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
July 12, 2015
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/the_donald_20150710
Securing the Border (cartoon)
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/the_donald_20150710
July 12, 2015
by Paul B. Farrell
Yes, Stephen Hawking says Planet Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending.” The good news, he wants you to become a hero, save the world. Maybe work for the World Bank, United Nations on climate change, maybe NASA or Peace Corps. Except they’re all chasing a no-win scenario. An impossible dream with no solution. Why? Overpowering opposition.
So go work for the opposition? For someone we’re blaming as the cause of global warming. Yes, join and change their culture from the inside: Big Oil, Big Ag, the GOP, Koch billionaires, far-right conservatives, and all their climate-science-denying donors and lobbyists. Yes, maybe you’ll be lucky, a new savior changing the deniers from within ... and save Planet Earth before it’s too late. The clock is ticking faster, louder, but since all the science deniers rally around a rigid faith in a capitalist ideology, change from within is probably a dead end too.
Work for leftist idealists? Or hard-right ideologues? Unfortunately both are headed for the same “catastrophic ending” Hawking sees for Planet Earth in the “not-too-distance future.”
.....(snip).....
The human race is “trapped in a vicious circle” according to the World Bank’s agriculture manager, “we will need to grow 50% more food by 2050 to feed 9 billion people ... but agriculture, which is paradoxically vulnerable to climate change, generates 25% of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.”
This is essentially a no-win scenario, a zen koan, the ultimate question that has no real answer: The more food “we grow using conventional methods, the more we exacerbate the problem. It’s time for a climate-smart agriculture. But first we must address a few manmade problems.” So here are the World Bank’s four obstacles that must be solved before we can save Planet Earth from the “catastrophic ending:” ..................(more)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stephen-hawkings-catastrophic-end-for-planet-earth-2015-07-09?link=mw_home_kiosk
Stephen Hawking’s catastrophic end for Planet Earth
by Paul B. Farrell
Yes, Stephen Hawking says Planet Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending.” The good news, he wants you to become a hero, save the world. Maybe work for the World Bank, United Nations on climate change, maybe NASA or Peace Corps. Except they’re all chasing a no-win scenario. An impossible dream with no solution. Why? Overpowering opposition.
So go work for the opposition? For someone we’re blaming as the cause of global warming. Yes, join and change their culture from the inside: Big Oil, Big Ag, the GOP, Koch billionaires, far-right conservatives, and all their climate-science-denying donors and lobbyists. Yes, maybe you’ll be lucky, a new savior changing the deniers from within ... and save Planet Earth before it’s too late. The clock is ticking faster, louder, but since all the science deniers rally around a rigid faith in a capitalist ideology, change from within is probably a dead end too.
Work for leftist idealists? Or hard-right ideologues? Unfortunately both are headed for the same “catastrophic ending” Hawking sees for Planet Earth in the “not-too-distance future.”
.....(snip).....
The human race is “trapped in a vicious circle” according to the World Bank’s agriculture manager, “we will need to grow 50% more food by 2050 to feed 9 billion people ... but agriculture, which is paradoxically vulnerable to climate change, generates 25% of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.”
This is essentially a no-win scenario, a zen koan, the ultimate question that has no real answer: The more food “we grow using conventional methods, the more we exacerbate the problem. It’s time for a climate-smart agriculture. But first we must address a few manmade problems.” So here are the World Bank’s four obstacles that must be solved before we can save Planet Earth from the “catastrophic ending:” ..................(more)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stephen-hawkings-catastrophic-end-for-planet-earth-2015-07-09?link=mw_home_kiosk
July 12, 2015
from Naked Capitalism:
A Grexit Looks Almost Inescapable
Posted on July 12, 2015 by Yves Smith
Despite my generally dour outlook, I never thought we’d arrive at the insane juncture we are at now, that of a Grexit being all but baked in. This would be a catastrophic outcome, most of all for the Greek 99%. If a Grexit comes to pass, it should deservedly blacken the names of everyone involved, most of all Merkel, whose incrementalism meant that all of the unresolved contradictions of the Eurozone produced intensifying pressure on its fault lines, and Greece proved to be the breaking point. But as we’ll see soon, her finance minister Wolfgang Schauble would also get a particularly large badge of dishonor.
You don’t need to know much to know that the odds of Greece escaping a Grezit are becoming vanishingly small as time progresses, and there is perilously little time left. And mind you, this sorry trajectory is occurring even after the Greek government prostrated itself and offered to meet even more stringent conditions than its voters overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum less than a week ago.
