The Jeff Farias Show

At 3 PM PACIFIC: Broadcasting live here and simulcast on Roots Up Radio and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

·         Call us at 602-275-4130

·         Toll free at 1-800-385-1566

At 3:30 John Knefel joins us to discuss the media response to Iran and the all too familiar narrative now being re-introduced to the American public.

at 4:30 “Brian Czech has a Ph.D. in renewable natural resources from the University of Arizona. He applies his training and experience to economic issues, especially macroeconomic policy. He has 20 years of experience in federal, state, and tribal governments, and is also a visiting professor at Virginia Tech, where he teaches ecological economics. A prolific author, Brian wrote the book “Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train“, which calls for an end to reckless economic growth.” go sign his petition

at 5 PM Dr Bryant Welch returns to discuss his article at the Huffington Post America’s Paranoid Crisis: The Joe Wilson Case “I hate to name drop, but Joe Wilson is my Congressman. As a psychologist it is not the disrespect for our first African American president shown by my congressman that has me concerned. Instead, it is the potential breakdown of paranoid defenses behind his behavior that worries me.

We also expect an update from Tupac Enrique and Sandra Ortega on the situation in Honduras. Ms Ortega has family living in Tegucegalpa and is getting daily updates from the capital city.

=== At 3:30 John Knefel joins us to discuss the media response to Iran and the all too familiar narrative now being re-introduced to the American public.

New York Times To Sociopaths: Give It Another Shot OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Have you looked at the New York Times’ fucking Op-Ed section today?! I know I’ve been writing about that dumping ground a lot lately, but the editors published an article today that–if America does escalate the conflict with Iran–will go down in history as one of the most fact-free, shameful pieces of propaganda in that paper’s history. It contains, literally, nothing other than irresponsible speculation and conjecture, and follows the Iraq script so closely that it might as well have been written by Curveball. Who had the courage to rehash an argument that has already been shown to absolutely, tragicomically absurd? The same fuckers who did it the first time! I’M NOT KIDDING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! [BANG!] The piece was written by Gary Milhollin and Valerie Lincy, who I had never heard of until this morning. Gare and Val run Iran Watch, whose tagline is, “Tracking Iran’s Mass Destruction Weapons Capabilities.” So…you know…they’re like, totally not biased. What is Gary’s track record? Wait for it. Wait…for…it. HE USED TO RUN IRAQ WATCH! Guess what their mission was!?!?!? …

David Brooks Is A Sewage Facility I wasn’t going to write about this, because, to be honest, the observation I’m about to put forth is so patently obvious that it really could probably go without saying–but here goes. I think, and I’m being sincere here, that David Brooks is not a person, but rather the name given to a process in which human waste is converted into a sort of food-paste and fed out to readers of the New York Times. It is no longer useful to refer to him as a human being, but rather as a poisonous force bent on the annihilation of thought, through shit. His column today really must be read to be believed. That said, don’t read it. There is nothing to be gained from believing such an Op-Ed exists, and, I’m sorry to report, much to lose. Reading his condescending tripe has left me feeling weak, sickly even. …

at 4:30 “Brian Czech has a Ph.D. in renewable natural resources from the University of Arizona. He applies his training and experience to economic issues, especially macroeconomic policy. He has 20 years of experience in federal, state, and tribal governments, and is also a visiting professor at Virginia Tech, where he teaches ecological economics. A prolific author, Brian wrote the book “Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train”, which calls for an end to reckless economic growth.” The founding president of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE), Czech encourages citizens worldwide to sign the CASSE position on economic growth on Steady State. With a diverse list of dignitary signatories such as E.O. Wilson, David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, Chris Matthews, and Jonathon Porritt, the CASSE position will figure prominently in reforming economic policy goals in the coming decades. Herman Daly, the leading figure in ecological economics, has called CASSE “the foremost organization in advancing the precepts of the steady state economy to citizens and policy makers.”

at 5 PM Dr Bryant Welch returns to discuss his article at the Huffington Post

America’s Paranoid Crisis: The Joe Wilson Case “I hate to name drop, but Joe Wilson is my Congressman. As a psychologist it is not the disrespect for our first African American president shown by my congressman that has me concerned. Instead, it is the potential breakdown of paranoid defenses behind his behavior that worries me. Mr. Wilson’s roots in Southern culture run deep. He has held leadership positions in such southern patriotic organizations as the Sons of Confederate Veterans. As a state legislator he was one of the last seven GOP legislators who remained loyal to the confederacy until the end. He voted to keep the confederate flag flying proudly over the SC state capital in Columbia, even though for the thirty percent of South Carolinians who are African American it was a reminder that their forbearers had lived in slavery. Attitudes and behaviors associated with racism are not what are newsworthy about Mr. Wilson’s outburst last week. “

We also expect an update from our friends-of-the-show, Tupac Enrique and Sandra Ortega on the situation in Honduras. Ms Ortega has family living in Tegucegalpa and is getting daily updates from the capital city.

Honduran soldiers raid building, Mark Stevenson (AP) – 6 hours ago TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Soldiers and police enforced an emergency decree suspending civil liberties Wednesday despite promises by the coup-imposed government to lift the measures criticized by its own allies as going too far. About 150 police and soldiers acting on the decree raided the offices of the National Agrarian Institute, occupied by supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya since the June 28 coup. Authorities detained 54 farm activists and Zelaya supporters, police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said. “The decree is being discussed by a lot of sectors, and appeals have been filed,” he said. “But it remains in force.” Cerrato said the action was aimed at recovering control of the building, which contains valuable land title records. One of the detained activists, farmer Jose Irene Murillo, 69, said he feared “they are going to destroy the records of the small farmers, because the big landowners want the land.” …

Media Matters Reports: Newsmax columnist: Military coup “to resolve the ‘Obama problem’ ” is not “unrealistic” September 29, 2009 5:57 pm ET by Terry Krepel, From John L. Perry’s September 29 Newsmax column:

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. […] Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making. Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”

In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.

UPDATE: Newsmax has removed the column. More here. And here’s a copy of the column Newsmax removed.

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At 3 PM PACIFIC: Broadcasting live here and simulcast on Roots Up Radio and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

·         Call us at 602-275-4130

·         Toll free at 1-800-385-1566

At 3:30 Shantel Beach is an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary, majoring in International Relations, specializing in Latin America and international development. She is originally from Canada, but is currently living in Washington D.C. and working as a Research Associate for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. She joins us for her analysis on Honduras. Read her analysis on Honduras.

at 4 PM Esme Raji Codell - “Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year” EDUCATING ESME: DIARY OF A TEACHER’S FIRST YEAR by Esme Raji Codell–Fresh-mouthed and free-spirited, the irrepressible Madame Esme–as she prefers to be called–does the cha-cha during multiplication tables, roller-skates down the hallways and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library.

At 4:30 Savannah Schroll Guz “American Soma” Savannah Schroll Guz is a monthly review columnist for Library Journal and author of the fiction collections, American Soma (2009) and The Famous & The Anonymous (2004), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2004. In 2005, she edited the theme-based fiction anthology Consumed: Women on Excess.

At 5 PM Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. Capitalism Hits the Fan chronicles one economist’s growing alarm and insights as he watched, from 2005 onwards, the economic crisis build, burst, and then dominate world events. The argument here differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and other academics.

At 3:30 Shantel Beach is an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary, majoring in International Relations, specializing in Latin America and international development. She is originally from Canada, but is currently living in Washington D.C. and working as a Research Associate for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.

PANAMAX 2009 and Honduras: Did They or Didn’t They Attend the Annual War Games? In another blow against the prestige of the de facto government, ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s unexpected return to Honduras has complicated matters for interim President Roberto Micheletti, who helped plan the seizure of the government on June 28. As public demonstrations suggest, a growing number of Hondurans now appear to be aligning in support of Zelaya. Several thousand of his supporters rallied at the Brazilian Embassy where Zelaya took refuge after arriving last night on Honduran soil. The interim government did not respond kindly to the public display of support for the ousted president, imposing a military curfew from 4 pm Monday to 6 pm Tuesday. El Heraldo, the Tegucigalpa daily, reported that 200 demonstrators were arrested after violence erupted as a result of confrontation between the protesters and the police. The Brazilian Embassy has al so been cut off from water and electricity, food is scarce. As violence and repression ensue in Honduras, recent events in Panama are reminiscent of Washington’s traditional approach to hemispheric policy, which in the past has been marked by lies and deceit. As the PANAMAX military exercises came to a close on September 21, it still remains unclear whether Honduran military units were present for these maneuvers, as was planned before the military-led coup. Although the twenty other participants in the PANAMAX joint maneuvers have refused to recognize the illegitimate interim government, the U.S., Honduras, and Panama have released conflicting information regarding whether or not the Honduran military was in attendance. If Honduras has taken part in or were designated as affidavit observers to the games —as some evidence suggests—the U.S. as well as the other countries that condemned the coup will be exposed for their implicit collusi on with the illegal government led by Roberto Micheletti.

at 4 PM Esme Raji Codell - “Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year” EDUCATING ESME: DIARY OF A TEACHER’S FIRST YEAR by Esme Raji Codell–Fresh-mouthed and free-spirited, the irrepressible Madame Esme–as she prefers to be called–does the cha-cha during multiplication tables, roller-skates down the hallways and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library. While battling bureaucrats, gang members, abusive parents, and her own insecurities, this gifted young woman opens a window into a real-life classroom. Includes tried and true guide filled with advice and practical tips. She’s also the author of How to Get Your Child to Love Reading.

