March 1, 2012

Israeli Public Less Hawkish on Iran

from Consortium News:



Israeli Public Less Hawkish on Iran
February 29, 2012

A new poll shows that Israelis have a more skeptical view toward bombing Iran than some of their leaders, not to mention the neocon war hawks in the United States, a finding that ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar says should bolster President Obama’s resistance to an Israeli strike.

By Paul R. Pillar


Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, in cooperation with the Dahaf Institute of Israel, has just released the results of a poll taken within the past week of Israeli opinion toward Iran and American politics. Israeli attitudes toward the efficacy of a military strike against the Iranian nuclear program parallel the range of views one hears on that subject in the United States.

If there is any surprise, it is that Israeli views are not any more hawkish than they are, notwithstanding the war rhetoric that the Netanyahu government has been disseminating for many months. (Anyone who doubts the ability of government drum beating to build public support for a war should recall the enormous effect on American public opinion of the George W. Bush administration’s drumbeat on Iraq.)

Only 22 percent of Israelis believe that a military strike by Israel would delay Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by at least five years; another 22 percent estimate a delay of three to five years. Nine percent of Israelis believe the delay would be only one or two years. Thirty percent of the respondents believe a strike would either have no effect on the Iranian program or would accelerate it.

Asked what the effect of an Israeli strike would be on the Iranian government, respondents were evenly split between those who believe a strike would weaken the Iranian regime and those who believe it would be strengthened. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/02/29/israeli-public-less-hawkish-on-iran/

March 1, 2012

New Studies Show College Placement Tests are Ineffective

New Studies Show College Placement Tests are Ineffective


Susan Headden had an important article in the September/October issue of the Monthly running down the problem with community colleges’ high-stakes placement tests, which often wrongly assign students to remedial courses, costing them some very valuable time and money.

A good example is what happened to Monica Dekany, who enrolled at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California in 2009:



Dekany ended up thriving despite the obstacles thrown up by the Accuplacer, but many students, already throwing their lives into a bit of chaos by fitting in school with everything else, do not. And now two new studies out of Columbia’s Community College Research Center buttress the notion that these tests flawed. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/819248/new_studies_show_college_placement_tests_are_ineffective/

March 1, 2012

Amy Goodman: Wikileaks vs. Stratfor: Pursue The Truth, Not Its Messenger

from truthdig:



Wikileaks vs. Stratfor: Pursue The Truth, Not Its Messenger

Posted on Mar 1, 2012
By Amy Goodman


WikiLeaks, the whistle-blower website, has again published a massive trove of documents, this time from a private intelligence firm known as Stratfor. The source of the leak was the hacker group “Anonymous,” which took credit for obtaining more than 5 million emails from Stratfor’s servers. Anonymous obtained the material on Dec. 24, 2011, and provided it to WikiLeaks, which in turn partnered with 25 media organizations globally to analyze the emails and publish them.

Among the emails was a short one-liner that suggested the U.S. government has produced, through a secret grand jury, a sealed indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In addition to painting a picture of Stratfor as a runaway, rogue private intelligence firm with close ties to government-intelligence agencies serving both corporate and U.S. military clients, the emails support the growing awareness that the Obama administration, far from diverging from the secrecy of the Bush/Cheney era, is obsessed with secrecy, and is aggressively opposed to transparency.

I traveled to London last Independence Day weekend to interview Assange. When I asked him about the grand-jury investigation, he responded: “There is no judge, there is no defense counsel, and there are four prosecutors. So, that is why people that are familiar with grand-jury inquiries in the United States say that a grand jury would not only indict a ham sandwich, it would indict the ham and the sandwich.”

As I left London, The Guardian newspaper exposed more of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. phone-hacking scandal, which prompted the closing of his tabloid newspaper, the largest circulation Sunday newspaper in the U.K., News of the World. The coincidence is relevant, as News of the World reported anything but what its title claimed, focusing instead on salacious details of the private lives of celebrities, sensational crimes, and photos of scantily clad women. For this and his other endeavors, Murdoch amassed a reported personal fortune of $7.6 billion. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/wikileaks_vs_stratfor_pursue_the_truth_not_its_messenger_20120301/

February 29, 2012

Haarlem Cannabis Cafes Reject Dutch-Only Member Passes

All 16 cannabis coffee shops in the city of Haarlem have united in opposition to the Dutch government's "Weed Pass" program, which would bar foreigners from entry to the coffee shops and make the coffee shops "members only" for Dutch citizens. The plan foresees placing a cap on the number of members each coffee shop could have.

