Friday, November 27, 2009
Economics:
An economy that depends on a 70% consumer spending component is at serious risk, if jobs continue to disappear.
CNBC: The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% of Workers are Unemployed
"...According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.
The number dwarfs the statistic most people pay attention to—the U-3 rate—which most recently showed unemployment at 10.2 percent for October, the highest it has been since June 1983.
The difference is that what is traditionally referred to as the 'unemployment rate' only measures those out of work who are still looking for jobs. Discouraged workers who have quit trying to find a job, as well as those working part-time but looking for full-time work or who are otherwise underemployed, count in the U-6 rate..."
Raw Story: Study: CEOs cashed in before Wall Street meltdown
"The CEOs of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two investment banks that collapsed during last year's financial meltdown, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation even as the company's shareholders lost everything, says a new report from Harvard Law School.
The top five executives at Bear Stearns made a total of $1.4 billion from bonuses and equity sales between 2000 and 2008, while the top five executives at Lehman Brothers made around $1 billion during that same period -- the period during which the companies ran up the bad investments that would see them collapse in 2008, according to 'The Wages of Failure' (PDF),
a report from Harvard Law School's Program on Corporate Governance.
'The people who invested in these companies should feel betrayed,' Nell Minow, a compensation expert at the Corporate Library, told NBC's Lisa Myers. 'The whole idea of capitalism is that the people provide the capital and the executives take care of it for us. In this case, the people provided the capital, and the executives took it,'..."
William Greider: Memo to Investigators: Dig Deep
"When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission opened for business on September 17, it was a nonevent for the media. Leading newspapers brushed aside chairman Phil Angelides, the former California state treasurer, and his declaration of purpose--'uncovering the facts and providing an unbiased historical accounting of what brought our financial system and our economy to its knees.' As Angelides put it, 'The fuses for that cataclysm were undoubtedly lit years before. It is our job to diligently and doggedly follow those fuses to their origins.'
The press has moved on. Financial crisis was last year's story. Didn't the Treasury and Federal Reserve announce they have already turned things around? Hasn't the president proposed a bunch of complicated reforms (boring!) for Congress to enact? Yes, but that is the problem. How can Washington reform the financial system when we still don't know what happened?
We may know the broad outlines, but the landscape remains littered with unanswered questions and informed suspicions about who did what to produce the breakdown. The relevant facts are still buried in the files of Wall Street firms and the regulatory agencies that utterly failed as watchdogs. The Angelides commission has the subpoena power to dig out secrets--from e-mails and private memos, and through testimony under oath--that can disclose political deal-making and ruinous financial strategies. Given the rush of events, the commission may be the public's last, best chance to get at the truth of the matter..."
Robert Scheer: Still Doing God’s Work on Wall Street
"Jail, anyone? Perhaps that's too harsh, and at any rate premature, but is anyone ever going to be held accountable for the behind-the-scenes sweetheart deals that passed tens of billions of taxpayer dollars through the AIG shell game to the very banks that caused the financial meltdown? Or for the many other acts of double-dealing that left one out of three American homeowners owing much more than their houses were worth while the folks who swindled them were rewarded with hundreds of billions in public money?..."
Food:
Organic methods must truly be a threat to agribusiness. What else could prompt such harsh anti-organic words from a Swiss CEO?
Jim Hightower: Giving Thanks for America's Good Food Movement
"What better day than Thanksgiving to celebrate our country's food rebels!
I'm talking about the growing movement of small farmers, food artisans, local retailers, co-ops, community organizers, restaurateurs, environmentalists, consumers and others - perhaps including you. This movement has spread the rich ideas of sustainability, organic, local control and the Common Good from the fringes of our food economy into the mainstream.
It began in earnest in the 1980s and 1990s as an 'upchuck rebellion' - ordinary folks rejecting the industrialized, chemicalized, corporatized and globalized food system. Farmers wanted a more natural connection to the good earth that they were working, just as consumers began demanding edibles that were not saturated with pesticides, injected with antibiotics, ripened with chemicals, dosed with artificial flavorings and otherwise tortured.
These two interests began to find each other and to create an alternative way of thinking about food. Today, more than 13,000 organic farmers produce everything from wheat to meat, and organic food sales top $23 billion a year. Some 4,800 vibrant farmers' markets operate in practically every city and town across the land, linking farmers and food-makers directly to consumers in a local, supportive economy. Also, restaurants, supermarkets, food wholesalers and school districts are now buying foodstuffs that are produced sustainably and locally..."
Environment:
Han Shan: Oil Giant Chevron Accused of 'Extortion' on Capitol Hill
"Chevron is piling on the lobbyists and PR firms in an extraordinary effort to evade responsibility for its massive toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
But in a recent article for Politico, Kenneth Vogel, who tracks the confluence of money, politics and influence for the influential Washington news outlet, writes that the oil company's increasingly combative approach is backfiring, 'drawing fire from environmentalists, media ethicists, state pension funds, New York's attorney general, members of Congress and even Barack Obama when he was a senator.'
Facing the possibility of a $27 billion judgment in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron is employing an increasingly aggressive kitchen sink strategy, with a major lobbying effort in Washington, and a multifaceted PR campaign in the U.S. and Ecuador that produced a phony news report and promoted a contrived bribery scandal to smear the plaintiffs in the lawsuit..."
Science:
NPR: Scientist Explains Earth's Warming Plateau
"...Guy RAZ: Now, your research, Dr. Latif, has been cited by climate change skeptics here in the U.S., by for example, George Will, a conservative columnist with the Washington Post, to show that the Earth actually goes through natural warming and cooling trends and that climate change is really being overhyped. Do you think your work is being misused?
Dr. LATIF: Yes. It is misused. I must say this, unfortunately, because these changes we are talking about, these short-term changes, you know, their amplitudes are much smaller than the long-term warming trends. So we are talking about a hold, okay, in the last 10 years. We are not talking about a net cooling to, say, (unintelligible) temperatures, (unintelligible), you know, which we observed 100 years ago or so. Okay, and also what we predicted for the future is basically that this hold may continue for another 10 years or so, okay, but we did not predict a cooling. We basically said that we would stay for some more years on this plateau.
RAZ: Just to clarify, you are not a climate change skeptic.
Dr. LATIF: If my name was not Mojib Latif, my name would be global warming. So I really believe in Global Warming. Okay. However, you know, we have to accept that there are these natural fluctuations, and therefore, the temperature may not show additional warming temporarily..."
An economy that depends on a 70% consumer spending component is at serious risk, if jobs continue to disappear.
CNBC: The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% of Workers are Unemployed
"...According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.
The number dwarfs the statistic most people pay attention to—the U-3 rate—which most recently showed unemployment at 10.2 percent for October, the highest it has been since June 1983.
The difference is that what is traditionally referred to as the 'unemployment rate' only measures those out of work who are still looking for jobs. Discouraged workers who have quit trying to find a job, as well as those working part-time but looking for full-time work or who are otherwise underemployed, count in the U-6 rate..."
Raw Story: Study: CEOs cashed in before Wall Street meltdown
"The CEOs of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two investment banks that collapsed during last year's financial meltdown, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation even as the company's shareholders lost everything, says a new report from Harvard Law School.
The top five executives at Bear Stearns made a total of $1.4 billion from bonuses and equity sales between 2000 and 2008, while the top five executives at Lehman Brothers made around $1 billion during that same period -- the period during which the companies ran up the bad investments that would see them collapse in 2008, according to 'The Wages of Failure' (PDF),
a report from Harvard Law School's Program on Corporate Governance.
'The people who invested in these companies should feel betrayed,' Nell Minow, a compensation expert at the Corporate Library, told NBC's Lisa Myers. 'The whole idea of capitalism is that the people provide the capital and the executives take care of it for us. In this case, the people provided the capital, and the executives took it,'..."
