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
  • Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby versus Prince Harry and his polo-playing American friends

    Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby versus Prince Harry and his polo-playing American friends

    By David Walsh, wsws.org “Prince Harry rounded off his hugely successful week-long tour of the U.S. today very much in his comfort zone – playing polo. … He was greeted by club founder Peter Brandt [sic] and his model wife, Stephanie Seymour. Brandt, 65, – whose wife is 44 – is an American industrialist and [...]

  • Should the US bomb Syria?

    Should the US bomb Syria?

    By Stephen Gowans, What’s Left There is no compelling evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the rebel forces which seek its overthrow, and for purely military reasons, it’s highly unlikely that they have been used. Simply put, the Syrian army can kill more rebels with missiles, tanks and heavy artillery, even [...]

  • A new film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    A new film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    By David Walsh, wsws.org Directed by Baz Luhrmann, co-written by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald “It’s not all rubbish,” cried Amory passionately. “This is the first time in my life I’ve argued Socialism. It’s the only panacea I know. I’m restless. My whole generation is restless. I’m sick [...]

  • Obama’s New Appointments Prove that He Will Continue to Lick Wall Street’s Boots In His Second Term

    Obama’s New Appointments Prove that He Will Continue to Lick Wall Street’s Boots In His Second Term

    by WashingtonsBlog Puts Fox In Charge of the Henhouse … Again The party line is that Obama’s new pick for SEC boss – Mary Jo White – will be tough on Wall Street. For example, the Wall Street Journal writes: Obama Taps Ex-Prosecutor Mary Jo White, Portending Increased Policing of Wall Street In reality, this is putting the [...]

  • Pole dancing for the faint-hearted

    Let the Real Housewives try this for a change. Did you like this? Share it:

  • IRS Scandal Headlines: More Than Meets the Eye

    IRS Scandal Headlines: More Than Meets the Eye

    by Stephen Lendman More than targeting political enemies is involved. More on than below. The practice is longstanding. Republican and Democrat administrations use the IRS abusively.  During the Coolidge administration, Republican Senator James Couzens investigated the IRS’ predecessor – the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).  Did you like this? Share it:

  • Putin v. Obama et al

    Putin v. Obama et al

    by Stephen Lendman On May 16, the Wall Street Journal headlined “Russia Raises Stakes in Syria,” saying: Russia “sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Syria, a buildup that US and European officials see as a newly aggressive stance meant partly to warn the West and Israel not to intervene [...]

  • CBS media turd Scott Pelley pontificates about US journalism

    CBS media turd Scott Pelley pontificates about US journalism

    The Problem With Journalism? Scott Pelley Blames the Internet By Peter Hart, FAIR When big-time reporters decide to try their hands at media criticism, the results are usually disappointing–but they can also be quite revealing.  So when a video of CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley started to making the rounds, the headlines associated with it piqued my interest. Over [...]

PSA: Stop Internet interference on behalf of fat cats.

 ACTIVISTS & HEROES, ANNOTATED NEWS, CORPORATE OWNED PARTIES, CULTURE & CRITICISM  Comments Off
Jul 112012
 

Editor’s Note: I just received this communication.  The cause seems just, the demand for support indispensable. We’re happy to help spread the word. Help by passing this PSA along to your friends.  We all depend on a free Internet and a powerful Wikipedia. The original alert is HERE.—PG

Hi, I am Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and if you care about justice and the future of the Internet freedom, Demand Progress and I need your help. 

R. O’Dwyer: People’s needs for information and legitimate leisure or the right of endless wealth accumulation?

This will only take a few seconds, but you can really help us change things for the better.

Richard O’Dwyer is a 24 year old British student at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He is facing extradition to the USA and up to ten years in prison, for creating a website – TVShack.net – which linked (similarly to a search-engine) to places to watch TV and movies online.

O’Dwyer is not a US citizen, he’s lived in the UK all his life, his site was not hosted there, and most of his users were not from the US. America is trying to prosecute a UK citizen for an alleged crime which took place on UK soil. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 11:39 pm

UK Democracy in Terminal Decline

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Jul 112012
 

By Stephen Lendman

Like America, UK democracy long ago passed the point of no return. Arguably it never existed.

Britain’s “Democratic Audit” (DA) says it’s in terminal decline.

DA is a University of Liverpool-based independent research organization. It studies the quality and effectiveness of UK democracy.  It published three previous audits in 1996, 1999 and 2002. Its new one is damning.  It evaluated UK democracy based on 75 criteria. They’re “derived from established international standards….” Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 11:26 pm

OpEds: Obama campaigns for “tax fairness”

 ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, GREAT HYPOCRISY  1 Response »
Jul 112012
 

By Tom Eley, WSWS.ORG
Thank you, WSWS.ORG

 

In a bid to boost his reelection campaign, US President Barack Obama delivered a speech Monday declaring his support for a one year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, limited to households making under $250,000 a year, the bottom 98 percent. Obama followed up the speech with a campaign appearance the following day in Iowa, appearing before a select group of “hard-working Americans” who would ostensibly benefit from his tax proposal.

The Bush tax cuts, which have disproportionately benefited the rich, were put in place in 2001 and 2003 with significant Democratic Party support, particularly in the US Senate. They have cost the federal treasury between $1.5 trillion and $1.8 trillion, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and the New York Times, respectively. The resulting budget deficits have been used as a pretext to slash social spending and attack the wages and jobs of federal workers. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 3:37 pm

The devil wears pretty

 ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, CITIZEN TOOLS  10 Responses »
Jul 112012
 

Steelman: Bo Derek-beautiful on the outside; ugly as hell on the inside. A common combination in reactionary circles.

By Patrice Greanville

The devil may wear Prada, sometimes, but it almost always wears a pretty face.  Fools the masses more easily that way.  I’m referring, of course, to the battalions of Republican women whose looks remind us more of Barbie dolls, beauty queens, models or tv announcers than political operatives for the vilest political party ever to disgrace this benighted land. (Male specimens also abound of this political disease.)

Boundless ambition and a sense of entitlement, a sociopathic lack of moral principles and compassion, and a flat, self-complacent intellect characterize them. And plenty of hypocrisy, the indispensable career glue for any run-of-the-mill American politician or public figure. 

For under those movie-star looks and gleaming, multimillion-dollar smiles, beats the great contradiction: a heart largely devoid of kindness, a moral flaw these people sport (or brag about) among their peers with the  banal abandon of someone insulated from real criticism, let alone introspection. Meanwhile, the corporate courtesan media, alternatively cowardly, dull, or outright celebratory of such types, shows no intellectual curiosity to even broach these subjects. 

Well, let’s face it: It’s probably a class question.  We’re talking about the face of privilege or good fortune, a golden journey that usually starts with a big win on the genetic and birth lottery.  Regarding that cold heart, just check the addendum story and video below.  It speaks volumes about why these people deserve public rebuke and opprobrium instead of praise and admiration.
Continue reading »

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OpEds: Globalizing the Intifada

 ACTIVISTS & HEROES, ANNOTATED NEWS, ANTIWAR, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CLASS STRUGGLE  1 Response »
Jul 112012
 

Globalizing the Intifada

By William T. Hathaway

M. Gandhi: Apostle of nonviolence, but only up to a point.

The invaders have surrounded and attacked us, conquered here and there, and built their bases in our lands. So we attack the invaders where we can, determined to retake our lands and drive them out. We would prefer not to be warriors. We would rather raise our children in the ways of kindness. But for our children to have a future, we must now be warriors. So be it. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 1:14 pm