Independence From Empire… As Tears Go By

by Philip A. Farruggio from Dandelion Salad. The author is son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen. He is an activist leader and free lance columnist.

There are a few good, brave guys like him around, but he is worried about many others.

Another reason for crying is the apathy and or denial of so many working stiffs…… Where is their impassioned dissent? The Reagan gang succeeded ( with help from the Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 ) in gutting most of the trade union movement in our country. Today, we are looking at perhaps 14% of all workers belonging to a union. Modern American corporate capitalism is on par with that of any Banana Republic. In my parent’s day, one bread winner was sufficient for many American families. Today, two jobs for one or both parents is the norm, because this brutal economic terrorism is so criminal and dastardly. Yet, few 9 to 5 Americans say or do anything. Many of us have just given up, succumbing to either too much alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, junk food, gadgets and games of chance…. Or all of the above.

However, don't turn away from this negative impression because he is a very concerned working stiff who has some good ideas about how to start to turn things around.

Sen. Al Franken Challenges Elena Kagan On Proposed NBC/Comcast Merger [6:05m video and article]

from Mediaite. 

Here is an interesting event at the US Senatorial hearings to determine the fitness of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. She has been portrayed in the media as a liberal and a suitable replacement for retiring Justice Stevens. It seems to me that she is clearly unfit if one's criteria is that a judge of this court must understand and support the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. But then, that is really not an important criteria for our ruling class. They support their corporations over and above all else.

In any case, I think it is much too late to worry any more over corporate control of the media. We, the people, lost this battle long ago, and this proposed merger would just put the last nail in the coffin. The only alternative we have at this time is to develop are own media. The internet is still a last bastion of some independent thought, but it is coming under increasing threats from corporations.

A Progressive Attack on the Poor

from the New Left Project. 

While the author appears to be well meaning in her analysis of the "Con-Dems" cutbacks and fake ameliorative measures, she seems to miss the elephant in the room--the capitalist Empire can no longer afford to spend on measures to help working people because they are running up against the limits of resource exhaustion. Therefore, the imperatives of their beloved, growth addicted capitalist system requires that their class put all efforts into securing the resources that are left, and the public be damned! Thus you can expect to see social crimes on an unprecedented scale.

In their “emergency budget”, the Con-Dem government has demonstrated that its economic policies are primarily determined by ideology and the delusion that private enterprise can and will provide sufficient growth to cover the needs of the whole population.

The "Con-Dems"--the ruling class--are not deluded. They are simply acting rationally given the dictates of the system that has rewarded them so splendidly with lavish lifestyles over the past two centuries.

Natural Gas Fracking: Ruining Your Lunch

from Civil Eats.

With the documentary movie Gasland making its national debut on HBO just last week, the nation is now more aware of the environmental issues natural gas fracking poses. What you might not have heard is that many farmers in upstate New York fear the impact that natural gas drilling will have on our grasslands and water, and ultimately our livelihoods. It is an issue that could threaten New York City’s food shed but many do not realize what is at stake.

Russian spy ring may be last straw for Obama nuclear arms treaty

from The Hill. I've been wondering about all the mainstream media coverage of this spy non-event, and it may take a while to uncover the truth. But I have a lot of suspicions, as do others. Read Alexander Cockburn's take on the subject:

...the assignments given the ring by their handlers in Moscow indicates that Russian espionage has been taken over by think-tank types and policy wonks ladling out softcore assignments like assessing “outlooks” and “moods”. According the FBI’s affidavit, “Heathfield”, in the Boston area, was told to report on "United States policy with regard to the use of the Internet by terrorists, United States policies in Central America, problems with United States military policy and 'Western estimation of (Russian) foreign policy.'''

But this article from The Hill I think nails it. This is such a typical strategy by the fascist wing of the Empire to shape political events to their demented liking.

A U.S.-Russia arms treaty is teetering in the Senate, lacking support from Republicans and set back by an alleged spy ring.

The White House was hoping that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed three months ago by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, would move quickly through the Senate. But now it may not get a vote on the floor until after the November elections. 

Time out

Keeping the War Far from Home

from Who What Why. This illustrates one way that mainstream media, the propaganda department of the Empire, manages consent--simply omit coverage of events that clashes with the Empire's version of reality.

50 Random Facts That Make You Wonder What In The World Has Happened To America

from The Economic Collapse. 

The "land of the free and the home of the brave" has been transformed into a socialized Big Brother nanny state....

Really! Well, the people at this website seem to be concerned and they do sometimes get things right. They also appear to be right wing populists or maybe "AstroTurf" populists. Such efforts are sometimes used by the ruling class to corral the minds of working people and steer them away from any substantive changes to the capitalist system.

Can Gates and Buffett Persuade Billionaires to Donate Half Their Fortunes?

by Jamie Johnson from Vanity Fair. This is the weekly installment of life among the 1 per cent of Americans. It is always good for working people to keep in touch with our fellow Americans to learn about their concerns. ;-)

What I find especially interesting about The Pledge is that it forces rich people to consider a question that is virtually impossible to answer: How much is too much? Historically, affluent individuals have struggled to strike the right balance between comfort and excess. For Americans, finding the appropriate equilibrium within either extreme presents an added challenge. As a nation we subscribe to two central doctrines, capitalism and democracy, but these ideologies sometimes contradict each other.