William Greider: Memo to Investigators: Dig Deep
"When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission opened for business on September 17, it was a nonevent for the media. Leading newspapers brushed aside chairman Phil Angelides, the former California state treasurer, and his declaration of purpose--'uncovering the facts and providing an unbiased historical accounting of what brought our financial system and our economy to its knees.' As Angelides put it, 'The fuses for that cataclysm were undoubtedly lit years before. It is our job to diligently and doggedly follow those fuses to their origins.'
The press has moved on. Financial crisis was last year's story. Didn't the Treasury and Federal Reserve announce they have already turned things around? Hasn't the president proposed a bunch of complicated reforms (boring!) for Congress to enact? Yes, but that is the problem. How can Washington reform the financial system when we still don't know what happened?
We may know the broad outlines, but the landscape remains littered with unanswered questions and informed suspicions about who did what to produce the breakdown. The relevant facts are still buried in the files of Wall Street firms and the regulatory agencies that utterly failed as watchdogs. The Angelides commission has the subpoena power to dig out secrets--from e-mails and private memos, and through testimony under oath--that can disclose political deal-making and ruinous financial strategies. Given the rush of events, the commission may be the public's last, best chance to get at the truth of the matter..."
Robert Scheer: Still Doing God’s Work on Wall Street
"Jail, anyone? Perhaps that's too harsh, and at any rate premature, but is anyone ever going to be held accountable for the behind-the-scenes sweetheart deals that passed tens of billions of taxpayer dollars through the AIG shell game to the very banks that caused the financial meltdown? Or for the many other acts of double-dealing that left one out of three American homeowners owing much more than their houses were worth while the folks who swindled them were rewarded with hundreds of billions in public money?..."
Food:
Organic methods must truly be a threat to agribusiness. What else could prompt such harsh anti-organic words from a Swiss CEO?
Jim Hightower: Giving Thanks for America's Good Food Movement
"What better day than Thanksgiving to celebrate our country's food rebels!
I'm talking about the growing movement of small farmers, food artisans, local retailers, co-ops, community organizers, restaurateurs, environmentalists, consumers and others - perhaps including you. This movement has spread the rich ideas of sustainability, organic, local control and the Common Good from the fringes of our food economy into the mainstream.
It began in earnest in the 1980s and 1990s as an 'upchuck rebellion' - ordinary folks rejecting the industrialized, chemicalized, corporatized and globalized food system. Farmers wanted a more natural connection to the good earth that they were working, just as consumers began demanding edibles that were not saturated with pesticides, injected with antibiotics, ripened with chemicals, dosed with artificial flavorings and otherwise tortured.
These two interests began to find each other and to create an alternative way of thinking about food. Today, more than 13,000 organic farmers produce everything from wheat to meat, and organic food sales top $23 billion a year. Some 4,800 vibrant farmers' markets operate in practically every city and town across the land, linking farmers and food-makers directly to consumers in a local, supportive economy. Also, restaurants, supermarkets, food wholesalers and school districts are now buying foodstuffs that are produced sustainably and locally..."
Environment:
Han Shan: Oil Giant Chevron Accused of 'Extortion' on Capitol Hill
"Chevron is piling on the lobbyists and PR firms in an extraordinary effort to evade responsibility for its massive toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
But in a recent article for Politico, Kenneth Vogel, who tracks the confluence of money, politics and influence for the influential Washington news outlet, writes that the oil company's increasingly combative approach is backfiring, 'drawing fire from environmentalists, media ethicists, state pension funds, New York's attorney general, members of Congress and even Barack Obama when he was a senator.'
Facing the possibility of a $27 billion judgment in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron is employing an increasingly aggressive kitchen sink strategy, with a major lobbying effort in Washington, and a multifaceted PR campaign in the U.S. and Ecuador that produced a phony news report and promoted a contrived bribery scandal to smear the plaintiffs in the lawsuit..."
Science:
NPR: Scientist Explains Earth's Warming Plateau
"...Guy RAZ: Now, your research, Dr. Latif, has been cited by climate change skeptics here in the U.S., by for example, George Will, a conservative columnist with the Washington Post, to show that the Earth actually goes through natural warming and cooling trends and that climate change is really being overhyped. Do you think your work is being misused?
Dr. LATIF: Yes. It is misused. I must say this, unfortunately, because these changes we are talking about, these short-term changes, you know, their amplitudes are much smaller than the long-term warming trends. So we are talking about a hold, okay, in the last 10 years. We are not talking about a net cooling to, say, (unintelligible) temperatures, (unintelligible), you know, which we observed 100 years ago or so. Okay, and also what we predicted for the future is basically that this hold may continue for another 10 years or so, okay, but we did not predict a cooling. We basically said that we would stay for some more years on this plateau.
RAZ: Just to clarify, you are not a climate change skeptic.
Dr. LATIF: If my name was not Mojib Latif, my name would be global warming. So I really believe in Global Warming. Okay. However, you know, we have to accept that there are these natural fluctuations, and therefore, the temperature may not show additional warming temporarily..."
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Privatization Of War:
Outsourcing of military functions are the brain-child of VP Cheney, as SecDef for Bush 41. Noam Chomsky spoke about the existence of an Executive Assassination Ring this past March...
Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan
"At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, 'snatch and grabs' of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so 'compartmentalized' that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence..."
Outsourcing of military functions are the brain-child of VP Cheney, as SecDef for Bush 41. Noam Chomsky spoke about the existence of an Executive Assassination Ring this past March...
Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan
"At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, 'snatch and grabs' of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so 'compartmentalized' that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence..."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Media:
Really, Mr. President?
Crooks & Liars: Obama Appoints Loyal Bushie Dana Perino To Broadcasting Board Of Governors
"...Where to begin? I understand that President Obama campaigned on the idea of bipartisanship, but this is truly an insult. Forget that he is appointing an intellectual lightweight who ran cover for, and spread propaganda for the worst president in American history. Dana Perino stood before reporters and routinely lied to them and the world -- even defending the use of torture, calling it 'effective, safe and legal.'
And now President Obama believes that she has the integrity to hold a key position in an agency that oversees government-sponsored, international broadcasting?
Perino's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, so it's not a done deal, but we have to make our voices heard. Contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts on the matter..."
John Amato: I Filed an FCC Complaint Against FOX News Over 'Hoax' News Palin Coverage!
"...Think Progress caught Fox News using old campaign footage of a McCain/Palin rally from 2008 to make it appear like the crowds she's drawing on her book tour are larger than they are...
...Media Matters followed up that report with more facts to support the claim, which in my mind should be called a HOAX.
Earlier, Think Progress caught Fox News showing what was clearly footage of 2008 Sarah Palin campaign rallies but claiming that it was video of 'huge crowds' attending Palin's book tour. But in case the McCain-Palin campaign signs and tee-shirts clearly visible in the footage Fox aired aren't enough to make Fox apologize, here's further proof. Here's a screenshot of the footage of one of the rallies that Fox's Gregg Jarrett showed today and claimed was 'just coming into us' as part of the book tour: And here's a photo posted last year by Florida TV station CFNews 13 of a November 1, 2008, Palin rally in Ocala, Florida:And here's a video of that same rally that TPM posted way back in 2008 -- when it actually happened.
Fox News is not operating like a news organization. In the FCC it states:
FOX News is passing on 'false information' to the public. This must end. They were busted by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show when Sean Hannity used the same technique to make it seem like a tea party rally was bigger than it actually was. And you know Hannity was told to apologize by 'legal' over the 'Hoax' he tried to get away with. Inadvertent footage doesn't end up on a network show. That's a bogus explanation. I think it's time we started to take action and the first step is to file an FCC complaint report here. Please join me here and at CrooksandLiars.com to expose these 'Hoaxes' by News Corp."
Really, Mr. President?
