The road to inequality is paved with low-paying jobs (2 charts)

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

This economist has assembled information in the form of charts regarding changes in jobs and wages that compares the period of recession defined as 1st quarter of 2008 to 1st quarter of 2010 with that of "recovery" defined as 1st quarter of 2010 to 1st quarter of 2012. As you may have already guessed, it illustrates the inevitable outcome of the dynamics of capitalism: the One Percent are getting richer while the 99 Percent are getting poorer. Another end result of capitalist dynamics is the ever increasing use of fossil fuels which is destroying our ecosystem.

Of course, these continuing trends will inevitably lead to destruction of the capitalist system (revolution) possibly leading to another, more socially just organization of society, or it will lead to a totally fascist state, and it will lead eventually to a planet that cannot support human life (read some of the latest, depressing thoughts on this subject). What outcomes would you like to see? Okay, get active and contribute, in any way you can, toward building a just, sustainable society.

General Electric Makes Billions Off The Backs Of Taxpayers

Click here to access article by Susie Madrak from Crooks and Liars. 

After reading this you may gain a new appreciation for the creativity of capitalists to use their system to milk the wealth created by workers all over the world.

Madrid on the Brink

Click here to access the source of this posting by Diane Sweet from occuworld. 

In contrast to Quebec, because the Spanish protests are more directed at capitalist institutions, we see the full force of fascist capitalism being applied against activists. 

The Anti-Empire Report #109

Click here to access report by William Blum. 

The author's reports, because of the way they are formatted, are not easily used by my blog. Because he covers several topics in the same report and I am normally interested in re-posting only one, I am forced to copy and republish the entire topic. This time I am only posting a link to the whole report as a way to introduce those of you who are not yet familiar with his writings. I want to encourage you to subscribe to his reports as I have.

I receive his reports approximately once a month and I always find them so refreshing. It's like after wading through a pool of excrement, taking a shower to wash off. Or, like spending time in an insane asylum talking to the inmates, and being freed to associate with sane human beings. 

The whole purpose of my blog is to encourage people to connect with observers who post articles on the internet and have a good understanding of the critical issues facing humanity today. It is not to encourage more people to follow my blog so that I can earn more money from ads (I don't run any ads). I am retired and have the time to search the internet for perceptive, independent, and reliable sources of information and analysis. Many of you do not. 

I welcome suggestions of other such sources or articles (both should include links) that I may have overlooked. Obviously, they should be appropriate for this type of blog and its general perspective. (Contact me at goatmeal36@yahoo.com) If I use your suggestions, please let me know if you want to be credited for the link (either "anonymous" or name and/or location, e.g. Ron from Bellingham, WA; Ed Kumba from Nairobi, Kenya; anonymous from London, England; anonymous; or New York).

Social Movements Making an Impact in Quebec

Click here to access article by Yves Engler from Dissident Voice.

For those in Québec, recent gains should inspire further mobilizations. For those outside, the PQ’s reforms are a reminder that determined grassroots movements can create a political climate in which governments place environmental concerns and social rights over the interests of corporations and the wealthy.

Ruling class political operatives respond to mass movements in two ways: they either use more force to discourage dissent or they provide some accommodation to the demands of the dissident movement in order to defuse opposition, and especially opposition that is likely to turn against the system of capitalism. 

Neoliberal and austerity policies are not going away because capitalism in Canada is much like most other capitalist countries: their ruling class is exploiting the opportunities of globalized operations and the military incursions that support them. In fact, capitalists are themselves globalized. They don't think about national boundaries which are eliminated for them. Well policed boundaries are only to control the movement of working people.

Bankers And Their Dirty Tricks

Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from CounterPunch. 

...Mr. Bernanke’s trickle down monetary theories aren’t really working at all. Instead of the savings being passed along to homeowners in the form of lower rates, the banks are juicing profits by taking a bigger share for themselves. Who could have known?

The author explains how the banksters are back again with their old tried and true formulas for making money without contributing anything of value for the 99 Percent.

US increases support for Syrian opposition as Aleppo burns

Click here to access article by Niall Green from World Socialist Web Site.

The author provides the real story hidden behind the recent Clinton announcement about more US aid to the Empire's terrorists.

Direct US aid only makes up a fraction of the total support granted by Washington to the Syrian opposition. The Obama administration, through the operations of the CIA inside Turkey, oversees the supply of financial and military support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey to various anti-Assad militants.

A BREAKING NEWS: Another False Flag Will ISRAEL BLOW UP Something and FALSELY BLAME It on IRAN AGAIN

Click here to access article from nsnbc.

The author(s) has dug up a lot of evidence to suggest that Israel and agents within the US government may be preparing for a false flag operation to justify an attack on Iran.

National Pentagon Radio (NPR) Watch

Click here to access article by John V. Walsh from Dissident Voice. 

I have on numerous occasions become enraged by the flagrant propaganda style of "news" reporting on NPR. I have seen NPR grow from a few radio stations to stations situated all over the radio dial. Corresponding with its growth has been its ever more biased coverage of information in the world. I see it now as a primary propaganda tool of the Empire's One Percent. It functions very much like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America did (the VOA still does) to counter left wing influences in various parts of the world during the Cold War. It is essentially the One Percent's Ministry of Truth.

Human rights and humanitarian imperialism in Syria

Click here to access article by Ajamu Baraka from Pambazuka News. 

Although the website is based in South Africa, the writer is an African American human rights defender. Thus, it is interesting to read his views on the Empire's use of "human rights" increasingly to justify intervention in other countries. Because I am entertaining a guest today, I have only had time to scan this article; but I think it presents an interesting point of view.

Syria is just the latest in a long line of international crimes perpetrated by Western powers. But what makes the crimes in Syria, as those in Libya, even more offensive, is the cynical use of human rights to advance the diabolical interests of Western imperialism.

Climate Change Kills 400,000 a Year, New Report Reveals

Click here to access article from The Daily Beast.

What is new about the Climate Vulnerability Monitor report is its calculation of 400,000 annual deaths from climate change. That is a significant increase over previous estimates. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the gold standard for climate science, said in its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 that climate change caused 150,000 extra deaths a year.

9 Frightening Things About America's Biggest Police Force

Click here to access article by Tana Ganeva and Laura Gottesdiener from AlterNet.

The "9 frightening things" about New York City's police force is that it adds up to fascism. The total picture describes the use of force to protect Wall Street (capitalism) from any interference and to promote its operations.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Iran and the Bomb, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Facts

Click here to access article by Christian Stork from WhoWhatWhy. 

This piece provides an excellent antidote to the pervasive propaganda put out by the One Percent's media regarding Iran's nuclear program.

Given how easily the American public and media were manipulated into believing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, this moment should give us some pause. The disastrous effects of that $3 Trillion Dollar War are still being felt across the world. For those not interested in seeing a much-bloodier, costlier sequel, I offer this introductory course in intellectual self-defense. The only way to rebuff and dismantle propaganda is to be aware of the truth on which it claims to comment.

Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran

Click here to access article by Vijay Prashad from CounterPunch.

This perceptive author writes about the political aspects of the development of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and beyond to show how it has been shaped by the Empire's power interests.

China: Friend of Corporate America, Enemy of the U.S. Government

Click here to access article by Michael Payne from OpEdNews. 

