How's All That "Hearts & Minds" Stuff Working, Fellas?

Via "The Beeb."

At least eight members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in a Nato air strike, the Afghan defence ministry says.

The incident occurred in north-western Badghis province on Friday, as Afghan and US forces searched for two missing American soldiers.

The patrol came under rebel attack and reportedly called for air support.
Nato has acknowledged the Afghan deaths and says it is investigating whether they were caused by the air strike.

The Afghan defence ministry said a base housing coalition troops and Afghan security forces was mistakenly hit.

'Important mission'

Ministry spokesman Gen Zaher Azimy said on Saturday: "Yesterday, in a Nato air strike, seven Afghan (soldiers and police) were martyred in Badghis province."
Later a spokesperson for the Nato force, US Navy Capt Jane Campbell, said: "We are saddened by the loss of life and injuries sustained during this very important mission."

Those killed include four Afghan soldiers and three policemen, and another person believed to have been an interpreter.

Five Americans and 18 Afghans were wounded in the incident.

It comes days after an Afghan policeman killed five British troops in Helmand province, who the soldiers had been training.

Aqua-calypse/Aqua-Collapse

(Below: A factory fishing vessel scours a remote Antarctic bay.)

Terri Gross' producers find her the most interesting, and occasionally terrifying guests. Earlier this week, she interviewed author/scientist Daniel Pauly, who had some really dreadful news about the consequences of over-fishing, and not mererly the fisheries we know are damaged. My pal Suzanne in Maine posted the link on her FB page (DOTOF™). An examplary quote?:

...Alaska pollock, as you may know, it's the biggest single species fisheries in the world, except for the Peruvian anchovy, of which more later. And Alaska pollock, the stock is declining now, rapidly. And there will be a problem with the large firms that produce this fish, to get white fish of - in sufficient amount or sufficient quality to maintain this consumption. Also, you must realize that only a few markets have this fish.

The U.S. imports 80 percent of the fish that is consumed in the U.S., so the European Union. In the European Union, the fish all - is all imported from elsewhere. An elsewhere is mainly Africa and the South Pacific and Antarctica. So, our local waters in Europe and in North America are not supplying the markets anymore.

This is a really depressing story, because it suggests that we humans have probably destroyed the existing ecosystem in the largest environmental organ on the planet. Add to that the fact that there is not a single fish in any stream, pond, or lake which does NOT contain toxic levels of heavy metals (mercury, etc), and you cannot dismiss the claim that it is due to our own hubris and ego that

WE ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKED!

"Finding My Religion"

(Click on Image to Enlarge--DOTOF™ to Susan Barber Gourd-Mill, on FB)


Taxonomically correct, and amusing, too.

Me? "Gottlos," naturally. I mean, at heart, I am simply "god-less." Unaffected by things "godly." Immune to "god's" love. Unimpressed by "miracles." Unbidden by unheard voices. Un-god-blighted -- except by the 'faith' of others in their imaginary beings...

I find the whole matter simply irrelevant. It is, as the goddies themselves aver so proudly, completely "immaterial." Is there such a word as "Untheist"?

Jesus! "Catholic pastors directed to distribute anti-health reform materials at Mass"

Hello, Bishop? You like that nice little tax break you get on ALLLLLL that church property? Wanna keep it? How many souls is it worth to ya, padre? Via The Colorado Independent:

This past weekend the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops instructed pastors at parishes across the country to distribute material urging Catholics to oppose the health reform bills making their way through Congress for allowing public funding of abortions. Priests were to insert the Bishops Conference pdf leaflets and letters into parish news bulletins, distribute them at church doors or place them in pews. They were also directed to read a statement at mass to reinforce the message.

The Conference of bishops reportedly sent the orders out last Thursday, the same day Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented the mammoth 2,000-page House reform bill to lawmakers and the public.

The material explains that the Catholic Church supports reform that will “protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of conception until natural death.”

The insert contains phone numbers and web addresses at which constituents can contact their Representatives.

CNSNews reports that the Catholic Church has a “major stake” in the legislation:

A little over 100 million Americans are treated through Catholic hospitals and health centers. There are 624 Catholic hospitals in America. Also, 11 of the nation’s 40 largest health care systems are Catholic, such as Ascension Health, Catholic Health Initatives and Trinity Health.

As observers have pointed out, however, the bishops’ position seems to be oddly anti-government. The Church has never opposed any private health insurance policies that provide abortion benefits. It has never urged a boycott of particular insurance companies for offering abortion benefits. Aetna, Blue Cross, Cigna, United Healthcare– all the major private insurers provide for abortion services in their policies. All policy holders are paying into the provider network and subsidizing all its services.

The strong stance by the Bishops led one CNSNews commenter to ask why priests are being directed to mouth Republican Party talking points.

Republican politics comes to the pulpit of The Mass. How sweet. The Mass becomes politicized.

The leaflet:

Is repellant, but don't take my word for it. Follow the link.

How Goldman-Sachs Fraudsters Cheated Investors While Homeowners Go Broke...

Oh NOZE! Real journalists have started to investigate the banksters and their filthy dealings.

Blogger/Buddy Edger, at Antemedius, assembled and posted the follow rumination on the doings of the Gods of Finance. In this first video Greg Gordon of McClatchy News reports that Goldman knew that mortgages were not being properly reviewed...

