The day is rapidly approaching when that troubled piece of real estate many claim is holy will be bereft of the most highly educated and consistently nonviolent Palestinians –the indigenous Palestinian Christians/AKA The Forgotten Faithful.
Researches predict that if things do not change very soon, Holy Land churches will be nothing more than museums for Christian communities across the region are declining due to low birth rates coupled with increasing emigration due to the persecution and violence rooted in the now 44 years of Military occupation of Palestine.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Christ Under Occupation: Christmas in the Holy Land
Click here to access article by Eileen Fleming from We Are Wide Awake.
PORTUGAL: All-Out Privatisation Gets Underway
Click here to access article by Mario Queiroz from IPS News.
...the bourgeoisie in Europe understand that "this is the right moment to do it quickly, when the trade unions and leftist parties are weakened, disconcerted or divided, before protesters organise and react; and, if necessary, [to] put an end to democracies to ensure change. There is a great deal at stake here."Read how the capitalist predators in Portugal are currently tearing apart the flesh of social support systems and running off with the bones of public property to satisfy their never ending appetite for more.
The Real I-Revolt Apps of the Arab Spring
Click here to access article by Emad Mekay from IPS News.
The reality is that these courageous Arabs inspired the young, and not so young, people in the US and other Western countries to finally stand up and say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
So here I am, an Arab journalist in Silicon Valley, where four out of every four people I meet believe Facebook invented the Arab Spring. Three more weeks here and I may start to hallucinate that Mark Zuckerberg was a Cairo-slums native named Hassouna El-Fatatri, who rotted in a Mubarak prison for advocating personal privacy rights.It appears that the Empire's media executives do not like to report on opposition to their satraps and stooges all over the world; but when a people finally refuse to tolerate them and risk their lives to protest, what do the Empire's media managers do? They credit Western technology. Those dumb Arabs could never do such things by themselves. (sarcasm)
The reality is that these courageous Arabs inspired the young, and not so young, people in the US and other Western countries to finally stand up and say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A (Very Very) Brief History of Occupation Tactics
Click here to access article by Willie Osterweil from Shareable.
The author describes the significance of the Occupy movement both globally and historically.
The author describes the significance of the Occupy movement both globally and historically.
The occupation is a powerful tactic for a number of reasons: it foregrounds the political issues of everyday life and public space, it produces a positive communitarian solution to the problems it critiques, it is highly visible and struggle is continuous in a way that radicalizes its participants. It has been used throughout history in fights for social justice, peace, and revolution, but now its moment has truly arrived, and there are many more occupations to come.
Resist, Reclaim, Recreate
Click here to access article by Andy Stern from The Indypendent.
Wall Street banks have turned millions of Americans out of their homes since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007. On Dec. 6, Occupy activists in more than 20 states teamed up with local community organizations to start moving people back into some of those foreclosed homes.
May you live in interesting times
Click here to access article by William Bowles from his blog.
The author provides a good analysis of how mainstream media effectively manages the consent of its population to serve the interests of the One Percent. But, in doing so, I think he overstates his case.
The more mainstream media's version of reality clashes with the realities experienced daily by the 99 Percent, the more the credibility of MSM breaks down. Likewise, more and more people are turning to alternative media to find out what is really happening. The reports from Wikileaks and alternative media along with the messages coming out of the Occupy movement are all having a major impact on the political consciousness of ordinary people. That is precisely why the One Percent is enhancing its support of its enforcers (police and prisons) to quell dissent.
The author provides a good analysis of how mainstream media effectively manages the consent of its population to serve the interests of the One Percent. But, in doing so, I think he overstates his case.
The more mainstream media's version of reality clashes with the realities experienced daily by the 99 Percent, the more the credibility of MSM breaks down. Likewise, more and more people are turning to alternative media to find out what is really happening. The reports from Wikileaks and alternative media along with the messages coming out of the Occupy movement are all having a major impact on the political consciousness of ordinary people. That is precisely why the One Percent is enhancing its support of its enforcers (police and prisons) to quell dissent.
Co-ops Under Capitalism
Click here to access 47:00m audio presentation of an interview with Ian Seda-Irizarry from KPFA (Berkeley, CA).
During the first approximately 10 minutes the interviewee critiques various popular views of the present dire economic situation. After that he focuses on questions regarding worker coops such as the Mondragon Co-operative based in Spain, especially on their value and limitations as a model to serve the interests of workers.
During the first approximately 10 minutes the interviewee critiques various popular views of the present dire economic situation. After that he focuses on questions regarding worker coops such as the Mondragon Co-operative based in Spain, especially on their value and limitations as a model to serve the interests of workers.
Tracking Journalist Arrests at Occupy Protests Around the Country
Click here to access article by Josh Stearns from Storify.
Yesterday, I used the latest example of none-coverage by US media--the massacre of striking workers in Kazakhstan, to illustrate how mainstream media controls coverage of events in the world where the One Percent have an interest in those areas. Clearly the One Percent do not like the challenge presented by the Occupy movement here within the US. Initially they simply ignored it. Recently they have been covering it with a lot of ambivalence, but what is often overlooked is how the enforcers of the One Percent are treating journalists who try to cover the various protest actions. In this piece the author assembles reports of numerous incidents across the US where the authorities are arresting, detaining, and assaulting journalists trying to cover events related to the Occupy movement.
Yesterday, I used the latest example of none-coverage by US media--the massacre of striking workers in Kazakhstan, to illustrate how mainstream media controls coverage of events in the world where the One Percent have an interest in those areas. Clearly the One Percent do not like the challenge presented by the Occupy movement here within the US. Initially they simply ignored it. Recently they have been covering it with a lot of ambivalence, but what is often overlooked is how the enforcers of the One Percent are treating journalists who try to cover the various protest actions. In this piece the author assembles reports of numerous incidents across the US where the authorities are arresting, detaining, and assaulting journalists trying to cover events related to the Occupy movement.
Secrets from the past point to rapid climate change in the future
Click here to access article by Patrick Lynch from NASA.
The human-caused release of increased carbon dioxide into the atmosphere...presents climate scientists with something they've never seen in the 65 million year record of carbon dioxide levels — a drastic rate of increase that makes it difficult to predict how rapidly the Earth will respond.
..."Humans have overwhelmed the natural, slow changes that occur on geologic timescales," Hansen said.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Wall St likes your amnesia
Click here to access article by Ellen Brown from Asia Times Online.
This popular writer on money matters reviews the bankster scenario that has been playing out in the US since the economic collapse of 2008, explains once again how private control of money functions to enrich the One Percent, and what the solution is--public ownership and control over money issuance.
However, I don't think she understands how this capitalist scam is at the very core of their class rule. And also, this is not the only interest that the One Percent have in current social-economic arrangements: they also want to continue their historical scam of ownership and control over the wealth that is socially created. Thus, the 99 Per Cent must organize themselves sufficiently to change the entire system of capitalism to something that serves their needs: achieve freedom from wars, from extremes of wealth and poverty, and from environmental degradation.
This popular writer on money matters reviews the bankster scenario that has been playing out in the US since the economic collapse of 2008, explains once again how private control of money functions to enrich the One Percent, and what the solution is--public ownership and control over money issuance.
However, I don't think she understands how this capitalist scam is at the very core of their class rule. And also, this is not the only interest that the One Percent have in current social-economic arrangements: they also want to continue their historical scam of ownership and control over the wealth that is socially created. Thus, the 99 Per Cent must organize themselves sufficiently to change the entire system of capitalism to something that serves their needs: achieve freedom from wars, from extremes of wealth and poverty, and from environmental degradation.
Mark Ames: Post Collapse, Banks get bigger, Rich get Richer
Click here to access 7:39m video from Russia Today via You-Tube.
Mark Ames, the editor of Exiled magazine, talks about the current class war in the US, why the financial sector is richer than ever after the collapse of 2008, the importance of the Occupy protests, and why he expects things “to get ugly”.
Mark Ames, the editor of Exiled magazine, talks about the current class war in the US, why the financial sector is richer than ever after the collapse of 2008, the importance of the Occupy protests, and why he expects things “to get ugly”.
Obama and Geithner: Government, Enron-Style
Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone.
I am only posting this piece because it epitomizes a liberal interpretation of the failure of political leaders to serve the public interest. It is a kind of morality tale which obscures the hidden reality of class rule which is the function of liberals within capitalist societies. Obama and Geithner were hired by the One Percent to perform as they are currently doing: serving the interests of the One Percent instead of the 99 Percent, otherwise known as the "public", who these leaders are suppose to represent according to "democratic theology".
I am only posting this piece because it epitomizes a liberal interpretation of the failure of political leaders to serve the public interest. It is a kind of morality tale which obscures the hidden reality of class rule which is the function of liberals within capitalist societies. Obama and Geithner were hired by the One Percent to perform as they are currently doing: serving the interests of the One Percent instead of the 99 Percent, otherwise known as the "public", who these leaders are suppose to represent according to "democratic theology".
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Iraq in political turmoil only days after US withdrawal
Click here to access article posted in Al Akhbar, source from AFP (French news service).
This Mid-Eastern political creation of the Empire, which was created after nine years of invasion and occupation at a cost of nearly $1 trillion and millions of lives lost, already appears to be coming apart at the seams.
This Mid-Eastern political creation of the Empire, which was created after nine years of invasion and occupation at a cost of nearly $1 trillion and millions of lives lost, already appears to be coming apart at the seams.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the United States, whose troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq over the weekend, "have expressed our concern regarding these developments."
Money Power World Rule
Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman posted on IndyBay.
Clearly, money power in private hands failed. It's wrecking the country, devastating the American dream, impoverishing millions, destroying jobs, contaminating the environment, and funding America's military machine that's ravaging the world one country at a time, and threatening humanity with extinction.
Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout
Click here to access article posted in Climate Connections, original source: Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman, International Journal of Health Services
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in theDecember 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.See also followup report on today's posting from the same source for more details.
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Corporate Raid on State Tax Revenue
Click here to access article by Phil Mattera from It's Our Economy.
