June 16, 2011

Published on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 by Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-greece-idUSTRE75E0ZS20110615

by Renee Maltezou and Ingrid Melander

ATHENS – Stone-throwing Greeks clashed with police and tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament on Wednesday to oppose government efforts to pass new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state.

Unions representing half the five-million-strong workforce also launched a nationwide strike, shutting ports, schools and other basic services in the Mediterranean state.

Prime Minister George Papandreou must push through a new five-year campaign of tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property to continue receiving aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund and avoid default.

He not only faces public protests and resistance from a conservative opposition that has surpassed his Socialist party in opinion polls, but a few backbenchers in his own parliamentary grouping are also threatening to reject the plan.

By Stephen Gutwillig and Tommy McDonald, AlterNet
Posted on June 15, 2011, Printed on June 16, 2011

http://www.alternet.org/story/151300/an_exit_strategy_from_america%E2%80%99s_longest_war_–_40_years_of_disastrous_drug_prohibition

Forty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon declared illicit drugs “public enemy #1.” The ensuing war on drugs has been fought in fits and starts by every ensuing administration and is arguably the most disastrous public policy in American history since chattel slavery and its Jim Crow progeny. This ignominious anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect, to ask ourselves and our leaders some very hard questions, and to demand a new direction in U.S. drug policy once and for all.

Initiated by President Nixon and escalated under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, the war on drugs was said to be fought to keep Americans, particularly children, safe from harmful psychoactive substances. After four decades and at least $1 trillion, illicit drugs are actually cheaper, more potent, and widely available to Americans of all ages. Addiction remains persistent among a relatively small percentage of drug users, yet the overwhelming majority of people who want to access drug treatment don’t, most often because they simply can’t afford it. What’s more, overdose deaths as well as HIV and hepatitis C transmissions have all skyrocketed despite recognized, low-cost public health interventions. That’s because the drug war focuses on criminal justice — rather than health-centered — solutions to problems caused by drugs.

By Stephen Gutwillig and Tommy McDonald, AlterNet
Posted on June 15, 2011, Printed on June 16, 2011

http://www.alternet.org/story/151300/an_exit_strategy_from_america%E2%80%99s_longest_war_–_40_years_of_disastrous_drug_prohibition

Forty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon declared illicit drugs “public enemy #1.” The ensuing war on drugs has been fought in fits and starts by every ensuing administration and is arguably the most disastrous public policy in American history since chattel slavery and its Jim Crow progeny. This ignominious anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect, to ask ourselves and our leaders some very hard questions, and to demand a new direction in U.S. drug policy once and for all.

Initiated by President Nixon and escalated under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, the war on drugs was said to be fought to keep Americans, particularly children, safe from harmful psychoactive substances. After four decades and at least $1 trillion, illicit drugs are actually cheaper, more potent, and widely available to Americans of all ages. Addiction remains persistent among a relatively small percentage of drug users, yet the overwhelming majority of people who want to access drug treatment don’t, most often because they simply can’t afford it. What’s more, overdose deaths as well as HIV and hepatitis C transmissions have all skyrocketed despite recognized, low-cost public health interventions. That’s because the drug war focuses on criminal justice — rather than health-centered — solutions to problems caused by drugs.

Dario Aranda and Nina Holland

Mondiall News, 7 June 2011

http://www.mo.be/en/article/15-years-gm-soybeans-argentina

*Intoxication, massive clearing, loss of biodiversity, forced evictions, land concentration and murder. The dark sides of 15 years of soy monoculture, a model driven by businesses and governments.

The only scientific evidence for the approval of GM soy in Argentina were research data provided by Monsanto. Monsanto produces both soy seed as well as the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), a product that GM soy has been made resistant to. The ‘scientific’ dossier with data on Roundup Ready soy’s safety counts only 146 pages. The approval took place in record time: 81 days during the summer of 1996. Since then, RoundupReady soy is cultivated on a large scale – and the use of Roundup has also increased exponentially.

On Monday the 21st of March 2011, four days before the fifteenth anniversary of the approval, the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture sent out a press release that had been long-awaited by agribusiness: “The 2010/2011 grain harvest exceeds the magic limit of 100 million tonnes.” For years, it had been the dream of pesticide producers, grain traders, soy producers and the Ministry’s civil servants to reach this milestone. Today soy represents half of this harvest, 50 million tonnes. The surface cultivated with soy has increased from 6 to 19 million hectares, which represents 56 percent of the cultivated area in Argentina.

