The current situation is characterized by a Troika that still pushes for even more austerity and by governments that are doing window-dressing by claiming to see a positive development for the times ahead, which will never become reality if the current policy is continued. Neither in the Troika nor in the national governments, talks are about what should really be on stage: a significant debt relief in many countries – not only for the public, but also the private sector -, a restoration of public services and significant investment for facing some of the great challenges of our time, such as climate change and energy shortage.
By publishing this newsletter with reports from the countries affected by the Troika, we hope to be part of a growing movement that one day will be able to change this.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
1st newsletter of Troika Watch
Click here to access article from Troika Watch.
The Not-So-Tangled Web of Tear Gas Manufacturers
Click here to access article by Jay Cassano from Jadaliyya.
The weapon of choice for most ruling classes to control and oppress their citizens is their use of tear and CS gas. Profit-making corporations will tend to produce whatever brings in their profits and will sell to anybody willing to buy these products. This piece provides some information on the profit-making corporations that supply these regimes.
To supplement this piece, I recommend that you see the graph at this link (in place of the one in the article) regarding the connections between the corporations and their national regime customers, and this link from Wikipedia showing the five major corporate suppliers.
The weapon of choice for most ruling classes to control and oppress their citizens is their use of tear and CS gas. Profit-making corporations will tend to produce whatever brings in their profits and will sell to anybody willing to buy these products. This piece provides some information on the profit-making corporations that supply these regimes.
To supplement this piece, I recommend that you see the graph at this link (in place of the one in the article) regarding the connections between the corporations and their national regime customers, and this link from Wikipedia showing the five major corporate suppliers.
'Chance of a Century' International Investors Flock to
Click here to access article by Susanne Koelbl from Spiegel Online.
This author provides a current view of political and economic conditions in Iran while relying mostly on her contact with a German businessman who grew up there. Of course, such views have to keep in mind the values and outlook of not only this businessman, but those of a major capitalist media source from Germany.
Could it be that the lack of capitalist opportunities since the removal of the Shah, the Empire's puppet, in their revolution of 1979 was really the root cause behind the Empire's hostility toward Iran, as well as the current rapprochement due to the current regime's change of policies?
This author provides a current view of political and economic conditions in Iran while relying mostly on her contact with a German businessman who grew up there. Of course, such views have to keep in mind the values and outlook of not only this businessman, but those of a major capitalist media source from Germany.
Could it be that the lack of capitalist opportunities since the removal of the Shah, the Empire's puppet, in their revolution of 1979 was really the root cause behind the Empire's hostility toward Iran, as well as the current rapprochement due to the current regime's change of policies?
Saturday, January 4, 2014
In India, a Spectre is Haunting Us All
Click here to access article by John Pilger from CounterPunch.
India has become a model of the imperial cult of “neo-liberalism” – almost everything must be privatized, sold off. The worldwide assault on social democracy and the collusion of major parliamentary parties — begun in the US and Britain in the 1980s– has produced in India a dystopia of extremes and a spectre for us all.
Susan George on the secret capitalist cabal behind European austerity
Click here to access article by Claire Provost from The Guardian.
Susan George is one of my favorite contemporary authors. As you can see, her previously published The Lugano Report is on my essential readings list. She is one of the cleverest authors on the left which she demonstrated in the latter book, and appears to be doing so in her latest book. Her literary medium is the most piercing satire of the rich ruling classes imaginable.
I'm not sure that this liberal writer for The Guardian quite got George's irony when she wrote this:
Susan George is one of my favorite contemporary authors. As you can see, her previously published The Lugano Report is on my essential readings list. She is one of the cleverest authors on the left which she demonstrated in the latter book, and appears to be doing so in her latest book. Her literary medium is the most piercing satire of the rich ruling classes imaginable.
I'm not sure that this liberal writer for The Guardian quite got George's irony when she wrote this:
If George can seem obsessed with secret cabals hatching grand plans for world domination, she's quick to say she does not believe in conspiracies – only interests and well-thought-out strategies to further them.Essentially George is attacking the neoliberal order which is creating islands of the very rich and powerful amidst oceans of poor everywhere in the world.
Land Conflicts in Argentina: From Resistance to Systemic Transformation
Click here to access article by Zoe Brent from Up Side Down World.
As conflicts over land have increased in Argentina, resistance efforts by peasant farmers and indigenous communities have taken many forms. From land occupation to a politics of participation and appealing to international human rights declarations, indigenous communities and peasants are using a combination of legal tools, international appeals and direct action to resist dispossession. .... In order to directly challenge dominant systems of production in Argentina, the MNCI [National Peasant and Indigenous Movement] embeds these legal strategies in a broader political project of promoting food sovereignty through collective action.
Tailored for Sharks
Click here to access article by Mary Louise Malig from the Transnational Institute.
This is the introduction and content directory from the linked-to PDF document which succinctly reports on everything that ordinary people need to know about the World Trade Organization. The introduction lists the key questions that the report aims to answer.
Although the PDF document indicates that it is 24 pages in length, in reality the script is much shorter due to charts, blank pages, references, and other formatting.
This is the introduction and content directory from the linked-to PDF document which succinctly reports on everything that ordinary people need to know about the World Trade Organization. The introduction lists the key questions that the report aims to answer.
Although the PDF document indicates that it is 24 pages in length, in reality the script is much shorter due to charts, blank pages, references, and other formatting.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Major social transformation is closer than you may think
Click here to access article by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers from Reflections on a Revolution. (Please note that the Bill Moyer referred to in the article is the American activist and should not be confused with PBS's Bill Moyers.)
The social movement in 2014 is poised to begin an exciting era of broadening and deepening the growing consensus for social and economic justice. This articles focuses on where we stand — in other words, at what stage of the progression of social movements we find ourselves — and broadly outlines the next steps.
Saudi ‘Gift’ to Hide its Terror Hand
Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from Press TV.
There have been many horrific terrorist events in the past month in Iraq, Russia, and Lebanon, and in the past decade in the Middle East, Eurasia, and Russia. Evidence keeps accumulating to indicate that the Saudi Kingdom is behind them with the US Empire and Israel often complicit in these crimes. Remember also that there was significant involvement in 9/11 by Saudi citizens.
See this, this, this, this, this, and this for more information about the evidence.
See this for the latest update on the "gift". This is another illustration of how Saudi oil money collaborates with Western weapons manufacturers to sow chaos in the Middle East.
There have been many horrific terrorist events in the past month in Iraq, Russia, and Lebanon, and in the past decade in the Middle East, Eurasia, and Russia. Evidence keeps accumulating to indicate that the Saudi Kingdom is behind them with the US Empire and Israel often complicit in these crimes. Remember also that there was significant involvement in 9/11 by Saudi citizens.
See this, this, this, this, this, and this for more information about the evidence.
See this for the latest update on the "gift". This is another illustration of how Saudi oil money collaborates with Western weapons manufacturers to sow chaos in the Middle East.
An Open Letter to the Makers of The Wolf of Wall Street, and the Wolf Himself
Click here to access article by Christina McDowell from LA Weekly.
The author who has tons of inside knowledge about the events depicted in a recently released film, "The Wolf of Wall Street", blasts Hollywood for glorifying greed. Well, isn't that the purpose of all institutions in a social system organized by capitalism? After all, there is no alternative, so we might as well "suck it up"--even better, to glorify the capitalist lifestyle. (sarcasm)
The author who has tons of inside knowledge about the events depicted in a recently released film, "The Wolf of Wall Street", blasts Hollywood for glorifying greed. Well, isn't that the purpose of all institutions in a social system organized by capitalism? After all, there is no alternative, so we might as well "suck it up"--even better, to glorify the capitalist lifestyle. (sarcasm)
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Economic winners and losers in the US since 2007
To access the source of these graphs from postings by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog, click here and here.
Economists love to make charts, but there are two I found today which really portrays what you probably suspected was happening in the US. Since they crashed the economy (2007-2008) with their housing bubble, distorting the economy with accelerated military spending, and gambling with their new, exotic financial instruments, our rich masters in the capitalist ruling class have gotten much richer and the rest of us much poorer. Warren Buffet was absolutely correct when he said even as early as 2006 that "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.” The question I have for my readers in the 99 Percent is how much longer are we going to passively submit to this war on our lives?
Although economists at this website are great at producing such charts, they are rather empty-headed when it comes to interpreting them. It is said that a picture can convey a thousand words, but these graphs suggest a far greater number of words.
In my ramblings on the world wide web this morning, I found what I believe to be an adequate interpretation of these charts. This is a piece written by Christopher Ketcham written in the autumn of 2010 and published a year later in Orion magazine. It is entitled "The Reign of the One Percenters". I highly recommend it.
Economists love to make charts, but there are two I found today which really portrays what you probably suspected was happening in the US. Since they crashed the economy (2007-2008) with their housing bubble, distorting the economy with accelerated military spending, and gambling with their new, exotic financial instruments, our rich masters in the capitalist ruling class have gotten much richer and the rest of us much poorer. Warren Buffet was absolutely correct when he said even as early as 2006 that "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.” The question I have for my readers in the 99 Percent is how much longer are we going to passively submit to this war on our lives?
Although economists at this website are great at producing such charts, they are rather empty-headed when it comes to interpreting them. It is said that a picture can convey a thousand words, but these graphs suggest a far greater number of words.
In my ramblings on the world wide web this morning, I found what I believe to be an adequate interpretation of these charts. This is a piece written by Christopher Ketcham written in the autumn of 2010 and published a year later in Orion magazine. It is entitled "The Reign of the One Percenters". I highly recommend it.
Showdown in Seattle: Boeing Workers Take a Stand & Take the Heat
Click here to access article by Carl Finamore from CounterPunch.
The current negotiations over a labor contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists union provides a good illustration of what even organized union workers are up against when facing corporate Goliaths. Machinists (Local IAM District 751) at the Seattle area Boeing plants are putting up a brave fight against the takeaways that Boeing demands, and they must also contend with their parent union officials.