Greek banks will die by the end of the day Monday if the ECB does not give them more liquidity under the ELA. That pretty much means a Grexit. Even if they get some ELA funds, it’s almost certain depositors will suck the money right out unless very stringent measures are taken to make sure the funds are used almost entirely on behalf of importers (and even that could be abused to get cash out).
The ECB will not give more funds under the ELA unless it gets a guarantee from Eurozone members. That is just about as hard as getting a deal done, despite much smaller amounts of money at risk, but it is the only mechanism that looks to be open for an 11th hour respite.
Too many Eurozone members are opposed to Greece for a deal for it to get done on Sunday. This map was posted by Ambrose Evans-Prichrd yesterday. Remember that Eurozone rules require unanimous decision: ...................(more)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/07/a-grexit-looks-almost-inescapable.html
A Grexit Looks Almost Inescapable
from Naked Capitalism:
A Grexit Looks Almost Inescapable
Posted on July 12, 2015 by Yves Smith
Despite my generally dour outlook, I never thought we’d arrive at the insane juncture we are at now, that of a Grexit being all but baked in. This would be a catastrophic outcome, most of all for the Greek 99%. If a Grexit comes to pass, it should deservedly blacken the names of everyone involved, most of all Merkel, whose incrementalism meant that all of the unresolved contradictions of the Eurozone produced intensifying pressure on its fault lines, and Greece proved to be the breaking point. But as we’ll see soon, her finance minister Wolfgang Schauble would also get a particularly large badge of dishonor.
You don’t need to know much to know that the odds of Greece escaping a Grezit are becoming vanishingly small as time progresses, and there is perilously little time left. And mind you, this sorry trajectory is occurring even after the Greek government prostrated itself and offered to meet even more stringent conditions than its voters overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum less than a week ago.
Greek banks will die by the end of the day Monday if the ECB does not give them more liquidity under the ELA. That pretty much means a Grexit. Even if they get some ELA funds, it’s almost certain depositors will suck the money right out unless very stringent measures are taken to make sure the funds are used almost entirely on behalf of importers (and even that could be abused to get cash out).
The ECB will not give more funds under the ELA unless it gets a guarantee from Eurozone members. That is just about as hard as getting a deal done, despite much smaller amounts of money at risk, but it is the only mechanism that looks to be open for an 11th hour respite.
Too many Eurozone members are opposed to Greece for a deal for it to get done on Sunday. This map was posted by Ambrose Evans-Prichrd yesterday. Remember that Eurozone rules require unanimous decision: ...................(more)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/07/a-grexit-looks-almost-inescapable.html
July 11, 2015
by Paul B. Farrell
Yes, Stephen Hawking says Planet Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending.” The good news, he wants you to become a hero, save the world. Maybe work for the World Bank, United Nations on climate change, maybe NASA or Peace Corps. Except they’re all chasing a no-win scenario. An impossible dream with no solution. Why? Overpowering opposition.
So go work for the opposition? For someone we’re blaming as the cause of global warming. Yes, join and change their culture from the inside: Big Oil, Big Ag, the GOP, Koch billionaires, far-right conservatives, and all their climate-science-denying donors and lobbyists. Yes, maybe you’ll be lucky, a new savior changing the deniers from within ... and save Planet Earth before it’s too late. The clock is ticking faster, louder, but since all the science deniers rally around a rigid faith in a capitalist ideology, change from within is probably a dead end too.
Work for leftist idealists? Or hard-right ideologues? Unfortunately both are headed for the same “catastrophic ending” Hawking sees for Planet Earth in the “not-too-distance future.”
.....(snip).....
The human race is “trapped in a vicious circle” according to the World Bank’s agriculture manager, “we will need to grow 50% more food by 2050 to feed 9 billion people ... but agriculture, which is paradoxically vulnerable to climate change, generates 25% of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.”
This is essentially a no-win scenario, a zen koan, the ultimate question that has no real answer: The more food “we grow using conventional methods, the more we exacerbate the problem. It’s time for a climate-smart agriculture. But first we must address a few manmade problems.” So here are the World Bank’s four obstacles that must be solved before we can save Planet Earth from the “catastrophic ending:” ..................(more)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stephen-hawkings-catastrophic-end-for-planet-earth-2015-07-09?link=mw_home_kiosk
Stephen Hawking’s catastrophic end for Planet Earth
by Paul B. Farrell
Yes, Stephen Hawking says Planet Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending.” The good news, he wants you to become a hero, save the world. Maybe work for the World Bank, United Nations on climate change, maybe NASA or Peace Corps. Except they’re all chasing a no-win scenario. An impossible dream with no solution. Why? Overpowering opposition.
