Tara's Blog (430)

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

By JOHN M. BRODER

Published: August 8, 2009

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts,… Continue

Added by Tara on August 9, 2009 at 11:25am — No Comments

NAFTA leaders urged to rein in "buy local" impulses

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North American business groups urged leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada on Friday to rein in "buy local" provisions they called a threat to free trade and economic growth.

"In this global economic downturn, it is imperative that the three countries work together more intensively than ever to make the most of their strengths and set the stage for robust and sustained economic recovery," the North American Competitiveness Council… Continue

Added by Tara on August 7, 2009 at 10:31am — 1 Comment

We’re discovering the worst of Bush in Barack Obama

By Naomi Wolf

Hearings are under way in the United States Senate to assess what to do with the 240 detainees still behind bars at Guantanamo Bay, and what will become of the military tribunals and detention without trial that the Bush administration and a compliant Congress put into place. The US Congress is also debating what will happen to the detention camp itself, which was established in 2002 to house men who were allegedly “the worst of the worst,” in a setting deliberately… Continue

Added by Tara on August 6, 2009 at 10:22am — No Comments

Israeli troops 'ill-treat kids'

A former Israeli military commander has told the BBC that Palestinian youngsters are routinely ill-treated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, reports the BBC' s Katya Adler from Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he's really shaking... Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation.

"He doesn't understand a word of what's going on around him. He doesn't know what you're going to do with him. He… Continue

Added by Tara on August 6, 2009 at 10:09am — 2 Comments

Two Russian subs seen patrolling off US coast

Two Russian nuclear attack submarines have been patrolling off the eastern coast of the United States in a rare move that has alarmed the Pentagon.

One of the two submarines has remained in international waters just 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the coast of New York City, while the second sub left and moved south to make a port call in Cuba, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The US government and the military have so far refused to comment on the… Continue

Added by Tara on August 5, 2009 at 9:42am — No Comments

Take the colonialism out of Zionism

By Rami G. Khouri

Daily Star staff

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

A juxtaposition of several simultaneous events this week indicates just how difficult it is going to be to achieve any meaningful progress in Arab-Israeli peace talks, when the heart of the conflict is land that Israelis and Palestinians both claim as their ancestral patrimony. The four events are the American drive to secure confidence-building measures from the Arabs in return for Israel’s freezing of its… Continue

Added by Tara on August 5, 2009 at 9:22am — 2 Comments

Barack Obama Joker socialism poster denounced as racist

A poster depicting President Barack Obama as Heath Ledger's "Joker" character from "The Dark Knight" has sparked controversy after it appeared on the streets of Los Angeles.

By Toby Harnden in Washington

Published: 6:37PM BST 04 Aug 2009

The poster shows the US president with white face paint, dark eye shadow and smudged red lipstick above the caption "socialism", in an apparent attack on the US president's efforts to reform health care and stimulus… Continue

Added by Tara on August 4, 2009 at 6:24pm — 4 Comments

Plague death toll rises in China

A third man has died of pneumonic plague in north-western China where a town of more than 10,000 people has been sealed off, officials say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8183335.stm

The 64-year-old man was a neighbour of the first two people to die from the plague in Ziketan in Qinghai Province.

Police have set up checkpoints around Ziketan, as medics are… Continue

Added by Tara on August 4, 2009 at 11:15am — 2 Comments

Apple-Google learn corporate governance 1.0

Posted by: Eric Auchard

The resignation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt from Apple’s board should come as no surprise to anyone with an inkling of what corporate governance means.

But then Silicon Valley’s idea of corporate boards has long consisted of cozy, interlocking directorships which would be considered collusion in most other industries.

Google’s CEO is not leaving Apple’s board voluntarily. He is only stepping down in response to the increased government… Continue

Added by Tara on August 3, 2009 at 6:41pm — 2 Comments

Downturn sours dairying, Wisconsin farmers in crisis as prices, exports crash

By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin's dairy industry, still thousands of farms strong, is awash in trouble.

The average dairy farm in the state is losing about $100 per cow each month, according to the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.

With more than 1.25 million cows in the state, it means the industry is losing about $4 million a day.

That's largely because farmers, who received about $20 for every hundred pounds of milk they produced… Continue

Added by Tara on August 3, 2009 at 11:23am — No Comments

Pentagon eyes accelerated "bunker buster" bomb

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is seeking to speed deployment of an ultra-large "bunker-buster" bomb on the most advanced U.S. bomber as soon as July 2010, the Air Force said on Sunday, amid concerns over perceived nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.

The non-nuclear, 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, which is still being tested, is designed to destroy deeply buried bunkers beyond the reach of existing bombs.

