From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Mar 1 07:51:42 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:51:42 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] No Prorogation: New poll highlights discontent over Parliament's 'democratic defici' G&M Feb 27th Message-ID: <4B8BAA4E.18831.52A2D4B@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> The following Globe & Mail Editorial notes that a recent Nanos study shows many Canadians think the Prime Minister's Office is too powerful and the House of Commons is not powerful enough suggesting that Stephen Harper has inadvertently convinced citizens of the need for parliamentary reform, well beyond his modest goals for the Senate. It also recalls an earlier 2002 Reform plan introduced by Martin government and wonders if the present concern is a passing phase or one with traction. ? "First, we must loosen the hold of party discipline over Members of Parliament." ? "Second, we should boost substantially the capacity of individual Members of Parliament - from all sides of the House - to shape legislation before, rather than after, it gains the imprimatur of legislative approval." ? "Third, we should increase the capacity of individual Members of Parliament to initiate legislation by overhauling the system for introducing private members' bills." ? "Fourth, the House of Commons standing committees should be overhauled to provide increased independence and expanded authority." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/reform-begins- at-home/article1480576/ Globe editorial Reform begins at home Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 4:34AM EST From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Mar 1 18:41:33 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:41:33 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Greece debt crisis: Neo-liberal lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep the globe Message-ID: <4B8C429D.15528.77D1FEF@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://therealnews.com/t2/ http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31 &Itemid=74&jumival=4870&updaterx=2010-03-01+14%3A06%3A12 Greek workers refuse to pay for crisis Lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep across the globe Tens of thousands of Greek workers have taken to the streets to protest the first of a series of budget cuts. The cuts come as the European Union pressures the Greek government to slash its massive budget deficit, or face potential bankruptcy. We spoke to Nikos Nikiasis of the Greek Social Forum, who put forward another option for raising the needed funds, while questioning the importance of being part of the European Union. Produced by Jesse Freeston. Bio Nikos Nikisianis is a member of the Greek Social Forum. He is currently working toward his PhD in ecology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece's largest university. Chris Spannos works as an editor for Z-Net, where he has posted regular coverage and analysis of the situation in Greece. He co- produced the 2009 documentary, After the Greek Uprising which chronicled the movements behind the December 2008 uprising in Greece. In 2008 he edited the book Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 1310 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 1 20:37:07 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 20:37:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] Brit Judges attack secret services MI5 and MI6 Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/26/binyam-mohamed-torture -ruling-government Brit Government fury as judges attack security services Ministers back MI5 after highly critical verdict on secret service involvement in Binyam Mohamed case The (brit) government has launched a co-ordinated counter-attack against three of the country's most senior judges who defied ministerial pressure today to publish a highly critical verdict on secret service involvement namo detainee Binyam Mohamed. In spite of concerted attempts to keep criticisms of MI5 and MI6 secret, Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls, made unprecedented public criticisms of the methods and ethics employed by the UK's secret services, stating that officials had a "dubious record" of involvement in Mohamed's mistreatment. He said the security services made a false statement to the Cabinet Office's intelligence and security committee by denying all knowledge of his ordeal. He added there was "reason for distrusting" assurances given by the security services about Mohamed's treatment. The remarks were welcomed by human rights campaigners who said the court was right to push back against government pressure and exert its independence. But they provoked a furious response from inside the government. Within hours Gordon Brown, David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and Alan Johnson, the home secretary, had issued statements backing MI5. In a direct challenge to the court, Johnson said he totally rejected its verdict. The unexpectedly damning court of appeal judgment was the latest stage in a series of legal actions brought against Britain and the US by Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born UK resident, in which he alleges that he was tortured at the hands of US officials under the auspices of the "war on terror". According to Neuberger's verdict, supported by the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, and Lord May, the president of the Queen's Bench division of the high court, the mistreatment of Mohamed took place with the knowledge of British secret service agents. A US court has already found that the 32-year old was "physically and psychologically tortured". In an unprecedented finding the verdict also concluded that the UK authorities had "facilitated the ill-treatment and torture" to which Mohamed was subjected while under the control of the US authorities. It also found "the security services have an interest in the suppression" of information about what happened to him. However, the judges softened their draft criticism of the Foreign Office, removing a statement that it also had an interest in suppression and saying that their criticism of the security services related specifically to Mohamed's case and not the entire range of activities. Stung by the criticisms, the prime minister said: "We do not torture, and we do not ask others to do so on our behalf. We are clear that officials must not be complicit in mistreatment of detainees." Johnson, who is responsible for MI5, said: "We totally reject any suggestion that the security services have a systemic problem in respecting human rights. We wholly reject too that they have any interest in suppressing or withholding information from ministers or the courts." Miliband told Channel 4 News that he disagreed with the verdict: "I do not believe it is right to say that there's an interest or culture within the security services of the suppression of information." The judges' verdict sparked widespread calls for a public or judicial inquiry into the handling of Mohamed's case. "He cares the truth comes out so nobody would go through what he has gone through," said Cori Crider, legal director at Reprieve. "But questions linger. What policies allowed such complicity in torture? How many cases like Binyam's were there? Only a full public inquiry will answer the public's concerns about what has been done in our name." Members of the shadow cabinet are understood to be considering how such an inquiry could work and a spokesman said yesterday it had not been ruled out. Last March, David Cameron told the Commons that the government should institute a "brief, judge-led inquiry into what happened and what lessons need to be learned". Since then, Dominic Grieve, the shadow justice minister, is known to have been considering how witnesses before any such inquiry could be granted immunity from prosecution. This is a thorny problem, as complicity in torture is considered such a serious crime, in international law, that immunity is not generally possible. The decision to publish the previously unseen criticisms of MI5 raises further questions