By Bill Berkowitz, Talk To Action
Posted on June 13, 2011, Printed on June 16, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151277/why_do_conservatives_presume_that_god_wants_them_to_run_for_president_%28he_probably_doesn%27t%29

GOPers Receiving “Call” from On High to Run for Presidency

Over the years, while many have heard and heeded “the call,” few have emerged victorious, which means that either they didn’t really get the call, or the caller was more trickster than heavenly messenger.

George W. Bush did it; Michelle Bachmann has done it a number of times, and appears to be about to do it again; As Mormons, it is highly unlikely that Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman would dare do it; Newt Gingrich would do it if he thought there was a chance anyone would believe him; Tim Pawlenty’s campaign manager did it only a few weeks ago; and, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump would likely be laughed off the stage if they even tried it.

IT is “The Call” from God to run for the presidency.

By Patrick Martin

Global Research, June 16, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25299

Average life expectancy is falling in many parts of the United States and for many demographic groups, most notably women, according to a study being published Wednesday in the journal Population Health Metrics, and conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The results of the study are particularly striking in terms of women’s health. One quarter of all US counties saw an actual reduction in life expectancy for women between 1997 and 2007, meaning that girls born today are expected to live shorter lives than their mothers. As the Los Angeles Times wrote, “For life expectancy to decline in a developed nation is rare. Setbacks on this scale have not been seen in the U.S. since the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, according to demographers.”

This trend has accelerated over the past two decades. From 1987 to 1997, there were 314 counties out of more than 3,000 with either a loss of female life expectancy or no growth in it. From 1997 to 2007, there were 860 counties in which that was the case, compared to only 84 counties where male life expectancy decreased or stagnated.

By David Swanson

Global Research, June 16, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25294

The arguments made to “legalize” war, torture, warrantless spying, and other crimes by John Yoo and Jay Bybee and their gang are looking rational, well-reasoned, and impeccably researched in comparison with Obama’s latest “legalization” of the Libya War.

Here’s the key section from Wednesday’s report to Congress:

“Given the important U.S. interests served by U.S. military operations in Libya and the limited nature, scope and duration of the anticipated actions, the President had constitutional authority, as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive and pursuant to his foreign affairs powers, to direct such limited military operations abroad.   The President is of the view that the current U.S.  military operations in Libya are consistent with the War Powers Resolution and do not under that law require further congressional authorization, because U.S. military operations are distinct from the kind of ‘hostilities’ contemplated by the Resolution’s 60 day termination provision.  U.S. forces are playing a constrained and supporting role in a multinational coalition, whose operations are both legitimated by and limited to the terms of a United Nations Security Council Resolution that authorizes the use of force solely to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under attack or threat of attack and to enforce a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.  U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve the presence of U.S. ground troops, U.S. casualties or a serious threat thereof, or any significant chance of escalation into a conflict characterized by those factors.”

Wednesday 15 June 2011

by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/down-ditch/1308150023

“It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army. Hard to imagine.”

- Paul Wolfowitz, 2/27/2003

There is never a shortage of Stupid in American politics, but by normal standards, our recent history has been pretty spectacular. Rep. Anthony Weiner is caught in what could very easily go down in history as the single most absurd sex scandal to ever unfold. The Republican leadership continues to play chicken with the debt limit, making even the titans of the financial industry nervous. Michele Bachmann is being taken seriously by the “mainstream” news media after the first GOP debate…and as far as Stupid goes, really, that’s all you need to say.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/watch_your_back_barack_20110615/

Posted on Jun 15, 2011

By Bill Boyarsky

Viewing the Republican presidential debate was two hours of sheer misery, mixed with a foreboding that one of these people could defeat President Barack Obama.

Two hours of grinning, smug Mitt Romney, crowned the winner and front-runner by a media pack that has learned nothing from its misjudgments in 2008. Two hours of Rep. Michele Bachmann, the journalists’ choice as co-winner, well prepped to hide her far-right extremism with a smile. Her performance was enough to con the pundits into elevating this fringe candidate to “star is born” status.

Then there were the other five, tossed unceremoniously—at least for now—on political journalism’s scrap heap. In fact, Romney and Bachmann might end up there, too, if the Texas tea party darling, Gov. Rick Perry, or Sarah Palin enters the race. This crop of candidates promises four or eight years of wrong-headed, right-wing government run on the principles of anti-abortion and extreme Christian fundamentalism.

By DAVID ROSEN

http://counterpunch.org/rosen06152011.html

In a year, will you remember, let alone care about, the Weiner roast? Unless something truly scandalous is further revealed (and you never know with politicians trying to hide something), New York Congressman Anthony Weiner will be campaigning for reelection.

In 2012, the incumbent will likely be glad-handing his constituency at a neighborhood supermarket or school. Each voter will pat the congressman on the back, ask discreetly, “How could you have done it?,” and Weiner will shrug his shoulders in bewilderment, a chastened pol. His moment in the sex-scandal spotlight finally over.

