Friday, June 29, 2012

US Lifestyle Options Are Currently Out Of Stock

submitted by Gabrielle Price

I'm working on a few projects and haven't been watching the news feeds as vigilantly as I have in the past. Not because I don't care about the news and delivering it but the news somehow isn't saying much that I haven't heard before. And I hate repeating myself like a mainstream parrot.

Alas, that is part and parcel of media and its wretched 24 hour news cycle. The public's attention span has been whittled away, their focus is emotionally political rather than grounded in civics and to keep one's finger on that pulse too long is to be awash in a sea of petty idiocy and hot air.

Free press is a lone boat with one tattered sail praying to see a lighthouse. It's a shitty job but someone has been doing it for a long time -- longer than me -- only to be met with more censorship the harder we row. There is no quitting, however. For those of us who respect and love the power of the pen and the truth, quitting is simply not an option.

I'm working on building some lighthouses with other media people. The horizon ahead isn't clear for many because the mainstream media fog gets thicker every day. While stories like these go unheeded by the majority -- like so many buried columns or spun into fodder to keep people ordering dessert while the Titanic takes on more water:

Banks Are Failing Left and Right Today - 6/28

At the top of that list...JP Morgan. Keep in mind that Jamie Dimon received a $23 million pay package for fiscal year 2011, more than any other bank CEO in the United States.

Mike Krieger: Where Food Stamps Go To Die - 6/28

"Marion Nestle, Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU, came out with some interesting tidbits regarding the food stamp program. One of them is extraordinarily disturbing. She shows that Wal-Mart gets as much as 25% to 40% of revenue at some stores from food stamp dollars. This says it all folks. Food stamps are of course the perfect business for Wal-Mart and JP Morgan, which as I pointed out previously makes a lot of money running the program and keeping the populace in perpetual serfdom." [What do you think will happen when JP Morgan fails? See first headline...]

Not Spain, Uganda, Or Greece; But Stockton CA: Largest US City Bankruptcy Now Official - 6/28

The EU Summit: Europe Needs Capital, NOT Political Posturing - 6/29

"...none of the measures address the most critical issue pertaining to Europe: where is the money going to come from?"

Guest Post: It's Time To Connect The Dots - 6/29 [please see #3]

"When you connect the dots, the next steps lead to what may soon be regarded as an obvious conclusion: the system, as it exists right now, is crumbling. No amount of self-delusion can make this go away."

This really isn't rocket science. Mainstream media talks to the public like children with no basic math skills to keep them from asking questions. The hard questions are and have been being asked by independent press and the truth delivered with stunning accuracy. But because money equals speech and attention spans have waned -- critical thinking people will have to work harder if they love life and the people they share it with. I'm no math genius but I see patterns and have connected these dots.

Time and a lot of meditation brought me to understand and accept the picture that is forming. It no longer scares me than it makes me concerned for others who have not yet made the connections. It is the reason I keep going.

Many of those dear to me who are not connecting the dots, I love as much as I love life, so I am willing to be as radical as necessary -- for them. That is why I am scouting ahead to learn from others about a more durable set of living arrangements. I think of it as choosing the option of a stronger foundation for my lighthouse so I can be prepared, not just for myself but for others who will need these skills when the time comes. I will personally become more resilient.

This system hates that...so of course, it is in my nature to automatically relish it.

It is so surreal and odd that my grandparents victory gardening skills, ability to create community to survive through the Great Depression by sharing skills, food and resources would be or seem at all radical. This is how I know the current system is very, very sick and I do not wish to participate in it. It quite honestly, made me spiritually ill.

My whole life, I have been willing to fight for what I love...what I learn in will only make me more able. Quitting is not an option. Quitting this system, however, is easy when its function prevents the exercise of inalienable rights like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on a global scale, not just at home.

Human rights and democracy aren't lifestyle options -- these are things that die when they aren't used.


Another Collapsetarian?

No...he's just referring to Obamacare, not the big picture. 

