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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
March 23, 2012
from NOW Toronto:
G20 Civil wrongs
New documents show RCMP targeted activist groups long before the G20 mass bust
By Jesse Rosenfeld
When public safety minister Vic Toews introduced his new anti-terrorism strategy last month, many were stunned to discover the feds were targeting groups – enviro, native and others – as sources of extremism.
The announcement was tellingly made just as the Tories revved up their attempts to discredit foes of the Northern Gateway pipeline. But for those who’ve been making their way through the thousands of pages of RCMP and OPP documents pertaining to the G20 released under freedom of information, this shadowing of dissenting orgs didn’t come as a major surprise.
It appears the Toews approach has been policy since at least 2009 and underlies a campaign of surveillance and infiltration of groups. Climaxing with the G20 mass arrests, the year-long police operation was, according to the RCMP, “likely the largest joint intelligence ever assembled in Canada.”
The papers also explain the backdrop to G20 “conspiracy” charges and the basis of an operation that saw 12 undercover agents directed by the RCMP-led Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) fan out to spy on political organizers. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=185858
G20 Civil wrongs (Canada)
from NOW Toronto:
G20 Civil wrongs
New documents show RCMP targeted activist groups long before the G20 mass bust
By Jesse Rosenfeld
When public safety minister Vic Toews introduced his new anti-terrorism strategy last month, many were stunned to discover the feds were targeting groups – enviro, native and others – as sources of extremism.
The announcement was tellingly made just as the Tories revved up their attempts to discredit foes of the Northern Gateway pipeline. But for those who’ve been making their way through the thousands of pages of RCMP and OPP documents pertaining to the G20 released under freedom of information, this shadowing of dissenting orgs didn’t come as a major surprise.
It appears the Toews approach has been policy since at least 2009 and underlies a campaign of surveillance and infiltration of groups. Climaxing with the G20 mass arrests, the year-long police operation was, according to the RCMP, “likely the largest joint intelligence ever assembled in Canada.”
The papers also explain the backdrop to G20 “conspiracy” charges and the basis of an operation that saw 12 undercover agents directed by the RCMP-led Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) fan out to spy on political organizers. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=185858
March 22, 2012
http://grist.org/list/tennessee-passes-anti-climate-anti-evolution-education-bill/
from Grist:
Good news for people who don’t know shit about dick: You can now teach science in Tennessee! The state legislature has passed a bill saying that if “science” “teachers” don’t personally believe in evolution or climate change, they’re free to represent them to students as kooky conjecture. Because forcing teachers to teach science is a form of fascism! Or socialism! I don’t know the difference, I took political science in Tennessee.
It’s possible that Tennessee legislators, who to be fair did take math in Tennessee, got confused and thought it was 1912, 13 years before the Scopes Trial in that very same state started the process of undermining laws against teaching evolution. Or maybe Tennessee is finally chafing under the yoke of science, and rebelling against the obligation to live in the same reality as the rest of us. If it’s the latter, I’m hoping for some very entertaining new laws as the legislators continue to snap. Next on the docket in Tennessee:
News from the Idiocracy: "Science" education in Tennessee
http://grist.org/list/tennessee-passes-anti-climate-anti-evolution-education-bill/
from Grist:
Good news for people who don’t know shit about dick: You can now teach science in Tennessee! The state legislature has passed a bill saying that if “science” “teachers” don’t personally believe in evolution or climate change, they’re free to represent them to students as kooky conjecture. Because forcing teachers to teach science is a form of fascism! Or socialism! I don’t know the difference, I took political science in Tennessee.
It’s possible that Tennessee legislators, who to be fair did take math in Tennessee, got confused and thought it was 1912, 13 years before the Scopes Trial in that very same state started the process of undermining laws against teaching evolution. Or maybe Tennessee is finally chafing under the yoke of science, and rebelling against the obligation to live in the same reality as the rest of us. If it’s the latter, I’m hoping for some very entertaining new laws as the legislators continue to snap. Next on the docket in Tennessee:
* Biology teachers who don’t believe in premarital sex are free to teach students that animals have tiny but elegant weddings before they breed.
* History teachers with elaborate conspiracy theories may spend up to 12 weeks of the semester doing nothing but screening the Zapruder film over and over and chain-smoking.
