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Archives: August 2012
Top Ten Repeated Paul Ryan Lies
This year's Republican campaign may be the most dishonest in history. A couple of weeks ago I listed 10 major falsehoods and gaffes of Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan. He repeated several…Report and be damned: an American whistleblower’s story (Fitzgibbon)
Will Fitzgibbon writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism . . . . the last four weeks have largely been a positive time for whistleblowers and their supporters. In late July, America’s…Mitt Romney’s coming War on Iran: A Tale of Two Conventions
The American Republican Party Convention in Tampa ironically coincides with the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Tehran, Iran. Were nominee Mitt Romney to win, he has signaled a willingness to take military action…White Terrorist Plot to Assassinate the ‘Commander in Chief’
A white terrorist cell on a military base in Georgia plotted to assassinate President Barack Obama and stage a military coup. It murdered two former members of the cell. It bought $87,000…The Age of Mass Killing Comes to Syria & France Pushes Gov’t in Exile
In recent months, the uprising in Syria has become bloodier and bloodier. In the beginning, in spring and summer of 2011, the crowds were largely peaceful. The Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad…Top Ten Pieces of Bad News for Romney on Eve of Convention
1. Ron Paul declined the opportunity to speak at the Republican Convention because he does not "fully support" Mr. Romney. Paul as the leader of the Libertarian wing of the party and…Plot to Provoke war with Iran thwarted by Navy analyst
Shorter WaPo: In spring of 2007, someone in the Bush administration (unindicted co-conspirator Richard Bruce Cheney? Neocons?) Sends uber hawk Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff to Oil Gulf with instructions to provoke…Tampa Area Republicans terrified of Tea Party, Ryan (Guzzo)
Paul Guzzo writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: As Republicans from all over the nation converge upon the City of Tampa to celebrate the Grand Old Party’s present, Hillsborough County,…South Africa: Label West Bank Squatter Products; Israel: You Apartheid State!
Having Avigdor Lieberman as a foreign minister is one of the worst things that could happen to Israel. I was in Brazil last year this time when Lieberman visited, and parliamentarians were…Just Deserts: Iraqis get Iraq’s Oil, not Bush/Cheney (Muttitt)
Gregg Muttitt writes at Tomdispatch: Mission Accomplished for Big Oil? How an American Disaster Paved the Way for Big Oil’s Rise -- and Possible Fall -- in Iraq By Greg Muttitt In…Top Five Worst Planks in GOP Platform
These are the promises that the Republican Party is making to us if it wins: 1. Outlawing abortion altogether, with no exceptions for the life and health of the mother, incest or…Syrian Official: Resignation of al-Assad on the Table
Admittedly, the Baathist government of Bashar al-Assad could go on faltering for a long time. And it is very hard to know what is going on inside Syria, since few journalists are…
Hurricane Isaac may Threaten RNC convention of Climate-Change Deniers in Tampa
Hurricane season comes every year in the Mexican Gulf, so it is no real surprise that a tropical depression in the Atlantic may well turn into Hurricane Isaac, and that it in…
Dear Rep. King: Meet a Pregnant Rape Victim
Following in Rep. Todd Akin's footsteps, evangelical extremist Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said today of pregnancy from rape, “Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to…Islamic Shariah & Todd Akin/ Paul Ryan on Abortion & Legitimate Rape
The troubles of Rep. Todd Akin, Republican candidate for the senate in Missouri, derive from his absolute opposition to abortion, even in cases where a mother's life is in danger or in…
Anonymous Billionaires are Stealing Your Election with Attack Ads
It would be bad enough, as I reported last week, that 47 billionaires were responsible for the lion's share of individual Super PAC contributions. It turns out that the Super PACs aren't…Top Ten Paul Ryan Falsehoods, Gaffes and Outrages, First Week
1. Ryan's position opposing abortion even in cases of rape, and his attempts to define cytoblasts as legal 'persons' (which would outlaw all termination of pregnancies and some forms of birth control)…
Assange Demands end of US War on Whistleblowers
Julian Assange called on the US on Sunday to cease its war on whistleblowers. He also blasted Russia for imposing a 2-year sentence on three members of the punk rock band Pussy…Israeli President Peres Smacks down PM Netanyahu on Iran Attack, Supports Obama
For the past couple of weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, have been making strident noises about a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear enrichment…
Putin, Pussy Riot, Hooliganism and the Syrian Bloodbath
The sentencing of members of the Russian punk rock band, Pussy Riot, to two years in prison for a protest song they sang in an Eastern Orthodox cathedral against Vladimir Putin, now…
Ann Romney: No More Tax Returns! (Jamiol Cartoon)
From Paul Jamiol, Jamiol's World. Get the book!
