Chalmers Johnson on the Cost of Empire

Dandelion Salad

By Chalmers Johnson
Truthdig
May 14, 2009

In her foreword to “The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U.S. Military Posts,” an important collection of articles on United States militarism and imperialism, edited by Catherine Lutz, the prominent feminist writer Cynthia Enloe notes one of our most abject failures as a government and a democracy: “There is virtually no news coverage—no journalists’ or editors’ curiosity—about the pressures or lures at work when the U.S. government seeks to persuade officials of Romania, Aruba or Ecuador that providing U.S. military-basing access would be good for their countries.” The American public, if not the residents of the territories in question, is almost totally innocent of the huge costs involved, the crimes committed by our soldiers against women and children in the occupied territories, the environmental pollution, and the deep and abiding suspicions generated among people forced to live close to thousands of heavily armed, culturally myopic and dangerously indoctrinated American soldiers. This book is an antidote to such parochialism.

The Eight-Year-Long Psychological Operation – Osama Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive? By Tod Fletcher

Dandelion Salad

By Tod Fletcher
May 26, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

A review of a new book by David Ray Griffin

Osama Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive? by David Ray Griffin is a crucially important and timely examination of the whole range of  evidence bearing on the question, is Osama bin Laden still alive?  The importance of this question for the present comes from the fact that the United States under its new president is escalating its offensive in Afghanistan and expanding the war into Pakistan, and has claimed that the “hunt for bin Laden” is one of its principal motivations for doing so.  Either explicitly or implicitly, the US government and major media outlets such as The New York Times and Washington Post continue to assert that bin Laden is alive, hiding in the tribal territories on the “AfPak” border, posing an undiminished threat to US security.

In his gripping new book, Griffin strikes at the root of this pretext for war by closely examining all the evidence that has come out since September 11, 2001, either indicating that bin Laden is still alive or that he is in fact dead. His conclusion is that bin Laden is certainly dead, and that in all likelihood he died in very late 2001.  Griffin shows that many US experts in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency came to this very same conclusion long ago, but their views, which do not support the continuation of what President Obama, borrowing the term from Dick Cheney, calls “the long war,” have received very little media attention. Were they to do so, one of the main props for the war regime would be undermined.

The Next Leg Down By Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

By Mike Whitney
May 26, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

Collapsing home prices and credit markets continue to put downward pressure on consumer spending, forcing the Federal Reserve to take even more radical action to revive the economy. Last week, Fed chief Ben Bernanke raised the prospect of further monetizing the debt by purchasing more than the $1.75 trillion of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) already committed. The announcement sent shock-waves through the currency markets where skittish traders have joined doomsayers in predicting tough times ahead for the dollar. Foreign central banks have been gobbling up US debt at an impressive pace, adding another $60 billion in the last three weeks alone. That’s more than enough to cover the current account deficit and put the greenback on solid ground for the time-being. But with fiscal deficits ballooning to $3 trillion in the next year alone, dwindling foreign investment won’t be enough to keep the dollar afloat. Bernanke will be forced to either raise interest rates or let the dollar fall hard.

It’s about the OIL! (video no longer available)

Dandelion Salad

Sorry, the video is no longer available.

jimjamoo6
May 26, 2009

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “It’s about the OIL!“, posted with vodpod

see

Preparing for a Post Peak Life Video (must-see)

9/11 on Dandelion Salad

Peak Oil

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

from the archives:

Naomi Klein “The Shock Doctrine” & “No Logo” interview (must-see video)

Did Hillary Clinton Threaten UK Over Binyam Mohamed Torture Disclosure? by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
26 May 2009

I only ask because two weeks ago, as part of a long-running court case in which Binyam Mohamed, former Guantánamo prisoner and victim of “extraordinary rendition” and torture, is trying to persuade the British government to disclose evidence in its possession relating to his illegal imprisonment and torture, the government’s policy of resisting disclosure by whining that it would cause irreparable damage to the intelligence-sharing relationship between the US and the UK entered a critical new phase when a letter was delivered to the British government. Later revealed to Mohamed’s lawyers, it was marked as being the “Obama administration’s communication”, but had the names of the agency involved and the letter’s author blacked out.

The anonymous author stated that the position taken by the Obama administration was as follows: “If it is determined that [Her Majesty’s Government] is unable to protect information we provide to it, even if that inability is caused by your judicial system, we will necessarily have to review with the greatest care the sensitivity of information we can provide in the future.”

War is Unsuitable for Children: Another YouTube outrage by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
May 26, 2009

Last week, after being bombarded with pseudo-patriotic images of graveyards, gravestones and flags, I decided to begin posting images of maimed and killed Iraqis, but especially children and transform the mega-pseudo-patriotic Memorial Day to Remembrance of Victims of US Empire Day.

Barack Obama: Circumspect President or Circumstantial Politician? by Robert S. Becker

Sent to DS by the author, thanks, Robert.

By Robert S. Becker, Ph.D.
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
May 26, 2009

When Campaign Poetry Gets Translated into Prose of Governance

There have always been two Barack Obamas, signaled when this principled community organizer first dined with the devil: he needed funds and support from Chicago’s entrenched, hard-nosed political powers. Ever the “devout non-ideologue,” Obama blended idealism as Constitutional Lawyer with brash ambition to hold power, unwisely catapulting himself into campaigns. Not to understand Obama’s dual personality, unified in one charismatic figure, fosters false expectations, then cries of betrayal when decisions elevate centrist, waffling compromises. That’s the price for having a true uniter, not divider, at the helm.

