Meet the Mainstream Press By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com Nothing is more emblematic of the mainstream media (MSM) than NBC’s “Meet the Press.” I wonder if it should be renamed “Meet the Corporate Mainstream Press” because that is exactly what it was on Sunday. Before the first vote was cast, Sunday’s panel anointed Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate to face Barack Obama this fall. The MSM doesn’t tell reporters or guests what to say; they just pick the people who will say what they want. You could not have gotten a more Romney biased panel on “Meet the Press” if you would have gone to Mitt’s campaign headquarters. I think the Democrats and President Obama would like nothing more than to run against the man who thinks “corporations are people too.” Paul, on the other hand, would be unpredictable and difficult to corner. If you would have said Ron Paul would be a close third in Iowa a year ago, I am sure you would have been laughed out of the room.
SACSIS.org.za » News » The World » Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not Picture credit: may15internationalorganization.blogspot An Italian radio program's story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember that at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland literally went bankrupt. As one European country after another fails or risks failing, imperiling the Euro, with repercussions for the entire world, the last thing the powers that be want is for Iceland to become an example. Five years of a pure neo-liberal regime had made Iceland, (population 320 thousand, no army), one of the richest countries in the world. Contrary to what could be expected, the crisis resulted in Icelanders recovering their sovereign rights, through a process of direct participatory democracy that eventually led to a new Constitution. Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. What happened next was extraordinary. They should look to Iceland.
Iran crushed US intelligence hegemony Iran crushed US intelligence hegemony Spokesman for the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Kazem Jalali A senior Iranian lawmaker has praised the country's intelligence achievement in apprehending a CIA agent as a major blow to US intelligence domination in the world. “The intelligence supremacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in controlling and steering the US spy drone and the detention of a CIA agent have seriously damaged US intelligence hegemony,” Kazem Jalali said on Tuesday. He added that the US can no longer portray its political and intelligence apparatus as being all powerful. The spokesman for the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee pointed to the attempts made by Western media outlets to downplay Iran's intelligence achievements as a natural effort to reduce the mounting psychological pressure on the US and its allies.
Fukushima Forever | Charles Perrow Recent disclosures of tons of radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima reactors spilling into the ocean are just the latest evidence of the continuing incompetence of the Japanese utility, TEPCO. The announcement that the Japanese government will step in is also not reassuring since it was the Japanese government that failed to regulate the utility for decades. But, bad as it is, the current contamination of the ocean should be the least of our worries. The radioactive poisons are expected to form a plume that will be carried by currents to coast of North America. Much more serious is the danger that the spent fuel rod pool at the top of the nuclear plant number four will collapse in a storm or an earthquake, or in a failed attempt to carefully remove each of the 1,535 rods and safely transport them to the common storage pool 50 meters away. Fukushima is just the latest episode in a dangerous dance with radiation that has been going on for 68 years. Initially the U.S.
La « Prison » atomique vue par Paolo Scampa -- Santé et Bien-être Le professeur Paolo Scampa, président de l'Association Internationale pour la Protection contre la Rayons Ionisants (AIPRI), vient de publier un ouvrage sur les conséquences environnementales dramatiques des « essais atomiques » aériens intitulé "La chambre à gaz atomique". C'est un traité de physique sur la contribution des essais nucléaires à la contamination finale de l'atmosphère. Extrait : Au commencement était le chaos... puis les physiciens et les mathématiciens vinrent tout mettre en ordre... munis de modèles parfaits et d'axiomes idéaux pour décrire la composition de la matière et écrire la table définitive des lois de la nature... stigmatisant au passage comme « pseudo-science » tout doute méthodique, toute explication alternative ou toute théorie concurrente qui ose venir heurter leurs convictions, leurs préjugés. Nous pourrions débattre des semaines durant sur cet état de fait... si actuel et si pressant. Conclusion : Cette science n'est pas au service de l'humanité.
Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race Jan 4, 2012 10:58am Chris Carlson/AP Photo Rep. “Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,” Bachmann said at a news conference, flanked by her parents, husband and five children. Bachmann said she will continue to fight the policies of President Obama, particularly his health care legislation, calling the 2012 election “the last chance to turn our country around, before we go down the road of socialism.” She said she was motivated to stop Obama and not by a thirst for power. Bachmann had staked her candidacy on Iowa, the state in which she was born and raised. Bachmann placed last out of the six candidates competing here in Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, receiving only 5 percent of the vote and losing in Waterloo, the town where she was born. Iowa became the backdrop of her presidential bid when in June she announced her candidacy in her hometown of Waterloo. She claimed that Texas Gov.
Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Fed’s Secret Loans Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits. By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Fed Chairman Ben S. “These are all whopping numbers,” said Robert Litan, a former Justice Department official who in the 1990s served on a commission probing the causes of the savings and loan crisis. (View the Bloomberg interactive graphic to chart the Fed’s financial bailout.) Foreign Borrowers It wasn’t just American finance. Peak Balance The balance was more than 25 times the Fed’s pre-crisis lending peak of $46 billion on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Odds of Recession Liquidity Requirements ‘Stark Illustration’ 21,000 Transactions
Senator Kruger pleads guilty to taking $1m in bribes Senator Kruger pleads guilty to taking $1m in bribes Former New York State Senator Carl Kruger arrives at Manhattan Federal Court to plead guilty to corruption charges. State Senator Carl Kruger who for months had insisted on his innocence, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal corruption charges, admitting that he conspired to accept at least $1 million in bribes, which prosecutors have said supported a lavish lifestyle. Kruger, an influential Democrat and 16-year legislator, stood before Judge Jed S. Rakoff in United States District Court in and pleaded guilty to four of the five counts in the indictment against him. The charges included two counts of fraud conspiracy, for which he could face up to 20 years in prison each, and two counts of bribery conspiracy, which carry a maximum term of five years each. Before his plea, Kruger submitted a letter of resignation to the Senate, saying, "I hereby resign my office as state senator for the 27th District, , effective immediately."
PN La cartographie de Greenpeace sur le réseau du nucléaire crée la polémique C'est presque devenu un axiome. Tout article, propos ou point de vue sur l'énergie nucléaire déclenche irrémédiablement une volée de réactions tant passionnées qu'inconciliables et définitives. La France, avec ses 58 réacteurs nucléaires, son EPR en construction et sa casquette de VRP de l'atome à l'étranger, a ça de particulier que parler du nucléaire est sensible et polémique. Mis en ligne vendredi, Facenuke se veut comme un outil interactif permettant de visualiser l'ampleur du "lobby nucléaire", et de naviguer à travers les connexions entre les hommes et les femmes qui œuvrent à la promotion de l'atome, au sein de l'industrie, des associations et des centres de recherche ou de formation. J'ai repris cette infographie ici, afin de rendre visibles les principales forces et connexions dans le monde de l'atome. "On se demande comment les personnalités distinguées par Greenpeace ont été choisies. Audrey Garric
Squeaker of a victory in hand, Romney looks to NH DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A squeaker of an Iowa victory in hand, Mitt Romney headed Wednesday into the New Hampshire primary — in his own political backyard — insisting that staying power sets him apart from runners-up Rick Santorum and Ron Paul and the rest of the GOP presidential field. He shrugged off the promise of sharper criticism from his rivals. "I've got a big target on me now," Romney said, adding that doesn't faze him. "I've got broad shoulders. I'm willing to handle it." The former Massachusetts governor was declared the winner of the leadoff presidential caucuses in the wee hours Wednesday by just eight votes, bringing down the curtain on an improbable first act in the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in the fall. Appearing hours after the caucuses had ended, Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn said Romney had 30,015 votes, to 30,007 for Santorum, whose late surge carried him to a near win. View gallery Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen.