Legitimizing Phony “Wars” by Philip A. Farruggio

by Philip A. Farruggio
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
– August 27, 2010
September 3, 2010

So, here we have it. Our cities and towns are facing bankruptcy! State governments cannot help, because they too are in terrible shape, as Uncle Sam stopped Federal Block Grants years ago. These were funds that the Feds send along, gratis to the states, to help with their localities; things like infrastructure repairs, schools, paying first providers ( police, fire , emergency services ) and many other budgetary needs. Since our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq…… No more money! Zippo! Nada! Americans rallied behind the flag and worried not about local needs. After almost 9 years occupying Afghanistan, and over 7 years occupying Iraq, to the tune of over one trillion dollars , our nation is …….broke!

Canada Opens Arctic To NATO, Plans Massive Weapons Buildup by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism Aug. 29, 2010
Sept. 3, 2010

Image by wili_hybrid via Flickr

The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently concluded the largest of a series of so-called Canadian sovereignty exercises in the Arctic, Operation Nanook, which ran from August 6-26.

Harper, Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay and Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces General Walter Natynczyk visited the nation’s 900 troops participating in the “Canadian Forces’ largest annual demonstration of Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic” [1] which included “Canada’s air force, navy, coast guard…testing their combat capabilities in the frigid cold.” [2]

Pentagon’s New Global Military Partner: Sweden by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism Aug. 25, 2010
Sept. 3, 2010

The longest war in U.S. history and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s first armed conflict outside Europe, as well as its first ground war, is nearing the beginning of its tenth year.

Over 120,000 troops are serving under NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in addition to 30,000 under American command, and the Western military bloc recently confirmed that Malaysia has become the 47th official Troop Contributing Nation (TCN) for the war effort.

“Conspiracies R Us” – Wedges Divide the Nation, Unify Factions By Robert S. Becker

by Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
rbecker@cal.net
September 3, 2010

Before we unprofessional leftists get too high on our horse, blithely scoffing at Beck or Palin’s staged chicanery, let us acknowledge our own home-grown “conspiracy theories.” Agreed, ours are more realistic, indeed evidence-based, but they’re still self-serving, wide-ranging projections, often presuming more than they prove. Was Iraq only about oil? Is Obama merely the pawn of Wall Street, the Pentagon, or big business? Have safety-first, corporatist advisers rotted his once politically agile brain? Okay, some conspiracies have the ring of truth.

Whatever, I distinguish a good, rousing conspiracy theory from its dark, hissing cousin, the Big Lie, the readily disprovable trickery fueling misdirection, war games or fear-mongering. What a growing list: death panelists, WMDs, Saddam’s 9/11 linkage, phantom al Qaeda behind Afghan surges, or a Kenyan-born, Muslim, racist president who hates America.

Things which don’t go away, by William Blum

by William Blum
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
3 September, 2010

The Anti-Empire Report

Things which don’t go away. Things the American government and media don’t let go of. And neither do I.

Iraq

“They’re leaving as heroes. I want them to walk home with pride in their hearts,” declared Col. John Norris, the head of a US Army brigade in Iraq. ¹

It’s enough to bring tears to the eyes of an American, enough to make him choke up.

China and the New World Order by Noam Chomsky

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

by Noam Chomsky
In These Times
Sept 2, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Amid all the alleged threats to the world’s reigning superpower, one rival is quietly, forcefully emerging: China. And the U.S. is closely scrutinizing China’s intentions.

On August 13, a Pentagon study expressed concern that China is expanding its military forces in ways that “could deny the ability of American warships to operate in international waters off the coast,” Thom Shanker reports in The New York Times.

Honoring Those Who Toil by Ralph Nader + Domestic Workers Win Bill of Rights Law in NY

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

The Nader Page
Sept 3, 2010

What does Labor Day mean anymore other than another day off, another store sale and, in some cities, parades ever smaller and more devoid of passion for elevating the well-being of working people?

Philosopher/mechanic Matthew B. Crawford, in his recent, embracing book, Shop Craft as Soulcraft has a thoughtful consideration. He deflates the high-prestige workplace and makes the case for millions of Americans who still make and fix things with their hands.

Bush’d again? New Orleans, Mr. O and Mr. Go by Greg Palast

by Greg Palast
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.gregpalast.com 27 August, 2010
crossposted at The Huffington Post
3 September, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Five years ago this week, a beast drowned New Orleans. Don’t blame Katrina: the lady never, in fact, touched the city. The hurricane swept east of it.

You want to know the name of the S.O.B. who attacked New Orleans? Locals call him “Mr. Go” – the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO).

MR-GO was undoubtedly the most bone-headed, deadly insane project ever built by the Army Corps of Engineers. It’s a 76-mile long canal, straight as a gun barrel, running right up from the Gulf of Mexico to the heart of New Orleans.