January 27, 2012

To forgive is divine; To delay a flight is feline......

Loose cat in cockpit delays Air Canada flight
Feline takeoff keeps plane on tarmac

CBC News
Posted: Jan 25, 2012 9:34 AM AT
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2012 11:38 PM AT


An escaped cat kept an Air Canada flight grounded for several hours on Wednesday.

Flight 603 was supposed to leave Halifax for Toronto just after 5:30 a.m. but the takeoff was delayed when a cat escaped from its carrier in the plane's cabin and fled to the cockpit. The feline bolted when the door to the carrier was inadvertently opened by a passenger who was attempting to put luggage in an overhead compartment.

"It's hilarious, really. It's so random," passenger Kyle Warkentin told CBC News.

Warkentin first heard about the trouble when a flight attendant announced they were looking for a cat. Ten minutes stretched into 20. More time went by with no sign of Ripples the cat. The attendants apologized for the delay. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/01/25/ns-loose-cat-plane.html

January 27, 2012

Rose Ann DeMoro: How US private insurance healthcare is failing

How US private insurance healthcare is failing
Sky-high premiums, denied treatments, families bankrupted by medical bills … which bit of US healthcare would you like?

Rose Ann DeMoro
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 January 2012


Chances are you've probably never heard of Amelia Rivera, a three year-old from New Jersey. Chances are better you have heard of 29-year-old Canadian, Sarah Burke, one of the best freestyle skiers in the world.

Burke and Rivera don't have a lot in common, but tragically, their families do. Both have been borne the scars of a callous and broken US healthcare system – which, apparently, brings a gleam to the eyes of those seeking to promote privatization in their overhaul of the NHS in the UK

For those who missed the story, Burke, the six-time X Games gold medalist, was training in Park City Utah, 20 January, when she crashed and suffered major brain trauma. Flown to a prestigious hospital in Salt Lake City, Burke spent nine days in neuro-critical care before, sadly, she died.

As if the grief of her death was not enough, Burke's husband had to start a website to ask for donations to help pay the massive medical bill, estimates ranging as high as $550,000. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/26/us-private-insurance-healthcare-system-failure

January 27, 2012

How to Reverse the Corporate Coup d'Etat

On January 20th, occupiers across the country rallied together in protest against the insidious influence of the corporations over the judiciary. Shortly before the rally in Foley Square, New York CIty, Lawrence Lessig and Chris Hedges met in front of Occupy TVNY's cameras to discuss their vision of change.

January 27, 2012

How Slavery Led to Modern Capitalism

(Bloomberg) When the New York City banker James Brown tallied his wealth in 1842, he had to look far below Wall Street to trace its origins. His investments in the American South exceeded $1.5 million, a quarter of which was directly bound up in the ownership of slave plantations.

Brown was among the world's most powerful dealers in raw cotton, and his family’s firm, Brown Brothers & Co., served as one of the most important sources of capital and foreign exchange to the U.S. economy. Still, no small amount of his time was devoted to managing slaves from the study of his Leonard Street brownstone in Lower Manhattan.

Brown was hardly unusual among the capitalists of the North. Nicholas Biddle's United States Bank of Philadelphia funded banks in Mississippi to promote the expansion of plantation lands. Biddle recognized that slave-grown cotton was the only thing made in the U.S. that had the capacity to bring gold and silver into the vaults of the nation's banks. Likewise, the architects of New England's industrial revolution watched the price of cotton with rapt attention, for their textile mills would have been silent without the labor of slaves on distant plantations.

The story we tell about slavery is almost always regional, rather than national. We remember it as a cruel institution of the southern states that would later secede from the Union. Slavery, in this telling, appears limited in scope, an unfortunate detour on the nation's march to modernity, and certainly not the engine of American economic prosperity. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-slavery-led-to-modern-capitalism-echoes.html

January 27, 2012

David Sirota: The Economic Normalcy Bias

from truthdig:



The Economic Normalcy Bias

Posted on Jan 26, 2012
By David Sirota


In 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on an airstrip in the Canary Islands. According to accident investigators, those who survived the initial blast in one plane had time to escape before a fire consumed the wreckage. But eyewitnesses reported that many remained in their seat looking perfectly content—as if nothing was wrong.

Not surprisingly, dozens of these dazed victims were burned to death, and the episode became a reminder of the so-called normalcy bias—a cognitive phenomenon whereby many who are faced with imminent disaster instantly convince themselves that everything is normal and that they don’t have to modify their behavior.

Unpleasant as this anecdote is to recount, it exemplifies the psychology at the root of one of America’s most destructive traits: our obsession with materialism and consumerism. To extrapolate the metaphor, if our damaged economy, record-low savings rate and sky-high personal debt levels are that smoldering plane about to explode, then America’s “shop till you drop” normalcy bias may be engineering yet another avoidable tragedy.

......(snip)......

A glance at new data from the holiday season tells this story. After Black Friday’s now-annual melee of hyper-aggressive shoppers, The Washington Post reported that Christmas saw credit card purchases jump 7 percent over last year. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve bank reported that consumer borrowing surged to pre-recession levels; Forbes reported that online holiday spending hit a record; and the Los Angeles Times reported that “consumer spending “grew faster than people’s take-home incomes” as households “cut their savings rate (to) support their purchases of cars and other goods and services.” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_economic_normalcy_bias_20120126/

January 27, 2012

Do Harsh Pot Laws Create a Dangerous Drinking Culture? 5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk

AlterNet / By Kristen Gwynne

Do Harsh Pot Laws Create a Dangerous Drinking Culture? 5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk
Myths about marijuana convince people that alcohol is safer, but science shows pot is the healthier choice.