Poor bastard.


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Thursday, June 28, 2012

OWS Week 6/27 - Night of the Living Debt, Casserole March, Healthcare Justice

submitted by Gabrielle Price

This episode of the show covers a solidarity anti-foreclosures action for Cruz family Minnesota.  OWS Week also covers the Occupy Catholics General Assembly with the US Catholic bishops calling for a "Fortnight for Freedom" open-air general assembly and Night of the Living Debt: a rally by protesters dressed up as zombies for the fourth weekly Casseroles event in NYC.  Last but not least, a Solidarity Rally for Healthcare Justice, hunger strikers who are demanding medical treatment for their community.


Follow OWS Week on Facebook and Twitter
The Refreshment Center is proud to share OWS Week and other outlets
that #OCCUPYMSM

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Want To Be The Superhero Of The Future?

Be a force of nature and deal a mortal blow to the evil Monsanto's bottom line -- learn and practice permaculture.  It's the Earth's Justice League.


Today's decoder ring secret: Organic food gives you superpowers...shh...don't tell!


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The World Tomorrow : Noam Chomsky & Tariq Ali


submitted by Gabrielle Price

A surprise Arab drive for freedom, the West's structural crisis and new hope coming from Latin America. That's the modern world in the eyes of Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali, two prominent thinkers and this week's guests on Julian Assange's show on RT.


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Moment of Clarity: Is Everything Designed To Break?

contributor Lee Camp

"Everything we own seems to be obsolete or broken within a year. Why is that?"
Lee breaks it down better than an iPhone in a landfill.

Today's Moment of Clarity:


Past Moments of Clarity can be found at Lee's site and Youtube.
Follow Lee on Twitter
Pre-order Lee's stand-up album “Pepper Spray the Tears Away” and get his best-selling book, “Moment of Clarity” HERE.


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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Bill Moyers & Co.: Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith on Mafia Banking

submitted by Gabrielle Price

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith of the website Naked Capitalism
A must watch installment of Bill Moyers & Co.


On the heels of two new articles written by these stellar economic reporters, it was quite a treat to find both of them on Bill Moyers to discuss the nature of the fraudulent bank system that can truly no longer be ignored, spun or blamed on anything other than their mafia tactics.

Remember this video when you hear anyone in US media pointing fingers at European banks, another country, some 'terrorist' or any one person in the sham of a two party system.  Both parties are complicit in allowing these banks to continue their criminal activities at the expense of the entire US economy...and the global economy which can no longer be propped up.

Read Matt's latest piece in Rolling Stone: 

And Yves latest at Naked Capitalism:

Friday, June 22, 2012

Keiser Report: Runaway Greek Cash

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss economic Jack and the Beanstalk style miracles that look a whole lot like simple ponzi schemes that Lilliputian financial journalists fail to report.  In the second half of the show Max talks to Satyajit Das, author of Extreme Money, about the European debt crisis, how much longer Germany can stay solvent and whether German banks would have survived if the Irish taxpayer had not bailed them out in the first place.

 

Moment of Clarity: 'People are born gay, people are taught to hate'

contributor Lee Camp

An impressive number of gay hating Church services have come to light recently. ...And most seem to be in North Carolina. What the hell is going on down there?? 
[Get your rant fix at LeeCamp.net]




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OWS Week 6/20 - NY Silent March, NATO-3, Obama fundraiser protest

This OWS Week episode covers the March from NY's Washington Square to an Obama fundraiser at an actress' house to protest no substantial investigation into the massive, criminal Bankers fraud.  NY Silent March Against Racial Profiling: thousands march in silence as an illustration of both the tragedy and serious threat of NYC's "stop and frisk" policy.  NYC and Chicago's noisy casserole rallies in solidarity with Quebec students, a report on the NATO-5's day in court on Tuesday, June 12th on terrorism charges, and PEPCO electric bill hike protests in Washington DC.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Keiser Report: City of Biggest Crooks

submitted by Gabrielle Price

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss Libor traders who rigged global interest rate market escaping charges while Iceland sentences bankers to four year prison terms.  At the same time, Iceland's central bank is raising interest rates to deal with a growing economy while Western bankster-riddled economies prepare for another round of money printing to deal with all the fraud.  In the second half of the show Max talks to Brett Scott about financial activism, a Wikileaks for finance and collaboration with hedge funds.

