An Insult from the grave: I am very dismayed at the release by Caroline Kennedy the tape recordings of her mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis which were less and complimentary about the great Dr. Martin Luther King. As a matter of fact I found them utterly insulting. Yes, I can appreciate no one is alive of power from that era and I can appreciate it as part of our history BUT I still think it would have been more prudent to have eliminated those thoughts about Dr. King from Mrs. Kennedy Onassis's rendition and sell a book and DVD to make money!

Truly, if what she said referred to Dr. King's personal life, the former late first lady had a NERVE to indict this towering figure. She should NOT have criticized the speck in someone else's eye when she had or CERTAINLY her husband (whom I supported decades ago) had a log in his own. How DARE she and how DARE Caroline or ANYONE besmirch in ANY way a leader like Martin Luther King whose statue we just venerated.

I can assure you I will make my thoughts known to both the publishers of her book AND to Caroline Kennedy herself. As a caveat I am a white Jewish woman who LOVED Dr. Martin Luther King. No matter what his personal life entailed
we as civil libertarians and humanists can only stand in the shadow of this man who was a giant among us.

I thank God for Dr. King every day of my life. He was a gift taken from us far too soon. Shame on the late Mrs. Kennedy for impugning his GREAT legacy!

Extremism in the face of liberty: That 1964 phrase said by Barry Goldwater at the Republican convention of that era: “… Extremism in the face of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” sunk his presidential prospect. It means, now, no job, no health care, no home and no one to help. I am not surprised at the extremist right wing oligarchical lean of the Republican Party -- so extreme that one might fall over if one is a part of it.

The religiously and economically corporate lobbyist corrupted nature of this party has been brewing since Pat Robinson ran for president and maybe even before then. Now the ugly decision of a right wing majority Supreme Court of "Citizen's United" put the lid on the coffin. I was worried then in the Pat Robertson days to the bemusement of some of my friends and I am worried now. I do not think my friends are laughing today.

I hope fervently that there are more in this country who are pro academics, intellectually astute, well read, and questioning so that in the long run someone as vile as most candidates in the Republican Party are they will not fare well in a general election.

The anti-intellectual crank thread, though, is an unfortunate mutation of the American DNA. Like cancer one can override their genetic proclivity to it by perfecting good behavior to avert it.

The Democratic Party is not absolutely antiseptic clean BUT it is leap years better than anything the Republican Party has to offer. THINK, America. If you were laid off from a heretofore decent job, you could not afford health insurance, your mortgage or even the necessities of life would you want to sink and probably die on your own OR, in the alternative, would you want the nation to act and help those who cannot help themselves? Think of the prospect that you will surely die if the nation does not offer the necessary life jackets. If it were YOU how would YOU feel with no job, no health care, no family to take care of you, a home repossessed and you are utterly alone? You think it cannot happen to you? You are wrong it can and it is happening to millions because of the malevolent and mendacious actions of a corrupted Wall Street run wild. That is what happens when regulations are lifted from corporate greed run amok. Many are now jobless, homeless and in debt they cannot hope to repay.

Go ahead, America, put your wages in the care of Wall Street and risk something will be there when you reach retirement, your body no longer works to earn enough to feed you and your stock market investment is tanking. See how good it will be with no money as the Wall Street shell game swallows it all and there is no Social Security which for 70 years has worked for this nation to ensure its elderly.

Extremism in the face of liberty is, well, EXTREMISM. Wakeup, America, to these Republican charlatan snake oil salesmen wolves in sheep's clothing. Your life may depend upon it that you do!

What a World--Thoughts on 911: Like so many others, I spent most of Sunday viewing countless documentaries and news programs of 9/11 re-living that antithetical crystal clear day to its malevolence which became seared into memory for our eternity and passed on to each generation which follows so they know the face of evil and what evil men can do. It was almost too much to take. Yet, I believe, as I do about the Nazi Holocaust that these man-made cruelties of inconceivable violence and proportion should never be forgotten lest the memory of those who so innocently perished at the hands of its despotic evil never receive the justice only our collective memory can now bestow. I watched as much as possible during an entire day the retelling of 911 from different perspectives as I try to see every documentary available about the Holocaust. It is the least I can do being one of the privileged never to have experienced what I easily could have.

The two unfathomable tragedies of 911 and the Holocaust of Europe’s Jews are never far from a synaptic connection in my brain. Every day I breathe I remember. Every sunny day, every freezing cold day, every blistering hot day I remember my people from the very young to the very old, both men and women alike suffering what no one ever should or even could imagine. Likewise, every day I ride a train, drive where I choose, walk where I want and enter any building I feel secure in the fact that the nation is doing the best it can to technologically protect knowing full well life offers no ultimate absolute security.

The 9/11 memorial day was a day of unity as it quite rightly should be. September 12th, can, however, speak truth power does not want to hear. We can still indict those who in glowing hypocrisy were, through their dereliction of duty and negligence most responsible, besides the terrorists themselves, for the fulfilling of this monstrous act. The government says one thing on 9/11 but on 9/12 reality must be acknowledged by us to those who have had dominion OVER us. Some government high officialdom takes honor and credit where no honor and credit should be bestowed.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and 2008 Republican candidate for president, by walking as fast as a freight train and giving a great photo op on that perilous day seemed to take full credit for protecting his city and was omnipresen­t, saying so and crowing that he was fully committed to the protection of the 911 responders. If you listened to him you might believe he, like Superman, singularly rescued the city.

The reality and truth, as I see it, were quite different. Giuliani besides the Bush administration was responsibl­e for many egregious wrongs and for a sad tug of war between the first responders and others who worked tirelessly on "the pile" and those in the local, state and federal government that try to keep them from receiving the health and mental health care they so desperately need. Many are ill and more are becoming ill slowly every day ultimately dying from breathing at Ground Zero the toxic brew of the most carcinogenic chemicals known to man without the government -- federal, state or local -- providing them necessary protection. They are still fighting for what should be rightfully theirs – medical treatment and a chance to live out their natural life.

Giuliani in concert with the Bush administra­tion's EPA official Christine Todd Whitman utterly FAILED to tell the truth about the toxicity of the air at Ground Zero directly after the attack and long into the clean up of it. Breathing the toxic brew by the 9/11 responders without proper protective gear and communicative equipment was tantamount to manslaughter by those whose duty it was to purchase those protections. Worse the powers that be under Mayor Giuliani located the emergency department of the twin towers right IN the World Trade Center itself which had suffered its first terrorist attack in 1993. Did he not once think those buildings might be struck again?

Bush's failure to heed his PDB (presidential daily briefing) warning which said “Bin Laden Determined to Attack inside the United States” just weeks before the September 11 attacks is perhaps the single most egregious and unconscionable Bush negligence which led up to the attack. Bush listened to the briefing. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author and documentarian Ron Suskind says, “then told the CIA briefer”: ‘All right. You've covered your ass, now.’ Bush then went on a fishing vacation in Texas.

George Bush is given the honor to speak at the 10th remembranc­e of 9/11. WHAT did that man and his administra­tion do that was so magnanimou­s – fail to heed warnings, not provide body armor for our troops, invade a nation which did nothing to us so that he could preemptively perpetrate an illegal and immoral war which killed thousands of our troops, hundreds of thousands Iraqis, destabilized a region, displaced millions, tortured, implemented rendition, lied about causalities and failed to get the real perpetrator, bin Laden when he could have? This man who was AWOL in his own time is NO hero in ours.

Bush and many others from his administra­tion I have always believed should be prosecuted for treason and war crimes. Ins­tead, he gets the distinguished honor to preside at the sanctity of 9/11 memorials and be gushed over by Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and a lame-stream media when effective action by him was lost after the first moments of the 9/11 attack. Where is the justice in that? As the wicked witch says in the “Wizard of Oz” at the end when she is melting away: “What a world, what a world.” What a world, indeed!

911 Keeping it Simple: We remember, we never forget, we learn and I hope we cling to the thread of unity in our nation which promises so much!

BEST EDITORIAL EVER!!!

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult
Saturday 3 September 2011
by: Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis

(Photo: Carolyn Tiry / Flickr)

Barbara Stanwyck: "We're both rotten!"

Fred MacMurray: "Yeah - only you're a little more rotten." -"Double Indemnity" (1944)

Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. Both parties are rotten - how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. The main reason the Democrats' health care bill will be a budget buster once it fully phases in is the Democrats' rank capitulation to corporate interests - no single-payer system, in order to mollify the insurers; and no negotiation of drug prices, a craven surrender to Big Pharma.

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachman (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy.

It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.

The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel - how prudent is that? - in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.

Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care. This fact, which ought to be obvious, has nevertheless caused confusion among the professional pundit class, which is mostly still stuck in the Bob Dole era in terms of its orientation. For instance, Ezra Klein wrote of his puzzlement over the fact that while House Republicans essentially won the debt ceiling fight, enough of them were sufficiently dissatisfied that they might still scuttle the deal. Of course they might - the attitude of many freshman Republicans to national default was "bring it on!"

It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.

In his "Manual of Parliamentary Practice," Thomas Jefferson wrote that it is less important that every rule and custom of a legislature be absolutely justifiable in a theoretical sense, than that they should be generally acknowledged and honored by all parties. These include unwritten rules, customs and courtesies that lubricate the legislative machinery and keep governance a relatively civilized procedure. The US Senate has more complex procedural rules than any other legislative body in the world; many of these rules are contradictory, and on any given day, the Senate parliamentarian may issue a ruling that contradicts earlier rulings on analogous cases.

The only thing that can keep the Senate functioning is collegiality and good faith. During periods of political consensus, for instance, the World War II and early post-war eras, the Senate was a "high functioning" institution: filibusters were rare and the body was legislatively productive. Now, one can no more picture the current Senate producing the original Medicare Act than the old Supreme Soviet having legislated the Bill of Rights.

Far from being a rarity, virtually every bill, every nominee for Senate confirmation and every routine procedural motion is now subject to a Republican filibuster. Under the circumstances, it is no wonder that Washington is gridlocked: legislating has now become war minus the shooting, something one could have observed 80 years ago in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic. As Hannah Arendt observed, a disciplined minority of totalitarians can use the instruments of democratic government to undermine democracy itself.

John P. Judis sums up the modern GOP this way:

"Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery."

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.

A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters' confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that "they are all crooks," and that "government is no good," further leading them to think, "a plague on both your houses" and "the parties are like two kids in a school yard." This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s - a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn ("Government is the problem," declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).

The media are also complicit in this phenomenon. Ever since the bifurcation of electronic media into a more or less respectable "hard news" segment and a rabidly ideological talk radio and cable TV political propaganda arm, the "respectable" media have been terrified of any criticism for perceived bias. Hence, they hew to the practice of false evenhandedness. Paul Krugman has skewered this tactic as being the "centrist cop-out." "I joked long ago," he says, "that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would read 'Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'"

Inside-the-Beltway wise guy Chris Cillizza merely proves Krugman right in his Washington Post analysis of "winners and losers" in the debt ceiling impasse. He wrote that the institution of Congress was a big loser in the fracas, which is, of course, correct, but then he opined: "Lawmakers - bless their hearts - seem entirely unaware of just how bad they looked during this fight and will almost certainly spend the next few weeks (or months) congratulating themselves on their tremendous magnanimity." Note how the pundit's ironic deprecation falls like the rain on the just and unjust alike, on those who precipitated the needless crisis and those who despaired of it. He seems oblivious that one side - or a sizable faction of one side - has deliberately attempted to damage the reputation of Congress to achieve its political objectives.

This constant drizzle of "there the two parties go again!" stories out of the news bureaus, combined with the hazy confusion of low-information voters, means that the long-term Republican strategy of undermining confidence in our democratic institutions has reaped electoral dividends. The United States has nearly the lowest voter participation among Western democracies; this, again, is a consequence of the decline of trust in government institutions - if government is a racket and both parties are the same, why vote? And if the uninvolved middle declines to vote, it increases the electoral clout of a minority that is constantly being whipped into a lather by three hours daily of Rush Limbaugh or Fox News. There were only 44 million Republican voters in the 2010 mid-term elections, but they effectively canceled the political results of the election of President Obama by 69 million voters.

This tactic of inducing public distrust of government is not only cynical, it is schizophrenic. For people who profess to revere the Constitution, it is strange that they so caustically denigrate the very federal government that is the material expression of the principles embodied in that document. This is not to say that there is not some theoretical limit to the size or intrusiveness of government; I would be the first to say there are such limits, both fiscal and Constitutional. But most Republican officeholders seem strangely uninterested in the effective repeal of Fourth Amendment protections by the Patriot Act, the weakening of habeas corpus and self-incrimination protections in the public hysteria following 9/11 or the unpalatable fact that the United States has the largest incarcerated population of any country on earth. If anything, they would probably opt for more incarcerated persons, as imprisonment is a profit center for the prison privatization industry, which is itself a growth center for political contributions to these same politicians.[1] Instead, they prefer to rail against those government programs that actually help people. And when a program is too popular to attack directly, like Medicare or Social Security, they prefer to undermine it by feigning an agonized concern about the deficit. That concern, as we shall see, is largely fictitious.

Undermining Americans' belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy. But if this technique falls short of producing Karl Rove's dream of 30 years of unchallengeable one-party rule (as all such techniques always fall short of achieving the angry and embittered true believer's New Jerusalem), there are other even less savory techniques upon which to fall back. Ever since Republicans captured the majority in a number of state legislatures last November, they have systematically attempted to make it more difficult to vote: by onerous voter ID requirements (in Wisconsin, Republicans have legislated photo IDs while simultaneously shutting Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices in Democratic constituencies while at the same time lengthening the hours of operation of DMV offices in GOP constituencies); by narrowing registration periods; and by residency requirements that may disenfranchise university students.

This legislative assault is moving in a diametrically opposed direction to 200 years of American history, when the arrow of progress pointed toward more political participation by more citizens. Republicans are among the most shrill in self-righteously lecturing other countries about the wonders of democracy; exporting democracy (albeit at the barrel of a gun) to the Middle East was a signature policy of the Bush administration. But domestically, they don't want those people voting.

You can probably guess who those people are. Above all, anyone not likely to vote Republican. As Sarah Palin would imply, the people who are not Real Americans. Racial minorities. Immigrants. Muslims. Gays. Intellectuals. Basically, anyone who doesn't look, think, or talk like the GOP base. This must account, at least to some degree, for their extraordinarily vitriolic hatred of President Obama. I have joked in the past that the main administration policy that Republicans object to is Obama's policy of being black.[2] Among the GOP base, there is constant harping about somebody else, some "other," who is deliberately, assiduously and with malice aforethought subverting the Good, the True and the Beautiful: Subversives. Commies. Socialists. Ragheads. Secular humanists. Blacks. Fags. Feminazis. The list may change with the political needs of the moment, but they always seem to need a scapegoat to hate and fear.

It is not clear to me how many GOP officeholders believe this reactionary and paranoid claptrap. I would bet that most do not. But they cynically feed the worst instincts of their fearful and angry low-information political base with a nod and a wink. During the disgraceful circus of the "birther" issue, Republican politicians subtly stoked the fires of paranoia by being suggestively equivocal - "I take the president at his word" - while never unambiguously slapping down the myth. John Huntsman was the first major GOP figure forthrightly to refute the birther calumny - albeit after release of the birth certificate.

I do not mean to place too much emphasis on racial animus in the GOP. While it surely exists, it is also a fact that Republicans think that no Democratic president could conceivably be legitimate. Republicans also regarded Bill Clinton as somehow, in some manner, twice fraudulently elected (well do I remember the elaborate conspiracy theories that Republicans traded among themselves). Had it been Hillary Clinton, rather than Barack Obama, who had been elected in 2008, I am certain we would now be hearing, in lieu of the birther myths, conspiracy theories about Vince Foster's alleged murder.

