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Obama Subtly Shifts War Aims in Libya – NYTimes.com

26 May

Obama’s legacy: A third war we have no business fighting. Perhaps he’s merely trapped in the iron logic a half-century old military-industrial complex.

But Mr. Obama suggested on Tuesday that the objective had broadened. “The goal is to make sure that the Libyan people can make a determination about how they want to proceed, and that they’ll be finally free of 40 years of tyranny and they can start creating the institutions required for self-determination.” That is quite parallel to the objective the United States set in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

via Obama Subtly Shifts War Aims in Libya – NYTimes.com.

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Never mind Medicare. What about the economy? – 2012 Elections – Salon.com

25 May

We’re not talking double-dip recession yet, but the warning signs are too numerous to ignore. It’s difficult to see how the modest gains in the labor market we’ve seen over the last six months can continue if jobless claims remain elevated and GDP growth continues to slacken.

But ignoring the problem is exactly what both the White House and Congress appear to be doing. There are absolutely no plans afoot to address unemployment or slowing economic growth. The notion that sharp cuts in spending will spur growth is absurd — Europe’s austerity binge offers the most obvious counter-example.

via Never mind Medicare. What about the economy? – 2012 Elections – Salon.com.

Yale Environment 360: U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools Pose Catastrophic Risks, Report Claims

25 May

Of the 65,000 metric tons of highly radioactive spent fuel generated by U.S. reactors, about 75 percent is kept in cooling pools. According to Robert Alvarez, a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy in the Clinton administration and co-author of the report, those pools were not designed for the amount of fuel — or the level of radiation — they are holding and are vulnerable to the type of events that crippled the Fukushima plant in Japan in April.

That is to say, the US nuclear establishment – industrialists, businessmen, politicians, and bureaucrats – poses a catastrophic risk to the nation.

via Yale Environment 360: U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools Pose Catastrophic Risks, Report Claims.

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Koch Bros – It’s the evil thing.

24 May

Lawmakers Ask Hillary Clinton to Explain Erik Prince’s Mercenaries in the UAE | The Nation

23 May

Good call. We shouldn’t be using tax-payer money to fund private armies to be placed in the service of foreign states. This is simply outrageous.

Five members of Congress have called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to clarify if Blackwater founder Erik Prince’s recently disclosed deal to provide a small mercenary army to the United Arab Emirates complies with US law and export regulations.

via Lawmakers Ask Hillary Clinton to Explain Erik Prince’s Mercenaries in the UAE | The Nation.

Patriot Act Extension Scheme Sells Out the Constitution | The Nation

23 May

It’s politics as usual in this, the century of the Perpetual War on Terrorism. Both the Democratic and the Republican leadership want to renew provisions of the Patriot Act that gives the government broad powers to snoop on private citizens.

If the Congress approves the deal being pushed by the congressional leaders, Richardson said, work by civil libertarians, constitutional scholars and citizens across the United States to address the worst abuses associated with the Patriot Act—and, ultimately, to guard against those abuses—will end with “no reform and no long-lasting institutional oversight.”

via Patriot Act Extension Scheme Sells Out the Constitution | The Nation.

The Pentagon’s attempt to greenwash the military – Pentagon – Salon.com

23 May

The Pentagon is America’s single largest consumer of energy. As such

…the fastest, most immediate and most efficient way for the Pentagon to mitigate the environmental crises that come from energy consumption is to simply move America away from its energy-draining policy of permanent war.

via The Pentagon’s attempt to greenwash the military – Pentagon – Salon.com.

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Jack Davis Makes Tea Party Bid in N.Y. Congressional Race – NYTimes.com

18 May

& maybe he’s a fit for the TNT Party. Not perfect, but then who is?

It is difficult to attach a political label to Mr. Davis, whose views combine economic populism (he abhors free trade) with libertarianism (he supports both gun rights and abortion rights).

Mr. Davis started off as a Republican in the mold of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. But he left the party in 2004, largely because he felt it did not share his concerns over multinational corporations benefiting from trade policies that hurt American workers.

And he can draw Republicans:

Mary Ann Reisdorf, 70, of Varysburg, attended the Davis rally and left with a more favorable opinion of him than of Ms. Corwin, the Republican.

“Jack is a lot more forthright, I think, and I like that,” Ms. Reisdorf said.

Clayton Ehrenreich, 53, a Republican and the former mayor of the village of Medina, had a similar view.

“Davis is somebody different than the status quo in Washington,” Mr. Ehrenreich said. “He’s not controlled by either party.”

via Jack Davis Makes Tea Party Bid in N.Y. Congressional Race – NYTimes.com.

Reactor Vents That Failed in Japan Are Used in U.S. – NYTimes.com

17 May

Why am I NOT surprised?

TOKYO — Emergency vents that American officials have said would prevent devastating hydrogen explosions at nuclear plants in the United States were put to the test in Japan — and failed to work, according to experts and officials with the company that operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant.

via Reactor Vents That Failed in Japan Are Used in U.S. – NYTimes.com.

From the Whitehouse it’s Drill, baby, drill!

14 May

I thought the Democrats won the 2008 Presidential Election. But they’re taking policies from Republicans. Guantanamo’s still in business, Wall Street fat cats are looking fat and sassy, war’s been ramped up in Afghanistan and we’re messing around in Libya. And now Obama wants to expedite oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters. Since when did the commons become the private profit preserves of the corporations?

The New York Times reports that Obama is responding to critics who say “he has shackled domestic energy development at a time when consumers are paying near-record prices at the gas pump.” And yet “the policies announced Saturday would not have an immediate effect on supply or prices, nor would they quickly open any new areas to drilling.”

Hmmm?

Meanwhile “the president noted in his address that the Justice Department had formed a task force to look into potential market manipulation or excessive speculation in oil, and he repeated his call for a repeal of the $4 billion a year in tax incentives the oil industry receives.” Well, a task force is nice. All they do is make reports. What will the report say, and will anything actually be done? And what’s the loss of $4B in tax subsidies to an industry that pulls in profits of $4B a week?

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