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 [...]
What the Syrian Constitution says about Assad and the Rebels
By Stephen Gowans, What’s Left The idea that the uprising against the Syrian government is inspired by a grassroots movement thirsting for a pluralist, democratic state is a fiction. The opposition’s chief elements are Islamists who seek to establish a Sunni-dominated Islamic state in place of a Syrian government they revile for being secular and [...]
ARCHIVES: The U.S. Left and Media Politics
Articles of compelling importance you should have read but missed the first time around. Robert W. McChesney, Monthly Review, a fraternal organization ••• American democracy is in deep trouble. Cynicism and distrust of the political system, fueled at least in part by imposed ignorance, have grown steadily in recent years. There are several reasons for [...]
The Unseen Lies: Journalism As Propaganda
JOHN PILGER: One of my favorite stories about the Cold War concerns a group of Russian journalists who were touring the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by the host for their impressions. “I have to tell you,” said the spokesman, “that we were astonished to find after reading [...]
MADISON, WI — DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy today released the results of a year-long investigation: “Dissent or Terror: How the Nation’s Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street.”The report, a distillation of thousands of pages of records obtained from counter terrorism/law enforcement agencies, details [...]
Chronicles of Inequality [TOO MUCH, 20 May 2013)
May 20, 2013 THIS WEEK Oh, please, spare us any more pious declarations. After a week of “IRS scandal,” we simply can’t bear another bogus claim that we’re witnessing one of the “most shameful abuses of government power in 20th-century American history.”We’re witnessing no such thing. Let’s be clear about what’s really happened: An understaffed and overburdened IRS office [...]
BY STEPHEN LENDMAN Permanent war is longstanding policy. America deplores peace. Throughout its history, it’s waged war annually at home and/or abroad. Today it does so globally. Giving peace a chance is loathed. Direct or proxy wars rage in multiple countries. Did you like this? Share it:
The decomposition of American democracy
BY TOM CARTER, WSWS.ORG On Thursday, Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Sheehan told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the war on terror would continue at least another 10 or 20 years. Alluding to last month’s lockdown of Boston, he said the president and the military would continue to assert “wartime” powers, unchecked by Congress or [...]
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Chris Hedges on Christopher Hitchens (radio interview)
Christopher Hitchens is remembered here by Chris Hedges (above), who faced off against Hitchens in his writing and public debate about U.S. foreign policy and Hitchens’ brand of atheism. Chris Hedges is the author of books including “The World As It Is”, “Death of The Liberal Class”, “Empire of Illusion”, and “I Don’t Believe In Atheists.” (Intro courtesy by CBC). Continue reading »
Dave Lindorff
Ron Paul’s positions are not all to be dismissed out of hand, and many promise far more honesty and democratic government (not to mention an anti-imperialist stance) than any of his opponents’ platforms (which are execrable, of course). But his libertarianism is a huge obstacle to his acceptance as a well-rounded political solution to the myriad problem facing the American republic. As the author says, “Libertarianism is at its core an ugly anti-social philosophy of selfishness carried to the extreme. It is the antithesis of all that has been good in human social evolution — the creation of philosophies of caring and of societies in which suffering and want are addressed and, where possible, ameliorated.”
Ron Paul says he’d end the wars, end the drug “war” and “war” on terror, and respect the Bill of Rights. Who else would do that?
It’s fascinating to watch the long knives coming out for Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, now that according to some mainstream polls he has become the front-running candidate in the Jan. 3 GOP caucus race in Iowa, and perhaps also in the first primary campaign in New Hampshire.
Remember, we’re talking about a guy who has been in Congress on and off for 12 terms, dating back to 1976. His views have been pretty consistent, and because he has run for president several times, also pretty well known. A practicing physician who claims to have helped in the births of over 4000 babies in his career, the 76-year-old Paul is a free-market advocate, an abortion opponent, an uncompromising defender of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, an opponent of government regulation, the Federal Reserve and the IRS, and of big government in general–especially big federal government. Continue reading »