June 27, 2012

As Labor Struggles, Have the Big Rights and Liberties Groups Like the ACLU Deserted Unions?

The Daily Banter / By Mark Ames

As Labor Struggles, Have the Big Rights and Liberties Groups Like the ACLU Deserted Unions?
While labor is under powerful battering from conservatives, a strong case can be made that they aren't being supported by some of our most prominent human rights groups.

June 25, 2012 |


Progressive intellectuals have been acting very bipolar towards labor lately, characterized by wild mood swings ranging from the “We’re sorry we abandoned labor, how could we!” sentiment during last year’s Wisconsin uprising against Koch waterboy Scott Walker, to the recent “labor is dead/it’s all labor’s fault” snarling after the recall vote against Gov. Walker failed.

It must be confusing and a bit daunting for those deep inside the labor movement, all these progressive mood swings. At the beginning of this month, New York Times’ columnist Joe Nocera wrote a column about having a “V-8 Moment” over the abandonment of labor unions, an abandonment that was so thorough and so complete that establishment liberals like Nocera forgot they’d ever abandoned labor in the first place!

The intellectual-left’s wild mood swings between unrequited love towards labor unions, and unrequited contempt, got me wondering how this abandonment of labor has manifested itself. While progressives and labor are arguing, sometimes viciously, over labor’s current sorry state, one thing progressives haven’t done is serious self-examination on how and where this abandonment of labor manifests itself, how it affects the very genetic makeup of liberal assumptions and major premises.

So I did a simple check: I went to the websites of three of the biggest names in liberal activist politics: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the ACLU. Checking their websites, I was surprised to find that not one of those three organizations lists labor as a major topic or issue that it covers. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/labor/156006/as_labor_struggles%2C_have_the_big_rights_and_liberties_groups_like_the_aclu_deserted_unions_/

June 26, 2012

Paraguayan President Ousted: Another Right-Wing Coup in Latin America

Paraguayan President Ousted: Another Right-Wing Coup in Latin America


Leftist Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said he was ousted in a “parliamentary coup” — the latest of the right-wing coups in Latin America. This past Friday, the Paraguayan Senate voted 39 to 4 in favor of impeaching and removing Lugo, a politician known for defending peasant rights and aiming to improve life for the working class. Lugo ended more than 60 years of right-wing rule when elected in 2008.

A recent riot over peasant land triggered Lugo’s removal. Two months ago, a group of 60 peasant farmers occupied land that was taken away from them 40 years ago during dictator-rule and given to a wealth landowner. On June 15, when law enforcement officials entered the camp to talk to the peasants, a riot ensued that left 11 peasants and 6 police officers dead. Police surrounded and closed the area off to human rights advocates, and then ultimately burned the site down, clearing all evidence. The next day, a group of family members, activists, and journalists went to the site and found two peasant bodies and war weapons — these are not used by peasants and are believed to be those of another group.

Right-wingers in the government began threatening Lugo with impeachment for failing to keep public order, and caused him to negotiate and fire his interior minister and national director of police and replace them with right-wing officials. This angered the Liberal Party, which joined with the right-wingers to impeach Lugo. During the quick five-hour impeachment trial, Lugo had only two hours to defend himself.

Today, Democracy Now! reported that a 2009 WikiLeaks cable revealed that U.S. officials knew that right-wing forces were looking for an opportunity to remove Lugo. The cable described their "goal" as: "Capitalize on any Lugo missteps to break the political deadlock in Congress, impeach Lugo and assure their own political supremacy." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/991669/paraguayan_president_ousted%3A_another_right-wing_coup_in_latin_america/

June 26, 2012

And You Thought It Would Be Easy?: Graduating the Class of 2012 Onto Our Overheated Planet

from TomDispatch:



And You Thought It Would Be Easy?
Graduating the Class of 2012 Onto Our Overheated Planet

By Tom Engelhardt


Class of 2012, greetings! It’s a deceptively glorious day, even under this tent in the broiling heat of an August-style afternoon in mid-June on this northeastern campus. Another local temperature record is being set: 98 degrees. And yes, let’s admit it, the heat, the sun, the clearness of the azure blue sky stretching without a cloud to the horizon, the sense of summer descending with a passion, it’s not quite as reassuring as it might once have been, is it? I suspect that few of you, readying yourselves to leave this campus, many mortgaged to your eyeballs (some for life no matter what you do), and heading into a country on edge, imagine personal clear skies to the horizon.

