White House healthcare summit

from the Guardian. Just in case you missed the live TV coverage yesterday, this is a somewhat cynical, but quite entertaining report on the health care summit which brought some leading figures from both capitalist parties together by Obama to try to move health care proposals forward. Yesterday's live stream coverage from Pro Publica was very useful in understanding why so little has been, and will in the future not be, accomplished to provide health care for all Americans. In that article they made reference to a study which also documented the political reality that "our" Congressional legislators serve at the behest of their sponsors.

... this study [4] (PDF) conducted by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington detailing information on health industry donations to the summit's participants in recent years. According to the report, over the past five years the 21 politicians at the summit have received nearly $47 million from the industry.

Dems Retreat, Senate Renews PATRIOT Act

from Anti-War.  In contrast to health care proposals to extend coverage to uninsured Americans, notice how easy it is to renew the so-called Patriot Act (like passing all the Pentagon funding bills), which essentially has shredded the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. As portrayed in mainstream media (MSM) this was because of "blue dog democrats".  Seems like MSM, owned by and on behalf of the ruling capitalist class, likes to color code politics ("red States" and "blue States") as a way of explaining the US political process which, of course, explains nothing--which, of course, is the safest thing to do.

Giant Antarctic iceberg could affect global ocean circulation

from the Guardian.

Ice broken off from Mertz glacier is size of Luxembourg and may decrease oxygen supply for marine life in the area

Leading the Way to a Low-Energy Future

from Earth Watch.  She is writes about the conclusions of her survey given to people who read websites such as this about their lifestyle changes. I also responded to the survey. While encouraging, I don't think that one can characterize the respondents as "lifestyle leaders"--I certainly am not.

...my disappointment in government leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere is matched by my admiration for a new influential group of Americans, whom I call lifestyle leaders—for they are taking matters into their own hands, such as through building gardens, weatherizing their homes, getting rid of their cars, moving off-grid, bartering with neighbors and joining Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.

Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery

by Stephen Lendman from Dissident Voice.  

Transnational corporations (TNCs) now roam the world to find the cheapest and most vulnerable workers.” They’re mostly young women in poor countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Haiti, and many others working up to 14 or more hours a day for sub-poverty wages under horrific conditions.

The Death and Life of American Journalism Pt.1 (8:30m video)

from Real News Network. Paul Jay interviews Robert McChesney and John Nichols re the demise of something like independent journalism.

Unplug the Signal: The Truth Will Not Be Televised

from Pupaganda.  TV--it's the way the ruling class rules our minds.

A flow of information is constantly streaming from the television set; a bombardment of words and pictures.  The speed at which this information is communicated makes it easy for the signal to take control, switching the viewer's brain to stand-by as information is absorbed without analysis or question. Today the television's constant signal shapes the conclusions of the masses and produces the collective norm.  The signal prescribes what is news and what is truth through the words of so-called experts and authorities, gelding the consciousness and independent thoughts of those subjected to it. Through television, the masses can be made to accept the most monstrous distortions of reality. The signal is a chill wind of continuous oppression over the minds of the masses. It controls the management of society and culture, creating uniformity across all subjects. 

College for $99 a Month

from Washington Monthly. Unfortunately, this is not a current article--I just discovered it--but I believe that it is important.

In combination, these two trends threaten to shake the foundation of the modern university, in much the same way that other seemingly impregnable institutions have been torn apart. In some ways, the upheaval will be a welcome one. Students will benefit enormously from radically lower prices—particularly people like Solvig who lack disposable income and need higher learning to compete in an ever-more treacherous economy. But these huge changes will also seriously threaten the ability of universities to provide all the things beyond teaching on which society depends: science, culture, the transmission of our civilization from one generation to the next.

Whether this transformation is a good or a bad thing is something of a moot point—it’s coming, and sooner than you think. 

Future Shock: A Better World Beyond the Imperium

by Chris Floyd from his blog, Empire Burlesque.  I recommend reading the online article. I did not have time to listen to the 38m radio interview linked in the article.

Dissidents and critics of the powers that be are often accused of being negative – tearing things down, undermining, never offering a positive alternative vision. Now, I happen to disagree with this. I believe that people who work in waste management – clearing away the garbage, the poisons, the crap – are just as important to the life and health of a community as, say, an architect who makes the community beautiful, or a teacher who educates the young, or doctors who heal the sick and so on.

