Bethlehem Important to Palin? Nope!

Hard at work on the say/do anything tour - will have new Powerpoint show when she returns - purchased virtual tour of Bethlehem? Expects tour will boost her speaking price in US?



Anyone got a "get your tongue out of cheek" ap?

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Sarah Palin pulls out of Bethlehem visit

The former governor of Alaska pulled up to the checkpoint

They then turned around and drove away.

Palin wore a Star of David, the symbol of Judaism, around her neck, prayed close to the wall and lodged a written prayer in a crevice, according to tradition. Palin told reporters: " It's overwhelming to be able to see and touch the cornerstone of our faith. I'm so thankful to be able to be here and I'm thankful to know the Israel-American connection will grow and strengthen as the peace negotiations continue." Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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The Midwest takes a dump in the Gulf!

All the pesticides, fertilizer, oil and industrial gunk that sits in the river during winter - gets "flushed" by Spring melt. As a consequence of treating the Gulf of Mexico as out "out house" there is a 70-150 mile dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi Delta.



Visible proof of how foul and irresponsible we are to ourselves and the planet!

Amplify’d from blog.skytruth.org

Mystery Oil Slick off Grand Isle, LA

This sediment plume looks pretty ugly up close: it's brown, nasty, and carries a lot of stuff in it that is very bad for the Gulf: pesticide and fertilizer runoff, sewage overflows, and oily runoff from all our paved roads and parking lots that's been building up over the winter. This is what causes one of the Gulf's worst, chronic environmental problems: the giant "dead zone" that forms every year. Read more at blog.skytruth.org

 

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Sarkozy's Place in Sun - #1, Not Libya?

Thanks to France for pitching in to help save Libyan's effort to found a new government. Did France's President suddenly discover how wonderful was the cause of Libyan freedom after his deporting Roma and disrespecting Muslims and immigrants in general did not raise his standings in polls?



Don't know - what do you think? I am still wondering why the slaughter of women in Ivory Coast does not cause a Security Council meeting and why on Darfur continued killings and politically motivated rapes in Congo - we hear........?

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Libya crisis may save Nicolas Sarkozy from electoral humiliation

The French president certainly needs something to prevent him coming third in next year's election

It would surely be poor taste to accuse Nicolas Sarkozy of leading France into combat for purely selfish political reasons – but that won't stop some in the president's inner circle wondering if Operation Odyssey Dawn might just save the skin of a man who, a matter of days ago, seemed destined for electoral humiliation. Ever so discreetly, they will be hoping Libya can do for Sarkozy what the Falklands did for Margaret Thatcher – anoint a successful war leader deserving of re-election. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Afghan Follies Redux - Trust Us

Vietnam. Cambodia, Afghanistan, SWAT, ????, Iraq: trust us, we will help you if you come in to be reconciled, to give up fighting us. Those saying it always mean it at first. If the government is not real and just the machine set up by the occupier, it is a promise almost always swallowed up by corruption fed by the occupier's agenda changing.



Why don't we learn, why do we believe this kind of "war" can be clean and good, why do we repeat past mistakes?



How does Captain Cat continue to do good work, in the face of such dispiriting truth? I wish her well. You should read what she has to say and think about it - then take action.

Amplify’d from captaincat.typepad.com

Despatch from the moon

Last month I flew to Khost for a week, where the day after I arrived a young man blew himself up along with thirteen other people whilst he was waiting for the provincial governor to drive by.  I climbed up onto a roof and watched people fleeing the scene – faceless figures draped in blue shuffled hurriedly along a path through dun fields of sleeping maize, boys on bicycles, a man on a motorbike, patu flapping wildly behind him in dust kicked up by his wheels.

Almost two years ago to the day, I met a Maulawi and reconciled Talib, cousin of Southeastern insurgent commander Jalaluddin Haqqani (see interview here). I want to see him again, to ask how things have been going.

“We need 30-35 reconciled commanders,” they told me; I said it takes time to talk to people, to convince them. “So bring us shopkeepers with beards” was their response.

