gmane.politics.communism.environmental

[BillTottenWeblog] The Confiscation of Bank Savings to "Savethe Banks"

Bill Totten — 2013-05-21T00:01:27

The Diabolical Bank "Bail-In" Proposal

by Professor Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research (April 02 2013)

Is the Cyprus Bank "Bail-in" a "dress rehearsal" for things to come?

Is  a "Savings Heist" in the European Union and North America envisaged which could result in the outright confiscation of bank deposits?

In Cyprus, the entire payments system has been disrupted leading to the demise of the real economy.

Pensions and wages are no longer paid. Purchasing power has collapsed.

The population is impoverished.

Small and medium sized enterprises are spearheaded into bankruptcy.

Cyprus is a country with a population of one million.

What would happen if similar "hair cut" procedures were to be applied in the US or the European Union?

According to the Washington based Institute of International Finance (IIF) which represents the consensus of the global financial establishment, "the Cyprus approach of hitting depositors and creditors when banks fail, would likely become a model for dealing with collapses

Fw: IMMIGRATION MARKUP: Calls Needed ASAP in support ofSenator Blumenthal's amendments 3, 4 & 5

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-20T22:02:19









IMMIGRATION MARKUP: Calls Needed ASAP in support of Senator Blumenthal’s amendments 3, 4 & 5

Immigration reform is at a critical time and we need YOU to help NOW!
As you read this, the Senate Judiciary Committee is in the process of debating and "marking-up" (offering amendments to) the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S. 744.
To watch the markup go to: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=cf354bb1063ae0418c20d27f97904261
Senate markup resumed today. This week will be a critical time for farm workers as important agricultural provisions and amendments will be coming up.
Can you help right now? Please call members of the Senate Judiciary Committee (click hyperlink to see membersd or go to http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm) and indicate your support for Blumenthal amendments 3, 4 & 5.
* Dial the main switchboard (202) 224-3121 and ask to be transferred to a Senate Judiciary

Fw: Fwd: [New post] MANAHATTA Presented at the 2013 UnitedNations Permanent Forum on Indigenous People

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-20T21:43:00



From: Karen Shadowdancer 
 




WordPress.com 
MANAHATTA Presented at the 2013 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous People 
Staged reading will feature retelling of indigenous land-taking, the 1626 “sale” of the Lenape’s sacred Manahatta island to the Dutch for $24
NEW YORK, NY — Together,"  
_______________________________________________
Rad-Green mailing list
Rad-Green< at >greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green

Fwd: The Cyprus Investor Haircuts Reverberate yet in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain

Suzanne de Kuyper — 2013-05-20T20:56:32

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk< at >gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:52 PM
Subject: The Cyprus Investor Haircuts Reverberate yet in Portugal, Italy,
Greece and Spain
To: a-list <a-list< at >greenhouse.economics.utah.edu>

And in the rest of the European Union countries. Even Germany. Those bank
client haircuts were actually thefts under EU International Humanitarian
law.  They were also quickly forced on Cyprus in such a sloppy slipshod
fashion as if the Cypriots did not matter. That seems to have been quite
true.   In fact, considering the vast international importance the United
States has given to itself in the form of it's International Monetary Fund,
it seems everyone is agree that the US IMF is to meddle in everyones
economic situation and order them how to run their economies, or else.
To be a good American ally countries must line up for advice and take it if
they want to survive at all. Cyprus was to illustrate what awaits the rest
of us if we remain passiv

[BillTottenWeblog] Patriotic Yardsticks for Unpatriotic GiantCorporations

Bill Totten — 2013-05-20T12:12:09

by Ralph Nader

The Nader Page (May 16 2013)

Why are big, global US corporations so unpatriotic? After all, they were created in the USA, rose to immense profit because of the toil of American workers, are bailed out by American taxpayers whenever they're in trouble, and are safeguarded abroad by the US military.

Yet these corporate goliaths work their tax lawyers overtime to escape US taxes. Many pay less than you do in federal income taxes. Imagine corporations, like General Electric, have not paid federal income taxes on US profits for years.

