by James Hoover / September 8th, 2016
Drawing on a community service mentality, President Obama failed to grasp the profit-maximizing plans of the health care industry. He assumed that the industry would really jump at the chance of serving millions of new customers.
In contrast, like sharks, when Congress was considering the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health care lobbyists swarmed the Capital – eight for each member of Congress. Their goal was to insure maximum profits with only industry priorities. In step with their benefactors, Republicans and the conservative media odiously dissed any health care reform, even without knowing any details about ACA, spitting out the word …
by James Petras / September 8th, 2016
Large-scale political and economic challenges are confronting the US multi-national corporate elite. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Pfizer and scores of other multinational tax evaders are facing the triple threat of multi-billion dollar fines, the redistribution of their wealth and the possible reintroduction of equitable socio-economic programs, which could undermine their power.
Washington-backed exporters and financiers, eager to impose free trade agreements on European and Asian business classes, have been faced with stiff resistance and outright rejection.
In …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / September 8th, 2016
Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?
— Bob Dylan, “Masters of War” from his 1963 recording “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”
On Tuesday, September 6th, twenty-four hour monitoring by the country’s Legal Centre for Rights and Development (LCRD) recorded the bombings by the Saudi led “coalition”, armed by the US and UK and advised by their military specialists, thus collusion and co-operation of both countries render them equally culpable for the carnage.
Yemen has a population of just 24.41 million (2013 figure) and according to the Rural Poverty …
by Anthony Tarrant / September 8th, 2016
So, 40 years later, we come back to commemorate this struggle against the historical backdrop of a people who have been so terrorized and traumatized and stigmatized that we have been taught to be scared, intimidated, always afraid, distrustful of one another, and disrespectful of one another. But the Attica’s rebellion was a countermove in that direction. I call it the niggerization of a people, not just black people, because America been niggerized since 9/11. When you’re niggerized, you’re unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, hated for who you are. You become so scared that you defer to the powers
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Hope for the Philippines?
by Gary Leupp / September 8th, 2016
Son of a bitch (var. sonovabitch): Something that is very difficult or unpleasant. Used to express surprise, disappointment, anger, etc. (based on Merriam-Webster)
Rodrigo Duterte, elected president of the Philippines last May, was supposed to meet with President Obama in Laos on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting Monday. He had referred to Obama as a putang ina (“son of a bitch”) in a news conference, and earlier to U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg with what was reported as a homophobic slur.
(I understand that Duterte routinely uses the word bakla or “gay” to refer to elite men, but — like most Filipinos …
by Robert Hunziker / September 8th, 2016
A major new scientific report, “Explaining Ocean Warming” was released on September 5th. It is grim.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, the findings are based upon peer-reviewed research compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries. It is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the subject of warming of the ocean.
Significantly, the ocean has absorbed more than 90% of “enhanced heating from climate change since the 1970s.” In other words, the ocean has been “shielding us” from the extensive affects of global warming. And, the consequences for the ocean are “absolutely …
by Binoy Kampmark / September 8th, 2016
Australia’s distance from various centres of power has been called a tyranny. But flip that tyranny over, and you have an assortment of benefits for local development, the mighty laboratory that bred a middle class experiment supposedly egalitarian and oiled by principles of social justice.
These days, such distance is said to have been overcome, the effects of instant communication, rapid travel, and transport. People still think Australia might be somewhere in Europe, but that mistake does not get away from assumptions that a wandering finger on a globe would be able to land safely on Sydney or Melbourne.
Those imaginative creatures …
by Bruce Lerro / September 7th, 2016
Why is violating a sports ritual such a big deal?
Rather than focus on either the nobility, courage, arrogance or ungratefulness of Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand up for the national anthem, I think it is more revealing to consider why it seems so important to sports fans that he stand up for the national anthem. It has been pointed out that when Donald Trump claims he wants’ to “make America great again” the “Trumpettes” cheer wildly. The implication, of course, is that America is not so hot now. But when a sports athlete also says America isn’t so hot, refuses …
by Ramzy Baroud / September 7th, 2016
Division within Palestinian society has reached unprecedented levels, becoming a major hurdle on the path of any unified strategy to end Israel’s violent occupation or to rally Palestinians behind a single objective.
Newly-appointed Israeli ultra-nationalist, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, understands this too well. His tactic since his ascension to office last May is centered on investing more in these divisions as a way to break down Palestinian society even further.
Lieberman is an ‘extremist’, even if compared with the low standards of the Israeli military. His past legacy was rife with violent and racist declarations. His more recent exploits include taking on the …
by Eresh Omar Jamal / September 7th, 2016
While the slaughter of Yemenis continues, the world remains silent in response to their screams. Why is that? Has the world lost its senses, especially to feel the sufferings of the tormented? In an alleged effort to defeat the Houthi rebels, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, have been bombarding Yemen, already one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with air-strikes since March 2015, sending it literally back to the stone-age.
