Cybersecurity Myths: Beware the Hype

Click here to access article by Zachary Katznelson & Jay Stanley from American Civil Liberties Union.

The political operatives of the One Percent are at it again: spreading fear in order to enact more control and surveillance over the internet to limit your freedom of expression.

Alarming cybersecurity stories continue to appear in the media. Even an attentive reader of the news over the past half-decade could be forgiven for believing that hackers have infiltrated the U.S. electricity grid, caused blackouts, and vandalized a local U.S. utility. When examined closely, however, none of those incidents holds up as an example of the dangers of cybersecurity vulnerabilities....

US college grads confront the dead end of the profit system

Click here to access article by Andre Damon from World Socialist Web Site.

At the center of the crisis facing young people is not simply the policies of one administration, however, but a social and economic system dedicated to the profit interests of the corporate and financial elite. Both of the official parties, the Democrats and Republicans, represent a ruling class that is seeking to resolve the crisis of capitalism by destroying the living standards of working people.

This is an international phenomenon.

Anti-War Means Anti-War: Voices of Occupy

Click here to access article by Mickey Z from World News Trust. 

The author argues that the present focus on social justice by the Occupy movement must be expanded to opposition to the whole military-industrial complex and their never-ending wars.

Despite the insidious and pervasive pro-military propaganda, the U.S. war machine is not only destroying entire cultures abroad, killing our ecosystem, and pillaging our economy, it also runs on the blood of what it views as "expendable" humans.

#London2012: an Olympian exercise in corporate greenwashing

Click here to access article by Phil England from Ceasefire. 

Global corporations that trash our environment and our health will, once again, use the Olympics to enhance their image. Global corporations are co-opting and soiling some of the best contributions that youth have to offer the world--health, fitness, and physical prowess.

Amidst its lofty rhetoric about excellence and sustainability the London Olympics have chosen some of the world's most unethical companies as corporate sponsors. Phil England presents powerful first-hand testimonies from victims and campaigners dismayed and angry at this betrayal.

Why Austerity Makes Sense For Capitalism

Borrowed from this posting by Charlie Post from Solidarity. 

For the Solidarity Midwest Regional Crisis School, Charlie Post delivered a talk explaining the political economy of the crisis, or why austerity is rational from the point of view of capital. In contrast to Keynesian explanations of the crisis (a la Paul Krugman), Charlie suggests that you can't simply stimulate demand to get out of the crisis because the source of the problem is a falling rate of profit rather than low demand.

I found this lecture to be challenging and very thought-provoking. It seems to me that it might explain a lot of the history of capitalist crises in the 20th century and beyond and how ruling class have dealt with these crises. 

For example, in the 1930s New Deal programs were instituted by the US ruling class because they felt very threatened both by domestic radical activity and the rapid economic gains that were being made at that time in the Soviet Union which had no unemployment. Thus, instead of austerity in response to the 1929 crash, they pursued the New Deal to provide political stability for the capitalist economies. The solution to the crisis was solved by the destruction of capital in WWII, a war that was permitted and encouraged by Western ruling classes.

Thus, Post's conclusion for this current crisis: working people must organize a massive disruption of economies so that the political operatives of the One Percent feel sufficiently threatened into abandoning austerity policies. But, is he suggesting that we should disrupt the capitalist economies in order to force the ruling classes to use Keynesian policies to solve the present crisis of capitalism? (From scanning his other writings, I don't think so.) Their steadfast actions to pursue austerity policies in the face of widespread militant protests suggests that they feel there is no alternative. I think it is likely that the political operatives of the One Percent do not see Keynesian policies as a realistic option because of increasing costs of energy due to depletion of easily accessible fossil fuels.  

Therefore, a revolution in our social-economic arrangements is the only answer not only for the salvation of the lives of working people, but for the salvation of the ecological system that can sustain human life.

Media Scoundrels Promote War on Syria

Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman from his blog.

The author deconstructs the lies spread by the US propaganda machine (also known as US mainstream media) about the civil war in Syria as well as other war crimes perpetrated by the political operatives of the One Percent. 

We will not be hijacked: Voices of Occupy

Click here to access article by Mickey Z from World News Trust. 

The author reviews the current efforts being made to co-opt the Occupy movement by liberals and the Democratic party.

The consequences of failure

Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red (Australia). 

If you avoid including an honest assessment of climate science and impacts in your narrative, its pretty difficult to give people a grasp about where the climate system is heading and what needs to be done to create the conditions for living in climate safety, rather than increasing and eventually catastrophic harm. But that’s how the big climate advocacy organisations have generally chosen to operate, and it represents a strategic failure to communicate. 

There main problem is the failure of most environmentalists to identify the real problem: climate scientists and their media organs are not addressing the basic source of the problem--the capitalist system with its growth imperative. The problem is this system, but they refuse to name it simply because the political operatives of the One Percent have been very successful through their ubiquitous organs of indoctrination to instill the belief in nearly everyone that "there is no alternative", and through their direct control of most organizations which inhibits most aware people from mentioning any link of climate emergency to the capitalist system. Those who fail to conform to the "party line" often sacrifice their careers.

What should we call our socio-economic system?

Click here to access article by Jim O’Reilly from his blog, Comments on Global Political Economy. 

Because this blogger has had a lifelong career in banking and finance, you might be shocked to read his views about some key features of our society.

New Occupy Crackdown Documents Just Obtained by the PCJF

Click here to access article from Partnership for Civil Justice Fund [PCJF]

Documents are slowly being received from the government that confirms what many activists suspected--there was a coordinated effort to influence local police departments all over the US in the management and oppression of Occupying activists.

"What these documents are beginning to reveal is also the coordination between law enforcement agencies and private corporate entities representing the 1% that wanted to see the Occupy movement removed from public view and shut out of America's parks."

Stemming The Tides Of Protest

Click here to access article by William T. Hathaway from CounterCurrents.

The friendly mask that capitalism wore in the USA and Europe has been stripped away, revealing the predatory beast beneath. We are beginning (just beginning) to get the same treatment as workers in the client states. This process is not generated by the greed of a few individuals, nor can it be reversed by social democratic reforms and regulations. This process is inexorable because it's the essence of capitalism. It's the nature of the beast to devour.

The author reviews how liberal political operatives of the One Percent have in the recent past duped people into believing that things were going to get better if you just vote for Tweedledee instead of Tweedledum, and warns them of current efforts to dupe them once again. 

The Student Movement: Radical Priorities

Click here to access article by Matthew Brett from Canadian Dimension. 

It is quite amazing to see how grassroots resistance and actions against neo-liberal policies are springing up in one place after another across the globe. This report is based on recent actions in Quebec which has seen nearly 200,000 people on the streets protesting. Most of this energy is being generated by students and faculties, but is reaching many other segments of society as austerity measures are being implemented.

The author tries to assess both the potential for radical social change and the oppressive reactions coming from the enforcers of the ruling One Percent.

There are some encouraging signs that social movements will continue to expand in the coming months and years. But the challenges are overwhelming.... The Occupy movement has effectively changed the contours of debate, and it has done so across a fairly broad stratum of society. It was unthinkable to hear mainstream commentators talking about capitalism, poverty and radical alternatives prior to the economic crisis and the Occupy movement.  ...Efforts will be made to oppress, distort and co-opt this more radical discourse as the Occupy movement prepares to re-expropriate public spaces from the status quo. There is a need for supporters and participants of Occupy to dedicate time, energy and resources to insuring that the movement remains vibrant.