At 4:30 Savannah Schroll Guz – “American Soma” Savannah Schroll Guz is a monthly review columnist for Library Journal and author of the fiction collections, American Soma (2009) and The Famous & The Anonymous (2004), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2004. In 2005, she edited the theme-based fiction anthology Consumed: Women on Excess. Just over a decade ago, she was a Fulbright Scholar and worked at the Bavarian State Painting Collection, where she assisted in the reorganization of the 17th century Flemish painting cabinets and served as a correspondence translator for former collection director Johann Georg, Prince von Hohenzollern.

Invisible Cities Editor, www.newyinzer.com

At 5 PM Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan. Earlier he taught economics at Yale University (1967-1969) and at the City College of the City University of New York (1969-1973). In 1994, he was a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Paris (France)

Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. Capitalism Hits the Fan chronicles one economist’s growing alarm and insights as he watched, from 2005 onwards, the economic crisis build, burst, and then dominate world events. The argument here differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and other academics. Step by step, Professor Wolff shows that deep economic structures–the relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income–account for the crisis. The great change in the US economy since the 1970s, as employers stopped the historic rise in US workers’ real wages, set in motion the events that eventually broke the world economy. The crisis resulted from the post-1970s profit explosion, the debt-driven finance-industry expansion, and the sequential stock market and real estate booms and busts. Bailout interventions by the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury have thrown too little money too late at a problem that requires more than money to solve. As this book shows, we must now ask basic questions about capitalism as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great depressions in 75 years (and countless lesser crises, recession, and cycles in between). The book’s essays engage the long-overdue public discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives needed not only to fix today’s broken economy but to prevent future crises.

We also spoke with John Byrne, editor and publisher of RawStory, a progressive political and investigative news site.

·         Coulter: “I’m more likely to be shot than the president”: Mon.21.Sep.09

·         Sheriff says using military weapon on crowds ‘isn’t controversial’: Thurs.17.Sep.09

·         Senior official in Bush domestic propaganda program remains Obama’s Pentagon spokesman

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At 3 PM PACIFIC: Broadcasting live here and simulcast on Roots Up Radio and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden Call us at 602-275-4130 Toll free at 1-800-385-1566 Updates from our Dominion correspondent in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the undaunted Sandra Cuffe returns!: • wake for asthmatic 24-year-old law student who died Saturday night after complications from tear gas inhalation Tuesday. • 4 journalists covering wake & resistance in general hit by car outside union hall • 5 OAS rep.s detained at airport: 2 Canadians & 2 US.ians deported. one Chilean allowed in. • 2 Spanish diplomats detained @ airport & deported. Coup regime announces that diplomatic missions of Spain, France, Argentina & Brazil will not be recognized or welcome. • ultimatum given by Micheletti to Brazil: 10 days to determine Zelaya’s status (presumably as asylum claimant or hand-over to coup). Lula immediately denied ultimatum. Micheletti announces that Brazilian diplomatic mission will lose diplomatic status in 10 days. • national broadcasts of several points of STATE OF SIEGE officially published as executive decree yesterday: o suspends basic rights & freedoms for 45 days o freedom of assembly & expression o specific targeting of critical media & journalists. o curfew, detentions, beatings, repression continue… • “& madness sure to ensue [today], what with calls for “final offensive” to begin [today] against the coup regime…” Brazil urges Manuel Zelaya not to provoke Honduras coup leaders Deposed president vows to retake power from sanctuary of Brazilian embassy Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, Guardian UK, Tues.22.Sep.09 …The interim rulers have been isolated internationally but until now had firm control of the country. Zelaya’s return has galvanised his supporters. A powerful teachers union called a strike to demand his reinstatement. In addition to a curfew “to preserve calm” the authorities have shut airports and apparently cut power to several districts in Tegucigalpa. Since ousting Zelaya – soldiers roused him in his pyjamas at gunpoint and hustled him on to a plane – the interim regime has ruled out power-sharing with a man it deems a radical leftist. Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, celebrated his ally’s return. “It was a well-planned operation and it worked,” he said. “Zelaya deceived the coup mongers and went in the trunk of a car and even in a tractor.” In a televised phone call from Zelaya, Chávez added: “The coup mongers should surrender power peacefully. I congratulate you for your heroic act and the Latin American people admire you.” Zelaya, giving back-to-back media interviews, told al-Jazeera television he dodged numerous obstacles during his journey. “I had to avoid military checkpoints crossing very close to the mountains and sometimes through the valleys.” … At 4 PM Susan Wood On Capitol Hill, in the Department of Health and Human Services, and now at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Human Services’ Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy Department of Health Policy, and the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, Research Professor Susan Wood has dedicated her career to applying scientific evidence to health policy decision-making. She joins the School from the FDA, where she was Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health and Director of the Office of Women’s Health until 2005, when she resigned on principle over the continued delay in approving emergency over–the–counter contraception. A long–time champion of women’s health, Dr. Wood previously served as Director for Policy and Program Development at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. Prior to joining DHHS, Dr. Wood was Science Advisor and then Deputy Director of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. In that capacity, she was directly involved with policy initiatives and legislative proposals designed to advance biomedical research, women’s health, family planning and health care reform. Professor Wood has been honored with the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation (2204), the DHHS Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award (2003) and the Keystone Award in Women’s Health Research (2000), among other awards. • WomenAndHealthCareReform • RaisingWomensVoices • MergerWatch At 4:30pm Pacific - Scott Kellogg Scott Kellogg is the co-author of the book “Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-it-Ourselves Guide“ (South End Press) and the primary teacher of R.U.S.T. - The Radical Urban Sustainability Training, an intensive weekend workshop in urban ecological survival skills. Currently, Scott is developing a new organization in Albany, New York named the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center. It is planned to be a demonstration of environmental technologies and sustainable micro industries applicable in today’s urban environment. So far, a half acre lot in Albany to house the project has been purchased, and a use variance form the City of Albany to permit the project has been granted. Scott is also a co-founder of Austin, Texas’ “Rhizome Collective“, an urban sustainability education project, and worked as the director of its sustainability program from 2000-2009. In 2004, the Rhizome Collective was donated a 10 acre brownfield property in Austin, as well as a $200,000 brownfield cleanup award form the EPA. Scott worked as the site coordinator for the cleanup, and oversaw the removal and recycling of over 15 tons of debris from the site. In 2005-2006, Scott worked with a team of environmental engineers to establish a community based bioremediation program in post-Katrina New Orleans. Scott is an experienced teacher, activist, ecological designer, and father. He presently lives in the Albany Free School Community in Albany, New York. He is currently earning a Masters in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University. He has extensive experience designing and building numerous sustainable systems and has taught numerous workshops and multi-part sustainability courses in locations as diverse as Mexico, East Timor, Canada, and inner-city America. He has been interviewed in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television programs and is regarded as an expert in the field of community based sustainability. Scott has taught at numerous universities in the US, including Virginia Tech, Wesleyan, Evergreen, Washington College, University of New Orleans, and Michigan State University. Workshop Description: With Scott Kellogg In the near future, humanity will face the challenge of having to transition into a society based on sustainable principles. It will be necessary for us to drastically reduce our consumption of Earth’s resources, as well as having to recycle our waste products back into natural systems. To those not familiar with its fundamentals, the task of achieving global sustainability can seem daunting and confusing. In this workshop, sustainability expert Scott Kellogg gives attendees a basic “toolbox” of skills and knowledge useable by anyone wanting to create sustainable systems in their own communities. Using affordable and simple designs, participants will learn how to build infrastructure for self-reliance by utilizing salvaged and recycled materials. These ecological technologies can be applied in either urban or rural environments, and in many cases can be put to use in even an apartment spaces or dorm rooms. Below is a list of do-it-yourself sustainable systems that are described in the workshop. • Vermicompost/compost tea: Worms kept in small, odorless bins can convert food waste into excellent plant fertilizer. The castings from the worms can then be used to make compost tea, a liquid culture of beneficial microbes that can be used to clean up contaminated soil. • Constructed Wetlands: Using old bathtubs, a simulated wetland habitat can be built that can cleanse household wastewater, making it suitable for irrigating vegetables. Participants get to construct the system and learn how microbes can assist in water purification. • Cook with an old satellite dish: When the parabolic curve of a satellite dish is lined with a mosaic of mirror shards and aimed at the sun, it can focus the sun’s rays onto a pot of water and bring it to a boil in minutes! • Mushroom Cultivation: Grow mushrooms on waste products including logs and coffee grounds and learn about the importance that fungi play in ecological cycles and in the degradation of toxins • Make a duckweed pond: Raise duckweed, a tiny, floating protein rich water plant in a kiddy pool. Using only sunlight and nutrients, duckweed can double its mass every other day. The duckweed can then be harvested and used as a food for humans, chickens, and fish, or be used as a “green manure” for building soil fertility. • Construct a small scale biogas digester: Using a five gallon bucket, organic matter like plants, chicken manure, and dead leaves can be turned into methane gas. The gas then can then be stored and used for cooking and heating. Why pay money for natural gas when you can make it in your back yard? • Build a floating trash island: Inspired by a natural phenomena, floating trash islands create habitat for plants and microorganisms to assist in purifying contaminated storm water runoff – a major urban problem. They are made buoyant by floating debris, such as bottles and polystyrene, stuffed into a giant life-ring. Water plants are zip-tied onto the island’s surface, and develop an extensive submerged root network that hosts water cleansing critters. • Build a rainwater Collection system: Collect rainwater from the rooftops of buildings for use in irrigation while learning about the hydrological cycle. Participation in any of these workshops will give attendees a better understanding of ecological processes and help to develop literacy in the environmental sciences. Other topics covered in discussion include: • Soil building and asphalt removal • Bioremediation (cleaning contaminated soils using plants, fungi and biological processes) • Urban chickens and microlivestock • Aquaculture ( ponds, plants, fish and algae ) • Passive solar and bicycle windmills • Veggie oil biofuels • Natural construction methods – strawbale, clay woodchip • Restoring brownfields • DIY air purification • Struggles for land and gentrification • Energy decline, city futures and climate justice All these systems, plus many others, are described in much further detail in “Toolbox for Sustainable City Living – A Do-It-Ourselves Guide” by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew, South End Press. At 5 PM John Pugh Muralist Personal Artist Statement I am a trompe l’oeil artist focusing primarily on mural painting. I have found that the “language” of life-size illusions allow me to communicate with a very large audience. It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked. Once captivated by the illusion, the viewer is lured to cross an artistic threshold and thus seduced into exploring the concept of the piece. I have also found that by creating architectural illusion that integrates with the existing environment both optically and aesthetically, the art transcends the “separateness” that public art sometimes produces. It is important for me, as an artist, to interact with the community, formulating concepts based upon a multitude of viewpoints. Artists must be continually aware that their work can serve as a bridge between diverse cultural backgrounds. Public art is of great interest to me; providing me with a sense of purpose as it is a very powerful form of communication. It can link people together, stimulate a sense of pride within the community, and introduce the viewer to new ideas and perspectives. When developing a mural, I also respond to aspects of the location such as its architectural style or the natural surroundings. Often, I like to play with the art’s context by contrasting these environments with another place and/or time. This paradox or juxtaposition of environments transports the viewer on a journey from local reality into a new space. During this “voyage”, the viewer may experience sequential discoveries as my compositions are designed to unfold in narrative layers. While most of the time I respond to existing architectural settings, I have also had the opportunity to take part in the development of the architecture itself; modifying the design of the structure to marry the painting to the site. This bridge between art and the architectural can effectively erase the transition point between reality and illusion. The art thus becomes integrated into the real world of architecture and lends credibility to the illusion of the painting. Together the sum is greater than its parts.

