Creating Real Utopias

from New Left Project. Although I am put off a bit by the esoteric, academic jargon, the article may contain some useful ways of thinking about changing the system which is of critical importance. In the article there is a link to more discussions on the subject that may be useful.

All Eyes On California Strawberries: 40,000 People Join Scientists To Oppose Methyl Iodide

from Civil Eats. Agri-business comes up with another poison to destroy people's health in their mad pursuit for more profits.

Big Oil Has Pipeline into Nebraska Campaigns

from Nebraska Watchdog. This illustrates the way fake democracy works in the US.

An examination by Nebraska Watchdog has found that Big Oil and Electricity have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the three Nebraskans on Capitol Hill who have voters in the path of a controversial oil pipeline.

A Call for a Democratic Economy

from Yes! magazine. This is a review of a recently published book entitled, The Value of Nothing, by Raj Patel. Looks to me like the author is on the right track.

Patel’s solution is one of radical democracy, but radical only when compared to our current celebrity political culture. Instead of voting for our favorite overlord every four years, citizens should be organizing and taking an active role in establishing the rules that govern their own lives. These kinds of societies have existed before, and exist today. Patel’s primary models are ancient Athenians and the contemporary Zapatistas. For the Zapatistas, democracy is a way of life, rather than a rare and unpleasant ritual.

Time out

How Big Foundations and Wall Street Elites are Legitimating Their Plans to Balance the Budget

from Counter Punch. An excellent report on the latest battle waged by the US ruling class in its war against working people.

While one function of the U.S. government (perhaps the main function in recent decades) is to facilitate capitalist accumulation on ever-greater scales, another function, more a necessity growing out of the pain and dislocation that wealth accumulation creates, is to legitimate rule, oftentimes by stabilizing an otherwise brutal socioeconomic structure.

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...on Saturday these AstroTurf town hall meetings, occurring in 19 major cities and dozens of other locations, will provide cover for what is otherwise a foregone set of conclusions that include recommendations that the Congress and White House cut and privatize many social programs.

BP: Gulf Resident Gives Behind the Scenes Account, Slams Cleanup and Safety

from Naked Captalism. The article gives good background on, and analysis of, the information gathered by a wife of a Gulf fisherman as she was given extensive exposure to BPs cleanup efforts. I recommend the link to the actual videos and transcripts.

Now, as far as EPA, OSHA, NOAA, BP, and the federal government , they every one of them’s in collaboration with each other. That comes from someone at the top of NOAA. That’s who I’ve been talking to. They gave me someone at the top of NOAA. But, they’re all in collaboration with BP.  

What do BP and the Banks Have In Common? The Era of Corporate Anarchy

by Gonzalo Lira from his blog. This guy puts things in the right perspective. What I find so difficult to understand is why most people don't get it and simply swallow whole whatever corporate sponsored pundits say.

Curiously, individuals—ordinary people—are being supervised and regulated more and more stringently. Yet at the same time, corporations are becoming more and more free to do as they please. No one notices how strange this is—we have even lost the social framework to even talkabout regulating and supervising corporations, because too many foolish pundits equate supervision and regulation with Socialism. Yet curiously, personal freedom is being chipped away, day by day, without a peep from these self-same "freedom-loving" pundits.

Green Change Wants Delaware to Revoke BP’s Corporate Charter

from Corporate Crime Reporter. 

Some people are about to learn that the laws are for the "little people" not the corporations, not for the ruling class. They are about to learn who the real government is in the US. I think that's good.

In Dire Straits, Americans Whimper Instead

by Ted Rall from Common Dreams. An excellent, insightful article on the apathy of American people toward their tormentors.

Why I Support the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

from Food Freedom. Another illustration of how government regulators, like the laws, are for the little people.

A Doctored History: An Interview With William F. Pepper [20m audio]

from Truthout. Be sure to listen to the 20 minute interview. Dr. Pepper has a real understanding of US government and society.

If working people are going to build an alternative to this current criminal capitalist system, they must make the effort to uncover their real history as opposed to the contrived history they get in the media and educational institutions

If one thinks about it, one should not be surprised by the US practice of assassinating its own citizens. They have practiced this for a number of years on opposition leaders in other countries, and they continue to do so, both here and abroad. They made several hundred attempts to kill Castro. The character of this ruling class has taken on the qualities of the Mafia with whom they do business when their services are required.

They don't take out people like Dr. Pepper because he has been effectively silenced in that no mainstream media will go near him, and they need to maintain the fiction of "freedom of speech", etc. Police states are much more expensive to operate. Nevertheless, the US is definitely headed in that direction with its elaborate prison system, surveillance of communications, more aggressive control of protest demonstrations, etc.

G20: Doves on finance reform, hawks on austerity [9:58m video]

from The Real News Network. The guest is associated with liberal think tanks, The Institute New Economic Thinking and Economic Policy for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. 

Such people are concerned about threats to their beloved system, capitalism, resulting from the social cataclysms in the offing due to austerity cuts, the attacks on public spending and social safety nets. These people largely represent the old, more secure aristocracy of capitalists who largely inherited their wealth and who know that unbridled greed could create a powerful backlash that can destroy the system.

Time out

Banks ‘Dodged a Bullet’ as Congress Dilutes Rules

from Bloomberg Business Week.

The overhaul, which still requires approval from the full Congress, won’t shrink banks deemed “too big to fail,” leaving largely intact a U.S. financial industry dominated by six companies with a combined $9.4 trillion of assets. The changes also do little to solve the danger posed by leveraged companies reliant on fickle markets for funding, which can evaporate in a panic like the one that spread in late 2008.

Is anyone surprised? Our government is owned by these companies. The challenge for the ruling class is to camouflage what they are doing behind some sort of democratic process.

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of working people are thrown on the garbage heap of unemployment without any safety net.

The United States of Nigeria

from Washington's Blog. 

The headline hits the nail squarely on its head. It makes the point that few Americans understand. The mega-oil corporations are in charge and they have been trashing the planet with impunity for years. The most egregious examples are Nigeria and Ecuador, with the US only now joining the list of victims.

America Detached from War

by Tom Engelhardt from Tom Dispatch.

As it happens, the enthusiasm for drones is as much a fever dream as the one Bush and his associates offered back in 2002, but it's also distinctly us. In fact, drone warfare fits the America of 2010 tighter than a glove. With its consoles, chat rooms and "single shooter" death machines, it certainly fits the skills of a generation raised on the computer, Facebook and video games. That our valorous warriors, their day of battle done, can increasingly leave war behind and head home to the barbecue (or, given American life, the foreclosure) also fits an American mood of the moment. 

Oil Consortium Behind War Crimes - Aid Agencies

from IPS news service. 

The entry of a Swedish-led oil consortium into southern Sudan in 1997 triggered civil war and crimes against humanity, claims a European coalition of aid agencies. 

Gasland The Movie -- Watch Tap Water Burst Into Flames

from The Daily Bail. 

The energy industry is freaking out about this film.

America Can't Solve Crises Because It's a Company-Owned Town

by Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report. Unlike the author in the article below this, Ford has no difficulty in identifying the culprit that is destroying the environment and human and other life forms.

Those among the public and media that still harbor the illusion that government is there to serve the people, despite seeing so much evidence to the contrary, speak of a national “malaise,” a loss of purpose, a temporary failure or flaw in the national character. What nonsense!