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
  • The major sea change in media discussions of Obama and civil liberties

    The major sea change in media discussions of Obama and civil liberties

    The controversies over the IRS and especially the AP phone records appear to have long-lasting effects By Glenn Greenwald,  guardian.co.uk  Barack Obama Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images Due to the controversies over the IRS and (especially) the DOJ’s attack on AP’s news gathering process, media outlets have suddenly decided that President Obama has a very poor record [...]

  • Argentina’s General Videla and the “war on terror”

    Argentina’s General Videla and the “war on terror”

    By Bill Van Auken, wsws.org Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla died May 17 at the age of 87 as the result of injuries suffered from a fall in a prison shower. He was remembered as the head of a savage military dictatorship that between 1976 and 1983 murdered and “disappeared” some 30,000 Argentine workers, socialist militants, [...]

  • Rise Up or Die

    Rise Up or Die

     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 [...]

  • PBS Killed Wisconsin Uprising Documentary "Citizen Koch" To Appease Koch Brothers

    PBS Killed Wisconsin Uprising Documentary “Citizen Koch” To Appease Koch Brothers

    By Brendan Fischer, PRWatch | Report “Citizen Koch,” a documentary about money in politics focused on the Wisconsin uprising, was shunned by PBS for fear of offending billionaire industrialist David Koch, who has given $23 million to public television, according to Jane Mayer of the New Yorker. The dispute highlights the increasing role of private money in “public” television and raises [...]

  • Why Obama Will Walk Away Unscathed by the Current Political Scandals

    Why Obama Will Walk Away Unscathed by the Current Political Scandals

    by Pascal Robert, Black Agenda Report Don’t worry about Barack Obama. He’s far too useful to the rulers of America to be derailed by scandal, or even a combination of scandals. “Obama’s neoliberal government giveaways to private corporations and mercenary foreign policy already make him too valuable to the guardians of American empire to have [...]

  • Obama's War on Free Expression

    Obama’s War on Free Expression

    by Stephen Lendman It’s the most fundamental right. Without it all others are endangered. Obama’s waging war to destroy it. He’s done so throughout his tenure.  He targeted AP. He did so unjustifiably. A previous article discussed it. Did you like this? Share it:

  • The Jesuit Pope – Who is Francis and who he pretends to be

    The Jesuit Pope – Who is Francis and who he pretends to be

    Written by Esquerda Marxista editorial board Wednesday, 15 May 2013 The election of Pope Francis marks a turn in the prolonged crisis of the Catholic Church. It is important for revolutionaries to understand the reasons for the ongoing struggle within the Church. Far from moving to the left, Francis is trying to entrench the Church in [...]

  • Apple CEO defends multi-billion-dollar tax dodge

    Apple CEO defends multi-billion-dollar tax dodge

    By Andre Damon, wsws.org   Apple CEO Tim Cook used his appearance Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations—called to investigate Apple’s evasion of billions of dollars in taxes—to call for a sharp reduction in the corporate tax rate. The senators on the committee, Democratic and Republican alike, agreed with Cook [...]

German reporter goes underground at Fundamentalist Christian Madrassa Patrick Henry College

 AMERICAN STUDIES, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, CONSERVATIVES & REACTION, CULTURE & CRITICISM  1 Response »
Nov 232012
 

German reporter goes underground at Patrick Henry College – America’s Madrassa

Published by DIALOG INTERNATIONAL
German-American Opinion: Politics & Culture

Amrai Coen, a writer for Die Zeit, wanted to visit Patrick Henry College, but the college administration refused her visit since the school had “bad experiences with foreign journalists.”  Undeterred, Amrai posed as a prospective student and showed up on campus on “Visitor’s Day”.  Her piece on her experience that day provides a rare inside glimpse of life at America’s Madrassa,   Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Target vs. Wal-Mart

 AMERICAN STUDIES, ANTI-CORPORATISM, THE LABOR FRONT  Comments Off
Nov 232012
 

Is Target Corporation Any Better for Workers?


By Chris Serres
(First published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2005)

It was the fall of 2001, and a chorus of boos erupted at Target’s annual sales meeting when a senior executive at the company flashed Wal-Mart’s name and logo on an enlarged screen.

“This,” he said, pointing at the logo, “is the evil empire.”  For years, Target has cultivated an image of itself as the “anti-Wal-Mart,” a retailer that refuses to sacrifice workplace standards in the pursuit of higher sales and stock prices. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

6 Reasons the Fiscal Cliff is a Scam

 ANTI-CORPORATISM, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CLASS STRUGGLE, CORPORATE OWNED PARTIES, GREAT HYPOCRISY, LIBERAL BETRAYALS, MEDIA SCUM, PLUTOCRATIC POWER, PUTRID CORPOMEDIA  Comments Off
Nov 232012
 

 By James K. Galbraith

Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military.  It was policy-making by hostage-taking, timed for the lame duck session, a contrived crisis, the plain idea now unfolding was to force a stampede.

In the nature of stampedes arguments become confused; panic flows from fear, when multiple forces – economic and political in this instance – all appear to push the same way.  It is therefore useful to sort through those forces, breaking them down into separate questions, and to ask whether any of them justify the voices of doom. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Woody Guthrie at 100: Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Will Kaufman Honor the “Dust Bowl Troubadour”

 ACTIVISTS & HEROES, AMERICAN STUDIES, BETTER HUMANITY, CITIZEN TOOLS, CLASS STRUGGLE  Comments Off
Nov 232012
 

Commemorations are being held across the country this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the country’s greatest songwriters, Woody Guthrie. Born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, Guthrie wrote hundreds of folk songs, including, “This Land Is Your Land,” “Pastures of Plenty,” “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Do Re Mi” and “The Ranger’s Command.” While Guthrie is best remembered as a musician, he also had a deeply political side. At the height of McCarthyism, Guthrie spoke out for labor and civil rights and against fascism. In this one-hour special, you will hear interviews and music from folk singer Pete Seeger, the British musician Billy Bragg, and the historian Will Kaufman, author of the new book, “Woody Guthrie, American Radical.” Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it:

Superstorm Sandy, the dangers of Toxic Mold, and a theory potentially explaining ‘Sick Building Syndrome’

 CITIZEN TOOLS, CLIMATE CHANGE, HEALTH & MEDICINE  Comments Off
Nov 232012
 

Introduction by Ritt Goldstein
Theory by Dr. Bernt Danielsson and Ritt Goldstein
Copyright November 2012

The water damage inside this apartment—typical of countless homes in the stricken area— almost guarantees the onset of mold, unless extreme remedial measures are taken immediately.

As many still struggle to address the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, another facet of this epic battle is underway, though, many remain unaware of it.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of the people of New Orleans found themselves faced with unusual health symptoms, respiratory problems being the most common and obvious among these.  They coined a name for such airways issues – Katrina Cough. Continue reading »

Did you like this? Share it: