Night with a Martini

"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy."

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:01:05 -0700

“Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.”

- Carl Sagan (via ikenbot)

Elizabeth Warren has just introduced legislation that will let...

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:01:10 -0700

Elizabeth Warren has just introduced legislation that will let students borrow money for college at the same rock-bottom interest rates that the Big Banks get.

Via: https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98

Why You Should Be Outraged About The Ruling To Keep The NDAA Indefinite Detention Clause In Effect Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-be-outraged-about-the-ruling-to-keep-the-national-defense-authorization-in-effect-2012-10#ixzz2SDe7fMgv

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:01:34 -0700

Why You Should Be Outraged About The Ruling To Keep The NDAA Indefinite Detention Clause In Effect Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-be-outraged-about-the-ruling-to-keep-the-national-defense-authorization-in-effect-2012-10#ixzz2SDe7fMgv:

A year later, I still CANNOT believe this passed and is still intact after the appeals process….why is this not being talked about every single day in the news?! It was a huge success when a group of activists, including author and activists Chris Hedges, brought suit against the government calling the bill that would allow indefinite detention of american citizens without due process unconstitutional.

In May District Judge Katherine Forrest sided with the plaintiffs and ordered a temporary block on the grounds that the provisions are so vague they are unconstitutional under the First (i.e. free speech/press) and Fifth (i.e. due process) Amendments.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-be-outraged-about-the-ruling-to-keep-the-national-defense-authorization-in-effect-2012-10#ixzz2SDeOJgtJ

But when Forrest ordered a permanent injunction in September, the government appealed and Appeals Court Judge Raymond Lohier reinstated the indefinite detentions provisions pending a decision of a 3-judge panel. On Oct 2, 2012 Judges Lohier, Denny Chin and Christopher Droney agreed with the government motion of appeal and the indefinite detention portion of the bill still stands.

Why doesn’t anyone care? Is everyone really that asleep?

If you care to be roused from your slumber, here are some background articles on the bill:

Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) -“What we are talking about here is that Americans could be subjected to life imprisonment. Think about that for a minute. Life imprisonment. Without ever being charged, tried, or convicted of a crime. Without ever having an opportunity to prove your innocence to a judge or a jury of your peers. And without the government ever having to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I think that denigrates the very foundations of this country.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/12/05/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-the-greatest-threat-to-civil-liberties-americans-face/

20 Things You Should Know About The Bill That Could Ruin America:

http://gawker.com/5865089/20-things-you-should-know-about-americas-most-horrifying-new-law

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Wed, 08 May 2013 15:01:05 -0700

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Tue, 07 May 2013 15:00:59 -0700

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Mon, 06 May 2013 15:01:15 -0700

descentintotyranny: Teargas, water cannons as police clash with...

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:01:07 -0700

descentintotyranny:

Teargas, water cannons as police clash with Labor Day protesters in Turkey

May 1 2013

Riot police in Istanbul have teargassed and fired water canon at crowds trying to get to the city’s Taksim Square for May 1 Labor Day Celebrations, injuring about a dozen people with 72 arrests.

Demonstrators carrying International Labor Day banners and chanting “Long live Workers’ Day” were trying to get through police lines to Taksim Square when the police used teargas and water cannon to disperse them. Some of the protesters threw stones, metal objects and Molotov cocktails at police lines.

Two policemen have been wounded in the clashes and are being treated in hospital, while 20 protesters have been detained by police, according to a statement by Istanbul’s governor. As many as a dozen people were injured during the clashes, according to AFP.

Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the cities governor, said that the clashes had been instigated by “radical groups”, of about 3,500 people who attacked the police.

Taksim Square is the traditional site of demonstrations in Istanbul, but this year the governorate refused to give permission to trade unions and youth groups to march to the square, supposedly because of a large construction project in the area.

Both the unions and youth groups say that Taksim Square is the historic site of May 1 activities and that they have a right to demonstrate there. Some have been out on the streets of Istanbul drumming up support with posters saying “Bring your Anger, and come to Taksim”.

