Gas. Pants. Press.

Afghanistan, Iraq: 22 Gallons of Fuel Per Soldier Per Day, At $300-400 Per Gallon

Seeded on Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:33 AM EST (Wired News)

The U.S. military consumes 22 gallons of fuel per soldier, per day. And each gallon costs $45 or more to haul to the battlefield. That's according to a new Deloitte study. Actually, $45 per gallon is a lowball estimate; according to the Navy, it's more like $300 to $400.

world-news, pentagon, war, deloitte, afghanistan, iraq, oil, department-of-defense, us-army, us-navy

Sarah Palin, William Kristol & Howard Dean: Neocons and Neolibs Unite for the War in Afghanistan

Seeded on Wed Sep 9, 2009 4:28 PM EDT (AlterNet.org)

PNAC recently re-branded itself under the new name of the Foreign Policy Initiative. On September 7, the FPI sent a letter to President Obama about Afghanistan, eerily similar to the one PNAC sent Clinton calling for regime change in Iraq in 1998.

pnac, war, afghanistan, neocons, neoliberals, project-for-a-new-american-century, clinton-administration, obama-administration, bush-administration, iraq-liberation-act

CIA Doctors Face Human Experimentation Claims, Violation of Nuremberg Code

Seeded on Wed Sep 2, 2009 4:23 PM EDT (Guardian Unlimited)

Doctors and psychologists the CIA employed to monitor its "enhanced interrogation" of terror suspects came close to, and may even have committed, unlawful human experimentation, a medical ethics watchdog has alleged.

us-news, nazis, cia, nuremberg-code, torture, abuse, enhanced-interrogation-techniques, physicians-for-human-rights-phr, guant-namo, abu-ghraib

'Pacific Garbage Patch' Expedition Finds Plastic Everywhere: 'The new man-made epidemic. It's that serious'

Seeded on Wed Sep 2, 2009 10:33 AM EDT (Mercury News)

Scientists who returned to the Bay Area this week after an expedition to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" brought piles of plastic debris they pulled out of the ocean — soda bottles, cracked patio chairs, Styrofoam chunks, old toys, discarded fishing floats and tangled nets.

world-news, great-pacific-garbage-patch, environment, pollution, food-chain, jellyfish, plankton, plastic, pcb, andrea-neal

Study Finds World's Stocks Are Controlled by Select Few; Anglo-American Entities Have Most Concentrated Financial Power

Seeded on Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:42 AM EDT (Inside Science)

A recent analysis of the 2007 financial markets of 48 countries has revealed that the world's finances are in the hands of just a few mutual funds, banks, and corporations.

world-news, economy, financial-markets, finance, corporatism, plutocracy, oligarchy, wealth-disparity, stefano-battiston, james-glattfelder

Venezuelan "Peace Bases" to Counter U.S. Military Buildup in Colombia with Binational Reconciliation

Seeded on Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:55 PM EDT (Venezuelanalysis)

In a movement to counter the expansion of the United States military presence on Colombian bases, Colombian and Venezuelan civil society organizations and government officials are collaborating to organize spaces of binational reconciliation called "peace bases."

world-news, venezuela, ecuador, panama, colombia, chavez, peace, us-military, carabobo, rafael-correa

Nicaragua Literacy Goals Met Using Cuban Method; Illiteracy Drops from 21% to Less Than 4%

Seeded on Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:40 PM EDT (Inter Press Service)

After an intense two-year literacy campaign, Nicaragua has managed to reduce the number of people who cannot read and write to below four percent of the adult population, from nearly 21 percent.

world-news, nicaragua, central-america, cuba, literacy, illiteracy, orlando-pineda, national-literacy-crusade, sandinista-national-liberation-front-fsln, daniel-ortega

New AIG CEO Live, on Holiday, from His Palatial 12-bathroom Adriatic Getaway

Seeded on Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:07 PM EDT (Reuters)

Wearing flip-flops, khaki shorts and a green polo shirt, the new chief executive of bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc says he's getting a lot of work done from his massive villa overlooking the Adriatic.