Yet the motherfuckers bundled these mortgages, sold the bundles, and then bet against their solvency (there is NO SUCH THING aas "business ethics.").

(Below) Paul Jay interviews Gordon who explains that a five month McClatchy investigation has found that Goldman's failure to disclose those secret bets may have violated securities laws - that in 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers that it also was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.

In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers that it also was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting. Now, a five- month McClatchy investigation has found that Goldman's failure to disclose those secret bets may have violated securities laws.

I personally would not object if these greedy, money-grubbing fascist motherfuckers were hanged in gibbets from the street-lamps on Wall Street, til their bones fell into the gutter...

Obama Salts Ag Dept With Monsanto, ConAgra Frankenfoods Flunkies

“We’ll tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness. It’s the Department of Agriculture. We’re going to put the people’s interests ahead of the special interests.” --Candidate Obama.

Did you really think so? After Tom Vilsack was named AgSec? Really?

Bwaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Over the last month, Obama nominated two more “BIG AGRA” power brokers–Roger Beachy and Islam Siddiqui–to key governement positions, putting agribusiness executives in charge of our country’s agricultural research and trade policy.

(Wanna bet this a tacit apology made "politically necessary" by the "Dal-Obama's" need to restore perfect balance, bipartisanship, and harmony, after the accidental affront and embarrassment caused to the BIG AGRA interests by rebuke implicit in Michele Obama's 'natural garden' planted on WhiteHouse grounds...This guy is so fucking gutless...)

Siddiqui was a paid flack, and front-man for the crop-poison lobby, the American Crop Protection Association, and a shill for GM/frankenfoods. And Beachy's the former head of the Donald Danforth Plant Research Center in St. Louis, MO, and a long-time flunky for Monsanto, Named to head NIFA, (National Institute of Food and Agriculture), Beachy controls where research funds are spent in the U.S. This is not good news for proponents of sustainable and organic agriculture.

For his part, Siddiqui, who last month was nominated to be the Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the US Trade Representative, has been a registered pesticide lobbyist and most recently the Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America. In a previous stint at the USDA, Siddiqui was responsible for trying to set the national organic standards to allow irradiation, sewage sludge and GMOs to be considered “organic.” Fortunately, over 230,000 outraged Americans rose up and stopped this.

Most recently, Siddiqui’s CropLife MidAmerica sent First Lady Michelle Obama a letter saying that her “organic” garden made the pesticide lobby group “shudder”. Who would have thought months later that President Obama would be trying to give a lobbyist like Siddiqui a job?

While Beachy is already at work at the USDA, Siddiqui must be confirmed by the Senate. We have until Nov. 4th, (when the Senate Finance committee will vote) to make a difference.

Tell the president to DUMP Monsanto’s men!

I'm sure he'll listen, aren't you?

DOTOF™: Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground:

Grayson Tolls the Dead: 44 THOUSAND/Year

C&L collects Alan Grayson, reading from some of the stories of the neglected, who perished in consequence of NOT being able to acquire (affordable/available) health insurance, which have been left on his site, Names Of The Dead:

Every year, more than 44,000 Americans die simply because they have no health insurance. Add your story and watch Congressman Grayson read your stories on the House floor.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


I like the way this guy operates, turning the bullying tactics of the Pukes back on 'em. He does NOT gladly suffer fools, and his demeanor bespeaks the contempt with which he regards the "other side." I'd like to see him with a chainsaw...

RIP Gerald Bracey: Another Good Man Gone Down

Gerald Bracey, one of the foremost scholarly critics of the horrible hash made of USer education by the corpoRats and the edu-fascists, died last week, at age 69. Damn, damn, damn. I knew him. A good man, scholar, and advocate for democratic education. He's one of those whose voice will be sorely missed. From an obituary at schoolmatters blog, which was on USAToday, written by Greg Toppo:

(Bracey wrote) Setting the Record Straight: Responses to Misconceptions About Public Education in America, tackled 20 "myths" about U.S. public schools, giving advocates ammunition to rebut critics. For instance, one chapter begins, "What do I say when people say, 'Schools won't improve until they're taken over by private companies and run like businesses'?"

But it was likely Bracey's annual Rotten Apples in Education, an over-the-top mock awards newsletter, that made him the most fans and the most enemies.

It took no prisoners and pulled no punches. In 2006, after then-Education Secretary Margaret Spellings compared the No Child Left Behind education reform law to Ivory Soap, saying it was "99.9% pure — there's not much needed in the way of change," Bracey awarded Spellings "The 99 and 44/100ths Pure Crap Award."

While he held President George W. Bush and No Child Left Behind in especially low esteem, Bracey was bipartisan in his loathing, most recently calling out President Obama and his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, on what Bracey called "test abuse," quipping at one point, "These guys don't have a clue."

He took Obama to task earlier this year on the President's assertions that three-fourths of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma.

Not really, Bracey said. Look it up.

Last August, when the topic on the EDDRA listserv turned to Obama's proposed education reforms, an angry Bracey wrote, "How long will it take for people to realize that the education 'reform' proposed by Obama-Duncan is no different from the Weapons of Mass Destruction from Bush (I say this as a depressed person who canvassed for Obama, campaigned for him, donated for him, and voted for him — with my entire family — in Virginia before moving to the blue-secure state of Washington.)"

"He wasn't afraid, but sometimes I know that got him into terrible trouble," Iris said. "He just wanted the truth to come out."