January 24, 2012 |


Alcohol kills approximately 70,000 people per year. Prescription pills, which have helped overdose become the leading cause of accidental death in America, result in more than 20,000 deaths per year. Marijuana has never killed anybody.

Although scientific research is available to show that pot is relatively harmless, and in fact medically beneficial, myths and propaganda about the plant’s alleged harm lead to marijuana laws so severe they often have the unintended consequence of driving people to drink alcohol, a much more dangerous substance than pot.

Many people do not understand just how harsh some marijuana legislation is. In America, pot possession so minor it is not even a misdemeanor can cause caring parents to lose custody of their children, because welfare offices may charge them with neglect, regardless of how good a parent they are. The legal ramifications of pot use may make parents who want to smoke marijuana more likely to drink alcohol, which is much more likely to create abusive or otherwise harmful behavior.

Jail time is another, more obvious consequence of pot use that may drive some people to drink. Last spring in Oklahoma, legislators voted in favor of House Bill 1798, enforcing a mandatory minimum of two years in jail and maximum penalty of life in prison for manufacturing hash. This despite the fact that in Oklahoma, state law already allowed judges to sentence pot growers to life in prison. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153870/do_harsh_pot_laws_create_a_dangerous_drinking_culture_5_reasons_to_get_stoned_instead_of_drunk/

January 27, 2012

:)

January 27, 2012

Guardian UK: How US private insurance healthcare is failing

How US private insurance healthcare is failing
Sky-high premiums, denied treatments, families bankrupted by medical bills … which bit of US healthcare would you like?

Rose Ann DeMoro
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 January 2012


Chances are you've probably never heard of Amelia Rivera, a three year-old from New Jersey. Chances are better you have heard of 29-year-old Canadian, Sarah Burke, one of the best freestyle skiers in the world.

Burke and Rivera don't have a lot in common, but tragically, their families do. Both have been borne the scars of a callous and broken US healthcare system – which, apparently, brings a gleam to the eyes of those seeking to promote privatization in their overhaul of the NHS in the UK

For those who missed the story, Burke, the six-time X Games gold medalist, was training in Park City Utah, 20 January, when she crashed and suffered major brain trauma. Flown to a prestigious hospital in Salt Lake City, Burke spent nine days in neuro-critical care before, sadly, she died.

As if the grief of her death was not enough, Burke's husband had to start a website to ask for donations to help pay the massive medical bill, estimates ranging as high as $550,000. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/26/us-private-insurance-healthcare-system-failure

January 27, 2012

Ah, the lovely Kelly family of New York

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, January 26, 6:08 PM

NEW YORK — Muslim groups are calling for New York’s police commissioner to step down because of his appearance in a film they say puts their religion and its adherents in a bad light.

About 20 activists held a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Thursday and criticized Ray Kelly for giving an interview to the producers of the movie “The Third Jihad.”

The movie uses dramatic footage to warn against the dangers of radical Islam and shariah, or Islamic law. Muslim groups say it encourages Americans to be suspicious of all Muslims.

“Terrorism is an evil that must be eliminated, but one cannot fight wrong with wrong,” said Talib Abdur-Rashid, a Muslim cleric. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/muslim-groups-call-for-nypd-commissioner-kelly-to-resign-over-appearance-in-third-jihad-film/2012/01/26/gIQAF19ITQ_story.html

.........................................................


A New York woman has accused broadcast journalist Greg Kelly of sexually assaulting her last October.

Kelly, 43, co-host of the morning TV show "Good Day New York" on the Fox affiliate WNYW-TV and the son of New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, is cooperating with the investigation and denies any wrongdoing of any kind, The Associated Press reported.

The woman, who is in her late 20s or early 30s, made the complaint on Tuesday at the 13th Precinct station house. The reason why she waited several months to come forward is unclear.

According to The New York Times, the woman claims to have met Kelly on the street on Oct. 8. They went for drinks at the South Street Seaport then proceeded to the Lower Manhattan law office where she works. The alleged assault occurred there, she said. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/greg-kelly-rape-accusation_n_1233028.html

January 27, 2012

How Slavery Led to Modern Capitalism

And is now leading back to economic slavery for the 99 percent



(Bloomberg) When the New York City banker James Brown tallied his wealth in 1842, he had to look far below Wall Street to trace its origins. His investments in the American South exceeded $1.5 million, a quarter of which was directly bound up in the ownership of slave plantations.

Brown was among the world's most powerful dealers in raw cotton, and his family’s firm, Brown Brothers & Co., served as one of the most important sources of capital and foreign exchange to the U.S. economy. Still, no small amount of his time was devoted to managing slaves from the study of his Leonard Street brownstone in Lower Manhattan.

Brown was hardly unusual among the capitalists of the North. Nicholas Biddle's United States Bank of Philadelphia funded banks in Mississippi to promote the expansion of plantation lands. Biddle recognized that slave-grown cotton was the only thing made in the U.S. that had the capacity to bring gold and silver into the vaults of the nation's banks. Likewise, the architects of New England's industrial revolution watched the price of cotton with rapt attention, for their textile mills would have been silent without the labor of slaves on distant plantations.

The story we tell about slavery is almost always regional, rather than national. We remember it as a cruel institution of the southern states that would later secede from the Union. Slavery, in this telling, appears limited in scope, an unfortunate detour on the nation's march to modernity, and certainly not the engine of American economic prosperity. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-slavery-led-to-modern-capitalism-echoes.html