Puppet MastersS


Dominoes

European leaders ask Obama for more exports of U.S. shale gas - more fracking of the U.S.

Ian Traynor
The Guardian
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:50 UTC
Image
© Photonews via Getty ImagesPresident of the European commission Jose Manuel Barroso, US president Barack Obama and president of the European council Herman van Rompuy at the summit in Brussels.
European leaders on Wednesday asked Barack Obama to share the US's shale gas bonanza with Europe by facilitating gas exports to help counter the stranglehold Russia has on the continent's energy needs.

At an EU-US summit in Brussels, Barack Obama's first visit to the city in office, the impact of Vladimir Putin's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula loomed large, affecting transatlantic relations in various ways - from defence spending to energy policies and trade talks.

With Russia's gas monopoly, Gazprom, supplying a quarter of Europe's gas needs, and almost all of the gas in parts of eastern Europe, the energy issue has soared to the top of Europe's strategic agenda as a result of the Ukrainian crisis and the fear that the Kremlin will be able to blackmail Europe if a threatened trade war erupts.

Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, presidents of the European council and the European commission respectively, asked Obama to come up with measures that would favour European companies obtaining licences to export US shale gas in liquid form to Europe.

Comment:
Obama tells EU to do more to cut reliance on Russian gas - Will give them U.S. supplies (...forget U.S. taxpayers)

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Bad Guys

Obama on Crimea: Let us count the lies

Sheldon Richman
Information Clearing House
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 07:23 UTC
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© Syte Reitz
I promised myself that I would no longer comment on what Barack Obama has to say, because it's just not worth the time and effort. Obama's public remarks are comprehensible only if you keep one thing in mind: he, like other politicians, thinks most people are morons.

I am so appalled by what Obama said in Europe the other day, however, that I must break my promise. In his speech he said, regarding events in Crimea, that
"Russia has pointed to America's decision to go into Iraq as an example of Western hypocrisy. Now, it is true that the Iraq War was a subject of vigorous debate not just around the world, but in the United States as well. I participated in that debate and I opposed our military intervention there. But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq's territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state that could make decisions about its own future."
It is hard to believe that a presidential speechwriter could manage to pack so many lies into so few sentences. But the speechwriter could only compose the sentences. Obama chose to deliver them, and for that, he should be indicted for gross deception with malice aforethought. (Need I say this is not unique to Obama? Virtually all politicians are demagogues. Obama's distinguishing trait is his smoothness.)
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Attention

Alabama minister prevented from feeding homeless without permit from Health Department


Police State USA
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 01:59 UTC
Homeless
© ABC3340Rick Wood partaking in his ministry to the homeless.

Birmingham - Homeless people will have to go hungry if the government has its way in Birmingham. Without expensive permits and abiding by onerous regulations, simple acts of charity are prohibited, and police are standing ready to enforce these restrictions.

A new city ordinance is forcing people like Rick Wood to shut down his weekly homeless ministry unless he pays the government hundreds of dollars and abides by the onerous regulations of the city.

Wood, a Christian minister, was recently shut down by Birmingham Police for serving the homeless in Linn Park. They demanded that he show them a permit or leave.

"That makes me so mad," Wood said to ABC3340 News.

"These people are hungry. They're starving. They need help from people. They can't afford to buy something from a food truck."

Mr. Wood has been ministering to the homeless for about six years, he said. He drives in his van to places where he knows the city's homeless camp out. One spot he regularly visits is under a bridge where several camping tents are set up.

"I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was naked, I was sick and in prison," Wood said, quoting Jesus from the Bible. "When you do to them, you do to me."

But nothing could be less compassionate than the force of government.
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Alarm Clock

New Ukraine: The 12 New Crimes

Graham Phillips
Oriental Review
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 20:26 UTC
Image
© Wikimedia Commons
Citizens of Ukraine, read these to avoid committing 'new crime', or 'thought crime'

1. Separatism.

The ultimate crime in New Ukraine. Request a referendum for your city? You are an enemy of the State and may be immediately removed to a state facility for re-education.

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Attention

NY police task force to inspect homes without notice for unpermitted guests


Police State USA
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 20:11 UTC
Zero Tolerence
© News-12A prop explains Westbury’s “Zero Tolerance” housing enforcement program.
Westbury - A special police task force has been created to snoop in on property owners and make sure that they aren't allowing guests to stay in their homes without government approval.

Homeowners in the Long Island community of Westbury (pop. 15,000) have had their private property rights abridged to the point where they cannot even make autonomous decisions about what happens inside their own homes.

The police "Housing Enforcement Unit" will abide by an "aggressive zero tolerance" policy for homeowners who allow so-called "illegal tenants" in their homes.

The cops will sweep through communities and conduct housing inspections "without notice."

A presentation given at a town hall meeting included a prop explaining the changes. That poster included the following statement: "Modify Search Warrant Law to Eliminate Prior Notice. Aggressively Use Warrants and Housing Sweeps on a Regular Basis - DONE!"
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Arrow Down

Best of the Web: Creativity and non-conformity now listed as a mental illness by psychiatrists

Code Breaker
Ready Chimp
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:03 UTC
DSM
© Wikimedia CommonsDSM-IV-TR, the predecessor to the most current DSM edition, the DSM-5.