Watch Politicians Debate Health Care—And Watch Their Donors

from Pro Publica.  The meeting must be in session for this to be activated. Once the latter occurs look for the donors on the right of the live video that features the person speaking. There is always a delay after a new speaker comes on until the website assembles the data.

As the president meets with congressional leaders today to debate health care reform, the Sunlight Foundation has come up with a very useful way of watching the event.  There's live video -- and when a politician starts speaking, Sunlight shows their top campaign contributors.

Globalization on the rocks

 from New Internationalist. "David Ransom argues that the shipwreck of the markets spells the end of one era, the start of another."

Huge transnational corporations promote international trade because they control most of it – local or ‘domestic’ trade is a riot of diversity by comparison. The ‘globalization’ of local economies enabled corporations to scour the world for the cheapest labour, the lowest costs, the most compliant governments.

Community and Popular Radio in Haiti Today

 from Toward Freedom.

"For us, community and popular radio isn't an end in itself. It's part of a global plan of social change, of transformation of the society. We're going to continue to do popular education to change the mentality and behavior of people, as well as to denounce what's being done against the people today. As we move forward, we want to help people understand how to organize themselves and also how to fight the projects now underway, which are going to reinforce their poverty."

The Robber Barons of Social Change

from Toward Freedom.  This is a review of the book,  "Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World by Michael Edwards". 

The Ben & Jerry’s story is but a small cautionary tale about the still-growing and already far-reaching field of “philanthrocapitalism.” This is the term that author Michael Edwards uses in his new book, Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World, to describe a wide range of activities. It includes Silicon Valley CEOs using “venture philanthropy” to fund new, business-minded nonprofits; stock market traders developing socially weighted investment funds; bankers extending microcredit loans to the poor; and “social entrepreneurs” aiming to simultaneously serve a “double bottom line” of positive public impact and shareholder return.

The Darfur Crisis: Blood, Hunger And Oil

an interview with Mohamed Hassan who is an expert on African affairs.  The article provides a rich background as well as important current information on the ongoing crises in Darfur and other African countries that is poorly covered in Western media.

The aid racket

from Socialist Worker. 

Ashley Smith documents how the NGOs in Haiti have provided the means for the U.S. government to circumvent the Haitian state and impose neoliberal polices.

Tim Kasser on Consumerism, Psychology, Transition and Resilience. Part Two

from Transition Culture. 

So, I think what we really need to be doing now from my perspective is developing and fleshing out and thinking through the multitude of options, not because we think we’re ultimately going to chose one of those things from the menu, but because we recognise that we’re actually going to have to chose the whole buffet, and implement them now, as soon as possible. Once we get one implemented people will be more open to the next one and the next one and then you can affect that kind of change reasonably quickly. And that’s what gives me hope.

Europe's workers pushing back

from Globe and Mail.

Strikes spread as workers fear for their hard-earned comforts as governments and companies tighten belts to stay solvent

Venezuela Creates Peasant Militias, Enacts Federal Government Council

from Venezuelanalysis. 

The peasant militia will be responsible for protecting poor farmers from mercenary groups organized and financed by ranchers and wealthy landowners, Chavez explained in his weekly column, “Chavez’s Lines” on Sunday. More than 300 peasant leaders and activists have been murdered since the government introduced the Law on Land and Agricultural Development in 2001 and launched a program of agrarian reform.

The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union, and It's Catching on Quickly

from Alter Net.

It's been only a month that a union for the unemployed has come into existence through an ingenious grassroots organizing campaign. In case you haven't heard about it, the union's name is "UR Union of the Unemployed" or its nickname, "UCubed," because of its unique method of organizing.

'Death of American Capitalism:' The 10 final scenes

by Paul B. Farrell from Market Watch. Clearly many mainstream people are seriously worried about the system.

And yes, we are "fed up with Washington and convinced more than 3 to 1 that the nation is heading in the wrong direction," yet there's "confidence that there will be better times ahead, that the classic American dream endures and hasn't been extinguished. It's not even at its low ebb." Why? Because we're in denial!

Marjah: ‘This is not Fallujah’

by Eric Walberg from Creative-i. 

