Damian Carrington - Map Reveals Stark Divide in Who Caused Climate Change and Who's Being Hit

Published on Friday, October 28, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/28-0

by Damian Carrington

When the world's nations convene in Durban in November in the latest attempt to inch towards a global deal to tackle climate change, one fundamental principle will, as ever, underlie the negotiations.

Is is the contention that while rich, industrialised nations caused climate change through past carbon emissions, it is the developing world that is bearing the brunt. It follows from that, developing nations say, that the rich nations must therefore pay to enable the developing nations to both develop cleanly and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

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Jeff Madrick - The Occupy Wall Street Victory: Filling a Hole in Democracy

Thursday 27 October 2011

by: Jeff Madrick, TripleCrisis | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-victory-filling-hole-democracy/1319730391

The general scorn for the Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS), now spread to hundreds of cities in the U.S., reveals a lot about Wall Street, the press, and the state of economics. I was invited to speak there early in their campaign and found the people eager to learn, courteous and hell-bent for justice, not revenge.

The scorn has subsided somewhat as the movement grows and has withstood the threat of police and Michael Bloomberg’s demand that they should clear out of the park they occupy because the owners of the park wanted to clean it. It is called Zuccotti Park because it is privately owned by the Zuccotti family with the proviso that it is made available to the public at all times. Now it has become available to all America, and arguably all the world.

The unions joined in and this week, OWS has yet another clear victory. President Obama will announce some kind of student loan relief plan [4]. He is also proposing a more aggressive mortgage refinancing [5] scheme for under-water homeowners. This too may be partly the result of OWS.

The attempt to minimize OWS, or at the least deride them, goes on, however. The press was initially very skeptical and is now more respectful. Still, they wonder what these (mostly) young people really want. The Right calls them a mob [6] so as to distinguish them, I suppose, from gun-toting Tea Partiers. The most reprehensible bit of demagoguery I saw was an ad on a major TV network posted by an international issues lobbying organization with shots of anti-Semitic signs. There are in fact almost no such signs at Zuccotti.

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Ida Hartmann - Corporate Crimes In the Cereal Aisle: How Companies Are Fooling You Into Thinking Their Products Are Healthy

By Ida Hartmann, AlterNet

Posted on October 26, 2011, Printed on October 28, 2011

http://www.alternet.org/story/152878/corporate_crimes_in_the_cereal_aisle%3A_how_companies_are_fooling_you_into_thinking_their_products_are_healthy

A trip to the supermarket is an adventure into a tempting and treacherous jungle. The insatiable hunger for a ready-made breakfast that nourishes our bodies and our social conscience has made our morning bowls of cereal a hiding place for corporate charlatans. A new report, Cereal Crimes, by the Cornucopia Institute discloses the toxic truth about “natural” products and unmasks corporate faces like Kellogg’s hiding behind supposedly “family-run” businesses such as Kashi.

When these breakfast barons forage for profit, we eaters are the prey. But what are the laws of this jungle? And how do we avoid being ripped off by products that are hazardous for our health and our environment? Let’s have a look at some of these corporations’ sneaky strategies.

First, there is intentional confusion. With so many different kinds of cereal lining the shelves, figuring out which is the best requires detective work. Many make claims about health, boasting “no trans fats,” “gluten-free,” and “a boost of omega three.” Others play to environmental concerns declaring “earthy harmony,” “nature in balance,” and “sustainable soils.” With the legion of labels, separating wheat from chaff seems impossible, but the report offers one rule of thumb: Don’t confuse organic with “natural.”

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Nomi Prins - 10 Reasons Bank of America Is the Most Hated Bank in America

By Nomi Prins, TruthOut.org

Posted on October 27, 2011, Printed on October 28, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/152887/10_reasons_bank_of_america_is_the_most_hated_bank_in_america

There is no shortage of hatred for the biggest banks. Indeed, the Occupy Wall Street movement is leading a national revolution against these byzantine, powerful Goliaths for the economic devastation they have caused. This makes it difficult to choose the worst of the bunch. That said, a strong case can be made that Bank of America deserves the title of the nation's most despised bank.

Here are ten reasons to take your money out of Bank of America - and park it at a credit union or community bank near you. (And yes, that may be near impossible if you have a mortgage with them, as refinancing away from any big bank nowadays is a nightmare.)

1. B of A rejects the right of customers to protest. When two Occupy Santa Cruz protesters in California marched into a local Bank of America to close their accounts, the response was, "You cannot be a protester and a customer at the same time," followed by a threat to call the police if the women didn't leave. (The attending officer  later reiterated the bank manager's message.) Meanwhile, the fact that Bank of America charges a fee for closing an account prompted Rep. Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), who resides in Bank of America's headquarters state, to introduce a bill to protect customers from such fees.

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Terradaily.com - Nuclear pollution of sea from Fukushima was world's biggest

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Oct 27, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Nuclear_pollution_of_sea_from_Fukushima_was_worlds_biggest_999.html

France's nuclear monitor said on Thursday that the amount of caesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen.

But, confirming previous assessments, it said caesium levels had been hugely diluted by ocean currents and, except for near-shore species, posed no discernible threat.

From March 21 to mid-July, 27.1 peta becquerels of caesium 137 entered the sea, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said.