Moment of Clarity: Vaginas, Sea Level, And The Banning Of Reality

contributor Lee Camp

In North Carolina they passed a law forbidding climate science.  
In Michigan they barred representatives from speaking the word "vagina." 
Can they make thinking about reality illegal?



Past Moments of Clarity can be found at Lee's site and Youtube.
The Refreshment Center is pleased to welcome Lee as our newest site contributor!
Follow Lee on Twitter
Pre-order Lee's stand-up album “Pepper Spray the Tears Away” and get his best-selling book, “Moment of Clarity” HERE.



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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Keiser Report : Con Games Go Global


In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, the european short change con in which debt and debt facilities are created and swapped at ever increasing speeds in order to defraud the population. In the second half of the show Max talks to economist Yanis Varoufakis about the ponzi austerity screwing Europeans right down to the ground with more debt.

Follow Max Keiser on Twitter



RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark.

OWS Week 6/13, NATO-5, NY SEC, Casserole solidarity demos and more

This episode of the show reports on the 'casserole' solidarity rallies across the US, Milwaukee protests with mounted police charge and arrests.  OWS Week also covers the NATO-five rallies in Chicago and the SEC protests in New York, plus art and culture theater group activities in support of Bradley Manning.

Just viewing OWS Week allows them to continue.  Occupy MSM: view the ONLY weekly, professionally produced OWS news program on the web! 
Follow our Twitter on: http://twitter.com/presstv



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Friday, June 8, 2012

Keiser Report : Planet Ponzi

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss shamed, naive and unsustainable ponzis and the UK's Metropolitan Police's Total War on Economic Crime (or at least that committed by the bottom 99%). In the second half of the show Max talks to Mitch Feierstein, hedge fund manager and author of Planet Ponzi, about global ponzi schemes, asymmetric hedging and whether or not hedge funds do any 'good.'

Follow Max Keiser on Twitter: http://twitter.com/maxkeiser

Thursday, June 7, 2012

OWS Week 6/6, Bilderberg Protest, NY & Canada, UAW pickets. Stop Foreclosures

This episode of the show reports on the Bilderberg meeting protests in Virginia, New York solidarity with Canadian protesters. OWS Week also covers U.A.W picket line and stop foreclosures action in Minneapolis.

Follow OWS Week on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presstvchannel
And on Twitter on: http://twitter.com/presstv



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Michael C. Ruppert on Occupy, Peak Oil, Environment and The Shift

submitted by Gabrielle Price

12/17/11 - Occupy Fear and Loathing Media Tour:

The Refreshment Center's Gabrielle Price interviews Michael C. Ruppert at his home in Sebastopol, California.  We talk about Occupy and how the collapse of industrial civilization is coinciding with the most dynamic protest movement since the 60's.  Mike touches upon geopolitics, energy depletion and environmental issues that humanity faces and the spiritual awakening that is taking place globally.  He also shares his experience of the Occupy camps, the women of Occupy and the many veterans who support the movement. [We also verify that no animals were harmed during the making of this film...].

For more information about Michael Ruppert's work, please visit http://www.fromthewilderness.net and connect some dots.



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Audio excerpts from Crossing the Rubicon are coming soon!

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Friday, June 1, 2012

CNN Reports: Fukushima Radiation In Everyday Goods

submitted by Gabrielle Price

With the blue fin tuna story breaking in the US this past week, it is imperative that we keep our eyes and ears open when the mainstream media reports on the continuing problems facing the Japanese people.  Because if the reactors are not contained as soon as humanly possible, there is no end to these problems for the rest of the industrial world when you consider the supply chain of global markets.