Many find the president taking moderation to extremes, pandering to popularity, uncomfortably echoing Bush. For left-wing critic, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com, dualism masks subterfuge and contradiction, with Obama speeches making:

Turley: Past Opinions of Sotomayor Lack Intellectual Depth

Dandelion Salad

tpmtv

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Turley: Past Opinions of Sotomayor La…“, posted with vodpod

***

Obama Introduces Sonia Sotomayor As His Nominee For Supreme Court

What if the Bible’s Ruth came to America today? by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Dandelion Salad

Reposted with permission from Rabbi Arthur Waskow from the Shalom Center

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow
www.shalomctr.org
May 26, 2009

Celebrating Shavuot & Pentecost: Can We Share Our Food? Can We Share Our Talk & Tongues?

Can We Relearn how to Share our Work & Rest?

This coming Thursday evening, May 28, there begins the festival of Shavuot. — In biblical times, it was seen as celebration time for the successful spring wheat and barley harvests. In Rabbinic Judaism, it has been seen as the celebration time for the harvesting of Torah at Mount Sinai, 50 days after the liberation from Egypt.

The ancient rabbis assigned a special reading for Shavuot: the Book of Ruth, which focuses on harvesting, on tongues of native and of “foreign” speech, of wealth and poverty. What does Ruth mean to us today?

For Christians, that day became Pentecost, now counted 50 days after Easter (this year on Sunday, May 31), when the Holy Spirit came like the rush of a strong and driving wind, helping the early community of believers speak and understand all the languages of every nation under heaven.

Obama’s Foreign Policy Failures: Diplomacy, Militarism and Imagery by Prof. James Petras

Dandelion Salad

by Prof. James Petras
Global Research, May 21, 2009
petras.lahaine.org

Introduction

President Obama’s greatest foreign policy successes are found in the reports of the mass media. His greatest failures go unreported, but are of great consequence. A survey of the major foreign policy priorities of the White House reveals a continuous series of major setbacks, which call into question the principal objectives and methods pursued by the Obama regime.

These are in order of importance:

1) Washington’s attempt to push for a joint economic stimulus program among the 20 biggest economies at the G-20 meeting in April 2009;

2) Calls for a major military commitment from NATO to increase the number of combat troops in conflict zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan to complement the additional 21,000 US troop buildup (Financial Times April 12, 2009 p.7);

3) Plans to forge closer political and diplomatic relations among the countries of the Americas based on the pursuit of a common agenda, including the continued exclusion of Cuba and isolation of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador (La Jornada (Mex. D.F.) April 20, 2009);

Afghans ask Where is humanity in Obama’s 83 billion American War

Dandelion Salad

ourjourneytosmile
April 12, 2009

Spies, Lies and Threats in Binyam Mohamed’s Case by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
26 May 2009

For the Guardian’s Comment is free, “More twists in the tale of Binyam Mohamed” is an article I wrote looking at recent developments in the case of British resident, former Guantánamo prisoner and torture victim Binyam Mohamed, following another inconclusive day in the High Court, where his lawyers have been engaged in a nine-month struggle to try to persuade the judges to order the release of documents relating to the British government’s knowledge of Binyam’s torture, in the face of repeated claims by the Foreign Office that disclosure would cause irreparable damage to the intelligence-sharing relationship between the US and the UK.

Unresolved were questions about the identity of the author of a recent letter reiterating the US position, but in my article I was more concerned to mention another recent development that threatens to cause fresh problems for the embattled FCO: the revelation last weekend, by David Rose, that a British spy had visited Mohamed in Morocco, and the curious and not altogether reassuring suppression, on Wednesday, of a meeting of the Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs, which was supposed to have heard testimony from Binyam’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, regarding this extraordinarily significant revelation. Also included are excerpts from Stafford Smith’s letter to the Committee, in response to what appears to be nothing more than an attempt to postpone the inevitable.

Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed, and see here for my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, published in March 2009. Visit his website at: www.andyworthington.co.uk.

see

UK Government Lies Exposed; Spy Visited Binyam Mohamed In Morocco + Daily Mail Pulls Story by Andy Worthington

Resourceful Guy Builds Solar House, Solar Power, Solar Car

Dandelion Salad

peakmoment
May 25, 2009

Peak Moment 145: John Weber’s Boise, Idaho house with south-facing windows rarely needs heat and never air conditioning. Meet a man who has built a passive-solar house with solar electric power and solar hot water; plus a solar-powered electric car — and who rides a bike! With photovoltaics tied to the grid, he sells surplus electricity back to the power company. John shows how he converted his “Sun Car” from a junked Festiva to all-electric, with added solar panels on top to extend its range. Ride with us – and hear how quiet it is!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Resourceful Guy Builds Solar House, S…“, posted with vodpod

see

Free Energy Home Generator – Zero Point Energy – Off the Grid

Free Energy and the Open Source Energy Movement (Part 1)

Solar hydrogen home

Car driven by steam

World’s first electric sportscar + The Air Car

Japanese Water Powered Car!!