Kill Lists? Dems don't want to know

On national security, Obama routinely disregards the rule of law -- and his party remains willfully ignorant

(Salon) But, there’s also an additional way to read this...namely, as the predictable result of a political duopoly that so fundamentally agrees on extra-constitutional national security and civil liberties policies, that those policies are no longer permitted to be part of any “serious” national political discussion.

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The Plot Against Occupy

How the government turned five stoner misfits into the world's most hapless terrorist cell

(Rolling Stone) "The government has a responsibility to prevent harm," says former FBI counterterrorism agent Michael German, now the senior policy counsel for the ACLU. "What they're doing instead is manufacturing threatening events."

That's just how it went down in Cleveland, where the defendants started out as disoriented young men wrestling with alienation, identity issues and your typical bucket of adolescent angst. They were malleable, ripe for some outside influence to coax them onto a new path. That catalyst could have come in the form of a friend, a family member or a cause. Instead, the government sent an informant.

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Obama's justice department grants final immunity to Bush's CIA torturers

(the Guardian) By closing two cases of detainees tortured to death, Obama has put the US beyond any accountability under the rule of law

Note how, in Obama's new formulation, those who believed that Bush officials should be held criminally accountable for their torture crimes – should be subjected to the rule of law on equal terms with ordinary citizens – were now scorned as "the forces that divide us". On the same day, Holder issued his own statement arguing that "it would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the justice department."

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The GOP is Run By Liars, Cheats, Criminals and Traitors Who Hate Rules, Freedom, Democracy, and America

A 2nd U.S. Civil War?

Child Porn, Coke Smuggling: Hundreds of DHS Employees Arrested Last Year

(Wired) Border Patrol agents smuggling weed and coke. Immigration agents forging documents and robbing drug dealers. TSA employees caught with child porn. Those are just a few of the crimes perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security employees in just the past year.

According to a newly released DHS inspector general’s summary of its significant investigations, 318 DHS employees and contractors were arrested in 2011 (.pdf). That’s about one arrest per weekday of the men and women who are supposed to be keeping the country safe. The report lets us not only see how corrupt some agents tasked with protecting the homeland can be, it also gives us a scale of the problem. In short: There are a lot of dirty immigration and border officers.

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Famous People Buy Fake Twitter "Followers" To Make People Think They Are More Popular Than They Really Are

(NY Times) Celebrities, politicians, start-ups, aspiring rock stars, reality show hopefuls — anyone who might benefit from having a larger social media footprint — are known to have bought large blocks of Twitter followers.

If accurate, the number of fake followers out there is surprising. According to the StatusPeople tool, 71 percent of Lady Gaga’s nearly 29 million followers are “fake” or “inactive.” So are 70 percent of President Obama’s nearly 19 million followers.

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Psywar - Full Documentary

(YouTube) This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.

Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips (Project Censored), John Stauber (PR Watch), Christopher Simpson (The Science of Coercion) and others.

A deep, richly illustrated study of the nature and history of propaganda, featuring some of the world's most insightful critics, Psywar exposes the propaganda system, providing crucial background and insight into the control of information and thought.

Natural brands betray consumers over GMO labeling: NaturalNews issues boycott of Kashi, Silk, Larabar and more

(NaturalNews) It's time to defeat evil in the food industry and stop the vicious betrayal of consumers by so-called "natural" brands. They're all conspiring right now to funnel millions of dollars into a disinformation campaign to try to defeat ballot measure 37, the "GMO labeling" initiative in California (http://www.naturalnews.com/036833_GMO_labeling_YES_on_37_California.h...).

Effective immediately, NaturalNews is issuing a global boycott on the following brands:

• Kashi (owned by Kellogg, which has contributed $612,000 to defeat Proposition 37) - Kashi cereals contain GMOs!

• Silk soymilk (owned by the nation's largest dairy, Dean Foods, which has contributed $253,000 to the effort to kill Proposition 37)

• Larabar (owned by General Mills, which has contributed $520,000 to defeat proposition 37)

• R.W. Knudsen (owned by Smucker, which has contributed $387,000 to defeat proposition 37)

• Santa Cruz Organic (also owned by Smucker, which has contributed $387,000 to defeat proposition 37)

• Cascadian Farm (owned by General Mills, which has contributed $520,000 to defeat proposition 37)

• Muir Glen (also owned by General Mills, which has contributed $520,000 to defeat proposition 37)

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Why do YouTube views freeze at 301?

