Barbara Ehrenreich on the perils of positive thinking (14:00m video)

An interview on Le Monde Diplomatique. She discusses positive thinking based on her recently published book, "Bright-sided". She sees it as tool of corporate culture that protects the ruling class from doubts about their power and privileges, and functions to keep working people believing and participating in the capitalist system.

In Job Market Shift, Some Workers Are Left Behind

from the NY Times.

For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway: dismiss millions of people — like file clerks, ticket agents and autoworkers — who were displaced by technological advances and international trade. 

This report provides an excellent illustration of what lies ahead for working people as technology enables capitalists to increasingly dispense with workers in their relentless search for profits. 

It must be understood that this technology has been the result of the creative efforts of many generations of working people since the time when humans first began using tools. Before capitalism came on the scene and after the advent of class based societies, only the wealth produced by working people was largely claimed by their masters or rulers. However, shortly after the Enlightment human intelligence gave humans the ability to harness nature's gift of fossil fuels to replace the most onerous forms of human labor, and technology along with productivity developed at a rapid pace. 

Out of this new development a new ruling class called capitalists took control of societies and laid claim to all the technology that workers developed as they learned how to exploit this new form of energy by inventing machines. These claims constitute the private property laws that capitalists created. (Hence it is still true today that any new technique that workers discover or create is claimed by the owner of the property on which this happened.) Capitalism accelerated this process stoked by the fabulous wealth that could be accumulated by individual owners of productive property. 

As a result we have today a tiny population of owners of all this wondrous technology and productive capacity and the rest of us are becoming increasingly disposable. That, and capitalist outsourcing to cheap labor countries,  is mainly why working people throughout much of the advanced Western world are coming under increasing attacks not only in the form of unemployment, but attacks against social entitlement programs, pensions, and welfare safety nets.

However the impending decline of resources, especially fossil fuels and the climate distortions caused by this form of energy, will be having a major impact on all our futures. Capitalists are increasingly using war as a means to control access to resources. Employment in the military is increasingly being seen by young people as the last opportunity for income security. It is becoming obvious that "these are times that try men's souls"--like never before in human history.



 

Euro aid package inaugurates offensive against working class

from World Socialist Web Site. 

The working class will now pay for these huge sums of money in the form of welfare cuts, wage cuts and unemployment. With the new euro rescue package, the European governments have placed themselves completely at the mercy of international financial capital. If they do not drastically reduce their budget deficits, the next wave of speculation will inevitably follow. If the financial guarantees are then called upon, the holes in the state budgets will grow, demanding even greater austerity measures.

Taking Back Homes from the Banks

by Bill Quigley from Dissident Voice. 

May has seen an upsurge in local organizations exercising their human rights to housing.  Most people recognize that international human rights guarantee all humans a right to housing.  With the millions of homeless living in our communities and the millions of empty foreclosed houses all across our communities, groups have decided to put them together.

Time out

Terminally Dumb People

by William Blum from Dissident Voice. 

I really don't like the title of this article. I think it should be something like "US ruling class disinformation campaigns since WWII"--and as such it provides an excellent summary of these campaigns that all Americans need to study. The campaigns primary role was to roll back all the gains made in the 1930s by the labor movement and the liberal capitalist reforms advocated under the Roosevelt administration. It is astonishing to me that this old Cold War mentality is still functioning among US propagandists and political figures on the right.

Nowadays this campaign has been surpassed by propaganda associated with the "war on terror", and "anti-immigration" is also finding its uses.

Everywhere and nowhere

from Le Monde Diplomatique. 

A change of lifestyle cannot be imposed; it has to evolve from insight, wise restraint and changes in perspectives on social values. In some areas this is already visible: buying food from ever farther away is no longer quite so popular. Local products – especially food – are already showing that nearness has strengths, and can compete with distance. ...People can find more calm in nearness. Bike rides can reveal undiscovered qualities in closeness, in lieu of sitting in weekend traffic jams on the motorway.

Blood in the Streets! Bank Bailout Protesters Storm Ireland's Parliament (videos)

from The Daily Bail. Now its the Irish who are fighting back against the banking industry. There are several short videos here to show the action that is missing from corporate media reports. Well, they wouldn't want to give US citizens any "irresponsible" ideas, would they? They ignored Greek protests as long as they could.

"It Is OUTRAGEOUS That The Banks Are Coining This Much Money From A Subsidy That No One Even Remembers Any More!" (4:14m video)

from the Daily Bail. An interview in which the guest explains the overlooked ongoing taxpayer subsidy to the big banks.

Biotech attacks French Professor for linking organ damage to GMOs

from Food Freedom. This is what happens when scientists don't conform to the interests of multi-national food companies.

...Prof. Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen (France) and his co-workers who came under severe attacks by representatives of the agro-biotechnology industry and aligned scientists.

Genetically Modified Justice: Why Did Elena Kagan Go to Bat for Monsanto’s GMO Alfalfa?

from Politics of the Plate. 

It’s a good thing for Elena Kagan that there’s no non-GMO litmus test for Supreme Court nominees. She’d flunk.

