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Support Opednews. Make a tax deductible donation to make OEN Strong.  Daily Headlines
the
key result from the Manning verdict may be that the Justice Department
and other parts of the US government are emboldened more than ever to
bring leak prosecutions and charge individuals, including national
security whistleblowers who lack protections under laws, with Espionage
Act offenses, even when there is no evidence of acts of espionage.
By Trudy Lieberman
An Obamacare scorecard Part 1: What's gone, what's on hold, and what's still in place 
For
all the controversy about the Affordable Care Act, confusion and lack
of knowledge among the public is still widespread. Meanwhile, it keeps
changing, as portions are altered, fixed, or dropped. After all those
changes, what is Obamacare, exactly? What is out, what is on hold, and
what is still standing in this large and controversial law? What are
Obamacare's plusses and minuses so far? Part 1 of a two-part scorecard.
As
our genome needs nutrition to build our body, so our menome depends on
recognition from others to create and husband a viable identity.
By Pal Palsimon
How Misguided Political Acitivists Destroy Us This article explains why some political activists, and especially their leaders, must become critical thinkers before expounding their issues.
The
government fears the release of information by Bradley Manning and
Edward Snowden. They say it aids the enemy. As it turns out, we the
people are the enemy the government fears most getting this information.
Following
the worst, most abusive and demeaning visiting experience of all time,
you won't be surprised that at exactly 8:00 Monday morning, I was on the
telephone. Throughout the day, I had a number of conversations with
BOP higher-ups, all of whom verified and confirmed violations by prison
employees. One, in particular, assured me he would be looking into my
complaints and speaking with the prison employees.
Obama,
Congress and the political leadership of Michigan are all agreed on
using the bankruptcy courts to rob workers, first in Detroit and then in
other cities, of their pensions and health benefits. Obama's treasury
secretary, Jacob Lew, flatly rejected any bailout of Detroit when asked
on several network television programs broadcast Sunday.
Listening to the lead prosecutor's final argument in the Zimmerman case, it's hard to believe he really wanted a conviction.
Yesterday Opednews and I were given the Pillar Award, at the Whistleblower Week annual conference in Washington DC.
Bill
McKibben spoke to a rally at Sebago Lake, Maine, where there are plans
for a Tar Sands Pipeline. The protest and speech was attended by a
couple of hundred land-lovers who floated in intertubes across a now
serene area framed beautifully by a mountain range. However, if the oil
companies have their way, this beautiful land will become a desert.
The results would be catastrophic to animal, plant and human well being
By Aubrey Rose
The Case of John Ferguson: Why Executing a Man Who Believes He is the "Prince of God" is Against Our Constitution The execution of severely mentally ill man John Ferguson should not fall through the cracks after 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman .
Radio:
Fukushima Daiichi has "contaminated the biggest body of water on the
planet" -- Radioactive leaks to harm marine and human life -- Whole
Pacific Ocean likely to have cesium levels 5-10 times higher than at
peak of nuclear bomb tests (AUDIO)
Adam
Smith branded those who pocketed the nation's rents as "The Public
Enemy". But today, governments celebrate the privatisation of the income
that we all help to create. The result, reports Fred Harrison in Part 1
of The Treason Trilogy, is a house of cards built on debt. He forecasts
the next property boom/bust, and accuses politicians of betraying their
duty of care to their people.
It's received almost 5 million views. I think you'll like this.
By Suzana Megles
Fresh Air from an Austrian Priest I was so surprised to learn last week that an Austrian priest had been invited by 10 US liberal groups to come to various cities in the US and give his vision for addressing priest shortages and related issues. I believe that he brought with him an abundance of much-needed fresh air for people who endorse his message of caring and concern.
The way groups try to label us, and the way labels are used to stifle debate, has got to stop. Branding has got to go.
By Andrew Schmookler
The Spirit that Drove Us to Civil War is Back: The Spirit of the Slave Power Since Slavery The spirit that made a war over slavery was never repudiated by the South. It came back to create the Jim Crow regime of racial oppression and terror. And now it is back-- animating today's Republican Party, a spirit that moves people to seek the domination and exploitation of others, and covers its doings with a cloak of hypocrisy.