about the conduct of Jonathan Evans, the head of the Security Service.in the alleged torture of the Guant From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 1 20:48:13 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 20:48:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] US Justce Dept Torture findings Message-ID: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/opinion/01xenakis.html?ref=opinion NewYork Times February 28, 2010 AFTER five years of investigation, the Justice Department has released its findings regarding the government lawyers who authorized waterboarding and other forms of torture during the interrogation of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. The report s conclusion, that the lawyers exercised poor judgment but were not guilty of professional misconduct, is questionable at best. Still, the review reflects a commitment to a transparent investigation of professional behavior. In contrast, the government doctors and psychologists who participated in and authorized the torture of detainees have escaped discipline, accountability or even internal investigation. It is hardly news that medical staff at the C.I.A. and the Pentagon played a critical role in developing and carrying out torture procedures. Psychologists and at least one doctor designed or recommended coercive interrogation methods including sleep deprivation, stress positions, isolation and waterboarding. The military's Behavioral Science Consultation Teams evaluated detainees, consulted their medical records to ascertain vulnerabilities and advised interrogators when to push harder for intelligence information. Psychologists designed a program for new arrivals at Guantanamo that kept them in isolation to enhance and exploit their disorientation and disorganization. Medical officials monitored interrogations and ordered medical interventions so they could continue even when the detainee was in obvious distress. In one case, an interrogation log obtained by Time magazine shows, a medical corpsman ordered intravenous fluids to be administered to a dehydrated detainee even as loud music was played to deprive him of sleep. When the C.I.A.'s inspector general challenged these enhanced interrogation methods, the agency s Office of Medical Services was brought in to determine, in consultation with the Justice Department, whether the techniques inflicted severe mental pain or suffering, the legal definition of torture. Once again, doctors played a critical role, providing professional opinions that no severe pain or suffering was being inflicted. According to Justice Department memos released last year, the medical service opined that sleep deprivation up to 180 hours didn'tt qualify as torture. It determined that confinement in a dark, small space for 18 hours a day was acceptable. It said detainees could be exposed to cold air or hosed down with cold water for up to two-thirds of the time it takes for hypothermia to set in. And it advised that placing a detainee in handcuffs attached by a chain to a ceiling, then forcing him to stand with his feet shackled to a bolt in the floor, does not result in significant pain for the subject. The service did allow that waterboarding could be dangerous, and that the experience of feeling unable to breathe is extremely frightening. But it noted that the C.I.A. had limited its use to 12 applications over two sessions within 24 hours, and to five days in any 30-day period. As a result, the lawyers noted the office s professional judgment that the use of the waterboard on a healthy individual subject to these limitations would be medically acceptable. The medical basis for these opinions was nonexistent. The Office of Medical Services cited no studies of individuals who had been subjected to these techniques. Its sources included a wilderness medical manual, the National Institute of Mental Health Web site and guidelines from the World Health Organization. The only medical source cited by the service was a book by Dr. James Horne, a sleep expert at Loughborough University in Britain; when Dr. Horne learned that his book had been used as a reference, he said the C.I.A. had distorted his findings and misrepresented his research, and that its conclusions on sleep deprivation were nonsense. Dr. Horne had used healthy volunteers who were subject to no other stresses and could withdraw at any time, while C.I.A. and Pentagon interrogators used a broad array of stresses in combination on the detainees. Sleep deprivation, he said, mixed with pain-inducing positioning, intimidation and a host of other stresses, would probably exhaust the body s defense mechanisms, cause physical collapse and worsen existing illness. And that doesn t begin to acknowledge the dire psychological consequences. The shabbiness of the medical judgments, though, pales in comparison to the ethical breaches by the doctors and psychologists involved. Health professionals have a responsibility extending well beyond nonparticipation in torture; the historic maxim is, after all, First do no harm. These health professionals did the polar opposite. Nevertheless, no agency not the Pentagon, the C.I.A., state licensing boards or professional medical societies has initiated any action to investigate, much less discipline, these individuals. They have ignored the gross and appalling violations by medical personnel. This is an unconscionable disservice to the thousands of ethical doctors and psychologists in the country s service. It is not too late to begin investigations. They should start now. Leonard S. Rubenstein is a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Stephen N. Xenakis is a psychiatrist and a retired Army brigadier general. From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Mar 2 06:08:53 2010 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:08:53 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Greece debt crisis: Neo-liberal lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep the globe In-Reply-To: <4B8C429D.15528.77D1FEF@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <4B8C429D.15528.77D1FEF@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <201003022108530812.1E6F1D54@smtp.totisp.net> - I will suggest once again that anyone who is seriously interested in this situation think some more about **where** the money comes from that is at the root of all of the current turmoil in the world (and for the last 30 years, and going back a couple of hundred)- when we allow private entities to create our money supply, and charge us interest for doing so, it is simply a one-way street to big trouble - and negates any ideas of 'democracy' we have - as long as 'we' do not control our money, then whatever 'we' want to do is going to be controlled by whoever controls the money. It's not a complicated idea. I am surprised so few people who consider themselves 'progressive' seem to have no interest in this most fundamental problem. I talk about it in a Canadian context here - What Happened? http://www.rudemacedon.ca/what-happened.html - but the same ideas apply anywhere in the current 'western democracies'. *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 10-03-01 at 10:41 PM Janet M Eaton wrote: http://therealnews.com/t2/ http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31 &Itemid=74&jumival=4870&updaterx=2010-03-01+14%3A06%3A12 Greek workers refuse to pay for crisis Lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep across the globe Tens of thousands of Greek workers have taken to the streets to protest the first of a series of budget cuts. The cuts come as the European Union pressures the Greek government to slash its massive budget deficit, or face potential bankruptcy. We spoke to Nikos Nikiasis of the Greek Social Forum, who put forward another option for raising the needed funds, while questioning the importance of being part of the European Union. Produced by Jesse Freeston. Bio Nikos Nikisianis is a member of the Greek Social Forum. He is currently working toward his PhD in ecology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece's largest university. Chris Spannos works as an editor for Z-Net, where