The author describes the contradictory nature of China and US relations. Of course, with both countries based on class structured societies, the real contradiction that the author misses is between the interests of the Chinese and American ruling classes. Because this liberal author doesn't use a class analysis, his title suggests that he thinks the US government and corporations have separate interests. They are essentially the same, it is just that the US government is the agency that the US ruling class use, to a large extent, in the form of military power to serve their collective corporate interests.

Both ruling classes benefit by exploiting the Chinese working class. But, while the US economy is being hollowed out due to the loss of US worker skills, US industrial infrastructure, and loss of national earnings (balance of payments), China's industrial sector is strengthened along with their workers' skills. 

Also, China uses their surplus dollars to repatriate them back to the US by buying US government treasury bills, bonds, etc. This, of course, puts the US taxpayer ever deeper in debt to the Chinese government, while US corporations prosper. The arrangement has encouraged the US capitalist class to become completely addicted to short-term profits while providing them with the use of overwhelming military power to have their way in the world. Meanwhile, they have ignored the deteriorating effect this has on the US economy. The author correctly points out that this strategy is ultimately untenable. The Chinese ruling class appear to be smarter by placing their bets on their strengthening economy.

As long as we have societies directed by ruling classes, we will have national rivalries for dominance as we have seen in the devastating world wars of the 20th century and the never ending local proxy wars that we are still witnessing today. Peace will never be achieved until humanity can build societies without ruling classes. The questions that the author poses toward the end of the article indicates that he fails to understand this. He merely wants the US ruling class to win this rivalry.

New Justice Department Documents Show Huge Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance

Click here to access article by Naomi Gilens from American Civil Liberties Union. 

Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic communications, and doing so without warrants, sufficient oversight, or meaningful accountability.

Why QE Won't Create Inflation Quite as Expected

Click here to access article by Charles Hugh Smith from his blog Of Two Minds. 

The Fed can create money but if it doesn't end up as household income it is "dead money."

From time to time there have been reports in the media announcing "quantitative easing" by the Fed. Many observers see this as essentially printing money. This writer sheds some light on the effects of this central bank issuing money by looking at where the money actually circulates.

Dollar Hegemony in the Empire of the Damned

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from GlobalResearch. 

Many commentators and economists wonder if the US is able to turn its ailing economy around. The reality is that it is bankrupt. However, as long as the dollar remains the world currency, the US can continue to pay its bills by simply printing more money. But once the world no longer accepts the dollar as world reserve currency, the US will no longer be able to continue to pay its way or to fund its wars by relying on what would then be a relatively valueless paper currency.

The author writes about the implications of this trend, some of which are very ominous.

Iran vs Israel: What The Media Wants You To Forget

Click here to access article from WhatReallyHappened via OccuWorld.

This piece provides a well documented exposition of how Empire media dramatically treats the issue of nuclear weapons differently with regard to Israel and Iran.

The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran.
Here is a recap of what they are trying to make you forget.

The formation of cooperatives doesn’t by itself eliminate competition

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

I have often been struck by a belief I often encounter that presumes that we need only convert business enterprises into cooperatives and capitalist competition will cease. 

NYU–Stanford Report Documents U.S. Government’s False Narrative on Drone Strikes

Click here to access article by Brett Kaufman from American Civil Liberties Union. 

Both today’s report and our lawsuit make clear that the gap between what the government wants to tell the public about drones and what independent academics, journalists, and researchers have documented has now become a chasm.

'Democracy kidnapped!' Madrid police fire rubber bullets as thousands surround Spanish Congress

Click here to access article, photos, and videos from RT. 

Violent clashes between the people and the enforcers of the One Percent are once again occurring in Europe.

RT provides us with a video and report of such recent street battles in Greece.

Police in Athens have clashed with protesters during a nationwide strike in protest at a new round of austerity cuts introduced in return for vital EU-IMF loans.

The protesters threw firebombs, smashed windows and set fire to garbage on the sidelines of the demonstration on Wednesday near luxury hotels on the capital's central Syntagma square.

The police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a group of around 200 protesters. 

A Crucible of Political Disenchantment: "Dismiss Whatever Insults Your Own Soul"

Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Uncommon Thought Journal. 

Should we survive this ongoing nightmare of living in a society governed by monsters, I'm sure that future generations will regard Phil Rockstroh as the greatest American writer of our current period. He will be regarded as someone who captured the essence of coping with life in a not-very-sane society, and someone who offered sound suggestions on how to live in a society run by monsters in order to preserve one's humanity and to avoid becoming a monster, too.

By a refusal to grieve, by lapsing into a host of manic evasions, one risks becoming a monster -- a being devoid of empathy that, in an attempt to avoid experiencing suffering, will wound, demean, and exploit the things of the world.

In collective terms, we know this state as the agendas of empire. Conversely, to embrace one's humanity, one must accept being shattered by grief, yet restored by love, simultaneously. Being in unashamed possession of a heart, both broken and whole, serves to mitigate the compulsion to act in the manner of a monster.

Quadrillion Dollar Derivatives Market 20 Times Global GDP

Click here to access transcript of interview conducted by Paul Jay of Real News Network with Marcus Stanley who is the  Policy Director of Americans for Financial Reform.

In this interview Stanley explains the bizarre extent to which casino capitalism has reached. Nowadays capitalists can make huge bets with "derivatives" that can, and often do, create huge disasters for ordinary people. His agency is trying to put this derivative, dangerous genie back into its bottle, or at least "regulate" it. That will never happen. The genie itself must be destroyed and replaced by the genie of a common humanity liberating itself from any class system.

Welcome to Saigonistan

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Al Jazeera.

The author sees many parallels between the current situation in Afghanistan and the US flight from Vietnam nearly four decades ago. After trashing yet another country, the Empire will find it much more difficult to get out than it was to get in. What we now see is...

...the end of a massive PR campaign - sold to Western public opinion - that even boasted its own Dari slogan; shohna ba shohna ("shoulder by shoulder"), as in "good" Westerners side by side with Afghans fighting the "evil" Taliban.

Moreover, what this implies is there's no soft exit strategy for the US and NATO. Sooner rather than later - in this case December 2014 - a Saigon moment looms in the Hindu Kush. [my link]

US Ignite: The Future of the Internet is Government Controlled

Click here to access article by Susanne Posel from Occupy Corporatism. 

Whenever I see or hear the words "public-private partnership", alarm bells go off in my head. This is how the latest initiative coming from the executive branch is being packaged and sold along with extravagant claims of improved broadband service. The author expresses her skepticism:

...do not let the corporate-funded dog-and-pony show fool you. As the US government begins plans to take-over, re-shape and sell back to you through corporate relationships, a new version of the internet, we should all we wary.

Sascha Segan of PCMag is very doubtful. He writes:

The broadband crisis in the U.S. is about slow, expensive connections in the "last mile" to people's homes, not about backbone capacity and 3D medical imaging. The government could do something about that, but it won't.

Craig Settles of Fighting the Next Good Fight is openly critical:

Will the government require the organizations that lease the land to build open access networks? Let’s cut to the chase. Broadband in the U.S. sucks in large part because we have little or no competition to the dominant telco or cableco at the local level. If this Executive Order lacks an open access requirement, incumbents can just roll into cheap deals courtesy of the Feds and then freeze out any meaningful competition.  Think it won’t happen? Then you haven’t been paying attention.

Tipping the Balance of Power

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer. 

Of course, what the author is referring to when he uses the word "democracy" is the capitalist fake version of democracy that they hide behind to serve their interests (the One Percent) while pretending to serve the public interest. This fake version of democracy is widely known throughout the world as "bourgeois democracy".

