visionontv

TERRA 1025: Your Brain on Music

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 18:40:39 +0000

Music moves us from the inside out. Whether its smooth jazz, hair metal, or hokey tonk, music has an undeniably powerful effect upon our emotions and behavior. Through following sound’s journey through the brain, this short film reveals the science behind music’s profound effect. Produced by Billy Collins

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TERRA 1024: Purebred - From Poodles to Pit Bulls

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 08:00:30 +0000

After thousands of years of breeding, modern dogs are left contending against many genetic deformations. In an attempt to find a better future for our canine companions, Hans and his dog Elfi explore canine genetics from a physical and behavioral perspective.

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TERRA 1023: Gluten Free, Me?

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:52:06 +0000

This film discusses what gluten really is and who should actually eliminate it from their diet. Produced by Katie Mullen

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TERRA 1022: Consider the Ant

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 19:24:47 +0000

Abandon all hope ye who enter here?A personal search for ethics in the post-modern wilds of an overpopulated planet – where Catholic guilt, environmental destruction, and the fascinating lives of ants collide. This kaleidoscopic journey of science and spirituality asks us, as individuals and as a species, “who are we?” and “who do we want to be?” Produced by Emily Fraser

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TERRA 1021: Stewardship with Vision, EP02: Malpai Borderlands Group

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 18:38:19 +0000

Stewardship with Vision is a series of short films profiling conservation-minded landowners in the American West. The second episode of the series follows the Malpai Borderlands Group as they work to restore and maintain the natural processes that create and protect a healthy, unfragmented landscape to support a diverse, flourishing community of human, plant and animal life in our borderlands region. Together, they will accomplish this by working to encourage profitable ranching and other traditional livelihoods, which will sustain the open landscapes for generations to come. For more information on the Stewardship with Vision series, check out the Western Landowners Alliance. Produced by: Laurence Alexander

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TERRA 1020: Seizing the Unrecorded

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 29 May 2015 18:08:06 +0000

Seizing the Unrecorded is an autobiographical film that explores a question that everyone asks themselves at one point in there life: "How can something you love doing be bad for you?, and if it is, should you stop doing it?" The director of the film, Ingrid, goes on a journey to find out whether or not her filmmaking career is related to why she has seizures. Produced by: Ingrid Pfau

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TERRA 1019: Junk Studio

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 15 May 2015 14:00:04 +0000

Portrait of Northwest Montana artist Abe Quilling whose Junk Studio series is inspired by local history and made with discarded objects. Overcoming the skepticism of friends and family he begins incorporating the unlikeliest of models in his work. Produced by: Kier Atherton

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TERRA 1018: Croaked: The Science of Humor

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 01 May 2015 14:00:04 +0000

Is there a formula for funny? Join comedian Christian McDaniel as he attempts to look at the science behind humor and why people laugh. It's science, without killing any frogs. Produced by: Katie Jepson

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TERRA 1017: Dry Season

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:10:36 +0000

Willits, an eclectic town two hours north of San Francisco, faces an uncertain future during California's worst drought in 500 years. With just a 100-day supply of water left, cooperation, conservation, and finger pointing all compete in a community made up of ranchers, back-to-the-landers, and marijuana growers. Produced by: Max Good & Tyler Trumbo

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Bernie Sanders: 'This Country Belongs to All of Us, Not Just the Billionaire Class'

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 06:51:00 +0000

"We must launch a political revolution which engages millions of Americans from all walks of life in the struggle for real change."

The good news is that the economy today is much better than it was six years ago when George W. Bush left office. The bad news is that, despite these improvements, the 40-year decline of the American middle class continues. Real unemployment is much too high, 35 million Americans continue to have no health insurance and more of our friends and neighbors are living in poverty than at almost any time in the modern history of our country.

Meanwhile, as the rich become much richer, the level of income and wealth inequality has reached obscene and unimaginable levels. In the United States, we have the most unequal level of wealth and income distribution of any major country on earth, and worse now then at any other time since the 1920s. Today, the top one-tenth of 1 percent of our nation owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and one family owns more wealth than the bottom 42 percent. In terms of income, 99 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.

This is what a rigged economic system looks like. At a time when millions of American workers have seen declines in their incomes and are working longer hours for lower wages, the wealth of the billionaire class is soaring in a way that few can imagine. If you can believe it, between 2013 and 2015, the 14 wealthiest individuals in the country saw their net worth increase by over $157 billion dollars. Children go hungry, veterans sleep out on the streets, senior citizens cannot afford their prescription drugs -- and 14 individuals saw a $157 billion dollar increase in their wealth over a two-year period.

The grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing is not just a moral and economic issue, it is a political issue as well. As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, billionaires are now able to spend unlimited sums of money to buy the candidates they want. The Koch brothers, an extreme right-wing family, recently announced that they were prepared to spend some $900 million in the next election cycle. This is likely more money than either the Democratic or Republican parties will spend. If you think that it is an accident that the Republican Party has become a far-right party, think again. The Koch brothers' agenda -- ending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the U.S. Postal Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and all campaign finance limitations -- has become the agenda of the Republican candidates they fund.

And, by the way, if you think that the Republican Party's refusal to acknowledge that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is a severe threat to our planet, is not related to how we finance campaigns, you would be sorely mistaken. With the Koch brothers (who make much of their money in the fossil fuel industry) and big energy companies strongly supporting Republican candidates, it should not surprise anyone that my Republican colleagues reject the views of the overwhelming majority of scientists who study climate issues.

With Republicans now controlling both houses of Congress, let me briefly touch on some of the battles that I will be helping to lead in this extreme right-wing environment. In my view, with so many of our fellow citizens demoralized about the political process, it is absolutely imperative that we establish a strong progressive agenda that Americans can rally around. It must be an agenda that reflects the real needs of the working families of our country. It must be an agenda that engages people in a political struggle that they are prepared to fight for.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: The truth is that real unemployment in our country is not the "official" and widely-reported 5.5 percent. Counting those who are under-employed and those who have given up looking for work, real unemployment is 11 percent. Even more disturbingly, youth unemployment is close to 17 percent and African-American youth unemployment is much higher than that.

If we are truly serious about reversing the decline of the middle class and putting millions of people back to work, we need a major federal jobs program. There are a number of approaches which can be taken, but the fastest way to create jobs is to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure -- roads, bridges, dams, levees, airports, rail, water systems and wastewater plants.

In that regard, I have introduced legislation which would invest $1 trillion over 5 years to modernize our country's physical infrastructure. This legislation would create and maintain at least 13 million good-paying jobs. It would also make our country more productive, efficient and safe.

I will also continue my opposition to our current trade policies and vote against fast tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Simply put, our trade policies have failed. Permanent normal trade relations with China have led to the loss of more than 3.2 million American jobs. The North American Free Trade Agreement has led to the loss of nearly 1 million jobs. The Korean Free Trade Agreement has led to the loss of some 60,000 jobs.

We have got to fundamentally rewrite our trade rules so that American jobs are no longer our No.1 export. Corporate America must start investing in this country, not China.

As we struggle for decent-paying jobs, we must also rebuild the trade union movement. Throughout the country, millions of workers want to join unions but are meeting fierce opposition from their employers. We need legislation that makes it easier, not harder, for unions to flourish.

Raising Wages: Today, millions of Americans are working for starvation wages. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is totally inadequate. In fact, the real value of today's minimum wage has declined by one-third since 1968. By raising the minimum wage to a living wage we can provide an increase in income for those people who need it the most. Our goal must be that no full-time worker in this country lives in poverty.

We must also bring about pay equity. There is no rational reason why women should be earning 78 cents on the dollar compared to men who perform the same work.

Further, we have got to expand overtime protections for millions of workers. It is absurd that "supervisors" who earn $25,000 a year are currently forced to work 50 or 60 hours a week with no overtime pay. Raising the income threshold to at least $56,680 from the absurdly low level of $23,660 a year for overtime will mean increased income for many millions of salaried workers.

Addressing Wealth and Income Inequality: Today the richest 400 Americans own more than $2.3 trillion in wealth, more than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. Meanwhile, nearly half of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings and have no idea how they will be able to retire with dignity.

We need real tax reform which makes the rich and profitable corporations begin to pay their fair share of taxes. It is absurd that in 1952 corporate income taxes provided 32 percent of federal revenue while in 2014 they provided 11 percent. It is scandalous that major profitable corporations like General Electric, Verizon, Citigroup and JP Morgan have, in a given recent year, paid nothing in federal income taxes. It is fiscally irresponsible that the U.S. Treasury loses about $100 billion a year because corporations and the rich stash their profits in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and other tax havens.

Warren Buffett is honest. He has pointed out the unfairness of him, a multi-billionaire, paying a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. It is disgraceful that millionaire hedge fund managers are able to pay lower tax effective tax rates than truck drivers or nurses because they take advantage of a variety of loopholes that their lobbyists wrote.

This must end. We need a tax system which is fair and progressive. Children should not go hungry in this country while profitable corporations and the wealthy avoid their tax responsibilities.

Reversing Climate Change: The United States must lead the world in reversing climate change and make certain that this planet is habitable for our children and grandchildren. We must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energies. Millions of homes and buildings need to be weatherized, our transportation system needs to be energy efficient and we need to greatly accelerate the progress we are already seeing in wind, solar, geothermal and other forms of sustainable energy. Transforming our energy system will not only protect the environment, it will create good-paying jobs.

Health Care for All: The United States remains the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care for all as a right. Despite the modest gains of the Affordable Care Act, 35 million Americans continue to lack health insurance and many more are under-insured. Yet, we continue paying far more per capita for health care than any other nation. The United States must move toward a Medicare-for-All single-payer system.

Protecting Our Most Vulnerable: Today the United States has more people living in poverty than at almost any time in the modern history of our country. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major nation, 35 million Americans still lack health insurance and millions of seniors and disabled people struggle to put food on the table because of insufficient Social Security benefits.

The Republican response to the economic pain of so many of our people was to make a bad situation much worse. The recently-passed Republican budget throws 27 million Americans off of health insurance, cuts Medicare, makes huge cuts to nutrition and makes it harder for working class families to afford college or put their kids in the Head Start program.

In my view, we have a moral responsibility to make certain that no American goes hungry or sleeps out on the streets. We must also make certain that seniors and people with disabilities can live in dignity. Not only must we vigorously oppose Republican attacks on the social safety net, we must expand benefits for those in need. That is why I have recently introduced legislation which would increase the solvency of Social Security until 2065, while expanding benefits for those who need them the most.

Making College Affordable for All: We live in a highly competitive global economy. If this country is to do well economically, we need to have the best-educated workforce in the world. Yet today many Americans cannot get a higher education, not because they are unqualified, but because they simply cannot afford it. Millions of others who do graduate from college or graduate school are drowning in debt. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the total amount of outstanding student loan debt in the United States has tripled in the last 10 years, and has now reached $1.2 trillion.

The United States must join many other countries in understanding that investing in our young people's education is investing in the future of our nation. I will soon be introducing legislation to make tuition in public colleges and universities free, as well as substantially lower interest rates on student loans.

And these are just SOME of the issues we are dealing with.

Let me conclude this letter by stating the obvious. This country is in serious trouble. Our economic system benefits the rich and large corporations and leaves working families behind. Our political system is dominated by billionaire campaign contributors and their lobbyists and is moving us in the direction of oligarchy. Our media system, owned by the corporate world, spends enormous time and energy diverting our attention away from the most important issues facing us. Climate change threatens the planet and we have a major political party denying its reality.

Clearly, the struggle to create a nation and world of economic and social justice and environmental sanity is not an easy one. But this I know: despair is not an option if we care about our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.

We must stand up and fight back. We must launch a political revolution which engages millions of Americans from all walks of life in the struggle for real change. This country belongs to all of us, not just the billionaire class.

Please join the grass-roots revolution that we desperately need.

1 Simple Purposeful Practice Women Could Utilize to NEVER Feel Unworthy Again

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 02:16:47 +0000

"I am on a mission to change the world, will you join me in sharing this message of love?"

The post 1 Simple Purposeful Practice Women Could Utilize to NEVER Feel Unworthy Again appeared first on The Anti-Media.

War Mongers Angry Over Prospect of Not Going to War with Iran

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 22:49:26 +0000

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let it be known he continues to be "vehemently opposed" to any deal with Iran.

The post War Mongers Angry Over Prospect of Not Going to War with Iran appeared first on The Anti-Media.

The Latest Big-City School Testing Scandal Exposes Everything That's Wrong with the Standardized Approach

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 21:35:00 +0000

It's not surprising that educators would cheat in order to meet goals that are impossible to achieve.

Eleven Atlanta educators, convicted and imprisoned, have taken the fall for systematic cheating on standardized tests in American education. Such cheating is widespread, as is similar corruption in any institution—whether health care, criminal justice, the Veterans Administration, or others—where top policymakers try to manage their institutions with simple quantitative measures that distort the institution’s goals. This corruption is especially inevitable when out-of-touch policymakers set impossible-to-achieve goals and expect that success will nonetheless follow if only underlings are held accountable for measurable results.

