Thursday, July 15, 2010

Daily Inbox 10 7 15

DC Court Rules Against Foes of Marriage Equality
BREAKING: By Michael Cole; 7/15, 2010

Sam Harris - TEDTalk
"if questions affect human well being, 
then they do have answers, whether or 
not we can find them, and just admiting 
that there are right and wrong answers 
to how humans flourish will change the 
way we talk about morality, and will 
change our expectations of human 
cooperation in the future.
 
For instance, there are 21 states where 
corporal punishment in the classroom is legal"
...
"the rationale for this behavior is 
explicitly religious; the creator of 
the universe himself has told us not 
to spare the rod lest we spoil the child"
...
"But we can ask the obvious question,
is it a good idea, generally speaking, 
to subject children to pain, and violence, 
and public humiliation, as a way of 
encouraging healthy emotional development 
and good behavior."
Is there any doubt that this question 
has an answer? and that it matters?

E.O. Wilson: TED Prize wish: 
Help build the Encyclopedia of Life

TEDtalksDirector's Channel

Cindy: The Promise of Africa's Future
Cindy lost her mother at the age of three 
and was taken in by her aunt, who taught 
her English. That experience sparked 
Cindy's passion for learning. 
In this video she talks about her dream of 
becoming a lawyer and fighting for justice.

Vid: Join Michael's fight for clean energy

Large Air Spill at Wind Farm.

NPR; In Politics, 
Sometimes The Facts Don't Matter
(If you don't believe in falling violence
statistics, you may be looking for 
the birther surfer ticket.)

Robert Naiman
54 Percent Want Afghan Exit, 
but Petraeus Could Nix Peace Talks 

At last count, the 72 federally-funded 
fusion centers around the country 
(including two in Massachusetts) seem to 
focus less on catching terrorists and 
more on tracking people engaged in such 
"suspicious" activities as opposing abortion, 
supporting third-party candidates (such as 
Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and Cynthia McKinney), 
defending the environment, 
and calling for an end to war.

Police Brutality in America
Submitted by Stephen Lendman 10-07-15 
(The Aclu) "In August 2009, the report titled, 
"The Persistence of Racial Profiling in the 
United States" quoted Rep. John Conyers (D. MI) 
saying "Since (9/11), our nation has engaged 
in a policy of institutionalized racial 
and ethnic profiling,""

Police Attack Journalists and Citizens at Toronto G20
Davis Fleetwood; "Holy police state Batman!!!"

Vid - thank you channel 9!!
Internet audio downloads that get you 
high are supposed to be a big concern 
to parents! are your kids downloading 
the newest dangerous gateway drugs?

Under Threat: A Free and Open Internet
by Stephen Lendman, 2010-07-15  
"As a candidate, Obama pledged support 
for "network neutrality to preserve the 
benefits of open competition on the 
Internet." 
As president, he reneged across the board, 
including for Internet freedom and openness, 
Boston.com writer Joelle Tessler headlining, 
"FCC votes to reconsider broadband regulations," 
saying: Federal regulators are "wading 
into a bitter policy dispute that could be
tied up in Congress and the courts for years." 
At stake: a free, open, and affordable Internet, 
threatened by powerful phone and cable 
giants wanting to privatize and control it, 
have unregulated pricing power, and decide 
what's published at what speed or blocked."
...
"the following organizations raised 
serious civil liberties concerns:
-- the ACLU
-- American Library Association
-- American Association of Law Libraries
-- Association of Research Libraries
-- Bill of Rights Defense Committee
-- Center for Democracy & Technology, and
-- Citizens Committee for the Rights to Keep and Bear Arms.

These groups cited concerns for "free speech, privacy, and other civil liberties interests," wanting changes made to avoid infringement, saying:
"The Internet is vital to free speech and free inquiry, and Americans rely on it every day to access and to convey information. Any cybersecurity action the government requires that would infringe on these rights....must meet a traditional First Amendment strict scrutiny test," as follows:
(1) measures "must further a compelling government interest;"
(2) they "must be narrowly tailored to advance that interest," and
(3) they "must be the least restrictive means of achieving that interest.""

Obama’s Health Care Bill Is Enough to Make You Sick
By Chris Hedges on TruthDig.com, July 12, 2010
"The 2,000-page piece of legislation, 
according to figures compiled by Physicians 
for a National Health Plan (PNHP), will 
leave at least 23 million people without 
insurance, a figure that translates into 
an estimated 23,000 unnecessary deaths a 
year among people who cannot afford care."
... 
"This legislation moves us further in the
direction of the commodification of health 
care," Flowers went on. "It requires 
people to purchase health insurance. 
It takes public dollars to subsidize the 
purchase of that private insurance. 
It not only forces people to purchase this 
private product, but uses public dollars 
and gives them directly to these corporations. 
In return, there are no caps on premiums. 
Insurance companies can continue to raise 
premiums. We estimate that because they are 
required to cover people with pre-existing 
conditions, although we will see if this 
happens, they will argue that they will 
have to raise premiums."
...
"We are still a nation full of health 
care hostages," Redmond said. "We live 
in fear of losing our health care. 
Millions of people have lost their 
health care. We fear bankruptcy. 
The inability to pay medical bills is 
the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy. 
We fear not being able to afford medications. 
Millions of people skip medications. 
They skip these medications to the 
detriment of their health. We are not free. 
And we won't be free until health care 
is a human right..."