While states and municipalities are forced to cut back on education, health, and welfare, the big corporations play off one region against another or threaten to leave the country in order to garner huge benefits and exemption from taxes.
While states and municipalities are forced to cut back on education, health, and welfare, the big corporations play off one region against another or threaten to leave the country in order to garner huge benefits and exemption from taxes.
While it was once taken for granted that large U.S. corporations would do most of their investing at home, companies such as Boeing and Intel now act as if they are doing the country a favor with their domestic projects and expect to be rewarded handsomely in the form of special state tax breaks on top of those business-friendly provisions available to all firms.As corporations, their stockholders, and bankers, and all of the One Percent are swimming in cash and luxury, the 99 Per Cent are sinking deeper into poverty. See this report entitled, "US mayors decry rise in poverty, homelessness" from AFP (Agence France-Presse).
Egyptian military cracks down on peaceful protesters
Click here to access article by Johannes Stern from World socialist Web Site.
It is clear that the protests and struggles for a genuine democracy in Egypt during the Arab Spring will not be allowed to disturb the ruling US backed junta, that is, if US political operatives have their way.
See also this piece from WSWS for more details about the arming of the Egyptian military by the US.
It is clear that the protests and struggles for a genuine democracy in Egypt during the Arab Spring will not be allowed to disturb the ruling US backed junta, that is, if US political operatives have their way.
Washington views the Egyptian military as its main ally to defend its imperialist interests in the region. It gives $1.3 billion each year to the Egyptian army, second only to its support for the Israel Defense Forces.In contrast to the coverage of protests during the Arab Spring in Egypt, now US media is mostly ignoring the current brutal attacks on peaceful protestors.
See also this piece from WSWS for more details about the arming of the Egyptian military by the US.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
From America to Amerika: The End Game [must read]
Click here to access article by James Fetzer from Voltaire.
In any case, the provision in the NDAA is real. Apparently the Occupy movement has scared the Bejesus out of the One Percent because the last nails are now being hammered into the lid of the coffin of our civil liberties in Washington by our "change" President and the Congress. Meanwhile the media of the One Percent keeps us distracted by exhorting us to go out shopping for Christmas. It no doubt will take a while for this to really sink into the psyche of most of the 99 Per Cent.
So, the question remains: has fascism really come to America? Are they really going to put dissenters into internment camps as the report from InfoWars suggests? This report has stirred up a lot of coverage not only in the alternative media that focuses on sensational material, but also among Wall Street type sources such as Business Insider and Max Keiser's blog. Then there is other evidence that the author of this article provides which suggests that the threat is authentic. And, of course, the NDAA amendment essentially justifies these camps. The author provides a very sensible, well-reasoned, and well balanced analysis of these events.
In a way I think this is probably good. We have been like children who have believed in sugar plumb fairies of democratic freedoms and the Santa Claus of a government that was serving our interests. The growing police state will force many of us to finally grow up. Only adults can effectively cope with real threats in their lives.
In the case of the McCain/Levin amendment [to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)], this is a warning to every U.S. citizen who takes issue with this corrupt, murderous, even illegitimate government in Washington, D.C., no matter where they are here in the United States, that the military now has a hunting license to come to get you and ferret you off to a secret stalag for torture and indefinite incarceration.It appears from the evidence provided in this and many other current articles is that we, the 99 Per Cent, are all Palestinians now. Yes, that's right, the end game has finally arrived--we are now the enemy. Or, at the very least, they want us to believe that and be too frightened to protest anything.
In any case, the provision in the NDAA is real. Apparently the Occupy movement has scared the Bejesus out of the One Percent because the last nails are now being hammered into the lid of the coffin of our civil liberties in Washington by our "change" President and the Congress. Meanwhile the media of the One Percent keeps us distracted by exhorting us to go out shopping for Christmas. It no doubt will take a while for this to really sink into the psyche of most of the 99 Per Cent.
So, the question remains: has fascism really come to America? Are they really going to put dissenters into internment camps as the report from InfoWars suggests? This report has stirred up a lot of coverage not only in the alternative media that focuses on sensational material, but also among Wall Street type sources such as Business Insider and Max Keiser's blog. Then there is other evidence that the author of this article provides which suggests that the threat is authentic. And, of course, the NDAA amendment essentially justifies these camps. The author provides a very sensible, well-reasoned, and well balanced analysis of these events.
In a way I think this is probably good. We have been like children who have believed in sugar plumb fairies of democratic freedoms and the Santa Claus of a government that was serving our interests. The growing police state will force many of us to finally grow up. Only adults can effectively cope with real threats in their lives.
Of Ideology and Philanthropy
Click here to access article by Michael Barker from Ceasefire.
Massive not-for-profit corporations, like the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller foundations, created by the world’s leading capitalists, have “gone to great lengths to rationalise the contradiction between democratic principles and elite dominance.” Seen through the eyes of their executives, democracy only functions when it is run by the few for the many.The author reviews the ideas and findings of a 1983 by Edward Berman entitled, The Influence of the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations on American Foreign Policy: The Ideology of Philanthropy, to shed light on how the rich have used philanthropy to indoctrinate students from all over the world in the values and perspectives of capitalism.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Outsourcing Jobs, Offshoring Markets
Click here to access article by Alan Nasser from CounterPunch.
This is one of the clearest explanations of the effects of globalization that I have seen. Above all, he explains the logic of globalization as it is currently influencing events and what is likely to happen in the future which is essentially a small first world and a huge third world everywhere in the world.
This is one of the clearest explanations of the effects of globalization that I have seen. Above all, he explains the logic of globalization as it is currently influencing events and what is likely to happen in the future which is essentially a small first world and a huge third world everywhere in the world.
One might object that there are clear limits to how impoverished working people can be made – after all, workers have to be maintained as work-ready. Upward redistribution can only go so far. But ever-widening inequality is perceived by elites as feasible by virtue of the limitless possibilities of greater indebtedness. Workers can make ends meet by indefinitely mortgaging their future income.It is on the latter point where the author fails us. The future is far worse than what he describes. As I see it, more devastating wars, more police state methods, more climate chaos, more environmental degradation, as well as greater extremes of wealth and poverty are in our future...unless, of course, we of the 99% get more active and refuse to allow capitalist ruling classes to have their way.
Extreme Weather Map
Click here to access map from Natural Resources Defense Council.
Besides reasons of social justice, even more important is the necessity to replace class rule with genuine participatory rule of the people in order to insure our very survival as a human race. The planet will continue regardless of what humans do, but the evidence is clear that under the rule of the capitalist class all habitat that can support human life will be destroyed. It was clear in the 1970s that we could not continue spewing carbon dioxide into the air and poisoning our rivers and oceans. But now, 40 years later we stand poised on critical thresholds beyond which there will be nothing we can do to prevent our extinction.
So far, the governing capitalist class has been able to do nothing other than launch public relation campaigns to have us believe initially that there wasn't actually a problem, and now we are receiving soothing messages from the fossil fuel industry to have us believe that sometime in the near future they will come up with a magic solution to this developing crisis.
One can better understand our dilemma by seeing this governing class of people as addicts--because that is exactly what they are. And like all addicts, they will get their fix even if it kills them. Well, that wouldn't be so bad except that we will go down with them...that is, if we continue to allow them to satisfy their addictions to power and profits. On the way to extinction we can look forward to more extreme weather disasters, more poisoning of our rivers and oceans, and more wrecked economies.
Besides reasons of social justice, even more important is the necessity to replace class rule with genuine participatory rule of the people in order to insure our very survival as a human race. The planet will continue regardless of what humans do, but the evidence is clear that under the rule of the capitalist class all habitat that can support human life will be destroyed. It was clear in the 1970s that we could not continue spewing carbon dioxide into the air and poisoning our rivers and oceans. But now, 40 years later we stand poised on critical thresholds beyond which there will be nothing we can do to prevent our extinction.
 |
| US Public Relations Officers Employed by the Ruling Class Reassuring the Public |
So far, the governing capitalist class has been able to do nothing other than launch public relation campaigns to have us believe initially that there wasn't actually a problem, and now we are receiving soothing messages from the fossil fuel industry to have us believe that sometime in the near future they will come up with a magic solution to this developing crisis.
One can better understand our dilemma by seeing this governing class of people as addicts--because that is exactly what they are. And like all addicts, they will get their fix even if it kills them. Well, that wouldn't be so bad except that we will go down with them...that is, if we continue to allow them to satisfy their addictions to power and profits. On the way to extinction we can look forward to more extreme weather disasters, more poisoning of our rivers and oceans, and more wrecked economies.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Dante’s Divine Comedy – Banksters Edition
Click here to access article by William K. Black from New Economic Perspectives.
One can fantasize all they want about punishing the banksters and others for bringing our economy to the edges of collapse, but that will not change anything. What the author does clarify is that so many people were involved in the mortgage scam: bankers, hedge fund managers, Wall Street, accountants, insurance companies, rating agencies, mortgage companies, on down to real estate agents. That is the only way it could have worked. But the engineers of this scam were at the very top of the class of people who own and control capitalist societies. They offered all kinds of inducements to these other people to engage in sociopathic behavior. There has been class war for the past 10 thousand years, but this was class war on steroids.
But if you still prefer to engage in fantasies, here is another one from the liberal Atlantic magazine where they fantasize about Congress enacting stronger regulatory laws.
So rather than passively engaging in soul satisfying fantasies, we of the 99% must organize and do away with any kind of class rule by designing a class free society, a bottom-up form of genuine, participatory democracy. It's hard and potentially dangerous work, but it must be done.
One can fantasize all they want about punishing the banksters and others for bringing our economy to the edges of collapse, but that will not change anything. What the author does clarify is that so many people were involved in the mortgage scam: bankers, hedge fund managers, Wall Street, accountants, insurance companies, rating agencies, mortgage companies, on down to real estate agents. That is the only way it could have worked. But the engineers of this scam were at the very top of the class of people who own and control capitalist societies. They offered all kinds of inducements to these other people to engage in sociopathic behavior. There has been class war for the past 10 thousand years, but this was class war on steroids.
