PPPs - Partnership or Plunder?

by Dexter Whitfield from New Left Project [Britain]. The author lifts the veil from some privatization schemes to reveal the realities of public plunder. He concludes his essay with the following:

The global financial crisis has created a unique opportunity to radically redefine the role of government, the public sector and welfare state. But the political neoliberal consensus has electively limited the debate to the budget deficit and public spending cuts whilst curtailing debate on increasing government revenue. There is little vision or ability to think about the future within the main political parties. 

Jamie Oliver Turns the Spotlight On Our Own Homegrown Heroes

from Civil Eats. 

The series kicks off with Oliver bounding into town like an impudent puppy, tussling with the school cafeteria cooks and shaking his shaggy head in disbelief at the agribiz atrocities they blithely dish up: breakfast pizza; sugary pink milk; dehydrated, chemically “enhanced” mashed potatoes whose reconstitution Oliver likens to the mixing of cement. The “lunch ladies,” as he calls them, stare at him in disbelief when he suggests that they ought to try making meals from scratch using unadulterated, wholesome foods.

An Unaccustomed Truth: American Commander Admits Afghan Atrocities

by Chris Floyd from his blog, Empire Burlesque. He finds in the NY Times a rare and astounding admission by a US General appointed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town

from the NY Times. Another astounding admission reported by this source--the US military protects the illicit drug industry in Afghanistan (just like it does in Columbia, and as it did in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia)! So, is it really a "War on Drugs"? Or is it a "War FOR Drugs" and drug lords? You decide.

Comparing Military Spending

from the Cato Institute. See the data that this libertarian think tank furnishes regarding military expenditures of the US compared with other countries in NATO. Well, after all, it is The US Empire. The Cato Institute, critical of this discrepancy, naively believes that "today’s U.S. military chiefly fights other people’s wars, and builds other people’s nations."

Time out (click on cartoon to enlarge)

CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe

from WikiLeaks. There is a growing concern among the rulers of The Empire that people in Europe are increasingly in opposition to their countries' participation in The Empire's war in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Read this leaked document to find out more.

Western European publics might be better prepared to tolerate a spring and summer of
greater military and civilian casualties if they perceive clear connections between outcomes in Afghanistan and their own priorities. A consistent and iterative strategic communication program across NATO troop contributors that taps into the key concerns of specific Western European audiences could provide a buffer if today’s apathy becomes tomorrow’s opposition to ISAF, giving politicians greater scope to support deployments to Afghanistan.

So, how does the CIA's "comunication program" function? See this and this for starters.

Letters to Jackie, But What About Jack? How to Avoid the Heart of the JFK Assassination

by Russ Baker from Who, What, Why. One of US's best investigative journalists looks at the way mainstream media manages news connected with the JFK assassination.

JPMorgan, Lehman, UBS Named in Bid-Rigging Conspiracy

from Bloomberg. Is your town, country, and state slashing their budget by cutting back on medical and mental health service to the poor, school lunch programs, closing prisons and schools, raising college tuition, laying off teachers, cutting library hours, raising taxes, etc?  Read how some of the financial wizards contributed to the social-economic carnage inflicted on our economy.

'Even War Is Good for Economic Growth'

an interview with Noreena Hertz from Der Spiegel. It surprised me to see this article posted until I realized that the interviewee was only asking for a kinder, gentler form of capitalism--what she calls "cooperative capitalism"--an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one. Still she makes some cogent remarks about the existing economic system.

GDP only measures a small part of economic success. Some really important aspects are ignored. Take sustainability, for example. It's absurd that a country can have high growth rates because it has a lot of polluting industry. The quality of the air, health, progress made by women, child care and social cohesion -- these are all important economic factors. GDP does not show how innovative an economy is. Nor does it show if the products being produced will be successful in the long run or will be out of fashion tomorrow. But, up to now, there has not been a substitute for GDP.

Congress Launches Investigation Into Gas Drilling Practices

from Pro Publica. 

Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing [1], raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don't adequately protect drinking water from drilling. 

Earthquake and Tsunami in Chile: The Militarization of Natural Disasters

from Americas Program Report. I got a warning from Norton about this site being unsafe. Well, it is not true. But, if you are still worried about a message like this, you may also access this article here. 

