THE HEADLINES

U.S.S. John C. Stennis, aircraft carrier which might be headed to Persian Gulf. (Image from Wikipedia)

IRANIAN COMPLAINTS OF U.S. PLANS TO SEND MORE SHIPS TO PERSIAN GULF ARE DISMISSED BY PENTAGON AS PROOF THAT SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN ARE EFFECTIVE.

(USA Today)

Pentagon as well as White House spokesmen make this statement, on the apparent premise that an imperialist move in international affairs is justified if it is having a desired imperialist effect. Iran threatens unspecified reprisals, but Pentagon shrugs off the affair as simply providing a “continuity of operations” in the Gulf that the U.S. has carried on for decades.

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CANADIAN GOVERNMENT MAKES IT EASIER FOR FOSTER PARENTS TO ADOPT THE CHILDREN THEY ARE FOSTERING.

(Toronto Star)

Human Resources Minister re-instates a recently-challenged practice of allowing foster parents with children awaiting adoptions that they are eligible to make to receive the same “parental leave” benefits that are available to parents with their natural children.

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SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE OF U.S. CONSTITUTION ENSHRINES INDEFINITE DETENTION INTO THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM.

(Counterpunch)

President Obama, as most Americans were preparing New Year’s eve celebrations and watching college football bowl games, ends an extended legislative and executive action process which allows “terrorism” suspects to be held without the due process provisions of the Constitution. The “massacre” comes as the President signs a military authorization bill to which the provision is attached as an amendment. Being that the measure is highly controversial with constitutional scholars, the Saturday night New Year’s Eve choice of a signing may have been a deliberate effort to effect a fundamental change in the freedoms of Americans at a time of minimal news coverage and many distractions.

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WISCONSIN TEACHERS AGREE TO PAY FREEZES AND NEW PAYMENTS INTO THEIR PENSION FUNDS. DO THEY RATE A $500 BONUS WHEN AUSTERITY YIELDS A BUDGET SURPLUS?

(Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

When one northern WI school district attempts to do this, a local tax-payers group complains that the school district should have returned all the austerity-generated surplus to the general revenue coffers. When the Grinch steals Christmas, he steals it all.

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WAWA IS COMING TO CENTRAL FLORIDA.

(Orlando Sentinel)

No, that isn’t baby talk for water, it is the name for a Pennsylvania-based chain of convenience stores set to open outlets in 100 locations from Orlando to Tampa. The store is noted for its upscale food offerings, which involve the sale of store-cooked foods and, say its owners, makes the stores resemble more a take-out restaurant more than a conventional 7-11 type store.

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Quote of the day…

The Smart Grid is the opposite of the movement toward sustainable communities and transition towns. Control of the grid should be local. When power outaqes occur, and they will, the smaller the area of the black-out the better. The larger the area, the more difficult it is for any emergency response.

Rosemarie Jackowski, on plans at Sandia Labs to place control of all U.S. electrical power grid under the authority of a single corporation.

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