January 6, 2014

The US Government and Corporate Media are the Biggest Purveyors of Woo on the Planet

We're the greatest country

We have the best health care

We have the best education

We were helping Iraqis

Terrorists hate us cause we're free.

our steel structures collapse under fire

Air force could not stop the planes on 9/11 because our radar was looking outward

GM foods are safe (even though everyone else in the world rejects them)

we spend more money on the military than the rest of the world combined because we help people

(meanwhile polls show the rest of the world finds the US the greatest threat to humanity)

January 6, 2014

Water in at least three U.S. states is polluted from FRACKING as hundreds of complaints are reported

Well-water contamination caused by controversial oil and gas drilling - known as fracking - has been confirmed in at least three U.S. states which have nurtured the nation's energy boom, according to a new review of industry data. New figures show that hundreds of complaints have been made about pollution in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas, casting doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.
In Pennsylvania alone, at least 106 cases of water-well contamination have been confirmed in the last eight years.

The data, requested by the Associated Press, also highlight a lack of transparency and major differences in the way these problems are reported.

Some people who rely on well water near drilling operations have complained about pollution, but there's been considerable confusion over how widespread such problems are.

For example, starting in 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection aggressively fought efforts by the AP and other news organisations to obtain information about complaints related to drilling.

The department has argued in court filings that it does not count how many contamination 'determination letters' it issues or track where they are kept in its files.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2534508/Water-three-U-S-states-Pennsylvania-Ohio-West-Virginia-polluted-FRACKING.html



Official government organizations are covering up crimes committed by corporations against the American people....

the corporate media(except AP) supports government stance that fracking is perfectly safe....

Is it woo to question whether fracking is good for our water supply?

January 6, 2014

Blindly believing FDA is Woo! 297 scientists sign statement "No Scientific Consensus on GMO Safety

There is no scientific consensus on the safety of genetically modified foods and crops, according to a statement released today by an international group of more than 90 (now up to 297 /JC) scientists, academics and physicians.

The statement comes in response to recent claims from the GM industry and some scientists, journalists, and commentators that there is a “scientific consensus” that GM foods and crops were generally found safe for human and animal health and the environment. The statement calls these claims “misleading”, adding, “This claimed consensus on GMO safety does not exist.”

"Such claims may place human and environmental health at undue risk and create an atmosphere of complacency," states Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, chairperson of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) and one of the signatories. “The statement draws attention to the diversity of opinion over GMOs in the scientific community and the often contradictory or inconclusive findings of studies on GMO safety. These include toxic effects on laboratory animals fed GM foods, increased pesticide use from GM crop cultivation, and the unexpected impacts of Bt insecticidal crops on beneficial and non-target organisms,” Dr Hilbeck continues.

In spite of this nuanced and complex picture, a group of like-minded people makes sweeping claims that GM crops and foods are safe. In reality, many unanswered questions remain and in some cases there is serious cause for concern.

Prof C. Vyvyan Howard, a medically qualified toxicopathologist based at the University of Ulster and a signatory to the statement, said: “A substantial number of studies suggest that GM crops and foods can be toxic or allergenic. It is often claimed that millions of Americans eat GM foods with no ill effects. But as the US has no GMO labeling and no epidemiological studies have been carried out, there is no way of knowing whether the rising rates of chronic diseases seen in that country have anything to do with GM food consumption or not. Therefore this claim has no scientific basis.”

The signatories to the statement call for the compliance to the precautionary approach to GM crops and foods internationally agreed upon in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and UN’s Codex Alimentarius.

http://www.ensser.org/media/0513/


It is amazing to me that anyone expects us to blindly trust the US government after everything that has happened.

The EU, Africa, even China all reject our GM food.

The EU was recently angered to find out our crap corn was being fed to their livestock.


It is not woo to question the US government and the bullshit they tell us on the corporate media.

It is stupid not to.