But if you still prefer to engage in fantasies, here is another one from the liberal Atlantic magazine where they fantasize about Congress enacting stronger regulatory laws.
So rather than passively engaging in soul satisfying fantasies, we of the 99% must organize and do away with any kind of class rule by designing a class free society, a bottom-up form of genuine, participatory democracy. It's hard and potentially dangerous work, but it must be done.
The Truth Hurts–And Heals
Click here to access article by Charles Hugh Smith from Occupy Wall Street News.
Participants in the Occupy movement in the US are now beginning to discover some truths about the system that governs their society:
Participants in the Occupy movement in the US are now beginning to discover some truths about the system that governs their society:
There is a system of government in which rule of law is merely a propaganda screen, where financial and political Elites run the show and escape the consequences of their actions: it’s called tyranny. The truth is that we live in a financial tyranny.However, the solution, a truth commission, that this blogger recommends demonstrates that there are many more truths which will need to be uncovered in order to create a healthy society; and I have no doubt that they will be. The most fundamental ones that I have in mind are: money cannot be under private control, socially produced wealth cannot be appropriated by private interests, and what is produced and how products and services are produced must be under genuine democratic control.
African-American Faith Community Joins Forces with Occupy Wall Street – First Day of Action on MLK Day, Jan 16 at Federal Reserve Banks
Click here to access article from Occupy Wall Street News.
Members of the African-American faith community have joined forces with Occupy Wall Street to launch a new campaign for economic justice inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Faithful to its philosophical origin, the “Occupy the Dream” coalition has called for a National Day of Action on Martin Luther King Day – Monday, January 16, 2012 – when they will “Occupy the Federal Reserve,” in multiple cities nationwide, focusing attention on the gross injustice visited upon the 99% by the financial elite.This is great news! It demonstrates once again that the movement is here to stay by drawing in more of the 99% who identify with the movement.
Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas
Click here to access article by Steve Connor from The Independent.
This is the latest update of findings by a research team who have been monitoring methane releases in northern Siberia for the last 20 years. Their recent findings are looking worse than the preliminary data with discoveries of huge eruptions of atmosphere destroying methane gas. This release of methane from thawing of the Arctic tundra has long been anticipated and feared by climate scientists. For more clarification see also "Global Warming Feedback Loop Caused by Methane" from National Geographic and Wikipedia's explanation of greenhouse gases.
This is the latest update of findings by a research team who have been monitoring methane releases in northern Siberia for the last 20 years. Their recent findings are looking worse than the preliminary data with discoveries of huge eruptions of atmosphere destroying methane gas. This release of methane from thawing of the Arctic tundra has long been anticipated and feared by climate scientists. For more clarification see also "Global Warming Feedback Loop Caused by Methane" from National Geographic and Wikipedia's explanation of greenhouse gases.
Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Bradley Manning story inspires play by National Theatre of Wales
Click here to access article by Alex Needham from The Guardian.
With US media constantly referring to US troops used to invade other countries as "soldier warriors" and heroes, I and many others regard resistance people such as Bradley Manning as the real heroes of our age. Bradley fought on behalf of the 99 percent by helping to expose the lies of the One Percent. By doing so he risked so much, and has undergone horrendous punishment for his services to us. We simply must support our heroes!
Here is are lyrics to a great new song to celebrate Bradley and our other heroes:
With US media constantly referring to US troops used to invade other countries as "soldier warriors" and heroes, I and many others regard resistance people such as Bradley Manning as the real heroes of our age. Bradley fought on behalf of the 99 percent by helping to expose the lies of the One Percent. By doing so he risked so much, and has undergone horrendous punishment for his services to us. We simply must support our heroes!
Here is are lyrics to a great new song to celebrate Bradley and our other heroes:
For Bradley Manning
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurroo, hurroo
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurroo, hurroo
We’ll charge the war makers with their crimes
Put ‘em in the dock, make them pay for those crimes
When the peace is won and Bradley comes marching home
For Molly Ivins
When Molly comes marching home again Hurrah, hurrah
When Molly comes marching home again Hurrah, Hurrah
We’ll win the peace, just you see
The world will have a chance to be free
When the peace is won and Molly comes marching home
For Dr. King
When Martin comes marching home again Hurray, Hurray
When Martin comes marching home again Hurray, Hurray
We’ll put our conscience to the test
And lay the war machine to rest
When the peace is won and Martin comes marching home
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurray, Hurray
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurray, Hurray
We’ll start with a truce, don’t you see
No more war, that’s the key
When the peace is won and Bradley comes marching home
The Making of the American 99% and the Collapse of the Middle Class
Click here to access article by Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich from TomDispatch. (Note: You may want to skip the introduction by scrolling down to the article.)
Unlike many writers, these astute observers demonstrate that they really understand class structure. They explain how US society so suddenly became divided between the (less than) one percent and the 99 percent.
Unlike many writers, these astute observers demonstrate that they really understand class structure. They explain how US society so suddenly became divided between the (less than) one percent and the 99 percent.
...until a few months ago, the 99% was hardly a group capable of...articulating “the identity of their interests.” It contained, and still contains, most “ordinary” rich people, along with middle-class professionals, factory workers, truck drivers, and miners, as well as the much poorer people who clean the houses, manicure the fingernails, and maintain the lawns of the affluent.
Reform vs Revolution Within Occupy [must read article]
Click here to access article by Shamus Cooke from Workers Compass.
Which side are you on? You are either with the 99% or, if you do nothing, you are by default with the One Percent. How can I make such a startling claim? Because the One Percent are busy ratcheting up their war on us. Take a look at what they have been doing very recently:
...it seems obvious that most people in America are on the fence as to whether or not to support or reject Occupy. These people cannot be dismissed as Conservatives or "apathetic.” Many of them will be willing to fight with Occupy in the streets, as some unions have, if they see Occupy's fight as their own. Occupy must demonstrate to the 99% that it is serious about waging a real struggle for working class demands, since tens of millions of working people are suffering and would rally to a movement they saw as providing real hope, not merely moments of bravery combined with anti-1% rhetoric.Because the Occupy movement may be the last opportunity to win a final contest with the One Percent who are hellbent on placing us in perpetual servitude and destroying the Earth to satisfy their addiction to power and profit, we, the 99%, simply must get it right this time. Everyone who cares about peace, about education, about social justice, about the environment--not only for ourselves, but for generations to come--must get involved in the process of determining the future of the Occupy movement. Because we are heading toward a pivotal point in the history of humanity, nobody can sit out this contest.
Which side are you on? You are either with the 99% or, if you do nothing, you are by default with the One Percent. How can I make such a startling claim? Because the One Percent are busy ratcheting up their war on us. Take a look at what they have been doing very recently:
- Congress Authorizes Pentagon To Wage Internet War
- Obama administration backs bill authorizing indefinite military detention of US citizens
- 'Dream' Space Telescope for Military Could Spy Anywhere on Earth
Did the Pentagon Help Strangle the Arab Spring?
Click here to access article by Nick Turse from TomDispatch. (Note: You may want to skip the elaborate introduction by scrolling down to the article.)
While public relations officers of the Empire (Obama, Sarkozy, Clinton, etc) have been making noises in support of the Arab Spring and the democratic forces behind it, the real story is gradually emerging.
While public relations officers of the Empire (Obama, Sarkozy, Clinton, etc) have been making noises in support of the Arab Spring and the democratic forces behind it, the real story is gradually emerging.
As state security forces across the region cracked down on democratic dissent, the Pentagon also repeatedly dispatched American troops on training missions to allied militaries there. During more than 40 such operations with names like Eager Lion and Friendship Two that sometimes lasted for weeks or months at a time, they taught Middle Eastern security forces the finer points of counterinsurgency, small unit tactics, intelligence gathering, and information operations -- skills crucial to defeating popular uprisings.The Pentagon's strategy to insure the Empire's dominance is always to wed a target country's military with the Empire's military in order to co-opt them and to subvert any kind of legitimate government. Thus, they lavish training junkets, perks, military equipment, etc on the target country's military leaders.
NATO dreams of civil war in Syria
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
The author sees a Plan B that the Empire is employing in Syria: terrorize the Assad government to death.
The author sees a Plan B that the Empire is employing in Syria: terrorize the Assad government to death.
By adopting this pincer movement, NATO in Syria is now actively diversifying into an Iraq-in-the-1990s strategy; to submit Syria to a prolonged state of siege before eventually going for the kill.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Occupy is Not Just About Occupying: The Goal is Not to Occupy it is to End Corporate Rule
Click here to access article by Kevin Zeese from Occupy Wall Street News.
The author provides an excellent perspective on what the Occupy movement is all about: to replace corporate rule with the rule of the people. Seen this way, further actions toward this goal seem clear.
The author provides an excellent perspective on what the Occupy movement is all about: to replace corporate rule with the rule of the people. Seen this way, further actions toward this goal seem clear.
Occupying for a short time accomplishes many of the objectives of holding public space – the political dialogue is affected, people are mobilized and all see that fellow citizens can effectively challenge the corporate-state. Staying for a lengthy period continues to deepen these goals but the impacts are more limited and the costs get higher.
What to do next? The Occupy Movement needs to bring participatory democracy to communities. Occupiers should develop an aggressive organizing plan for their city. Divide the city and appoint people to be responsible for different areas of the city. Depending on how many people you have make these areas as small as possible. Develop plans for house-to-house campaigns where you knock on doors, provide literature, ask what you can do to make their lives better. Do they need snow removed? Clothes? If so, get the occupy team to fulfill their needs, find used clothes, clean their yard – whatever you can do to help. This shows community and builds relationships.
EU summit: tales of fiscal union and financial adultery
Click here to access article by JĂ©rĂ´me E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The author sees the current European banking/sovereign funds crisis as being a contest between European financial centers. The political leaders of the various countries are only representing their financial centers while the people's dire economic interests are being ignored. He uses a metaphor of a family of European nations whose parents are engaging in extramarital affairs with banking institutions while totally disregarding the welfare of their children, the people of Europe.