The author clearly understands who really rules behind their elaborate facades of "democracy" and elections and spells them out in this and other articles on his website. In this article he also offers his ideas on what can be done to begin to inject real democracy into our society.

It becomes obvious that to rebalance this equation in our favor, we must stop paying our time, money, and attention to the corporate-financier elite's corporations, institutions, and organizations. It also quickly becomes obvious that in order to stop paying into these concentrated, centralized conglomerations of power, wealth and influence, we must devise decentralized, local alternatives.

Egypt's turmoil is a distraction from IMF economic agenda

Click here to access article by Nick Dearden from The Guardian. 

Empire operatives like to use to their advantage sensational controversies like the recent anti-American protests across the Middle East and North Africa. "Never let a crisis go to waste" is the mantra of Empire operatives so well articulated by former Obama Chief of Staff and Zionist Rahm Emanuel. While protests are making the headlines, the IMF in collusion with Egyptian leaders are arranging more loans partly to pay off debts with which Mubarak stuck the Egyptian people, but also to promote privatization projects under the guise of "public-private partnerships". 

The latter is another one of those favorite terms that Empire operatives love to use to hide their social crimes (others include "reform" and "structural adjustment"). Like the term "Federal Reserve" it hides the reality of private control behind a thin veneer of government participation using friendly, and often bribed, agents within targeted governments.  

The storming of the US embassy in Cairo has diverted attention once again from the real issues facing Egypt. It couldn't have come at a better time for those who want to convince the Egyptian people to accept an International Monetary Fund loan, and extend former president Hosni Mubarak's liberalisation of the economy.

US to Delist & Arm American-Killing Terror Cult

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer.

Many articles on this issue on other sites emphasize that cash was used to bribe Congress. This is the political liberal's way of staying safely within permissible limits of criticism within the Empire. "It's corrupt Congress people who are at fault." This, of course, justifies giving more power to the executive branch as has been occurring, most dramatically since 9/11. However, it could be very enlightening if we could uncover where all that money to bribe Congress was coming from. I can't believe that the MEK is that rich.

In contrast to liberal coverage, this independent observer accurately reports that the use of terrorist groups has been a common practice by US political operatives who have a long history of sponsoring terrorist groups to further the interests of the Empire. In this case, the MEK will be helpful in the undeclared war against Iran.

Melting ice in the Arctic unleashes race for profits

Click here to access article by Ernst Wolff from World Socialist Web Site. 

While the melting of the Arctic ice cap is worrying to scientists, environmentalists, and other concerned citizens, corporate executives and bankers see it as a great opportunity to satisfy their addiction to profits.

While these troubling statements tend to frighten most people, international investors are already rubbing their hands. The largest ice melt in the recent history of mankind means gaining access to a part of the world that was previously closed to them.

Wall Street Rolling Back Another Key Piece of Financial Reform

Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone. 

This excellent independent reporter reveals how the banking establishment went to work on the recently passed Dodd-Frank bill designed to curb the kinds of duplicitous banking scams that greatly contributed to the economic collapse, a calamity that mostly affected the 99 Percent. Such scams were used on public entities over much of the world to place citizens into perpetual debt to bankers. The Dodd-Frank bill was designed mostly as a public relations gimmick to calm the 99 Percent, for it was already full of exemptions and loopholes. 

But, part of it interfered with the old banking scams, and bankers who constitute a key part of the One Percent went to work on modifying it so that they can continue to play their old, lucrative games at public expense. Safe to say, you will not hear anything about this in their mainstream media which seem devoted almost entirely with the exciting (sarcasm) Obama-Romney political race to see who serves the One Percent next.

Bernanke And Draghi Are Not Trying To Save Our Economies

Click here to access article by Raúl Ilargi Meijer from The Automatic Earth. 

This is a well articulated rant, but the appreciation and understanding of it requires a knowledge of central banks and the way they create money. Unfortunately, most of the 99 Percent lack this understanding.

Regarding "Draghi's bond buying scheme and Ben Bernanke's QE3", he writes:

The question then becomes: is it worth it? The answer to that is a resounding YES if you're a banker or a stock investor or an incumbent politician (Bernanke announced QE3 a comfortable 7 weeks before the US presidential elections). The answer is an equally resounding, if not outright debilitating, NO if you're not part of that small world where politics and money meet and live in relative splendor. Those who are not invited to that party will be called upon to foot the bill, without having anything to show for it.

Poetic Justice Finds US Enablers of Terror

Click here to access article by Nile Bowie from International Movement for a Just World (based in Malaysia)  

Like many perceptive others this author considers the assassination of the US ambassador in Libya as a blowback incident. Even more important is that he uses prime US ruling class sources to reveal that ruling class operatives are consciously using Al Qaeda factions for their own purposes. After using Al Qaeda as a key component of its widely ballyhooed "war on terror" propaganda campaigns, their current hypocritical use of Al Qaeda recalls a statement attributed to President Roosevelt in 1939:

Though the Somozas were generally regarded as ruthless dictators, the United States continued to support them as a non-communist stronghold in Nicaragua. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) supposedly remarked in 1939 that "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."

When it comes to foreign policy, this principle expressed so elegantly by Roosevelt has continued to be used by foreign policy operatives of the Empire in pursuit of their mad quest to gain control over resources and markets throughout the world. This is the fundamental principle that guides all capitalist political policies and actions.

Former US Ambassador Outlines Post-Election Interventions against Venezuela

Click here to access article by Lee Brown posted on Upside Down World via Venezuela Solidarity Campaign.

The significance of this report regarding efforts to subvert the Venezuelan government following their upcoming elections is that it is published in a prominent US ruling class journal, Council on Foreign Relations, and authored by a former US ambassador to that country. This illustrates once again that subverting governments all over the world to serve the interests of the Empire and its One Percents is an ongoing operation.

In an extraordinary paper released last week, former US Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, outlined a range of military, financial and diplomatic measures that the US should be prepared to take against the Chavez government after the coming elections on October 7th.

In the paper, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, Duddy’s recommendations include that in the event of “an outbreak of violence and/or interruption of democracy” the US should use various means to “to communicate to the Venezuelan military leadership that they are obliged to uphold their constitution, respect human rights, and protect their country's democratic tradition” and “organize a coalition of partners to limit an illegitimate Venezuelan administration's access to government assets held abroad as well as to the international financial system.”

Over 150 Organizations to Call for Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing Through the Global Frackdown

Click here to access article from Food and Water Watch. 

The article reports on the growing worldwide opposition to hydraulic fracturing.

"...the good news is that communities all over the world aren’t buying what the oil and gas industry is selling: more extreme energy fueling more extreme weather. They’re organizing inspiring actions all over the world to turn up the heat on the fossil fuel industry and its bought-and-paid-for political cronies.”

An increasingly controversial form of energy extraction, fracking involves blasting millions of gallons of water mixed with carcinogenic chemicals underground to release natural gas and oil from tight rock formations. Drilling and fracking has been linked to water contamination and climate change, and the process has been responsible for industrializing rural areas, destroying property values and undermining local economies.

A Lukewarm Victory: The End of the Chicago Teachers’ Strike

Click here to access article by Matt Reichel from CounterPunch.

Since the end of the teacher's strike in Chicago (Sept. 18), which many have seen as a pivotal event in the war on public education perpetrated by the One Percent, I have been trying to assess the results by surveying a number of online articles. All sides have claimed victory, but it is clear that one's evaluation is based on one's standard of success. This article is one of the more balanced assessments in terms of the interests of the 99 Percent. 