The current negotiations over a labor contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists union provides a good illustration of what even organized union workers are up against when facing corporate Goliaths. Machinists (Local IAM District 751) at the Seattle area Boeing plants are putting up a brave fight against the takeaways that Boeing demands, and they must also contend with their parent union officials.
...Boeing workers are up against mounting threats of job losses. They are feeling it every day from the media, from politicians, from government, from Boeing, and most disgracefully, they are experiencing gross interference from their own international officers under the pretext of giving members a right to vote.However, not only does Boeing want to take away benefits from Boeing machinists, they also are demanding and getting from the state of Washington substantial benefits. Without these jobs the local economy and tax revenues to the state could be greatly impaired.
The Jan. 3 vote will be watched closely. Don’t these workers deserve our full support if ever we are to escape the spiral of concession bargaining and “race to the bottom?”
...Washington state passed legislation offering Boeing $8.7 billion in tax breaks over 16 years, the largest state corporate subsidy in U.S. history.Also, to get more details on what Boeing workers are up against, read this piece by a machinist posted on Labor Notes.
Here 35-year Machinist Jim Levitt gives a shop-floor view of the dispute, with Boeing and IAM International leaders on one side and local officers and members on the other.
Typical Media Doublespeak - You Never Get to Retire
Click here to access article by Rowan Wolf from Uncommon Thought Journal.
In typical corporate media fashion, my local paper places totally contradictory articles - not only in the same edition, but on the same page. The big headline reads "Portraits in Aging Gracefully." It is a human interest story about three local women in an upscale "retirement community." The women interviewed in the article "talk about lives well lived and what lies ahead." Just to the left of the banner story is "Retirement fiscal cliff is looming worldwide"....
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Flirting with Sauron: The Risks of Trusting the Snowden Story
Click here to access article by Kevin Ryan from his blog Dig Within.
Ryan is another alert blogger who is troubled by the latest twists and turns of the NSA's documents related to the agency's surveillance of electronic communications of people throughout the world. The first person, that I know of, to question some of the inconsistencies in Snowden's release of a few of his stolen documents was Naomi Wolf, and more recently joined by the most fearless truth-seeker and whistleblower of all, Sibel Edmonds, at her Boiling Frogs website.
Given the ruling class's propensity and long history of contriving and manipulating information and events along with their other powerful weapons in their huge arsenal they use in their insatiable addiction to more wealth and power, we must always be on guard for such practices. Thus far I have not reached any conclusions about the Snowden story, but I think we all must have the courage demonstrated by real whistleblowers such as Edmonds to examine the evidence carefully as it is revealed. Ryan provides an update on some of the most troubling aspects and provides a summary of various people who have questioned and continue to question.
Ryan is another alert blogger who is troubled by the latest twists and turns of the NSA's documents related to the agency's surveillance of electronic communications of people throughout the world. The first person, that I know of, to question some of the inconsistencies in Snowden's release of a few of his stolen documents was Naomi Wolf, and more recently joined by the most fearless truth-seeker and whistleblower of all, Sibel Edmonds, at her Boiling Frogs website.
Given the ruling class's propensity and long history of contriving and manipulating information and events along with their other powerful weapons in their huge arsenal they use in their insatiable addiction to more wealth and power, we must always be on guard for such practices. Thus far I have not reached any conclusions about the Snowden story, but I think we all must have the courage demonstrated by real whistleblowers such as Edmonds to examine the evidence carefully as it is revealed. Ryan provides an update on some of the most troubling aspects and provides a summary of various people who have questioned and continue to question.
2014: One step ahead
Click here to access article by Michael Theødosiadis from Eagainst (Greece).
If you want to review significant events from 2013 with their implications for the year ahead, you can't do much better than this article.
If you want to review significant events from 2013 with their implications for the year ahead, you can't do much better than this article.
Here is 2014, one step ahead, a year where the spirit of resistance has to continue everywhere, where the struggle against oppression, whether it is called neoliberalism or religious fundamentalism has to carry on.
US farmers caught in GM herbicide-resistance treadmill
Click here to access article re-posted by the Global Justice Ecology Project team in Climate Connections from Biosafety Information Centre.
I normally post articles from their original online source, but in this case GJEP team's introduction to the article offered additional insights as to the significance of the scientific evidence reported in the article from Biosafety Information Centre.
I normally post articles from their original online source, but in this case GJEP team's introduction to the article offered additional insights as to the significance of the scientific evidence reported in the article from Biosafety Information Centre.
This is the same line of thinking followed by the GE tree industry. Creating herbicide resistant or pesticide producing trees will not decrease the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in industrial timber plantations. Instead, it will create resistant weeds and pests, requiring new herbicides and pesticides. This, of course, is actually good news for the biotech and chemical industries, since their profits will increase when growers have to buy new and more chemicals, or more high tech seeds and seedlings, to deal with the supposedly ‘unforeseen’ consequences of previous seed traits. As they say, capitalism is a pyramid scheme.
-The GJEP Team
Warming climate may cut cloud cover, push temperatures even higher
Click here to access article by Tim Radford from Climate News Network.
Scientists have recently found another deadly feedback phenomenon driving global temperatures higher than previously thought.
Scientists have recently found another deadly feedback phenomenon driving global temperatures higher than previously thought.
“Climate skeptics like to criticise climate models for getting things wrong, and we are the first to admit they are not perfect, but what we are finding is that the mistakes are being made by those models that predict less warming, not those that predict more”, said Professor Sherwood.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Washington plays Russian roulette with missile defense
Click here to access article by William Engdahl from RT.
This geopolitical analyst extraordinaire exposes the lies of nuclear defense to Western audiences inundated by the lies manufactured by corporate propaganda machinery.
What remains unspoken, however, is the bigger lie that capitalist regimes can ever have relationships of peaceful coexistence with each other. This class of people whose ancestors invented the system of ownership over wealth producing enterprises are now addicts to the wealth and power with which their system provides exclusively for them. The addictive obsession to acquire more of wealth and power requires that you compete with others who have the same motivation or who present obstacles to your pursuit of both.
With the technical ability to destroy one's competitors--in this case entire nations--seemly without suffering retaliation is now a reality that lies under the control of the Empire's sociopathic leaders. Once again, we see the specter of a nuclear Armageddon haunting our very existence.
This geopolitical analyst extraordinaire exposes the lies of nuclear defense to Western audiences inundated by the lies manufactured by corporate propaganda machinery.
What remains unspoken, however, is the bigger lie that capitalist regimes can ever have relationships of peaceful coexistence with each other. This class of people whose ancestors invented the system of ownership over wealth producing enterprises are now addicts to the wealth and power with which their system provides exclusively for them. The addictive obsession to acquire more of wealth and power requires that you compete with others who have the same motivation or who present obstacles to your pursuit of both.
With the technical ability to destroy one's competitors--in this case entire nations--seemly without suffering retaliation is now a reality that lies under the control of the Empire's sociopathic leaders. Once again, we see the specter of a nuclear Armageddon haunting our very existence.
The pseudo-legal arguments for a police state
Click here to access article by Tom Carter from World Socialist Web Site.
Responding to United States District Court judge Richard Leon’s decision earlier this month calling NSA surveillance “almost Orwellian,” Judge Pauley employs the argument that every dictatorship throughout history has made in one form or another: that “national security” and the threat of “terrorism” necessitate the abrogation of democratic rights.
Zapatismo and the Latin American cycle of struggles
Click here to access article by RaĂşl Zibechi from Reflections on a Revolution.
This militant journalist and writer from Uruguay provides us with a survey of grass-roots organizations in Latin America and points to some interesting commonalities among them.
This militant journalist and writer from Uruguay provides us with a survey of grass-roots organizations in Latin America and points to some interesting commonalities among them.
Argentina Heat Wave Stirs Pot of Political Unrest in Buenos Aires
Click here to access article from Revolution News.
Are we seeing our future in the current heat crisis in Argentina?
The lights are out in Buenos Aires. Citizens of at least 11 districts
in the capital city of Argentina have been without power for 2+ weeks.
Water supplies run on electrical pumps so many are also without water.
Early reports said at least 374,000 families have been affected by the
blackouts according to Infomedia Argentina.
A scorching heatwave hit the country 2 weeks ago with temps over 100 F / 40 C. The increase in demand caused massive failure of the power grid and no one is sure when or how it can be fixed. Mauricio Macri, mayor of Buenos Aires has declared a state of emergency.
Are we seeing our future in the current heat crisis in Argentina?
A scorching heatwave hit the country 2 weeks ago with temps over 100 F / 40 C. The increase in demand caused massive failure of the power grid and no one is sure when or how it can be fixed. Mauricio Macri, mayor of Buenos Aires has declared a state of emergency.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Is the New York Fed Too Deeply Conflicted to Regulate Wall Street?
Click here to access article by Pam Martens from Wall Street on Parade.
Although naive liberals like this author fail to understand the class nature of our government, they perform a valuable role in our understanding of how government functions because of their knowledge gained from actually working in key institutions and/or their academic study of these institutions.
New York bankers have historically have played key roles in our ruling class and its government. The roots are seen in the histories of key banking families: the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Warburgs who were related to the Rothchilds international banking family. (See also this and this.)
Although naive liberals like this author fail to understand the class nature of our government, they perform a valuable role in our understanding of how government functions because of their knowledge gained from actually working in key institutions and/or their academic study of these institutions.
New York bankers have historically have played key roles in our ruling class and its government. The roots are seen in the histories of key banking families: the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Warburgs who were related to the Rothchilds international banking family. (See also this and this.)
US judge rules NSA phone surveillance program is legal
Click here to access article from RT.
Recent court rulings related to lawsuits against the NSA for spying waged by citizens and citizen advocates. Only a few weeks ago a District Court judge ruled in favor of citizens in a lawsuit filed by a conservative legal activist, today we learn that another District Court judge ruled in favor of the NSA's right to spy on Americans in a lawsuit filed by the liberal American Civil Liberties Union. Who do you think will eventually win on this vital Constitutional issue? If you understand how the One Percent's government works to serve their needs, then you will easily arrive at the correct answer--the NSA and all other government/private contractor spying programs.
