Monday, January 28, 2013

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary...Mencken, H.L.

Word of the day: 
On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it — that disgusts me.
CS Lewis, A Grief Observed, 1961

"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good." -- Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi - (1869-1948)

"To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.": - -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: (1929-1968), US civil rights leader

"We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too." Maíread Maguire























duh


More at The Real News









Israeli Officials Confirm Blast at Iranian Nuclear Facility

 atmospheric anomalies (palpable empirical evidence) reported weeks  ago.  Suspicious0bservers....Iran 1.03.2013 


















Big Pharma more important than New Jersey
RE: Hurricane Sandy.....WTF!!  You Go Governor  



Common Anti-Gun Arguments

1) The 2nd Amendment is “outdated” and no longer relevant in today’s modern society.

2) We do not want to stop you from “defending yourself”, or interfere with the American tradition of hunting, but people do not need “military assault weapons” for either.

3) Your claimed freedom to own guns should not supersede my freedom to live without fear of guns. We exist in a society, and our society requires us to give up certain freedoms so that it can function.

gunz:  To respond briefly to each of the above fallacies:

1) The right to self defense from ANY threat, whether it be an individual, or a criminal government, does not “outdate”. It is a universal and eternal freedom. It is a foundational pillar of natural law. Even if the 2nd Amendment did not exist, I would still have the inborn right to arm and protect myself and those I love, and the best way to do that is to own firearms. The men who drafted the Constitution were far more intelligent than any pithy gun grabber today, yet, these socialist errand boys seem to believe that they have “surpassed” the wisdom of the Founders. The amount of ego required to fuel such an attitude boggles the mind…

Gun violence and violence in general will not end simply by banning firearms. The very idea that any society can remove all weapons from their sight is naïve to begin with. Criminals always find a way. Murder, rape, and mayhem will continue until you confront the root problem, which is the human mind, and the human heart. Only when these two things are balanced in all people will violence end. Disarming good men and women has never made a society “safer”. When the power of defense is removed from the people, someone, somewhere, will seek to abuse their weakness. The most armed entity of the time invariably becomes the subjugator, and usually this is the government. Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, etc, all contained disarmed populations. The guns were gone, and still millions upon millions died. Modern day Mexico is a perfect example of a disarmed population that is now living in terror because of criminal organizations (which, of course, still have guns). Disarmament does NOT end gun violence, it only changes the dynamic of who uses that violence, and it makes innocent victims easier to attack.

2) Because the legal argument over the “interpretation” of the 2nd Amendment is essentially over, and the Supreme Court has ruled that gun rights do indeed apply to individuals, and not just collective bodies like the National Guard, gun grabbers are now reverting to the argument that we ARE allowed to defend ourselves with firearms, but the kinds of firearms we are able to use can still be limited. The goal of this argument is to fool gun owners who only possess conventional firearms (hunting rifles) into believing that they will not be personally affected if they support a ban on military style weapons. These wishy-washy hunting enthusiasts are often referred to as “Elmer Fudds” because of their gullibility.

All gun confiscation programs start by chipping away at the outer barriers of gun ownership. Like termites slowly chewing away at the wooden skeleton of a home, anti-gun proponents start small and end by destroying the entire edifice. Anyone who believes Feinstein’s legislation will begin and end with AR-15’s and AK-47’s is living in fantasy land. That said, the 2nd Amendment was not established for hunting purposes. Nowhere in the writings of the Founding Fathers do they mention “hunting” as their primary concern. Instead, gun rights are protected in order to ensure that the citizenry remains dominant over any centralized government that turns to corruption. We are supposed to police our own political leaders, and without military style arms, this becomes increasingly difficult.