Sam Harris makes a joke and a point

New Chinese Rule Requires Real Names Online

Nature Physics Portal Alerts:

A new strategy for energy innovation
John Alic1, Daniel Sarewitz2, Charles Weiss3 & William Bonvillian4
Abstract
"The US government must make the Department
of Defense a key customer for energy 
technologies and make greenhouse-gas 
reductions a public good, say John Alic, 
Daniel Sarewitz, Charles Weiss and 
William Bonvillian."
"1. Limiting the concentration of carbon 
dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 
Earth's atmosphere requires a technological 
and economic revolution1, 
2. This kind of change takes decades, 
even if it is driven by powerful market 
and policy forces — which this one is not."

Opinion; Cosmology forum: 
Is dark energy really a mystery?
Eugenio Bianchi,  Carlo Rovelli  & Rocky Kolb
Nature  466, 321–322  (15 July 2010) 14 July 2010
The Universe is expanding. 
And the expansion seems to be speeding up. 
To account for that acceleration, 
a mysterious factor, 'dark energy', 
is often invoked. A contrary opinion — 
that this factor isn't at all mysterious — 
is here given voice, along with 
counter-arguments against that view.

Excited-state spin coherence of a single 
nitrogen–vacancy centre in diamond
G. D. Fuchs1, V. V. Dobrovitski2, D. M. Toyli1, F. J. Heremans1, C. D. Weis3, T. Schenkel3 & D. D. Awschalom1

Multimaterial piezoelectric fibres
S. Egusa, Z. Wang, N. Chocat, Z. M. Ruff, A. M. Stolyarov, D. Shemuly, F. Sorin, P. T. Rakich, J. D. Joannopoulos & Y. Fink
"The fibres show a piezoelectric response 
AND ACOUSTIC transduction, from kilohertz 
to megahertz frequencies."

Broadband terahertz wave remote sensing using 
coherent manipulation of fluorescence from 
asymmetrically ionized gases
Jingle Liu1, Jianming Dai1, See Leang Chin2 & X.-C. Zhang1
"owing to the challenge of dealing with high 
ambient moisture absorption, the development 
of remote open-air broadband terahertz 
spectroscopy is lagging behind the urgent need 
for the technology that exists in homeland 
security and the fields of astronomy and 
environmental monitoring." 
...
"We demonstrate coherent terahertz wave detection at a distance of 10 m."

Two deaths of those dear to Greens:

Rwandan Democratic Green Party Vice 
President Assassinated   
Death Announcement: Rwandan Democratic 
Green Party Vice President Assassinated
  The First Vice President of the 
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda,
Mr.Andre KAGWA RWISEREKA who went 
missing yesterday 13th July 2010,
has been found dead this morning of 
14th July 2010.
  His head was almost completely 
removed from his body. He was found
dead in the same wetland of River 
Mukula just about 3 Kms away from
Butare town, where his car was dumped. 
His brother Antoine HAGUMA
confirms seeing the dead body.
  During our visit to Butare yesterday, 
we found out that his national ID, 
driver’s license, house keys and car 
keys were found inside the
dumped car, now packed at Police 
Headquarters in Huye-Butare town. 
His passport was also found in his 
house; TABA-Butare Town.
 Issued at Kigali, 14th July 2010

Frank HABINEZA,
Founding President, Democratic Green 
Party of Rwanda/ President,
African Greens Federation/
Co-Africa Representative to 
Global Greens Coordination (GGC)

Esta Sambita es Pa Ti, Brother.......
Up, You Mighty Nation!

Assassination of Rwandan Greens 
Vice-President Mr. André Kagwa Rwisereka

Global Greens demand investigation into the murder
Call on the Commonwealth to act
15 July 2010 • Global Greens Statement

The Global Greens express their deep 
shock and sadness at the murder of 
Rwandan Greens' Vice President Mr. 
Andre Kagwa Rwisereka on 13 July 2010. 
Mr. Rwisereka was a prominent member of 
the Rwandan Greens which has been 
systematically blocked from registering 
as a political party. The assassination 
of André Kagwa Rwisereka is a tragic 
event that requires a strong reaction 
from the Rwandan institutions. The 
murderers of André Kagwa Rwisereka must 
be identified and brought to justice.
Mr. Rwisereka’s murder appears to be 
another sign of the growing repression 
of Rwandan opposition groups and media 
as President Paul Kagame prepares for 
elections in August. There is serious 
doubt whether the elections will be 
free and fair.
The Global Greens call on the international 
community to react to the increasing 
violations of human rights and democratic 
rules in Rwanda.
The Global Greens call on the Commonwealth 
to act immediately to enforce its 
standards of human rights and democracy. 
Rwanda was admitted to the Commonwealth
less than one year ago, in December 2009, 
against the clear advice of the 
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative 
(CHRI).
If the Commonwealth fails to act,
now that the CHRI warnings about Rwanda 
are being bourne out, it will signal 
the Commonwealth’s shallow commitment 
to its values.
The Global Greens call on Green 
Parties around the world to raise 
the Rwandan situation with their 
governments and to request they take 
action to ensure that members of 
Green and other opposition parties 
are able to safely pursue their 
democratic rights
The Rwandan government must also 
guarantee the safety of opposition 
groups and individuals and their 
freedom to speak out against the 
regime.
We send our deepest sympathy to 
Mr Rwisereka’s family and colleagues.