22,000 police have been mobilized to provide security throughout the day.

May 1 is a traditional workers holiday across most of Europe, but is especially significant in Turkey. Thirty-four people were killed on that day in 1977 in Istanbul, when a gunman opened fire on demonstrations when Turkey was going through a time of political upheaval. In 1980, the then-ruling junta banned May Day celebrations in Taksim and they were finally reinstated in 2010 under pressure from trade unions.

The authorities decided to shut down some of the cities transport infrastructure. The subway, buses and ferries that connect the European and Asian sides of the city have been suspended, while traffic has been prohibited from certain parts of the city. Streets and roads normally clogged with cars were taken over by tourists.

Security has also been tightened around the office of Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan, in the Besiktas district, a short distance from Taksim Square.

descentintotyranny: Noam Chomsky — May Day Apr. 28 2012 People...

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:00:53 -0700

descentintotyranny:

Noam Chomsky — May Day

Apr. 28 2012

People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That’s because those in power have done everything they can to erase its real meaning. For example, Ronald Reagan designated what he called “Law Day” — a day of jingoist fanaticism, like an extra twist of the knife in the labor movement. Today, there is a renewed awareness, energized by the Occupy movement’s organizing, around May Day, and its relevance for reform and perhaps eventual revolution.

If you’re a serious revolutionary, then you are not looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move towards freedom and democracy. That can take place only if a mass of the population is implementing it, carrying it out, and solving problems. They’re not going to undertake that commitment, understandably, unless they have discovered for themselves that there are limits to reform.

A sensible revolutionary will try to push reform to the limits, for two good reasons. First, because the reforms can be valuable in themselves. People should have an eight-hour day rather than a twelve-hour day. And in general, we should want to act in accord with decent ethical values.

Secondly, on strategic grounds, you have to show that there are limits to reform. Perhaps sometimes the system will accommodate to needed reforms. If so, well and good. But if it won’t, then new questions arise. Perhaps that is a moment when resistance is necessary, steps to overcome the barriers to justified changes. Perhaps the time has come to resort to coercive measures in defense of rights and justice, a form of self-defense. Unless the general population recognizes such measures to be a form of self-defense, they’re not going to take part in them, at least they shouldn’t.

If you get to a point where the existing institutions will not bend to the popular will, you have to eliminate the institutions.

May Day started here, but then became an international day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal violence and judicial punishment.

Today, the struggle continues to celebrate May Day not as a “law day” as defined by political leaders, but as a day whose meaning is decided by the people, a day rooted in organizing and working for a better future for the whole of society.

Zuccotti Park Press, a project of Adelante Alliance, a Brooklyn-based immigrant advocacy group, is releasing Occupy, a new book by Noam Chomsky, on May Day.

11 degrees warming

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:01:06 -0700

11 degrees warming:

IEA: World on Pace for 11°F Warming, “Even School Children Know This Will Have Catastrophic Implications for All of Us”

The International Energy Agency was once a staid and conservative organization that people ignored because it was staid and conservative.

Now people ignore the IEA because it has become a blunt truth teller on oil and climate (seeWorld’s top energy economist warns peak oil threatens recovery, urges immediate action: “We have to leave oil before oil leaves us”).

Last November, Climate Progress blogged on the IEA’s 2011 World Energy Outlook [WEO] bombshell warning: We’re Headed Toward 11°F Global Warming and “Delaying Action Is a False Economy.”

Fatih Birol is the IEA’s chief economist, and later gave a great talk at the Carnegie endowment on the WEO’s implications. You can watch it here (and view the transcript and download his PPT slides — I clipped the top image from the last slide).

Birol can’t really be considered a rabble-rouser — he worked for OPEC for 6 years before joining the IEA in 1995, so he was there during extended period of time when nobody was much paying attention to the IEA.