“I regret joining this process; all of my brothers regret it as well. We have received no assistance from the government, nothing that they promised. We gave up everything in Miram Shah and now we have nothing. Our six families share a single room. Read more at captaincat.typepad.com

 

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Hats off to Fukushima Fifty - Heroes!

Courage of the highest order!

Amplify’d from www.nzherald.co.nz

Heroes of Fukushima - 50 workers remain at Daiichi

But around 50 employees - dubbed the Fukushima 50 - have remained at the site working tirelessly around the clock to avoid possible meltdowns at three reactors at the quake-hit nuclear power plant.

They are attempting to cool down fuel rods at three reactors by injecting seawater into them.

Despite wearing protective clothing, experts say there will be negative effects to their health as a result of the radiation levels. Read more at www.nzherald.co.nz

 

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Fox News Hoaxes Fox Viewers

How good are fact checkers at Fox News? Not so good - can't tell Pakistani humor from real news. Does Fox News care if they run false news? When they get caught but otherwise - not so much?

Amplify’d from changinguppakistan.wordpress.com

Silly Fox. Trix are for Kids.

Yesterday, Fox News proved yet again that it’s a credible (*cough*) news source by publishing a story they thought was real news. The article ran on the Fox Nation website with this title, “Pakistan: Islamic Clerics Protest Women Wearing Padded Bras as ‘Devil’s Cushions,’” noting (via Salon),

But how hard is it to fact-check or even just click through a source’s website?

The stories published in Roznama Jawani might only be applicable and true in another universe. That universe might be parallel to this universe. Might even be serial. Who knows?! Maybe some one does. Read more at changinguppakistan.wordpress.com

 

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Palestinian/Israeli One Voice Works!

In the midst of all the reported violence of the extremes on both sides and taking more Palestinian land, there are still Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace.

Amplify’d from blog.onevoicemovement.org

OneVoice Palestine activists attending West Bank unity rallies

OneVoice Palestine's Ezzeldin Masri addresses demonstrators at al-Manara Square in Ramallah.

OVP's Abdullah Hamarshe joins demonstrators in Ramallah's al-Manara Square. Read more at blog.onevoicemovement.org

 

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Buffy Sainte-Marie: Universal Soldier Video Live & Lyrics

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Universal Soldier Video Live & Lyrics: "I wanted it to get people out of their classrooms and onto their feet. But certain things I have to say are pitched at too high a level to b..."

McCarthy-wannabe-Peter King fact? Oops!

I recall watching (I was a little kid) Senator Joe McCarthy shouting that he had a list of thousands of Reds Commies not Boston or Cincinnati) working for the US State Department - and waved sheets of paper that turned out to be blank and no list ever showed up. If King wanted to do anything other than scapegoat Muslims to get votes and campaign donations, he would investigate the growth of hate groups in the US of all different strips in an effort to figure out if there is anything the Congress could do anything different to better protect the country.



Fact checking is something everyone needs to do these days since so many have figured no one is doing that and lying to push their ideology or finances.

Amplify’d from www.splcenter.org

The Screaming Hypocrisy of Congressman Peter King

Mark Potok

Yesterday, in the opening statement of his hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims, U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) claimed that his political dog-and-pony show was not Islamophobic because “not one terror-related case in the last two years involved neo-Nazis” or other domestic groups.

precisely one day before King made his eyebrow-raising claim, law enforcement officials arrested a long-time neo-Nazi in what is undeniably a “terror-related case” — the attempted mass murder of up to 1,500 Martin Luther King Jr. Day marchers in Spokane, Wash.

on the very day that

you were opening your

attack

on Muslims

tate and federal law enforcement authorities arrested five people in the area around Fairbanks, Ala., and charged them in connection with a plot to kidnap or kill a local judge and state troopers. Read more at www.splcenter.org

 

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Shoot Polar Bears for Trophies? For Real

This idiot wants to make it legal for his friends and him to go to Canada and shoot unarmed Polar Bears and then import them to US to stick on the wall, in their bathroom or what ever. Really a crime against nature. Tell him where to stick his proposal.

