Republicans rooting against the economy...

A Syrian murderer confesses.....

Syria: Shabiha Militia Member Tells It Like It Is

An active member of Syria's feared shabiha militia says he is in a "win or die" fight for his president (and a little bit of cash).

LATTAKIA, Syria and BEIRUT, Lebanon | As Syria descends into civil war, Abu Jaafar said he is ready to kill women and children to defend his friends, family and president.

"Sunni women are giving birth to babies who will fight us in years to come, so we have the right to fight anyone who can hurt us in the future," said the Alawite militiaman, a member of the ancient offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the powerbase of his regime belong.

With his massive, tattooed muscles, shaved head, bushy black beard and trademark white trainers, Abu Jaafar, 38, looks every bit the figure of terror that is now imprinted on the international conscience. It is militiamen like Jaafar that are believed responsible for recent massacres in Houla and Qbeir, in which nearly 200 Sunni civilians were killed, many of them women and children who were stabbed to death.

Though he has a wife and children at home, after a day lifting weights at the gym and having drunk some local Arak to get in the mood, Jaafar spends most evenings in the nightclubs of Lattakia, the port city on Syria's Mediterranean coast where regime forces this week attacked a rebellious village.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/world/jan-june12/syria_06-15.html

Autoimmune Finance: The System Attacks Itself

The only thing that has been achieved -if we can even use that word- by the European bailouts thus far, is that bank debt is kept hidden from view. That's all. No economies have been rescued or restored, no jobs have been created, nothing. And the bank debt that we now can't see even though we know it's there, will one day forcibly be forced out into the daylight anyway, and kill the banks that hold it. And those that bailed them out.

Eventually Europe will then be forced to deal with it after all, but with the added problem of being trillions of euros poorer, in debt transferred from the private to the public sector. Hence, what Europe has been doing until now, and is doing still, severely weakens its ability to adequately execute necessary measures in the future. Europe is dragging itself and its people into the furnace, just to keep a bunch of failed banks and their loser shareholders whole. Utter madness, an extortion scam.

Last year I started to label the money used to allow zombie banks to continue to extend and pretend, zombie money. It's conjured up out of thin air, the thinnest air on the planet. The only thing that serves as collateral is the future taxability of the future citizens of bankrupt nations.

In the end, the only truth that remains, though people are seemingly completely blind to it, is this:

The banks that are kept alive with the zombie money will use it to do what they will - rightfully, in the present economic model - see as the most profitable thing to do: bet against, and ultimately bring down, the very system that has "saved" them. This is how perverted the entire scheme has become. The money taken from you by your "leaders" will be, and already is, used to bring you to your knees.

http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/autoimmune-finance-the-system-attacks-itself.html

It’s Time to Move America Beyond Oil

Evolution Explains Why Politics Is So Tribal

Which of these two narratives most closely matches your political perspective?

Once upon a time people lived in societies that were unequal and oppressive, where the rich got richer and the poor got exploited. Chattel slavery, child labor, economic inequality, racism, sexism and discriminations of all types abounded until the liberal tradition of fairness, justice, care and equality brought about a free and fair society. And now conservatives want to turn back the clock in the name of greed and God.

Once upon a time people lived in societies that embraced values and tradition, where people took personal responsibility, worked hard, enjoyed the fruits of their labor and through charity helped those in need. Marriage, family, faith, honor, loyalty, sanctity, and respect for authority and the rule of law brought about a free and fair society. But then liberals came along and destroyed everything in the name of “progress” and utopian social engineering.

Although we may quibble over the details, political science research shows that the great majority of people fall on a left-right spectrum with these two grand narratives as bookends. And the story we tell about ourselves reflects the ancient tradition of “once upon a time things were bad, and now they’re good thanks to our party” or “once upon a time things were good, but now they’re bad thanks to the other party.” So consistent are we in our beliefs that if you hew to the first narrative, I predict you read the New York Times, listen to progressive talk radio, watch CNN, are pro-choice and anti-gun, adhere to separation of church and state, are in favor of universal health care, and vote for measures to redistribute wealth and tax the rich. If you lean toward the second narrative, I predict you read the Wall Street Journal, listen to conservative talk radio, watch Fox News, are pro-life and anti–gun control, believe America is a Christian nation that should not ban religious expressions in the public sphere, are against universal health care, and vote against measures to redistribute wealth and tax the rich.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=evolution-explains-why-politics-tribal&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_MB_20120613

Europe's Economic Crisis: What You Need to Know

The European economic crisis has been three years in the making, and its outcome is uncertain.

Crushed by debt and distressed banks, countries like Greece, Spain, and Ireland face ongoing recessions, while Germany and the Netherlands along with members of the International Monetary Fund , push for austerity measures.