The conservative coalition governing the Netherlands doesn't like marijuana. It has created the Weed Pass program first as a measure to reduce "drug tourism" in Dutch border cities, and second as a means of restricting coffee shop numbers within the county. It was supposed to be rolled out in the border towns in January, but has been delayed until May, and is supposed to go nationwide next year, despite objections from, among others, the city of Amsterdam.

The Haarlem coffee shop owners, unified as Team Haarlems' Coffeeshopentrepreneurs (THC), announced Friday that they "have decided not to comply with the new criteria for tolerated coffee shops, like registering Dutch citizens as cannabis users, and discriminating against all non-Dutch coffee shop visitors."

The Weed Pass plan would bankrupt their businesses and lead to increases in street drug dealing and personal marijuana cultivation, the association warned. It cited the results of a poll of 700 coffee shop patrons it had conducted. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://cannabis.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2012/02/19/haarlem-cannabis-cafes-reject-dutch-only-member-passes/

February 29, 2012

Conservatives are a pox on humanity: Case in point - Canada

from CBC News:



An Elections Canada investigation into deliberately misleading robocalls made to voters in the Ontario riding of Guelph has traced the calls to a cellphone with a Quebec area code and registered to an apparently phony name, Pierre Poutine.

But Opposition parties have identified some 46 other ridings so far where they suspect voters received false, misleading or harassing live or automated telephone calls during last spring's election campaign. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre says the Conservatives have reports of "troubling" phone calls hitting Conservative campaigns in 15 ridings as well, but a party spokesman hasn't responded to a request for the list.

Here's more about the latest complaints in five ridings:

Egmont, P.E.I.

Liberals in the P.E.I. riding of Egmont haven't filed an official complaint yet, but they're revisiting complaints received by Liberal candidate Guy Gallant's office last spring in light of the latest revelations. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/29/pol-robocalls-wed-riding-wrap.html

February 29, 2012

Political answers will come when we build a network of solidarity/action that pushes on all fronts

from YES! Magazine:



Change Now, Vote Later
Political answers will come when we build a network of solidarity and action that pushes on all fronts for a true democracy.

by Nathan Schneider
posted Feb 28, 2012


There was a joke told during one of the warm-up actions the week before Occupy Wall Street began, across the street from the Stock Exchange: “How many politicians does it take to change a lightbulb?” None of the tourists watching hazarded a guess. The answer? “Politicians don’t change anything!”

It’s this kind of thinking that drove a few hundred protesters to transform the political discourse with their bodies last September by taking and holding a small park in downtown New York. But it’s also why the Occupy movement, at least in the short term, looks to be a good thing for someone like Mitt Romney—a man beautifully suited to play the role of law-and-order technocrat on behalf of the “silent majority,” and thereby to benefit from an election year noisy with unrest. Just think of the effect of the Greek and Spanish Occupation-based movements last year, whose agitations fragmented the Left and put the right wing in office. Or think of 1968 in the United States.

There’s another thing the Greeks and Spaniards have in common with the kids who made Occupy Wall Street happen, many of whom cheerfully knocked on doors and sparred with their parents on President Obama’s behalf in 2008 (as did I): They’ve learned that no matter which candidate you elect, the global financial system is going to find a way to stick it to you. Many in the movement think that the answers are not primarily to be found by joining a political machine already bought off by the corporate establishment. The answers lie in building a network of international solidarity and action that will push on all fronts for a truly democratic global politics and economy.

One of the things that made occupied Zuccotti Park such a refreshing place is that it was full of political conversations that had nothing to do with the personal foibles of elected officials or our various professional candidates. Rather, they were about the kinds of things that the Occupiers actually wanted for themselves and their communities—necessities of life and fairness, mostly—and how, then and there, they could start making it happen. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/change-now-vote-later

February 29, 2012

Suspected Chardon shooter's appearance in Juvenile Court offers little insight on his mind-set

from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:



CHARDON, Ohio — For several days, people have called T.J. Lane a loner.

But by Tuesday afternoon the attention of his school, his community and even the world had been turned on the 17-year-old, accused of opening fire in the cafeteria of Chardon High School and killing three students.

Lane appeared in Geauga County Juvenile Court, surrounded by law enforcement, three stunned-looking family members and a crowd of media trying to make sense of the tragedy.

