The Greanville Post —Vol. VII- 2013

Something to think about—(put cursor over scroller to stop it)

We're engaged in a protracted mass communications battle, a contest of propagandas, Their object is to prop up the system's legitimacy; ours precisely the opposite. The core of a system's illegitimacy is nothing more nor less than its easily demonstrable Orwellian nature. If it claims to be a democracy it must be a plutocracy; if it proclaims to defend the safety of its population, it actively endangers it; if it struts around loudly shouting its allegiance to freedom and the rule of law, it is in actuality a cynical hidden dictatorship; If it brags about its "free press", then you know for sure that it is an abject, servile tool of the power elites. Of course the most infamous contradiction is that when this hypocritical scum kneel before the altar of peace they are actively engaged in making war. On and on. Always the opposite of what it claims. In America, especially, anyone awake can see that readily. But unfortunately the majority are still asleep.—Sean Lenihan •••The cowardice and duplicity of Congress, above all, the Democrats, and the subservience of the media, exhibited in their response to the exposure of the NSA spying programs, encourage the military and intelligence agencies to go even further in their drive toward dictatorship. Mark Udall, the Democratic senator presented as the most “outspoken” critic of the spying programs, began his interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program by pledging his support to the “war on terror” and denouncing leaks of classified information.—Barry Grey••••From Athens to Paris to Brazil, there is growing realization that politics as usual just won’t cut it anymore. We will always lose if we play by their rules rather than invent new forms of struggle, new social movements, and new sensibilities. The defense of the earth requires immediate and decisive action: logging roads need to be blocked, driftnets need to be cut, and cages need to be emptied. But these are piecemeal and reactive measures, and in addition to these tactics, radical movements and alliances must be built that unites struggles on behalf of humanity, nonhuman animals, and the earth in a politics of total liberation. Resistance is the oxygen of the future. Live to resist, resist to live.—Steve Best••••For 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.

Keystone XL Activists Labeled Possible Eco-Terrorists
Green Scare Continues by STEVE HORN Documents recently obtained by Bold Nebraska [1] show that TransCanada – owner of the hotly-contested Keystone XL (KXL) [2] tar sands pipeline – has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska [3], labeling non-violent activists as possible candidates for “terrorism” charges and other serious criminal charges. Did you like this? Share it:
Gangsta Government
Awake and Take Back Your Republic! by WILLIAM O’CONNOR “I’ll let you have the $10,000 for three points. That’s only because I know you.” I’m listening to Tony yak, my Shylock. Yak, yak has earned the moniker. He never gives his mouth a rest. Yak’s giving me the loan at street price: $30 for every [...]
Edward Snowden Had a Breaking Point, Where He Decided to Risk It All to Fix This Country — What’s Yours?
By Kevin Zeese [2], Margaret Flowers [3] When Edward Snowden [4] reached his breaking point, the world saw the truth about the vast extent of spying by the NSA on Americans and people around the world. In an act of conscience, Snowden released secret information, saying “My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their [...]
Spying, Control and Murder Under the Imperial Presidency
Surveillance and the Corporate State by ROB URIE With all of the fear mongering the subject has received in recent decades, Americans have in fact had remarkably little to fear directly from ‘terrorism.’ While actual attacks have been spectacular—they were designed to garner attention, they are both rare and far less dangerous than opportunistic politicians [...]
The Judicial Lynching of Bradley Manning
By Chris Hedges FORT MEADE, Md.—The military trial of Bradley Manning is a judicial lynching. The government has effectively muzzled the defense team. The Army private first class is not permitted to argue that he had a moral and legal obligation under international law to make public the war crimes he uncovered. The documents that [...]
Edward Snowden: Profile in Courage
Whistleblowing in the Name of the Constitution by CHRISTOPHER H. PYLE Edward Snowden may go down inhistory as one of this nation’s most important whistleblowers. He is certainly one of the bravest. The 29-year-old former technical assistant to the CIA and employee of a defense intelligence contractor has admitted to disclosing top secret documents about [...]
Camping Out: Roberto Benigni’s “Life Is Beautiful”
From our archives— Camping Out: Roberto Benigni’s “Life Is Beautiful” Kurt Jacobsen [from New Politics, vol. 7, no. 3 (new series), whole no. 27, Summer 1999] KURT JACOBSEN is a research associate in political science at the University of Chicago and reviews films for the London Guardian. Prefatory note: As a movie buff I was baffled and [...]
Memorable quotes from Snowden interview
Free citizen Dennis Leahy, affiliated with Facebook’s group Edward Snowden Supporters, to which I also subscribe, is making the following material available. Share as widely as you can.—Sean Lenihan Here is a listing of 27 quotes, pulled from the Edward Snowden interview: #1 “The majority of people in developed countries spend at least some time interacting [...]

