(Joe Bageant, DECEMBER 08, 2009)
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[NOTE by Lorenzo: I strongly urge you to click the above link and read this entire essay. The following is a quote from the end of the article.]

George W. Bush left office wearing the same smirk he came in with. Perhaps it’s congenital. But if Bush was smirking when he left office, he must now be convulsed in crazed hysterical laughter. His gang not only got away clean, but Obama carries on the dark Bush-Cheney legacy. And, almost as if to top the whole black escapade with a cherry of irony, the most inarticulate president in American history is now on the motivational speaking circuit at $200,000 a pop. Never let it be said that the Devil does not care for his own. . . . Will Americans ever rise up in defense of their own common well being through such things as education, health and a productive peace caring society? Nope. Because it has been seen to that socialism — the administration of the nation solely for the common good and benefit of all the people without preference or privilege — doesn’t stand a chance in America. . . .

» Continue reading “Barack promised change — and sure enough, things changed for the worse”

(Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation, August 31, 2010)
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Obama treated the war in Iraq as if it were a minor, tactical disagreement, rather than a fundamental, black and white difference between two irreconcilable views. “I am mindful that the Iraq war has been a contentious issue at home,” he said. “It is time to turn the page.” . . . Needless to say, the unprovoked invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003 was a clear-cut, criminal war of aggression, making it far more than a merely “contentious” issue. » Continue reading “Unstable Iraq May Draw Obama Back to War”

(Fred Weir, CS Monitor, August 31, 2010 )
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Defying a warning from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that anybody trying to stage unsanctioned political rally would be “beaten on the head” by police, hundreds of mainly youthful protesters showed up Tuesday night at Moscow’s fenced-off and police-barricaded Triumph Square to demand that Russian authorities honor their constitutional right of free assembly. . . . “If you get [permission], then go out and demonstrate,” Mr. Putin said in a newspaper interview Monday. “If not, you do not have the right. If you go out without having the right – you are going to get beaten with a club. It’s as simple as that.” . . . » Continue reading “Does Putin = Stalin? … No freedom in Russia”

(Paul Armentano, AlterNet, August 29, 2010)
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1. Long-term marijuana use is associated with lower risks of certain cancers, including head and neck cancer.

2. Most Americans acknowledge that pot is safer than booze.

3. The enforcement of marijuana laws is racially discriminatory.

4. Marijuana may be helpful, not harmful, to people with schizophrenia.

5. Workplace drug testing programs don’t identify impaired employees or reduce on-the-job accidents.

Don’t confuse “gifting” with “barter”. They are vastly different.

And here is a good overview video from last year’s burn:
» Continue reading “Gifting, why Burning Man is different”

Slides from this video may be found at:
apache67.blogspot.com

(ACLU Report, July 2010)
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President Obama will be in office at least through 2012, and perhaps through 2016. But the policies the Obama administration pursues on the issues discussed in this report will have implications that will extend far beyond this presidency. That is why it is so critical that the administration right its course and keep faith with our nation’s highest ideals and aspirations. . . . There can be no doubt that the Obama administration inherited a legal and moral morass, and that in important respects it has endeavored to restore the nation’s historic commitment to the rule of law. But if the Obama administration does not effect a fundamental break with the Bush administration’s policies on detention, accountability, and other issues, but instead creates a lasting legal architecture in support of those policies, then it will have ratified, rather than rejected, the dangerous notion that America is in a permanent state of emergency and that core liberties must be surrendered forever.

(: David Sherfinski, Washington, March 10, 2010)
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Loudoun ranks as the richest county in the United States, immediately followed by Fairfax and Howard counties, while Montgomery, traditionally one of the wealthiest, is now 10th. . . . Forbes magazine ranked eight other Washington-area counties in its list of the nation’s 25 wealthiest counties, far more than any other area in the country. The rankings are based on 2008 median household income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. . . . “We’re so much better off here than other places,” he said. “It’s not like we’re talking about draconian cuts or anything.” . . . Northern Virginia and Fairfax also house government agencies and employers that have been less affected by the economic downturn than biotech-heavy Montgomery, Robertson said. . . . While other traditionally wealthy regions such as New York and San Francisco have suffered heavily in the recession, the Washington area benefits from the presence of the federal government and its contractors.