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• At 3 PM PACIFIC: call in 1800.385.1566 Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

  @ 3:30pm Pacific – Alexander Zaichik.

  One piece I have in the pipe is a feature in the forthcoming Nov/Dec issue of Adbusters, which I encourage everyone to buy. It’s about James Lovelock, father of Gaia theory. I’ve also been doing a little blogging at a great new current-affairs site, The Faster Times, with a focus on far-right political movements around the world.

  Alex recently did a long expose on Glenn Beck on his Salon blog “trip Tick” career of a ReichWing media whore… which we happily discuss tonight!

  “Whatever humiliations he suffered, Orson Welles never dressed up as a banana.”:

  ·         Meet the man who changed Glenn Beck’s life Cleon Skousen was a right-wing crank whom even conservatives despised. Then Beck discovered him, September 16, 2009

  ·         Glenn Beck becomes damaged goods The radio phenom takes over the morning zoo, makes fun of miscarriages and flames out. Part 2 of 3, September 22, 2009

  ·         Glenn Beck rises again Getting clean, getting Mormon, getting talk radio — and going to Yale, with the help of Joe Lieberman. Part 3 of 3, September 23, 2009

  I am a freelance journalist living in Brooklyn. In 2008 I worked out of Miami and Mexico City. In 2007 I was based in Moscow, Russia, where I was on staff at the eXile, an English-language newspaper. In 2006 I was an investigative reporting fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. In 2005 I was based in Delhi, India, where I focused on South Asia. Between 2003 and 2005 I was on staff at New York Press, a weekly newspaper in Manhattan, where I wrote about city, state, and national politics. Between 1998 and 2003 I lived in Prague, Czech Republic, where I worked for a think tank under the Czech Foreign Ministry, wrote a column on regional politics for The Prague Post, freelanced, and in 2001 founded The Prague Pill, an alternative newspaper that was profiled by the New York Times here.

  Between 1992 and 1998 I studied history and politics at Trinity College and the University of Chicago. A sampling of my work can be found in [my] site’s archive.

  I was born and raised in Boston.

  @ 4pm Pacific Ryan Kilgore

  @ 4:30pm Pacific – Flux Rostrum returns! Friend-of-the-show, Flux will have updates LIVE from the G-20 in Pittsburg!! We’re happy to report that HIS reports have been featured on mainstream broadcast news & The Raw Story: Day one of G20 protests: Police open fire as protesters hurl rocks about 13- or 14 OTHER videos can be found @ at Flux’s intrepid Mobile BroadCast News

  @ 5:30pm Pacific – “David Eat World” Malsch with the best independent reviews of films

  We also spoke with Jonathan Mazower who is also Campaigns Coordinator with Survival International and has been working for Survival for more than twenty years. Jonathan knows a lot about indigenous issues in Peru, the Gana and Gwi Bushmen in Botswana, whom he has also visited. Survival has campaigned in support of the Bushmen for a number of years, and this has been one of their highest profile campaigns ever, involving diamonds, supermodels, and the longest and most expensive court case in Botswana’s history – which the Bushmen won. You can read about Survival’s Botswana Bushmen campaign.

  The Outsiders View The outsider’s usual view of uncontacted tribal people is a mixture of fear, suspicion and racism. The tribes’ efforts to protect their lives and homes, often stemming from memories of violent persecution in the past, are interpreted by those living near them as wanton aggression and the savagery of the ‘uncivilised’.

  ·         ‘The Korubo Indians are animals, not human beings. They kill and eat all who enter their lands, including other Indians. Stay away from them if you want to return alive…. I prefer to shoot the savages than let them kill my wife and children.’ -Brazilian colonist.

  ·         ‘You could smell where they [the Jarawa] had stood. They smell so bad, don’t clean themselves. We have to go into the forest for cane and leaves. We take dogs, they go ahead and if they smell Jarawa they come running back.’ – Andaman islands colonist, India.

  ·         ‘Indians are worse than animals. They’re not even good to eat.’ – Brazilian rancher.

  ·         ‘If I was in authority, I would exterminate all the Yanomami. I would leave one alive to exhibit to the public in a zoo.’ – Brazilian hotel owner.

  ·         ‘No citizen of India can be allowed to live in the wilderness or as savages after more than fifty years of this country’s independence.’ – Indian civil servant on the Sentinelese.

  ·         ‘The natives of this Territory are mean-souled, thieving rotters, and education only gives them added cunning.’ – Australian settler, Papua New Guinea.

  ·         ‘I want to give the “Pig People” (Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians) the chance to hear the Bible, ’cause if they don’t, they go to hell and suffer eternal damnation.’ – New Tribes Missionary.

  ·         ‘The Yanomami are devoid of any intelligence, wandering around naked and breeding like animals.’ – Brazilian general.

  ·         ‘They’re animals, they live completely naked just like animals.’ – Colonist talking about nomadic Indians in Colombia.

  Jonathan campaigns in support of tribal peoples, why it’s important, and how it works.

  ·         Arrested Penan: ‘Water from the dam will flood our lands’ – 23.Sep.09

  ·         Another Brazilian Indian community attacked and torched – 22.Sep.09

  ·         World Bank suspends oil palm loans after protests – 21.Sep.09

  ·         Davi Yanomami asks Brazil’s President to remove goldminers – 18.Sep.09

  SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE: 26 August 2009 CALL FOR NAPALM BOMBING OF ‘SAVAGES‘ WINS SURVIVAL RACISM AWARD

  An article implying Peruvian Indians should be bombed with napalm has been named by human rights organisation Survival International as the ‘most racist article’ published in the last year by the mainstream media. The article was published in the Peruvian national newspaper El Correo. It calls indigenous people ‘savages’, ‘Palaeolithic’ and ‘primitive’; says that their languages have no more than eighty words; and declares that, in the protests that have recently engulfed much of Peru’s Amazon, they were manipulated by ‘communist excrement’.

  ‘For those of you who still think of these ‘ethnic groups’ as ‘good’, ‘naïve’ and ‘pure’, I will remind you that it was these same people who perfected the art of shrinking the heads of their enemies and wearing them on the belts holding up their loincloths. If the ‘natives’ didn’t shrink the heads of the policemen they killed (in the recent protests) and eat their remains, it was only because there wasn’t time.’

  The article also attacks three indigenous congresswomen, ridiculing their names and referring to them as the ‘three starlets in the parliamentary sewers’. Its response to the indigenous protests against the exploitation of natural resources on their land is: ‘Get f****d, loincloths and all’. The penultimate sentence is: ‘I don’t know what keeps the president from providing the air force with all the napalm necessary.’

  The ‘most racist article of the year’ award is part of Survival’s ‘Stamp it Out’ campaign which aims to challenge racist descriptions of indigenous peoples in the world’s media. The winner receives a certificate inscribed with a quotation from Lakota Sioux author Luther Standing Bear: ‘All the years of calling the Indian a savage has never made him one.’

  Stamp it Out is supported by eminent journalists such as the BBC’s World Affairs correspondent John Simpson, George Monbiot, John Vidal, and best-selling authors Tim Butcher and Simon Garfield.

  Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘This article makes depressing reading for anyone who thinks newspapers should educate and inform their readers. We hope the publicity this award receives will make the paper think twice before printing such offensive rubbish again.’

  NSM (National Socialist Movement) Neo-Nazis to Rally at Arizona State Capitol November 7 By Stephen Lemons in Feathered Bastard

  National Socialist Movement Commander Jeff Schoep wants to put 200 to 300 neo-Nazis on the lawn of the Arizona state Capitol for an NSM-sponsored, anti-immigration “America First” rally this November 7.

