"ScienceDaily"-Farm Animal Disease to Increase With Climate Change, Scientists Say

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110629102150.htm

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — Researchers looked at changes in the behaviour of bluetongue -- a viral disease of cattle and sheep -- from the 1960s to the present day, as well as what could happen to the transmission of the virus 40 years into the future. They found, for the first time, that an outbreak of a disease could be explained by changes to the climate.

In Europe, more than 80,000 outbreaks of bluetongue were reported to the World Animal Health Organisation between 1998 and 2010, and millions of animals died as a result of the disease. Bluetongue was previously restricted to Africa and Asia, but its emergence in Europe is thought to be linked to increased temperatures, which allows the insects that carry the virus to spread to new regions and transmit the virus more effectively.

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"Michelle Chen"- The World's 5 Worst Places For Women -- And How U.S. Policy Helped Make Them That Way

By Michelle Chen, AlterNet
Posted on June 30, 2011, Printed on July 1, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151473/the_world%27s_5_worst_places_for_women_--_and_how_u.s._policy_helped_make_them_that_way

When checking the nuclear ambitions of dictators or building “democracy” in Baghdad, politicians tend to justify foreign policy by touting America as an international “beacon” of freedom and equality. A new report on the world's five most dangerous countries for women is a predictable listing of places not yet reached by the light of America's democratic promise. Beneath the surface, though, many of the misfortunes that plague women in places like Afghanistan can be traced back to a cruel political consensus in Washington.

According to a report by Thomson Reuters Foundation,  the most dangerous countries for women are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia. The ranking, based on a poll of gender experts (with a statistically based methodology), measures major threats to the welfare of women and girls: “sexual violence; non-sexual violence; cultural or religious factors; discrimination and lack of access to resources; and trafficking.” Some of the more dismal points:

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"Michael Parenti"- Making the World Safe for Hypocrisy

Global Research, June 30, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25449

Why has the United States government supported counterinsurgency in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and many other places around the world, at such a loss of human life to the populations of those nations? Why did it invade tiny Grenada and then Panama? Why did it support mercenary wars against progressive governments in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, East Timor, Western Sahara, South Yemen, and elsewhere?

Is it because our leaders want to save democracy? Are they concerned about the well-being of these defenseless peoples? Is our national security threatened? I shall try to show that the arguments given to justify U.S. policies are false ones.

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"Thomas Naylor"- What are You Going to Do About the Empire?

http://counterpunch.org/naylor06302011.html

Then what are you going to do about the Empire?  More specifically, how will you deal with the following:

Governance

1. The complete loss of moral authority of a government owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Israeli Lobby.
2. An empire which is economically, militarily, politically, morally, socially, and environmentally unsustainable because it is too big.
3. A nation governed by a single political party disguised as a two-party system.
4. Congressional gridlock – an ungovernable nation which is, therefore, unfixable.
5. The fantasy of campaign finance reform as a panacea for solving most of our problems.
6. A populace which still believes that only the U.S. government can solve all of our problems all of the time, failing to realize that the U.S. government is the problem.

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"Robert Parry" -The New York Times' Favor and Fear

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-New-York-Times-Favor-by-Robert-Parry-110630-313.html

June 30, 2011 From Consortium News The New York Times, like most U.S. newspapers, prides itself on its "objectivity." The Times even boasts about printing news "without fear or favor." But the reality is quite different, with the Times agreeing -- especially last decade -- to withhold newsworthy information that the Bush-43 administration considered too sensitive. A new example of this pattern was buried in a Times article on Wednesday about a subpoena issued to Times reporter James Risen regarding his receipt of a leak about an apparently botched U.S. covert operation to sabotage Iran's nuclear research, a disclosure that Risen published in his 2006 book, State of War.

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"Jonathan Benson"-NPR violates FCC rules, promotes interests of its sponsorship donor Monsanto

http://www.naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews) Many NaturalNews readers may be shocked to learn that, for years, biotechnology giant Monsanto sponsored the popular show Marketplace that airs on National Public Radio (NPR). According to a recent report by the Bohemian, the show had received funding from Monsanto for several years, and the views presented on the show have (surprise!) mirrored those of the biotech behemoth, despite the fact that US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules prohibit sponsors from being directly promoted on the network.

The report explains that a recent episode of Marketplace featured the one-sided views of Pedro Sanchez from Columbia University, which just so happens to be the exact same views held by Monsanto. Genetically-modified (GM) crops, increased pesticide and fertilizer use, and expansion of large agribusiness techniques were all presented as the scientific solution to the world's hunger crisis, even though many other recent reports and studies show that this strategy is ultimately a failure (http://www.naturalnews.com/032775_o...).

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"Andrew Bacevich"- Is America Coming to Its Senses?

http://counterpunch.org/bacevich06282011.html

At periodic intervals, the American body politic has shown a marked susceptibility to messianic fevers. Whenever an especially acute attack occurs, a sort of delirium ensues, manifesting itself in delusions of grandeur and demented behavior.

By the time the condition passes and a semblance of health is restored, recollection of what occurred during the illness tends to be hazy. What happened? How'd we get here? Most Americans prefer not to know. No sense dwelling on what's behind us. Feeling much better now! Thanks!

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"Harvey Wasserman"- We've Almost Lost Nebraska – Fukushima Spews, Los Alamos Burns, Vermont Rages

http://counterpunch.org/wasserman06292011.html

Humankind is now threatened by the simultaneous implosion, explosion, incineration, courtroom contempt and drowning of its most lethal industry.

We know only two things for certain: worse is yet to come, and those in charge are lying about it---at least to the extent of what they actually know, which is nowhere near enough.

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"John Nichols"- Supreme Court Removes Another Barrier to Corporate Ownership of Elections

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Supreme-Court-Removes-Anot-by-John-Nichols-110629-274.html

June 29, 2011 From The Nation The US Supreme Court's conservative majority continued its project of bartering off American democracy to the highest bidder with a decision Monday that will make it dramatically harder to counter free-spending attack campaigns funded by billionaire donors and corporate spin machines. With a 5-4 vote, the Court has struck down a matching-funds mechanism in Arizona's Clean Elections Law that allowed candidates who accepted public funding to match the spending of privately funded candidates and independent groups that might attack them. Under the Arizona law -- which has long been considered a national model for using public funds to pay for campaigns -- candidates who accept public funding are limited in what they can spend.

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Paul Craig Roberts: Idiocy Reigns Supreme

Global Research, June 30, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25442

Americans are a doomed people for many reasons.  One reason is that they are disunited and at one another’s throats and, thus, cannot stand up the tyranny issuing from Washington.  

For example, the governments of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, states that share borders, have been fighting for more than two decades over the water in Georgia’s Lake Lanier, located a few miles northeast of Atlanta. In 2009 a federal district judge ruled that it is illegal for water to be drawn from the lake to meet the needs of Atlanta’s three million residents. The judge stipulated that the three states had until July 2011 to reach an agreement, failing which Atlanta would be restricted to the amount of water it received in the mid-1970s, when its population was less than one-third of its present size.

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