The issue really goes back to the original meeting held behind closed doors by key figures of the emerging property class in the US following their successful War of Independence from Great Britain. They came up with a new set of rules known as the US Constitution to replace the rules known as the Articles of Confederation to consolidate their power in a much more centralized government. Then they needed to have this version passed by two thirds of the thirteen states.
Having been indoctrinated by the One Percent's schools, most people do not understand how the Amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights came about. The newly formed capitalist class needed to add "a spoonful of sugar" in order to get their property oriented constitution ratified by the states. Thus, the Bill of Rights was tacked on the original Constitution because of widespread opposition by ordinary people in the original 13 semi-autonomous states of the United States. The ruling class's promotion of this new Constitution was essentially a coup engineered behind closed doors by major property holders of the states while attending a convention that was only supposed to be modifying the Articles of Confederation.
They knew perfectly well that under their new Constitution that they could control a powerful centralized government from any democratic inference from below, and therefore they need not worry about the Amendments. To illustrate how seriously these people, reverently referred to as our "Founding Fathers", took these Amendments, bear in mind that only nine years after the Constitution went into effect they passed the Sedition Act which made it a crime...
Now we are witnessing a very paranoid ruling class who insist on full spectrum surveillance over all citizen activities including journalists and their courts will, without doubt, find that these practices are permitted under the US Constitution.
Recent court rulings related to lawsuits against the NSA for spying waged by citizens and citizen advocates. Only a few weeks ago a District Court judge ruled in favor of citizens in a lawsuit filed by a conservative legal activist, today we learn that another District Court judge ruled in favor of the NSA's right to spy on Americans in a lawsuit filed by the liberal American Civil Liberties Union. Who do you think will eventually win on this vital Constitutional issue? If you understand how the One Percent's government works to serve their needs, then you will easily arrive at the correct answer--the NSA and all other government/private contractor spying programs.
The issue really goes back to the original meeting held behind closed doors by key figures of the emerging property class in the US following their successful War of Independence from Great Britain. They came up with a new set of rules known as the US Constitution to replace the rules known as the Articles of Confederation to consolidate their power in a much more centralized government. Then they needed to have this version passed by two thirds of the thirteen states.
Having been indoctrinated by the One Percent's schools, most people do not understand how the Amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights came about. The newly formed capitalist class needed to add "a spoonful of sugar" in order to get their property oriented constitution ratified by the states. Thus, the Bill of Rights was tacked on the original Constitution because of widespread opposition by ordinary people in the original 13 semi-autonomous states of the United States. The ruling class's promotion of this new Constitution was essentially a coup engineered behind closed doors by major property holders of the states while attending a convention that was only supposed to be modifying the Articles of Confederation.
They knew perfectly well that under their new Constitution that they could control a powerful centralized government from any democratic inference from below, and therefore they need not worry about the Amendments. To illustrate how seriously these people, reverently referred to as our "Founding Fathers", took these Amendments, bear in mind that only nine years after the Constitution went into effect they passed the Sedition Act which made it a crime...
To write, print, utter or publish, or cause it to be done, or assist in it, any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to defame, or bring either into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against either the hatred of the people of the United States, or to stir up sedition, or to excite unlawful combinations against the government, or to resist it....Our ruling class has never hesitated to pass such legislation whenever it suited them as we've seen with the Espionage Act of 1917 and the imprisonment of citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII as the most egregious examples. So, you see that these Amendments which supposedly secured liberties for citizens was never taken seriously by this new ruling class.
Now we are witnessing a very paranoid ruling class who insist on full spectrum surveillance over all citizen activities including journalists and their courts will, without doubt, find that these practices are permitted under the US Constitution.
Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
Click here to access article from the staff at Der Spiegel (Germany).
It was thanks to the garage door opener episode that Texans learned just how far the NSA's work had encroached upon their daily lives.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Click here to access article by xraymike79 from Collapse of Industrial Civilization.
If you are able to look at humanity's future trajectory squarely in the face, then you must follow this blog which captures it with artistic flair. Although I'm still not satisfied with its emphasis on the correlation between this trajectory and "industrial civilization", the blog continues to introduce in one way or another the role of capitalism in determining the trajectory.
The system of capitalism, which was constructed by a class of people whose rule is based on the exploitation of their fellow men and nature, is now confronting the natural limits of the biosphere. We humans have a choice. We either affirm life by overthrowing the system and the One Percent who profit from it, or we just continue "to go along to get along" and keep our eyes averted from the inevitable: a harrowing dystopia and extinction.
The system of capitalism, which was constructed by a class of people whose rule is based on the exploitation of their fellow men and nature, is now confronting the natural limits of the biosphere. We humans have a choice. We either affirm life by overthrowing the system and the One Percent who profit from it, or we just continue "to go along to get along" and keep our eyes averted from the inevitable: a harrowing dystopia and extinction.
A manifesto for independent media
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The author from this revolutionary collective sees the crucial necessity for an independent media if there is to be any hope of escaping the rapidly developing dystopia of capitalism. Any victories we achieve can only come about by breaking the corporate media and conventional academic lenses that prevent us from seeing our way out of this dark cave of despair and doom.
The author from this revolutionary collective sees the crucial necessity for an independent media if there is to be any hope of escaping the rapidly developing dystopia of capitalism. Any victories we achieve can only come about by breaking the corporate media and conventional academic lenses that prevent us from seeing our way out of this dark cave of despair and doom.
...if we don’t find ways to connect our various national struggles by articulating a global critique of the capitalist world-system and a radical vision of a post-capitalist society, we will be forever doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.He insists that the tools and the material are available for us to construct an alternative to the mind numbing and distorting views of capitalist disinformation. It is time for the construction to begin.
Only by collectively constructing our own autonomous nodes and networks of communication, only by generating our own participatory platforms to mediate other ways of seeing things, other ways of engaging with the world around us, can we liberate ourselves from the mental incarceration forced upon us by those in power.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Fed Up with the Fed
Click here to access article by Carol Harvey from IndyBay San Francisco (California).
After sunset at 5:00 p.m., on Monday, December 23, 2013, FedUp100.org, a national coalition of activists spanning a wide political spectrum called to action several 100th anniversary illuminated Birthday Un-Celebrations in front of eight Federal Reserve buildings in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Orlando, Dallas, Cleveland, and Chicago.
.... In San Francisco, 101 Market Street protestors chalked a beautiful sidewalk Monopoly board with rules to show how this rigged game is played. The debt will never be paid because the Banksters make money off it.The Fed was created shortly before Christmas in 1913 when the banksters in our ruling One Percent slipped through Congress a bill that enabled one of their biggest scams of all time at the expense of American workers.
On December 22, 1913, after most of Congress left for Christmas, the remaining members passed The Federal Reserve Act. President Wilson's signature established the Federal Reserve System, legally empowering The Fed to issue Bank Notes --- or dollars --- as legal tender. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 also gave The Fed the exclusive right to loan money to Congress.
A Master Class On How The Banks Took Over “Our” World
Click here to access an introduction to two six plus minute videos posted by Don Quijones on his blog Raging Bull-Shit.
What is particularly unique about these short lectures on money creation by bankster scams is that they were delivered (last year) by a 12 year old Canadian girl.
Of course, if you have followed my blog for any length of time, you would know that I don't see private bank created money as the major source of most of the obvious problems we see in the world today. I see it only as another very significant illicit means of making money within a system (capitalism) which promotes the accumulation of wealth in ever greater concentrations by people who, according the rules of this system, are "owners" of economies. It is this private "ownership" of an intrinsically social creation that is the major crime perpetrated against the vast majority by a small minority. Still, these bankster money scams are of great importance because of the added misery they cause.
What is particularly unique about these short lectures on money creation by bankster scams is that they were delivered (last year) by a 12 year old Canadian girl.
Of course, if you have followed my blog for any length of time, you would know that I don't see private bank created money as the major source of most of the obvious problems we see in the world today. I see it only as another very significant illicit means of making money within a system (capitalism) which promotes the accumulation of wealth in ever greater concentrations by people who, according the rules of this system, are "owners" of economies. It is this private "ownership" of an intrinsically social creation that is the major crime perpetrated against the vast majority by a small minority. Still, these bankster money scams are of great importance because of the added misery they cause.
Brainwashed by the cult of the super-rich
Click here to access article by Priyamvada Gopal from the Guardian.
This author offers a British take on the "Greed is Good" cult and their right-wing followers.
This author offers a British take on the "Greed is Good" cult and their right-wing followers.
The rich are not merely different: they've become a cult which drafts us as members. We are invited to deceive ourselves into believing we are playing for the same stakes while worshipping the same ideals, a process labelled "aspiration".
Christmas, Right-Wingers, The Red Pope, and Jesus
Click here to access article by Jim Hightower from Nation of Change.
This piece offers some welcome humor from that liberal Texan who loves to poke fun at our right-wing neighbors who seem to get high on Fox TV, left-wing conspiracies, End Time scenarios, and mindless entertainment.
This piece offers some welcome humor from that liberal Texan who loves to poke fun at our right-wing neighbors who seem to get high on Fox TV, left-wing conspiracies, End Time scenarios, and mindless entertainment.
Ah, 'tis the season for family, friends, eggnog, chipmunks singing Christmas carols — and all-out, no-mercy, blow-'em-all-to-hell WAR.
Not war like in Afghanistan. No, no — this is the far-right's God-awful "War on the War on Christmas."
Friday, December 27, 2013
Real Progressive Economic Change
Click here if you wish to access the source posting of this 10:22m video from Richard Wolff's website.
I don't know of anyone that can explain radical politics clearer than Prof. Wolff. The divide between reformers (liberals) and revolutionaries has always posed problems for activists throughout the past several centuries. He offers a very simple solution on how to combine both.
I don't know of anyone that can explain radical politics clearer than Prof. Wolff. The divide between reformers (liberals) and revolutionaries has always posed problems for activists throughout the past several centuries. He offers a very simple solution on how to combine both.
