The Implosion of the American Political Consciousness By David Michael Green

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By David Michael Green
January 10, 2010 “Information Clearing House”

If you’re looking for a decent indicator of the political health of the nation, consider the following excerpt from a Christian Science Monitor article this week: “The decision by the White House Friday to not preempt the season premiere of the psychedelic crash-drama “Lost” for the State of the Union address reveals the surprising power of that much ridiculed stereotype: the American couch potato.”

Well, at least no one can accuse us of not having our national priorities in order, eh?

Actually, that’s only part of the story – and frankly the more benign part, to boot.

Presidents like to say, in their annual messages to Congress and the country, that “The state of the union is strong”. Maybe Obama is bold enough to tell a whopper that big even in 2010. I guess when you’ve taken an entire country over the cliff lying about “hope” and “change”, even a stinker that rude wouldn’t be so egregious, relatively speaking.

Howard Zinn: The Promise of Change: Vision and Reality in Obama’s Presidency (2009)

with Howard Zinn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad

Boston University
October 22, 2009

Hosted by College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Howard Zinn, a College of Arts & Sciences professor emeritus of political science, joins novelist Mary Gordon, author James Carroll, and Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman for a discussion of the Obama administration’s successes and disappointments as part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series. The event, which kicks off Alumni Weekend 2009, focuses on Obama’s foreign policy promises, his actions thus far, and whether he can live up to the public’s high expectations.

Thought-herding and the ‘Alternative Media’ by Sean Fenley

by Sean Fenley
Dandelion Salad
The Anything and Everything
Jan. 11, 2010

Most the so-called ‘alternative media’ are just outlets for ‘acceptable’ opinion, and ‘acceptable’ discourse of the state and corporate sponsored left (I believe the same occurs on the right as well). Anything outside the lines is nothing other than sheer blasphemy. Blasphemy against the church, state, and party (of ‘progressivism’, or at least what has co-opted its name). On many of the faux progressive or ‘alternative media’ websites, the blasphemers are locked away (with lock and key), while at others they are just relegated to the sidelines (or if we want to be metaphorical about it, the proverbial dungeon). Thus, the herd is kept in line, and the homogeneity of the ostensible left, prevails! Yay! The good guys won another battle! But, of course, the outcome was determined before the clock had even started to tick.

Eight Years of Guantánamo: A Call for Europe to Help Close The Prison by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
11 January 2010

Today, on the eighth anniversary of the first transfers to the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, human rights groups and lawyers — Amnesty International, Cageprisoners, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Reprieve — urged more European states, including Germany, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg, to provide new homes for up to 50 prisoners, who cannot be returned to their home countries for fear of torture or other human rights violations.

These men — from countries including Algeria, China, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Uzbekistan — have been cleared for release by the Obama administration’s interagency task Force, which has been reviewing their cases all year. Many were also cleared by military review boards under the Bush administration, and some were also cleared by the US courts, after judges granted their habeas corpus petitions.

The Harris Pole – Winter 2009-2010 by The Other Katherine Harris

by The Other Katherine Harris
Featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Glitzqueen
Jan 11, 2010

NORTH POLE – Of Kringleshire, renowned from time immemorial as an elfin wonderland at the top of the world, only slush and traces of crushed peppermint remain.

Stimulator: All Out Against The 2010 Winter Olympic Games!

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stimulator
January 10, 2010

Wall Street Will Be Back For More by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
Jan. 11, 2010

Corporations, which control the levers of power in government and finance, promote and empower the psychologically maimed. Those who lack the capacity for empathy and who embrace the goals of the corporation—personal power and wealth—as the highest good succeed. Those who possess moral autonomy and individuality do not. And these corporate heads, isolated from the mass of Americans by insular corporate structures and vast personal fortunes, are no more attuned to the misery, rage and pain they cause than were the courtiers and perfumed fops who populated Versailles on the eve of the French Revolution. They play their games of high finance as if the rest of us do not exist. And it is a game that will kill us.