Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

There Are Good Alternatives to US Capitalism, But No Way to Get There
AlterNet | Jerry Mander | 07/24/13

U.S.-style laissez-faire capitalists (also crony capitalism), who now dominate the politics and economy in this country, continue to argue that all solutions must be determined by the "free market." But the free market does not focus on the needs of democracy, or the implications of rampant inequity, or the catastrophic problems of the natural world. The free market is interested in one thing: expanding wealth. That is its only agenda. Nothing else matters, at least until the system collapses.

So, the change will be up to us. And yet the puzzle persists: How do we get from here to there? How do we bridge the chasm from corporate, oligarchic, global dominance of governments, economies, media, and, not least important, military, all driven by the ideologies of consumerism, growth, and "progress," toward some new set of values and structures?

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Siberia Heat: Did The Arctic Region Break A Heat Record?
HP | author | 07/26/13

According to English-language outlet The Siberian Times, temperatures of 32 degrees Celsius, or 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, were recorded in the Siberian city of Norilsk on July 21. The average temperature in July in the region is 13.6 C, or 56.48 F.

Weather historian Christopher C. Burt explains on the website Weather Underground that the entire Russian Arctic region has seen warm weather as of late. Burt adds that Norilsk has seen its warmest nights in recent days -- some 20.2 C, or 68.26 F -- and that wildfires have erupted in the region. ... Read more

North Pole Melting Leaves Small Lake At The Top Of The World
HP | author | 07/25/13

The time-lapse video below comes from a webcam set up by the North Pole Environmental Observatory that has monitored the state of Arctic sea ice since the spring of 2000. Surprisingly, the pole has been melting since at least 2002, according to photos on the project's website.

July is usually the warmest month in the area, but temperatures were 1 to 3 degrees Celsius above average this year. The shallow lake you see at the pole is made of meltwater sitting on top of a layer of ice, according to the observatory.

Arctic sea ice has become a noticeable victim of climate change. The area of ice cover expands and contracts every year with the change in seasons, but last summer's minimum extent was the lowest on record and this year's maximum winter coverage was the sixth-lowest since satellite observations began in the 1970s. ... Read more

6 Ways Rabid Republicans Are Declaring War On America
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 07/26/13

The GOP, the party led by angry white men and libertarian corporatists, is ratcheting up its political warfare against everyday Americans with unmatched brazenness.

In Congress, Republicans in both chambers have launched sweeping attacks on long-held centrist priorities and have renewed threats to block Obamacare. These attacks are seen in House bills slashing spending in almost every federal program except for the military and domestic policing for the federal fiscal year starting October 1. Anti-poverty, education, human services, environmental protection, energy, labor, Wall St. oversight--all face cuts averaging 20 percent, although some areas face cuts by a third or more. ... Read more

2014 budget process: Worst is yet to come
Politico | author | date

The 2014 budget and appropriations process has been described as a "slow-motion train wreck," but this is far too generous. For a collision to occur, locomotives must actually meet.

Having failed to avert automatic, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration for 2013, Congress forced federal departments and agencies, states and grantees to do more with less, resulting in lost jobs, furloughs, diminished access to vital programs like Head Start and Meals on Wheels, and a failure to make investments we know are critical to the future. ... Read more

Glenn Greenwald: NSA Analysts Have Access To 'Powerful and Invasive' Search Tools
HP | Sabrina Siddiqui | 07/28/13

Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who broke the news of the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs, said Sunday he will soon disclose new information about the access low-level contractors have to Americans' phone and email communications.

"The NSA has trillions of telephone calls and emails in their databases that they've collected over the last several years," Greenwald said on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "What these programs are, are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket clerks or shipping and receiving clerks use, where all an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP address, and it does two things ... It searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you've entered, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future." ... Read more