Birtherism as Racism

A discussion of the paranoia and racism that lies just beneath the surface of our national psyche. Donald Trump Trump has exploited this for PR purposes:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/04/trump-birtherism-and-race-baiting.html

BP Oil Spill and Local Power

How local, not national, power effects will effect the most influence on environmental issues:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wohlforth-bp-20110420,0,3704732,print.story

Fox Goes Full Birther

Disgusting. Repellent. Racist. Xenophobic. Yet Fox has led the charge with its fake news.
http://mediamatters.org/research/201104200008

The Moral Ambiguity of Spanish Jewish Heritage

Is the Spanish government’s  emphasis on Jewish tourism a legitimate enterprise? http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/04/04/3086707/spain-building-monuments-to-its-jewish-past-critics-question-motives

Massacre in Syria

A disturbing audio report from Cal Perry of a massacre in Syria:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/04/24/no-humanity-left-syria-0

No Prosecutions of Financial Crimes

This is one of the most demoralizing aspects of the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008. White collar criminals do not have to face the courts or prison because they are rich, powerful, and influential. This is the triumph of plutocracy that is now America. Via Dianne M. Bazell

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/business/14prosecute.html (via Dianne Bazell)

Huckabee Indoctrination

Huckabee wants Americans indoctrinated at gunpoint by David Barton, pseudo-historian who claims the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation. Barton apparently denies that the First Amendment protects the religious rights of all US citizens; rather it protects only those who are Christian. Another Oy vez.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/03/30/mike-huckabee-says-he-wants-americans-to-be-indoctrinated-at-gunpoint/

Koch Brothers’ Thought Control

The Koch Brothers use their power to intimidate their employees to vote for their favored candidates:
http://www.thenation.com/article/160062/big-brothers-thought-control-koch

Exxon 2nd to GE in Not Paying Taxes

Exxon comes in a close second to General Electric as tax deadbeats:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/12-1

Colorful Food Not Always So Nice

Often food that looks good isn’t so good for you. Beware of colors!

http://newsvandal.com/2011/04/pretty-food-is-dangerous/

Fake News

Corporations are airing advertisements through media outlets as if they are legitimate news.
http://www.freepress.net/press-release/2011/3/25/fcc-fines-local-tv-stations-airing-fake-news

Mountaintop Removal Destroys Town

How a coal company destroyed a community:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/13lindytown.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

GOP Pushes to Cut Environmental Regulations at State Level

A sad story that makes no rational sense, but the GOP effort is a nice pay-off to large corporations and campaign contributors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/science/earth/16enviro.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

The Rise of Al-Jazeera

The importance of Al-Jazeera continues to grow
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53339.html

Facebook Data and Advertising

Here’s the way Facebook is now mining your data to deliver targeted advertising to you:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-ads-20110417,0,1887797.story

Art as Protest

Art is one of the most potent means of protesting authoritarianism and affirming freedom, but artists face threats in many nations, including China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/opinion/20Rushdie.html

Carcinogens Injected into Natural Gas Wells

Another concerning aspect of natural gas exploration through the process of hydraulic fracturing:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110417/ap_on_re_us/us_drilling_chemicals

Anti-Dolphin Killing Campaigns in the Solomon Islands and Indonesia

Anti-Dolphin Killing Campaigns are finding success:
http://savejapandolphins.org/blog/post/no-dolphins-killed-in-the-solomon-islands
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/70-dolphins-to-swim-free-thanks-to-famous-rescuer/431226

IDF Adapts to Goldstone Report

The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has learned from the Goldstone Report in spite of the report’s failings. The IDF emphasizes the participation of legal advisors in military operations, media relations, and cooperation with legitimate human rights groups.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/04/11/3086821/pushed-by-goldstone-idf-embraces-new-smart-warfare

Egypt Sentences Blogger

This is not a good sign for democracy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/middleeast/12egypt.html

How the Super-Rich Avoid Taxes

Tax tools for the super-rich:
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=1b9903a2-1944-4107-a8ea-4e5116fdb51e

Debtor Prisons Back in Vogue

Oops. What century is this? Where is Charles Dickens?
www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/consumer-issues-id-theft/debtors-prison-makes-return-some-states/nCHdX/

Rider Removes Wolves from Endangered Species List

Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Congress is much more knowledgeable than scientists. That’s a no-brainer–not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/politics/13wolves.html