By Tom Engelhardt
William deBuys, Goodbye to All That (Water) Martha and the Vandellas would have loved it. Metaphorically speaking, the New York Times practically swooned over it. ("An unforgiving heat wave held much of the West in a sweltering embrace over the weekend, tying or breaking temperature records in several cities, grounding flights, sparking forest fires, and contributing to deaths.")
Violence
in this nation is rising to the point of absurdity, and it isn't
happening only in the United States, but throughout the Global
Community. We have been researching this issue with a vigor you cannot
imagine as I search for rhyme or reason why my own twin sons are in
Florida awaiting trial for murder and robbery. We believe we have found
part of the problem, and it's a disease and you may have it yourself!
By Sam Amer
Fair-Capitalism -- A Call for Economic Revolution A proposal for a new economic and tax policy.
Urging
the selection of Stiglitz or Reich might not lead to the actual choice
of a progressive-populist as Fed chair. But it could turn the tide
against Summers. It might help Yellen. And it would almost certainly
create pressure on whoever takes charge of the Fed to recognize and
embrace the full potential of the Federal Reserve.
On
July 9, 2013, WND Education ran a story titled, NEA Teachers Dance to
'N'-Word, Sex Lyrics, which reported on a dance party that took place
during the 2013 National Education Association's national conference in
Atlanta. Apparently this story has been largely overlooked given the
events that transpired.
Obama
knows economics and basic arithmetic. He is a second-term president. If
he is not in a position to tell the truth -- that we need larger
deficits to boost the economy -- then no one is. It is long past the
time where he should have been using the platform of the presidency to
explain basic economics to the American people. The cost of not doing so
has already been enormous. It will grow even larger the longer he
waits.
Divide And Conquer: Unpacking Stratfor's Rise To Power
Stratfor precursor,Pagan International,built the corporate public relations playbook still utilized by the firm today.The goal of a corporate PR plan "must be to separate the fanatic activist leaders"from the overwhelming majority of their followers:decent, concerned people who are willing to judge us on the basis of our openness and usefulness,"Pagan stated in 1982, fully understanding that the public should never know this was the game plan.Hammond -- perhaps without knowing every detail of the history of the playbook itself--essentially cited it as the rationale behind his Stratfor hack and leak to WikiLeaks."I believe in the power of the truth. In keeping with that, I do not want to hide what I did or to shy away from my actions,"he stated in a press release announcing the plea deal. "I believe people have a right to know what governments and corporations are doing..."
The
idea that Barack Obama would still consider appointing Lawrence Summers
to head the Federal Reserve rather than order an investigation into
this former White House official's Wall Street payments mocks the
president's claimed concern for the disappearing middle class. Summers
is in large measure responsible for that dismal outcome.
No
verdict handed down by the military judge can change the moral verdict
that has emerged from people all over the world, reciprocating what
Bradley Manning expressed online a few days before his arrest: "I can't
separate myself from others." And: "I feel connected to everybody ...
like they were distant family."
There
will be no shortage of interesting developments as the Snowden case
develops and concludes, but in order to move past the current diplomatic
stalemate that Moscow and Washington find themselves in, the Obama
administration must engage in something it hates doing -- showing mutual
respect to Russian authorities in the context of an equal and inclusive
partnership.
Bradley
Manning was acquitted on the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, a
charge his defense attorneys had attempted to have dropped. But he has
been convicted on a number of other charges.
The
establishment response to those who have dared to challenge Obama's
surveillance state has a bi-partisan tone to it. So much so that one
must wonder how much of the beltway soap opera is nothing more than
stagecraft. When it comes down to war and the transformation of the U.S.
into a fascist police state, there is a rare consensus. We're being fed
a line of B-S when it comes to this and it's time to ask serious
questions.
A
military judge on Tuesday found Pfc. Bradley Manning not guilty of
aiding the enemy, but convicted him of multiple counts of violating the
Espionage Act. Private Manning had already confessed to being WikiLeaks'
source for the files.
Latest Articles
History teaches us that people and economies adapt to technology and that opinions do not matter.
Latest Polls
By Lance Ciepiela
The Real Obama's Bent on Killing Innocent People with Remote-controlled Drones - Do You Agree? Sadly, President Barack Obama is rather promoting their (drones) use, making the world an even more dangerous place. These weapons could come to haunt the U.S. itself in the future. They don't increase U.S. security in the long run. They rather reduce it. Nobody should have the right to kill just anybody, anywhere in the world - this is the stuff of tyranny.  Best News Links from the Web
"The
nonpartisan Congressional Research Service issued a report on Monday
stating that the law would still be in effect even if lawmakers hold up
the functioning of the government over budget disputes."