  In reality, NSM’d be lucky to pull anywhere close to 50 goosesteppers. When NSMers marched in April in St. Louis, Missouri to celebrate their 35th anniversary, they totaled about 100, many showing off shaved heads, wearing black combat gear, and proudly flipping sieg heils.

  One hundred losers like that at a march is fairly significant by neo-Nazi standards. But that’s in the Midwest, where NSM has traditionally been its strongest. …

   

  Amnesty International: We need your help. The world’s leaders have gathered at the United Nations for a meeting of the Human Rights Council. The Council will be presented with the findings and recommendations from the UN-mandated, fact-finding mission led by the highly-regarded judge Richard Goldstone, who investigated the human rights violations committed in Gaza and southern Israel last December and January.

  The Goldstone Report, which is consistent with the findings of Amnesty International, concludes that both the Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups committed grave violations of international law including war crimes and, possibly, crimes against humanity. Both Israel and Hamas have, to date, failed to carry out credible investigations and to prosecute those responsible. Innocent civilians caught up in this conflict deserve to know the truth and obtain justice. Action is needed now.

  If you agree, please send a message to Secretary Hillary Clinton and US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice today. Amnesty International believes no one should be above international law. For long-term security and peace in the region, all those responsible for violations of human rights must be held accountable.

  Thank you for supporting human rights.

  Betsy Wright Hawkings Deputy Executive Director, Research & Policy Government Relations

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At 3 PM PACIFIC Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden At 4 PM Patricia (Tricia) DeGennaro is an adjunct assistant professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs where she teaches courses on US Foreign Policy, International Military Interventions, Civil-Military Affairs, National Security Policy, and the War on Terrorism. In addition to her work as a professor, she is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute and a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Tricia has published several articles on US foreign policy and national security topics. Her focus is to encourage a holistic and integrated international policy that looks beyond war and the use of force. Tricia capitalizes on over fifteen years of experience in a writer, independent analyst and consultant in international relations and economic development. Within the last year, she has spent a significant amount of time working in Afghanistan on provincial governance and capacity building, parliamentary reform and public policy development in the Office of the President of Afghanistan. at 5 PM Pacific – Dr. Paul Hochfeld returns! Frustrated with the health care ‘options’ coming out of Washington, D.C., six “Mad as Hell” Oregon physicians are taking an unprecedented road trip across America to lobby Congress for a single-payer health care system. A big part of their plan is to take the entire country with them. Called a “Care-A-Van,” these road-tripping Oregon physicians will leave in a used motor home from Portland, Oregon on September 8th, inviting doctors and ordinary citizens from other states to join them on their twenty-city tour across the country. Their journey will culminate in a D.C.-based event on September 30th, scheduled to take place on the steps of Congress. Demonstrating with the doctors will be thousands of fellow ‘Mad as Hell’ single-payer advocates, all adorned with the movement’s new symbol – the white ribbon. Their demand: Single-Payer Now! “We’re mad as hell because our health care system is run by people who profit from illness” says Dr. Paul Hochfeld, lead Mad As Hell Doctor and producer of the documentary Health, Money and Fear. “The rest of the civilized world has test driven single payer and it works. But elected officials in America won’t even allow a discussion.” “The public option is a trap.” Hochfeld continues. “It sounds very reasonable, but the problem with it, no matter what the final bill looks like, is that it will continue to allow private medical insurance companies to dictate America’s public health policies. And that’s just plain wrong.” Several national, single-payer advocacy organizations including Physicians for a National Health Program, Health Care Now, Single Payer Action, and even groups like Progressive Democrats of America and Jobs with Justice are supporting the Oregon physicians by setting up Mad as Hell Town Halls across the country in anticipation of their arrival. “People need to understand what single-payer is–and isn’t,” says Dr. Mike Huntington, a radiologist from Corvallis, Oregon and fellow Mad As Hell Doctor. “It isn’t Socialism, any more than police and fire are Socialism. And it doesn’t require any more money. Simply put, single-payer is a way to take the current premium payments that go to a thousand different private insurance companies, and redirect them into a single, public fund that insures everyone. That’s all it is. But when we do this, lots of wonderful things happen, not the least of which is to save Americans 500 billion dollars a year starting day one. That’s billion – with a ‘b.’ America needs this information. That’s why we’re taking the tour.”

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At 3 PM PACIFIC Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

At 3:30 James Brusseau – author of “Empire of Humiliation“ James Brusseau holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and has taught at universities in the United States, Mexico and Europe. Humilation:

·         Empire Today

·         America Bordering Mexico

·         Post-Nationalist vs Imperialist Lives

A regognized figure in contempoarary theory, he is author of the scholarly books Decadence of the French Nietzsche and Isolated Experiences. This is his first novel.

·         ”Some books touch a nerve, then there’s Empire of Humiliation drilling through the molar, no Novocain.” –William Kinney, Consul

·         This is one of those where the movie jumps right out, you can see Anthony Hopkins as the villain and Angelina Jolie as the heroine. But at the same time it’s going to be scary to film because you know that no matter what you do, the book is going to be so much better. — Producer Sami Chaib

·         Valuable ideas, rare talent. – Profesora Rosa Beltrán, author of Alta infidelidad and La corte de los ilusos

·         “As with all superior minds, Brusseau answers at a stroke questions filling books for others (What is imperialism, post-nationalism, etc.)…but what brings this novel of ideas alive is the fast plot and local details. Instructions for bribing away a Mexican speeding ticket, an international get-rich-quick plan, some intelligent artifact forgery scams, they’re good rewards along the way of a truly important story. A vital book for these days. Cosmopolitan and world-class in every sense. Highest Recommendation.” Lines//Líneas University of the Americas, Mexico

At 4 PM Leonor Tomero is the Director for Nuclear Non-Proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation where her work focuses on nonproliferation, nuclear weapons, nuclear reprocessing, North Korea, and nuclear terrorism. Prior to joining the Center, Tomero was President of the Lawyers Alliance for World Security, where she had previously served as Director for Western Europe and Latin America. She worked in Congress on the staffs of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) on nuclear waste, energy, and environmental issues. She has also served as a private consultant on environmental and renewable energy projects. Tomero is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Law and Politics at Georgetown University. She has published letters and articles in the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, TomPaine.com, and Hartford Courant and is frequently quoted in national print, TV, and radio media.

at 5 PM Karl Frisch Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America will discuss Glenn Beck use of Yom Kippur, & Fox news caught coaching audiences at a 912 rally

At 5:15 Nicholas Thompson - senior editor “Wired Magazine” Nicholas Thompson is also the author of “The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War,” which Henry Holt will publish in September, 2009.

·         The Soviets Built a Doomsday Machine. It’s Still Working.

·         Vivek Kundra, America’s CIO, Details Plan to Let Us Mash Government Data – Interview with Nicholas Thompson

·         DC Police Eschew Transparency

Prior to Wired, Mr. Thompson was a senior editor at Legal Affairs and an editor at the Washington Monthly. He has written about politics, technology, and the law for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, The New York Observer, and many other publications. He is a panelists on CNN Connects with Becky Anderson and a regular guest on CNN’s American Morning and NBC’s Today Show. He has also appeared as a commentator on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC¹s Live with Regis and Kelly and World News Tonight, CBS’s Early Show and Evening News, and National Public Radio.

“The key to understanding modern American foreign policy is appreciating the complex 60-year friendship between George Kennan and Paul Nitze. Nicholas Thompson brilliantly captures their divergent personalities, clashing politics, and intellectual bonding. It is an insightful and important tale, but also a colorful and fascinating one—an intellectual buddy movie with enormous historical resonance.”—Walter Isaacson

A brilliant and revealing biography of the two most important Americans during the Cold War era—written by the grandson of one of them.

Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning—and surviving—that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War’s most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades. Yet despite their very different views, Paul Nitze and George Kennan dined together, attended the weddings of each other’s children, and remained good friends all their lives.

In this masterly double biography, Nicholas Thompson brings Nitze and Kennan to vivid life. Nitze—the hawk—was a consummate insider who believed that the best way to avoid a nuclear clash was to prepare to win one. More than any other American, he was responsible for the arms race. Kennan—the dove—was a diplomat turned academic whose famous “X article” persuasively argued that we should contain the Soviet Union while waiting for it to collapse from within. For forty years, he exercised more influence on foreign affairs than any other private citizen.

As he weaves a fascinating narrative that follows these two rivals and friends from the beginning of the Cold War to its end, Thompson accomplishes something remarkable: he tells the story of our nation during the most dangerous half century in history.

As a Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation in 2002-03, Mr. Thompson wrote about the influence of open-source software as well as the ways that information technology was changing West Africa. He also frequently contributes to Wired’s blogs on defense policy and the tech industry. A comprehensive listing of his work can be found here.

The end of the cold war brought relief, even joy, for most Americans. With the crumbling of the Eastern bloc in 1989, more than four decades of anxiety seemed to be over. One of the few discordant voices came, surprisingly, from George Kennan, the former United States diplomat who had devised the “containment” policy widely considered responsible for the Western triumph. “I believe it would have happened earlier,” Kennan lamented less than a month after Germans began chipping holes in the Berlin Wall, “if we had not insisted on militarizing the rivalry.”… – NY Times book review, M.A.Lawrence.

We also spoke with Rebecca Vilkomerson – new Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace Jewish Voice for Peace members are inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, equality, human rights, respect for international law, and a U.S. foreign policy based on these ideals. JVP opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression.

