October 3, 2013

Jim Hightower: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Corporate Coup in Disguise

JIM HIGHTOWER ON BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT


What if our national leaders told us that communities across America had to eliminate such local programs as Buy Local, Buy American, Buy Green, etc. to allow foreign corporations to have the right to make the sale on any products purchased with our tax dollars? This nullification of our people's right to direct expenditures is just one of the horror stories in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This is a super-sized NAFTA, the 1994 trade scam rammed through Congress by the entire corporate establishment. NAFTA promised the "glories of globalization": prosperity across our land. Unfortunately, corporations got the gold. We got the shaft — thousands of factories closed, millions of middle-class jobs went south, and the economies of hundreds of towns and cities were shattered.

Twenty years later, the gang that gave us NAFTA is back with the TPP, a "trade deal" that mostly does not deal with trade. Of the 29 chapters in this document, only five cover traditional trade matters! The other chapters amount to a devilish "partnership" for corporate protectionism:

—Food safety. Any of our government's food safety regulations (on pesticide levels, bacterial contamination, fecal exposure, toxic additives, etc.) and food labeling laws (organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, GMO-free, etc.) that are stricter than "international standards" could be ruled as "illegal trade barriers." Our government would then have to revise our consumer protections to comply with weaker standards. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18231-jim-hightower-the-trans-pacific-partnership-is-a-corporate-coup-in-disguise

October 3, 2013

Grand bargain extortion?: Liberals fear Social Security cuts are coming

Grand bargain extortion?: Liberals fear Social Security cuts are coming
Liberal House members tell Salon they're worried "Chained CPI" could end up on the table. Here's what it would mean

BY JOSH EIDELSON


(Salon) With the government shutdown in its third day and bank CEOs having met with the president, Democrats are hoping pressure from GOP moderates, the media, and Big Business will force House Republicans to re-open the government and step back from the brink of a debt default. But as Speaker Boehner reportedly seeks a “Grand Bargain” with Obama, some progressives are raising concerns about the potential for a last-minute, closed-door deal with a heavy price – including a proposed Social Security cut praised repeatedly by the president.

“I’m particularly concerned,” Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL) told Salon Wednesday afternoon, “especially today as we’re in the middle of this government shutdown, that some may decide that in order to stop the government shutdown, in order to prevent us from defaulting on our debt, that we’re going to ram through this Chained CPI [approach to reducing Social Security benefits], which is going to hurt seniors. And it’s going to hurt disabled, and it’s going to hurt veterans. And I think we’ve got to work to avoid it.” Deutch noted that Obama “has advocated for a move to chained CPI.”

“Chained CPI” refers to a proposed change in cost-of-living calculations that would decrease future Social Security payments. As I’ve reported, it’s an idea that President Obama has touted in the past, both as part of his “pursuit of strengthening Social Security for the long-term” and as an example of his willingness to compromise with Republicans (some of whom have asked why, if Obama supports chained CPI on the merits, it should count as a concession). .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/03/gops_extortion_tactics_social_security_could_be_next_liberals_fear/

October 3, 2013

Noam Chomsky on the "War on Drugs"

October 3, 2013

Keiser Report: JP Morgan's Financial Herpes

Published on Oct 3, 2013

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the Lilliputian view on fraud and theft and how this applies to the chief banking knaves at JPMorgan. In the second half, Max interviews Marc Armstrong of PublicBanking.org about turning depositors into shareholders as a fraud recipe shared amongst the Too-Big-To-Fail banks. With public banking, interest is returned to the economy from whence it came.

October 3, 2013

Henry A. Giroux | Hardened Cultures and the War on Youth

This interview was conducted at the McMaster Centre for Scholarship in the Public Interest's 2013 "War on Youth" Summer Institute, Summer 2013.

October 3, 2013

Jim Hightower: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Corporate Coup in Disguise

JIM HIGHTOWER ON BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT


What if our national leaders told us that communities across America had to eliminate such local programs as Buy Local, Buy American, Buy Green, etc. to allow foreign corporations to have the right to make the sale on any products purchased with our tax dollars? This nullification of our people's right to direct expenditures is just one of the horror stories in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This is a super-sized NAFTA, the 1994 trade scam rammed through Congress by the entire corporate establishment. NAFTA promised the "glories of globalization": prosperity across our land. Unfortunately, corporations got the gold. We got the shaft — thousands of factories closed, millions of middle-class jobs went south, and the economies of hundreds of towns and cities were shattered.

Twenty years later, the gang that gave us NAFTA is back with the TPP, a "trade deal" that mostly does not deal with trade. Of the 29 chapters in this document, only five cover traditional trade matters! The other chapters amount to a devilish "partnership" for corporate protectionism:

—Food safety. Any of our government's food safety regulations (on pesticide levels, bacterial contamination, fecal exposure, toxic additives, etc.) and food labeling laws (organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, GMO-free, etc.) that are stricter than "international standards" could be ruled as "illegal trade barriers." Our government would then have to revise our consumer protections to comply with weaker standards. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18231-jim-hightower-the-trans-pacific-partnership-is-a-corporate-coup-in-disguise

October 3, 2013

Amy Goodman: Herman Wallace, Free At Last

from truthdig:


Herman Wallace, Free At Last

Posted on Oct 2, 2013
By Amy Goodman


After close to 42 years in solitary confinement, Herman Wallace is free. Wallace is dying of liver cancer, with days if not hours to live at the time of this writing. In a stunning legal ruling, Judge Brian A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana ordered Wallace’s release by overturning his 1974 murder conviction. As he lies dying, Herman Wallace knows that after a lifetime of enduring the torture of solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit, he is now a free man.

