THE HEADLINES

"Vice Admiral Robert Harwood, former Navy Seals commander, now deputy commander of Central Command, Tampa FL.

U.S. SPECIAL FORCES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS, INTO THE LIMELIGHT.

(Counterpunch)

Conn Hallinan notes a sea change in the relationship between “clandestine” military operations and the overall command structure of the U.S. military. Masen with special forces background are increasingly being moving by the Pentagon into overall command positions, and the commander-in-chief seems to be particularly enamored of the clandestine way of “doing” war. As well, popular culture forces chime in by creating special forces heroes, as in a purported Hollywood plan to make a movie of the Navy Seals operation that supposedly took out Osama bin Laden.

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THE DEEP POLITICS OF THE S&P CREDIT DOWNGRADE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT

(Narcosphere)

Bill Conroy discusses circumstantial evidence that people in Congress and the corporate world may have manipulated that S&P action for their own economic gain. The predictable effect of the downgrade was that it resulted in a “spike” in the value of Chinese currency, to the economic benefit of companies selling consumer goods to the growing Chinese market. One of these companies is McGraw Hill, the “parent” corporate owner of S&P. Also suspicious were members of Congress like Mitch McConnell, who helped create the “crisis” of an impending U.S. bankruptcy and who has appointed to the “deficit reduction super-committee” Ohio Senator Bob Portman, who has been a close associate and recipient of campaign contributions from McGraw Hill.

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DREAM ACT FAILED, BUT MUCH THE SAME GOAL IS ACCOMPLISHED BY “PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION.“

( New York Times)

President Obama, discovering that he has some powers (besides war-making ones) not approved by Congress, directs that immigration enforcement focus on aliens who have committed criminal acts, and not those like children who have committed no “crime” except having been born to undocumented immigrants. Specifically, this “discretion,” like the long-stalled “Dream Act,” would exempt from deportation those children pursuing college education or engaging in military service.

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AN URBAN RENAISSANCE: RIGHT HERE IN STINKY TOWN COLORADO?

(Denver Post)

Denver Post publishes a (mostly) glowing account of the fastest growing city in Adams County CO, Commerce City, dubbed as Stinkytown by locals because of the air pollutant factories located there. An aggressive campaign of attracting heavy industry to the city has resulted in a state of fiscal solvency very unusual in these economic times, but a few sorehead skeptics point to the lack of concern of the those developers for the environmental and human amenities of the community.

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BOYNTON BEACH FL RESIDENTS TO PALM BEACH CO COMMISSIONERS: LEGGO OUR GREEN CAY NATURE CENTER!

(Palm Beach Post)

Residents petition the county against a budget-trimming plan to close the popular nature city off a boardwalk which provides visitors with access to viewing area “wet lands.” Commissioners say they may keep the boardwalk and rest rooms open but close the nature center with its displays of local flora and fauna.

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Quote of the day…

There is no honor in volunteering to go anywhere in the world and kill anybody you are told to, without question, without historical background and without verifying the stated reasons for doing so. In this modern age of information we now know that time and time again our military have been deployed into battle, to kill and be killed, for reasons that in no way shape or form resemble the reasons for which they, or we were told at the time. This is no secret, although many Americans refuse to take off the flag that is wrapped around their eyes and see American history as it really happened. They blindly believe what was told to them by the people who have a vested interest in maintaining myths and misconceptions.

Jesse Richard, in opinion piece debunking the myth of U.S. military operations as protecting the “freedom” of Americans

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