At times of catastrophe, government institutions, public services, and private enterprise often fail. It seems as if there's a general collapse, to a great extent because the spread of the market economy has eaten away at the fabric of social ties. Relationships of trust and proximity—the relationships in small neighborhood shops where workers took food and paid for it at the end of the month—fell apart when big supermarket chains moved in. Communal spaces, plazas, taverns, and neighborhood festivals have been lost to urban speculation and the privatization of everyday life.

Truth Has Fallen and Has Taken Liberty With It

by Paul Craig Roberts from ICH. This former member of the Washington establishment has discovered what happens when one doesn't follow the capitalist party line. I find problems with some of his views, but overall they are on target. He does not seem to understand that capitalism has shifted to a global development rather than merely a national phenomenon. Thus it is no longer "what is good for General Motors is good for America", but rather the new theme for capitalism is "what is good for The Federal Reserve, Goldman-Sachs, Deutsche Bank, etc, is good for capitalists regardless of what country they reside in. Many of them have homes in three or four countries. They are true globalists. Because he did not get on board with this new theme, he has been removed from mainstream media which are owned by, and serve the capitalist ruling classes.

Time out (click on cartoon to enlarge)

(You may need to enlarge it further after clicking on it.)

The Collapse of Journalism/The Journalism of Collapse: New Storytelling and a New Story

by Robert Jensen from Dissident Voice. 

There is considerable attention paid in the United States to the collapse of journalism — both in terms of the demise of the business model for corporate commercial news media, and the evermore superficial, shallow, and senseless content that is inadequate for citizens concerned with self-governance. This collapse is part of larger crises in the political and economic spheres, crises rooted in the incompatibility of democracy and capitalism.

We need a jailout, not just a bailout

by Danny Schechter, originally from Media Channel but carried on Creative-i.

...it’s shady business as usual with more businesses going out of business. And alongside this failure is a growing meltdown for what used to be the middle class and working class.

 Quite reasonably, the public is becoming angrier because jobs are not coming back. And quiet as it is kept, they may not be coming back.

Hundreds of thousands about to lose unemployment benefits

from The Economic Populist. 

There is no stopping it this time.

Last month Senator Jim Bunning created a stir with his stand against extending unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed through borrowing. After a lot of political grandstanding, it ended after a couple days when both sides agreed to a temporary 30-day extension.

The 30-days are almost over and nothing has been accomplished. D-Day is approaching for the unlucky millions of long-term unemployed.

The perfect crime

by Chan Akya from Asia Times Online. The article refers to the rating agencies who have gotten away with "the perfect crime".  And he explains why.

Clearly, what has passed as financial market regulation for the rating agencies has been tempered by the need for the very same governments in the bond markets to continue their borrowings.

In other words, there is a conflict of interest in the US and highly indebted European governments being in charge of reforming the credit rating agencies in the first place, given their own borrowing needs, which would be adversely affected by potential rating downgrades should the demands for "truth" in credit ratings become too onerous or even inflexible. 

The Pentagon church and the people

by William J. Astore from Asia Times Online. He makes an excellent point when he writes:

When it comes to the United States' military affairs, ignorance is not bliss. What's remarkable then, given the permanent state of war in which we find ourselves, is how many Americans seem content not to know. 

But his metaphor of the Catholic Church is not quite right. The reality is more like this: a hidden capitalist class behind the stage performs a play called, "Constitutional Representative Democracy". They direct the play for the audience of the American people and the world. It is very much like a Hollywood production in that it is filled with political spectacles, intrigue, sex scandals, tension, romance, feel-good stuff, and heroes. If anyone (of significance) in the audience doesn't like, or questions the play, the forces commanded by the Pentagon (also CIA, FBI, police, etc.) move in and remove them, often violently. The Pentagon is simply the goon squad for the capitalist class. And no one dares question the Pentagon.

Obama squeezed between Israel and Iran

by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. More political theater in Washington.

This "crisis" between Tel Aviv and Washington is a non-event. On the other hand, no one knows exactly whatever hardball Obama and Netanyahu played behind closed doors for three-and-a-half hours in Washington. Did Netanyahu "spit into Obama's eye", according to Israeli Labor Party member Eitan Cabel? Or was this was just more kabuki designed to obscure a not-so-silent drive towards an attack on Iran - where once again fresh American blood will be spilled to placate a non-existent "existential threat" to Israel?