us-news, robert-benmosche, aig, economy, corporatism, feudalism, croatia, metlife-inc, italian-tiles, viking-stoves

The Health Insurers Have Already Won: BusinessWeek

Seeded on Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:38 PM EDT (Business Week)

As the health reform fight shifts this month from a vacationing Washington to congressional districts and local airwaves around the country, much more of the battle than most people realize is already over.

politics, healthcare, president-obama, health-insurance, hmo, afl-cio, aetna, unitedhealth-group, wellpoint, blue-dog-democrats

US Marine Corps 'Knowingly Poisoned Their Own People and Then Lied About It'

Seeded on Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:09 PM EDT (The L.A. Times)

Partain had no idea men could get breast cancer. But he thinks he knows what caused his: contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he was born.

us-news, marine-corps, marines, camp-lejeune, north-carolina, industrial-chemicals, us-military, mike-partain, american-cancer-society, cancer

"Hallelujah!" Healthcare Insurance Industry Winning, Poised to Reap Financial 'Bonanza'

Seeded on Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:14 AM EDT (The L.A. Times)

"It's a bonanza," said Robert Laszewski, a health insurance executive for 20 years who now tracks reform legislation as president of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates Inc.

us-news, president-obama, healthcare, health-insurance, robert-laszewski, health-policy-and-strategy-associates-inc, lewin-group, unitedhealth-group, blue-dog-democrats, nancy-pelosi

Mexico Legalizes Possession of Heroin, Cocaine, Grass for Personal Use

Seeded on Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:32 AM EDT (Yahoo! News)

Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday — a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst of the government's grueling battle against drug traffickers.

world-news, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, meth, lsd, war-on-drugs, narcotics, drug-trafficking, mexico

What Rebound? Foreclosures Rise as Jobs and Income Drop: McClatchy

Seeded on Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:25 AM EDT (McClatchy)

Delinquency and foreclosure rates for U.S. mortgages continued to rise in the second quarter, with loans to the most qualified borrowers going bust at an unnerving clip, especially in hard-hit states such as Florida and California.

us-news, mortgage-bankers-association, subprime, mortgage, wall-street, economy, corporatocracy, national-delinquency-survey, obama-administration, labor-department

Arms Control Expert Warns Military Plans for Weaponizing New Mind-altering Drugs Must Be Stopped

Seeded on Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:16 PM EDT (Reuters)

A leading expert on chemical and biological arms control called Wednesday for urgent efforts to stop new mind-altering drugs developed for medical purposes from being adopted by the military for use in warfare.

world-news, nature, malcolm-dando, military, drugs, bradford-university, united-nations, chemical-weapons-convention-cwc, oxytocin, fentanyl

California, Oregon and Washington State Worker's Pension Plans Depleted in Private-Equity Investment Gamble

Seeded on Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:48 AM EDT (Bloomberg.com)

U.S. pension funds contributed to the record $1.2 trillion that private-equity firms raised this decade. Three of the biggest investors, state pensions in California, Oregon and Washington, plunked down at least $53.8 billion.

us-news, private-equity, california, oregon, washington, retirement, pension-fund, irr, stephen-schwarzman, blackstone-group-lp

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Crimes Scenes Engineered, Scientists Show

Seeded on Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:15 AM EDT (The New York Times)

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

world-news, dan-frumkin, dna, crime, forensic-science-international-genetics, forensics, nucleix, gail-h-javitt, genetics-and-public-policy-center, johns-hopkins-university

US Secretary of State Clinton's Micro-Management of the Corporation that Funds the Honduras Coup Regime

Seeded on Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:41 PM EDT (Narco News)

Records Demonstrate that the Secretary Has Hands-On Control of the Fund that Gave $6.5 Million to the Regime After the June 28 Coup.

world-news, millennium-change-corporation, honduras, coup, us-state-department, hillary-clinton, president-obama, secretary-of-state-hillary-rodham-clinton

General Electric to Pay $50 Million to Settle "Outright Fraud" Charges Brought by SEC