he has posted regular coverage and analysis of the situation in Greece. He co- produced the 2009 documentary, After the Greek Uprising which chronicled the movements behind the December 2008 uprising in Greece. In 2008 he edited the book Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century. _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.435 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2717 - Release Date: 03/01/10 19:34:00 From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Mar 2 06:34:37 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:34:37 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Greece debt crisis: Neo-liberal lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep the globe In-Reply-To: <201003022108530812.1E6F1D54@smtp.totisp.net> References: <4B8C429D.15528.77D1FEF@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca>, <201003022108530812.1E6F1D54@smtp.totisp.net> Message-ID: <4B8CE9BD.10726.A09F81C@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> I agree with you Dave - it is something we must begin to expose as part of the crisis. And it is odd that so few groups have tackled this issue. Thanks for the reminder to be alert to ways to insert this as part of the dialogue on how democracy is being dismantled and in exposing one of the most basic violations of democracy ! all the best, janet ================= On 2 Mar 2010 at 21:08, Dave Patterson wrote: Date sent: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:08:53 +0700 From: "Dave Patterson" To: mai-not at globalproblematique.net Subject: Re: [Mai-not] Greece debt crisis: Neo-liberal lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep the globe Send reply to: A renewed Mai-Not - I will suggest once again that anyone who is seriously interested in this situation think some more about **where** the money comes from that is at the root of all of the current turmoil in the world (and for the last 30 years, and going back a couple of hundred)- when we allow private entities to create our money supply, and charge us interest for doing so, it is simply a one-way street to big trouble - and negates any ideas of 'democracy' we have - as long as 'we' do not control our money, then whatever 'we' want to do is going to be controlled by whoever controls the money. It's not a complicated idea. I am surprised so few people who consider themselves 'progressive' seem to have no interest in this most fundamental problem. I talk about it in a Canadian context here - What Happened? http://www.rudemacedon.ca/what-happened.html - but the same ideas apply anywhere in the current 'western democracies'. *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 10-03-01 at 10:41 PM Janet M Eaton wrote: http://therealnews.com/t2/ http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31 &Itemid=74&jumival=4870&updaterx=2010-03-01+14%3A06%3A12 Greek workers refuse to pay for crisis Lines being drawn in first of many debt crises set to sweep across the globe Tens of thousands of Greek workers have taken to the streets to protest the first of a series of budget cuts. The cuts come as the European Union pressures the Greek government to slash its massive budget deficit, or face potential bankruptcy. We spoke to Nikos Nikiasis of the Greek Social Forum, who put forward another option for raising the needed funds, while questioning the importance of being part of the European Union. Produced by Jesse Freeston. Bio Nikos Nikisianis is a member of the Greek Social Forum. He is currently working toward his PhD in ecology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece's largest university. Chris Spannos works as an editor for Z-Net, where he has posted regular coverage and analysis of the situation in Greece. He co- produced the 2009 documentary, After the Greek Uprising which chronicled the movements behind the December 2008 uprising in Greece. In 2008 he edited the book Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century. _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.435 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2717 - Release Date: 03/01/10 19:34:00 _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Mar 2 19:08:47 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:08:47 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Greg Palast on the trail of a 'vulutre fund' chief. BBC America Tonight 7pm EST: Message-ID: <4B8D9A7F.3099.CBC6E88@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Mr. Hermann is the principle owner of a so-called "vulture fund" which attempted to seize more than $20 million from the war-wounded nation of Liberia. Mr. Hermann is known in the finance business as a debt "vulture." He and his associates buy up the debt of the poorest nations on the planet, usually for pennies on the dollar, then sue or use other means to squeeze the nations to pay ten times, even a hundred times, what the vulture fund paid for the debt. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf .... pleaded with the vulture fund, "Here's a country having two decades of turmoil, death and destruction, trying to find its way back trying to give its young people a future. You should not be the one to become an obstacle. Have a conscience and give this country a break." The British Parliament heard her. Last Friday, the day after our London broadcast, Parliament voted to bar vulture funds, like Hamsah, from using the British courts. -Greg Palast, March 2, 2010 fyi-janet ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Send reply to: palast at gregpalast.net From: "Greg Palast" To: "jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca" Date sent: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:34:12 -0500 Subject: BBC America Tonight 7pm EST: Palast Hunts the Vulture BBC America Tonight 7pm EST: Palast Hunts the Vulture Tuesday, March 2, 2010 By Greg Palast Special Report for BBC World News America Broadcasting TONIGHT at 7pm EST on BBC America Some vultures have feathers, but some have fancy offices and huge homes. Tonight, BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast follows the trail of one "vulture fund" chief, from a locked office door in New York to mud-brick houses in Africa. Reporter Greg Palast outside the office of New York vulture fund. The name plaque has been removed and the staff locked inside. How strange. When I arrive at the offices of Eric Hermann at hedge fund FH International, just outside New York City, the company's corporate sign is unbolted from the wall and the suite number removed from the door. But wait ... I hear noises inside the office. Huh? I knock on the locked door and out steps the office building's security manager. "Guys, they don't want to be interviewed. They don't want to be seen. So we are going to have to ask you to leave the building." "And do you know why they took the sign off?" His reply to our cameras, "I have no clue." But we do. Mr. Hermann is the principle owner of a so-called "vulture fund" which attempted to seize more than $20 million from the war-wounded nation of Liberia. Mr. Hermann is known in the finance business as a debt "vulture." He and his associates buy up the debt of the poorest nations on the planet, usually for pennies on the dollar, then sue or use other means to squeeze the nations to pay ten times, even a hundred times, what the vulture fund paid for the debt. ********************************************************** Please support this ongoing investigation by making a tax deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund: http://www.gregpalast.com/store/ ********************************************************** The effect of Hermann's financial maneuvers earns little applause in Liberia. In that African democracy, diplomat Winston Tubman tells us what he would say to vulture fund operators, "'Do you know you are causing babies to die all over Liberia?'" Reporter Palast speaks with T. Bai Flahn, Demeh Village elder. That's strong language, but in Liberia, we see the effects of the threat of losing over $20 million from this desperately poor nation's budget. In the village of Demeh, I meet Howa Murvee. During Liberia's recent civil war, her grandfather was beaten to death in front of her. Every home in the village was destroyed. Now, with money from selling donuts at a rural bus stop, she has raised the $100 needed for materials to rebuild her mud-and-thatch home. The sums sought by Hermann and the vulture funds equals the cost of rebuilding a quarter million homes for displaced war refugees like Howa. Back in New York, I located court documents which show that Hermann and associates sued Liberia for nearly $20 million for the debts which cost Hermann's firms a fraction of that sum. Hermann sued in February 2002, Liberia's capital had neither electricity nor water. It was under siege from warlords and under UN sanctions and had no functioning government. Not surprisingly, Liberia failed to appear in court and lost automatically. The poor nation was ordered to pay Hermann and associates the millions he demanded. Hans Humes, CEO of Greylock Capital, a major player in the foreign debt speculation business, was willing to speak to us about how the industry operates. At his Park Avenue, New York, office, he explains how his own firm got hold of Liberia's debt, dirt cheap during the civil war: "I ended up buying a lot of the loans that we had in Liberia. When I called one of the banks that was going through a merger 13,14 years ago, I said, "Hey, by the way, you're a lender to this African country.' And the guy said, 'No I'm not; and a couple days later he said, 'You know what, you're right. We found this box in this warehouse that had files for all these loans. Do you want to buy all of them?'" But Humes is no "vulture." When peace and democracy came to Liberia, he accepted Liberia's offer of 3 cents on the dollar for the debt the nation owed. So did every other creditor -except for Hermann and associates. In the middle of the negotiations with Liberia, Hermann transferred a portion of his Liberia holdings to a hedge fund called "Hamsah." Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and BBC reporter Greg Palast in her home in Monrovia, Liberia. Hermann's firm would have received only $1 million under the 3-cent deal accepted by Humes and others. But this firm called "Hamsah" and associates ended up across the Atlantic, suing Liberia in a London court for $28 million. Humes is infuriated by such manipulation. Without naming Hermann nor Hamsah, he says, "All they're trying to do is to exploit the system, hold the system hostage, to get some sort of excessive returns." Nor was the President of Liberia too pleased with this new legal attack by the vultures. At her home in the capital, she has a message for the vulture funds. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa's first elected female head of state. She pleaded with the vulture fund, "Here's a country having two decades of turmoil, death and destruction, trying to find its way back trying to give its young people a future. You should not be the one to become an obstacle. Have a conscience and give this country a break." The British Parliament heard her. Last Friday, the day after our London broadcast, Parliament voted to bar vulture funds, like Hamsah, from using the British courts. President Sirleaf is thrilled by Britain's swift action. "Bravo! We've been waiting for a parliament or an assembly to take this kind of hard decision to be able to bring these funds into reason." Now she is asking America to act on similar legislation before the US Congress. "Maybe the US Congress ... will pick up this gauntlet and will follow the example of Britain and move that -because it's just so unfair to poor countries." ********** See the full report on BBC World News America TONIGHT. BBC World News America is broadcast every weekday at 1900 ET / 1600 PT and again at 2200 ET / 1900 PT on BBC America, a digital cable and satellite TV channel available in more than 65m US homes. Sign up for Palast's investigative reports at www.GregPalast.com and subscribe to his podcast here. To no longer receive these e-mails reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. ------- End of forwarded message ------- From papadop at peak.org Tue Mar 2 23:07:07 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 23:07:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] Australia changes Israel vote in UN Message-ID: http://mathaba.net/news/?x=622956 The Age (Melbourne) March 1 Australia has softened its traditionally staunch support for Israel in the United Nations but denied this was linked to tensions over Israel`s apparent use of forged Australian passports in an assassination in Dubai. At a vote on Saturday (Melbourne time) in the UN General Assembly - where it has been one of Israel's strongest supporters - Australia abstained from a resolution demanding that Israel and the Hamas authorities in Gaza investigate possible war crimes during Israel's assault on Gaza in 2008. Three months ago, Australia voted against a similar resolution which sought to endorse the Goldstone Report - a UN-sponsored paper that said there was evidence Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday the change was not related to the passport scandal and that Australia abstained because the latest resolution did not specifically endorse the report. ''Our vote on the resolution was neither determined nor influenced by recent events,'' he said. ''The Australian government always considers United Nations resolutions on a case-by-case basis and on their merits. Australia abstained on this resolution because, unlike previous resolutions, it did not endorse the Goldstone Report.'' But a source in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told The Age there was no doubt the abstention was intended as a sign to Israel not to take Australian support for its actions for granted. ''A number of things made it easier for us to switch our vote,'' the source said. ''But there is no question that the debacle surrounding our passports being used in Dubai helped to make up the government's mind to abstain. The final decision was taken late on Friday, Australian time, a few hours before the vote. ''Our pattern in the past has been to vote with the United States when it comes to Israel, to show as much support for Israel as possible. ''We were also aware that the UK's decision to vote in favour of the resolution was influenced by the fact that so many of their citizens had been caught up in the Dubai assassination.'' Privately, Israeli officials expressed little concern at the result of the vote. Six other countries also changed their votes, including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Some countries, such as Britain, France and New Zealand, shifted from abstention to supporting the resolution. Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop yesterday accused the government of downgrading its support for Israel as part of its campaign to win a UN Security Council seat. ''I don't understand the government's change of heart,'' she told The Age yesterday. ''The Coalition's position has been consistent. Having voted against the Goldstone Report, we would continue to vote against it Since coming to office the government has weakened Australia's long-held position of supporting Israel at the United Nations,'' Ms Bishop said. Mr Smith last week summoned the Israeli ambassador, Yuval Rotem, over the apparent use of three forged Australian passports by Israeli spies in the assassination of a senior Hamas operative in Dubai. Mr Smith warned that if Israel was behind the forgeries ''Australia would not regard that as the act of a friend''. Israel has refused to confirm or deny involvement in the assassination. The Israeli embassy in Canberra would not comment yesterday on the passport scandal or Australia's UN vote. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who has described himself as a lifelong supporter of Israel, indicated on Saturday he did not believe Israel's response to the incident was acceptable. Opposition leader Tony Abbott has been far more reluctant to reprimand Israel and demanded that the government should wait for ''the full facts''. The Rudd government has shifted Australia's position on three other UN votes on the Middle East, including moves to oppose Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and to support Palestinian self-determination. But Mr Smith has been fiercely critical of the Goldstone Report, saying it lacked balance, was excessively focused on Israeli actions and paid insufficient attention to Hamas rocket attacks against Israel. From thinker at xplornet.com Wed Mar 3 09:36:10 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:36:10 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] EU climate change task force Message-ID: <20100303173621.79A53204D3B9@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> This has just come out, sent to me by an EU official. Cheers, Ed. For info Task Force Rpt Climate Change and the EU Budget.pdf Task Force Rpt Climate Change and the EU Budget.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: a38b3f.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2329 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Wed Mar 3 22:33:21 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:33:21 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] SKULDUGGERY References: <001001cabab1$19ad5c90$4d0815b0$@suter@bigpond.com> Message-ID: EXTRACT by Doug Everingham from NEW MATILDA MEDIA 23 Feb 2010 ' newmatilda.com digest for 24 Feb 2010. MEDIA 23 Feb 2010 Was Media Policy Ever A Mogul-Free Zone? By Ben Eltham Is anyone surprised that Stephen Conroy is giving money to TV networks? Australian governments have been courting media owners for yonks, writes Ben Eltham Read the full article NUCLEAR WASTE 24 Feb 2010 Ferguson To Dump Nuclear Waste On 'Soft Target' By Natalie Wasley The Government wants to go ahead with its radioactive waste dump plans - and it's no coincidence that those plans involve Aboriginal land far from marginal seats, writes Natalie Wasley Read the full article EAST TIMOR 24 Feb 2010 Are We Really East Timor's Heroes? By Clinton Fernandes Why do Australians cling to the belief that we have protected East Timor? Clinton Fernandes examines the first Australian intervention in what was then Portuguese Timor Read the full article I FOUND THE LATTER ARTICLE INFORMATIVE AND DISGUSTING. - Doug Everingham __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4896 (20100225) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4910 (20100302) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4910 (20100302) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Wed Mar 3 22:39:30 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 22:39:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] Bush/Cheney Pulled Torture Strings Message-ID: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/030410.html Bush/Cheney Pulled Torture Strings By Robert Parry March 4, 2010 George W. Bush's White House stage-managed the Justice Department's approval of torture techniques by putting pliable lawyers in key jobs, guiding their opinions and punishing officials who wouldn't go along, according to details contained in an internal report that recommended disciplinary action against two lawyers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE Though the recently released report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility concentrated on whether lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee deserved punishment for drafting and signing 2002 memos that permitted brutal interrogations of suspected terrorists, the report also revealed how the White House pulled the strings of Yoo, Bybee and others. The report puts into sharper focus what former Vice President Dick Cheney meant when he told an ABC News interviewer on Feb. 14 that he has spoken out loudly against the Obama administration's revised counter-terrorism policies to disrupt possible punishments of Yoo, Bybee and CIA interrogators. "I thought it was important for some senior person in the administration to stand up and defend those people who'd done what we asked them to do," Cheney said. A little-noticed subplot in the OPR's 289-page report was how the Bush administration got the legal opinions that it wanted from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the President and the Executive Branch on the limits of their legal powers. An important first step for the White House was to make sure that the work on legal opinions regarding harsh interrogations was done by a lawyer like Yoo who already held extreme views on the powers of a President during wartime. Even then, however, the White House did not leave it to Yoo to decide what limits should be put on the CIA's interrogation techniques or what parameters should circumscribe President Bush's power during the "war on terror." For instance, John Bellinger, a lawyer at the National Security Council, told the OPR that Yoo was "under pretty significant pressure to come up with an answer that would justify" the interrogation program. Yoo also shared drafts of his opinion with White House officials and received suggestions on how to revise it. On July 10, 2002, Yoo told a colleague via e-mail that "we're going over to visit with the NSC at 10:45 on Friday [July 12, 2002] ? and give them at that time our draft of the opinion to comment on." The title of that draft was the "bad things opinion," reflecting what " bad things" could be done to terror suspects in U.S. custody. On that Friday, Yoo met with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and, apparently, Cheney's legal counsel David Addington, who was known as a fellow hardliner on presidential power, the OPR report said. Another meeting was held at the White House the following Tuesday, July 16. EXPANDING BUSH'S POWER After those meetings, Yoo and his OLC associates added two new sections relating to how presidential power could override the anti-torture statutes and what possible defenses could be used by CIA interrogators who exceeded official guidelines. Yoo claimed the two sections were added because of internal OLC conversations that he had with his OLC boss, Bybee, and another assistant Patrick Philbin. However, Philbin said he told Yoo that the two sections were superfluous and should be removed. "According to Philbin, Yoo responded, "They want it in there." Philbin did not know who "they" referred to and did not inquire; rather, he assumed that it was whoever had requested the opinion," the OPR report said. Bybee also had no recollection of suggesting the two sections, though he defended their inclusion as justified "if the client requested the analysis." Alberto Gonzales "speculated that because David Addington had strong views on the Commander-in-Chief power, he may have played a role in developing that argument," the OPR report said. In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in 2008, Addington said he had praised Yoo's possible inclusion of the two topics in the memo. He said he told Yoo, "Good, I'm glad you're addressing these issues." But Addington added a cryptic comment regarding Yoo's motivation. "In defense of Mr. Yoo," Addington said, "I would simply like to point out that is what his client asked him to do." Responding to follow-up queries from OPR, Yoo and Bybee identified Yoo's "client" as Addington. The OPR investigators said they doubted Yoo's story about Bybee and Philbin urging the inclusion of the two new sections, since they were not in the original draft and were only added after the July 16 meeting at the White House. "We believe it is likely that the sections were added because some number of attendees at the July 16 meeting requested the additions," OPR said. Curiously, too, when talking to OPR investigators, Yoo did not even recall that his memo had permitted the near-drowning technique of waterboarding. The report said: "Yoo told OPR that most of the techniques ?did not even come close to the [legal] standard [of torture],' but that ?waterboarding did.' He told us during his interview: "I had actually thought that we prohibited waterboarding. I didn't recollect that we had actually said that you could do it." He added: "[T]he waterboarding, as it's described in that memo, is very different than the waterboarding that was described in the press. And so when I read the description in the