If McCain Had Won ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, CLASS STRUGGLE 1 Response » Jul 172011 By Fred Branfman, Truthdig Crosspost with http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/if_mccain_had_won_20110715/ D E M O C R A T S were united on one issue in the 2008 presidential election: the absolute disaster that a John McCain victory would have produced. And they were right. McCain as president would clearly have produced a long string of catastrophes: He would probably have approved a failed troop surge in Afghanistan, engaged in worldwide extrajudicial assassination, destabilized nuclear-armed Pakistan, failed to bring Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to the negotiating table, expanded prosecution of whistle-blowers, sought to expand executive branch power, failed to close Guantanamo, failed to act on climate change, pushed both nuclear energy and opened new areas to domestic oil drilling, failed to reform the financial sector enough to prevent another financial catastrophe, supported an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, presided over a growing divide between rich and poor, and failed to lower the jobless rate. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
Cellulosic Fantasy ANNOTATED NEWS, ENVIRONMENTAL STRUGGLES, SAVING THE PLANET Comments Off Jul 172011 Ending Corn Ethanol Subsidies By STEVE BREYMAN Many observers are still abuzz from the surprise move by the US Senate to try to end subsidies for corn ethanol. The subsidies, which run out at year’s end, come in two forms, direct and indirect. Refiners, including Valero Oil, Marathon Oil, and Koch Brother interests receive direct payments of $.45/gallon from the US Department of Agriculture. Nearly as sweet is the $.54/gallon tariff on imported ethanol (cheaper sugar cane derived alcohol from Brazil). Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
The Deadening Silence ANNOTATED NEWS, ANTIWAR, US Foreign Policy Comments Off Jul 172011 Propaganda, Fear, Distractions & Interests By JOAN ROELOFS There have been many theories as to why the US continues to batter various parts of the world—oil, hegemony, the great game, the military-industrial complex, military Keynesianism, Zionism, Presidential glory, genetic aggression tendency, terrorism, population control, protecting us against those who hate our freedoms, promoting democracy, etc. This discussion will not be my subject. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
Selling Wars—what we really should be charging these criminals with ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, INDECENT SLIMEBALLS Comments Off Jul 172011 The Blood on Murdoch’s Hands By DAVID SWANSON Nailing Rupert Murdoch for his employees’ phone tapping or bribery would be a little like bringing down Al Capone for tax fraud, or George W. Bush for torture. I’d be glad to see it happen but there’d still be something perverse about it. I remember how outraged Americans were in 2005 learning about our government’s warrantless spying, or for that matter how furious some of my compatriots become when a census form expects them to reveal how many bathrooms are in their home. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
Deficit Reduction Versus Democracy ANNOTATED NEWS, CLASS STRUGGLE Comments Off Jul 172011 By Shamus Cooke | Global Research These men are far from levelling with the American people. Listening to Congress debate deficit deduction is like listening to a den of lions discuss the welfare of zebras. In both cases the debate is very one-sided. Democrats and Republicans sound disagreeable on TV, but their arguments differ by the tiniest of degrees (like lions fighting over how best to eat a zebra.) The zebras in this case are U.S. working people, who are not seeing their interests represented by their so-called representatives. Instead of fixing the national deficit in the way that the vast majority of Americans would like, only the opinions of a tiny minority of very rich people are being considered. Both political parties are uniting to reduce the deficits on the backs of working people. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
CounterPunch Diary: NATO’s Debacle in Libya ANNOTATED NEWS, IMPERIALISM, US Foreign Policy Comments Off Jul 172011 By ALEXANDER COCKBURN Muammar al-Gaddafi: A much tougher nut than expected buy the neocolonialists, and with an actual base of support. Libya is NOT Egypt. After three and a half months of bombing and arms supply to various rebel factions, NATO’s failure in its efforts to promote “regime change” in Libya is now glaring. Obviously NATO’s commanders are still hoping that a lucky bomb may kill Gaddafi, but to date the staying power has been with the Libyan leader, whereas it is the relevant NATO powers who are fighting among themselves. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
Casey Anthony Walked Thanks to Grover Norquist & His Anti-Tax Congressional Minions ANNOTATED NEWS, IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE, Law & Judiciary Comments Off Jul 172011 By Rob Kall Grover Norquist (flickr image by Gage Skidmore) In the movie King Kong, there was that famous line, “It was beauty that killed the beast.” Well, it was Grover Norquist and his minions of Republican members of Congress who signed his no taxes commitment who let Casey Anthony walk. It’s become very clear that the reason she was found not guilty was because of a bad call by the prosecution, asking for the death penalty when they couldn’t even show cause of death. CNN reported on attorney Jeffrey Toobin’s commentary, “…the prosecution’s decision to make this a death penalty case. “(This) always seemed like a wrong decision to me, given the … absence of a cause of death (and) a time of death,” Toobin said. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
D E M O C R A T S were united on one issue in the 2008 presidential election: the absolute disaster that a John McCain victory would have produced. And they were right. McCain as president would clearly have produced a long string of catastrophes: He would probably have approved a failed troop surge in Afghanistan, engaged in worldwide extrajudicial assassination, destabilized nuclear-armed Pakistan, failed to bring Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to the negotiating table, expanded prosecution of whistle-blowers, sought to expand executive branch power, failed to close Guantanamo, failed to act on climate change, pushed both nuclear energy and opened new areas to domestic oil drilling, failed to reform the financial sector enough to prevent another financial catastrophe, supported an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, presided over a growing divide between rich and poor, and failed to lower the jobless rate. Continue reading »
