Breaking News Mon. Jan. 24, 2011

James Howard Kunstler

"State of Suspension"

The appointments of Daley, Sperling, and Immelt show not just the total "capture" of Obama's government by sociopathic corporate interests (which, after all, have the sole mission of rewarding their shareholders, boards of directors, and executives), but it also shows the astounding poverty of imagination at the center of American political life. This is a fatal vacuum that invites something like revolution, because the only thing this vacuum seeks to do is suck things outside of itself into its own darkness.

Clusterfuck Nation

Financial News
BusinessInsider: More On Why The "State Bankruptcy" Idea Is Dangerous Nonsense 
WSJ: Why State Bankruptcies May Be a Bad Idea 
ZeroHedge: "Buy A Gun" Google Queries Hit All Time High, And Other Off The Grid Economic Indicators
DailyBail: How The Federal Reserve Bought The Economics Profession
YahooNews: Chinese bank ICBC signs deal to enter US market
Alphaville: Inflated expectations and spare capacity concerns
Reuters: Judges to weigh mortgage document destruction
ibTimes: Ireland to cannibalize its workforce to fix economic woes
MotherJones: In Social Security Debate, Today's Democrats Worse Than Yesterday's Republicans
DailyReckoning: What Every American Needs To Understand About The Economy
ZeroHedge: "On The Ground" First Person Report On Chinese Inflation
CharlesHughSmith: Conserving Doomed Systems (or, why we're staying on the Titanic)
BeforeItsNews: Real reason for Gingrich's plan to allow states to declare bankruptcy: to bust unions
(follow link on page to NYT article.)
DailyBail: Bernanke The Accounting Magician - Unnoticed Rule Change Means The Fed Will NEVER Incur A Balance Sheet Loss Again (Reuters)
BusinessInsider: Houston, We Have a Problem
Reuters: Vampire Squid? Big Government? U.S. crisis reports murky
ibTimes: Analysis: Be careful what you wish for: the China Price starts

Peak oil and Energy News
TheOilDrum: Tech Talk - Venezuelan natural gas production
WashingtonPost: A Great Plains pipeline debate

War, Conflict and Terrorism
RawStory: Irish government in tatters as coalition partners pull out
ZeroHedge: Al-Jazeera Releases "The Palestine Papers": Thousands Of Documents Detailing A Decade Of Secret Israeli Palestinian Negotiations
BBC: Live: Moscow airport explosion

An explosion has ripped through Moscow's Domodedovo airport - the busiest in the Russian capital, reportedly killing at least 23 people. More than 100 more are thought to have been injured in the blast, which reports suggest may have been the work of a suicide bomber.

TPM: Blackwater Contractors Want Closed Court During Appeal
CNN: Russian authorities: Terrorist bombing at Moscow airport kills 31
Bloomberg: France Blocked Delivery of Riot-Control Equipment to Tunisia

Environmental News
GoogleHostedNews: It's cold out there, even for hardy New Englanders

Guardian: Huge majority oppose England forest sell-off, poll finds
YouGov poll finds 84% of British public agree that woods and forests should be kept in public ownership for future generations.
WashingtonPost: Shareholders press energy companies on risks associated with gas-extraction method
CredoAction: Tell the E.P.A.: Ban the pesticide that's killing honey bees
MotherJones: Amazon Case Against Chevron Enters Final Stage
ToledoBlade: Toxic leak evacuates Adrian, Mich., plant, puts schools on delay
TimesLive: Residents protest toxic waste incinerator
Gizmag: TASER announces wildlife management stungun

Police State, Big Brother and Surveillance
TPM: Are Unmanned Drones Coming To A Police Dept. Near You?
USAToday: Police turn to drones for domestic surveillance
Rutherford: Renewing the Patriot Act While America Sleeps

Science and Technology
CNNMoneyTech: Hey megalomaniacs: Build your own planet! 
Science: Toxic Ash Clouds Might Be Culprit in Biggest Mass Extinction

Food and Water
Guardian: Can the sea solve China's water crisis?
China's £1.1bn desalination plant is just the latest megaproject in its increasingly desperate race against water shortages.
FarmWars: Food Freedom Betrayal!
Guardian: Genetically modified crops are the key to human survival, says UK's chief scientist
Sir John Beddington argues that moves to block GM crops on moral grounds are no longer sustainable
WSJ: Monsanto Swings to Profit on Growth in Seed Unit 
MotherNatureNetwork:  China province hit by worst drought, warning on wheat
If the drought continues, the winter wheat crop, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the country's wheat harvest, could be hurt significantly.
EPOnline: Andes Water Crisis Posing Challenge for U.S. Security, Peru
CircleofBlue: Prompted By Scarcity, Colorado River Basin States Examine Their Lifeline
HavanaJournal: Cuba suffering from major drought, again

Medical and Health
Guardian: Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US
Twitter and Facebook don't connect people – they isolate them from reality, say a rising number of academics
CNN: Afghan infants fed pure opium

Other News
TPM: Glenn Beck's Ranting Sparks Death Threats Against 78-Year-Old Sociologist
DailyReckoning: In Praise of Anarchy
ModernSurvivalBlog: Preparedness is Peace of Mind
RawStory: GOP senator says lowering violent rhetoric means ‘the shooter wins’
Cryptogon: Peter Dale Scott: The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy
RawStory: Report: Fox News gave GOP presidential candidates $55 million in free advertising
MotherNatureNetwork: No Money Man: The thrifty adventures of Mark Boyle

The Forums
Silent Country forum is a bit under the weather today but should be back online soon, but in the meantime, do visit the other forums linked below for current lively discussions on the issues that are shaping the world today.
TinfoilPalace: Scientists fear kilograms don't weigh as much as they used to 
TinfoilPalace: The New Deluded Man . . ."Forum Man" 
TheOilAge: Al Jazeera releases thousands of secret papers re Palestine
TheOilAge: Video: What the world looks like to the PO aware.
Hubberts-Arms: Disinformation Fog Intensifies as Economic Turmoil Develops
Hubberts-Arms: Obama’s reign of terror in Afghanistan