There was little doubt, even before the jury’s decision, that Atlanta teachers and administrators had changed answers on student test booklets to increase scores. There was also little doubt that Atlanta’s late superintendent, Beverly Hall, was partly responsible because she had, as a state investigation revealed, “created a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation” that had permitted “cheating—at all levels—to go unchecked for years.”

What the trial did not explore was whether Dr. Hall herself was reacting to a culture of fear, intimidation, and retaliation that her board, state education officials, and the Bush and Obama administrations had created. Just as her principals’ jobs were in jeopardy if test scores didn’t rise, her tenure, too, was dependent on ever rising test scores.

Holding educators accountable for student test results makes sense if the tests are reasonable reflections of teacher performance. But if they are not, and if educators are being held accountable for meeting standards that are impossible to achieve, then the only way to meet fanciful goals imposed from above—according to federal law, that all children will make adequate yearly progress towards full proficiency in 2014—is to cheat, using illegal or barely legal devices. It is not surprising that educators do just that.

And demanding that all students be proficient, by any date, was an impossible and incoherent demand. No Child Left Behind required that states make their proficiency standards “challenging.” But no goal can simultaneously be challenging to and achievable by all students across the entire achievement distribution. A standard can either be a minimal standard, which presents no challenge to typical and advanced students, or it can be a challenging standard, which is unachievable by most below-average students. Some states ignored the “challenging” requirement and lowered their standards so most students could pass a meaningless test. Others succumbed to hectoring by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his colleagues in the Bush and Obama administrations to raise their standards, essentially guaranteeing the cheating scandals that followed. Now, with tests coming online that are aligned with the tougher “Common Core” standards, along with new demands that educators jobs are at risk if all students don’t achieve proficiency, we can be sure that Atlanta’s cheating scandal will not be the last.

Certainly, educators can refuse to cheat, and take the fall for unavoidable failure in other ways: they can see their schools closed, their colleagues fired, their students’ confidence and love of learning destroyed. That would have been the legal thing to do, but not necessarily the ethical thing to do. As one indicted teacher told the judge before the trial, “I truly believed that I was helping these children stay in school just one more year,” something from which they would have benefited far more than being drilled incessantly on test-taking strategies so they could pass tests legally.

Attempting to protect children from curricular corruption by changing test answers may have been an option chosen by many teachers in Atlanta. A curious aspect of the Atlanta scandal is that while cheating on Georgia’s standardized tests was widespread, Atlanta’s performance on a federal sampled test, for which there are no sanctions for alleged failure and on which cheating is extremely difficult, improved at least as rapidly, and in several comparisons more rapidly and more consistently, than performance in other large urban districts for which data are available—with the possible exception of Los Angeles, where impressive gains were similar to those in Atlanta. The gains characterized not only the Atlanta district as a whole, but its most disadvantaged (African American and low-income) students. Could this be because many Atlanta teachers foreswore test-specific instructional distortion and concentrated on delivering quality instruction, while protecting themselves from sanctions by cheating? We can’t know, but it is a possibility.

Our use of tests as the chief way to measure school and teacher performance has corrupted schools everywhere. Because schools have been held accountable only for math and reading test scores, classroom time has diminished for other critically important subjects like social studies and civics, science, physical education, and character development. In many places, drills and test preparation have displaced instruction. Elsewhere, teachers and administrators have studied prior tests to make educated guesses about the specific question types that are likely to appear on the next test; teachers can then practice these question types with their students, while ignoring other types that are just as important in the curriculum. Some districts tend to suspend low-scoring students for alleged disciplinary infractions just before testing day. In many places, principals convene meetings of teachers early in the school year to review prior year test results in order to identify students whose past performance has been just below the passing point; then, teachers can concentrate instruction on these students while devoting less attention to students who are already above the passing point or who are too far below it to be able to improve the passing rate. This strategy is known as “data-driven instruction” and is highly praised by education policymakers. Because it causes less harm to students, the cheating done by Atlanta teachers may be more ethical than the more commonplace forms of corruption.

Test-cheating scandals are widespread. Cheating in Baltimore, Houston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere did not result in high-profile trials, but has been well-documented. In Washington, DC, former Chancellor Michelle Rhee got great credit for improving student performance. She gave large bonuses to principals whose test score improvements were substantial—and implausible. An investigation found a statistically improbable rate of “wrong-to-right” erasures and corrections on district tests. Rhee, too, created a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation.

What is most puzzling is that top policymakers, from the president and Secretary of Education on down, continue to believe that schools can be improved by holding educators accountable for achieving quantifiable progress towards overly simplified and sometimes absurd goals. In 1994, Congress passed a law saying that the United States would be “first in the world in math and science by 2000.” When passing a law proved inadequate, Congress adopted No Child Left Behind, with its demand that all students be proficient by 2014. When it became apparent that testing and punishment for low scores could not accomplish this, the Obama administration attempted to substitute an even more unrealistic goal—getting all students “college and career ready” by 2020. The federal government doesn’t have a monopoly on such foolishness. Governor Rick Scott of Florida has just promised that his state will have the highest graduation rate in the nation by the end of his current term. It becomes not only foolish, but dangerous, when policymakers take such goals seriously, hold educators accountable for meeting them, and then label those who do not as failures.

For years, the overwhelming evidence from other fields has been that accountability by simple quantitative measures does more harm than good, and too often results in corruption or illegal cheating. And it continues to accumulate.

Obamacare is implementing pay systems for doctors and hospitals that reward them for the health of their patients, for example, by increasing payments to hospitals whose patients, within a month of being discharged, have a low rate of follow-up hospitalization. In practice, however, the reward system simply penalizes a hospital for taking low-income patients because, as a report commissioned by the administration itself concluded, “readmissions are difficult to avoid in patients who can’t afford post-discharge medications, have no social support to help with recovery at home, have no way to get to follow-up doctor appointments or are homeless.”

Medicare has adopted a rating system for nursing homes, designed to reward good homes and punish bad ones by directing patients to those of the highest (“five star”) quality. The system includes indicators like staffing levels and quality—how many patients develop bedsores, for example. Both legal corruption and fraudulent cheating has resulted. Nursing homes add staff before scheduled inspections, and reduce staff once the inspectors leave. That’s legal. They also self-report inaccurate quality information. That’s fraudulent. There have been no show trials, however, of nursing home staff, and no nurses have been led off before the cameras in handcuffs because they purposely failed to report bedsores.

On Tuesday, Chicago voters will decide whether to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has boasted about the miraculous drop in crime during his first term. The drop in crime statistics, however, was achieved at least in part by police administrators who classified more serious crimes as lesser crimes, or as no crimes at all. There have been no show trials either of Chicago police administrators who cheated on their crime reports.

The most widely reported recent instance of this corruption was the Veterans Administration’s requirement that its staff schedule appointments within 14 days of a veteran’s request for one. That it was impossible to meet this standard because there were insufficient doctors to see patients within that time frame did not influence the VA to change its standard. So, systematically, nationwide, intake staff cheated, for example by reporting that patients had only called for an appointment 14 days before they received one, not the months that may have transpired. Many staff members also lied to federal investigators looking into the cheating; lying to investigators is a crime for which Atlanta educators were convicted, VA employees have not been similarly prosecuted. Instead of being put on trial, supervisors who permitted such practices have been allowed to resign.

There is another respect in which the VA scandal differed from the one in the Atlanta school district. VA supervisors permitted to resign did not take the fall for those ultimately responsible for enforcing the corruption-inducing standard. Last May, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, who had ordered that appointments be scheduled within 14 days, himself resigned because of the scandal. I offer no opinion about whether similar accountability would be appropriate in the Department of Education.

Keep Your Eyes Wide Open: 6 Outrageous Ways Airlines Try to Yank Your Wallet

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 21:00:00 +0000

Sometimes your only choice is to go without or suck it up.

These days, getting a good deal on an airfare isn’t as simple as buying a cheap ticket. Unwitting customers may be lured in by amazingly low ticket prices online, but sometimes the deal ends there. With domestic carriers tacking on extra charges for all sorts of basic services, travelers are often blindsided by additional fees once they arrive at the airport. You may not be able to avoid every a la carte service you’re hit with. But knowing which airlines charge the most egregious fees can help you make a more informed decision when comparing fares and calculating total costs.

1. Carry-on fees: up to $100. If you’re hoping to dodge a checked bag fee by bringing a carry-on item onboard, think again. Three airlines (Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit) now charge for carry-on bags. The fees could increase significantly if you don’t follow protocol or you’re unaware. For example, the fee for a carry-on on Spirit will vary greatly depending on where and when you pay for it. When purchased during online booking, you’ll pay $35, and $45 during online check-in. If you hold off until you arrive at the airport, you will be charged $50 per carry-on. Wait until you get to the gate and you’ll pay a whopping $100. Similar terms and fees apply to checked bags.

Spirit Airlines is notorious for offering low fares, then tacking on a slew of exorbitant and hard-to-avoid fees. A quick search turns up dozens of articles like this one, which help customers outsmart the fee-hungry carrier and avoid extra charges. According to the Wall Street Journal, fees brought in two-fifths of Spirit’s revenue in 2013, so despite public annoyance, it has no incentive to eliminate or reduce them.

2. Selecting your own seat: up to $80. Choosing a specific seat on a plane is as easy as selecting an empty seat on a diagram with a single keystroke. Yet that doesn’t stop five major carriers from making passengers pay for this so-called privilege. Allegiant seems to be the biggest culprit when it comes to a seat selection fee, with customers complaining of charges as high as $80. In some cases, the cost of choosing a specific seat can be as high as the ticket itself. Allegiant states that when passengers check in for their flight, whether online or at the airport, they will automatically be assigned a seat at no cost. However, those traveling with a companion or in a group must pay extra in order to sit together. Imagine how quickly that adds up for families with small children.

3. Printing a boarding pass at the airport: up to $10. Last year, Allegiant implemented a $5 charge per boarding pass if it’s printed at the airport by a ticket agent. "We now have mobile scanning technology in even the smallest airports in our network so that every Allegiant customer can ‘go paperless’ and use their smartphone or tablet to check-in, pass through security and board their flight,” Andrew Levy, Allegiant Travel Co. president and COO, said in a statement. Spirit charges $10 to print each boarding pass at the airport.

There is no doubt that services like paperless check-in can save travelers time and money, providing they do their research and fully understand each carrier’s unique protocol. On major airlines like American and Delta, customers can print their boarding pass once they arrive at the airport without paying a fee. Check-in procedures, baggage policies and fees vary so greatly from one carrier to another, that travelers are often forced to scour the fine print or navigate a maze of red tape. If they don’t do their homework, they will likely get burned.

4. Booking a ticket by phone or in-person: up to $40. Another example of conflicting policies between carriers involves online versus in-person bookings. All domestic carriers, with the exception of Spirit and Frontier, allow users to purchase tickets online without any additional fees. If you opt for a person-to-person booking, either over the phone or at the airport, most airlines, with the exception of Frontier and Southwest Airlines, charge a fee ranging from $15 to $25. US Airways charges the highest price for tickets issued by phone or in-person: $30 for domestic travel and $40 for international trips.

Spirit charges a passenger usage fee, from $8.99 to $16.99 each way, when you book online. Allegiant tacks on a $10 convenience fee per flight for tickets purchased online. However, no fees are applied to tickets issued at the airport on either carrier. Both carriers have backward policies that are directly at odds with other airlines. According to Conde Nast Traveler, both Spirit and Allegiant’s rationale is strategically based on consumer behavior and convenience factors. “See, these two airlines know it's very unlikely that you'll actually go to the airport, and you'd be willing to pay more just so you don't have to do that,” author Brett Synder says.

5. Bringing a pet onboard: up to $250. Expect to pay a minimum of $75 if you are traveling with a pet. If you have a larger animal who needs to be placed in the cargo hold, you will likely pay a lot more. Fees for bigger animals are more justifiable since airport personnel is required to handle and transport them. If your pet is small enough to remain with you in the cabin, you’ll still pay through the nose to carry him or her onboard yourself. Keep in mind that pet fees are broken down by one-way fares, so if you’re taking a roundtrip flight, you will have to pay double. In some cases, a pet’s ticket could cost the same or even more than your own, and your pet doesn’t even get a seat.

When it comes to pet flight fees, United is the biggest offender, charging as much as $250 one way; Hawaiian Airlines trails close behind with fees up to $225. Why should it cost so much to travel with your pet? There’s no real formula here; it’s all about what the market will bear.

6. Change your ticket: up to $400. Airlines often delay or even cancel flights for various reasons, and offer little (if any) compensation to inconvenienced passengers. However, when travelers have to change or cancel their reservations, they are penalized with heavy fees. This is one area in which budget carriers Allegiant and Frontier seem to be more forgiving. Allegiant currently charges a non-refundable ticket change fee of $75 per segment. This same fee ranges from $50 to $100 on Frontier. American Airlines and Delta both charge a steep $200 change fee on domestic flights. Delta may charge up to $400 on international flight changes.

