Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

*Why I'm More Afraid of "Terrorism" Than Actual Terrorism
Care2.com | Kevin Mathews | 06/24/13

"Terrorism!" Ever since 9/11, it's a word that has come to instill fear in American people, myself included. However, as I watch our civil liberties disappear in the name of "terrorism," I've become significantly more afraid of the word being used for political gain than actual terrorist attacks.

I'm all for keeping American citizens safe, I just question whether so-called "National Security" is actually attempting to do that. Last year, 17 Americans died in terrorist attacks (mainly abroad), whereas 30,000 Americans died from gun violence. If the politicians are so concerned with safety, why are they unwilling to pass even the slightest gun control measures?

It goes deeper than guns, though: 45,000 people die of a lack of affordable health care annually, yet we still debate that issue endlessly. Those are exponentially more lives that could more easily be saved. Statistics also show that you are 8 times more likely to be killed by the police than terrorists, yet the government does little to tackle the growing problem of police brutality. You are six times more likely to die from hot weather than terrorists, yet the government is still minimally addressing global warming. You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than a terrorist incident, yet the National Cancer Institute operates on a budget of about $5 billion annually… an amount that pales in comparison to the $636 billion spent on the "war on terror" in Afghanistan.

Just two days after the Boston marathon bombing, an explosion in West, Texas killed five times as many people. The accident was the result of gross workplace negligence. The fertilizer plant in question not only had over 1,000 times the legal limit of explosives on site, but also failed to implement sprinklers or fire safety precautions. Moreover, the government hadn't performed inspections on the plant for six years; during its last inspection, it slapped it with a laughable $2,300 fine for not having proper safety procedures in place. ... Read more

Stocks gone wild: Why are investors so panicked?
CNBC | John W. Schoen | 06/24/13

Stock markets have been in turmoil since Fed chairman Ben Bernanke last week suggested that if the economy continues to perk up the central bank will remove a least some of the low interest rate punch bowls that banks and businesses have been drinking from for years. And while part of Monday's stock drop could be blamed on worries about China's economy, the world's second largest, it came against a backdrop of fears about what the Fed may do later this year. ... Read more

Nuclear waste clean-up delayed and billions over budget
CBS | Carter Evans | 06/19/13

The new Secretary of Energy has been on the job only four weeks, but he made a beeline Wednesday to see his biggest headache for himself. Ernest Moniz went to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state.

Hanford made the plutonium for American nuclear weapons from the Manhattan Project in World War II until 1987. Now, highly radioactive waste is leaking, and a project to clean it up has stalled.

The clean-up at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation costs U.S. taxpayers $2 billion every year. This winter, engineers discovered six new leaks of radioactive material from underground tanks.   "There's something on the order of 1,000 gallons a year that are leaking now from these six tanks," says Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

The government's clean-up plan involves pumping 56 million gallons of waste out of 177 tanks, mixing it with liquid glass and sealing it in canisters. ... Read more

Hanford Cleanup Story
ABC & AP | author | 06/24/13
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Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, June 26 [10:52]

*Chris Hayes | How the Supreme Court just kicked off the 2014 election (06/25/13) [3:48]

*Hanford Nuclear Reservation (06/19/13) [3:06]

CNN | Piers Morgan talks with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak about the NSA leak (06/21/13) [1:47]

So When will Dick Cheney be charged with Espionage? His Crime was the Same as Snowden's
Informed Comment | Juan Cole | 06/22/13