So go work for the opposition? For someone we’re blaming as the cause of global warming. Yes, join and change their culture from the inside: Big Oil, Big Ag, the GOP, Koch billionaires, far-right conservatives, and all their climate-science-denying donors and lobbyists. Yes, maybe you’ll be lucky, a new savior changing the deniers from within ... and save Planet Earth before it’s too late. The clock is ticking faster, louder, but since all the science deniers rally around a rigid faith in a capitalist ideology, change from within is probably a dead end too.
Work for leftist idealists? Or hard-right ideologues? Unfortunately both are headed for the same “catastrophic ending” Hawking sees for Planet Earth in the “not-too-distance future.”
.....(snip).....
The human race is “trapped in a vicious circle” according to the World Bank’s agriculture manager, “we will need to grow 50% more food by 2050 to feed 9 billion people ... but agriculture, which is paradoxically vulnerable to climate change, generates 25% of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.”
This is essentially a no-win scenario, a zen koan, the ultimate question that has no real answer: The more food “we grow using conventional methods, the more we exacerbate the problem. It’s time for a climate-smart agriculture. But first we must address a few manmade problems.” So here are the World Bank’s four obstacles that must be solved before we can save Planet Earth from the “catastrophic ending:” ..................(more)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stephen-hawkings-catastrophic-end-for-planet-earth-2015-07-09?link=mw_home_kiosk
July 11, 2015
by Jim Hightower
When Mitt Romney's campaign was investigating potential choices to be his 2012 running mate, they gave each prospect a fish-themed code name, such as Lake Fish, Filet-O-Fish, etc. Their name for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a tireless self-promoter known for his bloated ego, was Puffer Fish.
The Romneyites determined that the prima donna governor was wholly unqualified to be America's vice president, but the rejection didn't deflate Christie's puffed-up self-esteem one dot, and he has continued to brag, bluster and bully his way into national politics. Having convinced at least himself that he's the can-do, big-idea, forceful leader America needs, the Jersey guv is now offering to be our president and has become No. 14 on the Republican presidential dance card! How exciting is that?
Before accepting, however, you might check with one group of voters who are less than enchanted: the people of New Jersey. With a moribund economy, a state budget mess, a growing pension crisis, the state infrastructure crumbling and his own office caught in a web of scandals, Christie is not faring well with the homefolk, earning a sorry 30 percent approval rating, with most voters saying they dislike "everything about him."
Nationwide, only Donnie Trump is rated lower than Christie by Republican primary voters. But he has found one friend — Maine Gov. Paul LePage has enthusiastically endorsed him! Problem is, LePage is even more insufferable and insolent than Christie, so arrogant and autocratic that he's even alienated fellow Republicans in Maine and is now threatened with impeachment. ............(more)
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/why-a-new-jersey-puffer-fish-should-not-be-president
Jim Hightower: Why a New Jersey Puffer Fish Should Not Be President
by Jim Hightower
When Mitt Romney's campaign was investigating potential choices to be his 2012 running mate, they gave each prospect a fish-themed code name, such as Lake Fish, Filet-O-Fish, etc. Their name for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a tireless self-promoter known for his bloated ego, was Puffer Fish.
The Romneyites determined that the prima donna governor was wholly unqualified to be America's vice president, but the rejection didn't deflate Christie's puffed-up self-esteem one dot, and he has continued to brag, bluster and bully his way into national politics. Having convinced at least himself that he's the can-do, big-idea, forceful leader America needs, the Jersey guv is now offering to be our president and has become No. 14 on the Republican presidential dance card! How exciting is that?
Before accepting, however, you might check with one group of voters who are less than enchanted: the people of New Jersey. With a moribund economy, a state budget mess, a growing pension crisis, the state infrastructure crumbling and his own office caught in a web of scandals, Christie is not faring well with the homefolk, earning a sorry 30 percent approval rating, with most voters saying they dislike "everything about him."
Nationwide, only Donnie Trump is rated lower than Christie by Republican primary voters. But he has found one friend — Maine Gov. Paul LePage has enthusiastically endorsed him! Problem is, LePage is even more insufferable and insolent than Christie, so arrogant and autocratic that he's even alienated fellow Republicans in Maine and is now threatened with impeachment. ............(more)
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/why-a-new-jersey-puffer-fish-should-not-be-president
July 10, 2015
(In These Times) Dr. Willie Parker and I both grew up in Alabama: he in Birmingham and I in Huntsville. At 52, he is eight years older than me. But our lives never intersected until now. Parker is an African-American, feminist, Christian man who provides abortions; I am a white, feminist, spiritual but non-Christian woman who defends clinics on behalf of Alabama Reproductive Rights Advocates (ARRA).