One peta becquerel is a million billion bequerels, or 10 to the power of 15

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Matt Taibbi - Rick Perry, The Best Little Whore In Texas

The Texas governor has one driving passion: selling off government to the highest bidder - by: Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/rick-perry-the-best-little-whore-in-texas-20111026

Early morning in a nearly filled corporate ballroom at the Cobb Energy Centre, a second-tier event stadium on the outskirts of Atlanta. It's late September, and a local conservative think tank is hosting a get-together with Rick Perry, whose front-runner comet at the time is still just slightly visible in the bottom of the sky. I've put away five cups of coffee trying to stay awake through a series of monotonous speeches about Georgia highway and port reform, waiting for my chance to lay eyes on the Next Big Thing in person.

By the time Perry shows up, I'm jazzed and ready for history. You always want to remember the first time you see the possible next president in person. But as every young person knows, the first time is not always a pleasant experience. Perry lumbers onstage looking exceedingly well-groomed, but also ashen and exhausted, like a funeral director with a hangover.

In a voice so subdued and halting that I think he must be sick, he launches into his speech, which consists of the following elements: a halfhearted football joke about Texas A&M that would have embarrassed a true fan like George W. Bush, worn bromides about liberals creating a nanny state, a few lines about jobs in Texas, and a promise to repeal "as much of Obamacare as I can" on his first day in the White House.

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Ralph Nader - Occupy Wall Street on the Move

Published on Thursday, October 27, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/27-7

by Ralph Nader

The question confronting the Occupy Wall Street encampments and their offshoots in scores of cities and towns around the country is quo vadis? Where is it going?

This decentralized, leaderless civic initiative has attracted the persistent attention of the mass media in the past five weeks. Television cameras from all over the world are parked down at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Wall Street.

But the mass media is a hungry beast. It needs to be fed regularly. Apart from the daily pressures of making sure the encampments are clean, that food and shelter are available, that relations with the police are quiet, that provocateurs are identified; the campers must anticipate possible police crackdowns, such as that which has just occurred in Oakland, and find ways to rebound.

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Pharmalot.com - Rats On Antidepressants Showed Signs Of Autism

PHARMALOT.COM  // October 27th, 2011 

http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/10/rats-on-antidepressants-showed-signs-of-autism/

Yet another study suggests the possibility of a link between antidepressant use and autism. This time, rats given Celexa just before and after birth showed what researchers describe as substantial brain abnormalities and behaviors. Celexa is an SSRI, or serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor, a popular class of antidepressants that includes Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Lexapro.

The rodents became “excessively fearful when faced with new situations and failed to play normally with other rats, which is the sort of behavior that is reminiscent of what is known as novelty avoidance and social impairments often seen in autism,” according to the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study. The abnormalities, however, were more pronounced in male than female rats, and the researchers note autism affects boys up to four times more often than girls.

This is the second time in recent months that a study has suggested a link between antidepressants and autism. Last July, a study reviewed medical records of more than 1,800 children, including 298 who have autism, and found the risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder was about twice as high among women who took SSRIs in the year before giving birth. And there was a three-fold risk associated with SSRI treatment during the first trimester. (see here).

In the most recent study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, male and female rat pups were given the drug before and after birth, and their brains and behavior were examined as they grew (you can read it here).

“The male rat pups abnormally froze when they heard unfamiliar tones and resisted exploring their environment” when encountering unfamiliar objects or scents, according to an NIH statement. What’s more, the behaviors continued into adulthood and the little male rats also shunned normal “juvenile play behavior,” which the researchers noted resembled behavior seen in autistic children.

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Linh Dinh - Common Dreaming

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Common-Dreaming-by-Linh-Dinh-111026-306.html

October 26, 2011

By Linh Dinh

A protest sign in NYC, "FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I FEEL AT HOME." Home is Liberty Park, a 33,000-square-foot plot where hundreds have camped nightly for over a month. During the day, they march together, their bodies merged into a common thrust, while at night, theylie together. Some are barely covered, while others are entirely wrapped, like collateral damage of yet another stupid war. Be careful or you'll step on an arm, leg or even head.

In a country of walls and locked doors, where even infants have private domains, there are no barriers here. With everyone exposed, and no TV to distract, conversation comes more readily. Here, no canned music slops over each dialogue or interior monologue. Here, all crazy,percussive rhythms and melodies must be generated by living muscles and breaths. Here, all faces are real all the time, with none beamed from uptown or across the land mass.

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You Tube Video - New Song -- No Banker Left Behind by Ry Cooder

Listen to the song right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxaY_mxYflg

The opening track to Ry Cooder's 2011 album, "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down," available at http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/pull-up-some-dust-and-sit-down

Inspired by a news headline about the Wall Street bailout, Ry Cooder began work on his album "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down" with this song, "No Banker Left Behind," an ode to the corrupt few spared from the financial crisis while most were left to fend for themselves. Uncut calls the album "one of his best albums ever ... an impassioned portrait of 21st century America and its injustices" in which Cooder is "remade as a modern-day Woody Guthrie, fearless and funny, for like Guthrie he nails his targets with droll humour while empathising with society's underdogs." The BBC calls it "essential listening."