The war has triggered a major humanitarian crisis. Since the air-strikes began, “food prices …
by John R. Hall / September 6th, 2016
Truth is an elusive beast at best. Hunter S. Thompson nailed the truth about truth as well as anyone with these few words: “It’s never as it seems, Bubba.” The best we can do is to understand a few things about our own lot in life and our place on the food chain. Unless you happen to be a card-carrying member of the World Shadow Government, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergers, or your name is high on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, you have no real way of knowing what’s going on. It’s really none of your business. You are …
by Yves Engler / September 6th, 2016
Last Tuesday members of the Ethiopian community in Winnipeg called on Canada to sanction the North East African country. The protesters are angry about the regime’s violent crackdown in the Oromiya and Amhara regions of northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been killed and many more jailed since unrest began over a land dispute 10 months ago.
As protesters called for sanctions in Winnipeg, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development Katrina Gould was in Addis Ababa. During a meeting with the Foreign Minister she was quoted saying, “Ethiopia has managed to …
EnMo Economics
by John Andrews / September 5th, 2016
EnMo economics is an economic theory that suggests the proper role of the state in the economy is to ensure that all its people have Enough of everything they need to live secure, comfortable and happy lives, whilst also ensuring that the private sector is able to supply more in terms of non-essential products and services. This is a very important but quite simple distinction to make — although there would always be some unimportant blurring at the edge where essential meets non-essential.
This principle applies to money supply too. The proper role of the state is to take the view …
by John Andrews / September 5th, 2016
And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
— “Stairway to Heaven,” written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for Led Zeppelin’s fourth album (untitled) recorded in November, 1970, released in 1971.
The Mythology of Economics
Many people know that our great trusted rulers routinely lie to us and deceive us – always “in the national interest”, obviously. The clearest single proof of this that nearly everyone is familiar with is our rulers’ obsession with secrecy …
Ashley Smith and the ISO
by Rick Sterling / September 5th, 2016
At the recent annual convention of Veterans for Peace, VFP Vice President Jerry Condon said: “The US peace movement has been demobilized by disinformation on Syria.”
Disinformation and propaganda on Syria takes three distinct forms. The first is the demonization of the Syrian leadership. The second is the romanticization of the opposition. The third form involves attacking anyone questioning the preceding characterizations.
There is a recent article which exemplifies all three of these forms. It is titled “Anti-Imperialism and the Syrian Revolution” by Ashley Smith of the International Socialist Organization (ISO). It’s a remarkable piece of misinformation and faulty analysis. Because …
by Binoy Kampmark / September 5th, 2016
For years, Apple has perfected the art of tax minimisation, hoovering up possibilities in creating an empire built on profit and return. It has cultivated a power that adapts the message of the bribing agent with that of the bully, tempting government hosts with promises of plenty, and withdrawing pledges on being pushed into moves it would rather not make for the sake of customers and shareholders. Permit tax breaks, and low tax bills, and your State prospers.
The European Commission, which occasionally comes across as a pushy regulatory bugbear, decided to make Apple accountable as a decent tax paying corporate …
Only defiance, anger, opposition count in this day and age of slick serial murderers called marketeers!
by Paul Haeder / September 5th, 2016
Refusal is the highest honor. “I prefer not to.” Any sort of Bartleby. These times call for Herman Melville, Twain, Memory of Fire, Emma Goldman, Malcolm X, Virginia Bolten, Mujeres Libres, Wilde, Shaw!
Were civilization itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps better for what we call the barbarous part of the world to remain unchanged.
― The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. 1, eds. Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle (1968)
Active resistance to the singularity of money and its hoarders. Incredibly, or not, Americans, in El Norte, this stolen land, are the biggest …
by Andre Vltchek / September 5th, 2016
Btaaboura is a tiny village in the mountains of northern Lebanon. It is connected to the main motorway by a narrow winding road. It could be just anywhere in the Christian part of this country: white stone houses, olive groves, wine grapes, bare hills.
Like elsewhere, the wealth is hardly backed by hard work. It is mainly sustained by remittances flowing from abroad. There are grotesquely luxury cars everywhere – Audis, BMWs. And there is a Western Union office on the main street. All doors are closed; nothing moves.
But this village is actually ‘unique’, different from all others in the area. …
An expected visit by ICC delegation could increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes
by Jonathan Cook / September 5th, 2016
Israel has agreed to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to send a delegation to Israel and the occupied territories, it was revealed at the weekend, in a step that could dramatically increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes.
Emmanuel Nahshon, a foreign ministry spokesman, confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israel had agreed to the visit in principle, though the “when and how” were still under discussion.
The ICC’s move comes as human rights groups have harshly criticised Israel for closing investigations into dozens of allegations that its military …
by Stuart Jeanne Bramhall / September 4th, 2016
Drugs as Weapons Against Us: The CIA’s Murderous Targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix, Lennon, Cobain, Tupac and Other Activists is a virtual encyclopedia of the global drug trade. Author John L Potash devotes special attention to the long involvement of the British and US governments in illegal drug trafficking – for the political and financial benefit of the elite families who control these governments. Most of the book focuses on MKULTRA, the top secret CIA program devoted to developing and experimenting with mind altering drugs, such as LSD, MDA (an ecstasy precursor), STP, PCP and Scopolamine.
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