Professor Wolff joins David Pakman, host of The Pakman Show, to discuss potential strategies to bring progressive economic change, including incremental vs systemic approaches, as well as economic rights, unionism, and small producerism.
Creeping annexation, ethnic cleansing and ‘the politics of fragmentation’ inflicted by criminals who strut the world stage and thumb their noses at international law
Click here to access article, posted on Fig Trees and Vineyards, which features an interview with international law authority Richard Falk. (Note: this article is prefaced by a report entitled "Temper Tantrums in US, Canada over Falk Comments to RT", which is interesting in itself, but far more interesting is the interview which follows.)
The implications of Falk's observations about the UN with regard to the Palestinian people illustrates the sad fact that world's capitalist ruling classes, for all their pretenses about the rule of law, still rule according to the principle that "might makes right". Therefore, there will be no advances in human welfare, and indeed, the very existence of the human race is now at stake if the tiny population of "owners" and their system of capitalism, or any other class system, is allowed to continue.
The implications of Falk's observations about the UN with regard to the Palestinian people illustrates the sad fact that world's capitalist ruling classes, for all their pretenses about the rule of law, still rule according to the principle that "might makes right". Therefore, there will be no advances in human welfare, and indeed, the very existence of the human race is now at stake if the tiny population of "owners" and their system of capitalism, or any other class system, is allowed to continue.
The bottom line is that we live in a world in which the primacy of hard power prevails in the relationship among states.Of course, we should add the obvious: "hard power within states as well, in addition to the pervasive use of soft power in the form of ruling class indoctrination".
Taxpayer money spent to develop GM blight-resistant potato using genes from non-GM naturally blight-resistant potato
Click here to access article by Barbara H. Peterson from Farm Wars.
The science of biotechnology has opened wide the gate of opportunity for more profit-addicted capitalists. Here their legal subsystem has legitimated their "ownership" of seeds where they have tinkered with the DNA of seeds. This article shows how extreme the effects of the addiction to profits is to our masters in the One Percent.
The science of biotechnology has opened wide the gate of opportunity for more profit-addicted capitalists. Here their legal subsystem has legitimated their "ownership" of seeds where they have tinkered with the DNA of seeds. This article shows how extreme the effects of the addiction to profits is to our masters in the One Percent.
The Rise of Superweeds—and What to Do About It
Click here to access article from Union of Concerned Scientists.
It sounds like a sci-fi movie: American farmers fighting desperately to hold back an onslaught of herbicide-defying "superweeds."
But there's nothing imaginary—or entertaining—about this scenario. Superweeds are all too real, and they have now spread to over 60 million acres of our farmland, wreaking environmental and economic havoc wherever they go.
How did we get into this mess, and how do we fix it?
For another threat posed by corporate agriculture and their mad pursuit of profits, see also this piece from the NY Times entitled " European Agency Warns of Risk to Humans in Pesticides Tied to Bee Deaths".
It sounds like a sci-fi movie: American farmers fighting desperately to hold back an onslaught of herbicide-defying "superweeds."
But there's nothing imaginary—or entertaining—about this scenario. Superweeds are all too real, and they have now spread to over 60 million acres of our farmland, wreaking environmental and economic havoc wherever they go.
How did we get into this mess, and how do we fix it?
For another threat posed by corporate agriculture and their mad pursuit of profits, see also this piece from the NY Times entitled " European Agency Warns of Risk to Humans in Pesticides Tied to Bee Deaths".
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Getting Ahead: A Memoir on the Complexities of Class in the U.S.
Click here to access article by William T. Hathaway from The Hampton Institute.
This autobiographical sketch captures all the essential class-based qualities and values both contemporary and historical of American life, and explains how the fast fading "American Dream is built on the American Nightmare." Absolutely brilliant--a must read!
This autobiographical sketch captures all the essential class-based qualities and values both contemporary and historical of American life, and explains how the fast fading "American Dream is built on the American Nightmare." Absolutely brilliant--a must read!
Everyday communism and the “spirit of Christmas”
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
In the Western world, at least, Christmas is a profoundly schizophrenic time of year. On the one hand, the holidays bring out some of the best aspects of what it means to be human: people coming together to share food and gifts in a communal spirit that temporarily breaks with the alienation of everyday life. But, at the same time, the holidays shine a light on some of the worst elements of consumerism and false pretense that have come to pervade the social fabric....After moving to Athens the author reports on "everyday communism" and how it has helped the Greeks to survive the devastating attacks on their economy by international banksters. This phenomenon is in direct contradiction to what the ideology of capitalism regards as human nature.
Edward Snowden: Power, Privacy And The Public Good
Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from his blog East by Northwest.
Here in the US on their mega-channels of corporate TV our masters allowed us to watch a highly abbreviated version (about 5 seconds) of Snowden's address broadcast over British TV in which any mention of George Orwell was censored. Well, I'm sure they were only looking out for our peace of mind and welfare. (sarcasm)
Vimeo has provided us with Snowden's complete alternative Christmas message here.
Here in the US on their mega-channels of corporate TV our masters allowed us to watch a highly abbreviated version (about 5 seconds) of Snowden's address broadcast over British TV in which any mention of George Orwell was censored. Well, I'm sure they were only looking out for our peace of mind and welfare. (sarcasm)
Vimeo has provided us with Snowden's complete alternative Christmas message here.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Now, it's Snowden: the book and, maybe, the film
Click here to access article from China.org.cn.
We learn from this article, as well as from other reports, that three major media figures are vying to cash in on Snowden's revelations about widespread NSA spying. These journalists have been well connected to major media outlets: the liberal Guardian and the Empire's Washington Post (a history of collaboration with the CIA and now this). Meanwhile, US government authorities have no problem with their promised releases of more NSA documents. This, of course, raises a lot of questions about what really is going on.
The first to raise questions was a former whistleblower Sibel Edmonds who in this one hour video discusses many of these questions with internet colleagues James Corbett and Guillermo Jimenez. Maybe I missed some commentators, but I have only found one other person on the web who has raised serious questions about these commercial ventures of Greenwald, Harding, and Gellman with whom Snowden left so much of the NSA evidence. (See this piece entitled "Cowards Profit by Snowden's Risk Like Manning's" posted on Cryptome.
Some of the questions that I have are the following: can we rely on these three well-connected entrepreneurs to release any revealing and damaging NSA documents? Or are they going to engage in damage control on behalf of the Empire while profiting from the scandal? Was Snowden a bit naive to trust these people? It's hard to question Snowden's motives because his revelations have, indeed, damaged US relations with many governments while putting himself in grave danger. It's my guess that he is keeping quiet about this strange turn of events in order to ameliorate his own tenuous situation.
We learn from this article, as well as from other reports, that three major media figures are vying to cash in on Snowden's revelations about widespread NSA spying. These journalists have been well connected to major media outlets: the liberal Guardian and the Empire's Washington Post (a history of collaboration with the CIA and now this). Meanwhile, US government authorities have no problem with their promised releases of more NSA documents. This, of course, raises a lot of questions about what really is going on.
The first to raise questions was a former whistleblower Sibel Edmonds who in this one hour video discusses many of these questions with internet colleagues James Corbett and Guillermo Jimenez. Maybe I missed some commentators, but I have only found one other person on the web who has raised serious questions about these commercial ventures of Greenwald, Harding, and Gellman with whom Snowden left so much of the NSA evidence. (See this piece entitled "Cowards Profit by Snowden's Risk Like Manning's" posted on Cryptome.
Some of the questions that I have are the following: can we rely on these three well-connected entrepreneurs to release any revealing and damaging NSA documents? Or are they going to engage in damage control on behalf of the Empire while profiting from the scandal? Was Snowden a bit naive to trust these people? It's hard to question Snowden's motives because his revelations have, indeed, damaged US relations with many governments while putting himself in grave danger. It's my guess that he is keeping quiet about this strange turn of events in order to ameliorate his own tenuous situation.
Jesus Rebranded
Click here to access introduction and 1:41m video by Mark Fiore from his website.
Between the "War on Christmas" and the accusations that Pope Francis is a Marxist, some people can't seem to make up their mind. Who better to wage a war on Christmas than the people who want the Pope to be more of a capitalist!
Workers and their unions must fight climate change
Click here to access article by Gary Engler from New Commune-ist Manifesto (Canada).
While this writer recognizes the most basic of all problems that workers must fight for, he seems to leave us thinking that unions can do this within the system of capitalism. Only by scanning other sections of this website can I glean the idea that the system itself must be destroyed and replaced with one that is sustainable and serves human needs.
While this writer recognizes the most basic of all problems that workers must fight for, he seems to leave us thinking that unions can do this within the system of capitalism. Only by scanning other sections of this website can I glean the idea that the system itself must be destroyed and replaced with one that is sustainable and serves human needs.
...when we come together in a union we acknowledge certain basic social priorities. Thus the first unions fought for a living wage, the eight-hour day, public schools, pensions etc., not simply more money. Without the basics of life, being able to buy more things is meaningless.
And that’s how we need to think about our environment and especially global warming.
What do you wanna be when/if you grow up?
Click here to access article by Mickey Z. from World News Trust.
As the rain forests vanish, oceans acidify, temperatures rise, and extinctions accelerate, we adults should stop asking young children about their future and instead start fighting to insure they have one.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Walking in an Anthropocene Wonderland
Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Dissident Voice.
This artisan of written language provides us with an excellent description of where we stand in our "Anthropocene Wonderland". It is a very mixed message of gloom and hope.
Gloom:
This artisan of written language provides us with an excellent description of where we stand in our "Anthropocene Wonderland". It is a very mixed message of gloom and hope.
Gloom:
...what kind of suicidal clowns flounce through life gibbering on about bacon straws, cupcakes, online images of kitty cats, and the latest Playstation model when the specter of extinction looms and their psychotic leaders are doubling down on the criteria of doom?