(YouTube) Numberphile pays a visit to YouTube and learns the secret behind one of the website's famous idiosyncrasies - why view counts on new videos often freeze at 301.

The Truth About Paul Ryan

Money As Debt II: promises unleashed

PNAS: Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior

(National Academy of Sciences)
Paul K. Piffa,1,
Daniel M. Stancatoa,
Stéphane Côtéb,
Rodolfo Mendoza-Dentona, and
Dacher Keltnera

aDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and
bRotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3E6

Edited* by Richard E. Nisbett, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved January 26, 2012 (received for review November 8, 2011)

Abstract

Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.

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Message to the Voting Cattle - Larken Rose

Reality Check: Decline in Dollar Value = Increase in Gas Prices

Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal

(Forbes) Drug warriors often contend that drug use would skyrocket if we were to legalize or decriminalize drugs in the United States. Fortunately, we have a real-world example of the actual effects of ending the violent, expensive War on Drugs and replacing it with a system of treatment for problem users and addicts.

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Growing Power

(YouTube) Growing Power is a short story of Will Allen who is the founder of "Growing Power Inc.".

Will Allen, our Chief Executive Officer believes, "If people can grow safe, healthy, affordable food, if they have access to land and clean water, this is transformative on every level in a community. I believe we cannot have healthy communities without a healthy food system."

Grow - Projects and Growing Methods - Growing Power demonstrates our easy to replicate growing methods through on-site workshops and hands-on demonstrations. We have farms in Milwaukee and Merton, Wisconsin, and in Chicago, Illinois. Growing Power has also established satellite-training sites in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Mississippi.

Bloom - Education and Technical Assistance - Growing Power's educates folks through local, national, and international outreach for farmers and communities. We also run multiple youth programs, have an active volunteer base, and actively work on policy initiatives regarding agriculture.

Thrive - Food Production and Distribution - Food production occurs in the organization's demonstration greenhouses, rural farm site in Merton, and urban farms in Milwaukee and Chicago. We also distribute produce, grass-based meats, and value-added products through the activities of over 300 small family farmers in the Rainbow Farmers Cooperative, and the organization's year-round food security program the Farm-to-City Market Basket Program.

Farmageddon - The truth about the food and dairy industry

The FMK 9C1 9mm; California and Massachussets-Approved

(FMK) American exceptionalism is that quality, Americans possess and embrace, which defines our culture and differentiates us from cultures throughout the world. Americans believe we can accomplish anything and that we can make these accomplishments without government aid. Furthermore, Americans believe it is foundational to our culture that government shall not interfere with these just aspirations and that American individualism and aspiration are God given, where government’s only role can be to protect this freedom.

Any opposition to this concept is opposition to the ideologies the American Founder’s fought for, and in fact—anti-American.

9C1 Online Manual

Ol' Blue

A young cowboy goes off to college.

Half way through the semester, he has foolishly squandered all his money.

He calls home. "Dad," he says, "You won't believe what modern education is developing! They actually have a program here that will teach our dog, Ol' Blue how to talk!"

"That's amazing," his Dad says. "How do I get Ol' Blue in that program?"

"Just send him down here with $1,000," the young cowboy says. "I'll get him in the course." So, his father sends the dog and $1,000.

About two-thirds of the way through the semester, the money again runs out. The boy calls home. "So how's Ol' Blue doing son?" his father asks.

"Awesome, Dad, he's talking up a storm," he says, "but you just won't believe this - they've had such good results they have started to teach the animals how to read!"

"Read!?" says his father, "No kidding! How do we get Blue in that program?"

"Just send $2,500, I'll get him in the class." The money promptly arrives. But our hero has a problem. At the end of the year, his father will find out the dog can neither talk, nor read. So he shoots the dog.

When he arrives home at the end of the year, his father is all excited. "Where's Ol' Blue? I just can't wait to see him read something and talk!"