Crooks & Liars: Obama Appoints Loyal Bushie Dana Perino To Broadcasting Board Of Governors
"...Where to begin? I understand that President Obama campaigned on the idea of bipartisanship, but this is truly an insult. Forget that he is appointing an intellectual lightweight who ran cover for, and spread propaganda for the worst president in American history. Dana Perino stood before reporters and routinely lied to them and the world -- even defending the use of torture, calling it 'effective, safe and legal.'
And now President Obama believes that she has the integrity to hold a key position in an agency that oversees government-sponsored, international broadcasting?
Perino's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, so it's not a done deal, but we have to make our voices heard. Contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts on the matter..."
John Amato: I Filed an FCC Complaint Against FOX News Over 'Hoax' News Palin Coverage!
"...Think Progress caught Fox News using old campaign footage of a McCain/Palin rally from 2008 to make it appear like the crowds she's drawing on her book tour are larger than they are...
...Media Matters followed up that report with more facts to support the claim, which in my mind should be called a HOAX.
Earlier, Think Progress caught Fox News showing what was clearly footage of 2008 Sarah Palin campaign rallies but claiming that it was video of 'huge crowds' attending Palin's book tour. But in case the McCain-Palin campaign signs and tee-shirts clearly visible in the footage Fox aired aren't enough to make Fox apologize, here's further proof. Here's a screenshot of the footage of one of the rallies that Fox's Gregg Jarrett showed today and claimed was 'just coming into us' as part of the book tour: And here's a photo posted last year by Florida TV station CFNews 13 of a November 1, 2008, Palin rally in Ocala, Florida:And here's a video of that same rally that TPM posted way back in 2008 -- when it actually happened.
Fox News is not operating like a news organization. In the FCC it states:
'Hoaxes. The Commission's prohibition against the broadcast of hoaxes is set forth at Section 73.1217 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 73.1217.
This rule prohibits broadcast licensees or permittees from broadcasting false information concerning a crime or a catastrophe if: (1) the licensee knows this information is false; (2) it is foreseeable that broadcast of the information will cause substantial public harm; and (3) broadcast of the information does in fact directly cause substantial public harm
FOX News is passing on 'false information' to the public. This must end. They were busted by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show when Sean Hannity used the same technique to make it seem like a tea party rally was bigger than it actually was. And you know Hannity was told to apologize by 'legal' over the 'Hoax' he tried to get away with. Inadvertent footage doesn't end up on a network show. That's a bogus explanation. I think it's time we started to take action and the first step is to file an FCC complaint report here. Please join me here and at CrooksandLiars.com to expose these 'Hoaxes' by News Corp."
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Endless War:
'Terrorism' (a tactic, not an enemy) is the replacement the DoD needed to justify its existence, and $463 billion budgetary appetite after the demise of the Soviet Union. The threat of global Communism was, of course, the justification the United States government has used to maintain a war-time economy since World War II. The potential of a real 'Peace Dividend' was clearly too great a threat to the Pentagon's existence.
Tom Hayden: Kilcullen's Long War
"Let us say, hypothetically, that American forces kill or capture Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, enabling President Obama to declare victory and bring our troops home. Would he? Not according to the Pentagon's plan for a fifty-year "Long War" of counterinsurgency spanning Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and beyond.
Military intellectuals envision a prolonged cold war against Al Qaeda, with hot wars along the way. It happens that the Long War is over Muslim lands rich with oil, natural gas and planned pipelines. The Pentagon identifies them as hostile terrain where Al Qaeda and its affiliates are hidden.
Among the top experts responsible for this fifty-year war plan, concocted in 2005 in windowless offices in the Pentagon, is Dr. David Kilcullen, a former Australian soldier, an anthropologist, former top adviser to Gen. David Petraeus and current aide to Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Kilcullen is a media favorite, the subject of a long New Yorker profile by George Packer, glowing columns by David Ignatius in the Washington Post and weighty late-night conversations with Charlie Rose.
Kilcullen's recent book, The Accidental Guerrilla, presents the case for a Long War of fifty or even 100 years' duration, with chapters on Iraq (a mistake he believes was salvaged by the military surge he promoted in 2007-08), Afghanistan (where he recommends at least a five-to-ten-year campaign), Pakistan (whose tribal areas he sees as the center of the terrorist threat) and even Europe (where, he says, human rights laws create legislative 'safe havens' for urban Muslim undergrounds)...
...A fifty- to 100-year military campaign--the subtitle of Kilcullen's book is Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One--will span thirteen presidential terms and twenty-five Congressional sessions, casting a long shadow over generations of politicians not yet running for office. The Long War assumes either perpetual democratic approval by many voters not yet alive or that democracy will simply be circumvented by the national security state. Bin Laden will be dead of natural causes or otherwise long before it's over.
The audacity becomes ever more dangerous without checks and balances. Without his acknowledging it, Kilcullen's plan plays directly into what he believes is Al Qaeda's strategy of exhausting the United States militarily and economically. And yet he thinks the Long War is inevitable.
There has been little public discussion of the Long War. The term is attributed to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command from 2003 to 2007; it is endorsed by counterinsurgency theorist John Nagl, who heads the Center for a New American Security; and it has been critically reviewed only in a collection, The Long War, edited by Andrew Bacevich.
The world counterterrorism community that is planning the Long War, Kilcullen has said, is 'small and tightly knit.' This is precisely Bacevich's complaint. In the preface to his book he writes, 'National security policy has long been the province of a small, self-perpetuating, self-anointed group of specialists...dedicated to the proposition of excluding democratic influences from the making of national security policy. To the extent that members of the national security apparatus have taken public opinion into consideration, they have viewed it as something to manipulate.' The fraternity of counterinsurgency specialists is an even smaller bubble insulated from civic society..."
Captiol Hill's Lucrative Revolving Door:
Sebastian Jones: Dick Gephardt's Spectacular Sellout
"...While Gephardt spent most of his twenty-eight years in national Democratic politics quietly promoting and voting with establishment interests, he is best known for his friendship with labor and advocacy for universal healthcare during two presidential runs. In 2003 he harshly condemned corporate crime, which he said 'ruined people's lives for selfishness and greed,' and launched his candidacy claiming, 'Every proposal I'm making, every idea I'm advancing has a single, central purpose: to revive a failing economy and give working Americans the help and security they need.' So why, six years later, was he on Capitol Hill representing one of the biggest players in the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression? And further, why was he recently working for Visa to kill credit card reform, helping Peabody Energy stymie climate change legislation and consulting for UnitedHealth Group alongside Tom Daschle to block meaningful healthcare reform?..."
'Terrorism' (a tactic, not an enemy) is the replacement the DoD needed to justify its existence, and $463 billion budgetary appetite after the demise of the Soviet Union. The threat of global Communism was, of course, the justification the United States government has used to maintain a war-time economy since World War II. The potential of a real 'Peace Dividend' was clearly too great a threat to the Pentagon's existence.
Tom Hayden: Kilcullen's Long War
"Let us say, hypothetically, that American forces kill or capture Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, enabling President Obama to declare victory and bring our troops home. Would he? Not according to the Pentagon's plan for a fifty-year "Long War" of counterinsurgency spanning Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and beyond.
Military intellectuals envision a prolonged cold war against Al Qaeda, with hot wars along the way. It happens that the Long War is over Muslim lands rich with oil, natural gas and planned pipelines. The Pentagon identifies them as hostile terrain where Al Qaeda and its affiliates are hidden.
Among the top experts responsible for this fifty-year war plan, concocted in 2005 in windowless offices in the Pentagon, is Dr. David Kilcullen, a former Australian soldier, an anthropologist, former top adviser to Gen. David Petraeus and current aide to Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Kilcullen is a media favorite, the subject of a long New Yorker profile by George Packer, glowing columns by David Ignatius in the Washington Post and weighty late-night conversations with Charlie Rose.