.... Bafflingly, despite the vast carnage inflicted and multiple promises betrayed, why does the storyline of the capitalist/consumer state still resonant with so many?Hope:
Stoned-faced phalanxes of soldiers and bristling clutches of militarized cops stand guard before the entrances of shoddy, swaying towers. But lies cannot be built to last. The lipless grins of a billion skulls mock the illusory staying power of deceit, while the perennial yearnings of the heart and its perpetual coupling with the eternal present endure. Love songs ring out among the rot of empires.
Reigniting the debate: Climate change is fundamentally a human story
Click here to access article by Kieran Cooke from Climate Code Red.
It seems that most people simply refuse to engage in conversation about the threats posed by climate change. The article takes off from the experience reported by one communication specialist who has long tried to engage people.
Delving further into this phenomenon has led me to understand the incredible power that today's thought managers of the capitalist class have over what ordinary people talk about to each other, and even think about; and has led me to understand their overwhelming control of all institutions in society. With the rewards of access to good paying jobs, to media exposure, to funding of cultural and scientific projects, and their use of foundation money to influence information and opinions (see this), they exercise profound influence throughout society--more now than ever before.
With such power, and the confidence that is generated by such power, it is no wonder that the ruling capitalist class has aggressively gone on the offensive to enact measures that are totally self-serving and attacking all social programs in spite of having just tanked the economic well-being of many ordinary people in the Western countries. And now we face the worst future of all: catastrophic climate events. How different our current period is from the 1930s after the ruling class destroyed the economy in the Crash of 1929! Then, they were very much on the defensive.
It seems that most people simply refuse to engage in conversation about the threats posed by climate change. The article takes off from the experience reported by one communication specialist who has long tried to engage people.
I’m always casual about it – after all, no one wants to find themselves sitting next to a zealot on a long-distance train journey. But I need not worry because, however I say it, the result is almost always the same: the words collapse, sink and die in mid-air and the conversation suddenly changes course…it’s like an invisible force field that you only discover when you barge right into it. Few people ever do, because, without having ever been told, they have somehow learned that this topic is out of bounds.Wow! Can I ever relate to this article! Much of my life has devoted to questioning the socioeconomic system of capitalism and the coming environmental crises both of which I am convinced are directly related. Over the years I've tried to engage many people--including friends and relatives--in conversation about these subjects and I've almost always encountered a wall of resistance. Because of these experiences I've become fascinated about the way a ruling class--this ruling capitalist class in particular--is able to manage the minds of its subjects.
Delving further into this phenomenon has led me to understand the incredible power that today's thought managers of the capitalist class have over what ordinary people talk about to each other, and even think about; and has led me to understand their overwhelming control of all institutions in society. With the rewards of access to good paying jobs, to media exposure, to funding of cultural and scientific projects, and their use of foundation money to influence information and opinions (see this), they exercise profound influence throughout society--more now than ever before.
With such power, and the confidence that is generated by such power, it is no wonder that the ruling capitalist class has aggressively gone on the offensive to enact measures that are totally self-serving and attacking all social programs in spite of having just tanked the economic well-being of many ordinary people in the Western countries. And now we face the worst future of all: catastrophic climate events. How different our current period is from the 1930s after the ruling class destroyed the economy in the Crash of 1929! Then, they were very much on the defensive.
Monday, December 23, 2013
FED up? Hundred years of manipulating the US dollar
Click here to access article by Adrian Salbuchi from RT.
This piece has one of the best succinct explanations regarding the Fed that I have seen on the web. Could this be because the writer is a foreigner?
This piece has one of the best succinct explanations regarding the Fed that I have seen on the web. Could this be because the writer is a foreigner?
Monday 23 December marks the 100th Anniversary of the creation of the Federal Reserve System - the Central Bank of the United States of America.
The mainstream media are keeping remarkably quiet about this key milestone. [my emphasis]
PBS Drops a Bombshell on the Federal Reserve’s 100th Birthday Party
Click here to access article by Pam Martens from Wall Street on Parade.
The word "bombshell" in the title might be a bit too dramatic, but nevertheless the two financial experts (see bio on James Grant) on this PBS program made reference to a few lesser known actual policies of the officially authorized issuer of our money: the consortium of private bankers known as the Federal Reserve or the Fed. It seems that the old and tired trickle down philosophy is still guiding their functions. Well, after all, it seems to be working very well for them, but creating misery for the rest of us.
The word "bombshell" in the title might be a bit too dramatic, but nevertheless the two financial experts (see bio on James Grant) on this PBS program made reference to a few lesser known actual policies of the officially authorized issuer of our money: the consortium of private bankers known as the Federal Reserve or the Fed. It seems that the old and tired trickle down philosophy is still guiding their functions. Well, after all, it seems to be working very well for them, but creating misery for the rest of us.
Not Just the Koch Brothers: New Drexel Study Reveals Funders Behind the Climate Change Denial Effort
Click here to access article by Alex McKechnie from Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
If you want to understand what’s driving this movement, you have to look at what’s going on behind the scenes.While the researchers focus only on efforts to conceal the sources of funding regarding the denial of climate change, what I think is even of greater significance is a broader examination of the methods that major capitalists and their corporations use to influence important policies throughout society: the impacts of these foundations on the disseminators of information and shapers of opinion in the institutions of education and media. This wider view reveals one of the secrets behind the rule of the private "owners" of our economy, which the system of capitalism has made possible, and puts the lie to all their pretenses about democratic rule. (The other major secret is their funding of our representatives at all levels of government.) This view reveals the naked truth about what left critics refer to as bourgeois democracy or capitalist democracy. It is a totally fake version of democracy.
To uncover how the countermovement was built and maintained, Brulle developed a listing of 118 important climate denial organizations in the U.S. He then coded data on philanthropic funding for each organization, combining information from the Foundation Center with financial data submitted by organizations to the Internal Revenue Service.
The final sample for analysis consisted of 140 foundations making 5,299 grants totaling $558 million to 91 organizations from 2003 to 2010. The data shows that these 91 organizations have an annual income of just over $900 million, with an annual average of $64 million in identifiable foundation support. Since the majority of the organizations are multiple focus organizations, not all of this income was devoted to climate change activities, Brulle notes.
Concessions disguised as compromise
Click here to access article by Nicole Colson from SocialistWorker.
Once again, to get a budget deal, the Democrats accepted deeply unpopular cuts--despite the polls showing that Americans would rather prioritize spending on social services and unemployment than on deficit reduction, and that a solid majority favors increasing taxes on the wealthy. Instead of push for these popular ideas, however, Democrats agreed to a budget that is much closer to what Paul Ryan wanted all along.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
CIA’s Trojan Horse enters the Heart of India
Click here to access article by Shelley Kasli from Great Game India (India).
The CIA uses philanthropic foundations as the most effective conduit to channel large sums of money to Agency projects without alerting the recipients to their source. From the early 1950s to the present the CIA’s intrusion into the foundation field was and is huge. .... The collaboration of respectable and prestigious foundations, according to one former CIA operative, allowed the Agency to fund “a seemingly limitless range of covert action programs affecting youth groups, labor unions, universities, publishing houses and other private institutions”.Unlike so many social-political critics in the US, this writer is well aware of how the directors of the Empire rely heavily on insidious methods of managing the minds of populations to make the world safe for their projects of profit and power. The Empire's "security" services do their dirty work through front groups such as foundations everywhere that the Empire has penetrated--doubtless even more so within the US. This is a rather lengthy exposĂ© of these subversive operations that are as important, if not more so, as the prolific military and police weapons they use to threaten nations and their populations.
US nuclear missiles are a force in much distress
Click here to access article by Robert Burns of the Associated Press.
US officials, corporate media pundits, and their Zionist dogs howl about Iran's nuclear power projects as if this were an imminent threat to world security. The reality seems to be quite different when you consider the reports like this, and others like this and this. Consider also the record of US non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) about which arms control specialist Thomas Graham Jr. stated:
US officials, corporate media pundits, and their Zionist dogs howl about Iran's nuclear power projects as if this were an imminent threat to world security. The reality seems to be quite different when you consider the reports like this, and others like this and this. Consider also the record of US non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) about which arms control specialist Thomas Graham Jr. stated:
The NPT is based on a central bargain: the NPT non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons and the NPT nuclear-weapon states in exchange agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue nuclear disarmament aimed at the ultimate elimination of their nuclear arsenals. To use the words of a former Indian foreign minster, the NPT was not designed to establish “nuclear apartheid,” permanently authorizing great-power status and nuclear weapons to a small group of states and assigning the rest of the world to permanent second-class status. Maintaining both ends of this central bargain is vitally important to the long-term viability of the NPT.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Why Barrett Brown's Trial Matters
Click here to access article by Kevin M. Gallagher from Huffington Post.
I have not devoted as much time to the governments persecution of this investigative journalist as I now think is deserved. This current article only roughly summarizes the significance of his victimization by US security agencies.
For a better, more detailed explanation I highly recommend a February 2013 article entitled "Why Is Barrett Brown Facing 100 Years in Prison?" posted on Vice which provides information about some very pernicious types of software that security agencies and their private contractors are using against any grassroots opposition, and Brown's efforts to bring that to our attention. This earlier article dramatically affirms the credibility of the conclusions drawn by Gallagher as reported in this article.
I have not devoted as much time to the governments persecution of this investigative journalist as I now think is deserved. This current article only roughly summarizes the significance of his victimization by US security agencies.
For a better, more detailed explanation I highly recommend a February 2013 article entitled "Why Is Barrett Brown Facing 100 Years in Prison?" posted on Vice which provides information about some very pernicious types of software that security agencies and their private contractors are using against any grassroots opposition, and Brown's efforts to bring that to our attention. This earlier article dramatically affirms the credibility of the conclusions drawn by Gallagher as reported in this article.
..."Brown's case is a bellwether for press freedoms in the new century, where hacks and leaks provide some of our only glimpses into the technologies and policies of an increasingly privatized national security-and-surveillance state." Indeed. So it's not surprising that the establishment seeks to imprison and silence those intent on using the advances of the information age to expose it. In effect, the FBI has outed itself as ever-so-dutiful servants of the private security companies Brown was researching.