What happens to a society when thinking outside of the box or being righteously enraged about your government going in the wrong direction becomes an excuse to be sedated and re-educated? It seems we don't have to go too far back in history to find out.

The Soviet Union used new mental illness for political repression.

People who didn't accept the beliefs of the Communist Party developed a new type of schizophrenia.

They suffered from the delusion of believing communism was wrong. They were isolated, forcefully medicated, and put through repressive "therapy" to bring them back to sanity.

Now thanks to thought policing by the American Psychiatric Association the latest addition of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is setting up the dominoes for arbitrary diagnosis of any dissenting individuals.

Listed as new mental illnesses are above-average creativity and cynicism. The manual goes on to identify a mental illness called "oppositional defiant disorder" or ODD.

Defined as an "ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior," symptoms include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness, and being easily annoyed.
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Sheriff

Bloomberg BNA energy reporter detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask EPA chief a question

Michael Bastasch
The Daily Caller
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:17 UTC
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© TwitterAri Natter
A reporter has been detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask a question of Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy.

Bloomberg BNA energy reporter Ari Natter tweeted about being detained.
#transparency RT @AriNatter: I am being detained by Capital Police for trying to ask @EPAGina a question after her remarks.
- nickjuliano (@nickjuliano) March 28, 2014
Natter was detained while covering the American Council On Renewable Energy conference, where McCarthy spoke. Also speaking at the conference was Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a staunch supporter of green energy who regularly takes the Senate floor to sound the alarm on global warming.

McCarthy spoke about renewable energy issues, including the EPA's proposal to cut back the amount of ethanol refiners are required to blend into gasoline annually to avoid economic calamity. She also talked about the Obama administration's view that energy and environmental policy go hand in hand.
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Shopping Bag

Obama tells EU to do more to cut reliance on Russian gas - Will give them U.S. supplies (...forget U.S. taxpayers)

Robin Emmott and Jan Strupczewski
Reuters
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:17 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Francois Lenoir
U.S. President Barack Obama told the European Union on Wednesday it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to Brussels to discuss trade relations and the Ukraine crisis, Obama said concluding a new transatlantic trade pact, now under negotiation, would make it easier for Washington to licence more gas exports.

The EU relies on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas, and tensions with Moscow have heightened concerns among its 28 members about the security of their energy supplies. Some 40 percent of that gas is shipped through Ukraine.

They have already stepped up efforts to reduce reliance on Russia but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she supported asking Obama to relax restrictions on exports of U.S. gas.

"Once we have a trade agreement in place, export licences for projects for liquefied natural gas destined to Europe would be much easier, something that is obviously relevant in today's geopolitical environment," Obama told a news conference after meeting EU leaders, adding that it could not happen overnight.
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Mail

Turkey bans YouTube less than a week after Twitter blackout


The Journal of Turkish Weekly
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:06 UTC
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© Inquisitr
Turkey banned YouTube on Thursday, less than a week after Ankara made a similar blackout of the social networking site Twitter. The country's telecom authority said Thursday it had taken an "administrative measure" against the Google-owned video site.

The announcement followed information that the video-sharing website was used to spread recording on YouTube that appears to reveal top-level Turkish officials weighing reasons for a possible attack on Syrian militants.

The recording purports to be of senior Turkish government, military and spy officials discussing plans to stage an armed clash in Syria or a missile attack that would serve as a pretext for a military response.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - already ensnared in a corruption scandal and hit by recent mass protests ahead of crucial local elections on Sunday - angrily lashed out at his political opponents for leaking the recording.

"They have leaked something on YouTube today," he told a campaign rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. "It was a meeting on our national security. It is a vile, cowardly, immoral act. We will go into their caves. Who are you serving by eavesdropping?"
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Calendar

Lawmakers told IRS tea party probe will take years

Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:35 UTC
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© AP/J. Scott ApplewhiteInternal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 26, 2014, prior to testifying before the House Oversight Committee hearing probing whether tea party groups were improperly targeted for increased scrutiny by the government’s tax agency.
The Internal Revenue Service's tea party targeting program is still withholding approval of 19 organizations' nonprofit status, nearly a year after the scandal was revealed, the agency's commissioner testified Wednesday to Congress - where he faced fierce criticism from lawmakers who said he is stonewalling.

John Koskinen, the man President Obama tapped to clean up the embattled agency, also said it will take years to respond to all of the document requests from Congress. He told Congress that even complying with a subpoena for emails from just a handful of key employees couldn't be done before the end of this year because it takes time to have attorneys delete protected taxpayer information.

Republicans signaled that they are moving ahead with plans to hold former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner in contempt of Congress. They released a memo from the House counsel saying the committee made her aware that it expected her to answer questions at a hearing earlier this month, and that she endangered her legal standing by again refusing to testify.

"The American people believe the IRS is now a politicized agency, because the IRS is a politicized agency," said Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
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