Kilcullen's recent book, The Accidental Guerrilla, presents the case for a Long War of fifty or even 100 years' duration, with chapters on Iraq (a mistake he believes was salvaged by the military surge he promoted in 2007-08), Afghanistan (where he recommends at least a five-to-ten-year campaign), Pakistan (whose tribal areas he sees as the center of the terrorist threat) and even Europe (where, he says, human rights laws create legislative 'safe havens' for urban Muslim undergrounds)...
...A fifty- to 100-year military campaign--the subtitle of Kilcullen's book is Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One--will span thirteen presidential terms and twenty-five Congressional sessions, casting a long shadow over generations of politicians not yet running for office. The Long War assumes either perpetual democratic approval by many voters not yet alive or that democracy will simply be circumvented by the national security state. Bin Laden will be dead of natural causes or otherwise long before it's over.
The audacity becomes ever more dangerous without checks and balances. Without his acknowledging it, Kilcullen's plan plays directly into what he believes is Al Qaeda's strategy of exhausting the United States militarily and economically. And yet he thinks the Long War is inevitable.
There has been little public discussion of the Long War. The term is attributed to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command from 2003 to 2007; it is endorsed by counterinsurgency theorist John Nagl, who heads the Center for a New American Security; and it has been critically reviewed only in a collection, The Long War, edited by Andrew Bacevich.
The world counterterrorism community that is planning the Long War, Kilcullen has said, is 'small and tightly knit.' This is precisely Bacevich's complaint. In the preface to his book he writes, 'National security policy has long been the province of a small, self-perpetuating, self-anointed group of specialists...dedicated to the proposition of excluding democratic influences from the making of national security policy. To the extent that members of the national security apparatus have taken public opinion into consideration, they have viewed it as something to manipulate.' The fraternity of counterinsurgency specialists is an even smaller bubble insulated from civic society..."
Captiol Hill's Lucrative Revolving Door:
Sebastian Jones: Dick Gephardt's Spectacular Sellout
"...While Gephardt spent most of his twenty-eight years in national Democratic politics quietly promoting and voting with establishment interests, he is best known for his friendship with labor and advocacy for universal healthcare during two presidential runs. In 2003 he harshly condemned corporate crime, which he said 'ruined people's lives for selfishness and greed,' and launched his candidacy claiming, 'Every proposal I'm making, every idea I'm advancing has a single, central purpose: to revive a failing economy and give working Americans the help and security they need.' So why, six years later, was he on Capitol Hill representing one of the biggest players in the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression? And further, why was he recently working for Visa to kill credit card reform, helping Peabody Energy stymie climate change legislation and consulting for UnitedHealth Group alongside Tom Daschle to block meaningful healthcare reform?..."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Congress For Sale:
NY Times: In House, Many Spoke With One Voice - Lobbyists’
"In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.
Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points — 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for lobbyists..."
Corporate Responsibility?
AP: FDA finds bits of steel, rubber in Genzyme drugs
"Federal health regulators have found tiny particles of trash in drugs made by Genzyme, the second time this year the biotechnology company has been cited for contamination issues.
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that bits of steel, rubber and fiber found in vials of drugs used to treat rare enzyme disorders could cause serious adverse health effects for patients.
Despite those problems, the FDA said the products would remain on the market, because there are few alternative treatments...
...The company sent a letter to physicians saying the particles represent a 'theoretical safety risk,' though no medical complications have been reported.
The drugs affected by the latest announcement include: Cerezyme, Fabrazyme, Myozyme, Aldurazyme and Thyrogen. All are manufactured at a biotech plant in Allston Landing, Mass., where FDA regulators are conducting an inspection..."
e-commerce:
CNET News: Senate to disclose findings in Web 'mystery charge' probe
"Tuesday could turn out to be an embarrassing day for a score of online retailers, such as Continental Airlines, FTD, and Classmates.com.
The so-called mystery charges that have appeared on some of their customers' credit card statements will come under scrutiny at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
At the center of the federal probe are Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue, companies that make 'cash-back' and coupon offers to consumers and charge them monthly fees to enroll in their loyalty programs. The reason the government is involved is that for years, scores of online shoppers have asserted they were signed up for the programs without their consent..."
Energy:
eWeekEurope: Server Cool-Bags Could Cut Costs By 93 Percent
"UK company Iceotope has launched liquid-cooling technology, which it says surpasses what is achievable with purely water-based systems and could help cut data centre cooling costs from $788,400 (£469,446) to just $52,560.
Announced at the Supercomputing 2009 event in Portland, Oregon, Iceotope said that its 'modular Liquid-Immersion Cooled Server' technology works by effectively wrapping each server in a cool-bag-like device, which focuses specifically on keeping the components inside the device cool - avoiding the costs and carbon associated with needing to cool the entire data centre.
'The Iceotope approach takes liquid – in the form of an inert synthetic coolant, rather than water – directly down to the component level,' the company said. 'It does this by immersing the entire contents of each server in a 'bath' of coolant within a sealed compartment, creating a cooling module.'
As well as synthetic coolants, the system also uses water to channel the excess heat produced by server components outside of the data centre and into the atmosphere. Energy-conscious companies may also choose to recycle this excess heat to help warm offices during the winter, for example, instead of simply expelling it into the air..."
NY Times: In House, Many Spoke With One Voice - Lobbyists’
"In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.
Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points — 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for lobbyists..."
Corporate Responsibility?
AP: FDA finds bits of steel, rubber in Genzyme drugs
"Federal health regulators have found tiny particles of trash in drugs made by Genzyme, the second time this year the biotechnology company has been cited for contamination issues.
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that bits of steel, rubber and fiber found in vials of drugs used to treat rare enzyme disorders could cause serious adverse health effects for patients.
Despite those problems, the FDA said the products would remain on the market, because there are few alternative treatments...
...The company sent a letter to physicians saying the particles represent a 'theoretical safety risk,' though no medical complications have been reported.
The drugs affected by the latest announcement include: Cerezyme, Fabrazyme, Myozyme, Aldurazyme and Thyrogen. All are manufactured at a biotech plant in Allston Landing, Mass., where FDA regulators are conducting an inspection..."
e-commerce:
CNET News: Senate to disclose findings in Web 'mystery charge' probe
"Tuesday could turn out to be an embarrassing day for a score of online retailers, such as Continental Airlines, FTD, and Classmates.com.
The so-called mystery charges that have appeared on some of their customers' credit card statements will come under scrutiny at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
At the center of the federal probe are Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue, companies that make 'cash-back' and coupon offers to consumers and charge them monthly fees to enroll in their loyalty programs. The reason the government is involved is that for years, scores of online shoppers have asserted they were signed up for the programs without their consent..."
Energy:
eWeekEurope: Server Cool-Bags Could Cut Costs By 93 Percent
"UK company Iceotope has launched liquid-cooling technology, which it says surpasses what is achievable with purely water-based systems and could help cut data centre cooling costs from $788,400 (£469,446) to just $52,560.
Announced at the Supercomputing 2009 event in Portland, Oregon, Iceotope said that its 'modular Liquid-Immersion Cooled Server' technology works by effectively wrapping each server in a cool-bag-like device, which focuses specifically on keeping the components inside the device cool - avoiding the costs and carbon associated with needing to cool the entire data centre.
'The Iceotope approach takes liquid – in the form of an inert synthetic coolant, rather than water – directly down to the component level,' the company said. 'It does this by immersing the entire contents of each server in a 'bath' of coolant within a sealed compartment, creating a cooling module.'
As well as synthetic coolants, the system also uses water to channel the excess heat produced by server components outside of the data centre and into the atmosphere. Energy-conscious companies may also choose to recycle this excess heat to help warm offices during the winter, for example, instead of simply expelling it into the air..."