The new exit plan, so it goes, involves “clearing” all regions of Taliban — US Marines call it “mowing the grass”, acknowledging that as soon as they murder one group of resisters and leave, more pop up. The “new” strategy is to bring in ready-made Afghan administrators and police to create a prosperous, peaceful society once the “enemy” have been destroyed, “winning the hearts and minds” of the locals. “We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in,” said chief honcho General Stanley McChrystal.

How to Reach A Larger Audience

from Washington's Blog. The blogger is concerned about how to communicate with a large audience such as the American public, and delves into the research findings on public communications. It is clear to me that this research has been used mainly by the ruling class to manipulate the public, to engineer or "manage consensus". The blogger argues that such techniques must also be used by progressives to get their views across to larger audiences. (Yuck!) I think the basic problem is that public education, by design, has failed to teach critical thinking and have left the public so vulnerable to such techniques. But is he right? You decide.

Why We are Susceptible to Manipulation

from Washington's Blog. Good followup article to the one above.

Our brains assume that we can tell truth from fiction, because they evolved in very small groups where we knew everyone extremely well, and usually could see for ourselves what was true.

It is therefore much easier for a wolf in sheep's clothing to succeed than in a small group setting.

Indeed, sociopaths would have been discovered very quickly in a small group. But in huge societies like our's, they can rise to positions of power and influence.

Such findings support a radical decentralization of our society such as is described in Inclusive Democracy, The Simpler Way, libertarian socialism, etc.

Americas bloc excluding US and Canada agreed

from The Guardian. 

Latin American and Caribbean nations have agreed to set up a new regional body without the US and Canada.

Time out (click on cartoon to enlarge)

Venezuela’s revolution faces crucial battles

by Federico Fuentes from Green Left Online. 

[Chavez] said it was vital to combat the inefficiency and bureaucracy of the state structures inherited from previous governments that hold back and sabotage the process. “We have to finish off demolishing the old structures of the bourgeois state and create the new structures of the proletarian state.”

To help achieve this, the government has encouraged the creation of 184 communes across Venezuela. Communes are made up of a number of communal councils and other social organisations, bodies directly run and controlled by local communities.

Think tanks, oil money and black ops

from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company). 

...the funding continues, often through foundations that in effect launder oil and coal money to make it more difficult to trace to its sources. One of the more important conduits is the Washington-based Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Atlas supports financially a network of some 200 libertarian think tanks around the world, including (according to an investigation by US magazine Mother Jones) the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre for Independent Studies in Australia. 

Part V: Overcoming the Divide and Conquer Strategy — The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the USA

by David DeGraw from Amped Status. 

The mainstream media creates what is known in mass psychology as the “spectrum of thinkable thought.” By constantly discussing and debating surface issues, they limit the range of debate. Having the Republican vs. Democrat paradigm leads us to never debating the underlying Economic Elite who control both of the parties, not to mention their ownership of the media platform on which this debate is taking shape. The more important underlying issues are never discussed, and therefore never enter public consciousness.

Joe Stack And Likely Coming Attractions

 by Carolyn Baker from Counter Currents. "when the excrement hits the circular air mechanism, it results for the unprepared in becoming unplugged...." Or, in other words, she writes:

The corporate capitalist system had forced on American families a lifestyle that left them too busy and too strapped with debt-and of course, too hypnotically entranced with the proverbial "American dream", to read the signals that were becoming more ominous by the day. Besides, in the pubescent ecstasy of the earning/spending/debt party, who wants to be annoyed with downers like becoming an adult and comprehending the facts and their consequences?

New Research Reveals Why Factory Farms Have Become Superbug Factories–and Why Worse is yet to Come

from Politics of the Plate. 

Along with their usual rations of grain and prepared feed, factory-farmed hogs and chickens in the United States also dine on a steady diet of antibiotics. The animals are given the drugs, not to prevent or cure illness, but simply because low-level doses of antibiotics stimulate them to grow faster than untreated animals. This may be good for agribusiness’s bottom lines, but an increasing body of research shows that it might be very bad for public health.

Part III: Exposing Our Enemy - Meet the Economic Elite

by David DeGraw from Amped Status. This is a very important series in order to understand the current nature of capitalism, especially as it functions in the US, but also includes powerful international organizations such as the IMF and together with the capitalist elites of other countries rule over, what I often refer to, as The Empire.  In this segment the author focuses on the people and the organizations which rule this Empire. I have read widely on this subject and can attest to the accuracy of his observations.

Time out

Part IV: The Financial Coup d’Etat — The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America

by David DeGraw from Amped Status. 

Although most of the Economic Elite live and operate inside the US, they are not concerned for our future. To them, the entire world is theirs and they work intimately with other elites throughout the world against the interests of the US public. Ever since the days of Henry Ford, the Economic Elite have needed a thriving US middle class to increase growth and profits, but now, in the global economy, they view the US middle class as obsolete. They increasingly look globally for profits and they would rather pay cheap labor in countries like China and India.

The Battle Of Ideas, Part 1; Private Property vs. The Commons

by Tom Stephens from Counter Currents. 

It’s the unjust power of the rich to set the terms of life and death for everybody else, starting with unmentionable agonies of the poor, and ending by driving even the sacred “middle class” from their homes and jobs. The vicious circle of private property destroying human rights and the commons is becoming clearer all the time, as their system collapses and fails to deliver.

The Global Fight for Climate Justice

from Ecosocialism Canada. A book review by Derrick O'Keefe.

All those engaged in these vital efforts [the fight against global capitalism] will benefit greatly from the publication of The Global Fight for Climate Justice, a collection of essays, statements and declarations edited by Ian Angus. Bringing together 46 “anti-capitalist responses to global warming and environmental destruction,” this is not leisurely reading. Ideally, in fact, it should be read collectively, in discussion groups or as background reading for a series of classes or forums. Contributors include Joel Kovel (Enemy of Nature) and John Bellamy Foster (The Ecological Revolution), who have both written extensively about the ecologically destructive essence of capitalism.

Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn

from The Independent. 

Atmospheric levels of methane, the greenhouse gas which is much more powerful than carbon dioxide, have risen significantly for the last three years running, scientists will disclose today – leading to fears that a major global-warming "feedback" is beginning to kick in.

US States Slash Medicaid

from Global Research. The war on the American poor accelerates as war budgets expand.

US states are imposing major cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low income Americans jointly funded with the federal government. The cuts are being enacted in response to huge budget deficits in states throughout the country and a sharp increase in enrollment fuelled by the unemployment crisis.

Media Distortions And “Real” Climate Scandals

originally from Media Lens, but because no permalink available on that site, I am making this available from Dissident Voice.

Since November last year, the public has been bombarded with the story of stolen emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, revealing a supposed “scandal” of scientific malpractice, stupidly and lazily named “climategate”. Further media frenzy erupted over an erroneous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change statement that 80 per cent of Himalayan glacier area would very likely be gone by 2035. Other climate-related storms in a teacup have been appearing in the corporate media almost on a daily basis. This nonsense is distracting attention from a mountain of evidence that human-induced climate change is accelerating and poses a deadly threat to civilisation.

The war on the middle class

from The Economic Populist. 

Capitalism hasn't failed. What has failed is the economic system in place today.
No amount of government taxes, trade barriers, or regulation caused it to fail.
No investigative reporter, or congressional oversight committee, or regulatory watchdog, exposed the massive fraud and corruption in the financial system today. All of the safeguards put in place to protect the public, and the current system from itself, failed.

I find this kind of thinking totally amazing. People like this blogger have a religious-like faith in this system which puts private ownership of production, free markets, wage slavery, and profits at its very core. Capitalism promotes sociopathic and predatory behaviors which no significant amount of regulation or government oversight can curtail for very long. In advanced capitalism, the owners "own" all the significant units of the economy as well as the government.

However, in spite of this naiveté, the author does provide a lot of useful information regarding the devastating social and economic effects of the system.

Time out (click on cartoon to enlarge)

Campaigning for State-Owned Banks

by Ellen Brown from her Web of Debt website. 

In the quest to find ways to divorce the well-being of their states from the financial sector, a growing number of candidates are picking up on the public bank alternative. Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, Idaho and California all have candidates whose platforms contain this proposed solution to the credit crisis.

Selling Out America to Wall Street

by Stephen Lendman from Mathaba news service.

Over the past decade, "$5 billion in political contributions bought Wall Street freedom from regulation, (and) restraint." From 1998 - 2008, "Wall Street investment firms, commercial banks, hedge funds, real estate companies and insurance conglomerates (the FIRE sector)" spent over $1.7 billion in political contributions and another $3.4 billion on lobbyists....

