BuzzFlash.net: published http://www.buzzflash.net www.buzzflash.nethttp://www.buzzflash.nethttp://www.buzzflash.net/img/es/buzzflash_buzz-logoalt1_small.jpg Collaborate publishing site and blog's communication swapping Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:10:01 -0500 http://mnm.uib.es/gallir/meneame/ en <![CDATA[Report from Honduras-the People Call Out for Help]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023052 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023052 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:10:01 -0500 ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt The World coup class war military repression http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023052 Our delegation to Honduras, organized from the United States by CODEPINK, Global Exchange and Non-Violence International, began its fact-finding mission ... a briefing by the Network of Sustainable Development ... It has now become a center for exchanging information about the coup. Using blogspot, facebook, twitter, myspace, flickr and youtube, the Network’s network is abuzz with hour-by-hour accounts of political developments. Their communication system has become a critical way for Honduras to get information, since the coup leaders have muzzled the press....Network Director Candalario Reyes Garcia is deeply worried about the future. “In the 80s we were terrorized by the death squads called Batallion 316. These same death squad leaders are still in the military today and if they take control of this country, we’re in for some truly dark days ahead.”...Demonstrations against the coup have been taking place all over the country, but they are not reported in the news and protesters are beaten and tear-gassed by the military. Some movement leaders have been arrested, others are in hiding. The military has also prevented demonstrators from converging on the capital,...We don’t want the elite to take back the government and use it, as they have in the past, to enrich themselves and impoverish the people.”...

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023052 <![CDATA[H.L. Mencken Covers the 'Monkey Trial']]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023080 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023080 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:15:01 -0500 vaquero Progressive Issues gop intelligent design theocracy bush http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023080 American education has deteriorated inversely with the rise of right wing politics! An example is the 'Texas' that Bush left behind. It beats out Mississippi for DEAD LAST in high school graduations at the same that that it LEADS the nation in executions due to the state's extremely high crime rate! This, I believe, is due to the neglect given a fact-based, a science-based liberal education. This is, I am convinced, the result of the influence of fanatics and 'religionists' upon education

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023080 <![CDATA[US suspends military relations with Honduras]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023026 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023026 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:30:02 -0500 regroce The World honduras oas zelaya http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023026 "The Obama administration said Wednesday it has suspended joint military operations with Honduras to protest a coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya into exile. The U.S. withheld stronger action in hopes of negotiating a peaceful return of the country's elected leader. The Organization of American States, meeting in Washington, gave Honduran coup leaders three days to restore Zelaya to power — under threat of suspending Honduras's OAS membership. Afterward, several officials said the administration is still reviewing the possibility of cutting off U.S. aid."

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023026 <![CDATA[Dan McDougall on the plight of innocent Tamils caught up in conflict]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022880 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022880 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:40:02 -0500 epppie The World oligarchy or community? http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022880 "Elderly grandmothers, infants, pregnant women, wounded fathers, their faces as twisted and contorted as the razorwire that imprisons them, trapped in a state of incarceration the Colombo authorities claim is necessary for the refugees' own "safety". Further into the bush are the field hospitals, hidden from the eyes of the world yet overflowing with civilian victims of the war. Beyond the medical camps, according to eyewitnesses, are thousands of freshly dug graves. Six thousand miles away in London, a growing body of UK-based campaigners are calling it quite simply "The War Without Witness"." Many Tamils were killed. Hundreds of thousands were driven into exile and hundreds of thousands were driven into concentration camps. What was solved?

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022880 <![CDATA[John Bolton urges an Israeli strike on Iran]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023062 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023062 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:50:01 -0500 Fiore Busheviks john bolton israel iran http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023062 John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, and a warmongering idiot then and now, claims that "the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable". Warning, clicking on this link and reading his rantings may cause nausea.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023062 <![CDATA[Covering (up) the coup in Honduras – the BBC does its bit for the Empire]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022975 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022975 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:20:01 -0500 epppie The World oligarchy or community? http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022975 "Take the following para from a BBC piece titled ‘US treads careful path on Honduras’ (30 June, 2009) “So while Washington’s reaction has been strong and swift, when it comes to statements, its actions have so far been measured. Now you may wonder why the BBC chose the word ‘measured’ to describe the US’ response to the military coup d’etat? Not only why but how? ...it’s not Zelaya’s actual policies that troubles the BBC but the fact that he’s sided with the “leftists” (with the assistance no doubt of his “fanatical supporters”). The term “leftist” is loaded with hidden meaning for Western readers, it’s way beyond ‘left-wing’ which may well describe a handful of Labour MPs who consider themselves as such. Even the title of the piece reveals much about the relationship between the BBC and the USUK state, after all what does ‘US treads careful path on Honduras’ really mean? Careful not to reveal their role in the coup? Careful to make it look like the US supports actual democracy as opposed to fake ones, eg Iraq and Afghanistan? Careful not to let the cat out of the bag is closer to the truth, that the US is more than happy to see Zelaya removed but makes all the right noises in public. Any actual steps to restore Zelaya to his rightful position eg, cutting off the military aid the US ‘gives’ to Honduras is noticeable by its absence."