Mega corporations have abandoned US workers by entrenching "pull-down" trade agreements that make it easier than ever to ship jobs and whole industries to fascist and communist regimes abroad which keep their workers near serfdom. Remember, the US has run large trade deficits for the past thirty years as a result of anti-American trade deals pushed by these global companies. These goliaths are pressing for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that will

"Astoundingly Disturbing": Obama Admin Claims Power to Wage Endless War Across the Globe

Sid Shniad — 2013-05-20T06:49:28

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/17/astoundingly_disturbing_obama_administration_claims_power

  Democracy Now! Friday, May 17, 2013
  "Astoundingly Disturbing": Obama Administration Claims Power to Wage
Endless War Across the Globe

*"...one of the enduring legacies of the Obama presidency is going to be
that he solidified this Cheneyesque view of the U.S. government, which says
that when it comes to foreign policy, that the executive branch is
effectively a dictatorship and that Congress only has a minimal role to
play in oversight."
*

*-- Author Jeremy Scahill*

A Pentagon official predicted Thursday the war against al-Qaeda and its
affiliates could last up to 20 more years. The comment came during a Senate
hearing revisiting the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF,
enacted by Congress days after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. At the
hearing, Pentagon officials claimed the AUMF gives the president power to
wage endless war anywhere in the world, including in Syria, Yemen and the
Congo. "Th

France to buy US-made Reaper drones for use in Mali

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-20T04:28:04

France to buy US-made Reaper drones for use in Mali: Report
File photo shows a US-made unarmed Reaper surveillance drone.
Sat May 18, 2013 12:43PM GMT
15
19 19 
In February, a report published by the World Tribune indicated that the French military has used "Harfang" medium-altitude 
long endurance (MALE) drones manufactured by Israel in the war-torn 
country."
Related Interviews:
* 'US troops to fuel tensions across Africa' 
* ‘Mali war ends in France’s humiliation’
France has plans to purchase US-made unarmed Reaper surveillance drones in a 
bid to back up its military operations against fighters in the 
crisis-hit African country, Mali, a report says. 

According to the report published by Air et Cosmos specialist magazine on Friday, France will buy two American medium-altitude Reaper drones following a deal reached between Paris and Washington. 

The report added that the French Air Force, which has already 
deployed Israeli-made armed unmanned drones to the West African nation, 
intends to acq

Write letters of support to nuclear resisters

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-20T01:32:02

Write letters of support to nuclear resisters 
The Nuclear Resisters are encouraging the anti-nuclear and anti-war community to write letters of support to imprisoned activists around the world, including Greg 
Boertje-Obed, Sister Megan Rice and Michael Walli, currently imprisoned 
and awaiting sentencing for their breach of security at the Y-12 
National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. Please visit the Nuclear 
Resisters special webpage to write to imprisoned activists. Boertje-Obed, Rice and Walli will not be sentenced until mid-September. Even the Bush-appointed judge opined 
that "It is preposterous that Congress would pass a law that would not distinguish between peace protestors and terrorists." However, because the three were convicted of sabotage, which is considered under law as "an act of violence" against the United States, some thought the judge faced no other legal choice but to remand them in custody for 
now. Activists maintained a vigil outside the courthouse during the 
trial (Pictured

[BillTottenWeblog] Bee utiful weekend

Bill Totten — 2013-05-20T00:54:29

SORRY: The version I posted several hours ago didn't contain links to the pictures. This version does.
---

I'm in my third year of keeping Japanese honeybees.



I got started in 2011 when my good friend and mentor, Mr Takayuki Mori, introduced me to Mr Ikumi Shiga, a farmer as well as researcher at Kyoto University. Mr Shiga keeps bees, has made by hand more than a hundred beehives, and helps others like me get started in beekeeping.