Remaking Mexico’s oil industry on behalf of the 0.1%
Click here to access article by Gary Engler from New Commune-ist Manifesto (Canada).
While neo-capitalists are racking up one victory after another in their globalist rampage in pursuit of profits, there is one recent victory which stands out as most bitter for working people of Mexico.
While neo-capitalists are racking up one victory after another in their globalist rampage in pursuit of profits, there is one recent victory which stands out as most bitter for working people of Mexico.
...the 1938 expropriation of the world’s second largest oil industry, which was the first nationalization by a capitalist country, and the creation of government-owned Pemex are celebrated throughout Mexico and their significance in transforming the country is taught in schools.
The Jungle: Thousands of Homeless People Live in Shantytowns at the Epicenter of High-Tech, Super-Rich Silicon Valley
Click here to access article by Evelyn Nieve from AlterNet.
During the early 1980s I worked for real estate management companies participating in the subsidized housing programs of the government. At some point during this time it became startling clear to me that without subsidized housing there would be no way that many of my clients could afford housing at all. It was only a few years later in the Reagan administration that I began to see and experience the slow strangulation of this government program.
Now, 30 years later and after an economic collapse, the US is beginning to look like a typical Latin American country with signs of extreme wealth most visible on TV and extreme poverty which is daily visible on the streets. The ruling One Percent try very hard to keep the latter hidden in out of the way places, but they are losing the battle. These developments suggest that unlike what happened in the 1930s, the fascist inclined forces of the nouveau riche are in control (see my commentary to the previous posted article below).
This article focuses on one area in the US where the extremes are becoming quite visible, and describes the lifestyle of those living in these homeless encampments.
During the early 1980s I worked for real estate management companies participating in the subsidized housing programs of the government. At some point during this time it became startling clear to me that without subsidized housing there would be no way that many of my clients could afford housing at all. It was only a few years later in the Reagan administration that I began to see and experience the slow strangulation of this government program.
Now, 30 years later and after an economic collapse, the US is beginning to look like a typical Latin American country with signs of extreme wealth most visible on TV and extreme poverty which is daily visible on the streets. The ruling One Percent try very hard to keep the latter hidden in out of the way places, but they are losing the battle. These developments suggest that unlike what happened in the 1930s, the fascist inclined forces of the nouveau riche are in control (see my commentary to the previous posted article below).
This article focuses on one area in the US where the extremes are becoming quite visible, and describes the lifestyle of those living in these homeless encampments.
That people live and die on the streets of Silicon Valley is no news to the poor, of course. With more than 6,500 tech companies in all, Santa Clara County is home to the biggest stars in the tech universe, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, eBay and Apple. But the land of high-tech milk and honey is also a prime example of the widening divide between the nation’s haves and have-nots.
Old Money Families That Have Been Richest The Longest
Click here to access article by Lisa Dingman from TheRichest.
Although on all economic and political issues the One Percent are generally united, there are divisions within this population that make invidious distinctions especially when it comes to socializing. This article describes one major division: old wealth and new wealth with emphasis on the former.
From time to time this division also manifests itself in domestic American politics. The most dramatic example was in the reign of Franklin D. Roosevelt whose administrations prior to WWII were intent on maintaining the capitalist system that was threatened by popular reaction to the gross inequities of the depression, the growth of militant labor organizations, and the widespread appeal of socialist ideas.
This old rich section of the ruling class were vigorously attacked by the more recent arrivals in the capitalist class who wanted all out class war and were very much attracted to the fascist ideas and policies emanating from Europe. (If this suppressed history is news to you, I recommend that you read American Swastika by Charles Higham, Facts and Fascism by George Seldes, and The Plot to Seize the White House by Jules Archer.) FDR had to steer a very careful course between popular opposition to the rule of the rich and these fascist elements in the ruling One Percent in order to save capitalism and maintain an Anglo-American hegemony over the rest of the world. He performed brilliantly. His successful performance in achieving these two goals is precisely why he is regarded by all liberal capitalist historians as a hero.
This article safely focuses on the social aspects of this ruling class division.
Although on all economic and political issues the One Percent are generally united, there are divisions within this population that make invidious distinctions especially when it comes to socializing. This article describes one major division: old wealth and new wealth with emphasis on the former.
From time to time this division also manifests itself in domestic American politics. The most dramatic example was in the reign of Franklin D. Roosevelt whose administrations prior to WWII were intent on maintaining the capitalist system that was threatened by popular reaction to the gross inequities of the depression, the growth of militant labor organizations, and the widespread appeal of socialist ideas.
This old rich section of the ruling class were vigorously attacked by the more recent arrivals in the capitalist class who wanted all out class war and were very much attracted to the fascist ideas and policies emanating from Europe. (If this suppressed history is news to you, I recommend that you read American Swastika by Charles Higham, Facts and Fascism by George Seldes, and The Plot to Seize the White House by Jules Archer.) FDR had to steer a very careful course between popular opposition to the rule of the rich and these fascist elements in the ruling One Percent in order to save capitalism and maintain an Anglo-American hegemony over the rest of the world. He performed brilliantly. His successful performance in achieving these two goals is precisely why he is regarded by all liberal capitalist historians as a hero.
This article safely focuses on the social aspects of this ruling class division.
Believe it or not, no matter how hard top billionaires like Carlos Slim, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates work, and no matter how much money they rake in, they will never be considered as equals by the old rich families that have been wealthy for centuries.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Glenn Greenwald & Checkbook Journalism
Click here if you wish to access the brief introduction to this one hour discussion with participants James Corbett, Sibel Edmonds, and Guillermo Jimenez from Boiling Frogs.
I believe that the three dedicated alternative media people are going overboard in trying to be fair about all the inconsistencies and questionable practices that are evident in the actions of Glenn Greenwald in relation to the NSA revelations. Although I, too, have posted many articles of Greenwalds at this site, I have always had a question in the back of my mind about his ultimate commitments and values.
This questioning stance had nothing to do with Greenwald personally, but to anyone who has come up through the ranks of liberal media and other liberal organizations. Such people have through their careers demonstrated an allegiance to the existing ruling class or otherwise they would have been weeded out long ago. Liberals in general serve the ruling class by acting as gatekeepers of information and co-opters (a word I just made up for people who engage in co-opting people to believe in the existing fundamental societal arrangements).
They serve the ruling class by keeping people who are very critical of the existing power structure from moving to a position where they question the system of capitalism which provides the ruling One Percent with so much wealth and power. Such liberals play an important function by helping to keep the ruling class in power and their system preserved, and for this service they are well rewarded with access to media and funding. Have you noticed that none of the liberal websites such as Salon, AlterNet, and TomDispatch are covering this strange turn of events perpetrated by Glenn Greenwald?
It should also be understood that many people who are raised in class-structured societies are always subject to thorough indoctrination in the beliefs about the merits of authorities. Hence, many people are conflicted when presented with evidence that suggests the fallibility and corruption of these authorities, their representatives, or even liberal spokespeople.
I believe that the three dedicated alternative media people are going overboard in trying to be fair about all the inconsistencies and questionable practices that are evident in the actions of Glenn Greenwald in relation to the NSA revelations. Although I, too, have posted many articles of Greenwalds at this site, I have always had a question in the back of my mind about his ultimate commitments and values.
This questioning stance had nothing to do with Greenwald personally, but to anyone who has come up through the ranks of liberal media and other liberal organizations. Such people have through their careers demonstrated an allegiance to the existing ruling class or otherwise they would have been weeded out long ago. Liberals in general serve the ruling class by acting as gatekeepers of information and co-opters (a word I just made up for people who engage in co-opting people to believe in the existing fundamental societal arrangements).
They serve the ruling class by keeping people who are very critical of the existing power structure from moving to a position where they question the system of capitalism which provides the ruling One Percent with so much wealth and power. Such liberals play an important function by helping to keep the ruling class in power and their system preserved, and for this service they are well rewarded with access to media and funding. Have you noticed that none of the liberal websites such as Salon, AlterNet, and TomDispatch are covering this strange turn of events perpetrated by Glenn Greenwald?
It should also be understood that many people who are raised in class-structured societies are always subject to thorough indoctrination in the beliefs about the merits of authorities. Hence, many people are conflicted when presented with evidence that suggests the fallibility and corruption of these authorities, their representatives, or even liberal spokespeople.
Trans-Latin business and land grabbing in Latin America
Click here to access article by Sally Burch from América Latina en Movimiento.
In this article Burch interviews Cristobal Kay, a specialist in development and agrarian reform, who explains the current phenomenon of capitalist land-grabbing and its current form in Latin America which is quite different from the old latifundia.
In this article Burch interviews Cristobal Kay, a specialist in development and agrarian reform, who explains the current phenomenon of capitalist land-grabbing and its current form in Latin America which is quite different from the old latifundia.
...now it is not a question of expropriating uncultivated, unproductive land, as was the case with the old large estates. These are capitalist enterprises, with large and highly productive investments, high-tech, completely integrated into the international market; hence governments are extremely reluctant to touch these businesses.Kay also has ideas on what is necessary to combat land-grabbing.
Victims no longer: Spain’s anti-eviction movement
Click here to access article by Carlos DelclĂłs from openDemocracy.
People in Spain have been some of the worst victims in Europe of the 2007/2008 capitalist engineered economic collapse. Following large street demonstrations early on, activists there are now engaged in slowly building an opposition movement by helping people to keep their homes (they have stopped over 800 evictions) and to house those who have already lost their homes. I think there is much to be learned here from their strategies.
People in Spain have been some of the worst victims in Europe of the 2007/2008 capitalist engineered economic collapse. Following large street demonstrations early on, activists there are now engaged in slowly building an opposition movement by helping people to keep their homes (they have stopped over 800 evictions) and to house those who have already lost their homes. I think there is much to be learned here from their strategies.
