Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Lessons From the Anti-Apartheid Struggle in the Age of Bill de Blasio

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Date: Dec 31, 2013 2:49 PM
Subject: Lessons From the Anti-Apartheid Struggle in the Age of Bill de Blasio
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Tuesday, 31 December 2013

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BuzzFlash

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Bernie Sanders: Congress Is Dysfunctional and Putting the US at Risk

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

 

Japan's Homeless Recruited for Murky Fukushima Clean Up

Read the Article at Reuters

 

Former Drone Program Analyst Speaks Out on What the Public Should Know

Read the Article at The Guardian

 

The Most Important Surveillance Order We Know Almost Nothing About

Read the Article at the ACLU Blog

 

"Worst" of Climate Predictions Are the Most Likely: New Study

Read the Article at Common Dreams

 

FAA Picks Six States for Drone Testing Sites

Read the Article at The Hill

 

David Sirota | Retired Cops, Activist Pensioners and the Economic Blowback Over Snowden

Read the Article at PandoDaily

   

Make New York City Ungovernable: Lessons From the Anti-Apartheid Struggle in the Age of Bill de Blasio

Arun Gupta, Truthout: If liberals drew the conclusion that real power lies in the markets, with the corporate-owned media and think tanks and universities endowed by the wealthy, then they would be calling for massive street protests to counter the full-court press Wall Street is placing on new Mayor Bill de Blasio.

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Conscious Defiance: Catriona Rainsford's Urban Circus

Peter Handel, Truthout: Author Catriona Rainsford ran away with the circus in Mexico, living and performing with an itinerant, fluid group of unicycle riding jugglers and fire "spinners." We offer an excerpt from her memoir, Urban Circus, and an interview that provide fresh insight into Mexico.

Read the Excerpt and Interview 

2013 in Review: Congress Bickers, People Take Action

Maureen O'Hagan, Equal Voice News: Government may come late to the party; sometimes, it fails to show up at all. But in communities around the country, work is getting done.

Read the Article 

The Year of the "Leaker"

Robert Parry, Consortium News: Critics of "leakers" Manning and Snowden claim that unauthorized disclosures risk lives, but a stronger case can be made that many more lives have been lost due to government deceptions on issues of war or peace, lies that secrecy made possible.

Read the Article 

Real Family Values: Flexible Work Arrangements and Work-Life Fit

Sarah Jane Glynn and Emily Baxter, Center for American Progress: Issues of workplace flexibility take different forms in different industries, but the roots of the problems are the same: Our modern labor standards make it unnecessarily difficult for workers to be both good workers and good family caregivers.

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Eugene Robinson | The Cruelest Cut of All

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post Writers Group: Those 1.3 million unemployed whose benefits expired Saturday are precisely who will suffer most from a cutoff, since they have been scraping by on unemployment checks for so long that their financial situations are already precarious, if not dire.

Read the Article 

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Calls on Computer Hackers to Unite Against NSA Surveillance

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: Julian Assange addressed a major gathering of computer experts at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, Germany, calling on them to join forces in resisting government intrusions on internet freedom and privacy.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript 

"Honey, I Shrunk Killed the Middle Class"

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: Even as the stock market roars ahead, the legitimacy of the ruling classes erodes quickly when ordinary citizens recognize how badly the deck is stacked against them.

Read the Article 

"Are You Serious?" Awards 2013

Conn Hallinan, Dispatches From the Edge: A look back at the news stories and newsmakers that fall under the category of "Are you serious?" in 2013.

Read the Article 

Winning and Losing the "Great Game" at the Same Time

Emily Schwartz Greco and William A Collins, OtherWords: China is content to let the United States spend itself into military-induced bankruptcy as the Soviets did.

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Will The Zipper On Your Next Pair Of Pants Be Radioactive?

Erasing the Politics of Consent: What You Won't Learn From "Fifty Shades of Grey"

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Date: Dec 30, 2013 3:24 PM
Subject: Erasing the Politics of Consent: What You Won't Learn From "Fifty Shades of Grey"
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t
 

Monday, 30 December 2013

t r u t h o u t

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BuzzFlash

For-Profit Utility Companies See Residential Renewable Energy as Their Ruin

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Almost all electrical utilities are for-profit, and very few of them want to see Americans take control of their energy needs through self-owned renewable solar units.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

 

The Shocking Redistribution of Wealth in the Past Five Years

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

 

Poll: War in Afghanistan Perhaps the Most Unpopular in US History

Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

 

Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit

Read the Article at Spiegel Online

 

JPMorgan Chase Hired China's Elite to Get Nepotism Advantage on Contracts

Read the Article at The New York Times

 

Green Wednesday: Colorado Prepares for Over-the-Counter Sale of Recreational Marijuana

Read the Article at the Independent UK

 

Monsanto's Scary New Scheme

Read the Article at Salon

 

Minimum Wage to Rise in 13 States on January 1

Read the Article at CNN

   

Don't forget, tomorrow is the last day to make a tax-deductible donation to Truthout this year! If you value the work we've done in 2013, please pitch in. Your contribution will go straight to work helping us publish ad-free, independent journalism in 2014. Thank you from all of us for your ongoing support - we're excited for what the future has in store!