Mr Shiga brought me three beehives. They each are a stack of five boxes on a cement stand with an aluminum roof. Each box is 29 centimeters square and 15 centimeters tall. See these pictures: Our First Beehive, Bees at their Hive 1, Bees at their Hive 2, and Bees at their Hive 3.



http://billtotten.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/our-first-beehive.gif

Our First Beehive



http://billtotten.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/bees-at-their-hive-1.gif

Bees at their Hive 1



http://billtotten.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/bees-at-their-hive-2.gif

Bees at their Hive 2



http://billtot

[BillTottenWeblog] Hypocrites in the Air

Bill Totten — 2013-05-20T00:01:35

Should climate change academics lead by example?

by Kevin Anderson

http://kevinanderson.info/blog (April 12 2013)

(The arguments outlined in this commentary apply equally to any politician, civil servant, journalist, NGO or business leader calling for stringent mitigation)

 From the World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers through to Stern and the International Energy Agency, analyses increasingly demonstrate how, without urgent and radical reductions in emissions, global temperatures are set to rise by four degrees Celsius or higher - with, as the IEA emphasise, "devastating" repercussions for the planet.

But whose responsibility is it to initiate such radical mitigation?

*****

My partner and I recently arrived in Sicily for a couple of weeks' camping and rock climbing - not exactly sun-kissed limestone (fifteen degrees Celsius and damp), but still a little warmer than the Arctic blasts battering the UK at the moment.

As we try to avoid flying we've travelled here by train: Manchester to London and the

Housing Crisis on the Rez: Why Haul a Run-Down Shack From thePlains to DC?

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-19T21:15:39

Housing Crisis on the Rez: Why Haul a Run-Down Shack From the Plains to DC? Sunday, 19 May 2013 11:08  By Mark Andrew Boyer, Yes! Magazine 

 
Tribal leaders trucked the battered old home to Washington to show the nation’s leaders what the housing crisis on reservations looks like in person.
Last month, a new building joined the Washington Monument and the 
Capitol building on the National Mall. The small, run-down shack had 
previously housed 13 people, and it was brought to Washington, D.C., 
from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to raise 
awareness about the critical need for housing on reservations around the country.
"It's very difficult to get anybody to leave Washington to see it 
first-hand, and until you see it first-hand, it doesn't have the 
impact," explained Thomas Boesen, a Washington-based housing lobbyist 
who was at the April 17 demonstration.
At 2.8 million acres, Pine Ridge is one of the largest Indian 
reservations in the country. It's also one of the poorest. Housing i

[BillTottenWeblog] Beeutiful Weekend

Bill Totten — 2013-05-19T12:19:49

I'm in my third year of keeping Japanese honeybees.

I got started in 2011 when my good friend and mentor, Mr Takayuki Mori, introduced me to Mr Ikumi Shiga, a farmer as well as researcher at Kyoto University. Mr Shiga keeps bees, has made by hand more than a hundred beehives, and helps others like me get started in beekeeping.

Mr Shiga brought me three beehives. They each are a stack of five boxes on a cement stand with an aluminum roof. Each box is 29 centimeters square and 15 centimeters tall. See these pictures: Our First Beehive, Bees at their Hive 1, Bees at their Hive 2, and Bees at their Hive 3.


Our First Beehive


Bees at their Hive 1


Bees at their Hive 2


Bees at their Hive 3

I attracted my first colony with a Kinryohen plant in a stand surrounded by a net. Kinryohen is a kind of Orchid. The aroma of the Kinryohen flower attracts the bees while the net prevents the bees from harming the flower. If successful, the net collects a colony of bees. See these pictures: Kinryohen next to beehive, B

[BillTottenWeblog] The Pleasures of Extinction

Bill Totten — 2013-05-19T00:10:59

by John Michael Greer

The Archdruid Report (May 15 2013)

Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society

One of the wry pleasures that's repeatedly come my way since the beginning of this blog seven years ago is that of watching a good many of my predictions come true in short order. Now it's true that I've also made a certain number of failed predictions over that time.  Back in 2007 and 2008, for instance, I insisted that the US government wouldn't be dumb enough to try to cover its ballooning budget deficits by spinning the printing presses; some idiocies, I thought, were too extreme even for the inmates of the current American political class.  As the Fed proceeds merrily through yet another round of quantitative easing, that assumption has proved to be rather too naive.