After weeks of outright lying, stonewalling and dimwitted obfuscation, the good congressman finally coped to his illicit Twitter exchanges and more. He admitted that, over the past few years, he sent a series of “compromising” e-mails and photos to women he met online. He insists that he never had a sexual liaison with any of the women; none of them have contradicted his claim. He seems to have gotten off on risqué flirting.

By DAVID ROSEN

http://counterpunch.org/rosen06152011.html

In a year, will you remember, let alone care about, the Weiner roast? Unless something truly scandalous is further revealed (and you never know with politicians trying to hide something), New York Congressman Anthony Weiner will be campaigning for reelection.

In 2012, the incumbent will likely be glad-handing his constituency at a neighborhood supermarket or school. Each voter will pat the congressman on the back, ask discreetly, “How could you have done it?,” and Weiner will shrug his shoulders in bewilderment, a chastened pol. His moment in the sex-scandal spotlight finally over.

After weeks of outright lying, stonewalling and dimwitted obfuscation, the good congressman finally coped to his illicit Twitter exchanges and more. He admitted that, over the past few years, he sent a series of “compromising” e-mails and photos to women he met online. He insists that he never had a sexual liaison with any of the women; none of them have contradicted his claim. He seems to have gotten off on risqué flirting.

By ANDREW LEVINE

http://counterpunch.org/levine06152011.html

Barack Obama was good at running for President when he was a Rorschach figure upon whom all but the most retrograde voters could project their hopes. Were there not inordinately many retrogrades among us, he’d have won by an unprecedented landslide. As it was, he won handily. Because he’ll be running effectively unopposed in 2012 – no matter which flyweight the GOP nominates – he’ll probably win handily again.

But “candidate” doesn’t count as a job and, even if it did, it would be a temp job at best. President is a real job, but Obama has been and will likely remain awful at it. His administration has been a disaster. I should qualify that: it has been a disaster for all but the “investor class,” the military brass (who boss their Commander-in-Chief around shamelessly) and other pillars of the National Security State, and for some of Washington’s most nefarious lobbies (who boss him around more shamelessly still). Needless to say, there are plenty of miscreants in each of these categories who complain anyway. But there are two jobs I can think of where Obama would excel. Too bad that one is politically impossible and the other, the one Obama would be best at by far, is Constitutionally proscribed. Constitutional niceties don’t get in Obama’s way when it comes to making war, infringing privacy rights and generally dishonoring the rule of law when circumstances call for legal action against “persons,” corporate and otherwise, who are too big to fail or whose prosecution would shake up the status quo. But when it comes to the job I have in mind, even Constitutional Law Professor Obama would have to take notice.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/PEAK-OIL–THE-LONG–THE-by-Jim-Quinn-110615-26.html

June 16, 2011

By Jim Quinn

Does it seem like we’ve been here before?

A barrel of Brent Crude (the truest indicator of worldwide oil scarcity) sits at $118, up from $75 per barrel in July 2010 — a 57% increase in eleven months. In the U.S., the average price of gasoline is $3.69 per gallon this week, up 37% in the last year and up 100% in the last 30 months.

The pundits and politicians are responding predictably. They blame the Libyan revolution, the dreaded speculators and that old fallback — Big Oil. When the Middle East turmoil began in earnest in January, gas prices had already risen 15% in three months, spurred by increased worldwide demand and by Ben Bernanke’s printing press. Congressmen have reacted in their usual kneejerk politically motivated fashion by demanding that supplies be released from the Strategic Oil Reserve.

Congress has a little trouble with the concept of “strategic.” They also have difficulty dealing with a reality that has been staring them in the face for decades. Politicians will always disregard prudent, long-term planning for vote-generating talk and gestures.

PRNewswire  06-15-11

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11280&Section=Vitamins

ORANGE, Calif., June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Magnesium deficiency is an important factor in the results obtained from vitamin D. According to Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, magnesium expert and Medical Director of the nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association (http://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org), the effectiveness and benefits of vitamin D are greatly undermined in the absence of adequate levels of magnesium in the body. Magnesium acts with and is essential to the activity of vitamin D, and yet most Americans do not get their recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this important mineral.

Extensive research has shown that vitamin D deficiencies play a major role in the development of dozens of diseases, including a variety of cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer, as well as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis and mental illness.

“While many people are beginning to realize the amazing health benefits that vitamin D has to offer in the prevention of disease, they may not be getting the full benefits from vitamin D without also supplementing their diets with magnesium, which is a vital nutrient that works synergistically with vitamin D,” says Dr. Dean.