Alice in Videoland

by William Bowles from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Scroll down to the article) 

Bowles looks at the illusory world of TV land and how it assaults our minds, and concludes that we must take back the media.

Listen Tonight! KBOO Special Report: The Insanity Of Our Oil Addiction - Connecting The Dots In The BP Oil Disaster - Tonight 6-7 PM Pacific Time

Air date: Wed, 05/12/2010 - 6:00pm - 7:00pm Pacific Time

Featuring radical Texas populist Jim Hightower, renowned author and activist Antonia Juhasz (‘The Tyranny of Oil’), discussing the real issues behind the BP oil spill currently gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer and public speaker who has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.

Help for Those Living the Feisty Life!

from Feisty Life. I don't do commercials on my blog, but this article has a lot of good, free advice that I'd like to pass on.

Pressure: We’ll be facing a whole lot more of it in the future, is my prediction. So instead of cowering and crying “Uncle!” before the action really gets going, I’d like to suggest that you consider what’s coming a sort of tempering of will, a survival challenge, a check on community resilience, and a test to measure your sanity. Don’t bow. Don’t apologize. Don’t back down and say “I’m not up for the challenge.” Be feisty.

Time out

The Role of Fraud in the Financial Crisis

from Economist's View. Jamie Galbraith's testimony before the Subcommittee on Crime on the role that fraud played in the financial crisis.

Ask yourselves: is it possible for mortgage originators, ratings agencies, underwriters, insurers and supervising agencies NOT to have known that the system of housing finance had become infested with fraud? Every statistical indicator of fraudulent practice – growth and profitability – suggests otherwise. Every examination of the record so far suggests otherwise. The very language in use: "liars' loans," "ninja loans," "neutron loans," and "toxic waste," tells you that people knew. I have also heard the expression, "IBG,YBG;" the meaning of that bit of code was: "I'll be gone, you'll be gone."

The basic problem with his conclusion, "Either the legal system must do its work. Or the market system cannot be restored." is patently false. The ruling class has always functioned in this fashion until the system breaks down. This is followed by a lot of hand-wringing, blame laying, Mea Culpas, etc, and then the process starts all over again. 

He perpetuates the myth that the US has a body of laws that are based on a democratic system. The reality is that the capitalist elites essentially make their own laws--obviously to serve their interests. What we have, that is, what they have designed for us, is an elaborate fake democracy behind which they hide their crimes. This will continue as long as the system continues.

So his Mea Culpa for the economist's profession rings false. The reality is that economists under this system serve the ruling capitalist class and their interests. Their careers depend on it.

BP Hearing - What The Traditional Media Did Not Report

from Square State. Read what is missing from corporate media sources regarding the US Senate hearings on the oil spill in the Gulf.

Deepwater Horizon spill update - May 12, 2010

from the Great Beyond. A daily update from scientists on the scene will be available on this Great Beyond website. See also this.

Lost on the Fearless Plain

by Joe Bageant from his blog. I really connect with this guy...I guess because he is of my generation, traveled the roads of my experience. He expresses, in a style that is uniquely his own, the wisdom of this experience with such wit, charm, and insight .

So long as nations have hierarchical leadership, they will have escalating hierarchical greed, power hunger and destructive folly -- and therefore, eventually approach hierarchical evil at some point. It may be an old saw, but power does corrupt.

Fault Lines - Arundhati Roy (22:34m video)

from The Real News Network (original source at Al Jazeera). This features an interview with Roy by Avi Lewis--both are a couple of my favorite people. In the interview she talks about the tribal wars against corporations that are trying to exploit their areas in India--something I wasn't even aware of. She also touches on the greater issues affecting the whole area from Afghanistan to India. Highly recommended.


For more information on this subject, see this.

Preventing Independent Action in the Congo

by Michael Barker from Dissident Voice. The author reveals the little known facts of corporate plundering of the DRC, US government manipulation of their government, and attempts to hide and disguise the facts in media coverage.

8 Reasons Why The Pain From The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Is Going To Be Felt For Decades

from The Economic Collapse. The article lists all the different kinds of damage that this gusher at the bottom of the ocean can cause.

The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster

by Wayne Madsen from OilPrice. The author chronicles the efforts by the Obama administration to collude with BP and associated companies to downplay and limit the information regarding the spill, and to limit the damages to these corporations. Also he looks at the ominous longer term consequences of the spill.

WMR [Wayne Madsen Report] has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."

Time out

It’s worse than you think: plotting global hydrocarbon collapse

from Peak Generation. The author surveys the conventional fuels and finds peak everything. He also worries that there will not be time to transition to a sustainable future.

High Frequency Terrorism: How the Big Banks and Federal Reserve Maintained Their Death Grip Over the United States

 by David DeGraw & Max Keiser at Amped Status. 

This is part 3 of 6 (a link to all parts are in the article), but I found it to be the most interesting, and their explanation for the sudden dramatic drops in the stock market very plausible. I think that they have constructed a very good case for the stranglehold of the US economy and society by the financial elites. 

At the end of the article they provide links to a website devoted to solutions which I feel are only an attempt to reform the capitalist system. Their solutions may provide some short term relief, and as such I would not oppose them. However, I believe the system itself is totally incompatible with ecological limits and social justice, and thus I feel that it must be fundamentally changed.