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Erasing the Politics of Consent: What You Won't Learn From Fifty Shades of Grey

Jill D. Weinberg, Truthout:  The anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey movie, while tantalizing, undercuts the importance of consent, which is taken very seriously by members of the BDSM (Bondage and Discipline and/or Sadism and Masochism) community.

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Against Patriarchy: Tools for Men to Further Feminist Revolution

Chris Crass, Truthout: This season, make "the gesture of love" and take action to further the feminist revolution that will eradicate patriarchal domination and result in liberation for everyone.

Read the Article 

A Jewish Atheist Responds to the Pope's Call for Peace

Robert Naiman, Truthout: If you look at the Democratic Senate Catholics who have not taken a position on supporting negotiations with Iran, they look like they would much rather be with the plurality of Jewish senators supporting the president than with the Republicans working to undermine him.

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The Bitter Reality for Farmworkers

David Bacon, New American Media: As families celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, farmworkers across the country who help harvest the food that was prepared this holiday season continue to struggle under bitter working and living conditions.

Read the Article and View the Photos 

Dean Baker | Centrists Have No Right to Lecture Anyone on Growth

Dean Baker, Truthout: Policies promoted by people deemed as too left by New York Times editor Bill Keller are good candidates for increasing growth. There are arguments that could be made against any of these policies, but the left is not unconcerned about economic growth.

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Ikea Isn't Only Furnishing Your Bedroom, It's Watching You There

Kristina Chew, Care2: Ikea is not only furnishing people's bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. The company's French unit has also been conducting surveillance of employees and even customers who complained about items that were not delivered.

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For Economic Stability, Follow the French

The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: The French Constitutional Council has just agreed with the new socialist government that it's totally legal to raise the very top income tax rates on very wealthy individuals and hugely profitable corporations to 50 percent.

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Chris Hedges | Overthrow the Speculators

Chris Hedges, Truthdig: Today's speculators have created grotesque financial mechanisms, from usurious interest rates on loans to legalized accounting fraud, to plunge the masses into crippling forms of debt peonage.

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Orwellian or a Blunt Tool?: Conflicting Rulings on NSA Spying Set Up Likely Supreme Court Showdown

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: A federal judge has upheld the National Security Agency's bulk collection of US telephone data just days after a separate court reached an opposite opinion. The issue will likely head to the Supreme Court.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript 

Fifty Is the New 65: Older Americans Are Getting Booted From Their Jobs - and Denied New Opportunities

Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: Men and women with impressive professional achievements and credentials are being let go, nudged out and pushed aside. Not because they aren't competent. Not because they lack skills. But simply because they have a gray hair or two.

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On the News With Thom Hartmann: More Than 1.3 Million People Have Lost Their Unemployment Benefits, and More

In today's On the News segment: More than 1.3 million people have lost their unemployment benefits; voter ID laws are blocking the poor and minorities from the polls; more than 1.4 million Americans will get a raise; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript 

Malign Confusion About Growth, Economic Growth or "Degrowth": Which Way Forward? Parts Two and Three

Michael Hoexter, New Economic Perspectives: Climate scientists have stepped into the gap where economists have generally feared to tread and have suggested that intentional "de-growth" is the only hope to stop the rising emissions associated with economic development and growth.

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Monday, December 30, 2013

Top 10 GE Labeling Stories of 2013

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Gary Hirshberg, Just Label It" <info@justlabelit.org>
Date: Dec 30, 2013 8:17 AM
Subject: Top 10 GE Labeling Stories of 2013
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:

Just Label It

Top 10 GE Labeling Stories of 2013

2013 has been an amazing year in the fight for GE labeling! We have seen the first passage of GE lableing laws on the state level, the introduction of legislation on the national level and the fight for GE labeling has come to the forefront of food issues here in the U.S. As we get ready to embark on another year of fighting for the consumers right to know, we wanted to share some of the tremendous stories that have made this year a groundbreaking one.

Just Label It wants to make sure that 2014 is another great year. Be sure to check our website and Facebook page regularly for updated stories on what is going on!

