Monday, October 15, 2007

What We Learn Today...

Mitt Romney says his lawyers will decide whether we go to War.

...What We Used to Learn

"How a Bill Becomes a Law"

Former Phone Chief Says Spy Agency Sought Surveillance Help Before 9/11

Go to New York Times original

The phone company Qwest Communications refused a proposal from the National Security Agency that the company’s lawyers considered illegal in February 2001, nearly seven months before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the former head of the company contends in newly unsealed court filings. [more]

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Police Brutality of the Day-10/14

Wash. Post: NSA Punished Telecom for not Spying on Americans

Go to Washington Post original

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal. [more]

Ann Coulter and Justice Antonin Scalia: Jews Are Safer with Christians in Charge

Commentary by Thom Hartmann via CommonDreams.org

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) called on media to stop inviting Ann Coulter as a guest commentator and strongly condemned her comments that Jews should be “perfected” by accepting the New Testament and that America would be better off if Judaism were “thrown away” and all Americans were Christian. [more]

Ann Coulter: Jews Need to be "Perfected"

US Income Gap Widens, Richest Share Hits Record

The CommonDreams.org Reuters reprinted original

Washington - The gap between America’s richest and poorest is at its widest in at least 25 years, with the wealthiest taking home a record share of the nation’s income that exceeds even the previous high in 2000.

According to recent data from the Internal Revenue Service, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 21.2 percent of all U.S. income earned in 2005. That is a significant increase from 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of the nation’s income. [more]...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Canadian Mint Sues Toronto, Claims to Own the Word "Cent"

Go to Canada.com original

The mint is demanding the city pay $47,680 for using a picture of the “tails” side of a Canadian penny in its brochures, banners and advertisements for the campaign, aimed at persuading Ottawa to set aside one cent of every six collected under the goods and services tax (GST) for municipalities. The mint is also seeking compensation for the city’s use of the phrase “one cent” in the campaign. [more]...

Robert Reich: Is Capitalism Always Good for Democracy?

Police Brutality of the Day-10/11

Congress to Pass Bill on Armenian Genocide

The Jerusalem Post Original

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to approve a bipartisan bill on Wednesday that calls on the US to recognize the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide. [more]

The Forgotten Holocaust-Turkey's Armenian Genocide

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Is LASIK safe?

Gore Vidal on the Media

Boston Globe: Budweiser Uses Genetically Altered Rice in Beer

Original Boston Globe article

Rice used by Anheuser-Busch Cos. to brew Budweiser beer is tainted with an experimental, genetically engineered rice strain, according to an analysis released yesterday by the environmental organization Greenpeace. Three of four samples of unprocessed rice from the beer maker’s mill in Arkansas showed the presence of the strain, Bayer LL601, Greenpeace said.

Doug Muhleman, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of brewing, acknowledged in a prepared statement that US-grown long-grained rice “may have micro levels” of a genetically engineered protein called Liberty Link, but added that the protein is “substantially removed or destroyed” during the brewing of beer sold domestically.

The St. Louis company said the rice strain “is fully approved” by federal regulators, who deemed it “perfectly safe for human consumption.”

Muhleman said Greenpeace’s “false and defamatory” allegations came as retaliation for the company’s spurning Greenpeace’s call to boycott US farmers.

“We stand in support of US farmers, who are partners with us in the quality of our products,” he said in a statement. “Greenpeace recently asked us to join their advocacy campaign on genetically modified crops. We refused their calls to boycott US farmers, and they are now retaliating.”

In its marketing materials, Anheuser-Busch highlights such “all-natural” ingredients as barley malt, hops, water, and yeast in Budweiser, one of the world’s top-selling beers. The company says it adds rice to give Budweiser its crisp taste, clarity, and brilliance.

Greenpeace’s Doreen Stabinsky, however, said US consumers have a right to know that genetically modified rice is used to create their beer. To that end, the group has cobbled together an off-color YouTube video, “Wassup With Your Beer?” The one-minute, 16-second video closes with a display advertisement reminiscent of a Budweiser commercial, except that it replaces the beer’s foam with a mound of rice, and notes in capital letters that the beer is made with genetically engineered rice.

Stabinsky called the Internet campaign “a popular culture way” to alert Budweiser drinkers to an unknown fact.

Jason Alström, founder of the Boston-based website BeerAdvocate.com, predicted that a “small, vocal minority” would “make a fuss” if details about genetically modified ingredients were widely publicized.

In part, that’s because that genetically engineered crops, including this rice, can generate strong emotions. Critics point to genetically engineered rice grown by Bayer CropScience, a biotech company that from 1999 to 2001 unintentionally tainted two commercial varieties of long-grain rice.

“Mostly people that don’t drink Budweiser, yet are against g-e foods,” Alström said in an e-mail. “As for your typical Bud drinker, I doubt they would care or even know what g-e food actually is.”

© 2007 The Boston Globe

Monday, October 8, 2007