These kickstart actions can engage folks in your local community!

by Andrew MacDonald from his blog, Radical Relocalization. 

I've been surprised and pleased at how easily doors open to relocalization efforts. It seems like a series of no-brainers, people doing the obvious. People seem ready to move into action. Perhaps that's because the need for it is real and people realize that! 

One Case Against BP, Wall Street, and War

by Tom Hayden from The Nation. 

The current oil spill invites a coming together of many social movements, including those inspired by the recent indigenous gathering in Bolivia and mainstream groups with a new opportunity for principled battle against the Obama administration’s embarrassing energy legislation which green-lights more off-shore drilling. It remains for progressives to move beyond a single-issue focus to make the connections between Wall Street, war, and environmental destruction.

The fundamental connection, of course, is the system of capitalism which Hayden is unable to name.

The international significance of the Greek general strike

from World Socialist Web Site. 

These events have revolutionary consequences internationally. As speculation rises against Portugal, Spain, and other European countries, it is increasingly clear that workers around the world face a common enemy: a parasitic ruling class that has enriched itself through the bailout of the financial system and wants to enforce huge cuts in jobs, pay, and benefits everywhere.

Slouching towards neofeudalism

from The Economic Populist. 

This well argued and supported article that our economic system is leading ordinary Americans into ever increasing debts and poverty illustrates how left political thinkers in the US are unable to name the real economic system. Here it is called by various names: neo-feudalism, peonage, and serfdom. The author came closest when he made reference to "globalization", the current phase of capitalism. 

Whether such authors understandably do this to protect their careers or are simply in denial that the capitalist system could lead to such undesirable effects is not clear.  

Journalism and 'the words of power'

by Robert Fisk from Al Jazeera. This mostly retired, distinguished journalist reveals to us how language is misused by the powerful (mostly agents of the US Empire) to manage the minds (or "manufacture consent") of their audience. 

Those journalists who cooperate in this endeavor are rewarded with lucrative careers. This, of course, is how many journalists are co-opted into serving the Empire. George Orwell foresaw this phenomenon happening over 60 years ago in his novel, 1984.

U.S. retirement benefits to be cut? (8:00m and 9:59m videos)

from The Real News Network. This is coverage on Obama's recently convened Commission on Fiscal Responsibility. The Empire's ruling class, after robbing so many developing countries with Greece being only the latest victim, is preparing a more aggressive "structural adjustment" on the most vulnerable of the American people that will, no doubt, take effect after the Fall elections--if we don't stop it! 

Here is part 2.

New analysis of 40-year-old recording of Kent State shootings reveals that Ohio Guard was given an order to prepare to fire

from The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. It takes 40-50 years to find out what really happened to shocking events like this. I hope I live long enough to find out more about the Kennedy and King assassinations. Unfortunately, I won't make it for the revelations regarding 9/11. See also this.

Time out

Economics for the Story of Stuff

from The Daly News. This is an exceedingly naive call to action (talk to economists and politicians) regarding the need to change our economic system which the author never identifies. But the need to change is well described. If you haven't yet viewed Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff, a 20:40m video, I highly recommend it (linked in the article).

What a dilemma! The planet can’t sustain our pattern of consumption, but people get steamrolled in the economy when consumption slows down. The solution is to figure out how to structure the economy so that people can meet their needs without trashing the planet.

Kagan in Context: Shafting Progressive Values

by Norman Solomon from Common Dreams. Once again, Obama, the former populist candidate of the ruling class and now President, reveals his true colors. I never cease to be surprised by the gullibility of my fellow Americans.

If President Obama has his way, Elena Kagan will replace John Paul Stevens -- and the Supreme Court will move rightward. The nomination is very disturbing, especially because it's part of a pattern.

We Can Live Without Oil, But Not Without Flora and Fauna

from the IPS news service. The article deals with today's UN agency warnings about damage to bio-diversity.

The biodiversity trends are almost all negative: the declines are exponential and potential tipping points loom, Lovejoy, a leading tropical biologist, told Tierramérica. He led the scientific review committee of the GBO3 and will publicly launch the report Monday at the opening of the Convention on Biological Diversity science meeting in Nairobi.

The Carve-Up in "The National Interest" Begins

by William Bowles from Creative-i. The author's observations regarding the recent election in Britain.

Fundamentally of course there is very little difference between the three parties, thus it’ll be a haggle over things like ‘reforming’ the electoral system, education and perhaps scrapping the ID card. But the buzzword is ‘the national interest’, something the three parties and the media are all agreed on. But with the electorate almost equally divided, what does the term ‘national interest’ mean? Perhaps a visit to Greece is in order after all? The bottom line is that all three parties are agreed that some ‘painful’ decisions are going to have to be made, the only difference being when and who is going to need a shot of morphine and a side order of Valium.

...So this is what is meant by ‘national interest’. ...the ‘national interest’ is newsspeak for preserving the rule of capital and making us pay for it.

 

Oil and Larkspur--Personal Reactions to a Disruptive Event

from The Oil Drum. The people of this website and their highly environmentally aware followers are in mourning over the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As I often do, I found the comments following the article most interesting.

