07.30.09
EI update
_______________________________
UPDATE FROM THE
ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
http://electronicIntifada.net
____________________________ Read the rest of this entry »
Dismantling the Empire
July 30, 2009
Tomdispatch.com
Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire
The Obama administration’s plan to end production of the F-22 Raptor has received plenty of press coverage, but the Pentagon budget itself, even though it’s again on the rise, hardly rates a bit of notice. Read the rest of this entry »
Keynes for the times
RG mail
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/perspective/12915-a-man-for-this-season-keynes.html
A man for this season? Keynes
Although Keynes’s model of managed capitalism is being widely pursued as a response to the current crisis, it postpones rather than provides a solution to one of capitalism’s central contradictions, which is the underlying cause of the current economic crisis ? overproduction, in which productive capacity outpaces the growth of effective demand, driving down profits.
Walden Bello
THE collapse of neoliberal economics, with its worship of the “self-regulating market,” has had among its most significant consequences the revival of the great English economist John Maynard Keynes. It is not only his writings that make Keynes very contemporary. There is also the mood that permeates them, one that evokes the loss of faith in the old and the yearning for something that is yet to be born.
Bait and switch
RG mail
http://www.truthout.org/072309E
http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/20/bait-and-switch-how-the-”public-option”-was-sold/
Bait and switch: How the “public option” was sold
Posted by Andrew Coates, MD on Monday, Jul 20, 2009
by Kip Sullivan
Kip Sullivan belongs to the steering committee of the Minnesota chapter of
Physicians for a National Health Program.
The people who brought us the “public option” began their campaign promising
one thing but now promote something entirely different. To make matters
worse, they have not told the public they have backpedalled. The campaign
for the “public option” resembles the classic bait-and-switch scam: tell
your customers you’ve got one thing for sale when in fact you’re selling
something very different.
Health care reform
RG mail
Health care reform getting “meager”
Richard Wolff: Obama must create the support needed to reform health care
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4061
Class struggles: China
RG mail
July 27, 2009
China Steel Executive Killed as Workers and Police Clash
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI — China’s state-run press confirmed Monday that a riot broke
out at a steel mill in north China Friday evening, leaving the
executive of another steel mill dead.
Letter to Obama
RG mail;
The President of the National Union of Public and General Employees(NUPGE), one of Canada’s largest unions, has written President BarackObama and all members of the U.S. Congress asking them to look past the”malicious misrepresentations and scare tactics” in the current debateover American health care reform and see the true value of Canada’ssingle-payer health system.
http://www.nupge.ca/node/2444
07.29.09
Atheists and—gnostics?
Jairo Mejia said,
July 29, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Atheists and Gnostics are right in most of their thinking
It has been common among religious believers to look with misgiving to atheists and Gnostics, and to think that they are mistaken; however, in many instances the opposite is the truth; some religious beliefs are not just irrelevant, but baseless. The “God” of main line traditions simply does not exist. I accepted the challenge of finding the One who may be recognized even by Gnostics and atheists: the Existence itself, “All-That-Is.” If something is there, that is God. Look at the book “Christianity Reformed From its Roots – A life centered in God” (Amazon.com). I am confident that some of your friends will be relieved of the illusion, as I did myself.Jairo Mejia, M. Psych., Santa Clara University
Retired Episcopal Priest
Carmel Valley, Californiahttp://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Grudzen.htm
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Churcher.htm
Venter and artificial life
Bang Goes the Theory: Craig Venter Interview
AtheistMediaBlog – YouTube
from Dawkins site
Aired July 27, 2009 on BBC’s new show ‘Bang Goes The Theory’
Tackling the science behind the headlines, Liz journeys to meet a US scientist who is developing his own controversial solution to solving the world’s energy crisis. Craig Venter, one of the first people to sequence the human genome, is working to create the first generation of artificial life.
