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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.

My intention is to make links only to publicly accessible, stable URLs. If you find a link to a page that requires subscription, please report that as you would report any other broken link.

31 August 2011 (Wikileaks_sabotage) As a perhaps unintended consequence of Domscheit-Berg's sabotage of Wikileaks, a large collection of US cables has leaked without the Wikileaks redaction to remove names of individuals. The person Snorrason who is quoted as blaming this on Wikileaks itself is one of Domscheit-Berg's associates.

31 August 2011 (neo-Nazis) Defeating neo-Nazis by laughing at them: the stork that wrote Mein Krampf (my cramp).

31 August 2011 (Defense spending) A retired general says that the deficit-reduction agreement is an opportunity to reduce excessive and increasing military spending that harms national security. This is because a country's military strength is only one aspect of its security. Wounding its people to keep the army going is in the long term a path to weakness. One issue he did not mention is that use of the military can harm a country. The unjust war of aggression in Iraq has damaged the US, though less than it damaged Iraq. The quagmired war in Afghanistan may not have made Afghanistan much worse than it was 10 years ago, but has not made it much better either, and it has damaged US security.

31 August 2011 (Libyan rebels) Libyan rebel fighters seem to have carried out bloody reprisals against Gaddafi's supporters in Tripoli. Just because they fought and replaced a brutal dictator does not mean they should act like him.

30 August 2011 (Spanish Police Violence) Spanish police attacked harmless protesters and journalists at the protest against the expense of the pope's visit.

30 August 2011 ('Insults' to royal family) The government of Thailand is on a rampage, imprisoning people for "insulting the king". In practice, any criticism of the monarchy is treated as an "insult". The mere idea of such punishment is unjust, regardless of how the details are handled.

29 August 2011 (Matt Taibbi explains) Matt Taibbi explains how the SEC protected the banks it was supposed to regulate. He also explains how New York Attorney General Schneiderman wants to prosecute banks' fraud, and how the corrupt Obama regime is trying to stop him.

30 August 2011 (Governor and Candidate: do not recognize evolution) If a candidate does not recognize truth of evolution, that is a sign of wilfull ignorance which is likely to affect his actions in other areas too.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] If a candidate advocates free software, that is a diagnostic for a resistance to being bought by megacorporations.

29 August 2011 (Federal Reserve Audit reveals) Auditing the Federal Reserve system revealed secret bailouts amounting to 16 trillion dollars. It also revealed that the Federal Reserve has allowed its directors to maintain financial conflicts of interest, owning parts of banks that are being bailed out.

29 August 2011 (Bahrain's king forgave protesters) Bahrain's king promised civil trials to arrested protesters, and to give back jobs to protesters who were fired. He also forgave them for the crime of insulting him, which should not be a crime at all.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] There was no real evidence that Iran was behind the protests in Bahrain; that was just government spin, meant to cut support for the democracy movement.

29 August 2011 (Filming Police Officers) A US appeals court ruled that filming police officers at work is protected under the First Amendment. This court's jurisdiction covers Massachusetts and some other states. Massachusetts was one of several states which had laws against recording conversations without getting permission and tried to use them to ban such recordings.

29 August 2011 (Indian Anticorruption Law) The Indian government has promised to adopt a strong anticorruption law, and Anna Hazare suspended his hunger strike. People have criticized Hazare in various ways. It is true that he is connected with the BJP, the Hindu extremist party. Dalits have condemned his movement as "upper caste", and maybe they are right. Still, it is good to cut down on corruption.

29 August 2011 (World Food Prices) Researchers argue that world food prices exceeding a certain level tend to cause riots, that this may have triggered the Arab Spring to occur this year. They also predict that, starting in a few years, food prices will exceed the riot level all the time.

29 August 2011 (Shell's Nigerian Pipelines) Local people have sabotaged Shell's oil export pipelines in Nigeria after Shell fired the pipeline guards rather than give them a raise. It is possible that this amounts to a sort of protection racket, if the guard companies encouraged the sabotage. That would be unjust, but it's a smaller injustice than the massive damage Shell has done to the people of those areas of Nigeria. However, this form of sabotage adds to the damage suffered by them.

29 August 2011 (Henley PROTECT IP) Eagles' Don Henley: EFF, Google "aid and abet" criminals. Someone found me his concert program, which includes LA, Santa Barbara and Saratoga CA in September. Would anyone like to organize protests at them?

29 August 2011 (Another al Qa'ida Leader) The US has killed yet another al Qa'ida leader, and presents this as a significant victory. I don't expect this to have much effect on al Qa'ida. The specific group that was headed by Osama bin Laden has done little for years beyond make plans. The substance of al Qa'ida is an ideology rather than a centralized organization, and as such, it cannot defeated by attacking its leaders.

29 August 2011 (Better Humans or Sheep?) The tie-in toys for Disney "Cars" are made in a Chinese sweatshop by child laborers. You can't determine that fact by looking at the toys themselves, but their other flaw is obvious: they are a media tie-in. Giving kids such toys is media manipulation, and it teaches them to find such manipulation acceptable. It is better to teach your kids to resist. This resistance will help them become good human beings instead of good sheep.

29 August 2011 (Not Serving The Public) The UK spends more on subsidies for films that promote smoking than on efforts to discourage smoking. This is what you get when governments buy into the idea that the way to serve the public is to give handouts to business.

29 August 2011 (Avnery On Libya) Uri Avnery celebrates the Libyan people's victory over Gaddafi, and explains why NATO's assistance was morally obligatory. He also argues for an obligation to intervene against Assad in Syria. I would agree, if Syria had a viable armed rebellion as Libya did. (The Libyan rebels could not have defeated Gaddafi without help, but the point is that they held substantial territory on their own for long enough to receive support.) The Syrians don't have a rebellion, they have a nonviolent protest movement, and that can't be aided by outside military force.

29 August 2011 (Obama And The Pipeline) Since Obama has the sole authority to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, the White House protests at which hundreds continue to be arrested will show whether he is capable of refusing to be the flunky of the oil companies.

28 August 2011 (Osborne Warns Tax Cheats) The UK finance minister calls tax evasion "morally repugnant". However, he shows no intention to change the laws that allow many multinational corporations to pay no tax in the UK. So what's the moral difference? Is making lots of money and paying no tax only immoral when it happens to be illegal?

28 August 2011 (Ron Paul's Actual Stance) Ron Paul attracts support from Progressives for his oppposition to wars in Asia and the War on Drugs. Unfortunately he also opposes Social Security, Civil Rights and abortion rights. I am still not sure he is worse than Obama.

28 August 2011 (ACLU Examines eGuardian) The FBI has a system called eGuardian that keeps track of suspicious activities such as photography and taking notes in public. Plus once in a rare while a criminal. The ACLU is trying to find out how they use it.

28 August 2011 (Unjust Chinese Law) China plans to officially legislate its practice of imprisoning dissidents for months without telling their families what happened to them. This unjust Chinese law would carry no more ethical significance than the law that set up Guantanamo military kangaroo courts.

28 August 2011 (CIA Censoring Book) The CIA is censoring a book by a critic, banning him from stating things that are already public knowledge, just to hamper criticism. This is part of a general Obama practice of defending even the nastiest government practices.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.]

28 August 2011 (Spain Adopts Limit) Spain will adopt a constitutional limit on deficit spending, in effect denying itself the one remedy for a recession. States should pay down the national debt in good times, so they can use deficit spending when it is needed: in bad times.

28 August 2011 (Eliminating Regulations) Obama plans to eliminate some "unnecessary" government regulations, at least one of which protects public health.

28 August 2011 (Union Leaders Ask Congress) US union leaders asked Congress to investigate how Colombia's government used US aid to attack unions there.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] All "free trade" treaties undermine democracy, and this one also attacks the idea of justice in by imposing in Colombia a policy of punishing Internet users merely accused of sharing.

28 August 2011 (The Attack Near Eilat) It is not known who organized the attack near Eilat last week; Israel retaliated by attacking the usual suspects.

27 August 2011 (Urgent: Tell Obama to stop protecting banksters) US citizens: tell Obama to stop protecting the banksters as New York Atty General Schneiderman investigates their mortgage fraud against the public.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] I added, "If we don't put some of the banksters in jail for this, they will start again as soon as our backs are turned."

27 August 2011 (Rebels Prepare For Sirte) The Libyan rebels are preparing to attack Sirte with captured heavy weapons, while NATO attacks Gaddafi's bases there. Craig Murray points out that this NATO attack is not necessary to protect civilians, and rather endangers the civilians there. While the rebels understandably would like to capture Sirte, is that enough reason to attack a city whose population supports Gaddafi? Simply encircling it on the land side and encouraging unarmed people to leave the city is likely to be enough, now that Gaddafi has no chance to win.

27 August 2011 (Move To Organic Farming) This article says that shortages of oil and usable fresh water, and soil degradation, will make soon it necessary to move to move to organic farming in a big way. This could be a way to increase employment, but it won't be easy: most Americans know nothing about farming, and it isn't easy to learn if you are not young.

27 August 2011 (US Deficit Cutting) If the US wants to cut the deficit over 10 years, it only needs to follow the existing laws.

27 August 2011 (Afghan Police Corruption) Corruption and brutality prevail in the Afghan police, whose officers rape and murder with impunity. This reflects the general corruption of Karzai's regime, so more time and money are not likely to change it.

27 August 2011 (Wikileaks Cables) Wikileaks cables show that the US government regarded the UN "peacekeeping" occupation of Haiti as crucial for US interests there. In addition to introducing cholera there, these troops helped, by their mere presence, in the imposition of the Burmese-style rigged election.

27 August 2011 (South African Chief Justice) South Africa's new chief justice considers homosexuality a disease, and tends to go easy on abuse of women. South Africa has been cursed by bad presidents after Mandela. If you are reading this, you could probably do better.