I would say that our tactics and strategies are mostly short-term and consist of establishing goals that are attainable in terms of their time-frame and the energy they require. These short-term, tangible successes lead people to go from being dejected and demoralized to being empowered and making an impact in their communities, in relatively little time. They also help us keep the movement visible, reach more people and continue to question politicians and bankers about changing the law.
At the same time, our assemblies assure that we are always learning from and training one another, so that we never lose the essence of what makes the PAH so important, which is the people who participate in the movement. Without a doubt, the PAH’s greatest success has been to empower people.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Mr. Snowden, It’s Time to Come Out and Take a Stand Publicly as to Your Intentions
Click here to access article by Sibel Edmonds from Boiling Frogs.
As the founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers, Edmonds is rightfully very concerned about the strange and troubling twists in related events subsequent to Snowden's asylum in Russia.
To fully understand this post, you need to be aware of the developments leading up to it. To review these developments, I highly recommend that you read her earlier posts on the subject:
As the founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers, Edmonds is rightfully very concerned about the strange and troubling twists in related events subsequent to Snowden's asylum in Russia.
To fully understand this post, you need to be aware of the developments leading up to it. To review these developments, I highly recommend that you read her earlier posts on the subject:
12/8/2013: Checkbook Journalism & Leaking to the Highest Bidder
12/11/2013: BFP Report- Omidyar’s PayPal Corporation Said To Be Implicated in Withheld NSA Documents
12/13/2013: Greenwald Goes on Record: “I Don’t Doubt PayPal Cooperates with NSA!”
12/13/2013: Greenwald-Omidyar Venture: Blurring Lines Between Being A Source & Being A Journalist
12/14/2013: Green-Light for Greenwald: Government Duplicity or Government Duality?
Sibel Edmonds
Sibel Edmonds
The Double Standards of U.S. Nuclear Policy on Iran
Click here to access article by Tyler Cullis from Muftah.
The headline may be obvious to many visitors to my blog, but this author lays out the facts in some detail.
The headline may be obvious to many visitors to my blog, but this author lays out the facts in some detail.
It is instructive...to examine just how the United States and its European partners have treated Iran’s nuclear program in comparison to other states. Of particular interest are those countries which are more closely allied to the West and have run into similar trouble with the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as those that exist outside the nonproliferation regime altogether.
Complications of the Saudi Alliance With Israel
Click here to access article by As'ad AbuKhalil from Al Akhbar.
Never before has the Saudi government felt comfortable flaunting its alliance with Israel. This alliance is not new and has long historical precedences. But the Saudi royal family, in the age of the second generation of princes, has been changing tactics: Historically cautious and duplicitous, the Saudi regime is now open about its alliance with the United States and Israel (closer to Israel than the US as of late).
Globalization: Fast Track To Nowhere
Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from his blog East by Northwest.
This writer examines the fast-life created by capitalism on steroids that is destroying everything we love about communities, and he doesn't like it. There are hints throughout the article that he is becoming aware of what is causing the drastic transformation of all life in service to the profit addicted capitalist ruling classes.
This writer examines the fast-life created by capitalism on steroids that is destroying everything we love about communities, and he doesn't like it. There are hints throughout the article that he is becoming aware of what is causing the drastic transformation of all life in service to the profit addicted capitalist ruling classes.
- ...that’s what fast living or, to be precise, the system that creates it does. It corrupts and destroys most things that get in its way. It recasts everything in its own image.
- The root of the problem needs to be addressed. The slow life, whether slow food or slow urban environments, is impossible if we fail to realize that decisions about urban planning, economic activity, investment, products and services, etc, are made through the capture of governments, regulatory agencies and courts by corporations adamant on expanding and perpetuating their dominance.
- ...we must eradicate the material conditions that produce and perpetuate class-based exploitation and divisions on an increasingly global level.
- What we need is proper democracy achieved through, for example, common ownership of banks and key industries and a commitment to ‘green’ policies and renewable energy.
The Nuclear Menace: Iran? Are You Serious? Or Delirious?
Click here to access article by Frank Scott from legalienate.
If you like your commentary in the form of hard-hitting satire, this blog is the place for you.
If you like your commentary in the form of hard-hitting satire, this blog is the place for you.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
"Green Capitalism: Why it can’t work"
Click here to access this book review of Green Capitalism: Why it can't work by reviewer Ian Angus posted on Climate & Capitalism.
Although some aspects are open to challenge, Green Capitalism: Why it can’t work is an important contribution to the fight against climate change and for ecosocialism. [Author] Tanuro isn’t just a writer, he’s a leading environmental activist, and it shows – he provides a wealth of concrete information and analysis that we can actually use in the struggle against capitalist ecocide.
Are We Falling Off the Climate Precipice?
Click here to access article by Dahr Jamail from TomDispatch. (Note: if you wish to skip Engelhardt's introduction, you will need to scroll down to the article by Jamail.)
If somehow you have wandered innocently onto this website, I think I should warn you that the content of this article could be hazardous to your mental health--especially if you normally only consume the news and information pablum provided by corporate owned media.
Okay, now for the rest of us who still look critically and fearlessly at information, what I found most disturbing in this article by an independent journalist and author is the timeline record of scientific predictions which suggests that the most negative predictions are likely the most accurate. I intuitively felt this all along, but now the evidence that the author provides largely confirms this fear.
Here is one statement from a scientist that I felt was especially true--although I would put far more emphasis on the economic system than on numbers of people:
If somehow you have wandered innocently onto this website, I think I should warn you that the content of this article could be hazardous to your mental health--especially if you normally only consume the news and information pablum provided by corporate owned media.
Okay, now for the rest of us who still look critically and fearlessly at information, what I found most disturbing in this article by an independent journalist and author is the timeline record of scientific predictions which suggests that the most negative predictions are likely the most accurate. I intuitively felt this all along, but now the evidence that the author provides largely confirms this fear.
Here is one statement from a scientist that I felt was especially true--although I would put far more emphasis on the economic system than on numbers of people:
"Economic growth is the biggest destroyer of the ecology. Those people who think you can have a growing economy and a healthy environment are wrong. If we don't reduce our numbers, nature will do it for us. .... Everything is worse and we're still doing the same things. Because ecosystems are so resilient, they don't exact immediate punishment on the stupid."
Americans Are Finally Learning About False Flag Terror
Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.
So Common … There’s a Name for It
This tactic is so common that it was given a name for hundreds of years ago.
“False flag terrorism” is defined as a government attacking its own people, then blaming others in order to justify going to war against the people it blames.
So Common … There’s a Name for It
This tactic is so common that it was given a name for hundreds of years ago.
“False flag terrorism” is defined as a government attacking its own people, then blaming others in order to justify going to war against the people it blames.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The End of Childhood in the Era of the Emerging American Police State
Click here to access article by John W. Whitehead from Blacklisted News.
Referring to numerous incidents involving police being called in to deal with children acting out, the author regards them as more signs of an emerging police state in the US.
Referring to numerous incidents involving police being called in to deal with children acting out, the author regards them as more signs of an emerging police state in the US.
...their true purpose...seems to be simply to acclimate children to the mindset of paranoia and absolute deference to authority which has taken hold of the American populace at large. Children, who are naturally suspect of illegitimate authority, are being conditioned to accept any and all orders from on high, even those which they inherently know are wrong.
Bahrain expansion latest signal of continued US presence
Click here to access article by Hendrick Simoes from Stars and Stripes.
Isn't it interesting in this age of austerity that news of government spending on military bases and operations throughout the world rarely make it into corporate news? Of course, we also don't hear much about the years of the Medieval kingdom's brutal crackdown on protestors (see this and this).
Isn't it interesting in this age of austerity that news of government spending on military bases and operations throughout the world rarely make it into corporate news? Of course, we also don't hear much about the years of the Medieval kingdom's brutal crackdown on protestors (see this and this).
The $580 million expansion now underway at the U.S. Navy base here, which will nearly double its size, is a clear signal of the Pentagon’s commitment to maintaining a strong presence in the Middle East.
The Life and Times of Jacques de Groote
Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from the Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt.
The author reviews the history of a key player in the IMF and World Bank who was recently convicted and fined for his involvement in "money laundering and fraud or complicity of fraud". After looking into his background, Toussaint has uncovered a career in the most nefarious, but legal international banking institutions that played a major role in capitalist exploitation of African resources.
The author reviews the history of a key player in the IMF and World Bank who was recently convicted and fined for his involvement in "money laundering and fraud or complicity of fraud". After looking into his background, Toussaint has uncovered a career in the most nefarious, but legal international banking institutions that played a major role in capitalist exploitation of African resources.
Beyond the narrow scope of this trial, it is interesting to take a broader look at Jacques de Groote’s personal trajectory, because he was an emblematic figure of the IMF and World Bank, and there is a link between the role he played in these institutions and this affair brought before Swiss courts.
Fracking Chemicals Interfere With Hormone Function, Contaminate Groundwater With Endocrine-Disrupters
Click here to access article by Matthew Mientka from Medical Daily.
"More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and many of them disturb hormone function," Nagel, also a research scientist, said in a statement Monday. "With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure."
The Empire Strikes Back: How Wall Street Has Turned Housing Into a Dangerous Get-Rich-Quick Scheme - Again
Click here to access article by Laura Gottesdiener from TomDispatch. (Note: if you wish to skip Engelhardt's introduction, you will need to scroll down to the article.)
For the past few years I expected that this was happening, and looked in vain to find much media coverage. It has apparently been a well kept secret hidden mostly from the public because it is far too embarrassing for the One Percent ruling class to reveal.
This class loves their economic busts because they provide splendid opportunities to buy up assets on the cheap. The 2007/2008 featured most prominently a collapse in the housing market set up by the ruling class who induced so many of the 99 Percent to take out easy mortgages. Remember the "ownership society" theme promoted by George Bush back in 2004? Now they are cashing in on this great profit opportunity by buying housing on the cheap and renting them back at high rates to people who have been thrown out of their homes by banks.
