Ukraine signs political deal with EU

Click here to access article from euronews.

Notice the language used by the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy regarding the new deal that the European Union made with the coup-established government of Ukraine that violently overthrew the previously elected government with considerable Western aid:

“It recognises the aspiration of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity,” said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

UkrainianGirl - Breaks Down Media Lies

A 21:37m YouTube video interview conducted by SyrianGirlpartisan with UkrainianGirl.

How refreshing to hear ordinary knowledgeable people discussing political conflicts! UkrainainGirl provides all the nuances of what is going on in her tragic country that is missing from class-biased Empire media. Unfortunately, we will always have these insurrections and wars as long as so many ordinary people remain disengaged from political issues, allow class-structured societies to exist, and allow ruling classes to enlist ordinary people to fight and kill each other to promote the interests of one ruling class over another. Meanwhile, the conditions for ordinary people remain the same, and it is they who end up suffering.

 

Beyond Neoliberal Miseducation

Click here to access article by Henry A. Giroux from Uncommon Thought Journal. 

This educator has written a lot about the deterioration of education under the onslaught of neoliberals and their ideology. He certainly identifies the deleterious effects that they have had on education. However, he falls far short of a fundamental critique that can liberate us from the juggernaut of capitalist control that is adversely affecting all of our lives, and is even now threatening to destroy conditions on our planet Earth that can sustain human life.

In this piece the liberal educator appears to pretend to be more radical than other liberals. Of course, the political spectrum in the US has shifted so far to the right that he is able to make such an argument. Because of his limited perspective, I hesitated to post this article on my website. However, social critics like this are given such wide exposure on the web that I thought that, once again, it is necessary to poke holes in it. 

One of the first indications of his limited political perspective as expressed in this article was his criticisms of Obama. This is a fundamental error of political understanding that will lead many people to avoid a deeper, and more accurate, understanding of how capitalists rule today. I am referring to the existence of a ruling class that functions with a shadow government that essentially issues orders to their agents in the formal institutions. I have no idea if he does this deliberately as a ruling class ideological gatekeeper, or if he is blinded by his long immersion in capitalist institutions. (The same observation applies to Chris Hedges.)

He identifies the "evil doers" in today's society as mostly neoliberals, but also names the "corporate class", corporations, and "casino capitalism". However, it is clear that he only takes issue with the latest stage of capitalism--not capitalism itself--which has outgrown national boundaries and is now gone global. Thus, capitalists, who dominated much of the rest of world to favor their own national economies, have now abandoned their home nations, removed all boundaries inhibiting the flow of commerce, and now see the world as their oyster. The only purpose that their national bases provide for them is the supply of weapons and training for their military forces. Thus, the huge developments of the military-industrial complex in NATO countries, a police state with 24/7 surveillance of communications, austerity policies, and increasing corporate influence over all aspects of education (and all other institutions) to serve corporate needs about which Giroux is so knowledgeable.

Ending the affair between polluters and politicians

Click here to access article from Corporate Europe Observatory. 

(Note: Once again I've experienced difficulty accessing articles on their website--actually even worse this morning. Thus, if you have problems, to save time I advise you to load a similar article from Climate Connections that expresses the same theme.)

If you follow this website you have read numerous articles about the influence of industries on the governments of Europe and their interference with climate policies that reduce carbon emissions. The same phenomenon, of course, applies to the USA. 

Let me say first that such articles are excellent to help us gain an understanding of how the capitalist version of democracy works. The problem I have is that they never go beyond their theme of industry interference in climate rehabilitation policies. They refuse to admit that capitalism and sustainable climate policies cannot coexist. As long as societies are ruled by a narrow segment of capitalists, the latter will inevitably destroy biospheric conditions that can support human and many other life forms.

In article after article the website's authors provide interesting details on how industry leaders have such easy informal as well as formal access to European official political leaders. Referring to informal contacts, they will make frequent statements like this:

They meet at birthday parties, over breakfast meetings, during cocktail receptions; so just how close are Europe’s dirtiest industries to senior politicians and regulators?

And they will give specific examples:

“Early July I had the pleasure of sharing a dinner table with Commissioner Oettinger at the birthday celebrations of Dr Klaus Mangold in Munstertal [Executive Adviser to the Chairman of DaimlerChrysler] .... I was wondering if he [Oettinger] would have some time either after the breakfast, or perhaps over dinner the evening before, to continue
our conversation from Munstertal about the future of energy and CO2in Europe.”