January 6, 2014

Forbes: Five Lessons for CEOs from Pope Francis

Time credits the Pope’s “masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office.” Five are described below:

#4 Choose Personnel as Policy: To change the culture of the church, Francis announced new job qualifications for bishops. They are now expected to be: “gentle, patient and merciful, animated by inner poverty, the freedom of the Lord and also by outward simplicity and austerity of life.” To show he means business, Francis suspended a bishop for overseeing a $42.5 million renovation of a church residence that included a $20,500 bathtub.

He appointed a new head of the Vatican Almoner and told him, “Sell your desk, you don’t need it. You need to get out of the Vatican. Don’t wait for people to come ringing.” This on-the-ground-ministry was evident when the Vatican delivered free phone cards to Eritrean immigrants so they could call home and report they were safe after their crowded boat capsized on the way to Italy.


#5 Confront Tough Issues: Time describes Francis’ “talent for empathy and engaging people in conversation.” He also is recognized for making astute assessments of others and “leading productive meetings.” The deployment of these managerial gifts is evident in the progress made in tackling tough issues over the past nine months:

a) Corruption at the Vatican Bank: Focusing on initiatives to counter money laundering and increase transparency of the Vatican’s finances, the bank in October issued its first annual report, since it was founded in 1942.

b) Sex Abuse Crisis: In December, a group of eight consultative bishops named a new commission on sex abuse intended “to focus more on the behavioral problems at the core” of this crisis and less on “the legal challenges.”

c) Economic Inequality: In his first Apostolic Exhortation, Francis questioned the factual basis for trickle-down economics and the belief “that, encouraged by a free market, this will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.” He echoed concerns expressed by Warren Buffett, as well as Nobel Laureates Edmund Phelps and Robert Schiller, who argue that capitalism is at risk when it ignores societal needs.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurarittenhouse/2014/01/06/five-lessons-for-ceos-from-pope-francis-i/

January 6, 2014

Is the Official 9/11 story Woo? because the 'investigation' wasn't based on science

In fact, they didn't even want an investigation.

Bush administration fought against any kind of investigation until the Jersey girls pushed hard enough to get one.

Then it was a stacked commission with Bush testifying while sitting on Cheney's lap, but not under oath.


They never examined the fact that many other steel buildings in other countries have been engulfed in flames for hours and not collapsed....

Science was needed to explain why our steel is so much weaker, our buildings so badly built...that they fell like that.

But why it is Woo to even ask these questions?

I don't think people are really worried about woo,

they are worried about people questioning the official narrative of US Corporations/government

January 3, 2014

Rich Catholics Threaten Pope Francis — Because He Frightens Them

If anyone wonders whether Pope Francis has irritated wealthy conservatives with his courage and idealism, the latest outburst from Kenneth Langone left little doubt. Sounding both aggressive and whiny, the billionaire investor warned that he and his overprivileged friends might withhold their millions of dollars from church and charity unless the pontiff stops preaching against the excesses and cruelty of unleashed capitalism.

According to Langone, such criticism from the Holy See could ultimately hurt the sensitive feelings of the rich so badly that they become "incapable of feeling compassion for the poor." He also said rich donors are already losing their enthusiasm for the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan — a very specific threat that he mentioned directly to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. While his ultimatum seems senseless — would a person of true faith stiff the church and the poor? — it may well be sincere. And Langone spends freely to promote his political and economic views, in the company of the Koch brothers and other Republican plutocrats....

As a leader of the New York Stock Exchange, he was largely responsible for the scandalous overpayment of his friend Richard Grasso, the exchange president who received nearly $190 million in deferred compensation when he stepped down. Although New York's highest court eventually upheld Grasso's pay package, it was a perfect example of the unaccountable, self-serving greed of Wall Street's elite.