Syria and the New Great Divide in the Greater Middle East
With news of a series of bombings and attacks in Iraq, of kidnappings and reprisals in Lebanon, and an ongoing Civil War in Syria, anyone who looks at the map of the…
Mr. Romney, Here’s why Your Tax Returns Matter
Mitt Romney said that he had paid around 13% in taxes annually the past few years, calling false the charge by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that Romney won't release his tax…
“We’re NASA and We Know It” (Music Video on Curiosity Mars Landing)
"We're NASA and we know it", video to the tune of "Sexy and I Know It," by the American duo LMFAO from their 2011 album, "Sorry for Party Rocking."Ayatollah Cameron Threatens to invade Ecuador Embassy re: Assange (or, Whitewashing Iran for the US National Security State)
Update: Ecuador granted Julian Assange diplomatic asylum on Thursday. The British government's menacing of the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday morning, with its threat that its police might well come on…
Why Syria’s Revolution is not like Libya’s (Dughman)
Husam Dughman writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Arab Spring springs surprises When a popular uprising started in Tunisia less than two years ago, it took the world by…Conservative ‘Dark Money’ Outspending even Superpacs on Attack Ads (Barker)
Kim Barker writes at ProPublica Two conservative nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, have poured almost $60 million into TV ads to influence the presidential race so far, outgunning all super…Romney shills for dirty Big Coal as Obama touts Iowa Wind Power
Wind energy is on a roll in the United States, having doubled since 2008 to 50 gigawatts, enough to power 13 million homes. So why is Mitt Romney bad-mouthing it in favor…
Cruel and Unusual Punishment (Torture) is the New Normal in America (McCoy)
Alfred W. McCoy writes at Tomdispatch Impunity at Home, Rendition AbroadHow Two Administrations and Both Parties Made Illegality the American Way of Life After a decade of fiery public debate and bare-knuckle…
Your Election is being Bought by 47 Billionaires (and they are Buying War, Climate Change)
The Public Interest Group Education Fund and the NGO Demos released a study in early August on the financing of the presidential campaign. They found that nearly 60% of the almost quarter…Uygur: Paul Ryan Created the Deficit
Cenk Uygur of Current TV takes on Paul Ryan's claims to be a deficit hawk and for small government, showing all the ways that Ryan's votes helped create trillions in deficits: See…
Arabs and the Olympics (Majid)
Anouar Majid writes in a guest column for Informed Comment The 2012 Olympics in London gave us a golden opportunity to assess the condition of the Arab world in its natural state.…
Really, America? Really? These are your Top Stories?
Top stories according to google news analytics, 2 pm Monday 8.13.12You might be Paul Ryan if….
If you admitted that you got into politics because of the impact on you of the philosopher of personal greed and egotism, Ayn Rand, but later had to deny it because it…In Switch, Egypt’s Civilian President Makes Coup against Generals
This is BIG. The BBC says that Egypt's elected president, from the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, has just ordered the firing of Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the 23-member Supreme Council…
Paul Ryan was for Big Deficits before he was against them (graphic)
Paul Ryan blames President Obama for the government's budget deficits, and singles out the stimulus program as the culprit. But stimulus was one-time expenditures, not ongoing annual ones, and so over time…
Two Ways Mitt Romney Really Will Kill lots of People
Controversy is swirling about a poorly argued attack ad done by a super PAC that is pro-Obama, which accuses Mitt Romney of being responsible for throwing a family where the wife had…
America’s New Proxy Wars (Turse)
Nick Turse writes at Tomdispatch.com: In the 1980s, the U.S. government began funneling aid to mujahedeen rebels in Afghanistan as part of an American proxy war against the Soviet Union. It was,…
Parliament takes over in Modern Libya’s First Peaceful Transfer of Power
The UN observer sent to commemorate the event said it all. The peaceful transfer of power from the National Transitional Council to the newly elected Libyan parliament "surprised the world.". Mustafa Abdel…Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others
1. White terrorists are called "gunmen." What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn't that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, "terrorists." 2. White…
Hitchhiking Camels, Libya (Photo)
Photograph on road from Tripoli to Misrata, Libya, May, 2012, by Juan Cole
In Memoriam Marvin Hamlisch: “Nobody Does it Better” (Carly Simon Performance)