Email from Shell executive to the European Commission

They go on to discuss the massive lobbying efforts of industry. They report on closed door meetings between business leaders and government officials which are followed up by formal meetings where the former are again given priority over those concerned about carbon emissions. They acknowledge that there is a revolving door between industry and government positions. But, they stop short of recognizing that there is a ruling class consisting of capitalists who thoroughly control political institutions along with all other institutions in society. They always stop short of recognizing the basic contradiction between the short-term profit dynamics of capitalism and a sustainable biosphere.

The website's cartoons illustrate the same limited perspective. This one merely suggests that the European business man will go the way of the dinosaurs, but in reality human beings will go that way if we continue to allow this class and their system to rule over us. 

Trickle-up economics

Click here to access article by Lars Syll from Real-World Economics Review Blog. 

"Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are--simple upward redistribution of income, rather that a way to make all of us richer, as we were told."

De-Manufacturing Consent- “Boston Bombing Revisited: Official Narrative Unraveling”

Click here to access videos in which contain an interview with investigative journalist Russ Baker regarding his further research's into the Boston Bombing incident.

The first video is a 5 minute excerpt of the longer 55 minute interview--the latter being accessed by subscribers only.

If you are a non-subscriber, I hope after listening to the first short video that you will subscribe. However, if for whatever reason you cannot or decide not to do this, you can access much of the material in written form in two articles on Russ Baker's website, here and here. 

The latest material which Russ Baker provides casts considerable doubts on the official version pedaled by mainstream media. We have seen many investigations which found that the official versions of the many incidents from Nine-Eleven to the Boston Bombing are not supported by the evidence. (See this, this, this, and this.) Many keen observers have concluded that inducing fear in people through false-flag terrorism is being used for a variety of nefarious purposes.

Just today I viewed the latest attempt to do this while view CBS morning news on television which reported on a supposed Al Qaeda plan to bomb cars and other civilian targets in cities across the US. Their source is an online magazine whose authenticity they take for granted even though numerous questions have been raised about its authenticity in the past.

Nightmares of the Omnicidal Juggernaut

Click here to access article by xraymike79 from Collapse of Industrial Civilization. 

Some days I wake up and despise the monotony and pettiness of this culture and its followers: its celebrity worship, its staged news reporting, its chameleon politicians, its conniving marketers of consumerism, its cookie-cutter neighborhoods, its push-button surveillance state, and its clueless masses all working together to create the illusion of normalcy. Everyone goes along with this mindless program like obedient slaves, afraid of the social stigma attached to questioning any radical deviation from what constitutes normal. God forbid anyone openly discusses the cliff we are fast approaching....

The Tao of Toolbox (Violence/Non-Violence?)

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

The preoccupation with the subject of non-violence among activists in the US has succeeded in creating numerous divisions in activist circles, and Mickey Z. makes some excellent observations about this phenomenon. However, I would argue that these arguments over tactics are not merely due to vanity or the soothing of egos among activists.

When allies bicker over tactics, you can be certain vanity is ruling the day. ....

Please also understand that deriding others for not adhering to your finely tuned sense of purity (violent, non-violent, or whatever) is more about soothing your ego than about creating the changes we all seek.

The One Percent's domestic social controllers use a broad spectrum of methods to contain dissent, one of the more effective ones has been the insertion into activist circles the virtues and necessity of non-violence. Through their efforts the practice of non-violence has been raised to almost a religion, and the very meaning of non-violence has been broadened to mean attacks on property. It is so ironic that the most violent regime on earth and in history has succeeded in hamstringing US activist circles by causing them to engage in endless debates about non-violent tactics.

This has been accomplished to a considerable extent by constantly referring to constructed myths about historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King. I think if one really researches the facts about these epitomes of virtue you would find only King who approximated the myths spread by mainstream media. And, remember, the agents of the One Percent murdered him. This was essentially the judgement in the only trial permitted where a jury of ordinary Americans (Memphis, Tennessee) examined all the evidence in the many assassinations which occurred during this awful period. (Read An Act of State by William F. Pepper.) Of course, the One Percent made sure that the trial received minimal coverage in their media.