And while we’re admitting things, let’s admit something else about the heat today, as you bake under your graduation gowns: whether or not you have the figures at your fingertips, whether or not you know the details, who doesn’t sense that this planet is on edge, too? I mean, here you are, the class of 2012, and like the classes of 2011, 2010, and so on, you are surely going to spend your first months out of college enduring one of history's top ten heat years.

As so many Americans have noticed, this was a spring for the record books just about everywhere in the continental United States. And keep in mind that at the moment we also seem to be making a beeline for a potentially record-setting summer, the months of your job hunt for a future, and maybe the hottest year in American history as well.

And records or no, this year is no anomaly. Look at a temperature map of the United States, 1970-2011, and every state -- every single state -- is, on average, hotter now than it was four decades ago. Imagine that. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175562/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_a_subprime_education_in_a_subprime_world/#more

June 26, 2012

Kamikaze crows disrupting mail delivery in Winnipeg

It began early this month in Winnipeg, a Hitchcockian horror story starring a murder of violent crows.

For the past three weeks, a handful of crows have been dive-bombing from a nest in the city’s east-end, attacking unsuspecting residents, dog walkers and their pets in an overzealous attempt to protect young chicks.

The local mailman may be the favoured target: Canada Post says the birds have repeatedly swooped at their carrier as he delivers the mail.

After one too attempted jabs at the head, mail service was halted to about 30 houses last week. Residents were told in a letter that the disruption was due to “aggressive crows.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1216997--delivering-mail-in-winnipeg-is-murder?bn=1

June 26, 2012

U.S. consumer confidence still on the wane: June's 62 reading is lowest since January

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer confidence has declined for a fourth month, with gloomier views in June on future business conditions and income, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The consumer-confidence index fell to 62 in June -- the lowest level since January -- from a revised 64.4 in May. A prior estimate for May had pegged the level at 64.9. "If this trend continues, spending may be restrained in the short-term," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, a private research group. Meanwhile, consumers' views on the present situation rose in June. Overall, the data suggest that there may be "little change" in the pace of near-term economic activity, Franco said. Generally when the economy is growing at a good clip, confidence readings are at least 90. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected confidence to decline to 63 in June, driven by weak jobs data, and ongoing political and economic challenges.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-confidence-gauge-declines-to-62-in-june-2012-06-26-1091029

June 26, 2012

Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali on RT's "Julian Assange Show"

A surprise Arab drive for freedom, the West's structural crisis and new hope coming from Latin America. That's the modern world in the eyes of Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali, two prominent thinkers and this week's guests on Julian Assange's show on RT.

June 26, 2012

Euro Crisis Threatens European Way of Life

from Der Spiegel:



European leaders have been muddling through instead of properly tackling the debt crisis. Now it threatens the very foundations of the European Union and could destroy a lifestyle that millions of Europeans take for granted. But the high expectations for this week's summit in Brussels can only be disappointed.

It's unclear what Meles Zenawi used to think about Europe. The prime minister of Ethiopia heads an authoritarian regime that controls one of the poorest countries on Earth, located in East Africa, a region where ethnic conflicts are usually waged with Kalashnikovs. To a man like Zenawi, rich, peaceful Europe must seem like an island of the blessed -- or rather, must have seemed.

Zenawi's view of the old continent probably changed on Monday of last week. The Ethiopian leader, attending a dinner hosted by the exclusive G-20 club of the most important industrialized and developing countries in Los Cabos, Mexico, was astonished by what he heard.