The reader may think that I am attributing Svengali-like powers to GOP operatives able to manipulate a zombie base to do their bidding. It is more complicated than that. Historical circumstances produced the raw material: the deindustrialization and financialization of America since about 1970 has spawned an increasingly downscale white middle class - without job security (or even without jobs), with pensions and health benefits evaporating and with their principal asset deflating in the collapse of the housing bubble. Their fears are not imaginary; their standard of living is shrinking.

What do the Democrats offer these people? Essentially nothing. Democratic Leadership Council-style "centrist" Democrats were among the biggest promoters of disastrous trade deals in the 1990s that outsourced jobs abroad: NAFTA, World Trade Organization, permanent most-favored-nation status for China. At the same time, the identity politics/lifestyle wing of the Democratic Party was seen as a too illegal immigrant-friendly by downscaled and outsourced whites.[3]

While Democrats temporized, or even dismissed the fears of the white working class as racist or nativist, Republicans went to work. To be sure, the business wing of the Republican Party consists of the most energetic outsourcers, wage cutters and hirers of sub-minimum wage immigrant labor to be found anywhere on the globe. But the faux-populist wing of the party, knowing the mental compartmentalization that occurs in most low-information voters, played on the fears of that same white working class to focus their anger on scapegoats that do no damage to corporations' bottom lines: instead of raising the minimum wage, let's build a wall on the Southern border (then hire a defense contractor to incompetently manage it). Instead of predatory bankers, it's evil Muslims. Or evil gays. Or evil abortionists.

How do they manage to do this? Because Democrats ceded the field. Above all, they do not understand language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? - can anyone even remember it? No wonder the pejorative "Obamacare" won out. Contrast that with the Republicans' Patriot Act. You're a patriot, aren't you? Does anyone at the GED level have a clue what a Stimulus Bill is supposed to be? Why didn't the White House call it the Jobs Bill and keep pounding on that theme?

You know that Social Security and Medicare are in jeopardy when even Democrats refer to them as entitlements. "Entitlement" has a negative sound in colloquial English: somebody who is "entitled" selfishly claims something he doesn't really deserve. Why not call them "earned benefits," which is what they are because we all contribute payroll taxes to fund them? That would never occur to the Democrats. Republicans don't make that mistake; they are relentlessly on message: it is never the "estate tax," it is the "death tax." Heaven forbid that the Walton family should give up one penny of its $86-billion fortune. All of that lucre is necessary to ensure that unions be kept out of Wal-Mart, that women employees not be promoted and that politicians be kept on a short leash.

It was not always thus. It would have been hard to find an uneducated farmer during the depression of the 1890s who did not have a very accurate idea about exactly which economic interests were shafting him. An unemployed worker in a breadline in 1932 would have felt little gratitude to the Rockefellers or the Mellons. But that is not the case in the present economic crisis. After a riot of unbridled greed such as the world has not seen since the conquistadors' looting expeditions and after an unprecedented broad and rapid transfer of wealth upward by Wall Street and its corporate satellites, where is the popular anger directed, at least as depicted in the media? At "Washington spending" - which has increased primarily to provide unemployment compensation, food stamps and Medicaid to those economically damaged by the previous decade's corporate saturnalia. Or the popular rage is harmlessly diverted against pseudo-issues: death panels, birtherism, gay marriage, abortion, and so on, none of which stands to dent the corporate bottom line in the slightest.

Thus far, I have concentrated on Republican tactics, rather than Republican beliefs, but the tactics themselves are important indicators of an absolutist, authoritarian mindset that is increasingly hostile to the democratic values of reason, compromise and conciliation. Rather, this mindset seeks polarizing division (Karl Rove has been very explicit that this is his principal campaign strategy), conflict and the crushing of opposition.

As for what they really believe, the Republican Party of 2011 believes in three principal tenets I have laid out below. The rest of their platform one may safely dismiss as window dressing:

1. The GOP cares solely and exclusively about its rich contributors. The party has built a whole catechism on the protection and further enrichment of America's plutocracy. Their caterwauling about deficit and debt is so much eyewash to con the public. Whatever else President Obama has accomplished (and many of his purported accomplishments are highly suspect), his $4-trillion deficit reduction package did perform the useful service of smoking out Republican hypocrisy. The GOP refused, because it could not abide so much as a one-tenth of one percent increase on the tax rates of the Walton family or the Koch brothers, much less a repeal of the carried interest rule that permits billionaire hedge fund managers to pay income tax at a lower effective rate than cops or nurses. Republicans finally settled on a deal that had far less deficit reduction - and even less spending reduction! - than Obama's offer, because of their iron resolution to protect at all costs our society's overclass.

Republicans have attempted to camouflage their amorous solicitude for billionaires with a fog of misleading rhetoric. John Boehner is fond of saying, "we won't raise anyone's taxes," as if the take-home pay of an Olive Garden waitress were inextricably bound up with whether Warren Buffett pays his capital gains as ordinary income or at a lower rate. Another chestnut is that millionaires and billionaires are "job creators." US corporations have just had their most profitable quarters in history; Apple, for one, is sitting on $76 billion in cash, more than the GDP of most countries. So, where are the jobs?

Another smokescreen is the "small business" meme, since standing up for Mom's and Pop's corner store is politically more attractive than to be seen shilling for a megacorporation. Raising taxes on the wealthy will kill small business' ability to hire; that is the GOP dirge every time Bernie Sanders or some Democrat offers an amendment to increase taxes on incomes above $1 million. But the number of small businesses that have a net annual income over a million dollars is de minimis, if not by definition impossible (as they would no longer be small businesses). And as data from the Center for Economic and Policy Research have shown, small businesses account for only 7.2 percent of total US employment, a significantly smaller share of total employment than in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Likewise, Republicans have assiduously spread the myth that Americans are conspicuously overtaxed. But compared to other OECD countries, the effective rates of US taxation are among the lowest. In particular, they point to the top corporate income rate of 35 percent as being confiscatory Bolshevism. But again, the effective rate is much lower. Did GE pay 35 percent on 2010 profits of $14 billion? No, it paid zero.

When pressed, Republicans make up misleading statistics to "prove" that the America's fiscal burden is being borne by the rich and the rest of us are just freeloaders who don't appreciate that fact. "Half of Americans don't pay taxes" is a perennial meme. But what they leave out is that that statement refers to federal income taxes. There are millions of people who don't pay income taxes, but do contribute payroll taxes - among the most regressive forms of taxation. But according to GOP fiscal theology, payroll taxes don't count. Somehow, they have convinced themselves that since payroll taxes go into trust funds, they're not real taxes. Likewise, state and local sales taxes apparently don't count, although their effect on a poor person buying necessities like foodstuffs is far more regressive than on a millionaire.

All of these half truths and outright lies have seeped into popular culture via the corporate-owned business press. Just listen to CNBC for a few hours and you will hear most of them in one form or another. More important politically, Republicans' myths about taxation have been internalized by millions of economically downscale "values voters," who may have been attracted to the GOP for other reasons (which I will explain later), but who now accept this misinformation as dogma.

And when misinformation isn't enough to sustain popular support for the GOP's agenda, concealment is needed. One fairly innocuous provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill requires public companies to make a more transparent disclosure of CEO compensation, including bonuses. Note that it would not limit the compensation, only require full disclosure. Republicans are hell-bent on repealing this provision. Of course; it would not serve Wall Street interests if the public took an unhealthy interest in the disparity of their own incomes as against that of a bank CEO. As Spencer Bachus, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says, "In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks."

2. They worship at the altar of Mars. While the me-too Democrats have set a horrible example of keeping up with the Joneses with respect to waging wars, they can never match GOP stalwarts such as John McCain or Lindsey Graham in their sheer, libidinous enthusiasm for invading other countries. McCain wanted to mix it up with Russia - a nuclear-armed state - during the latter's conflict with Georgia in 2008 (remember? - "we are all Georgians now," a slogan that did not, fortunately, catch on), while Graham has been persistently agitating for attacks on Iran and intervention in Syria. And these are not fringe elements of the party; they are the leading "defense experts," who always get tapped for the Sunday talk shows. About a month before Republicans began holding a gun to the head of the credit markets to get trillions of dollars of cuts, these same Republicans passed a defense appropriations bill that increased spending by $17 billion over the prior year's defense appropriation. To borrow Chris Hedges' formulation, war is the force that gives meaning to their lives.

A cynic might conclude that this militaristic enthusiasm is no more complicated than the fact that Pentagon contractors spread a lot of bribery money around Capitol Hill. That is true, but there is more to it than that. It is not necessarily even the fact that members of Congress feel they are protecting constituents' jobs. The wildly uneven concentration of defense contracts and military bases nationally means that some areas, like Washington, DC, and San Diego, are heavily dependent on Department of Defense (DOD) spending. But there are many more areas of the country whose net balance is negative: the citizenry pays more in taxes to support the Pentagon than it receives back in local contracts.

And the economic justification for Pentagon spending is even more fallacious when one considers that the $700 billion annual DOD budget creates comparatively few jobs. The days of Rosie the Riveter are long gone; most weapons projects now require very little touch labor. Instead, a disproportionate share is siphoned off into high-cost research and development (from which the civilian economy benefits little); exorbitant management expenditures, overhead and out-and-out padding; and, of course, the money that flows back into the coffers of political campaigns. A million dollars appropriated for highway construction would create two to three times as many jobs as a million dollars appropriated for Pentagon weapons procurement, so the jobs argument is ultimately specious.

Take away the cash nexus and there still remains a psychological predisposition toward war and militarism on the part of the GOP. This undoubtedly arises from a neurotic need to demonstrate toughness and dovetails perfectly with the belligerent tough-guy pose one constantly hears on right-wing talk radio. Militarism springs from the same psychological deficit that requires an endless series of enemies, both foreign and domestic.

The results of the last decade of unbridled militarism and the Democrats' cowardly refusal to reverse it[4], have been disastrous both strategically and fiscally. It has made the United States less prosperous, less secure and less free. Unfortunately, the militarism and the promiscuous intervention it gives rise to are only likely to abate when the Treasury is exhausted, just as it happened to the Dutch Republic and the British Empire.

3. Give me that old time religion. Pandering to fundamentalism is a full-time vocation in the GOP. Beginning in the 1970s, religious cranks ceased simply to be a minor public nuisance in this country and grew into the major element of the Republican rank and file. Pat Robertson's strong showing in the 1988 Iowa Caucus signaled the gradual merger of politics and religion in the party. The results are all around us: if the American people poll more like Iranians or Nigerians than Europeans or Canadians on questions of evolution versus creationism, scriptural inerrancy, the existence of angels and demons, and so forth, that result is due to the rise of the religious right, its insertion into the public sphere by the Republican Party and the consequent normalizing of formerly reactionary or quaint beliefs. Also around us is a prevailing anti-intellectualism and hostility to science; it is this group that defines "low-information voter" - or, perhaps, "misinformation voter."

The Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, there is now a de facto religious test for the presidency: major candidates are encouraged (or coerced) to "share their feelings" about their "faith" in a revelatory speech; or, some televangelist like Rick Warren dragoons the candidates (as he did with Obama and McCain in 2008) to debate the finer points of Christology, with Warren himself, of course, as the arbiter. Politicized religion is also the sheet anchor of the culture wars. But how did the whole toxic stew of GOP beliefs - economic royalism, militarism and culture wars cum fundamentalism - come completely to displace an erstwhile civilized Eisenhower Republicanism?

It is my view that the rise of politicized religious fundamentalism (which is a subset of the decline of rational problem solving in America) may have been the key ingredient of the takeover of the Republican Party. For politicized religion provides a substrate of beliefs that rationalizes - at least in the minds of followers - all three of the GOP's main tenets.

Televangelists have long espoused the health-and-wealth/name-it-and-claim it gospel. If you are wealthy, it is a sign of God's favor. If not, too bad! But don't forget to tithe in any case. This rationale may explain why some economically downscale whites defend the prerogatives of billionaires.

The GOP's fascination with war is also connected with the fundamentalist mindset. The Old Testament abounds in tales of slaughter - God ordering the killing of the Midianite male infants and enslavement of the balance of the population, the divinely-inspired genocide of the Canaanites, the slaying of various miscreants with the jawbone of an ass - and since American religious fundamentalist seem to prefer the Old Testament to the New (particularly that portion of the New Testament known as the Sermon on the Mount), it is but a short step to approving war as a divinely inspired mission. This sort of thinking has led, inexorably, to such phenomena as Jerry Falwell once writing that God is Pro-War.

It is the apocalyptic frame of reference of fundamentalists, their belief in an imminent Armageddon, that psychologically conditions them to steer this country into conflict, not only on foreign fields (some evangelicals thought Saddam was the Antichrist and therefore a suitable target for cruise missiles), but also in the realm of domestic political controversy. It is hardly surprising that the most adamant proponent of the view that there was no debt ceiling problem was Michele Bachmann, the darling of the fundamentalist right. What does it matter, anyway, if the country defaults? - we shall presently abide in the bosom of the Lord.

Some liberal writers have opined that the different socio-economic perspectives separating the "business" wing of the GOP and the religious right make it an unstable coalition that could crack. I am not so sure. There is no fundamental disagreement on which direction the two factions want to take the country, merely how far in that direction they want to take it. The plutocrats would drag us back to the Gilded Age, the theocrats to the Salem witch trials. In any case, those consummate plutocrats, the Koch brothers, are pumping large sums of money into Michele Bachman's presidential campaign, so one ought not make too much of a potential plutocrat-theocrat split.

Thus, the modern GOP; it hardly seems conceivable that a Republican could have written the following:

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." (That was President Eisenhower, writing to his brother Edgar in 1954.)

It is this broad and ever-widening gulf between the traditional Republicanism of an Eisenhower and the quasi-totalitarian cult of a Michele Bachmann that impelled my departure from Capitol Hill. It is not in my pragmatic nature to make a heroic gesture of self-immolation, or to make lurid revelations of personal martyrdom in the manner of David Brock. And I will leave a more detailed dissection of failed Republican economic policies to my fellow apostate Bruce Bartlett.

I left because I was appalled at the headlong rush of Republicans, like Gadarene swine, to embrace policies that are deeply damaging to this country's future; and contemptuous of the feckless, craven incompetence of Democrats in their half-hearted attempts to stop them. And, in truth, I left as an act of rational self-interest. Having gutted private-sector pensions and health benefits as a result of their embrace of outsourcing, union busting and "shareholder value," the GOP now thinks it is only fair that public-sector workers give up their pensions and benefits, too. Hence the intensification of the GOP's decades-long campaign of scorn against government workers. Under the circumstances, it is simply safer to be a current retiree rather than a prospective one.

If you think Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand-worshipping colleagues aren't after your Social Security and Medicare, I am here to disabuse you of your naiveté.[5] They will move heaven and earth to force through tax cuts that will so starve the government of revenue that they will be "forced" to make "hard choices" - and that doesn't mean repealing those very same tax cuts, it means cutting the benefits for which you worked.

During the week that this piece was written, the debt ceiling fiasco reached its conclusion. The economy was already weak, but the GOP's disgraceful game of chicken roiled the markets even further. Foreigners could hardly believe it: Americans' own crazy political actions were destabilizing the safe-haven status of the dollar. Accordingly, during that same week, over one trillion dollars worth of assets evaporated on financial markets. Russia and China have stepped up their advocating that the dollar be replaced as the global reserve currency - a move as consequential and disastrous for US interests as any that can be imagined.

If Republicans have perfected a new form of politics that is successful electorally at the same time that it unleashes major policy disasters, it means twilight both for the democratic process and America's status as the world's leading power.