Freedom Rider: The Evil of Two Lessers

ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, CLASS STRUGGLE, Obama Comments Off

Jul 062011

By BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“Not only is Obama keeping the country in a perpetual state of war,” but he abandons core Democratic programs “at the first sign of Republican resistance.” As a consequence the GOP, which has fought and schemed for decades to “starve the beast” by cutting social programs while fattening the military and the wealthy, “are closer than ever to seeing their dream realized.” No longer can it be said that the Democrats are the “lesser of two evils,” since they are the party in charge that is making the evils possible.

“Medicare and Medicaid are in danger because the president and the rest of the Democrats have acquiesced to Republican attacks on them.”

One of the Republicans’ major goals is to starve funding from any and all government programs which do not support military spending or the further enriching of corporations and wealthy individuals. They have worked towards this end for decades and, ironically, now, with a Democratic president, are closer than ever to seeing their dream realized. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Soft-Powering Cuba

ANNOTATED NEWS, LatinAm-CUBA, Political Vermin Comments Off

Jul 062011

Regime-Change in a Box

The malicious intrigues and hypocrisy never stop in Washington and the Republic of Miami to topple socialist Cuba, or damage the socialist project enough to insure a return to full-fledged capitalism, or something in between, as the “Chinese road.” The next decade will be critical for the people of Cuba if they wish to prevent the complete dismantlement of their revolution.

By ROBERT SANDELS

Fidel and kid brother Raul, longtime head of the army. How will they play their cards to salvage at least a portion of true socialism?

In March, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, placed a hold on a $20 million appropriation for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The money is for democracy promotion schemes in Cuba. Kerry’s purpose was to hold the funds hostage until the State Department responded to a series of questions he had about waste, mismanagement and the general ineffectiveness of the program to actually bring about democracy in Cuba.

USAID grantees in Cuba are soft-power agents engaged in covert subversion. Soft power, as described by its leading academic proponent Joseph E. Nye, Jr., is “getting others to want what you want.” His ideas, however, fell short of assisted regime change. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

The political lessons of Greece

ANNOTATED NEWS, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CLASS STRUGGLE, EU.Greece Comments Off

Jul 062011

By Stefan Steinberg, WSWS.ORG

A dictatorship of the banks is being established in Greece, which is to be a model for all of Europe and beyond. This is despite the fact that there has been no lack of militant struggles by Greek workers over the past year.

Jean-Claude Juncker: a willing, self-impressed shill for the global plutocracy.

Amid intense pressure from the international banks and the European Union, the Greek parliament last week passed a new package of austerity measures drawn up by the PASOK government of Prime Minister George Papandreou. This latest attack on the living standards and social rights of Greek workers will serve as a global benchmark, with devastating consequences for the European and international working class.

The European welfare state is to be torn to shreds in order to shore up the balance sheets of the European and international banks. A central demand of the banks incorporated into the new austerity package is the privatisation of state-owned industries and enterprises. Basic public services—heating, light, telecommunications—will be hived off to private companies to become a new source of corporate profit. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Obama administration shuts down investigations into Bush-era torture

ANNOTATED NEWS, GOVERNMENT CRIMES, INDECENT SLIMEBALLS, LIBERAL BETRAYALS Comments Off

Jul 062011

The system’s true face is seen in its secret dungeons, now resembling medieval horrors or worse.

By Tom Carter, WSWS.ORG

Eric Holder: As unwilling to do the right thing as his sponsor and boss at the White House.

As part of its cover-up of Bush administration war crimes, the Obama administration announced June 30 that it would shut down 99 investigations into deaths of prisoners in US custody during the so-called “war on terror,” leaving only two investigations with the potential to develop into criminal prosecutions.

