Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
April 28, 2013
http://vimeo.com/64859465
Full Show: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
April 26, 2013
The violent Boston rampage triggered a local and federal response that, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald, adds a new dimension to troubling questions about government secrecy, overreach, and what we sacrifice in the name of national security. Greenwald joins Bill to peel back layers that reveal what the Boston bombings and drone attacks have in common, and how secrecy leads to abuse of government power.
Also on the show, political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Bill that Congress’ failure to make progress on gun control last week — despite support for background checks from 90% of the American public – is symptomatic of a legislative branch reduced to dysfunction, partisan ravings and obstruction. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-trading-democracy-for-%E2%80%98national-security%E2%80%99/
Bill Moyers: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
http://vimeo.com/64859465
Full Show: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
April 26, 2013
The violent Boston rampage triggered a local and federal response that, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald, adds a new dimension to troubling questions about government secrecy, overreach, and what we sacrifice in the name of national security. Greenwald joins Bill to peel back layers that reveal what the Boston bombings and drone attacks have in common, and how secrecy leads to abuse of government power.
Also on the show, political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Bill that Congress’ failure to make progress on gun control last week — despite support for background checks from 90% of the American public – is symptomatic of a legislative branch reduced to dysfunction, partisan ravings and obstruction. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-trading-democracy-for-%E2%80%98national-security%E2%80%99/
April 28, 2013
http://vimeo.com/64859465
Full Show: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
April 26, 2013
The violent Boston rampage triggered a local and federal response that, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald, adds a new dimension to troubling questions about government secrecy, overreach, and what we sacrifice in the name of national security. Greenwald joins Bill to peel back layers that reveal what the Boston bombings and drone attacks have in common, and how secrecy leads to abuse of government power.
Also on the show, political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Bill that Congress’ failure to make progress on gun control last week — despite support for background checks from 90% of the American public – is symptomatic of a legislative branch reduced to dysfunction, partisan ravings and obstruction. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-trading-democracy-for-%E2%80%98national-security%E2%80%99/
Bill Moyers: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
http://vimeo.com/64859465
Full Show: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’
April 26, 2013
The violent Boston rampage triggered a local and federal response that, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald, adds a new dimension to troubling questions about government secrecy, overreach, and what we sacrifice in the name of national security. Greenwald joins Bill to peel back layers that reveal what the Boston bombings and drone attacks have in common, and how secrecy leads to abuse of government power.
Also on the show, political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Bill that Congress’ failure to make progress on gun control last week — despite support for background checks from 90% of the American public – is symptomatic of a legislative branch reduced to dysfunction, partisan ravings and obstruction. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-trading-democracy-for-%E2%80%98national-security%E2%80%99/
April 28, 2013
from Americablog:
Matt Yglesias resigns from the presumed-progressive community — with prejudice
4/27/2013 10:00am by Gaius Publius
.......(snip)......
Matt Yglesias (my emphasis):
Thus speaks a man with enough money to be able to choose a safe job. More to the point, thus speaks a man whose comfortable life is financed by people whose forced risk of death he exploits to his professional benefit.
If Matthew Yglesias were ever a liberal or a progressive — hint: despite his bio, no, he never was one — he has in this essay ripped the last shred of the last mask from his last face. The faux-progressive community (the world of presumed-progressives) has permanently lost one of its own. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://americablog.com/2013/04/matt-yglesias-resigns-from-the-presumed-progressive-community-with-prejudice.html
Matthew Yglesias shows his true colors
from Americablog:
Matt Yglesias resigns from the presumed-progressive community — with prejudice
4/27/2013 10:00am by Gaius Publius
.......(snip)......
Matt Yglesias (my emphasis):
Different Places Have Different Safety Rules and That’s OK
It’s very plausible that one reason American workplaces have gotten safer over the decades is that we now tend to outsource a lot of factory-explosion-risk to places like Bangladesh where 87 people just died in a building collapse. This kind of consideration leads Erik Loomis to the conclusion that we need a unified global standard for safety …
I think that’s wrong. … The reason is that while having a safe job is good, money is also good (and) there are very good reasons for Bangladeshi people to make different choices in this regard than Americans.