Mentally Ill in Prison

William Fisher


The Expendables
Three years ago, the twenty-something grandson of one of my colleagues was arrested for murder. A confirmed, long-standing, well-diagnosed victim of paranoid schizophrenia, he had been off his meds.
Now he was in full flight on a classic schizophrenic tear. He was angry. He was delusional. He was hearing voices that didn’t exist, and they were threatening to persecute him. He was Merlin, a legendary figure best known as the wizard in the Arthurian legend.
Though there were the usual character testimonials submitted to the Court at sentencing, and professional pleas to place him not in prison but in a psychiatric hospital treatment program, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Before his trial, he was incarcerated in a County jail, afterward in a larger state prison.
Even though his correct medication was recorded in the  documents that accompanied him to his lock-up sites, during the entire first year of his incarceration, the only medication he received were tranquilizers, not usually given to paranoid schizophrenics except for short periods to calm them down. Nobody looked. Nobody cared.
While some of the facts in this introduction have been edited to protect the inmate’s privacy, with that predicate it may not surprise you to learn that the treatment of this seriously sick inmate is not the exception; it is, with few exceptions, the rule.
More Americans receive mental health treatment in prisons and jails than in hospitals or treatment centers. In fact, the three largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the country are jails: Los Angeles County Jail, Rikers Island Jail in New York City and Cook County Jail in Illinois.
In a ground-breaking 2006 report, Human Rights Watch said new federal statistics revealed that the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons and jails had quadrupled since 2000. And, as is true  of inmates all across the U.S., the numbers of African American and Latino prisoners have grown out of all proportion to the size of their respective racial/ethnic groups.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), reported that more than half of all state inmates now report mental health problems. These included  symptoms of major depression, mania and psychotic disorders.
In 1998, the BJS reported there were an estimated 283,000 prison and jail inmates who suffered from mental health problems. That number is now estimated to be 1.25 million. The rate of reported mental health disorders in the state prison population is five times greater (56.2 percent) than in the general adult population (11 percent).
In its 2006 Report, the BJS estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in State prisons, 78,800 in Federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails.
In addition, research suggests, "people with mental illnesses are over-represented in probation and parole populations at estimated rates ranging from two to four times the general population."
The 2006 report compiled by the Bureau of Justice also reported that 73% of all women in state prisons, 75% of women in local jails, and 55% and 63%, respectively, among men, have  mental health problems. In addition, nearly a quarter of women in state prisons and jails have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder by a mental health professional.
So here you have an impaired prison population growing exponentially, composed largely of people who should be in hospital treatment programs and not prison in the first place, under the care of workers untrained to handle sick people whose illness can only get worse in prison, and who would much prefer not having to do so, but who can find no alternative to jail.
How did we get here? Why are so many of the mentally ill homeless, living under bridges or in makeshift shelters? Why haven’t they been admitted to hospital-based treatment programs before they get into petty trouble with the law that eventually escalates them into jail.
There is a sharp division of opinion among different segments of the US population regarding who’s to blame. Many fault the prisoners, others think the police and prison authorities simply want to accrue more power.
The fact is the fault is with neither and both. Prisoners with mental illnesses can’t simply will away their sickness. And some do try to exploit their illnesses to secure greater comforts for themselves. Prison staff has its job to do as well. It’s true that they are often needlessly cruel in getting their work done – like the prison guard who made a bitter joke out of denying sanitary napkins, or offering soiled ones, to mentally disturbed inmates. This is not acceptable behavior; guards need to do whatever is reasonable and legal to maintain order. What do they do?
In recent years, prison officials have increasingly turned to solitary confinement as a way to manage difficult or dangerous prisoners. Many of the prisoners subjected to isolation, which can extend for years, have serious mental illness, and the conditions of solitary confinement can exacerbate their symptoms or provoke recurrence.
“Yet, the Bureau of Justice freely admits that among those incarcerated with mental health problems, only one in three state prisoners, and one in six jail inmates, has received treatment since admission,” Sadhbh Walshe writes in The Guardian newspaper, adding:
“There is no mention in the report about what happens to the majority of mentally ill prisoners who go untreated, but the evidence suggests that they are not just ignored, but actually brutalized by a system that has failed them at every turn.”
According to Human Rights Watch, deficient mental health services in prisons and jails leave prisoners under-treated or not treated at all. Across the country, prisoners with mental health problems face a shortage of qualified staff, lack of facilities and prison rules that interfere with treatment.
“While the number of mentally ill inmates surges, prisons remain dangerous and damaging places for them,” says Jamie Fellner, director of Human Rights Watch’s U.S. Program and author of the 2006 report.
The report  says prison staff often punish mentally ill offenders for showing symptoms of their illness, such as being noisy, refusing orders, self- mutilating or attempting suicide. Mentally ill prisoners are thus more likely than others to end up housed in especially harsh conditions, including isolation, that can push them over the edge into acute psychosis.
Mentally ill inmates without their meds often spell trouble for prison staff. Typically, there are no doctors on the premises and no inventory of medicines the guards are authorized to access. The prisoner is yelling, screaming, fighting with other prisoners, generally making life difficult for prison staff. So they turn to what appears to be the weapon of choice: solitary confinement.
Jamie Fellner of HRW quotes a federal judge who called the practice of putting mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement the equivalent of putting an asthmatic in a room with no air.
Since then, lawsuits against corrections departments in at least 10 states have obtained court orders or settlements.
Steve Leifman says, “We have a criminal justice system which has a very clear purpose: You get arrested. We want justice. We try you, and justice hopefully prevails. It was never built to handle people that were very, very ill, at least with mental illness," says the Florida judge who has campaigned tirelessly to professionalize the care of mental illness in prison or move the entire operation to a far more appropriate setting.
Read some of the heart-breaking testimonies of solitary confinement victims here.  If the victims of this cruel treatment weren’t very sick when they entered solitary, no one would be surprised if they were dangerously mentally ill when they were released – sometimes after years of segregation and abuse.