press of what waterboarding is, I was like, oh, well, obviously that would be prohibited by the statute.'" RUSHING THE OPINIONS While working on a second interrogation memo, Yoo sent an e-mail message to a colleague that said, "I talked to the white house. They would like the memos done as soon as possible." In another e-mail, Yoo said comments from White House counsel Gonzales and others would be incorporated. Gonzales told OPR that he would write his comments on Yoo's draft and then pass the material onto Addington or another White House lawyer, "who would forward them to Yoo along with their own comments. "Gonzales commented that Addington was 'an active player' in providing his view and input on the draft memorandum. [Gonzales] stated: 'I'd be very surprised [if] David [Addington] did not participate in the drafting of this document." Beyond the issue of substance, the White House dictated the pace of the OLC legal analysis, demanding that one opinion be signed by close of business on Aug. 1, 2002. According to CIA records, the finished memo was faxed to the CIA at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 1. Until the end of the process, Philbin had doubts about including the section describing sweeping Commander-in-Chief powers. It was in this context that OPR investigators asked Yoo about his views on Bush's virtually limitless powers in wartime, posing the hypothetical of whether the President could order "a village of civilians to be [exterminated]?" Yoo answered, "Sure." In the case of waterboarding and other abusive interrogation tactics, the Yoo-Bybee opinion offered a novel and narrow definition of torture, essentially lifting the language from an unrelated law regarding health benefits. The Yoo-Bybee memo stated that unless the amount of pain administered to a detainee led to injuries that might result in "death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions" then the interrogation technique could not be defined as torture. Since waterboarding is not intended to cause death or organ failure ? only the panicked gag reflex associated with drowning ? it was deemed not to be torture. Beyond the evidence of how the White House manipulated Yoo and Bybee in carving out broad powers for President Bush and the CIA to torture, there is additional proof that the White House continued its behind-the-scene control after Bybee left the OLC to become a federal judge in 2003. REPLACING BYBEE White House counsel Gonzales wanted Yoo to replace Bybee as OLC chief, but Attorney General John Ashcroft objected because he considered Yoo "too close to the White House," a footnote in the OPR report said. Gonzales, in turn, nixed Ashcroft's choice, his counselor Adam Ciongoli, leading the administration to name Jack Goldsmith as a compromise choice. Goldsmith was regarded as a conservative Republican who supported strong presidential powers. However, after taking over the OLC and reviewing the Yoo-Bybee memos, Goldsmith was aghast at the sloppy scholarship and took the extraordinary step of withdrawing them. Soon, Goldsmith encountered Addington's wrath. In his memoir, The Terror Presidency, Goldsmith described a White House meeting at which Addington pulled out a 3-by-5-inch card listing the OLC opinions that Goldsmith had withdrawn. "Since you've withdrawn so many legal opinions that the President and others have been relying on," Addington said sarcastically, "we need you to go through all of OLC's opinions and let us know which ones you will stand by." Though supported by Deputy Attorney General James Comey, Goldsmith succumbed to the White House pressure and quit in 2004. He was replaced by Daniel Levin, who also reviewed the Yoo-Bybee material and reached a conclusion much like Goldsmith's. Levin told the OPR that he remembered "having the same reaction I think everybody who reads it has this is insane, who wrote this?'" When Levin turned to addressing the interrogation issue, he said he faced no pressure from the CIA, but the "White House pressed" him, adding:. "I mean, a part of their job is to push, you know, and push as far as you can. Hopefully, not push in a ridiculous way, but they want to make sure you're not leaving any executive power on the table." But Levin didn't give White House officials their desired opinions on interrogation and he was soon gone. Deputy Attorney General Comey said senior levels of the Justice Department understood that Levin was denied appointment as permanent OLC chief because he had not "delivered." OLC lawyer Philbin also faced the ire of the Vice President's office. In November 2004, Philbin had a private talk with Addington "who told him that, based on his participation in the withdrawal of [Yoo-Bybee memos], Addington believed that Philbin had violated his oath to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," the OPR report said. "Addington told Philbin that he would prevent Philbin from receiving any advancement to another job in the government and that he believed that it would be better for Philbin to resign immediately and return to private practice," the OPR report said. CONTINUING THE PRESSURE The White House pressure on the interrogation issue continued into 2005 after Ashcroft resigned and Bush moved his longtime counsel, Gonzales, into the office of Attorney General. In an April 27, 2005, e-mail, Comey recounted a meeting in which "the AG explained that he was under great pressure from the Vice President to complete both [replacement] memos, and that the President had even raised it last week, apparently at the VP's request and the AG had promised they would be ready early this week." Comey also noted that Steven Bradbury, who had been named acting chief of the OLC, "was getting similar pressure from [White House counsel] Harriet Miers and David Addington to produce the opinions. Parenthetically, I have previously expressed my worry that having Steve as ?Acting' ? and wanting the job ? would make him susceptible to just this kind of pressure." Addington's job threat against Philbin also proved not to be an idle one. In summer 2005, when Philbin was picked for a high-level job in the Office of Solicitor General, Philbin said Addington strenuously objected and Vice President Cheney personally called Gonzales to ask that the appointment be withdrawn. "AG Gonzales agreed and told Philbin that he had decided that Philbin would not receive the job in order to maintain good relations with the White House," a footnote in the OPR report said. When Philbin protested, Gonzales said he should resign, which Philbin finally did. Meanwhile, Comey worried about the damage that the White House pressure on the interrogation memos might do to the Justice Department and the Attorney General. In one e-mail, Comey warned that "this opinion would come back to haunt the AG and DOJ. ? the people who were applying pressure now would not be here when the shit hit the fam. Rather, they would simply say they had only asked for an opinion. It would be Alberto Gonzales in the bullseye." Comey added: "It leaves me feeling sad for the Department and the AG. I don't know what more is to be done, given that I have already submitted my resignation. I just hope that when all of this comes out, this institution doesn't take the hit, but rather the hit is taken by those individuals who occupied positions at OLC and OAG [Office of the Attorney General] and were too weak to stand up for the principles that undergird the rest of this great institution." Comey told the OPR investigators that there was pressure from the White House and particularly Vice President Cheney and his staff. Though they never were specific about their desired outcome on the memos, Comey said you would have to "be an idiot not to know what was wanted." Comey felt that acting OLC chief Bradbury knew that "if he rendered an opinion that shut down or hobbled the [interrogation] program," Cheney and Addington would be "furious." Bellinger, who moved from the NSC to the State Department in 2005, told OPR that there was tremendous pressure on the Justice Department to conclude that the interrogation program was legal and could continue. NEW TORTURE MEMOS Finally