Friday, November 13, 2009
Food:
Nicolette Hahn Niman: Avoiding Factory Farm Foods: An Eater's Guide
"Most people share at least the following traits: they want to be healthy; they like animals; and they value clean air and water. Yet relatively few Americans connect those concerns with their food. As more people start making the link (especially if they've seen graphic video footage of industrial animal operations), many decide it's time to stop eating foods from factory farms. This is a guide for doing just that..."
Energy:
The Guardian (UK) - Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower
"The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.
The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.
The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organisation's latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies..."
For those fossil-fuel devotees who say 'renewables can never meet real-world demand'...
REVE: Spain reaches new wind record: 45.1% of Spain’s total electricity demand
"Wind energy in Spain reached a new record last night, providing at its peak 45.1% of Spain’s total electricity demand – 2.1% greater than the previous record set in November last year.
Spanish electricity grid, Red Eléctrica, said that today’s record is a first since it was sustained over several hours during last night. Between 00.40 and 06.20 on 5 November wind met over 40% of electricity demand.
'There have been several peaks over 40% in Spain, but this new one – lasting nearly six hours compared to around one hour the previous time - shows the huge part that wind can play in meeting Spain’s electricity demand,' Jacopo Moccia, regulatory affairs adviser for EWEA said.
The surge in wind power last night triggered water pumping stations which transport water into reservoirs. This store of water will then be released over the day generating electricity via water turbines at times of peak demand..."
Afghanistan:
Jonathan Freedland: The coffins will keep coming until we conquer our amnesia on Afghanistan
"Barack Obama is about to make his most crucial military decision. He should remember what took us to war in the first place..."
One Nation, Under Surveillance:
Electronic Frontier Foundation: From EFF's Secret Files: Anatomy of a Bogus Subpoena
"...This story is an an important example of how government abuses breed in secrecy, and an argument for Congress to step in and require meaningful reporting about how the government uses its surveillance authorities. How often does the government attempt such illegal fishing expeditions through internet data? How many online service providers have received similarly bogus demands, and handed over how much data, violating how many internet users’ privacy? How many of those subpoena recipients have been intimidated into silence by unconstitutional gag orders?
We don’t know. And until Congress exerts stronger oversight, we can’t know, except in those occasional instances where a brave online service provider steps up, pushes back, and tells the world. We encourage other online service providers to follow the example of Indymedia.us and Kristina Clair by standing up for their users' rights when the government secretly overreaches..."
Journalism:
They distort fact, and still call themselves 'Fair and Balanced'?
Fox News isn't a news organization. It's a political spin machine.
Worse, it takes a comedy show to point this out?
The Huffington Post: Jon Stewart Catches Sean Hannity Falsifying Footage To Make GOP Protest Appear Bigger (VIDEO)
"The tea party protests continued last week, as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann held an anti-health-care-reform rally on the steps of the Capitol. While she estimated that 20,000-45,000 people attended the event, the Washington Post reported it was actually more like 10,000.
Still, that is a sizable number of Americans exercising their right to free speech and assembly, and that warrants news coverage. But Sean Hannity and his team did more than cover the event. They not only inflated the number in attendance with their words, but actually used footage from a heavily-attended protest this summer to make this health care rally appear more popular. Hannity even pointed out that this was a huge crowd for a Thursday, when the protest footage they used was from a Saturday.
Jon Stewart and his team caught this discrepancy and ran with it, pointing out neither the color of the leaves nor sky in the tacked-on video matched that of the actual footage. They went on to mock Fox by adding more video to the interview, this time from Woodstock and the movie '300,'..."
Technology:
Gary Shapiro: Dear FCC, Please Don't Let Hollywood Break My TV
"Four years ago, the motion picture industry convinced the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing to explore what Hollywood studios claimed was rampant piracy of movies occurring through the so-called "analog hole." (For non-engineers, the "analog hole" is the movie industry's term for any content-playing device connected to a TV through the red, blue and green multi-use port on the back of millions of TV sets.) The industry's trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), argued that a great harm was devouring the motion picture industry: that consumers would export movies through the analog output, stealing content and sending it out over the Internet...
... Rather than provide the evidence requested by Congress, the MPAA was forced to confess that due to 'human error' they 'got the math wrong' and were unable to properly quantify piracy 'losses' from analog TV connections. Forced to admit the much-ballyhooed study exaggerated the losses due to piracy, the MPAA repudiated its own analysis.
Now, having failed to make its case to the Senate, the MPAA is back - this time, before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - asking permission to disable lawfully purchased HDTV-capable TVs. Using an obscure procedural mechanism, MPAA is asking the FCC for authority to use 'selectable output control' (SOC) to shut off TVs that do not use the motion-picture industry's preferred digital connections...
...If the FCC grants Hollywood the power to turn off analog inputs soon they will return asking for permission to unilaterally disable other features and functions. This is bad for anyone thinking of buying a new product, or who bought something in the past thinking it would work a certain way..."
Nicolette Hahn Niman: Avoiding Factory Farm Foods: An Eater's Guide
"Most people share at least the following traits: they want to be healthy; they like animals; and they value clean air and water. Yet relatively few Americans connect those concerns with their food. As more people start making the link (especially if they've seen graphic video footage of industrial animal operations), many decide it's time to stop eating foods from factory farms. This is a guide for doing just that..."
Energy:
The Guardian (UK) - Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower
"The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.
The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.
The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organisation's latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies..."
For those fossil-fuel devotees who say 'renewables can never meet real-world demand'...
REVE: Spain reaches new wind record: 45.1% of Spain’s total electricity demand
"Wind energy in Spain reached a new record last night, providing at its peak 45.1% of Spain’s total electricity demand – 2.1% greater than the previous record set in November last year.
Spanish electricity grid, Red Eléctrica, said that today’s record is a first since it was sustained over several hours during last night. Between 00.40 and 06.20 on 5 November wind met over 40% of electricity demand.
'There have been several peaks over 40% in Spain, but this new one – lasting nearly six hours compared to around one hour the previous time - shows the huge part that wind can play in meeting Spain’s electricity demand,' Jacopo Moccia, regulatory affairs adviser for EWEA said.
The surge in wind power last night triggered water pumping stations which transport water into reservoirs. This store of water will then be released over the day generating electricity via water turbines at times of peak demand..."
Afghanistan:
Jonathan Freedland: The coffins will keep coming until we conquer our amnesia on Afghanistan
"Barack Obama is about to make his most crucial military decision. He should remember what took us to war in the first place..."
One Nation, Under Surveillance:
Electronic Frontier Foundation: From EFF's Secret Files: Anatomy of a Bogus Subpoena
"...This story is an an important example of how government abuses breed in secrecy, and an argument for Congress to step in and require meaningful reporting about how the government uses its surveillance authorities. How often does the government attempt such illegal fishing expeditions through internet data? How many online service providers have received similarly bogus demands, and handed over how much data, violating how many internet users’ privacy? How many of those subpoena recipients have been intimidated into silence by unconstitutional gag orders?
We don’t know. And until Congress exerts stronger oversight, we can’t know, except in those occasional instances where a brave online service provider steps up, pushes back, and tells the world. We encourage other online service providers to follow the example of Indymedia.us and Kristina Clair by standing up for their users' rights when the government secretly overreaches..."
Journalism:
They distort fact, and still call themselves 'Fair and Balanced'?
Fox News isn't a news organization. It's a political spin machine.
Worse, it takes a comedy show to point this out?
The Huffington Post: Jon Stewart Catches Sean Hannity Falsifying Footage To Make GOP Protest Appear Bigger (VIDEO)
"The tea party protests continued last week, as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann held an anti-health-care-reform rally on the steps of the Capitol. While she estimated that 20,000-45,000 people attended the event, the Washington Post reported it was actually more like 10,000.