The list of ridiculous charges for some of the most basic things—beverages, inflight Wi-Fi or even a pillow—could go on and on. In an industry that is constantly changing, or as some believe, conspiring against its own customers, sometimes your only choice is to go without or suck it up. Even if you know the ins and out of domestic travel and have mastered the challenge of dodging extra fees, you also know all too well that the rules are subject to change at any time.

$1 Billion Lawsuit: Government Funded Studies Intentionally Infected People with STDs

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 20:43:30 +0000

A lawsuit has been filed against Johns Hopkins University for performing unethical, government-sponsored studies which infected people with STDs.

The post $1 Billion Lawsuit: Government Funded Studies Intentionally Infected People with STDs appeared first on The Anti-Media.

TERRA 1016: Miscontraceptions

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 20:03:00 +0000

With humor, whim, and a little revival of sex ed, Miscontraceptions explores the filmmaker’s journey off the pill into the Fertility Awareness Method. In this directing debut film, Moriarty investigates where this method of family planning fits in society and education. She goes on a quest to dispel misconceptions about using FAM as birth control and asks the crucial question 'Why don't more people know about this?' Produced by: Cassondra Moriarty

[www.lifeonterra.com ] SPECIAL FEATURES / DETAILED EPISODE INFORMATION / TERRAPHILES COMMUNITY

Right-Wingers' Big Iran Problem: Was Their Only Solution to Go to War?

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 20:02:00 +0000

Last time, they assured us that invading Iraq would cost us practically nothing -- which turned out wrong.

Before too much credibility is lavished upon Republican critics of the Iran nuclear agreement draft, including all of the assorted would-be presidential candidates, someone ought to urge them to explain what they would do instead. And when those critics start blathering, someone should interrupt to ask whether they are actually talking about a simple three-letter word: war.

From the beginning, the familiar faces that favor war over negotiation have prepared their talking points against any eventual deal. But they were surely surprised by the comprehensive, positive and detailed character of the framework announced in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Secretary of State John Kerry. The tentative nuclear agreement includes significant concessions by Iran that will achieve the most important metric demanded by the United States and its diplomatic partners -- namely, to extend the "breakout" period required for Tehran to develop a single nuclear weapon.

The full deal is complex and yet to be completed, but the proposed framework addresses the most pressing concerns about a sustainable and verifiable non-proliferation regime.

According to President Obama, Kerry and the P5+1 alliance in Lausanne -- where the talks had continued until the last possible moments -- the government of Iran has agreed to cut its uranium-enriching centrifuges from 19,000 to 6,000, greatly reducing its capacity to rapidly produce weapons-grade material.

The excess centrifuges and related machinery will be held in storage monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be used only for replacement parts -- and Iran will construct no new uranium-enrichment facilities for the duration of the agreement.

Taken together, these changes are expected to extend the "breakout" period from a few months to at least one year.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also agreed that his country will not enrich uranium over 3.67 percent for the next 15 years and will slash its present inventory of more than 20 tons of low-enriched uranium to well under a ton for the same duration. Moreover, Zarif and his team conceded that Iran will ship all of the spent fuel from its heavy-water reactor at Arak, which might have been reprocessed into bomb-ready plutonium, to other countries for reprocessing -- a sticking point earlier in the talks. The Arak facility itself will undergo a reconstruction process -- including the destruction of the reactor's original core -- rendering production of plutonium impossible.

The deal provides for continuous IAEA monitoring of all Iranian nuclear reactors and programs -- described by Obama as the most intensive ever undertaken -- and for sanctions relief that will only begin when Iran has met all of its initial commitments to restructure and dismantle its weapons-related equipment and programs.

As Obama said in welcoming the agreement, these negotiations -- and their ultimate success -- are an opportunity of historic significance to reduce the risks of war and proliferation.

But the Iran talks also represent a chance to promote peaceful change in that unfortunate country, whose people desperately hope that the government of President Hassan Rouhani can move toward normal relationships with Western countries, especially the United States. The best guarantees of peace and security -- for the world, the U.S., the Middle East and, yes, Israel -- will be realized by strengthening forces in Tehran that seek to transcend Iran's status as a diplomatic and economic pariah.

Partisan efforts to scuttle the nascent bargain have long been underway and will now intensify. The perpetrators are almost exclusively the same group of "experts" -- from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to former U.N. ambassador John Bolton to ubiquitous neoconservative pundit William Kristol -- who were wrong about the supposed nuclear plans of Saddam Hussein, and who then pushed us into a pointless war that cost many thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

So what would the critics propose? Extending the current sanctions regime is not a workable option and would not, by their estimates, permanently deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons -- even if international unity behind the sanctions could be maintained indefinitely, which is even more unlikely.

Evidently, the critics intend to embroil the United States and Israel in a series of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, another strategy that will not achieve any enduring impact. Is their real plan a full-scale land invasion leading to "regime change"? Unlike Iraq, the target of the last misadventure promoted by these same savants, Iran has a large and well-equipped military. Last time, the neoconservative advocates of war assured us that invading Iraq would cost us practically nothing -- a prediction that was tragically wrong. What will their bad advice cost us this time?

The American people support Obama's use of internationally backed sanctions to achieve a negotiated agreement rather than armed conflict -- and now his approach is proving more effective than the belligerent attitude promoted by his critics over the past decade. Let us hope that he and Kerry, both of whom deserve enormous credit for their moral courage and pertinacity, will be able to bring forth a signed agreement by the next deadline in late June.

Phony! ‘Tea Party’ Protesters Opposed to Florida Land Deal Were Mostly Actors Hired by Big Sugar

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:44:00 +0000

More corporate hijacking of activism.

The Palm Beach Post‘s Christine Stapleton reports that the “Tea Party” protesters outside of the South Florida Water Management District on Thursday were, by and large, actors hired by the Tea Party of Miami and U.S. Sugar.

The district is currently considering buying land owned by U.S. Sugar, which it would use for the treatment and storage of lake flood water. Environmentalist believe that using the land in this way will allow them to divert more water into the Everglades without harming coastal estuaries. The water would not only help replenish the Everglades, it would also provide an emergency reserve drinking supply for South Florida.

But U.S. Sugar wants to keep the land, arguing that as one of the area’s largest employers, it is in the district’s best interests not to exercise the $350 million buy-out option in its contract. Tea Party Miami:

Unable to find actual grassroots support, Tea Party Miami and U.S. Sugar joined forces, resulting in the following job opportunity — captured by Kate Bradshaw — being posted on Facebook:

Those who successfully applied for the position were not shy about announcing their good fortune:

Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo told Bradshaw that “Big Sugar supporters hiring actors to pretend to protest is pathetic. Someone should ask who is paying for artificial sweetener to make polluting the Everglades and our drinking water easier to swallow.”

Sarah Bascom, the spokeswoman for the Support the EAA Reservoir Project Coalition, was even more cutting in her assessment.

“This is absolutely ridiculous and, quite frankly, embarrassing for these two groups to have hired paid actors to pose as protestors who ultimately had no idea what they were there to oppose,” she said.

“It is bad enough to have these last-minute groups pop up without any accountability on who they really are being funded by – but now, we have actors posing as concerned Floridians. If they could not find 50 people who were truly and genuinely concerned about the future of Florida’s drinking water and how best to spend funds from Amendment 1, we could have gladly helped them with crowd development.”

More Americans Trust Fox News Than the Govt to Tell Them the Truth About Climate Change

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:31:00 +0000

Americans are extremely confused about where reliable information on global warming comes from.

When it comes to getting accurate, reliable information on global climate change, more Americans trust Fox News than the president. That’s a problem, the Huffington Postpoints out, while President Obama tends to contradict himself by insisting that we need to fight climate change and then signing off on fracking and offshore drilling, Fox News is an anti-science mess that seems to take particular glee in spreading misinformation andstraight-up lies about the realities, and dangers, of global warming.

But more people do trust astrophysicist and “Cosmos” host Neil deGrasse Tyson than either of those entities, according to a recent poll of 1,016 Americans from St. Leo University, and about the same proportion trust the mainstream media. To be sure, that’s still only 22 percent of people in both cases, but it’s somewhat reassuring.

Most strange, from these results, is that the largest proportion of respondents — 45 percent — say they trust non-government scientists and educators, while only 13 percent trust the U.S. government. In other words, nothing we learn from government agencies like NASA, on whose satellites we rely for information on sea level rise, ice melt and air pollution, and NOAA, which funds “high-priority climate science, assessments, decision support research, outreach, education and capacity-building activities” to help us understand, mitigate and prepare for the impacts of climate change, can be trusted.

The conclusion we can take from all this, I guess, is that Americans are pretty darn confused about where reliable information comes from.

On the bright side, thought, almost no one said they trust Rush Limbaugh (6 percent), business or industry groups (5 percent), or utility companies (5 percent) — the only source of climate information that polled worse, with three percent of respondents saying they trusted them on climate, were “entertainers and celebrities.” Looks like Sen. Inhofe’sconspiracy theory about Barbra Streisand engineering the entire climate change “hoax” might be catching on…

Witnesses: Police Let K-9 Maul Handcuffed Unconscious Man’s Face as They Beat Him to Death

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:18:00 +0000

N.J. officers proceeded to assault Phillip White after he was already restrained, witnesses say.

Vineland, NJ — Phillip White, of Cumberland County NJ, died yesterday in custody after being beaten in the street by two Vineland police officers.

Police were arresting White at a home on the 100 block of Grape Street when witnesses say the officers proceeded to beat him brutally after he was already restrained and on the ground.

One of the officers is heard on the dispatch recording saying “Subject under…tried to disarm me.” However, eyewitness Agustin Ayala paints a different story, saying he saw the officers handcuff White and take him to the ground.

Ricardo Garcia, another eyewitness, is outraged. “The guy was out cold,” stated Garcia. “They punched him, stomped him, kicked him and then they let the dog out of the car. The dog bit him on his face and around his body. There’s no call for that. Once a man is handcuffed and unconscious, you should have stuck him in the patrol car and take him to the police station. Instead, they decided to beat him right here.”

White was taken into custody around 11am Tuesday morning and died shortly thereafter.

Vineland Police Chief Timothy Codispoti has not released any details about the incident but has offered condolences to the family of the victim.

“Why, what he was doing, I don’t know,” White’s aunt, Valerie White, said. “I’m trying to get answers and closure now. He lived a street life, but he was a human being. Bottom line.”

@xychelsea: Chelsea Manning on Twitter!

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:03:51 +0000

March 3, 2015 by the Chelsea Manning Support Network

Chelsea Manning now has her own personal Twitter account, @xychelsea!

Since her imprisonment in Fort Leavenworth, KS, Chelsea has been speaking out in op-eds featured in The Guardian and The New York Times.

Now, with her new Twitter account, you can hear updates from our heroic Wikileaks whistleblower on a more regular basis!

Follow @xychelsea today for tweets written by Chelsea Manning!

Chelsea Manning’s Twitter is made possible by the Chelsea Manning Support Network and communications with Fitzgibbon Media. The name of Chelsea’s account, @xychelsea, was chosen by Chelsea herself.

Chelsea can continue to be a powerful voice for reform, but we need your help to make that happen. Help us support Chelsea in prison, maximize her voice in the media, continue public education, fund her legal appeals team, and build a powerful movement for presidential pardon.

> > > Please donate today! < < <

Why Is Jerry Brown a Letting Big Ag. and Oil Gluttons Suck Up Most of California's Water?

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 18:45:00 +0000

The problem is corporate big shots.

As California’s record drought continues, Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered residents and non-agricultural businesses to cut water use by 25 percent in the first mandatory statewide reduction in the state’s history. One group not facing restrictions under the new rules is big agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of California’s water. The group Food & Water Watch California has criticized Brown for not capping water usage by oil extraction industries and corporate farms, which grow water-intensive crops such as almonds and pistachios, most of which are exported out of state and overseas. Studies show the current drought, which has intensified over the past four years, is the worst California has seen in at least 120 years. Some suggest it is the region’s worst drought in more than a thousand years. This comes after California witnessed the warmest winter on record. We speak with environmental reporter Mark Hertsgaard, author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth."

Below is an interview with Hertsgaard, followed by a transcript:

NERMEEN SHAIKH: California Governor Jerry Brown ordered residents and non-agricultural businesses to cut water use by 25 percent in the first mandatory statewide reduction in the state’s history. Ninety-eight percent of California is now suffering from drought. Governor Brown issued the executive order at the mostly snow-bare Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort closed for the season weeks ago due to lack of snow.

GOV. JERRY BROWN: One thing we know is we are standing on dry grass, and we should be standing in five feet of snow. That’s the way it has been. We are in an historic drought, and that demands unprecedented action. For that reason, I am issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reduction across our state.

As Californians, we have to pull together, and save water in every way we can. This executive order, which I signed today, it is long, it covers a number of different details — in fact, I have never seen one quite like it before. It is going to save water by mandating real reductions in a number of areas. It is going to affect golf courses, people’s lawns, universities, campuses, all sorts of institutions, the median with vegetation on our roads and highways. It affects all of that.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: One group not facing restrictions under the new rules is big agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of California’s water. The group Food & Water Watch California criticized Brown for not capping water usage by corporate farms that grow water-intensive crops such as almonds and pistachios, most of which are exported out of state and overseas. Adam Scow of Food and Water Watch California said, "In the midst of a severe drought, the governor continues to allow corporate farms and oil interests to deplete and pollute our precious groundwater resources." Studies show the current drought, which has intensified over the past four years, is the worst California has seen in at least 120 years. Some studies suggest it is the worst drought in the region in more than a thousand years.

