Assuming the Worst About Iran Leaves No Peaceful Way Out

Senator Lindsey Graham is convinced the goal of Iran’s nuclear program is military, and the contrast between Graham’s certainty and the more judicious view of President Obama’s director of national intelligence highlights critical points for a peaceful resolution of the issue — or a war. A hat tip goes to Eli Clifton over at Think Progress for flagging an exchange between Sen. Graham and DNI James Clapper at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week. The bottom line of Graham’s position is that a diplomatic solution is impossible, and a military confrontation is inevitable.

Clifton’s post focuses on the key elements of the intelligence assessment. Here’s how Director Clapper described where Iranian policy stands in terms of building the bomb:

I think they’re keeping themselves in a position to make that decision but there are certain things they have not yet done and have not done for some time...... more
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Here come the drugs "wireless"

Soon the phrase walking pharmacy
is no longer just a saying.
Patients i_farmaci_si_somministrano_in_wireless_6535 following chronic treatment, as with osteoporosis, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and even in the treatment of contraception, can take advantage of ' implantation under the skin of a small wireless device , remotely controlled and programmed for the release of the second medication doses and times established . You can say goodbye to daily injections. No longer do you need to always carry the pills or set the alarm on your phone to remember to take them. This promise is what Robert Langer and Michael Cima , researchers at the David Koch Institute at MIT in Boston, and Robert Farra , head of microchips . The team conducted a pioneering clinical trial on the first prototype of a pill-dispensing intelligent, embedded directly into the body..... more
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Occupy Wall Street Shows Solidarity With Struggling Greeks

On February 18th, members of the Greek 99% will take to the streets of Syntagma Square in protest of the extreme austerity measures that have been levied against them by the European Union.

Thanks to the irresponsibility of its politicians and European financial elite, Greece is years deep in one of the worst economic crises the world has ever seen. Instead of acknowledging that the greed of Big Banks and a non-elected government are responsible for the Greek collapse, the International Monetary Fund and other agents of the 1% have instead chosen to slash services for the lower and middle classes (sound familiar?)...... more
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Congressman Issa Claims MLK’s Legacy to Support Fight Against Contraceptives

Congressman Darrell Issa’s so-called hearings on religious freedom concluded with little input from women and the first panel filled solely with men. Our own Jessica Pielko offered up a good recap of yesterday’s sham hearing.
Congressman Issa had to tout the righteousness of the hearing on Twitter afterwards by citing Martin Luther King Jr. In successive tweets, he featured the photo illustration above with the hashtag #thinkfree.

“What is happening today is exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. warned us against here:”

“We heard from religious leaders whose positions might not be popular, like MLK’s position was not so long ago”

“But that is why we have the first amendment: to protect the rights of those in the #minority…like #MLK”....... more
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Lobbyist Stars In Super Bowl Anti-Union Ad [Video]

Wow. It takes a certain special kind of narcissism to star in your own astroturf campaign but that’s exactly what Washington lobbyist Rick Berman did. And Berman didn’t star in just any old astroturf ad, he starred in an anti-union ad airing during the Super Bowl in a year and in a city where union-busting is front-and-center.
Berman specializes in creating nonprofit front groups that shill for corporate interests. His past clients include Phillip Morris, Coca Cola and Tyson Foods, and they hire Berman to shift public opinion in the form of issue-ads. Berman’s organizations always have innocent-sounding names like “The American Beverage Institute” and “The Employment Policies Institute” who push agendas like fighting minimum wage increases and pick fights with groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. And now they union bust..... more

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67 Killed in Syria Today, Death Toll Rising in Homs

The Syrian regime’s assault on the city of Homs continued for a sixth straight day with residents saying they are under a “genocidal attack” and reports of over 57 people killed today, Thursday. The shelling has been focused on districts that are controlled by rebel forces; the BBC‘s Jim Muir, reporting from Lebanon, says that there are civilians as well as armed rebels in the area that has been the site of the worst shelling, Baba Amr. Activists report that an entire three families have been killed.
A total of 65 people have been killed throughout Syria on Thursday in assaults by government troops, according to the opposition group, the Local Coordinating Committee. The aid group Doctors Without Borders issued a report on Wednesday saying that the Syrian government has been blocking medical care for activists and the hundreds others injured in the violence.

Putin Criticizes Western Nations: “A Bull in a China Shop”

On Wednesday, United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon said that the failure to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria has led the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to “step up its war on its own people.” Last weekend, both Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for Assad to step down and transfer power to a unity government. Speaking about the Syrian crisis for the first time publicly, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin said that his country’s stance was “unbiased while that of the US and Western nations is like “a bull in a china shop.”....... more
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Republicans Are Literally Willing To Let People Die To Decrease Our Debt

Unfortunately, this is a choice which MANY Americans are faced with.

Republicans seem to believe that the biggest problem in our country is our debt. Despite the fact that people die because of lack of healthcare. Despite the fact that people are dying because of lack of food. Despite the fact that people are killing themselves because they don’t feel like they can go on living with the problems they face.

To reduce our debt and deficit the Republicans want to gut programs like Medicare. What happens when you cut access to healthcare for poor people, and people who couldn’t regularly afford it? People die..... more
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