May 15, 2013

Disaster Capitalism Strikes as Hedge Funds Circle Near-Bankrupt Municipalities Like Vultures

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/08-0

In Detroit, where a previous ploy of the disaster capitalists has already taken hold in the form of an appointed "Financial Emergency Manager"—a position that strips out local government and puts city decision-making into unelected, bureaucratic hands—the people have almost no political avenue to resist the sale of public assets or the manipulation of city debt.

And as Hals notes, "the hedge funds' interest in municipal debt reflects the divergent fortunes of Wall Street and Main Street." He continues:

Distressed debt funds love to jump in when most bail out. But with the coffers of U.S. companies overflowing with cash, there has been a dearth of the debt defaults, bankruptcies and liquidations that such funds normally feast on.

By contrast, a small but potentially growing number of U.S. cities and towns are struggling with pay and pension obligations that they took on in the boom years. As well as Jefferson County, the California towns of Stockton and San Bernardino have recently filed for bankruptcy.

(More at the link. Note that Michigan's governor is a stealth "tea party / Koch politician.)

May 15, 2013

The Lobster Boat vs. The Coal Freighter as Climate Activists Blockade Power Plant

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/15-2#.UZO8V-rBj8M

Stearing a lobster boat called the Henry David T., two climate activists on Wednesday attempted to blockade a shipment of West Virginia coal from arriving at Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts, New England's largest coal-fired power plant.

The coal freighter, the Energy Entreprise, is believed to be carrying coal from a mountain top removal operation in Appalachia to the terminal in Massachusetts, setting up a 'David vs. Goliath' visual in which the activists in their tiny lobster boat put themselves between the massive coal ship and the power plant's terminal.

Updates from the site indicate that the Henry David T. and its occupants have been detained by the US Coast Guard.

In a statement released by Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara, the two men behind the action—which is operating under the name #coalisstupid—said their blockade at Brayton is a locally-directed action inspired by the the international climate activism network 350.org and their "Summer Heat" campaign.

(More at the link.)

May 15, 2013

Chicago Teachers union plans to file federal suits to stop school closings

ChicagoTeachersUnion ?@CTULocal1

Trib: Teachers union plans to file federal suits to stop school closings http://ow.ly/l3CfZ


http://www.ctunet.com/blog/trib-teachers-union-plans-to-file-federal-suits-to-stop-school-closings

A week before the Chicago Public Schools board is to vote on the closing of 53 elementary schools, the Chicago Teachers Union says it plans to file two federal lawsuits to stop the district.

The CTU sent out a statement this morning saying the civil rights lawsuits will be filed on behalf of parents.

The union's decision comes a week after retired federal judges opposed 13 of the school closings. CPS had hired the ex-judges to conduct state-mandated public hearings and to make recommendations.

The CPS Board of Education is to vote on the closings May 22.

(One more sentence and links at the page.)

May 15, 2013

Thoughts? 11 Steps to Fascism

1: TERROR! Because RUSSIA! is so last millenium.
2. Rendition in Europe.
3. DHS are militarizing US police and sheriffs.
4. Yep. FISA is now active for five more years.
5. Standard procedure; depicted in Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11".
6. Spying on the Muslim community. NY's unConstitutional "Stop and Frisk". TSA acting on buses and trains.
7. Ask Dan Rather.
8. Throughout the Occupy camp raids, media were purposefully restricted. No media, no record of criminal police/state behavior.
9. Some very odd cheerleading in GD, not quite claiming the T word, but definite groupthink.
10. TERROR means we have to do things a little differently, doesn't it. Ask Bloomberg who said straight up that the Constitution has to be re-interpreted after the Boston bombing.
11. One upon which to keep a very sharp eye peeled.

Comment upon the Associated Press information raid by the US government and the state of Korporate media:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022847336

May 15, 2013

Regarding the AP scandal. George Orwell on Journalism:

“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”

― George Orwell

Are you aware of the actual state of the "free press" in this country?


These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6#ixzz2TNm02YBs

"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly. In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote "in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media" -- controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. This was greeted with skepticism at the time. When the 6th edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market."
http://www.corporations.org/media/

Conservative Koch Brothers Turning Focus to Newspapers (billionaires seek to purchase all Tribune papers)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/business/media/koch-brothers-making-play-for-tribunes-newspapers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Mitt Romney's Bain Capital owns Clear Channel communications, who air Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, etc. and own billboards across the country.