If Congress agrees… Continue

Added by Tara on August 2, 2009 at 6:58pm — No Comments

Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire

The Obama administration's plan to end production of the F-22 Raptor has received plenty of press coverage, but the Pentagon budget itself, even though it's again on the rise, hardly rates a bit of notice. In fact, amid the plethora of issues large and small -- from health care reform to Gates-gate, from energy policy to the culpability of Michael Jackson's doctor -- that make up the American debate in the media, in Washington, and possibly even in the country, what Chalmers Johnson has called… Continue

Added by Tara on August 2, 2009 at 1:55am — No Comments

U.S. orders suicide warnings on two anti-smoking drugs

By Susan Heavey, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials on Wednesday ordered Pfizer Inc and GlaxoSmithKline PLC to add strong "black box" warnings on their anti-smoking drugs to highlight the risk of serious mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts.

The warnings, which must be added to Pfizer's Chantix and Glaxo's Zyban, follow more than five thousand reports of depression, hostility and other behavioral changes, the Food and Drug… Continue

Added by Tara on August 1, 2009 at 11:59am — No Comments

US stay in Iraq stinks 'like fish', says memo

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:51:46 GMT

A top US military adviser says Iraqi forces are now able to protect the government, admitting that US troops are no longer welcome in Iraq.

In an unusually blunt memo, Col. Timothy R. Reese details the deficiency roots of the Iraqi army, but admits that any the US military presence beyond August 2010 will do little to improve their performance while deepening resentment of Americans.

"As the old saying goes, 'Guests, like fish,… Continue

Added by Tara on August 1, 2009 at 12:18am — No Comments

Study: Leftover bombs killed 10,500 in Vietnam

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:41:05 GMT

Bombs and land mines left over from the Vietnam War have so far killed more than 10,500 people in the south Asian country, a study has found.

The report, released on Friday by Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) and Vietnam's Ministry of Defense, said that 10,529 people have been killed and 12,231 others injured by leftover bombs, shells and mines since the war ended in 1975.

Most of the casualties were men collecting… Continue

Added by Tara on July 31, 2009 at 1:04pm — No Comments

EXCLUSIVE: John Walker Lindh’s Parents Discuss Their Son’s Story, from Joining the US-Backed Taliban Army to Surviving a Northern Alliance Massacre, to His Abuse at the Hands of US Forces

In their first extended interview, the parents of John Walker Lindh, Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh, join us for the hour to tell their son’s story. He was born in Washington, DC in 1981. At the age of sixteen, he converted to Islam. In 1999, Lindh left the United States for Yemen to study Arabic and the Koran. He later traveled to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan, before 9/11, where he received military training from the US-backed, Taliban-run Afghan Army to fight against the Northern Alliance… Continue

Added by Tara on July 31, 2009 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Family appealing loss of cabin, land

Judge rules DNR owns lakefront site

By Nicholas Penzenstadler of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 29, 2009

For 44 years, Gerald Wied and his family have enjoyed fishing, snowmobiling and hunting at their log cabin in northeastern Wisconsin. They paid taxes on the land, considered it their own.

But this week, Marinette County Circuit Judge David G. Miron ruled the 4-acre parcel on Lake Noquebay belongs to the Department of Natural… Continue

Added by Tara on July 30, 2009 at 10:42am — No Comments

The local Muslim community in North Carolina is responding to the arrests of seven in that state on terrorism charges

Daniel Patrick Boyd.

Sabrina Boyd, whose husband and two sons are among the seven who have been arrested says in a statement read at this press conference:

The charges have not been substantiated. We are an ordinary family. We have a right to justice, and believe that justice will prevail. We are decent people who care about other human beings. Just because something is said in the media does not make it so. I have raised my sons to be good people, and we are a good… Continue

Added by Tara on July 29, 2009 at 5:24pm — 4 Comments

Iran arrests Western media acolytes

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:33:17 GMT

An underground network providing foreign media outlets with photos and footage of the post-election unrest has been identified and arrested in Iran.

Security forces said Wednesday that the network was comprised of pro-reform extremists who had contributed to the western media campaign against the newly-elected Ahmadinejad government.

At least two members of the group have confessed to providing media sources in the West with visual… Continue

Added by Tara on July 29, 2009 at 2:57pm — No Comments

The White House beer day for Crowley and Gates, who are related

With the recent steady drip-drip of discourse from the White House on police and racial profiling, we hope the Obama clan also keeps some Guinness on tap.

Turns out that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. may actually be related through Irish ancestry to the police officer who arrested him in his own house earlier this month, according to ABC News. No, really!

President Obama, who initially said the Cambridge, Mass., police department "acted stupidly," then on second… Continue

Added by Tara on July 29, 2009 at 10:18am — 1 Comment