Another priority is the need to overcome fear and oppression in all its forms. State elites and media outlets are fostering rhetoric that is readily comparable with the McCarthyism of the Cold War era....

Oppression is not merely taking the form of rhetoric. The Occupy and student movements were treated naively when they began, but youth are now pepper sprayed and beaten on a near-daily basis in Montreal and elsewhere. Police have begun to deploy riot squads immediately to dismantle actions, whereas some effort was made at conciliation in the past. “Our job, as police officers, is repression,” said the President of the Police Fraternity of Quebec, Yves Francoeur. “We do not need a social worker as a director, we need a general. After all, the police is a paramilitary organization, let’s not forget it.”

See also this and this.

The Myth That the US Will Soon Become an Oil Exporter

Click here to access article by Gail Tverberg from The Oil Drum. 

The author keeps trying to correct misleading claims regarding oil production by mainstream media and political figures. It's all about the complex nature of imports, refining, heavier and more expensive oil, and biofuels. She sorts it all out for us to provide a much more accurate picture. 

Disregarding all the environmental costs (and, we can't really!), the implications for economic growth, on which the capitalist system depends, is not very favorable. The cheap, easily accessible oil is rapidly disappearing.

Brutal occupiers quite nice once you get to know them

Click here to access article by Carlo Sands from Green Left (Australia).

There is a streak of sarcastic irony running through this article which throws the spotlight of hard truth on the Empire's occupation of Afghanistan.

As the occupation staggers from one disaster to another, pressure is growing in the countries taking part in the occupation to pull their soldiers out. But the media commentators are quick to pose the most important question: Is the job done?

...In other words, will the Afghan security forces — who keep refusing to kill other Afghans and instead turn their guns on the occupiers — prove willing and able, once the occupiers are gone, to kill enough other Afghans to allow the corrupt warlords the West put in power to stay in power?

In Poll, Many Link Weather Extremes to Climate Change

Click here to access article by Justin Gillis from The New York Times. (If you are not registered with this website, you can access the article here.)

Past survey work had suggested...that people tended to see the climate change problem as “distant in time and space — that this is an issue about polar bears or maybe Bangladesh, but not my community, not the United States, not my friends and family.”

If one only followed mainstream media, this would be a surprise because this trend, connecting extreme weather with global warming, is almost never reported. It's clear that recent extreme weather events in the US are having an impact.

“During that crazy heat wave in March, everyone in Chicago was out enjoying the weather, but in the back of their mind they were thinking, this is not right.”

Happy Earth Day! 

Speaking of Earth Day, judging by the lack of coverage of this day in US mainstream media today and in recent years, it's obvious that the political operatives of the One Percent have decided to downsize the event. Although Earth Day began here in the US in 1970, it apparently is not seen by US capitalists as a very good fit with the growth imperatives of capitalism. On the other hand, where I am situated near the Canadian border, I have seen and heard considerable evidence that the commemoration of this day is very much alive in Canada. For example, see this.

Leo Panitch on the Occupy Movement

Here are two videos of a March interview with Leo Panitch from Newsclick website (India).

This well-known Marxist professor from Canada looks at the Occupy movement from an historical perspective in order to reveal its unique qualities and speculate on its possibilities.

Part 1 (18:49m) The Challenge is to Move Beyond Protests





Part 2 (11:24m) Constraints of the #Occupy/other protest movements

Iran and Syria: Small Glimmer of Hope in a Bleak Scenario

Click here to access article by Prabir Purkayastha of Newsclick (India). 

It is Israel which has the sole agenda of containing Iran. Israel knows that Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability is going to weaken its position as the pre-eminent military power in West Asia and North Africa. Israel's claim that Iran with a nuclear weapons capability will become an existential threat to Israel with its arsenal of 300-400 nuclear weapons, is absurd. What Israel wants is that the US should take out Iran, as it took out Iraq. This will let it militarily dominate the entire Middle East, invade any country when it wants and bomb whoever they feel like. A nuclear capable Iran threatens the impunity with which Israel acts militarily today.
 

Propaganda, Inc.: The State-Corporate Nexus and US Democracy Manipulation

Click here to access article by John Brissenden from New Left Project.

The increasingly close relationship between Google and the US “democracy promotion” apparatus recently took a new turn with the launch of a new, private, non-profit organisation designed to leverage the resources of major US corporations in manipulating democratic movements in (initially) four nations: Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Russia.

It's clear that the political operatives of the Empire's One Percent are enhancing their weapons of subversion against those they characterize as "violent extremists", which is code for activists of all types who are organizing all over the world to fight the attacks of the Empire on their resources, their social benefits, their media, their educational institutions, etc. Why? In their own words:

“Anti-Americanism and violent extremism threaten the commercial and investment climate for U.S. businesses in countries that are essential energy sources and potentially significant markets... SAGE will contribute to more stable markets where American business can thrive.”

The rationale for the scheme is clear. US policymakers have been looking for ways to maximise the use of “soft power” to complement American military and economic dominance, and for ways to place the interaction of the state and corporations in the propaganda effort on a stable footing....

WikiLeaks supporters plan US foundation to restore funding

Click here to access article by James Ball from The Guardian.

US backers of transparency organization Wikileaks have announced plans to establish a foundation for the site seeking a way to allow donors to give money to Julian Assange's Wikileaks once again. Wikileaks has undergone over 500 days of a "banking blockade" after Visa, MasterCard and PayPal blocked donations from going to the website.

Ted Trainer and the Simpler Way

Click here to access article by Samuel Alexander from Energy Bulletin. (Author Samuel Alexander is a co-founder of The Simplicity Institute of Australia. He writes: "I feel Ted's vision is absolutely critical to getting out of the mess we're in, and yet his position doesn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves.")

This is an edited, abbreviated version of the PDF formatted essay to which a link has been provided for people who wish to learn more about Trainer's excellent ideas.  His proposal for a new sustainable social model is in sharp contrast to the present planet and soul destroying system of capitalism.

After presenting his critical analysis of the global situation, Trainer describes his vision of The Simper Way, which is a vision of communities creating highly localised, zero-growth economies, based on far lower resource and energy consumption than what is common in developed nations today, and in which the profit motive has been largely or entirely removed. Since Trainer believes that governments are inextricably intertwined with the economic imperative to grow, his theory of change is fundamentally ‘anarchistic,’ in the sense that he believes that ‘top down’ parliamentary processes cannot be relied on to play any significant role in restructuring society for The Simpler Way.

It appears that Mother Nature is going to evict us from our planetary home, the Earth, because we have been trashing the place. It's shocking because many of us thought that we owned the place, but the truth is that we are only renters. It looks like we have only two options: 1) either we immediately stop trashing the place, which means changing the economic system, or 2) we immediately look for another planet and a means of getting there. If we don't stop trashing right a way, she will start the eviction process; and then its only a matter of decades before we are out of this world, which will leave only the second option.

The Titanic Code

Click here to access article by Dave Gardner from Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy. 

The author uses the very apt metaphors of the Titanic and a computer operating system to clarify the dangerous state that humanity is currently in.

