The American Bear: Archive

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Focus on the Family is a force for evil →

azspot: I’m just going to go ahead and say this: Focus on the Family is not a Christian organization. I don’t say this lightly. I’m one of those Christians willing to tolerate a pretty big tent. If you want to call yourself a Christian—and you’re at least vaguely trying—great. There’s room for people of faith to disagree. But .. there’s not quite enough room for Focus on the Family. Not in my...

Apr 30th

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Apr 30th

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Apr 30th

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EU moves to sanction Syria | Lebanon news - NOW... →

This is good news - the US doesn’t really have any punishments left to lay on Syria. The European sanctions will add much-needed pressure. The European Union agreed in principle on Friday to impose an arms embargo against Syria and prepare additional measures to punish the regime for a bloody crackdown against protests, a diplomat said. The move comes after the United States earlier in...

Apr 30th

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Watch

govtoversight: Jon Stewart interviews Elizabeth Warren.

Apr 30th

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Apr 30th

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Executive Order --Blocking Property of Certain... →

Apr 29th

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How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis - By... →

It took the brilliant minds of Goldman Sachs to realize the simple truth that nothing is more valuable than our daily bread. And where there’s value, there’s money to be made. In 1991, Goldman bankers, led by their prescient president Gary Cohn, came up with a new kind of investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa,...

Apr 29th

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US court backs funding for embryonic stem cells →

Good news in a debate I never understood… soupsoup: The Obama administration can continue using federal tax dollars to fund human embryonic stem cell research, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday, overturning a lower court decision and handing a victory to the White House.

Apr 29th

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FT.com / Companies / Oil & Gas - Chevron profits... →

More good news for those who need it the least: The US’s second-largest oil company by production said on Friday it earned $6.2bn, or $3.09 per share, in the first quarter of 2011, compared with $4.6bn, or $2.27 per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales and operating revenue in the first quarter were $58bn, up from $47bn in the first quarter of 2010.

Apr 29th

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Deaths in Syria as protests reach Damascus -... →

Deraa sounds like a nightmare: “Some areas smell really bad due to the bodies rotting in the street. No one can collect them for fear of being shot,” he said, the sound of continuous gunfire audible over the phone. Those bodies which have been collected are being stored in refrigerated lorries, he said. “Deraa is completely surrounded by tanks and armed troops. There are snipers on the...

Apr 29th

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Apr 29th

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Apr 29th

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Steven A. Cook | Fear and Loathing in Bahrain →

Clear commentary from Steven Cook on Bahrain. A quick, must read. To be sure, Bahrain’s Shia have economic grievances as do many people all over the Middle East, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the importance of ideas in this season of Arab unrest. Bahrain’s protests, like those in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen are about politics—people are demanding their freedom and basic human...

Apr 29th

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A more militarized CIA for a more militarized... →

The nomination of Petraeus doesn’t change much; it merely reflects how Washington is run. That George Bush’s favorite war-commanding General — who advocated for and oversaw the Surge in Iraq — is also Barack Obama’s favorite war-commanding General, and that Obama is now appointing him to run a nominally civilian agency that has been converted into an “increasingly militarized” arm of the...

Apr 28th

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Apr 28th

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ThinkProgress » As Gulf Coast Suffers, BP Profits... →

Another revolting oil company story: nthword: BP PLC posted a 17 percent increase in net profit for the first quarter as higher oil prices helped to offset continued costs stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill disaster last year. The U.K.-based energy giant said Wednesday net profit for the quarter was $7.12 billion, compared with $6.08 billion a year earlier. Total revenue for the...

Apr 28th

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ShortFormBlog: ExxonMobil, Shell making a crapload... →

shortformblog: 69% quarterly profit increase for ExxonMobil source » And yet you’re paying $4 a gallon for gas: The world’s most iconic oil company scored $10.65 billion in profits for the quarter, which is at least in part due to the fact that oil is currently over $100 a barrel. While the…

Apr 28th

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Guantanamo Bay: How the White House lost the fight... →

I finally got around to reading this piece from the Washington Post. I hit my forehead so many times while reading the article that I now have a palm-shaped bruise.

Apr 28th

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Civilian deaths in Syria protests rise to 500:... →

Sawasiah, founded by jailed Syrian human rights lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani, also said thousands of Syrians have been arrested and scores have gone missing after demonstrations demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption began almost six weeks ago. “We call on civilized governments to take action to stop the bloodbath in Syria and to reign in the Syrian regime and halt its...