There's more than enough reason for concern. The economy of the European Union, which holds the 17 nations that use the euro currency and 10 others, is a larger economic bloc than the United States or China.

To help clarify the situation, here's a look at what's happening now, with updates as they happen, and a look at the major players.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/47689157

Central Bank Money-Printing: $6 Trillion...and Counting

Many more years of money printing from the world's big four central banks now looks destined to add to the $6 trillion already created since 2008 and may transform the relationship between the once fiercely-independent banks and governments.

As rich economies sink deeper into a slough of debt after yet another wave of euro financial and banking stress and U.S. hiring hesitancy, everyone is looking back to the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank , Bank of England and Bank of Japan to stabilize the situation once more.

What's for sure is that quantitative easing , whereby the "Big Four" central banks have for four years effectively created new money by expanding their balance sheets and buying mostly government bonds from their banks, is back on the agenda for all their upcoming policy meetings.

Government credit cards are all but maxed out and commercial banks' persistent instability, existential fears and reluctance to lend means the explosion of newly minted cash has yet to spark the broad money supply growth needed to generate more goods and services.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47792734

High Blood Pressure Med May Help Cocaine Dependence

June 12, 2012 (Phoenix, Arizona) — Doxazosin, an alpha1-adrenergic antagonist traditionally used to treat hypertension and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), may also be effective in treating cocaine dependence, new research suggests.

Investigators from Baylor College in Houston, Texas, found that the rapid titration of the drug significantly reduced cocaine use compared with slow titration of doxazosin or placebo.

In the meantime, the current study's findings are important in supporting the growing body of literature suggesting that the noradrenergic system is an important pharmacologic target in the treatment of addiction, said lead investigator Daryl Shorter, MD.

"For so long, we believed that dopamine must be the primary target if we hoped to reduce drug craving and use, [but] it has become clear that addressing other neurobiological systems is necessary if we hope to more effectively treat addiction," Dr. Shorter told Medscape Medical News.

The findings were presented here at the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) 52nd Annual Meeting.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765521?sssdmh=dm1.793222&src=nldne

Etch a Sketch at it again....

Romney Reverses Course, Claims It’s ‘Completely Absurd’ To Say He Doesn’t Want To Hire More Teachers

Mitt Romney slammed President Obama last week for wanting to hire “more firemen, more policemen, and more teachers,” making a clear assertion that those workers belong among the 700,000 public sector workers who have lost their jobs in the last three years.

Romney’s campaign chair and other endorsers have backed him up on this desire to keep public employees out of work. But during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday morning, Romney contradicted his own remarks, saying that the Obama campaign was making “a very strange accusation” when it claimed he didn’t want to hire more teachers:

KILMEADE: He says you’re out of touch. He says you want to cut firefighters and teachers, that you don’t understand what’s going on in these communities. What do you say to that, governor?

ROMNEY: That’s a very strange accusation. Of course, teachers and firemen and policemen are hired at the local level and also by states. The federal government doesn’t pay for teachers, firefighters or policemen. So obviously that’s completely absurd. He’s got a new idea, though, and that is to have another stimulus and to have the federal government send money to try and bail out cities and states. It didn’t work the first time. It certainly wouldn’t work the second time.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/12/498019/romney-teachers-absurd/?mobile=nc

The Debt Is Not a Measure of Generational Burdens...

O.K. folks, today we are going to learn why the national debt tells us nothing about the burdens or benefits that we are bequeathing to future generations. This will require a few minutes of clear thinking, so for the moment put out of your head whatever nonsense you just heard from a politician or economic commentator about the debt or deficit.

Suppose that we have two economies at the same level of per capita income, both growing at the rate of 2.0 percent a year. Let's call them Germany and the United States. For simplicity, we will say that both have zero growth in the labor force so that the growth is all due to productivity growth, meaning that each worker is producing 2.0 percent more for every hour that she works.

After ten years, both economies will be roughly 20 percent richer. Now, suppose that Germany reaches 2022 with zero public debt. It managed to run surpluses and still maintain healthy growth. By contrast, the United States had to run budget deficits to keep its economy moving. By 2022, its ratio of debt to GDP is 200 percent. That's not quite up there with Japan, but substantially larger than anything the United States will see anytime soon under almost any circumstances.

The next question is which country is richer? If you answered Germany, then you get an op-ed column in The Washington Post and an "F" in economics. You were just told that the countries started with economies of the same size and that they grew at the same rate, how could Germany be richer?

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9711-the-debt-is-not-a-measure-of-generational-burdens


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So what all the pundits and economists and doomsayers say about what your children and grandchildren will owe is pure horseshit.....expensive horseshit at that....