Our culture is not interested in a course correction because we’re distracted. We don’t see the iceberg ahead because we’re fixated on a cultural story that defines progress as growth, and growth as progress. This worldview has led us to develop a system that depends on everlasting growth.

I don't think that "we" as ordinary working people ever designed this system. It was created by and for a class of people who declared ownership rights over all significant elements of the economy which has entitled them to secure the wealth produced by workers. This process in turn has evolved over time into massive concentrations of wealth and power. We now have a small class of people who hold so much power over our lives and is now threatening the planet with their destructive activities.

Of course, when the author refers to the "operating system" and the "old system", he is writing about the system of capitalism--but he can't identify it as such! In our present Orwellian society, the authorities apparently have removed this word from our lexicon, thinking that if we couldn't name the system, we couldn't change it.

Displacing American Labor Through Foreign Guest Worker Visas

Click here to access article and 10:15m CBS video posted by Robert Oak from The Economic Populist. 

While the Wall Street Journal tries to claim software engineer is the best job, whistle blower Jay Palmer is blowing the lid off the dire straights most American technical workers are facing today. We have brazen labor arbitrage through abuse of the United States foreign guest worker system. American workers with college degrees, high skills and years of experience, are either fired or not hired. Systemically U.S. STEM labor is displaced and replaced by cheap foreign guest workers, some on immigration visas which are not even legal. 

With all the apparent concern about illegal immigrants and all the resources put into preventing them from coming into the US, it's obvious that government authorities are looking the other way at these cost savers and profit enhancers for US corporations. 

Although CBS failed to inquire about government collusion with this scam, I have to credit them with this rare exposé of this practice which suggests the hypocrisy of US politicians about their concern for US workers.

Creating a Prison-Corporate Complex

Click here to access article by Steve Fraser and Joshua Freeman from TomDispatch. (You may want to skip the introduction by scrolling down to the article.)

The infamous 19th century use of convict labor, consisting mostly of African Americans, to provide pliable low cost labor to corporations has made a reappearance in our 21st century. This is an excellent report on both the earlier history and what is happening today.

Rarely can you find workers so pliable, easy to control, stripped of political rights, and subject to martial discipline at the first sign of recalcitrance -- unless, that is, you traveled back to the nineteenth century when convict labor was commonplace nationwide.  Indeed, a sentence of “confinement at hard labor” was then the essence of the American penal system.  More than that, it was one vital way the United States became a modern industrial capitalist economy -- at a moment, eerily like our own, when the mechanisms of capital accumulation were in crisis.

An excellent film on the 19th century use of African American convict labor was recently broadcast by PBS: entitled, "Slavery by Another Name". The DVD can be purchased here.

Why the Israeli state is terrified of peaceful protest

Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.

The author assembles a lot of first and second hand reports including videos to explain the headline.

The extreme violence of the Israeli state against peaceful protesters reveals a deep-seated fear inside the country’s political establishment. Realizing that they cannot successfully guarantee civil consent and popular legitimacy, successive governments have embraced violence as a necessary tool for the state to guarantee its survival in a context of eroding international support.

Do Emissions Cause Tornadoes? Climate Service Would Know

Click here to access article from Bloomberg editorial. 

Even the people at this premier Wall Street financial news service would like to know the answers, but the Neanderthals in the Republican party are keeping their heads firmly in the sand. Referring to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the editorial reveals that...

The agency has for years wanted to create a National Climate Service that would track and assess climate change, figuring out whether it is to blame for specific extreme weather events such as tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves and hurricanes. In this and other ways, it would help people -- farmers, insurance companies, policy makers -- plan for changes in the growing season, coastal erosion, water supply, human health and so on.

In November [2011], however, Republican members of the House of Representatives killed that plan, even though it would have required no new funding at all.

John Holloway at the Left Forum Closing Plenary

Here is a very inspiring, eloquent speech by Holloway directed to all activists at the end of this year's annual Left Forum (March 16-18) in New York City. (Note: video, which may take a while to appear, is 15:06m, but you can reduce it by starting your video at the 2 minute mark skipping the introduction.)

Bailouts are capitalist business as usual, not “socialism”

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog, Systemic Disorder. 

The writer corrects a lot of misconceptions about the economy commonly found in mainstream media, and clarifies how the system of capitalism currently functions in the US.

Anarchy 101

Click here to access article by Bob Black from Eagainst. (A re-publication from The Anarchist Library.) 

A very good description of anarchism. The main problem I have with it is his view of "democracy": it is a distorted form known to much of the world as "bourgeois democracy" or as "representative democracy". Essentially they are referring to the capitalist form of electoral democracy designed to fool ordinary people into thinking that it is the real thing. It's a semantics issue among many on the left.

Obama's Atomic Solyndra?

Click here to access article by Harvey Wasserman from HuffingtonPost.

It's clear that capitalists are perfectly aware that atomic energy plants are a poor investment. Therefore, the solution is for working people to pay for them and to assume all the risks. When capitalists can't make a profit from an enterprise, they make the government, which they control, do it. Because cheap fossil fuels will diminish in the decades ahead, capitalists also know that their growth-imperative system cannot continue without nuclear power. Do you seriously think that they will choose to give up the system that gives them so much wealth and power?

This liberal author either doesn't understand how the One Percent rules our country or he is deliberately hiding the truth when he states:

...Obama holds the key. It's our job to make him turn it in a green direction.
A short while ago, this package was considered a done deal.

But the GOP uproar over the failed $535 million loan to the solar company Solyndra changed to context. Initiated by Bush, Republicans have made Solyndra the poster child for bad federal loans.

This is complete nonsense. It doesn't matter who lives in the White House. Republicans are making meaningless political noises over the support given to Solyndra by the Obama administration. They know that solar power cannot power their growth addicted system. Most of them will have no problem when it comes to complete taxpayer backing for future nuclear projects. And, you can be sure that petitions opposing their construction will be tossed in the garbage can. It will take much more militant forms of citizen opposition for the political operatives of the One Percent to back off. In fact, I think it will require a revolution.

Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists

Click here to access article by Dahr Jamail from Al Jazeera. (2:29m video and article.)

Along with collapsing fisheries, signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: horribly mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp - and interviewees' fingers point towards BP's oil pollution disaster as being the cause.

The blogger at George Washington's Blog has also sourced other evidence of Gulf habitat destruction:

• New York Times: “Gulf Dolphins Exposed to Oil Are Seriously Ill, Agency Says

• MSNBC: Gulf shrimp scarce this season (and see the Herald Tribune‘s report)

• Mother Jones: Eyeless shrimp are being found all over the Gulf

• NYT: Oil Spill Affected Gulf Fish’s Cell Function, Study Finds

• CBS:Expert: BP spill likely cause of sick Gulf fish (and see the Press Register’s report)

• Study confirms oil from Deepwater spill entered food chain

• Pensacola News Journal: “Sick fish” archive

• Agence France Presse: Mystery illnesses plague Louisiana oil spill crews

• MSNBC: Sea turtle deaths up along Gulf, joining dolphin trend

• MSNBC:Exclusive: Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico

• AP: BP oil spill the culprit for slow death of deep-sea coral, scientists say (and see the Guardian and AFP‘s write ups)

• A recent report also notes that there are flesh-eating bacteria in tar balls of BP oil washing up on Gulf beaches

• And all of that lovely Corexit dispersant sprayed on water, land and air? It inhibits the ability of microbes to break down oil, and allows oil and other chemicals to speed past the normal barriers of human skin. Background here. NYT: Impact of Gulf Spill’s Underwater Dispersants Is Examined Speaking on the chemical ingredients of the dispersants used, “The report finds that “Of the 57 ingredients: 5 chemicals are associated with cancer; 33 are associated with skin irritation from rashes to burns; 33 are linked to eye irritation; 11 are or are suspected of being potential respiratory toxins or irritants; 10 are suspected kidney toxins; 8 are suspected or known to be toxic to aquatic organisms; and 5 are suspected to have a moderate acute toxicity to fish.”