27 August 2011 (Banker Pay Cut) Young bankers are unhappy with their pay, what with 100-hour work weeks. Perhaps the banks will need to hire twice as many people and ask them to work only 50 hours a week.

27 August 2011 (Walmart Buying Influence) Walmart is trying to buy influence in Boston by giving money to local charities, in order to overcome political opposition to its opening a store there. Anyone influenced by this is a fool, but there are lots of such fools. For instance, there are people at MIT CSAIL who admire Bill Gates because he gave money and got their part of the building named "Gates". As if this were more important than the harm Microsoft continues to do. People should think of these "donations" as lobbying activities. They will probably stop if Walmart's lobbying campaign succeeds.

27 August 2011 (France Increases Taxes) France will increase taxes on the rich, along with cuts that are likely to increase the recession.

25 August 2011 (Fighting Tripoli) Gaddafi's snipers still control some parts of Tripoli, and are firing inaccurate missiles at Misrata from another city. They cannot hope to win a war that way. It is pure viciousness. If Qatari troops were present involved in taking Tripoli, that would be the sort of help that the rebels should have got in March.

25 August 2011 (FBI Terrorist Informants) The FBI has thousands of informers in mosques in the US, many of them blackmailed, trying to lure in would-be terrorists. Often it seems they manufacture the "terrorism", preying on confused people who would never have made a real plan on their own.

25 August 2011 (Unpublished Wikileaks) Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who stole many as yet unpublished leaked documents from Wikileaks in 2010, has destroyed many or all of them. Thanks to his betrayal, we will not get to see the US no-fly list. The Chaos Computer Club has expelled him for trying to use their name to promote his own nebulous substitute for Wikileaks. Here is a discussion of the implications of his actions. Since a year ago, we have seen many people and organizations make accusations against Wikileaks. Domscheit-Berg's accusations, coming as they did from an insider, sounded very bad. But now we see that he cannot be trusted and his accusations should not be believed. There are reports he is cooperating with the FBI. Perhaps his sabotage of Wikileaks' operations and his accusations were all part of that "cooperation".

25 August 2011 (Romney Flip Flop) In 1994, Mitt Romney argued for abortion rights. His argument remains valid although he ceases to heed it.

25 August 2011 (Chemical Plants) The Koch brothers have campaigned against security precautions for chemical plants, arguing that terrorism is not such a big danger and doesn't justify causing so much trouble for business.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] That argument is not valid about a chemical plant which could poison thousands of people, but it is valid for the much smaller problems that other possible terrorist attacks could cause. The same argument applies much That is right — so when will this same principle be applied to the measures that cause trouble for us?

25 August 2011 (Racist Law) Harsh state laws that attack illegal immigrants seem to have chased most illegal immigrants away from some states, leading to collapse of certain businesses. Some aspects of these laws are specially cruel, but the basic point of not allowing illegal immigrants to remain does not seem wrong to me. Convincing US citizens to do the jobs formerly done by illegal immigrants may require increasing the wages and improving working conditions. It may also require job training, which I doubt these states have provided.

24 August 2011 (Food Stamps) 15% of Americans now get food stamps. Many are employed part time and can't live on that. Many companies prefer to hire more part-time employees just so as not to pay them benefits such as health care. A national health system would eliminate this perverse incentive.

24 August 2011 (Israeli Insulted) Student Paul Donnachie in Scotland was convicted of the crime of insulting and defacing (but only notionally) an Israeli student's Israeli flag. He also called Israel a "terrorist state" and called the other student a "terrorist". Donnachie needs to learn that he does no good for the cause of peace by being crude. However, what he said about Israel is simple truth. Israel has committed acts which perfectly fit the usual definition of terrorism: for instance, the bombing of civilians in Gaza with the aim of making them drop their support for Hamas. Violence against civilians for a political purpose. There is no reason to believe that the Israeli student Reitblat is personally a terrorist, so Donnachie owes him an apology for that. However, to punish mere insult as a crime violates the basic human right of freedom of speech.

24 August 2011 (Hamas Arrests) Hamas harasses and arrests political activists in Gaza. Hamas also blocks Palestinians from leaving Gaza to study — ironically, just what Israel used to do to them.

24 August 2011 (Warrant Cell Phone) A US judge ruled that police need a warrant to get cell phone location data. Other judges have made different rulings, so I expect the Supreme Court will make the real decision.

24 August 2011 (Political Censorship) New Zealand is considering signing a treaty that requires political censorship.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] This treaty is an injustice. Freedom of speech must be defended even when it involves statements we despise. If New Zealand wants to cooperate with other countries against organized crime, it can take the other proposed steps without signing the treaty.

24 August 2011 (Executive Drinks Fluid) A Halliburton executive publicly drank some of Halliburton's current fracking fluid as a stunt.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] I call it a stunt because it proves nothing significant about fracking and safety. Even supposing that fluid is safe, next month Halliburton could switch to something else, which isn't. And it says nothing about other companies. If a law required all companies to use a fracking fluid that is safe for humans and other species, and that wouldn't pollute wells, and to get approval of the ingredients to prove it, that would be more than a stunt.

24 August 2011 (Rogue Groups Cease Fire) The rogue terror groups in Gaza acceded to Hamas' cease fire with Israel, under Egyptian pressure. Now the challenge is to undo the distractive effect of these attacks, which gave Netanyahu a chance to make security the main issue.

24 August 2011 (Divisions Among Rebels) Divisions among the rebels in Libya will make establishment of a new government difficult. A crucial difference between Libya and Afghanistan is that the US set up Karzai's "government" and is thus fully responsible for it, including its corruption. The Libyan rebels' shaky government was not set up by NATO even if NATO help create the opportunity for it to exist, and NATO must avoid getting drawn into a role in setting one up. Horrible things may happen if Libyans do this badly, but Afghanistan shows that horrible things could happen if NATO gets involved.

24 August 2011 (Funds Used For Spying) Colombia's former president, Alvaro Horrible (that sounds much like "Uribe" in Spanish, and is more accurate) used US funds to spy on and smear political opponents, dissidents, and Supreme Court judges. Democracy in Colombia is hardly "thriving" — in fact, it is planning a law to punish Internet users on mere accusation of copyright infringement, in obedience to US demands.

24 August 2011 (Extending Afghan War) The US and Afghanistan are planning a deal to keep US troops there (and the war going) until 2024.

24 August 2011 (Special Tax Breaks) The megacorporations that want special tax breaks on their foreign profits "to create jobs" refuse to say how many jobs they have in the US, and how many in other countries. But it seems they have cut almost 3 million US jobs in the past decade. So it seems unlikely that they will go in the opposite direction. The one kind of tax change that really would help jobs in the US is to establish a national health care system. The current system of paying for health care through employment discourages employing people in the US.

24 August 2011 (Ratings Agencies Conflict) The credit rating agencies that rate countries' debts have a conflict of interest, says a former executive.

24 August 2011 (Strauss-Kahn May Run) Dominique Strauss-Kahn may run for President of France if the rape charges are dropped. There may be doubts about whether he raped a chambermaid, but we know he is guilty of unspeakable acts in his role as head of the IMF.

24 August 2011 (To Cancel CCA's Contract) The private prison operator CCA turned a prison sentence into a death sentence by denying medical care to a prisoner who had a heart attack. But this is just the worst example of CCA's cruelty. So the ACLU wants CCA's contract cancelled.

24 August 2011 (Unmarked Graves) 2,000 corpses have been found in unmarked graves in Kashmir, apparently Kashmiris secretly killed by India. India promised to give Kashmir a referendum about whether to be part of India, but never carried it out.

23 August 2011 (Dirty Little Secrets) Calling on the FDA to ban antibacterial soap that does no good and can indirectly do harm.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.]

23 August 2011 (Mexican RFIDs) Thousands of scared Mexicans have had RFIDs implanted on the belief that this can help track them if they are kidnapped. There are just two problems: 1. RFIDs only track you when you go near an antenna, and 2. the kidnappers would cut it out of you anyway.

23 August 2011 (Dystopian Marketing World) Our Brave New Marketing World. I don't have a frequent-purchaser card from any retail store, but I do sometimes use the numbers of other people.

23 August 2011 (Return Of The Generals) Uri Avnery: The Palestinian attack in the Negev was the miracle Netanyahu was waiting for: now he can use "security" to distract attention from all criticism. His conclusion: campaigning for other social issues cannot ignore the issue of peace with Palestine.

23 August 2011 (Rebel Troops Close In) Parts of Tripoli have risen up against Gaddafi as the rebel troops outside close in. I am sure the rebels will move as fast as they can; but as they advance into into the city, Gaddafi will have lots of opportunities to slow them down. I fear that his troops will crush the uprisings. Given their propensity to randomly shell civilian areas, I think they'd be glad to kill these anti-Gaddafi Libyans even if there is no hope they can win. There needs to be a way for them to surrender instead — and provisions need to be made to heal the conflict with the tribes that have been Gaddafi's supporters.

23 August 2011 (Pope's Visit Spoiled) The Pope's visit to Madrid was spoiled by a storm. I would have said it was a "sign from God", if I thought there was one.

23 August 2011 (Children Seized) South Africa seizes the children of Zimbabwean women who are caught begging. I don't believe that countries are obliged to admit any number of poor migrants. BUt these are not ordinary migrants. They are refugees from Mugabes tyranny, which is supported by South Africa. Meahwhile, nothing can excuse telling these women to "get a job" when there are no jobs and they have no papers, or "find a decent house" when they are destitute, or demanding they pay to take a class. (Whose idea was that fee? The IMF's?) If South Africa wants to have a policy of taking the children of destitute refugees, it should come out and say so, not set up a catch-22 for them. I also wonder what conditions these children are being kept in. I have a feeling that institutions for poor children in South Africa are also not very good conditions to bring up a child. Are they better than standing with mom at an intersection to beg?