AMY GOODMAN: While much of the eastern United States experienced record cold temperatures, California, as well as Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington each saw their hottest winter ever. In January and February temperatures were one degree Fahrenheit hotter in California than last year, which ended as the hottest year on record by nearly two degrees. Deke Arndt of the National Climatic Data Center said, "The 21st century for sure is being characterized by persistent, ubiquitous drought in the West. The projection is for that to continue," he said. We go now to San Francisco where we are joined by the environmental reporter Mark Hertsgaard. His latest story is "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought." He is also the author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth. Mark Hertsgaard, welcome back to Democracy Now!. Can you talk about what the governor has mandated, who is included, and who isn’t?

MARK HERTSGAARD: Sure. It’s good to be here. The new executive order by Governor Brown issued yesterday really focused mainly on the urban sector, as he mentioned in the clip you just showed us, this is going to affect golf courses, and median strips, and a number of other uses in the urban areas where he demands a 25 percent mandatory immediate cut in consumption. That means the water agencies, the public agencies in control in those areas of water supply have to deliver 25 percent cuts. What was striking about the order is that it did not require those same kind of cuts from the agriculture sector, which, in California, is the big player in water. Agriculture uses about 80 percent of all of the developed water here in the state. I should add, Amy, that Governor Brown’s spokespersons, when I contacted them last night, said that it was true that the executive order only required "plans" from these big agricultural districts, but they pointed out that the water districts have already been cut back earlier this year — both the state supplies and the federal water supplies have already been cut back by a larger amount. Nevertheless, the new executive order does focus mainly on the cities, not the countryside.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Mark, could you explain why it is — why is agriculture exempt from the orders the governor has given?

MARK HERTSGAARD: From the new orders, it’s what the — again, what the spokespersons for the governor’s say is that, look, agriculture has already taken a hit, they say a bigger hit than we are asking from urban users, and we plan to ask for more going down the road. The plans that are required under Governor Brown’s executive order from the agricultural water districts will be used, the Governor’s aids say, they will be used to be try to diminish the amount of ground water that is being consumed in the future, and that is a key thing for people to understand, that right now, when there is no rain, and we are going in and out of the fourth year of this historic drought in California — that when there is no rain, and there is not enough supply coming from the reservoirs and so forth, what happens is that the farmers basically drill deeper down under the earth to get the groundwater, the ancient groundwater that is down there. In a normal year in California, that groundwater provides about 40 percent of our water supply, but in the dry years, it’s up to 60 percent.

If you go down to the Central Valley, where most of the farming takes place, as I have on reporting trips, we are now in a kind of an agricultural arms race down there, where farmers, neighboring farmers, everyone is trying to drill deeper and deeper wells to get down and grab that groundwater, and, of course, that does favor the larger, corporate farmers over the smaller mom-and-pop operations. The big danger of that, though, and this is the real, potential doomsday scenario here in California, is that the more that you go down and use that groundwater and suck it up like a straw, the greater the danger is that you collapse those aquifers underground, that they compress, and you essentially have a situation where they are rendered barren in perpetuity, and that would be a real problem. So, we can’t keep relying on this groundwater depletion forever. There has to be a smarter way to do this.

AMY GOODMAN: When California Governor Jerry Brown announced his water restrictions Wednesday, he was joined by Frank Gehrke, the California’s Department of Water Resources. He said state’s snowpack, a major source of water for the rest of the year, is at it’s lowest level on record

FRANK GEHRKE: You are at the Phillips snow course for the April 1, 2015 measurement, and as you can clearly see, there is no snow at this location. This is the first year in its measurements going back to 1942 where this snow course has been bear, no snow at all. Unfortunately, that is what we are finding more or less statewide, where upwards of 60 percent to 70 percent of the 240 manual snow course measurements that are being made on or about April 1, are showing bare ground. This is bad news in terms of the state’s water picture.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Frank Gehrke of the California Water Department of Water Resources. Mark Hertsgaard, what is the connection between the drought we see in California now and climate change?

MARK HERTSGAARD: This is a preview of what we are going to be seeing more and more as a 21st Century unfolds. The absolute historic low in the snowpack that we’re seeing here, quite frankly, it’s quite scary, but it’s quite directly related to climate change. You mentioned, Amy, at the top of the show, we have had the hottest winter in our modern history here. Well, what that means is that the precipitation that we do get, when it lands, coming in — the storms that come in from the Pacific Ocean — and they hit the Sierra Nevada, that means that that precipitation tends to fall as rain rather than snow. The other thing, of course, is that as it’s warmer, the droughts have increased, and that means that there is less precipitation altogether. This is going to be continuing. The scientists are quite clear on that.

Historically, this region has seen droughts of 10 year duration and longer, regularly, it’s not frequent, but it’s regular, and what the scientists are telling now is that we are going to be seeing more severe, and more frequent droughts going forward. That is why so many of the water experts that I interviewed for this story in The Daily Beast, say that really what we need to be talking about is not to demonize agriculture or demonize a particular plant like almonds or broccoli, what we really need to do is to reform the incentive structure that governs the price of water and the way that we use it in California.

Right now, the experts, pretty much uniformly say that water is still priced too cheaply, especially out in the agricultural areas, and this encourages waste, which Governor Brown, quite rightly, pointed out yesterday, we can’t afford. The Governor’s Executive Order quite precisely targets the urban areas and asks for smart things; the kind of conservation measures he outlined are only sensible: fixing leaks, leaky pipes, and leaky faucets, and so forth. We can do a lot with that, but you can’t leave 80 percent of the problem off of the table by not touching the agricultural districts.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Mark, in your story, "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought," you also mention a person by the name of Stewart Reznick. Could you explain the importance of mega operations like Paramount Farms in the water crisis and also in determining the price of water?

MARK HERTSGAARD: Sure, that’s a key point. There is a lot of Californians who are suffering right now, especially farm workers. There are communities out in Central Valley, the poor communities where a lot of farm workers live, that literally don’t have water coming out of their household taps anymore. That is not the case for Mr. Stewart Reznick and a lot of bigger farmers. In face, my story in The Daily Beast started with a conference that Mr. Reznick and his pistachio company, Paramount Farms, held just last month, where they bragged, literally bragged and celebrated about the record profits that they are making on pistachios, on almonds, and not only the profits, but the record production levels, and the record acreage levels, which means that as the state has been going into drought, nevertheless agricultural interests are planting more and more acreage, new almond trees — we are growing alfalfa here which is a very thirsty crop and gets exported over to China. There are all kinds of examples of this. But, the pain is not being felt equally here.

The growers at that conference, they literally trooped out of that conference listening to Louis Armstrong saying "it’s a wonderful world," and I think the mood was captured by one grower who said, "I’ve been smiling all the way to the bank," and they played a clip from that Tom Cruise movie, "Jerry Maguire" where Cruise yells out "show me the money." Well, they are making plenty of money, some of the big farmers here, and that’s largely because they are still getting plenty of water, and, as I say, the experts say that this water is underpriced. If that if we did price it properly, which means a little bit higher, that there is enormous strides that California could be taking with water efficiency. We literally could, essentially, wipe out the effects of the drought in California — 22 percent decrease in water consumption in the agricultural areas, which would be roughly the equivalent of the amount of surface water that the farmers did not have last year because of the drought. So, there is a lot that can be technologically, but until you get the pricing right, and the political economy of this straight, we are not going to see those things.

AMY GOODMAN: What about that? As you describe Stewart Reznick, a Beverly Hills billionaire known for his agricultural — sprawling agricultural holdings — his connection to the governors of California?

MARK HERTSGAARD: Not just the governors. Mr. Reznick, as you mentioned, he’s a billionaire, he made his money, basically, by, not so much being a smart farmer, as being a smart business man and a great, great marketer. He hired Stephen Colbert to do a Super Bowl commercial for pistachios. And he has seen, as many big business people do, that you have great advantages if you throw a lot of money around in politics, and he has been a bipartisan campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike — pretty much every governor — Senator Dianne Feinstein, all of them, have been recipients of Mr. Reznick’s campaign contributions.

So, in a way, he’s kind of the example of what is happening now down in the Central Valley, where if you drive down up Interstate 5, which is the main highway connecting Los Angeles and Sacramento and and San Francisco, for that matter, you will see signs along the road, that thousands and thousands of motorists pass every day, blaming Congress, and specifically Nancy Pelosi, by the way, blaming Congress for the supposed dust bowl that is happening there. But, there is a picture that really puts the lie to that; some of those signs are put up right in front of newly planted almond trees, and almonds are extremely thirsty crops. So, even as these farmers trying to shift the blame to the federal government, they, themselves, are planting some of the thirstiest crops you can imagine down there in the middle of a drought.

The point here is not to demonize agriculture, or almonds for that matter. The point is, let’s get the pricing right, and let’s treat everyone fairly. We can have a prosperous agricultural sector in California, and we need to. Agriculture is major — California is an agricultural superpower; it produces half of the fruits and vegetables and nuts that are consumed in the United States, but we can’t keep doing that at the expense of our long-term water future.

AMY GOODMAN: And very quickly, we have 30 seconds, what does this 25 percent reduction mean, practically, in your lives in California?

MARK HERTSGAARD: Well, it depends on how it’s done. There is a lot of waste that happens in the urban sector, too, so, in the short term people are being told shorter showers, water your lawn only twice a week. Restaurants are told only serve water if the customer explicitly asks for it, but, we are going to have to do more, and the most important thing again is to stop wasting, fix faucets, fix the pipes.

AMY GOODMAN: How is this enforced?

MARK HERTSGAARD: That is one of the problems. So, the San Jose Mercury News pointed out that a lot of these regulations are difficult to enforce because you have essentially got to go into people’s homes and businesses, but that’s the job of the water agency, and that is what Governor Brown was trying to do yesterday, is to call on the states to say, look, we have got to step up and do this, and everyone needs to pull together. Everyone should pull together, but they need to pull together equally.

AMY GOODMAN: Mark Hertsgaard, we want to thank you for being with us, environmental reporter. His latest piece in The Daily Beast we’ll link to, "How Growers Gamed California’s Drought." He is also the author of the book, "Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth." To see all of our climate change coverage, you can go to our website at democracynow.org.

Brazilian Prisons Using Hallucinogenics to Rehabilitate Violent Criminals

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 18:29:23 +0000

More and more practical, medical, and therapeutic uses for hallucinogenics are being discovered all the time.

The post Brazilian Prisons Using Hallucinogenics to Rehabilitate Violent Criminals appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Miracle or Fact: How Should We Interpret the Story of Passover?

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 18:06:00 +0000

It actually may be better if the whole thing really were made up.

Once, at our seder, our friend Ira gave a running commentary on the haggadah, offering a scientific explanation for every miracle and wonder in the Exodus story.

The parting of the Reed Sea was a meteorological event. The burning bush was a glowing carbonized acacia bramble above a volcanic vent. The Ten Plagues? Blood (1) was a red tide of toxic algae in the Nile, which forced millions of frogs (2) to move onto the land, but then they all died, and that brought the biting gnats (3) and flies (4), which spread a livestock epidemic (5), and a disease that made people’s skin erupt in boils (6) …

Debunking is too harsh a word for what Ira was doing. He was a reconciler. He wasn’t anti-miracle; he was pro-reason. He wanted to make it more comfortable for secular Jews to be present at the seder table, to explain how belief in the divine wasn’t a requirement; how the story was really about human freedom, not God’s plan. To Ira, Passover was based on a true story made truer by obviating the need for supernatural intervention.

Over brisket, we debated the historic accuracy of the biblical account. If 2 million Jews wandered Sinai for 40 years, why hasn’t anyone ever dug up evidence of that? Why hasn’t a single hieroglyphic about the Exodus ever been found — wasn’t this as big a deal for the Egyptians as it was for the Israelites?

This was a couple of years before Rabbi David Wolpe would set off a furor in Jewry, not just in Westwood, when he told 2,000 congregants in his Passover sermon that “the truth is that virtually every modern archaeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.” But this shouldn’t matter, Wolpe said.

“Knowing the Exodus is not a literal historical accounting does not ultimately change our connection to each other or to God. Faith should not rest on splitting seas. At the Passover seder we declare: ‘In each generation, each individual should see himself as if he (or she) went forth from Egypt.’ The message does not depend upon whether three or 3 million individuals left.”

At our table, similarly, no one argued that the literal truth of the Passover story ultimately mattered. Maybe the plagues came from nature, not God. Maybe there wasn’t a Jewish baby in the bulrushes who became a prince of Egypt. Maybe the Jews didn’t build the pyramids. None of that subtracts from the meaning of the story — the injustice of servitude, the flight to freedom, the triumph over tyranny.