Even so, my batting average so far has been pretty respectable. In the early days of this blog, for example, Daniel Yergin was insisting at the top of his lungs that the price of oil would settle down shor

Stop Ignoring How Routine the Occupation Has Become

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-18T14:56:40

Stop Ignoring How Routine the Occupation Has Become
By Ori Nir on May 14, 2013  9:23 AM  | 4 Comments 
 
By Ori Nir

Israel TV Channel 2 recently ran a lengthy report of pre-dawn 
arrests of Palestinian children -- rock-throwing suspects -- at a West 
Bank Palestinian refugee camp. The TV crew was embedded with an Israeli 
unit that raided the camp. 
No, there was no blood, no violent confrontations and no big drama. 
Everything was done routinely, efficiently, as if scripted. Including 
the polite soldiers ("please get dressed") and the business-as-usual 
reactions of tweens who moments ago were in bed and are now handcuffed 
and blindfolded, in a military jeep. One of them, a boy named Ahmad who 
seemed around 10, tried to negotiate. "Tomorrow I have an exam. I will 
be thrown out of school if I don't take the test," he tried to reason 
with the soldiers. "Had you come any other day, I would have gone with 
you. Please!" Then he manned up and joined the soldiers.

So what's new? What's the big deal, my wif

[BillTottenWeblog] Look for loopholes to avoid extinction

Bill Totten — 2013-05-18T12:01:48

by Dmitry Orlov

Club Orlov (May 14 2013)

A tiny blip in the news media registered the fact that atmospheric carbon dioxide has exceeded four hundred parts per million for the first time in the history of the human species, with no sign of slowing down. Among other things, it means that ocean levels will be going up by at least thirty feet, putting most of the world's major cities underwater. Almost the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States - the most densely settled strip of land in the country, with the most infrastructure and physical assets - will become uninhabitable. Other countries - Bangladesh, Netherlands, a long list of low-lying island nations - will disappear under the waves entirely.

In other news, the actress Angelina Jolie just had a double mastectomy to make extra-double-sure that she gets to live long and cancer-free. The brave woman has decided to face extinction breastless. I pray that her extinct breasts find peace, if not in this world, then perhaps the next ...

Although I am c

Fwd: The roots of Homeland Security

Suzanne de Kuyper — 2013-05-18T07:35:11

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk< at >gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 18, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Subject: Fwd: The roots of Homeland Security
To: a-list <a-list< at >greenhouse.economics.utah.edu>

The legal advisors to the administration of George Bush 11 and Richard
Cheney dug back to pre-Civil War law in order to get precidents to changing
21 century American law into dictator quality structures.  One key one was
the the United States Presidential Midnight Signing Statements set up
during the Civil War when neither the Senate nor the House were able to be,
nor to remain, in session.  One hundred and forty seven new laws were
manufactured in this way by the absolutely delighted George Bush 11. The
attempt to impeach him for them backfired because we were suddenly at war.
He was gifted a C grade by Yale, when he should have been flunked, because
of his father's US CIA influence there having been made head of it before
winning the American Presidency as George Bush 1.   Every law was indi

Californians: FEMA to ClearCut 85,000 Berkeley & Oakland Trees

Mitchel Cohen — 2013-05-18T05:00:21

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=11361#more

FEMA Plans Clear-Cutting of 85,000 Berkeley and Oakland Trees
by Randy Shaw May. 16 2013

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is 
moving to chop down 22,000 trees in Berkeley's 
historic Strawberry and Claremont Canyons and 
over 60,000 more in Oakland. This destructive 
plan is rapidly moving forward with little 
publicity, and FEMA cleverly scheduled its three 
public meetings for mid and late May while UC 
Berkeley students were in finals or gone for the 
summer. UC Berkeley has applied for the grant to 
destroy the bucolic Strawberry and Claremont 
Canyon areas, claiming that trees pose a fire 
hazard. The school has no plans to replant, and 
instead will cover 20% of the area in wood chips 
two feet deep. And it will pour between 700 and 
1400 gallons of herbicide to prevent resprouting, 
Including the highly toxic herbicide, Roundup. 
People are mobilizing against this outrageous 
proposal, which UC Berkeley has done its best t

Pressure-Cooker and Cluster Bombs

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-18T03:06:46

Pressure-Cooker and Cluster Bombs
"Boston Bombs Were Loaded to Maim," a New York Times headline shouted.