–Matthew Yglesias, Slate.com
Thus speaks a man with enough money to be able to choose a safe job. More to the point, thus speaks a man whose comfortable life is financed by people whose forced risk of death he exploits to his professional benefit.
If Matthew Yglesias were ever a liberal or a progressive — hint: despite his bio, no, he never was one — he has in this essay ripped the last shred of the last mask from his last face. The faux-progressive community (the world of presumed-progressives) has permanently lost one of its own. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://americablog.com/2013/04/matt-yglesias-resigns-from-the-presumed-progressive-community-with-prejudice.html
April 28, 2013
from the American Public Transportation Association:
More than 35% of U.S. Public Transit Buses Use Alternative Fuels or Hybrid Technology
Public Transportation is Leading the Way in Green Vehicles
In celebration of Earth Day, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reminds us that taking public transit is among the most effective ways of reducing our daily carbon footprint because of its ability to take cars off the road. In fact, when APTA examined the bus fleet alone, more than 35 percent of U.S. public transportation buses use alternative fuels or hybrid technology, as of January 1, 2011. This is a striking contrast to the 1.3 percent of automobiles that used alternative-fuels in 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Outlook.
“Public transportation is leading the way with environmentally efficient vehicles,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “The public transit vehicle fleet is the proving ground for environmental technology that may some day become a part of the nation’s automobile fleet.”
APTA statistics for early 2011 show that 18.6 percent of U.S. transit buses used compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and blends. Almost 9 percent (8.8%) of public transit buses were hybrids and nearly 8 percent (7.9%) of public transit buses used biodiesel.
“Today’s modern public transit bus is increasingly either a hybrid or is powered by fuels that are good for the environment,” said APTA Chair Flora Castillo. “The public transportation industry is a green industry and is committed to improving the environment.” ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2013/Pages/130422_Earth-Day.aspx
More than 35% of U.S. Public Transit Buses Use Alternative Fuels or Hybrid Technology
from the American Public Transportation Association:
More than 35% of U.S. Public Transit Buses Use Alternative Fuels or Hybrid Technology
Public Transportation is Leading the Way in Green Vehicles
In celebration of Earth Day, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reminds us that taking public transit is among the most effective ways of reducing our daily carbon footprint because of its ability to take cars off the road. In fact, when APTA examined the bus fleet alone, more than 35 percent of U.S. public transportation buses use alternative fuels or hybrid technology, as of January 1, 2011. This is a striking contrast to the 1.3 percent of automobiles that used alternative-fuels in 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Outlook.
“Public transportation is leading the way with environmentally efficient vehicles,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “The public transit vehicle fleet is the proving ground for environmental technology that may some day become a part of the nation’s automobile fleet.”
APTA statistics for early 2011 show that 18.6 percent of U.S. transit buses used compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and blends. Almost 9 percent (8.8%) of public transit buses were hybrids and nearly 8 percent (7.9%) of public transit buses used biodiesel.
“Today’s modern public transit bus is increasingly either a hybrid or is powered by fuels that are good for the environment,” said APTA Chair Flora Castillo. “The public transportation industry is a green industry and is committed to improving the environment.” ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2013/Pages/130422_Earth-Day.aspx
April 28, 2013
from the Transport Politic blog:
Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy
The sequester, which went into effect at the beginning of last month, cut more than $85 billion from the federal budget for this year alone. Its cuts, whose impacts will continued to be felt through 2021, were disproportionately focused on domestic programs. Public transportation, for instance, was dramatically affected: Almost $600 million was cut from funding directed towards mitigating the effects of Hurricane Sandy; another $104 million was cut from capital investment grants that fund new train and bus lines; Amtrak lost $80 million.
Other cuts, such as those to the nation’s affordable housing, Head Start, schools, and meals for seniors, are even more devastating for the nation’s least well-off.
