by Brad Friedman
The BRAD BLOG
Oct 19, 2009 Continue reading
Day: October 19, 2009
The Dollar Will Not Crash By Mike Whitney
By Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
October 19, 2009
The dollar is not going to crash. There may be grumblings in foreign capitals and “secret meetings” between finance ministers but, for now, the dollar appears to be safe.
Foreign countries don’t trade in dollars because they like America. They do it because they have no choice. If they want oil, they need dollars; it’s as simple as that.
It’s great to talk about a “basket of currencies” replacing the dollar, but that’s still a work-in-progress. It might happen, or it might not; no one really knows. What’s clear, is that we still live in dollar-centric world where paper claims on wealth are arbitrarily increased at will by a handful of unelected officials at the Federal Reserve. It’s a process which relies more on Gutenberg than moral authority.
Taking Stock of the Republicans By Mike Whitney
By Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
October 19, 2009
The Republicans have become deficit hawks. It’s more phoniness from a party of phonies. They’ve decided to stake their political future on opposition to Obama’s agenda. It doesn’t matter what it is; they’re against it. Stimulus is bad because [it] extends unemployment benefits and keeps the states on life support. The Republicans have a better idea; let’s build more bombs and slash taxes.
“We must be prudent and save the Republic from penury.” (That’s the GOP mantra) What utter hypocrisy. Mitch McConnell is the worst of them, a corporate toady without a trace of dignity.
Republicans talking about fiscal discipline is like a street-walker preaching about chastity. They have no credibility at all. During the Bush term, they doubled the national debt from $5.6 trillion to $11 trillion in 8 years, the biggest expansion of government spending in US history. All that’s forgotten; down the memory hole. Now they’ve found religion. How convenient.
The Golden Age of Capitalism was Yesterday By Timothy V. Gatto
By Timothy V. Gatto
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
liberalpro.blogspot.com
October 19, 2009
The system of capitalism is strongest in America. The Unions have had their best days and are no longer effective. The people have been trained to accept what the employers give them. Ronald Reagan was the one that broke the back of the labor unions, and they have never recovered. The disparity between the rich and the poor has never been as great as it is now. The middle class is practically non-existent. In today’s America the younger citizen’s cannot blithely accept that they will be as well-off as their parents. In fact, just the opposite is true. Many parents are working multiple jobs just to maintain their standard of living.
The Collapse of WTC Building Seven interview with David Ray Griffin + Comment by Elizabeth Woodworth
by David Ray Griffin
Global Research
October 17, 2009
A compelling interview with Professor David Ray Griffin by George Kenney of Electronic Politics is now available for downloading (or streaming).
The interview concerns Dr. Griffin’s new book on the NIST report on WTC 7, is 1 hour and 8 minutes long, and should be heard by everyone interested in the state of democracy in America:
“The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7”
Building Seven
Soldier’s peace: Walk of grief to stop war in Iraq
photo by Dandelion Salad
RussiaToday
October 19, 2009
When army journalist Marshall Thompson came home from a tour of duty in Iraq, two things were clear to him the war was wrong, and he needed to do something to stop it. But with no media resources available to him, Marshall engaged in the most basic form of protest available to an ordinary citizen he walked. Marshall embarked on a one-man walk across the entire 500-mile length of his conservative home state of Utah in the hopes of getting people to talk about both the war, and peace.
Six Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed in Suicide Bombing, Iran Blames US and Pakistan
Democracy Now!
Oct. 19, 2009
Six Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed in Suicide Bombing, Iran Blames US and Pakistan
Iran’s president is accusing Pakistani agents of involvement in a suicide bombing in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan on Sunday that left at least forty-two people dead and injured dozens more. According to state media, one or more suicide bombers targeted a group of Revolutionary Guard leaders who had arranged to meet tribal leaders in the Sunni region close to the Pakistani border. Some other Iranian officials are pointing the finger of blame at the United States. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said “US action” contributed to the attack. [includes rush transcript]
Department of Homeland Security Expands Controversial 287g Program Empowering Local Police to Enforce Immigration Laws
Democracy Now!
Oct. 19, 2009
Department of Homeland Security Expands Controversial 287g Program Empowering Local Police to Enforce Immigration Laws
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it plans to enter into new agreements with sixty-seven state and local law enforcement agencies. These agreements expand the existing 287g program, which delegates some federal immigration enforcement authority to certain state and local agencies. The 287g program has come under intense criticism in recent months, with over 500 organizations, including the ACLU and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling on the government to end the program. Many of the agencies involved have been accused of racial profiling, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix, Arizona is being investigated by the Justice Department. We host a debate between the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Center for Immigration Studies. [includes rush transcript]
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ICE Should End, Not Expand Agreements With Local And State Law Enforcement, Says ACLU
Reform or Revolution by William Bowles
By William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
19 October 2009
Note: replaced text with revised edition on Oct. 22, 2009
It’s really time I started writing more about the country I live in, the country of my birth, the UK, a country that has the oldest, the most cunning, the most duplicitous (not to mention the most mendacious) of all ruling classes. After all, they’ve been at it for five hundred years, finally being forced to come up with what they like to call parliamentary democracy over a century ago, but just how democratic is it? And can we really expect real change to come about through a system as corrupt and sclerotic as ‘parliamentary democracy’?
Parliamentary democracy is a closed system, literally owned by the two main political parties who work in intimate cooperation with the state bureaucracy to maintain the status quo. For proof of this we need only look at the panic caused by the ‘expenses’ scandal and how the political class, fearful of any challenge to its hegemony has fought tool and nail, left and right to defend their privilege to spend our money as they please.
How they have managed to do this should be important to us and especially the confidence trick called Parliament. It is a system that has, for around a century, played the central role in the preservation of capitalism, in reality a private game with the political class being the players, the judges and the rule makers. In other words, a fix and a fix carried out, no less, with the complicity of organized labour.
U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets By Noah Shachtman
By Noah Shachtman
Danger Room
Wired.com
Oct. 19, 2009
America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
Book Review: Aspects of the Quràn By Jeremy R. Hammond
by Jeremy R. Hammond
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
19 October 2009
Aspects of the Quràn by Syed Zahoor Ahmad sets out to “clear some of the misconceptions surrounding Islam and present it in its true colors” by presenting nine aspects of Islam that are commonly misrepresented in the West.
The author’s means of doing so, for better or for worse, is to simply let the Quran speak for itself. Ahmad offers a few brief introductory remarks in the beginning of the book touching on distortions of Islam. But the bulk of the book’s pages are devoted entirely to collections of verses from the Muslim holy book.
Ralph Nader: Congress has shut us out
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Jason Leopold interviewing Ralph Nader
Truthout
Oct. 2009
Video no longer available Continue reading
A Reality Check from the Brink of Extinction by Chris Hedges
by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
Oct. 19, 2009 Continue reading
Moment Of Clarity: The Scary Truth Behind Balloon Boy
LeeCamp2
October 18, 2009 Continue reading
Buddhagem Speaks with Noam Chomsky on May Day, 2009: Labor history and anarchism
Chomsky at the World Social Forum (Porto Alegre) in 2003 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
with Noam Chomsky
Chomskyan
June 29, 2009 Continue reading
Dandelion Salad 