in May 2005, acting OLC chief Bradbury signed three new "torture" memos. In June, Bush formally nominated him to be assistant attorney general for the OLC (although Democratic objections in the Senate prevented him from ever gaining confirmation). With Bradbury's memos reaffirming many of the administration's brutal interrogation techniques, Comey began preparing for his exit. Though having been a successful prosecutor on past terrorism cases, such as the Khobar Towers bombing which killed 19 U.S. servicemen in 1996, Comey had earned the derisive nickname from Bush as "Cuomey" or just "Cuomo," a strong insult from Republicans who deemed former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to be excessively liberal and famously indecisive. On Aug. 15, 2005, in his farewell speech, Comey urged his colleagues to defend the integrity and honesty of the Justice Department. "I expect that you will appreciate and protect an amazing gift you have received as an employee of the Department of Justice," Comey said. "It is a gift you may not notice until the first time you stand up and identify yourself as an employee of the Department of Justice and say something ? whether in a courtroom, a conference room or a cocktail party ? and find that total strangers believe what you say next. "That gift -- the gift that makes possible so much of the good we accomplish -- is a reservoir of trust and credibility, a reservoir built for us, and filled for us, by those who went before -- most of whom we never knew. They were people who made sacrifices and kept promises to build that reservoir of trust. "Our obligation -- as the recipients of that great gift -- is to protect that reservoir, to pass it to those who follow, those who may never know us, as full as we got it. The problem with reservoirs is that it takes tremendous time and effort to fill them, but one hole in a dam can drain them. "The protection of that reservoir requires vigilance, an unerring commitment to truth, and a recognition that the actions of one may affect the priceless gift that benefits all. I have tried my absolute best -- in matters big and small -- to protect that reservoir and inspire others to protect it." Though the full import of Comey's speech was not apparent at the time, it now appears he was referring to the legal gamesmanship that had undercut the Justice Department's traditional commitment to the rule of law and enabled the Bush administration to engage in torture and other abuses of power. HOPING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY At the start of the Obama administration, some civil libertarians and constitutionalists hoped that there would be some accountability for the torturers and their accomplices in the Bush administration. But those hopes have been dashed. The OPR investigators did conclude that Yoo and Bybee violated "professional standards" and deserved possible disbarment as lawyers. [Yoo is now a tenured law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and Bybee is a federal appeals court judge in San Francisco.] But career prosecutor David Margolis, who was put in charge of reviewing the OPR's findings, downgraded the criticism to simply "poor judgment," which means the Justice Department won't refer their cases to state bar associations. Meanwhile, Cheney has lashed out at even the mildest suggestion that there might be some accountability. He also has spoken up in defense of waterboarding and of the people in the OLC and the CIA who made it possible. In his Feb. 14 interview on ABC's "This Week," Cheney pronounced himself "a big supporter of waterboarding," although it has been regarded as a form of torture since the Spanish Inquisition and has long been treated by U.S. authorities as a serious war crime, such as when Japanese commanders were prosecuted for using it on American prisoners during World War II. But Cheney was unrepentant about his support for the technique. He answered "yes" when asked if he had opposed the Bush administration's decision to suspend use of waterboarding ? after it was employed against three "high-value detainees" sometimes in repetitive sequences. He added that waterboarding should still be "on the table" today. Cheney then went further. Speaking with a sense of impunity, he casually undercut a key line of defense that senior Bush officials had hidden behind for years ? that the brutal interrogations were approved by independent Justice Department legal experts who thus gave the administration a legitimate reason to believe the actions were within the law. Cheney acknowledged that the White House had guided the Justice Department lawyers. In responding to a question about why he had so aggressively attacked Obama's counter-terrorism policies, Cheney explained that he had been concerned about the new administration prosecuting some CIA operatives who had handled the interrogations and "disbarring lawyers with the Justice Department who had helped us put those policies together. ? "I thought it was important for some senior person in the administration to stand up and defend those people who'd done what we asked them to do." Based on Cheney's comment and the newly released OPR report, it is now apparent that Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury were the lawyerly equivalents of those U.S. intelligence analysts, who ? in the words of the British "Downing Street Memo" ? "fixed" the facts around Bush's desire to justify invading Iraq. In justifying torture, these government lawyers had behaved less like diligent attorneys providing professional advice to honest clients and more like Mob consiglieres counseling crime bosses on how to evade the law. ############## Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' are also available there. Or go to Amazon.com. From papadop at peak.org Wed Mar 3 22:41:53 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 22:41:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] the audacity of empire Message-ID: http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=292 south asian magazine for action and reflection Essay The Audacity of Empire If there is one unmistakable difference between Bush's wars and Obama's wars it boils down to this: we now have a president who can almost perfectly pronounce the names of the cities and villages US troops will occupy and bomb. By Anjali Kamat This piece originally appeared in Samar 35, published online March 1st, 2010. Adapted from a talk at a conference titled "Obama's Occupations" held at Pomona College, December 4, 2009. "Unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations. We will not claim another nation's resources or target other peoples because their faith or ethnicity is different from ours." With these words President Barack Obama sought to reframe the imperial ambitions of the United States. He was speaking at the West Point military academy on December 1, 2009. But this was no marker of the change the world was waiting for in American foreign policy. The President was announcing the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a country US and NATO troops have been occupying and bombing for over 8 years. There will now be at least 100,000 US combat troops in Afghanistan. But Obama would like us to believe they are not actually occupying Afghanistan. "The people of Afghanistan have endured violence for decades. They have been confronted with occupation?by the Soviet Union, and then by foreign al Qaeda fighters who used Afghan land for their own purposes. So tonight, I want the Afghan people to understand?America seeks an end to this era o f war and suffering. We have no interest in occupying your country." Now that the US will have more troops in Afghanistan than Iraq and almost as many troops there as the Soviets did at the height of their Afghan occupation, it's only fitting that Obama must insist his escalation of war is actually an exit strategy. The only way to end the war is to expand the war. Far from stirring the comatose anti-war movement out of its long slumber, Obama's Orwellian justification of war was instead sanctified with a Nobel prize for peace. After a perfunctory nod