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Consumers Abandoning Healthcare.gov
by Stephen Lendman
Can you blame them? According to Digital Trends (DT), "more than $500 million" was spent creating "the digital equivalent of a rock." DT's source is the General Accounting Office (GAO). Most spending went for contracts, saying:
"CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) data indicated that the agency spent almost $394 million from fiscal year 2010 through March 31, 2013, through contracts to complete activities to establish the FFEs and the data hub and carry out certain other exchange-related activities."
FFE's are federally administrative exchanges. They include Healthcare.gov and Washington run state exchanges.
Israel Avoids Human Rights Scrutiny
by Stephen Lendman
Israel is one of the world's most egregious human rights abusers. Palestinians endure ruthless repression. So do Arab citizens.
Jews supporting fundamental freedoms for everyone are targeted. Equity and justice in Israel and Occupied Palestine are verboten.
Israel is no democracy. It never was. It isn't now. It fits the classic definition of a police state. Its current government is its worst ever.
Hardline extremists run it. State terror is official policy. Israel's rap sheet includes crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. It avoids scrutiny at all costs.
In January, it became the first country ever refusing to attend a Human Rights Council (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its own record.
It no-showed. Its last review was December 2008. In May, it told HRC it opted out of what it called "a political tool and convenient platform, cynically used to advance certain political aims, to bash and demonize Israel."
Israel wants its longstanding abusive human rights record whitewashed. It wants it airbrushed from history.
Obamacare Fallout
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's signature program is rife with inequities. It makes a dysfunctional system worse.
It rations healthcare. It's unaffordable. It leaves millions uninsured. It leaves millions more underinsured. It compromises privacy. A little noticed disclaimer states:
"You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transmitting or stored on this information system."
Medical privacy rights are violated. NSA and other US spy agencies will have full access to Americans' medical history. They have lots more than that. More information below.
NSA Spying on World Leaders
by Stephen Lendman
On October 24, London's Guardian headlined "NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts," saying:
Snowden released documents revealed it. "An official in another US government department" gave NSA over 200 private phone numbers.
Thirty-five world leaders were included. They weren't named. It's not hard imagining likely targets. Germany's Angela Merkel is one. So is France's Francois Hollande.
Brazil's Dilma Rouseff is another. Mexican President Enrique Nieto's private communications are monitored. Russian, Chinese and Iranian leaders are prime NSA targets.
"(T)he NSA encourages senior officials in its 'customer' departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their 'Rolodexes' so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems," said the Guardian.
Merkel in NSA's Crosshairs
by Stephen Lendman
Nations spying on each other is longstanding. Friends do it on foes. Allies do it on each other.
Washington's Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally."
The Pentagon accused Israel of "actively engag(ing) in military and industrial espionage in the United States."
US national security officials consider Israel at times a genuine counterintelligence and espionage threat. France perhaps feels the same way about America. Add Germany to the list.
How the Brix Score can reduce your food bill
By Rady Ananda
Survival in hard economic times demands you get more bang for your buck, wherever you can. One area includes reducing your food bill, by knowing that the higher the nutrient density, the less you need to eat.
So, how do you measure nutrient density? The most widely favored method uses a refractometer that indirectly measures the sugar content in an aqueous solution, based on light refraction.
Lawless Drone Killings
by Stephen Lendman
Two UN reports highlight the problem. More on them below.
Sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai is an activist for women's education, a blogger, and Sakharov Prize winner. She's a Pakistan National Youth Peace Prize recipient.
She was a 2013 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Desmond Tutu nominated her for the International Children's Peace Prize. On October 16, Canada said it plans to grant her honorary citizenship.
Obama invited her to the White House. Perhaps he wishes he hadn't. She took full advantage. She didn't hold back. "(D)rone attacks are fueling terrorism" she said.
"Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people."
Predator drones sanitize killing on the cheap. Remote warrior teams operate computer keyboards and multiple monitors.
They murder by remote control. They target faceless victims. They kill indiscriminately. They do so unaccountably.
Fiasco Obamacare Debut
by Stephen Lendman
Obamacare's painful rollout is the least of its problems. More on that below.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is rife with problems. It's a ripoff. It's a boon to healthcare providers. It scams most enrollees.
It's not universal as promised. It leaves millions of Americans uninsured. It leaves most others woefully underinsured.
US healthcare already is unaffordable. Obamacare makes it more so. It lawlessly invades privacy. It compromises a fundamental human right.
Martin Luther King once said:
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in heath care is the most shocking and inhumane."
Obamacare mandates making a failed system worse. It guarantees inequality. It institutionalizes it. It does so legally.
Remembering Fouzi El-Asmar
by Stephen Lendman
On September 19, distinguished Palestinian American academic, writer, author, poet and activist El-Asmar died at age 76. At his request, he was buried in his native Palestine.
On October 27, a memorial service will be held at Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church, 10620 River Road, Potomac, MD. His life and work will be commemorated.
In 1937, he was born in Haifa. It was during Britain's Mandate period.
It denied political independence. It prepared Palestine for Jewish statehood. It marginalized Palestinian rights in the process.
El-Asmar was a recognized authority on harsh political, economic and social issues affecting Israeli Arab citizens.
His articles appeared regularly in Middle East and European Arabic publications. In 1958, he became an editorial board member for the literary monthly Al-Fajr.
In 1966, he became the Arabic magazine Hadha-al-Alam's editor. In 1979, he became managing editor for the international Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Fukushima - A Global Threat That Requires a Global Response
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The story of Fukushima should be on the front pages of every newspaper. Instead, it is rarely mentioned. The problems at Fukushima are unprecedented in human experience and involve a high risk of radiation events larger than any that the global community has ever experienced. It is going to take the best engineering minds in the world to solve these problems and to diminish their global impact. When we researched the realities of Fukushima in preparation for this article, words like apocalyptic, cataclysmic and Earth-threatening came to mind. But, when we say such things, people react as if we were the little red hen screaming "the sky is falling" and the reports are ignored. So, we’re going to present what is known in this article and you can decide whether we are facing a potentially cataclysmic event.
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