In Poll, Many Link Weather Extremes to Climate Change

Click here to access article by Justin Gillis, cross-posted from The New York Times. (Normally I post from original sources; however in postings that require registration or fee access, I may source the articles elsewhere.) 

“People are starting to connect the dots.”

Now, the next step is for people to connect the dots to the capitalist organization of economies.

Assange interviews Nasrallah: Episode One

Access Julian Assange's 28:00m video interview with the Hezbollah leader from RT.

This is Julian Assange's premier interview on his World Tomorrow internet program. I haven't had much time yet to listen to all parts of it, but it appears to cover the Syrian crisis, other Mid-East issues, and more general questions about his religious beliefs, etc. Especially because I found it difficult to hear some key words, I wish that a transcript would be provided for these interviews.

In Barcelona, Austerity With an Iron Fist

Click here to access article by Peter Gelderloos from Truthout. 

After having squeezed as much as they could out of Greek workers, the European One Percent is now putting the squeeze on Spanish workers. Their methods? The same ones they are using everywhere in the Empire: austerity (for the 99 Percent) and a growing police state. But, like the Greeks the Spanish people are also fighting back. The author reports on the latest details.

The repressive trends of the crisis are especially visible in Catalunya, where social movements have been most active in resisting or blocking austerity measures. Hospitals that planners intended to shut down have been occupied and kept in function. In response to fare hikes, neighbors and users have forcibly opened metro stations so everyone can ride for free. Students have seized their universities to protest measures of privatization, and ordinary people have harassed and chased away politicians when they tried to make a public showing. In the month of March, every single family in Barcelona threatened with eviction for not being able to pay their rent or mortgage that sought broader support in order to resist successfully postponed or blocked their eviction.  

What Capitalism Delivers

Click here to access article by Richard D. Wolff from MR Zine. 

Like an incorrigible alcoholic, the capitalist class goes on one drinking binge after another. In between binges he beats his wife, the workers. Then he promises never to beat her again and never to drink again. And, you know the rest of the story. The author succinctly reveals the real history represented by this metaphor and what it could be like if workers divorced this deadbeat.

The History and Resurgence of Death Squads in Central America.

Click here to access article by Rights Action Team from Rights Action.

I get horrible reports like this everyday by listservs. They always involve collusion among local elites and US government officials, US political operatives, drug traffickers, death squads, and mostly North American corporations. Of course, these reports almost never make it into mainstream news in the US and Canada.

Like the death squads in the 1960s-70s, recent crimes in Guatemala appear to employ criminal networks, drug trafficking network hit men, to carry out violence against unions and communities organizing against abuses by transnational corporations, with the collusion or support of the military and police.

The return of the repressive state in Guatemala is part of a regional process that mixes drug war, anti-terrorism and anti-communist rhetoric and partners US security experts and agencies with repressive States, States made up of many of the same individuals responsible for crimes against humanity carried out just one generation ago with the assistance of US military advisors.

In Honduras, death squads targeting anti-coup activists have been operating across the country since the June 2009 military coup; human rights activists denounce over 300 politically motivated killings. In the Bajo Aguan region, since January 2010 death squad killings have been spearheaded by private security forces working for transnational palm oil corporations with the collaboration of police and the same Honduran military units that have received ongoing training from US military forces.  As a result over 60 campesinos and journalists have been killed.

Class Warfare On Two Fronts

Click here to access article by Mark Ames from The Exiled and ConsortiumNews.

"Yes, there’s class warfare, all right," warns Warren Buffett. “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

The author provides many more details about the class war that has occurred in real estate affecting, as usual, some very vulnerable members of the 99 Percent trying, albeit naively, to serve their country in the military. While doing so, some soldiers appear to express their frustrations by committing war crimes.  He contrasts the disasters suffered by these "losers" in the real estate game with the rewards and celebrations of the sociopathic winners located in the One Percent. 

Army Sgt. Robert Bales stands accused of murdering 17 Afghan civilians, a crime that some trace to the financial pressures his family faced back home. However, to the rich financial swindlers, the ruining of Bales’s family – and many others – is just another day’s work....

Meanwhile, "back at the [capitalist] ranch"...

Hayes Barnard and Paramount Equity Capital are doing better than ever. In 2009, Hayes Barnard was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Roseville Chamber of Commerce, the wealthy Sacramento suburb where Paramount Equity Mortgage is headquartered. In 2010, the Sacramento Business Journal honored him as one of Sacramento’s “40 under 40” leaders.

Among other crimes and deceptions, officially,

Paramount stood accused of charging and collecting unearned fees, charging consumers to buy down interest rates without actually reducing the rate, failing to make required disclosures and making state and federally-required disclosures in a deceptive manner.

Seeking the Truth About U.S. Targeted Killing Strike That Killed Dozens of Women and Children in Yemen

Click here to access article by Nathan Freed Wessler and Pardiss Kebriaei from American Civil Liberties Union.

Meanwhile, peaceful US citizens protesting against these drone crimes are met by stormtroopers.

Emperor of the Air: Potomac Poobahs Squeeze the Skies

Click here to access article by Chris Floyd from his blog, Empire Burlesque. 

The author discusses another manifestation of US imperial power. Travelers of foreign countries...

are now being forced to submit (a most apt word) their "personal data" to the United States Department of Homeland Security -- even if they are not travelling to the United States, or even crossing U.S. airspace.

Occupy the US: Musings on Horizontal Decision-Making and Bureaucracy

Click here to access article by Marianne Maeckelbergh from Stir.

Some food for thought for Occupy activists.

The year 2011 has breathed new life into horizontal models of democratic decision-making. With the rise of the 15 May movement and the occupy movement horizontal decision-making became one of the key political structures for organising responses to the current global economic crisis. While this decision-making process has arguably never been as widely practiced as it is today, it has also never seemed as difficult and complicated as it does today.

The vultures that want to bring Argentina to its knees

Click here to access article by Stéphanie Jacquemont from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt. 

Argentina has recently been assaulted on several fronts. These attacks are related to the 2001 suspension of payment on its external debt and to cases brought against the country before the ICSID (International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), the controversial World Bank arbitration tribunal.

One should have some background on sovereign debts and enforcement of repayment by international bodies to fully understand this article. I recommend reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, The Blood Bankers by James Henry, and Super Imperialism: the Economic Strategy of American Empire by Michael Hudson. 

'Let Cuba In!' Sixth Summit of Americas sends ultimatum to US

Click here to access article by Adrian Salbuchi for RT. 

...US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that before Cuba can rejoin the OAS, “there should be an opportunity for a transition to a full democracy in Cuba”.