However, I thought it useful to offer a sampling of various points of view. Probably the most informative with a broader perspective is this. As could be predicted, the worst piece from a mainstream media source, which represents the One Percent, was this from Fox News. The most positive assessment from a left source was this. The most negative from a left source was this.

Seven Left Myths about Capitalism

Click here to access article by G.B. Taylor from the Institute for Social Ecology. 

This author provides a much needed critique of what passes for leftist views in the US. Maybe it's all an issue of semantics over what constitutes the "left". The whole political spectrum has shifted to the right in the US since the end of WWII. However, I think his criticisms are directed too much at Occupier activists many of whom are not, and have never identified themselves, as the "left". They are simply large numbers of people who have been severely threatened by the recent collapse of the economy. The old, real left was decimated and nearly totally destroyed, and many of their followers contaminated by limiting liberal views. He only touches on this in a few sentences:

Many historical factors sustain today’s fuzzy thinking about capitalism. One is the legacy of the Cold War: the collapse of “actually existing socialism” and resulting “End of History” consensus only strengthened a hysterical anticommunism that made talking about capitalism, let alone socialism or communism, almost impossible in the United States. Systematic repression from McCarthyism to COINTELPRO also contributed to the rise of a left which largely neglected political economy for 40 years, while more robust critiques and history of capitalism languished in ever-dwindling sectarian Marxist circles.

As I see it, after the McCarthy period, the US ruling class focused on destroying their "communist" rival, any government under their influence, and attaining world dominance under a capitalist system. They relied heavily on building a huge military machine and engaging in both direct and indirect wars against any governments who impeded their ambitions. This gradually took a toll on US workers in the form of a slow, steady decline in their wages and living standards. Then with the neo-liberal regime takeover of government in the 1980s, the US ruling class went global in their capitalist operations. They no longer needed American workers --there were so many in the 3rd world and developing countries that were much easier to exploit. To pacify and/or distract US workers from this development, One Percent propagandists have continued to refine and use more subtle methods to increase their control over all forms of indoctrination and by providing numerous forms of entertainment and consumer gadgets.  

This history, I think, accounts for the degeneration of the US left which in the 1930s represented real threats to the system. So, it is not surprising to me to find current activist critiques as weak, confused, and misdirected as they are. Most of the current, remaining capitalist critics are liberals whose critiques are as he has described in his insightful article. It will take time and experience for many people to recover a more fundamental, radical view of capitalist societies and what is needed to establish a new system to serve the needs of the 99 Percent. Taylor's criticisms of existing activist views contributes to this process of radicalization.

Pacific FTAs advance amid Sino-Japanese tensions

Click here to access article by Bill Weinberg from World War 4 Report. 

This acute observer of world political events offers some interesting views on the ominous current events in the Far East. The title of his blog indicates that he understands that politics in our post-WWII capitalist era is really warfare by another means (compare with Clausewitz aphorism), and he interprets recent events in this area accordingly. However, as he points out, there are two competing tendencies: toward conflict over resources in the East China Sea and toward cooperation in the form of neoliberal policy agreements. Then there is the love-hate relationship between US corporations who love cheap Chinese labor, but worry about the growing power of China as a threat to the Empire's world dominance.

It's all very complicated, and who knows how it will play out. One thing is sure: if we as working people continue to allow ruling classes to manipulate us to serve their interests and dictate our history as we have in the past, then we can expect devastating wars, economic and social disasters, police state rule, and ecosystem destruction to be our future.

WikiLeaks: America’s Shia Tools in Lebanon

Click here to access article by Sabah Ayoub from Al Akhbar. 

Wikileaks scores again! This time it is through intercepted cables between the embassy in Lebanon and Washington; cables which illustrate how the ongoing use of bribes and other rewards are used to undermine political processes in targeted countries via NGO financing to serve the interests of the Empire. 

...as the leaked cables demonstrate, even the US diplomats were surprised by the enthusiasm, courage and initiative shown by some informers. From 2006 to 2010, these individuals and others provided the US embassy with detailed information and analyses on every arcane issue the embassy had inquired about – and sometimes even without it asking.

This select series of cables highlight the US plan and identifies some of the Lebanese Shia proxies used to implement it, including politicians, civil society activists and clerics. 

(There are still many ways to donate money to Wikileaks to support their efforts and Julian Assange and Bradley Manning in their legal battles.) 

 

Undercover cops secretly use smartphones, face recognition to spy on crowds

Click here to access article by Darlene Storm from ComputerWorld. 

This article illustrates that the One Percent's enforcers are continuing to refine their police state methods by the using uncover agents to fill databases with activist facial photos. The databases can then be used to track activists with sophisticated facial recognition software.

Craving for More and More Wealth. Refusing Capitalism

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from Global Research. 

In this succinct article the author demonstrates that he clearly understands the system that is destroying our lives and the planet. For example:

Capitalism does not want a well-informed, educated populace that is aware of its disfranchisement, exploitation and manipulation. It does not require disenchantment and revolutionary murmurs, but acquiescence and passivity from a population that is distracted by infotainment and the advertising industry and its products and looks to its leaders to save it from their fears and confusions.

Global economic inequality: the billionaires vs. the penniless

Click here to access article by Deniz Kellecioglu from Real-World Economics Review Blog. 

In contrast to the ongoing devastation to the lives of the 99 Percent, the One Percent is richer than ever. But, that is inevitable under the system of capitalism which is controlled by them for their benefit. The liberal author carefully avoids mentioning the system; but, to his credit, he points briefly to a very subversive idea:

Surely an inclusive, participatory and democratically functioning economy is the ideal alternative. The real challenge is, in my opinion, how to get there (the transition), especially considering the necessary process of empowerment and disempowerment.

Demolishing Palestine

Click here to access article by Michelle Woodward from Jadaliyya. 

This might be more poignantly entitled, "Demolishing Palestine--One Palestinian Home at a Time". The article captures this ongoing tragedy and human rights crime against Palestinians better than any article I've seen for some time. It was to stop these crimes that Rachel Corrie, a Washington state neighbor of mine, lost her life to an Israeli bulldozer while protesting.

180+ arrests on Occupy Wall St. anniversary — in pictures

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

The author posts more photos of the deterioration of dissent in the US. Is it possible now that the One Percent control all mainstream media versions and images of "freedom and democracy" in their New World Order, public displays of dissent will no longer be tolerated? Could it be that even the most peaceful displays of dissent is now verboten and any who engage in it will be subject to arrest? 

From this site and others (see this and this) we learn that the enforcers of the One Percent are employing a new method to intimidate protesters:

The NYPD learned from last year that kettling and mass-arresting 700 people on the Brooklyn Bridge only adds fuel to the populist fire of the movement. They've now resorted to random snatch-and-grab tactics, meant to disrupt group solidarity, stir up confusion and fear, and minimize media exposure. And given that thousands of Occupiers from across the country are in New York this weekend to celebrate the movement's 1-year anniversary, the snatch-and-grabs of September 15th, mainly targeted at journalists and originators of chants, are meant to do little other than intimidate the group and discourage others from marching on the 17th. [my emphasis]

In contrast to Amerika, people in many parts of Europe are still allowed to protest by the authorities. In Portugal we see dissenters turning out in massive numbers.