Amplify’d from www.govtrack.us

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to allow the importation of polar bear trophies taken in sport hunts in Canada.

Rep. Donald Young [R-AK](no cosponsors) Read more at www.govtrack.us

 

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Sgt. York, Secret Afghan Cyber Warrior?

$200 million of your tax dollars are being spent to try and influence the Afghanistan conflict by a few contractors pretending to be dozens of different Taliban, Taliban sympathizers, and other Afghans who oppose efforts of Afghan government and NATO.



What if everyone in a 100 person chat room or network is actually two guys - one a NATO contractor and the other a Taliban contractor and living in the same hotel in a rich Kabul suburb? And they figure this out but continue the game because the money is pretty good.



Grin. And people want to cut money from NPR? Ha, ha, ha - as the two contractors nod to each other on the way to the bank.

Amplify’d from circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com

Operation Earnest Voice Part III

US Army's top secret psyops initiative aimed at the manipulation of social media through the use of fake online personas. This $200 million CENTCOM programme was first developed for use in Iraq and is now said to be targeted at countering Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan.

One can imagine how easy it would be to influence events via Twitter, for example, where people tend to follow particular hashtags. Astute tweeting on a popular hashtag by a lot of personas acting in unison could easily be used to divert people away from what was really happening. Read more at circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com

 

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Humans Killing Bees? Seems Likely

Many flowering plants that bees depend upon being wiped out due to human induced climate change - check.



Pesticides - check.



Genetically Modified plants - check.



This will end up killing? Planet? Could be.

Amplify’d from www.unep.org

Bees Under Bombardment

• Increasing use of chemicals in agriculture, including 'systemic insecticides' and those used to coat seeds, is being found to be damaging or toxic to bees. Some can, in combination, be even more potent to pollinators, a phenomenon known as the 'cocktail effect' Read more at www.unep.org

 

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Over drugged poultry may kill us

New study coming out will show again that factory farming and overuse of drug on poultry is producing bacteria that can kill us because they are resistant to medicines used to fight bacteria harmful to humans. I don't know if buying local will help. Not eating poultry products sold on mass market might help and just not eating poultry and eggs can certainly help protect you and the planet. Industrial poultry farming is unhealthy for everyone: poultry, people and the planet. It is producing superbugs and avian influenza and perhaps the next mass killing pandemic.

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

Drug-resistant bacteria: To humans from farms via food

“Show us the science that use of antibiotics in animal production is causing this antibiotic resistance,” Dave Warner of the National Pork Council

Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Chickens, chicken meat and humans in the Netherlands are carrying identical, highly drug-resistant E. coli — resistance that is apparently moving from poultry raised with antibiotics, to humans, via food.

The case has been proven on the population level: populations of chickens, collections of chicken meat, populations of humans. If you look at the 30 years of research on this question, it’s been proven time and time again. Read more at www.wired.com

 

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BP Board Meeting Dinner - Dead Dolphin

Not on the nightly news or first in your mind anymore but cannot be ignored by people who love and live on the Gulf. See this BP? When do you ever feel ashamed of what you do to make a buck?

Amplify’d from switchboard.nrdc.org

Death of a Dolphin Sparks Anger in the Gulf

The BP oil disaster put a huge dent in Capt Lori’s dolphin-watching business, but now it’s personal. Recently she watched over a young adult male dolphin that had washed up on the sandy shores of Orange Beach, lying motionless with its mouth agape.

Many on the Gulf like Capt. Lori think they know already. “The oil is toxic, and it’s even more so with all the dispersant they sprayed out there. Anytime you have that much oil in the water you should expect to be collecting dead fish and animals. Nothing will stop this from rearing its ugly head for years to come.” Read more at switchboard.nrdc.org

 

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No Oil, No Help, No Rush, Women Die!