Still, that is a sizable number of Americans exercising their right to free speech and assembly, and that warrants news coverage. But Sean Hannity and his team did more than cover the event. They not only inflated the number in attendance with their words, but actually used footage from a heavily-attended protest this summer to make this health care rally appear more popular. Hannity even pointed out that this was a huge crowd for a Thursday, when the protest footage they used was from a Saturday.
Jon Stewart and his team caught this discrepancy and ran with it, pointing out neither the color of the leaves nor sky in the tacked-on video matched that of the actual footage. They went on to mock Fox by adding more video to the interview, this time from Woodstock and the movie '300,'..."
Technology:
Gary Shapiro: Dear FCC, Please Don't Let Hollywood Break My TV
"Four years ago, the motion picture industry convinced the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing to explore what Hollywood studios claimed was rampant piracy of movies occurring through the so-called "analog hole." (For non-engineers, the "analog hole" is the movie industry's term for any content-playing device connected to a TV through the red, blue and green multi-use port on the back of millions of TV sets.) The industry's trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), argued that a great harm was devouring the motion picture industry: that consumers would export movies through the analog output, stealing content and sending it out over the Internet...
... Rather than provide the evidence requested by Congress, the MPAA was forced to confess that due to 'human error' they 'got the math wrong' and were unable to properly quantify piracy 'losses' from analog TV connections. Forced to admit the much-ballyhooed study exaggerated the losses due to piracy, the MPAA repudiated its own analysis.
Now, having failed to make its case to the Senate, the MPAA is back - this time, before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - asking permission to disable lawfully purchased HDTV-capable TVs. Using an obscure procedural mechanism, MPAA is asking the FCC for authority to use 'selectable output control' (SOC) to shut off TVs that do not use the motion-picture industry's preferred digital connections...
...If the FCC grants Hollywood the power to turn off analog inputs soon they will return asking for permission to unilaterally disable other features and functions. This is bad for anyone thinking of buying a new product, or who bought something in the past thinking it would work a certain way..."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Corporate Responsibility?
One expects it accompanies all the 'rights' corporations have?
Raw Story: KBR may have poisoned 100,000 people in Iraq: lawsuit
"Defense contractor KBR may have exposed as many as 100,000 people, including US troops, to cancer-causing toxins by burning waste in open-air pits in Iraq, says a series of class-action lawsuits filed against the company.
At least 22 separate lawsuits claiming KBR poisoned American soldiers in Iraq have been combined into a single massive lawsuit that says KBR, which until not long ago was a subsidiary of Halliburton, sought to save money by disposing of toxic waste and incinerating numerous potentially harmful substances in open-air 'burn pits,'..."
Raw Story: Prosecutor reveals how world’s largest drug company broke the law
"Bloomberg news reports on why the acting U.S. attorney in Boston is blasting a top pharmaceutical company for engaging in 'clearly criminal' actions.
'Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again,' David Evans writes for Bloomberg..."
Economics:
BBC News: Free market flawed, says survey
"Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism.
In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well..."
Pakistan's Nukes:
Seymour Hersh: Defensing The Arsenal
"In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?..."
One expects it accompanies all the 'rights' corporations have?
Raw Story: KBR may have poisoned 100,000 people in Iraq: lawsuit
"Defense contractor KBR may have exposed as many as 100,000 people, including US troops, to cancer-causing toxins by burning waste in open-air pits in Iraq, says a series of class-action lawsuits filed against the company.
At least 22 separate lawsuits claiming KBR poisoned American soldiers in Iraq have been combined into a single massive lawsuit that says KBR, which until not long ago was a subsidiary of Halliburton, sought to save money by disposing of toxic waste and incinerating numerous potentially harmful substances in open-air 'burn pits,'..."
Raw Story: Prosecutor reveals how world’s largest drug company broke the law
"Bloomberg news reports on why the acting U.S. attorney in Boston is blasting a top pharmaceutical company for engaging in 'clearly criminal' actions.
'Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again,' David Evans writes for Bloomberg..."
Economics:
BBC News: Free market flawed, says survey
"Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism.
In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well..."
Pakistan's Nukes:
Seymour Hersh: Defensing The Arsenal
"In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?..."
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Intellectual Property:
The EFF has an action alert for contacting Congress about shining the light of day on this troublesome treaty.
Boing Boing: Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.
"The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to 'national security' concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style 'notice-and-takedown' rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)"
On Torture:
Huffington Post: Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case
"An Italian judge found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program..."
Naomi Wolf: The Bush in Obama
"...six months after he ordered an end to torture and CIA 'black sites,' and promised to close Guantánamo within a year, Obama seems to be re-branding Bush’s worst excesses. He has brought in planeloads of journalists to Guantánamo Bay to show them a 'safe, transparent, and humane' facility that now offers fresh baklava and video viewing from a shackled loveseat. But the roughly 240 detainees remain incarcerated without having been charged with any crime, and will still not get a fair trial, even under Obama’s proposed military commissions. After all, the prosecutor, the judge, and the 'panel' are all to be US government employees.
Furthermore, Obama’s Justice Department has invoked Bush’s argument that the State Secrets Act bars evidence about torture from being disclosed, which means that anyone who was tortured can never appear in court. Moreover, Obama has sought to suppress hundreds of photographs depicting sexual assault in US-run prisons, and has done nothing to roll back the Patriot Act.
Why should Obama, a constitutional scholar, be backtracking this way?
First, he does not dare appear to be “soft on terror.” Second, perhaps he needs to be able to try the Guantánamo detainees in a rigged setting, or even keep them from trial forever: lawyers claim that torture, including sexual torture, was so endemic in the CIA and the military that Obama could be holding scores, if not hundreds, of prisoners whose bodies are crime scenes..."
Israel-Palestine:
Matthew Rothschild: House Shames Itself on Goldstone Report
"Shame on the House of Representatives, and on the Democratic leadership of the House, for pushing through a resolution once again blindly taking the side of Israeli aggression.
I’m referring to the vote on Tuesday, by a lopsided 344-to-36 margin, to condemn the Goldstone report on Gaza.
That report, by South African jurist Richard Goldstone for the UN, showed that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the lead-up to and during Israel’s invasion of Gaza almost a year ago..." Goldstone Report Executive Summary
'Change' in U.S. Foreign Policy?
Mamoon Alabbasi: Noam Chomsky: No Change in US 'Mafia Principle'
"...'There is basically no significant change in the fundamental traditional conception that we if can control Middle East energy resources, then we can control the world,' explained Chomsky.
Chomsky said that a leading doctrine of US foreign policy during the period of its global dominance is what he termed as 'the Mafia principle.'
'The Godfather does not tolerate 'successful defiance'. It is too dangerous. It must therefore be stamped out so that others understand that disobedience is not an option,' said Chomsky..."
The EFF has an action alert for contacting Congress about shining the light of day on this troublesome treaty.
Boing Boing: Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.
"The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to 'national security' concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style 'notice-and-takedown' rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)"
On Torture:
Huffington Post: Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case
"An Italian judge found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program..."
Naomi Wolf: The Bush in Obama
"...six months after he ordered an end to torture and CIA 'black sites,' and promised to close Guantánamo within a year, Obama seems to be re-branding Bush’s worst excesses. He has brought in planeloads of journalists to Guantánamo Bay to show them a 'safe, transparent, and humane' facility that now offers fresh baklava and video viewing from a shackled loveseat. But the roughly 240 detainees remain incarcerated without having been charged with any crime, and will still not get a fair trial, even under Obama’s proposed military commissions. After all, the prosecutor, the judge, and the 'panel' are all to be US government employees.
Furthermore, Obama’s Justice Department has invoked Bush’s argument that the State Secrets Act bars evidence about torture from being disclosed, which means that anyone who was tortured can never appear in court. Moreover, Obama has sought to suppress hundreds of photographs depicting sexual assault in US-run prisons, and has done nothing to roll back the Patriot Act.
Why should Obama, a constitutional scholar, be backtracking this way?