The announcement underscores the fact that the anti-democratic policies developed during the presidency of George W. Bush continue unchallenged under President Barack Obama, who is doing everything in his power to keep the lid on the crimes of his predecessor.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration quickly and quietly erected a network of secret prisons and “black sites,” where opponents of US imperialism in the Middle East—as well as, in many cases, their friends, relatives and acquaintances—were jailed, tortured and murdered.

Did you like this? Share it:

Surprise! The corporate media suck: Chomsky vs. the Guardian

ANNOTATED NEWS, CITIZEN TOOLS, MEDIA SCUM Comments Off

Jul 062011

Dispatch from MediaLens—

Chavez: Always a target of opportunity for the battalions of imperialist shills sprinkled throughout the corporate media.

‘Extreme Dishonesty’ – The Guardian, Noam Chomsky and Venezuela

The headline of last Sunday’s Observer article on Venezuela set the tone for the slanted and opportunistic piece of political ‘reporting’ that followed:

‘Noam Chomsky denounces old friend Hugo Chávez for “assault” on democracy’.

And then the opening line launched into a barrage of spin:

‘Hugo Chávez has long considered Noam Chomsky one of his best friends in the west. He has basked in the renowned scholar’s praise for Venezuela’s socialist revolution and echoed his denunciations of US imperialism.’

The ironic sneer directed at the Venezuelan president apparently basking in Chomsky’s ‘praise’, and the sly hint of robotic ‘echoing’ of his buddy’s rants, were indicative of the bias, omissions and deceptions to follow. Reporter Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s South America correspondent, had just interviewed Chomsky and set about twisting the conversation into a propaganda piece. (For non-UK readers who may not know: the Observer is the Sunday sister publication of the Guardian newspaper). Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Let’s go again with the Lesser Evil: US teachers’ union endorses Obama for 2012 election

ANNOTATED NEWS, LIBERAL BETRAYALS, THE LABOR FRONT Comments Off

Jul 062011

US teachers’ union endorses Obama for 2012 election

By Alexander Fangmann and Jerry White , WSWS.ORG
6 July 2011

Obama: Lesser Evilism once again protects a corrupt politician from just retribution.

The National Education Association—whose 3.2 million members have been a major target of the Obama administration’s attack on public school teachers—became the first major union to endorse the Democratic president’s reelection bid in 2012.

On Monday, 72 percent of the 8,000 delegates attending the union’s national convention in Chicago endorsed the president for a second term. “President Barack Obama shares our vision for a stronger America,” Dennis Van Roekel, president of NEA, declared. “He has never wavered from talking about the importance of education or his dedication to a vibrant middle class.”

Indeed, the president never stops talking about the importance of education while his administration wages an unrelenting war against public education on behalf of the financial and corporate interests that are setting out to destroy it.

As for the president’s dedication to a “vibrant middle class” Van Roekel must be referring to the upper-middle-class managers who run the American trade unions. The NEA president made $397,721 in total compensation last year, nearly six times the salary of an average public school teacher. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Hemp and Peace, Freedom and Democracy

ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, HUMBUG CENTRAL, SAVING THE PLANET 1 Response »

Jul 062011

By Rand Clifford

Hemp is one of the most useful and versatile plants known to humanity.

What are America’s powerful elite afraid of most? At or near the top of the list we might find: hemp, peace, freedom, and democracy. Mainstream rhetoric insists otherwise—especially regarding peace, freedom, and democracy (hemp is kind of that family secret), but how often does mainstream rhetoric have much, if anything, to do with truth?

In the most general sense, it could be truth that scares elite the most; however, listed above are four things offering simpler and more specific details—and let’s save hemp for last since its prohibition cuts so deeply into the other three.

Democracy

Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest. But that was simply elite window dressing from a long line of strategic liars.

Did you like this? Share it:

Many topics to choose from

There’s violence and there’s violence

Revolutionary Violence vs Institutionalized Violence

"There were two 'Reigns of Terror,' if we could but remember and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million; but our shudders are all for the "horrors" of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror - that unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves..." —Mark Twain, writing about the French Revolution.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jun				Aug »
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31