Friday 31 August 2012
{Political_Views} South African miners charged with murder of colleagues shot by police - Telegraph
Let me get this straight. The police shoot down unarmed strikers killing 34 and then arrest 270 other strikers for their murder even though the police are filmed killing the miners.
Thursday 30 August 2012
{Political_Views} NATION OF CHANGE | Invisible Americans Get the Silent Treatment
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chris Hedges, Truthdig Op-Ed: Dave Eggers' gem of a book, "A Hologram for the King," is a parable about the decadence, fragility and heartlessness of late, decayed corporate capitalism. It is about the small, largely colorless men and women who serve as managers in our suicidal outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and the methodical breaking of labor unions. It is about the lie of globalization, a lie that impoverishes us all to increase corporate profits. 
Jake Bernstein , News Analysis: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's allies seemed to give a big old raspberry to presidential aspirant Mitt Romney on the front page of the New York Post today. Anonymous sources told the paper that Romney demanded Christie agree to resign the governorship if he was offered vice president on the GOP ticket. Christie was said to have declined since he didn't think Romney would win." 
Dean Baker, Op-Ed: Washington is the mecca for people across the country and around the world who have difficulty seeing the obvious. The economy tanked because the country had a huge housing bubble that burst. The collapse sent the economy into a long and severe recession because there was nothing that could replace the $1.4 trillion in annual demand that was generated by the housing bubble. In the absence of a stimulus program that was 2-3 times the size of the one President Obama put forward and considerably longer lasting, the economy was doomed to a prolonged period of unemployment. None of this is 20-20 hindsight; some of us said it repeatedly as clearly as possible in advance. 
Rebecca Leber, News Report: Last week, Mitt Romney unveiled a plan for "energy independence" by 2020, a proposal analysts calledunrealistic, in part because he would roll back the same initiatives responsible for lowering U.S. foreign oil consumption. Today, the Obama Administration is set to announce new rules that boost fuel efficiency to54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, which would save 3 million barrels of oil per day, 2 billion metric tons of carbon pollution, and create 570,000 jobs by 2030. 
Tad Daley, Op-Ed: "In 2011, people across the planet reached out to Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Millions watched as one nation after another rose in mass revolutions across the Arab world. The Occupy movement blossomed, as citizens in cities around the globe expressed rage over the excesses of capitalism and corporate power. And Timemagazine named 'The Protester' its annual Person of the Year." 
Susan Ferriss, News Analysis: Undocumented youths 15 to 30 years old certainly can't vote. But they are a large group — estimated at 800,000 to 1.7 million — that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn't think he can write off completely. Why? Conventional wisdom has it that Romney, to win, needs to peel off Latino votes from President Obama in key swing states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. Some Latino voters were once undocumented themselves, or know someone who was or is. 
Robert Reich, Video Feature: Romney never showed his own economic plan so he got a running mate who had one which he thinks is great. Robert Reich breaks down the five points of the Ryan economic plan: more unemployment, take from poor and give to rich, turn medicare into vouchers, adding money to defenses, won't reduce the budget deficit. 
George Lakey, Op-Ed: "The middle class is socialized to remain confused about power. That's how middle-class people can create narratives that ignore class struggle and assign the primary responsibility to — in the case of energy policy — consumers. The amount of privilege and the appearance of power given to middle class individuals make them especially prone to versions of 'blame the victims.' When middle-class people become aware enough to question their own favorite narratives, their educational attainment becomes a greater resource for social change." 
Thalif Deen, News Report: Paradoxically, the water we "eat" is likely to become one of the growing new dangers to millions of the world's thirsty, hungering for this finite natural resource. "More than one-fourth of all the water we use worldwide is taken to grow over one billion tons of food that nobody eats," Torgny Holmgren, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), told delegates during the opening of the annual international water conference, World Water Week, in the Swedish capital Monday. 
Bill Moyers, Op-Ed: It's just astonishing to us how long this campaign has gone on with no discussion of what's happening to poor people. Official Washington continues to see poverty with tunnel vision – "out of sight, out of mind." And we're not speaking just of Paul Ryan and his Draconian budget plan or Mitt Romney and their fellow Republicans. Tipping their hats to America's impoverished while themselves seeking handouts from billionaires and corporations is a bad habit that includes President Obama, who of all people should know better. 
Froma Harrop, Op-Ed: The name of George W. Bush graces no chair at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. The 43rd president left behind monumental deficits and an economy in tatters. Republicans hold him responsible for the party's straying from its alleged small-government ethic. They want the public to forget the man. Thing is, the man wasn't the problem. His plan was the problem. And there is very little in the "new" Republican proposals that would change the plan. It's more tax cuts targeting the well-to-do, a bigger defense budget and less regulation. --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Political_Views" group.