Then Lendman goes on to list what the Banksters and Wallstreeters received in return for their "investments".

Only 21% Say U.S. Government Has Consent of the Governed

from Rasmussen Reports. 

The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

China Circled by Chain of US Anti-Missile Systems

from Global Research. Business is booming for America's military-industrial complex.

Quite a few military experts have noted that Washington's latest proposed weapon deal with Taiwan is the key part of a US strategic encirclement of China in the East Asian region, and that the missiles could soon have a footprint that extends from Japan to the Republic of Korea and Taiwan.

The New McCarthyism in Israel: Human Rights Groups Face Crackdown

by Jonathan Cook from Global Research. 

The Israeli government and its right-wing supporters have been waging a “McCarthyite” campaign against human-rights groups by blaming them for the barrage of international criticism that has followed Israel’s attack on Gaza a year ago, critics say.

Opposition Grows Against Egypt-Gaza Barrier

from IPS news service. 

Activists and opposition groups are stepping up pressure on the Egyptian government to stop constructing a barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip. Officials say the barrier will prevent cross-border smuggling, but critics say it will seal the fate of the people on the Gaza Strip

Israel's smiling PR drive

from The Guardian. 

Israel's latest conscripts in the fight to improve the country's image have been unveiled: ordinary Israeli citizens. Armed only with a government-issued hasbara pamphlet and a winning smile, they will be sent to wage war with their detractors, in an effort to present Israel as a benign, democratic utopia whose only achilles heel is poor public relations.

No Games glamour in Vancouver's Tent City

There is another side of the city that hosts the Olympics that your corporate media ignores. These are capitalism's disposable people in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Many are First Nations people that the Olympics used as an emblem in their opening ceremonies. See also this 6:40m video.

Tell Cable News: No More PR Pundits

from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. 

Scores of pundits appearing on cable news networks are paid corporate lobbyists and PR flaks--and the networks aren't disclosing their corporate ties.

Colored Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA

from Venezuela Analysis.  This soft power strategy of The Empire is not all that new.  Seems like it has been going on since shortly after WWII when the US ruling class made tremendous efforts to crush any union militancy or left wing activities in post war Europe.

Through the creation of a series of quasi-private "foundations", such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington began to filter funding and strategic aid to political parties and groups abroad that promoted US agenda in nations with insubordinate governments.

Time out

Envisioning sustainable communities

 from Energy Bulletin.  This is parts 1 and 2 of a 4 part series, zeros in on the concept of "community", and asks the important question:

What features need to be built into a community for it to be sustainable against the juggernaut of forces that would co-opt it back into in-egalitarian and exploitative economic and cultural patterns?

Hugo Chávez left in the dark as El Niño plays power politics

from The Guardian. 

The El Niño weather phenomenon appears to be taking sides as it parches leftist-ruled parts of South America and brings bounty to US farmers and corporations. One of the severest droughts in decades has given Venezuela's socialist president a political nightmare as hydro-electrical power dribbles to a standstill, unleashing blackouts, rationing and protests.

Bill Gates: the Most Important Climate Speech of the Year

by Alex Steffen from World Changing. While celebrating Gate's thesis that carbon emissions must go to zero, the author points out some important flaws in his argument.

We can reinvent what prosperity means and how it works, and, in the process both reduce the ecological demands of that prosperity and improve the quality of our lives. In most cases, this is a smarter approach than simply improving efficiency.

There is only one small problem--this cannot be done within the system of capitalism.

Why Factories Aren't Efficient

by John M. Greer from his blog, The Archdruid Report.

...the primary factor that drove the rise of industrial civilization, and made possible the lavish lifestyles of the recent past, was the recklessness with which the earth’s fossil fuel reserves have been extracted and burnt over the last few centuries. The explosion of technical knowledge was a consequence of that, not a cause.

Redefining Sustainable Agriculture at PASA

from Civil Eats. 

    ...Snyder said a truly sustainable farmer wakes every morning with two thoughts in mind. The first is one of gratitude that the land we are privileged to own, rent or be paid to cultivate has been given to us, and we must give it back in better shape than we found it.