Apr 28th

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Ivory Coast insurgent militia leader killed |... →

The leader of a militia that helped Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara defeat rival Laurent Gbagbo this month was killed on Wednesday after he and his men refused to obey a presidential order to disarm. [read more]

Apr 28th

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The Hindu : News / National : Endosulfan: CPI... →

“It is absolutely unacceptable that despite several scientific studies — undertaken both by Central and State agencies — finding that endosulfan is a deadly chemical, it is still sold and used in our country,” the party Central Secretariat said in a release. A ban is being discussed now in Geneva. Meanwhile Dr. Mohammed Asheel of Kerala 92s Health Services, who is attending the...

Apr 28th

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Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon -More than 230 ruling... →

Another 203 members of Syria’s ruling Baath party announced their resignation Wednesday in protest of the deadly crackdown on protesters, raising the number to 233, according to lists seen by AFP. The latest group to step down were members from the Houran region, which covers the flashpoint town of Daraa in the south of the country. Earlier 30 members resigned from the restive city of Banias in...

Apr 28th

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Apr 28th

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Afghan Military Officer Kills 8 U.S. Service... →

Eight American service members and a contractor were shot and killed by an Afghan military officer on Wednesday while they attended a meeting of foreign and Afghan officers on the military side of Kabul International Airport, according to statements from Afghan and NATO spokesmen. In addition, two NATO service members died in attacks elsewhere inAfghanistan, bringing the total NATO deaths on...

Apr 28th

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UN fails to agree on Syria protests crackdown -... →

The UN Security Council cannot seem to agree on how many civilian deaths would legitimize a condemnation.

Apr 28th

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Apr 28th

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Apr 27th

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The New Geopolitics of Food - By Lester R. Brown |... →

An absolute must-read from foreignpolicy.com: Welcome to the new food economics of 2011: Prices are climbing, but the impact is not at all being felt equally. For Americans, who spend less than one-tenth of their income in the supermarket, the soaring food prices we’ve seen so far this year are an annoyance, not a calamity. But for the planet’s poorest 2 billion people, who spend 50 to 70 ...

Apr 27th

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Top Ten Arab Spring Advances this Week | Informed... →

The protests against an ammended SOFA in Iraq are getting almost no attention: Iraqis in Mosul continue to protest regularly by the thousands against any plan to keep US troops in Iraq past this December. They accuse Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of ordering troops to use live ammunition against the rallies, in which two persons have been killed and dozens wounded since Sunday. Al-Maliki...

Apr 27th

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Apr 27th

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Apr 27th

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New Shadow American Government Appointed | The Awl →

My favorite headline thus far on the CIA/Pentagon/SecDef/Ambassador shuffle. Not a great read, but concise and accurate.

Apr 27th

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Two P's in a pod: Obama shuffles the defense end...

shortformblog: Panetta Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, and Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, is on tap to replace Robert Gates, who is retiring as Defense Secretary pretty soon. Petraeus Who’s gonna replace Panetta? General David Petraeus, who will leave the front lines of Afghanistan to head the Central Intelligence Agency. source

Apr 27th

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Apr 27th

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ShortFormBlog: Sony's bad news: The data breach... →

shortformblog: 75M number of users Sony’s PlayStation Network has; until now, they were just upset they couldn’t play six number of days it took Sony to reveal that users’ data was likely ganked by a hacker one number of weeks Sony expects the network to partially get back up to speed source

Apr 27th

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ThinkProgress » The Vermont Senate Passes Bill... →

Apr 27th

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GuantanamoLeaks: a media round-up - By Cameron... →

Apr 27th

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GE's $3 Billion Pentagon Boondoggle | Mother Jones →

More airplane news today. This is a must read from Mother Jones. The piece starts on a bright note: The Department of Defense appears to have to scored a rare victory for fiscal sanity by taking out the F-136. “It took 2 SecDefs, 2 Admins & 5+ years, but Extra Engine contract finally terminated, saving taxpayers $1M per day,” tweeted DOD spokesman Geoff Morrell. That sounds great. Score....

Apr 27th

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@MalikAlAbdeh Confirmed: Jordan powers up mobile...

news-intercom: @MalikAlAbdeh Confirmed: Jordan powers up mobile network to cover all of #Deraa. Barada.tv @6:30 BST live 00442071298088 #emcom #BaradaTV

Apr 26th

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Watch

Today Now! Interviews The 5-Year-Old Screenwriter Of “Fast Five” This is brilliant.

Apr 26th

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Sixth Republican Senator Faces Recall in Wisconsin... →

Don’t mess with Wisconsin.

Apr 26th

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Apr 26th

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Grim Numbers from Syria: 400 Civilians Killed in... →

Apr 26th

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For Israelis and Palestinians, the status quo is... →

To suggest that Palestinians are equally responsible for this state of affairs would suggest the two sides hold equal power to shape events. They don’t. No matter how many rhetorical checkpoints get thrown up, there are some basic facts you just cannot get around. Israel is the occupier; Palestinians are the occupied. That justifies nothing, and explains a great deal. Israel does not have...

Apr 26th

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