Archive for November, 2010
The Fail Files (Vol. I)
The expected ripostes have begun to trickle in from our inaugural post — especially from my favorite aggregation site, Disinfo.com. I anticipate quite a number of challenges to the self-evident notion that 1-1=0 from the Korporate Kabbalist crowd. So I thought I’d actually give a name to the series of posts I expect to file answering them, “The Fail Files” — reflecting the laughable durabilty of such a stupid notion as the Laffer Curve.
"You have slain my corporate master! Prepare to die!"
Okay, so here’s the first two questions I choose to answer*
1. Q: “But won’t our corporate masters simply pass their taxes on to us in the form of higher prices?”
A: Not statistically likely. There is an extremely weak correlation between increases in corporate income tax and inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index–less than 3%, in fact. Which is within the typical margin of error for a coin flip. See details…
UK Students Fight For Their Right To … Study
It’s been decades since Britain saw the kind of violent student protests witnessed in London yesterday. As the UK and other European nations with budget deficits that can’t be sustained any longer institute austerity measures such as the reduction in higher learning subsidies that the students are protesting, it’s likely that we can expect more protests. Back to the ’70s?
Project Camelot Interviews Maestro Graham Hancock
Project Camelot’s Kerry Cassidy recently interviewed Entangled author Graham Hancock. Below is the video…
…
and here’s what she has to say about the experience:
I had the great pleasure to interview…
Australian Search Engine ‘Groggle’ Gets Pushed Off The Wagon By Google
Groggle got its name from the word “grog,” Australian slang for booze. A search engine intended to help users compare alcohol prices in Australian stores easily lends itself to the “grog”-”Google” mash up, but Google didn’t seem to think it was clever. After a six-month legal battle, Google has had Groggle change it’s name. It is now Drinkle. Instead of spending the money and time on such a lawsuit, Google should have used the site to find itself a drink. BBC News reports:
An Australian hoping to quench his nation’s thirst via the web has agreed to change the name of his alcohol search site after protests from Google.
Cameron Collie set up Groggle to allow users to find the best-priced “grog” in nearby stores.
Search giant Google complained at his effort to trademark the name, prompting a six-month legal wrangle.
Now the name Groggle has been changed to a more conventional title, Drinkle, ahead of…
Evidence of Ancient Civilization Found in the Amazon
Amazon River drainage basin with the Rio Negro highlighted. Source: Kmusser (CC)
Tom Phillips reports that a drought in Brazil has provided evidence of an ancient civilisation in the form of engravings up to 7,000 years old, in the Guardian:
A series of ancient underwater etchings has been uncovered near the jungle city of Manaus, following a drought in the Brazilian Amazon.
The previously submerged images – engraved on rocks and possibly up to 7,000 years old – were reportedly discovered by a fisherman after the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon river, fell to its lowest level in more than 100 years last month.
Tens of thousands of forest dwellers were left stranded after rivers in the region faded into desert-like sandbanks.
Though water levels are now rising again, partly covering the apparently stone age etchings, local researchers photographed them before they began to disappear under the river’s dark waters.
Archaeologists who have studied the…
The Case Against Fluoride
[disinfo ed.'s note: The following is an excerpt from The Case Against Fluoride: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There by Paul Connett, James Beck, Spedding Micklem, courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing]
At a public meeting held on October 17, 2009, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a community that was considering halting its fluoridation program, Paul Connett gave a twenty-minute presentation on the scientific arguments against the practice. After a county health commissioner and local dentist responded, a woman in the audience said, “Whether this practice is safe or not, or beneficial or not, I want freedom of choice. It is my right to choose what substances I put into my body, not some governmental agency’s.”
This woman echoed what many opponents of fluoridation have believed and articulated for over sixty years: Government has no right to force anyone to take…
Mysterious Missile Launched Off California Coast
On Monday in Los Angeles, an unexplained missile shot through the sky over the Pacific Ocean. A CBS News traffic helicopter caught it on tape. Thus far the Navy and Pentagon have not claimed the missile as theirs or been able to provide any explanation.
US-Backed Indonesian Security Force Targets Churches and Civilian Dissidents
From CommonDreams:
Secret documents have leaked from inside Kopassus, Indonesia’s red berets, which say that Indonesia’s US-backed security forces engage in “murder [and] abduction” and show that Kopassus targets churches in West Papua and defines civilian dissidents as the “enemy.”
The documents include a Kopassus enemies list headed by Papua’s top Baptist minister and describe a covert network of surveillance, infiltration and disruption of Papuan institutions
The disclosure comes as US President Barack Obama is touching down in Indonesia. His administration recently announced the restoration of US aid to Kopassus.
Kopassus is the most notorious unit of Indonesia’s armed forces, TNI, which along with POLRI, the national police, have killed civilians by the hundreds of thousands.
The leaked cache of secret Kopassus documents includes operational, intelligence and field reports as well as personnel records which list the names and details of Kopassus “agents.”
The documents are classified “SECRET” (”RAHASIA”) and include extensive background reports on Kopassus…
CIA Agents Escape Charges Of Destroying Torture Videotapes
Michael Mukasey
Agence France Presse reports via AlterNet:
In a statement, the department said that after an “exhaustive investigation” an official heading the probe decided that he “will not pursue criminal charges” for the destruction of the interrogation tapes filmed at secret prisons.
In January 2008, then-US attorney general Michael Mukasey opened the inquiry after the revelation that the CIA three years earlier had destroyed tapes showing harsh interrogations of two Al-Qaeda suspects.
Federal prosecutor John Durham was tapped to lead the FBI probe in possible crimes after the CIA acknowledged that it had destroyed 92 interrogation videos.