Parker travels between clinics in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He is the only abortion provider in Mississipi. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (TRAP) laws have shut down clinics in many states, including Mississippi, by imposing unnecessary, expensive and sometimes impossible requirements on clinics, such as minimum hallway widths. Abortion doctors face stigma and, in some cases, danger; late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered in Kansas in 2009 by an anti-abortion extremist.
Providers in the South are attacked by many and defended by few. But outside of the Alabama clinics a multi-racial group stands vigilant to protect our doctors, nurses, staff and patients. Parker is among a number of black abortion providers in the Deep South who are committed to reproductive justice—a concept that goes beyond abortion rights to encompass the rights to birth control and parenting, and acknowledges the racial disparities in access to these rights. He spoke to In These Times about what motivates him to do this work and how feminists can remain engaged and compassionate in the face of ongoing hostility. .............(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18157/dr_willie_parker_wont_be_bullied
As Anti-Choice Fundamentalists Descend on Alabama, One Abortion Doctor Refuses To Be Bullied
(In These Times) Dr. Willie Parker and I both grew up in Alabama: he in Birmingham and I in Huntsville. At 52, he is eight years older than me. But our lives never intersected until now. Parker is an African-American, feminist, Christian man who provides abortions; I am a white, feminist, spiritual but non-Christian woman who defends clinics on behalf of Alabama Reproductive Rights Advocates (ARRA).
Parker travels between clinics in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He is the only abortion provider in Mississipi. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (TRAP) laws have shut down clinics in many states, including Mississippi, by imposing unnecessary, expensive and sometimes impossible requirements on clinics, such as minimum hallway widths. Abortion doctors face stigma and, in some cases, danger; late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered in Kansas in 2009 by an anti-abortion extremist.
Providers in the South are attacked by many and defended by few. But outside of the Alabama clinics a multi-racial group stands vigilant to protect our doctors, nurses, staff and patients. Parker is among a number of black abortion providers in the Deep South who are committed to reproductive justice—a concept that goes beyond abortion rights to encompass the rights to birth control and parenting, and acknowledges the racial disparities in access to these rights. He spoke to In These Times about what motivates him to do this work and how feminists can remain engaged and compassionate in the face of ongoing hostility. .............(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18157/dr_willie_parker_wont_be_bullied
July 10, 2015
.......(snip).......
The trouble in China has little to do with the stock market. The trouble is in the economy. It is managed, controlled, and centrally planned.
China is just another front in the Zombie War. The authorities there are under more and more pressure to hold onto their power, their money, and their status. The result: too much debt and malinvestment.
And China’s zombie feds are using all the tricks in the book to try to prevent an economic slump – just like in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. This has wide-ranging repercussions. China is the world’s biggest consumer of commodities. As colleague Chris Lowe reports below in Market Insight, that’s why a slowdown in Chinese demand is hitting commodity prices hard.
Global mining stocks have lost $143 billion – nearly 20% of their value – in the last 10 days. Crude oil prices have fallen, too. Some analysts now say oil will drop as low as $20 a barrel. As we warned Bill Bonner Letter readers in April, China could fall into a recession or even a depression. And unlike Greece, China – the world’s second largest economy – will have a huge effect on the rest of the world. ......................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/07/09/china-is-just-another-front-in-the-zombie-war/
China is Just Another Front in the Zombie War
.......(snip).......
The trouble in China has little to do with the stock market. The trouble is in the economy. It is managed, controlled, and centrally planned.
China is just another front in the Zombie War. The authorities there are under more and more pressure to hold onto their power, their money, and their status. The result: too much debt and malinvestment.
And China’s zombie feds are using all the tricks in the book to try to prevent an economic slump – just like in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. This has wide-ranging repercussions. China is the world’s biggest consumer of commodities. As colleague Chris Lowe reports below in Market Insight, that’s why a slowdown in Chinese demand is hitting commodity prices hard.