Seeded on Thu Aug 6, 2009 5:46 AM EDT (The Washington Post)

GE settled civil fraud charges [for $50 million] brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged that the company used improper accounting methods that allowed it to boost its reported earnings and avoid disclosing negative results.

business, general-electric, fraud, accounting, corporations, securities-and-exchange-commission, sec

Wells Fargo Targeted Black Communities (Called "Mud People") for Sub-Prime Loans According to Ex-Employee Affidavits. Baltimore Sues

Seeded on Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:40 AM EDT (The Baltimore Sun)

Wells Fargo loan officers guided minorities toward high-rate mortgages and joked that they were "riding the stagecoach to hell" for routinely steering prime-loan-qualified customers toward subprime loans, according to sworn declarations by two former employees, filed in federal c …

us-news, tony-paschal, wells-fargo, baltimore, capitalism, sub-prime, housing, economy, corporatism, racism

Afghan MP Malalai Joya Condemns US/NATO Bombing of Civilians, Says Coming Elections are a Pre-Determined Sham

Seeded on Thu May 21, 2009 5:12 AM EDT (ZNet)

You'd think the backers and promoters of the Afghan "good war" and the Obama surge would be backing and promoting this embattled, endangered woman - what she represents and stands for - above all. Not the case.

world-news, malalai-joya, afghanistan, farah-province, northern-alliance, nato, us-military, democracy, great-game, imperialism

Irish Times Calls "Sham" on Bank Stress Tests, Financial Wizardry Akin to Wizard of Oz

Seeded on Mon May 18, 2009 12:23 PM EDT (Irish Times )

The results of the supposedly-stringent Supervisory Capital Assessment Programme (SCAP) have been released and demonstrate that investors were wrong to question the banking system's solvency while accounting wizardry employed by the wicked witches has allowed them to report fir …

world-news, tarp, capitalism, corporatism, wall-street, timothy-geithner, economy, plutocracy, supervisory-capital-assessment-programme-scap, wizard-of-oz

'Sham' Bank Bail-Outs Enrich Speculators, Says Buy-Out Chief Mark Patterson

Seeded on Mon May 18, 2009 12:17 PM EDT (Telegraph)

"The taxpayers ought to know that we [Wall Street] are in effect receiving a subsidy...said Mark Patterson, chairman of MatlinPatterson Advisers.

us-news, tarp, capitalism, corporatism, wall-street, qatar, matlinpatterson-advisers, timothy-geithner, hedge-funds, private-equity

Red Cross Sees 'Unimaginable Humanitarian Catastrophe' in Sri Lanka

Seeded on Fri May 15, 2009 6:45 AM EDT (The Earth Times Online)

Hundreds of seriously wounded or ill patients are waiting for medical care in north-eastern Sri Lanka but the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that for the third consecutive day it could not evacuate them due to heavy fighting.

world-news, red-cross, international-committee-of-the-red-cross, icroc, sri-lanka, tamil, tamil-tigers, united-nations, ltte

The USA's Awsomeness in Numbers: New OECD Country Rankings Report Out

Seeded on Wed May 13, 2009 1:43 PM EDT (A Tiny Revolution)

The OECD report is out. Like a pack of hungry wallabies, the media pounced immediately on the only item worth reporting: the French eat and sleep longer hours than anyone, and yet they're among the thinnest.

world-news, oecd, united-states-of-america, economy, poverty, prison, mortality, france

Arab Israeli Sets up Jewish Holocaust Memorial in West Bank, Convinced this Teaching Aid is Path to Peace

Seeded on Mon May 11, 2009 12:35 PM EDT (The Globe and Mail)

Arab Israeli lawyer Khaled Mahameed, the man who initiated this Holocaust memorial photo exhibit in the West Bank, is convinced that teaching about Jewish trauma is the path to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

world-news, israel, popular-committee-for-the-resistance-to-the-fence, palestine, holocaust, west-bank, khaled-mahameed, middle-east, gaza, idf

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