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022975 <![CDATA[U.S. to R.I.: Finance charter schools]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022998 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022998 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:20:01 -0500 epppie Progressive Issues oligarchy or community? http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022998 Arne Duncan uses Rhode Island to make a point: innovation in education is code for charter schools. The legislature in R.I. blocked funding for two charter schools because there was not increased funding for already existing public schools - in other words, it would seem they held the utterly unreasonable view that we ought to prioritize improving the schools we have! (snark). Duncan told them to restore the funding or else suffer federal cuts...

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022998 <![CDATA[Health Insurance Exec Whistleblower Wendell Potter Testifies Before Congress]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023044 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023044 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:20:01 -0500 OrpRam Health and Wellness greed-prdtry dbtsm-cptlsm-fscsm-fnncl ins fraud http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023044 I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies, and I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick "" all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors. I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand""or even to obtain""information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world. I hope you get a real sense of what life would be like for most of us if the kind of so-called reform the insurers are lobbying for is enacted. When I left my job as head of corporate communications for one of the country's largest insurers, I did not intend to go public as a former insider. However, it recently became abundantly clear to me that the industry's charm offensive""which is the most visible part of duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaigns""may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023044 <![CDATA[Iraq Vote Could Oust US Troops Early -Maya Schenwar]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023030 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023030 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:35:01 -0500 kladner The World iraq us sofa referendum early withdrawal http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023030 "As US combat troops retreated from Iraqi urban centers on Tuesday, signs of an incomplete withdrawal abounded. Some soldiers remained in cities, their labels changed from "combat troops" to "trainers" or "advisers," while others relocated to bases close outside city borders. However, the US-Iraq security pact approved last December requires that every single US troop withdraw from the country by December 31, 2011, and an upcoming referendum vote in Iraq may demand an even quicker deadline. In less than a month, the Iraqi people may vote on the validity of the security pact, which permits the continuing US presence in Iraq."

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023030 <![CDATA[Gaza Views, First hand report of conditions in Gaza -- Part IV]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023065 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023065 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:55:01 -0500 carolwhite Progressive Issues egypt gaza israeli attack http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023065 This is the final post of the four part series by Felice Gelman who writes about her recent trip to Gaza under the pen name rosahill. Here are links to the first three posts from her diary. Here are links to the first three posts, Part I, Part II, Part III. Sunday, June 7, 2009 A Detailed Account of the Impact of Israel's Attack Our meeting with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights is the best orientation to the impact of the Israeli attack. PCHR meticulously documents everything, and deals quite fearlessly with both internal and external violations of human rights. PCHR estimates that, during the Israeli attacks, 2,500 tons of explosives were dropped on Gaza. That equals 3 kilos of explosives per meter. (They have a massive display of weapons fragments in their office, with all too many bearing indications that they were made in the USA

