For Sale, Habitable Planet, Too Late by Guy McPherson + Into Eternity: A Film for the Future (must-see)

Dandelion Salad

by Guy McPherson
Transition Voice
March 25, 2013

Image by Topato via Flickr

According to legend, Ernest Hemingway bet his 1920s-era colleagues he could write a complete story in just six words. Hemingway is said to have considered the resulting piece his best work: “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn.”

Making no attempt to keep up with Hemingway, this article provides an overview of the dire climate-change situation in fewer than 300 words. Perhaps even Twitter users will find time for the entire essay.

Jean Ziegler: Every Child Who Dies of Hunger Is Murdered, Translated by Siv O’Neall

Interview with Jean Ziegler by Harald Schumann, Norbert Thomma, translation by Siv O’Neall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Der Tagespiegel, Mar 25, 2013
Axisoflogic.com
Lyon, France
March 27, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Every five seconds a child dies of hunger – that leaves Jean Ziegler no rest. He calls banks and corporations “mass murderers”. And he hopes for a revolt from below.

Mr. Ziegler, you describe death from starvation as very “painful”. Where did you see this for the first time?

In Ethiopia, in an underground hospital of the Eritrean liberation movement. In this cave bunker I saw children dying of hunger. It’s much, much worse than we can imagine. For it is not as if with the lack of food, a person’s life energy easily leaves him.

“The Crime of the Century”: Napalm Use in Iraq by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
March 28, 2013

Image by NewsHour via Flickr

“Why should we hear about body bags and deaths … I mean, it’s not relevant, so why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that …” (Former First Lady, Barbara Bush, Good Morning America, 18th March 2003)

In these days of the tenth anniversary of the illegal invasion and near destruction of Iraq, answers are owed not alone for the dead, but to the cancer stricken, the deformed, to their parents, their siblings and all Iraqis. They were left with a land poisoned by depleted uranium in 1991, the burden ever building over twelve more years of (illegal) US and UK bombings, then the enormity of 2003.

Fracking records unsealed in Pennsylvania by Betsey Piette

Dandelion Salad

Image by N-ree-K via Flickr

by Betsey Piette
www.workers.org
March 26, 2013

Philadelphia  — Since 2005, a provision of the federal Energy Policy Act popularly labeled the “Halliburton Loophole,” allowed the giant corporations profiting from drilling in major shale formations across the U.S. to withhold information on the hundreds of potentially toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that make up fracking compounds. The law provided them protection for “trade secrets.”

Missile Defense Arc Being Created Across Asia-Pacific by Bruce Gagnon

Image by #PACOM via Flickr

by Bruce Gagnon
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
March 26, 2013

As part of Obama’s recent announcement about expanding “missile defense” (MD) systems in Alaska, along with studies to determine a possible site for an East Coast base in the US, the Pentagon also announced a second MD X-band radar would go into Japan.

The US military uses X-band radars to precisely track the trajectory of an “enemy” ballistic missile, allowing its forces to launch Army ground-based (PAC-3) and Navy sea-based (SM-3) interceptors as soon as a missile is detected.

Taste Gaza: Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt Prepare a Dagga Salad

Dandelion Salad

Image by Oxfam International via Flickr

lauraflanders·Mar 30, 2013

Co-Authors, Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt prepare a Dagga Salad and talk about the making of Gaza Kitchen. Go to GRITtv.org to see the full story.

“Under blockade from Israel and blocked off by Egypt, the sliver of land that is the Strip is most often seen in the West (when it’s seen at all), as a war zone or a humanitarian disaster, but the place is more than its pain. As Schmitt and El-Haddad show us, Gaza is also its food, it’s culture; not only what’s been lost, but also what is deliciously surviving.”

Seymour Hersh On Investigative Journalism and Ethics + Q&A

Image by Adam Jones, Ph.D. – Global Photo Archive via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

www.c-spanvideo.org
Feb. 20, 2013

Seymour Hersh spoke about investigative journalism. In his remarks he talked about his experiences as a journalist, including writing about the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Other topics included ethics and the use of anonymous sources, with questions on topic such as U.S. policy toward Iran, the use of drones, and recent national security policy.

Jesus of Nazareth (1977; repost)

Image by freestone via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Happy Easter!

Replaced video May 27, 2013

In the Arms of Dictators: America the Great… Global Arms Dealer, by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by U.S. Missile Defense Agency via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
March 26, 2013

The following is a first draft sample from a chapter currently being written for The People’s Book Project. Read more about The People’s Book Project here, and please consider donating to help the Project continue.

The American imperial system incorporates much more than supporting the occasional coup or undertaking the occasional war. Coups, wars, assassinations and other forms of overt and covert violence and destabilization, while relatively common and consistent for the United States – compared to other major powers – are secondary to the general maintenance of a system of imperial patronage.

How Big Corporations Are Unpatriotic by Ralph Nader

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
March 28, 2013

Image by David Shankbone via Flickr

Many giant profitable U.S. corporations are increasingly abandoning America while draining it at the same time.

General Electric, for example, has paid no federal income taxes for a decade while becoming a net job exporter and fighting its hard-pressed workers who want collective bargaining through unions like the United Electrical Workers Union (UE). GE’s boss, Jeffrey Immelt, makes about $12,400 an hour on an 8-hour day, plus benefits and perks, presiding over this global corporate empire.

Michael Hudson: Public Banking Needed to Stop “Cannibalization” of the Economy + Transcript

Image by The Workers’ Party of Ireland via Flickr

by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
March 29, 2013

TheRealNews on Mar 29, 2013

Michael Hudson: As long as finance is left in private hands, you’re going to have austerity and America ending up looking like Greece and Ireland.

Noam Chomsky: Palestine and US Policy

Image by warpafx via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

ICPalestinianSoc·Mar 29, 2013

Imperial College Palestinian Society was privileged to play host to one of the greatest names of our times, Professor Noam Chomsky. The subject was Palestine & US Policy.

Professor Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and Emeritus Professor in the department of linguistics and philosophy at MIT. He is also an influential figure in the fields of computer science, mathematics and psychology, and as many of you will know, is also well-known for his critique of US foreign policy, state capitalism and mainstream news media.

Dear President Obama: Easter Has Nothing To Do With War (2010)

Dandelion Salad

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Repost, in case you missed it.

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

DerrickCCrowe – April 04, 2010

In his weekly address, President Obama strangely introduces a war theme into a message ostensibly about a holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ…y’know, the Prince of Peace.

Mr. President, Easter has nothing to do with war. Please stop trying to make Jesus fit with your outlook on war and international relations. You just cheapen both.

http://returngood.com

The Passion of the Christ (reposted)

Dandelion Salad

video no longer available

Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter.

It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 28, 2013

Image by scrappy! via Flickr

Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the making; that they originated with the G20 Financial Stability Board in Basel, Switzerland (discussed earlier here); and that the result will be to deliver clear title to the banks of depositor funds.