23 August 2011 (Bargaining Rights) Ohio's right-wing governor Kasich attacked state workers' bargaining rights, but progressives have set up a referendum which he now fears he will lose.

23 August 2011 (Poisoning Troops) The US is poisoning troops and civilians in Afghanistan by burning waste indiscriminately. The same was done in Iraq (and maybe still is).

23 August 2011 (Greenland Glacier) A Greenland glacier is melting at record pace.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] Don't buy property within a few meters of sea level.

23 August 2011 (Free Expression) Many political activists in Egypt face charges of "insulting the military". People have a human right to insult anyone and anything; any state that puts people on trial for doing so, convicts itself.

23 August 2011 (US Military Christianity) The US military is going overboard to push Christianity on soldiers, and spending hundreds of millions to do it.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] The result is to make non-Christian soldiers feel pressure to convert.

23 August 2011 (Mountaintop Removal Mining) Mountaintop removal coal mining poisons the oldest soil in the world, killing sensitive species, and does not even provide the jobs that are promised.

23 August 2011 (Texas Employment) Texas Governor Perry claims Texas has done better on employment than most of the US. Texas' unemployment rate is 8.2; the US as a whole is a little over 9.

22 August 2011 (Vietnam Activists) Vietnam has sentenced human rights defenders to years in prison for peaceful political advocacy.

22 August 2011 (Facebook Recruiting) A dangerous trend: many employers are using Facebook for recruiting. I fear this will develop into an unofficial requirement for many people to use Facebook on pain of not getting hired.

22 August 2011 (Release Ex-Guantanamo Detainees) Two former Guantanamo prisoners, who released without charges, were then imprisoned on their return to Tajikistan after a trial that was even worse than a Guantanamo trial.

22 August 2011 (Arizona Nonprofits) Arizona wants to prohibit nonprofits (such as shelters for battered women) from even discussing abortion. The ACLU is fighting back.

22 August 2011 (US Military Torture) More instances where the US military tortured prisoners by making them feel they were drowning. Two prisoners were really drowned.

22 August 2011 (Burqa Fines) A French businessman says he will pay the fines for all women fined for wearing burqas. That is good, but what about those of us who are men, or who are not Muslims? The right to cover one's face in public should not be limited to women, or to those with religious motivations. If face recognition cameras are set up in the streets, covering your face will be the only way to resist total surveillance. Perhaps this response will lead to reconsideration of these laws.

22 August 2011 (Prosecuting Protesters) Of the 145 protesters in a Fortnum & Mason store, 30 are being prosecuted — the ones that had leaflets. By choosing to prosecute these protesters, instead of making Fortnum & Mason pay taxes as they demanded, the UK government shows that it values the budget deficit as an excuse to make poor people suffer. By treating possession of leaflets — proof of a political role — as an "aggravating" factor, it shows that the real defendent here is the idea of protest, and reaffirm that "aggravated trespass" is just an excuse to prosecute protesters.

22 August 2011 (Palestinian Show Banned) A Palestinian TV show that satirized officials has been banned by the Palestinian Authority. The PA now has an opportunity to demonstrate its readiness to respect human rights, by cancelling this decision.

22 August 2011 (Better Treatment, Prevention) The cholera epidemic in Haiti, which was introduced by UN "peacekeeper" troops, could be ended if proper efforts were made: but they are not being made.

22 August 2011 (SEC Investigations) The SEC regularly discards the results of investigations that don't lead to prosecution. This protects the suspects — executives and corporations.

22 August 2011 (Perry Hypocricy) Governor Perry followed a sensible Keynesian policy of deficit spending to create jobs in Texas. Thus, his condemnation of government spending is hypocritical.

22 August 2011 (Al-Gazzar Imprisoned) Adel Al-Gazzar was held unjustly in Guantanamo, then released. When he got home to Egypt, Mubarak's regime imprisoned him.

22 August 2011 (Urgent: Support honest 9-11 investigation) Americans: support the 10th anniversary campaign for a thorough and honest investigation of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] Only a proper and uncorrupted investigation can establish who was responsible and who wasn't.

22 August 2011 (Urgent: Support strong fracking regs) US citizens: call on the DOE to make its fracking regulations strong.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] When companies want to conceal things, they typically claim they need to keep secrets from their competitors. Even if that is indeed one of their motives, there is no reason to grant it any validity in an issue of public safety or health. When those are at stake, or any issue more important than the profit of any one company, businesses should be required to reveal any information that the public needs. However, I think this reason is a front. If all the companies in a certain field were required to publish certain information, each company would gain something and lose something. If he can see your secrets, that is compensated by the fact that you can see his secrets. Once each company knows all, they would all become more efficient. Why would they object strenuously to this? My theory is that what they really want is to keep their dangerous practices secret from the public, but they can't admit that, so they talk about keeping secrets from each other, and politicians whose support has been procured in some other way can cite this as their public reason.

22 August 2011 (Urgent: Oppose warrantless spying in Canada) Canadians: sign this petition to oppose the increased police spy powers that the government wants. The government plans to give the police people's Internet and cell phone data tracking without a warrant. The fact that it plans to slip this into a big "omnibus" bill displays its contempt for the citizens.

20 August 2011 (Videographer Threatened) A Massachusetts citizen who made a video of a policeman beating a prisoner with a flashlight (and calling him racial insults) is now threatened with prosecution for recording it.

20 August 2011 (Twisted Insurance Battle) US hospitals and medical insurance companies are locked in a twisted battle over prices and reimbursements. The solution to this is lear: a single-payer system as in Canada or England. Those systems work fine, except when right-wing governments try to sabotage them, and even then they are still better than the US system.

20 August 2011 (India Backs Down) India's government backed down and gave Anna Hazare permission to hold a hunger strike for 15 days. I suppose that if he isn't ready to stop in 15 days, they will be compelled to extend the permission, or else play out the same hand that they lost last time. However, what's really important is ending the corruption. That is a hard fight, but the support that Hazare has gained through his arrest may help.

20 August 2011 (Israel Retaliates) Palestinian infiltrators attacked a bus as well as military targets near Eilat. Israel retaliated by bombing Gaza. I have no way to evaluate whether the people attacked in Gaza had any relation to the attack, or whether they were combatants. What does the "Popular Resistance Committee" do?

20 August 2011 (Civilian Killings Covered Up) Sometimes NATO bombs in Libya kill civilians, and US media cover it up.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] These incidents are not culpable — such things are unavoidable even with good will. But that is no excuse for denying they occurred.

20 August 2011 (Riots Prove CCTV Useless) The London riots prove CCTV is useless for deterring street crime. Maybe CCTV can be used to identify large numbers of rioters and prosecute them. But that is the wrong thing to do, since it seeks to bottle up the pressure that other unjust government policies create. If CCTV can identify the banksters and bring them to justice, then it might be of some use.

20 August 2011 (Pakistan's Authorization) Pakistan's military demands the US get authorization for drone attacks in Pakistan.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] However, it seems to be unable to gain US compliance with this demand.

19 August 2011 (Oil Spill Highlights Danger) A medium-size oil spill in the North Sea highlights the increased danger of oil platforms that are still operating decades after they were put in place.

19 August 2011 (Euro-Zone Economic Controls) Merkel and Sarkozy proposed strict economic controls on euro-zone countries including a requirement for balanced budget every year. This is fiscal insanity since it would mean no way to stimulate the economy in bad times such as these.

19 August 2011 (US Sustainability) If sustainability of the economy were included in debt ratings, the US would have been downgraded years ago.

19 August 2011 (A Life Unravelled) Murdoch's News Corporation hounded whistleblower Robert Emmel into bankruptcy by suing him for all sorts of things. It lost the lawsuits but ruined his life.

19 August 2011 (Torture Suspect Claims Abuse) Omar Awadh Omar claims UK intelligence agents and FBI agents beat him up after kidnapping him in Kenya and taking him illegally to Uganda.

19 August 2011 (Corporation Threatens Blogger) Homeopathic Thuggery: a big homeopathy corporation has threatened a blogger who pointed out that its "Oscillococcinum" product has no active ingredient.

19 August 2011 (The Pentagon Riding High) The most powerful potential US military adversary, China, has one aircraft carrier that belonged to Ukraine in the 90s. Does the US need 11 carrier groups? Does it need an army that could fight all the world's other armies put together?

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] Maybe there is a reason for that. Maybe the Washington power elite is planning to do something so horrible that the whole rest of the world would want to attack. Broiling our planet, perhaps?

19 August 2011 (Clarke Accuses Tenet) Richard Clarke, who was Bush's Director for Counterterrorism, accused George Tenet (then CIA Director) of concealing crucial information from him in August 2001 about people subsequently accused in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The only motive I can imagine for him to conceal this is if Bush or Cheney had ordered him to conceal that information; and the only plausible motive for that is if they were somehow complicit in the attacks. This is not proof. There might be some other explanation that doesn't suggest itself to me. But this is enough reason to have a new investigation — a thorough and honest one this time. (Bush's investigation was hamstrung and corrupted.) That is why I signed the ae911truth.org petition for a new investigation.

18 August 2011 (Urgent: ACLU Blocks Ban) The ACLU is suing to block a Kansas law that bans health insurance from covering abortions. I am an ACLU member. Are you?

18 August 2011 (US Corn Belt Farmers) Just maybe the US will turn away from subsidizing ethanol made from corn. Using a subsidized farm crop to make fuel means it gets grown instead of food, and that drives food prices up. Meanwhile, growing this corn is not very efficient, so it doesn't do much to reduce global heating. A GM corn variety specialized to make ethanol production more efficient threatens to ruin corn grown for food. It is lunacy to do genetic engineering in a plant whose pollen spreads far on the wind.

18 August 2011 (Urgent: Protect Manatees) US citizens: support measures to protect manatees from being killed by speedboats.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] So many get killed this way that it puts the species at risk of extinction.

18 August 2011 (Senator Seeks Aid Cut) Senator Leahy wants to end US aid to certain Israeli military units which have a habit of harming innocent Palestinian civilians.