    “Second,” Snyder said, “we as individual farmers are limited and essentially dependent on each other to figure out what’s best to do with this land in order to honor it, improve it and make a living from it and one day to deliver it back to the source from whence it came.”

Terrorism: the most meaningless and manipulated word

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

If we're really going to vest virtually unlimited power in the Government to do anything it wants to people they call "Terrorists," we ought at least to have a common understanding of what the term means.  But there is none.  It's just become a malleable, all-justifying term to allow the U.S. Government carte blanche to do whatever it wants to Muslims it does not like or who do not like it (i.e., The Terrorists).

Time out for some amusment

We Won't Bow Down

from Yes! website.

[Mardi Gras, for people] reinforces...their ongoing survival of capitalism and racism. Carnival also reinforces joy and ownership of public space and a kind of confidence in coexisting with a wide array of strangers.

Canada's Aboriginal Show and Tell

 by Martin Lukacs from Counterpunch.

Ever-sensitive about their reputation as a land of the fair-minded, Canada's Olympic planners [corporations and major developers] have gone to lengths to showcase the nation's respect for aboriginals. They made an Inuit design the official logo. They ran the torch-relay through scores of reservations. And they bought the support and participation of local First Nations with a few million in bonds, business ventures and gleaming buildings. An absolute bargain, if this aboriginal gilding can blind Canadians and the world to the country's secret shame: the true state of its Indigenous peoples.

Teach Your Children Well: There Is No Law but Might and Murder

buy Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque. 

...on Friday, February 19, 2010, the administration of President Barack Obama declared that not only will it not prosecute the avowed and boastful perpetrators and accomplices of the capital crime of torture, it will not impose even the mildest of administrative or professional reprimands upon them. For the foulest of tortures, reaching even to murder, the government of the United States will do nothing: no investigation, no prosecution, no penalty.

Digital Books and Your Rights: A Checklist for Readers

from Electronic Frontier Foundation. 

After several years of false starts, the universe of digital books seems at last poised to expand dramatically. Readers should view this expansion with both excitement and wariness. Excitement because digital books could revolutionize reading, making more books more findable and more accessible to more people in more ways than ever before. Wariness because the various entities that will help make this digital book revolution possible may not always respect the rights and expectations that readers, authors, booksellers and librarians have built up, and defended, over generations of experience with physical books.

Euro not for Europe's Poor

from IPS news service. Globalized capitalism works the same everywhere. It is impoverishing the most vulnerable people, people that the system finds dispensable because they have neither capital nor the kind of skilled labor power to enrich those who "own" the economy under this system.

"It is not Greece that is suffering but the Greek working people, the people who are always at the bottom of the pile," he told IPS. "If you want to have a reduction of the deficit, the first thing to do should not be to hit the most vulnerable parts of society, the low-paid civil servants and the working class. You should hit big capital, the people who profited out of the extreme neo- liberal organisation of the markets."

Cognitive Infiltration: Your Government Appointees At Work

from Toward Freedom. The author looks closely at this paragraph written by an Obama appointee:

[W]e suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity.

Norman Finkelstein: One man's struggle for justice (25:05m video)

 from RT (Russia Today), Norman Finkelstein debates an Israeli Zionist.

Nine Months Before Operation Northwoods, Government Leaders Suggested False Flag Terror in the Dominican Republic

from Washington's Blog. This astute blogger reports on some past US false flag conspiracies that are now documented.

American blitzkrieg

from Asia Times. 

This idolization of the German military was a telling manifestation of a growing militarism within an American society which remained remarkably oblivious to the slow strangulation of its citizen-soldier ideal. At the same time, the American military began to glorify a new generation of warrior-leaders by a selective reading of its past. 

Violent Backlash Starting?

by Yves Smith from her blog, Naked Capitalism. This article, which is about the recent plane crash into the US federal offices in Texas, looks at the incident in a wider context of a trend in the US--anger at the rising gap between the rich and everyone else. Also you can read the suicide note which the fellow left of his website which is no longer accessible there due to the efforts of the FBI.

Wall Street's Bailout Hustle

Matt Taibbi of Rollingstone lists and describes the various hustles used by the financial institutions to grab more money. The hustles are well known in the criminal world.

World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates

from The Guardian. 

Report for the UN into the activities of the world's 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment.