Read some of the heart-breaking testimonies of solitary confinement victims here.  If the victims of this cruel treatment weren’t very sick when they entered solitary, no one would be surprised if they were dangerously mentally ill when they were released – sometimes after years of segregation and abuse.

 Israeli Officials Confirm Blast at Iranian Nuclear Facility
By Yoel Goldman
Report cites intelligence sources who say Iran hasn't evacuated area around Fordo plant; unclear if explosion was 'sabotage or accident'
U.S. Could Strike Iran to Block Nuclear Progress: Ehud Barak
By The Daily Beast
If sanctions fail to halt Tehran's nuclear weapons development, the Pentagon has plans for a 'surgical operation' to end the threat, the Israeli defense minister said.
Netanyahu Deploys 'Syrian' Iron-Dome
Israeli Minister Claims US Preparing 'Surgical' Strikes Against Iran
By Tyler Durden
Defense minister challenges idea that military operation against Iran would develop into a "full fledged war the size of the Iraqi war"; says surgical strikes will delay Tehran's nuclear drive "by a significant time frame."
Paranoia Run Wild
By Paul Balles
Israel continues to insist on action to pre-empt Iran's capacity to develop nuclear weapons.
Preventative War Has Become The Rule
Belgian MP Laurent Louis stands against war in Mali and exposes the international neo-colonial plot
Must Watch - Video
"Preventative war has become the rule. And today in then name of democracy and the fight against terrorism, our states grant themselves the right to violate the sovereignty of independent countries and to overthrow legitimate leaders"
The United States Promotes Israeli Genocide Against the Palestinians
By Francis A. Boyle
These Israeli "grave breaches" of the Fourth Geneva Convention mandate universal prosecution for the perpetrators and their commanders, whether military or civilian, including and especially Israel's political leaders.
Sheldon Adelson Invested in Fight Against Hagel
By Haaretz
Secretly-funded groups in the United States have been running advertisements against the appointment of Chuck Hagel to secretary of defense, with at least one of them describing him as "anti-Israel", "anti-gay" and "anti-women"
I killed people in Afghanistan. Was I right or wrong?
By Timothy Kudo,
When I joined the Marine Corps, I knew I would kill people. I was trained to do it in a number of ways, from pulling a trigger to ordering a bomb strike to beating someone to death with a rock.
Kiriakou and Stuxnet:
The Danger of the Still-escalating Obama Whistleblower War
By Glenn Greenwald
"the president's crackdown chills dissent, curtails a free press and betrays Obama's initial promise to 'usher in a new era of open government.'"
Talking to Reporters Is Not A Crime:
New Leak Investigation Threatens Press Freedom
By Trevor Timm
The FBI is using new, "sophisticated software to identify names, key words and phrases embedded in e-mails and other communications, including text messages, which could lead them to suspects."
Common Causes:
Progressive forces acting together to build a better society
By Maude Barlow
Common Causes is an assembly of social movements dedicated to defending democracy, social justice, the environment and human rights in the face of an all-out assault by the Harper government.