To post to this group, send email to political_views@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to political_views+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/political_views?hl=en.
{Political_Views} NATION OF CHANGE
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greg Palast, Op-Ed: "Among other favors, Griffin is the top cheerleader in the House for the XL Pipeline--whose approval is vital to the billionaire Kochs making more billions. But wait! The Kochs don't own the XL Pipe nor the Canadian tar sands from which it comes. So why do they care? Well, that's another story, in another chapter, 'XXXL Pipeline' in Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal the Election in 9 Easy Steps, out September 18. The Author's proceeds from the book go to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund for reporting on voter protection issues." 
Stephen Lacey, News Report: "Hurricane Isaac will continue pelting Louisiana with heavy rains today and tomorrow as it marches up the Gulf Coast, unleashing damaging 80 mile-per-hour winds and causing widespread flooding in New Orleans and other coastal cities. [USA Today] Isaac's high winds and rains, experts speculate, could also stir up remnant crude oil from the BP's Deepwater Horizon spill — exposing more residents and wildlife to its potentially toxic effects." 
David Morris, Op-Ed: "The SEC could bring contempt of court charges against serial offenders, but it doesn't. Earlier this year the SEC revealed it has not brought any contempt charges against large financial firms in the last 10 years. Adding insult to insult the SEC doesn't even publicly refer to previous cases when filing new charges. We know that CEOs of big corporations never go to jail." 
Peter Rugh, News Report: "Fracking is a carbon intensive extraction method that involves pumping millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals like benzine and formaldehyde underground, in order to fissure shale rock and release methane deposits from within. The industry says fracking is safe, but the drilling technique has become synonymous with contaminated water, congested air and curdled soil in the 34 U.S. states where it has occurred." 
Dean Baker, Op-Ed: "The reason why so many of these people cannot find jobs is the incredible economic mismanagement by people with names like Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, and Ben Bernanke. These people thought that the bubbles that drove the economy in the last two decades, the stock bubble in the '90s and the housing bubble in the last decade, were really cool. They somehow thought that either the bubbles would not burst or that it would be easy to pick up the pieces after a crash." 
Amy Goodman, Video Report: "The plant manufactures sensors and controls that are used in aircraft and automobiles, but has been dismantling and shipping the plant to China piece by piece, even as it requires the workers to train personally their Chinese replacements, who have been flown in by management. The workers in Illinois say their petition of 35,000 signatures, as well as their multiple visits to Romney's headquarters, have fallen on deaf ears, so they're taking their plea straight to Romney here at that Republican National Convention." 
Aaron Glantz, News Investigation: "Identifying the root of the delays is complicated by political finger-pointing. Democrats and many veterans' advocates argue that the VA failed to prepare for an onslaught of wounded veterans after the Bush administration began the war in Iraq in 2003. Republicans counter that the backlog of disability claims has exploded under President Barack Obama and has continued to worsen in recent months, despite additional scrutiny from the media and members of Congress." 
Special Coverage: "As we enter Day 346 of the Occupy movements the protests have spread not only across the country but all over the globe. Thousands of activists have descended on Wall Street these past weeks as part of the #OccupyWallStreet protest organized by several action groups. What follows is a live video stream and live Twitter feed of this event." 
Jim Hightower, Op-Ed: "Of course, in the fantasy universe of the far right, logic is an alien intruder, barred from interfering with either approved doctrine or political expediency. Indeed, here's their idea of logic: Akin, a devout worshipper of junk science, is a member of the House Committee on Science. Go figure. And if you find that surreal, let me add that his committee assignment is hardly the only illogical perversion in the doctrinal right's carefully constructed NutLand." 
Thalif Deen, News Analysis: The impacts will be far flung and severe, he warned. However, "if we can translate this concern into action, especially on improvements in water use in agriculture, which is by far the largest and most inefficient consumer, then we could avert this disaster," he said. So far, there is talk in this direction but no global imperative to make targeted progress. "It is important that this be taken up at the highest levels to avoid considerable distress to the world's population and economies," Dr. Lall added. 
John Cavanagh and Robin Broad, Op-Ed: "As we look at the orange water and walk on the cyanide-laced soil, the fact that current global rules allow Commerce Group to sue the Salvadoran government seems beyond ludicrous. Groups in the United States have joined the Roundtable in protests against the firm, demanding that it drop the suit and pay for a clean-up in San Sebastian, whatever it costs and however long it takes." --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Political_Views" group.
To post to this group, send email to political_views@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to political_views+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/political_views?hl=en.