...US-style “democracy” more often than not results in grossly corrupt governments peopled by crooks and thieves.Is the best thing that Clintonite “full democracy” can offer just “government by the rich, for the rich and of the rich”?Clearly, US “full democracy” is nothing but “the best democracy that money can buy”.

“Always look on the bright side of life”: Bright-siding climate advocacy and its consequences [Part 1 of 5]

Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red. 

...with climate change, the problem is not a commercial or political construct, and not fully solving the problem will be catastrophic beyond most peoples’ imaginations and current understandings. The price of failure is not a product left on the shelves or an election lost. Failure is a planet on which most people and species will not survive.

A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame

Click here to access article by Nicholas D. Kristof from The NY Times.  

Here's a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands. 

This well kept secret has leaked out so much that the NY Times finally were forced to put it in print. However, you will notice that they hide the real reasons for this phenomenon behind lack of treatment, medical diagnoses, etc. instead of the real reason: once soldiers are deployed to the Empire's battlefields, they begin to see how they are being used to participate in the Empire's war crimes. They also realize how much they have been lied to by trusted sources in the US. Suicide rates such as this also occurred in the Vietnam War, but did not happen in WWII.

Assange: I’ll be called a traitor, interviewing radicals

Click here for 13:21m video interview (and script) with Julian Assange by RT regarding his show on their network starting tomorrow. 

During the interview he makes a very good point about news bias and censorship in media by national ruling class interests. The implication is that one can often get access to coverage about events from media outlets that are located in other countries where the same interests do not exist. From my own experience spending time in foreign countries, I found this to be so true. Hence, it follows that if Assange's interviews were to offend Russian ruling class interests, he would find immediate pressures to shape his coverage accordingly.

RT: RT aims to provide this kind of alternative view to those aired by the international mainstream channels. Is your choice of RT as the platform for your interview show your kind of response to that mainstream media?

JA: It is a response seeing that a lot of the things that we have been trying to report have not been carried accurately in the mainstream press. There are many, many fine exceptions but when we look at international networks there’s really only two that are worth speaking about, and that’s RT and Al Jazeera. The other international networks, as far as WikiLeaks issues are concerned, are too busy considering their own national agenda.

Now, if WikiLeaks had been producing voluminous material about Russia, perhaps that situation would be different. But in the case that we are in at the moment, our major confrontation is with the West, although we have published material for many countries.

For more information on his show entitled "The World Tomorrow", which will be premiering tomorrow at 7:30 AM New York time or 10:30 AM Seattle time, check out this link from RT.

The first-episode, with a notorious guest who's identity is still under wraps, will coincide with the 500th day of financial blockade on Wikileaks. The countdown for "The World Tomorrow" begins today. 

Afghan war whistleblower Daniel Davis: 'I had to speak out – lives are at stake'

Click here to access article by Paul Harris from The Guardian. 

...Davis saw America's military chiefs, such as General David Petraeus, constantly speak about America's successes, especially when working with local troops. So Davis compiled two reports: one classified and one unclassified. He sent both to politicians in Washington and lobbied them on his concerns. Then in February he went public by giving an interview to the New York Times and writing a damning editorial in a military newspaper.

It appears that this Lt. Colonel in the US Army naively thought that his bosses, the political operatives of the One Percent were interested in truth. Like any top authoritarians in other hierarchical organizations, they want reports that confirm, or conform to, their views and interests. And, that is mostly what they get in every war. After being disabused of that notion, he like other whistle-blowers, felt that telling the truth to the public, the 99 Percent, was important for their interests. Because of this, he is another hero of the 99 Percent.

Kick Some Ass with the Working Class

Click here to access article by Ron Jacobs from Dissident Voice.

This is a review of a recently published book entitled Autoworkers Under the Gun by Gregg Shotwell.

The ugly side of being a factory worker in the US auto industry is all here. Sociopathic CEOs, their lawyers, and the acquiescence of the UAW leadership, it’s all there. This collection of newsletters written by a United Auto Workers activist documents the purposeful destruction of a union, an industry, and a way of life by bankers, corporate raiders and supplicant union bosses. The tale told here is about the daily fight on the shop floor. 

You Can't “Grow The Movement” By Dissing The Kids: On Chris Hedges And Occupy

Click here to access article by Katherine M Acosta from CounterCurrents.

Chris Hedges is on a mission. That mission is to save the Occupy movement from anarchists who employ any tactic of which Hedges does not approve.

The author points out all the contradictions in the views expressed by Chris Hedges, the former NY Times liberal journalist.

Growth machine is a capital problem

Click here to access article by Ian Angus from Green Left.

When criticized for producing and promoting more consumption of stuff, capitalists always bring out the tired argument that they are only responding to consumer demands and human nature.

In article after article, book after book, scientists and environmentalists have exposed the devastating effects of constant economic expansion on the global environment. The drive to produce ever more “stuff” is filling our rivers with poison and our air with climate-changing gases. The oceans are dying, species are dying out at unprecedented rates, water is running short, and soil is eroding much faster than it can be replaced.

         But the growth machine pushes on.

What the New 2011 EIA Oil Supply Data Shows

Click here to access article by Gail Tverberg from The Oil Drum.

The author provides a lot of interesting data about energy supplies by type and area. It appears that crude oil has peaked, but liquid energy is being supplemented by natural gas and ethanol for an overall slight increase in liquid energy. 

Except for natural gas supplies in the near future, it looks to me like we can expect energy to continue to increase in the future to a point where prices will create havoc for all capitalist economies with their insatiable demands for growth which cannot be supplied at a cost that economies can handle. I have little doubt that ruling classes will insist on more nuclear power plants with all their problems of costs, disposal of hazardous waste, maintenance, decommissioning, and accident risks.

Assassination Columbia – What If It Ain’t About Whores?

Click here to access article by Gordon Duff from Veterans Today.

The author found the report about Secret Service agents being disciplined for cavorting with prostitutes in Columbia as unbelievable as I did. When I first heard the story on TV, all sorts of alarm bells went off in my head. This story, for anyone with experience with US coverup stories, smells to high heaven. But, what is the real story? Duff makes a stab at it by using his informed imagination. Need I mention that Israel is the unnamed country? His version has far more credibility than the one reported in mainstream media.

It would be to you, too--especially if you had read the books entitled JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglas and The Echo From Dealey Plaza by Abraham Bolden, a former Secret Service agent. Both authors provide considerable evidence that the Secret Service was at the core of the assassination of John Kennedy.

Revolution vs. Counterrevolution: Whatever Happened to the Arab Spring?

Click here to access article by Ismael Hossein-Zadehi from CounterPunch. 

Caught off-guard by the initial wave of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia, the US and its allies struck back with a vengeance. They employed a number of simultaneous tactics to sabotage the Arab Spring. 

This piece contains the very best assessment I've seen on the phenomenon of the "Arab Spring".

The real criminals in the Tarek Mehanna case

Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

In one of the most egregious violations of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech seen in quite some time, Tarek Mehanna, an American Muslim, was convicted this week in a federal court in Boston and then sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison.

The author posts a most stirring speech by another persecuted US Muslim in response to his verdict, and other important links that give more background information on his legal case.