I can see why Wolpe got a big pushback. Ingenious alternatives were offered for the truth of the text. Richard Elliott Friedman, for example, a distinguished scholar, built an elegant case that the Exodus did indeed occur, but just for one fierce tribe, the Levites. When they joined the other tribes, the Levites became the Israelites’ priesthood. The task of teaching Torah fell to them, and their own experience became the official version.

“And that is how a historical event that happened to the Levite minority became everybody’s celebration — how we all came to say that we were slaves in Egypt, although that was not the experience even of most Israelites of the period. It’s not so different from practicing, say, the American cultural tradition of Thanksgiving, which most Americans do, even though most U.S. citizens are not descended from Pilgrims or Native Americans.”

I honor the impulse to rationalize the Passover story, to find a lens through which it looks like history. But I think it actually may be better if the whole thing really were made up.

Wolpe is a bit elegiac when he tells us that the Exodus may not have happened, the way parents in another religious tradition admit there is no Santa Claus. He lets us down easy and guides us to the holiday’s enduring lesson. But I think there’s a huge upside to appreciating it as a fiction, a masterwork of the human imagination, a brilliant narrative, an origin myth whose aesthetic truth leaves me awestruck by its moral truth.

Yes, Passover is about the bitterness of bondage and the righteousness of freedom. But it’s also about — to me, even more about — our telling the story of bondage and freedom. When we do that, we not only obey a biblical injunction to teach our children where we came from, we communally experience how literally spellbinding a story can be.

We Jews didn’t just give monotheism to the world. We also gave the story of monotheism to the world. If monotheism had been merely a creed or ideology, the world might have paid attention for a bit and then moved on. But because it’s a story, a breathtaking drama, it has held the world in its grip ever since.

Some people contend that monotheism isn’t much of an advance over polytheism; it’s still theism, and much horror, ignorance and grief in human history can arguably be attributed to worshipers of one god or another. In this account, the problem with Scripture is that the stories are too good — too gripping, too potent, too capable of taking us to a place beyond the reach of reason.

But, to me, story is the secret power of Passover. My theism is about experience, not faith; about mystery, not obedience. I experience this mystery — and sometimes call it God — in the unfathomability of time and space; in art and beauty and nature; in the existence of love and friendship; in the existence of anything. I experience them with awe, reverence and gratitude. Science may reduce my awe to evolution, to our adaptive knack for constructing meaning in a random cosmos. Brain imaging may show where story neurons fire; screenwriting workshops may teach techniques of storytelling; Web editors may deploy the suspense of stories in click-bait headlines.

But there is an ineffable thrill in passing the Passover story to the next generation that resists reduction. You don’t have to believe it. You just have to tell it.

Cop Who Raped Woman During Traffic Stop, Shot By Woman. Police Say Incidents are Related

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 17:35:56 +0000

San Antonio, TX — Officer Jackie Neal of the San Antonio PD, has been on paid vacation for the last year and a half for accusations of crimes that his chief referred to as “unthinkable.” After evidence linked him to this vile crime, he’s still been receiving his over-deserved salary of $62,556.00.

Neal, 40, was in full uniform, in a marked squad car and on-duty when he made a traffic stop on a Friday morning in November of 2013. He then proceeded to sexually assault a 19-year-old woman, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

He forced the young woman to bend over, with her face in the rear seat of the police car. He pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint. At that point, Neal admonished her that if she told anyone, he would know where to find her and drove off, leaving her standing there.

Thursday night, Neal was shot in the neck by an unnamed female assailant. He is currently in critical condition.

While the name of the woman in custody has not yet been released, police suggested that the incident was linked to the earlier rape allegations, says News4SanAntonio.

The shooting happened at Neal’s home in the 9100 block of Arroyo Hondo in Helotes, Texas. Police were called to the scene shortly after 7 pm on Thursday and found Neal with a bullet wound in his neck.

In January of last year, the woman claiming to be raped by Neal filed a $10 million lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio. She named the Neal, Police Chief William McManus and the city as defendants.

According to the complaint, Neal had been suspended for three days in September, stemming from “a morally reprehensible and inappropriate” relationship with a female high school student enrolled in the Police Explorer Program. Neal was an advisor to the program in which students learn about police work, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The complaint alleged that Neal had sexual relations with the girl, who was an 18-year-old high school senior when the relationship ended in February 2013.

Judging from the past allegations against Neal, the shooter could have been any number of former female victims.

Hundreds Of Armed Women Defend Mexican City From Cartels and Corrupt Cops

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 17:04:05 +0000

Women from the Mexican state of Guerrero have taken up arms against rampant crime in the public and private sector.

The post Hundreds Of Armed Women Defend Mexican City From Cartels and Corrupt Cops appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Teen Girl Kidnapped by the State, Forced to Undergo Chemo, Denied Communication with Mom

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:54:51 +0000

Hartford, CT — In September of last year, 17-year-old Cassandra C., received some horrible news. Doctors diagnosed her with Hodgkin lymphoma, in which cancer originates from white blood cells called lymphocytes.

Doctors then recommended chemotherapy.

Concerned about the effects of chemotherapy, Cassandra decided that she would rather seek out alternative treatment. In an interview with the AP, Cassandra explained that she didn’t want to have “such toxic, harmful drugs” in her body, and she’d like to explore alternative treatments. She said that she understands “death is the outcome of refusing chemo” but believes in “the quality of my life, not the quantity.”

Worried about the chemo, Cassandra and her mother sought out a second opinion from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

However, the doctors didn’t like this decision, so they contacted agents of the state to force Cassandra to do what they wanted her to do.

In November, government agents from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, kidnapped Cassandra and placed her in a foster home. She eventually agreed to chemo and was allowed to return home. However, after she found out that she would have to have surgery to implant the chemotherapy port in her chest, she ran away.

“I felt like I had no other options,” she said.

According to the AP,

On Dec. 9, after she returned home, a Connecticut Superior Court judge granted DCF temporary custody of Cassandra, who was admitted to the hospital and forced to resume the chemotherapy.

In January, the state Supreme Court ruled that kidnapping Cassandra, and forcing her to undergo medical treatment against her will, does not violate her rights. The court stated that she was not mature enough to make that decision for herself.

Since January, Cassandra has been medically imprisoned by the state, “hoping beyond hope” that a judge would let her leave the hospital.

However, on Wednesday, a judge ruled that the 17-year-old girl must be kept in state custody until they are finished forcefully medicating her against her will.

To add insult to forced medication and kidnapping, the state refuses to let Cassandra see her mom. Cassandra has not been allowed to see nor speak to her mother since January 1.

“I cried when I found out,” Cassandra told PEOPLE.com. “I’m just heartbroken right now. Why are they keeping me from my mom? It is really unnecessary. I want to be with my mom. I’m devastated.”

In the Land of the Free, a young woman can be taken from her family and forced to undergo medical procedures against her will. In the Land of the Free, the state can take your children and keep you from seeing them. In the Land of the Free, this is called Justice.

The Rare Courage and Respect That Drove Iran Deal

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:36:00 +0000

The men and women who conducted this diplomacy deserve great thanks from the entire world.

BEIRUT — The agreed parameters of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program that were reached Thursday between Iran and the P5+1 powers represent a monumental achievement that affirms the power of reason and diplomacy over the ravages of fear and warfare. The technical details of the complex understanding remain to be completed. For now, though, the lasting significant aspects of this development are about the past and the future: The past being the bold leadership that Iran and the United States have shown in launching and advancing the diplomatic negotiations, and the future being about the potential significant regional changes that will follow the implementation of a full agreement.

I will assess in a separate column the potential positive changes in the region that this agreement could trigger. Here I would note enthusiastically the historic lessons to be learned about the power of negotiations over threats. More specifically, this is about the capacity of serious and responsible leaders to advance a diplomatic negotiation by having the courage and confidence to change positions they had long held, but that had become untenable over time. It took serious courage, for example, for the United States and the others with it to finally accept that Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, under international inspections and safeguards.

The United States and Israel in particular for years had fervently opposed allowing Iran to maintain any enrichment facilities that would allow it to produce its own nuclear fuel. Israel stuck to its extremist position, but the United States came to terms with the reality that threats, sanctions and repeated talk of war had not slowed down Iran’s uranium enrichment program, but in fact only saw it expand. The United States’ tacit acknowledgment in 2013 that Iran would maintain its enrichment capabilities — because it had already achieved them and they could not be bombed away — opened the door for a serious negotiation.

Toning down the constant threats of American military attacks against Iran also helped to open that door. Never mind that Washington continues until this day to use offensive language about Iran that presupposes Tehran’s deception and mendacity in conducting its policies and negotiations, treating Iran like one would treat a delinquent offender who has to be nursed back into a normal life under strict police supervision. Iran understood that this was primarily for domestic U.S. and Israeli consumption, where racist language against Arabs, Iranians and others in this region is routine.

Iran largely ignored the offensive tone, in favor of focusing on the substance of the negotiations that had to allow Iran two things: to continue its nuclear program, including enriching uranium and conducting research and development work, for verifiably peaceful purposes; and, simultaneously to result in lifting the sanctions against Iran. The Americans and their partners eventually acknowledged these two demands.

The Iranians also had to make some significant changes in their positions. These included issues like the length of the agreement, the nature of inspections and monitoring, the pace of sanctions reduction, and the magnitude and kinds of nuclear materials production facilities. Iranian leaders mustered significant humility and courage to accept the key demands of the P5+1 parties that are supposed to prevent Iran from achieving a speedy breakthrough to producing a nuclear bomb.

Iran made such big concessions for two important reasons, or principles, that others in conflict situations can learn from: reciprocity and respect. When the Americans and their colleagues started dealing with Iran on the basis that concessions would be made by both sides, and that such concessions would happen on the basis of respecting the rights of all parties equally, breakthroughs started to happen.

The obvious agreement that could have been identified a decade ago finally moved ahead towards consummation in the past year, with all negotiators getting their key demands. Israel has been left in the dust to a large extent for now. The human and political sides of reaching agreement have been much tougher than the technical details. Rarely in modern history have we seen such decisive statesmanship, reflecting a rare combination of realism, honesty, humility, boldness and foresighted leadership. These attributes rarely all gather in the chests of individual human beings, but they have done so here.

We have seen such history-making leadership in several other episodes in the past two generations: when the United States and China reconciled, when the Apartheid South African system transformed to democratic majority rule, when Northern Ireland leaders ended their conflict and shared power democratically, when Polish leaders and opposition members negotiated a transition away from Communist authoritarianism towards an elected government, and when Mikhail Gorbachev saw the bankruptcy of Soviet authoritarianism and initiated a transition to something better for his people.

The men and women who conducted this diplomacy join a special group of leaders and officials, all of whom deserve great thanks and appreciation from the entire world for reminding us of the immense power of negotiating on the basis of reciprocity and respect.

Republican Who Wants Guns in Parks and Playgrounds: They're Just Like Bicycles!

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:13:00 +0000

Some Tennessee Republican lawmakers are crusading for a bill that would override local regulations against allowing guns in public parks.

A segment of Tennessee Republican lawmakers are crusading for a bill that would override local regulations against allowing guns in public parks. Yesterday, House Republicans held a press conference where the gun issue arose, giving reporters a chance to peppers lawmakers with questions about the bill.

At one point, a reporter asked if they have any concern about accidents, which make up a large percentage of injuries from guns. The lawmaker replied that he isn't all too worried about this because bicycles in parks are just as deadly:

Reporter: I’m not trying to debate, but these are the questions that we’re being asked about this. And one of the things that keep getting pointed out to me, is you guys keep talking about criminals, but there are accidents. Permit holders have accidents.

McCormick: Certainly.

Reporter: So, if there’s an accident and a permit holder is in a park, there’s a high chance it’s going to hit a child.

Casada: There’s accidents with bicycles in parks. Should we outlaw bicycles?

Reporter: Yeah, but bikes very rarely kill people.

Casada: That's not true, I disagree with that statement.

Reporter: Guns are weapons. Are you saying a gun is as safe as bicycle?

Casada: If used properly I am. If used properly.

Reporter: In the event of an accident, which is more likely to kill someone?

Casada: Now we're back in theoretical. I think in Tennessee we're dealing with a lot more questions than guns in parks. I think this is a minor thing in the scope of what we're doing good in Tennessee.

Reporter: If someone is hit accidently with a bullet, you guys are fine defending this bill?

Casada: If someone gets run over by an automobile accidently, there's nothing I can do about that. These are things beyond, they're called acts of God, they're beyond our control.

For what it's worth, in 2012 around 726 Americans were killed while using their bicycles. Annual gun deaths are closer to 30,000.

The guns-in-parks bill continues to move at the state legislature, and one Senate Democrat successfully attached what may end up being a poison pill to the bill: an amendment that would allow guns into the state capitol itself. “If we're going to pass a law that requires local governments to have guns in their parks, we should apply the same standards to ourselves,” said Senator Jeff Yarbro.

People’s Agenda profile 4: Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:00:13 +0000

‘We organise inside and outside of the detention centres to bring about their end. Our members include detainees and ex-detainees, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who stand up, speak out and organise in our communities. ‘

Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary is an independent, integrated civil and immigrant rights organisation. We speak the truth about racism, sexism and oppression and we fight to win. We see the issue of immigrant rights as the cutting edge in all struggles for justice, economic or social. The crisis in capitalism across the world has led more and more people to move, cross borders, seek safety or a life from poverty. Racism and immigrant bashing is a key tool used by those in power to divide and rule. That is why it must be the central fight for all those committed to social justice.