The Global Greens Coordination
More information: James Tonson, 

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
The Green Party of the United States 
condemns the assassination of André 
Kagwa Rwisereka, Vice President of the 
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda
• Greens urge Obama to press for an 
investigation, citing obstruction, 
violence against opposition parties 
by the Rwanda government
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: 
Greens available to speak on foreign policy: 

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the 
United States expressed shock and 
sadness over news of the barbaric 
killing of André Kagwa Rwisereka, 
Vice President of the Democratic 
Green Party of Rwanda 
Mr. Rwisereka's body, discovered July 14 
after he was missing for several days, 
showed evidence of murder.

US Greens have joined Green Parties around 
the world in extending their sincere 
condolences to Mr. Rwisereka's family and 
community and the Rwandan Green Party.

Green Party leaders are calling on the 
Obama Administration to support a full 
investigation of this murder and the deeply 
disturbing allegations that André Kagwa Rwisereka's 
assassination was politically motivated, 
tied to the current political leadership 
of the Rwandan government of President 
Paul Kagame and his ruling 
Rwanda Patriotic Front (RFP), 
which has close ties to the US.  
The Kagame government has consistently 
prevented Greens and other opposition 
parties from freely registering as 
political parties.

"Rwanda is portrayed by the Obama 
Administration as an 'African success story,’" 
said Marian Douglas-Ungaro, co-chair of the 
Green Party's International Committee 
member of the Green Party Black Caucus 
and DC Statehood Green Party, and a veteran 
international elections monitor.  
“Yet, this same government stands accused of 
human rights abuses including crimes against
humanity and political repression.  
Five times it has prevented the Rwanda 
Democratic Green Party from convening, 
once violently, thereby bureaucratically 
blocking them from appearing on the ballot 
for the upcoming August presidential elections.  
How is this a beacon of democracy in Africa?”

US Greens are preparing a letter to be sent to 
President Obama urging him to press for a full 
inquiry into the assassination and for 
prosecution and punishment of the assassins.

See also:
"Death Announcement: Rwandan Democratic Green 
Party Vice President Assassinated"
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda press release, July 14, 2010

"Rwandan Opposition Leaders and members have been 
assaulted, arrested and hundreds are still missing"
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda press release, June 24, 2010

Global Greens statement on the assassination of 
Rwandan Greens Vice-President Mr. André Kagwa Rwisereka

"Greens in the US protest attempts by the 
government of Rwanda to suppress the 
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda"
Green Party of the United States press release, November 2, 2009

"Rwandan opposition parties condemn grenade 
attacks in Kigali"
San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 21, 2010

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former state lawmaker Billy McKinney dies
Thursday, July 15, 2010
By Ty Tagami
Former State Rep. Billy McKinney, the 
father of former Congresswoman 
Cynthia McKinney, has died.
Billy McKinney was first elected to the 
Georgia Legislature in 1973 as a Democrat.

Rep. Tyone Brooks (D-Atl.), a longtime friend of McKinney, confirmed the death.

On Common Ground News reported on 
its Web site Thursday that McKinney, 
a Democrat who served 30 years as a 
state legislator, died among family 
and friends Thursday at his home in 
southwest Atlanta, according to 
sources who were with his wife, Leola.

The newspaper said McKinney had been 
ill for a while and that he died 
surrounded by people who were close 
to him, some of them holding his hand.

“One of Georgia’s tallest pine trees has 
fallen. My prayers are with his family,” 
former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones told 
On Common Ground News.

Jones is a candidate for Georgia’s 
Fourth Congressional District seat, 
once held by Cynthia McKinney.

The McKinneys became the first 
father-daughter duo to serve 
simultaneously in the Georgia House 
when Cynthia McKinney was first 
elected in 1992.

For Immediate Release; July 15, 2010
For more information contact: Mike Raffauf 404-452-6390

Atlanta, GA - Today at 11:30 am, 
veteran public servant and Atlanta
personality, James Edward “Billy” 
McKinney passed away after a lengthy 
illness. Arrangements are pending. 
For additional information please 
contact Attorney Mike Raffauf at 404-452-6390.

Silence is the deadliest 
weapon of mass destruction.

Help UFW Support Giumarra workers in class action lawsuit
or take more action at first link above

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