Footnotes:

[1] I am not exaggerating for effect. A law passed in 2010 by the Arizona legislature mandating arrest and incarceration of suspected illegal aliens was actually drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative business front group that drafts "model" legislation on behalf of its corporate sponsors. The draft legislation in question was written for the private prison lobby, which sensed a growth opportunity in imprisoning more people.

[2] I am not a supporter of Obama and object to a number of his foreign and domestic policies. But when he took office amid the greatest financial collapse in 80 years, I wanted him to succeed, so that the country I served did not fail. But already in 2009, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, declared that his greatest legislative priority was - jobs for Americans? Rescuing the financial system? Solving the housing collapse? - no, none of those things. His top priority was to ensure that Obama should be a one-term president. Evidently Senator McConnell hates Obama more than he loves his country. Note that the mainstream media have lately been hailing McConnell as "the adult in the room," presumably because he is less visibly unstable than the Tea Party freshmen

[3] This is not a venue for immigrant bashing. It remains a fact that outsourcing jobs overseas, while insourcing sub-minimum wage immigrant labor, will exert downward pressure on US wages. The consequence will be popular anger, and failure to address that anger will result in a downward wage spiral and a breech of the social compact, not to mention a rise in nativism and other reactionary impulses. It does no good to claim that these economic consequences are an inevitable result of globalization; Germany has somehow managed to maintain a high-wage economy and a vigorous industrial base.

[4] The cowardice is not merely political. During the past ten years, I have observed that Democrats are actually growing afraid of Republicans. In a quirky and flawed, but insightful, little book, "Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hatred," John Lukacs concludes that the left fears, the right hates.

[5] The GOP cult of Ayn Rand is both revealing and mystifying. On the one hand, Rand's tough guy, every-man-for-himself posturing is a natural fit because it puts a philosophical gloss on the latent sociopathy so prevalent among the hard right. On the other, Rand exclaimed at every opportunity that she was a militant atheist who felt nothing but contempt for Christianity. Apparently, the ignorance of most fundamentalist "values voters" means that GOP candidates who enthuse over Rand at the same time they thump their Bibles never have to explain this stark contradiction. And I imagine a Democratic officeholder would have a harder time explaining why he named his offspring "Marx" than a GOP incumbent would in rationalizing naming his kid "Rand."

Perry Como: Ah for the days of Perry Como's 1950's yesteryear when blacks were relegated to separate bathrooms and really separate everything; for a time when women were relegated to cleaning dishes and going to a barbecue like June Cleaver, of Leave it to Beaver fame, with white gloves on while her husband dressed in casual attire.

Oh for those great days when homosexuals too often committed suicide or were faced with the humiliation and physical assault of never-ending bullying. This is the America in which Rick Perry would feel oh so comfortable. Rick Perry is a science denying idiot but this idiot has the horrifying chance of walking with cowboy boots and spurs into the oval office. He makes George Bush look liberal! He makes me want to throw up.

In my opinion Perry (HOPEFULLY) is unelectable in the general. He lied on numerous occasions last evening most especially about his delusion of what a Ponzi scheme truly is. Someone needs to coach him. The ONLY candidates who looked semi presidential were Romney and Huntsman although I believe any Republican would be a disaster. It is too bad Huntsman has no chance unless as a running mate with Romney. In the extremist Republican radical Party that may not fly. I could see a Romney/Huntsman ticket. Being a Democrat, of course, I would love to see a Perry/Bachmann ticket but in reality a Romney/Huntsman ticket would give the president a run for his money.

A word to the wise: Mr. President, I would QUICKLY return to your base and make us happy -- pronto, now, post haste, immediately and with all deliberate speed! Give your base something about which to cheer. I, a Democrat's Democrat, surely am hoping in their infinite wisdom (do they have any?) the Republican base chooses Perry but a Romney/Huntsman ticket would give our Democratic Party a case of agida.

The president has been for many in his base an ineffective, tepid, compromising with those-who-hate-him president. It was foolhardy at best. While he had the chance holding both the House and the Senate he did NOT focus on jobs and know how to lead. His most egregious mistake was not appealing vociferously to the Democratic base as Republicans do to theirs. Is there time to rectify this most appalling error? Perhaps, but now is not soon enough!

IOU NOTHING--A hot headed response to Jeff Jacoby: Yes, hell hath no fury than a woman who knows the truth. I was admittedly brutal to the "conservative" often know nothing but articulate Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe columnist. I stated in virulent form a response to his opinion today about his so called scheme of Social Security. (link below.)

Jeff, I MUST respond to your LOATHSOME -- dare I in nonkosher style say -- tripe article today, September 7, 2011 "IOU'S can't save Social Security" op ed opinion. As usual you do NOT tell the entire truth. In Gorian phraseology money previous generations paid into Social Security SHOULD have been in a LOCKED BOX!! Democrat Clinton not only balanced the budget in his tenure but ensured that our national debt in ten years could be eradicated. Then the holocaust of George W. Rancid Bush saw to it that NOT ONLY would he give his top 2% uber rich sloths a tax cut probably now forever but also saw fit to conduct TWO unpaid wars (one waged by treasonous lies) and embarked on a national security state heretofore unknown in this nation. Beyond that he gave his big pharma cronies a gift of Medicare Part D and beyond that his other cronies reaped the big contracts of eternal war.

ALL of these things cost humongous BUCKS. So he borrowed or should I say STOLE it from Social Security and replaced it with worthless IOU's which would never be paid back and also borrowed big time from China.

This EGREGIOUS situation for those of my generation who not only suffer what your disgusting Wall Street illegal bankster THIEVES did to our middle class 401K savings and working class ruined pension funds but also raided the one thing that older middle class and working class people could count on to get by and that is Social Security.

It does NOT matter how Social Security was designed but what DOES matter is how the rich thieves and your pathetic Republican despots raided what was and could continue to be a program that saves lives. I don't blame your grandmother for loving FDR. I do too because he began the program that helped your grandmother and me, a disabled person, instead of being on the street, have Social Security to at least save us from an early grave.

I realize with what YOUR party and its putrid uber UNCARING rich have done is make ready my grave. Without Social Security my final resting place at Sharon Memorial Park with open arms will await sooner than I thought.

YOU ARE DESPICABLE, as you often are, for not telling the WHOLE truth. Social Security has been a lifesaving social safety net without which millions would
have had to rely on the real schemers. Given the economy today who of us would just love to entrust all we worked so diligently and hard
for to the banksters of Wall Street? My guess is few if any except of course those who inhabit the wealthy top 2%!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/09/07/ious_cant_save_social_security/

9/11 revisited -- The National Insecurity Security State--Too Much At Stake: I understand Glenn Greenwald's thoughts in his speech before the Massachusetts ACLU, adore what he says and how he says it (Link below.) BUT as maturity dictates I also realize or at least ask the question WHAT nation or empire in history has NOT acted shamefully, has not plundered its conquest or in the case of democracies abridged its own civil libertarian essence. The nature of man is what I believe some on the left do not get.

I am NOT for one minute excusing the US for its often times heinous hypocritical behavior and have written much about it BUT I also think we are NOT unique to the human condition. It is a Darwinian condition and if you think humanitarian ideologies will remain just that humanitarian, I think you are mistaken. We see it morph everywhere ALL the time. Orwell, in his brilliant work "Animal Farm" which I urge everyone to read who has not read this masterpiece, knew that revolutions while sometimes ideologically pure and idealistic often create the same monsters they chose to overthrow.

The issue that is most egregious about US foreign and domestic policy is its often hypocritical claims that it does things in the name of democracy and freedom but these rationales for US behavior have little truth. Power has utterly hoodwinked those who think they are enlisting for a glorious cause and those in the American public who are not savvy enough to hold government and power accountable for its actions when it does egregious things in our name. Still, I cannot think of a nation on planet earth that has not at one time or another acted severely because they THINK is in its own interests, for power, wealth or for perceived national security.

The issue now too is the media and how much it will expose odious behavior and how much nation states can get away with without being unveiled worldwide by one media or another. Or to the contrary how much is the media of the so called democracies complicit to the dastardly actions of its governments and in the severe curtailment of precious civil libertarian democratic uniqueness?

Other issues, for me, enter the mix. It is NOT just how hypocritical US policy was when in 1899 it invaded the Philippines. We now have within the reality of human contemporary conflict and subversive attempts nuclear scenarios we never had before. ALL are existentially odious and we must not fail at suppressing these things, as some on the right I surprisingly believe correctly state, even once. The fact that American foreign policy sometimes sows its own demise is something we must take into consideration but the reality is there are those who want to destroy us in a nanosecond by the most heinous means known to man. It cannot be denied. All it takes is ONE fanatic to be successful once.

In response to 9/11 has the US overstepped its civil libertarian boundaries by building our now gargantuan invasive national security state? I cannot answer that with 100% accuracy. Sometimes, there is no luxury for analysis. I rather enjoy breathing and seeing yet another sunrise if nature dictates I do. However nasty our nation's international behavior and sometimes national behavior is there is, I believe, another side to this culture worth saving and which is, indeed, unique among nations. No other nation has the size, the numbers, and the technological sophistication that we do. To protect ALL of us and at the same time to get this massive giant's foreign policy correct is NO easy task. The time grows short and there is too much at stake!

If you have not read Glenn Greenwald's address to the ACLU I urge you to do so (link below.) It is important if you care about you, your family and the direction of your country in our world. You can either read it or listen to the audio as well as the questions the audience asked of him below it. I also urge you to also watch PBS's "Frontline" which presents a brief analysis of the post 9/11 National Security State entitled "Top Secret America".


http://www.mediaroots.org/glenn-greenwalds-bill-of-rights-aclu-speech.php
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/

In Our Name: The story speaks for itself. See link below. I am sickened just sickened. I hand my feelings over to the next generation. Youth has dedication, strength and hope. I have little. Do I believe this? Of course I do. It is just an awful thing and it serves NO ONE most especially American interests at all.

Now we know how it can happen. It can and it does even here and in our name. It goes beyond politics. It speaks to the nature of man. We the peaceful few MUST still tell our view and hope somewhere someone smart will listen and change course.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/31/122789/wikileaks-iraqi-children-in-us.html#ixzz1WhcRyYGe

Lights Out on America?: The multi-state catastrophes of Hurricane Irene are self-evident. Our country is in trouble. We are seeing why the equating of government with family tighten-your-belt-on-spending is utterly ridiculous. The “small” government Republicans and even a few Democrats are killing our nation. The people entrust government to protect its security in war and in war with Mother Nature. Our Founders had NO idea what the size of this country would become nor could they EVER have understood what would befall a nation of 350 million, 50 states plus its territories. They created a government with only 13 colonies and did not even know what west of the Mississippi looked like until Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. 300 years later the metamorphosis of this country into not only one huge nation but into a world power never could have been foreseen by them. It is why, I believe, they created a Constitution as a flexible document and not a stagnant one because human beings and all that they create do NOT stand still.

There is no way on this planet that 50 singular states could ever be responsible on their own for repairing the gargantuan damage these utterly catastrophic disasters created. There have been 67 of them this year alone. Who could have predicted such a thing?

FDR knew when he took office in 1932 and saw the scope of the economic mayhem private enterprise wreaked upon an unsuspecting populous that the definition of federal government and the powers that it could assume HAD to be redefined and expanded. He knew he had to create nearly out of whole cloth a NEW idea for the role of government and he called it, of course, the New Deal. It was a new deal because the government had never taken on such grandiose power to perfect economic change before.

And so it is now except in triplicate. It is incumbent upon government -- OUR government -- to be there when it is beyond the singular control of a state or a people of that state to do so. The issues that befall us today will, in the future, determine IF there even is a United States of America left. Is it possible it could simply crumble? Well, other empires have crumbled and if one looks downtown in my small town or on the highway it looks like an asteroid hit.

The federal government and ONLY the federal government needs to figure out a way to repair not only our infrastructure but our psyches as well and by doing so create jobs. Creating jobs will create the additional tax revenue we desperately need. Moreover, a change in the tax structure MUST occur. It should mean that the rich who can most afford it pay more. I would gladly do so if I could! There are lights out all over the northeast. Is this a metaphor for America? I surely hope not but we are in DEEP DEEP trouble and only the federal government can dig us out!

Suggested Viewing: Rachel Maddow and Richard Engel have collaborated on a two part documentary about ten years after 9/11. For those of you who want to see intellectually brilliant work I suggest you check this out. Part 1- Thursday September 1st at 9pmET and Part 2- Friday September 2nd at 9pmET. The link to it is below

Entitled:

"Day of Destruction Decade of War "

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/day-of-destruction-decade-of-war-sept-1st-at-9pmet/66kwg97?cpkey=9ad19875-001b-4fed-a118-f26ca54dc6e1

The BEST of the BEST and the BEST of the BRIGHTEST: I link an Elizabeth Warren page below where you can give to her campaign.

If you live in Mass or even if you don't please think about giving this GREAT woman a contribution. This Harvard professor of economics is a once in a lifetime candidate and BRILLIANT beyond words and a voice for the middle class, working class and the poor. She could have been head of the Consumer Protection Bureau the president set up but as usual our OBSTRUCTIVE shame for a Republican majority in the House blocked this brilliant woman. Shame on them in triplicate.

Brown cannot even walk in her shadow. She is so far and above beyond him in intellect and communicative skills that it is not even a contest. She is the BEST of the BEST and the BEST of the BRIGHTEST. She will be a credit to Massachusetts and to our United States Senate if she wins!!

Think about giving her your support.

http://boldprogressives.org/home

A Blueprint for Victory: I am sure we all have seen the inconclusive polls showing the president sometimes up by a very little or down by two against Romney. We must NOT lose heart at the thought of a God forbid Perry or Romney presidency. Polls, especially in the beginning, are often wrong. 2008 had Giuliani ahead. It is much too early to predict. Having said that we know the issue that matters is the economy and the ever- present question are you better off now than four years ago. Presidents, at least modern ones, rise and fall often on the economy and not on the other social issues or they steal elections like Bush. Most people care about having a job, feeding and educating their families. It is the most important issue along side never ending war and corruption.

We MUST if the president is to get reelected emphasize his accomplishments but also reiterate how difficult the president’s job has been working with an obstructionist Congress on all things domestic whether its getting federal justices appointed, cabinet members confirmed or a significant jobs bill passed. We, therefore, I believe must concentrate our re-election attempt on the following:

Our president has done perceptually well in foreign policy despite what some of his more liberal critics claim. Clearly he knows how to take charge. For all their bluster Republicans have been utter failures in the international diplomatic arena and worst of all in their conduct of war. They have NOTHING to crow about AT ALL. Unfortunately, American memory, some have described is as long as a lightening bolt and will forget the disasters of Republican rule. Who will remember that the Bush administration’s illegal and immoral prosecution of the Iraq War was based on a lie? One cannot count on the electorate remembering how significantly bad the Bush years were failing to heed warnings of 9/11, killing thousands our youth, maiming thousands of our youth, destabilizing a regional Middleast tinderbox and killing by hundreds of thousands the innocent, torturing many and creating a million refugees.

On the domestic front how many will remember the Republican policies regarding wealth which began the crippling of the world economy, the ultimate downward spiral of the market creating the greatest economic debacle since the Great Depression. In over thirty years Republican rule has begun the deliberate the inordinately unequal distribution of wealth eroding a strong middle class the hallmark of the American Dream. This was NOT our president’s fault. He was handed a pile of dung by a know-nothing president and is expected to create the Taj Mahal. We and he must convey that the hope on which he ran springs eternal.

