February 25, 2009 CNN
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Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad
Day: February 25, 2009
Cut the Military Budget By Barney Frank
By Barney Frank
ICH
February 25, 2009 “The Nation”
I am a great believer in freedom of expression and am proud of those times when I have been one of a few members of Congress to oppose censorship. I still hold close to an absolutist position, but I have been tempted recently to make an exception, not by banning speech but by requiring it. I would be very happy if there was some way to make it a misdemeanor for people to talk about reducing the budget deficit without including a recommendation that we substantially cut military spending.
Sadly, self-described centrist and even liberal organizations often talk about the need to curtail deficits by cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that have a benign social purpose, but they fail to talk about one area where substantial budget reductions would have the doubly beneficial effect of cutting the deficit and diminishing expenditures that often do more harm than good. Obviously people should be concerned about the $700 billion Congress voted for this past fall to deal with the credit crisis. But even if none of that money were to be paid back–and most of it will be–it would involve a smaller drain on taxpayer dollars than the Iraq War will have cost us by the time it is concluded, and it is roughly equivalent to the $651 billion we will spend on all defense in this fiscal year.
[…]
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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How the US Economy Was Lost By Paul Craig Roberts
Dennis Kucinich: Lets Move From Bank Care To Health Care!
A Blessing in Disguise – Economic Freefall By Jon Ronnquist
The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2
Ron Paul: The Federal Reserve Is the Culprit!
February 25, 2009 C-SPAN
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Paul warns of US ‘empire’ dream + Ron Paul’s opening statement
Why the GOP is Terrified of Obama by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com 2.24.09
February 25, 2009
The GOP is indeed terrified of Obama; it is now becoming patently obvious. In the debate over the (first) stimulus package and especially in the aftermath of its passage, they could barely talk about the real issues themselves. (And there surely were some real ones, about stimulus, not tax cuts, to talk about. This was evidenced by some-to-much unhappiness about in various progressive to left-wing quarters.) All GOPers could do was moan and groan about “the failure of bipartisanship” that was, of course, all the President’s fault.
McCain’s crocodile tears, for example, were so voluminous that one became concerned that the poor old guy might be biting them. Once again, as is their wont, Republicans cried about process, while leaving the substance, what their policies of the last eight years have done to the country, and what needs to be differently to fix the mess, virtually unmentioned by them. Unfortunately for the nation, their wailing not only predictably was echoed evermore loudly in the Republican Scream Machine, but also dominated the discussion in the mainstream media. They discussed the supposed “failure of bipartisanship,” Obama’s fault of course, much more than they did the real problems, and how we are going to solve them in ways that can work.
Paul warns of US ’empire’ dream + Ron Paul’s opening statement
Press TV
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:10:31 GMT
US congressman Ron Paul says US military interventions around the world show that American politicians are in pursuit of a “world empire”.
US statesmen from both sides of the aisle “are all interventionists, they all believe in the world empire,” said the outspoken Republican congressman in an interview with Russia Today.
Paul made the remarks when asked about President Barack Obama’s decision to assign 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan contingents.
The Texas congressman called Obama’s decision an “outrage”, saying the US has suffered “the most because we’re paying for our foreign intervention overseas.”
Mosaic News – 2/24/09: World News From The Middle East
Warning
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute
“Efforts for displaced Iraqis lagging,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Taliban Militants Extend Cease-Fire in Pakistan’s Swat Valley,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Afghan bomb kills 4 US troops; deadliest this year,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Iran’s Fundamentalist Coalition to Endorse Ahmadinejad,” Al-Alam TV, Iran
“Investors reassured by Dubai bond sale to U.A.E.,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Palestinians face the bulldozers to make way for ‘Bible’ park,” LBC TV, Lebanon
“Olmert: Those speaking of Shalit release are irresponsible,” IBA TV, Israel
“Israel apologises for Jesus spoof,” New TV, Lebanon
“Iraq museum that was looted reopens, far from whole,” Dubai TV, UAE
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.
Gaza: Death’s Laboratory
Crossposted with permission from Jewish Peace News
Updated
The following comment didn’t make it into the introduction to Conn Hallinan’s “Dispatches from The Edge – Gaza: Death’s Laboratory.”
We would like to point out that while the article mentions accusations regarding use of depleted uranium (DU) in Gaza, it doesn’t provide any corroborating evidence.
This isn’t to say that DU wasn’t employed in Gaza. It’s just that we feel that mentioning such a serious accusation without offering substantiation is a questionable practice.
Racheli Gai and Rela Mazali.
2.25.09
This article presents a damning rundown of Israeli war crimes in Gaza–including apparent use of a new weapon (developed in the U.S.) that is extra-lethal and highly cancerous, as well as the better known cases of the use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium. The U.S. provided a significant portion of these weapons to Israel.