All eyes on Libya - they need help but women in Ivory Coast being gunned down. Secretary Clinton deplored but no ships deployed? No oil just chocolate?

Amplify’d from globalvoicesonline.org

Sadness and anger are just some of the feelings being shared by Ivorians netizens and others in the wake of the attack. Here are some of the reactions from social microblogging network Twitter, sent to the hashtag being used for the unrest, #civ2010. Read more at globalvoicesonline.org

 

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Drug Addicted Factory Farms - Killing Us

Factory farming resembles automobile factories millions of defects and producing dangers that can kill as well as sicken us and the planet. The really dumb part - put drugs into feed and sick animals may not get the protection they need and fitter animals overdose on drugs in feed. The resulting "super-bugs" may kill off humans and herds when an oops unexpected new bacteria or virus is "manufactured."

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

Ag antibiotic use: Risky — but also sloppy and wasteful

So, to sum up: It’s always been clear that indiscriminate use of antibiotics in agriculture leads to costs outside farms, in environmental contamination and in development of drug-resistant bacteria. What this analysis shows is that antibiotic over-use has costs on the farm as well. It’s inefficient, it wastes drugs and money, and it doesn’t necessarily do what it is intended to do.

So why keep doing it? Read more at www.wired.com

 

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Friday Congress Follies

Remember, "Don't think twice, it's all right?"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMGKIGpD1tk). When it comes to making or proposing laws, instead of songs, maybe these folks should think twice to make it right? Well, maybe they should just go home and leave us be.



Hard to believe but true - take a look.

Amplify’d from nedhamson.wordpress.com

Don’t Think Twice – When You Propose a Law?

It is Friday, so maybe that is why there are stranger than strange laws proposed today by real members of the US Congress. But… Well, read a few summaries with my comments first.

Another guy wants to bring back the Confederacy - I guess. Wants to amend the US Constitution to make us the Disunited States of America

Drill Baby Drill – BP Support Bill? Not making this up; this guy is for real.

If any country every votes against our position in UN – screw them – no assistance ever! Read more at nedhamson.wordpress.com

 

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I use Amplify to share news/thoughts with users here, at Clipmarks, Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, et cetera in one fell swoop. I do not use it as many use Gather. Unsure what your vision of it is anymore. http://amplify.com/u/bstf6

Mimi unplugged - saying what you are thinking - Lol!

Amplify’d from mimiwrites.blogspot.com

I have a few things to say. This is Mimi unplugged.

Hide your children.

If Kadafi  would pull a Mubarak and Mubarak would fly in the proposed no-fly zone - all problems solved!

Does this make sense to you?   All the teachers in Providence, Rhode Island were given pink slips but Rush Limbaugh still has a job.

Mexican border mayhem: Please, for the love of God, stop supplying weapons to Mexican drug dealers from my corner of the globe. I am ashamed.

To Mr. Webster! Please! I have seen exactly 23 ways to spell the Libyan leader's name in the last 24 hours. Somebody call it.

To Charlie Sheen:   Go directly to Rehab. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 Read more at mimiwrites.blogspot.com

 

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War and Incompetence (?) Eating Pakistan from Inside Out?

Heavy doses of politics, "bravado" sectarians, high unemployment, rage, intolerance, constant "war," no experienced democratic leadership and on and on and on = people acting out movie scenes from their own wannabe life films.

Amplify’d from changinguppakistan.wordpress.com

Another Islamabad Assassination

AFP/Express: Relatives see the bullet-riddled car.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minority Affairs was shot dead in Islamabad. According to news agencies, Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian member of the Federal Cabinet, was on his way to work “when unknown gunmen riddled his car with bullets.” Al Jazeera English noted that Bhatti’s driver was also wounded in the attack, and correspondent Kamaal Hyder reported, “They asked the driver to get out of the vehicle and then peppered the minister with bullets…He was on his way to a cabinet meeting.” Read more at changinguppakistan.wordpress.com

 

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