School for suicide bombers
from Dawkins site
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: ‘Children are tools to achieve God’s will,’ the Taliban commander told me – Taliban running school for suicide bombers
by The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/sharmeen-obaidchinoy-children-are-tools-to-achieve-gods-will-the-taliban-commander-told-me-1764029.html
Wild camels
Wild camels ‘genetically unique’
by Matt Walker – BBC Earth News
from Dawkins site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8151000/8151804.stm
An analysis by scientists in China and Inner Mongolia shows that wild Bactrian camels are distantly related to their domestic two-humped counterparts.
Evolution’s Winners And Losers
Naming Evolution’s Winners And Losers
ScienceDaily (July 28, 2009) — Mammals and many species of birds and fish are among evolution’s “winners,” while crocodiles, alligators and a reptile cousin of snakes known as the tuatara are among the losers, according to new research by UCLA scientists and colleagues.
GW and wildfires
Scientists Expect Wildfires To Increase As Climate Warms In Coming Decades
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2009) — As the climate warms in the coming decades, atmospheric scientists at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and their colleagues expect that the frequency of wildfires will increase in many regions.
Mammal genome
After Dinosaurs, Mammals Rise But Their Genomes Get Smaller
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2009) — Evidence buried in the chromosomes of animals and plants strongly suggests only one group — mammals — have seen their genomes shrink after the dinosaurs’ extinction.
Clouds in climate vicious cycle
Clouds in climate ‘vicious cycle’
Low-level clouds have been found to cool the planet
Clouds over the North-East Pacific dissipate as the ocean warms, according to a study in the journal Science.
Researchers have described this as a “vicious cycle” of warming, as reduced cloud cover allows more of the Sun’s rays to heat the Earth
Zero sum stupidity
Published on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 by Grit TV
Zero Sum Stupidity
by Laura Flanders
Early Human Relative Predates Dinosaurs
gnxp
The world’s first known tree-dwelling vertebrate has just been identified, according to a new study. The tiny, agile animal lived 30 million years before the first dinosaurs and was a distant relative of mammals, including humans
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/28/first-tree-dweller.html
The formula
gnxp
Why don’t Americans understand science better? Start with the scientists
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/07/26/why_dont_americans_understand_science_better_start_with_the_scientists/
Tanning beds
gnxp
International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas. For years, scientists have described tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation as “probable carcinogens”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090729/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_tanning_beds_cancer
Ma/Pa genes
gnxp
An analysis of rare genetic disorders in which children lack some genes from one parent suggests that maternal and paternal genes engage in a subtle tug-of-war well into childhood, and possibly as late as the onset of puberty. This striking new variety of intra-family conflict, described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest wrinkle in the two-decades-old theory known as genomic imprinting, which holds that each parent contributes genes that seek to nudge his or her children’s development in a direction most favorable, and least costly, to that parent.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/07/28/maternal.paternal.genes.tug.war.may.last.well.childhood
Stem cells and the ‘end of men’
sciftp
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=18600
dated 1 August 2009 | issue 2162
Posted: 6.56pm Tuesday 28 July 2009
Comment
Stem cells and the ‘end of men’
by John Parrington
Stem cells are in the news again with two stories hitting the headlines recently. The first was a report that sperm could be produced artificially from embryonic stem cells. Then last week came the revelation that ordinary skin cells can be reprogrammed to grow into a brand new individual.
‘Sixth Great Extinction Event’
Human Activity Is Driving Earth’s ‘Sixth Great Extinction Event’
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/07/28-11
Economists apologize
RG mail
Associated Press July 26, 2009
British economists send apology to queen
LONDON — Sorry Ma’am — we just didn’t see it coming.
A British newspaper reported Sunday that a group of eminent economists have apologized to Queen Elizabeth II for failing to predict the financial crisis.
Health reform?
RG mail
Health reform: dead or alive?
Ford: By excluding single payer plan, Obama allowed the right to dominate the reform debate
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4052
The big lie
RG mail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/25/afghanistan-occupation-taliban-warlords
The Guardian 25 July 2009
The big lie of Afghanistan
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