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
  • Apple’s tax dodge: The case for public ownership

    Apple’s tax dodge: The case for public ownership

    Guest Editorials— By Andre Damon, wsws.org The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report Monday showing that electronics giant Apple Inc. uses offshore tax shelters to avoid taxes on the majority of its income and cheated the US government out of $9 billion in 2012 alone. That same day, a tornado leveled the town [...]

  • Rise Up or Die

    Rise Up or Die

     By Chris Hedges Joe Sacco and I spent two years reporting from the poorest pockets of the United States for our book “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.”We went into our nation’s impoverished “sacrifice zones”—the first areas forced to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace—to show what happens when unfettered corporate capitalism and ceaseless economic expansion [...]

  • Religious Barbarians

    Religious Barbarians

    From Tbilisi to Worchester by CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI (With report & VIDEO by PressTV, see addendum below) It was humanity at its best.  Showing compassion for the quick and the dead.  The quick made news in Tbilisi, Georgia.  The dead made news in Worcester, Massachusetts. Did you like this? Share it:

  • The Strange Trial of Ríos Montt

    The Strange Trial of Ríos Montt

    Despite Annulment, Genocide Trial a Breakthrough for Justice and Truth by LUZ MENDEZ The sentence of 80 years in prison against former de facto president Efraín Ríos Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during Guatemala’s armed conflict, emitted on May 10, 2013, was annulled by the Constitutional Court ten days later. The court’s [...]

  • Russians pick best ruler of USSR and pre-Putin Russia

    Russians pick best ruler of USSR and pre-Putin Russia

    SOURCE: Pravda.ru Among all leaders of the Soviet Union and the pre-Putin Russia, Russians are most positive about Leonid Brezhnev. As many as 56 percent of respondents praised his work while 29 percent said that they shared a negative attitude to his persona. Did you like this? Share it:

  • Why Disinformation Works —

    Why Disinformation Works —

    By Paul Craig Roberts Have you ever wondered how the government’s misinformation gains traction?What I have noticed is that whenever a stunning episode occurs, such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon bombing, most everyone whether on the right or left goes along with the government’s explanation, because they can hook their agenda to the government’s [...]

  • The Silent Death of the American Left

    The Silent Death of the American Left

    Generation Leftover by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR, Counterpunch Is there a Left in America today? There is, of course, a Left ideology, a Left of the mind, a Left of theory and critique. But is there a Left movement? Does the Left exist as an oppositional political, cultural or economic force? Is anyone intimidated or restrained [...]

  • UK soldier killed in London in reprisal for Afghanistan and Iraq wars

    UK soldier killed in London in reprisal for Afghanistan and Iraq wars

    By Robert Stevens,wsws.org The killing of drummer Lee Rigby, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, near London’s Woolwich army barracks on Wednesday was a horrific act. Rigby was first run down by two men in a car, who then set about him with knives and a cleaver. One of the men who carried out the [...]

Saving Orphan Baby Elephants {VIDEO)

 ANIMAL MARTYRDOM  Comments Off
Apr 102011
 

Orphan bonding with his "parent" figure. Many baby elephants are cared for by truly dedicated people. Regrettably, in the vast majority of cases these people are paid a pittance.

AN UNCONSCIONABLE NUMBER OF BABY ELEPHANTS become orphaned due to poaching throughout Africa and other regions, the majority of the killers motivated by monetary gain (the market for ivory is still strong in Asia, as rhino horn is in parts of Arabia, especially Yemen).

Poaching will remain unstoppable until poverty is drastically reduced, education about conservation is strengthened, other forms of income are devised for people in immediate contact with these magnificent animals, and governments take a stronger, systematic hand in protecting animals, an unlikely event considering the almost total absence of honest, intelligent, forceful and compassionate leadership (moral in the non-religious sense, as in simply “doing the right thing”), around the world, including the US, of course. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 9:21 pm

And Now for the Kill

 CLASS STRUGGLE, HEADLINERS, HUMBUG CENTRAL  Comments Off
Apr 102011
 

BY DAVID MICHAEL GREEN

ONE OF THE MORE INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS  in American history is something that actually didn’t happen. But if one wants to gain some appreciation of the degree to which our public sphere has deteriorated over time, it’s worth remembering this non-event.

When Dwight Eisenhower came to the presidency in 1953, it was the first time in an entire generation that a Republican had held the office. Prior to that time, the GOP had led the country into unparalleled economic destruction, refused to do anything about the nightmare they’d created, lost five presidential elections running, and sat on the sidelines while Democratic presidents guided the US through a few slightly consequential events like the Great Depression, World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 8:36 pm

The impotence of the loyal partisan voter

 HEADLINERS, LIBERAL BETRAYALS, Obama, VIDEOS  Comments Off
Apr 102011
 

By Glenn Greenwald

Obama: He took us in once and he has a good chance of doing it again. The "Lesser Evil" bogeyman will take care of that.

Rachel Maddow last night issued a very harsh and eloquent denunciation of Obama’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before a military commission at Guantanamo rather than a real court. At the end of her monologue, Maddow focused on the contrast between how the Republicans treat their base and how Democrats treat theirs, specifically emphasizing that the White House announced this decision on the same day it kicked off Obama’s re-election bid. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 7:54 pm

Suppressing Truth and Promoting War: A New York Times Tradition

 CLASS STRUGGLE, HEADLINERS, MEDIA SCUM  Comments Off
Apr 102011
 
Prostitution in the carnal sense is nothing compared to political prostitution, the selling of ideas for an indecent purpose.  At that, the biggest harlot in the world is the Western Media, followed (or aped) closely by the rest of the unthinking “minimedias” sprinkled around the so-called free world. In the US, the august New York Times, the fabled “Grey Lady,” and its comrade in crime, The Washington Post, along with the Big Four TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX) serve as the main venues to whitewash the blatantly immoral policies of the current status quo. —Eds

Bob McChesney

By Stephen Lendman
A LENDMAN DISPATCH

According to media scholar/critic Robert McChesney, today’s corporate journalism is co-opted, corrupted, gutted, and virtually worthless as a source of real news, information and analysis. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 2:27 pm