Keep in mind how many products are shipped from Japan and are sold in the US.  Everything from food to car parts used in manufacturing is likely exposed to large amounts of radiation as indicated in this film by CNN.


What can be done?  For starters, you can tell your local stores to stop carrying products from Japan.  You can also sign these petitions that demand we know where our food products and ingredients come from.

Japan sends food ingredients all over the world.  In the United States for example, big food manufacturers like Kellogg’s, General Mills, PEPSICO (makers of Gatorade, Frito-Lay products, Quaker, etc.) have all said they are getting ingredients from Japan but they won’t say what it is they are getting, citing “proprietary information” : basically none of your business to know.
http://newsforyourfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/corporate-responses.html

In essence, if you live in the US and you want to avoid consuming something from Japan, you can’t. Japanese ingredients are also going into medicines, make up, animal feed, and a myriad of other products.  Citizens have a right to access to this information so if they want to avoid eating it or buying it, they can. This petition gives citizens that right.
http://www.change.org/petitions/mr-president-us-senate-congress-tell-us-where-our-food-is-from

Consumables being exported out of Japan need to be better monitored for potential contamination. Individual countries need better monitoring of their food, water, and soil too.
http://www.change.org/petitions/urgent-fukushima-radioactive-fallout-food-safety-petition


Denial is not an option when the health of every living creature on the planet is at stake.  Shareholder's bottom lines are negotiable -- as well as the American way of life [sorry to break it to you, G.W. Bush].
It will not be possible to maintain any way of life if we aren't concerned with the health of everyone being effected by globalization -- including the creatures and plants.  This madness must end before it ends us.

ACTION ALERT: Open Letter to President of Middle Tennessee State U

ACTION ITEM: CALL THIS NUMBER USA +1 (615) 898-2300 or email the form letter below by copying/pasting into an email and adding your name in the salutation, to Sidney.McPhee@mtsu.edu (President of Middle Tennessee State University) with a CC to parents@mtsu.edu (the parent's organization) with the Subject: Parents Concerned About the Fukushima Reactors

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT of Middle Tennessee State University, the University that is planning on sending 10 students to Fukushima Japan to study natural disasters on Monday, June 4, 2012.  Call or email before THIS MONDAY.

[copy/paste from below, here]

President McPhee,

It has come to my attention that your school is sending 10 students and some staff members to Japan next week to visit an area that is approximately 45 miles from Fukushima, Japan.  That is close to the nuclear power plant in Fukushima.  There are several nuclear reactors on site.  Some of which have suffered meltdowns already.  Some which are currently in meltdown.  Some which Tepco, the power company that runs the site, are unable to maintain a consistent safe temperature.  When too much pressure and heat develops inside the reactor, Tepco does steam releases, purposeful releases of radioactive material into the atmosphere to bring down the pressure inside the reactors.  They would not want the pressure to build up too much inside those reactors because it would explode.  Tepco, with the permission of the Japanese government, is forced to choose between the lesser of two very bad evils.

1] When the pressure builds up too high in the reactors that are in trouble, do nothing and let the pressure inside build until the proverbial pot gets too hot and explodes.

or

2]  Release radioactive steam into the atmosphere to relieve some of the pressure.  The chemical makeup in these radioactive steam releases can cause cancer.  Who will get cancer from these releases that blow on the winds and through the air that people there breathe in and who won't?  Well, that is luck of the draw.  Furthermore, nobody knows when the reactors are going to "misbehave" or when the next earthquake might hit, to require this intervention and how much radioactive steam will need to be released to settle the reactor back down. 

This alone would make me not want to send my child or any child on this trip.  Dr. Schmidt, the Vice Provost for International Affairs at your University, said that going to Fukushima is like going to Louisana after Hurricane Katrina.  They both suffered damage after natural disasters.  While that piece is true, one critical piece has been left out: There is another ongoing disaster.  It is the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. 