MFJ has been leading the fight nationally to see a complete end to the brutal, racist, sexist system of immigration detention. We hold public hearings putting the immigration system on trial; we demonstrate at the detention centres and in our communities, we act with “the fierce urgency of now”.

Our power and our strength lie in the great power of the oppressed mobilised in action. We understand that moral appeals do not win, our members are fighters and leaders our methods are whatever is necessary. Join us for ‘Surround Harmondsworth 7’ on 11th April, be part of a growing, dynamic movement with a strategy to win.

To find out more: mfj@ueaa.net // www.facebook.com/movementforjustice // @followmfj

Red Pepper are running the People’s Agenda series in the run up to the General Election, demonstrating the breadth of exciting grassroots political activity in the UK.
Join Red Pepper for our free event on 22 April in London- Beyond the Ballot Box: Ways we can Win.

Karl Rove to Vet: I Won't Apologize for Iraq War

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:45:00 +0000

Bush's brain stands his ground when confronted by anti-war veteran.

During a speech at the University of Connecticut in Storrson Tuesday, former Bush White House staffer Karl Rove – known as “Bush's Brain” for his closeness to the former president – was asked by an Iraq war veteran whether he would apologize for his role in the Iraq war.

“I have taken responsibility for my actions and dealt with my demons while advocating for a peaceful resolution of a war that was an act of aggression with no clear goal,” explained the former veteran, Ryan Henowitz. “Can you take responsibility and apologize for your decision in sending a generation to lose their humanity and deal with the horrors of war, which you have never had the courage to face? Will you apologize to the millions of fathers and mothers who lost their children on both sides of this useless war?”

Rove was unapologetic. “I appreciate your service for our country. I’m sorry for what you went through but it was the right thing to remove Saddam Hussein from power,” he replied. “The United States government and the United States military was right to do so. We should be proud of what we were able to do in Iraq and we should be sorry that we left them alone, because when we left them, things deteriorated.”

Watch the full exchange, via the Eastern Connecticut Young Democrats (h/t Raw Story).

The Right’s 'Cake' Insanity: You Won’t Believe How It’s Trying to Deflect the Indiana Backlash

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:43:00 +0000

How absurd have Republicans gotten in their defense of 'religious freedom' laws? They now argue 'cake is speech.'

“Cake is speech.”

That’s what Indiana Baptist pastor Tim Overton told NPR’s Steve Inskeep Thursday morning, defending his state’s controversial “religious freedom” law. I thought it was so funny, I immediately tweeted it.

But as the day went on, it became clear that Overton’s argument wasn’t some fringe theory: It’s shaping up as a core tenet of one “compromise” approach to religious freedom laws that’s under consideration, in the wake of the backlash to the Indiana law, which Overton fervently supported as written. It’s at the heart of the fix to the law Jeb Bush pushed Wednesday night with pro-gay rights Republican donors.

Here’s how the pastor tried to explain it: Critics who say Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act would let businesses routinely deny service to LGBT Americans are wrong. “I don’t think any RFRA anywhere would say, ‘I’m not gonna give you a hotel room, I’m not gonna give you a hamburger, or gasoline or groceries,’” Overton told Inskeep. “That’s outside the bounds.”

But just as a religious leader should be able to decide, according to the tenets of his or her faith, whether to preside over gay marriages, Overton argued, so should a florist or a baker get to decide whether his or her “artistic ability” should be part of a gay wedding.

I think most Americans would agree that a pastor like myself should not be compelled by the government to use my speech to support someone else’s perspective. I think that has parallels to the cake maker. The cake maker is using his or her artistic ability to make a cake and that cake communicates something. I think that cake is speech, that says ‘we celebrate this union.’ I just don’t think they should be forced by the government to use their speech to support someone else’s perspective….I would like the line to be drawn in services that involve speech.

When Inskeep asked how society would determine what type of service represented “speech,” Overton punted and said that would be up to courts. “I think that distinction will be played out in the court,” he replied. “All the legislature can do is pass principles to guide the court.” (Remember when the right hated activist judges?)

I admit: I thought Overton’s was a fringe point of view when I first listened. And then I received the transcript Jeb Bush’s campaign released to share his remarks, to Silicon Valley donors, about how he would like to clarify Indiana’s law – a law, by the way, that he said needed no clarification just two nights before. Here’s the key part:

I do think if you’re a florist and you don’t want to participate in the arrangement of a wedding, you shouldn’t have to be obliged to do that if it goes against your faith because you believe in traditional marriage. Likewise if someone walked into a flower shop as a gay couple and said I want to buy all these off the rack, these flowers, they should have every right to do it. That would be discrimination. But forcing someone to participate in a wedding is not discrimination; it is I think protecting the first amendment right.

So Bush, too, tries to define “discrimination” as turning someone away from a flower shop, versus a protected “First Amendment right” to refuse to participate in a wedding.

I can’t imagine how such a compromise would work in the real world. On the one hand, it would force an LGBT bride or groom to tell a florist or a baker, “Oh, by the way, this is a GAY wedding, and I hope you don’t have any problem with that.” Otherwise if they figured it out along the way, it would seem they could legally back out, and leave the marrying couple up a creek. (And imagine if you had to tell a florist: “Oh, by the way, I’m a Catholic, and I hope you don’t have a problem with Catholic weddings.”)

But let’s say some kind of compromise worked there – maybe the burden would be on the florist or baker to tell all prospective clients: “We don’t serve gay weddings — or Catholic weddings!” (I think that’s a preposterous compromise, but work with me here.) What stops a hotel owner, or a pizzeria proprietor, or a gas station franchisee, from saying, “My work is a form of expression, too — and I don’t want to express support for gayness by providing my services to these individuals?”

Overton himself left the door open to that argument when he told Inskeep “all of life for the Christian is about glorifying God. We are glorifying God in the workplace. To ask a Christian to do something in the workplace that violates their conscience, I don’t think that’s freedom of religion.”

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum thinks a photographer has the clearest case to turn down an LGBT wedding, and a baker has the worst.

If they’re the only baker in town, they should bake the cake. If there’s someone, if they have a, if someone has a ferry service onto an island, and that’s where the wedding is, and you’re the only way to get to that island, there’s no road to the island, well, you’ve got to provide the service. But if the person has other opportunities to go other places, my feeling is that people shouldn’t be forced to participate in a ceremony that violates their religious tenets and teachings. Now you’re right. The cake baker is the most attenuated, and probably has the hardest argument to make. The photographer has the easiest argument to make. But I think in a world where have true tolerance, and we allow people to live their faith in their jobs, then I think we allow space for everybody unless there’s a compelling interest not to.

Santorum was mum about the florist, even though Hugh Hewitt specifically asked him about it.

The only way out of this moral and political cul-de-sac involves passing religious freedom laws along with laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. But so far, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is holding firm in opposing such a move. Now, Indiana-based Angie’s List is saying it won’t accept that state’s compromise RFRA, which would reportedly add some kind of preamble, but not actually add discrimination protection to state law. (For the record, the head of Salesforce as well as the Indiana Pacers earlier said they would accept the compromise.)

For the far right, of course, even Indiana’s compromise is going too far. (Santorum is “disappointed” in his “dear friend” Mike Pence.) My friend Greg Sargent thinks it’s progress that some space has opened up within the GOP to at least debate these issues, and I guess that’s true. But the religious freedom argument should be simple: If your religion tells you it’s wrong to be gay, then don’t have gay sex, or get gay married. It’s amazing to watch Bush and others contort themselves to make floral arranging and cake baking a form of religious expression, to pander to the far right, though it’s not likely to work. This debate will get sillier before it’s settled.

Jennifer Wagner on Indiana Law, Darnell Hunt on Race in Hollywood

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:05:25 +0000

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This week on CounterSpin: The backlash was immediate and strong against the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act just passed in Indiana. The law’s proponents, including Gov. Mike Pence, say it’s just intended to “open a door” to conversations about how people can express religious beliefs. Legal scholars and rights advocates say that the law as originally written actually invites conflict and sanctions discrimination, particularly against LGBT people. The scores of organizations saying they will reconsider doing business with and in Indiana seem to know who they believe. What can journalists do to shed light on this story without resorting to a “some say, others differ” approach? We’ll hear from Jennifer Wagner from the group Freedom Indiana on that.

Also on the show (and speaking of backlash): The Internet and Twitterverse made short work of lambasting entertainment-industry outlet Deadline for a piece that legitimized the idea that the presence of a larger than usual number of people of color in broadcast TV series means “the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction”–that white actors, in other words, are now the ones being discriminated against. But the thesis and tone of that piece didn’t come from nowhere, and denouncing the article doesn’t erase the climate that produced it. We’ll talk about Hollywood and race with Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African-American Studies at UCLA.

LINKS:

–Freedom Indiana
–“Darnell Hunt: Hollywood’s Dismal Diversity Data Explained,” by Patt Morrison (LA Times, 3/17/15)

Lawsuit Alleges Conspiracy by Detroit Police to Cover Up the Murder of 7-Year-Old Girl

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 13:37:44 +0000

The family of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court Wednesday, alleging police conspired with city officials to cover up the details surrounding the tragic event.

As we previously covered, the young girl was asleep on a couch in her home when police mistakenly raided the wrong home, launching a flash-bang grenade into the residence and fatally shooting the sleeping child.

The raid was conducted on May 16, 2010 when police were looking for murder suspect Chauncey Owens, who lived in a separate unit.

According to Officer Joseph Weekley, a fellow officer threw a flash-bang grenade through the window, which temporarily blinded Weekley who had been first through the door. When the effects of the flash-bang wore off, the officer realized there was a person on the couch. As the officer aimed his weapon at the couch where the child was sleeping beneath a “Hanna Montana” blanket, he claims her grandmother, Mertilla Jones, smacked his MP5 submachine gun, causing him to pull the trigger and kill Aiyana.

Mertilla Jones disputes this claim and says that she reached for her granddaughter when the grenade came through the window, not for the officer’s gun, and did not make contact with an officer at any point during the assault on her home. Her fingerprints were not found on the weapon.

While the exact circumstances surrounding the death are unclear, the lawsuit states: “Defendants Joseph Weekley and Robert Rowe unlawfully seized Aiyana Stanley-Jones, used excessive force against her and unlawfully used deadly force thereby inflicting horrendous personal injuries and ultimately death from which certain damages naturally followed to the members of Aiyana Stanley-Jones family and/or estate.”

Weekley previously faced a jury twice after the shooting, both trials dismissed.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit include the city of Detroit, Officers Weekley and Rowe, The Detroit Police Department, and approximately 20 unidentified members of the Special Response Team.

All defendants are accused of conspiracy in the suit, which states: “Upon Defendants realizing that they had critically injured the seven-year-old girl, they intentionally conspired to cover-up their unlawful acts by providing false and fictitious information to the authorities and to the media regarding the shooting of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, including falsely claiming that the bullet that killed her was fired from inside the lower unit of the duplex rather than from the outside…”

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Geoffrey Fieger, seeks damages for the family of at least $75,000, and the family has requested a trial by jury.

KKK Members Who Worked In Florida Prisons Arrested For Planning to Murder Black Inmates

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 13:20:59 +0000

It seems that the stories of police abuse in Florida never end. The latest to come out of the Sunshine State is about two current and one former Department of Corrections employees who were just arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder.

The Miami New Times tells us that “besides wearing the DOC badge, the three men also wore the hoods of white terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan.”

In case you were wondering if they were able to set aside their racism when “enforcing the law” in Florida’s prisons, their arrest for plotting the murder an African-American inmate should make it clear.

The murder was planned in retaliation for a fight that the inmate had with one of the men.

All three men are members of the Traditional Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Thomas Jordan Driver, 25; David Elliot Morgan, 47; and Charles Thomas Newcomb, 42 were all arrested Thursday morning, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office.

Local Florida law enforcement did not target the corrections officers for arrests. Instead, the FBI bagged the corrections officers. We are told that “a wide range of agencies assisted with the investigation.” Among them was the Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Department of Corrections Office of Inspector General, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

(Article by Jackson Marciana and M. David; image by Counter Current News; h/t to Miami New Times)

TX Court Would Rather See Man Die in Jail from Seizures than Have Traces of a Plant in His Urine

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 12:12:29 +0000

Port Acres, TX – After setting a legal precedent for medical marijuana use in the state of Texas, courts are now going back on their decision allowing an epileptic man to use his medication during probation.

Last month, we reported on the case of Jeremy Bourque, an epileptic, and self-prescribed medical marijuana patient. He was facing jail time for growing three marijuana plants; the intended use of which being personal medical consumption. Jeremy had contacted us with the good news that not only was he able to avoid jail time, but the terms of his probation would also allow for him to test positive for marijuana. This decision was monumental and truly unprecedented for the state of Texas.