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023065 <![CDATA[Exit Poll False Recall: A Conclusion and a Rebuttal]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022920 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022920 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:25:01 -0500 TruthisAll Elections exit poll false recall election fraud http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022920 Exit poll naysayers could not provide a rational explanation for the Final 2004 National Exit Poll and its impossible returning Bush phantom voter anomaly. The "false recall" hypothesis was advanced soon after the reluctant Bush responder (rBr) theory was thoroughly debunked. But why was "mere forgetfulness" unique to Gore or Kerry voters? Are we supposed to believe that only those who DID NOT vote for an ILLEGITIMATE incumbent were afflicted with Alzheimer's? How come returning Bush voters were immune to this malady? The original purpose for proposing "false recall" was to call into question the 2004 exit poll results. The MSM fiction that Bush really did win the election fairly had to be maintained. The recorded vote was sacrosanct. A corollary was that the unadjusted (unweighted) exit polls were not accurate. After all, they differed from the recorded vote. Therefore, they could not be valid indicators of fraud. So much for the "spreadsheet-wielding Internet bloggers". But the 2006 and 2008 Final Exit Polls proved that "false recall" was nothing more than a desperate "Hail Mary" pass that was intercepted by the Truth.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022920 <![CDATA[Congress's $1.2 Million a Day Drug Habit—and Pharma's Phony "Gift" to Health Care Reform]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023033 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023033 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:50:01 -0500 PHred42 Health and Wellness bribery corruption corporate crime http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023033 Big Pharma pulled off a first-class PR coup last week with its widely celebrated pledge to support health care reform by offering up a package of discounts they claim will run to $80 billion over the next ten years. The highlight of the package, said to be worth about $30 billion, is a 50 percent discount offered to old and disabled people who fall into the "donut hole," the notorious coverage gap in the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, which leaves some of us paying as much as $3,000 out of pocket for our meds.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023033 <![CDATA[I was no al-Qaeda ally, Saddam told FBI]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023042 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023042 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:50:01 -0500 Fiore Busheviks saddam hussein fbi bushevik lies http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023042 Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews just released. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda. Saddam, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect it [Iraq] from threats in the region".

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023042 <![CDATA[Conason: Suddenly, a Trillion Dollars Is Too Expensive?]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023012 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023012 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:20:02 -0500 ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt Health and Wellness empire or people http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023012 If Americans hope to discuss health care, climate change, green economics or public infrastructure with any degree of realism, then the time has come to acknowledge that hearing someone say “a trillion dollars” is no reason to panic. Politicians and pundits cite that figure to argue that we cannot afford health care reform, following recent cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, but the plain truth is that we spend (and squander) more than that on purposes not nearly so wise and humane as universal quality health care.....As a matter of fact, America’s current health care system wastes considerably more than a trillion dollars every year. We know that because countries such as France, Germany, Japan and Finland, with standards of living comparable to ours, spend roughly half what the United States spends annually on health care per citizen, while they cover everyone and achieve better results. So if the total cost of American health care over the coming decade reaches $40 trillion, as economists expect, then we will be “wasting” approximately $20 trillion, or $2 trillion a year. ...Investing a trillion dollars or so in modernizing and improving our health care system is a good bargain—especially when contrasted with the maddening way that we have thrown away tax dollars over the past several years....

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023012 <![CDATA[Israel/Gaza: 22 Days of Death and Destruction]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023009 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023009 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:50:01 -0500 Fiore The World israel gaza war crimes http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023009 Amnesty International has condemned the unprecedented scale and intensity of attacks on Gaza earlier this year, as it launches the first comprehensive report to be published on the 22-day conflict. The report, Israel/Gaza: Operation 'Cast Lead' – 22 days of death and destruction, documents Israel's use of battlefield weapons against a civilian populations trapped in Gaza. It also uncovers evidence of unlawful attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups who fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, killing three Israeli civilians. Amnesty's researchers in Gaza during January and February found that many victims of the attacks were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept. Children were struck while playing in their bedrooms. Paramedics and ambulances were repeatedly attacked while attempting to rescue the wounded or recover the dead. "The deaths of so many children and other civilians cannot be simply dismissed as ‘collateral damage’, as argued by Israel," says Holmes. "Many questions remain to be unanswered about these attacks and about the fact that the strikes continued unabated despite the rising civilian death toll."