First, he does not dare appear to be “soft on terror.” Second, perhaps he needs to be able to try the Guantánamo detainees in a rigged setting, or even keep them from trial forever: lawyers claim that torture, including sexual torture, was so endemic in the CIA and the military that Obama could be holding scores, if not hundreds, of prisoners whose bodies are crime scenes..."
Israel-Palestine:
Matthew Rothschild: House Shames Itself on Goldstone Report
"Shame on the House of Representatives, and on the Democratic leadership of the House, for pushing through a resolution once again blindly taking the side of Israeli aggression.
I’m referring to the vote on Tuesday, by a lopsided 344-to-36 margin, to condemn the Goldstone report on Gaza.
That report, by South African jurist Richard Goldstone for the UN, showed that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the lead-up to and during Israel’s invasion of Gaza almost a year ago..." Goldstone Report Executive Summary
'Change' in U.S. Foreign Policy?
Mamoon Alabbasi: Noam Chomsky: No Change in US 'Mafia Principle'
"...'There is basically no significant change in the fundamental traditional conception that we if can control Middle East energy resources, then we can control the world,' explained Chomsky.
Chomsky said that a leading doctrine of US foreign policy during the period of its global dominance is what he termed as 'the Mafia principle.'
'The Godfather does not tolerate 'successful defiance'. It is too dangerous. It must therefore be stamped out so that others understand that disobedience is not an option,' said Chomsky..."
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Afghanistan:
William Polk: An Open Letter to President Obama
"In recent events I see an opportunity to accomplish American objectives while avoiding a course of action that could derail plans for your presidency, just as the Vietnam War ruined the presidency of Lyndon Johnson..."
William Polk: An Open Letter to President Obama
"In recent events I see an opportunity to accomplish American objectives while avoiding a course of action that could derail plans for your presidency, just as the Vietnam War ruined the presidency of Lyndon Johnson..."
Economics:
The interactive map (below) from the AP, shows the 'Stress Index.' By county, it shows rates of unemployment, property foreclosure and bankruptcy.
AP: Associated Press Interactive: AP Economic Stress Index
The interactive map (below) from the AP, shows the 'Stress Index.' By county, it shows rates of unemployment, property foreclosure and bankruptcy.
AP: Associated Press Interactive: AP Economic Stress Index
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
The Bankster Heist of The U.S. Economy:
McClatchy Newspapers: How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
"In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.
Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.
Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk..."
Telegraph (UK) - Goldman Sachs defends controversial trading practices
"Goldman Sachs has defended the use of controversial techniques including 'dark pools,' short-selling and flash trading, in a firm rebuttal of recent negative Congressional and media comments about some of the trading practices it uses..."
Felix Salmon: The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting
"Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book is out today, and breaks some pretty stunning news, dating from the end of June, 2008. At this point, we’re still months away from the now-famous but then-secret waiver, issued in mid-September, which allowed Hank Paulson to talk to Goldman Sachs; he’d promised not to do that when he moved from Goldman to Treasury...
...How on earth did Paulson think this was OK? Goldman Sachs was a hugely powerful for-profit investment bank, and there he is, giving private chapter and verse on his opinions about the US and global economy, talking about internal Treasury matters, and previewing an upcoming (and surely market-moving) speech. All in secret, at a 'social event' which somehow got kept off his official calendar. Oh, yes, and one other thing — the whole shebang took place in the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, in the context of Goldman directors joking about how all the Moscow hotels were surely bugged.
This is sleazy in the extreme, and will only serve to heighten suspicions that Paulson’s Treasury was rigging the game in favor of Goldman all along. (It’s also a bit peculiar, to say the least, that the only two times Paulson met with private-sector boards he was out of the country, and arguably outside US jurisdiction.)
Paulson didn’t have this meeting out of fear or necessity: in fact, he told the directors that although there might be tough times ahead, 'I think we may come out of this by year’s end.' (Blankfein was skeptical.) There was nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances which could possibly justify the secret rendezvous. This is definitely a situation where Wilkinson should have pushed back and said no way — but it’s hard to say no to Hank Paulson..."
Frank Rich: Goldman Can Spare You a Dime
"...Even now many Americans don’t know what Goldman’s products are or how it makes its money. The less we know, the easier it is for reckless gambling to return to capitalism’s casino, and for Washington to look the other way as a new financial bubble inflates.
As Wall Street was celebrating last week, Congress was having a big week of its own, arousing itself to belatedly battle some of the corporate suspects that have helped drive America into its fiscal ditch. The big action was at the Senate Finance Committee, which finally produced a health care bill that, however gingerly, bids to reform industries that have feasted on the nation’s Rube Goldberg medical system. At least health care, like oil, is palpable, so we will be able to keep score of how reform fares — win, lose or draw. But the business of Wall Street, while also at center stage in a Congressional committee last week, is so esoteric that the public is understandably clueless as to what, if anything, the lawmakers were up to, if anyone even noticed at all..."
Bloomberg.com - Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds
"Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.
The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.
As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies..."
McClatchy Newspapers: How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
"In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.
Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.
Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk..."
Telegraph (UK) - Goldman Sachs defends controversial trading practices
"Goldman Sachs has defended the use of controversial techniques including 'dark pools,' short-selling and flash trading, in a firm rebuttal of recent negative Congressional and media comments about some of the trading practices it uses..."
Felix Salmon: The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting
"Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book is out today, and breaks some pretty stunning news, dating from the end of June, 2008. At this point, we’re still months away from the now-famous but then-secret waiver, issued in mid-September, which allowed Hank Paulson to talk to Goldman Sachs; he’d promised not to do that when he moved from Goldman to Treasury...
...How on earth did Paulson think this was OK? Goldman Sachs was a hugely powerful for-profit investment bank, and there he is, giving private chapter and verse on his opinions about the US and global economy, talking about internal Treasury matters, and previewing an upcoming (and surely market-moving) speech. All in secret, at a 'social event' which somehow got kept off his official calendar. Oh, yes, and one other thing — the whole shebang took place in the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, in the context of Goldman directors joking about how all the Moscow hotels were surely bugged.
This is sleazy in the extreme, and will only serve to heighten suspicions that Paulson’s Treasury was rigging the game in favor of Goldman all along. (It’s also a bit peculiar, to say the least, that the only two times Paulson met with private-sector boards he was out of the country, and arguably outside US jurisdiction.)
Paulson didn’t have this meeting out of fear or necessity: in fact, he told the directors that although there might be tough times ahead, 'I think we may come out of this by year’s end.' (Blankfein was skeptical.) There was nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances which could possibly justify the secret rendezvous. This is definitely a situation where Wilkinson should have pushed back and said no way — but it’s hard to say no to Hank Paulson..."
Frank Rich: Goldman Can Spare You a Dime
"...Even now many Americans don’t know what Goldman’s products are or how it makes its money. The less we know, the easier it is for reckless gambling to return to capitalism’s casino, and for Washington to look the other way as a new financial bubble inflates.
As Wall Street was celebrating last week, Congress was having a big week of its own, arousing itself to belatedly battle some of the corporate suspects that have helped drive America into its fiscal ditch. The big action was at the Senate Finance Committee, which finally produced a health care bill that, however gingerly, bids to reform industries that have feasted on the nation’s Rube Goldberg medical system. At least health care, like oil, is palpable, so we will be able to keep score of how reform fares — win, lose or draw. But the business of Wall Street, while also at center stage in a Congressional committee last week, is so esoteric that the public is understandably clueless as to what, if anything, the lawmakers were up to, if anyone even noticed at all..."
Bloomberg.com - Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds
"Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.
The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.
As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies..."
Monday, November 02, 2009
Health & Food:
Bob Cesca: We Can't Reform Health Care without Reforming Food
"If and when health care reform finally passes, we will have successfully ameliorated only half of the crisis. The treatment half. The next step has to be focused upon doing something about the poisoned filth we've collectively nicknamed 'food.' Without any real changes in how our food is produced, the health care system will continue to bloat and fall apart. Not unlike the insides of an average American body.