Shale Natural Gas Worse Than Coal on Climate

Guess the good energy may not be so good after all.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/155101-report-gas-from-fracking-worse-than-coal-on-climate

On how Democrats and Republicans Worked Together to Destroy the Middle Class

The bipartisan destruction of the Middle Class:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_peasants_need_pitchforks_20110405/

The Unconstitutional Mistreatment of Bradley Manning

More on the treatment of Bradley Manning and the degradation of our constitutional freedoms:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/apr/28/private-mannings-humiliation/
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/370-wikileaks/5608-dod-interfering-with-my-bradley-manning-investigation

The Fall of Glenn Beck: Wacko Conspiracies and Antisemitism

This describes the demise of one of the more bizarre figures in American culture: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2011/04/06/AFNEgnqC_story.html

Fox Propaganda Campaign against Labor

An excellent overview of the slanted coverage that Fox uses in its propaganda campaign to portray unions and their supporters in a negative light:
http://mediamatters.org/research/201103150008#1

Wisconsin’s Radical Break

William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin wrote this op-ed on March 21 and then conservatives launched a witch-hunt by trying to rifle through his emails. All you have to do is express an opinion and talk about decency and living standards to qualify for harassment from corporate sponsored bullies.
www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/opinion/22cronon.html

Collective Bargaining and Living Standards

This piece explains how and why collective bargaining raises living standards and is key to the existence of a prosperous middle class:
www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/in-states-without-collective-bargaining

Shadow Budget

Or how to rip off tax payers by giving super-rich corporations and individuals massive freebies at no risk to borrowers:

www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411

Goldman Sachs’ Sleazy Behavior

More on Goldman Sachs and how it bet against bet against sub-prime mortgages without informing its clients. And once again no one pays a real penalty.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/14/business/la-fi-crisis-probe-20110414

Woody Woodpecker and Modern Art and Film

Shamus Culhane, the Woody Woodpecker animator, hid avant-garde art amidst the frames of this classic cartoon:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/arts/design/woody-woodpecker-and-shamus-culhanes-animation.html

Dolphins Dying from Gulf Oil Spill

The number of dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico dying from oil contamination is substantial:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/07/us-oilspill-dolphins-idUSTRE7367OP20110407

That Great Wall Street Sucking Sound

Banking and finance as productivity suckers:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/09171206122000;_ylt=AjWv7MLp0jY41MrYkRHeQh3BF4l4;_ylu=X3oDMTE2bWZsdGExBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl9wcmludHBhZ2UEc2xrA2JhY2t0b3N0b3J5

Taxing the Super-Rich

What’s part of the deficit solution? How about adequately taxing the super rich who now own the lion’s share of our wealth? The top 1% own about 35% of US wealth, and that number is increasing every year. Large corporations like GE pay nothing in taxes. This makes no sense and is transforming us into a poorer, divided  country, reminiscent of developing nations–except they’re generally on their way up. On our march back to the late nineteenth century, we are allowing radical free-market ideology to shatter a way of life that has taken a century to build.

http://robertreich.org/post/4344201496
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/they-only-have-400-votes

The Auschwitz Album

These images are particularly powerful because they show the victims at Auschwitz as real human beings rather than near-corpses (“muselmann”) or piles of actual corpses.

The Only Surviving Album of Auschwitz: http://www1.yadvashem.org/exhibitions/album_Auschwitz/mutimedia/index.HTML

 

In South Africa Freedom is Limited by Multinational Economics

Naomi Klein is wrong on Israel (with her advocacy of boycotts) and often shaped by ideological arguments (without consideration for complexity and abstracted from life on the ground), but there are other times that she has profound things to say.

Below she writes a fascinating article, demonstrating the tremendous power of billionaires, corporations, and Neo-Liberal economic thought.  It makes me realize how hemmed-in Obama and any national leader is.  Trying to do anything that runs up against economic orthodoxy, now matter how reasonable or moderate, is virtually impossible, given the threat of stock market declines, currency and commodity collapses, and threats of investment withdrawals.  Governments do not control their societies or their national resources; corporations and powerful interests do.

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2011/02/democracy-born-chains

Illinois Bans Capital Punshment

Illinois bans capital punishment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10illinois.html?_r=1

Labor Rights Threatened Worldwide

Attempts to quash labor and worker rights are occurring globally:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/04/workers-rights-collective-bargaining

« Previous Entries Next Entries »