It all seemed too good to be true, and sadly, it was. Less than a month later, on April Fools Day, District Attorney Bob Wortham invalidated the initial deal that was worked out by First Assistant District Attorney Cory Crenshaw.

“We have a long history at the DA’s Office to do pre-trial diversion on minor drug cases in hopes to give young people a chance, we don’t want to see their lives ruined over something minor they can recover from. However, there were things put in this particular pre-trial diversion package that I did not approve and did not know about. Some of the provisions offered are against the law. Having found them, it’s now my job to make it right. The only way to do that is to withdraw this diversion and send the case back to the trial docket,” Wortham told reporters this week.

In a statement released by Wortham’s office, Jeremy’s medical marijuana defense was addressed but entirely disregarded. The statement said that, “After review the pretrial offer has been withdrawn, and the case placed on the trial docket. Correct application of Texas law is paramount regardless of a defendant’s alleged medical marijuana issues.”

“He was found home growing marijuana, and that’s illegal in Texas. Some states allow that, but ours does not. In following the law, he was charged with possession of an illegal substance — a third-degree felony that could result in a sentence of two to 10 years if he is found guilty at trial,” Wortham said.

If “the law” in Texas required all mothers to sacrifice their first born children on the steps of the capital, would lawmakers still enforce it, because “it’s the law”?

Legality does not dictate morality. Unfortunately, “legality” does blind those involved in its enforcement. Innocence is all too often laid to waste in the name of some immoral definition of “justice.”

Jeremy was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 15. He has been hospitalized more than ten times since his diagnosis, including one time in which he was in a coma for over a week. Over the years, Jeremy has learned to manage his condition with medical marijuana. Without this plant, Jeremy’s life is threatened, yet the rust-laden gears of the “justice” system will keep grinding as his quality of life is diminished to zero

Jeremy and his attorney are optimistic about their case, however, considering the quick progress that medical marijuana and legalized recreational marijuana is making across the country.

John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work he organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.

Police Receive Call About Suicidal Man, So they Show Up and Kill Him

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 11:26:20 +0000

Metropolis, IL– A suicidal man was shot and killed by police on Thursday in Metropolis, Illinois, continuing the growing trend of officer-assisted suicide.

Massac County Sheriff’s Department was called to a home at 12:02 pm Thursday afternoon regarding a suicidal man threatening to shoot himself. Police arrived on the scene but were not able to locate the individual at the residence. At approximately 1:15 pm, dispatchers received a call about a man with a gun at a nearby cemetery.

When police arrived on the scene, they found the man inside of a truck and attempted to pull him over. The driver decided to flee, and when the officers were unsuccessful in the chase they deployed stop stick devices to deflate the man’s tires and end the pursuit.

At this point, the man emerged from the vehicle armed with a handgun. Two officers deployed their tasers, but the police say the man was unfazed, pulling the probes out of his body.

Police allege that the man managed to be struck by a taser, pull out the probes and keep his grasp on his weapon.

The department claims he was then ordered several times to drop his weapon before pointing it at officers.

However, it was reportedly not until the man threatened to take his life that a Metropolis police officer shot and killed him.

State police are now investigating the incident and have not released the name of the shooter. The department is also holding off on releasing the name of the victim pending notification of his family.

No Charges for Cop who Killed Unarmed Man on His Doorstep as he Brought Dinner to his Family

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 11:06:53 +0000

Phoenix, Arizona – It was reported this week that the police officer who shot and killed unarmed Rumain Brisbon on his doorstep will have no criminal charges filed against him.

As some of you may remember, back in December, Officer Mark Rine of the Phoenix Police department shot and killed 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon because he mistakenly thought that Brisbon was carrying a gun.

According to police, the officers involved were investigating Brisbon because some neighbors allegedly told them that someone in an SUV was selling drugs in a nearby apartment complex. From the start, this story seems suspicious as police often use fabricated “anonymous” tips as a justification to search and harass people who they are interested in profiling. The family also suggests that a false report may have been possible.

Brisbon’s family says that he was simply going out to get dinner, and had returned home with two McDonald’s bags when he was attacked by police.

Marci Kratter, the attorney for Brisbon’s family, says that the police department had no interest in ever finding out the truth.

“There was no investigation, they were certainly not interested in finding out what the truth was,” Kratter said.

Immediately after the incident, the mainstream media attempted to destroy Brison’s character and paint him as a criminal, in hopes that the case would be swept under the rug. It was reported that Brisbon was found with marijuana in his car, but his family later confirmed that he was a medical marijuana cardholder. The media also reported that Brisbon had a gun in his car, however, this was a legally owned firearm that was not in his possession at the time.

The police department has neglected to mention these facts to the media, but instead, has instructed them to paint Brisbon as a criminal, suggesting that the legally owned weapon and legally prescribed drugs were evidence that the man was a drug dealer. Even if he was a drug dealer, which it seems that there is a very good chance he was not, the police should not have a right to take his life.

Kratter also told reporters that the Brisbon family is planning a possible appeal, and further legal action against the officer responsible for the murder.

Who’s Being Protected Here? Cops Destroy Kid’s Basketball Goal, Drag it Off to Junkyard

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:49:19 +0000

Chicago, IL– In a video posted to Facebook on April 2, two Chicago police officers are seen confiscating a basketball goal belonging to Diego Chavarria, 22, as he looked on and filmed the destruction of his property.

According to Chavarria, the incident took place on Thursday around 4:30 pm on West 26th and South Kedvale Avenue. The young man and his friend were playing a game in the street, when the police pulled up to harass them. Instead of telling the young men to move the game to a safer area, or into their own yard or driveway, the officers not only confiscated it, but destroyed the rim, beating it against the ground as if it was an unarmed citizen.

“They said we can’t play outside like that,” Chavarria told The Free Thought Project. “They said they were going to take it to the junk yard.”

When asked if he intends to file a complaint against police for the destruction and theft of his property Chavarria told The Free Thought Project that he plans to do so on Friday.

This sadly isn’t the first time that we have had to cover ridiculous police enforcing a totally arbitrary law against a community having fun.

In May of 2014, we covered a nearly identical situation of police arresting a trouble making basketball hoop in Cleveland, Ohio.

The incident, which was also captured on video, showed the police taking off with the basketball goal despite the owner asking if she could just move it. The kind-hearted woman had reportedly bought the hoop as a gift for her neighbors. Cell phone footage shows that the woman asked if there could be a warning- to which an officer answered, “There’s nothing I can do.”

Who exactly are these cops protecting and serving with this nonsense?

TPP Critics Call Out Fake ‘Progressive’ Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:43:33 +0000

Deirdre Fulton April 2,2015 (Common Dreams) ‘The […]

The post TPP Critics Call Out Fake ‘Progressive’ Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Deadly Manipulation: George Soros Prepared to Invest $1 Billion in the Country He Helped Destroy

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:35:24 +0000

Joshua Krause April 2,2015 (Activist Post) Since at lea […]

The post Deadly Manipulation: George Soros Prepared to Invest $1 Billion in the Country He Helped Destroy appeared first on The Anti-Media.

8 Things You Wouldn’t Think Are Spying On You, But Are

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:15:28 +0000

With all this spying, the surveillance state leaves almost no stone unturned.

The post 8 Things You Wouldn’t Think Are Spying On You, But Are appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Georgia Florist’s Religious Hypocrisy: She’ll Serve Adulterers, But Gay Couples Are ‘a Different Kind of Sin’

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 23:32:00 +0000

Religious hypocrisy at its worst.

At least one florist in Jeff Davis County, Georgia admitted to a double standard regarding providing service to “sinners” in a CNN interview regarding “religious freedom” laws.

“In the Ten Commandments, it says you can’t commit adultery,” reporter Gary Tuchman said to the florist, Melissa Jeffcoat, adding, “It says you need to honor your father and mother.”

When he asked whether she would provide flowers for an adulterer or someone who had “dishonored” their parents, she replied affirmatively.

“Well, why would you serve them but not serve someone who is gay?” Tuchman asked.

“It’s just a different kind of sin to me,” Jeffcoat replied. “I just don’t believe in it.”

Georgia legislators had reportedly been considering a bill similar to the ones recently passed in Arkansas and Indiana, both of which have generated heavy criticism nationwide. But WMAZ-TV reported on Wednesday that the Georgia version of the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” is stalled in committee.

“We’ve already seen in Indiana the economic impact that’s come along because of them passing something very similar. Religious freedom here and there,” said state Rep. Nikki Randall (D), who opposes the bill. “So many unintended consequences I think that we will incur if this is passed.”

Jeffcoat’s son, Carlton, backed his mother’s stance, saying that he is studying to be a Southern Baptist minister.

“I serve a God who’s higher than any Supreme Court judge, that’s called the judge of the universe,” he told Tuchman. “I don’t care what anybody else says.”

Cop Ordered To Undergo Counseling After Posing For Photo With Snoop

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 22:20:35 +0000

Take a pic with Snoop and you must undergo counseling. Gun down an unarmed man and get a paid vacation.

The post Cop Ordered To Undergo Counseling After Posing For Photo With Snoop appeared first on The Anti-Media.

3 Members of Florida Department of Corrections Found to Be in KKK; Arrested For Murder Plot

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 22:03:00 +0000

They had allegedly planned to kill a black inmate as he was released in retaliation for a fight.

No need to pinch yourself, it really is 2015. According to the Orlando Sentinel:

Two current and one former prison employee who all belonged to the KKK planned to kill a black inmate as he was released in retaliation for a fight, officials said Thursday.
The three men — Thomas Jordan Driver, 25, David Elliot Morgan, 47, and 42-year-old Charles Thomas Newcomb — each were arrested Thursday on one state count of conspiracy to commit murder, according to a statement from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office.

In light of this, you must remember that a record 346 inmates died in Florida prisons last year—including men and women who were gassed to death, burned to death, and beaten to death, all by staff. It can be hard to really believe that we are in 2015, but this is absolutely our new normal.

Helen Mirren Says What Many Women and Men Know: Sex After 60 Is Hotter Than Ever

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 21:09:00 +0000

The actress says sex was "empty" in her youth, but at 69, it's sizzling -- and experts say she isn’t alone.

In a recent interview, Helen Mirren announced that sex in her youth was “paranoid and empty.” Now, at the age of 69, the Oscar winner said sex is “great, just wonderful.” Already, headlines are trumpeting, “Helen Mirren says her sex life is better than ever” and “The Dame Says She’s Currently Having the Best Sex of Her Life!” It’s not so clear if that’s what she was actually saying, but it’s clearly a compelling idea: that despite every message to the contrary in our youth-obsessed culture, sex might actually get better and hotter with age.

It isn’t the first time I’ve encountered the idea. My grandma Esther once casually told me, “Sex only gets better into your 80s.” After the death of my grandpa Chester — yes, they had rhyming names — she once remarked tearfully, “He was the most amazing lover.” It was nothing short of mind-blowing: People still have sex at that age? By now, I’ve fully accepted that — I look forward to it, in fact. But does it really get better? One study has suggested it’s true, at least for women: Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 older ladies and found that “sexual satisfaction increased with age.” Other research has found that many seniors still enjoy sex and have regular orgasms.

“It goes two ways: Sex can be the best ever or it can be really challenging,” says Joan Price, author of three books on the topic of senior sex, including most recently, “The Ultimate Guide to Sex After Fifty: How to Maintain – or Regain – a Spicy, Satisfying Sex Life.” What determines the outcome are people’s attitudes and their ability to look at sex in a new way, she says. “If we realize that sex changes as we age, it gets better and better emotionally and relationship-wise, because we know what we want now, we know how to communicate. We’ve hit our groove, sexually,” says Price. “On the other hand, if we’re looking for instant arousal and fast orgasms and rock-hard erections, well, we’re just looking at it wrong. We’re stuck in what young sex was.”

Part of thinking about it right is redefining sex as not just about penetration — because, yes, there can be erectile difficulties. “The whole journey is the main event,” she says. “It’s just a step-by-step, slow, wonderful, languid, sexy, sometimes funny, sex act that may last an hour. I don’t mean that we’re having intercourse for an hour, no, but from start to finish — with the cuddling and the kidding and the touching, or maybe even before that with the dancing in the living room or taking a shower together.”

Walker Thorton, a single 60-year-old woman who blogs about middle-age sex, recently had a partner with erectile issues, but, she says, “We worked around it, expanded our definition of ‘sex.’” She added, “Which we all should do.” It isn’t all hurdles to jump over, though. Thorton says things started to get better for her sexually a few years ago. Part of that was just the confidence that comes with age. “I feel a higher level of desire and the ability to ask for what I want,” she says. “I have fewer issues achieving orgasm now because I feel more confident and I’ve tapped into my desire.” She also communicates more with her partners about “what I want, what works and what doesn’t.”

According to Melanie Davis, co-president of the Sexuality and Aging Consortium at Widener University, Thorton’s experience isn’t at all unusual. “With age comes an acceptance of our bodies and other people’s bodies,” she says. “We can be freer to focus on sensuality than speed — more on eroticism than athleticism. We know what we like, and we may be more comfortable communicating that than we were in earlier years.”

