A proper community is a commonwealth: a place, a resource, an economy. It answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of its members—among them the need to need one another. The answer to the present alignment of political power with wealth is the restoration of the identity of community and economy. —Wendell Berry Every being on this …
Are EU Officials Plotting Regime Change in Greece? – MARK WEISBROT
There are various narratives for what is happening to Greece as another deadline looms – the April 24 gathering of finance ministers in Riga — and European officials show no sign of compromise. The most common is that this is a game of brinkmanship, with the Germans and their allies pushing for “reforms” that the Syriza government in Greece doesn’t …
The World Bank’s long war on peasants – Tanya Kerssen and Eric Holt-Giménez
“The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling — their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.” – Arundhati Roy, War Talk Founded at the historical seam between World War II and the birth of the Cold War, the World Bank’s purpose — then as now — is …
Understanding the Difference Between Emotions and Feelings – and Why It Matters – Debbie Hampton
Although feelings and emotions are two sides of the same coin, they are very distinct events and understanding the difference can help you increase your emotional intelligence and happiness. Emotions originate in the subcortical regions of the brain, the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortices, and create biochemical reactions in the body altering your physical state which originally helped our species …
While Fire over TPP is Red Hot, Demand Grows for Clinton to Speak Up – Jon Queally
With the fight over Fast Track authority in full swing and the battle lines drawn between progressive voices opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and corporate-backed forces rallying in its favor, a growing chorus of voices want Hillary Clinton—who recently made her presidential bid for 2016 official—to take a definitive stance on the controversial trade pact that so clearly represents the …
Fear of a Black Prophet: The Lowdown on the Takedown of Cornel West – Chris Floyd
Glenn Ford says, with eloquent heat, exactly what I was thinking: that Michael Dyson’s brutal character assassination of Cornel West in the historically racist pages of the New Republic was, above all else, an application for a job in the upcoming Hillary Clinton administration. Ford writes: “But, of course, there is method to Dyson’s meanness. The true purpose of his …
Is genetically engineered food a fraud? – Simon Worrall
* Claims author: It’s the biggest fraud in the history of science and not the answer to feeding the world An estimated 85 percent of all food consumed in the United States now contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—from the cereal you feed your children to the milk you put in your coffee to the sweet corn you chomp on in …
50% of the World’s Wildlife Gone in Just 2 Human Generations
Anyone accustomed to Openhand knows that our approach is to fearlessly embrace the truth, even if that makes us unpopular. Why? Because only the truth can truly set you free. There’s so much deception and distortion abound on the planet. We must intuit and feel for ourselves the true landscape and where this is all really heading. For only then, may we …
New Studies Add to Growing Evidence That Notorious Pesticides Harm Bees – Nadia Prupis
Two new studies published in Nature on Wednesday show that neonicotinoid pesticides—or neonics for short—may be even more harmful to bees than previously thought. Those studies, Bees Prefer Foods Containing Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Ecology: Tasteless Pesticides Affect Bees in the Field, add to the growing list of evidence that neonics are a major contributing factor to bee population decline and reinforce the case for restricting …
What Happened to President Obama’s Promise to Restore Scientific Integrity? – Jonathan Latham
Pretty much every branch of the US government has had trouble implementing President Obama’s flagship scientific integrity policy. In 2011, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) appointed the scientist Dr. Paul Houser to be its first ever Officer of Scientific Integrity. Within a year he was fired. Believing his dismissal was for drawing attention to a scientifically questionable Department policy, …