'DERA
ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) - In an operation carried out
with military-like precision, Taliban fighters disguised as police and
armed with bombs broke 250 prisoners out of a Pakistan jail on Tuesday
with the help of what appeared to be insider informants. The attack in
the city of Dera Ismail Khan showed the ability of the al Qaeda-linked
Pakistani Taliban to strike at the heart of Pakistan's heavily guarded
prison system and walk away with dozens of senior Taliban fighters and
commanders. The overnight assault on the Central Prison took place
despite reports that regional officials had received intelligence days,
if not weeks, ago suggesting such an attack was imminent. Officials
blamed a combination of negligence and lack of communication among
Pakistan's many security agencies, but some suggested there may have
been a degree of insider help.'
'The
Manning prosecution has represented, in essence, a proxy war on
watchdog journalism. Rather than targeting reporters -- for the moment
-- the administration has focused on journalists' sources. Since Manning
was indicted, other cases have been brought against sources and
whistleblowers, and the surveillance of journalists from AP and Fox News
has been uncovered. Double standards are evident in the fact that
semi-sanctioned "leaks" from security sources, of material that shows
the US military in a good light, happen daily. In principle, such
disclosures are crimes equal in severity to those of Manning. Yet no one
has been taken to court. The prosecution of Manning was intended to
send a signal. If nothing else, it has done that. It has shown that when
faced with evidence of its own wrongdoing, the current US
administration focuses on punishing the messenger.'
'Don't
make the mistake...of comparing Washington's positions on Snowden and
Lady and labeling the Obama administration's words and actions
"hypocrisy." There's no hypocrisy involved. This is simply the living
definition of what it means to exist in a one-superpower world for the
first time in history. For Washington, the essential rule of thumb goes
something like this: we do what we want; we get to say what we want
about what we do; and U.N. ambassadorial nominee Samantha Powers then
gets to lecture the world on human rights and oppression...This, then,
is our world: a single megapower has, since September 2001, been in a
financing and construction frenzy to create the first global
surveillance state; its torturers run free; its kidnappers serve time at
liberty in this country and are rescued if they venture abroad; and its
whistleblowers...are pilloried. And so it goes.
Associated
Press Survey data points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy,
the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying
manufacturing jobs as reasons more Americans, for at least parts of
their lives, are jobless, near poverty or on welfare. The bipartisan
governing elite championed free trade as a silver bullet to continuously
increase our standard of living. Not unlike hucksters, the bipartisan
elite were mum about the rotten apples (unfavorable elements) of free
trade. These rotten apples equate to "economic insecurity": defined as a
year or more of periodic joblessness, reliance on government aid such
as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. The risk
of economic insecurity has risen to 79 percent for all Americans and is
on track to reach 85% by 2030. For most Americans, sweet spot of free
trade is in the distant past.
The
Obama administration is turning hypocrisy into an art form.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world is not fooled. The great foreign
policy illusion in Washington is that the U.S. government controls
international events. Thus, the administration proclaims that it must
continue to hand $1.55 billion annually to the generals in Cairo to
preserve its influence. Yet when did America last exercise influence in
Egypt?
Groundswell,
the hush-hush right-wing strategy group partly led by Ginni Thomas, the
wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, wanted to hype the
Benghazi tragedy into a full-fledged scandal for the Obama
administration, as part of its "30 front war" on the president and
progressives. A secret audio tape of one of Groundswell's weekly
meetings shows that prominent members of the group pressed House Speaker
John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chair of the House
oversight committee, to expand the Benghazi investigation and make this
supposed scandal a top-priority for congressional Republicans. This
recording indicates Groundswell's mission extends beyond message
coordination to scandal-stoking.
Is
there anyone that New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner is
"sexting" currently? That was the question posed to him by New York
Daily News columnist Denis Hamill in an interview published Tuesday. And
Weiner responded with a classic "non-denial denial," tiptoeing around a
firm answer. "You can quibble about beginnings, middles and ends but
what we're talking about is over a year ago," Weiner said.
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