Things to consider—

Since early 2011, Obama's been waging proxy war on Syria. Imported death squads masquerade as freedom fighters. The scheme's familiar. It repeats. It reflects US imperialism's dark side. In the 1980s, CIA-recruited mujahideen fighters battled Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers. Ronald Reagan called them "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers." He characterized Contra killers the same way. —Stephen LendmanFor over a century now US ambassadors have acted as fifth columns in the nations they are embedded in, their role chiefly to foster corporate and plutocratic power and coordinate machinations against any truly pro-democratic government.•••••"The dead end identity politics of SF Pride, which sells out a peace hero like Bradley Manning to curry favor with the American ruling class, is what I had in mind. The empire loves your tameness, irrelevance and cowardice, SF Pride. You don’t bother the American ruling class — a five foot two, 105 pound soldier does because he has a conscience and because he didn’t make comfort the guiding principle of his life...." —Randy Shields
Mar 302011
 

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch | Aug. 10, 2010, 12:45 a.m.
Reposted on March 30, 2011

Gold. Tax cuts. Debts. Wars. Fat Cats. Class gap. No fiscal discipline

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy.” Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, Ronald Reagan’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “Four Deformations of the Apocalypse.”

Get it? Not “destroying.” The GOP has already “destroyed” the U.S. economy, setting up an “American Apocalypse.” Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 8:59 pm
Mar 302011
 

But remember that Wall Street is merely a symptom of big corporate capitalism, the underlying disease.  

By David Korten, YES! Magazine

Posted on March 30, 2011

In an earlier day, our rulers were kings and emperors. Now they are corporate CEOs and hedge fund managers. Wall Street is Empire’s most recent stage. Its reign will mark the end of the tragic drama of a 5,000 year Era of Empire. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 5:43 pm
Mar 302011
 

Commentary: A ‘Super-Rich Delusion’ is leading us to ruin

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch1March 29, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EDT

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, tax the Super Rich. Tax them now. Before the other 99% rise up, trigger a new American Revolution, a meltdown and the Great Depression 2.

Revolutions build over long periods — to critical mass, a flash point. Then they ignite suddenly, unpredictably. Like Egypt, started on a young Google executive’s Facebook page. Then it goes viral, raging uncontrollably. Can’t be stopped. Here in America the set-up is our nation’s pervasive “Super-Rich Delusion.” Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 5:04 pm
Mar 302011
 

A company with a long history of corporate abuses and reactionary positions, including support for the worst American politicians, dictators, and practices injurious to animals and nature. Its opposition to labor unions is as virulent as it’s legendary.

Fatima Goss Graves | Thursday 24 March 2011

DVD cover for Robert Greenwald's documentary "Walmart, the High Cost of Low Price".

No matter how available wage data is sliced and diced, a single truth remains: a wage gap exists between male and female workers. On average, full-time female workers make 23 percent less than male full-time workers. And for women of color, the gap in wages is even larger. African American women and Hispanic women working full-time make far less, on average — 62 percent and 53 percent respectively — compared to white, non-Hispanic men. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 4:26 pm
Mar 302011
 
Why Governor LePage Can’t Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House 

By Robert Reich

See also: Indecent Slimeballs, on this site.

March 24, 2011

LePage: Calling him a miserable bastard is much too kind for what he really is.

Maine Governor Paul LePage has ordered state workers to remove from the state labor department a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history. Among other things the mural illustrates the 1937 shoe mill strike in Auburn and Lewiston. It also features the iconic “Rosie the Riveter,” who in real life worked at the Bath Iron Works. One panel shows my predecessor at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was buried in Newcastle, Maine. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 3:54 pm
Mar 302011
 

Admiral Mullen’s Secret Deal

By SHAUKAT QADIR
Originally published by CounterPunch

Ashfaq Kiyani

ON FEBRUARY 23, at a beach resort, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani, Pakistan army’s chief assisted by a two star officer met with Admiral Mike Mullen, US Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, assisted by Gen. David Petraeus, and three other high ranking officials, to find a military-diplomatic solution to untangle this web that CIA operatives had spun around both governments. This has been a fairly consistent tradition. On every occasion when relations between Pakistan and the United States have soured (a not infrequent occurrence) the militaries have remained in contact and, invariably, have found a way forward. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:
 Posted by at 2:09 pm