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023009 <![CDATA[The State of California Issues IOU's in Place of $s: State Budget Crisis]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023013 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023013 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:55:01 -0500 carolwhite Progressive Issues financial collapse http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023013 For the first time since the Great Depression (with a brief exception in 1992) California, state finance officials will begin issuing IOUs today to meet its $24-billion budget shortfall.These will go to local governments, vendors, taxpayers and college students receiving state financial aid. State workers will face more unpaid leave days and Counties that administer social services also would not get paid, nor would taxpayers who are still expecting refunds. Were California an independent nation it's economy would rank in the top ten globally and now it is bankrupt, and it is not the only US state economy in deep trouble. It's economy accounts for 12 percent of US domestic product and has the largest retail consumption in the country.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023013 <![CDATA[Californians are sinking themselves]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023008 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023008 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:00:01 -0500 Fiore Business and Economy california budget economy http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023008 If you want good roads, parks, decent schools (California's schools, once the best in the nation, are now among the worst) and adequate social services, you have to pay for them. For some reason, Californians have never come to grips with this fact. Some citizens who voted for Prop. 13 and other anti-tax measures are hard-line right-wingers who are ideologically opposed to government and don't care if state programs die. They are the soul mates of the current Republicans in the Legislature, who see the current crisis as a golden opportunity to get rid of government programs they have opposed for years. But they are the minority. Polls show that most Californians are more centrist. They are not absolutely opposed to taxes or government programs. They want compromises that work. The tragedy of California is that its political system no longer speaks for them. The center has not held. It no longer exists. It is a self-reinforcing problem: The more the public perceives politicians as ineffectual, the more it dismisses politics altogether.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023008 <![CDATA[Scientist warns of Antarctic ice melt, sea rise]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023014 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023014 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:35:01 -0500 Fiore Environment antarctica ice melt sea rise http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023014 “Evidence shows that this sheet is expected to melt first, along with Greenland. West Antarctica sits below sea level, so as the ocean warms, the ice sheet also warms. One way to understand this is to use the paeloclimate record to go back to a time when the earth was warmer and to see how West Antarctica behaved. We know that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were slightly above what they are now, and the earth was two to three degrees warmer. When the West Antarctica ice sheet collapsed numerous times, it raised sea levels by up to 10 metres.”

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023014 <![CDATA[Rockefeller launches initiative to boost health systems in Africa, Asia]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022944 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022944 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:45:01 -0500 Sparrows Abuse of Power/Corruption rockefeller funds health africa asia http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022944 The Rockefeller Foundation on Wednesday unveiled a 100-million-U.S. dollar initiative to support the strengthening of health systems in Africa and Asia. Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, the Foundation's President Judith Rodin said the Transforming Health Systems (THS) will address global need for affordable, accessible and quality health services. Rodin said the launch of the THS will shift focus from treatments and vaccines to informing the efforts of low-income countries to take on the challenges of health systems. The goal, she said, is to expand health coverage and provide new health and financial protections for all. "The Rockefeller Foundation has long been committed to public health interventions in the developing world to break bottlenecks that prevent access to quality health services," said Rodin. Note: Somebody please tell me that they see something terribly wrong with this picture?

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022944 <![CDATA[Washington Post sells access, $25,000+]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023020 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023020 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:55:01 -0500 sarahkatheryn Media media health care lobbyist http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1023020 For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors. Unacceptable.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1023020 <![CDATA[Jonathan Cook: Israeli Doctors Collude in Torture]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022943 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022943 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:05:01 -0500 Sparrows Abuse of Power/Corruption us does not torture israel does http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022943 Last week, Physicians for Human Rights and the Public Committee against Torture in Israel published a joint report examining hundreds of arrests in which Palestinians were bound in “distorted and unnatural” ways to inflict “pain and humiliation” amounting to torture. The report cited instances where prisoners, including a pregnant woman and a dying man, were shackled while doctors carried out emergency procedures in a hospital. According to the report, the doctors violated the Tokyo Declaration, the key code of medical ethics adopted by the WMA in 1975 that bans the use of cruel, humiliating or inhuman treatment by physicians. Ishai Menuchin, the head of the Public Committee, said his group had been lobbying strenuously against Israeli doctors’ complicity in torture since it issued a report, Ticking Bombs, in 2007, arguing that torture was routine in Israel.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022943 <![CDATA[New York Times, Rep. Holt, Still Misrepresenting Contents of Controversial Election Reform Bill]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022929 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022929 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:30:02 -0500 BradBlog Media new york times media elections holt http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022929 A week later, the 'paper of record' fails to correct egregious 'paper ballots' error in endorsement editorial | Democratic Congressman's own website touts endorsement, repeats same fictitious information about bill...

