MB Civic » Americas (incl. Carribean)

“An important new study based on capital cases in Connecticut provides powerful evidence that death sentences are haphazardly meted out, with virtually no connection to the heinousness of the crime.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/an-engineered-doomsday.html?ref=opinion

An Engineered Doomsday

“A lethal virus needs to be destroyed, or better contained, and future research closely reviewed.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/reducing-the-nuclear-arsenal.html?ref=opinion

No Need for All These Nukes, by Philip Taubman

“Obama could cut the arsenal by two-thirds without diminishing its power.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/as-streetlights-vanish-a-return-to-a-darker-age.html?ref=opinion

Return to a Darker Age, by A. Roger Ekirch

“On lampless streets roamed brigands, witches and rapacious beasts.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/my-guantanamo-nightmare.html?ref=opinion

My Guantanamo Nightmare, by Lakhdar Boumebiene

“I was held for seven years without explanation, and freed only after the Supreme Court stepped in.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/notes-from-a-guantanamo-survivor.html?ref=opinion

Notes From a Guantanamo Survivor, by Murat Kurnaz

“I was in Pakistan, on a public bus on my way to the airport to return to Germany when the police stopped the bus I was riding in.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/bruni-a-campaign-pruned-of-bushes.html?ref=opinion

A Campaign of Pruned Bushes, by Frank Bruni

“Republican candidates delete the party’s last two presidents.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/friedman-watching-elephants-fly.html?ref=opinion

Watching Elephants Fly, by Thomas L. Friedman

“Taking notes on the next round of voting in Egypt.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/douthat-personal-and-political.html?ref=opinion

Personal and Political, by Ross Douthat

“The attacks on Rick Santorum and his wife are weird but inevitable.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-grating-santorum.html?ref=opinion

The Grating Santorum, by Maureen Dowd

“So, would it be O.K. if five men and six dogs got married?”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-do-we-live-in-a-less-deadly-time-or-not.html?ref=opinion

Sunday Dialogue: Do We Live In a Less Deadly Time, or Not?

Democracy Now: Year of Global Uprisings, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street: A Special Look Back at 2011

Mike Blaxill — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:37:38 +0000

NYT (4): Foreign Affairs

Ian Alterman — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:34:40 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/world/middleeast/backing-off-vow-of-softer-stance-egypt-backs-office-raids.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=egypt&st=cse

Undercutting Vow of Softer Stance, Egypt Again Defends Office Raids

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/world/europe/in-russia-a-change-in-the-dynamic-of-protests.html?scp=2&sq=russia&st=cse

A Dilemma for Russian Leaders: To Suppress Protests or Not

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/business/global/venezuela-ordered-to-pay-900-million-to-exxon-mobil.html?scp=2&sq=venezuela&st=cse

Venezuela Is Ordered to Pay $900 Million to Exxon Mobil

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/world/asia/china-says-man-dies-from-bird-flu.html?scp=5&sq=china&st=cse

China Says Man Dies From Bird Flu

The Guardian: World pays Ecuador not to extract oil from rainforest

Mike Blaxill — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:01:52 +0000

John Vidal in The Guardian ..

According to the UN, the “crowdfunding” initiative had last night raised $116m (£75m), enough to temporarily halt the exploitation of the 722 square miles of “core” Amazonian rainforest known as Yasuní national park in Ecuador .. The idea of asking people to pay for something not to take place was widely dismissed by national treasuries as holding the world to ransom. The German development minister, Dirk Niebel, said that the principle of paying for the oil not to be exploited “would be setting a precedent with unforeseeable referrals”. However, Germany has now contributed $48m in “technical assistance”. The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was widely criticised after he wrote off $51m of Ecuador’s $10bn external debt as Italy’s contribution

Hugo Chávez hints at US cancer plot

Mike Blaxill — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:58:05 +0000

from The Guardian ..

“Would it be so strange that they’ve invented the technology to spread cancer and we won’t know about it for 50 years?” Chávez pondered, one day after Argentina’s president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and would undergo surgery in January .. Recent years have seen a series of leftwing Latin America leaders diagnosed with cancer including Brazil’s current president, Dilma Rousseff, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, and the former Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva .. [Chavez said] “I repeat: I am not accusing anyone. I am simply taking advantage of my freedom to reflect and air my opinions faced with some very strange and hard to explain goings-on,”

funny when i heard about Kirchner the thought entered my mind, and then Chavez weighs in – he’ll soon to be called crazy and irrational in the corporate media without context – anyone remember the Bob Marley story told by former black panther and Marley friend Lee Lew-Lee? – a little radiation can do the trick – its tinfoil hat time again – mab .. read more