On the other hand, a more appropriate metaphor would be this scenario: several giant corporations fighting for a dominant position in the market by engaging in a price war. The officers of these corporations couldn't care less about their employees--there are plenty more out there among the unemployed. So, they keep cutting the prices on their products to undersell their competitors. This results in their selling below the costs of production and causes harm to their enterprises which, in turn, results in layoffs of employees. (This happened in the early days of industrial enterprises until they became wise to the adverse effects of this game plan and decided to collude with each other against consumers by price fixing and market division tactics.) Nowadays financial empires are governed by powerful people who, while being drunk on their sense of power, feel a sense of impunity and have little inhibitions about wrecking havoc among their national populations in their pursuit of more power and profits.
The author sees the current European banking/sovereign funds crisis as being a contest between European financial centers. The political leaders of the various countries are only representing their financial centers while the people's dire economic interests are being ignored. He uses a metaphor of a family of European nations whose parents are engaging in extramarital affairs with banking institutions while totally disregarding the welfare of their children, the people of Europe.
As always, the greatest pain is quietly borne by the kids: the citizens who haven’t even been consulted by their leaders. Childhood illusions about European solidarity have been brutally uprooted. But, as if to repress the most confronting part of the drama, no one appears to be talking about the disgraceful extramarital affairs that lie at the root of it all. The truth is that both the UK and Europe have been engaging in financial adultery for decades on end.Although quite amusing, I'm not really convinced that this is the most apt metaphor. First, it is hard to imagine any set of parents having so little, if any, regard for their children. But to extend the metaphor a little, the solution is for the kids to grow up, organize and support their own healthy households, and leave the squabbling parents behind. Second, the European political leaders are really only representatives of the financial institutions, even though they and all the societal institutions that the ruling class controls pretend otherwise.
On the other hand, a more appropriate metaphor would be this scenario: several giant corporations fighting for a dominant position in the market by engaging in a price war. The officers of these corporations couldn't care less about their employees--there are plenty more out there among the unemployed. So, they keep cutting the prices on their products to undersell their competitors. This results in their selling below the costs of production and causes harm to their enterprises which, in turn, results in layoffs of employees. (This happened in the early days of industrial enterprises until they became wise to the adverse effects of this game plan and decided to collude with each other against consumers by price fixing and market division tactics.) Nowadays financial empires are governed by powerful people who, while being drunk on their sense of power, feel a sense of impunity and have little inhibitions about wrecking havoc among their national populations in their pursuit of more power and profits.
The Iraq withdrawal and the continuing eruption of US militarism
Click here to access article by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.
This is the best assessment of the current pull-out of uniformed US troops from Iraq that I have seen.
This is the best assessment of the current pull-out of uniformed US troops from Iraq that I have seen.
In Iraq itself, uniformed troops are being replaced by a new army in civilian clothes. A massive, fortress-like American embassy in Baghdad has been erected in a walled compound of 104 acres—larger than the Vatican—with two similar facilities having been opened as consulates in the southern oil center of Basra and the Kurdish capital of Arbil in the north.Meanwhile, according to this report, the Empire's weapons industries look forward to big profits from selling weapons to the Empire's satrap in Iraq.
Operating out of these American fortresses will be up to 17,000 personnel. They will include 5,500 armed military contractors.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The pro-Israel NGO behind NATO’s war on Libya is targeting Syria
Click here to access article by Maidhc Ă“ Cathail from Foreign Policy Journal.
The current propaganda campaign to do a Libya-type operation on Syria is being waged by various Empire centers of propaganda. This author outs a major one tied to Zionist interests--UN Watch.
The current propaganda campaign to do a Libya-type operation on Syria is being waged by various Empire centers of propaganda. This author outs a major one tied to Zionist interests--UN Watch.
Founded in 1993 under the chairmanship of Ambassador Morris B. Abram, the former US permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, UN Watch is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee.
West Coast Port Shutdown Sparks Heated Debate between Unions, Occupy
Click here to access article by Evan Rohar from Labor Notes.
The article touches on all the complicated aspects of actions such as this which affects legally constricted unions and independent contractors.
See also this article from AlterNet entitled, "Occupy Activists Try to Shut Down West Coast Ports", and this one from Socialist Worker for more information.
The article touches on all the complicated aspects of actions such as this which affects legally constricted unions and independent contractors.
See also this article from AlterNet entitled, "Occupy Activists Try to Shut Down West Coast Ports", and this one from Socialist Worker for more information.
Once again, war is prime time and journalism's role is taboo
Click here to access article by John Pilger from his website.
On 22 May 2007, the Guardian's front page announced: "Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq."This distinguished, independent journalist outs another blatant attempt by a "respectable" mainstream publication to serve the war needs of the Empire. This is another illustration of how the Empire has infiltrated all major media to serve the needs of the less than One Percent. Parallel with this is the colonization of our minds with Empire propaganda. This effort is very cost effective for the Empire--much more so than employing the direct brutal methods of a police state. But, of course, they are perfectly willing to use the latter, and do bring it into operation whenever the former doesn't work.
A Therapist Talks About the Occupy Wall Street Events
Click here to access article by Lane Arye from In Front and Center.
The article explores ways to strengthen the Occupy movement through inclusive methods of participation.
The article explores ways to strengthen the Occupy movement through inclusive methods of participation.
...when all voices and roles have a chance to be heard and interact, the wisdom of a group or community can arise. Perhaps the many-headed creature that is OWS needs our particular song, our particular direction. The world is trying to express itself. It is using us. By believing in our own voice, in our own special part, and by actively listening to our peers, we can help the wisdom and power of the movement to develop.
You Have Never Seen a Political Leader Say Anything Like This Before
Click here to access the source of this posting from Economic Policy Journal.
The comments section on the site where this was posted indicate that a lot of Brits are dubious about his sincerity. Nevertheless, the British MP, Nigel Farage, has dramatically expressed some important, but very uncomfortable truths about capitalist democracy in Europe and the way that the European sovereign debt crisis is being managed.
The comments section on the site where this was posted indicate that a lot of Brits are dubious about his sincerity. Nevertheless, the British MP, Nigel Farage, has dramatically expressed some important, but very uncomfortable truths about capitalist democracy in Europe and the way that the European sovereign debt crisis is being managed.
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Anti-#Occupy/CIA Connection
Click here to access article by Maureen Tkacik from Naked Capitalism.
There were numerous reports that leaked out in various media about coordinated efforts of municipal police departments in dealing with their local Occupiers. An article entitled, "The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns" was one of the first and, if you are unaware of this phenomenon, you definitely should read it first before reading this article.
This article provides a lot of interesting background information of the growing role of the CIA - security establishment's infiltration of, and influence over, local police departments. Also, see the extensive comments following the article which add a lot of additional interesting information.
Although the author doesn't make it clear in the article, PERF, the offshoot of the Police Foundation, stands for Police Executive Research Forum.
There were numerous reports that leaked out in various media about coordinated efforts of municipal police departments in dealing with their local Occupiers. An article entitled, "The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns" was one of the first and, if you are unaware of this phenomenon, you definitely should read it first before reading this article.
This article provides a lot of interesting background information of the growing role of the CIA - security establishment's infiltration of, and influence over, local police departments. Also, see the extensive comments following the article which add a lot of additional interesting information.
Although the author doesn't make it clear in the article, PERF, the offshoot of the Police Foundation, stands for Police Executive Research Forum.
Zambada Niebla Case Exposes US Drug War Quid Pro Quo
Click here to access article by Bill Conroy from The Narcosphere.
Court Cases such as this that sometimes do not play out according to the scripts written by the DEA agents of the One-Percent can reveal a lot about the realities of the "War on Drugs". However, because the DEA hides behind a veil of secrecy enabled by laws of the One-Percent (Classified Information Procedures Act), one must do a little sleuthing to tease out these realities. The Narcosphere website is devoted to this task.
Court Cases such as this that sometimes do not play out according to the scripts written by the DEA agents of the One-Percent can reveal a lot about the realities of the "War on Drugs". However, because the DEA hides behind a veil of secrecy enabled by laws of the One-Percent (Classified Information Procedures Act), one must do a little sleuthing to tease out these realities. The Narcosphere website is devoted to this task.
...the information provided by the Sinaloa Cartel to US agencies against its rivals assures a steady flow of drug busts and media victory headlines for US agencies and for the Mexican government. That propaganda is necessary for hoodwinking their citizens into believing that progress is being made in the drug war and thereby assuring the continued funding of bloated drug-war budgets and support for failed policies that have cost the lives of some 50,000 Mexican citizens since late 2006 and ended any hope of a productive life for hundreds of thousands of US citizens — most wasting away in US prisons and not a small number the victims of street homicides linked to drug deals gone bad. [my emphasis]This program of the One-Percent referred to as a "War on Drugs" serves multiple purposes for the benefit of the One-Percent: it justifies the militarization of local police forces, strengthens the influence of federal agencies over local police agencies, creates a climate of fear which increases citizen compliance with police state methods, and supplies hard drugs to the poorest sections of the nation to demoralize and create chaos in communities to prevent them from organizing any resistance such as was provided by organizations in the past like the Black Panthers.
US outed, and far from drawn down
Click here to access article by M K Bhadrakumar from Asia Times Online.
The Empire's arrogance and aggressiveness sometimes causes problems for its satraps in the Middle East and Asia. This is now dramatically seen in Pakistani reactions to the latest incident involving a NATO air strike on one of their military installations. This may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back of Pakistani cooperation with NATO. This author goes into the details of this story which appears to be about a collision course between an apparent post-Libya policy of the Empire's political operatives to increase, rather than draw down, NATO forces and Pakistan's hostility toward, and distrust, of NATO. Then there is China and Russia nearby.
The usual scenario in such circumstances is often a covert operation instigated by Empire political operatives to replace a head of state with one who is more compliant. According to this author, such a strategy might be very difficult.