United States: Here come the Suns — sports team protests racist law

from Green Left. This is about the recently passed immigration control law passed in Arizona.

SB 1070 makes it crime to walk the streets of this state without clutching your passport, green card, visa, or state ID. It not only empowers, but requires cops to demand paperwork if they so much as suspect a person of being undocumented.

The bill also makes it a class one misdemeanor for anyone to “pick up passengers for work” if their vehicle blocks traffic. And it makes a second violation of any aspect of the law a felony.

Climate debt: why we’re not all in this together

from Green Left. 

It’s fitting that the notion of climate debt reverses the normal debt relationship between the First and Third worlds. For decades, rich world governments and banks have insisted poor countries repay high-interest loans on time, regardless of the dreadful social outcomes.

When any country has defaulted on its repayments, powerful creditors such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank step in with privatisation programs and other neoliberal measures. Such programs have benefited Western corporations, while worsening poverty for people in the global South.

How to Start a Crop Mob

from Good. This sounds like a promising idea--linking up interested landless people with others who have small farms or backyards to share the labor of growing food and sharing the food produced with the additional bonus of creating a sense of community.

Check out an example in Greensboro, N. Carolina in this 2:34m video. And another good source here.

Solidarity with the Greek people against financial markets

from Europe Solidaire Sans Frontiéres. This is a statement issued by members of movements and organizations that are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum, meeting now in Mexico, as a call for solidarity with the Greek people against financial markets.

The crisis in Greece reinforces our determination to oppose neoliberal financial policies and to reassert people's sovereignty over their economies, in the South and in the North.

Some Gulf Lawmakers With Ties to Oil Industry Downplay Spill in Their Own Backyard

from The Washington Independent. 

“There’s a reason why [corporations] contribute money into the political process,” said Tyson Slocum, head of the energy program at Public Citizen, a government watchdog group. “They’re giving money, not out of charity, but for the promotion of their own self interests. It’s with the explicit intention of getting something in return.”

Colombia: State Terror in the Name of Peace

by James Petras from Voltaire. Petras examines "newspeak" 2010 in Columbia, a major US ally in South America, where US foreign economic and military aid is 3rd behind Israel and Egypt. See this.

Making a Difference Makes You Happy

from Yes! Magazine. 

From my own experience in the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War movements and beyond, I would add that these results are based on a limited time frame--the short run--and include rather benign forms of activism like writing a letter to your Congressman or voting. I do not believe that practicing such ordinary civil rights is activism. Excluding the latter, it is also true that activists have often, in the longer run, experienced severe burn-out resulting most dramatically in suicides (e.g. Phil Ochs), ruin of personal careers and financial security, FBI/police harassment, and jail time. 

Serious activism should be undertaken with both eyes open and being informed. Making a difference can lead to feelings of well-being if one does, in fact, make a difference. As they say, "nothing succeeds like success". When people succeed, the effects can be an incredible psychological high unlike any that a drug can produce. 

I've personally witnessed this among the people in Nicaragua when the Sandinista Revolution succeeded in the early 80s. Likewise when I visited four years later, I saw severe depression among those people when the US sponsored Contras managed to destabilize that country and turn back the changes that those people had fought and died for.

But like Mario Savio said in 1964 on the steps of Sproul Hall, UC Berkeley, "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, you can't take part. And you've got to put your body upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop."

In order to enhance the chances of success, I would argue that it is of critical importance that people proceed by being informed as best they can. That means learning from the experience of those activists that have come before. It means discussing with others the theories and practice of social change. It means organizing with others of a like mind. It means a critical review of activities undertaken. I think it means that activists should choose goals that are reasonably possible given the resources at hand and the real conditions that exist. Ideally, it means having a theory, strategy, and tactics that are well thought out, agreed upon, and revised as people gain experience.

Greece's Workers Revolt

by Antonis Davenellos from Counter Currents. Antonis Davenellos, a member of International Workers Left, reports from Athens on the brewing protests as the government imposes harsh austerity measures. This is the best report of these events that I've encountered on the web.

Genetically Modified [babies in Iraq]

by Layla Anwar from Counter Currents.

Thousands of Iraqi mothers are being asked not to get pregnant at all.The reason for this pregnancy dissuasion stems from the fact that the West who cares so much about its own little infants, had absolutely no qualms into pouring tons of lethal chemicals as in Weapons of Mass Destruction over the people of Basra and Falluja, weapons like depleted uranium and phosphorus which caused cancer rates to soar among children and which produced the most ugly looking monsters -- genetically modified by "freedom and democracy"...

Offshore Drilling Regulators Had Concerns, but Let Industry Self-Police

from Pro Publica. The reports show a series of back-downs and retreats by government regulators following objections by big oil companies.

‘Stop McCarthy-like attacks on climate science’

from The Great Beyond. 

Over 250 members of the US National Academy of Sciences have hit back at global warming deniers, warning that attacks on climate science are being mainly driven not by intellectual inquiry but by special interest and dogma.

                                                                    ***

“We urge our policy-makers and the public to move forward immediately to address the causes of climate change, including the un-restrained burning of fossil fuels,” they write (letter, open access version). “We also call for an end to McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action, and the outright lies being spread about them.”