Lane, in a tan collared shirt and belted pants, stared at a table, blinking often, as Geauga County Prosecutor David Joyce told a judge the teen admitted bringing a knife and a .22-caliber gun into the school's cafeteria Monday morning and firing off 10 rounds at students. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cleveland.com/chardon-shooting/index.ssf/2012/02/suspected_chardon_shooter_appe.html

February 29, 2012

Change Now, Vote Later

from YES! Magazine:



Change Now, Vote Later
Political answers will come when we build a network of solidarity and action that pushes on all fronts for a true democracy.

by Nathan Schneider
posted Feb 28, 2012


There was a joke told during one of the warm-up actions the week before Occupy Wall Street began, across the street from the Stock Exchange: “How many politicians does it take to change a lightbulb?” None of the tourists watching hazarded a guess. The answer? “Politicians don’t change anything!”

It’s this kind of thinking that drove a few hundred protesters to transform the political discourse with their bodies last September by taking and holding a small park in downtown New York. But it’s also why the Occupy movement, at least in the short term, looks to be a good thing for someone like Mitt Romney—a man beautifully suited to play the role of law-and-order technocrat on behalf of the “silent majority,” and thereby to benefit from an election year noisy with unrest. Just think of the effect of the Greek and Spanish Occupation-based movements last year, whose agitations fragmented the Left and put the right wing in office. Or think of 1968 in the United States.

There’s another thing the Greeks and Spaniards have in common with the kids who made Occupy Wall Street happen, many of whom cheerfully knocked on doors and sparred with their parents on President Obama’s behalf in 2008 (as did I): They’ve learned that no matter which candidate you elect, the global financial system is going to find a way to stick it to you. Many in the movement think that the answers are not primarily to be found by joining a political machine already bought off by the corporate establishment. The answers lie in building a network of international solidarity and action that will push on all fronts for a truly democratic global politics and economy.

One of the things that made occupied Zuccotti Park such a refreshing place is that it was full of political conversations that had nothing to do with the personal foibles of elected officials or our various professional candidates. Rather, they were about the kinds of things that the Occupiers actually wanted for themselves and their communities—necessities of life and fairness, mostly—and how, then and there, they could start making it happen. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/change-now-vote-later

February 29, 2012

The Never-Ending and Never-Prosecuted Humanitarian Disaster in Iraq

The Never-Ending and Never-Prosecuted Humanitarian Disaster in Iraq

Tuesday 28 February 2012
by: Dirk Adriaensens, Truthout | News Analysis


On 24 of January, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was "shocked" at reports that 34 individuals, including two women, were executed in Iraq on 19 January following their conviction for various crimes.

"Even if the most scrupulous fair trial standards were observed, this would be a terrifying number of executions to take place in a single day," she said.

"Given the lack of transparency in court proceedings, major concerns about due process and fairness of trials and the very wide range of offences for which the death penalty can be imposed in Iraq, it is a truly shocking figure."

"Most disturbingly," she added, "we do not have a single report of anyone on death row being pardoned, despite the fact there are well-documented cases of confessions being extracted under duress. (...) I call on the Government of Iraq to implement an immediate moratorium on the institution of death penalty." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/never-ending-and-never-prosecuted-humanitarian-disaster-iraq/1330109137

February 29, 2012

Make Your Vote Count for Socialism

from truthdig:



Make Your Vote Count for Socialism

Posted on Feb 28, 2012
By Scott Tucker


Stewart Alexander believes fair elections are worth a fair fight and he’s asking for your vote. The Occupy Wall Street movement encouraged a more honest discussion of class and capitalism in this country, but Alexander is not simply a critic of big banks and high finance. He is a democratic socialist, a military veteran opposed to militarism, an African-American community activist and the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party in 2012.

Alexander believes the candidate of “hope and change” is a defender of the status quo and of corporate rule. In his words:

“The phrase that came to mind immediately upon hearing President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech is ‘too little, too late.’ After spending the last few years coddling the banks and the richest 1 percent, Obama has the nerve to now call for ‘economic fairness.’ To him, this means tweaking payroll taxes and making a rhetorical call to reverse the Bush tax cuts for the rich. For working people in America, real fairness means the right to a job, a guarantee of health care for all and an end to the military-industrial complex. Obama won’t deliver this. That’s why I am running for president against him.”

The boom-and-bust cycles of capitalism require a semblance of representative government, even though Congress has become the front office of the corporate state. Even the most “progressive” reforms of the tax code now proposed by career politicians remain a form of institutionalized robbery of the working and middle classes. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/make_your_vote_count_for_socialism_20120228/