"Dad," the boy says, "I have some grim news. Yesterday morning, just before we left to drive home, Ol' Blue was in the living room, kicking back in the recliner and reading the Wall Street Journal, like he usually does. Then he turned to me and asked, "So, is your daddy still messing around with that little redhead who lives down the street?"

The father exclaimed, "I hope you shot that SOB before he talks to your Mother!"

"I sure did, Dad!"

"That's my boy!"

The kid went on to law school, and now serves in Washington D.C. as a Congressman.

The Scotts Co. LLC (Miracle-Gro) Knowingly Poisons Birds, Subject of Multi-State Lawsuit

(NaturalNews) Scotts Miracle-Gro, a popular household name in gardening and lawn care products, is the subject of a new class-action lawsuit that is seeking damages for the company's willful distribution and sale of bird seed products contaminated with toxic, unapproved insecticides. Courthouse News Service (CNS) reports that plaintiffs from Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kentucky, and New Mexico have jointly filed the new suit, which follows an earlier suit in which Scotts Miracle-Gro pleaded guilty to knowingly selling poisoned bird seed to customers for over two years.

Scotts Miracle-Gro apparently started using the two chemicals as bird seed coating to prevent insects from ravaging the product in storehouses prior to shipment and use. But neither Storcide II nor Actellic 5E are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use in bird feed, and the EPA specifically recognizes Storcide II as being extremely toxic to birds, fish, and other wildlife, which means it clearly has no place being used in food given to birds.

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Georgia Tech Automated Pavement Crack Detector/Filler

Sealing cracks in roadways ensures a road’s structural integrity and extends the time between major repaving projects, but conventional manual crack sealing operations expose workers to dangerous traffic and cover a limited amount of roadway each day.

To address these challenges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) developed a prototype automated pavement crack detection and sealing system with funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation. In road tests, the system was able to detect cracks smaller than one-eighth-inch wide and efficiently fill cracks from a vehicle moving at a speed of three miles per hour.

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Security increases around Pennsylvania nuclear disposal site

Security around a nuclear waste site in western Pennsylvania has been upgraded, with DHS armed security guards replacing private guards around the site; the reason for the elevated security is the finding, by the Army Corps of Engineers, of more “complex” nuclear materials on the site; it was originally believed that the site contains only low-level nuclear material[.]

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US Claims on Russian/Syrian Arms Deals: Pot, Kettle, Black

by M. Murry



US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused Russia of supplying attack helicopters to the Syrian government in support of its defense against violent attacks from foreign-backed insurgents.

Interestingly, one of the models of helicopters which the Syrian government has in its fleet is the Mi-17, which is also the same type as the 21 machines sold by Russia to US forces in Afghanistan just over a year ago, not long after the US lifted sanctions on Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms export corporation, in 2010. The US is also currently set to sub-contract Rosoboronexport for ammunition supplies.

In addition to the Mi-17, Syria also possesses several dozen Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, which are still under repair and modernization contracts with Russia. The Obama administration has not clearly identified weapons supplied in violation of these contracts, much less any violations of sovereign or international law in its recent press releases.

Several US Senators have voiced opposition to the Pentagon's continued contractual dealings with Rosoboronexport in recent weeks because of the previous sale as well as the possible purchase of an additional 12 helicopters, and the recent reports of the Russian arms exporter supplying Iran with rocket equipment and technology (much like in 2005/06, right before imposing sanctions).

The US position of playing both sides of the fence on arms exportation and supply while leveling accusations of misconduct against the Russians is the pot calling the kettle black. At the very least, the US government contracting with the very same corporation that the US government routinely condemns for atrocities and violations of international law and democracy sends a mixed message to the people of the nation and the world.

The Economy Comes Unglued

Ever since the beginning of the financial crisis and Quantitative Easing, the question has been before us: How can the Federal Reserve maintain zero interest rates for banks and negative real interest rates for savers and bond holders when the US government is adding $1.5 trillion to the national debt every year via its budget deficits? Not long ago the Fed announced that it was going to continue this policy for another 2 or 3 years. Indeed, the Fed is locked into the policy. Without the artificially low interest rates, the debt service on the national debt would be so large that it would raise questions about the US Treasury’s credit rating and the viability of the dollar, and the trillions of dollars in Interest Rate Swaps and other derivatives would come unglued.

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