Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/19-3

Has the American political and media class learned a single lesson from the Iraq debacle? (Credit: Reuters/Stringer Brazil)What we have, writes Glenn Greenwald, is "almost half of the U.S. Senate — liberals, moderates and conservatives — jointly demanding an escalation with Iran and all but endorsing a war before the U.S. Government even proposes one."

Link: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/9865-beyond-the-politics-of-the-big-lie-the-education-deficit-and-the-new-authoritarianism

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. -Martin Luther King Jr. The American public is suffering from an education deficit. By this I mean it exhibits a growing inability to think critically, question authority, be reflective, weigh evidence, discriminate between reasoned arguments and opinions, listen across differences and engage the mutually informing relationship between private problems and broader public issues. This growing political and cultural illiteracy is not merely a problem of the individual, one that points to simple ignorance.

Link: http://naturalsociety.com/6-easily-avoided-health-hazards-in-your-home/

6 Easily Avoidable Health Hazards in Your HomeIt seems as if everything these days needs to come with a warning label. But many of the things we know to be bad for us are marketed as perfectly safe. When you take your health and safety into your own hands, you have to dedicate some serious time to researching the relevant topics and taking meaningful steps towards better health by avoiding health hazards.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/refugees-in-south-sudan-facing-full-blown-humanitarian-crisis/

Dozens of women and children dig into the earth in a dried out watering hole in the Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan in order to extract water from waist-deep pits after water ran out. Within the next nine days, drinking water at refugee camps in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state will run dry, warned the aid agency Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday. Meanwhile, refugees continue to stream into the state, as the few camps set up to house to entrants are stretched even further beyond capacity.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/19-4

With its catchy "We are the 99 Percent" slogan, the Occupy movement focused millions of Americans on our nation's chronic inequality. As that movement regains momentum, it must pay more attention to the whole 99 percent.

Link: http://www.thedailybell.com/4007/Fed-Lies-Unravel-Bank-Board-Gave-US-4-Trillion-in-Loans-to-Its-Own-Institutions

A report just released by the US Government Accountability Office explains how the Federal Reserve divvied up more than $4 trillion in low-interest loans after the fiscal crisis of 2008, and the news shouldn't be all that surprising. When the Federal Reserve looked towards bailing out some of the biggest banks in the country, more than one dozen of the financial institutions that benefited from the Fed's Hail Mary were members of the central bank's own board, reports the GAO.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/water/155878/%27shock_doctrine%27_in_action%3A_vital_freshwater_resources_under_attack_by_privatization_capitalists/

"One of the most twisted things I learned while making Patagonia Rising is that the companies behind the building of dams in developing countries are mostly from Europe and China," Oakland, Calif.-based director Brian Lilla told AlterNet. "Ninety percent of Chile's water rights were sold off by Pinochet and are now controlled by Spanish and Italian energy conglomerates."

Link: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre85i1ad-us-jpmorgan-loss/

JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said his bank was upfront with investors about its multibillion-dollar trading loss, even as regulators investigate whether JPMorgan disguised a dramatic rise in risk-taking.

Link: http://www.redress.cc/americas/ldavidson20120619

Lawrence Davidson argues that the corrupting influence of the Zionist lobbies in the USA has mean that American officials abroad routinely betray US citizens where Israel is involved.