He had some blunt remarks on climate and energy (starting around minute 56):

Another point on climate change is about the two degrees. With the current policies in place, the world is perfectly on track to six degrees Celsius increasing the temperature, which is very bad news. And everybody, even school children, know this will have catastrophic implications for all of us.

——————————————————————————-

If you are unfamiliar with the terminology ‘11 degrees warming’ or ‘2 degrees warming’ congratulations, you are an American! Since we never ratified the Kyoto Protocol (an international agreement on Climate Change adopted in 1997 which limits industrialized nations’ emission levels of carbon dioxide) our media has decided this information is irrelevant!

However, the rest of the world has been having a climate change party for the last 16 years, drastically and radically changing and restructuring their economies to include green energy, and reduce their emissions. This party pretty much includes the entire world except us…. all 192 UN member countries except the US, South Sudan and Andorra have participated in the Kyoto Protocol.

It’s ok if you feel a little left out…we are. Don’t fret, Bill McKibben’s incredible article in Rolling Stone will catch you up on the last 20 years of Climate Change Politics in a surprisingly riveting and concise way.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719

Seriously read it….It will totally change the way you see the world, your future, and will probably scare the living crap out of you. If it doesn’t, check to see if you still have a pulse.

Violent May Day clashes in Seattle, what is May Day Anyway?!

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:01:00 -0700

I personally can’t stand violent anarchist protesters. I understand and respect the concept of diversity of tactics. But don’t show up and disrespect other movement’s tactics of peaceful protest or peaceful civil disobedience. A small group of violent anarchists can show up, wreak havoc, and give peaceful protesters a bad name, discrediting an entire movement with completely different goals. Go wreak havock on your own time, not during my peaceful protest that obtained march permits. I ran into this problem at many of the protests I attended through Occupy Wall Street.

The horizontal structure of OWS made it impossible for us to kick them out. And for good reason, where do you draw the line? Who gets to decide who is and isn’t included? Participatory direct democracy, contingent upon consensus building, necessitates a diverse inclusion of voices and perspectives to come up with truly unique, and original proposals, solutions and reforms.

Our Congress and Senate were predicated upon the same concept (albeit representative and not direct democracy), to include healthy debate from a variety of voices, representative of the people, and protecting the rights of the minority……However the influx of big money into politics through the Supreme Court decision Citizens United, has eroded the diversity of voices to only those capable of ‘paying’ for their speech, or bankrolling candidates for elections.

I thought with the clashes in Seattle this May Day it would be appropriate to include two different perspectives on the events. The roots of and motivation for starting this blog emerged out of the frustration I felt towards the mainstream media for their gross distortion and misrepresentation of OWS— a movement I had a deep first hand experience in.

The media continually focused on a small sub-population of hippies and anarchists, deemed undesirable social deviants by the larger culture, to be a representative whole of all those participating in OWS, which over time sucseffuly discrediting the movement. However, that could not be further from the truth on the ground, where protests and General Assemblies included a diverse group of participants of every immaginable age range, race, socioeconomic background, and education level. Some of my professors at UCSD attended with their children. Some homeless people came for the food. Veterans, teachers, and nurses donated their time and services. It wasn’t just a movement of dirty violent hippie kids.

I’ve since found it invaluable to consume media from a diverse variety of sources to obtain a more accurate and enriched reflection of current events.

The first article is from CNN and covers this year’s Seattle May Day Protest.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/us/seattle-may-day-protests/index.html

The second article offers a historical perspective on the origins of May Day, the violent clashes in Seattle in 2012 initiated by a faction of anarchist protesters among the ranks, and an academic description of real life contemporary anarchism by David Graeber. Graeber is a professor of Social Anthropology at the University of London, a respected author, and one of the first initial activists whose meeting in Bowling Green Park unknowingly sparked the emergence of the Occupy Movement months later rooted in Zuccotti Park.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/you-know-a-may-day-protest-was-successful-when/Content?oid=16636009

Enjoy!