Congress, however, has been incapable of addressing the issue, allowing the cuts to these essential programs to reinforce America’s growing concentration of wealth, low tax rates for the wealthy, and limited social welfare aid. Austerity, which is the intellectual justification supporting these cuts to federal spending, has been shown to only encourage economic stagnation – and often do so at the expense of the least well-off. Yet the national legislature has, as if in complete disinterest, sat idly by as the cuts set in.
That is, until it became obvious that the sequester was affecting the performance of the Congressional elite’s favorite program: Federal support for air travel. Congresspeople, apparently, just couldn’t support having their flights delayed. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2013/04/26/our-government-by-the-wealthy-for-the-wealthy/
Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy
from the Transport Politic blog:
Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy
The sequester, which went into effect at the beginning of last month, cut more than $85 billion from the federal budget for this year alone. Its cuts, whose impacts will continued to be felt through 2021, were disproportionately focused on domestic programs. Public transportation, for instance, was dramatically affected: Almost $600 million was cut from funding directed towards mitigating the effects of Hurricane Sandy; another $104 million was cut from capital investment grants that fund new train and bus lines; Amtrak lost $80 million.
Other cuts, such as those to the nation’s affordable housing, Head Start, schools, and meals for seniors, are even more devastating for the nation’s least well-off.
Congress, however, has been incapable of addressing the issue, allowing the cuts to these essential programs to reinforce America’s growing concentration of wealth, low tax rates for the wealthy, and limited social welfare aid. Austerity, which is the intellectual justification supporting these cuts to federal spending, has been shown to only encourage economic stagnation – and often do so at the expense of the least well-off. Yet the national legislature has, as if in complete disinterest, sat idly by as the cuts set in.
That is, until it became obvious that the sequester was affecting the performance of the Congressional elite’s favorite program: Federal support for air travel. Congresspeople, apparently, just couldn’t support having their flights delayed. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2013/04/26/our-government-by-the-wealthy-for-the-wealthy/
April 28, 2013
from Dissent magazine:
[font size="1"]Photo by Shelly Ruzicka[/font]
Low Wage Workers Strike—Because YOLO
By Micah Uetricht - April 26, 2013
At 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, in a frigid drizzle outside Chicago’s main commuter train terminal Union Station, an African-American fast-food worker in his early twenties who was on strike for the day screamed into a bullhorn atop a marble embankment, his voice already hoarse before most of the city was awake. His red baseball cap was backward, and when he turned to face bleary-eyed commuters, I could read what it said: “YOLO.”
I’m not sure if the striker’s choice in headgear for the day was intentional. Given the popularity of the acronym, which stands for “you only live once” and has made its way in youth culture from hip hop videos to resistance to standardized tests, he may wear it often. But the phrase seemed a fitting sentiment for a day in which several hundred nonunion fast-food and retail workers walked off the job in Chicago, organized and backed by a community-labor coalition called Fight for 15 and demanding $15 per hour and a union. They followed fast-food workers in New York City in November and earlier this month, and are leading a new push for service workers making miserably low wages and living in poverty. It could be the burgeoning movement’s new slogan: strike, because… YOLO.
As union membership in heavy industry has steadily declined in recent decades, a handful of unions have begun taking organizing low-wage sectors seriously. There is historical precedent to such efforts, but aside from a few recent efforts, fast food and retail have long been thought of as unorganizable, with the high turnover and fragmented workforce making unionization particularly difficult.
But the recent campaigns in New York and Chicago, likely to spread to other cities, indicate that the Service Employees International Union and other unions backing the effort are willing to give organizing these industries a shot, providing the serious staffing and financial resources required to organize an industry so hostile to unions. I spent Wednesday and Thursday with these workers in Chicago. While large-scale shifts in fast food and retail appear far off, there was some hope to be found at this week’s strike sites. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/low-wage-workers-strike-because-yolo
Low Wage Workers Strike—Because YOLO
from Dissent magazine:
[font size="1"]Photo by Shelly Ruzicka[/font]
Low Wage Workers Strike—Because YOLO
By Micah Uetricht - April 26, 2013
At 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, in a frigid drizzle outside Chicago’s main commuter train terminal Union Station, an African-American fast-food worker in his early twenties who was on strike for the day screamed into a bullhorn atop a marble embankment, his voice already hoarse before most of the city was awake. His red baseball cap was backward, and when he turned to face bleary-eyed commuters, I could read what it said: “YOLO.”