The Empire's arrogance and aggressiveness sometimes causes problems for its satraps in the Middle East and Asia. This is now dramatically seen in Pakistani reactions to the latest incident involving a NATO air strike on one of their military installations. This may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back of Pakistani cooperation with NATO. This author goes into the details of this story which appears to be about a collision course between an apparent post-Libya policy of the Empire's political operatives to increase, rather than draw down, NATO forces and Pakistan's hostility toward, and distrust, of NATO. Then there is China and Russia nearby.
The usual scenario in such circumstances is often a covert operation instigated by Empire political operatives to replace a head of state with one who is more compliant. According to this author, such a strategy might be very difficult.
...the Pakistani army is taking great and meticulous care that while traversing the shark-infested waters in the months ahead, it holds the hands of the country's civilian leadership at every stage, every moment.
Bank’s leaked email admits ‘Occupy’ movement ‘could impact our industry’
Click here to access article by David Edwards from The Raw Story.
It is the bank’s policy to protect and secure our properties for the investors who own them.The class war has now moved to the homes of Americans and Bank of America is preparing for this war. No doubt, other institutions of the one percent are doing likewise. It seems to me that this battle is crucial. If we are unable to take back our homes, then we should surrender to the one percent's Empire and prepare to descend further into barbarism and environmental degradation. Yet, there is so much investor money tied up in our homes that we can expect a ferocious battle which, like Stalingrad in WWII, could be the decisive battle in the overall war.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Future of the Occupy Movement
Click here to access article by Jules Lobel from the Center for Consitutional Rights.
The author contributes to an ongoing discussion of the Occupy movement and it's future.
The author contributes to an ongoing discussion of the Occupy movement and it's future.
Perhaps the most critical component of OWS is its creation of alternative communities which reflect the egalitarian, democratic world that its activists seek for the future. Sometimes referred to as “pre-figurative politics,” this perspective seeks to create in microcosm the alternative models that reflect the future world that the activists support, while at the same time using those institutions to engage in direct action to change the current reality.
Julian Assange: 'People want the truth'
Click here to access article and the transcript of this video from Green Left.
This is the first time I've heard Julian Assange, one of the world's most courageous journalists, speak directly. I am very impressed. He has been exposing the lies of the Empire, and by doing so, learning that the Empire reaches across many national boundaries to co-opt many political leaders and governments.
This is the first time I've heard Julian Assange, one of the world's most courageous journalists, speak directly. I am very impressed. He has been exposing the lies of the Empire, and by doing so, learning that the Empire reaches across many national boundaries to co-opt many political leaders and governments.
The Revolution of the Middle Class
Click here to access article by Brent Herbert from The Living Resurrection: Random Commentary.
This perceptive, thoughtful writer sees the current Occupy movement as a middle-class revolutionary force. Although the middle class is certainly being threatened and is to a large extent driving this movement, I'm not so sure that one can characterize the whole movement as being owned by the "middle class". As parts of the middle class are being driven to despair, I think that such people are merging with the ranks of revolutionary workers. Thus, class lines are being blurred as are national boundaries. Neo-liberal policies have created class war across the globe by the one percent against the 99% who constitute everyone else. In any case, he has a lot of interesting perspectives to offer in our quest to understand what is currently happening in the US.
This perceptive, thoughtful writer sees the current Occupy movement as a middle-class revolutionary force. Although the middle class is certainly being threatened and is to a large extent driving this movement, I'm not so sure that one can characterize the whole movement as being owned by the "middle class". As parts of the middle class are being driven to despair, I think that such people are merging with the ranks of revolutionary workers. Thus, class lines are being blurred as are national boundaries. Neo-liberal policies have created class war across the globe by the one percent against the 99% who constitute everyone else. In any case, he has a lot of interesting perspectives to offer in our quest to understand what is currently happening in the US.
It is worth noting that for close to thirty years, and continuing uninterrupted over the last few years, the 'super rich one percent,' the capitalist ruling class, those Napoleons, the Mussolini of the boardroom, have just been socking those big fat cheques away, increasing their share of world's wealth by double digit percentages, year after year. Life remains quite good for some people. They have piled up a percentage of the wealth of this planet that is unprecedented in the history of that capitalist system, the social inequality today being even more extreme than the polarization that was present before the last great crash in 1929.
Emma Goldman – The Failure of Christianity
Click here to access article re-published by Eagainst.
As much as I admire the contribution that Emma Goldman made to raise the political consciousness of American workers after WWI, I think that her focus on reactionary Christianity misses the broader story of how all religions, the effort to make sense of life, are often corrupted by those who wish to exploit and dominate other people. For me, this broader view is best expressed in the online article entitled, "Revolutionary Christianity" by Brent Herbert.
As much as I admire the contribution that Emma Goldman made to raise the political consciousness of American workers after WWI, I think that her focus on reactionary Christianity misses the broader story of how all religions, the effort to make sense of life, are often corrupted by those who wish to exploit and dominate other people. For me, this broader view is best expressed in the online article entitled, "Revolutionary Christianity" by Brent Herbert.
COP17 succumbs to Climate Apartheid
Click here to access article from Climate Connections.
“What some see as inaction is in fact a demonstration of the palpable failure of our current economic system to address economic, social or environmental crises,” said Janet Redman, of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies. “Banks that caused the financial crisis are now making bonanza profits speculating on our planet’s future. The financial sector, driven into a corner, is seeking a way out by developing ever newer commodities to prop up a failing system.”
Despite talk of a “roadmap” offered up by the EU, the failure in Durban shows that this is a cul-de-sac, a road to nowhere.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Bobby's Story: Veteran Facing Foreclosure, Fighting Back
Click here to access article from Occupy Our Homes.
The Occupy movement is beginning to take back people's homes and fighting back against foreclosures all across the US.
The Occupy movement is beginning to take back people's homes and fighting back against foreclosures all across the US.
The Climate Change Revolution Will Not Be Funded
Click here to access article by Jared Sacks from The Indypendent.
After 17 years of meetings to address climate change, the lack of action from world leaders clearly shows that the biggest polluting nations not only lack the political will to address the issue, but also seem to be actively carrying out the anti-environmental agenda of the largest corporations on this planet.The author suggests that the NGOs that organized the UN conference in Durban, South Africa, and who often support positive climate change measures got in the way of any real citizen involvement in the proceedings, and arrives at the conclusion that...
...NGOs have no structural accountability to their so-called beneficiaries. They are externally funded organizations that, like the World Bank, are accountable to outside forces through the power of the purse.Clearly, the model of self-governance via direct democracy that is being created by the Occupy movements all over the world is a critical tool needed to repair the global social and environmental crises.
Arundhati Roy: 'The people who created the crisis will not be the ones that come up with a solution'
Click here to access article featuring an interview with Roy.
An example of one of her gems of wisdom:
An example of one of her gems of wisdom:
I hope that that the people in the Occupy movement are politically aware enough to know that their being excluded from the obscene amassing of wealth of US corporations is part of the same system of the exclusion and war that is being waged by these corporations in places like India, Africa and the Middle East. Ever since the Great Depression, we know that one of the key ways in which the US economy has stimulated growth is by manufacturing weapons and exporting war to other countries. So, whether this movement is a movement for justice for the excluded in the United States, or whether it is a movement against an international system of global finance that is manufacturing levels of hunger and poverty on an unimaginable scale, remains to be seen.
Friday, December 9, 2011
William M. Diefenderfer: The Financial Hit Man of Student Loans
Click here to access article by Catherine Austin Fitts from Solari.
In recent times women have innocently and increasingly entered the traditional male realms of high finance only to experience disillusionment. I'm thinking of such courageous women as Elizabeth Warren, Yves Smith (pen name), and this author. (I certainly am not implying that gender are related to evildoers, but generally to innocence when it comes to high finance.) This rather lengthy but excellent article is in a sense a description of a journey of such a woman who ultimately comes face to face with people doing evil within a system that produces so many evil people (sociopaths).
In recent times women have innocently and increasingly entered the traditional male realms of high finance only to experience disillusionment. I'm thinking of such courageous women as Elizabeth Warren, Yves Smith (pen name), and this author. (I certainly am not implying that gender are related to evildoers, but generally to innocence when it comes to high finance.) This rather lengthy but excellent article is in a sense a description of a journey of such a woman who ultimately comes face to face with people doing evil within a system that produces so many evil people (sociopaths).
I have spent much of my professional career cleaning up mortgage fraud, trying to prevent mortgage fraud or protecting my subscribers and clients from the financial and economic ramifications of mortgage, federal credit and related securities fraud. Before that, I spent my childhood watching mortgage fraud destroy the equity of my neighbors' homes. I have watched the cancer of mortgage fraud spread to thousands of communities and, eventually, the whole country. I thought I had seen the worst that financial fraud could do to America. I was wrong. What has happened in the student loan industry over the last fifteen years is worse than anything I have seen before.
Bahraini Protesters March Toward Pearl Square, Police Intervene
Click here to access article posted on Bahrain Center for Human Rights, original source--Project on Middle East Democracy.
Because US mainstream media has "disappeared" coverage of the ongoing protests in Bahrain, I thought I'd post this today to remind you that they are still going on.
Guess who the Bahraini government has brought in to deal with the protestors?
So, who are these guys?
Read the details here.
Because US mainstream media has "disappeared" coverage of the ongoing protests in Bahrain, I thought I'd post this today to remind you that they are still going on.
Guess who the Bahraini government has brought in to deal with the protestors?
So, who are these guys?
Read the details here.
Organizing for the port shutdown
Click here to access article by Lee Sustar from Socialist Worker.
It's clear that there is a struggle going on between union leadership, that has been largely co-opted by the ruling class, and rank and file workers who support the Occupy movement. Ruling class political operatives are extremely concerned about the outcome of this contest and are putting a lot of effort into restraining union bosses from cooperating by engaging in a propaganda barrage in the media, and likely are putting other kinds of pressure on union bosses behind the scenes.