JVP seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians; a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on principles established in international law; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East.

We also spoke with Lisa Sullivan from School of the Americas Watch about the return of President Zelaya and recent developments in Honduras.

·         Lisa Sullivan reports on her trip to Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

·         U.S. continues to train Honduran soldiers, James Hodge & Linda Cooper, National Catholic Reporter, Military coup that ousted president didn’t stop U.S. engagement in Honduras

·         President Zelaya and the Audacity of Action, Amy Goodman, TruthDig, Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected president of Honduras, is back in his country after being deposed in a military coup June 28.

·         Zelaya’s Return to Honduras Promises Fresh Violence and Political Turmoil, Tim Padgett with Tim Rogers, Time / Sep. 22.Sep.09

·         143 detained, 18 injured for protests supporting Honduras’ Zelaya Xinhua

·         Honduran military uses tear gas on ousted leader’s supporters, CNN International

·         STORY HIGHLIGHTS

o    NEW: Brazil’s Embassy surrounded after Jose Manuel Zelaya’s backers dispersed

o    Ousted Honduran leader staying at Brazil’s Embassy in Tegucigalpa

o    U.S. Embassy closes in Tegucigalpa, spokesman says

o    All flights in and out of country canceled; curfew in effect

President Manuel Zelaya, after over eighty days in exile, has returned to Honduras. In a BBC interview, Zelaya said “[We travelled] for more than 15 hours… through rivers and mountains until we reached the capital of Honduras, which we reached in the early hours of the morning. We overtook military and police obstacles, all those on the highways here, because this country has been kidnapped by the military forces.”

The coup regime has imposed a curfew for the entire country from 4pm yesterday afternoon until 6pm this afternoon. Media outlets are being silenced and cell phone and email correspondence is being limited, in a repeat of the tactics immediately following the June 28 military coup by SOA graduates. Thousands defied the orders and gathered in front of the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya is currently staying. Radio Globo reported from the convergence in front of the Brazilian embassy: “We are here peacefully, unarmed because we are the people and don’t fear the military. The military must serve the people and their democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya.”

However, the SOA graduate-led Honduran military and the police moved this morning against the peacefully assembled crowd in front of the Brazilian Embassy and disbursed them with bullets and water tanks. Supporters of the constitutional president of Honduras are being attacked and beaten. The embassy is now surrounded by the military. The coup regime leader, Roberto Micheletti, threatened to cancel the embassy’s immunity if Zelaya were not handed over to the de facto regime. An overall atmosphere of insecurity is now being imposed. President Zelaya called on the armed forces not to attack their own people and encouraged the Honduran people to continue mobilizing for peace and the restoration of constitutional order. The National Resistance Front Against the Coup has sent out a call for a national strike today, and for people to come from all parts of the country to the capital to continue the show of popular support for the return of the democratically elected president.

Our fear that the coup authorities would crack down even harder, now that their end is near, is materializing.

·         Please take a couple minutes and call the State Department at 202-647-4000 to deliver the following message: “Work for the unconditional immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya and pressure the SOA graduate-led Honduran military to stop the violence against the people and their democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya. Ensure that the coup plotters will be held responsible for their actions. Any bloodshed will be on the hands of the coup government and security forces.”

·         Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 with the same message.

The Real News Bio: Óscar Estrada is a filmmaker and radio producer from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. He works with the organization Arte Acción, and has written several screenplays for narrative films and documentaries. Oscar splits his time between Honduras and the U.S., where he is an associate producer for May I Speak Freely Media, a project that produces media on human rights issues in Honduras. You can find Óscar’s updates on the Honduran coup on Adrienne Pine’s website Sandra Cuffe is an independent journalist and photographer from Montréal, Canada. She contributes regularly to The Dominion magazine in Canada, and Latin American political newsletter, Upside Down World. You can find her photos from Honduras

·         Lawmakers Revive Effort to Deny Retroactive Telecom Immunity, eWeek – Roy Mark

·         Obama Administration Seeks Renewal of Three Key Parts of PATRIOT Act The administration has asked lawmakers to extend powers allowing the government to collect a wide range of financial and personal records, as well as monitor suspects with roving wiretaps. The methods were authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act and are set to expire at year’s end. The call for renewing the PATRIOT Act provisions comes as Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties groups want to revisit its broader powers. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has proposed a new bill that would overhaul the PATRIOT Act and other surveillance laws to include more privacy safeguards.

·         Patriot Act Needs Comprehensive Reform, ACLU Testifies, Common Dreams

·         Senator Leahy Introduces Bill To Amend Patriot Act, Common Dreams

·         CMD’s Lisa Graves Testifies Before U.S. Senate on Patriot Act, John Stauber

·         Obama: Patriot Act Surveillance Law Should Stay, Larry Margasak, HuffPo & AP

·         Patriot Act may get renamed, but with a few changes, David G. Savage, Chicago Tribune

·         Al Franken Reads the 4th Amendment to Justice Department Official, Washington Independent

·         Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege, Charlie Savage, NYTimes, 22.Sep.09 WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons. The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate over the escalation of executive power and secrecy during the Bush administration.

·         Newly Declassified Files Detail Massive FBI Data-Mining Project By Ryan Singel, 23.Sep.09, Wired ThreatLevel … But the proposal has long been criticized by privacy groups as ineffective and invasive. Critics say the new documents show that the government is proceeding with the plan in private, and without sufficient oversight.

The FBI’s Data-Mining Ore Composed of government information, commercial databases and records acquired in criminal and terrorism probes, the FBI’s National Security Branch Analysis Center is too broad to be considered mission-focused, but still too patchy to be Orwellian. Here’s the data we know about. • International travel records of citizens and foreigners • Financial forms filed with the Treasury by banks and casinos • 55,000 entries on customers of Wyndham Worldwide, which includes Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson and Hawthorn Suites • 730 records from rental-car company Avis • 165 credit card transaction histories from Sears • Nearly 200 million records transferred from private data brokers such Accurint, Acxiom and Choicepoint • A reverse White Pages with 696 million names and addresses tied to U.S. phone numbers • Log data on all calls made by federal prison inmates • A list of all active pilots • 500,000 names of suspected terrorists from the Unified Terrorist Watch List • Nearly 3 million records on people cleared to drive hazardous materials on the nation’s highways • Telephone records and wiretapped conversations captured by FBI investigations • 17,000 traveler itineraries from the Airlines Reporting Corporation

“We have a situation where the government is spending fairly large sums of money to use an unproven technology that has a possibility of false positives that would subject innocent Americans to unnecessary scrutiny and impinge on their freedom,” said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Before the NSAC expands its mission, there must be strict oversight from Congress and the public.”

The FBI declined to comment on the program. … The FBI also has ambitious plans to expand its data set, the budget request shows. Among the items on its wish list is the database of the Airlines Reporting Corporation — a company that runs a backend system for travel agencies and airlines. A complete database would include billions of American’s itineraries, as well as the information they give to travel agencies, such as date of birth, credit card numbers, names of friends and family, e-mail addresses, meal preferences and health information.

So far, the company has given the FBI nearly 17,000 records, which are now part of NSAC. Spokesman Allan Mutén said the company gives the FBI records only when presented with a subpoena or a national security letter — which, he adds, has happened quite a bit. “Nine-eleven was a time and event that piqued the interest of the authorities in airline passenger data,” Mutén said.

The ever-growing size of the database concerns EFF’s Opsahl, who has pieced together the best picture of the FBI’s data mining system through other government FOIA requests. …

·         More travel records, more exemptions from the Privacy Act An anonymous traveler has posted the records of their international travel that were provided by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the Department of Homeland Security, in response to a request under the Privacy act using these forms updated from those used by the Identity Project in our original investigation of the CBP “Automated Targeting System” (ATS). As noted by philosecurity.org, which published the latest example of the government’s travel data vacuum cleaner, as provided by one of the site’s readers,

The document reveals that the DHS is storing the reader’s:

o    Credit card number and expiration (really)

o    IP address used to make web travel reservations

o    Hotel information and itinerary

o    Full Name, birth date and passport number

o    Full airline itinerary, including flight numbers and seat numbers

o    Cruise ship itinerary

o    Phone numbers, incl. business, home & cell

o    Every frequent flyer and hotel number associated with the subject, even ones not used for the specific reservation

Some of our appeals of Privacy Act request for our own ATS records (including, under the definitions in effect when our requests and appeals were made, TECS records) have been pending for almost two full years without response. We suspect that part of the reason for the stall was that the DHS was withholding any response until after they could finalize new rules purporting to exempt themselves from the obligation to turn over their records of our travels. We’ll see if we now get a belated response to our outstanding appeal, and if it relies on the newly finalized exemptions.

Similar Privacy Act exemptions for ATS records were proposed two years ago, under the previous Administration. We filed formal objections when these exemptions were proposed, and they have never been finalized, but they could be at any time without further notice. If you haven’t yet applied for your ATS travel records, we urge you strongly to do so without delay, before the CBP publishes a final rule exempting ATS travel records from the Privacy Act the way they’ve just done with TECS travel records. …

Andy is *free*!

The story A day before the United Nations held a climate change summit, New York City was blanketed with 100,000 fake copies of the New York Post tabloid, filled with content related to climate change.

But the Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., wasn’t impressed, calling the effort by perennial pranksters the Yes Men a “Witless Spoof in Flawless Format” in a statement released Tuesday, a day after the faux Post hit the streets.