Perpetual Wars & the Permanent Wartime Presidency

from Sibel Ednmond's blog, The Boiling Frog. Sibel is one of the most courageous of whistle blowers. Here she traces the development of permanent wars and the consequences this has for any significant rule of constitutional law.

Time out

Jitters over China’s waning taste for T-bills

from Financial Times. 

If there is one thing that gets investors twitchy, it is the fear that China is losing its appetite for US government bonds.

securities thumbAs the biggest and most liquid pool of assets in the world, the US Treasury market lies at the heart of the global financial system and allows the American government to finance its trillion-dollar budget deficits. Until recently, China has been the largest foreign official holder of US debt.

The Role of the Bicycle In Transit Oriented-Development

from ReConnecting America. This is part one of a series (how many?) on integrating bicycling into any regional bicycling plans. See also part 2, The Bikeway Network.

Peak Oil: Looking for the Wrong Symptoms?

by "Gail the Actuary" from The Oil Drum. I almost always enjoy her posts and the discussions (comments) that follow them from these highly educated and astute followers of this website.

The Mossad's secret wars

from Al Jazeera. The article chronicles the successes and failures of Israel's goon squad.

Angry demonstrators demand Sarkozy to pay up and return Aristide to Haiti

by Kevin Pina from Haiti Action.

Aristide was forced out of the country in a coup ten months later on Feb. 29, 2004 and flown to the former French colony of the Central African Republic. Although the main author of the coup is still seen as the administration of George W. Bush, Haitians have never forgotten the role that France played in supporting the opposition movement to Aristide and their demands that he resign.

Crisis of climate-change confidence

from The Age. The article makes clear that there is no issue among the overwhelming body of scientists or scientific institutions re the reality of human caused climate change, but the attacks of leading capitalist corporations are having a definite adverse impact on the public. 

See also this report form Union of Concerned Scientists on Exxon-Mobil's efforts to discredit scientific findings.

Meanwhile scientific research keeps indicating that the situation is growing worse. See this, this, and this.

Mexico: Celebrating Indigenous Culture, Zapotec Autonomy and Uncontaminated Corn

from Upside Down World. The article describes their celebration of their victory for preserving their food, but also indicates that they are under siege by corporations who grab their resources and spoil their environment.

...the 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield - Globalization and the Natural Resources - is not only concerned with the problems and struggles facing the Zapotec communities, but is also a celebration of their rich culture and food sovereignty. Day two of the feria brought a festive culinary demonstration of a myriad of corn dishes and locally produced food.

Pimping Weapons to the World

by Frida Berrigan from Tom Dispatch. The US leads the world in the export of military weapons. It is about the only major industry in the US that has not been outsourced--for obvious reasons. Of course, all the export arms go to The Empire's accomplices to maintain its hegemony over the world. The weapons industry is also highly lucrative because the sales go to governments that taxes its working people to pay for them.

The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America - Part I

from Amped Status. The articles provide a rather comprehensive survey of the damage inflicted upon the American people by the ruling class ("economic elite"); and actions of the latter that has caused the damage, all of which, is viewed as a class war against working people.

Part II: The Rise of the Economic Elite — Economic Elite Vs. The People

from Amped Status. The articles provide a rather comprehensive survey of the damage inflicted upon the American people by the ruling class ("economic elite"); and actions of the latter that has caused the damage, all of which, is viewed as a class war against working people.

The Unstated Script of the Wiesel Open Letter to President Obama

from Dissident Voice. Very insightful analysis of the likely motives behind this unusual media blitz by Zionists, i.e., to divert attention away from their war crimes in Gaza as well as to focus the world's attention on Iran.

Time out

Yet Another Congressman Questions 9/11

from Washington's Blog. This blogger assembles a considerable list of prominent people who are having doubts about the official version of 9/11.

"Behind Each Great Historical Phenomenon Lies A Financial Secret"

from Washington's Blog. The article illustrates how much influence big banking institutions have had in history. The example regarding Lincoln's decision to have the US government issue its own money was a blow to private financial interests. Hence the implications for today's Federal Reserve's monopoly over the issuance of money.  Read Ellen Hodgson Brown's highly readable "Web of Debt" for a comprehensive examination of this subject.