U.S. cluster bombs have done  the same in places like Afghanistan and Yemen.  Shouldn't we end that  hypocrisy?

Pressure-cooker bombs and cluster bombs are both extremely cruel -- 
shredding human flesh to produce maximum pain, injury and death.
"Boston Bombs Were Loaded to Maim," a New York Times headline shouted.


Click here to help put an end to it now. 
Cluster bombs have been banned since 2010 by a treaty that 81 nations are 
already party to. Another 27 nations have signed but not yet ratified. 
The United States is not among the signers, serving rather as the chief 
opponent of the treaty.
That's morally unacceptable. 
The Pentagon's cluster bombs caused more civilian casualties in Iraq 
in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon. Those actions were 
illegal at the time, under the Geneva Conventions.
When cluster bombs are dropped in residential areas, many bomblets fail to 
explode and

[BillTottenWeblog] No Mo' PoMo?

Bill Totten — 2013-05-18T00:10:18

by James Howard Kunstler

Clusterfuck Nation (May 13 2013)

Whenever the Federal Reserve wants to tweak the dials of the economy - or pretend that it can - it turns first to its sock puppet at The Wall Street Journal, John Hilsenrath, and "leaks" a rumor of policy change.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-maps-exit-from-stimulus-2013-05-10-191031815?dist=beforebell

They like to do this late on Fridays when financial markets are about to close, so that market players will have a whole weekend to ponder the Fed's actions like medieval viziers reading goat entrails.

Last Friday's puddle of steaming guts was a supposed preview of the Fed's "exit strategy" from its reckless policy of "quantitative easing" or "money" creation (or "liquidity", if you like). In other words, they supposedly intend to stop juicing the financial markets with fake wealth, this is, capital not accumulated from real productive activity, but just fictively created on computer hard drives. For the past year they have been doing this t

Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims? (BBC)

Romi Elnagar — 2013-05-17T23:24:17

Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims?By Alan Strathern Oxford University   

Of all the moral precepts instilled in Buddhist monks the promise not to 
kill comes first, and the principle of non-violence is arguably more 
central to Buddhism than any other major religion. So why have monks 
been using hate speech against Muslims and joining mobs that have left 
dozens dead? 
This is happening in two countries separated by well over 
1,000 miles of Indian Ocean - Burma and Sri Lanka.  It is puzzling 
because neither country is facing an Islamist militant threat. Muslims 
in both places are a generally peaceable and small minority.
In Sri Lanka, the issue of halal slaughter has been a 
flashpoint. Led by monks, members of the Bodu Bala Sena - the Buddhist 
Brigade - hold rallies, call for direct action and the boycotting of 
Muslim businesses, and rail against the size of Muslim families.
While no Muslims have been killed in Sri Lanka, the Burmese 
situation is far more serious. Here the antagonism is spear

Fwd: Seizure of AP Phone Records Continues Obama Admin'sAttack on Whistleblowers

Suzanne de Kuyper — 2013-05-17T21:33:05

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk< at >gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 17, 2013 at 11:32 PM
Subject: Fwd: Seizure of AP Phone Records Continues Obama Admin's Attack on
Whistleblowers
To: a-list <a-list< at >greenhouse.economics.utah.edu>

If you do not believe, nor could you ever, that 9/11 was known to be
planned and was allowed to happen, try pretending you are sure it was
planned, that plan became known in the Bush 11 administration and was
allowed to happen as planned.  The statements in this posting that the
Obama persecution of whistleblowers is worse than any other US
administration in history is then of note as paranoia would be a normal
reaction to allowing 9/11 to happen and then the deliberate skewing of it's
meaning to set up war laws in the immediate aftermath would only make even
more natural the gutting of free speech and that of journalists and
formerly protected whistleblowers.  As if a chess exercise in strategy, try
it.   suzanne

---------- Forwarded message ---