Hard News  
   
18 Afghan police officers killed in two attacks:
At least 18 Afghan police officers were killed in two separate explosions Saturday in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, one of the bloodiest days in months for the force charged with the country's security once Western troops leave.
Afghan suicide bomber kills anti-terror chief:
Counter terrorism police chief, traffic chief and several other police officers killed in suicide attack in Kunduz.
Egypt's Leader Declares State of Emergency in Three Cities;
President Mohamed Morsi declared a state of emergency and a curfew in three major cities on Sunday, as escalating violence in the streets threatened his government and Egypt's democracy.
Three people dead, over 400 injured in 4th day of Egyptian clashes:
Three people have been shot dead and over 400 injured in fresh clashes in the Egyptian city of Port Said. The death toll has risen to 48 as violence on the streets of Egypt continues for the fourth day in a row.
Libya: Brotherhood member assassinated:
A Muslim Brotherhood official and member of the local council from Misrata was shot dead as he left a mosque in the Libyan city, a report said on Sunday.
France kills civilians in Mali:
Residents of a Malian town are describing civilian casualties from airstrikes used by France to drive out Islamic militants.
Celebrations in Mali as French troops retake Gao:
Video -
French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu:
Malian military source says troops met no resistance as they entered Timbuktu and were working towards securing the town
U.S. expands aid to French mission in Mali:
The United States is significantly expanding its assistance to a French assault on Islamist militants in Mali by offering aerial refueling and planes to transport soldiers from other African nations, the Pentagon announced Saturday night.
Al Qaeda targets Germans, Britons in Libya: Spiegel:
Al Qaeda is plotting to kidnap German and British citizens in Libya, the Spiegel weekly magazine quoted German intelligence sources as saying.
Britains warned to leave northern Somalia over 'specific threat':
British citizens face a new "specific threat" in northern Somalia and should leave the region immediately, the Foreign Office warned on Sunday.
Syrian gov't intensifies attacks on rebels:
The Syrian network for human rights said it documented 86 deaths across Syria Sunday -- including 26 in an around Damascus, 16 in Aleppo, 15 in Homs, 10 in Idlib, nine in Daraa, seven in Hama and one in Lattakia.
Islamic extremists threaten Syria's Christians:
The United States' active support for regime change in Syria has signaled an anarchic scramble for power and influence, as neighboring states and terrorist groups such as al Qaeda vie for a share of the collapsing state. The Syrian civil war has become, in the words of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, "a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control."
Israeli minister welcomes report of huge blast at Iran nuclear plant:
Israel's Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter on Sunday welcomed a report that Iran's Fordo nuclear facility had been rocked by a huge explosion.
Iran "threatens" 'axis of resistance' if West attacks Syria:
IRAN will defend the Syrian government to the end to preserve an "axis of resistance" to Israel and the West, its ambassador in Damascus has warned.
Israel: We won't wait till use of chemical weapons to attack Syria:
 Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Sunday any sign that Syria's grip on its suspected chemical weapons is slipping as it battles an armed uprising, could trigger Israeli military strikes.
Engineering consent for an attack on Iran
Netanyahu warns of Iran, Syria:
"We are continuing to monitor the lethal weapons in Syria, " Israel Radio quoted Netanyahu saying. "Iran's race to achieve nuclear capability must be stopped. We will prevent these threats from materializing. This is our first task as a government and a nation."
Engineering consent for an attack on Iran:
Netanyahu: Iran preparing for another Holocaust:
Israel must not make the mistake of underestimating the Iranian threat to destroy Israel, says Netanyahu, adding that his government's first and foremost mission remained to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear power.
U.S. Could Strike Iran to Block Nuclear Progress: Ehud Barak:
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is confident, he says, that the United States has plans for surgical strikes against Iran as a last-ditch measure if Tehran refuses to stop its development of a nuclear weapons capability.
U.S. upgrades strike capabilities against Iran in Persian Gulf:
The United States significantly upgraded its strike capabilities in the Persian Gulf last week when it stationed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) six F-22 "stealth" fighters with advanced strike features.
China defying sanctions imposed on Iran:
The recently released data shows Iran's crude oil exports to China soared to the second highest level in December 2012, despite US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic's energy sector.
Fiasco of Israeli plot to kill Saddam:
A new book reveals how a disaster in the desert left five elite troops dead
A government of rich, white men;
The leaders of the three parties that will form Israel's next government are four rich, white guys.
Sheldon Adelson invested in fight against Hagel:
Secretly-funded groups in the United States have been running advertisements against the appointment of Chuck Hagel to secretary of defense, with at least one of them describing him as "anti-Israel", "anti-gay" and "anti-women", the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Thousands throng streets as UN team visits Yemen:
Thousands thronged the streets of Sanaa Sunday to demand the scrapping of immunity given ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh under a UN-backed deal, as a Security Council team paid a rare visit to Yemen's capital.
'Assange effectively denied opportunity to enjoy asylum' - Ecuadorian FM:
By not allowing passage to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from London to Latin America, where he was granted asylum, Britain infringes same international documents it vigorously lobbied for, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino tells RT.
CIA's secret prison: 'Poland dragging out investigation':
A Polish investigation into secret CIA jails is being suppressed because it will embarrass the top echelon of the country's government, lawyers of two men held illegally in one of the CIA's 'black sites' in Poland tell media.
Nicholas Stern: 'I got it wrong on climate change - it's far, far worse':
 Author of 2006 review speaks out on danger to economies as planet absorbs less carbon and is 'on track' for 4C rise




