Hypocrisy To The Nth Degree by Philip A. Farruggio

by Philip A. Farruggio
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
31 July, 2010

Interesting how there is such an uproar about WikiLeaks and Sgt. Manning. As with the Pentagon Papers of the early 70s, sets of documents, incriminating in their content, are portrayed as Top Secret. Hogwash! To reveal a certain mindset, or how the perpetrators conduct a War ( just add the word Crimes to it ) should not in itself be labeled as ‘ State Secrets ‘ . No, as with the 2007 video of the Apache helicopter attack on innocent Iraqi civilians ( including two young children ) by US military personnel……. Truth Is Truth! Yet, the outrage by many of our elected officials ( John McCain comes to mind first ) and the Obama administration is hypocrisy taken to another level.

Continue reading

Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff: Europe Under the Crunch

Dandelion Salad

GRITtv: blip.tv
July 30, 2010

We’ve heard plenty about the recession in the U.S., but what about the rest of the world? Countries across Europe have faced budget crunches and conservative governments are using the crisis as an excuse to roll back the social safety net that most have enjoyed for decades. Many of the problems–and the solutions–sound sadly familiar. Lowered taxes on the rich and corporations, falling wages, and deregulation led to the crisis, which is being shifted onto the backs of the working class–as Michael Hudson notes, putting the class war back in business. Hudson joins us in studio, along with Richard Wolff, to discuss the economic crisis in Europe, what we can learn about the response to it and apply back at home. Here’s a hint: it involves organized labor.

Continue reading

Kucinich, Conyers, Sanders Renew Call for National Single Payer on Medicare’s Birthday

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Jul 30, 2010

Medicare for All is the most Cost-Effective Health Care Option for America

Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are today reaffirming their efforts to provide all Americans with health care that would allow access to the doctor of choice without premiums, co-pays or deductibles. Kucinich and Conyers, Jr., are the co-authors of H.R. 676, Medicare for All, which provides a blueprint for an effective, national single-payer system. Sanders is the author of S. 703, the American Health Security Act which also provides for a single-payer system.

Continue reading

Out of Afghanistan, by Ralph Nader

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
July 30, 2010

The war in Afghanistan is nearly nine years old—the longest in American history. After the U.S. quickly toppled the Taliban regime in October 2001, the Taliban, by all accounts, came back stronger and harsher enough to control now at least 30 percent of the country. During this time, U.S. casualties, armaments and expenditures are at record levels.

America’s overseas wars have different outcomes when they have no constitutional authority, no war tax, no draft, no regular on the ground press coverage, no Congressional oversight, no spending accountability and, importantly, no affirmative consent of the governed who are, apart from the military families, hardly noticing.

Continue reading

Susan Shaw: The oil spill’s toxic trade-off

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Seems Ted Talks removed this video?

TEDtalksDirector | July 27, 2010

Break down the oil slick, keep it off the shores: that’s grounds for pumping toxic dispersant into the Gulf, say clean-up overseers. Susan Shaw shows evidence it’s sparing some beaches only at devastating cost to the health of the deep sea.

Continue reading

EPA Whistleblower Accuses Agency of Covering Up Effects of Dispersant in BP Oil Spill Cleanup

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Democracy Now!
July 20, 2010

EPA Whistleblower Accuses Agency of Covering Up Effects of Dispersant in BP Oil Spill Cleanup

With BP having poured nearly two million gallons of the dispersant known as Corexit into the Gulf of Mexico, many lawmakers and advocacy groups say the Obama administration is not being candid about the lethal effects of dispersants. We speak with Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and a leading critic of the decision to use Corexit. [includes rush transcript]

Hugh Kaufman, senior policy analyst at the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

via EPA Whistleblower Accuses Agency of Covering Up Effects of Dispersant in BP Oil Spill Cleanup

Continue reading