Global mining stocks have lost $143 billion – nearly 20% of their value – in the last 10 days. Crude oil prices have fallen, too. Some analysts now say oil will drop as low as $20 a barrel. As we warned Bill Bonner Letter readers in April, China could fall into a recession or even a depression. And unlike Greece, China – the world’s second largest economy – will have a huge effect on the rest of the world. ......................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/07/09/china-is-just-another-front-in-the-zombie-war/
July 10, 2015
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Lawyers for a Christian ministry building a Noah's ark theme park said Wednesday that Kentucky officials violated First Amendment religious protections when they denied the project a tax incentive worth millions.
Answers in Genesis, developer of the 510-foot wooden ark in central Kentucky, is suing to get back into the tourism incentive program, which could be worth around $18 million over 10 years.
The group's lawyers argued Wednesday in federal court in Frankfort that they should not face different treatment for the incentive just because the attraction would have religious themes.
Tourism officials "took this reflexive, kind of allergic reaction to religion" when it kicked the ark project out of the tax incentive program in December, said Mike Johnson, a lawyer for Answers in Genesis. The incentive would rebate a portion of the sales tax taken in by the Ark Encounter theme park after it opens. ...............(more)
http://www.startribune.com/noah-s-ark-developer-seeking-lost-kentucky-tax-incentive/311258621/
Bible ministry building Noah's ark tells judge Kentucky can't take away tourism tax incentive
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Lawyers for a Christian ministry building a Noah's ark theme park said Wednesday that Kentucky officials violated First Amendment religious protections when they denied the project a tax incentive worth millions.
Answers in Genesis, developer of the 510-foot wooden ark in central Kentucky, is suing to get back into the tourism incentive program, which could be worth around $18 million over 10 years.
The group's lawyers argued Wednesday in federal court in Frankfort that they should not face different treatment for the incentive just because the attraction would have religious themes.
Tourism officials "took this reflexive, kind of allergic reaction to religion" when it kicked the ark project out of the tax incentive program in December, said Mike Johnson, a lawyer for Answers in Genesis. The incentive would rebate a portion of the sales tax taken in by the Ark Encounter theme park after it opens. ...............(more)
http://www.startribune.com/noah-s-ark-developer-seeking-lost-kentucky-tax-incentive/311258621/
July 10, 2015
CA: BART Woes Build Day After Day
ANDREW MCGALL ON JUL 10, 2015
SOURCE: CONTRA COSTA TIMES
July 10--OAKLAND -- Even as BART directors on Thursday morning agonized over more than $9 billion worth of renovations needed to modernize their outmoded computer train controls, aging tracks and dilapidated trains -- and how to rally support for a bond measure -- another major breakdown shook riders' waning confidence.
The tide of big breakdowns seems endless: An out-of-service train derailed in February; a rail broke in San Francisco in May; BART's proudly introduced $484 million elevated cable car to the Oakland Airport broke down three weeks after opening in late 2014; and a train's brakes failed in the Berkeley hills tunnel in late 2013. Minor delays of 10 to 20 minutes riddle the daily schedule.
Fed-up riders railed against the system Thursday after an early morning electrical arc filled a train with smoke and stopped the commute to and from southern Alameda County stations south of the Lake Merritt station for 4 hours.
Their sentiments do not presage a surge of voter love.
Stranded commuters at the San Leandro BART station greeted the indefinite delay with gallows humor and a shrug, barely masking frustration. .................(more)
http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/14033043/bart-woes-build-day-after-day
BART Woes Build Day After Day
CA: BART Woes Build Day After Day
ANDREW MCGALL ON JUL 10, 2015
SOURCE: CONTRA COSTA TIMES
July 10--OAKLAND -- Even as BART directors on Thursday morning agonized over more than $9 billion worth of renovations needed to modernize their outmoded computer train controls, aging tracks and dilapidated trains -- and how to rally support for a bond measure -- another major breakdown shook riders' waning confidence.
The tide of big breakdowns seems endless: An out-of-service train derailed in February; a rail broke in San Francisco in May; BART's proudly introduced $484 million elevated cable car to the Oakland Airport broke down three weeks after opening in late 2014; and a train's brakes failed in the Berkeley hills tunnel in late 2013. Minor delays of 10 to 20 minutes riddle the daily schedule.
Fed-up riders railed against the system Thursday after an early morning electrical arc filled a train with smoke and stopped the commute to and from southern Alameda County stations south of the Lake Merritt station for 4 hours.
Their sentiments do not presage a surge of voter love.
Stranded commuters at the San Leandro BART station greeted the indefinite delay with gallows humor and a shrug, barely masking frustration. .................(more)
http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/14033043/bart-woes-build-day-after-day
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Fri Oct 29, 2004, 12:18 AM
Number of posts: 77,090