*** Security News ***

Scottish Power blows a fuse after Twitter hijacking
'Leccy biz 'really sorry' after customers lured to villains' lair
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/25/scottish_power_twit_hijack/

Silly gits upload private crypto keys to public GitHub projects
Amazing what you can find searching for 'BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY'
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/25/github_ssh_key_snafu/

Activists urge Skype: Tell us who is spying on us
Microsoft mum on privacy, security policies
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/25/activists_demand_skype_transparency/

Public genome databases can leak identity
Anonymity only goes so far
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/anonymous_dna_traces_individuals/

Brit mastermind of Anonymous PayPal attack gets 18 months' porridge
Payback for Op Payback's $5.5m web cannon blast
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/uk_anonymous_hackers_sentencing_payback/

Backdoor root login found in Barracuda gear - and Barracuda is OK with
this
Hidden accounts 'needed for remote tech support'
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/barracuda_backdoor/

Latest Symantec CEO's 'revolution' could axe 1,000 jobs
Report: Portfolio changes, staff cuts, R&D upped
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/symantec_restructure/

'Gozi Trojan trio' blamed for multimillion-dollar bank raid spree
NASA systems among 1,000,000 computers suspects accused of infecting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/gozi_trojan_indictment/

Crap security lands Sony £250k fine for PlayStation Network hack
Leak of millions of Brits' sensitive info preventable, says ICO
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/sony_psn_breach_fine/

App poked through Twitter hole, probed my privates - security bod
OAuth permission snafu spooks researcher
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/twitter_dm_security_snafu/

'Most US banks' were DDoSed last year - survey
One in 10 banking IT bods say 'budget constraints' an issue
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/ddos_survey_banks/

RAT-flingers target human right activists in watering-hole attack
Jeux sans Frontières
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/24/watering_hole_attack/

Hackers on anti-Egypt spree bury Egyptology journal in the sand
Bystanders in online war blasted offline
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/23/egyptology_site_forced_online_by_hackers/

Australia puts digital frontier at heart of national security plan
Prepares for ‘long, persistent fight’ online with new national Cyber
Security Centre
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/23/australia_cyber_security_centre/

Plug-in pwning challenge brings Pwn2Own prizes to $US560k
Adobe and Java under the spotlight
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/22/pwn2own_web_plugin_prize/

Student claims code flaw spotting got him expelled from college
Canadian college denies overreacting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/dawson_student_expelled_code_flaw/

First Google wants to know all about you, now it wants a RING on your
finger
For those who've always wanted to give the web giant the finger
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/google_password_alternative/

Fraud cops collar two blokes accused of dodging bank's 2-factor auth
Online accounts raided in SMS scam
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/indian_sms_bank_fraud_arrests/

Polish knights slay Virut, the brazen virus army that has its own EULA
Multi-headed zombie mob will be back for more
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/virut_botnet_take_down/

‘Anonymous’ hacks Oz Uni’s email to protest bulk iPad buy
University of Western Sydney students spammed, made to endure
anti-Apple rant
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/uws_email_hack/

'End of passwords' predictions are premature - Cambridge boffin
Nice fresh well-salted hash will keep them healthy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/21/passwords_not_doomed/



Posted: 27 Jan 2013 07:33 PM PST
A round up of the week’s news on REDD, in chronological order with short extracts (click on the title for the full article). REDD-Monitor’s news page is updated regularly. For past REDD in the news posts, click here.
Payments for ecosystem services schemes: project-level insights on benefits for ecosystems and the rural poor
By [...]  

Posted: 27 Jan 2013 02:30 PM PST
27 January 2013
 - Gandhi questioned the very foundational logic of political Zionism, rejecting the idea of a Jewish State in the "Promised Land" by pointing out that the “Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical tract.”
The Jewish leaders were keen to get an approval for Zionism from Gandhi as his international fame as the leader of a non-violent national struggle against imperialism would provide great impetus for the Jewish cause. But his position was one of total disapproval of the Zionist project both for political and religious reasons.









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