This is, indeed, shocking. It appears that US society is definitely sliding down a very slippery slope--and to our doom. The only force I see that can prevent this is the Occupy movement. We simply must support it with all the energy and resources we have. The government of, by, and for the One Percent is going after us, and they will succeed if we do nothing. It brings to mind the famous statement of Rev. Niemöller with regard to Nazi Germany:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

If one replaces "Jews:" with "Muslims", his statement appears to be quite literally prophetic for the present time. (Trade unions were long ago purged of leftists along with many other "commies" during the McCarthy period.)

Battle for the Soul of Occupy

Click here to access article from Adbusters.

First they silenced our uprising with a media blackout… then they smashed our encampments with midnight paramilitary raids… and now they’re threatening to neutralize our insurgency with an insidious campaign of donor money and co-optation. This counter-strategy worked to kill off the Tea Party’s outrage and turn it into a puppet of the Republican Party. Will the same happen with Occupy Wall Street? Will our insurgency turn into the Democrats’ Tea Party pet?

Guess who has the answers? 

And, could it be co-opted? Read "Yes, The 99% Spring Is A Fraud" from This Can't Be Happening website. 

World food prices rise further, raising fears of unrest

Click here to access article by Svetlana Kovalyova and Veronica Brown of Reuters via Yahoo News.

"We will be 7.2 billion people on earth in 2015, and more than one million have died from starvation in 2011. The situation will not improve, and in fact the contrary will happen," Pierre Reuland, Interpol's special representative to the European Union, told a meeting of European security officials in January. "For poor people the struggle for life will not be better than it is today."

So, this begs some questions about what the causes are for the accelerating food prices which the article doesn't address. Is the problem related to a shortage of food production in relation to population growth? Extreme weather causing poor crops?  Or what? Fortunately, Real News website comes to our rescue with two interviews that shed some light on this important issue. 

The first guest addresses the issue within the context of US politics in an 8:58m interview entitled "Speculation and Criminal Manipulation of Food and Commodities Prices" in which he suggests that the problem is, once again, those among the One Percent who play their capitalist games to win enormous wealth, and with this wealth they are able to keep their games going by sabotaging any efforts to inhibit or regulate these games. 

The second guest addresses the issue from a global perspective in a 17:25m interview entitled Global North VS South Over Financialization of Food in which he explains that there are some divisions within the capitalist world, especially among the BRIC countries that wish to serve more national interests. There are some meetings among these global players scheduled in the near future that should give some indication of how these conflicts will play out over the long run.

Playing Nice?

Click here to access article by Andrew McLemore from the Fort Worth Weekly [Texas].

The headline refers to FBI's aggressive questioning of environmental activists to make sure they were "playing nice". 

The FBI has labeled ecoterrorism as the top domestic terror threat since at least 2005. That puts “highly destructive ecoterrorists” above “hate-filled white supremacists,” “violence-prone anti-government extremists,” and “radical separatist groups” — descriptions from a 2009 FBI press release on the agency’s website.

The political operatives of US capitalists are indoctrinating their enforcers to believe that environmentalists are mostly "terrorists"--today's version of the old bogyman, "commies". Clearly, as many people realize that there are severe threats to the environment by the increasing use of fossil fuels and other hazardous practices, they are becoming activists who protest against these activities. However, since capitalism cannot survive without growth from the use of relatively cheap fossil fuels, such activists are a real threat to the system. Hence, the aggressive use of FBI agents to intimidate protestors.

Study Links Massive Oyster Die-offs in Northwest to Ocean Acidification

Click here to access article from Center for Biological Diversity.

Each day the oceans absorb 22 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution from cars and industry, setting off an unprecedented chemical reaction that, since the Industrial Revolution, has made the world’s oceans 30 percent more acidic.

This is just the latest and one more piece of evidence that humans are creating positive feedback loops that likely will accelerate global warming in the decades ahead leading to more extreme weather events. (See also this and this.) 

The ocean is the major carbon sink and there is a lot of evidence that it is unable to absorb as much carbon from the atmosphere as in earlier decades; we continue to burn more fossil fuels which results in more acidic oceans and further lessens its ability as a carbon sink which leaves more carbon in our atmosphere which promotes more global warming causing more extreme weather events and rising oceans, and all sorts of disasters that I don't even want to think about.

If we fail to replace the system of capitalism and its growth imperative with a sustainable system, we humans will surely perish from the Earth along with many other species.

System of Death: Uprooting the Iraqi State

Click here to access article by Serene Assir from Al Akhbar. 

The article shows how the Empire intentionally went about destroying the Iraqi nation. It seems to me that this is a human rights and war crime of the highest order. 

...men and women with qualifications including doctors, teachers, scientists, journalists, university professors, artists, and engineers were among the first victims of a system that seems to have been created in order to destroy Iraq’s institutions. They were the people with the qualifications and capacity to help rebuild a post-war country. Without them, no nation would survive.

Why would anyone commit such crimes? Surely, the control of oil wouldn't justify this level of violence. Given that Zionist inspired neoconservatives were hugely involved in the war against Iraq, the most plausible explanation is that these acts were performed to eliminate any future threat to the state of Israel.

Debts that can’t be paid, won’t be

Click here to access article by Michael Hudson from his blog. 

This liberal academic, without ever mentioning the system that created it, captures the current major contradiction in today's capitalist world : vast armies of people, employed and unemployed, in impossible debt bondage to the capitalist class. It appears that he is unable to imagine any other kind of economy, much less on what needs to be done to change to another economy. On the other hand, he may just fear the wrath of the One Percent and repercussions to his career if he strayed too far from acceptable discourse. He hints at this with these statements:

...as economies have been financialized, creditors have gained political power – and also the power to disable realistic academic discussion of the debt problem. What they fear most of all are thoughts of how to avoid today’s arrangements that have given them a free lunch at the rest of the economy’s expense.

This class, through its successful oppression of working people, has been able to thwart all efforts by workers to increase their share of the wealth which they create through mental and physical labor. In order to keep their capitalist economies going, the One Percent's ruling classes have increasingly provided credit to working people to buy the things they produce. Another major contributing factor are privately owned central banks who are authorized to issue a nation's money as debt owed by governments and, it turn, their taxpayers, mostly working people. The end result is what we have now: a world of debtors and a tiny world of creditors who demand that debts be paid. 

We are just beginning to see how the directors of this dysfunctional system are coping with diminishing resources, particularly energy sources, with which to feed their addiction to growth: reckless mining and drilling activities that pollute the environment and wars for resources in order to keep feeding their addiction to power and profits. We are also witnessing how these ruling classes are dealing with global warming--they're not! They can't, given the existing system.

Global Collapse: MIT researchers predict the end of the world as we know it

Click here to access article by Nikola Solic, Reuters via RT. 

After reading this rather brief article on MIT's report, one ought to notice a glaring omission: there is no mention of the system that is driving most of the world's economy into "global collapse". Even the word "capitalism" is avoided in polite company in the US (they much prefer "market economy"), but one must never connect this economic system with disaster in a finite world even though no one disputes the fact that capitalism requires growth to exist.

What's goin' on at the Turkish-Syrian border?

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. 

He uses three sources for his description of Turkish border activity in support of the Free Syrian Army: two videos and a report produced by the Saban Center at Brookings Institute, a major think tank for political operatives of the One Percent.

I found the first video to be of rather poor quality and confusing, but the 2nd one from RT was much better and clarified what he described in the article.