We must emphasize, too, he cannot make good policy out of an obstructionist Republican Party who is dedicated by any means necessary to his fall. How can he possibly craft a significant jobs program if the Republican side of the isle in the House remains at 240 while the Democratic side is at 193? Most all of the 240 Republicans have signed the unconscionable slime Grover Norquist’s pledge not to raise taxes most especially on the wealthy. Therefore, and the point of this email is, to realize and to state in the most vociferous and emphatic terms possible that the Republican-controlled House has been by far be the BIGGEST obstacle the president has encountered to try to cure our nation’s economic ills. The Republicans’ ONLY goal is to sink his presidency and do not care about helping the nation out of its morass.

Our president cannot work with the unworkable. If Republicans refuse to work with him whether because he is the first African American president or because they represent a small but loud corporately duped Tea Bag Party wingnut movement it will make the president’s ability to extricate us out of the economic morass difficult to say the least.

Our president has passed a tremendous amount of good legislation BUT it was done mostly when Democrats held the House. This Republican part of the House is brutal, mean, cruel and obstructionist. Who can blame the president if he cannot get all that we expect and right egregious wrongs?

The MOST important thing along with re-electing President Barack Obama in this 2012 election is to put the House back into Democratic hands once again.

The president surely will not get what he wants and our nation will not get what it so desperately needs – JOBS -- if the Congressional House remains in destructive Republican hands. MOST importantly along with re-electing the president is for us to turn the House SOLIDLY blue once again!

A War for All Seasons: I do not, as in most wars in human history, think that the NATO bombing of Libya is about taking down "bad guys." This is, in my opinion, about wresting power and taking control in an oil rich area which is mightily important to the west. Libya appears to be a NATO executed invasion of a formerly sovereign country. The rebels will be happy to use the power of NATO to win this bloody insurrection. BUT the true power of the rebels depends upon the US controlled NATO. Absent us from this uprising and the rebels could not put a hand on Khadafy. NATO bombed day and night specific targets in Libya such as electric grids and water supplies. It has killed hundreds if not thousands. This action it is NOT about liberation. We do not give a rat's petuti about their "freedom." We DO give a rat's petuti about an area of vital and strategic importance to most especially the west. Try going even one day without the oil taps flowing. You cannot. So it is about money, it is about power, it is about hegemony and it is above all else the inextricably linked oil.

I am sure given the so called "Arab spring" the administration is looking to be on the side of history. In this case we can always make the case for being there to get the "bad guy" as we did in Iraq with Saddam Hussein. It had NOTHING to do with Sadam Hussein, it had nothing to do with WMD of which there were none. It had everything to do with overthrowing any power that threatened or took control of so much oil.

It could have been the tooth fairy in power in Iraq or in Libya. As long as the rich oil taps threatened to stop the US will be glad to ensure that they do not. As a bonus it keeps the military industrial complex satiated as well.

This is why we must question power. Why does it do what it does? Who does it benefit and is it worth the price in blood and treasure? Every time you fill up your tank, every time you put the heat or air conditioning on, every time you buy a television set, and every time you do or buy just about anything on planet earth you will have oil at the nexus of its existence. In a 21st century world you cannot leave your home without it.

An Endlessly Interesting Film: Did you ever love something like a piece of art, music, theater or film so much that there are no words to adequately express it? That is how I feel about
an excellent piece of film making, "Barney's Version" available on DVD and cable rental.

It stars Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver and others. The film has it all as it spans the lifetime of a man Barney Panofsky. He is a hard drinking, brash, cigar smoking lovable AND distasteful man; sane and insane at the same time but what is sanity anyway? The film is very humorous, poignant and sad perhaps the substance of most of our lives. It riveted me encompassing so much including a mystery. There is mystery in the entirety of Barney Panofsky's life. Giamatti's performance is Oscar worthy. I cannot write about the movie but I could discuss it endlessly.

It goes to the top of my hit parade list!

Double Dip Death: How the country is EVER going to extricate itself now from this probable double dip recession I will NEVER know. 401K stock market investments are now tanking yet again for those who have depended upon – NO hoodwinked into depending upon -- the market for their retirements. I have talked to some who understand economics and they are telling me that the figure the government gives of 9.1 percent unemployment is FALSE. The unemployment figures my sources tell me is more like 15%. We are headed for, if not beginning, they think, a Depression of 25% unemployment or more (and NOT simply a double dip recession which is bad enough.) I do not know which economic prognosticators are correct.

I DO KNOW food prices are out the roof at a time when people do not have jobs nor do they have little prospect in acquiring any. Who have gained by the simply staggering economic mayhem they have created since 2007? Wall Street has gained like a Henry the VIIIth glutton. Do you think the Lloyd Blankfeins of Goldman OR Jamie Dimons of J.P. Morgan Chase or Brian Moynihans of BOA are worried about the price of milk being on average $3.50 per gallon? I suspect they are doing just fine as so many CEOs in the banking, real estate, hedge fund industries and big corporation executives are.

What is this going to mean for the little guy? IF prices do not stabilize, foreclosures continue, jobs are not created and people have NO health insurance I do not think I am waxing histrionic when I say that it will ultimately mean death for many. Yes, we are NOT talking about a mere job loss for a few months. We are talking about EVERYONE, including those who are approaching retirement losing it all, losing their safety nets and ultimately losing their life to the malfeasance and malevolence of the mad money makers of Wall Street.

When those who have controlled this economic puppet theater think they are having such a good time making their billions, enjoying their bailouts and bonuses on the backs of those who cannot sustain yet another recession or god forbid, ultimately, another world wide Great Depression, they must know that their actions, much of it illegal securities fraud, have killed, are killing and will ultimately kill middle and working class people everywhere. I believe it is premeditated murder as those who have done such dastardly deeds like rating securities Triple A that were junk and selling them to unsuspecting buyers were, in collusion with the inside jobbers, understanding that they would get very very rich and the little people would get very very poor. They KNEW it would affect everyone from telephone linemen, to teachers in the disappearing-before-our-very-eyes public sector employment in the states, to toddlers’ education and health. They knew their actions would have catastrophic consequences and mean even the states would face bankruptcy. They KNEW that everything world wide could come crashing down – all of it except them that is. Well who cares about the little people anyway?

I do. I am the little people and I do not want to die!

TWO BLOGS BY STEPHEN LENDMAN. We do not always agree but he is VERY smart and on most things we concurRick Perry: Extremist White America's Evangelical Hope
.... a rogue's gallery of Republican aspirants, looking more like a police lineup than legitimate candidates for any office, let alone the nation's highest - with one exception, Ron Paul, ignored by America's media for the following reasons:

(1) He advocates abolishing the Federal Reserve, owned and run by Wall Street. In fact, several times in Congress, he introduced the Federal Reserve Abolition Act. With no co-sponsors, no further action followed.

Yet, restoring sound money and a healthy economy requires Fed abolition, returning money creation power to the US Treasury as the Constitution mandates (Article I, Section 8).

(2) He also wants squandering America's resources on imperial wars ended, using the nation's wealth instead for productive economic growth.

(3) In addition, he opposes police state laws like the USA Patriot Act, though not for all the right reasons. Key for him is loss of personal privacy.

(4) While advocating free trade, he's against NAFTA, DR-CAFTA, and other one-sided FTAs, serving special interests, not everyone equitably.

(5) He calls the war on drugs "costly and ineffective, while creating terrible violent crime." True enough, but it's much worse, largely responsible for creating the world's largest gulag, mostly filled with nonviolent inmates, deserving reprimands and perhaps fines at most, not prison time.

At the same time, as a libertarian, he believes government's only role is to respect, protect, and defend personal freedoms.

As the Libertarian Party's Preamble advocates, everyone should retain "sovereign(ty) over their own lives," not "sacrifice (it) for the benefit of others."

In other words, government's responsibility for universal healthcare, education, and other essential services is incompatible with personal freedom. Everyone should be on their own to provide them, even though millions, through no fault of their own, can't.

In contrast, progressives define freedom and responsibility differently, believing government must assure equity, social justice, and safety net protections for society's least advantaged. Throwing them overboard can't be tolerated.

Rick Perry - George Bush on Steroids?

Who can know, but be concerned. Texas-based commentator Molly Ivans (1944 - 2007) called him "despicable" and much more. Ridiculing him as "Gov. Goodhair," she compared him to George Bush, saying, "O Please, Dear God, Not Another One," quoting a country song.

She railed against his appointing an Enron executive head of Texas' Public Utilities Commission. In return "the next day" came a $25,000 thank you check, signed by former Chairman/CEO Ken Lay, infamous for being behind one of the nation's greatest ever financial scandals.

She denounced his "spectacular failure on public schools by convincing Texans that gay marriage was a horrible threat to us all." At the same time, he tried "to disguise" the decrepit state of public schools "by proposing that we teach creationism in biology classes," not math fundamentals, good English, literacy and computer skills, and real history and political science, omitting any reference to religion that has no place in public education.

She also hammered him in other articles, exposing an extremist governor not fit for any public office, let alone the nation's highest that should chill everyone at the possibility, except his lunatic fringe supporters and big-monied backers, assured of substantial returns on investments with him as president.

On August 13, he announced his candidacy in South Carolina, not Texas, knowing angry mobs would confront him, saying:

America "is the last great hope of mankind....Socialist systems (deliver) misery and stagnation....Americans (are) not defined as class....'Spreading the wealth' punishes success....(B)ig-government policies have prolonged our national misery....It is time to get America working again."

Besides mischaracterizing his dismal pro-business, anti-populist record as governor, his rhetoric concealed extremist positions he'll force on all Americans the way he did to Texans, including Christian fascism. More on that below.

Right Wing Watch.com lists some of his allies, including:

(1) The American Family Association, endorsing censorship and advocacy against women's and LGBT rights.

(2) The International House of Prayer, wanting Jews to become Christians and opposing abortion and LGBT rights among other extremist positions.

(3) The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, known for calling gay rights activists "intolerant," "hateful," "vile," "spiteful," and "pawns" of Satan.

(4) The Response, another extremist religious group.

(5) Rev. John Hagee, a preacher and practitioner of Christian fascism.

(6) James Dobson, a replica of Hagee, founder of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, two prominent extremist hate groups.

(7) David Barton, "a self-proclaimed historian known (for reinventing history) and the Bible to justify right-wing positions."

(8) Rob Schenk, an anti-choice extremist.

(9) Loren Cunningham, co-founder of the radical "Seven Mountains Dominionist."

(10) Doug Stringer, "who blamed American secularism (and) acceptance of homosexuality for the 9/11 attacks."

(11) Che Ahn, John Hagee's mentor who compared "the fight against gay rights to the fight against slavery," and others also endorsing the same ideological extremism.

With these type allies and financial backers, be concerned, very concerned.

Perry for President

Perry's web site (richperry.org) calls him "a true conservative," omitting how he defined that as governor, serving Big Monied Texans at the expense of all others, what he'll replicate nationally as president.

Besides his religious ideologue allies, he also stacked his campaign team with neocon advisers and Tea Party extremists, likely endorsing his belief that:

"We are now confronted with the rise of new economic and military powerhouses in China and India, as well as a Russia that is increasingly aggressive and troublesome to its neighbors and former satellite nations that are struggling to maintain their relatively newfound independence."

As a result, he added: "(T)he United States must be prepared for the ramifications of shifting balances of power," stopping just short of endorsing war.

A racist uber-hawk, he presided over 230 executions since December 2000, more than any other modern governor. At the same time, he refused to admit the possibility that anyone put to death was innocent, despite over 130 exonerated inmates since 1973, including 12 in Texas, besides known and unknown others unjustly facing execution.

His college academic record also raises concerns, an August 5 Huffington Post article headlining, "Rick Perry's College Transcript: A Lot of Cs and Ds," saying:

"A source in Texas (supplied) transcripts of his years at Texas A&M University." It showed less than classroom distinction. "While he later became a student leader, he had to get out of academic probation to do so."

His D grades were in economics, Shakespeare, and veterinary anatomy. He flunked organic chemistry. A classmate called A&M not "exactly Harvard on the Brazos River," adding:

"This was not the brightest guy around. We always kind of laughed. He was always kind of a joke."

His office "did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post." Perhaps potential supporters should demand it, besides holding him accountable for his dismal record as governor.

An August 14 HuffPost article explained more, headlined: "Rick Perry's Record in Texas May Not Convince Latino Voters," saying:

Texas is 38% Latino, including many undocumented ones through no fault of their own. Perry opposes amnesty. He's "argued for (using) National Guard, military-style special ops and (drones) with high-tech cameras" to monitor border areas.

His administration "spent over $400 million since 2005 on border security programs." He supports "valid residency documents from driver's license applicants," who aren't US citizens. He opposes state "sanctuary cities," wants voters required to show photo IDs at polls, and "local police (required to) comply with federal immigration laws."

Civic and Hispanic leaders oppose these policies, arguing they'll escalate intimidation and anti-Latino discrimination. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro called Perry's initiatives "easily the most anti-Latino agenda in more than a generation, without shame."

Many agree with Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Gray that Perry "needs a pink slip, not a promotion (because) he's been a disaster as governor and would make an even worse president."

Besides his pro-business, pro-war, racist agenda, he embraces religious extremism, breaching the inviolable separation of church and state, the Constitution's Article II, Section 6 stating:

"The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable."

In other words, religion in any form, may not engage in or interfere with affairs of state, and vice versa under the First Amendment, guaranteeing the right to free exercise of religion.

With leaders like Rick Perry, expect the religion/state firewall to be naplamed as a practitioner of Christian fascism. Broadly defined, it embraces extremist political, economic, social and religious ideology falsely called conservative.

Sociologist Sara Diamond wrote extensively on the rise of America's right wing groups, including in her "Roads to Dominion," in which she traced various movements over the past 50 years, identifying four types:

1. Anti-communist conservatives, including the Christian Right's moral traditionalists.

2. Racist right-wing groups, including the KKK, other segregationist groups, and the paramilitary white supremacist movement.

3. The Christian Right with its evangelical roots, and

4. Neoconservatives with roots during the Cold War under Republicans and Democrats.

Not entirely monolithic, these groups share common views with regard to the economy, the nation state in the global context (military and geopolitical), and moral norms relating to race and gender.

They also advocate free-market capitalism, anticommunism (now anything left of center), US global military hegemony, traditional morality, superiority of native-born white male Christian Americans, and the traditional nuclear family.

Moreover, they cloak their ideology in Christianity and patriotism to gain political power they claim God sanctions, giving moral legitimacy, even to steal from the poor, give to the rich, and wage war.

As a result, these ideologues are morally and politically indefensible, toxic and dangerous. They also embrace:

-- racial hatred;

-- white Christian supremacy;

-- blind adoration and obedience to leaders, discouraging free and independent thought;

-- male gender dominance;

-- LGBT hatred;

-- disdain for non-believers and rational intellectual inquiry;

-- calling debate apostasy;

-- opposing abortion but hypocritically supporting capital punishment, including for LGBTs, abortionists, Muslim "terrorists," and "heretics;"

-- advocating militarism, war and apocalyptic violence;

-- abolishing public education and government involvement in all social services;

-- proselytizing others to become believers;

-- rejecting secular humanist notions of reason, ethics, morality, social equity and justice;

-- capitalizing on human pain, suffering, disillusion, dislocation, and despair felt by millions to build a mass movement of servile, unthinking followers;

-- advocating Christian fascism based on predatory capitalism, militarism, and intolerance of democratic freedoms; and

-- fanatically supporting Israel for all the wrong reasons, though it's hard to find any right ones, given its out-of-control lawlessness and danger as a global menace like America, especially if run by Christian fascists like Perry.

If elected, he'll use his ideology as a crusade to wage war on democratic values, social justice, rule of law principles, and peace even more than they've already been desecrated.