* Writing teachers may opt for phonetic spelling, and are not required to mention the existence of socialist tome The Dictionary.
* Literature teachers are free to teach that Shakespeare was actually Francis Bacon. Ha ha, just kidding! Who the hell are THOSE guys?
* History teachers with elaborate conspiracy theories may spend up to 12 weeks of the semester doing nothing but screening the Zapruder film over and over and chain-smoking.
* Writing teachers may opt for phonetic spelling, and are not required to mention the existence of socialist tome The Dictionary.
* Literature teachers are free to teach that Shakespeare was actually Francis Bacon. Ha ha, just kidding! Who the hell are THOSE guys?
March 22, 2012
Fear Mongerer in Chief: Rep. Peter King Hypes Alleged Hezbollah Presence in US
Representative Peter King (R-NY) knows of a new threat to US homeland security: the presence of “hundreds” of Iranian-backed Hezbollah operatives inside the US who could be used to commit terrorism.
King held a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing yesterday on “Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland.”
“As Iran moves closer to nuclear weapons, and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran’s secret operatives, and their number one terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America,” said King.
It sounds alarming, but King’s hearing was more about stoking fear than about an actual threat. King has become the nation’s leading fear mongerer, holding hearings that solely focus on the threat of Islamist terrorism while ignoring the threat from, say, right-wing extremists. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/866051/fear_mongerer_in_chief%3A_rep._peter_king_hypes_alleged_hezbollah_presence_in_us/
Right-wing crackpot alert: Peter King says Iran-backed Hezbollah operatives ready to blow up America
Fear Mongerer in Chief: Rep. Peter King Hypes Alleged Hezbollah Presence in US
Representative Peter King (R-NY) knows of a new threat to US homeland security: the presence of “hundreds” of Iranian-backed Hezbollah operatives inside the US who could be used to commit terrorism.
King held a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing yesterday on “Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland.”
“As Iran moves closer to nuclear weapons, and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran’s secret operatives, and their number one terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America,” said King.
It sounds alarming, but King’s hearing was more about stoking fear than about an actual threat. King has become the nation’s leading fear mongerer, holding hearings that solely focus on the threat of Islamist terrorism while ignoring the threat from, say, right-wing extremists. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/866051/fear_mongerer_in_chief%3A_rep._peter_king_hypes_alleged_hezbollah_presence_in_us/
March 22, 2012
from the Guardian UK:
Hondurans are still suffering from the effects of the June 2009 military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of President Manuel Zelaya. The coup has unleashed a wave of violence against political opposition, journalists, small farmers and others, with impunity for the security forces that have been implicated in these killings. This is exactly what those who opposed the coup regime – and its consolidation of power with marred "elections" in November 2009 – feared would happen.
On the wrong side of this fight was the Obama administration, which – after some hesitation – made some statements against the coup but went on do quite a bit to help the coup government succeed. Nearly three years and hundreds of political murders later, it seems that this administration is still on the side of repression and denial of Hondurans' basic human rights.
Nothing has made this clearer than the attempts of Democratic members of the US Congress to pressure the administration to change course. On 9 March, 94 members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her "to suspend US assistance to the Honduran military and police given the credible allegations of widespread, serious violations of human rights attributed to the security forces".
The members of Congress note a "pattern of human rights violations in which human rights defenders, journalists, community leaders and opposition activists are the subject of death threats, attacks, and extrajudicial executions". They call particular attention to the situation in the Bajo Aguan region, about 350 miles north-east of the capital, where "45 people associated with peasant organizations have been killed." This violence, which is committed by landowners' gunmen and security forces against peasants struggling for land rights, is a direct result of the coup; under the Zelaya administration, there were negotiations taking place to resolve the disputes peacefully. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/22/democrats-press-obama-us-complicity-honduras
Democrats press Obama over US complicity with Honduras' dirty war
from the Guardian UK:
Hondurans are still suffering from the effects of the June 2009 military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of President Manuel Zelaya. The coup has unleashed a wave of violence against political opposition, journalists, small farmers and others, with impunity for the security forces that have been implicated in these killings. This is exactly what those who opposed the coup regime – and its consolidation of power with marred "elections" in November 2009 – feared would happen.