#StrikeDebt: Occupy morphs into debt resistance movement

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

On Monday, Occupy Wall Street celebrated its first birthday. As thousands descended upon Lower Manhattan and poured back into Zuccotti Park, home to the protest camp of last year, an interesting buzz has been doing the rounds in the media and blogosphere on where the movement currently stands — and where it might be headed in the future. Predictably, those on the right claim that Occupy is dead, while those on the left maintain that it’s only barely begun.

It’s all a familiar ideological gainsaying that will ultimately do very little to change the predicament in which we find ourselves. Whether Occupy is dead or not, the goal should be neither the revival nor the survival of the movement in its old form — the point is to perpetually keep evolving, devising new forms of action to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Interestingly, this is precisely what appears to have happened over the summer. [my emphasis]

Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You!

Click here to access article by David Graeber from The Anarchist Library. 

Take Graeber's test to find out if you are an (shudder!) anarchist! You may not want to take the test; because if you, indeed, are an anarchist, you must be prepared to be excommunicated by much of American society that has been taught that anarchists are right up there on the list of America's enemies along with Muslims, terrorists, rapists, and child molesters.

South East China Sea; A Perfect Crisis for the International Crisis Group

Click here to access article by Christopher Black, James Henry Fetzer, Alex Mezyaev, and Christof Lehmann from nsnbc.

This lengthy article provides a major and important political analysis of the US/NATO Empire, its radically regressive policies, methods, and intentions all of which are leading the world down the path of barbarism. The authors provide some suggestions about how nations can counter and reverse this catastrophic path.

The title is meant to be ironic in that it refers to a group sponsored by George Soros called the "International Crisis Group".

With respect to the  territorial dispute about areas in the South China Sea, between the Philippines and China, a recent report by the European, Soros Funded, International Crisis Group, ICG, is revealing US/NATO´s strategy. While the ICG is overtly claiming to be working on crisis resolution, the report has in fact to be understood as an analysis of, how the crisis can be managed to secure the best possible outcome for the modo-colonial and globalist powers.

Hungary Throws Out Monsanto AND The IMF

Click here to access article by Raúl Ilargi Meijer from The Automatic Earth.

What the satisfying title leaves out is that the IMF, which is a prime force for neoliberalism, is bringing its weapons of mass financial destruction to bear on Hungary.

The IMF and EU, like the tandem team of Monsanto and Washington before them, act like schoolyard bullies. It's become their standard MO, and it usually works. Portraits of Orbán [Hungary's Prime Minister] as a fool, a reckless idiot and a dangerous populist, on par with that of Hugo Chavez or newly found international enemy Rafael Correa, are much easier to find than those links to Wikileaks Monsanto cables. It would be good to see Orbán continue to stand up to the IMF bullies, but he may not have that choice. They can simply financially bleed him dry, like they have so many other countries and their leaders. It's a time tested model.    

Hollywood stirs Middle East plot

Click here to access article by Christof Lehmann from Asia Times Online.

In this article the author raises a question to which he offers an answer.

The low budget movie that by ridiculing Islam triggered violent protests throughout the Middle East and the storming of US embassies raises the question of whether the explosive reactions to such insults are really caused by a few Mohammed cartoons, as in 2006, and cheap movies, which very few in the West had even heard of before the protests they apparently create.

Climate Armageddon: How the World's Weather Could Quickly Run Amok

Click here to access article by Fred Guterl from Scientific American. 

This article is adapted from Guterl's recently published book, Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It. Because recent evidence is causing many scientists to re-examine their timelines of climate change, he looks at nine potential tipping points that could each radically alter our planet's ecosystem and force much more catastrophic effects within the next 300 years. Then, if they all happen at once and reinforce each other, it could be much sooner. Fred Guterl is an award winning journalist and executive editor of Scientific American.

Climate scientists think a perfect storm of climate "flips" could cause massive upheavals in a matter of years.

Kevin Kumashiro on Chicago teachers' strike

Click here to access brief article and audio player to hear this professor talk (from 9:25m to 19:00m on the player) about the real issues related to the current Chicago teachers strike, how they are being framed by major media in conformance with leading neo-liberal advocates of both political parties, that these views on education are based on ideology and not on research, and how the framing of educational issues is being carefully limited to narrow, commonsensical constructs to distract from the larger issues of poverty, racism, class size, and widely varying school resources. 

Sinister September: Zionist Anti-Islam Plot Simmering

Click here to access article by Ismail Salami from The Palestine Chronicle.

More than the recent film, the author writes about all the current and recent efforts of anti-Islamists and Zionists to defame Islam which mainstream media mostly ignores. He paints a much larger, more serious picture that suggests an international campaign.

...western mainstream media try to deceive public opinion and interpret the making of the film in the light of freedom of speech. Hurting the sentiments of over one billion Muslims across the world does not fit in the definition of freedom of speech. In fact, it is an affront not only to all the Muslims but also to believers of all faiths and religions.

How Much Does the Fed’s Plan Really Help Main Street?

Click here to access article by Peter Eavis from the NY Times.

The banks are choosing not to reduce mortgage rates further. One reason: By keeping the rates elevated, they are able to earn much larger profits when they sell the mortgages into the bond market.

It is clear that the latest Fed action is to increase income for banks, most of which are carrying many toxic mortgage assets. It is another way to bailout banks at the expense of the public. But what this NY Times article does not mention, for obvious reasons, is that whenever the Federal Reserve, which is operated by private bankers with a thin covering of government participation, creates money from nothing to buy anything, it is more debt owed to the Fed by the American people. Since the recent economic collapse of 2007/2008 such Fed actions have only benefited the One Percent while putting the general population into more debt servitude to the One Percent in order to cover their bad bets in the capitalist casinos. Thus, banksters and Wall Streeters love it when they do this because in the short term the money usually benefits either bankers or stock market players; and in the long run, it eventually results in more transfers of wealth from ordinary citizens to the One Percent. 

Police State Watch: NYPD to Install Checkpoints, Demand ID in Lower Manahttan on OWS Anniversary

Click here to access source of internet post from Naked Capitalism.

From the article's brief introduction to the notice below, it appears that some New Yorkers are unaware that much more egregious police state methods are already in operation in certain parts of the city subject to their "stop and frisk [2nd meaning]" policies, and if you are part of certain dissident groups such as Occupy Wall Street or identified as anarchists. See this, this, and this. Apparently it is okay for such tactics to be used against the poor, minorities, and activists, but not against "upstanding" citizens.

The Real Reason for the Afghan War?

Click here to access article by Russ Baker from his blog WhoWhatWhy.

The author reports on the benefits derived from your tax dollars supporting just one of the Empire's never-ending wars--the one in Afghanistan, and concludes:

Imperial militaries exist in large part to grab and hold resources vital to the continuance of empires, while their paymasters back home reap benefits. That includes the rest of us, who must balance the security and creature comforts this approach provides against the death and destruction it inevitably entails. And we can’t begin to do the moral calculus until we acknowledge what’s being done in our name around the world, and why.

However, I think the author puts too much of the onus of responsibility on the general public. The overwhelming portion of the immorality and the guilt of our nation's wars of aggression must be put squarely on the shoulders of those who run this country--the One Percent. We share in the guilt when we merely look the other way or gullibly accept the propaganda that the media of the One Percent feeds us.

A Map of Muslim Protests Around the World

Click here to access source of mapping done by John Hudson from The Atlantic.