18 August 2011 (Massive Bank Fraud) Massive fraud by banks: 92% of foreclosures in New York City lack proper documents.

18 August 2011 (Television Shortens Life) Watching TV may lead to earlier death. Or perhaps people watch TV because of something else that causes a tendency to die earlier. If sitting a lot leads to earlier death, I hope that my working 10 hours a day on the computer doesn't have the same effect. Unlike TV, which I more or less do without, the work I do on the computer is important, and I would not want to leave it undone.

18 August 2011 (Arrests Over Protest) India has arrested Anna Hazare, and 1300 supporters, to stop him from starting a hunger strike as a protest against corruption. If someone can show me a site for coordinating resistance to this act of tyranny, I would appreciate it.

18 August 2011 (Malawi To Shoot Protesters) Amnesty International says that the government of Malawi is planning to shoot protesters tomorrow. Journalists and human rights advocates have met with violent repression there recently.

18 August 2011 (Revealing Letter) A News of the World reporter's letter says that the paper's editor and senior reporters approved the illegal phone tapping, and shows that Rupert Murdoch gave misleading evidence to Parliament.

18 August 2011 (Violent Entertainment) Proposing that we shun violent entertainment. I avoid violent video, not as a boycott but, rather because I don't like the feeling it gives me.

17 August 2011 (11 Trillion Security Dollars) In 10 years, the US has spent around 11 trillion dollars on "national security". Did that make Americans any safer? If it were established that this spending did make Americans safer overall, some parts of it might be exceptions. For instance, I am sure that the conquest and occupation of Iraq had the opposite effect. But even if it were possible to make Americans safer through a war of conquest and occupation, that would not make it legitimate.

17 August 2011 (Urgent: Contractor Funds) US citizens: tell congressional leaders they should insist that the members of the deficit-cutting committee stop accepting funds from military contractors, and publish details of any meetings with those contractors' representatives.

17 August 2011 (BP Arctic) BPing the Arctic: How Shell's Dangerous Drilling Is Being Fast-Tracked.

17 August 2011 (Israel Apartments) Israel says it will build over 4000 more apartments in areas it calls East Jerusalem. These are presumably in territory captured in 1967 that Israel has relabeled as "Jerusalem".

17 August 2011 (Decrypting Blackberry) The UK says it has asked intelligence codebreakers to help decrypt Blackberry messages of possible rioters. The article is mistaken about a crucial fact: aside from special "enterprise" systems which the rioters generally did not have, RIM can decrypt these messages, and the police can subpoena the decrypted messages from RIM. The police know this. So why would they ask code-breakers to go to work on these messages? The only plausible motive I can see is to avoid the need to show cause for subpoenas — and that is contempt of justice. Either that, or this is just PR, following the general strategy of using the riots to distract attention from the banksters' much bigger looting, and far more numerous killings by the police.

17 August 2011 (Israeli Soldiers) Israeli soldiers arrested the site director and chairman of the Freedom Theater in Jenin.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.]

17 August 2011 (UK Banks) The main UK banks still invest in cluster bombs even though the UK has signed the treaty to ban them.

16 August 2011 (Koch Brothers Buy Election) How the Koch brothers bought an election so as to bring back segregation.

16 August 2011 (Long Beach Police) The police in Long Beach say that photography and "taking notes" are suspicious behavior just like trying to get samples of infection diseases.

16 August 2011 (List Of Perry Misdeeds) Texas Governor Perry collected 17 million dollars in campaign funds from people he appointed to public office, and 6 million from people he appointed as regents of Texas universities. Those are just two of the items in this list of his misdeeds.

16 August 2011 (Gaddafi Losing Ground) Gaddafi's forces are losing ground on three fronts. This may be partly due to the destruction of many tanks and other heavy weapons, but I suspect the main reason is that his soldiers have lost heart.

16 August 2011 (Drone Attacks In Pakistan) The Bureau of Investigation has counted up casualties from US drone attacks in Pakistan, and found some 2900 — almost 50% more than the US acknowledges. Some 380 were civilians, and 160 were children. In particular, the US claim that no civilians have been killed in 2011 is false.

16 August 2011 (Study On Wealthy Americans) Studies find wealthy Americans show less empathy, less compassion, and less awareness of other people's feelings than working Americans.

16 August 2011 (Fracking Commission Report) The US commission on fracking recommended stricter regulation. This is despite having been filled with people with financial ties to the companies that do fracking. The commission did not address the question of whether fracking ought to be allowed.

15 August 2011 (School Vouchers) Republicans are pushing for school vouchers in 30 states. American voters have nearly always rejected school vouchers, and unless it has changed recently, public opinion opposes it. Republicans get away with this and many other policies that Americans don't like because the mainstream media distract attention from them.

15 August 2011 (China Microbloggers) China is having trouble clamping the lid on microblogging, as some citizens use it to resist oppression.

15 August 2011 (UK Family Eviction) Families face eviction in the UK because a child is accused of participating in riots. If large numbers of downtrodden people are evicted, they should unite on the streets to resist — for instance, to block evictions, and punish the big looters in the banks. Someone in the UK should start an "Old Labour" party that will firmly defend the rights of the non-rich as the Labour party once did.

15 August 2011 (HIV Medicine) Genetically engineered tobacco plants produce HIV medicine. This is an example of genetic engineering I think is basically good and safe.

15 August 2011 (Urgent: Let Employees Decide) US citizens: tell the Department of Health and Human Services that insurance coverage for contraception must apply to all employers.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] Respecting religious freedom for everyone means that the employees decide, not that employers decide. Of course, if we had a sensible and efficient national health system, the employer wouldn't be involved in it so this issue would not even arise.

15 August 2011 (Texas Governor Perry) Texas Governor Perry, a likely 2012 Republican candidate, is a religious lunatic and a global heating denier. From what I've seen of Obama, he will not dare confront Perry's lunacy in a clear and forceful way.

15 August 2011 (Mercenaries Tortured By US) Two former mercenaries in Iraq say they were imprisoned and tortured by the US military for reporting their employer's crimes to the FBI. We knew there was lots of corruption in Iraq; Cheney set the tone for it. This shows the corruption used torture to protect itself. It also shows that torture was a systematic machine, greased and ready to be applied to anyone including heroic and patriotic Americans. The existence of a torture machine threatens everyone and everything. Once it is running, its victims can't be limited to Iraqi rebels (not to say torturing them is excusable, but some such as Obama may not care about them). I wonder who stopped the FBI from investigating and prosecuting. Surely it would have wanted to protect its informants. Only someone very high up could have stopped it. Cheney, perhaps?

15 August 2011 (Prison Transfer Delayed) The Afghan government is still not fit to take over Bagram prison. Given the pervasive corruption of the Karzai regime, starting from Karzai himself, I doubt it ever can be fit.

15 August 2011 (Impossible Commitments) Al Jazeera's whistleblower site has corrected some of its problems, but still requires impossible commitments.

15 August 2011 (Pakistani Soldiers Convicted) 6 Pakistani soldiers were convicted of killing an unarmed prisoner. They should all be sentenced to life in prison, but not execution, because execution is barbaric. The crucial thing for Pakistan is to properly investigate such crimes when there isn't video to prove them.

15 August 2011 (Peak Oil Upon Us) Oil companies say the world has oil for 40 years at current rates, but a group of scientists who formerly worked for oil companies say that peak oil is just about upon us.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] Countries such as the US, that failed to adopt policies to shift away from fossil fuels since 35 years ago, will be hit strongly by this. One response will be to substitute coal, and natural gas obtained by fracking. But these increase the contribution to global heating, so they are a smooth path down to death valley.

15 August 2011 (Wisconsin Recall Elections) The Wisconsin recall elections removed 2 out of 6 Republican senators who were challenged — enough to hamper Walker.

14 August 2011 (Proposed Law For Theocracy) Israel's proposed new law not only declares Arabs second-class citizens, it also imposes Jewish law. This means theocracy instead of democracy.

14 August 2011 (Criticism Stops LinkedIn) LinkedIn has abandoned the practice of user's photos in ads, due to criticism from users and regulators.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] This victory shows that enough pressure from users can make Facebook stop it too. I intentionally did not use these companies' spin terminology to describe this practice. Their spin terminology makes it sound like this is a way to help users connect rather than what it is: exploitation of them.

14 August 2011 (Vietnam Imprisons Blogger) Vietnam has imprisoned a dissident blogger. Can anyone tell me what the penname Phan Kien Quoc means? "Quoc" (in a certain tone) means "country", and my guess is that this name makes some sort of patriotic comment.

14 August 2011 (Wang Lihong Faces 5 Years) Wang Lihong faces 5 years in prison in China, after a manifestly unfair trial, for "assembling a crowd to block traffic". In other words, a nonviolent protest.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.]

14 August 2011 (Obama's Fracking Committee) Obama's committee to study fracking was told to presume it can be done safely, and not to investigate whether that is true. Then it was packed with people who get money from companies that do fracking. We need leaders who can dare tell any company to take a flying leap. To restore democracy, lots of companies are going to have to do this. Anyone who hesitates too long before giving that command can't possibly do the job.

14 August 2011 (Anarchist Take On Riots) Contrasting Anarchism with the disorder: an Anarchist take on the UK riots. I sympathize with Anarchism, and I like to see parts and aspects of society work well through mutual aid, but I think we need a state so we can tax the rich and restrain their power. (That's what democracy means.)

14 August 2011 (Farmer Denounces Advertising) French Farmer Advertises Against Advertising.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] It is probably helpful, but doesn't solve problem.

14 August 2011 (Truth About Lethal Injection) Execution by lethal injection pretends to be painless but is actually quite a messy business. However, the main reasons to eliminate the death penalty are (1) it ends investigations to clear the name of someone wrongly convicted, and (2) it cheapens human life.