The third source is a Saban Center document describing the policy alternatives of the US government in relation to Syria. I read it, and it's all about regime change. Mearsheimer and Walt described the Saban Center in their book entitled The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy as follows:

It is hard to imagine that a research institute funded by Saban and directed by Indyk is going to be anything but pro-Israel. To be sure, the Saban Centre occasionally hosts Arab scholars and exhibits some diversity of opinion. Saban Center fellows – like Indyk himself – often endorse the idea of a two-state settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. But Saban Center publications never question US support for Israel and rarely, if ever, offer significant criticism of key Israeli policies. Moreover, individuals who stray from the Center’s line do not remain for long, as former NSC official Flynt Leverett’s brief tenure there illustrates.

This is another illustration of the powerful influence Zionist figures ("Israeli firsters") have over US foreign policy.

The “NGOs” that spooked Egypt

Click here to access article by Steve Weissman and Frank Browning from Salon. 

After learning of the Egyptian government's allegations of US sponsored NGOs meddling in their political affairs, I was very curious to learn more. I knew that US political operatives were extremely concerned about the Egyptian popular uprising a year ago as hinted at in several reports I reviewed (see this and this). 

When the uprising broke, Frank Wisner Jr. was immediately dispatched to Egypt to get the situation under US control. Wisner Jr. is the son of the number two CIA man in the early days of the CIA, Frank Wisner Sr., and I have little doubt that he, Wisner Jr., is a major political operative in today's inner circle of political operatives--the people who really run things for the ruling One Percent, often referred to as the National Security State.

This article really doesn't shed much light on what the NGOs in Egypt were up to, but the authors do provide a very good historical outline of the use of false front NGOs in the past to further Empire objectives and were likely used in the same manner last year in Egypt. For more historical information on this subject of covert NGO and other CIA activities, I highly recommend that you read The Mighty Wurlitzer by H. Wilford, and The Fish is Red by Hinckle and Turner. 

Although Wilford provides a rather good historical review of many nefarious activities of the CIA, he erroneously implies that all such activities ceased in the 1970s following investigations by the Church and Pike Congressional committees which revealed widespread use of illegal covert operations in both foreign countries and within US society: media, academia, foundations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, spying on citizens, etc.

Our Men in Iran?

Click here to access article by Seymour M. Hersh from The New Yorker. 

This journalist supplies evidence that the US government has been training and supplying a group operating in Iran which its own State Department lists as a terrorist group. This appears to be an update of an article he wrote in 2008 when President G. Bush was in office regarding the same subject. 

Once again we see that a change in presidents doesn't make the slightest difference in changes to policies. That is simply because there exists a more or less permanent secret government within the US, often referred to as the National Security State that really runs the government. Presidents, if not completely aligned with the NSS such as both Bush presidents (some might well argue that Bush Jr really didn't function in an active executive capacity being too stupid to be taken seriously by the inner power circle), have been relegated to the role of public relations officers. (Read The Secret Team by retired Col. L. Fletcher Prouty,) President Kennedy was the last truly independent executive. He greatly feared this powerful inner circle--and you know what happened to him. (Read JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglass for the details.)

Obviously, terrorism is bad only when it is directed against the Empire. Maybe the political operatives of the Empire are only following in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt who once said, "They may be sons of bitches, but they are our sons of bitches".

The M.E.K.’s ties with Western intelligence deepened after the fall of the Iraqi regime in 2003, and JSOC began operating inside Iran in an effort to substantiate the Bush Administration’s fears that Iran was building the bomb at one or more secret underground locations. Funds were covertly passed to a number of dissident organizations, for intelligence collection and, ultimately, for anti-regime terrorist activities. Directly, or indirectly, the M.E.K. ended up with resources like arms and intelligence. Some American-supported covert operations continue in Iran today, according to past and present intelligence officials and military consultants.

Voting is still the least of our struggles

Click here to access article by Michael McGehee from his blog, Truth Addict. 

I would never discourage anyone from voting, but people need to be aware that it is the least effective means of political influence that ordinary citizens can exert. And, the ruling One Percent wants to keep it that way. They want to keep you thinking that by voting you have performed some really significant democratic act. McGehee explains why this is deluded thinking, and offers some brief remarks on what real, effective democratic action would look like.

As each election comes many of us foolishly believe that this time voting will matter. But it's a lot like a sign I saw in a bar: "Free Beer Tomorrow."

NYT Op-Ed Gets Central Africa Right

Click here to access article by Michael McGehee from his blog, Truth Addict. 

This blogger finds a rare gem hidden in the NY Times, the famous "newspaper of record" for the
Empire. 

The thing about the New York Times is that it is much like a broken clock: it can get it right at least twice a day. Though with the volume the "paper of record" puts out everyday it would be an interesting experiment to see which is more accurate. When it comes to challenging power, I would bet on the broken clock.

The dirty picture of neoliberalism: India’s New Economic Policy

Click here to access article by Raju J. Das from Links. [Raju J. Das is associate professor at the departments of geography and development studies, York University, Toronto, Canada. Das is on the editorial board of Science & Society and the editorial advisory board of Dialectical Anthropology.] 

The author describes how neoliberalism under the New Economic Policy (NEP) is currently being applied in India and its devastating social effects. 

The NEP is not merely economic. This is because it must ensure political and ideological conditions for capital accumulation. The political refers to state repression and judicial coercion.... The ideological refers to the promotion of market fetishism in all spheres of everyday life, including in our consciousness. Associated with market fetishism is the idea of getting rich quickly by any means and of the market as the dominant method of helping the poor....

And when these methods prove to be insufficient, the ruling capitalist class, as usual, takes their gloves off to reveal the hidden fist of fascist repression and violence.

The capitalist class has also directly engaged in struggle from above by undermining the power of workers striking against capital. Capital has done this by hiring goons to hurt striking workers, resorting to the bribing of union leaders and locking employees out. In many recent years, person days lost to lockouts are five times the number lost due to strikes. The courts also have ruled against the democratic right to strike.

An Arab War-Crimes Court for Syria?

Click here to access article by Eugene Schulman from NYTimes eXaminer. 

US is an equal opportunity employer--women can be war criminals, too.

Let us be honest, it was the U.S. and its NATO allies that instigated this revolution in Syria, just as they did in Libya. For all the authoritarianism of his regime, Assad is also defending his country from foreign backed insurrection.

Creating community: Lessons from Occupy

Click here to access article by Shepherd Bliss from Transition Voice. 

This piece provides a very candid look at some of the initial strains within the Occupy movement. This is not at all surprising to me given the many years of disinformation and capitalist indoctrination which has produced generations of people with a false consciousness based on materialist values and extreme individualism. The first stage in any type of recovery is to recognize the problem, and they are doing this and more: they are making a concerted effort to overcome these problems.

Clearly, as one would expect, there are real racial, age, gender, and class related differences among activists that can cause problems and conflicts. And, we can expect that the political operatives of the One Percent, in addition to censoring the movement in mainstream media, will do everything they can to exploit these differences.

Occupy has just begun. Whether it’s able to deal effectively with the substantial external threats and internal obstacles is yet to be determined. It will depend partly on the capacity for self-reflection and compassionate listening, as well as the success of channeling anger and frustration into powerful, constructive action.

