Saturday 03 September 2011
Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult
Mike Lofgren, Truthout: "Both parties are rotten - how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot... But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP."
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Files Note Close CIA Ties to Qaddafi Spy Unit
Rod Nordland, The New York Times News Service: "Documents found at the abandoned office of Libya’s former spymaster appear to provide new details of the close relations the Central Intelligence Agency shared with the Libyan intelligence service - most notably suggesting that the Americans sent terrorism suspects at least eight times for questioning in Libya despite that country’s reputation for torture."
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Will Top Obama Economist Fight for Jobs?
Ari Berman, The Nation: "The Obama administration’s selection of Alan Krueger to lead the Council of Economic Advisers was greeted with applause from progressive economists, including Paul Krugman and Jared Bernstein... Next week Obama will lay out his ideas to create jobs, which will likely include the extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, a tax cut for companies that hire new workers, an infrastructure bank to spur new construction jobs and job training for the long-term unemployed, reports Bloomberg News and the Washington Post."
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China Benefits as US Solar Industry Withers
Keith Bradsher, The New York Times News Service: "The bankruptcies of three American solar power companies in the last month, including Solyndra of California on Wednesday, have left China’s industry with a dominant sales position - almost three-fifths of the world’s production capacity - and rapidly declining costs. Some American, Japanese and European solar companies still have a technological edge over Chinese rivals, but seldom a cost advantage, according to industry analysts."
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How Prisons Imperil Black Voting Power in Post-Katrina Louisiana
Zoe Sullivan, New America Media: "For criminal justice advocates, this discrepancy between eligible voters and counted population is a stark example of how prisons are skewing Louisiana’s political process, shifting power from urban areas to rural ones and further disenfranchising African-American communities suffering from the historic legacy of racism and the recent calamity of Hurricane Katrina."
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US Awash in Oil and Lies, Report Charges
Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service: "The country's oil industry is primarily interested in who will pay the most on the global marketplace. They call that 'energy security' when it suits, but in reality it is 'oil company security' through maximising profits, say energy experts like Steve Kretzman of Oil Change International, an NGO that researches the links between oil, gas and coal companies and governments."
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Get Out of the Way of Eric Schneiderman!
Thom Hartmann, The Big Picture With Thom Hartmann: "Meet Eric Schneiderman - he's our best shot at making sure banksters pay for the crimes they committed on Wall Street - crimes that have led to millions of Americans losing their jobs, homes, and livelihoods. Crimes that SO FAR - have gone unpunished. Earlier this week - Schneiderman - who is New York's Attorney General - was kicked off a panel of state officials from around the country who are working with the Obama administration to come up with a one-time settlement for banksters to pay up for their crimes."
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Beyond PTSD: Soldiers Have Injured Souls
Diane Silver, Miller-McCune: "Thousands [of veterans] grapple with what some call 'the war after the war' - the psychological scars of conflict. Working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and private organizations, these men and women are employing treatments both radically new and centuries old. At the center of their journey is a new way of thinking that redefines some traumas as moral injuries."
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Quick Things to Bring Manufacturing Jobs Home
Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future: "Here is a fact about bipartisanship and civility in Washington: the Republicans in Congress will obstruct anything President Obama proposes to create jobs and help the economy, period... The President can and should 'go big' and make dramatic proposals to Congress for job-creation. Doing so will draw contrasts so the public has a clear choice in the coming elections. Fortunately there are things the President can do right now, without the approval of Congress, that will have a big impact on job-creation now and in the future."
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
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Time to Up the Ante: Restrict Individual Assets in US to One Billion DollarsRead the Article at BuzzFlash
Under the Gun, Obama Tells Congress to Pass Major Transporation BillRead the Article at The Christian Science Monitor
Iran Speeding Up Nuclear Program, Investigators SayRead the Article at The Washington Post
AFL-CIO and Others Object to Georgia "Work" Program Rumored for Inclusion in Obama Jobs SpeechRead the Article at Daily Kos
Conservative Columnist: Registering Poor To Vote "Like Handing Out Burglary Tools To Criminals"Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
Battles in Sudan Continue to RageRead the Article at AP
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FCS Institutions: 
Total agricultural production expenses are forecast to rise sharply in 2011, due to changes in both price paid for inputs and the quantity of inputs used. Prices for all crop-related inputs are expected to rise in 2011, while acres planted to principal crops are forecast to rise to 326 million acres, a 3-percent increase over 2010. Expenses for several crop-related expenses are expected to show some of the sharpest changes this year. After steady increases between 2002 and 2008, fertilizer expenses dropped roughly 10 percent in both 2009 and 2010. In 2011, fertilizer expenses are forecast to resume their climb, going up 14 percent. After stalling in 2010, the upward movement in seed and pesticide expenses is also forecast to resume. Seed expenses are expected to rise over 5 percent in 2011 after dropping by 2 percent in 2010. Pesticide expenses are forecast to rise around 7 percent after falling about 5 percent in 2009-10. This chart is found in the ERS briefing room on Farm Income and Costs, and reflects the February 14, 2011 forecast. (From USDA's Economic Research Service, 