13 August 2011 (Long-Term Global Heating) Global heating has stopped for the past decade because the short-term cooling from increased sulfur emissions have masked the long-term heating effect of CO2. This effect can't last — we will soon feel the effect of the CO2 we have already poured into the atmosphere, and the additional CO2 we continue to emit. Meanwhile, global heating deniers get treated as serious scientists by the BBC because it misapplies its requirement to be impartial. That requirement ought to be applied to political issues, not to science.

13 August 2011 (Bahrain's Repression Forces) In Bahrain, the state's repression forces have blockaded Pearl Square to pre-empt protests there.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] I won't call them "security forces". Security for the people is not what they are working for now.

13 August 2011 (Obama's Military Spending) Obama has continued increasing military spending. If there is no budget deal, the default reductions of the debt-ceiling agreement would reduce military spending to the level of 2007. It would still be a lot higher than during the Cold War.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] If we are to have cuts, we should cut the military more than that. Military spending produces fewer jobs than other government spending, so we should take all the cuts from the military. To do even better, we could cut the military further, and increase social spending, all within the unwise requirements of the debt ceiling deal. If we do this enough, we could stimulate the economy, which is what it needs.

13 August 2011 (Pull Troops From Afghanistan) 59% of Americans want to remove all US troops from Afghanistan within a year. The mainstream media have mostly stopped talking about the war. Maybe that means the government would like Americans not to think about it so they won't push harder to end it.

13 August 2011 (Spying Mandate Buried In Bill) Canada's right-wing government is trying to authorize warrantless digital spying, and buried it in a larger bill hoping to avoid attention.

13 August 2011 (Jailing The Destitute) The ACLU is suing to stop the practice of jailing people who can't pay fines because they are destitute.

13 August 2011 (Urgent: Support Mao Hengfeng) Everyone: Support Amnesty International — call on the Chinese government to investigate the arrest and torture of human rights defender Mao Hengfeng.

13 August 2011 (Urgent: Support Iraq pullout) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support Rep. Lee's bill to remove all Bush forces from Iraq this year. Also send mail using this page. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

13 August 2011 (Civility And Half Measures) When You Play the Plurocrats' Game, They Win: On Civility and Half Measures. Right-wing extremists are winning, and they didn't do it through civility. They don't deserve any civility.

13 August 2011 (India's Protests Against GMO) There were protests across India against GMO agriculture.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] I think that "Quit India Day" used to be the date of protests against British rule. They are quite right to recognize that patented seeds are another kind of colonization. See also this article.

13 August 2011 (Riots Result Of Inequality) The London riots are the result of a system of great inequality, leaving large parts of society with no opportunity to escape squalor, together with a history of hundreds of unpunished killings by police.

13 August 2011 (Standards For Trucks) Obama announced standards for fuel efficiency for trucks.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] This seems to be one area where Obama really does something good. I wonder how long it will take before the Tea Party attacks it. If they are against making lightbulbs more efficient, it would only be natural for them to take the same stand for cars and trucks, and everything else.

12 August 2011 (Chilean Student Protest) Hundreds of thousands protested against Chile's right-wing president. Then a few started violence, which is a side issue.

12 August 2011 (UK Rioters Kill) UK rioters rammed and killed three British Asians with a car, apparently as an act of bigotry. These riots seem to consist mostly of looting local businesses, reminding me of the riots in Watts in the 1960s. There is nothing ethical, let alone heroic, in these explosions. However, it would be folly to ignore the causes, which have to do with government policies.

12 August 2011 (France Next Target) France may be the next target of European austerity program. The main good that the EU has done for most people who live in it is in improved social programs, and the misguided response of budget cutting is being seized as an opportunity to wipe that all out.

12 August 2011 (Crisis Or Opportunity?) Economic Crisis or Nonviolent Opportunity? I think the term "collapse" is an exaggeration, at least at the preesent time, but some of these ideas could be useful.

12 August 2011 (US Warned To Remove Forces) Moktada Al-Sadr warns the US to remove the Bush forces from Iraq on schedule, or face attacks. Maliki is negotiating to keep some Bush forces in Iraq, knowing he will never get it through Parliament anyway.

12 August 2011 (Secret US Military Force) A secret US military force of 60,000 troops operates in 70 countries. In some of them, it operates as a death squad.

11 August 2011 (US Presence In Mexico) US Expands Its Presence in Mexico, Ramping Up Drug War. I wonder when they will begin drone strikes.

11 August 2011 (MKO Listing Negative Signal) Iranian activists warn that removing the Mujahedin-e Khalq from the "terrorist organization" list would anger all Iranians. The inclusion of any organization in this list should not be an administrative decision which carries a message about policy. It should be decided only by a trial.

10 August 2011 (Soldiers Firing Randomly) Palestinians in Nabi Saleh, where a weekly protest is held, report that Israeli soldiers are firing randomly in the town.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.] If you watch the Youtube video, be sure to watch in HTML5. Don't install Flash Player in your page — it is nonfree software with malicious features.

10 August 2011 (Spanish Priest Opposition) A group of Spanish priests joined with Secular Europe to oppose a plan to spend over 80 million dollars in public money for a papal visit to Madrid.

10 August 2011 (London Riots) The London riots are the result of poverty with no opportunity. All it took was a spark to set off the rage. Rioting turned out to be the only way these young people could get any attention to the lives they were subject to. The police deserve this rage, and so does the state which practices Hooverlike authority during a depression, but the rioters attack others who just happen to be at hand. That's wrong and will cause suffering to innocents.

10 August 2011 (Compensation To Iraq) Iraq is entitled to compensation from the US for the destruction caused by Bush's invasion. The Bush family should have to give all its wealth and possessions as the first installment of this compensation.

10 August 2011 (Democrats Break With Obama) While Obama opposes a lawsuit to block Medicaid cuts in Washington, Congressional Democrats support it. The problem is, Obama has made a deal with health insurance companies but he has not made any deal with the American people.

10 August 2011 (ILO Convention) The International Labor Organization voted for a convention to give domestic workers basic labor rights. However, there remains the job of implementing this in the countries of the world, and even in the US there will be opposition.

10 August 2011 (Overseas Military Activity) Obama has changed very little about US overseas military activity compared with Bush.

10 August 2011 (Businesses Push Nuclear Power) Businesses are trying to bully Germany into continuing to use nuclear power. Converting to renewable energy is a necessity. What would these countries do if there were a Fukushima-like disaster near their factories? Of course, they would demand to place the costs on others and not them, but even after achieving that it would hurt their production. When companies demand short-term goals override long-term needs, that makes them enemies of society. These companies deserve to be picketed in other countries. Meanwhile, the fact that companies can do this illustrates the damage that "free trade" treaties do.

10 August 2011 (India's Parliament Shut Down) Opposition legislators shut down India's parliament in a protest against corruption.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] The BJP is a Hindu religious extremist party. The ruling Congress Party was once lead by Nehru, but now has no philosophy except to please international business.

10 August 2011 (Ambassadors Recalled From Syria) Several Arab countries including Bahrain and Saudi Arabia withdrew their ambassadors to Syria in response to Syria's assault on protesters.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] This is the right thing to do, but it is ironic given that Bahrain is treating its protesters in much the same way as Syria.

10 August 2011 (Millions Paid To US Officials) The Mujahideen-e Khalq has paid millions in speaking fees to former US officials. Any relationship whatsoever with that organization is supposed to be a crime, since that organization is on the "terrorist" list, but the US seems ready to accept excuses in this case. The Mujahideen-e Khalq may well deserve the label of "terrorist", but it was never given a trial to prove it should be in this list. That is one injustice. And even if it is proved to be a terrorist organization, punishing any and all contact with it is too much. In the future, the US will label all organizations as "terrorist", and punish those associated with any organization if and when it wishes to.

10 August 2011 (Urgent: Stand Up For Wrongly Convicted Men) Everyone: call on Illinois to free several men convicted of murders that DNA now shows were committed by other people. These men were coerced, tricked or bullied into false confessions as teenagers, and the officials now would rather keep them in prison despite their almost certain innocence.

10 August 2011 (Urgent: Support Location Data Law) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support the bills to make police need a court order to get cell phone location data. Also send mail using this web page.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

09 August 2011 (Soldiers Died In Vain) Despite the lies you will hear from the establishment, the US soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan did die in vain. "In vain" is not adequate to describe those who are killed in Iraq. They died doing harm.

09 August 2011 (ISPs Choose Customer Abuse) Major US ISPs made a deal with Hollywood to abuse their customers. The EFF has suggestions for a way to make the deal somewhat less abusive. I don't criticize the EFF for pushing to ameliorate some details of the deal less bad. Hollywood will resist all these suggestions, but it doesn't hurt to try. What would hurt is to let these details distract us from the basic evil of this deal, regardless of excuses. Censorship is evil, and making it a little less bad does not make it acceptable. We must get rid of this deal. I wonder if a state could ban ISPs from acting in accord with this deal. That is something worth pushing for. The article lists "intellectual property" as a "related issue", but it isn't an issue at all. It is a confused way of mixing up many unrelated laws, and gives a misleading idea of each one of them.

09 August 2011 (Somalia Controls Mogadishu) The "government" of Somalia now has control over Mogadishu, the main city and past capital, after a military campaign by the foreign troops that keep it in power. The foreign troops that gained territory in Mogadishu should not be called "peacekeepers" — that is blackwhiting (see 1984). They are a foreign intervention that aims to impose a foreign-backed "government" which has hardly any popular support among the people it now tries to rule. I don't know how much popular support al Shabaab has, but it can't be less.

09 August 2011 (Nader Working On Candidate) Ralph Nader is working to encourage a progressive opponent to challenge Obama for the 2012 Democratic nomination.

08 August 2011 (China Demands Debt Reduction) China demanded that the US cut spending, even its already inadequate social spending, to reduce its debt. What kind of Communists are those, eh? Of course, China's social spending is even less than the US's.