As a result, America now is unfit to live in. Perhaps under Perry, so will planet earth. What better reason to shun and denounce him. But much more is needed to save the soul of a lost nation.

Begin by rejecting the corrupted two-party duopoly, run by warmongering kleptocrats, damning the public interest for their own. Vote independent or not at all.

Voting for any Republican or Democrat - for president, Congress, state or local office - is wasting it, defiling your own welfare. Unless duopoly power ends, Americans won't be free, safe or equitably treated.

Now's the time to start abolishing what's wrecking the country and planet earth. The alternative is perishing with it - under Perry, Obama or anyone representing either party.

They're beholden to a higher power, America's monied interests so far having everything their own way. Survival depends on replacing them before it's too late to matter.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 1:32 AM
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Falsified Major Media Reports on Libya

Falsified Major Media Reports on Libya - by Stephen Lendman

Major media specialize in what they do best: truth inversion (aka bad fiction), not doing what journalists are supposed to do - their job, especially covering imperial wars for dominance and rich spoils.

With Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) falling apart and rebel forces in disarray, today's headlines belie the truth, reported by independent "un-in-bed-with" journalists and other sources.

On August 16, Lizzie Phelan's Libya diary "clear(ed) up the latest media rubbish on Libya," saying:

Gaddafi forces liberated the "hitherto rebel-held" town of Misrata. "Last night, the Libyan army moved into the center of the city, and now the rebels are trapped between Misrata and Tawergha."

About three-fourths of the city, including its port, is secured, "which was a lifeline" for shipping rebels arms and other supplies.

At a press conference attended by around 200 tribes (including the four largest comprising half the population), Libya's media spokesman, Dr. Moussa Ibrahim, confirmed it.

Th major four, including Wafalla, Tarhouna, Zlitan and Washafana, all support Gaddafi.

"The tribal leaders also confirmed that Zawiya and Sorman are secure, in contrast to (falsified) claims by (in bed with) foreign reporters in Tripoli and Djerba (Tunisia) that they have been taken by the rebels."

In addition, claims that rebels control Ghuriyan are untrue. Ongoing clashes there continue.

Major media reports lie, although pockets of rebel resistance remain. Nonetheless, they're "isolated and surrounded by the Libyan army and tribes."

Falsified major media reports stand in stark contrast to "Libyan tribes who, of course, know their land with great intimacy."

It's clear media bosses want Libyans demoralized to think all is lost so give up. In addition, NATO's "been desperately trying to secure some victory before August 17 (Ramadan's 17th day), a very important date in the Islamic calendar.

On Ramadan's 17th day in 624 AD in the Islamic calendar, the Prophet Muhammad won an important Battle of Badr victory in present day Saudi Arabia. It was a key turning point against his opponents.

Fast-forwarding to today, major media sources falsify reports "to create confusion and panic on the ground." I

n an August 15 telephone address to supporters massed in Green Square, Gaddafi "reasserted his calls for the Libyan people to remain steadfast in defeating NATO's allies on the ground and NATO itself."

Phelan also said unconfirmed reports say rebel commander Khalifa Hefter was captured, the former army officer turned CIA asset, having formerly lived near its Langley, VA headquarters since the early 1990s.

If true, it'll will create more disarray among TNC leaders, perhaps better described as the gang that can't shoot or get their stories straight.

"So the media war goes on," said Phelan, on the ground in Tripoli, reporting important truths on her Lizzie's Liberation site, accessed through the following link:

http://lizziesliberation.wordpress.com/

Contrasting Falsified Major Media Reports

The vulgarity of lying needs no comment. Doing it for a living is beyond reproach. It doesn't deter takers, however, like New York Times writers David Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim headlining, "A Top Libyan Official Appears to Defect, as Rebels Defend Recent Gains," saying:

Interior Minister Nassr al-Mabrouk "landed in Cairo in a private plane with nine family members who were traveling on tourist visas....The defection would signal a new crack in the Qaddafi government...."

Fact check:

Al-Mabrouk didn't defect as widely reported. He left for an operation in Cairo, saying he stands firmly with Gaddafi. It's unsurprising he'd want family members with him for support.

Kirkpatrick and Fahim continued saying, "(R)ebels, emboldened by their gains in recent days, are losing incentive to make concessions."

Fact check:

Falsified rebel gains are, in fact, unreported losses and disarray. Moreover, without NATO air support, they'd have been routed months ago. Air cover also gave NATO a chance to slaughter and injure thousands of Libyan civilians, as well as cause horrific mass destruction, related to imperial, not military, aims.

Both Times writers also reported rebel claims of having Tripoli surrounded as well as key supply lines cut off. None of it is true, but fact-checking isn't part of Times writers' job description - just reporting accounts ordered by their bosses.

From Tripoli, independent journalist/Middle East/Central Asian analyst Mahdi Nazemroaya explained in a morning email:

"The insurgency was defeated in Misurata. NATO responded with massive bombing. One route is controlled. Zawiya and Sorman have not fallen. There have been attacks on the route. They are trying to cut the supply routes off" but haven't succeeded.

On August 15, Washington Post writer Leila Fadel was no better than other accounts headlining, "Gaddafi isolated as rebels advance, aide flies to Cairo," falsifying the same agitprop as their Times counterparts, claiming rebels have "a stranglehold on the Libyan capital, Tripoli."

London Guardian writers are also complicit, headlining the following August 15 and 16 stories, better described as media lies:

August 15: "Libya's interior minister flies to Egypt in apparent defection"

August 15: "Libyan rebels enter oil town where decisive battle may yet be fought"

Fact check: Zawiya was referred to, securely controlled by Gaddafi's forces.

August 15: "No stalemate in Libya - the writing is on the wall for Gaddafi"

August 16: "Libya shows signs of slipping from Muammar Gaddafi's grasp"

August 16: "Live Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest - live updates," many, in fact, falsified like others.

Al Zajeera is also complicit in misreporting on Libya. On August 16, it headlined, "Libyan rebels push to isolate Tripoli," sounding more like CNN, Fox News, and The New York Times than legitimate journalists.

The report repeated the same misinformation about isolating Tripoli, controlling most of Zawiya, and other distortions.

An earlier August 12 report claimed "Fleeing Libyans say Gaddafi regime crumbling" as rebels advance toward the capital. Again untrue.

Al Jazeera, of course, is based in, funded by, and controlled by Qatar, a coalition NATO partner against Libya, its armed forces supporting rebels on the ground.

As a result, it reports lack credibility and should be avoided. Angry Arab editor As'ad AbuKhalil says they're "like watching MSNBC after being purchased by Murdoch."

Of course, it's worthless under its current owner, Comcast, and previous one, General Electric, especially on issues of war and peace, as well as lawless US imperialism.

A Final Comment

The battle for Libya continues. Overwhelming numbers support Gaddafi and want their country free from imperial control. They're also prepared to fight for it, knowing the unacceptable alternative - colonization, pillaging, loss of freedom, and perhaps their lives.

What better reasons to resist than those!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:56 AM
Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness

Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness - by Stephen Lendman

It begs the question why Israelis put up with lawless governance harming them as well as Palestinians. When will weeks of social injustice outrage arouse them to embrace universal equity?

Why haven't Martin Luther King's words hit home that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In Israel and Occupied Palestine, Arabs and Jews both are harmed. Injustice to anyone denies it to all.

Since the 1980s, destructive neoliberalism plagued Israel like the West. A race to the bottom followed, producing social injustice, inequality, and growing human need. Israelis finally reacted, demanding change, at the same time showing a hint of solidarity with Arab citizens, far more gravely impacted than themselves.

It's high time that spirit addressed 44 years of Occupied Palestinian torment. Permitting that to go on betrays core Judaic tenets. In their own time of need, will Jews embrace the universal struggle for justice everywhere, especially a few kilometers from their own backyard. Turning a blind eye to that injustice no longer can be tolerated.

What's now ongoing bears witness. Overnight, Israeli jets bombed Gaza, killing at least one resident and wounding seven or more others (including a child) in a series of lawless raids.

Gaza's medical emergency spokesperson, Adham Abu Salmiyya, said three residents were seriously injured after Israel bombed the Al Zeitoun neighborhood, Rafah tunnel areas, and an alleged Al Qassam Brigades training center in Gaza City's At-Tuffah community.

Further attacks struck eastern Khan Younis, causing extensive damage but no injuries. Israel targets Gaza regularly by air, land and sea, falsely claiming self-defense every time. It long ago rang hollow.

Imagine if instead Israeli neighborhoods were bombed regularly, killing innocent civilians? Western leaders would express outrage in response.

In contrast, when Palestinians are killed, it goes unnoticed, notably by major media sources more focused on supporting NATO aggression, slaughtering people in the name of "liberating" them.

The hypocrisy is stark and galling, yet commonplace backing wrong over right. The horrors need volumes to explain.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces also razed Palestinian farmland south of Hebron, bulldozing fruit trees belonging to several Palestinian families. At the same time, several Hebron neighborhoods were raided. In addition, residents of Yatta, Tarqomia, and other Palestinian communities face regular Israeli incursions, harassing and aiming to displace them.

Israel Welcomes Glenn Beck

On August 14, Israel National News writer Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu headlined, "Israel Rolls Out Red Carpet for Glenn Beck" ahead of his "Restoring Courage" tour in Jerusalem, saying:

He scrapped plans to hold it at the Temple Mount after being warned about Muslim outrage. Instead, he'll hold two Jerusalem events, "at the Davidson Center at the southern edge of the Western Wall and the other in Safra Square," near municipal offices and city hall.

A previous article explained Beck's demagoguery, right wing extremism, and racism, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/09/glenn-becks-demagoguery-right-wing.html

No longer on Fox News, he continues his hatemongering diatribes against disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and anyone to the left of his views, meaning he'll fit right in among Israeli extremists who arranged his visit.

Beck claims it's "time to Stand and Restore Courage. We ask those of you who value freedom honor and faith to travel to Israel and stand with Glenn Beck and leaders from around the world with one united voice."

Palestinians, anti-war activists, and opponents of Israel's illegal occupation aren't invited. Nor were they included on a July Beck visit when extremist Knesset members let him address the Aliyah and Absorption Committee, saying he came "to speak the truth" about efforts to delegitimize Israel.

He also claimed PA demands exacerbate anti-Semitism that's "going through the roof," when US and European studies show it in steep decline.

Now he's back, endorsed by Rev. John Hagee, a fellow demagogue, supporting racial hatred, white Christian supremacy, imperial wars, apocalyptic violence, gay bashing, male gender dominance, and fanatically wanting Israel exclusively for Jews.

They're a matched set, Hagee writing Beck, saying:

"I'm writing to express my strong support for the Restoring Courage events to be held in Israel....Those of us who love Israel (see) especially ominous thunder clap to come down in September, when the (UN) will most likely support a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood."

He falsely claimed the General Assembly has no power to do it, at the same time railing against "the symbolic impact" he called "extremely dangerous."

"I look forward to seeing you" in Israel, he said, "the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in an eternal covenant that is binding to this day."

Hagee knows because God told him so, communicating directly he apparently believes. So do his parishioners sadly and other followers of his demagogic hatemongering misinterpretation of vital truths.

New Settlement Units Announced

In 2004, America's United Methodist Church stood firm against "confiscat(ing) Palestinian land for construction of settlements and the building of a separation wall."

It also expressed opposition to other Israeli abuses, including "intensified closures, curfews, dehumanizing check points, home demolitions, uprooted trees, bulldozed fields....confiscation of Palestinian land and water....targeted assassinations," and other Israeli occupation abuses.

In recent days, Israel announced thousands of new settlement units, defiant of international law, and a vital need for new construction in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities, not Occupied Palestine, to relieve a severe housing shortage, causing prices to skyrocket.

Many human rights organizations express similar views, including opposition to settlement developments, stealing Palestinian land for exclusive Jewish use.

No matter. On August 15, 277 West Bank Ariel units were approved. Earlier, 500 others were announced in Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumin, Ariel, and Kiryat Sefer.

In early August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said 930 more are planned for East Jerusalem's Har Homa C and 42 public buildings in Har Homa B, as well as extensive accompanying infrastructure.

On August 11, thousands more were announced - 1,600 in Ramat Shlomo, 2,000 in Givat Hamatos, and 700 in Pisgat Zeev. "This would bring (total East Jerusalem approvals) to over 5,200, and counting, in August alone."

In 121 illegal settlements and nearly 100 outposts, around 300,000 settlers populate the West Bank, another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, and the numbers keep growing.

As a result, over 42% of choice West Bank land and large parts of East Jerusalem have been stolen by successive Israeli governments, claiming they want peace.

Compounded by his duplicitous rhetoric overall, Obama (like his predecessors) stands firmly in support, reiterating America's "unbreakable" bond with Israel, including its most lawless acts.

According to PCHR and other human rights organizations, as long as international community leaders grant Israel impunity, Palestinian justice will lose out.

Will socially oppressed Israeli Jews finally take note and say No More!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:52 AM
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands

Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands - by Stephen Lendman

Unaffordable housing prices ignited mass social justice protests in Israel. At issue is settlement developments at the expense of other construction, creating a supply/demand imbalance enough to cause prices to skyrocket. Israelis demand that issue be addressed responsibly.

In response, Netanyahu's government announced thousands of illegal new West Bank/East Jerusalem settlement units on stolen Palestinian land, harming them grievously. At the same time, he arrogantly ignored the urgency of addressing serious shortages in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities.

In addition, Israel's Knesset passed a controversial housing bill despite popular protests against it. It calls for solving Israel's housing crisis by expanding West Bank settlements, defiantly avoiding what's needed.

It also called for quick action to expedite construction of 50,000 apartments, circumventing planning commissions that take time to decide. Doing so, however, will exacerbate Israel's housing crisis, making an intolerable situation worse.

Since protests began, Netanyahu signaled no meaningful change, saying "solutions (must be) economically sound." In other words, business as usual will continue, papered over with minor cosmetic concessions sure to ignite greater anger sooner or later.

In early August, he appointed Professor Manual Trajtenberg to head a 14-member "panel for socioeconomic change," saying its "recommendations will reflect the need to maintain fiscal responsibility in the state budge. Such responsibility is especially necessary at a time of economic uncertainty," signaling minimal changes at best, far less than vitally needed and demanded.

Neoliberally constructed, Trajtenberg's panel will conduct discussions, propose solutions, and present them to Israel's socioeconomic cabinet (composed of establishment figures headed by neoliberal finance minister Yuval Steinitz) by late September.

In late October, Steinitz will present his own recommendations to Netanhayu, who'll review them and deliver a final proposal to Israel's cabinet by early November, giving officials enough time to let street protests subside. Or so they hope to get away with minimal changes, if any.

Trajtenberg's Socioeconomic Change Panel

Besides himself and Steinitz, the panel includes senior government officials, including:

Eyal Gabai: Netanyahu's Director-General

Eugene Kandel: National Economic Council head

Gal Hershkovitz: Finance Ministry's budget chief

Avi Simhon: Finance Ministry's senior economic advisor

Michal Abadi-Boiangiu: Finance Ministry's accountant-general

Esther Dominisini: National Insurance Institute's director-general

Shlomi Frizet: Antitrust Authority's chief economist

Karnit Flug: Bank of Israel's deputy governor

Other members include:

Professor Yoram Gabby: Israeli tax expert

Shahar Cohen: entrepreneur

Professor Pnina Klein: 2011 Israel Education Prize Laureate

Professor Rafi Melnik: Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center vice president

Professor Tali Regev: economist

Panel advisors include other establishment figures from government ministries, related agencies and think tanks.