For the past few years I expected that this was happening, and looked in vain to find much media coverage. It has apparently been a well kept secret hidden mostly from the public because it is far too embarrassing for the One Percent ruling class to reveal.
This class loves their economic busts because they provide splendid opportunities to buy up assets on the cheap. The 2007/2008 featured most prominently a collapse in the housing market set up by the ruling class who induced so many of the 99 Percent to take out easy mortgages. Remember the "ownership society" theme promoted by George Bush back in 2004? Now they are cashing in on this great profit opportunity by buying housing on the cheap and renting them back at high rates to people who have been thrown out of their homes by banks.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Union, politicians press Boeing workers for revote on rejected contract extension
Click here to access article by Hector Cordon from World Socialist Web Site.
The ongoing issue of whether Boeing uses its facilities in the Seattle area or move to numerous other sites across the country is an excellent illustration of the power of these huge corporations. They appear more powerful than the State of Washington which has proposed giving it record setting tax write-offs if they stay in the state. And, of course, there is no contest when they are put up against labor unions.
Unless you believe, like many liberals and other social critics, that these corporations can be downsized sufficiently to give local communities, states, and unions more power when confronting these mammoth corporations, then the only alternative is to socialize these corporations under public ownership.
Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail reports that Boeing has so much cash that they are buying their own stock and raising dividends to its stockholders (read wage-slave holders).
The ongoing issue of whether Boeing uses its facilities in the Seattle area or move to numerous other sites across the country is an excellent illustration of the power of these huge corporations. They appear more powerful than the State of Washington which has proposed giving it record setting tax write-offs if they stay in the state. And, of course, there is no contest when they are put up against labor unions.
Unless you believe, like many liberals and other social critics, that these corporations can be downsized sufficiently to give local communities, states, and unions more power when confronting these mammoth corporations, then the only alternative is to socialize these corporations under public ownership.
Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail reports that Boeing has so much cash that they are buying their own stock and raising dividends to its stockholders (read wage-slave holders).
NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Worker
Click here to access article by Jeff Faux from Foreign Policy in Focus.
NAFTA was the opening fusillade in the neo-capitalist (aka neoliberal) war against workers and against national legal protections of workers which previous generations had fought for with their blood, sweat, and tears.
In this article the author gives us a kind of report card on NAFTA after 20 years of working its neoliberal policies into the web of trade in North American countries, and it looks like straight "F"s for workers and "A"s for corporations.
Faux summarizes the causalities suffered by workers in Mexico and the US in four ways. Unfortunately, his narrow focus analyses the passage of NAFTA in the US in terms of Democrats versus Republicans, but it is obvious that both played a role in its passage. Of course, this is always the case in the ongoing class war. Also, the author's liberal political perspective about improving the lot of workers limits his imagination to reforms only, and ignores the reality of a system that by their design always gives the owning class enormous advantages in the class war.
NAFTA was the opening fusillade in the neo-capitalist (aka neoliberal) war against workers and against national legal protections of workers which previous generations had fought for with their blood, sweat, and tears.
In this article the author gives us a kind of report card on NAFTA after 20 years of working its neoliberal policies into the web of trade in North American countries, and it looks like straight "F"s for workers and "A"s for corporations.
Faux summarizes the causalities suffered by workers in Mexico and the US in four ways. Unfortunately, his narrow focus analyses the passage of NAFTA in the US in terms of Democrats versus Republicans, but it is obvious that both played a role in its passage. Of course, this is always the case in the ongoing class war. Also, the author's liberal political perspective about improving the lot of workers limits his imagination to reforms only, and ignores the reality of a system that by their design always gives the owning class enormous advantages in the class war.
This is what happens when you outlaw peaceful protest
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The Spanish people are once again in the streets all over Spain protesting against the draconian new laws proposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "that would effectively ban protests near state buildings and impose hefty fines of up to 600,000 euros and even jail time on those trying to organize “unlawful” demonstrations via social media."
Considering similar events in Egypt and efforts elsewhere to curtail mass protests, Roos sees a trend for ruling elites whose capitalist regimes have been thoroughly discredited to resort to the suspension of civil liberties and state violence to secure their rule. He argues that this trend raises a number of questions that dissenters must face in the near future.
The Spanish people are once again in the streets all over Spain protesting against the draconian new laws proposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "that would effectively ban protests near state buildings and impose hefty fines of up to 600,000 euros and even jail time on those trying to organize “unlawful” demonstrations via social media."
Considering similar events in Egypt and efforts elsewhere to curtail mass protests, Roos sees a trend for ruling elites whose capitalist regimes have been thoroughly discredited to resort to the suspension of civil liberties and state violence to secure their rule. He argues that this trend raises a number of questions that dissenters must face in the near future.
Nelson Mandela: Eulogies of Imperialist Hypocrites & a Revolution Betrayed by Capitalism
Click here to access article by Steven Argue from Santa Cruz, California IndyMedia.
Ruling class media have been working overtime to indoctrinate you in the wrong ideas about the significance of Mandela's life. In addition to a good antidote to the massive and hypocritical coverage from mainstream media, Argue also contributes a very interesting history of communist ideas and their influence on Mandela.
Here are some more antidotes for the poison of ruling class media coverage:
Ruling class media have been working overtime to indoctrinate you in the wrong ideas about the significance of Mandela's life. In addition to a good antidote to the massive and hypocritical coverage from mainstream media, Argue also contributes a very interesting history of communist ideas and their influence on Mandela.
Here are some more antidotes for the poison of ruling class media coverage:
The FBI’s Next Generation Identification Program: Big Brother’s ID System?
Click here to access article from Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is developing a biometric identification database program called "Next Generation Identification" (NGI). When completed, the NGI system will be the largest biometric database in the world. The program is of particular interest to EPIC because of the far-reaching implications for personal privacy and the risks of mass surveillance.
The vast majority of records contained in the NGI database will be of US citizens. The NGI biometric identifiers will include fingerprints, iris scans, DNA profiles, voice identification profiles, palm prints, and photographs. The system will include facial recognition capabilities to analyze collected images. Millions of individuals who are neither criminals nor suspects will be included in the database.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Legion
Click here to access article posted by darbikrash from Collapse of Industrial Civilization.
The author takes us on quite a thought provoking tour beginning with a comical, moralistic rant by Rush Limbaugh, to a surprisingly radical sounding social critique from--of all people--the Pope, and ending with a thesis argued way back in 1921 that capitalism is really a religion that replaced Christianity (a belief that I have long held). Interspersed in all this are graphic displays suggesting themes of disintegration and chaos.
The author takes us on quite a thought provoking tour beginning with a comical, moralistic rant by Rush Limbaugh, to a surprisingly radical sounding social critique from--of all people--the Pope, and ending with a thesis argued way back in 1921 that capitalism is really a religion that replaced Christianity (a belief that I have long held). Interspersed in all this are graphic displays suggesting themes of disintegration and chaos.
In Which Ignatius Does Not Understand "Hegemony"
Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama.
This blogger exposes the blatant imperial bias of a Washington Post columnist at one of two US ruling class newspapers that function as a mouthpiece for the ruling One Percent. It is important to recognize that such expression of opinions are not merely those of the columnist, but serve notice for media executives across the country on views that are considered politically correct by the One Percent.
This blogger exposes the blatant imperial bias of a Washington Post columnist at one of two US ruling class newspapers that function as a mouthpiece for the ruling One Percent. It is important to recognize that such expression of opinions are not merely those of the columnist, but serve notice for media executives across the country on views that are considered politically correct by the One Percent.
From Bahrain to Ukraine: Hail the Western Salesmen of Subversion and Deception
Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from Strategic Culture Foundation.
This independent Irish journalist and writer reports on last week's Manama Dialogue conference sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a British based "think tank", which is presented at their website as a meeting to discuss regional security issues. From his report alone we can see that it is more likely an Empire conference on imperial strategy to protect the Empire's geopolitical interests.
It seems clear from the speech given by U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel that the Empire representative wanted to reassure GCC Arab and Israeli members that the US is committed to their security interests in spite of differences that have arisen recently over Syrian, Egyptian, and Iranian issues.
In this article the author points out the hypocrisy of the members' high-sounding rhetoric given the ongoing brutal repression of dissent in Bahrain, the location of their conference, and members support of many dictatorships and terrorist groups in the region.
It seems clear from the speech given by U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel that the Empire representative wanted to reassure GCC Arab and Israeli members that the US is committed to their security interests in spite of differences that have arisen recently over Syrian, Egyptian, and Iranian issues.
In this article the author points out the hypocrisy of the members' high-sounding rhetoric given the ongoing brutal repression of dissent in Bahrain, the location of their conference, and members support of many dictatorships and terrorist groups in the region.
What a cruel joke. Western governments do not support democracy in Bahrain – or anywhere else for that matter – because they make money from oil and arms sales by supporting dictatorships, and from crushing and subverting democracy. .... Despite their polished and preening rhetoric, Washington and London are nothing but the salesmen for subversion and deception.Saudi Arabia, a major player in the region and in attendance at the meeting, can't even tolerate people who call for a constitutional monarchy.
Rent-A-Cop: The Rise of the Mercenary Police State
Click here to access article by Don Quijones from Raging Bull-Shit.
The author shows where the logic of neo-capitalism or 21st century capitalism, better known as neoliberalism, is headed:
The author shows where the logic of neo-capitalism or 21st century capitalism, better known as neoliberalism, is headed:
As the private increasingly trumps the public, and as the concerted will of the rich and powerful quashes the growing needs of the poor and powerless, the world we inhabit gradually takes on the form of a brutally cold, heartless neo-feudal system of economic and political governance.
It promises to be a world where might and money make right; where government exists merely to collect taxes and redistribute funds to banks and corporations; and where not only opportunities but also security and the protection of the law become the sole preserve of those who can afford them.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Do we have enough time to fix global warming?
Click here to access article by Gary Engler from New Commune-ist Manifesto (Canada).
This is a very inspirational piece in a time when we need all the inspiration we can get.
This is a very inspirational piece in a time when we need all the inspiration we can get.
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