Triggering permafrost meltdown is closer than we think

Click here to access article from Climate Code Red. 

• Current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are probably sufficient to trigger large-scale permafrost carbon feedbacks and global warming that human effort would be unable to contain.
• The time to slash emissions was a long time ago but now is still much, much better than later, which may, as new studies suggests, simply become too late.

How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses

Click here to access article by  Naomi Wolf from OpEd News. (My commentary updated as of 4-10-12 at 5:30 pm Seattle time.)

As the author puts it, the horror show of a growing police state continues in Washington.

In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill," which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection.

The One Percent's favorite puppet regime, the Obama administration, and their stacked court system, continue their relentless attack on any remaining civil liberties that get in their way of total domination. One might considered this strategy as a domestic version of the military's "full spectrum dominance" concept. 

They are also aggressively going after any government employee who has the audacity to relay information to the public about what crimes and shady practices they have witnessed while on government duty.

Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site writes in his article entitled "Obama Justice Department indicts ex-CIA agent for exposing torture":

In all of these cases, the World War I-era Espionage Act is being used to punish not spying on behalf of a foreign government, but exposing the US government's own crimes to the American people. The utter lawlessness of US foreign policy goes hand-in-hand with the collapse of democracy at home.

These cases make clear that it is the American working people whom the government views as its most dangerous enemy. It is determined to keep them in the dark as it systematically erects the framework for a police-state dictatorship.

Also, I read this morning about another government employee who is currently under attack for his book about his observations in Iraq while serving there as a Foreign Service Officer. He writes in his article entitled "Left Behind" (you will need to scroll down to the article):

I find myself a member of a new club I don’t even remember applying for: The Whistleblowers. I’ve now met with several of the whistleblowers I’ve written about with admiration: Tom Drake, Mo Davis, John Kiriakou, and Robert MacLean, among others.

Sibel Edmonds lost her government career as an FBI translator in Turkey, but is fighting back with her website and recently published book entitled Classified Woman. The blurb for the book states:

In this startling new memoir, Sibel Edmonds—the most classified woman in U.S. history—takes us on a surreal journey that begins with the secretive FBI and down the dark halls of a feckless Congress to a stonewalling judiciary and finally, to the national security whistleblowers movement she spearheaded. Having lived under Middle East dictatorships, Edmonds knows firsthand what can happen when government is allowed to operate in secret. Hers is a sobering perspective that combines painful experience with a rallying cry for the public’s right to know and to hold the lawbreakers accountable. With U.S. citizens increasingly stripped of their rights in a calibrated media blackout, Edmonds’ story is a wake-up call for all Americans who, willingly or unwillingly, traded liberty for illusive security in the wake of 9/11.

You may well wonder: why aren't the people in the US revolting, or at least, protesting. Well, some are, but far too many are not. You see, it isn't real to them. Most of them still limit their access to information from mainstream media which is full of trivia, celebrities, feel-good stores, misinformation, outright deceptions, and sensationalized crime reports. Important news coverage that serves the 99 Percent is simply omitted. I am approaching 76 years of age, and I have never seen such carefully managed mainstream news coverage designed solely to serve the interests of the governing One Percent: keep the 99% ignorant, distracted, misinformed, and afraid of each other.

Defend Günter Grass!

Click here to access article by Ulrich Rippert from World Socialist Web Site.

In today's Orwellian world to speak the truth is no longer permissible. Nobel literature prizewinner Günter Grass is the latest to discover this. He is receiving widespread criticism for stating two obvious, basic truths about Israel and its current regime.

• Israel has developed numerous nuclear weapons and the capability of using them.
• The current Israeli government has been advocating and preparing an attack on Iran.  

There can be no doubt that the war preparations against Iran by the Israeli government are in an advanced stage. In late January, the New York Times ran a lengthy article entitled, “Will Israel attack Iran?” The article confirms that Israeli preparations for military strikes against Iran are proceeding with great speed and intensity. The author—Ronen Bergman, a political analyst with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth—concluded: “Having spoken with several senior Israeli leaders and the heads of military and intelligence agencies, I am of the opinion that Israel will strike against Iran in 2012.”

To Undo the Folded Lie: Resisting Palliatives in an Age of Oligarchic Excess and Anthropocene Age Devastation

Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Dissident Voice.

This highly skilled wordsmith uses some unusual metaphors and concepts which had me going to Answer.com and re-reading parts until I fully understood their profound messages. It was worth it. The author has some words of advice for those of us that are totally aware of living in the midst of societal disintegration caused by the death throes of capitalism--it is a time of peril and promise. He concludes the essay with this positive advice:

...construct within yourself an authentic inner structure, as outwardly you do your part to help imagine and to create new political and cultural models. In short, act as if the inevitable collapse has already occurred.

The Age of Limits: Conversations on the Collapse of The Global Industrial Model

This is a reproduction of a brief article introducing a conference in May on this subject. I am reproducing it because it has no permalink.

The original “Limits to Growth Report” (1972 Meadows et al) did not include a time line for the global growth scenarios it examined. With the addition of statistical data for the following 40 years it is now possible “to fit to the curve” and make rough predictions based on observed resource production and consumption patterns, overlaid upon continued population growth. 

For 50 years serious thinkers have questioned the assumptions of our global industrial culture and its prospects over the longer term. In recent decades they have succeeded in bringing at least some of the core science into popular discussion, notably petroleum depletion and especially climate change. Through these years proposals have been made outlining the governmental policies that would be necessary to begin “solving” these problems. Sadly, we can now see through the course of events, or rather non-events, that the window of opportunity is closing, if not already closed. We are now confronted not by a problem, but by a predicament; one which has no solution, but only adaptations and mitigation's.
 

Does the U.S. Really Have More Oil than Saudi Arabia?

Click here to access article by Robert Rapier from The Oil Drum.

The issue that the author raises in this article is the semantic problem with the term "shale oil". He describes several types of shale oil that require very different amounts of water and energy to process, and insists that they should be referred to by different names. Regardless of the semantic issue, what is really important is that pronouncements about US having more oil than Saudi Arabia are grossly misleading.

How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey

Click here to access article by Noam Chomsky from AlterNet. 

Chomsky reviews the history of publicly funded education to illustrate how support, or lack of, is influenced by the needs of the ruling class of the One Percent. His review reinforces my belief that the recent attacks on state support of education, along with other neoconservative policies, is the One Percent's revenge on the 99 Percent for their opposition to the Vietnam War and the fact that widespread protests were based in college campuses.

Forty years ago there was deep concern that the population was breaking free of apathy and obedience. Since then, many measures have been taken to restore discipline.

Recovered Economic History: “Everyone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious”

Click here to access article by Yasha Levine from The Exiled.

The author found some juicy quotes by the founding fathers of capitalism in a book entitled The Invention of Capitalism by an economic historian named Michael Perelmen. Nowadays, such rude remarks are carefully screened by public relations officers who manage the consent of the people.

Post-democracy: Press TV banned in Germany

Click here to access article from Voltaire Network.

The "democratic" republics of the Empire seem to have no difficulty in imposing Orwellian censorship to keep their subjects from being influenced with controversial news reporting not approved by the Ministry of Truth. 

Crises of Capitalism [11:11m video]

Video by David Harvey from RSA via You Tube. (I normally post current material, but his video from 2010 was just too good to pass over.