The probe was launched to examine whether intelligence officials broke the law by destroying the videos of the interrogations, which were conducted in the the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
At the time the probe was launched, then-CIA director Michael Hayden said the tapes had been destroyed to protect the identities…
The Olbermann Affair: The Man, The Media, The Back Story
Photo: kirstenlovesputi (CC)
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141). Cassius, a nobleman, is speaking …
Alex Gibney’s new film CLIENT # 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer shows how the former Governor’s indictments and criticisms of many Wall Street firm’s led to counter attacks and pushback from powerful people. It shows how he became targeted and exposes the role of the FBI, the Bush appointed US Attorney, rich players on Wall Street, corrupt politicians in Albany, a professional former Nixon boosting political provocateur/hit-man and Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post. They all went after him with a vengeance. He was, in fact, outed by the dirty tricksters.
In the end, though, Spitzer blamed himself for his own arrogance and hubris. He says he brought himself down.
There is no doubt that Keith Olbermann had many pols and powercrats gunning for…
High Society: Can Dope Give Us Hope?
Graham Hancock recently blogged for boingboing on the recent resurgence of the use of psychedelic drugs in medical research. Now there is an exhibit in London at the Wellcome Collection entitled “High Society.” The official description says:
From ancient Egyptian poppy tinctures to Victorian cocaine eye drops, Native American peyote rites to the salons of the French Romantics, mind-altering drugs have a rich history. ‘High Society’ will explore the paths by which these drugs were first discovered – from apothecaries’ workshops to state-of-the-art laboratories – and how they came to be simultaneously fetishised and demonised in today’s culture.
Jake Wallis Simons reviews the exhibit for the Telegraph:
…this Thursday, the Wellcome Trust will open the doors on High Society, an exhibition exploring the history of mind-altering drugs. In keeping with the Wellcome ethos, the exhibition blends a scientific and cultural approach, with curiosities such as a 20 metre opium pipe – an installation by the…
Graham Hancock on Shamanism and Spirituality
Graham Hancock took time out of his North American book tour promoting his novel Entangled to spend a week at Reality Sandwich’s retreat in Boulder, Utah. Courtesy of Andrew Hasse, here he is at the RS 2009 retreat talking about religion, spirituality, shamanism and the supernatural.
How Your Bank Spies On You
There really is no way to avoid Big Brother corporations spying on you anymore, is there, short of living off the grid? Some nefarious new tactics from the bailed out banksters reported by the WallStreet Journal:
Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.
With lenders still skittish about making new loans, credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet. The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home’s value and even rate your banking habits based on details like whether your direct deposits have stopped.
All of this could influence your financial freedom—not to mention the number of junk-mail solicitations you receive.
Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, a credit-score information website, knew he had a good credit score. But when he recently applied for a new credit card, he was rejected: The lender…
The (Not-So) Secret History of the War on Drugs
Charles Shaw, activist, author of Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spirituality and a regular contributor to Alternet, Huffington Post, Grist, and Reality Sandwich leads us on a fascinating, mind-blowing trip through the secret history of American drug policy, where nothing is as it appears.
Artist Invites Internet Fans To Give Him Electric Shocks
A shocking look at the freedom of choice. Is this art or a masochist’s ego-trip? From RT:
A self-exiled Russian artist is inviting online users to give him electric shocks, sparking fresh outrage from religious groups, who claim he is pitting art against God.
Artist Oleg Mavromatti has just been hit by an electric jolt. This happens every time one hundred people on the Internet vote for him to receive a massive electric shock. Anyone can vote. Oleg will do this every night for a week – or until he is hospitalized.
“This is a test of how society interprets freedom. Do they want to use it to save or kill? This says a lot about our society,” Oleg says.
Mavromattisays his electric shock treatment is symbolic of what he calls the oppression of artists.
Specifically, censorship of art by vocal religious minorities.
Ten years ago, he shot a radical film in which he was authentically…
Dutch Scratch n’ Sniff Anti-Cannabis Cards
Not sure what marijuana smells like? The Dutch authorities have delivered scratch and sniff cards to inform people of what the plant smells like, in hopes that a passerby may catch a whiff of an ‘illegal urban cannabis plantation.’ From BBC News:
About 30,000 Dutch households are to receive marijuana-scented scratch cards in an effort to uncover illegal urban cannabis plantations.
Authorities in Rotterdam and The Hague say they are distributing the cards to help people recognize what cannabis smells like.
The cards also include a number to call to report suspected marijuana-growing.
Dutch authorities turn a blind eye to citizens growing up to five marijuana plants for personal use.
“Citizens must be alerted to the dangers they face as a result of these plantations, and if they become aware of any suspect situations they must report them,” said the spokesman for government-appointed working group to combat cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands, Arnie Loos.
More at…
Texas May End Medicaid
With conservative politicians riding high on their broad electoral success, red-dominated regions of the country are already considering sweeping changes: in Texas, lawmakers are debating the possibility of opting out of the federal Medicaid program. Will this mark the start of a trend of right-wing states, fed up with the federal government, seeking to withdraw and “go it alone”? From the Texas Tribune:
Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.
Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in post-victory news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it’s being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.
“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a…
Doctors & Drug Companies – Just Doing Business?
Logo for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
CBS News nails it pretty well in the first sentence of this report:
In other industries you might call it a bribe, but when drug companies provide travel expenses, consulting fees and other goodies to doctors, it’s just called doing business.
At least that’s the conclusion of a new study by the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, which took the moral pulse of 1,900 physicians across the country.
The good news? The number of docs on the dole has fallen from an astounding 94 percent in 2004. The bad news? Three quarters of America’s physicians still take some kind of hand outs from companies who want them to prescribe their medicine to their patients, according the study.
And it seems to work.
Doctors with “industry relationships” were more likely to self-report prescribing big ticket drugs, according to the paper. And regions with higher health care…