Fresh ExxonMobil pipeline spill hits Missouri â RT USA

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:51:00 -0700

Fresh ExxonMobil pipeline spill hits Missouri â RT USA:

While questions over the severity of ExxonMobilâs March 29 oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas still remain, the same pipeline has now ruptured, this time to the north, in Missouri.

The 70-year-old Pegasus pipeline, which released thousands of barrels of tar sands oil in Arkansas, has now caused another, albeit far smaller incident in Ripley County, Missouri, 200 miles north of Mayflower, Arkansas.

debtparty: (via Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:58:30 -0700

debtparty:

(via Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim | Video on TED.com)

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:18:43 -0700

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

- Martin Luther King Jr. - January 15th 1929 - April 4th 1968 (via ikenbot)

The Peak Oil Crisis: An Announcement

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:00:57 -0700

The Peak Oil Crisis: An Announcement:

postcarbon:

Uh oh. The UK government has grave concern that we’re going to be running short on oil in just FIVE years.

Read on…

descentintotyranny: beatyourselfup: anoncentral: Freedom Is...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:07:37 -0700

descentintotyranny:

beatyourselfup:

anoncentral:

Freedom Is Dying Behind Closed Doors

A police state is a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.

The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.

Let’s go back 13 years… The year is 2000, all the Y2K hubbub has just ended…

If someone told you that in 13 years it would be legal to tap Americans’ phones without a warrant, arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely without ever charging them with a crime (and without a warrant), take a history of all your calls, your text messages (even deleted ones), and even every place you have been with time stamps, from your phone, without a warrant, you’d have said they were crazy.

If they told you that all of that would be happening, and the government was also chipping away at the second amendment, practically admitting that politicians are for sale to the highest bidder as they openly tank the nation’s good standing and economy in order to satisfy a few billionaires, and that the internet would be monitored and censored, you’d think they were totally nuts.

So just imagine if they told you all of that stuff was true, plus the government would be sending flying robots to execute American citizens with no warning, no warrant, and not even charging them with a crime.

Wow, all in less than 13 years.

“The liberal class refused to resist the devolution of the U.S. democratic system into what Sheldon Wolin calls a system of inverted totalitarianism. Inverted totalitarianism, Wolin writes, represents “the political coming of age of corporate power and the political demobilization of the citizenry.” Inverted totalitarianism differs from classical totalitarianism, which revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds its expression in the anonymity of the corporate state. The corporate forces behind inverted totalitarianism do not, as classical totalitarianism movements do, replace decaying structures with new, revolutionary structures. They do not import new symbols and iconography. They do not offer a radical alternative. Corporate power purports, in inverted totalitarianism, to honor electoral politics, freedom, and the Constitution. But these corporate forces so corrupt and manipulate power as to make democracy impossible.” -Chris Hedges

Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 1 - The 21st century landscape of conflict

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:01:10 -0700

Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 1 - The 21st century landscape of conflict:

perscientiamlibertas:

Image: Occupy 6 - Guy Denning

Many of the readers of postcarbon.org, Energy Bulletin, and now Resilience.org, have come to share a certain view of the world. It’s probably fair to say that, as a group, we see resource depletion, financial chaos, and environmental disasters (principally associated with global climate change) as looming storms converging on industrial civilization. We also tend to see the unprecedented level of complexity of our society today as resulting from the historically recent energy subsidies of fossil fuels, and to a certain extent the enabling factor of financial innovation. Thus, as the quality and quantity of our energy sources inevitably decline, and as financial claims melt away with the ongoing burst of history’s greatest credit bubble, a simplification and decentralization of societal systems is inevitable.

In this essay, which will appear in five installments, I hope to explore some of the social implications of simplification and decentralization. Will wars and revolutions break out with ever-greater frequency? Will democracy thrive, or will traumatized masses find themselves at the mercy of tyrants? Will nation states survive, or will they break apart? Will regional warlords rule over impoverished and enslaved survivors? Or will local food networks and Occupy groups positively transform society from the ground up?