–Rebecca Vilkomerson
Dispatches From The Edge—Gaza: Death’s Laboratory
By Conn Hallinan
Wednesday February 18, 2009
It was as if they had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wound. Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before.
—Dr. Erik Fosse, Norwegian cardiologist who worked in Gaza hospitals during the recent war.
What Dr. Fosse was describing was the effects of a U.S. “focused lethality” weapon that minimalizes explosive damage to structures while inflicting catastrophic wounds on its victims. While the weapon has been used in Iraq, Gaza was the first test of the bomb in a densely populated environment.
The specific weapon—the GBU-39—is a Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) and was developed by the U.S. Air Force, Boeing Corporation, and University of California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2000. The weapon wraps the high explosives HMX or RDX with a tungsten alloy and other metals like cobalt, nickel or iron, in a carbon fiber/epoxy container. When the bomb explodes, the container evaporates and the tungsten turns into micro-shrapnel that is extremely lethal up to about 60 feet.
Tungsten is inert, so it does not react chemically with the explosive. While a non-inert metal like aluminum would increase the blast, tungsten actually limits the explosion.
[…]
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com
see
Focus on Gaza: A Crime of War?
A Choice Between Peace and Peril by Chris Hedges
Suspend military aid to Israel, Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza
Netanyahu struggles to form coalition cabinet – 24 Feb 09
Israel’s President Shimon Peres has urged the country’s new parliament to wrap up a peace accord with Palestinians by the end of their term.
Israeli lawmakers were sworn in at a ceremony in the Knesset on Tuesday. Right wing parties saw their support rise in February’s election and now dominate the parliament.
But the country’s still grappling with who will be its next Prime Minister.
From Jerusalem Jacky Rowland reports on the latest dilemmas facing the President’s pick – Benyamin Netanyahu.
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A Choice Between Peace and Peril by Chris Hedges
Suspend military aid to Israel, Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza
The Economic Outlook: 2012 and Beyond By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
February 23, 2009 “Information Clearing House”
The worst is not; So long as we can say, “This is the worst.”
– William Shakespeare
It is said that today is pregnant with tomorrow. What and how we have done things in the past has shaped out today and what and how we do things today determine the shape of our future. To see into the future of our economies, with some small degree of certainty, we have to pay attention to what is happening around us and what we do.
But to get an idea of how the future will be, one has to have a real picture of the present. This is important since a false picture will present us with false alternatives, on which we act which in turn will result in unexpected outcomes (i.e., future that we are not prepared for).
It is not always easy to see through all the false pictures and data that we are constantly presented with. For example, in Norway on February 18th, the real-estate association came out with the statement that the housing crisis was almost over and the bottom was reached. This was plastered all over the place. Next day on February 19th, the Norwegian Centre for Statistics came out with its own forecast; stating that house prices will continue to fall for the next year and that situation will deteriorate further.
In address to Congress – Obama pledges bigger Wall Street bailout
By Patrick Martin
http://www.wsws.org
25 February 2009
In his first presidential address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama defended the ongoing federal bailout of the banks and pledged that even greater sums would be funneled from the US Treasury to support Wall Street.
The nationally-televised speech Tuesday night had two main themes. Obama sought to defuse the enormous public hostility to the financial interests responsible for the deepening economic crisis, declaring that he could not “govern out of anger.”
And he advanced a reactionary nationalistic rationale for his major domestic policy initiatives on energy, health care and education, going so far as to suggest that young people who drop out of high school were committing a crime against the country.
The speech was suffused with patriotism and invocations of the supposed unique greatness of American society, a tone which contrasted sharply with the stark character of the economic crisis that he was compelled to acknowledge, and the failings in health care and education that he outlined.
[…]
Working people had neither the resources nor the demented drive for personal wealth accumulation required to participate in the looting spree conducted by the American financial elite over the past three decades. Any account of the crisis that equates bankrupt billionaire financiers and foreclosed working class homeowners as equally “irresponsible” is a travesty.
[…]
This was expressed in perhaps the most chilling passage of the speech, when he declared, “dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” This was followed by a call for “a renewed spirit of national service” and the passage of legislation to expand programs that pay for college education for youth who join the military or enroll in other government service programs.
The real meaning of this extraordinary statement can be summarized as follows: Young people who drop out of school are not victims of a social crisis produced by the failure of the profit system. On the contrary, they are criminals who are undermining the viability of American capitalism by their refusal to be educated to the level required to become productive (i.e., to generate profits for the capitalist class). And they will pay for their “crime” by being drafted into the military to serve as cannon fodder in the imperialist which Obama, like Bush, will continue and escalate.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
President Barack Obama: Address to Joint Session of Congress
I Want You To Be Responsible by Bruce Gagnon
A Blessing in Disguise – Economic Freefall By Jon Ronnquist
How the US Economy Was Lost By Paul Craig Roberts
Orwellian Doublethink: “Nationalize the banks.” “Free Markets.” by Prof. Michael Hudson
The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2
Dandelion Salad 