Obama: The Making of a Clean Coal President

 from Solve Climate. US capitalist ruling class knows that it can't exist without constant growth which requires increasing consumption of energy and raw materials. I doesn't matter who the ruling class appoints as its chief spokesperson.

In insecure economic times, the legacy energy industries have another advantage: They play powerfully inside a global economic system built on the assumption of limitless economic growth, and which is in dire need of boost in the wake of the US mortgage crisis. The coal supply remains a commodity that needs to be mined, shipped, exported and traded — a BTU bonanza for the nations that have it in abundance like the U.S., Russia, China, India and Australia. 

Cluster Bomb Ban to Become Law – Without U.S.

from IPS news service. I don't think that The Empire could exist without terrorist weapons such as cluster bombs, land mines and the weapons of mass destruction--hence capitalists and their system likely would not survive. The only people that are really committed to this system are banksters and corporate execs. 

Seeds of discontent: the 'miracle' crop that has failed to deliver

from The Independent. 

A "miracle" plant, once thought to be as the answer to producing renewable biofuels on a vast scale, is driving thousands of farmers in the developing world into food poverty, a damning report concludes today.

Is the global economy a Ponzi scheme?

 by Joe Romm from Climate Progess.  The "we" that the article blames for this problem seems to be deflected onto the human race, instead of on a system created by a relatively few sociopaths who are addicted to wealth and power--the capitalist ruling classes. However if Tom Friedman, capitalism's media rep, is getting worried, there might be reason to hope.

By enriching those who did the most plundering the most, we enabled them to fund lobbying and disinformation campaigns to convince substantial fractions of the public and media that there is no Ponzi scheme — that global warming is “too complicated for the public to understand” and nothing to worry about.

The illustrated guide to the latest climate science

from Climate Progress.  The article also appears to contain some very useful links.

In 2009, the scientific literature caught up with what top climate scientists have been saying privately for a few years now:

• Many of the predicted impacts of human-caused climate change are occurring much faster than anybody expected — particularly ice melt, everywhere you look on the planet.
• If we stay anywhere near our current emissions path, we are facing incalculable catastrophes by century’s end, including rapid sea level rise, massive wildfires, widespread Dust-Bowlification, large oceanic dead zones, and 9°F warming — much of which could be all but irreversible for centuries. And that’s not the worst-case scenario!
• The consequences for human health and well being would be extreme.

The Transition Towns Movement: Its Huge Significance and a Friendly Criticism

by Ted Trainer from (We) Can Do Better. This is a must read article--probably the most important one I've posted thus far.  For myself, I printed out a hard copy on Word to study it more thoroughly.

Monsanto 'faked' data for approvals claims its ex-chief

from India Today. 

"The Central Insecticide Board was supposed to give these approvals based on the location and crop-specific data from India. But it simply accepted foreign data supplied by Monsanto. They did not even have a test tube to validate the data and, at times, the data itself was faked," Jagadisan said.

The US puts “regime change” in Iran on agenda

from World Socialist Web Site. 

As part of its drive for punitive new sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programs, the Obama administration launched a major diplomatic offensive in the Middle East this week to enlist the support of its allies in the region. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, Central Command head General David Petraeus and top State Department officials are taking part in the operation.

Governments ADMIT That They Carry Out False Flag Terror

from Washington's Blog. 

This essay will solely discuss government admissions to the use of false flag terror.

When is a Fraud Not a Fraud? (Greece-Goldman Edition)

by Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism. 

Although there is a considerable amount of well-warranted consternation about how Goldman sold swaps to Greece that allowed it to mask how bad its deteriorating finances were from the EU budget police, there has been perilous little discussion of why the fact that this was permissible says there is something very wrong with the rules in place.

It Looks Like We're Going To Have To Blow Up Another Continent To Realize The Effect Of Wall Street's Destructiveness

from Business Insider.

Surprise, surprise: Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece, Spain, Portugal, and undermined the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts.

Obama's Nuclear Boondoggle

from Mother Jones. 

In its eagerness to woo Republicans with nuclear-friendly policies, the Obama administration plans to hand out $54.5 billion in government-backed loans to kick-start a nuclear renaissance. On Tuesday, it announced the first beneficiary of this largesse—and apparently the best candidate it could find was a proposed plant that's been put on hold by federal regulators due to serious safety concerns.