On the wrong side of this fight was the Obama administration, which – after some hesitation – made some statements against the coup but went on do quite a bit to help the coup government succeed. Nearly three years and hundreds of political murders later, it seems that this administration is still on the side of repression and denial of Hondurans' basic human rights.
Nothing has made this clearer than the attempts of Democratic members of the US Congress to pressure the administration to change course. On 9 March, 94 members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her "to suspend US assistance to the Honduran military and police given the credible allegations of widespread, serious violations of human rights attributed to the security forces".
The members of Congress note a "pattern of human rights violations in which human rights defenders, journalists, community leaders and opposition activists are the subject of death threats, attacks, and extrajudicial executions". They call particular attention to the situation in the Bajo Aguan region, about 350 miles north-east of the capital, where "45 people associated with peasant organizations have been killed." This violence, which is committed by landowners' gunmen and security forces against peasants struggling for land rights, is a direct result of the coup; under the Zelaya administration, there were negotiations taking place to resolve the disputes peacefully. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/22/democrats-press-obama-us-complicity-honduras
March 22, 2012
Inaccurate weather forecaster attributes Midwest heat wave to Japanese tsunami debris
By Rob Manker, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:53 a.m. CDT, March 22, 2012
A meteorologist for AccuWeather — the forecasting company that predicted a winter so bad, "people in Chicago are going to want to move" — has a theory for the recent Midwest heat wave: Japanese tsunami debris.
AccuWeather.com made headlines last fall, you may recall, with breathlessly apocalyptic predictions for the season ahead.
Five months later, winter 2011-12 is in the books as the ninth warmest on record, punctuated by a stretch of historically high temperatures over the last week, and the Chicago area remains remarkably populous.
.....(snip).....
Margusity was a good sport about AccuWeather's swing and miss, even offering up a retroactive long shot theory for the warm winter and recent heat wave — the drifting debris field from last year's devastating Japanese tsunami seems to be sending warm air aloft above the Pacific Ocean, which could be contributing to warmer temperatures here, Margusity said. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-talk-accuweather-winter-0323-20120322,0,7853869.story
March 22, 2012
from Transportation Nation:
Manhattan is Number One Extreme Commuting Destination
By Andrea Bernstein | 03/22/2012
Manhattan is the top work destination in the country for so-called extreme commuting – work trips that are more than 90 miles in length each way. And the fastest growing commuter counties are in Northern New Jersey.
And they’re coming not only by air (map), but by bus, train, and car.
For an interactive map, click here.
The number of employees commuting to Manhattan from Hudson County has increased by more than third over the past decade, according to data from the American Community survey. Passaic (22%) and Essex (24%) also experienced exponential growth.
“As housing costs have gone up, New Jersey has become a more attractive option for Manhattan workers,” said Michell Moss, director of New York University’s Rudin Center, which supplied the data to WNYC. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/03/22/manhattan-is-number-one-extreme-commuting-destination/
Manhattan is Number One Extreme Commuting Destination
from Transportation Nation:
Manhattan is Number One Extreme Commuting Destination
By Andrea Bernstein | 03/22/2012
Manhattan is the top work destination in the country for so-called extreme commuting – work trips that are more than 90 miles in length each way. And the fastest growing commuter counties are in Northern New Jersey.
And they’re coming not only by air (map), but by bus, train, and car.
For an interactive map, click here.
The number of employees commuting to Manhattan from Hudson County has increased by more than third over the past decade, according to data from the American Community survey. Passaic (22%) and Essex (24%) also experienced exponential growth.
“As housing costs have gone up, New Jersey has become a more attractive option for Manhattan workers,” said Michell Moss, director of New York University’s Rudin Center, which supplied the data to WNYC. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/03/22/manhattan-is-number-one-extreme-commuting-destination/
March 22, 2012
from NOW Toronto:
G20 Civil wrongs
New documents show RCMP targeted activist groups long before the G20 mass bust
By Jesse Rosenfeld
When public safety minister Vic Toews introduced his new anti-terrorism strategy last month, many were stunned to discover the feds were targeting groups – enviro, native and others – as sources of extremism.