It's clear that there is a struggle going on between union leadership, that has been largely co-opted by the ruling class, and rank and file workers who support the Occupy movement. Ruling class political operatives are extremely concerned about the outcome of this contest and are putting a lot of effort into restraining union bosses from cooperating by engaging in a propaganda barrage in the media, and likely are putting other kinds of pressure on union bosses behind the scenes.
The potential of this new coalition--which was key to shutting down the Port of Oakland with a community picket of thousands on November 2--has clearly alarmed employers, who have launched an aggressive advertising campaign to denounce the December 12 effort. The Washington Post carried the same line, declaring that workers don't support the plan.Read also this piece by Danny Lucia from the same source entitled, "Co-opt-upy Wall Street?", for more details on co-opting union leadership.
American military sent hundreds of soldiers’ remains to garbage dump
Click here to access article by Tom Eley from World Socialist Web Site.
Behind the facade of "support our troops", evidence is leaking out about the real regard that the masters of the Empire have for their "heroes":
Behind the facade of "support our troops", evidence is leaking out about the real regard that the masters of the Empire have for their "heroes":
The Pentagon’s disposal of soldiers’ remains in a garbage dump, and its systematic lying to surviving family members, exposes the real attitude of America’s military and ruling class toward the men and women who carry out imperialism’s bloody work in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Endlessly celebrated by politicians and the media as heroes, US soldiers are in reality nothing more than cannon fodder in neo-colonial wars waged against hostile populations. Once killed, in the estimation of the richest military in the world, these “heroes” are not even worthy of a dignified burial.
A Revolution Against Resistance?
Click here to access article by Ibrahim al-Amin from Al-Akhbar.
The covert Western sponsored resistance in Syria is starting to reveal its true identity with recent statements. The author contends that such statements reveal the true intentions of the insurgents and their masters:
The covert Western sponsored resistance in Syria is starting to reveal its true identity with recent statements. The author contends that such statements reveal the true intentions of the insurgents and their masters:
...to take Syria out of the regional alliance of which it is an essential part – the alliance comprising the resistance and its supporters [against Israeli and Western dominance] – and into another alliance, the one currently striving to topple the current regime in Syria. The latter opposes the resistance, and defers to the US and Israel’s demands to deny support to the forces of resistance in Lebanon and Palestine.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The Militarization of American Police – and Shredding of Our Constitutional Rights – Started At Least 30 Years Ago
Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.
This blogger provides a good chronicle of the development of the US police state apparatus which has recently been strengthened by the Senate passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which permits the indefinite, without a trial, detention of American citizens. This trend has been greatly facilitated under the cover of the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and the 9/11 event.
I think that the impetus for this road to a police state began with the massacre of protesting Kent State students during the Vietnam War. Following this incident activists across the country were so stunned that activism diminished markedly. Other activists went underground to organize paramilitary actions.
See also this 3:47m video from Russia Today entitled, "Occupation Nation".
This blogger provides a good chronicle of the development of the US police state apparatus which has recently been strengthened by the Senate passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which permits the indefinite, without a trial, detention of American citizens. This trend has been greatly facilitated under the cover of the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and the 9/11 event.
I think that the impetus for this road to a police state began with the massacre of protesting Kent State students during the Vietnam War. Following this incident activists across the country were so stunned that activism diminished markedly. Other activists went underground to organize paramilitary actions.
See also this 3:47m video from Russia Today entitled, "Occupation Nation".
U.S. arming Egyptian military crackdown
Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.
Training, military aid, travel junkets have all been key features of the Empire's strategy to build close ties with military elites of key countries in the world.
Data obtained by Amnesty International shows that the US has repeatedly transferred ammunition to Egypt despite security forces’ violent crackdown on protesters.Today, from Al Jazeera we learn this: Egypt's army asserts constitutional control
A shipment for the Egyptian Ministry of Interior arrived from the US on 26 November carrying at least seven tons of “ammunition smoke” – which includes chemical irritants and riot control agents such as tear gas.
It was one of at least three arms deliveries to Egypt by the US company Combined Systems, Inc. since the brutal crackdown on the “25 January Revolution” protesters.
Training, military aid, travel junkets have all been key features of the Empire's strategy to build close ties with military elites of key countries in the world.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Lost Verities and Dirty Hippies
Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Dissident Voice.
The author provides a convincing argument to support this thesis:
The author provides a convincing argument to support this thesis:
The run of neoliberal capitalism is about over. Don’t mourn: This late stage, rapacious, mutant economic strain has leveled destruction on community and the planet itself as well as the hearts and souls of too many of those imprisoned within its paradigm.And, in addition, he sheds light on the resistance of many Americans to people who question the system: it's very threatening to people to acknowledge that everything they have believed all their lives to be true, is actually false!
...it would behoove me to make the painful admission that I have been conned…have co-signed the crimes committed against me. Worse, I would be compelled to question all my verities and beliefs–all the convictions I clutch, regarding, not only the notions that I possess about myself and the methods I’ve adopted in approaching life, but also, the social structure that influenced my character.
Iran and the Strategic Encirclement of Syria and Lebanon
Click here to access article by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Stategic Culture Foundation.
This independent Canadian journalist assembles evidence that the Empire is actively and dangerously putting into operation its next project: the capture of Syria which is merely on the road to Iran, the biggest prize of all.
This independent Canadian journalist assembles evidence that the Empire is actively and dangerously putting into operation its next project: the capture of Syria which is merely on the road to Iran, the biggest prize of all.
For half a decade Washington has been directing a military arm build-up in the Middle East aimed at Iran and the Resistance Bloc. It has sent massive arms shipments to Saudi Arabia. It has sent deliveries of bunker busters to the U.A.E. and Israel, amongst others, while it has upgraded its own deadly arsenal. U.S. officials have also started to openly discuss murdering Iranian leaders and military officials through covert operations. What the world is facing is a pathway towards possible military escalation that could go far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East and suck in Russia, China, and their allies.Although mainstream media has played up the removal of US troops from Iraq, they have downplayed the re-deployments of the same troops to neighboring Kuwait such as suggested by this report from AFP. There have been a few reports from US sources of only about 3500 being re-deployed there on a permanent basis, but I suspect that this is only a cover story for a vastly greater number. I keep coming across articles about re-deployment of individual US units being moved to Kuwait. And then there is all the military equipment being moved to Kuwait which poses the question about whether it stays there. The analysis from World Socialist Web Site may have it right:
The formal US pullout from Iraq is part of a redeployment of US military assets in the wider region, as well as a shift in the focus of US foreign policy from southwest Asia to the Far East and the rising challenge of China. The US Central Command, which controls US operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, has more forces at its disposal today than during the heaviest days of fighting in Iraq under the Bush administration.
Occupy Goes Home on December 6
Click here to access article by Manny Jalonschi from The Indypendent.
The Occupy movement is moving on to re-occupy foreclosed homes!
The Occupy movement is moving on to re-occupy foreclosed homes!
The reclamation of foreclosed homes represents a new stage for the Occupy movement, one that comes in the wake of violent police dispersal of protest camps nationwide. With 1 in 4 mortgages currently in default and, a new Government Accounting Office report showing an increase in vacant residential properties from 7 million in 2007 to 10 million in 2010, it seems more than likely that the movement will continue to find ample support and opportunities to “Occupy our Homes.”See also this report from The Guardian entitled, "Wall Street protesters to occupy foreclosed homes".
As police crackdowns on Occupy sites continue, protesters enter 'new frontier.'
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
What’s Next for the Occupy Movement?
Click here to access article by Brian Tokar from Institute for Social Ecology.
As messy as it is, the Occupy movement is being seen by more and more people as offering real significance because it relates to concrete problems in their lives. This writer does not reveal as much about "what's next"as he does about the evidence that the movement is here to stay. I agree. Hence, we must all join in supporting it in any way we can to insure its success. We can both save ourselves and the planet which we all share. There is no other task that is as urgent.
As messy as it is, the Occupy movement is being seen by more and more people as offering real significance because it relates to concrete problems in their lives. This writer does not reveal as much about "what's next"as he does about the evidence that the movement is here to stay. I agree. Hence, we must all join in supporting it in any way we can to insure its success. We can both save ourselves and the planet which we all share. There is no other task that is as urgent.
Now, for the first time in decades, the terms of the conversation are shifting. People are fed up, and no longer too timid nor too defeated to speak out loudly against the status quo, and for a different kind of society. We have learned that we can challenge financial elites, defend labor rights, call to overturn capitalism, and our numbers continue to grow. In cities large and small, we experience the exhilaration of direct democracy, of reclaiming public spaces, and of reinventing our future. And we know that we are not going to disappear when elites respond with too many police, or even with small victories.
System, not consumers, the big green problem
Click here to access article by Simon Butler from Green Left (Australia).
This essay appears to be a rebuttal to, and a critique of, Ted Trainer's comments from an earlier interview carried in Green Left in which he declared that “the main problem group is not the corporations or the capitalist class … The problem group, the key to transition, is people in general.”
This essay appears to be a rebuttal to, and a critique of, Ted Trainer's comments from an earlier interview carried in Green Left in which he declared that “the main problem group is not the corporations or the capitalist class … The problem group, the key to transition, is people in general.”
300 economists give support for the Occupy Wall Street movement
Click here to access article from Real-World Economics Review Blog.
Happenings like this suggest that cracks are beginning to appear in the capitalist fortress that towers over everyone on Earth. Economists are typically well-indoctrinated technicians of global capitalism that keeps the machinery running while justifying its existence. I doubt they are opposed to capitalist markets as such even though the operations of the latter result in widespread harm to society, but more by the appalling actions of ruling class enforcers on protestors and the cutbacks that institutions of higher learning are now experiencing. "But wait, there's more!"
The very first sentence in their statement reveals an important fact that they know from first hand experience: that their profession is subject to ongoing and rigorous discipline from the ideological masters of the Empire.