Grandma protests wars

Greek Parliament approves deep social cuts in face of mass opposition

from World Socialist Web Site.

...the bailout of the financial system by states has temporarily stabilized the position of the banks, while guaranteeing the wealth of the financial elite. However, this has not resolved the crisis that erupted in 2008, but merely transferred it into a growing crisis over state debt.

The sovereign debt crisis and the demand that the working class pay for this debt through an unprecedented attack on living standards is creating the conditions for social revolution and renewed economic and financial collapse.

 

Voting in Britain for War: Take Your Pick

by John Pilger from Dissident Voice. 

...for journalists, our task is to censor by omission and make the crime seem normal for you, the public. For it is your understanding and your awakening that are feared, above all. 

Also, for more on election theater in Britain, read William Bowles' take on it. (You will need to scroll down to the article)

 With no appreciable difference between the three main parties, what difference does it make which one ‘wins’? And this view is reinforced by the opinion polls that tell us that very many people see no difference between the three and thus why there are so many ‘undecided’.

Bolivarian Venezuela at the Crossroads: Part I. Nationalization and Workers’ Control. Achievements and Limitations

by Dr. Eric Toussaint from Global Research. The author examines the push from workers to wrest control away from bureaucratic holdovers from the private sector in newly nationalized companies. It appears that Chavez has pursued a very conservative course to avoid antagonizing the international capitalist ruling classes.

The Economics of Organic Farming

from Olga Bonfiglio's blog.

“A community-based system of agriculture is all about relationships,” said Meter who predicts that “over time, communities will choose organic food...because they know the farmer is taking care of the land.”

Meter believes that in general, community-based organic farms make four major contributions: good health and nutrition for the population; a fair distribution of wealth among farmers; connections between people since food is so central to American and ethnic cultures; and the capacity for farmers, not corporations, to decide what foods to produce. 

YouTube censors video interview with Jeffrey Smith about GMOs

from Natural News. 

The video interview with Jeffrey Smith will be re-launched on our own video network where the whole world will soon be able to hear what Jeffrey Smith had to say about GMOs that YouTube desperately wants to silence.

Senior Greek Official: “We may have an uprising in the making”

from FireDogLake.

The people of Greece seem determined they will not pay for the orgy of corruption and double-dealing that has left their economy in tatters. Whether it was Goldman Sachs playing funny with derivatives to help the Greek government to hide its debt, or German companies rushing to buy up newly privatized industries, or the wide-spread corruption of Greek politicians, they are saying  something that American workers and middle class might be thinking, and that has some people afraid: "’let the plutocracy pay’…’Why should we, the little man, pay for this crisis?’"

Global food bubble on the way? Pt. 1 (10:10m video)

from The Real News Network. 

Paul Jay interviews Jayati Ghosh who is Professor of Economics and currently also Chairperson at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She explains how prices for food have been grossly distorted since 2003 when a law was passed in the US allowing non-agricultural businesses to trade in the futures market. Based on her analysis, she predicts another imminent food price bubble.


Also, here is part 2 (8:09m video) where she further explains the operation of financial institutions playing in the "free" markets to increase their profits but result in undermining food supplies in developing countries, and she explains what needs to be done to stop this.

Wall Street Profits, Subsidies and Lobbyists

by Jim Hightower from Truthout. Hightower gives us his "low-down" on a little known trick used by the Fed and the banksters to fill their coffers with your money.

BP's Slick Greenwashing

from Mother Jones. This is the way corporations function under a capitalist system which legally requires them to pursue profits above all else. Hence they must make every effort through public relations (managing consent) to appear to be environmentally responsible while cutting corners by ignoring safety and environmental regulations. 

It follows that a more accurate slogan than the popular quote ("it's the economy, stupid!") from one of our great capitalist Presidents (Bill Clinton who sold us globalization) would be: "it's the economic system, stupid!"

For the last decade, BP has been busily engaged in a multi-million-dollar greenwashing campaign. Changing its name from British Petroleum to BP, the company adopted a new slogan, “Beyond Petroleum,” and began a “rebranding” effort to depict itself as a public-spirited, environmentally sensitive, green energy enterprise, the very model of 21st century corporate responsibility.

Time out

Apparently this is a response to a recent incident where a baseball (?) fan came on to the field and was tasered.

Slick Operator: The BP I've Known Too Well

by Greg Palast from TruthOut. The author gives us his scoop on how Big Oil really functions.

I've seen this movie before. In 1989, I was a fraud investigator hired to dig into the cause of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Despite Exxon's name on that boat, I found the party most to blame for the destruction was ... British Petroleum (BP).

In Gulf of Mexico, Chemicals Under Scrutiny

from the NY Times.

With oil continuing to gush from the deep well, they have sprayed 160,000 gallons of chemical dispersant on the water’s surface and pumped an additional 6,000 gallons directly onto the leak, a mile beneath the surface.

         ...some environmental groups are deeply nervous.

Kent State Shootings Provoked by FBI

from FireDogLake. Often it takes 40 or 50 years to uncover the truth about shocking events. 