I’m not sure if the striker’s choice in headgear for the day was intentional. Given the popularity of the acronym, which stands for “you only live once” and has made its way in youth culture from hip hop videos to resistance to standardized tests, he may wear it often. But the phrase seemed a fitting sentiment for a day in which several hundred nonunion fast-food and retail workers walked off the job in Chicago, organized and backed by a community-labor coalition called Fight for 15 and demanding $15 per hour and a union. They followed fast-food workers in New York City in November and earlier this month, and are leading a new push for service workers making miserably low wages and living in poverty. It could be the burgeoning movement’s new slogan: strike, because… YOLO.
As union membership in heavy industry has steadily declined in recent decades, a handful of unions have begun taking organizing low-wage sectors seriously. There is historical precedent to such efforts, but aside from a few recent efforts, fast food and retail have long been thought of as unorganizable, with the high turnover and fragmented workforce making unionization particularly difficult.
But the recent campaigns in New York and Chicago, likely to spread to other cities, indicate that the Service Employees International Union and other unions backing the effort are willing to give organizing these industries a shot, providing the serious staffing and financial resources required to organize an industry so hostile to unions. I spent Wednesday and Thursday with these workers in Chicago. While large-scale shifts in fast food and retail appear far off, there was some hope to be found at this week’s strike sites. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/low-wage-workers-strike-because-yolo
April 27, 2013
Locally owned businesses can help communities thrive — and survive climate change
from Grist:
Locally owned businesses can help communities thrive — and survive climate change
By Stacy Mitchell
Cities where small, locally owned businesses account for a relatively large share of the economy have stronger social networks, more engaged citizens, and better success solving problems, according to several recently published studies.
And in the face of climate change, those are just the sort of traits that communities most need if they are to survive massive storms, adapt to changing conditions, find new ways of living more lightly on the planet, and, most important, nurture a vigorous citizenship that can drive major changes in policy.
That there’s a connection between the ownership structure of our economy and the vitality of our democracy may sound a bit odd to modern ears. But this was an article of faith among 18th- and 19th-century Americans, who strictly limited the lifespan of corporations and enacted antitrust laws whose express aim was to protect democracy by maintaining an economy of small businesses. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/cities/locally-owned-businesses-can-help-communities-thrive-and-survive-climate-change/
April 27, 2013
from Consortium News:
The Blowback from Interventionism
April 27, 2013
American foreign policy remains locked in a cycle of violence, with the Obama administration failing to escape the neocon insistence on a swaggering “tough-guy-ism” abroad. That reliance on military intervention also comes with the cost of “blowback,” as ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman notes.
By Melvin A. Goodman
The United States and the Central Intelligence Agency have never acknowledged the potential for “blowback,” or negative fallout, from their military and covert actions. Yet, the Watergate burglary by the veterans of the Bay of Pigs was an obvious example of blowback. CIA’s support for the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in the 1980s proved particularly damaging, because the mujahedeen provided weaponry to fuel conflicts in the Balkans and the Sudan and trained the terrorists who would attack us at home, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.
Former CIA Director Robert Gates may believe that support to the mujahedeen was the CIA’s “greatest success,” but don’t tell that to U.S. soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan who have had to deal with former mujahedeen forces, such as the Haqqani and Hekmatyar networks, for the past decade. The United States inadvertently created, trained, and sustained an infrastructure of terror that exported terror wrapped in the language of religious war.
Now we are dealing with an updated version of “blowback,” a series of terrorist attacks in the United States where perpetrators claim their inspiration is the U.S. “war on Islam.” They cite the use of U.S. military power and CIA operations in Muslim countries. The surviving Boston Marathon bomber, who contends that he acted to counter U.S. policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the latest example.