The overall endeavor, the Post said, was a “limp effort,” and the fraudulent newspaper “has none of the wit and insight New Yorkers expect from their favorite paper. The Post will not be hiring any of their headline writers.” Read full article »

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At 3 PM PACIFIC Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden CALL US at 1-800-385-1566

At 3:30 PM Kira Salak is a contributing editor for National Geographic Adventure magazine. Her article about the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo won her a PEN Award in Journalism. She is the author of the fiction book The White Mary (Henry Holt) and two nonfiction books: Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea (which was a New York Times Notable Travel Book) and The Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred Miles to Timbuktu (National Geographic Books). The recipient of a National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer Award, Salak has traveled solo to almost every continent, visiting the world’s remotest places, including Madagascar, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Borneo. She was the first woman to cross Papua New Guinea, and the first person to kayak solo 600 miles down West Africa’s Niger River to Timbuktu. Book Magazine has called her “the gutsiest—and some say, craziest—woman adventurer of our day.” Her website

At 4 PM Elyssa Pachico is an independent journalist who has previously worked in Costa Rica, Colombia and New York city. A graduate of Wesleyan University and a former intern at The Nation magazine, her writing has focused on food sovereignty rights in Latin America. More of her work can be seen here

At 5 PM Joe Winston filmmaker behind the “What’s the Matter with Kansas” the Thomas Frank book brought to the screen. Based on the Thomas Frank’s best-seller, What’s the Matter with Kansas? shows how Kansas transformed from an outpost of radicalism to a bastion of hard-core conservatism. Unforgettable characters and their stories shed new light on our nation’s political divide.

At 5:45 Marc Maron is back with an update on his podcast show WTF. Check out Marc’s site Here’s some links to Marc’s podcasts WTF on iTunes - No iTunes? Follow – Email –

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At 3 PM PACIFIC Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

At 3:30 Alicia Russell and Monica Sandschafer from ACORN of AZ to help us understand the great work ACORN does around this country.

At 4 PM BobCesca returns to discuss his recent columns on the healthcare debate. “President Obama made it clear yesterday that the public option is still alive:

Obama maintained that while the centerpiece of his healthcare reform effort, a public (or “government-run”) option, is absolutely not dead, it also is not the “silver bullet” that would instantaneously repair the nation’s healthcare system. “I absolutely do not believe that it’s dead,” Obama told Univision’s “Al Punto” of the public option’s fate. “I think that it’s something that we can still include as part of a comprehensive reform effort.”

But the president still signaled that the public option, a key reform for which he has pushed for months, would not serve as a panacea for healthcare problems.

“What I’ve said is the public option, I think, should be a part of this but we shouldn’t think that, somehow, that’s the silver bullet that solves healthcare,” Obama said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with David Gregory, rejecting the idea that he’d effectively told liberals that the public option will not be included in reform.

Although I don’t know anyone who’s claiming that the public option is all we need — the silver bullet — to reform healthcare. Obviously there are other provisions that are important. What we’re saying is that the public option is crucial for strengthening those other reforms.

If there’s one thing we know for sure, corporate America is really good at coming up with new loopholes to circumvent the law, but with a public insurance option, we have a place to go if the private insurers continue to screw us.”

At 5 PM Victoria Law is a writer, mother, and photographer. Since 2002, she has worked with women incarcerated nationwide to produce Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison. Her writings have appeared in “Hip Mama”, “off our backs”, “make/shift” magazine and “Left Turn”. Her book, “Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women” is the culmination of 8 years of research, writing & listening to the stories of women incarcerated nationwide. Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women “In 1974, women imprisoned at New York’s maximum-security prison at Bedford Hills staged what is known as the August Rebellion. Protesting the brutal beating of a fellow prisoner, the women fought off guards, holding seven of them hostage, and took over sections of the prison. Why do activists know about Attica but not the August Rebellion? Resistance Behind Bars documents collective organizing and individual resistance among women incarcerated in the U.S. and challenges the reader to question why these instances and efforts have been ignored and why many assume that women do not organize to demand change. It fills the gap in the existing literature, which has focused mostly on the causes, conditions and effects of female imprisonment. Women have significantly disrupted the daily operations of their prison to protest injustices and demand change. More often, however, they have employed less visible means such as forming peer education groups, clandestinely organizing ways for children to visit mothers in distant prisons and raising public awareness about their conditions. By emphasizing women’s agency in resisting individually as well as organizing collectively against their conditions of confinement, Resistance will spark further discussion and research on incarcerated women’s actions and also galvanize much-needed outside support for their struggle.”

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At 3 PM PACIFIC Broadcasting live here and simulcast on http://www.Rootsupradio.com and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

Call us at 1 800-385 -1566

At 3:30 John Green is the celebrated author of the 2006 Michael L. Printz Medal for Looking for Alaska and the 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book for “An Abundance of Katherines“. Green is the only American to be twice recognized by the Printz committee. Both his previous books were finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and all three books are being developed into films. John’s work has been translated into eleven languages, winning many awards internationally. Besides being a distinguished author, many know John as one half of the dynamic pair (with his brother, Hank) behind the enormously popular video series “Brotherhood 2.0“. John and Hank’s videos have had more than 36 million video views since the project began and receive about 3.8 million views each month, making theirs one of the most popular channels in YouTube history. The Green brothers have been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on NPR, Fox News, and BBC Radio. The videos have spawned a thriving, interactive community of tens of thousands of fans (calling themselves nerdfighters), headquartered at NerdFighters. John Green also currently has over 464,000 followers on Twitter. In “Paper Towns”, the popular and extravagantly mischievous Margo Roth Spiegelman cracks open a window and climbs back into her next-door neighbor Quentin’s life after a decade grown apart from him. Though their all-nighter through Orlando feels to Q like the beginning of a new life, he arrives at school the next day to discover that Margo has vanished—always an enigma, she has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that Margo has left behind clues—and they’re for him. With nothing left to guide him but a seemingly random collection of maps, books, online entries, and an annotated copy of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” Q and his friends must find Margo and unpeel the ever-changing layers of meaning behind her “paper towns.” Urged down this disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

at 4 PM Malu Halasa – “Free Maziar Bahari” campaign In solitary confinement for 90 days without access to lawyer, Canadian/Iranian filmmaker & Newsweek correspondent has disappeared into Iranian political detention. Maziar Bahari is being nominated for the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord, probably the most prestigious award granted in the Spanish-speaking world. The Prince of Asturias Awards aim, to quote from the Statutes of the Foundation “to reward the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work performed by individuals, groups of individuals or institutions at an international level.” As part of this spirit, the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord ‘will be bestowed upon the person, institution, group of people or group of institutions whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, to the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, to the defence of freedom, or whose work has widened the horizons of knowledge or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving Mankind’s heritage’. The winner will be announced later this week. Other newspapers picked wire notices from Europa Press and EFE, that quoted from Nobel prize-winning Archbishop Desmond Tutu letter to the foundation in support of the nomination and noted that former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has also voiced her support. Although there are over forty candidates for the award this year, most newspapers focused on Maziar Bahari’s nomination. CBC News In Depth: Zahra Kazemi McTeague @ MacLeans: Maziar Bahari could be free if Ottawa assures Iran he’s not gov agent Acting for Maziar:

·         Amnesty International

·         Canadian Journalists for Free Expression

·         Committee to Protect Journalists Defending journalists worldwide

·         International Pen Promoting literature, defending freedom of expression

·         Liberal Party of Canada

·         New Democratic Party of Canada

·         United Nations High Commission for Refugees Monitoring press freedom violations.

·         Index On Censorship For Free Expression Britain’s leading organisation promoting freedom of expression. -Maziar Bahari Must Be Freed

·         Rachel Maddow & MSNBC

·         Simon Ardizzone, who has collaborated as an editor with Maziar Bahari over the past two years, believes the Canadian government must do more. Simon is the director/producer of Hacking Democracy.

Bahari in Line for Spanish Prize NEWSWEEK correspondent imprisoned in Iran is in contention for the prestigious Asturias Award. By Christopher Dickey | Newsweek Web Exclusive | Sep 7, 2009 …Before the 42-year-old Bahari was jailed in the tumultuous aftermath of Iran’s elections in June, he had spent most of his career producing films that addressed precisely such concerns not only in his native Iran but also in Iraq, Africa, Europe, and Canada, where he is a naturalized citizen.

Since he was arrested at his 83-year-old mother’s apartment in Tehran just after dawn on June 21, Bahari has not been allowed to see a lawyer, but has twice been pushed in front of government cameras to “confess” that he might “inadvertently” have undermined the security of the state.

What he did in fact was to work openly and with full accreditation by the Iranian government, reporting for NEWSWEEK and in his film work about the hopes and fears, courage and confusion of the Iranian people at a turning point in their nation’s history. No specific charges have been made public against him, and his alleged crimes appear to consist of nothing more than reporting for foreign publications and networks. In fact, the Iranian government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed such coverage–until hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of Iran’s cities to protest against the alleged fraud that reelected it.