It’s Not Easy Being Young in This World: Help the “Lost Generation” Find its Way

Click here to access article by Andrew Gavin Marshall from his blog. 

My aim is to raise enough funds so that I can put aside a good deal of time from my various other time-consuming projects so that I can focus exclusively on the book and get the first edition done as soon as possible. But this requires actual funds, and I am far from having anything close to the amount necessary to dedicate meaningful time to this project. I hate asking for money, but I have come to terms with being an intellectual prostitute for the time being. However, I would rather prostitute my mind for the benefit of the wider public – and most especially the youth of the current “lost generation” to which I belong – as opposed to whoring my mind and efforts out to some various institution. At this point, however, I am essentially unemployable in almost every field, and so my options are rather limited. But I think that through my work, I can help others see that as a species, we do have other options, but that requires us to come to a common understanding, and to engage in common action. We cannot change the world, or steer humanity off the course of seemingly-inevitable extinction, alone. We need each other.

I agree. Everyone who is concerned about the growing use of violence and debt to bring all the people of the world under the domination of the One Percent must now choose essentially one of two courses: 1) join together with all the other activists of the world's 99 Percent in efforts to free ourselves from the evolving nightmare of existence and create a new world which will permit people to live in dignity and harmony with one another and nature; or 2) just keep going along with the existing systems of power out of habit, or because you think it is the easiest way to live, and watch the current problems of wars, unemployment, debt slavery, a growing police state, and climate catastrophes continue to worsen.

I'm not interested in those people who choose option 2, but I am for those who choose option 1. It is now time--hopefully, it isn't too late--to seriously act on what we need to do to affirm this option: because to choose this option means to commit to action! We, who identify ourselves as the 99 Percent, must now come together to save ourselves, to create conditions in which our labor serves our needs, to create institutions that we control and that enable us to decide what our labor is used for and the very conditions of our labor. 

A good place to start is to support people who, at great sacrifice to their material lives, have worked for us, and want to continue to work for us, instead of corporate executives, corporate boards of directors and their stockholders who are responsible for the growing nightmarish world. Andrew Gavin Marshall is one of the best such people. If we can't support him, then we have in effect chosen option 2.

There have been a lot of debates about the character of human nature. This next period of our history--hopefully, it will not be the last--will provide an excellent opportunity to test human nature to find out what it really consists of. I'm reminded of Tom Paine's words in one of his stirring pamphlets called "The Crisis" published in December 1776 in which he wrote:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Only now we do not merely live in a country, but in the world. And, of course, we are now much more aware that it was never "our country", but a country that was mostly owned and, even more so, controlled by a small minority of landowners like Washington, Hamilton, and Adams. Now we see a world that is mostly owned and controlled by their descendants. the class of people known nowadays as the One Percent. 

We must not be deceived any longer. We, ordinary people, who call ourselves the 99 Percent, must decide that we no longer will tolerate the rule by a small minority because they have brought nothing but hellish scenes of terrorism, poverty, wars, unemployment, debt slavery, and environmental degradation upon the world. These are, indeed, "times that try men's souls" and I fear that "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from "acting to save ourselves and our planet Earth which sustains our lives. We must decide that this dreadful rule of the One Percent is over, and that we are willing to do whatever it takes to end that rule. 

One such action is to support the research and writings of Andrew Gavin Marshall.

Ukraine: Wet Noodle Sanctions And Pressure For Constitutional Reform

Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama.

As documented yesterday the "leaked" Russian non-paper which demanded constitutional reform in the Ukraine and more autonomy for its regions was at least partially accepted by Secretary of State Kerry....

Regardless of these worthless agreements, from now on the future of Ukraine will be controlled by events on the ground. This, of course, begs the question: who will control events on the ground? Unlike in Israel where such events are controlled by a Zionist government, events in Ukraine will be controlled to a large extent by the Ukrainian people as well as the Empire's puppet government, the IMF, etc and the Russian government. I think, and fervently hope, that the Ukrainian people will be the deciding factor in this contest between capitalist powers.

The Wall Street Etiquette Guide to Helping Oneself to Other People’s Money

Click here to access article by Pam Martens from Wall Street on Parade.