Dr. Schmidt pointed out in a phone conversation, that Fukushima University has received money from the Japanese government to invest in promoting and encouraging universities from around the world to come and partner with them.  I am all for that if the disaster was really over.  But it is not.  IF they go, those students will be put in harm's way.  They will be entering an area that has suffered a 3 fold disaster, two of which have passed -- the tsumani of 3/11 and the earthquake -- but the 3rd, the nuclear disaster -- is far from over.  It is the piece in this 3 fold disaster that apparently Fukushima University failed to mention to your Vice Provost of International Affairs when this trip was being planned and that sir, is simply unethical and disingenuous.

I couldn't fathom the notion that your colleagues were aware that the nuclear disaster is still ongoing but yet would still choose to put this group into harm's way because of some great deal that the University of Fukushima is offering.  I really hope that is not the case.  This would be considered totally unprofessional and unacceptable -- unless each student and their families were made aware of the dangers outlined in the following information and are still choosing to go anyway.

1.] If reactor 4 blows up in Fukushima it will be disastrous

2.] After the Chernobyl accident, many people who didn’t need to be poisoned by the nuclear disaster were.  They got cancer.  They ended up with mutated DNA that severely affects generations to this day because they ate food that had been contaminated from the initial fallout. 


If the students will be eating while they are in Japan, there is a chance that an ingredient in something they eat might be contaminated as much of the soil, water, and air is is also contaminated.

3.] Here is a website you might want to review.  Many families in and around Fukushima are actually trying to EVACUATE.

From the same website, here is a link to stories that the University of Fukushima may or may not have already shared with your University.  In case they haven't, please be aware of them:

4.] Here's another link to a document stating the amount of contamination in a forest nearby, which was just published on May 25th, 2012.  It was put together by Soil Resources Laboratory, Department of Forest Site Environment, Forest and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan.

5.] As further evidence that the nuclear disaster is ongoing, Seventy-two Japanese organizations are asking for help with handling the ongoing nuclear disaster:

President McPhee, in my view students should NOT be going to Japan.  They should NOT be put in harm's way without, at the very least, informing them and their families about the things outlined in this email and give them the INFORMED choice before sending their children to Japan.  Any parent I know I would appreciate the full picture. 

Provide all this information to the families and let them decide for themselves or cancel the trip all together.  This is NOT like helping after Hurricance Katrina.  This is like walking into an ONGOING disaster or even a war zone.  You don't know when the enemy -- the nuclear reactors -- might go off. 
Is it really worth it, sir?

Thanks for your time,
[Insert you signature here]

P.S. President McPhee, 

Here is some more information: 

This problem will be magnified substantially around the world in the case with Japan b/c unlike Russia back in the 1980s, Japan sends food ingredients all over the world.  In the United States for example, big food manufacturers like Kellogg’s, General Mills, PEPSICO (makers of Gatorade, Frito-Lay products, Quaker, etc,) have all said they are getting ingredients from Japan but they won’t say what it is they are getting citing “proprietary information” : basically none of your business to know. 

In essence if you live in the US and you want to avoid consuming something from Japan, you can’t. Japanese ingredients are also going into medicines, make up, animal feed, and a myriad of other products.  Citizens have a right to access to this information so if they want to avoid eating it, they can. This petition gives citizens that right.

Here is a great piece done by Food and Water Watch back in 2011 http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/food-radiation.pdf

Consumables being exported out of Japan need to be better monitored for potential contamination. Individual countries need better monitoring of their food, water, and soil too.

[End copy/paste here]


Time is of the essence -- if you want to contact the university yourself directly to express your personal concern for these students, please call: USA +1 (615) 898-2300

The emails for the form letter again are: Sidney.McPhee@mtsu.edu (President of Middle Tennessee State University) with a CC to parents@mtsu.edu (the parent's organization)