Women Leaders Urge Peaceful End To Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Women leaders attending a United Nations-hosted conference in Madrid called for a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including an end to the three-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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Libertarian National Convention

WASHINGTON – The Libertarian Party will hold its National Convention in St. Louis from Saturday, May 29, through Monday, May 31.

The convention will take place at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis.

Information about the convention, including the schedule, is available at the convention website

. The convention has been titled “Gateway to Liberty” .

Additional meetings and related events will occur on May 27 and 28.

Unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, the Libertarian Party holds a national convention every two years. At this convention, delegates from around the country will be amending the party’s platform and bylaws, and will elect officers and other members to the Libertarian National Committee.

One of the highlights of the convention will be the hotly contested election to replace outgoing Chairman William Redpath. Five Libertarians have declared their candidacies in that race.

Redpath commented, “We’re seeing tremendous voter antipathy toward the Democratic and Republican parties. This is shaping up to be an exciting year for the Libertarian Party.”

Currently, there are 632 Libertarian candidates declared for the November 2 elections, including 172 candidates for U.S. Congress. A list of candidates may be viewed here.

Among the speakers at the convention will be Bob Barr, the LP’s 2008 presidential nominee.

There Will Be Blood

British Petroleum’s deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico is still gushing at least 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day, as it has for two weeks. It could become the biggest oil spill in US history. Along with killing fauna like pelicans and turtles, the oil will destroy the base of the gulf’s food chain by killing the larvae and eggs of crabs, clams, oysters, shrimp and fish, devastating the nation’s major source of seafood and one of the region’s key sources of employment. Like the Exxon Valdez disaster, the damage from this spill will last for decades.

It is catastrophic, spectacular, heartbreaking—but the BP spill is merely an extreme version of the norm, in which accidents and pollution are routine. In January a tanker collided with two barges at Port Arthur, Texas, dumping 450,000 gallons of oil into the gulf. In Ecuador, Texaco leaked 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewater and 17 million gallons of crude oil in pristine forests. Even on its very best day, our global petroleum economy is a series of violent, toxic horrors. Drilling, shipping, refining and burning oil is killing the planet—at the local level through poisoned air and water, and globally by fueling climate change. Politically the competition for oil breeds conflict and corruption, as it has in the Niger Delta. [read more…]

The Nation Editors | www. thenation.com |Posted: 05 May  2010

The great electric car race of 2010

This year, more automakers will roll out electric cars to American roadways.

For Jason Hendler and more than 50,000 others who put their names on an Internet “want list” in hopes of one day owning the Chevrolet Volt plug-in car, the wait is almost over. Read more

New EU President

From the Trumpet.com

The first president of the European Council may be in for a brief term in office.

Consistent with the way of the Franco-German agenda for the European Union, Germany and its lackey, France, got their leader of choice appointed to the new position of EU president.

As has been the case with this most undemocratic of institutions from its inception, the whole process leading to the appointment of the Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy to be the first permanent European Council president lacked transparency. Read more

The Truth Behind Iran’s Election Protests

Don’t take what you see on the evening news at face value.

The media are full of breathless reports of an Iranian uprising. They love this story.… After election results from June 12 showed a landslide victory for hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, angry anti-establishment university students took to the streets. For the moment, their protests are surviving a brutal security crackdown.… Read more

How will the world tackle North Korea threat?

As North Korea threatens military strikes on Allied troops in growing tensions over its nuclear test, David Williamson assesses the rogue state’s intentions and how the world could react

HOLLYWOOD villains can only terrify if they convince audiences they are mad or evil enough to commit an act of outright mayhem and malevolence.

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How Kim Affords His Nukes

North Korea, with its malnourished populace, frequent famines and obsolete conventional weapons, is as famous for its poverty as it is for its provocations. That has many observers now wondering how a country that can barely afford to keep the lights on can foot the bill for a missile and nuclear-weapons program.

Part of the explanation lies in the Stalinist nation’s “military-first” policy, under which the Army gets to pocket a huge chunk of the national income—up to 40 percent, according to Marcus Noland, a North Korea expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. [read more...]

by Takashi Yokota | from NEWSWEEK | Published:  08 Jun 2009

China and North Korea

It’s true, as Anne Applebaum says, that China is the only country in the world with any real influence over North Korea.  So why do they put up with Kim Jong-il’s antics?  The usual answer is that they’re afraid of pushing too hard lest his regime collapse and send millions of refugees streaming across the border into Manchuria.  Applebaum, however, speculates that that isn’t it at all.  China actually wants North Korea to continue its hotheaded ways: [read more...]

By Kevin Drum | from Mother Jones | Published: 01 June 2009

GOP quandary: how hard to swing at Sotomayor

Republicans on Capitol Hill are acutely aware that the tone and content of the nominee’s hearing could redefine the party after two punishing national elections.

Washington — Republicans preparing for confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor see little prospect, barring surprises, of blocking her nomination to the US Supreme Court.

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