Panel head Trajtenberg also is an establishment figure, formerly Netanyahu's National Economic Council head, appointed in 2006 by Ehud Olmert.

An economist, he heads Israel's Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education. Without explaining whether he favors change, he calls himself "a fervent Zionist who devoted three years of his life to bringing Jews to Israel, an Israeli patriot with a South American soul, and a doctorate in economics from Harvard."

At the same time, he worries about Israel's commission system, saying it's set up to kill, not solve, issues, which begs the question why he agreed to get involved in the first place, knowing it's an exercise in futility.

In fact, he said "(A)nother panel with all the familiar faces will be no good here. Unless the political leadership unites behind the recommendations, it won't work."

Knowing he won't succeed, nonetheless, he came on board adding, "we must take the risk," that may, in fact, be rhetoric, not conviction.

At the same time, he's a possible/perhaps likely choice to become the Bank of Israel's next governor when his Planning and Budgeting chairmanship term expires in a year, replacing Stanley Fischer, head of Israel's central bank since 2005.

No social democrat need apply. Of course, Netanyahu didn't appoint him socioeconomic change head to become one.

Perhaps it's why protest leaders have their own expert panel, separate from Trajtenberg's, knowing any government commission will spurn them. In fact, some of its members openly endorse non-cooperation with Netanyahu's appointees.

Composed of 60 academic and public figures, it's divided into nine sub-units, coordinated by Education Professor Yossi Yonah and Professor Avia Spivak, a curious choice, having been a former Bank of Israel deputy governor.

Some units have already held working sessions. Others will do so shortly. Each will handle priorities in their field of expertise. Within weeks, they'll present their conclusions and demands.

A public statement said:

"(R)ecent statements of senior ministers suggest that the government does not understand what is happening here. Those who look down on the protest and surround themselves with tycoons do not understand the depth of the revulsion at the economic processes they have led, which enrich the rich at the expense of the rest of the public. This method has created enormous gaps, greed and deteriorating public services, education, welfare and health."

It added that "the demands of the public today are for fundamental change in the method, not just some improvements in it. The Trajtenberg committee, whose mandate and scope for maneuvering have not been publicized, does not appear to be capable of leading such change."

Of course, it was appointed to prevent it, a sham smokescreen for business as usual.

Alternate panel sub-unit heads include:

Professor Yossi Ze'ira: economic issues

Emily Silverman: housing and transportation

Professor Yitzhak Gal-Nur: public administration

Professor Ya'akov Kashti and Rabbi Shay Piron: education

Professor Danny Filc: healthcare

Nadia Ismail: employment

Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer: legal issues

Professor Bilha Tadher: social security issues

Professor Yossi Yonah: "fundamentals of a policy of social justice"

On August 14, New York Times writer Stephen Farrell headlined, "Israeli Leader Vows Fiscal Reform but No Quick Fixes," saying:

On Sunday, Netanyahu "tempered a promise to find 'concrete solutions' to demonstrators' concerns with a warning that the global financial crisis precluded quick change," saying:

"We know one thing: We want to find solutions that are economically sound. For if we end up bankrupt or face economic collapse, a reality in which some of Europe's leading economies find themselves in today, we will solve neither the economic problems nor the social ones."

Fact check:

During dire economic times, going it slow is counterproductive and destructive, assuring worse, not improved conditions. Moreover, doing little, nothing, or forcing austerity when stimulus is needed assures disaster.

When times are tough, pump priming is critical to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. At all times, moreover, just democratic societies are mandated to provide essential social services to all its citizens, including education, healthcare, housing help, and welfare for their least advantaged.

In contrast, neoliberal states like Israel, America, Britain and others serve wealth and power interests only, spurning their social obligations altogether, disingenuously saying it's for the greater good.

Netanyahu lied urging "financial responsibility alongside social sensitivity," when he favors the former only but won't say.

As a result, achieving social justice requires protest leaders accepting nothing less, or as Haifa University student Adi Gross said:

"These protests are not going to stop before a (just)," solution is found," and social worker Suhair Halabi added:

"Nobody is free until everybody is free," saying also "(w)e are fighting a national and a class battle" too important to lose.

Going for broke is crucial. It's critical that spirit and energy driving it not be lost. Otherwise, the battle for social justice will be, letting an historic moment pass unfulfilled.

A Final Comment

Working cooperatively with Netanyahu's government, municipal authorities began harassing protest encampments, forcibly trying to disrupt them by dismantling tent cities.

In fact, inspectors issued eviction notices in Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina plaza, and confiscated the symbolic guillotine erected on Rothschild Boulevard. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) strongly condemned the move, saying mayors are trying to "push the police to silence the protest."

ACRI attorney Avner Punchuk added:

"(T)he role of the police is to protect freedom of expression, not to pander to mayors and municipal authorities, who have their own agendas, while using unreasonable excuses for eviction such as the expected Palestinian declaration of statehood in September."

ACRI is providing legal help to end harassment, at times successful, but this struggle has a long way to go with major hurdles to overcome.

Protesters now face municipal officers tearing down tents, other encampments, signs and confiscating equipment to crush resistance - representing an extremist right-wing government determined to spurn them.

Knowing what they're up against, Israelis vow to stay the course. No matter how many victories are won, social justice struggles never end because dark force plotting never quits, devising new ways to undermine or regain lost ground.

As a result, it's vital to keep the spirit for change alive, never letting it wane because doing so assures defeat. Winning social justice isn't easy, quick or enough. Keeping it is key.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:55 AM
Economic End Times

Economic End Times - by Stephen Lendman

Despite a deepening global depression, establishment economists are in denial. On June 9, the Wall Street Journal said those surveyed expected slow, steady growth through 2011, despite high US unemployment, a housing depression, European sovereign debt in crisis, and the unreported insolvency of major French and other banks.

On June 8, testifying before the House Budget Committee, Fed chairman Bernanke fantasized about 3.5% US growth through 2011, stopping just short of ruling out the possibility of recession he called "unlikely."

And in 2007, when equity and housing bubbles peaked, neither he or Greenspan expressed alarm, destroying their credibility in the process.

Based on an early August survey, establishment (in bed with Wall Street) economists now put the chance of "another" downturn at 30%, compared to 15% in May, expecting 2.5% growth over the next year.

Some, in fact were sanguine, calling America's economy strong, attributing negative views to a crisis of confidence, not hard reality, signaled by the August 4 shot across the bow market rout.

Despite a predictable rebound, it signified much worse to come because conditions are dire getting worse. Even manipulated data show enough to sound alarms, highlighted by economists like David Rosenberg.

On August 15, he expressed surprise about so "little reaction to the shocking US consumer sentiment data that were released on Friday - the worst since the tail end of the Jimmy Carter recession era in 1980."

Moreover, consumer spending is weak even with suspect upward revisions. In addition, "(n)ew mortgage and refinancing loan volumes fell 19% in Q2 to" a three-year low. Further, auto buying plans declined to a decade low, likely headed much lower as economic conditions deteriorate. Other big ticket buying plans also dropped to 2008-09 depths when the economy falling off a cliff seemed possible.

In fact, growth indicators overall are rapidly heading south at a time they're already woefully weak. There's no end to decline in sight. Remarkably, negative household assessments of government policy hit record lows, surpassing the depths of the early 1980s recession and Watergate.

As a result, Rosenberg called the US economy "recession-bound, expecting" even manipulated data to show negative Q 3 growth, followed by greater contraction in Q 4 and 2012 Q 1.

"(P)ractically every major variable is" negative. "We are past the point of no return....I can understand the innate need to be hopeful," he said, but it's impossible to dispute reality.

Weakness and imbalances are extreme. American and European sovereign debt are overextended and troubled. "Anyone who thinks this gets contained (especially in Europe) slept through the last financial crisis after Lehman failed."

And when weak economies beg for stimulus, austerity is force-fed, assuring far greater economic pain. It's coming, will deepen and persist because policy measures are opposite of what's needed.

Commenting on the August 4 market rout, Rosenberg said nearly always it signals downturns. Western economies are fundamentally weak. Unlike earlier times when the Fed could cut interest rates, it now relies on "untested methods to underpin investor confidence and the economy."

And if America's economy plunges, so do others even deeper. Hunker down believes Rosenberg and independent economists believing the worst is yet to come.

Other Respected Views

Economist Michael Hudson is unequivocal explaining a debt deflation caused Depression. The game is over. The global ponzi scheme ran its course. Papering over conditions only works so long before hitting a wall. Tunnel vision assures trouble. Wrecking economies to save banks is lunacy, and forced austerity when stimulus is needed guarantees disaster. It's not a matter of if, just when, how deep and protracted.

Economist Paul Craig Roberts, trends analyst Gerald Celente, and others worry whether Washington will choose greater war to distract public attention from economic distress. In 2009, in fact, Celente warned about the oldest trick in the book, saying:

"Given the pattern of governments to parlay egregious failures into mega-failures, the classic trend they follow, when all else fails, is to take their nation to war."

In 2011, he called it a worrisome wild card, perhaps preceded by a major 9/11 type false flag to enlist public support.

Bet on it, in fact, if conditions become bad enough, public anger grows, and Obama's approval rating crashes ahead of the 2012 election. War based on heightened fear is how to raise it perhaps high enough to win.

Highly respect analyst Jeremy Grantham began his August letter to investors headlined, "Danger: Children at Play" with a "Stop Press Addendum," saying:

"My worst fears about the potential loss of confidence in our leaders, institutions, and 'capitalism itself' are being realized. We have been digging this hole for a long time. We really must be serious in our attempts to resuscitate the 'average (number of) hour(s) worked' and the fortunes of the average worker."

"Walking across the Boston Common this morning, I came to realize that the unpalatable (to me) option of some debt forgiveness on mortgages looks increasingly to be necessary as well as tax changes" he discussed in his report.

"To go further, if we mean to prosper long term, I am sure we need to act to make debt less attractive to everybody: it really is a snare and a delusion" to think otherwise.

Calling America's Congress "dysfunctional," he said it has to decide between two bad choices:

-- austerity to kill demand when the economy is on its knees; or

-- do nothing, risk default, compromise the integrity of the dollar and send "a powerful signal to the world that the US, at least for now," is past its prime.

In fact, growing numbers acknowledge that reality. "Come to think of it," said Grantham, "the choice was between a technical default and looking like a Banana Republic (or) technical blackmail and looking" like the same thing. "Just different bananas perhaps."

Overall he sees hard times, "lean years." Any pretense otherwise "is beyond wishful thinking or weak math skills. It is either childish or gross and cynical politics: that is to say, even worse politics than usual."

With balanced budgets mathematically impossible without major politically unpalatable policy changes, the alternative is "kicking an enormous can down the road" for even greater predictable disaster.

It's the equivalent of not dealing with a metastasizing cancer until the patient dies or is too far gone to save.

Adding his own grim assessment, Grantham said if we keep "drift(ing) around rudderless, if we don't develop some real (nowhere in sight) leadership soon, then seven lean years may be the least of" America's woes.

Commenting on the August 4 market rout, he added that it "always (has a) disturbing habit of ignoring the obvious and ignoring it some more, until, in the blink of an eye, it doesn't."

On August 4, it blinked, making "risk avoidance....a good idea," Grantham believes that may be his polite way of saying watch out! I warned you! There's no visible light at the end of this tunnel, getting increasingly darker. Watch out indeed.

In fact, a deepening global Depression just began. It'll last years before ending, and cause grave harm to billions worldwide, not responsible for their leaders' malfeasance, especially those domiciled on Wall Street, complicit with political puppets in Washington they own.

Moreover, the greater pain caused, the more they benefit like their Western counterparts, wrecking their economies for personal gain.

No wonder astute analysts like Grantham expressed lack of confidence in America's leaders, disgust with a "dysfunctional Congress," and questioned "capitalism itself," perhaps self-destructing as he wrote.

For billions of global victims, it can't happen a moment too soon, if it isn't already too late to help.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:44 AM
Progressive Radio News Hour Guests for August 18, 20 and 21, 2011

The Progressive Radio News Hour Guests for August 18, 20 and 21, 2011

Thursday, August 18 at 10AM US Central time: James Petras

Petras is Binghamton University, New York Professor Emeritus, a noted figure on the left, a distinguished Latin American expert, and longtime chronicler of the region's popular struggles.

He's also a consummate scholar and prolific writer of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including his latest titled, "The Arab Revolt and the Imperialist Counterattack."

Major world and national issues will be discussed.

Saturday, August 20 at noon US Central time: John Kozy

Kozy is a retired philosophy professor, now writing on social, political and economic issues. He taught for many years and has been writing for many more.

Visit his web site at www.jkozy.com

His latest writing will be discussed.

Sunday, August 21 at noon US Central time: Ellen Brown

Brown is a civil litigation attorney, distinguished author, and frequent writer on financial issues. A new edition of her important book, "Web of Debt," is a brilliant analysis of the private banking system, how it usurped money creation power, and how we can get it back.

She also heads the Public Banking Institute (PBI), an initiative to return money power to the people where it belongs.

Brown's latest writing will be discussed.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:43 AM
Monday, August 15, 2011
New York Times Disinformation, Denial and Suppressing Vital Truths

New York Times Disinformation, Denial and Suppressing Vital Truths - by Stephen Lendman

America's "newspaper of record" makes painful reading for alternative media consumers, knowledgeable about what Times correspondents, opinion contributors and editorial writers misreport, conceal, or lie outrageously about.

For example, writer CJ Chivers' August 12 "Notes From the Front Lines" piece practically lionized cutthroat rebels, embedded with them to present their point of view only, saying:

"Just who are the rebels who have taken up arms against (Gaddafi), and how do they fight?" Instead of explaining accurately, Chivers discusses a battle, reading more like bad fiction than reality, pitting recruited NATO killers against a sitting government most Libyans support and will fight to save it.

But don't expect Chivers to explain. Instead, he enlists reader sympathy for a wounded insurgent, saying:

"Rebels fire rifles to suppress (Gaddafi's) soldiers...One of the rebels - his name is Hamid Shwaili - falls. He calls for help. Other rebels at a nearby building fire machine guns....as the wounded man's friends drag him back up (an) alley, to what appears to have been a small garage, where doctors try to administer immediate aid."

"Near death, Mr. Shwaili is soon rushed to an ambulance, bound for a hospital, no doubt."

Wringing maximum emotion from his readers, he highlighted his bloodstained clothing and "dark puddle" near where he fell, saying "you will see his blood loss has been extreme."

But there's more, saying Shwaili "was an unemployed mechanic caught up in the turmoil for Libya's future, and met his end holding a rifle in a battle for Misurata's once quiet streets."

It's to arouse maximum support for a lawless insurgency to provide Washington with another imperial trophy, at the expense of all Libyans, including most damn fool paramilitaries fighting for the wrong side. But don't expect Chivers to explain, reporting like others "in bed with" NATO for their livelihoods, instead of telling the truth. Their job description prohibits it.

In his very lengthy piece, Chivers presents a scenario right out of a Pentagon-funded Hollywood sound stage, complete with photos from the firefight video, including Shwaili (or a convenient stand-in) calling for help on the ground.

Completing his account, he also lionized the filmmaker, a man named Liohn, praising his courage for "put(ting) himself into the midst of the fighting to make this record."

Or did he invent it to enlist support for NATO, a destructive missile aimed at the heart of free people everywhere, never for defense and democratic principles.

It wasn't discussed or Liohn's paymaster, ensconced at Pentagon high-command headquarters in Washington or its NATO Brussels office, depriving Americans of vitally needed revenue for homeland needs by spending it for death and destruction.

Not a mention in Chivers' pure propaganda piece, reading like bad fiction.