The Glittering Prizes: War Crime Continues to Pay

by Chris Floyd from his blog, Empire Burlesque.  The author shows that capitalist ruling classes reward their war criminals.  Ruling classes know that they can always find such morally weak people to do the dirty work of lying, breaking laws, spying and informing on activist organizations, and laying the groundwork for wars.

Blair will receive his Liberty Prize from one of his great mentors and partners in international war crime. No, not George W. Bush -- Bill Clinton, who is chairman of the National Constitution Center. After all, it was Clinton and Blair who pioneered the technique -- later perfected by Blair and Bush -- of bypassing the UN and unilaterally attacking a country, under false pretenses, that had not attacked them. And of course, after taking office in 1997, Blair stood shoulder to shoulder with Clinton in strangling the ordinary people of Iraq with a sanctions regime that killed -- at the barest minimum -- more than half a million innocent children. (Not to mention the innocent adults who died from the blockade.)

How Goldman Gambled on Starvation

from The Independent. 

This article provides a very good explanation of how the capitalist ruling class has devised exotic Wall Street gambling products that has resulted in people starving to death. Of course, the system is designed to make a few people rich and doesn't care how it does it.

This is the story of how some of the richest people in the world – Goldman, Deutsche Bank, the traders at Merrill Lynch, and more – have caused the starvation of some of the poorest people in the world. 

The link between BP, geoengineering and GM

from the Ecologist. 

Like the banking industry, the article shows how BP is also engaged in high risk adventures that could cause other major environmental disasters. The article provides an illustration of how one feature of the ruling class political structure works--key people rotate in and out of the government, major corporations, and military. Hence what we have in the US is government of the ruling class, by the ruling class, and for the ruling capitalist class.

BP won't stop at dangerous deep water drilling: the company is bent on still more dangerous projects, including genetic modification and hacking the planet's atmosphere....

Deficits, Social Security, and the American Public

from New Deal 2.0.  A major effort to cut Social Security apparently has received a setback by the American people.

Deficit-hawk and investment banker Pete Peterson has devoted a substantial part of his $2.8 billion fortune to pushing for cuts in entitlements like Social Security, in the name of deficit reduction. His Foundation lavishly funded the AmericaSpeaks “town hall” forums held on Saturday, the results of which will be presented to the national Deficit Commission this week — purporting to tell what the American public thinks about various deficit-reduction options.

Congress' Oil Industry "Reforms" = Election-Year Greenwashing

from Mother Jones. 

This article provides a very good illustration of how a liberal, self-styled "progressive" US magazine treats the subject of government regulations, giveaways, and legislative reforms. It's long on condemnation and moral hand-wringing, but short on dissecting the real causes of government gone awry except to cite some deceptions. Hence the author reaches the very convenient (for the ruling class) conclusion that 

In sum, the citizens of the United States have given over the greatest natural resource wealth of our nation to private business interests—who naturally run it for their own profit, rather than for the public good. In return, we have demanded virtually nothing. And the little we have demanded—the most basic of safety precautions, the most modest of demands for fair pricing—have been ignored and derided by companies that regularly top the Global 500 list for profitability.

Briefly put, the author blames the victim.

Time out

The End of the Age of Credit

from The Automatic Earth. The author reports on the continuing ruling class strategy to bail out the banking industry's bad debts while appearing to legislate curbs on their reckless behavior and actually cutting public services and safety nets.

It truly is a matter of bail the banks and screw the people. What remains to be seen is how those people will react. All the more so when they find out that those same Wall Street banks will soon come calling again for more bailouts, which is now inevitable and guaranteed to happen. Our fine leaders may try to find a creative way to do it, one that won't attract too much attention, but you can bet there’ll be more taxpayer money flowing to Lower Manhattan, while for "ordinary" citizens services will be cut, taxes raised, and jobs disappeared.

Who is Kenneth Feinberg?

from World Socialist Web Site. The author delves into the background of the BP victims "claims czar", and it looks like the ruling class picked the right one to protect the interests of BP.

All Power to the Casinos! Death to the Social Safety Net! [4:03m video and transcript]

by Glen Ford from the Black Agenda Report.

Global capital is attempting to sound the death knell for European social democracy and its much weaker American cousin, the safety net. Bankers dictate the terms of social and economic policy on both sides of the Atlantic. “Barack Obama is showing his corporate teeth and running hard with the global banking wolf pack.”

For 4:03m video, click here.

'Surge'' smoke follows Petraeus to Afpak

by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. Escobar, once again, tells it like it is--this time Petraeus' new adventure in Afghanistan-Pakistan. He concludes by writing:

what's the point of all this upcoming carnage? Well, there are so many - the poppy trade, the "Saudi Arabia of lithium", the ultimate pipe dream known as Trans-Afghan Pipeline, those military bases spying both Russia and China ... So many rats scurrying around the sinking US flotilla in the sand, but what the hell, there's another successful "surge" to sell and the (war) show must go on.

Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage

from the NY Times. This does not surprise me because the history of US corporations off-shoring of manufacturing jobs to cheap labor, weak union and environmental law enforcement countries has not only created job losses for US workers, but over the long run has de-skilled US workers. The only solution is for taxpayers, already burdened by bank bailouts, to subsidize retraining of the US labor force.