This poster provides a larger map of protests in the article. Of course, this liberal publishing source follows the script of Empire operatives by attributing all the protests as stemming only from the anti-Islam film.

Ground Zero Redux

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

In this article the author revisits the site of 9/11 (virtually or literally?) and recalls some significant related history that explains much of the Empire's "war on terror", an excuse used to provide cover for far flung military campaigns abroad and the construction of many components of a police state here. 

This is the world morphing into, or being gobbled up by, dematerialized ultra-capitalism; a world in a state of crisis, driven by violence, and with violence as the only possible horizon.

Monopolizing War?

Click here to access article by Tom Engelhardt from his blog TomDispatch. 

The author sneaks in under the guise of a pop quiz that US state sponsored violence used in so many areas of the globe to enforce the interests of our One Percent's empire builders is actually the "new normal"; and as such ordinary Americans don't notice it, or take it for granted. Of course, One Percent's media agents foster this complaisant attitude. Thus, when our embassies are attacked, everyone, including top political officials, are shocked. Could it be that this development was what the contrived 9/11 tragedy was all about--to provide cover for worldwide military campaigns?

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Free trade ain’t free

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

The author provides more information on the TPP in the ongoing effort by activists to reveal the latest secret efforts of the One Percent's neo-liberal agents to commodify and privatize everything on the planet that they can profit from at our expense.

Moving Past the Movie: Understanding the U.S. Embassy Attack in Egypt

Click here to access article by Sara M. Salem from Muftah. 

Here is another useful article in which the author contributes some additional details, insights, inconsistencies of official and mainstream reports, and background in relation to the complex phenomenon of anti-American protests currently going on in the Mid-East. 

Regarding context, events do not happen in a vacuum – the lead-up is almost as important as the event itself. In the case of Egypt, the protests unfolded amid an on-going revolution, the rise of a transitional government, a deepening economic crisis, a possible IMF loan to Egypt, and intensifying foreign direct investment and privatization of the country’s economy.

7 Groups the FBI and Corporations Have Classified as “Terrorists”

Click here to access article by Will Potter from Green Is the New Red. 

There are currently some groups in the US who are directly being subject to police state methods under the "war on terror". I don't think that these draconian methods against targeted domestic groups are being forgotten as he does. They, like the endless US military campaigns abroad, are also being regarded by the "good Germans" of the US as merely the "new normal". 

Today you’ll hear the annual chorus of “we will never forget.” But we have forgotten. We have forgotten the uproar against the Patriot Act, which was passed in the middle of the night. We have forgotten that Guantanamo Bay was once treated as an aberration, which Obama promised to close. And we have forgotten what freedoms have been sacrificed in the name of an ever-growing threat.

Libyan Humiliation a Driving Force for Anti-Americanism

Click here to access article by Vijay Prashad from Al Akhbar. 

Once again this very astute observer of political events, especially in the Mid-East, provides a much larger political context to understand the recent attacks on the US embassies in Libya, Egypt, and Yemen, and other related protests in Arab states. The reason for these events, the Zionist sponsored film entitled, "The Innocence of Muslims", was quickly latched onto by US media and officials as the reason for the attacks and protests. Could it be that Empire agents need to distract attention from the bigger issue of US/NATO actions in the Middle East? Prashad argues that these events are rooted in the humiliation suffered by Arabs across the region due to widespread political interference by US/NATO agents and their Arab collaborators.

Do you have the right to remain silent? The plight of Leah-Lynn Plante

Click here to access article from the National Lawyers Guild via Climate Connections. 

Anarchists has always been viewed by ruling classes as the greatest ideological threat to their rule--for quite obvious reasons. Class structured societies are organized to serve the interests of the ruling class. For the last 300 plus years the ruling class has been the capitalist class whose interests are the exploitation of workers and the environment to provide them with wealth and power. Thus, anarchists, who believe in a radical equality, consensus, and power based at the grass-roots of society, have always been hounded and persecuted to the fullest extent possible by capitalist agencies of enforcement and their legal system. 

Like most Americans, I know little about the legal institution of grand juries. It was never covered in my rather extensive education. The subject is never delved into by mainstream media. This article reveals that they function in secret. Whenever secrecy is maintained to such a considerable extent, you can be sure that it serves an illegitimate purpose on behalf of the ruling class. Here is one source where you can discover much more about how this institution functions, its sordid history of political intimidation, and many other aspects.

This article reports on anarchists who, in my area of the northwestern US, are facing a grand jury and resisting. This is how it all started:

On July 25, the FBI raided Plante’s home which was one of several raids in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland in the last few months. Plante said that FBI agents smashed through her front door with a battering ram with assault rifles drawn, “looking paramilitary.” According to a copy of the warrant, agents were looking for black clothing, paint, sticks, flags, computers and cell phones, and anti-government or anarchist literature.

Freakonomics Author Steven Levitt: Enemy of Chicago School Teachers

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

The author examines some of the key figures leading the neo-liberal attack on education in Chicago. In this current battleground the teacher's union has gone on strike with widespread popular support. 

Levitt is a dyed-in-the-wool Milton Friedman neoliberal from the same “Chicago Boys” network that brought you the “shock doctrine.” When he isn’t pursing research into borderline eugenicist policies or studying the benefits of privatized prison labor on GDP, he’s hard at work doing his part helping the oligarchy put unionized Chicago school teachers up against the wall.

Specifically, Levitt has worked with Chicago’s notorious union-buster Arne Duncan, who was the CEO of Chicago public schools until Obama tapped Duncan to be the U.S. Education Secretary in 2008. Duncan has been credited with doing more than anyone else to help bring the neoliberal nightmare to Chicago’s impoverished and mostly nonwhite public schools, funnelling public funds to dysfunctional private voucher schools, terrorizing unionized teachers, closing schools and turning public education into feeder tube for the prison-industrial complex. And Levitt, a tenured professor at the University of Chicago, was right there along with Duncan.

Cooperation is not only a good idea, it already works in practice

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

Cooperation is a fundamental human trait. You may find it bizarre to read a post that begins with such a sentence, but sometimes we do have to point out the obvious.

Competition, we are continually lectured, is the primary driving force animating human beings. It is rarely, if ever, put quite so explicitly, but the prevailing ideology does tell us exactly that. Competition is the fuel of economic growth and progress in a system based on never-ending life-and-death fights to gain dominance at pain of going out of business — so we are told. Competition, conveniently, can be won by only a few heroic figures, who must be given control over other peoples’ lives and rewarded with stratospheric pay.

However, there is one group in capitalist society that does not like competition--capitalists! That is, they do not like it for themselves. They love it for workers and athletes. But for themselves, they do everything they can to eliminate it without being too obvious about it. They collude with others to maintain high prices, they eliminate competition by buying out competitors, as industries they bribe congress to pass laws favorable to them (low taxes, subsidies, cutting back on regulations, anti-union and labor organizing laws, etc.)

In U.S. Politics, Economic Class Speaks Loudest

Click here to access article by Carey L. Biron from Inter Press Service. 

For those of you who have been wide awake during the past several decades, this article probably should be entitled "Capitalist Democracy 101" or "Capitalist Democracy for Dummies". You probably would find it boring. However, it is my observation that many Americans have been asleep or so well indoctrinated that they haven't been able to recognize political fakery perpetrated by operatives of the One Percent. Likewise, these well-indoctrinated Harvard researchers seem surprised by their research findings. Because their research was not designed to ask very many penetrating questions, the findings only describe some superficial aspects of capitalist "democracy" in the US.