Neither did Times writers David Kirkpatrick and Chivers again headlining, "Tribal Rifts Threaten to Undermine Libya Uprising," pretending its a nobel cause instead of a lawless Pentagon-backed insurgency, saying:

"(T)he six-month-old rebel uprising against (Gaddafi) is showing signs of sliding from a struggle to overthrow an autocrat into a murkier contest between factions and tribes....The infighting could also erode support for the rebels among members of the NATO alliance."

In fact, rebel forces are in disarray. The corrupted National Transitional Council (NTC) leadership is falling apart. Its head, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, a shameless opportunist, sacked his entire executive committee, and rebel assassins murdered their field commander, Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis and two of his aides for allegedly holding reconciliation talks with Gaddafi officials.

Yet Kirkpatrick and Chivers said rebels "sought to maintain a clean image to portray themselves as fighting to establish a secular democracy," but infighting "could disintegrate into (counterproductive) tribal tensions...."

Moreover, they're harming "the moral clarity of six months ago, when (Gaddafi) forces were bearing down on Benghazi and he was threatening to wipe out anyone who dared oppose him there...."

In fact, Gaddafi didn't incite hostilities. He responded to them, saying repeatedly he wants peace, reconciliation, and a united Libya. Moreover, he said if rebels laid down their arms, they'd be no recriminations.

His offers, however, went unanswered or spurned because NATO wants war, death and destruction, its usual scheme against every country it attacks, intending to rape and pillage them one by one or in multiples.

Kirkpatrick and Chivers were silent, instead quoting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, acknowledging "disturbing" infighting, but saying TNC leaders (themselves in disarray) took swift steps to correct things.

At the same time, an unnamed Obama official expressed doubts, saying: "I think the jury is out on how unified the command will be" after Jalil sacked his entire executive committee, a clear sign of rebel leadership trouble.

Kirkpatrick and Chivers, however, stressed alleged Gaddafi crimes, saying to "re-establish control of the capital" he never lost, his forces "fir(ed) live ammunition into unarmed crowds, as the (in bed with) International Criminal Court attested," based on Western corporate media reports, not non-existant hard evidence.

"The rebel leadership in Benghazi (unconfirmed reports say they fled for their safety) continue to insist that it can reconcile the differences among Libyan factions and tribes. (Moreover, TNC leaders) pledged to form a new broadly representative unity government based in Tripoli if (Gaddafi) leaves power."

In fact, no such plan exists because Washington and its NATO partners intend to carve up the Libyan corpse profitably, at the expense of ordinary Libyans they'll exploit, not help, if gain control.

Excluding that reality, Kirkpatrick and Chivers blame Gaddafi, maligning him more by quoting Professor Diederik Vandewalle, "a Libya expert," saying:

"(T)he real tragedy of (his) system....leaves virtually everyone open to retribution."

Then hammering him more with Cambridge University's George Joffe (another "Libya expert") saying, "(T)he longer this struggle continues, the more likely and bitter that will become."

Reality on the ground is far different than what Times writers, other corporate hacks, and complicit "experts" report - seeing one thing firsthand or through their own analysis, then reporting another for their bosses (or sworn mandates), wanting no part of the truth.

A Final Comment

Another Times article also missed the mark, written by Ravi Somaiya headlined, "After British Riots, Conflicting Answers as to 'Why,' " saying:

National debate "puzzle(s) over what drove even some previously law-abiding people to steal. (It's) divided people into predictable camps."

Prime Minister David Cameron called it "mindless violence and thuggery," despite knowing what's going on but won't say. Others accurately blame a "culture of greed and impunity," as well as festering social injustice, also omiting what's key and unreported anywhere in the mainstream as expected.

Somaiya also quoted so-called experts, providing the usual explanations, stopping short of what's most important. For example, social psychologist Clifford Stott said bystanders often blame police, not rioters, and Pamela Rutledge noted that hammers can be used "to build something or destroy it. It's just a tool."

Somaiya's article left unmentioned what readers most need to know. A previous article explained, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/08/riots-across-britain-perhaps-more-than.html

Indeed it's about poverty, unemployment, inequality, and social injustice, but much more. It's about:

-- Big Money orchestrating everything;

-- preventing Blacks, Whites, and other deprived groups from uniting powerfully for a common cause;

-- inciting race and class wars to divide and subdue;

-- using provocateurs to ignite them;

-- having complicit media report regime friendly accounts; and

-- destroying things because it's more profitable than building productively.

It's also about testing command and control systems for eventual larger riots as economic conditions grow more intolerable, as well as diverting public attention from conditions harming their welfare.

Moreover, it's about weakening resistance to state repression supporting corporate, not popular, interests and causing serious human consequences in the process. It's about wrong over right and keeping people from knowing what's really going on and why.

It's about a far more sinister type social injustice than most observers realize. It's why exposing and denouncing it is vital, so people harmed can fight back for what government won't address otherwise.

It's their only chance to get out from under the repressive yoke suffocating them. What more important reason to react than that!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:54 AM
Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue

Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue - by Stephen Lendman

Ongoing since mid-July, America's media hardly notice, but indeed care as evidenced by their silence to suppress mass outrage over longstanding social injustice Israelis want changed.

What US print and broadcast media won't report, Israeli and other sources cover extensively, because what's ongoing is too significant to ignore. Happening at the same time across the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere, it's just a matter of time before it erupts in America, most often a late bloomer.

However, when intolerable conditions reach a breaking point, people react, and without redress, do it violently.

So far in Israel, mass outrage has been contained. How much longer is at issue under a government that spurns them. It's much like in America where the corrupted two-party duopoly serves wealth and power only, ignoring growing need that sooner or later will explode.

It's high time it happened sooner before distress conditions surge past intolerable to uncontainable, because of shocking unaddressed levels of rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness, hunger, and human misery - a ticking bomb revolutions are made of.

Trends analyst Gerald Celente believes neoliberalized Industrial Revolution policies can't work in the new century, saying:

"It's not just Model T economics that's outmoded, so are our approaches to education, politics and yes, the military. The old adage (that) 'Generals fight the last war' is as valid as ever. While the technology may have changed, the mindset hasn't."

So while old unwinnable wars rage, new ones start, drag on endlessly, draining the federal treasury, at the expense of public need and good government.

Celente believes direct democracy is essential, saying:

"The government/political 'system' in place in America, and throughout much of the world, is obsolete and irreparable. The inept generals masterminding lost-cause wars are (matched) by (corrupt) senators and representatives in Congress."

As a result, representative democracy "is a cruel sham; it's neither 'representative' nor 'democratic,' and people are" wising up to it as evidenced by poll numbers.

Therein lies the possibility for change, "real change, not Obama (Netanyahu/Cameron/Sarkozy/Merkel, Berlusconi/Papandreou et al) change."

Others explained it wisely earlier, including Victor Hugo, saying:

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

Grassroots direct democracy representing everyone "has come for the entire world (says Celente) to wrest power from the hands of ruling political mobs and put it into the hands of the public."

Let them decide, not corrupted corporate bosses, militarists, lobbyists and their puppet political tools. Shifting to this type system Celente calls a "Global Game Changer."

Is it possible? Indeed, when enough people cooperatively make it happen through disruptive power too strong to contain.

Weeks of protests across Israel show it, symbolized by an August 11 guillotine on display in the center of Tel Aviv's tent city.

There on Rothschild Blvd, Tel Aviv's Park Avenue, it was the center of attention, signifying public anger perhaps too great to contain without meaningful redress. So far, it's not forthcoming from a government that doesn't give a damn about ordinary people, the same mindset as in America.

On August 13, Haaretz headlined, "Tens of thousands take to Israel's streets as social protests move out of Tel Aviv," saying:

Saturday night, people turned out en masse in Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Afula, Eilat, Rosh Pina, Nahariya, Dimona, Modi'in, Petah Tikva, Ramat Hasharon, Hod Hasharon, Netanya, Beit She'an, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and elsewhere for what they've been demanding for weeks.

Haifa activist Yossi Baruch addressed thousands, saying:

"They tell us we don't have focus, but we are super focused and know exactly what we want. We want there to be a welfare state here, and a welfare state is not just a slogan. It means free education for every boy and girl" from pre-school through PhDs.

"A welfare state is (also) a place where its citizens receive fair wages," get free or low-cost healthcare, other social benefits, and have caring officials who provide them.

"This is a long-range struggle, and it doesn't matter if Bibi falls in a week, a month or a year," he said. "Bibi will fall. So will (Yuval) Steinitz (Israel's finance minister), and so will (Avigdor) Lieberman," Israel's fascist foreign minister/deputy prime minister.

Activist Dror Israel put it another way, saying:

"We are not against a specific person. We're against a policy. We are for a welfare state" that serves all Israelis, not just its privileged few like in America, Britain, and other most other countries.

Arab citizens called for mutual cooperation. In fact, crowds cheered Hamoudi Hujeirat saying, "We are one people."

Raja Za'atara, from the disadvantaged Arab Wadi Nisnas neighborhood, said, "In the Wadi, not many people eat cottage cheese," referring to one of the protest symbols because of its high price. "But a hungry child is a hungry child," he said, "and it doesn't matter if he is Arab or Jewish. This struggle gives hope to everyone."

In fact, social injustice affects all Israeli workers. However, Arabs (one-fifth of the population) are especially impacted, treated more like fifth column threats than citizens.

At the same time, hope never dies when enough people believe. Addressing Haifa thousands in Arabic, writer Sami Michael said:

"At age 85, it's hard to be optimistic, but the younger generation today makes me feel optimistic. Today the public is showing for the first time a connection between classes, between cities and villages, between Arabs and Jews, and I don't remember anything like this in Haifa," or elsewhere across Israel.

"The impact of the Middle East" arrived, he added. Echoes for change now reverberating across Israel. It remains to be seen whether government repression will confront them, and if so, how they'll react.

So far, they've been steadfastly protesting, many camping out in tent cities, giving up the comforts of home, that even if humble are preferable to living on streets, even in solidarity for reinforcement.

It's too soon to know, but hopefully that energy won't wane. It's crucial to have any chance for success.

A Final Comment

In a new policy paper, Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth discuss "Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919 - 2009," showing they go hand in hand, saying:

Evidence "show(s) a clear positive correlation between fiscal retrenchment and instability. We test if the relationship simply reflects economic downturns, and conclude that this is not a key factor."

"While autocracies and democracies show a broadly similar response to budget cuts," less unrest results when executive power is constrained. Quite the opposite, however, when leaders and parliaments are in sync, as in America, the Middle East, Europe and Israel.

Other analysts also say austerity yields trouble, showing up in protests, riots, strikes, violence and revolutions if public rage exceeds the tipping point, making it uncontainable.

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz envisions IMF riots, saying "the whole cauldron blows up" after IMF financial terrorism "squeezes the last pound of blood out of" troubled nations.

Economist Kenneth Rogoff says high US unemployment and out-of-control debt sooner or later trigger serious "social unrest from the income disparities" they create, adding the Obama administration has "no clue."

Neither does Netanyahu, European leaders and numerous others, heading their nations for serious unrest - or worse.

Gerald Celente's been warning about it for years, saying:

"When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, they lose it."

Indeed, and it may be coming to a nearby neighborhood or right in their own backyard. Bet on it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:50 AM
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Dire State of America's Children

Dire State of of America's Children - by Stephen Lendman

A new Children's Defense Fund (CDF) report shows the dire state of children in America today. Titled, "The State of America's Children: 2011," it can be accessed in full through the following link:

http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-of-americas-2011.pdf

Focusing mainly on 2008 - 2010, it ranked America among industrialized countries "investing in and protecting children" as follows:

First in GDP

First in billionaires

First in prison population size

First in health expenditures

First in student expenditures

First in military expenditures, technology, and global wars

First in weapons exports

17th in reading scores

22nd in low birthweight rates

23rd in science scores

30th in infant mortality rates

31st in math scores

31st in wealth gap between rich and poor

Last in relative child poverty

Last in adolescent birth rates (ages 15 - 19)

Last in protecting children from gun violence

Only America and Somalia (with no legally constituted government because America ravaged it with war, poverty and starvation) haven't ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Other disturbing information includes:

Every second a public school student is suspended.

Every eight seconds a high school student drops out.

Every 18 seconds an unwed mother gives birth.

Every 20 seconds a public school student is corporally punished.

Every 21 seconds a child is arrested.

Every 34 seconds a child is born in poverty.

Every 42 seconds a baby is born without health insurance.

Every 42 seconds a child is abused or neglected.

Every minute a teenage mother gives birth.

Every two minutes a low birthweight child is born.

Every four minutes a child is arrested for illegal drug possession.

Every eight minutes a child is arrested for committing violence.

Every 18 minutes a baby dies before age one.

Every 45 minutes an accident kills a child or teen.

Every three hours a child is shot and killed.

Every five hours a child or teen commits suicide.

Every five hours a child dies from abuse or neglect.

Every 16 hours a mother dies from childbirth or pregnancy complications.

Moreover, growing hunger, homelessness, and nutritional deficiencies contribute most to low birth weight, infant mortality, and poor health. At issue is political Washington's indifference.

America's greatest national security threat results from not investing in and educating every child. Most in all racial and income groups, and nearly 80% of public school Black and Hispanic children can't read or do math at fourth, eighth or 12th grade level standards, among those who haven't dropped out.

It shows as the rage to privatize grows, focusing on bottom line priorities, not teaching or caring about children matter.

Families today in America are "more fragile as jobs are lost, unemployment compensation has been reduced, public assistance and public health programs restrict access, housing foreclosures continue and affordable housing becomes scarcer."

States spend three times more per prisoner than per public school student. Child poverty increased by almost 10% between 2008 and 2009, and keeps growing. In 2009, over 20% of children were impoverished, the number rising annually.

With Main Street America mired in Depression, children are falling further behind in poverty, health, education, abuse, neglect, and early childhood development.

Black children face "the worse crisis since slavery." Hispanics and Native American ones aren't far behind. Notably children of color constitute almost 45% of our youth population. In 2019, they'll be a majority. Yet they've been marginalized and deprived "on virtually every measure of child well-being" and development.

Children need help but aren't getting it. Programs to support and develop them have been cut back, including:

-- TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997; benefits today, in fact, cover only 58% of what they did when the program began;

-- Medicaid;

-- CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program);

-- the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant;

-- WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children);

-- SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program);

-- the National School Lunch Program;

-- Early Head Start and Head Start (providing comprehensive education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low income children and families);

-- Child Care and Development Block Grant;

-- Title I Education Program for Disadvantaged Children;

-- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs;

-- Pell Grant aid for college tuitions;

-- Social Services Block Grant; and

-- other programs facing federal cuts from Washington's rage to control America's national debt on the backs of society's least advantaged, elderly, and disabled; moreover, investing more on new generations to "protect our nation's economic future" has been sacrificed.

Policies in place for poor and disadvantaged children are on the chopping block for continued cuts. In fact, political Washington wants America's entire social contract eliminated to provide more funds for imperial wars and corporate handouts. That future awaits children now growing up.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:56 AM
Israeli Persecution of Palestinian Children

Israeli Persecution of Palestinian Children - by Stephen Lendman

Repeatedly in many ways, the real Israel belies the myth of a free, open, democratic state. In fact, the very notion is ludicrous even to growing numbers of fed up Israelis, voting with their feet and leaving.

As a result, it's no exaggeration calling Israel a failed state, a topic Noam Chomsky addressed in one of his many books.

Titled "Failed States," he listed characteristics they all share, including:

-- their inability or unwillingness to protect their citizens from violence and other forms of harm;

-- their abrogation of rule of law standards;

-- their lawless belligerent pursuits; and

-- if democracies, their policy deficiencies, exposing a serious "democratic deficit."