In Memoriam Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012): Below, his "Nobody Does it Better," theme of the 1977 Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and among the best of the 20-odd Bond film themes.…
Syria: The Battle for Aleppo Begins as Rebels Retreat
The Baath government's attack on East Aleppo, a rebel stronghold in the past couple of weeks, began Tuesday night, with an assault by advanced Russian-made tanks. It began with a drive to…
The Real Hunger Games: Climate Change & Drought (Klare)
Michael Klare writes at Tomdispatch: The Hunger Wars in Our Future Heat, Drought, Rising Food Costs, and Global Unrest The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but…
Mount Sharp, Mars (Photo of the Day from Curiosity)
NASA has released the first high-res picture of Mars received from Curiosity, showing Mount SharpTop Ten Signs you Might be a Nazi Loser
1. If you regularly pose proudly in front of a swastika flag, you might be a Nazi loser. 2. If you refer to "non-whites" as the "dirt people," you might be a…Chinese telecoms giants are taking over the world. Should we be scared? (McClenaghan)
Maeve McClenaghan writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism:| Huawei is not yet a household name in the UK – for one thing, there is confusion over how to pronounce it –…
On Human unity and the “Curiosity” NASA Control Room
In this video of the NASA control room during the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, I don't see only one race or gender. I see human beings of various shades…White Terrorism at Oak Creek: The Paranoid Style in American Violence
We still have only rumors about Wade Michael Page, the gunman who walked into a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin near Milwaukee and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon (weapons that…58 Murders by firearms a year in Britain, 8,775 in US (Oak Creek Reprint Edn.)
Updated Number of Murders, United States, 2010: 12,996 Number of Murders by Firearms, US, 2010: 8,775 Number of Murders, Britain, 2011*: 638 (Since Britain's population is 1/5 that of US, this is…Romney: You know things aren’t going well when…
As for the Romney campaign, you know things aren't going well when Rachel Maddow finds old footage of you demanding that Ted Kennedy release his tax returns for the then senate race.…US Drone Strikes Undermining Pakistan Democracy (Woods)
Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: One of Islamabad’s most senior diplomats has told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that ongoing CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas are…Revolutionaries in Syria Claim 60% of Aleppo as UN Condemns al-Assad
Since the Free Syrian Army is a guerrilla group, whether it can hold the northern metropolis of Aleppo is not absolutely central to its survival. Guerrillas can always fade away to fight…Big Brother just Got Bigger (Fitzgibbon)
William Fitzgibbon writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism When the government told the people of London that the eyes of the world would be on it during the Olympic Games, it…Romney and the ‘Missing Evidence” Instruction (Sullivan)
John Sullivan writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: A Cabinet nominee or a Supreme Court nominee produces decades of tax returns to the Senate for confirmation. Romney should meet that…Romney, Reid, Taxes and the Un-Macho
Mitt Romney told notorious media bully and propagandist for the American Far Right, Sean Hannity, that it is time for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to 'put up or shut up.' Reid…
Poisoning the Seas to get out Oil that Poisons the Atmosphere (Banerjee)
Subhankar Banerjee writes at Tomdispatch.com: Walking the Waters: How to Bring the Major Oil Companies Ashore and Halt the Destruction of Our Oceans When you go to the mountains, you go to…Obama signed finding to help Syria Uprising
The Syrian opposition continued to hang on in the northern commercial center of Aleppo on Thursday, and even launched a daring new raid. Rebels used a tank they captured to attack the…Sanity and Insanity in American Politics (Bachmann, Sessions, Romney, and Chicken)
Sanity: Former US officials and academics (including me) call on the Congressional leadership to remove dangerous conspiracy theorist Michele Bachmann from the House Intelligence Committee. Bachmann has not only embarrassed herself and…
“Algerian Tuareg” (Painting by Youcef Ben Mahammed)
Youcef Ben Mahammed. "Algerian Tuareg." Youcef Ben Mahammed (b. Oran, 1973) is a Tunisian-Algerian artist based in Montreal.The Collapse of the Climate Change Contrarians and the End of Coal
It is not proper to speak of "climate skeptics," since all scientists (including we social scientists) are skeptical of all data and theories every day, all the time, and are willing to…