The injustice of Bahari’s incarceration, taken as emblematic of the repression faced by millions of Iranians and by those who insist on freedom of expression everywhere in the world, is a factor that may be taken under consideration by the Asturias jury. But his work also speaks for itself. …

·         Clinton: U.S. Backs Efforts to Free NEWSWEEK’s Maziar Bahari, Holly Bailey Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Canadian officials today that the U.S. fully backs efforts to press Iran to release jailed NEWSWEEK journalist Maziar Bahari. The Canadian-based Canwest News Service reports that Clinton made the commitment during a private meeting Wednesday with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon. The two met on the sidelines of a meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the White House. Clinton offered “full support” to Canada in calling on Iran to release Bahari, Cannon’s office told Canwest. Bahari, an Iranian-born filmmaker and journalist with Canadian citizenship, was detained June 21 in Tehran while covering Iran’s presidential election and the resulting protests for NEWSWEEK. Iranian authorities arrested him and dozens of other reporters and bloggers, accusing them of acting on behalf of Western governments to fuel dissent. This summer, Iranian state media reported Bahari had confessed. Yet Bahari has never been formally charged and has not been given access to a lawyer. Bahari’s wife, Paola Gourley, who is seven months’ pregnant with the couple’s first child, has publicly urged Canadian and U.S. officials to press for her husband’s release ahead of next week’s United Nations summit in New York City, which Iranian officials are scheduled to attend, and before scheduled talks next month over Tehran’s nuclear program.

·         Bahari’s case, discussed by esteemed author, Jon Meecham:

o    NEWSWEEK Reporter Arrested Without Charge in Iran

o    Our Reporter, Ahmadinejad’s Prisoner By Jon Meacham, Published: September 12, 2009 They came early in the morning, about seven o’clock. In Tehran on Sunday, June 21, at his 83-year-old mother’s home, agents of the Iranian government seized Maziar Bahari. As his mother looked on, Mr. Bahari — a 42-year-old Newsweek journalist and documentary filmmaker who has been accredited by the Iranian authorities for over a decade — was arrested and taken to Evin prison, where we believe he is being held in isolation. He has not been allowed to see a lawyer, nor has he been formally charged. He is awaiting the birth of his first child….

At 4:30 Justin Fox is the economics and business columnist for Time magazine. He also writes the Curious Capitalist blog on Time.com. Before joining Time in 2007, Fox spent more than a decade at Fortune magazine, where he covered a wide variety of topics related to economics, finance, and international business. In 2000 and 2001, he was the magazine’s Europe editor, based in London. Prior to joining Fortune, Fox worked at several newspapers, including American Banker and The Birmingham (Alabama) News. His first book, The Myth of the Rational Market, is a history of the rise and fall of the efficient market hypothesis—the influential academic theory that financial markets are nearly perfectly rational and correct.   In other ‘don’t you feel safer?‘ News:

·         UK Police launch “flying saucer” surveillance camera – August 17.Aug.09

·         New Army Camera Promises Super-Wide Surveillance – By David Hambling, 19.Aug.09

·         Marines Seek Crowd-Blasting ‘Venom’ Launcher – Wired DangerRoom – By David Hambling, 24.Aug.09

·         & for those people who thought the ‘Skanks of New York‘ ruling was about gossip or scratchfight’n squabbles: Scientology seeks to squash anonymity – Anonymous attacks could backfire with tighter Aussie laws – John Ozimek, UK Register, 9.Sep.09

·         An Electrifying Tour of the Taser Factory – Wired DangerRoom – By Aaron Rowe, 10.Sep.09

·         Sonic Blaster Deployed to Political Events, Beach Competition - Wired DangerRoom – By Aaron Rowe, 10.Sep.09

·         Obama Backs Extending Patriot Act Spy Provisions – David Kravets, Wired – ThreatLevel, 15.Sep.09

·         Color-Coded Threat Level Advisory Under Attack – David Kravets, Wired – ThreatLevel, 16.Sep.09

·         Tricking out your Carbine with a Laser ‘Pain Beam’ – David Hambling – Wired, ThreatLevel, 16.Sep.09, Categories: Bizarro, Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal Whether you’re trying to control a disturbance at a food-distribution center, get a convoy through a packed junction or determine who the bad guys are in a crowd, it’s not always a good idea to have a lethal force as your only option. That, at least, is the thinking behind the Thermal Laser Weapon, a device now under development by the U.S. military. The Thermal Laser Weapon is a device that attaches to standard rail system on military rifles. Like the vehicle-mounted Active Denial System, it works by heating up the outer layer of skin, causing a very painful burning sensation without — in theory — causing any actual damage (more, oh so much more… )

·         Dear Poland, Happy Soviet Invasion Day. Love, Uncle Sam – Nathan Hodge -Wired, ThreatLevel, 17.Sep.09

·         US software firm sentenced for ‘trading with the enemy’ Cuban heels – Austin Modine, UK Register, 18.Sep.09

Urban Hopper bot leaps over 25-foot fence Tall walls no obstacle for this rolling robot The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is showing off its Precision Urban Hopper robot (PUH?), a wheeled ground unit being developed by Sandia National Laboratories and Boston Dynamics for surveillance operations in urban terrain. The shoebox-size rolling robot can leap over 25-foot-tall obstacles and keep going.

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@ 3:30pm Pacific: Joe Szakos. The Virginia Organizing Project (VOP) is a grassroots organization in the state of Virginia dedicated to addressing issues that affect the quality of citizen’s lives. VOP especially encourages the participation of those who have traditionally had little or no voice in society. By building relationships with individuals and groups throughout the state, VOP strives to get people to work together, democratically and non-violently, for change.

VOP has a joint plan of work with over 20 organizations across the state, supporting their work in the environment, education, transportation, human rights, and community support. Under the leadership of Executive Director, Joe Szakos, VOP has a staff of 8 community organizers across the state of Virginia. These organizers work to build local chapters and organize local community members around making positive social change.

If You Question Big Insurance You May End Up In Jail Anthem (WellPoint Virginia) Takes Executive Director of the Virginia Organizing Project to Court Next Tuesday for Trespassing Is it hubris? Is it a giant PR mistake? Or is it the health insurance industry showing its true colors? At a time when health insurance industry malfeasance is a daily focus of the evening news, Anthem, the Virginia WellPoint subsidiary, has boldly decided to put their own customer on trial for asking to speak to a representative about their rates. On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, Joe Szakos, executive director of the state-wide social justice organization, the Virginia Organizing Project, will stand trial to defend against trespassing charges brought against him by Anthem. Click Here to See the Video of the Arrest

Szakos was charged with trespassing on Anthem’s property in Richmond on July 24, 2009. He and three Virginia Organizing Project board members attempted to meet with Anthem officials to discuss their concerns about a 14.1 percent insurance premium increase and Anthem’s anti-reform lobbying activities. Anthem officials locked the front door to their corporate headquarters when the group approached the building, and called the police to have Szakos arrested.

Anthem declined opportunities to drop the charges. Szakos’s legal defense team has subpoenaed Anthem’s CEO C. Burke King and director of public relations Scott Golden to appear in court on Tuesday. The Virginia Organizing Project will be holding a press conference prior to the trial where community members will share their own Anthem horror stories and call for their members of Congress to take action on health care reform.

The Virginia Organizing Project is a statewide, multi-issue grassroots organization committed to challenging injustice by empowering people in local communities to address issues that affect the quality of their lives.

@ 4pm Pacific – Michaela D’Ambrosio. Michaela is a COHA research associate currently an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, pursuing a BA in Global Studies, with an emphasis in Latin America, and Business Economics. This semester she is studying and working in Washington, DC, interning for Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a NGO monitoring and producing research on Latin America, the US and Canada.

The Honduran Coup: Was it a Matter of Behind-the-Scenes Finagling by State Department Stonewallers? Following the June 28 Honduran coup d’etat ousting President Manuel Zelaya, speculation began to be heard concerning the roles played by senior U.S. officials in orchestrating the overthrow of the country’s leader. Links connecting these officials and their motives involving Honduras have been uncovered, raising many questions, some of which have yet to be answered. What still remains to be clarified is why the Obama administration at first had taken a relatively benign stance to the illegitimate government, restricting $30 million in aid to Honduras but still failing to label the ousting of the democratically elected president a “military coup,” which automatically would have cut off much greater sums of financial assistance. U.S. Corporate Interests at Work Who were these outside officials who may have been involved in the planning and execution of the coup and what other possibly compromising actions may they have been associated with in recent months? Evidence points to Senator John McCain, Otto Reich, the heavily ideological policy advisor on Latin America for the McCain campaign, and Robert Carmona-Borjas, a Venezuelan lawyer, columnist and academic, all of whom may have had significant financial and politicized ties to the U.S. telecommunications industry. … Why did the administration wait more than two months to suspend a significant amount of aid to the interim government, which provided the Micheletti administration with precious time to consolidate its rule and use up much of the remaining period that Zelaya had left in his presidency? And why has there still been no formal recognition that June 28 was a military coup, which is a blatant violation of democracy? Perhaps these questions can be partially explained by the economic and strategic interests of those individuals and corporations referred to above. Moreover, Zelaya’s increasing use of Chavista-like rhetoric and image as a twenty-first century Bolivarian tribune, proved deeply disturbing to Washington policy makers. We are left asking the question whether it was an illusion that the Obama administration would be the New Jerusalem for progressive interests in the Americas. After witnessing the meager elements of its Cuba policy, its snarling indifference to Venezuela, and its languorous deportment to the coup makers in Honduras, we may be witnessing what could be the third term of the Bush administration. For full article click here

@ 4:30pm Pacific – Mike Hudema. We hope to speak with GreenPeace Canada on-site demonstrators regarding their recent protest at Fort McMurray’s Prairies TarSands project

Update: After more than 30 hours, Greenpeace activists have ended their successful blockade at Shell’s Albian Sands tar sands mine. The blockade brought international attention to the climate crime of tar sands operations.

“Through this action, Greenpeace put this destruction centre stage to show the world why we must stop the tar sands.” — Mike Hudema, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner. Read the full news release.

