Author: admin

REALLY?????

Audit: Fed gave $16 trillion in emergency loans | The Raw Story: “The U.S. Federal Reserve gave out $16.1 trillion in emergency loans to U.S. and foreign financial institutions between Dec. 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010, according to figures produced by the government’s first-ever audit of the central bank.

Last year, the gross domestic product of the entire U.S. economy was $14.5 trillion.

Of the $16.1 trillion loaned out, $3.08 trillion went to financial institutions in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) analysis shows.

Additionally, asset swap arrangements were opened with banks in the U.K., Canada, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Mexico, Singapore and Switzerland. Twelve of those arrangements are still ongoing, having been extended through August 2012.”

 

21st-Century Slaves: How Corporations Exploit Prison Labor | World | AlterNet: “There is one group of American workers so disenfranchised that corporations are able to get away with paying them wages that rival those of third-world sweatshops. These laborers have been legally stripped of their political, economic and social rights and ultimately relegated to second-class citizens. They are banned from unionizing, violently silenced from speaking out and forced to work for little to no wages. This marginalization renders them practically invisible, as they are kept hidden from society with no available recourse to improve their circumstances or change their plight.

They are the 2.3 million American prisoners locked behind bars where we cannot see or hear them. And they are modern-day slaves of the 21st century.

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SF jury acquits man who forgot mushrooms were in his backpack | The Raw Story: “On Friday, a jury in San Francisco found a man not guilty of possession of psilocybin mushrooms on the grounds that he had forgotten they were in his backpack, and therefore could not knowingly be in possession.

The argument was made by Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Lutes-Koths, who took on the case of Eric Meoli. Meoli was arrested for riding his bicycle on a BART platform on May 25. When he handed over his backpack to police, they found a small amount of “magic” mushrooms in an inner pocket.

According to Lutes-Koths, Meoli, a cannabis-club worker, provided ten dollars’ worth of legally-obtained marijuana to “a hippy in Golden Gate Park” who was having trouble sleeping. The hippy gave Meoli the mushrooms in return and Meoli purportedly put them in his backpack and forgot about them for months.

“One of the elements of the law requires that the defendant know of the presence of the substance,” said the attorney. Prosecutors were unable to establish that Meoli knew the mushrooms were there. As a result, the jury returned a not-guilty verdict.

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This Week In Dallas Music History: The Vas Deferens Organization is Not For Everyone – Dallas Music – DC9 At Night: “In this edition of This Week In Dallas Music History, former Observer music writer Matt Weitz wrote a 1996 piece on the Vas Deferens Organization — an avant garde music collective that engineered recordings so strange, they made Ariel Pink sound like The Beatles.

Interestingly enough, though, it was because of an Ariel Pink recording in Dallas this year that we featured the Vas Deferens Organization in a story about Dennis, Aaron, and Stefan Gonzalez — a local jazz family that connected with Pink because of their relationship with members of the VDO.

Pink isn’t the only high profile artist with connection to VDO, though. This piece features an interesting story of how VDO members Eric Lumbleau and Matt Castille tricked members of Medicine and Mercury Rev into recording on a project called Transcontinental Conspiracy. “

 

“It’s a very sad life. It’s part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay.” – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast: “That’s how Michele Bachmann described LGBT orientations while attending an “ex-gay” conference in 2004. Jeremy Hooper unearthed the clip (transcribed here), which drips with condescension and ignorance:”

YouTube – ?Sparks – Wonder Girl and Do Re Mi??: ” !

1972!!!

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YouTube – Propaganda – At Home At Work At Play: “

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YouTube – The Specials – Ghost Town: “

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New bill ending federal ban on marijuana to be introduced in Congress | The Raw Story: “Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) will introduce legislation on Thursday to the U.S. House of Representatives that ends the federal prohibition on marijuana.

The Oakland Tribute reported that the bill would limit the federal government to enforcing cross-border or inter-state smuggling laws, and allow people to grow, possess, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal to do so.

Although over a dozen states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons, it is still outlawed under the federal Controlled Substance Act.”

 

GOP lawmaker gets drunk, steals truck, wrecks it, then takes nap | The Raw Story: “A Republican state Senator from Idaho was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning and charged with grand theft auto and driving under the influence, according to police reports.

State Sen. John McGee, currently the majority caucus chair for the Idaho State Senate, had been drinking on a golf course late Saturday night, when he apparently decided to leave on foot.

After walking for miles without shoes, he came upon a truck and trailer that had its keys inside.

He didn’t get far though: Residents of the neighborhood were alarmed around 3 a.m. to discover the truck jackknifed in the back yard of a home down the street.

McGee reportedly exited the vehicle and walked up and down the street several times before returning to the truck and falling asleep. Witnesses said he appeared to be “in another world” and was covered in cuts and scrapes, asking about “the promised land.””