Martens reveals a lot about Wall Street culture when she describes their ways of acquiring wealth:

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there is a right way and a wrong way to help yourself to other people’s money on Wall Street. The right way propels you into the one percent replete with mansions and yachts, your name memorialized on buildings, a golden parachute, an office and car for life fronted by defrauded shareholders and regular invitations to appear on CNBC and lecture others on how to structure the financial system.

Then there’s the wrong way....

On Democracy and Orchestrated Overthrows in Venezuela and Ukraine

Click here to access article by Howard Friel from Common Dreams.

Friel notices that there are many parallels between the recent coup in Ukraine and the coup in Venezuela in 2002. Of course, basically the same pattern applies in many other regime change efforts by Empire directors, but the resemblance between these two fits the best. It's clear that regime change engineers have since upgraded their program (RegimeChange 5.5 to RC6.1) to include the use of snipers firing on both protestors and the police and other false flag operations that include the use of bombs to create a climate of intense fear to enhance their prospects of success. 

Having identified the main agency used in these regime change operations, Friel asks some critically important questions:

Finally, who in the United States oversees the NED? Not President Obama, who shows no intention of checking even the publicly known outrages of the NSA and CIA, let alone the mostly unknown ones of the NED. Not the Democrats or Republicans in Congress, who in 1983 created the NED “to promote democracy” abroad. Not the federal judiciary, needless to say. And not the press; surely not the New York Times, which, without Christopher Marquis, who died of AIDS in 2005, hasn’t employed anyone since who has shown an interest in shedding any light on the activities of the NED, certainly not in Venezuela and Ukraine today.

I find it difficult to understand why so many political analysts and observers resist the idea of a shadow government that rules our nation. They continue to be astonished by the lack of change between the Obama regime and the previous Bush Jr regime, but refuse to go any further. It's like a young child who believes in Santa Claus refusing to believe adults who tell him that this is just a myth. It's (past) time for progressives to grow up!

Ukraine, Austerity….Again?

Click here to access this 16:36m radio interview with economist Michael Hudson posted on his website.

Hudson's comments offer, along with some political analysis, economic predictions on what is likely to happen with Ukraine under its new NATO friendly government created by an Empire-promoted coup. There is much to recommend here; but his views do not go beyond certain limits that would be unacceptable to our ruling One Percent class. Were he to offer a more penetrating analysis, he would jeopardize his career as a college professor.

For example, he states the following toward the end of the interview:

...Americans aren't told what America has done is turn over the foreign policy basically to the neocons. It is as if Obama has adopted Dick Cheney's military policy...with an exclamation point. 

And, he continues with a rant about Obama. Obama, of course, is only an employee of the ruling class. He functions in the capacity of a public relations officer and takes orders from this ruling class who hired him. If he were to disobey them, he would be removed one way or another--assassinated if necessary. 

In general, Hudson's views represent a left-liberal analysis which, although on the fringes, is still permitted to college professors by the ruling class, but will never be allowed in mainstream media. There are some other comments which are equally troubling, favorable comments about The Fed, our central bank, and how the US taxes the rich, etc. But, I will leave you to screen out what is valid in his analysis and some of which is not.

Mainstream US Media Is Lost in Ukraine

Click here to access article by Robert Parry from ConsortiumNews. 

There are times when I think that mainstream media coverage of world events is becoming more uniform than ever before. This writer argues that and targets as the most recent example the monolithic corporate media coverage of events related to Ukraine. He complains that mainstream media coverage has taken on the role of propagandists for the government instead of providing more objective, nuanced reporting.

Objective U.S. journalists would insist on a truthful narrative that conveys these nuances to the American people, not simply behave as clumsy propagandists determined to glue “white hats” on the side favored by the State Department and “black hats” on everyone that the U.S. government disdains. But virtually the entire mainstream press corps has opted for the propaganda role....

In a typical liberal fashion he whines about the lack of objectivity and media's role of supporting Washington propaganda, but avoids any attempt to explain this phenomenon. He refuses to see this coverage as reflecting the concentration of power in a ruling class who control both government and the media along with all other important institutions in society. Such coverage is arguably worse than ever before, but I wouldn't want to pursue that argument because media has always served ruling class interests. This is especially true since media ownership became concentrated in major corporations beginning in the early 20th century. Read The Brass Check by Upton Sinclair and his scathing attacks on corporate journalism during this period, and read Even the Gods Can't Change History by George Seldes in which he as a journalist reviewed the numerous lies he saw printed in the nation's media over a half century in support of imperialist ambitions. 