08 August 2011 (Motives To Worsen UK Offense) In the UK, a political motive for a minor offense is now treated as making it worse. That threatens democracy.

08 August 2011 (Protest Turns Into Riot) A protest in London, accusing the police of a gratuitous killing and lying about it, turned into a riot. To change the unjust system, people must get very angry, then control that anger and focus it on winning their demands. Egyptians have set a great example, which Londoners must learn from.

08 August 2011 (Rubin's Blog Blunders) Right-wing Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin asserted, without proof, that the Oslo massacre was carried out by al Qa'ida. When this proved false, she insisted she was right in spirit anyway. She was criticized for this. The paper's ombudsman defended her, and said her critics (who called for accurate and factual reporting) were no different from right-wing hate-mongers.

08 August 2011 (WIPO Broadcasting Treaty) The WIPO Broadcasting Treaty threat returns from the grave. The article misleads by using the term "intellectual property" to describe what this treaty would do. If you think that tells you something about the treaty, it means you have have been misled by confusion of that term.

07 August 2011 (Turkey's Internet Filter) Turkey's internet filter plan has been delayed until November.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] The government says the delay is for technical reasons, but strong opposition might still kill the plan.

07 August 2011 (Craig Murray Vindicated) Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, was punished for alleging within the state that the UK had a policy that permitted collaberation with torture. His claim has been vindicated by the documents just recently reported. Now he asks whether the head of the UK's supposed torture investigation had seen this policy while claiming it did not exist.

06 August 2011 (US Missile Defence) The US has spent as much on ICBM defence as it spent on going to the moon, but there is no evidence that the system could work at all.

06 August 2011 (ACLU Asks For Disclosures) The ACLU is asking various US states and cities to disclose their procedures for getting people's cell phone location data. This is part of why I won't carry a cell phone at all. Another reason is that many of them can listen and transmit the conversations in their vicinity.

06 August 2011 (Officers Sentenced To Life) Four Guatemalan officers have been sentenced to life in prison (effectively) for a massacre of civilians. If the right wing takes power, such massacres may again become standard practice in Guatemala.

05 August 2011 (5 Reasons For Increases) 5 reasons why Congress must use tax increases, not just spending cuts, if it is going to cut the deficit.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] Cutting the deficit now is stupid and harmful economic policy, and aside from discussing which way is better or worse, we should continue to condemn politicians who voted that decision and demand that they change it.

05 August 2011 (Urgent: Oppose Provisions) US citizens: phone your senators via (202) 244-3121 to say they should oppose provisions in H.R. 1540 that would make imprisonment without trial the permanent policy of the US. They should close the Guantanamo prison, end the practice of imprisonment without trial in the US, and give every prisoner a real trial (not a military kangaroo court) or release him.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.]

05 August 2011 (CEOs Accuse Obama) Super-wealthy CEOs have accused Obama of "class warfare". The ultimate joke is that Obama is a center-right politician who would hardly do anything controversial. This is the standard right-wing tactic of condemning a position a little less right-wing "Liberal" to distract from real Liberal positions. The US rich have been fighting a class war against most Americans for years. Americans need to fight back: tax the rich and their businesses, and break up those businesses, and terminate the unfair treaties they have imposed.

05 August 2011 (Greece Sells State Assets) Greece is being forced to sell off massive state assets in a hurry, which implies selling them for far below their value. Greece should insist on renationalizing later any properties that were sold below a reasonable price, or that are important to the country's well-being.

05 August 2011 (Copyright Law) The UK government has acknowledged that copyright law today is too restrictive.

05 August 2011 (Extreme Weather) Blizzards, tornadoes, continent-wide heat waves... the weather is not crazy, it is doing what climate scientists predicted. Just a little sooner than they predicted.

05 August 2011 (Syrian Regime) The Security Council condemned Syria's bombardment of Hama, but without sanctions.

05 August 2011 (Patented Ideas) Google says there could be 250,000 patented ideas implemented in one smart phone. I estimated in 2004 that there might be 100,000 patented ideas implemented in GNU/Linux. Dan Ravisher found 286 patented ideas in Linux, and a magazine estimated Linux was .25 percent of the GNU/Linux system at that time; multiplying 300 by 400 gives 120,000. Since this is just an estimate, it is clearer to present it as 100,000 and avoid an impression of any greater precision.

05 August 2011 (US Physicians) US physicians spend nearly 4 times more on health insurance administrative costs than Canadian doctors. The article suggests a technical solution, as the authors choose not to focus on the real issue that Canada has an efficient single-payer system where the US has wasteful and greedy insurance companies.

03 August 2011 (Response To Nonviolence) Israel's response to Palestinian nonviolence threatens Israeli democracy. Many Israelis are in the streets protesting the high cost of living. They mostly don't talk about the fact this is due to the tremendous subsidy given to the colonies in the West Bank. 2 billion shekels of annual subsidy is over half a billion dollars.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.]

03 August 2011 (Demolition of Settlement) The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of an "illegal" settlement after 5 years of delay. I put "illegal" in quotes because all the settlements violate treaties about the treatment of conquered peoples. The "illegal" settlements are illegal under Israeli law also. But the government supports them too.

03 August 2011 (Afghanistan Warning) Craig Murray warned in 2007 that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won and that the "government" is just a bunch of drug traffickers. How many more years of "good progress" that leads nowhere will it take before we pull the plug on it?

03 August 2011 (Driven To Extinction) Organized crime is driving species to extinction, and little resources are devoted to preventing this. Perhaps it would be useful to run commercials in China explaining that viagra is far more effective than tiger parts.

03 August 2011 (Israeli Army Raid) Israeli troops entered Qalandia in Palestine and caused a riot, then shot at random and killed two bystanders. The term "refugee camp" might give the wrong idea of Qalandia. The refugees have been there for over 60 years; the camp is now an urban neighborhood full of medium-size apartment buildings.

03 August 2011 (Fiasco At Wal-Mart) A woman's life was ruined and her husband was deported after a false accusation of theft by a guard in Wal-Mart. That false accusation would only have caused a brief annoyance if it had not been followed by repeated violations of the couple's rights. Suing Wal-Mart is appropriate, but while that might teach the store a lesson about making false accusations, it won't teach the "justice" system anything about handling them.

03 August 2011 (Zlitan Captured) Libyan rebels captured Zlitan, from which Gaddafi's forces were bombarding Misrata.

02 August 2011 (Roundup And Superweeds) Roundup-ready GMO foods are being defeated by mutant weeds that resist Roundup. The article is mistaken about one thing. What stimulates the evolution of Roundup-resistant weeds is not the presence of GMO genes in crops, but the use of Roundup. To stop the process, it would be enough to stop using Roundup. It would not be necessary to eliminate those genes where they have spread to other fields.

02 August 2011 (Another Ayodhya Claim Dispute) In the site known as Ayodhya, reportedly where Rama was born, Hindu fanatics destroyed the centuries-old Babri mosque some years ago, claiming that Babur destroyed a Hindu temple to build it. Now a study claims the previous structure was actually a Buddhist study hall (vihar) and was destroyed by Hindu fanatics almost 2000 years ago. The article refers to that Muslim conquerer as "Babar", but it's usually written "Babur", and I think it is preferable to avoid confusion with the better-known-elephant Babar.

02 August 2011 (US African Land Grabbing) Who's Grabbing Africa's Land? U.S. Speculators, Including Universities. It is not too late to grab this land back from foreign purchasers. The dispossessed peasants can do it if they take up arms.

02 August 2011 (UK License Donor Register) The UK will require all drivers' license applicants to say yes or no to donating their organs. This will avoid a shortage of organs due to people who didn't confront the issue enough to answer.

02 August 2011 (Haley Ducks Out On Voter) South Carolina Governor Haley, who signed a bill to require voters to show government ID, offered to drive poor voters to the DMV office so they could get ID to vote with — but ducked out when a voter really asked for such help. Please don't use Flash Player to watch the video — it is proprietary software and has features to surveil and restrict the user. The text of the page says enough.

02 August 2011 (Sea Shepherd Being Sued) Sea Shepherd is being sued by illegal tuna fishers after freeing tuna which are being fished to extinction. Its main boat might be lost.

01 August 2011 (The Suspension of Monnett) More about the suspension of US government scientist Charles Monnett, who has not been told the accusations against him.

01 August 2011 (Tapping, Cracking and MySpace) Murdoch's men got lots of information by tapping phones and cracking computers, but they can get even more by looking at what users of MySpace give them.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] And so can anyone else that runs a social network site that you use. And it's especially bad if you give your real name.

01 August 2011 (USDA Deleted Report) The USDA deleted a report summarizing research on how farming fuels antibiotics resistance, and banned its author from talking to the public about the matter.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] This is another demonstration of how big business controls our government. We must take that power away, and smash big business so it can't threaten our freedom and lives any more.

31 July 2011 (Broad Hate Campaign) Europe's new anti-semitism is reaching the violent stage, egged on by a broad right-wing hate campaign, and it reminds Uri Avnery of the wave that led to Nazism.

31 July 2011 (Fuel Efficiency Deal) Obama has made a deal with auto companies to increase fuel efficiency standards gradually over 14 years. This seems to be a real achievement.

31 July 2011 (Murdoch And Cracked Computers) It seems that Murdoch's business is associated with cracking people's computers as well as listening to their phones.

31 July 2011 (Redirected National Debate) Several secretive right-wing groups have spent millions to redirect national debate towards the unimportant goal of reducing deficits and away from what people really need. A progressive president could have counteracted the campaign, if we had one.

31 July 2011 (Urgent: Senate Uses Distraction) A senate committee is voting on extended warrantless wiretapping authority, while the public is distracted by the debt-ceiling pseudocrisis. The votes will be secret for 3 weeks, but each senator can say how he voted. US citizens, if your senator is named in this file, ask him how he voted.