New research drawn from the past half-century offers one of the clearest pictures yet of the correlation between political involvement and socioeconomics in the United States, while underscoring the significant implications of recent legal and legislative changes for marginalised groups.

Incorporating the Rentier Sectors into a Financial Model

Click here to access article by Dirk Bezemer and Michael Hudson from Hudson's blog. It is an online posting of an article in World Economic Review journal. 

Hudson together with another economics professor tries to explain how debts issued by the financial sector is taking over economies. Although I can't follow all of what they are explaining, it appears to me to be essentially the same argument that Hudson has been expressing for several years. 

As with past articles Hudson, and now Bezemer, refer to an earlier period in capitalism where the banking sector was very conservative and preferred to invest in already productive, and safer, assets rather than in development projects. Such financial capitalists were roundly criticized by industrial capitalists for this because money was desperately needed to develop resources which were widely becoming available in the New World and increasingly exploitable due to advances in technology. This constant reference to earlier conservative financiers suggests that the solution to the present economic destabilization is, once again, more investment in productive enterprises rather than existing assets; and that this remedy would save the economy. An unstated implication is that it would also save the capitalist system. Apparently, the liberal professors also think that "there is no alternative".

As Mark Twain expressed it, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." They don't bother to explain the two financial practices in their historical circumstances. Yes, the two periods have some parallels, but the circumstances are radically different. We are now facing a number of limits that adversely impact more productive growth: peak energy and resources and climatic destabilization due to fossil fuel based production. Bankers are not stupid. They know this and that is precisely why they are buying up assets...and, due to their key role in the ruling class of the One Percent, they are lowering taxes on capital gains and strengthening their military and police forces. They, as hard core capitalists, are merely pursuing their own interests which under the dogma of capitalism is supposed to benefit society in general.

The Life and Death of 9/11

Click here to access article from Fars News Agency (Iran). 

They [US/NATO] have...been trying hard to hijack the Arab Awakening in order to create more client states throughout the Middle East.

Mixed in with the so-called US/NATO support for the populist uprisings, shockingly in coordination with elements of Al Qaeda (!), the international community is once again scratching their heads. Seeing the ongoing wars and carnage across the globe, they really want to know whether "the global war on terror" was just a fabrication designed to preserve America's global domination well into the 21st century? The US presidential candidates are not willing to talk about it. The American voters are equally not in the mood to care about the 9/11 anymore - when they have no jobs and no incomes.  

The writer makes some very astute observations.

Meet The Right-Wing Extremist Behind Anti-Muslim Film That Sparked Deadly Riots

Click here to access article by Max Blumenthal from his blog.

The US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three US diplomats were killed in attacks and rioting provoked by an obscure, low-budget anti-Muslim film called “The Innocence of Muslims.” The producer of the film is a real estate developer supposedly named “Sam Bacile” who claims to be an Israeli Jew. Bacile told the AP the film was made with $5 million raised from “100 Jewish donors.” He said he was motivated to help his native country, Israel, by exposing the evils of Islam.

I'm thinking how interesting this article is after listening this morning to NPR and TV coverage of the attacks on US diplomats. Strange (sarcasm) that they didn't mention anything about the film other than linking it to the cause of the riot and the attack. However, just now accessing NPR's website I notice that they ran an article about the film on their website. But, I still doubt that they will report this information in subsequent broadcasts.

But wait! Here are other views about this film that need to be considered.

Arctic warning: As the system changes, we must adjust our science

Click here to access article by David Spratt from RenewEconomy (Australia).

Clearly the IPPC 2007 report is no longer scientifically adequate on the Arctic – and much else – and Holmen’s call to “adjust our understanding of the system and… adjust our science” is timely. The nub of the problem is that climate policy-making in Australia, and internationally, is stuck in the IPCC 2007 frame and is thereby disconnected from what is occurring on the ground, in the seas and at the poles. For that reason it can only fail.

Interviewed: David Harvey on Rebel Cities

Click here to access article by Chris Carlsson from Shareable. 

You may want to skip the introduction by the publisher of Shareable, Neal Gorenflo, by scrolling down to Chris Carlson's first question: "Who did you write Rebel Cities for?". In his introduction Gorenflo goes to great pains to explain why he is featuring Marxist views at his website and to reassure readers that it is okay to read such material ("Harvey stands for something as American as apple pie.") This is probably necessary for many US progressives who have been subject to so many decades of anti-Marxist thought control; however, for those of you immune to such indoctrination, this reassurance is unnecessary.

I don't agree with all of Harvey's views, but they do provide much food for thought. One place where I take exception is what I regard as an incorrect conception of the capitalist state (he approves of some elements of it) and that some coercive state organization needs to be maintained in his vision of the future: views which is revealed in this quote from his book and his answer to Carlsson's followup question:

[Harvey quote] "How can radical decentralization — surely a worthwhile objective — work without constituting some higher-order hierarchical authority? It is simply naïve to believe that polycentrism or any other form of decentralization can work without strong hierarchical constraints and active enforcement."

[Carlsson] Do you think the state, currently a wholly-owned project of “the existing democracy of money power,” can be made to serve other interests than capital accumulation and economic growth?

There can be higher levels of coordination without a hierarchical system of enforcement. "Hierarchy" is by definition a centralized command structure that serves and answers to the highest level, to people who constitute a ruling class. That's the way the Soviet Union was constituted and its command structure served the interests of the nomenclatura. It appears that Harvey cannot imagine a command structure that is directed from the grassroots to the highest coordinating bodies.

The Chicago strike is typical of American politicians' war on teachers

Click here to access article by Michael Paarlberg from The Guardian.

Many see the Chicago strike as a pivotal political event in the US. Will the neo-liberal steamroller succeed in crushing a well organized popular movement in Chicago to support education?  

In this article the author describes the One Percent's media campaign against teachers:

As you may have heard, these teachers are greedy, lazy bullies who are holding kids hostage in their mad lust for power. Their choice of profession is not at all motivated by an interest in child betterment, but entirely by the obscenely lavish salaries they receive – some even approaching those of skilled jobs that actually contribute to the public good, like sales managers and insurance underwriters. All this at – never forget – taxpayers' expense. Even liberal bloggers warn that this strike will leave children forever scarred and ruin their future earnings, or at least their test scores.

One aspect that writers for the liberal Guardian dare not venture into to any significant extent is that such a campaign serves to distract people's attention away from the real conditions which impair a child's ability to learn: hunger, family tensions, broken families, homelessness, etc. (He barely touched on it with one single sentence: "Might poverty and unemployment not be to blame?") Such devastation, of course, is caused by the reckless operations of casino capitalism.

The Economic Religion of Finance Capital

Click here to access article by Frank Scott from legalienate.

The Virgin birth.
The Chosen people.
The Resurrection of the dead.
The Free Market.

Which of those is unsupported by material evidence but exists by virtue of practice based on fervent , coerced, or simply uncritical belief and is thus subject to failure at any moment when the belief is shaken to its roots by experienced reality?

The metaphor of "finance capitalism" as religion is very apt because that is precisely what it has become, especially in the US. Unfortunately, the author allows readers to infer that there may be some other kind of capitalism that is acceptable. Finance capitalism is merely the final stage of capitalism.

The Unanswered Questions of 9/11

Click here to access article by James Corbett from his blog The Corbett Report. 