Does Romney's Bain Capital Support Voter Suppression?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1142856/-Does-Romney-s-Bain-Capital-Support-Voter-Suppression


“If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”






Amber Lyon reveals CNN lies and war propaganda



Note that it took a Russian propaganda network to break that last story about US media.

And now the US "department of justice" are attacking journalists. Can you see the Trend? It happened to us righteous protesters throughout last year.

May 15, 2013

New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/05/14/new-app-lets-you-boycott-koch-brothers-monsanto-and-more-by-scanning-your-shopping-cart/

In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT +1.51% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves.

Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to Koch Industries through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, the world’s largest fiber and textiles company, in 2004 from DuPont).

At the time, Burner created a mock interface for her app, but that’s as far as she got. She was waiting to find the right team to build out the back end, which could be complicated given often murky corporate ownership structures.

She wasn’t aware that as she delivered her Netroots speech, a group of developers was hard at work on Buycott, an even more sophisticated version of the app she proposed.

(More at the link. Exiting!)

May 14, 2013

Blog: U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect

Naomi Wolf ?@naomirwolf

5 ALARM ALERT: DOD GRANTS ITSELF CONTROL OF DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES-AS DOD DEFINES THEM. NDAA ONLY WORSE. SHARE WIDELY: http://bit.ly/19pG7Ek


http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/05/14/u-s-military-power-grab-goes-into-effect/

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was introduced to the militarization of domestic law enforcement. By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries.

The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention in the event of “civil disturbances.” According to the rule:

Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.

(More at the link.)

May 14, 2013

Bush Used the IRS, FBI, CIA and Secret Service to Go After Opponents; Where Was Fox and GOP Outrage?

http://www.alternet.org/bush-used-irs-fbi-cia-and-secret-service-go-after-opponents-where-was-fox-and-gop-outrage

As your kindergarten teacher probably told you, two wrongs do not make a right. But the discrepancy in reactions to wrongs does, indeed, show how Washington so often serves the interests of the political right.

That’s one of the big – if deliberately ignored – takeaways from the reaction to news that the Internal Revenue Service allegedly targeting conservative organizations for extra scrutiny in their larger review of political groups’ tax exempt status. In the last few days, the allegations have generated a wave of national headlines, a congressional investigation,federal legislation and ever-louder calls for impeachment.

Considering the gravity of the allegations against the Obama IRS from the Treasury Department’s inspector general, congressional scrutiny is certainly warranted. However, there’s just one problem: most of the lawmakers and pundits today decrying the use of public resources against a White House’s political opponents had little – if anything – to say about equally troubling revelations about the Bush administration’s deployment of public resources against its opponents. In fact, conservatives said so little back then that Fox News apparently doesn’t even know (or is pretending not to know) the Bush administration used the IRS in the same way the Obama adminstration allegedly did.

And here’s the even more incredible thing: the Bush cabal didn’t just use the IRS for its political hackery – it mounted a full-scale government-wide assault on its enemies, marshaling disparate agencies in its smear efforts.

(More at the link.)

May 14, 2013

Sallie's Game: Profiteering Off Students

Published on May 7, 2013

Want to STOP SALLIE MAE and end their profiteering off students?
JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN TODAY! http://bit.ly/ZmGb3h

(Have not watched this to vet for content.)

May 14, 2013

Monsanto Has Taken Over the USDA

http://www.nationofchange.org/monsanto-has-taken-over-usda-1368111215

Monsanto is, of course, the world's largest biotech corporation. These are the people who brought us Roundup weed killer and the resulting superweeds and superbugs, along with growth hormones for cows, genetically engineered and patented seeds, PCBs, and Agent Orange -- which Monsanto now wants us to use as herbicide on genetically engineered corn and soybeans.

This chemical company -- responsible for environmental disasters that have destroyed entire towns, and a driving force behind the international waves of suicides among farmers whose lives it has helped ruin -- has monopolized our food system largely by taking over regulatory agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A recent study links Roundup to autism, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.

While Hungary has just destroyed all Monsanto genetically engineered corn fields, the USDA takes a slightly different approach toward the chemical giant. The USDA has, in fact, never denied a single application from Monsanto for new genetically engineered crops. Not one. Not ever.

(More at the link.)