October 15th, 2013 Photos: Shoveling snow off the shed roof; Rio Grande in flood; Ray Wright (Mountain Man)
The Mountain Man was engaged in building fence across the Rio Grande at the Lower Ranch. At this specific time he was being assisted by ‘Vic’ Miller, a lad of around eighteen years and one of the group known to us as ‘the boys’, who periodically helped us with the hay harvest, usually starting as sulky-rake operators in the days when teams were in order.
It was just past the middle of June, and a belated spring with cold nights and cool days had slowed the melting of the snow in the high country. Now the weather had turned warmer and summer had arrived suddenly and unheralded. Down came in wild recklessness the deep snows of December and January, swelling the old Rio Grande to astounding proportions, to big for its bridges, and causing doubt whether it would be contained within its legal banks.
Continue reading Building Fence
By Michael Collins, on October 15th, 2013 Under investigation for taking gifts and “special” loans, the Virginia candidate for governor is undeterred from his mission to see God’s law on earth:
HUFF POST (10/15) Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been trying to downplay his outspoken opposition to abortion rights in his campaign for governor this year as part of an effort to win back the support of women voters.
But in his speech to the Christian Life Summit last year — unearthed Monday night by NBC12 — Cuccinelli said he is surprised that God has not yet “imposed” more judgment on America for allowing abortion to be legal.
“Really, given that God does judge nations, it’s amazing that abortion has run as far and foully as it has, without what I would consider to be a greater imposition of judgment on this country,” Cuccinelli said. “Who knows what the future holds?”
Video
By Michael Collins, on October 15th, 2013  It’s the Money Party in action! The drama of the government shutdown and threatened default on government obligations is entirely unnecessary. It is also harmful to the people of the United States. Government workers and contractors are idle and without income. Their communities feel the economic impact. The threat of a default is stalling investment and hiring across the country. And, the world watches and judges as Congress engages in its dangerous games.
The overarching threat is an incremental shutdown of all government services beginning on October 17. Either the debt ceiling is raised, something that’s been done 78 times since 1960, or the Treasury department begins paying debts from government funds on hand until that money runs out. It’s not that we lack the money. This is a tantrum, pure and simple. Continue reading At our expense
By Michael Collins, on October 14th, 2013 Settle the damn thing!!!
From THE WEEK
With the deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling three days away, Democrats are giving House Republicans a taste of their own medicine.
Whereas Republicans had until now been the ones making demands in exchange for funding the government and averting a debt default, Democrats, seeing their opponents on the ropes, are now probing to see if they can get something for themselves.
In terms of specifics, the debate centers on how long the automatic spending cuts mandated by the sequester should last, and how far into the future the debt ceiling should be raised. Republicans want the cuts to last as long as possible with a short-term hike in the debt ceiling, while Democrats essentially want the opposite.
By Numerian, on October 14th, 2013  After just a little more than a day into the Great Government Shutdown of 2013, the federal government quietly called back all of the Defense Department workers who had been furloughed. All CIA, NSA and other intelligence agency federal employees were brought back on the job as well. In the multiple discussions that are underway in the House, the Senate, and with the Obama administration on how to solve the budget issues, no one has said anything about making cuts in the Department of Defense budget or in the broader military-industrial complex. Talk about a third rail in politics – anything to do with defense and national security is an invisible rail that just doesn’t exist, and the thought of doing something serious about defense spending, or about United States military policy, never crosses the mind of anyone in Washington.
Continue reading And Not a Word about the Defense Department
By Michael Collins, on October 14th, 2013 Paul Craig Roberts
 Not that long ago government and free market proponents were at sword’s point, but no more. With little left in the private sector to rip off, the financial gangsters have turned to the public sector and put to work for them the free market economists’ advocacy of privatization. Governments themselves became part of the conspiracy once the politicians realized that looting public assets was an efficient way to reward their private benefactors.
We can see the entire picture in the David Cameron government’s privatization of the British Royal Mail. The prime minister has described the looting as “popular capitalism” even though the British public overwhelmingly opposes turning over the mail service to a profit-making enterprise. Continue reading Paul Craig Roberts: Whatever Became Of Western Civilization?
By Michael Collins, on October 14th, 2013
The foiled attack on Syria and Iran’s overture to reduce tensions with the United States moved the Obama administration in a new direction on foreign policy. This shift is more opportunistic than intentional but the outcomes offer a high yield at a time when the Obama administration needs some gravitas. (Image)
President Barack Obama had every intention to attack Damascus. Punishment for the alleged use of chemical weapons was the veil for a broad air campaign to assist rebels. Overwhelming public opposition stopped the president’s plan. He faced a humiliating defeat in one or both chambers of Congress.
That’s when Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped in with his two gifts for Obama. The destruction of chemical weapons in exchange for a cancellation of the attack on Syria was the first. That was followed by the remarkable call for better U.S. – Iran relations by Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani.
After a week or so of sour grapes by Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, their tune changed. Kerry complimented Syria for cooperation with the UN program to destroy its chemical stockpile. Despite efforts by Israel and the neoconservatives, the administration responded in a cautiously positive way to President Rouhani’s offer.
The new storyline from the administration Continue reading Rewriting the Syria Storyline
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