UNDERNEWS: December 6, 2012

Friday, 7 December 2012, 11:48 am
Column: Undernews

UNDERNEWS: December 6, 2012

Since 1964, the news while there's still time to do something about it

THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW

• Obama's latest sellout to the One Percent
• Brian Schweitzer: bright light, dark horse
• The changing city: Granny flats and corner stores
• The real Hillary: another deal
• More than a quarter of TV weather forecasters think climate change is a scam
• Judge rules Detroit mass police raid illegal
• Study: Oil clearning dispersants made matters worse
• Morning Line: Privatizing values
• Mall Santa fired for being too grumpy
• How 7 historic figures overcame depression without doctors

Culture
Dealing with copyright the way it was originally intended

Music
One German household in three has a musical instrument in the living room. But many sit there idle and do not get played, according to a new survey.Only one in six households – has an active musician, and that’s down from 26% just four years ago.

Politics
17 bills that likely would have passed the Senate if the Republicans hadn't fillbustered them

Ecology
Hydrogen could help cut emissions and boost wind and solar power
World Bank: Middle East, African Countries to Be Hardest Hit by Climate Change

Media
Bill Moyers: FCC May Give Murdoch a Very Merry Christmas - Two of the Last Big Newspapers in America

Labor
Organizing low pay workers

Schools
Inside Finnish education

Polls
58% say pot should be legalized
Second poll finds two third of those under 30 favor legalization while only 35% of those 65 and older do

On campus
Average SAT score (out of 2400) of students from households with an income below $20,000: 1322 . . . From households with an income above $200,000: 1722 - @Harpers

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Top Scoops Headlines

COMMENT > >

Ramzy Baroud: Israel, Hawking And The Pressing Question Of Boycott

It is an event “of cosmic proportions”, said one Palestinian academic, a befitting description regarding Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott an Israeli academic conference slated for next June. It was also a decisive moral call which was communicated on May 8 by Cambridge University, where Hawking is a professor. More>>

Binoy Kampmark: Angelina Jolie: Breasts, Celebrity And Choice

Popular culture, and celebrity, have come to this. A well-endowed personality, a figure of celluloid appeal, has to justify to the other-worldliness of an action personal and specific to the person in question. That a woman has to have a mastectomy brings with it pains within and without – not merely the challenges to her body but her family and friendship circle. In the case of celebrity... More>>

David Swanson: How Your Town Can Stop Drones

Local resolutions have helped advance many issues, including war opposition, when they've been passed in large numbers. When we passed a resolution in Charlottesville, Va., last year opposing any attack on Iran, I heard from numerous cities that wanted to do the same. As far as I know... More>>

John Spritzler: Uri Avnery's Specious Attack On The One State Solution

Uri Avnery may be the most sophisticated defender of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. He defends this ethnic cleansing while posing as a great friend and sympathizer of Palestinians, supposedly proven by his opposition to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and support for a "two state solution." More>>

ALSO:

Uri Avnery - The Donkey of the Messiah

Syed Atiq ul Hassan: Pakistan: The Election Watered Down On Change Lovers

Political observers, experts and senior analysts were predicting that the election 2013 in Pakistan will write new history in the country. The 11th May 2013 election will bring a new change in the corrupt political system of Pakistan. Those who were praying for the betterment of Pakistan were expecting that the political system which has been dominated by feudal cum politicians... More>>

Binoy Kampmark: Stopping The Drones: Pakistan-US Relations In The High Court

Alternate realities in the conflict Pakistan is waging against insurgents in its tribal areas tend to be regular affairs. Intrinsic to them is the contorted relationship the country has with the United States, three bits domestic violence to two bits political expediency. This produces unhealthy effects, if one is to see Pakistani sovereignty as a creature that has been abused and discredited during the course of its campaign against “terror”. More>>

Ramzy Baroud: The Pain Of Bangladesh: T-Shirts Made With Blood And Tears

As they spoke to a BBC correspondent in their run-down room which they call home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a man sobbed as his 12-year-old daughter sat close to him. His face, wrinkled before its time, was a picture of utter anguish. It could only be understood by a parent whose child was dying under giant slabs of concrete where nothing could be done. More>>

David Swanson: Death Penalty Dying Out

Most of the world's governments no longer use the death penalty. Among wealthy nations there is one exception remaining. The United States is among the top five killers in the world. Also in the top five: the recently "liberated" Iraq. But most of the United States' 50 states no longer use the death penalty. More>>