The "Evil Guys List"? "Free Journalism" in the Service of US Foreign Policy: The Role of Reporters without Borders

by F. William Engdahl from Global Research. This excellent report from Engdahl reveals another example of ruling class use of "astroturf" (fake grass-roots) organizations to mislead the public--another way of "manufacturing consent". Here is an example of mainstream media, The NY Times, sourcing information from such a group without disclosing their ties to big oil companies.

Covert Economic Agenda Beneath Immigration Reform

by Shamus Cooke form Global Research. 

Because of the economic crisis, massive unemployment, corporate bailouts, home foreclosures, and criminal activity of Wall Street, the majority of people in the U.S. have never been as passionately anti-corporation.  But the corporate owned media plus the wealthy, elite-controlled Congress reacted quickly to these intolerable circumstances and fought back.

They took the fight over public opinion to the airwaves, and massively pushed the blame for the dismal state of the U.S. economy onto those unable to defend themselves — immigrants. 

Obama biggest recipient of BP cash

from Politico. 

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Feds Duck Nagging Problems with #1 Safety Rule at U.S. Nuclear Plants

A press release from The Union for Concerned Scientists on Common Dreams website. Once again, we appear to be witnessing a catastrophe waiting-to-happen because of a failure of regulatory agencies of a government that is bought and paid for by the ruling class. 

Jim Warren, director of NC WARN, pointed to President Obama’s recent admonishment that coal mine safety regulations “are riddled with loopholes.”  Warren called on Obama to apply the same standard to the NRC: “The nuclear industry has been gaming the NRC for decades because of persistent pressure to cut costs.  If the Obama NRC allows this travesty to continue, the U.S. could see more catastrophes that should have been prevented.”  

Mercosur’s Cooperatives in an Age of Integration

by Michael Fox from UpSide Down World. 

“We, the workers began to say, the buildings are here, the machines are here, and so are the workers.  The only thing missing is the boss.  Let's continue to produce, and that's what we did.”

The Price of Tomatoes: Exposing Slavery and Other Labor Abuses in Florida’s Tomato Fields

by Barry Estabrook from Gourmet. 

If you have eaten a tomato this winter, chances are very good that it was picked by a person who lives in virtual slavery.  

Time out

Frontline: College, Inc (55:17m video)

from PBS television. 

In case you missed it, this is an excellent examination of another Wall Street scam which has been exploiting students and the US government while making investors rich. 

The key elements are corporate scam artists setting up private educational institutions, deceived students, collaborative accrediting agencies, government officials who look the other way--similar in many ways to the recent sub-prime mortgage scams. The end result is that students at these private schools are defaulting on these loans at a rate of 50%, and many graduates from these schools can't find employment in their fields because of poor training and lack of accreditation of their schools by professional associations. Many such students end up with several hundred thousand dollars in debt due to accrued interest.

This has been going on for a number of years. I myself, back in 1987, took a job in San Francisco teaching math to copier technicians enrolled in a private trade school. It soon became apparent to me that they were recruiting any students  they could get their hands on regardless of any aptitude for this kind of work and signing them up for student loans. I was so shocked that I resigned immediately after working there only a few months.

I've noticed over the years that this issue never made it into mainstream media. It appears that only now has PBS covered the issue because of the fiscal problems that the government is having, and government moves to cut back on student funding.

The exposé was generally well done, but they failed to follow up on one key aspect of this--the purchasing of accreditation from regional educational accrediting agencies by these private educational corporations. They made only brief mention of it at 47:28m into the program.

Promises, Promises: Rich farmers get most cash

a news item from Yahoo. Efforts to cut back on welfare to rich farmers is making little headway according this article.

Lawmakers crafting a sweeping farm bill in 2008 promised it would cut government payments to wealthy farmers. Two years later, little appears to have changed.

Industry leaders seem to be showing more openness to energy descent issues

by George Mobus (U. of Washington, Tacoma) posted on The Oil Drum. At a recent retreat in California, the author is encouraged by the openness of corporate and government officials to the vanishing fossil fuel resources and the implications for system change.

"BP Says It’ll Pay For This Mess. Baloney." BP Liability Currently Capped at Only $75 MILLION ... Menendez Bill Would Raise Liability to $10 Billion

from Washington's Blog. What do you think of the chances of this bill being passed?

Corn Syrup Linked to Bee Colony Catastrophe

from Food Freedom. 

He found that under four different temperatures (ranging from 89 degrees F to 156 degrees F), high-fructose corn syrup degraded enough in bees to cause ulceration and dysentery; above 120 degrees F, HMF levels doubled and bee deaths multiplied dramatically as observed in colony collapse.

The Fed Thumbs Its Nose at the Public

by Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism. 

This woman has had a career in the financial services industry. She knows it inside and out, and she's honest, but a believer in the capitalist system. She believes that it can be reformed. Others also, like this guy.

Here she argues persuasively that some of the most powerful drivers of our economy, particularly "The Fed", function in secret, and she wants to change that. In my opinion, she does not understand that private interests have always operated in secret. She doesn't understand that the capitalist system has grown like a cancer in the body of the republic to the point that it has almost completely devoured it. 