At this very moment, deep in the remote tar sands in northern Alberta, 25 daring Greenpeace activists have infiltrated Shell’s Albian Sands open-pit mine. They have blocked a massive shovel and a three-storey high dump truck and a giant hydraulic shovel from further destroying Alberta’s landscape. Take Action

·         Sign the KYOTOplus petition and become a climate defender!

·         Send a *polite & respectful* email to Harper’s office and tell him that this meeting with Obama is the perfect opportunity to turn off the taps on dirty oil and prevent catastrophic climate change. Email him: but be politely concerned.

·         Spread the word! Post this day’s show description to Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. Digg it, bump it up on Reddit and Stumbleupon, tell your friends and your family that the tar sands is pushing the climate past the tipping point and must be stopped.

They have effectively shut down five trucks. …campaigner Mike Hudema is doing interviews from the cab of a truck, where he is locked down.

On 15.Sep.09, this peaceful action started at 8am. Teams of activists with six pick up trucks entered the Shell site at about 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. Watch the live streaming video. See the extreme lengths our activists are going to, to send a clear message to the world leaders: end our addiction to dirty oil, Stop the Tar Sands.

The pick up blocked around the giant machinery and chained the pick-up trucks together, preventing the shovel and dump truck from causing any more damage to the already fragile environment.

Activists scaled a monster truck and the giant shovel, occupied the shovel and the cab of the truck and locked themselves in place. Another team laid banners across the ground reading, “Tar Sands: Climate Crime.” Our courageous activists are in a remote location, but they’re not out of reach. Remind them that they’re not alone! Tell them world leaders must develop a solid global climate pact at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December. We’ll never have a healthy climate as long as the world is investing in the dirtiest oil on the planet.

Through its KYOTOplus campaign, Greenpeace Canada is working to convince the Harper government to become a leader at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

And we need your help! Take Action!

@ 5pm Pacific – Dr. Paul Hochfeld returns! Frustrated with the health care ‘options’ coming out of Washington, D.C., six “Mad as Hell” Oregon physicians are taking an unprecedented road trip across America to lobby Congress for a single-payer health care system. A big part of their plan is to take the entire country with them.

Called a “Care-A-Van,” these road-tripping Oregon physicians will leave in a used motor home from Portland, Oregon on September 8th, inviting doctors and ordinary citizens from other states to join them on their twenty-city tour across the country. Their journey will culminate in a D.C.-based event on September 30th, scheduled to take place on the steps of Congress. Demonstrating with the doctors will be thousands of fellow ‘Mad as Hell’ single-payer advocates, all adorned with the movement’s new symbol – the white ribbon. Their demand: Single-Payer Now!

“We’re mad as hell because our health care system is run by people who profit from illness” says Dr. Paul Hochfeld, lead Mad As Hell Doctor and producer of the documentary Health, Money and Fear. “The rest of the civilized world has test driven single payer and it works. But elected officials in America won’t even allow a discussion.”

“The public option is a trap.” Hochfeld continues. “It sounds very reasonable, but the problem with it, no matter what the final bill looks like, is that it will continue to allow private medical insurance companies to dictate America’s public health policies. And that’s just plain wrong.”

Several national, single-payer advocacy organizations including Physicians for a National Health Program, Health Care Now, Single Payer Action, and even groups like Progressive Democrats of America and Jobs with Justice are supporting the Oregon physicians by setting up Mad as Hell Town Halls across the country in anticipation of their arrival.

“People need to understand what single-payer is–and isn’t,” says Dr. Mike Huntington, a radiologist from Corvallis, Oregon and fellow Mad As Hell Doctor. “It isn’t Socialism, any more than police and fire are Socialism. And it doesn’t require any more money. Simply put, single-payer is a way to take the current premium payments that go to a thousand different private insurance companies, and redirect them into a single, public fund that insures everyone. That’s all it is. But when we do this, lots of wonderful things happen, not the least of which is to save Americans 500 billion dollars a year starting day one. That’s billion – with a ‘b.’ America needs this information. That’s why we’re taking the tour.”

We hope to share our pre-recorded conversation with Miriam Ross (b. 1977, Scotland) has worked as a campaigner at Survival International since 2001. Miriam is currently focusing on Survival’s campaign supporting the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe in Sarawak in the Malaysian part of Borneo, who are struggling to prevent the destruction of their forest by logging companies, oil palm plantations and hydroelectric dams.

As well as visiting the Penan earlier this year, Miriam has travelled to the Andaman Islands to carry out research for Survival’s campaign supporting the Jarawa tribe, who number 320 people and have only had contact with outsiders since 1998. She has also visited the Central Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana, before being banned from the country by the Botswana government along with a list of other activists and journalists working for Bushman rights.

Miriam studied history and politics at the University of Sheffield. She was inspired to join Survival after learning about the situation of Brazilian Indians during a year spent in Brazil before going to university.

16 September 2009: SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE The Penan have been struggling for decades to prevent the destruction of their land. At least fourteen people, including six members of the Penan tribe, were arrested in Malaysia today as they tried to voice their opposition to hydroelectric dams that will force them off their land. Penan Tribe Arrested Outside Government Offices in Borneo

The group of indigenous people and activists were arrested outside the offices of the Chief Minister of the state of Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo. They were attempting to hand in a statement calling on the government to stop the construction of dams that are to flood the land of many Penan and other tribespeople, destroying their forest and burial grounds. Over 600 Penan have added their signatures to the protest.

Raymond Abin of the Sarawak Conservation Action Network was one of those arrested. Speaking from police custody, he told Survival that they had not been allowed to hand in the statement, so had waited outside. After four hours, the Chief Minister’s office called the police and they were arrested. No charges had so far been made against them.

One Penan man told Survival earlier this year, ‘This land is my ancestral land. It has been used by Penan for ten generations. We don’t want to move, and we don’t want to give this land to anyone.’ The people of his village have been told they must move to make way for the Murum dam, which is already being built by the controversial Chinese state-owned China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Survival is extremely concerned that the Penan and others have been arrested for trying to voice their concerns about these dams which, if completed, will devastate their lives. Instead of locking them up, the Malaysian government should listen to them.’

In a separate development, Malaysian police are reported to have dismantled three road blockades mounted in August by twelve Penan communities against the logging and plantation companies that are destroying their forest.

We’ll also hoping to share our earlier conversation with Semir Sam Osmanagich. Semir is a Bosnian-born Houston (USA) resident author, researcher and businessman.(Biography) He has discovered ancient pyramidal complex in Visoko (Bosnia-Herzegovina) which consists of five colossal stone structures in the shape of the pyramid with extensive pre-historical underground tunnel network. (Photo gallery) He has established non-profit and non-government “Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun“ Foundation to pursue the excavation and geo-archaeological work. First International Scientific Conference about Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids was held in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) in August 25-30, 2008 (ICBP) with 55 leading experts from Egypt, Russia, China, Poland, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Croatia, Austria, Montenegro and Bosnia giving full support Osmanagich’s efforts and recommending establishment of the Center for Pyramid Studies in Bosnia. (Conclusions) Osmanagich is an owner and president of the manufacturing company Met Company, Inc. and holding company Met Holding Group, LLP. in Houston (USA). Sam Osmanagich authored and narrated 12-epizode documentary “Search for Lost Civilization“ for the state Bosnian television FTVBiH (2007) which was based on his book: “Civilizations Before the Official History“ (2005) and filmed in Peru, Bolivia, Easter Island, Costa Rica, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Malta, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. (Video clips) Osmanagich lectures extensively and promote Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids Project and archaeological tourism in Bosnia-Herzegovina from Egypt and Jordan, to Malaysia, Canada, USA, China, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Denmark and other countries. (Photo gallery) Osmanagich is a member of the Archaeological Society of Alexandria (est. 1895). Osmanagich has become a first “honorary citizen” of the Town of Visoko in 2006. Daily newspaper “San” from Sarajevo awarded Osmanagich title “Man of the Year 2007 in Bosnia-Herzegovina” for his research project Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids and affirmative promotion of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the world. Osmanagich has been admitted as a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences from Moscow, one of the most respected scientific institutions in the world.

·         EDUCATION:

o    Ph.D. Thesis: The Mayan Civilization, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia (Abstract)

o    Master of Sciences in International Economics, University of Sarajevo

o    B.S. in Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo

o    B.S. in Economics, University of Sarajevo

o    2 years training in Sociology, University of Sarajevo

·         PUBLISHED BOOKS: Osmanagich has authored ten books about ancient civilizations (The Mayan World, Peruvian, Mexican, Pacific, African and ancient European civilizations) that have been published in the United States, Turkey, Estonia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Just question, but: how would a modern artist portray ‘real‘ Republican ReichWing values in Art Beck-approved as acceptable cultural symbolism? …a Predator drone, a spreadsheet & a microphone? Tragically, when Farmers & Skilled Trades People can’t be portrayed without accusations of seditious imagery, one can’t be surprised that North America doesn’t have a sustainable economy strategy.

Salon: Alex Koppelman, Thurs.3.Sep.09 The WarRoom: Glenn Beck exposes Obama’s Communist art scheme I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the jig is up. Your plans for revolution in the U.S. have been exposed. Glenn Beck found the secret codes you managed to hide in artwork in Rockefeller Center that was created 30 years before you were born a world away, and on his Fox News show Wednesday night, he told the world about them. He even managed to connect you to every New World Order conspiracy theorist’s favorite villains, the Rockefellers. Here he is, after having exposed the nefarious existence of a hammer and a sickle in some of the art, talking about a more fascist piece of artwork, which — as you already know — was a signal to your supporters to rise up and enslave good American children: …

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