Herman Wallace is one of the “Angola 3,” along with Robert King, who was released from prison in 2001, and Albert Woodfox, who remains imprisoned in solitary confinement, despite having his sentence overturned on three separate occasions. These three men, all African-American, were locked up in what was considered America’s bloodiest prison, maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary, known simply as “Angola.” The sprawling prison is on the grounds of a former slave plantation, with 5,000 prisoners. It’s named for the African country of many of its earlier enslaved occupants. Prisoners toil in the prison’s fields, overseen by armed guards on horseback.

Wallace first went to prison for robbery. He, Woodfox and King formed one of the first prison chapters of the Black Panther Party, organizing inmates to oppose the systemic violence and sexual slavery that pervaded the institution.

Wallace and Woodfox were then convicted of the 1972 murder of a young prison guard, Brent Miller. No physical evidence linked the men to the crime. A bloody fingerprint at the murder scene, which matched neither Wallace’s nor Woodfox’s fingerprints, was ignored by authorities. Wallace and Woodfox believe they were targeted by officials because of their organizing work. After their conviction in 1974, they were put in solitary confinement along with Robert King, who was being punished for another crime, also one that he did not commit. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/herman_wallace_free_at_last_20131002

October 3, 2013

AL Wild Card spoiler......

Cleveland still can't beat a team with a winning record. One and done.

October 2, 2013

Chicago: CTA Works to Stem Crash-Related Blue Line Delays

IL: CTA Works to Stem Crash-Related Blue Line Delays

JON HILKEVITCH
SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CREATED: OCTOBER 2, 2013


CTA officials were at the scene of this week's Blue Line collision Tuesday night, working to remove one or both of the trains that for two days prompted complaints about crowded platforms and, in some cases, more-than-doubled commuting times.

The crash involved an out-of-service, apparently driverless train that mysteriously traveled about a half-mile from the Forest Park rail yard and, continuing on the wrong tracks, slammed head-on into a train stopped at the Harlem station with about 40 passengers onboard. More than 30 them suffered bumps and bruises, according to hospitals.

Blue Line trains have since been operating on a single track between Oak Park and Forest Park, bypassing the Harlem station.

The accident created "a ripple effect on the entire Blue Line this morning," CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said earlier in the day Tuesday. "We are making changes to mitigate that until we can get back to normal service." ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/11184885/cta-works-to-stem-crash-related-blue-line-delays

October 2, 2013

Final Major League Baseball Regular Season attendance for 2013

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance


1 LA Dodgers 81 3,743,527 46,216 82.5 81 35,348 79.3 162 40,782 81.1
2 St. Louis 81 3,369,769 41,602 94.6 80 32,374 75.9 161 37,016 85.4
3 San Francisco 80 3,326,796 41,584 99.2 81 34,977 76.6 161 38,260 87.3
4 NY Yankees 81 3,279,589 40,488 80.5 80 33,632 78.8 161 37,082 79.7
5 Texas 82 3,178,273 38,759 78.8 81 28,121 66.5 163 33,473 73.2
6 Detroit 81 3,083,397 38,066 92.3 81 28,024 67.2 162 33,045 79.7
7 LA Angels 81 3,019,505 37,277 82.1 81 27,588 64.2 162 32,432 73.4
8 Philadelphia 81 3,012,403 37,190 85.2 81 30,463 70.1 162 33,826 77.7
9 Boston 81 2,833,333 34,979 94.4 81 33,045 74.8 162 34,012 83.7
10 Colorado 81 2,793,828 34,491 68.3 81 32,669 72.5 162 33,580 70.3
11 Washington 81 2,652,422 32,745 78.9 81 30,597 70.2 162 31,671 74.4
12 Chicago Cubs 81 2,642,682 32,625 79.3 81 32,159 74.6 162 32,392 76.9
13 Atlanta 81 2,548,679 31,465 63.3 81 30,845 72.2 162 31,155 67.4
14 Toronto 81 2,536,562 31,315 63.6 81 28,039 66.0 162 29,677 64.7
15 Cincinnati 81 2,534,369 31,288 73.9 80 32,890 75.9 161 32,084 74.9
16 Milwaukee 81 2,531,105 31,248 74.6 81 31,094 71.8 162 31,171 73.1
17 Minnesota 81 2,477,644 30,588 77.4 81 27,022 64.4 162 28,805 70.7
18 Baltimore 81 2,357,561 29,105 64.1 81 28,627 67.4 162 28,866 65.7
19 Pittsburgh 80 2,256,862 28,210 73.5 81 33,488 76.2 161 30,865 75.0
20 San Diego 81 2,166,691 26,749 62.7 81 32,212 71.5 162 29,480 67.2
21 NY Mets 80 2,135,657 26,695 63.9 81 30,628 69.9 161 28,674 67.0
22 Arizona 81 2,134,795 26,355 54.2 81 33,054 73.8 162 29,705 63.6
23 Oakland 81 1,809,302 22,337 63.7 81 29,308 67.1 162 25,822 65.6
24 Chicago White Sox 80 1,768,413 22,105 54.4 81 27,333 65.0 161 24,735 59.9
25 Seattle 81 1,761,546 21,747 45.4 81 28,445 67.5 162 25,096 55.8
26 Kansas City 81 1,750,754 21,614 57.0 81 27,433 64.7 162 24,523 61.1
27 Houston 81 1,651,883 20,393 49.8 81 27,574 64.0 162 23,983 57.1
28 Cleveland 80 1,572,926 19,661 45.3 80 28,234 67.8 160 23,947 56.3
29 Miami 81 1,586,322 19,584 52.3 80 30,091 68.9 161 24,805 61.2
30 Tampa Bay 81 1,510,300 18,645 54.7 82 30,154 67.6 163 24,435 62.1