I don’t claim to have a functioning crystal ball. But tracing current trends, and looking to historic analogies, may help us understand our prospects better, and help us make the most of them.

Source

greenpeace: Even Calvin & Hobbes are worried. By 2050 the...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:00:53 -0700

greenpeace:

Even Calvin & Hobbes are worried.

By 2050 the Arctic ice sheet will be so thin that ships could be sailing across the North Pole, experts predict. Via DailyMail

descentintotyranny: Constitutional Amendment Sponsors Renew...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:00:49 -0700

descentintotyranny:

Constitutional Amendment Sponsors Renew Push to Undo Citizens United

Mar. 12 2013

WASHINGTON, March 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unrestricted, secret campaign spending by corporations and billionaires. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) filed the “Democracy is for People” amendment in the House.

The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission undermined democracy by opening the campaign spending floodgates. Already 11 states including Vermont and more than 300 cities and towns have passed resolutions calling for the ruling to be overturned.

As a result of the controversial decision, a record $7 billion was spent in the 2012 election cycle. The secretive billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch reportedly steered at least $400 million into campaigns.

Said Sanders, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to tell billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, ‘You own and control Wall Street. You own and control coal companies. You own and control oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own and control the United States government.’ That is the essence of what Citizens United is all about. That is why this disastrous decision must be reversed.”

“The Democracy is for People Amendment will stop corporations and their front groups from using their profits and dark money donations to influence our elections while reaffirming the right of the American people to elections that are fair and representatives that are accountable,” Deutch said.

The amendment would make it clear that the right to vote and the ability to make campaign contributions and expenditures belong only to real people. The amendment would effectively prevent corporations from bankrolling election campaigns. Congress and states would have specific authority to regulate campaign finances by, for example, limiting donations, requiring disclosure of donors or creating public-financing systems for campaigns.

A similar constitutional amendment introduced by Sanders and Deutch in the last session of Congress would have addressed spending by for-profit corporations in elections. Much of the “dark money” funneled through nonprofit organizations in 2012 would not have been restricted, but would be covered by the new version of the amendment.

An amendment originating in Congress must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate in order to be submitted for consideration by the states. Ratification by three-fourths of the states is required to amend the Constitution.

To read the amendment, click here.

For a fact sheet on the amendment, click here.

How New York could go to 100% renewable energy by 2050

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:00:48 -0700

How New York could go to 100% renewable energy by 2050:

A new study out of Stanford University, scheduled to be published in the journal Energy Policy, argues that New York State can eliminate fossil fuels from its energy mix entirely by 2050.

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Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:31:37 -0700

Night with a Martini

"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy."

Elizabeth Warren has just introduced legislation that will let...

Why You Should Be Outraged About The Ruling To Keep The NDAA Indefinite Detention Clause In Effect Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-be-outraged-about-the-ruling-to-keep-the-national-defense-authorization-in-effect-2012-10#ixzz2SDe7fMgv

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descentintotyranny: Teargas, water cannons as police clash with...

descentintotyranny: Noam Chomsky — May Day Apr. 28 2012 People...

11 degrees warming

IEA: World on Pace for 11°F Warming, “Even School Children Know This Will Have Catastrophic Implications for All of Us”

Violent May Day clashes in Seattle, what is May Day Anyway?!

Fresh ExxonMobil pipeline spill hits Missouri â RT USA

debtparty: (via Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the...

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

The Peak Oil Crisis: An Announcement

descentintotyranny: beatyourselfup: anoncentral: Freedom Is...

Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 1 - The 21st century landscape of conflict

greenpeace: Even Calvin & Hobbes are worried. By 2050 the...

descentintotyranny: Constitutional Amendment Sponsors Renew...

How New York could go to 100% renewable energy by 2050

Photo

Fresh ExxonMobil pipeline spill hits Missouri â RT USA