These and many, many questions like them have been asked by the victims’ family members, the first responders, members of the US military, American congressmen and women, intelligence agents, foreign dignitaries and heads of state, and concerned members of the public across America and around the globe. And still, 11 years after the events themselves, the American president has the gall to suggest that all questions have been answered and it is time for Americans to move on.

Chilean Protest Hits CIA Pinochet Coup of 9/11/1973

Click here to access article by Steven Argue from IndyBay (San Francisco, California bay area). 

While the political operatives of the One Percent want make sure you know about their version of the 9/11 attack, their carefully controlled media will never cover another 9/11 event--the CIA engineered coup in Chile where 3000 people were killed or disappeared, others tortured. Once again, we must turn to the alternative media to learn about historical facts that the "Ministry of Information" doesn't want you to know or remember.

On September 11th, 1973 the Chilean military with the CIA carried out a coup against the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende. This coup was foreseen by those to the left of Allende. Trotskyists foresaw it and argued the need for certain steps, not least of which were arming the working class and getting rid of the capitalist state. At the heart of the capitalist state is included the military which overthrew Allende and then proceeded to rape, torture, and murder thousands of leftists and workers after it got rid of Allende. In addition to rape, torture, and murder, that U.S. imposed government burned books, jailed tens of thousands of political prisoners, and forced hundreds of thousands of people into exile. 

Chicago Teachers Launch Strike for Better Pay, Benefits and Work Conditions

Click here if you wish to access the source of this 8:30m video from Real News Network. 

I am posting this announcement of the strike and the reasons for it by Chicago Teacher's Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis simply because mainstream media never covers the union's point of view on strikes. They only cover any negative aspects of strikes such as inconvenience to the public, some sensational incident related to the strike, and testimonies from people who are opposed to the strike. (See this and this for the two articles about the strike that I found this morning in the Chicago Tribune.) In this video the union president makes an impassioned plea to protect education for Chicago's children, but it will be a plea that will go unheard or unreported in Chicago media.

 
Another analysis of the strike and related larger issues is the coverage provided by a left-wing source, World Socialist Web Site, entitled "Teachers strike in Chicago". This report portrays the position of the union's hierarchy as willing to make numerous concessions in order to maintain harmonious ties to the Democratic party. This is a typical position of nearly all union leaders who over the past decades have been largely co-opted by the ruling class in the US.

Another source, the Occupied Chicago Tribune argues that under a new leadership this union is now rooted in the grass roots of Chicago, and as such is really fighting for education of its children.

Before CTU President Karen Lewis and members of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) became the new union leadership in 2010, the CTU, like its national union, the American Federation of Teachers, was a willing pawn in the privatization game. CORE broke from the CTU leadership and won respect from the majority of union members by actively supporting parent- and student-led protests at schools across the city. After gaining office, they continued to organize against privatization with the already active education community, and to educate its own members about the importance of doing so. 

So, how is one to evaluate the Lewis' media presentation. Is she sincerely fighting for issues of vital concern for the education of children, or is she merely acting out the appearance of doing so to maintain some legitimacy with union members? In reality is she,and the union hierarchy, far more concerned with maintaining the union's favorable relationship with the liberal wing of the One Percent ruling class and willing to to give away much in the negotiations to satisfy them? You must decide, or wait for more information before deciding.

A Tale of Two Asylums: Assange, Palacio, and Media Hypocrisy

Click here to access article by Keane Bhatt from North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). (My commentary updated as of 8:00 AM Seattle time.)

Occasionally I see references in US mainstream media that charge Ecuadorian President Correa with hypocrisy over his offer of asylum to Assange. This article sets the record straight. Guess who is really guilty of hypocrisy?

Palacio...is the author of an example of abject journalistic malfeasance. His 2011 El Universo op-ed falsely accused “the Dictator,” President Correa, of committing “crimes against humanity” by purportedly ordering troops to fire at a “hospital full of civilians and innocent people” during a coup attempt against him in 2010. Palacio didn’t provide a shred of evidence for his claims. But the U.S. media have scrubbed the baselessness of Palacio’s charges from their coverage of his asylum approval—Reuters said that Palacio simply “criticized [Correa’s] actions,” and NPR stations around the country aired a flattering interview with Palacio’s lawyer....

Although my knowledge of Ecuadorian journalism is slight, I am very familiar with the right-wing newspapers' shameless lies in Venezuela in their ongoing attempt to destabilize the Chavez government. The US ruling class would never permit that type of journalism here.

See the latest bit of hypocrisy--the US refuses to extradite a Bolivian accused of crimes against humanity as reported by Glenn Greenwald.

In October 2003, the intensely pro-US president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, sent his security forces to suppress growing popular protests against the government’s energy and globalization policies. Using high-powered rifles and machine guns, his military forces killed 67 men, women and children, and injured 400 more, almost all of whom were poor and from the nation’s indigenous Aymara communities. Dozens of protesters had been killed by government forces in the prior months when troops were sent to suppress them.

Everything Won't Be Alright

Click here to access article from The Automatic Earth.

Looking around at those... around me - family, friends, acquaintances and random faces in the crowd of apathy - the level of complacency is so concentrated I can taste it, yet I can't even describe how bad it tastes. I'm not really talking about the understanding people lack about the numerous predicaments we face as a species - that's definitely there too... but what I'm talking about is even worse. It's the assumption that we can just go about our day to day lives, doing our day to day work, having our day to day fun... and humanity will eventually heal itself, no matter how bad the injuries sustained.

This is a cultural phenomenon that has infested the Western world....

The author then proceeds to examine contemporary popular cultural products that support this passivity. Of course, such products always go through the filtering process created by the directors of the One Percent. Those which are deemed problematic for this class get filtered out. Those cultural products that support their interests, or at least prevents any threats to their system of capitalism--the source of all their power and wealth--survive the filtering process and get rewarded.

When did addiction become a good thing?

Click here to access article by Jason Hreha from GigaOM. 

This founder of a hi-tech company asks some disturbing questions about all the seemly wonderful electronic gadgets and related services that the tech industry has come up with especially in the past decade. He seems to be doing well for himself in the capitalist world, but is he asking the right questions to advance further? I seriously doubt it. His questions are downright subversive. 

As members of the tech industry, we need to ask serious questions about the behaviors that we are promoting. Are we really helping people live better lives? Or, are we promoting suboptimal habits and aptitudes? At best, many of the products we’re building are time wasters. At worst, they’re the addictive equivalents of cigarettes — irresistible cheap thrills that feel good in the moment, but are destructive in the long run. “Addictive” products are rampant in our lives — Facebook, Farmville (or any Zynga game), Twitter, Pinterest. The list goes on and on.

Jihadists join Aleppo fight, eye Islamic state, surgeon says

Click here to access article by John Irish from AlertNet via Reuters. 

Foreign Islamists intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and think they are waging a "holy war", a French surgeon who treated fighters in Aleppo has said.

Thank God or Allah, etc, or the internet for information like this because the Empire's Ministry of Truth will never allow such reports to surface in Western mainstream media.

Iran’s Strategic Diplomatic Victory over the Washington-Israeli Axis

Click here to access article by James Petras from Canadian Dimension. 

Any objective evaluation of the meeting, its venue, the attendance, resolutions and political impact leads to one paramount conclusion: the NAM meeting was a strategic diplomatic victory for Iran and a major defeat for the US, Israel and the European Union. The entire US-Israeli-EU diplomatic and propaganda effort to isolate and stigmatize Iran, especially over the past decade, was shredded.