The doors of the dining room had hardly been closed before the European representatives began giving their counterparts from other continents an eye-opening demonstration of how powerless and divided they are. The humiliation began with a simple question from the host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon. He wanted to know what the Europeans intended to do to get the high interest rates that the Spanish government currently has to pay on its bonds under control. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/debt-crisis-threatens-the-european-way-of-life-a-840643.html

June 26, 2012

ProPublica: Drone Documents: Why The Government Won’t Release Them

by Cora Currier
ProPublica, June 25, 2012, 9:15 a.m.


The covert U.S. effort to strike terrorist leaders using drones has moved further out of the shadows this year — targeted killing has been mentioned by President Obama and defended in speeches by Attorney General Eric Holder and Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan. The White House recently declassified the fact that it is conducting military operations in Yemen and Somalia.

But for all the talk, the administration says it hasn't officially confirmed particular strikes or the CIA's involvement.

Over the past year, the American Civil Liberties Union and reporters at The New York Times have filed several requests under the Freedom of Information Act seeking information about the CIA's drone program and the legal justification for attacks that killed terrorists and U.S. citizens. The government answered with a Glomar response — neither verifying nor denying that it has such documents.

So both the Times and the ACLU sued, claiming that there is widespread acknowledgement by government officials of drones and targeted killing, as well as the CIA's involvement. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.propublica.org/article/drone-documents-why-the-government-wont-release-them

June 26, 2012

Olympic Effort to Make London’s Underground Ready for the Games

Olympic Effort to Make London’s Underground Ready for the Games

London | 06/25/2012 12:17pm |
Milton Lindsay | Next American City


As the July 27 Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games draws ever closer, the world is wondering if the London Underground is up for the ride.

First opening for operation in 1863, the Tube is the world’s oldest subway system. Each day, over 3 million people use the system, which is comprised of 250 miles of track — the second-longest in the world behind Shanghai.



For anyone who has either lived or visited London in recent years, it is clear that the Underground is showing its age. However, since 2005, when London was awarded the 2012 Games, the Tube has undergone a £6.5 billion ($10 billion) system-wide upgrade. Today, the Washington Post ran a story describing the investment made by the city’s transportation agency, Transport for London, to get the Underground ready for the Olympic onslaught.

Upgrades to lines and stations have been the main areas of focus. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://americancity.org/daily/entry/olympic-effort-to-make-londons-underground-ready-for-the-games

June 26, 2012

Manic Nation: Why Americans Are Anxious, Stressed, Depressed and Fat (And What We Can Do About It)

Pacific Standard / By Mary Fischer

Manic Nation: Why Americans Are Anxious, Stressed, Depressed and Fat (And What We Can Do About It)
How modern American culture has outrun the biology of our brains.

June 25, 2012 |


Dr. Peter Whybrow is lunching at a sushi bar near his office at the University of California, Los Angeles, but his attention is on the other diners. Even while talking to their tablemates, they are constantly distracted. They text, and repeatedly glance up at the wall-mounted TV screens. Common habits, sure. But to Whybrow, director of UCLA’s Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, those jittery behaviors are prime examples of how modern American culture has outrun the biology of our brains.

A British-born endocrinologist and psychiatrist, Whybrow has been fascinated with applying behavioral neuroscience to social issues since he took over the institute in 1998. At the time, with the dot-com bubble swelling and the Internet expanding, he saw a dangerously rising tide of growing psychosocial stress and shrinking physiological balance.

“Many of the usual constraints that prevented people from doing things 24 hours a day—like distance and darkness—were falling away,” says Whybrow. Our fast new lives reminded him of the symptoms of clinical mania: excitement over acquiring new things, high productivity, fast speech—followed by sleep loss, irritability, and depression.

Whybrow believes the physiological consequences of this modern mania are dramatic, contributing to epidemic rates of obesity, anxiety, and depression. In his forthcoming book, tentatively titled The Intuitive Mind: Common Sense for the Common Good, Whybrow explores how to repair the damage. “Why is it that we’ve been railroaded down this path of continuous stimulation and can’t seem to control ourselves?” he wonders. “Why can’t we just stop?” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/health/156008/manic_nation%3A_why_americans_are_anxious%2C_stressed%2C_depressed_and_fat_%28and_what_we_can_do_about_it%29/