A much more valuable contribution to this issue of media disinformation would be uncovering facts about how and why this happens. However, this would inevitably lead into massive exposures of myths about government, about the reality of a ruling class, about the power of a ruling class based on private ownership of the economy, and about how this system impels its controllers to seek profit and power which, in turn, lead to the crimes of wars, exploitation, poverty, environmental degradation, and a media coverage that lies about what our rulers are doing. 

Anyone wanting to pursue a career critiquing media coverage in depth would run up against this ruling class and would suffer many consequences. Some journalists like Gary Webb paid with their careers and ultimately their lives while trying to pursue the truth about our government's involvement in drug trafficking.

Banker Farce: Spanish Bank Chief Launches Moral Crusade Against Political Corruption

Click here to access article by Don Quijones from Raging Bull-Shit. 

This is another article which demonstrates that our capitalist ruling classes are heavily involved in the illicit drug trade while preaching about morality, promoting a "War on Drugs", using the latter to justify militarizing local police forces, and locking up petty dealers in private prisons for many years. This article compares one Spanish bank executive's words with his bank's known involvement in drug trafficking.

“Why Shouldn’t I Work for the NSA?”?

Click here to access the source posting of this scene, a posting from Raging Bull-Shit.

Thanks to Raging Bull-Shit for this great 2:50m clip featuring a job interview with the NSA.

"Never Forget": for Rachel Corrie

Click here to access article by Gary Corseri from Uncommon Thought Journal. 

There are many wonderful, ordinary people in Washington state where I live, and Rachel Corrie was one of them. (I sometimes think that we should hold a referendum here to declare our independence from the US Empire.) We will never forget her and the heroic humanitarian actions she took to defend Palestinian homes from being destroyed by Zionist bulldozers of the Israeli ruling class. Corseri writes about her heroism and humanitarianism.

For more details on Corrie's life and death, see this article entitled "'There Are No Civilians In Wartime.' Rachel Corrie’s Family Confronts The Israeli Military In Court"

Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

Click here to access article by William J. Broad from The New York Times.

I normally try to avoid posting articles behind registration sites, but I will make an exception occasionally for important articles behind sites that require only free registration as does this website.

The article is an important posting for my website because it points to another example of the growing influence of capitalists over every sector of US society. In this piece the author reports that there is a parallel trend of cuts to government funding of science research with an explosion of privately funded research. Billionaires, who are rewarded with tax deductions, are donating their tax money instead to their favorite research projects. (Of course, their sponsorship of Congress gives them influence over the tax laws.) Thus, the latter are having a much bigger influence than ever before on the types of science research that is being performed. 

...personal setting of priorities is precisely what troubles some in the science establishment. Many of the patrons, they say, are ignoring basic research — the kind that investigates the riddles of nature and has produced centuries of breakthroughs, even whole industries — for a jumble of popular, feel-good fields like environmental studies and space exploration.

Other negative consequences? Well, they are touched on throughout the article, but they are frequently balanced, if not overwhelmed, by positive testimonials and a lot of information about the enormous funding that billionaires devote to their pet projects. Yes, basic research will suffer because billionaires like to focus on such "practical things as drugs, jets and gadgets, rather than fundamental insights into the mysteries of nature." Also, with regard to diseases, they are more likely to donate to finding cures for diseases that affect white people. Barely mentioned is the fact that the interests of billionaires might influence the findings of research itself which we've seen with regard to climate change.

The Ukraine Crisis - What You're Not Being Told

Click here if you wish to access the complete article from StormCloudsGathering.

The poster from this website has put together a lot of key pieces of information that I've posted separately before regarding the Ukraine crisis in this one 10:36m video. It serves as a good summary of information that is not reported by, and conflicts dramatically with, the propaganda being served to us by Empire media. As such, it might be useful as something you could send to friends and relatives who tend to mindlessly believe what is fed to them by corporate media.



What bothers me about this website is the lack of information about the website and authors of posts. There is nothing but content posted.

Our Way of Life/Death

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

We hear so often from our masters in the One Percent references to "our way of life" and often using this slogan to justify all sorts of crimes against humanity and nature. Mickey Z. turns this usage on its head.