The Five Most Terrifying Things About John Brennan, The New Director Of The CIA

John Brennan

The Article: The Five Most Terrifying Things About the Likely New CIA Head John Brennan by Alex Kane in AlterNet.

The Text: Lost amidst the manufactured controversy over President Barack Obama’s pick of Chuck Hagel [3] as Secretary of Defense is the equally consequential pick for new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Yesterday, President Obama tapped a man for the top CIA post who has supported the hallmarks of the permanent war on terror: wiretapping, drone strikes and torture. Pending confirmation, John Brennan, currently a top counterterrorism adviser to Obama, will be the new head of the powerful CIA. Brennan will take over from David Petraeus, who was felled by an extramarital affair.

President Obama praised Brennan in a press conference January 7, where the announcement of Brennan as CIA head was made. “For the last four years, as my Advisor for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, John developed and has overseen our comprehensive counterterrorism strategy — a collaborative effort across the government, including intelligence and defense and homeland security, and law enforcement agencies,” said Obama [4]. “And so think about the results. More al Qaeda leaders and commanders have been removed from the battlefield than at any time since 9/11.”

Obama’s praise for Brennan ignores the man’s dubious record. So instead, we’ll give Brennan’s history a closer look–and point out five disturbing facts you should know about Brennan’s past.

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The Best Theories On Everything: Volume Two

Best Theories Volume Two

Please see The Best Theories On Everything: Volume One here.

The “Liking Your Own Facebook” Theory: Liking your own Facebook status is the digital version of high-fiving yourself in public.

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The “#321 Drinking” Theory: “Never trust a man who doesn’t drink, he’s got something to hide.” Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.

(Working in Utah has been difficult.)

Best Theories Humphrey Bogart

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Chris Rock On The Economics Of Gun Control

Chris Rock On Gun Control

Chris Rock presents an ingenious alternative idea for gun control: bullet control.

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Employee Ownership The Only Antidote To Union Busting And Outsourcing

Employee Ownership

The Article: Employee Ownership: The Antidote to Corporate Greed, Union Busting, Outsourcing by Martin Michaels in Mint Press.

The Text: Four hundred employees of Leuken’s grocery, a small family-run grocery chain in Minnesota, are poised to become the new collective owners of the successful grocery chain. Rather than accepting offers of $30 million from private supermarket chains, longtime owner Joe Leuken has decided to retire and sell his grocery stores to his employees in a move that will keep jobs and store profits in the local community.

There are already 11,000 stores owned by employees through stock ownership programs, demonstrating that workers can run profitable businesses through democratic, collective ownership of resources. With union membership on a steady decline across the U.S., collective employee ownership may offer a new vision for the future of American businesses run by workers for the benefits of families and communities.

Leuken’s a model for other companies

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Dodging Taxes? Must Be A Filthy Rich Plutocrat

The Article: Ten filthy rich, tax-dodging hypocrites by Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger in Salon.

The Text: Brace yourself for one of the most aggressive corporate lobbying campaigns of all time. And one of the most hypocritical.

“Fix the Debt ” is a coalition of more than 80 CEOs who claim they know best how to deal with our nation’s fiscal challenges. The group boasts a $60 million budget just for the initial phase of a massive media and lobbying campaign.

The irony is that CEOs in the coalition’s leadership have been major contributors to the national debt they now claim to know how to fix. These are guys who’ve mastered every tax-dodging trick in the book. And now that they’ve boosted their corporate profits by draining the public treasury, how do they propose we put our fiscal house back in order? By squeezing programs for the poor and elderly, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

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