Happenings like this suggest that cracks are beginning to appear in the capitalist fortress that towers over everyone on Earth. Economists are typically well-indoctrinated technicians of global capitalism that keeps the machinery running while justifying its existence. I doubt they are opposed to capitalist markets as such even though the operations of the latter result in widespread harm to society, but more by the appalling actions of ruling class enforcers on protestors and the cutbacks that institutions of higher learning are now experiencing. "But wait, there's more!"
The very first sentence in their statement reveals an important fact that they know from first hand experience: that their profession is subject to ongoing and rigorous discipline from the ideological masters of the Empire.
We are economists who oppose ideological cleansing in the economics profession.
Europe’s theatrical puppetry before an audience of bankers
Click here to access article by JĂ©rĂ´me E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The author uses the metaphor of theater to describe the global elite's handling of the financial crisis. But then he sees what might be a more apt metaphor:
The author uses the metaphor of theater to describe the global elite's handling of the financial crisis. But then he sees what might be a more apt metaphor:
...the behavior of our elites is increasingly starting to resemble that of a cult of witch doctors, superstitiously carrying out complex rituals in honor of the Masters of the Universe, busily sacrificing the weaker members of the tribe at the altar of global capital, mysteriously deluded by the deities of high finance — the almighty Gods That Failed us yesteryear.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Obama's Payroll Tax Deception
Click here to access article by Frank Munley from OpEd News.
The author is correct in the implication that this payroll "tax cut" is a stealth attack on the Social Security retirement system. And now they want to increase the attack by reducing the employer's contribution along with the employee's as is currently the case. So, you may look forward to working until you drop dead or living off, and with, your children after you retire.
Previously I have been extremely critical of this ploy and the framing of the Social Security retirement contribution as a "tax". But then I discovered this Supreme Court decision of 1960 in which the Court decided that the benefit program was not a right. This was obviously done in order to deny benefits to a member of the Communist Party. So, I guess legally speaking, according to the judges appointed by the one percent, it is not a contractual benefit like a private insurance policy would be.
Also, Professor Allen W. Smith explains how the money is handled by our government: just dumped into the general funds and marked "Special Issues of the Treasury" which is just a fancy phrase for IOUs. Hence, the funds apparently are not invested in anything that can earn interest income. That is why all these recent attacks on the SS Trust Fund: it is not generating much surplus money anymore and the ruling one percent don't want to pay back all the money it has used to fund their wars, etc.
The author is correct in the implication that this payroll "tax cut" is a stealth attack on the Social Security retirement system. And now they want to increase the attack by reducing the employer's contribution along with the employee's as is currently the case. So, you may look forward to working until you drop dead or living off, and with, your children after you retire.
Previously I have been extremely critical of this ploy and the framing of the Social Security retirement contribution as a "tax". But then I discovered this Supreme Court decision of 1960 in which the Court decided that the benefit program was not a right. This was obviously done in order to deny benefits to a member of the Communist Party. So, I guess legally speaking, according to the judges appointed by the one percent, it is not a contractual benefit like a private insurance policy would be.
Also, Professor Allen W. Smith explains how the money is handled by our government: just dumped into the general funds and marked "Special Issues of the Treasury" which is just a fancy phrase for IOUs. Hence, the funds apparently are not invested in anything that can earn interest income. That is why all these recent attacks on the SS Trust Fund: it is not generating much surplus money anymore and the ruling one percent don't want to pay back all the money it has used to fund their wars, etc.
International banks have aided Mexican drug gangs
Click here to access article by Tracy Wilkinson and Ken Ellingwood from Los Angeles Times.
This is news? This is ancient history. For the past 50 years there have been so many books written about it and so much evidence uncovered about the collusion of drug traffickers with bankers and government agencies: In Banks We Trust by Penny Lernoux, Dark Alliance by Gary Webb, The Laundrymen by Jeffrey Robinson, The Blood Bankers by James S. Henry, The Washing Machine by Nick Kochan, to name a few.
Nearly everyone involved gets something out of it: the ruling one percent funds their CIA operations (war crimes) in violation of US and international law, banks benefit with the huge cash infusions, drug traffickers get rich, people stuck in America's urban and rural ghettos could be drugged out to stifle dissent, the military-industrial complex likes selling numerous weapons to compliant dictators and local police agencies, and the "War on Terror" is used to justify invasions of other countries after the demise of the "Communist menace". Articles like this appear about once a year to reassure people that their government is doing something about the problem.
This is news? This is ancient history. For the past 50 years there have been so many books written about it and so much evidence uncovered about the collusion of drug traffickers with bankers and government agencies: In Banks We Trust by Penny Lernoux, Dark Alliance by Gary Webb, The Laundrymen by Jeffrey Robinson, The Blood Bankers by James S. Henry, The Washing Machine by Nick Kochan, to name a few.
Nearly everyone involved gets something out of it: the ruling one percent funds their CIA operations (war crimes) in violation of US and international law, banks benefit with the huge cash infusions, drug traffickers get rich, people stuck in America's urban and rural ghettos could be drugged out to stifle dissent, the military-industrial complex likes selling numerous weapons to compliant dictators and local police agencies, and the "War on Terror" is used to justify invasions of other countries after the demise of the "Communist menace". Articles like this appear about once a year to reassure people that their government is doing something about the problem.
Wachovia paid the $160 million in what is called a deferred-prosecution agreement; no one went to prison, and the fines represented a tiny fraction of the money the bank had filtered. In court documents cited by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Wachovia acknowledged serious lapses.
Call to action: alternative day of human rights on Dec. 10!
Click here to access article by Pedro Noel from Reflections on a Revolution.
I'm not sure that Americans can get behind a focus on human rights because the word has been misused so often by our ruling one percent to smear countries that they don't like by accusing them of "human rights violations".
But I became thoroughly caught up in their link called "Feedback" (last paragraph) and the opportunity to review the action ideas of others and to vote on them.
I'm not sure that Americans can get behind a focus on human rights because the word has been misused so often by our ruling one percent to smear countries that they don't like by accusing them of "human rights violations".
But I became thoroughly caught up in their link called "Feedback" (last paragraph) and the opportunity to review the action ideas of others and to vote on them.
This is a call out to any person, assembly or independent humanitarian organization to participate in this creative process: tell us what you are organizing for #December10, send proposals and vote for the ones you think are good by clicking here: FEEDBACK. We will post them on the site and spread them across the Internet, so that others can join in or debate. A more general discussion is going on here: titanpad.com/humanrights.
Protesters Reflect Vast Majority on 99 Percent of Most Major Issues
Click here to access article by Mark Weisbrot from Real-World Economics Review Blog.
This writer makes a compelling case with supporting links to evidence about the undemocratic government we have. You probably don't need this, but possibly you could use this evidence with your more conservative friends.
This writer makes a compelling case with supporting links to evidence about the undemocratic government we have. You probably don't need this, but possibly you could use this evidence with your more conservative friends.
That’s why Mayor Bloomberg of New York evicted the protestors who spearheaded this historic social movement. It had nothing to do with safety or other pretexts. This is clear because he had his thugs deliberately trash many of the protestors’ possessions, including laptops and many of the books from their library. ...The one percent has used violence and excessive force against protestors in other cities such as Oakland for the same reasons: they fear that democracy in the streets could lead to democracy in other arenas, such as government.
Seattle WTO Shutdown ’99 to Occupy: Organizing to Win 12 Years Later
Click here to access article by David Solnit from The Indypendent.
The author provides a very good review of successful mass action strategies developed by activists in the Northwest of the US to counter ruling class enforcers (police and media) who try to smear, subvert, and brutalize participants.
The author provides a very good review of successful mass action strategies developed by activists in the Northwest of the US to counter ruling class enforcers (police and media) who try to smear, subvert, and brutalize participants.
As the occupy movement grows, wrestles with how to organize and looks forward, perhaps it’s of use to look back to what did and did not work in the space opened up 12 years ago — the global justice movement of movements that followed global South movements and spread across North America in the wake of the Seattle WTO mass occupation of downtown Seattle and nonviolent direct action shutdown of the WTO.
Tell Congress: Say NO to Indefinite Detention and Endless Worldwide War
An action alert from American Civil Liberties Union.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Capitalism is not in crisis: Capitalism Is the Crisis [film]
This 1 hr 40 minute film is from their website. I have viewed about two segments and find it very worthwhile in understanding our current economic crisis and considering proposals to get ourselves out of this crisis. One can also acquire the DVD by offering a donation of at least $20 at the film's website. The film...
...examines the ideological roots of the “austerity” agenda and proposes revolutionary paths out of the current crisis. The film features original interviews with Chris Hedges, Derrick Jensen, Michael Hardt, Peter Gelderloos, Leo Panitch, David McNally, Richard JF Day, Imre Szeman, Wayne Price, and many more! The 2008 “financial crisis” in the United States was a systemic fraud in which the wealthy finance capitalists stole trillions of public dollars. No one was jailed for this crime, the largest theft of public money in history. Instead, the rich forced working people across the globe to pay for their “crisis” through punitive “austerity” programs that gutted public services and repealed workers’ rights. Austerity was named “Word of the Year” for 2010. This documentary explains the nature of capitalist crisis, visits the protests against austerity measures, and recommends revolutionary paths for the future. Special attention is devoted to the crisis in Greece, the 2010 G20 Summit protest in Toronto, Canada, and the remarkable surge of solidarity in Madison, Wisconsin. It may be their crisis, but it’s our problem.
Once Upon A Time....There was a Beautiful Planet
Mostly by Mitchell J. Rabin from Progressive Radio Network. I have taken the liberty to alter the last few paragraphs by substituting the final, un-italicized paragraph.
Yes...there was a big, beautiful planet called Earth. And running all around her, as well as swimming inside her, were all types of interestingly shaped, sized and colored beings, each making their own unique sounds, hums and noises while moving about in their own unique ways. Some walked, others crawled, some swam and yet others slithered. Despite the fact that some ate others for their sustenance, they all had a way of finding time to frolic, pro-create, rest, and those who were on land, bask in the warmth and rays of the sun. And in a strange, somewhat abstract way, all were somehow, more or less, co-existing on this beautiful, blue-green planet.