Private interests have long used a facade of democracy behind which to pull the strings of the economy--a vital segment of any society--to serve their private interests. The most powerful of these private interests are essentially a ruling class. They are called a ruling class simply because they are the people who really rule this country because they "own" most of it. This has happened because of the functioning of private property laws over time under their beloved capitalist system. Because of their power, they also determine most of what happens in our government, media, and education.

The Fed itself, behind a thin veneer of government involvement, is a consortium of private banks that issue our money supply.

Another actor in this drama that she has described is Blackrock investment company. This is a powerful and private investment company where the super-rich, who are mostly members of the ruling class, play with their investments. They are heavily invested in so-called "defense companies"--the manufacturers of killing machines in order to enforce the dictates of The Empire, over which they also rule, on to the rest of the world. Hence the US government's super aggressive foreign policy places considerable emphasis on warfare, the threat of war, and military exports to client states. Read about the Pentagon's latest game plan.

If my argument is correct, then you can understand why the Fed "thumbs its nose at the public."

Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds

from the NY Times. You will need to register, but do so--it's important to have access to this "newspaper of record." 

Betting on Change

from The Climate Desk. Read how capitalists are scrambling to make money from climate change, a few look longer term while most look for short term profits.

A spring Gallup study found that Americans' concern over global warming peaked two years ago, and has steadily declined since.

But there's one area where doubt hasn't grown—and where, indeed, people are more and more certain that climate change is not only real, but imminent: The world of industry and commerce.

Time out

Rent-A-Front: New Group Wages Stealth Battle Against Wall Street Reform

from TPM. This article illustrates how political power often functions in the US by focusing on the use of front groups.

as TPMmuckraker has looked into the group, every indication is that Stop Too Big To Fail is an astroturf operation funded by corporate interests to give the appearance of grassroots opposition to reform.

An update to this story is here.

Conservation and the Community Garden: One Suburban Model That Works

from the Energy Bulletin. This article contains information that community gardeners and others involved in similar locally organized community projects might find useful.

...the ONLY way out of the deadly and doomed industrial sewer we’ve dug ourselves is through refashioning the intricate web of local economic and social relations that can bind a local community together. And this doesn’t require money inputs from outside. And it doesn’t require organizational help from the state and federal governments.

it requires trust and familiarity between neighbors; it requires hard work and practical knowledge; it requires the conscious practice of kindness and cooperation. Basically, it requires people realizing that these social and economic connections within the community are worth far, far more than money or possessions or anything having to do with industrial consumption. That’s it.

Our garden needs to run, so to speak, on community and ecological power – not money.

Local food council develops big plans

from Galesburg.com, a newspaper in western Illinois, US. Hopefully, we in the US are at the beginning of a public policy trend for locally produced and distributed food.

The Knox County Board has officially established a local food council that will work to strengthen and develop local food networks.

The 15-member council will become a non-profit foundation and will work with local growers to help them reach markets for their products and add value to them. County officials hope that over time growth in local food production could create hundreds of sustainable jobs.

Israel, Iran Targeted at Nuke Non-Proliferation Meet

from IPS news service. I am including this post today to illustrate how some news is almost never covered in US mainstream media. Anything that has a negative impact on Israeli actions or policies, due mostly to powerful Zionist influence in the US, is one major bias.

Angry Americans March on Wall Street

from Russia Today. One must often go to foreign sources to find out what is going on in one's own country due to mainstream media's gatekeeper function of what informs Americans. 

Also, see here what the Greeks are faced with and what they are doing to fight back. 

Wake Up and Smell the System

by Frank Scott from his blog. 

The engine of our system is capitalism; the pursuit of private profit through the market under corporate control, free of any public intrusion save for minor reforms that try to keep its most destructive tendencies from all working simultaneously and destroying society in the process. But destruction is what we face if we try to make society healthier by segregating one group or aspect of its illness from the social body without confronting the terminal social disease that escapes notice, is hidden from notice, or is forbidden from being noticed.

The greening of capitalism?

by Heather Rogers from International Socialist Review. She presents an excellent critical examination of the efforts of capitalists to adapt capitalism to what appears to be more earth friendly methods of operations--what has become known as "green capitalism".

In the late 1990s, DuPont voluntarily adopted the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, which meant they would cut their greenhouse gas emissions to less than half of 1991 levels. This led to a net savings of $6 for every ton of carbon dioxide that DuPont shed. Natural Capitalism uses this example to say, “Look, it works.” Hawken and the Lovinses go on to point out, “America could shed $300 billion a year from its energy bills using existing technology. The Earth’s climate can thus be protected, not at a cost, but at a profit.” This is the strand of thinking that others, including Thomas Friedman, have picked up on. It sounds really good to a lot of powerful people, powerful corporations, and powerful politicians beholden to those corporations.

...what does DuPont do with the money they save? They put it right back into making more chemicals. They put it back into growing their business because that’s what you have to do in capitalism. That’s the logic of the market. You have to grow or you lose out to the competition.

Capitalism on a collision course with nature

from Cyrano's Journal Online. The article is a bit long and mainly serves to promote a book by Joel Kovel entitled, The Enemy of Nature, but it does make some very important points about the incompatibility of capitalism and an Earth that can support human and other life forms. I especially enjoyed watching the appearance of Sara Palin on the Keith Olbermann show about 1:25m into the video.