Evaluating America honestly, he said "we should have little difficulty in finding the characteristics of 'failed states' right at home." It's as true for Israel, a democracy in name only.

Its treatment of Muslims is especially appalling, notably children, the topic of this article, based on a July 19 Defence for Children International Palestine Section (DCIP) report.

Covering the period January 1 through June 30, 2011, it's titled, "In their own words: A report on the situation facing Palestinian children detained in the Israeli military court system." It follows previous reports on how Israel abuses young children as lawlessly as adults, violating international law in multiple ways.

Each year, about 700 West Bank children are arrested, interrogated, detained, and prosecuted in Israeli military courts. Since 2000 alone, around 7,500 have been affected, facing torture, ill-treatment and other forms of abuse during the entire arrest/transfer/interrogation process.

Belligerent soldiers usually raid homes late at night. Young children are arrested, blindfolded, hands tied painfully, and taken to detention centers. Physical and verbal abuse are common. Reasons for arrest are seldom given, and parents aren't told where their children are held. The entire process is lawless, no different than in a police state.

During interrogations, family members and lawyers aren't present, nor are audio/video recordings made for independent oversight. Moreover, children aren't told their rights because they have none, in Occupied Palestine or in custody. As a result, they're isolated, intimidated, physically assaulted, and forced to sign confessions, at times in Hebrew they don't understand.

Afterwards they're brought to military court. Bail most often is denied. Children as young as 12 (sometimes younger) are affected, and most plead guilty when innocent because it's "the quickest way out of the system."

In September 2009, a juvenile military court was established, though few practices differentiate them from adult ones. Two or three children are brought there together in brown prison attire, legs chained around their ankles and handcuffed. Hand restraints are removed in court, then replaced when leaving.

DCIP based its report on 45 sworn testimonies, also referencing other relevant sources, including media and NGO information. Another 16 sworn East Jerusalem affidavits were also collected, to be covered in a separate report.

Citing international laws, numerous past articles explained that torture is prohibited at all times, under all conditions, with no allowed exceptions. Nonetheless, it's official Israeli policy, even against children. A previous article discussed it, accessed through the following link:

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/

Against Palestinians, even children, torture and other forms of abuse are commonplace. Of the 45 cases studied, two were children aged 11 or younger, one was 12, 22 were 14 or 15, and 22 were 16 or 17. Twenty-eight of them were accused of stone-throwing. Under Military Order 1651, Section 221, it's punishable as follows:

-- against people or property, it carries a maximum 10 year penalty; for children aged 13 or younger, it's six months; and

-- throwing stones or other objects against moving vehicles brings up to 20 years imprisonment; for children 13 or younger, it's six months.

In fact, children most often get sentences ranging from two weeks to 10 months. However, none should get 10 minutes or ever have be arrested and prosecuted. In detention, they're subjected to the following:

Hand ties - 98%

Blindfolds - 91%

Physical violence - 87%

Detention inside Israel in violation of Fourth Geneva's Article 76 - 76%

Confession during interrogation - 69%

Arrested between midnight and 5:00AM - 62%

Verbal abuse - 60%

Strip searched - 56%

Threatened - 38%

Taken to detention on vehicle's floor (a painful process sometimes taking hours) - 33%

Signed/shown documents in Hebrew - 29%

Held in solitary confinement (from one to 20 days) - 9%

In all 45 cases examined, children experienced multiple form of abuse. It reveals a systematic pattern of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of the UN Convention against Torture, Geneva's Common Article 3, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibiting the above practices.

Khaled H (age 16) said:

"At around 2:00 AM, I was sleeping in the same room as my brother....I woke up to a noise coming from the door of the room. Then, the door opened and many soldiers stormed the room. One of them approached me and punched me hard in the head."

In custody during interrogations, most children are blindfolded and have their hands painfully tied, usually behind their back. Some reported extreme pain. Others said said their circulation was cut off, causing their hands to swell and turn blue. Most were held this way for hours. Some reported their feet also shackled.

Othman H (aged 17) said:

After entering his home, "soldiers took me downstairs to the first floor....One of them tied my hands behind my back with one set of plastic cords, and tightened them. He also blindfolded me. They took me out and forced me to stop near a military truck near the house. While I was standing there, one of them hit me so hard in my testicles (that) I felt much pain."

Mohammad H (age 17) said his hands were so tightly bound, he "screamed in pain and asked them to loosen them, but they started shouting and ordering me to 'shut up and don't talk.' "

Malek S. (age 16) said when his hand restraints were removed, "pieces of flesh came off and my wrists started bleeding." When ordered to confess, he said he had "nothing to confess to," after which his interrogator "went crazy and started screaming. He started slapping me and kicking me. He even grabbed my head and slammed it against the metal wall of the room where we were. My forehead swelled and I felt my hands bleeding because of the pressure."

Typical violence includes punching, slapping, pushing and kicking, often hard enough to cause extreme pain. Children reported multiple incidents throughout their arrest/transfer/interrogation process.

Testimonies reveal a combination of physical violence, threats and verbal abuse, at times of a sexual nature or bringing a menacing dog into the interrogation room.

A Final Comment

From January 2001 to late 2010, 645 complaints were filed against Israeli Security Agency (ISA) interrogators, alleging torture, ill-treatment and other forms of abuse. The Justice Ministry's Police Investigation Department "did not conduct a single criminal investigation."

When it comes to Palestinian rights, including young children, Israel is an anything goes society, committing vile abuses with impunity.

Two years after Cast Lead's mass slaughter and destruction, two soldiers were convicted of credit card fraud, two others for using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield. Only the defrauders served prison time. The others got suspended sentences, letting them off scot free.

Moreover, on January 27, 2011, despite Lt. Col. Omri Burberg's conviction for shooting a bound and blindfolded detainee, a military court refused to imprison him, even though prosecutors recommended it.

Settlements also adversely affect Palestinian children. Clear evidence shows arrests and ill-treatment result from living close to them.

The cumulative effect of abusive practices, especially against young children, constitutes torture under international law. Whether mild or extreme, it's absolutely prohibited criminal behavior.

Against Palestinians, however, it's standard practice. In fact, Israel's ISA gets carte blanche authority to abuse with impunity, even kill that sometimes happens.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:39 AM
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Riots Across Britain: Perhaps More than Meets the Eye

Riots Across Britain: Perhaps More than Meets the Eye - by Stephen Lendman

A previous article said the following:

On August 6, rioting began in Tottenham, North London after police shot and killed Mark Duggan, a 29-year old father of four. It triggered other outbreaks on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Brixton, Enfield, Walthamstow, Islington, Hackney, Croydon, Lewisham, Peckham, Clapham, Ealing, central London, and Birmingham, Britain's second largest city.

They also spread to Liverpool, Manchester, and elsewhere as raging anger set Britain ablaze.

Observers attribute public anger to unemployment, poverty, inequality, and overall social injustice, but perhaps more is also involved. More on that below.

In response, Prime Minister David Cameron responded arrogantly, saying riots were unconnected to police shooting Mark Duggan on August 4, despite evidence of a pre-planned operation, more sinister perhaps than just killing another Black youth.

Addressing Parliament on August 11, Cameron said:

Riots are "criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no excuse for it....We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets. And we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities."

"It is completely wrong to say there is any justifiable causal link" between Duggan's killing and street riots. "It is simply preposterous for anyone to suggest" it relates to him. "(I)t was about theft," not outrage, he claimed.

"As I have made clear, nothing should be off the table. Every contingency is being looked at. The police are already authorized to use baton rounds." Water cannons, rubber bullets, and other harsh measures were approved.

Consideration is also being given to deploying military forces and shutting down social media. In short, police will be given full discretion to do whatever it takes to restore order. "(T)here will be no complacency."

Cameron, of course, avoided culpability by blaming victims, the usual tactic used to shift debate away from where it belongs. Instead blame:

-- decades of destructive neoliberalism;

-- an unacceptable new normal;

-- appalling wealth disparities;

-- a corrupt political/corporate nexus;

-- imperial wars benefitting profiteers, not people;

-- grand theft on an unimaginable scale; and

-- disdain for human need, causing a loss of public trust and rage because things keep getting worse, not better.

Perhaps also, however much more is involved beyond reacting violently to festering social injustice.

Appearing on Russia Today, Michael Ruppert offered a thought provoking analysis, saying:

"I am extremely suspicious that there is deliberate provocateurism, undertaken by industrialized governments," especially America, Britain and other Western states, "to provoke race riots. And I'm really worried that's what's happening."

"The patterns are very disturbing," especially inflammatory media coverage, heightening tensions. "It suggests that 'they' really want to trigger unrest. The 'they' is anyone in service of the infinite growth monetary paradigm."

"That would be the banks, the oil companies. That would be the absolutely corrupt financial institutions." They trigger unrest "because it's more profitable to destroy things now in this infinite growth paradigm."

"It's infinitely more profitable to kill than save. It's just the reality of the world we live in."

In Gone with the Wind, Rhett Butler explained it saying, there's "much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."

In America's wars, profiteers benefit enormously from mass destruction, reaping lucrative contracts to rebuild.

In Britain, "(t)here's a very suspicious pattern to the way the riots are breaking out....One of the primary incentives or directives or interests of the establishment of putting down (US) civil unrest in the sixties was to prevent any alliance between Blacks and Whites."

"And they went to any lengths possible to create tension, and that's what I see happening" across Britain. Moreover, "the civil unrest we see around the world," including the so-called Arab Spring, "has nothing to do with Arab, Black or White. This is a generational revolution."

It's about young people with "no hope, no future, who understand that civilization is collapsing around them, and they're frustrated beyond belief."

However, violence is the wrong tactic. "There's a better way to fight the beast that's doing this."

Cui bono also is at issue. "These (events) are being used as test runs to test command and control systems for (eventual) larger riots."

"They (also) want to incite further civil unrest because that will serve as a distraction from the economic chaos. It's a diversion from what's really causing all this suffering around the world right now."

In fact, war, especially nuclear war "is the ultimate diversion. All wars....come from a place where there's nothing to go to economically to cover up your economic mistakes" or malfeasance.

"The only way to fight (back) is to withdraw any investments you have in any financial instruments anywhere in the world. Stop feeding" the beast. Starve it by opting out, "because once you invest in it, you want to keep it alive. You have a (vested) interest in what is killing the planet," and ultimately your own welfare.

Catherine Austin Fitts recommends local financial permacultures, saying:

Everywhere, "people and local institutions have financial capital, typically retirement capital or various kinds of savings and reserves." Instead of investing them in "centralized institutions and financial centers," use them for community "permaculture developments and the businesses that supply them."

The more development becomes local, "the easier it will be for people to withdraw" savings from destructive centralized institutions. In other words, build local self-sufficiency, free from government/corporate predation, benefitting wealth and power at the expense of ordinary people.

Fight them by going local. People have real power if they use it. Directing financial resources away from destructive institutions weakens them in ways they can't contest.

Opting out can make a dramatic difference if growing numbers do it, benefitting while defeating the beast that's destroying them. It can't happen easily or quickly, but good solutions have potential to spread.

Key is getting started, taking it step by step, and uniting with others to build self-sustaining communities, free from financial predators. They're criminally tied to Washington and other centralized governments, harming ordinary people and planet earth for their own benefit.

Self-preservation is possible with enough commitment to try. The potential rewards are too significant not to, and what better time than now to start.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 12:40 AM
Congressional Junkets to Israel

Congressional Junkets to Israel - by Stephen Lendman

Eighty-one House members, one fifth of the chamber, will visit Israel during the traditional summer recess, instead of addressing festering local issues at home during the nation's gravest economic crisis too serious to ignore.

Arriving first were 26 Democrats together, including Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (MD). Another 55 Republicans will follow in two groups, including 47 freshmen.

Heading each are House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (VA) and House Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA). Spouses are also going at an estimated cost of $8,000, including business-class flights, first-class hotels, meals, transportation, side trips, guides and incidentals.

Red carpet treatment is assured along with considerable pro-Israeli messaging, especially for new incoming freshmen. They'll meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, as well as PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah. Legitimate Hamas leaders are excluded.

Their entire week is choreographed and full, from early morning to late evening, including breakfast and dinner speakers, as well as meetings with other government officials.

For security reasons, their schedule isn't known, but while there, they'll get walking tours of Jerusalem's Old City, the Western Wall (Wailing Wall or Kotel), as well as visits to Masada, the Dead Sea, Holocaust memorial, Golan, Lebanese border, and Tel Aviv, with moments to relax by the Mediterranean.

Most of all, they'll get intensive pro-Israeli messaging to assure one-sided support, reinforced by party leaders back home. At the same time, out of sight and mind will be:

-- daily Israeli state terror;

-- its planes bombing Gaza;

-- extreme unaddressed needs of over 1.6 million besieged people;

-- fishermen interdicted and, at times, shot at sea;

-- Israeli snipers murdering farmers in their fields;

-- regular security force incursions into Palestinian communities;

-- almost daily arrests, detentions, and horrific treatment in Israeli prisons;

-- children beaten and arrested;

-- peaceful protests attacked viciously;

-- bulldozed homes and dispossessed residents;

-- Israel's Separation Wall, stealing about 12% of Palestinian land when completed; and

-- severe repression, poverty, and misery of millions of Palestinians whose only offense is not being Jewish.

Whether or not they know or care, If Americans Knew Executive Director Alison Weir said not every congressional member is enthused about going. One congressional wife, in fact, who's been there before, said she and her husband never before experienced such pressure.

Another representative's staff member said those invited had no choice. If they don't go, AIPAC will target them for removal, and most likely succeed. "The staffer said that the Israel Lobby is far too powerful to ignore and that American voters have no knowledge of what's going on" because major media reports won't say.

The Jerusalem Post covered this story. So did Lebanon's Daily Star, other foreign media, Commentary magazine, and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, explaining the elaborately planned "dog and pony show" messaging.

In contrast, it was practically ignored by America's corporate media, including The New York Times. The Washington Post discussed it on page 13, omitting important details.

It's typical of how America's media diss their regulars, excluding everything they most need to know.

At issue is why congressional members are in Israel or heading there shortly, on expense-paid week-long junkets, funded by an AIPAC affiliate - the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF).

Created in 1990, its web site says it "provides grant monies to educate opinion leaders about the US-Israel relationship, to expand public awareness about issues affecting the Middle East and to encourage participation in public affairs, especially by students on college campuses where anti-Israeli propaganda is rampant."

In fact, nowhere in the world is pro-Israeli propaganda more scandalously intense than in America, especially from distorted one-sided major media reports, leaving Palestinian issues entirely excluded.

Mondoweiss co-editor Philip Weiss said pro-Israeli "liberal foundations" fund organizations like AIPAC and its AIEF spinoff. For example, the Kimmel Center gave AIEF $3.5 million in recent years, according to its Form 990 filings.

Weiss said his research "shows that AIEF is getting tons of money from the same people who fund good liberal institutions," including universities, the arts, and issue-oriented groups like the Center for Reproductive Rights and ACLU.

AIEF also gets generous contributions from right-wing organizations. "And that's the point," says Weiss. "When you" examine who's paying for one-fifth of the House to visit Israel, it's coming from rich and powerful pro-Israeli foundations, "know(ing) which side their bread is buttered on," wanting Congress in tow supporting them.

At a time when millions of Americans are in dire need, Weir noted how angry they might be to learn that Congress gives tiny Israel "over $8 million per day of American tax money" during the nation's greatest ever economic Depression when all available resources should stay at home helping them and ending it.

It's why America's media are silent, betraying their loyalists instead of serving them, especially on war and peace, corporatism, lawlessness, domestic repression, and all issues affecting Israel.

It's why everyone needs alternative sources to stay informed and join the fight for justice. It's the only way possible to get it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.