TOO BIG TO PUNISH: U.S. SHIP DAMAGES WORLD HERITAGE CORAL REEF IN THE PHILIPPINES AND BARELY SAYS “EXCUSE ME.” The commander and 3 other sailors are “relieved of their duties” after they ignored warnings and slammed their minesweeper ship into the Tubataha Reef. The $1.5 million fine against U.S. government is castigated as a loose-change “slap [...]
EGYPT’S “MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD” LEADERSHIP HAS PRACTICED PRECIOUS LITTLE “BROTHERHOOD” TOWARD ITS MUSLIM BRETHREN IN GAZA. The post-Mubarak regime in Egypt was elected to the immense delight of Palestinians in Gaza as elsewhere, with the expectation that the new government would cease the collaboration of Egypt in maintaining the seige of Gaza by maintaining border [...]
MILITARY UBER ALLES: LIBERTARIAN WRITER DECRIES THE MILITARIZATION OF AMERICAN LIFE. Jason Raimondo examines two chunks in the edifice of the structure of military dominance of the culture. (1) the recent decision to allow women into combat roles, which he sees as a triumph of equality over liberty, an “opportunity” for women to share in the [...]
ARE ELDERLY AMERICANS THE “PICTURE OF AFFLUENCE?” Thatfflu is the picture drawn in a new Pew Research study of the “net worth” of American households. The average net worth of seniors of $170,500 seems “affluent” only by contrast with the almost non-existent amount of $ 3,700 for those under 35. With many older people now [...]
WEST MUST “DEFEND THE PEOPLE OF KYRZAKSTAN BEFORE THE COUNTRY BECOMES ANOTHER SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORISTS.” This oil rich country has resources sought by Russia, China and the U.S. but, apart from the remoteness of the country in central Asia, where world diplomats even have trouble locating it on the map, there is nothing [...]
SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HEARING THROWS A WHIFF OF TRANSPARENCY INTO TARGETED DRONE ASSASSINATIONS BY U.S. AGENCIES. Hearings for John Brennan, current counter-intelligence chief and Obama’s nominee for director of C.I.A., show signs of restlessness of some Senators like the chair of the committee, Dianne Feinstein. Expressing frustration at the difficulty of the committee in [...]
ISRAEL: GET YOUR GAS MASK, YITZAK! SYRIA MAY BE ABOUT TO “TRANSFER” ITS CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO THE HEZBOLLAH MILITIA IN LEBANON. Israeli warplanes, for the first time in six years, launch an airstrike keep inside Syria, allegedly targeting a convoy headed toward Lebanon with such weapons. Although analysts doubt that either Syria or its [...]
WHERE ARE SEATTLE KIDS GOING TO FIND A 38-FOOT HIGH DIVING PLATFORM WHEN THE “RAMPS TO NOWHERE” ARE TORN DOWN? Ramps connected to the Route 520 highway have been abandoned for 40 or more years when plans to make various connections to the road were dropped after citizen protests. One of these will [...]
THE AFRICAN UNION HAS BECOME AN “ANNEX” OF THE PENTAGON. As Glen Ford noted last June, the expansion of U.S. forces in Africa (AFRICOM) is operating as an “infiltration” exercise of American forces being placed as “guests” of various African nations comprising the African Union. These “guests” are in a peculiar positions for guests: [...]
SIDING WITH THE CHARTER SCHOOL SUGAR DADDIES. This is Bruce Dixon’s description of President Obama’s educational policy. The No Child Left Behind program of school privatization and operation on a corporate accountability measures based on standardized tests results has continued with a vengeance with the Race to the Top policy of the current administration. [...]
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