THE HEADLINES

Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad

AMERICANS ARE A SIGNIFICANTLY “THREATENED” PEOPLE.

A new Gallup survey of “1015 adult Americans” shows that 99% perceive Iran’s nuclear development a threat to U.S. “interests.” 83% of them (97% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats) view this threat as “critical” while another 16% see it as “important.” Nor is this fear confined to Iran, as 97% also perceive threat from North Korea and 98% from “international terrorism.” In reporting these finding, Gallup does not omit to say that it shows that Americans are nervous about a nominee for Defense Secretary (Chuck Hagel) who is perceived as unfriendly to Israel and overly-friendly to Iran; and that they want the Obama administration to pursue an aggressive foreign policy in harmony with the “vital interests” of its Israeli ally.

(CBS Washington)

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“COLLATERAL DAMAGE”: WHAT’S IN A NAME?”

To Sarajevo-based Dusan Bubic, embedded in that phrase is a profound consequence of linguistic “Americanisms” that have served as cover for egregious sins of American action abroad. The defense of drone “warfare” when numbers of innocent civilians are killed or wounded gives the “collateral damage”  rhetoric the same force, if not more so, than, the “Final Solution” covering of the Holocaust. If drone attacks against target “terrorists” were not culpable enough, secondary or “double tap” strikes which take out people attending funerals of these “terrorists” clearly raises the level of that action to that of war crimes.

(Eurasia Review)

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RELIGION OF THE AUSTERIANS.

Toronto Star columnist Alex Himelfarb cuts loose on the proponents of “austerity” as the be-all solutions to the problems of a flagging economy. He says that austerity is based not on science and evidence but on ideology and the determination to maintain a belief even in the face of evidence to the contrary. If “less government” and “welfare for the wealthy” do NOT produce the intended result of more jobs and income for the masses, these results are simply denied and ignored in the religion of free market zealots who maintain the belief in spite of the facts.

(Toronto Star)

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THE OSCARS ARE “OVER” CLIMATE CHANGE.

In contrast to the media and awards season frenzy over Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” several years ago, 2012′s contribution to climate change documentaries was passed over for an Oscar nomination despite rave reviews and is virtually unknown outside the scientific and environmental communities. “Chasing Ice” captures the intensifying process of Arctic ice melt through the journey of a National Geographic photographer.

(Grist)

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Quote of the day…

Had Dorner’s narrative not culminated in such tragedy, it might be a thing of allegorical beauty. The LAPD created a monster who, fueled by rage and unbridled by reason, set out on a rampage to avenge the sin of his twisted creation. Had the LAPD sincerely investigated the claims of a whistleblower, nine fewer people would be dead or injured. What goes around comes around. We’re all in this together.

Ben Rosenfeld, San Francisco civil right attorney, on the “burning” of police whistleblower Christopher Dorner by Los Angeles police agents.

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