Whole Foods to Label GMO Foods

March 10 - Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain, announced that it would require all foods sold in its stores that contain genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such within five years. The company is the first retailer in the country to require the labeling, and its executives received a standing ovation when they made the announcement during the Natural Products Expo West, a trade conference, in California. Read more >>

Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Taken on by Congress In Right-To-Know Act

April 25 - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced bills to the Senate and House of Representatives that would require food manufacturers to clearly label any product containing genetically engineered ingredients -- or risk having that product classified "misbranded" by the FDA. Read More >>


Vermont House of Representatives Gives Green Light to GMO Labeling Bill


May 10 - The Vermont House of Representatives has passed H. 112, a bill requiring the labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) food sold in Vermont. However, there are plenty of hurdles ahead. Read More >>

U.S. Discovery of Rogue GMO Wheat Raises Concerns Over Control


May 31 - For global consumers now on high alert over a rogue strain of genetically modified wheat found in Oregon, the question is simple: How could this happen? For a cadre of critics of biotech crops, the question is different: How could it not?

Read More >>


Ben & Jerry's to Cut Genetically Modified Ingredients


June 3 - Given Ben & Jerry's tree-hugging image, it might be a surprise to some of its fans that the company's ice cream includes genetically modified organisms (GMOs) among its ingredients. It does, but now the Unilever brand is promising to eliminate the controversial food products, pledging to go completely GMO-free by 2014. Read More >>


Connecticut Becomes First State to Pass GMO Labeling Law


June 4 - Connecticut passed HB-6519, a bill that would require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food sold in Connecticut. The amended bill, after passing through the Senate this weekend, passed through the House by an overwhelming margin of 134 to 3, and makes Connecticut the first U.S. state to pass a law for GE labeling. Read More >>


Maine Is Second State to Pass GMO Labeling Law


June 14 - Just days after Connecticut passed its genetically-engineered food labeling law, Maine lawmakers approved their own legislation requiring food manufacturers to reveal genetically engineered ingredients on products' packaging. The governors in both New England states are expected to sign the bills into law soon. Read More >>


Senate Committee Passes GE Salmon Labeling Amendment

June 21 - Senate Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to label genetically engineered salmon, which was offered by Senator Murkowski (R-AK) and added to a spending bill language. The amendment passed through the Committee by a narrow margin of 15 to 14, and would provide at least $150,000 for labeling.  Senator Begich (D-AK) was a co-sponsor of the amendment, and also voted in favor. Read More >>


With Recent Victories, Movement to Label GMOs Gains Steam


June 27 - More than six months after a big defeat in California, the movement to label foods containing genetically modified organisms appears to be picking up steam across the country. In the past three weeks, Connecticut and Maine passed labeling bills, the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time approved a non-GMO label claim for meat products, Chipotle began voluntarily labeling menu items containing GMO ingredients online, and, perhaps most notably, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted last week to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration funding to label genetically modified salmon if the agency approves the fish. Read More >>


Backers of I-522's GMO Labeling Concede Defeat, Vow New Effort in 2016


November 14 - The outcome was clear to many on election night, but backers of Initiative 522 waited to concede on Thursday evening that its campaign to label genetically modified foods in Washington had lost. Numbers improved in recent days for the Yes on 522 campaign, but nine days after the Nov. 5 election the measure still was trailing by 46,213 votes or nearly 3 percentage points.  Read More >>


Donate to Just Label It | Sign the Petition

We're building a movement of concerned citizens – parents, health care workers, small business owners, farmers, and more – who care about what's in the food we eat.

In October 2011, the Just Label It campaign was formed when the Center for Food Safety filed a petition with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to require the labeling of all foods produced using genetic engineering. Days later, we asked citizens from around the country to join us and tell the FDA to "Just Label It." More than 1.2 million Americans have contacted to the FDA urging them to label genetically engineered foods. Ask others to sign on at www.JustLabelIt.org/takeaction.

Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Learn more at www.JustLabelIt.org

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French high court approves 75 percent tax rate on executive salaries | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/29/french-high-court-approves-75-percent-tax-rate-on-executive-salaries/

British doctors start prescribing books to help treat depression, anxiety and other disorders | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/30/british-doctors-start-prescribing-books-to-help-treat-depression-anxiety-and-other-disorders/

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Joseph Boutilier | Undercover COP

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Saturday, 28 December 2013

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The Year of the 'Leaker'

Read the article at Consortium News

 

Seven Things the Do-Nothing Congress Did

Read the article at The Daily Beast

 

Jobless Aid Expires for 1.3 Million People

Read the article at The Hill

 

Americans to Wall Street 'Scrooges': Give Your Bonus to Homeless

Read the article at Mint Press News

 

No More Steubenvilles: How to Raise Boys to be Kind Men

Read the article at Yes! Magazine

 

Democrats Plan Big Push on Jobless Aid in New Year

Read the article at the Chicago Tribune

 

Long-term jobless benefits expire Saturday, weekly unemployment claims spike

Read the article at Vermontbiz

   

Truthout could not have brought you all the stories we published in 2013 without the support of our readers. Thank you once again - and remember, there's still time to make a tax-deductible donation before the end of the year. We wish all of you all the best for 2014!