The announcement was tellingly made just as the Tories revved up their attempts to discredit foes of the Northern Gateway pipeline. But for those who’ve been making their way through the thousands of pages of RCMP and OPP documents pertaining to the G20 released under freedom of information, this shadowing of dissenting orgs didn’t come as a major surprise.
It appears the Toews approach has been policy since at least 2009 and underlies a campaign of surveillance and infiltration of groups. Climaxing with the G20 mass arrests, the year-long police operation was, according to the RCMP, “likely the largest joint intelligence ever assembled in Canada.”
The papers also explain the backdrop to G20 “conspiracy” charges and the basis of an operation that saw 12 undercover agents directed by the RCMP-led Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) fan out to spy on political organizers. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=185858
G20 Civil wrongs (Canada)
from NOW Toronto:
G20 Civil wrongs
New documents show RCMP targeted activist groups long before the G20 mass bust
By Jesse Rosenfeld
When public safety minister Vic Toews introduced his new anti-terrorism strategy last month, many were stunned to discover the feds were targeting groups – enviro, native and others – as sources of extremism.
The announcement was tellingly made just as the Tories revved up their attempts to discredit foes of the Northern Gateway pipeline. But for those who’ve been making their way through the thousands of pages of RCMP and OPP documents pertaining to the G20 released under freedom of information, this shadowing of dissenting orgs didn’t come as a major surprise.
It appears the Toews approach has been policy since at least 2009 and underlies a campaign of surveillance and infiltration of groups. Climaxing with the G20 mass arrests, the year-long police operation was, according to the RCMP, “likely the largest joint intelligence ever assembled in Canada.”
The papers also explain the backdrop to G20 “conspiracy” charges and the basis of an operation that saw 12 undercover agents directed by the RCMP-led Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) fan out to spy on political organizers. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=185858
March 22, 2012
from the Toronto Star:
Mayor Rob Ford shut down the Sheppard Ave. transit debate Wednesday night to stop council from voting for light rail and then fled into an elevator to escape reporters’ questions.
The bizarre scene, described as “scattered and desperate” by centrist councillor Josh Colle, included Ford failing to delay the vote until April 4 — a bid that triggered mayhem on the council floor. The council meeting resumes Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
Ford allies denying routine permission to let last night’s meeting run past 8 p.m. also apparently prevented another spectacle — a mayor who rode to victory pledging to “end the war on the car,” publicly supporting creation of a $100-per-spot tax on commercial parking spots to fund subway building.
Council’s centre and left members who support LRT on Sheppard were fuming after Ford bolted down a hall into an elevator, a press aide blocking reporters scrambling behind. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1149603--transit-debate-goes-to-council?bn=1
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford shuts down transit debate
from the Toronto Star:
Mayor Rob Ford shut down the Sheppard Ave. transit debate Wednesday night to stop council from voting for light rail and then fled into an elevator to escape reporters’ questions.
The bizarre scene, described as “scattered and desperate” by centrist councillor Josh Colle, included Ford failing to delay the vote until April 4 — a bid that triggered mayhem on the council floor. The council meeting resumes Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
Ford allies denying routine permission to let last night’s meeting run past 8 p.m. also apparently prevented another spectacle — a mayor who rode to victory pledging to “end the war on the car,” publicly supporting creation of a $100-per-spot tax on commercial parking spots to fund subway building.
Council’s centre and left members who support LRT on Sheppard were fuming after Ford bolted down a hall into an elevator, a press aide blocking reporters scrambling behind. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1149603--transit-debate-goes-to-council?bn=1
March 22, 2012
from Democracy Now!:
.....(snip).....
AMY GOODMAN: In addition, the NSA has also created a supercomputer of almost unimaginable speed to look for patterns and unscramble codes. James Bamford writes the secret surveillance program "is, in some measure, the realization of the 'total information awareness' program created during the first term of the Bush administration," but later killed by Congress in 2003 due to privacy concerns and public outcry.
James Bamford joins us now from London, England. His article in Wired is called "The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)." Jim Bamford is an investigative journalist who’s been covering the National Security Agency for the last three decades. He came close to standing trial after revealing the NSA’s operations in an explosive 1982 book called The Puzzle Palace. His latest book is the last in his trilogy on the NSA; it’s called The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.