At a certain point along the way of the multi-billion-year history of this marvel of an Earth, a green gem of the solar system, appeared a being known initially as Neanderthal, and who later, much later, came to be known as a chimpanzee, oh wait, excuse me, as homo sapiens. Yes, in one of his now considered ancient languages, this meant "rational, or wise man" with a brain volume of a minimum of 1,350 cubic centimeters. What we have learned from biology and history, it is apparently not size that most matters.
He was a playful if mischievous creature, and due to his larger brain than that of his neighbors in the animal kingdom, in different ways, began to lord over them. He lived in accordance with the beauty and abundance of this amazing and extraordinarily rich, beautiful planet during which period, he was considered, according to another of his ancient languages from the other side of the Earth, living in the Tao, that is, the flow of life.
But one day, he began to plant seeds and grow crops. And then he realized that the more land he controlled, the more crops he could grow or animals he could herd and instead of just ingesting what he and his family or tribe needed at a given time, the herding turned into hoarding. Fights broke out in disputes as to who had control of what land, and before long, different belief systems developed, ideas of the Universe were cultivated, and alas, what we call human culture and civilization dawned, dominating Nature and all the kingdoms of Nature that came with Creation.
And even though more brain parts developed which allowed differing levels of consciousness, such as reflection, contemplation, imagination, self-awareness, a group of homo sapiens, not exercising the ‘sapiens’ part of the brain, kept acquiring and self-aggrandizing at the expense of the rest of the human flock.
So this is where we are today: less than one percent own and control nearly everything. This one percent also developed a vast network of communication to provide us with their managed news and entertainment to dumb down our minds as to what has happened and is happening. The Occupy movement all over the world has recognized this development and is looking for ways to fight back, to take back all that has been lost to us, the more than ninety nine percent. They are calling on everyone who still knows how to exercise the 'sapien' part of their brain to join their struggle for emancipation.
Situations, Occupations, and Revolution: On Taking Steps Forward to Fight the End of the World
Click here to access article from InfoShop News.
This article provides an excellent evaluation of the US Occupy movement at its present state with suggestions about where it should go from here to continue the momentum. This type of discussion is absolutely critical for all who support the Occupy movement, who want real change, and who want the human race to continue on into the future. It's hard work, but who thought that real change would be easy when the one percent have so much power in the form of weapons and ownership of nearly everything--both of which we created?
This article provides an excellent evaluation of the US Occupy movement at its present state with suggestions about where it should go from here to continue the momentum. This type of discussion is absolutely critical for all who support the Occupy movement, who want real change, and who want the human race to continue on into the future. It's hard work, but who thought that real change would be easy when the one percent have so much power in the form of weapons and ownership of nearly everything--both of which we created?
Occupy SF Housing Action Day
Click here to access article by Michael Steinberg from IndyBay.
...an African American woman, said, "I'm a homeowner facing forclosure. Chase is trying to chase me out of my home. By the end of 2012 we expect 10 million foreclosures in the US, with 2 million in California. When they attack our homes, they attack our health, and we're done with them attacking us. People across the country are saying, 'We need our homes more than you need one more.'"
Saturday, December 3, 2011
American exceptionalism — A survey
By William Blum excerpted from his latest Empire Report.
The leaders of imperial powers have traditionally told themselves and their citizens that their country was exceptional and that their subjugation of a particular foreign land should be seen as a "civilizing mission", a "liberation", "God's will", and of course bringing "freedom and democracy" to the benighted and downtrodden. It is difficult to kill large numbers of people without a claim to virtue. I wonder if this sense of exceptionalism has been embedded anywhere more deeply than in the United States, where it is drilled into every cell and ganglion of American consciousness from kindergarten on. If we measure the degree of indoctrination (I'll resist the temptation to use the word "brainwashing") of a population as the gap between what the people believe their government has done in the world and what the actual (very sordid) facts are, the American people are clearly the most indoctrinated people on the planet. The role of the American media is of course indispensable to this process — Try naming a single American daily newspaper or TV network that was unequivocally against the US attacks on Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Panama, Grenada, and Vietnam. Or even against any two of them. How about one? Which of the mainstream media expressed real skepticism of The War on Terror in its early years?
Overloaded with a sense of America's moral superiority, each year the State Department judges the world, issuing reports evaluating the behavior of all other nations, often accompanied by sanctions of one kind or another. There are different reports rating how each lesser nation has performed in the previous year in the areas of religious freedom, human rights, the war on drugs, trafficking in persons, and counterterrorism, as well as maintaining a list of international "terrorist" groups. The criteria used in these reports are mainly political, wherever applicable; Cuba, for example, is always listed as a supporter of terrorism whereas anti-Castro exile groups in Florida, which have committed literally hundreds of terrorist acts, are not listed as terrorist groups.
The leaders of imperial powers have traditionally told themselves and their citizens that their country was exceptional and that their subjugation of a particular foreign land should be seen as a "civilizing mission", a "liberation", "God's will", and of course bringing "freedom and democracy" to the benighted and downtrodden. It is difficult to kill large numbers of people without a claim to virtue. I wonder if this sense of exceptionalism has been embedded anywhere more deeply than in the United States, where it is drilled into every cell and ganglion of American consciousness from kindergarten on. If we measure the degree of indoctrination (I'll resist the temptation to use the word "brainwashing") of a population as the gap between what the people believe their government has done in the world and what the actual (very sordid) facts are, the American people are clearly the most indoctrinated people on the planet. The role of the American media is of course indispensable to this process — Try naming a single American daily newspaper or TV network that was unequivocally against the US attacks on Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Panama, Grenada, and Vietnam. Or even against any two of them. How about one? Which of the mainstream media expressed real skepticism of The War on Terror in its early years?
Overloaded with a sense of America's moral superiority, each year the State Department judges the world, issuing reports evaluating the behavior of all other nations, often accompanied by sanctions of one kind or another. There are different reports rating how each lesser nation has performed in the previous year in the areas of religious freedom, human rights, the war on drugs, trafficking in persons, and counterterrorism, as well as maintaining a list of international "terrorist" groups. The criteria used in these reports are mainly political, wherever applicable; Cuba, for example, is always listed as a supporter of terrorism whereas anti-Castro exile groups in Florida, which have committed literally hundreds of terrorist acts, are not listed as terrorist groups.
- "The causes of the malady are not entirely clear but its recurrence is one of the uniformities of history: power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor, conferring upon it a special responsibility for other nations — to make them richer and happier and wiser, to remake them, that is, in its own shining image." — Former US Senator William Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power (1966)
- "We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people –– the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. ... God has predestined, mankind expects, great things from our race; and great things we feel in our souls." — Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850)
- "God appointed America to save the world in any way that suits America. God appointed Israel to be the nexus of America's Middle Eastern policy and anyone who wants to mess with that idea is a) anti-Semitic, b) anti-American, c) with the enemy, and d) a terrorist." — John le CarrĂ©, London Times, January 15, 2003
- "Neoconservatism ... traded upon the historic American myths of innocence, exceptionalism, triumphalism and Manifest Destiny. It offered a vision of what the United States should do with its unrivaled global power. In its most rhetorically-seductive messianic versions, it conflated the expansion of American power with the dream of universal democracy. In all of this, it proclaimed that the maximal use of American power was good for both America and the world." — Columbia University Professor Gary Dorrien, The Christian Century magazine, January 22, 2007
- "To most of its citizens, America is exceptional, and it's only natural that it should take exception to certain international standards." — Michael Ignatieff, Washington Post columnist, Legal Affairs, May-June, 2002
- Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, US Army War College, 1997: "Our country is a force for good without precedent".
Thomas Barnett, US Naval War College: "The US military is a force for global good that ... has no equal." — The Guardian (London), December 27, 2005
- John Bolton, future US ambassador to the United Nations, writing in 2000: Because of its unique status, the United States could not be "legally bound" or constrained in any way by its international treaty obligations. The U.S. needed to "be unashamed, unapologetic, uncompromising American constitutional hegemonists," so that their "senior decision makers" could be free to use force unilaterally.
Condoleezza Rice, future US Secretary of State, writing in 2000, was equally contemptuous of international law. She claimed that in the pursuit of its national security the United States no longer needed to be guided by "notions of international law and norms" or "institutions like the United Nations" because it was "on the right side of history." — Z Magazine, July/August 2004 - "The president [George W. Bush] said he didn't want other countries dictating terms or conditions for the war on terrorism. 'At some point, we may be the only ones left. That's okay with me. We are America'." — Washington Post, January 31, 2002
- "Reinhold Niebuhr got it right a half-century ago: What persists — and promises no end of grief — is our conviction that Providence has summoned America to tutor all of humankind on its pilgrimage to perfection." — Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations, Boston University
- In commenting on Woodrow Wilson's moral lecturing of his European colleagues at the Versailles peace table following the First World War, Winston Churchill remarked that he found it hard to believe that the European emigrants, who brought to America the virtues of the lands from which they sprang, had left behind all their vices. — The World Crisis, Vol. V, The Aftermath, 1929
- "Behold a republic, gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor to the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes." — William Jennings Bryan, US Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, In His Image (1922)
- Newsweek editor Michael Hirsch: "U.S. allies must accept that some U.S. unilateralism is inevitable, even desirable. This mainly involves accepting the reality of America's supreme might — and truthfully, appreciating how historically lucky they are to be protected by such a relatively benign power." — Foreign Affairs, November, 2002
- Colin Powell speaking before the Republican National Convention, August 13, 1996: The United States is "a country that exists by the grace of a divine providence."
- "The US media always has an underlying acceptance of the mythology of American exceptionalism, that the US, in everything it does, is the last best hope of humanity." — Rahul Mahajan, author of: The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism, and Full Spectrum Dominance
- "The fundamental problem is that the Americans do not respect anybody except themselves," said Col. Mir Jan, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry. "They say, 'We are the God of the world,' and they don't consult us." —Washington Post, August 3, 2002
- "If we have to use force, it is because we are America! We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future." — Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 1998
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