| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Amy Goodman, Op-Ed: Unions are under attack in the United States—not only from people like Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, but now, with the teachers strike in Chicago, from the very core of President Barack Obama's inner circle, his former chief of staff and current mayor of that city, Rahm Emanuel. Twenty-five thousand teachers and support staff are on strike there, shutting down the public school system in the nation's third-largest school district. 
Greg Palast, News Analysis: "Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012" is the title of a column Karl Rove wrote in the Wall Street Journal in June 2011. t's not Rove's prediction: this is his plan to make sure Obama will lose. That's fine with me—if Rove prefers vanilla to chocolate, hey, it's a free country. But how Rove plans to take Obama down is contained in the subhead, and it gives me the chills: "Even a small drop in the share of black voters would wipe out [Obama's] winning margin in North Carolina." 
Richard (RJ) Eskow, Op-Ed: If a recent report is true, the Justice Department will need a new name – and some of us will have to step up and admit we were wrong. It was clear that the foreclosure fraud settlement which the Administration and most states reached with major U.S. banks was a great deal for the big banks – and a lousy deal for the public. But some of us found reason to hope against hope that the settlement would be accompanied by real investigation of crooked bankers, after years of flim-flammery and disgraceful inaction by the Justice Department. 
Hanif Houston, News Report: The US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three of his staffers, were killed on Tuesday evening when an enraged mob assailed the American Consulate in Benghazi in response to a short American film that mocked the founding prophet of Islam. The film in question was posted on YouTube and portrayed the Prophet Mohammed as a prurient buffoon and a charlatan. In a short clip posted on YouTube the venerable prophet is shown preforming a lewd sex with an unidentified woman. The film was released on the anniversary of September 11th, 2001, and was produced by an amateur Israeli filmmaker in California and promoted by Terry Jones, the American pastor made notorious for publically burning a Quran. 
Robert Scheer, Truthdig Op-Ed: Bill Clinton bears as much responsibility as any politician for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the wild applause for his disingenuous speech at the Democratic National Convention last week is a sure sign of the poverty of what passes for progressive politics. Do those convention delegates, and the fawning media that were wowed by the former president's rhetorical seductions, not recall that just before he left office Clinton signed off on the game. 
Charles Monaco, News Report: The ballot initiative process, which provides an injection of direct democracy in twenty-four states, often ends up helping the right wing. For years, deep-pocketed funders have backed ballot measures to ban same-sex marriage, restrict reproductive rights, or make it nearly impossible for elected state legislatures to raise taxes—hurting families and helping to tank state budgets. Often, the process plays out like a game of tug-of-war. Two years ago, the rightward shift in control of state legislatures presaged a wave of legislative attacks on workers, women, immigrants, voters, and the middle class. 
Amy Goodman, Video Interview: "New government data shows economic inequality continued to widen in the United States last year. The Census Bureau reports the wealthiest Americans increased their share of total wealth by 4.9 percent, while the median income reached its lowest level since 1995. Some 46.2 million Americans were classified as living in poverty. We're joined by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, who are attempting to start a national dialogue with their new Poverty Tour 2.0 visiting four battleground states: Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida." 
Tom Engelhardt, Op-Ed: When it comes to Iran, Washington's regional preparations for war are staggering. The continual build-up of U.S. naval power in the Persian Gulf, of land forces on bases around that country, of air power (and anti-missile defenses) in the region should leave any observer breathless. There are U.S. special operations forces near the Iranian border and CIA drones regularly over that country. In conjunction with the Israelis, Washington has launched a cyberwar against Iran's nuclear program and computer systems. 
Justin Elliott, News Report: New details have emerged about the Government Integrity Fund, a non-profit dark money group that has spent over $1 million on pro-GOP ads in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio. As ProPublica first reported Friday, the chairman of the group is Tom Norris, a Columbus lobbyist who employs a former aide to Josh Mandel, the Republican challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown in the race. The former aide, Joel Riter, also has an office in the same building as the Government Integrity Fund on East State Street in Columbus. 
Dr. Mercola, News Analysis: "While the fight for GMO labeling is loud and clear, corporations and companies opposing GMO labeling, for their own profit and corrupt relations, will stop at nothing to ensure GMOs remain a secret to the public. Monsanto has put out at least $4,208,000 to fight GMO labeling, while other corporations such as Pepsi Co. and Coca Cola have 'donated' over one million dollars each. But Monsanto still remains among the largest fighters of GMO labeling." 
Froma Harrop, Op-Ed: What Mitt Romney truly believes is anybody's guess. Whether Romney as president would act on those beliefs is also a guess. And we can't rule out the possibility that he doesn't have any beliefs outside of religion and investment strategies. Why he's running for president remains unclear, though commander in chief looks impressive on a nametag. Asked over the weekend whether by killing Obamacare he would let insurers again deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, Romney replied that there were parts of the health care reforms he likes, that being one of them. 
Beverly Bell, Op-Ed: Housing activist Reyneld Sanon is beginning a tour of key cities in the United States. The tour will raise awareness about Under Tents, the international campaign for housing rights in Haiti. The campaign is a joint initiative of Haitian grassroots groups and more than 30 international organizations that are demanding a solution for Haiti's homeless. The January 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. In its wake, survivors spontaneously created more than 1,000 temporary encampments throughout Port-au-Prince. 
Pat Garofalo, News Analysis: "For several years now, the Fed has hit its inflation target while utterly failing in its mandate to reduce unemployment, even as some members of the central bank have argued for the Fed to do more. 'If there's a slowdown and you have an independent central bank, the appropriate response is to act. I think that's exactly what we should do,' said Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren." --
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment