Jun 042011
 

The Arab World Views the American President With Contempt

By ROBERT FISK

This month, in the Middle East, has seen the unmaking of the President of the United States. More than that, it has witnessed the lowest prestige of America in the region since Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz on the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake in 1945.

While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America’s new role in the region. It was pathetic. “What is this ‘role’ thing?” an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. “Do they still believe we care about what they think?” Continue reading »

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Jun 042011
 

By SAUL LANDAU and NELSON VALDÉS

President Obama and his advisers share with most of the mass media the same visual weakness when it comes to Cuba: they don’t see the obvious, the crucial facts and context that stare them in the face.

As Cuba begins to undergo basic changes to its economy and governmental structure, the reporting from western media follows predictably context-free and thus irrelevant standards. Continue reading »

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Jun 042011
 

Going Up, Not Down

By RUSSELL MOKHIBER

Last month, the New York Times ran an article titled – “Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts.”
The article baffled David Friedrichs.

Friedrichs is a criminologist at the University of Scranton.
From his perspective, major crimes – corporate and white collar crimes – were on the increase, not in decline.
So, for the first time in his illustrious career, he dashed off a letter to the editor. And lo and behold, last week, the Times printed it. Continue reading »

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Jun 042011
 

By Kristen Gwynne, AlterNet

As hardworking Americans lose their jobs, homes and livelihoods, the watchdog group iWatch News recently reported that the Obama administration is upping its number of federally owned, taxpayer purchased limousines. If that is not ironic enough, consider this: Just last week, President Obama issued an executive order requiring government agencies to increase the fuel efficiency of their fleets.

“Hey Hillary, hot ride!”

According to a report by iWatchNews, the number of government-owned limos increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration, and most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department. While she and other officials in the department may think cruising around like rock stars is a good look, people with even the most humble appreciation for an economic crisis may consider the luxury obnoxious, to say the least. To taxpaying citizens who have had their cars repossessed or choose to take public transportation to save some of their hard-earned money, it is offensive.  Continue reading »

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Jun 042011
 

It’s the Military, Stupid!: Don’t Blame America’s Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare (Especially on Memorial Day Weekend)

By Dave Lindorff

Amid all the nonsense and gobbledegook that has been written about banking industry and about the economic slump during the last four years of the global financial crisis, New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson has stood out both for the clarity of her analysis, and for her willingness to go after the guilty parties in the political and especially the banking system, naming names and calling it as she sees it. Continue reading »

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