James Bamford, welcome to Democracy Now! Your piece is so dramatic. I was wondering if you might read the first few paragraphs as we begin.
JAMES BAMFORD: I’ll give it a try.
“The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze. Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah’s Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. It’s the heart of Mormon country, where religious pioneers first arrived more than 160 years ago. They came to escape the rest of the world, to understand the mysterious words sent down from their god as revealed on buried golden plates, and to practice what has become known as 'the principle,' marriage to multiple wives.
“Today Bluffdale is home to one of the nation’s largest sects of polygamists, the Apostolic United Brethren, with upwards of 9,000 members. The brethren’s complex includes a chapel, a school, a sports field, and an archive. Membership has doubled since 1978—and the number of plural marriages has tripled—so the sect has recently been looking for ways to purchase more land and expand throughout the town. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/21/exposed_inside_the_nsas_largest_and
Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center
from Democracy Now!:
.....(snip).....
AMY GOODMAN: In addition, the NSA has also created a supercomputer of almost unimaginable speed to look for patterns and unscramble codes. James Bamford writes the secret surveillance program "is, in some measure, the realization of the 'total information awareness' program created during the first term of the Bush administration," but later killed by Congress in 2003 due to privacy concerns and public outcry.
James Bamford joins us now from London, England. His article in Wired is called "The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)." Jim Bamford is an investigative journalist who’s been covering the National Security Agency for the last three decades. He came close to standing trial after revealing the NSA’s operations in an explosive 1982 book called The Puzzle Palace. His latest book is the last in his trilogy on the NSA; it’s called The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.
James Bamford, welcome to Democracy Now! Your piece is so dramatic. I was wondering if you might read the first few paragraphs as we begin.
JAMES BAMFORD: I’ll give it a try.
“The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze. Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah’s Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. It’s the heart of Mormon country, where religious pioneers first arrived more than 160 years ago. They came to escape the rest of the world, to understand the mysterious words sent down from their god as revealed on buried golden plates, and to practice what has become known as 'the principle,' marriage to multiple wives.
“Today Bluffdale is home to one of the nation’s largest sects of polygamists, the Apostolic United Brethren, with upwards of 9,000 members. The brethren’s complex includes a chapel, a school, a sports field, and an archive. Membership has doubled since 1978—and the number of plural marriages has tripled—so the sect has recently been looking for ways to purchase more land and expand throughout the town. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/21/exposed_inside_the_nsas_largest_and
March 22, 2012
(Bloomberg) A Chinese manufacturing index indicated a worse contraction this month, bolstering the case for Premier Wen Jiabao to add measures to sustain growth even as he prolongs a campaign to cool property prices.
The preliminary 48.1 reading in a purchasing managers’ index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics today is the lowest since November and compares with a final 49.6 in February. A result below 50 indicates a contraction.
Asian stocks pared gains and oil and copper fell as the report added to concerns about a deeper slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy. Wen this month pledged pre-emptive fine- tuning of fiscal and monetary policies to support growth after increases in gross domestic product slowed in 2011.
“Growth momentum could slow down further amid a combination of sluggish export new orders and softening domestic demand, and this calls for further easing steps,” saidQu Hongbin, Hong Kong-based chief economist for China at HSBC. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-22/china-manufacturing-may-contract-for-fifth-month-survey-shows.html
China Manufacturing Contraction May Worsen, Data Show
(Bloomberg) A Chinese manufacturing index indicated a worse contraction this month, bolstering the case for Premier Wen Jiabao to add measures to sustain growth even as he prolongs a campaign to cool property prices.
The preliminary 48.1 reading in a purchasing managers’ index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics today is the lowest since November and compares with a final 49.6 in February. A result below 50 indicates a contraction.
Asian stocks pared gains and oil and copper fell as the report added to concerns about a deeper slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy. Wen this month pledged pre-emptive fine- tuning of fiscal and monetary policies to support growth after increases in gross domestic product slowed in 2011.
“Growth momentum could slow down further amid a combination of sluggish export new orders and softening domestic demand, and this calls for further easing steps,” saidQu Hongbin, Hong Kong-based chief economist for China at HSBC. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-22/china-manufacturing-may-contract-for-fifth-month-survey-shows.html
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