The past year has seen an accelerating awareness, a growing anger and realization of the bankruptcy of capital to contend with the crisis it has spawned. How can it, when to overcome the crisis would mean its own liquidation? There is now a widespread assumption, which was much more limited five years ago, that the problem is not this corporation or that, or “industrialization,” technology, or just plain bad luck, but all-devouring capital. This is a salubrious truth, a truth that sharpens the mind and can be worked with and built upon. The human intelligence can be daunted, but it cannot be erased. As the ecological crisis grinds on irrespective of capital’s propaganda system and its massive apparatus for fixing the environment, so does capital’s legitimacy begin to fray. With this, the possibility of new thinking emerges and begins to flower. On one side, a predictable inevitability, that the system will collapse; on the other, no more than a hope, grounded however in reality, that a new form of society may emerge no longer dependent upon accumulation and its progressive breakdown of ecosystems.

The Promise of Decentralization, Localization, and Scale-Free Self-Sufficiency

from The Oil Drum. A must read. I find this article to be one of the most interesting that I've read in some time. It keys into the most crucial issues of our time--how do we survive climate change, peak energy, and a system called capitalism that will destroy human and other life forms if it is allowed to continue in this new environment. Be sure to check out the links in, and the discussion following, the article.

The next 9/11 made in Israel?

from Redress. 

If, as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu admitted, 9/11 was “very good” for Israel, a nuclear 9/11 might be even better. As the spellbinding effects of that traumatic event nine years ago have begun to wear off, and with Americans increasingly questioning the costs of a one-sided alliance, it may even be considered necessary.

Venezuela at the Crossroads: Voices from Inside the Revolution

by Luke Stobart from Venezuela Analysis. An excellent discussion by Venezuelan activists about the problems and prospects of progress in their country. I was pleased to see this article also re-printed in Venezuela Analysis website where, too often, I have seen the site as only acting as a cheerleader for the "Bolivarian Revolution". Unlike some left-wing enthusiasts of Venezuela, I've seen a definite plateau reached by the progressive forces in the country and increasing entrenchment of the bureaucracy, and fear that the gains that have been made will be lost if things do not progress further.

 Chávez has a progressive sensibility and a character far removed from that of a tyrant or demagogue. But he has around him a military and bureaucratic presence which sees itself as the vanguard of the revolutionary process. Because economic, political and bureaucratic interests are so prevalent in the government the project becomes strictly the opposite: corporative, bureaucratic and militarised. The worrying thing about Chávez is whether he is aware of this, and also how he fails to react when everybody is saying, “Throw out all these satraps in the government.”

Bolivia’s world climate summit a breakthrough

from Green Left (Australia). 

Capitalism is the problem [my emphasis] because it “has imposed on us a logic of competition, progress and limitless growth. This regime of production and consumption seeks profit without limits, separating human beings from nature and imposing a logic of domination upon nature, transforming everything into commodities: water, earth, the human genome, ancestral cultures, biodiversity, justice, ethics, the rights of peoples, and life itself.”

Workers demand better jobs, pay on May Day

from MSNBC. 

Tens of thousands of workers marched in cities from Hong Kong to Istanbul Saturday to mark international worker's day, demanding more jobs, better work conditions and higher wages

What You Need to Know About May Day

by Prof. Leo Panitch from Global Research. This is necessary reading for those whose knowledge of labor history has been distorted by schooling and the media in the US. The author also provides some excellent references to other material that can be studied.

For more than 100 years, May Day has symbolized the common struggles of workers around the globe. Why is it largely ignored in North America? The answer lies in part in American labour’s long repression of its own radical past, out of which international May Day was actually born a century ago.

Time out

Media Coverup on the Corporate Pillage and Destruction of sub-Saharan Africa

by P. Wilkenson from Global Research. This is a bit of a rant, but the author makes the important point that mainstream media coverage of the events in this region of the world is extremely deficient. I find that when you get poor coverage of a topic or area, you will, if you can find the information, discover a lot of corporate crimes involved. That is certainly true of this area of the world. (Note: I am constantly irritated by the practice of writers to use abbreviations/acronyms without any referents. In this article, "NSDAP" refers to the Nazi party.)

Climate change indicators in the United States: Summary of scientific findings

from Climate Progress. Here one can find a useful summary of scientific research re human caused climate change and the supporting evidence.

Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution, say researchers

from The Independent. 

Pollution near both airports dropped significantly during the first three days of the shutdown. During last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, levels of two major pollutants, NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) and NOx (the generic term for oxides of nitrogen, taken together) fell virtually to zero.

Global warming means local (super) storming

from Climate Progress. The article provides evidence to suggest that we can expect more and more extreme weather events in the future.

These emerging signals are consistent with what we expect from our projections, giving us confidence in the science and models that underpin them. In the absence of action to mitigate climate change, we can expect much larger changes in the coming decades than have been seen so far.

Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe

from the Guardian. I like to avoid sensational headlines and articles, but sometimes one simply can't.

The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.