31 July 2011 (Guatemala's Next President) Guatemala's next president is likely to be a former general accused of crimes against human rights. If Guatemaltecos wants security, they must not hand power to the right-wing, which would be capable of killing a lot more than 6000 people a year.

30 July 2011 (Radical Muslim Jailed) A British Muslim who called for murder of MPs who voted for war in Iraq has been sentenced to at least 12 years in prison. It is legitimate to punish people who call for the murder of others. The politicians who voted to invade and conquer Iraq should not be murdered. They are entitled to a fair trial. If convicted of the crime of aggressive war, they should be imprisoned for life, not executed, because the death penalty is barbaric. However, the conviction for "collecting documents" is just an excuse to punish people for what they are presumed to be thinking.

30 July 2011 (Economic Growth Slows Down) The US economy has hardly grown at all in 2011, due to Republican-imposed austerity policies.

30 July 2011 (They Refuse To Tell Us) The US government refused to tell us whether it tracks Americans through their cell phones without warrants. If phone companies keep these records, they will be available to the police on some conditions. Whatever the conditions may be, I think that's enough reason not to carry one.

30 July 2011 (Urgent: Oppose Grimm Attempt) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to oppose Rep. Grimm's attempt to make it hard to blow the whistle on crimes by banks and financial companies. Also sign this petition. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

30 July 2011 (Rebel Commander Killed) The Libyan rebels' military commander, a former Gaddafi minister, was killed in cloudy circumstances, and this seems to have sparked off factional fighting in Benghazi.

30 July 2011 (General Takes Control) The article says that an Iranian general has taken unofficial control over Iraq's politics. If it is true, it would be poetic justice for Bush and his war of conquest. Whether it is any good for Iraqis, I suppose it depends on what Iran does with this power. However, I am not sure the report should be believed, simply because it says nothing about Muqtada al-Sadr, who is very powerful in Iraq. Although he is a Shi'ite, his power base is Iraq; I have doubts he would want to be a puppet for Iran's rulers. I could always be wrong, but the article doesn't address this and that makes me doubt.

30 July 2011 (Citizen Action Makes Dent) Citizen action in the US has made a dent in the adoption of new unfair trade treaties being harder. But this is not yet victory. Defending democracy in the US would be easier if Obama were its friend instead of its enemy.

30 July 2011 (Teens Put On List For Life) Two 14-year-olds were put on the sex offender list for life after a prank. In the paranoid climate of the US, only a fool would (1) have children or (2) have any dealings with children.

30 July 2011 (Scientist Suspended) The US government scientist who first warned that global heating threatens polar bears has been suspended and accused of some sort of misconduct. People suspect this is meant to cover Obama's plans to authorize dangerous undersea oil drilling.

29 July 2011 (US Unconstitutional Prejudice) As the US military counts days to the elimination of its prejudice against gays, it maintains an unconstitutional prejudice against atheists.

29 July 2011 (Wells Fargo Being Sued) Wells Fargo Bank is being sued for predatory lending discrimination against US Blacks.

29 July 2011 (Mother Accepts New Trial) Raquel Nelson was convicted of homicide for crossing the street with her child, who was hit by a drunk driver. Why prosecute someone like that? It could be part of the Republicans' war on women.

29 July 2011 (Urgent: Block State ID Laws) US citizens: tell Atty General Holder to block Republican state laws that require IDs for voting.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] If Obama were a Liberal we wouldn't have to pressure him to protect the voting rights of minorities.

28 July 2011 (Two Boycotts Compared) An Israeli peace advocate compares the two boycott movements: Gush Shalom's boycott of products of the Israeli colonies in the West Bank, and the broad PACBI boycott of Israeli institutions. He notes that the latter boycott, which I agreed to follow in my recent visit to Palestine and Israel, effectively rejects the whole Israeli peace camp. That is why I think that boycott is too broad. I support Gush Shalom and its boycott. The Palestinian organizers of the broader boycott have indeed given up on nearly all of the Israeli left. They have concluded that trying to work with the Israeli left is useless, because it failed before. I can't deny that it failed, but I disagree with the view that Israeli support for justice for Palestinians is irrelevant.

28 July 2011 (Budget Plan Class Warfare) The Republican budget cuts plan is class warfare. It would cause disastrous decrease in programs that help the poor to survive.

28 July 2011 (Corporal Punishment Study) A study suggests that children subject to corporal punishment in school become worse at decision-making than children not punished that way. This one study isn't enough to prove the conclusion

28 July 2011 (Meaningless Media Term) Press reaction to the Oslo massacre shows that "terrorism" has no meaning for the US and its mainstream media except as a stick to beat Muslims with.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] The broadest sensible definition of "terrorism" is "violence against civilians in general, used as a political tactic." By that definition, the massacre is terrorism but just barely. It was aimed at a specific political party rather than at Norwegians in general.

28 July 2011 (Urgent: School Of The Americas) US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say, support Rep. McGovern's campaign to close the School of the Americas (or whatever they call it this year). The School of the Americas has taught torture and repression for several decades to the enforcers of many US-supported tyrants in Latin America. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

28 July 2011 (GOP Debt Drivers) GOP Leaders Voted For Three Of The Biggest Debt Drivers, Costing $3.4 Trillion The prescription drugs plan did a job that needs to be done, but it's a job that other developed countries do far more cheaply because they stand up to business more.

28 July 2011 (More Internet Surveillance) Right-wing European politicians are trying to use the Oslo massacre as an excuse for more Internet surveillance. That would be folly — governments are potentially far more dangerous terrorists than an isolated person.

27 July 2011 (Rival Party Dilemma) Assad seems to say that Syria will allow opposition parties, but it hard to take this seriously while killing of protesters continues.

26 July 2011 (Urgent: Stand Firm Against Cuts) US citizens: sign this petition telling Democrats in Congress to stand firm against cuts in Social Security, etc.

26 July 2011 (Big Company CEO Raise) Big company CEOs got a 23% raise last year, but the US minimum wage buys less than in 1956. Most jobs pay more than minimum wage; but many jobs have wages calibrated against the minimum wage. As the minimum wage goes down, their pay goes down too.

26 July 2011 (Galactic Scale Energy) To continue growth in energy usage at the same rate as in recent centuries, in 1400 years we would need to use the entire output of the Sun. Growth in energy usage will be compelled to stop long before that point.

26 July 2011 (Google Deletes Accounts) Google deleted a large number of accounts to enforce its requirement that Google+ users give their real names. For some users, this means deletion of all their accounts. You should never give your real identity to such services.

26 July 2011 (WWF Timber Scheme) The WWF has a certification program for timber, meant to show the timber was obtained without destroying the environment, but critics say the rules are so lax that it does not work. Meanwhile, if only 19% of the world's timber is certified, it is not clear this does any good.

26 July 2011 (Ecuadorian Newspaper Prison) Executives and an editor of An Ecuadorian newspaper were sentenced to prison, and impossible fines, for libel against the president. It is fundamentally unjust to prosecute libel as a crime. I am very disappointed that this is being done by someone I admired.

26 July 2011 (Norwegian Neo-Nazi Extremist) The Norweigan terrorist that killed around 100 people in Oslo was a right-wing extremist with neo-Nazi ties. The right-wing press (including Murdoch's London paper, the Sun) tried to claim it was an Islamic terrorist.

26 July 2011 (Police Lie To Protesters) UK police told Uncut protesters they would not be arrested if they left the store where they were protesting. The police were lying: they already planned to arrest the protesters anyway. You can't trust the word of a policeman.

26 July 2011 (Urgent: Just Increase The Debt Ceiling) US citizens: meet at your congresscritter's local office (see http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress/) at noon on July 26 and say, "Just increase the debt ceiling."

25 July 2011 (Human Genes Into Monkeys) The idea of putting human genes into monkeys and producing an animal a little more similar to humans distresses some people. It is very unlikely such experiments would result in an animal with mental characteristics that would make it count as human. If so, it would deserve certain rights in accord with those characteristics. Provided we respect those rights, what is there to be upset about? People produce children with random combinations of genes every day.

25 July 2011 (Congress Goes After WiFi) Congress is considering a sleazy change in FCC rules to let mobile phone companies buy parts of the TV spectrum, forbidding use for WiFi.

25 July 2011 (Prosecutors Withheld And Lied) The prosecutors of Casey Anthony withheld exculpatory information and knowingly lied in court. This may not have affected the verdict, since she was acquitted of the murder charge, and this evidence might not be relevant to the lesser charges she was convicted of. But if there is no conviction to overturn as a consequence, what will teach these prosecutors and others not to lie in court again? Next time they might succeed in framing someone. To prevent that, we need to punish them, but how? Can they be disbarred for this?

25 July 2011 (Corporations Not Hiring) Corporate profits in the US are booming but they are not hiring anyone in the US.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] The US needs to increase corporation taxes and use the money to give people jobs. Obama knew this two years ago. Now, however, he has accepted the Republican goal of "deficit cutting".

25 July 2011 (Threatened With Execution) Dissidents in Gambia are threatened with execution for "treason" which consisted of handing out t-shirts that criticize the government.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.]

25 July 2011 (Climate Change Increase) Climate change will "exponentially" increase the scale of natural disasters -- so when are we going to take this threat seriously? If we wait until 130-degree temperatures are common in the summer, it will be too late to prevent things from getting even worse.

25 July 2011 (Terrorist Organizations List) Removing the Mujahedin-e Khalq from the "terrorist organizations" list could deligitimize the Iranian opposition, by lending credibility to the regime's claim that the opposition is a tool of the US. The very existence of a list of groups that have been declared as "terrorist" without a trial threatens freedom of association. That is a separate issue, but closely related to this issue.

24 July 2011 (Pirate Good Consumers) The movie companies that shut down the sharing site kino.to, then insulted and threatened its users, wanted to prove how much money they had "lost" (more correctly, not gained) because of the site's operation. They buried the results because they suggest that it tended to increase their income.