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Joseph Boutilier | Undercover COP

Joseph Boutilier, Truthout: Ignored by mainstream media and in the midst of protests of inaction, our leaders meeting in Warsaw have ensured that - at a time of colossal urgency - it will be at least one more year before the world stands together at the UN Climate Change conference to possibly do something about the Earth's greatest threat to date.

Read the Article 

The Workplace Needs to Adapt to People's Needs

Taliesin Nyala, Truthout: The conventional way we do business crushes workers' lives and community vitality. The democratic workplace provides an alternative, argues Nyala.

Read the Article 

Test Score Driven Education Ignores Students

Jeff Bryant, Campaign for America's Future: As 2013 closed out, the education world was roiled by yet another controversy over the calculation and interpretation of statistical data used to govern teachers and school services.

Read the Article 

Could Crowd-Sourced Organic Seed Banks Save Our Agricultural Future?

Paromita Pain, Occupy.com: Fifty-three-year-old farmer Jaswant Sainhara never thought he could be an activist. But in August he was among the thousands of farmers from across 20 Indian states who braved sweltering heat to demonstrate in New Delhi against the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill.

Read the Article 

Youth Can Handle the Truth

Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance: Instead of creating an environment for honest discussion of the past and present which would facilitate reconciliation, school text books and programs perpetuate the status quo. Despite this, students are questioning the injustice that they can't help but see around them.

Read the Article 

GOP Refuses to Extend Jobless Benefits

s.e. smith, Care2: After losing his job over the summer, Dale Sexton has become one of the more than four million faces of the new American economy: the long-term unemployed, people who have been seeking work for six months or more.

Read the Article 

Climate Protection: The New Insurgency

Jeremy Brecher, Foreign Policy in Focus: Faced with the failure of conventional lobbying, the climate protection movement is now turning to mass civil disobedience—but we can take it further still.

Read the Article 

Can Childhood Trauma Shorten Your Life?

Charlotte Silver, AlterNet: Ten percent of Americans die of coronary heart disease yet have none of the risk factors. Some of these people may, however, have something else in common: childhood trauma.

Read the Article 

Sikh Community Fights to Stop Meat Plant Next to Its Temple

Kristina Chew, Care2: A Sikh community has appealed to the High Court in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the U.K. to stop the building of a meat processing plant next to the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara, one of the oldest Sikh temples in England.

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Killed in front of her children

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Change.org" <mail@change.org>
Date: Dec 29, 2013 9:38 AM
Subject: Killed in front of her children
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:

Change.org
Daniel - There's a new petition taking off on Change.org, and we think you might be interested in signing it:

Let Hotel Phones Dial 911 Easily: Help Enact Kari's Law

By Hank Hunt
Winona, Texas

On December 1, 2013 Kari Rene Hunt was brutally murdered in front of her children ages 9, 4 and 3. She was killed by her estranged husband whom she was intending to divorce. She agreed to meet him at a local motel to leave the children with him for a short visitation.

Her estranged husband, Brad Allen Dunn, apparently ambushed her in the motel room and cornered her in the restroom. During the struggle and resulting death of Kari, her oldest daughter, age 9, (name with held for privacy) attempted to dial 911 from the motel room phone. She followed instructions as taught by her mother on the way to call for help but she was never instructed that in some hotels and motels you must first dial a "9" and then 911.

We are attempting to ensure that any person needing police, EMS or the Fire Department at any hotel or motel location may be able to dial the numbers 911 and receive emergency response. In a panic, any under age child, or for that matter anyone in an emergency situation should be able to depend on dialing 911 from any phone in the United States and receiving assistance.

We pray the lawmakers in our Congress and Senate hear the cries of Kari and her children and enact a law requiring all hotel and motel chains, including all "Mom & Pop" locations have all phone systems updated to accept 911 as an emergency call and be connected automatically to emergency dispatch and to begin using the number "8" for an "outside" line or update all phone systems to the e911 systems.

We also would like to ask that Wyndham Hotels, which is the parent company of Baymont Inns and Suites where this incident occured, lead the way in the industry by updating the antiquated phone systems still used in some of their hotels. Seconds count and when a 9 year old little girl is mature and brave enough to attempt to dial for help, she should be answered. We understand the cost implications and know that E911 has been a requirement for a few years, but only a handful of states require it.

We ask the United States Congress to make it a requirement for all hotel and motels operating the United States and offer conversion assistance where needed. Please help make this "Kari's Law".

The person (or organization) who started this petition is not affiliated with Change.org. Change.org did not create this petition and is not responsible for the petition content.

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Start a petition on Change.org

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