It’s possible to look at the physical challenges that come with age from a glass-half-full point of view. “For heterosexual couples, we find for the first time in our lives, I think, that men and women have the same pace, suddenly. Instead of young men feeling that ‘oh, gotta slow down, gotta wait for her, I just wish I could get to where I want to go,’ the older man is saying, ‘I need a lot more kissing and touching too.’” And the woman, says Price, is saying, “Oh my gosh, finally!”

In an email, “Eric,” 60, told me, “I must say sex is not what it was when I was 20,” he wrote. “The mystery is not what it once was before making love thousands of times. My penis is not as sensitive as it once was. I can only come once in an evening now, where it was once possible to come four times in a night. Orgasms are not nearly as strong as they once were.”

Again, though, many of those things are also good things: Some mystery may be lost, but sex with a new woman isn’t as intimidating as it once was. For him, a less sensitive penis means he can last longer. Orgasms, now muted, feel less important, but he says there’s a benefit to that: “I can be relatively happy lazily engaged in vaginal sex for an hour.” Also, friendships with women are easier, he says, “because I am not focused on getting into a woman’s pants” and women are “not wary of me as I am now longer a sexual threat in their eyes.”

Weighing all this, though, he concludes, “I would say that I prefer sex at 30 to sex at 60.”

Indeed, I heard from a couple of men who lamented the way sex changes as you age. A 60-something-year-old wrote to me on Facebook, “No, it doesn’t get better. Neither does eyesight, hearing or field goal percentage.”

A 68-year-old man emailed me to say, “If the urologist does not interfere too much, it can remain awfully good.” I asked him if he was referring to trouble getting it up. “Not erectile problems at all, but prostate,” he said. “At least one prostate med put a damper on things.” Unhappy with the drug’s side-effects — which included “growing one breast,” he said — he quit that drug. “After that drug wore off, a 15-year-old would have been proud of the restored function,” he wrote.

Then his email turned to a topic that is just about the exact opposite of sex, that subject you just can’t ignore as you get older: mortality. “Many men will have prostate problems, many will die of it, many will die with it,” he said. “I’m waiting for the cancer with a family history and Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. In the meantime … while we wait …” That’s how the email ended.

Some people look back to sex in their 20s with nostalgia. Others only find their sexual groove after their 60th birthday. More still find their bodies sometimes failing them, but enjoy the more creative sex that it requires. It makes the question of whether sex gets better with age a difficult one. The only definitive answer is simply, as Price said, “It can.”

Cops Respond to Wrong House, Kill Service Dog Who Worked With Children With Down Syndrome

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 20:20:32 +0000

How many times do cops have to kill service dogs before the public starts to question these tactics?

The post Cops Respond to Wrong House, Kill Service Dog Who Worked With Children With Down Syndrome appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Why a Nuclear Agreement With Iran Is the Right Choice

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 19:59:00 +0000

If negotiators agree on the final details of a preliminary agreement, then this deal will be a historic step forward.

The full-page ad in this week’s Washington Post portraying President Obama as history’s favorite whipping boy, Neville Chamberlain, was wrong in nearly every one of its many strident particulars.

It was wrong in suggesting that a nuclear agreement with Iran is appeasement. It was wrong in comparing Iran with Nazi Germany. It was wrong to argue that Iran “has control over five Middle Eastern capitals.” It was wrong to suggest counter-intuitively that a deal somehow allows Iran to “become a nuclear power.”

But on one thing it was right: The current choice posed by the pending agreement with Iran couldn’t be clearer.

Rare are the moments in foreign policy when enormously complex situations lend themselves to unambiguous yes-or-no answers. The ad, sponsored by the anodyne-sounding World Values Network, is an expensive effort to persuade readers to say no to an agreement with Iran, the preliminary framework for which negotiators successfully negotiated in Switzerland today.

For those of us in the United States who believe that principled diplomatic engagement with Iran is the path to peace and stability in the Middle East — a majority of the population, according to polls, but not necessarily a majority of Congress — the answer is an unambiguous yes. The preliminary agreement, which represents a significant compromise by both sides, is indeed a historic step forward.

After all, this is more than just a nuclear agreement. It’s more than just a way to usher Iran back into the international community. It’s more even than a foundation stone for regional peace and stability (an aspiration that seems to become ever more elusive each day).

The deal now on the table ultimately represents a referendum on the Obama administration’s overall foreign policy. On one side are those who favor long, patient, and often frustrating negotiations. On the other side are those who favor conflict, rollback, and even war.

“We won’t buy the same horse twice,” opponents of negotiations with North Korea would often say when facing the prospect of Pyongyang offering once again to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for some package deal. When it comes to the Middle East, the horseshoe is on the other foot. We bought the warhorse once already with the disastrous campaign in Iraq.

And that’s exactly what the opponents of the Iran deal are offering again by portraying Iran as Nazi Germany and any Western leader that shrinks from attacking this evil entity as a latter-day Chamberlain figure. It’s the argument of the full-page ad, recent op-eds by John Bolton in The New York Times and Joshua Muravchik in The Washington Post, the current Israeli government, a range of well-funded organizations in the United States, and a large number of congressional representatives that follow their lead.

Fortunately, virtually the whole world is against them. And history is leaving them behind.

The Devil and the Details

The negotiations between the P5+1 (the UN Security Council members plus Germany) and Iran were extended a couple days to reach a compromise. The Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program is not be the final agreement, only the outline of a framework agreement. Further negotiations will fill in the details before all sides sign a final agreement by June 30.

The two sides managed to resolve the outstanding disagreements that pushed negotiations past the interim deadline. Two of the major sticking points had to do with centrifuges and stockpiles.

To enrich uranium, Iran constructed approximately 19,000 centrifuges. The Iranian negotiators have argued that they need to retain a part of this complex for research and development, to generate medical isotopes, and so on. The original U.S. position was that Iran should get rid of them all. The compromise position in the agreement is 6,104 centrifuges, down from an estimated 10,000 that are currently in operation. Approximately 5,000 of these centrifuges will continue to enrich for the next 10 years.

Bomb-grade uranium requires enrichment to at least 90 percent. Iran had managed to accumulate a stockpile of enriched uranium in the 20-percent range. The agreement set a ceiling on enrichment at 3.67 percent for the next 15 years.

Iran also agreed to reduce its 10,000 kilos of material to a very low 300 kilos for 15 years. And Iran has agreed not to build any additional enrichment facilities for the next 15 years.

There has been much talk about “break-out” time. This is the time it would take for Iran to acquire enough highly enriched uranium to make one bomb, currently estimated to be 2-3 months. Negotiators managed to extend this window to one year, to be maintained for the next 10 years.

This figure is misleading, however. It doesn’t take into account weaponizing, testing, and miniaturizing for the purposes of constructing a warhead for a missile. In reality, any freeze on Iranian nuclear capabilities would extend by several years the date by which Iran could have a hypothetical nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it if it chose to pursue one.

Another sticking point is what Iran gets for its willingness to freeze and roll back its program. Tehran wanted oil and financial sanctions lifted immediately. The United States favored phasing out sanctions and maintaining a “snap back” option so that sanctions go back into force if Iran is found to be out of compliance. The agreement postpones the lifting of sanctions until Iran is found in compliance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with its commitments. And the snap-back option is included as well, which should satisfy all but the most intransigent congressional skeptics.

Opponents of a deal have emphasized that Iran is an untrustworthy actor: the devil who speaks sweet words but plans bitter actions. Iran, they argue, has concealed its nuclear program in the past. It has not come clean with the). It has not abided by previous agreements.

Iran has indeed concealed its program in the past. Just as other countries have done, like Israel for example, which still refuses to confirm its nuclear status. But it’s critical to point out as well that, according to U.S. intelligence estimates in 2007, Iran abandoned its plan to pursue a nuclear weapon in 2003, and no evidence has emerged since then to suggest otherwise. However, Iran has continued with its nuclear program for purposes permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The current deal is being pursued not because the world trusts Iran on these issues, but because it doesn’t trust Iran.

Any nuclear deal will increase the level of scrutiny, inspections, and verification protocols. As for Iran’s compliance with agreements in the past, it has abided by the 2013 interim agreement. As former National Security Council staffer Gary Sick points out, Iran also held to the Algiers Accord that ended the 1979 hostage standoff. Only through additional engagement with the IAEA will we obtain more information about the questions that remain unanswered about Iran’s nuclear program in the past.

The War Party

Which brings us back to that full-page ad. It would be sensible to ignore such a screed if its arguments were not so commonplace in the public discourse, particularly among members of Congress.

The organization behind the ad, the World Values Network, is an initiative of Orthodox rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who has received funding from hardline neo-con billionaire Sheldon Adelson. It’s been pushing the “Iran is Nazi” meme for some time, and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu echoed this theme in his address to Congress earlier this year, where both Adelson and Boteach applauded from the front of the House gallery.

But if the Iranian government were so intent on exterminating the world’s Jews, which the ad maintains, it would probably have started already with the 10,000 or so Jews who live in Iran, the largest community in the Middle East outside of Israel. But the Jewish community in Iran is not under threat of death. Although the community does experience some discrimination, it also practices its religion freely.

The ad goes on to make four demands.

The first three involve adding elements to a nuclear agreement that have nothing to do with nuclear issues: end threats against Israel, stop terrorism, cease stoning of women and hanging of gays. I’d like to see progress on those issues, but in this context they are non-starters, designed simply to push negotiations off the rails. If an agreement on the nuclear question can be reached, then the United States and other countries can start to raise these issues and others, either as part of another set of negotiations or normalization talks.

The fourth demand, to reject a deal that involves a “potentially catastrophic one-year-weapons-breakout period,” is at least germane to the nuclear talks. But it too is a non-starter. The bottom line is that if Iran wants to pursue a nuclear weapons program, it will do so, just as Israel did, out of perceived national interest. If we stop negotiations — or pursue the chimera of a “better deal” — Iran will have the option of pushing for breakout as soon as it can.

What’s potentially catastrophic, in other words, is not to bring Iran into the web of verification protocols.

Iran has influence throughout the Middle East. But it does not control five Middle Eastern capitals. This has been a popular right-wing meme, which Tom Cotton (R-AR) repeated when he appeared on Face the Nation and ticked off Tehran, Beirut, Baghdad, Damascus, and Sanaa. Iran certainly has influence in these places, but that does not amount to control. Given its close relationship with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, not to mention Egypt and Turkey, the United States could use the nuclear negotiations with Iran as a first step toward bridging the divide between Shiites and Sunnis in the region.

No one expects that an agreement will trigger an immediate transformation inside Iran any more than the arms control agreements with the Soviet Union in the 1970s turned that country into a Scandinavian paradise. But a nuclear agreement will definitely strengthen the hands of reformers inside Iran. And as in the 1970s, the stakes are high and the choice is clear.

This preliminary agreement announced today is historic news. The hardliners in both countries have been sidelined, at least temporarily. But opponents of the nuclear deal, from Sheldon Adelson to John Bolton, will continue to push for war. The choice remains stark. We either talk ourselves away from the precipice, or we plunge headlong over it.

This is an updated version of an article that first appeared on Foreign Policy In Focus.

Still No Justice After Cop Kills Unarmed and Peaceful Man Over Weed

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 19:58:48 +0000

Why hasn't the mainstream media been covering this?

The post Still No Justice After Cop Kills Unarmed and Peaceful Man Over Weed appeared first on The Anti-Media.

Rapper ‘The Game’ Punches Off-Duty Cop in the Face

hamish@undercurrents.org (Hamish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 19:41:50 +0000

Los Angeles, Calif. – Rapper The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, is no stranger to controversy. His latest antics, caught on cell phone video, are no certainly exception.

A video has emerged allegedly showing The Game punching an off-duty rookie LAPD officer in the face.

According to initial reports, the incident began as Game was participating in a pro-am game Sunday at Hollywood High School when he and the cop started exchanging heated words on the court.

The Game claims that the officer threatened him first by implying he was getting a gun from his bag, allegedly telling the rapper he was gonna go to his gym back and “get that thing,” which in street terms means get his gun.

The cop claims that The Game issued the first threat.

TMZ reports:

Sources connected to Game tell us the rapper says the punchee started things by throwing an elbow at Game … who responded by elbowing him right back. Then it got really heated — Game claims the guy said don’t make me go to my gym bag because … “I got that thing.”

The clear hint was the guy had a gun.

The report went on to say the LAPD is investigating the Game for battery — and also the off-duty officer. If he really did threaten to get his gun … he could be in big trouble.

Earlier this year the rapper was the subject of criticism when he posted “I Guess Ya’ll Can’t Breathe Either,” to his social media accounts, in reference to the murder of Eric Garner and in response to the killing of NYPD officers, which we reported on.

From the looks of this pic The Game recently posted to his Instagram account, of his right fist, perhaps he was just trying to channel Iron Mike.

Jay Syrmopoulos is an investigative journalist, freethinker, researcher, and ardent opponent of authoritarianism. He is currently a graduate student at University of Denver pursuing a masters in Global Affairs. Jay’s work has previously been published on BenSwann.com and WeAreChange.org. You can follow him on Twitter @sirmetropolis, on Facebook at Sir Metropolis and now on tsu.

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