24 July 2011 (Sierra Club Coal) The Sierra Club is trying to turn off coal burning in the US for public health. Coal companies do not like being criticized. They threaten to punish the University of Wyoming for a sculpture that links the burning of coal, through global heating, to the infestation that is destroying most of the pine forests. The coal companies say the university should show "gratitude" for its funds, but since when does gratitude include keeping silent about a practice that endangers our world?

24 July 2011 (Probiotic Bacteria) Don't trust the vague claims that food companies make about benefits of "probiotic" bacteria. It's not impossible for certain bacteria to provide health benefits, but that doesn't mean these products do you any good.

24 July 2011 (Bailed Out Eurozone Greece) A new euro-rescue system will offer Greece the chance to shed around 20% of its debt. It is important to establish the principle that creditors lose when they push a country to poverty — and when they make foolish loans. However, 20% may not be enough to let Greeks out of debt slavery.

24 July 2011 (Payment Companies Punish Illegal Sites) The UK has convinced the main payment companies to participate in a scheme for extrajudicial punishment of web sites accused of unauthorized commercial redistribution. I don't oppose the application of copyright to commercial redistribution (except for practical use works, since those ought to be free). However, extrajudicial punishment of anything whatsoever is a threat to basic principles of justice.

24 July 2011 (Fast Feedbacks) Study of Earth's past climate shows that doubling the CO2 in the air is likely to result in 3 degrees C of global heating in a few centuries, due to "fast feedbacks". (At least half of that will occur in the next few decades.) This could easily cause sea level to rise 50 to 80 feet. In the longer term, due to slow feedbacks, the temperature would rise even more.

24 July 2011 (Mass Syrian Protest) Hundreds of thousands protested in the main cities of Syria. Even killing protesters has not crushed them.

24 July 2011 (Urgent: Palestinian State) US citizens: call on Obama and Congress to support the creation of a Palestinian state when the issue is brought to the UN. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

24 July 2011 (Baer Misrepresented) Retired CIA agent Robert Baer says that an interviewer misrepresented him; that he never intended to say that an Israeli attack on Iran was a certainty — only that there are suggestive danger signs. Human actions are never a certainty. Look how many times Obama says he is opposed to something, then "compromises in" when Republicans firmly insist on it.

23 July 2011 (Fatal Heatwave In US) Now it's the US' turn to have a fatal heatwave. This is a tiny taste of what it will be like in 40 years, if we don't cut greenhouse gas emissions in this decade.

23 July 2011 (US Imprisonment Rate) The US has the highest imprisonment rate in the world, and employing prisoners for tiny wages is a great gift to business. Now that free workers have to compete with prison labor, that keeps wages down in the US. Business must appreciate that too. The usefulness of prisoners for business means that business promotes, and partly pays for, imprisonment. This encourages the state to imprison more people. It amounts to a predatory system, imprisoning people because it can.

23 July 2011 (Urgent: Cut Funds To Clinic) US citizens: call on the US government to cut off funds to the clinic owned by Rep. Bachmann and her husband, which tries to convert gays into straights through prayer.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] Doesn't Bachmann oppose government spending such as Medicaid? It seems rather hypocritical of her to accept so much funds from a program she opposes.

23 July 2011 (Your Tax Dollars At Work?) Tens of thousands of people from poor countries do low wage jobs for US mercenary companies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of them were shanghaied and trafficked.

22 July 2011 (Aaron Swartz and JSTOR) Aaron Swartz has been charged with many federal crimes for downloading many articles from JSTOR. The only wrongdoers here are JSTOR and the journals it hosts. They ought to make the articles available to the general public, with freedom to redistribute. And if they don't do this voluntarily, society should impose it.

12 July 2011 (Collateral Murder Video) The Collateral Murder video shows the results of an illegal order, according to a soldier who was there. If Bradley Manning leaked this video, he acted based on recognizing the need to fight these crimes.

10 July 2011 (Chaco Forest Cut Down) The arid forest of the Chaco is being cut down by to be converted to farms. To grow grain in an area where soldiers died for lack of water is going to require massive amounts of irrigation. In effect, Saudi Arabia's shortage of water is spreading to South America.

10 July 2011 (Inadequacy Demonstrated) The inadequacy of US oil pipeline regulation was demonstrated by its failure to avoid a large spill into the Yellowstone river.

10 July 2011 (UK Inquiry Update) More on the UK's phony inquiry into torture of prisoners.

10 July 2011 (Jellyfish In Wales) Thanks to human climate alteration, the teeming mackerel in a bay in Wales have been entirely replaced by jellyfish.

10 July 2011 (Malaysian Protests) Thousands protested in Malaysia for clean and fair elections. The state has arrested hundreds of protesters and organizers; some of them face years of imprisonment, which demonstrates that Malaysia is a tyranny. The UK with its "aggravated trespass" excuse to imprison protesters is following the same path.

10 July 2011 (Tuna Threatened) Five out of eight species of tuna are threatened with extinction due to overfishing.

10 July 2011 (Testing Children More) Obama's "remedy" for the educational harm done by underfunding and social inequality is to test children more.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.]

10 July 2011 (Urgent: Help Real Democrats) Help get out the vote for real Democrats to defeat the phony Democrats in the Wisconsin recall primary. CallOutTheVote.com

09 July 2011 (US Unemployment Increase) Unemployment in the US increased, as few new jobs were created. The reason is obvious: Republican budget cutting. Obama said two years ago that he would stimulate the economy, but he has not strongly opposed the budget cutting; he has even adopted a budget-cutting commission, granting that foolish goal legitimacy. Either he's a weakling, or a fool, or he never gave a damn. The last one seems most likely to me.

09 July 2011 (Drilling Endangers Sea Life) New oil drilling off Australia will threaten a marine reserve with rare and endangered sea life. We can't trust what oil companies say about safety. They always say, "We maintain the highest safety standards," and that statement is worth exactly nothing. The only way underwater drilling can be safe is if the drillers are monitored like prisoners on a chain gang — and if the inspectors care as little about the company's profit as the guards care about the prisoners' comfort.

09 July 2011 (Bad Maintenance Killed Worker) DuPont's bad maintenance killed a worker in a chemical plant.

[Reference updated on 2018-02-15 because the old link was broken.] There are two separate issues here: DuPont's decision not to use a slightly safer but more expensive process, and its failure to properly maintain the equipment it used. I concur with the former decision. It is not cost-efficient to spend 2 million dollars (or perhaps more) to prevent a probable 14 deaths over a period of 10,000 years, if that's what it would really do. 2 million dollars could save hundreds of thousands of lives if spent efficiently, for instance food and medicine for poor people. However, having chosen to continue with the existing plant, DuPont had the responsibility to maintain it properly. The fact that someone died in the plant a mere 23 years after the report projected 14 deaths in 10,000 years suggests that the true danger level of the plant as actually operated by DuPont is a lot higher than that. Perhaps the safer process would be cheaper than proper maintenance over time for the existing plant.

08 July 2011 (Walker Using Prisoners) Scott Walker has replaced union workers with prisoners.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] This fits into a systematic decades-long right-wing assault on the standard of living of most Americans. With more poverty, they will have more crime, put more Americans in prison, and cut wages more, to make more poverty.

06 July 2011 (Funny Tea Party Joke) I heard this joke. A school teacher, a Tea Partier, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO takes 11 cookies, then looks at the Tea Partier and says, "Watch out for that teacher — she wants a piece of your cookie!"

06 July 2011 (Urgent: Cut War Funding) US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say, vote to cut off funding for the war in Afghatistan and the occupation of Iraq. Also use this page to send an email, but a phone call counts more.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.]

06 July 2011 (Move To Amend) Move to Amend is a movement to eliminate the idea that corporations are persons.

06 July 2011 (CIA Interrogator) A former CIA interrogator, who now wonders whether he was a torturer, reports on a secret CIA prison.

[Reference updated on 2018-05-16 because the old link was broken.] Keeping people in secret prisons is itself a violation of the rights of prisoners, totally aside from the way they are treated.

06 July 2011 (Selling New Drugs) Drug companies are telling people that their headaches are a sign of "progressive depression" that will get worse unless they take new, expensive antidepressants.

06 July 2011 (Global Patronage) Global Patronage: This describes the Global Patronage system of supporting artists on the Internet. Francis Muguet and I were working on it together at the time of his death in September 2009. He sent me a draft for version 1.2.1, and I responded with this modified version which I call 1.3. The principal change was to describe correctly what sort of function would be used to calculate the shares of the non-attributed funds. I did not expect him to have any objections, but he died before responding. (French Translation)

05 July 2011 (Gaza Aid Ship Boarded) One of the Gaza aid ships tried to escape Greece but was caught and borded by soldiers, acting on orders from irresistible "economic forces". We now have confirmation that the Greek government has effectively surrendered and is taking orders from someone. I would guess it is the US.

05 July 2011 (North Koreans Starving) North Koreans are starving; is there a way to feed them? Food given to the state will certainly go first to the army, which is somewhat hungry, and only trickle-down will reach the civilians who are starving. This not only supports the evil state, it also fails to do the job of feeding them. Will the North Korean state agree to let food be delivered in some other way, if that's the only offer?

03 July 2011 (Israeli Rabbis Book Endorsement) Several right-wing Israeli rabbis endorsed a book that encourages killing Arab children. This is the mirror image of the extremist Islamist view that endorses suicide bombings of civilians. In Israel, expressing such views is apparently a crime, and the rabbis were (after a long delay) questioned by the police. I think it is wrong to prohibit expression of abstract political views. What Israel needs to do is not the prosecution of the people that express such views, but rather the end of public support now given to the movements that tend to produce them.

03 July 2011 (Perkins Sues Police) Cedrick Perkins, a bystander when Miami police killed Raymond Herisse, will sue the police for recklessly shooting him. When Herisse was driving wildly, he w