But he is one of many. Osama bin Laden claimed that he targeted the United States because of the “occupation” of Saudi Arabia and its holy places by the U.S. military. Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani immigrant who went to college in Connecticut, said he left a S.U.V. packed with explosives in Times Square because of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas in 2009 because of U.S. military strikes in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American, planned a suicide attack on New York City’s subway system because of the U.S. role in Afghanistan. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/27/the-blowback-from-interventionism/
The Blowback from Interventionism
from Consortium News:
The Blowback from Interventionism
April 27, 2013
American foreign policy remains locked in a cycle of violence, with the Obama administration failing to escape the neocon insistence on a swaggering “tough-guy-ism” abroad. That reliance on military intervention also comes with the cost of “blowback,” as ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman notes.
By Melvin A. Goodman
The United States and the Central Intelligence Agency have never acknowledged the potential for “blowback,” or negative fallout, from their military and covert actions. Yet, the Watergate burglary by the veterans of the Bay of Pigs was an obvious example of blowback. CIA’s support for the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in the 1980s proved particularly damaging, because the mujahedeen provided weaponry to fuel conflicts in the Balkans and the Sudan and trained the terrorists who would attack us at home, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.
Former CIA Director Robert Gates may believe that support to the mujahedeen was the CIA’s “greatest success,” but don’t tell that to U.S. soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan who have had to deal with former mujahedeen forces, such as the Haqqani and Hekmatyar networks, for the past decade. The United States inadvertently created, trained, and sustained an infrastructure of terror that exported terror wrapped in the language of religious war.
Now we are dealing with an updated version of “blowback,” a series of terrorist attacks in the United States where perpetrators claim their inspiration is the U.S. “war on Islam.” They cite the use of U.S. military power and CIA operations in Muslim countries. The surviving Boston Marathon bomber, who contends that he acted to counter U.S. policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the latest example.
But he is one of many. Osama bin Laden claimed that he targeted the United States because of the “occupation” of Saudi Arabia and its holy places by the U.S. military. Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani immigrant who went to college in Connecticut, said he left a S.U.V. packed with explosives in Times Square because of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas in 2009 because of U.S. military strikes in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American, planned a suicide attack on New York City’s subway system because of the U.S. role in Afghanistan. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/27/the-blowback-from-interventionism/
April 27, 2013
Published on Apr 25, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the season for CRASH as algos reading Twitter cause a hack crash in New York; ghost traders in the shadow banking system cause gold 'slaughters' in the precious metals markets and Joe Weisenthal seeks smoke signals from the Pope of Fraud, Ben Bernanke. In the second half of the show Max talks to Andrew Maguire about precious metals markets, manipulation and failures to deliver.
Keiser Report: Stalinism of NYSE
Published on Apr 25, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the season for CRASH as algos reading Twitter cause a hack crash in New York; ghost traders in the shadow banking system cause gold 'slaughters' in the precious metals markets and Joe Weisenthal seeks smoke signals from the Pope of Fraud, Ben Bernanke. In the second half of the show Max talks to Andrew Maguire about precious metals markets, manipulation and failures to deliver.
April 27, 2013
Published on Apr 19, 2013
Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, the Wall Street Journal and many others say that our entire economy is a Ponzi scheme. The world's economy is built on a system that requires ever more people to consumer ever more products. Building an economy that constantly leverages the prosperity of a society's future is bad enough: the fact that ours might fail sooner than later is cause for great alarm. As fertility rates continue to fall, we are in danger of losing the sheer numbers of consumers it will require to keep our current Ponzi-like economy going. The Resident (aka Lori Harfenist) investigates.
How the Economy Is a Ponzi Scheme
Published on Apr 19, 2013
Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, the Wall Street Journal and many others say that our entire economy is a Ponzi scheme. The world's economy is built on a system that requires ever more people to consumer ever more products. Building an economy that constantly leverages the prosperity of a society's future is bad enough: the fact that ours might fail sooner than later is cause for great alarm. As fertility rates continue to fall, we are in danger of losing the sheer numbers of consumers it will require to keep our current Ponzi-like economy going. The Resident (aka Lori Harfenist) investigates.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Fri Oct 29, 2004, 12:18 AM
Number of posts: 77,066