Corporate agribusiness has invested nearly $1.2 billion (and growing) on lobbyists -- more money than even the defense lobby. Naturally, much of this lobbying has been aimed at deregulating how food is processed and manufactured, as well as how corporate agribusinesses raise and process livestock. It's an industry that's entangled in everything from Big Tobacco to human trafficking and illegal immigration.
Most recently, and speaking of poisoned filth, you may have watched as Rick Berman was eviscerated by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom is financed by corporate agribusiness, among others, and tasked with deceiving the public about everything from high fructose corn syrup to transfat, mercury levels in fish, obesity issues, food labels, and tobacco laws. CCF is all about confusing the public by muddying scientific fact and skewing the debate onto ridiculous tangents to the point where it's difficult to tell the difference between what's healthy and what's crap..."
Bob Cesca: We Can't Reform Health Care without Reforming Food
"If and when health care reform finally passes, we will have successfully ameliorated only half of the crisis. The treatment half. The next step has to be focused upon doing something about the poisoned filth we've collectively nicknamed 'food.' Without any real changes in how our food is produced, the health care system will continue to bloat and fall apart. Not unlike the insides of an average American body.
Corporate agribusiness has invested nearly $1.2 billion (and growing) on lobbyists -- more money than even the defense lobby. Naturally, much of this lobbying has been aimed at deregulating how food is processed and manufactured, as well as how corporate agribusinesses raise and process livestock. It's an industry that's entangled in everything from Big Tobacco to human trafficking and illegal immigration.
Most recently, and speaking of poisoned filth, you may have watched as Rick Berman was eviscerated by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom is financed by corporate agribusiness, among others, and tasked with deceiving the public about everything from high fructose corn syrup to transfat, mercury levels in fish, obesity issues, food labels, and tobacco laws. CCF is all about confusing the public by muddying scientific fact and skewing the debate onto ridiculous tangents to the point where it's difficult to tell the difference between what's healthy and what's crap..."
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The 'Unitary' Executive?
'Ordinary' people can be charged for lying to the police, but Mr. Cheney is different?
AP: Cheney to FBI: No idea who leaked Plame's identity
Stephen Holmes' review of Barton Gellman's book on the former VP is worth a read. Cheney's contempt for the The People knows few limits.
Surveillance Nation:
PC World: Feds Can Search Your E-Mail Without Notice, Judge Rules
"No matter how much of our personal lives exist in e-mail services such as Gmail, a U.S. District Court judge says the government takes a look at your e-mail.
The opinion by federal judge Michael Mosman, handed down in Portland, Oregon, involves a case in which the government has probable cause for a search and asked Google to provide nine months of a Gmail subscriber's e-mails, seeking evidence of the crime..."
Energy & Economics:
The Globe and Mail (UK) - Saudis to drop WTI as price benchmark for U.S. crude
"Ongoing shifts in the dynamics of the global oil industry are undermining the relevance of one of its best-known price markers.
Saudi Arabia's giant oil company plans to drop West Texas Intermediate, a type of light U.S. crude, as its benchmark for North American crude pricing. Saudi Aramco will switch to a new measure known as the Argus Sour Crude Index for its U.S. sales next year, abandoning WTI.
The WTI price measure has dominated North American oil trading – and conversation – for decades. It is based on oil sales in Cushing, Okla., and is one of two globally watched markers of crude. The other is Brent, which is based on sales in the North Sea..."
Had the United States realized the necessity of promoting renewable energy products as an export industry, even when petroleum became so temptingly cheap in the 1980's, American firms could be in a position to avoid losing contracts to the Chinese today...
NY Times: U.S. and Chinese Group to Build $1.5 Billion Wind Farm in Texas
"A consortium of Chinese and American companies announced a joint venture on Thursday to build a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, using turbines made in China..."
Human Health:
Technology Review: How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA
"Great things are expected of terahertz waves, the radiation that fills the slot in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and the infrared. Terahertz waves pass through non-conducting materials such as clothes , paper, wood and brick and so cameras sensitive to them can peer inside envelopes, into living rooms and 'frisk' people at distance.
The way terahertz waves are absorbed and emitted can also be used to determine the chemical composition of a material. And even though they don't travel far inside the body, there is great hope that the waves can be used to spot tumours near the surface of the skin.
With all that potential, it's no wonder that research on terahertz waves has exploded in the last ten years or so.
But what of the health effects of terahertz waves? At first glance, it's easy to dismiss any notion that they can be damaging. Terahertz photons are not energetic enough to break chemical bonds or ionise atoms or molecules, the chief reasons why higher energy photons such as x-rays and UV rays are so bad for us. But could there be another mechanism at work?
The evidence that terahertz radiation damages biological systems is mixed. 'Some studies reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, showed none,' say Boian Alexandrov at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a few buddies. Now these guys think they know why.
Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they've found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That's a jaw dropping conclusion..."
'Ordinary' people can be charged for lying to the police, but Mr. Cheney is different?
AP: Cheney to FBI: No idea who leaked Plame's identity
Stephen Holmes' review of Barton Gellman's book on the former VP is worth a read. Cheney's contempt for the The People knows few limits.
Surveillance Nation:
PC World: Feds Can Search Your E-Mail Without Notice, Judge Rules
"No matter how much of our personal lives exist in e-mail services such as Gmail, a U.S. District Court judge says the government takes a look at your e-mail.
The opinion by federal judge Michael Mosman, handed down in Portland, Oregon, involves a case in which the government has probable cause for a search and asked Google to provide nine months of a Gmail subscriber's e-mails, seeking evidence of the crime..."
Energy & Economics:
The Globe and Mail (UK) - Saudis to drop WTI as price benchmark for U.S. crude
"Ongoing shifts in the dynamics of the global oil industry are undermining the relevance of one of its best-known price markers.
Saudi Arabia's giant oil company plans to drop West Texas Intermediate, a type of light U.S. crude, as its benchmark for North American crude pricing. Saudi Aramco will switch to a new measure known as the Argus Sour Crude Index for its U.S. sales next year, abandoning WTI.
The WTI price measure has dominated North American oil trading – and conversation – for decades. It is based on oil sales in Cushing, Okla., and is one of two globally watched markers of crude. The other is Brent, which is based on sales in the North Sea..."
Had the United States realized the necessity of promoting renewable energy products as an export industry, even when petroleum became so temptingly cheap in the 1980's, American firms could be in a position to avoid losing contracts to the Chinese today...
NY Times: U.S. and Chinese Group to Build $1.5 Billion Wind Farm in Texas
"A consortium of Chinese and American companies announced a joint venture on Thursday to build a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, using turbines made in China..."
Human Health:
Technology Review: How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA
"Great things are expected of terahertz waves, the radiation that fills the slot in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and the infrared. Terahertz waves pass through non-conducting materials such as clothes , paper, wood and brick and so cameras sensitive to them can peer inside envelopes, into living rooms and 'frisk' people at distance.
The way terahertz waves are absorbed and emitted can also be used to determine the chemical composition of a material. And even though they don't travel far inside the body, there is great hope that the waves can be used to spot tumours near the surface of the skin.
With all that potential, it's no wonder that research on terahertz waves has exploded in the last ten years or so.
But what of the health effects of terahertz waves? At first glance, it's easy to dismiss any notion that they can be damaging. Terahertz photons are not energetic enough to break chemical bonds or ionise atoms or molecules, the chief reasons why higher energy photons such as x-rays and UV rays are so bad for us. But could there be another mechanism at work?
The evidence that terahertz radiation damages biological systems is mixed. 'Some studies reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, showed none,' say Boian Alexandrov at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a few buddies. Now these guys think they know why.
Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they've found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That's a jaw dropping conclusion..."