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022929 <![CDATA[Did Free Trade Cause The Recession?]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022926 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022926 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:45:02 -0500 DaveCJohnson Business and Economy trade economy recession http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022926 For many years the world has suffered under a “free trade” regime that eliminates good paying jobs in every country, sending the work to countries that keep wages low and restrict workers' ability to organize for a better life. The profits went to an already-wealthy few and the inequities increased, wealth concentrating massively at the very top. And now consumers around the world have run out of money. This is not a surprise.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022926 <![CDATA[Emergency Email to Obama Re Gaza by Cindy Sheehan]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022927 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022927 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:45:02 -0500 Sparrows Barack Obama obama shame on us us citizens now http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022927 My friend, Cynthia McKinney and Nobel laureate, Mairead Maguire and 20 other people were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which, as I understand, is something that you have encouraged Israel to allow. The Honorable Cynthia McKinney served six terms in the US Congress and she was the Green Party candidate for the office that you eventually won. It is an outrage that the Israeli Navy would block the boat that she and 21 others were on in international waters and board the boat and kidnap the crew and humanitarian aid workers. President Obama, when an American captain was kidnapped by Somali "pirates" US Navy SEALS were sent in to rescue him. He was the captain of a private, for profit, ship and the US military was used to rescue him. What Israel did, outside of its waters, to an unarmed boat filled with aid for Gazans who have been trapped in a concentration camp by Israel, is an act of international piracy and you must demand that Israel release Ms. McKinney and her fellow captors with all haste.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022927 <![CDATA[Al Franken's a Senator, No Joke. But What Kind?]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022904 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022904 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:25:01 -0500 chad Congress al franken senate http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022904 For months, Franken has been preparing diligently to take his Senate seat. He said he has been keeping abreast of what's going on, speaking to his soon-to-be colleagues and he even paid a visit to Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. In April he appointed his Washington chief of staff, Drew Littman, and in May he appointed a state director, Alana Peterson. Right away, the Senate is ready for him to vote on the country's current, most pressing issues.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022904 <![CDATA[TRADITION AND SCIENCE: ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON EAST AFRICAN MOUNTAINS]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022902 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022902 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:10:02 -0500 protect_democracy Environment climate change africa http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022902 This article examines the environmental changes to water resources on the slopes of East African mountains, specifically Mount Kilimanjaro. These fragile ecosystems host a higher population density than corresponding lower lands and plains. Most water used in East Africa for domestic, agriculture and hydro-power generation originates from these mountain ecosystems. For a long period of time, stream and river flows from the slopes of these mountains have been perennial. In recent decades, however, water flow from these mountain ecosystems has become intermittent, flowing only during rainy seasons.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022902 <![CDATA[Judge Overturns Bush Administration Logging Rule]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022872 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022872 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:00:02 -0500 Fiore Environment bush logging rule http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022872 A federal judge has struck down the Bush administration's change to a rule designed to protect the northern spotted owl from logging in national forests. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled from Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service failed to take a hard look at the environmental impacts of changing the rule to make it easier to cut down forest habitat of species such as the spotted owl and salmon on 193 million acres of national forests. "I am hopeful that this is the last nail in the coffin to (President George W.) Bush's assault on our public forests," said Pete Frost, an attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, which represented plaintiffs in one of two cases challenging the rule.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022872 <![CDATA[American adults getting fatter, Mississippi leads]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022874 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022874 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:00:01 -0500 regroce Health and Wellness obesity http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022874 "Obesity rates continued to climb in the past year with 23 U.S. states reporting adults in their states are fatter now than they were a year ago, two advocacy groups said on Wednesday. Obesity rates did not decrease in a single state last year, and the groups warned that the U.S. obesity epidemic must be addressed as lawmakers reform the nation's health system."

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022874 <![CDATA[US Warns Honduras of Cascade of Consequences if Coup is Not Reversed- VOA]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022924 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022924 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:00:01 -0500 RicKelis Military honduras oas us military coup cut aid http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022924 The United States is warning Honduras that there will be a cascade of negative consequences for the Central American state if the coup that ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday is not reversed. A senior Obama administration official said it would clearly mean the expulsion of Honduras from the OAS, trigger[ing] a cascade of events in which Honduras would find itself thrown out of many components of the inter-American system. The Pentagon has cut off military contacts with Honduras but the State Department says it is still involved in a legal review of a cut-off of U.S. aid to Honduras. An act of Congress requires a cut-off of most U.S. aid to countries where elected governments are unseated by the military.

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]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/comments_rss2.php?id=1022924 <![CDATA[Gingrich On Private Health Insurance Companies: ‘They Have It Done Well’]]> http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022914 http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022914 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:00:01 -0500 PHred42 Health and Wellness healthcare reichwin sociopath http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1022914 ...snip... But Gingrich also touted the success of private health insurers. When Johnson noted that it is insurance companies that are coming between patients and needed care, Gingrich claimed, “If you don’t like your current insurance company, you can change insurance companies.” He later argued that private insurers have done “well”: GINGRICH: They have it done well. And the fact is, overall, 71 percent of Americans are relatively satisfied with the health insurance.

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