Anything but repentant following the revelation and repudiation of the Grasso deal by NYSE executives, Langone told Forbes magazine in 2004: "They got the wrong f---ing guy. I'm nuts, I'm rich, and, boy, do I love a fight. I'm going to make them s--- in their pants. When I get through with these f---ing captains of industry, they're going to wish they were in a Cuisinart — at high speed."

http://www.noozhawk.com/article/joe_conason_rich_catholics_threaten_pope_francis_20140102

January 3, 2014

Pope Francis drew 6.6 million to Vatican in 2013, three times more than Benedict

More than 6.6 million people attended events with Pope Francis at the Vatican from his election in March to the end of 2013, figures released on Thursday showed, compared to 2.3 million for former Pope Benedict in all of 2012.

Francis, who last month was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine, has drawn people to the Vatican because of his outgoing, simple and friendly style. Benedict was more reserved and far less spontaneous.

Francis has also proven to be popular because of his statements urging the Church to be closer to the poor and to be more merciful and less condemning.

It seems it is just not just US liberals who are noticing that this Pope is different.

As a former catholic who left the church because the church stopped following the Bible....I say THANK YOU POPE FRANCIS for actually reading the bible and bringing up the teachings every day.

I hope that he will soon visit America, and make a special trip to Wall Street and draw the attention to this greatest threat to humanity in the world.
Let us pray....

January 3, 2014

Pope Francis is warned there may be consequences

I laughed the other day when I saw that billionaire Ken Langone, stalwart defender of the oppressed and downtrodden rich, had complained to Catholic officials about Pope Francis' commentary about the excesses of modern capitalism. He even went so far as to warn Cardinal Timothy Dolan that certain unnamed wealthy might stop contributing to the church if such commentary continued. In other words ... the pope has been put on notice: Keep talking like this, and consequences will ensue.

The inspiration for Langone's complaint was clearly the recent "Evangelii Gaudium" issued by Francis, in which the new pope condemned an economic system in which "everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless." Francis also noted the repeated failure of "trickle-down theories, which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world."

"This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system," Francis wrote.

"While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few," Francis observed, using words that perhaps struck too close to home for Langone. "This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules."

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jay-bookman/2014/jan/03/pope-francis-warned-there-may-be-consequences/

January 2, 2014

Pope Francis: "Huge Salaries and Bonuses were Symptoms of an Economy Based on Greed and Inequality"

"Everyone must be committed to building a society that is truly just and caring,"




I just can't help loving this new pope



Pope Francis made an impassioned New Year's peace address on Wednesday, saying the heart of humanity seemed to have gone astray and too many people were still indifferent to war, violence and injustice. The pontiff, who took his papal name from St Francis of Assisi, the saint most associated with peace, urged the world to listen to the "cry for peace" from suffering peoples.

"What on earth is happening in the hearts of men? What on earth is happening in the heart of humanity?" he said to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square on the day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates its World Day of Peace. "It's time to stop!" he said, departing from his prepared text.

"Everyone must be committed to building a society that is truly just and caring," he told the crowd on Wednesday, acknowledging the many peace banners and blue balloons held aloft. In a message for the World Day of Peace sent to world leaders last month, Francis said that huge salaries and bonuses were symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/01/us-pope-idUSBREA0008420140101


I think this poster sums up the situation best:

BarackTheVote (617 posts)
82. The Pope took away the legitimacy of every Catholic Tea Bagger


Santorum, O'Reiley, numerous other RW shills proclaiming their Catholicism up down and sideways have been effectively stymied. The Pope is giving a really good example of what a Christian should be, and it ain't them. People in the pulpits will take notice. My grandma, a life-long Republican, who had been watching Fox News since the beginning, turned the channel off completely after Bill O made a disparaging comment about Pope Benedict. She went on to vote for President Obama. This Pope-bashing Fox has been doing, this "with all due respect, HOLINESS" song and dance--it won't play well. It will turn off A LOT of Catholics. Francis has hurt the religious right in this country badly, and I think he'll continue to do so.