to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Obama used his acceptance speech to launch an unapologetic defense of the notion of a just war, the idea that violence can be sometimes morally justified and necessary. Just as non-violence did not stop the Nazis, he warned, peaceful negotiations will not stop Al Qaeda. "To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism; it is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason." While reason might have its limits, the reach of American empire in its hunt for "Al Qaeda safe havens" is apparently limitless and unconstrained by domestic and international law. As the Obama administration wages a "struggle against violent extremism and diffuse enemies," we can now measure just how far we've come: we've left behind the Bush-era fight against "rogue states" and the "Axis of Evil" only to move into the age of targeting "ungoverned spaces," "disorderly regions," and "failed states." The war on terror may be over but those diffuse enemies could crop up just about anywhere and US Special Forces and unmanned drones are ready to take them out without the slightest concern for due process, legal oversight, or Congressional authorization. Secret prisons in Afghanistan, covert operations in Yemen and Somalia, an undisclosed war in Pakistan, and a rising toll of disappeared, tortured, and dead civilians: Sarah Palin didn't have her notes quite right, this is a snapshot of America's foreign policy with a constitutional law professor at the helm. If there is one unmistakable difference between Bush's wars and Obama's wars it boils down to this: we now have a president who can almost perfectly pronounce the names of the cities and villages US troops will occupy and bomb. We just can't call it occupation. It's "enlightened self-interest" as Obama emphasized during that same Nobel speech. "Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. ... We have borne this burden, not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest." Should we be surprised? Although Obama was the anti-war candidate compared to hawkish Hillary Clinton and John "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain, he was no pacifist. Right from the start of the presidential campaign in 2008, Obama pledged to expand the war in Afghanistan and into neighboring Pakistan. And talking to a crowd at an anti-war rally in October 2002 organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq the young state Senator was clear about where he stood: "I'm not opposed to all wars, I'm opposed to dumb wars. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics." So as NATO and the Afghan army prepare to attack the Taliban-controlled town of Marja this February, perhaps the area's 80,000 residents should take heart that they are fleeing a smart and principled war and not a dumb one based on outright deception. And the families of 123 Pakistani civilians killed by 12 US drone attacks this January should be relieved that they lost their loved ones to a rational and carefully thought-out (but still secret) war and not a rash one based on neoconservative fervor. But such differences are suddenly irrelevant when you're on the receiving end of the bombs. If we go further back in history Obama begins to sound more and more like every US president before him trying to justify American imperial overreach, cloaking it in the seductive language of liberation. And not very different from those old colonial powers Americans try so hard to distinguish themselves from. To turn to just one example?for history is littered with such empty words?this is what Lt. Gen. Sir Stanley Maude said to the people of Baghdad when British forces entered the city in March of 1917: "Since the days of Halaka, your city and your lands have been subject to the tyranny of strangers, your palaces have fallen into ruins, your gardens have sunk in desolation and your forefathers and yourselves have groaned in bondage... our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators." Domination masquerading as liberation is an old propaganda tactic of empires but it rarely works among the populations subjugated by this type of emancipation. *** When Obama won the elections over a year ago, it felt like America had entered a new era and many hoped that the age of imperial hubris was over. For at least half of this country it felt like we were emerging from 8 years of purgatory, 8 years of a nightmare under a cabal of rulers we didn't even elect in the first place. America had elected its first African-American president. This was America's historic moment of justifiable pride. A time of change and hope. America would no longer be the international pariah and the war in Iraq could finally end. Just over a year later in the midst of a continuing recession, rising poverty, and record unemployment, President Obama has proposed a freeze on domestic spending over the next 3 years, with one exception?the war budget. Military spending would grow over three percent in addition to separate funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for a total of over $741 billion. But, in our desperate search for some evidence of hope and change, some hold on to Obama's pledge to leave Iraq. Iraq Indeed, at his State of the Union address Obama once again said his administration was "responsibly leaving Iraq to its people." He promised that "all of our combat troops [will be] out of Iraq by the end of this August." Combat troops might be coming home but what about the 120,000 private military contractors in Iraq? Why is their exit not a part of a "responsible" end to the war? There has been an increase of 52% in the number of armed private contractors working for the United States inside Iraq under Obama. After years of public pressure to bring the troops back from Iraq, that might indeed become a reality. But the war and occupation of Iraq will continue, this time with a privatized and unaccountable military force. Hundreds of Iraqis die every month in bloody bombings that continue to take place every week. We've just stopped noticing them here. The worst brutalities of the sectarian civil war might be over, but if such deadly bombings on a similar scale were taking place almost anywhere else in the world with such regularity, it would be on the front pages of every newspaper. But not Iraq. Not now. A country devastated by a decade of American and British sanctions and then bombed from above, its people humiliated, arrested, tortured, maimed, and killed with impunity, its infrastructure destroyed, and its natural resources?with the exception of oil of course?polluted beyond use. But that's all irrelevant. Now, Iraq must be repackaged as a success. What is the reality of life in Iraq today? Do Iraqis have a chance to shape their future? They are ruled by a corrupt government, their armed forces are sectarian, and most households in cities and towns in the country still don't have reliable electricity or clean drinking water 6 and a half years after the invasion. As for the dead, no one knows how many Iraqis have died since the invasion of 2003?at the hands of US forces, private mercenaries, or sectarian militias unleashed by the war. The estimates range from a jaw-dropping 100,000 to a truly staggering 1 million. But dreams of justice or reparations are in short supply. On New Year's Eve, in a sad coda to a decade of massacres, a Washington, DC judge dismissed the Justice Department's criminal case against 5 Blackwater (now Xe) employees for the fatal shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nissour Square two and a half years +++ From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Wed Mar 3 22:57:16 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:57:16 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] EU climate change task force In-Reply-To: <20100303173621.79A53204D3B9@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> References: <20100303173621.79A53204D3B9@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: My browser could not open the URL, the attachment or the Slideshow. Do others have this problem? - Doug Everingham. ==== On 04/03/2010, at 3:36 AM, Ed Deak wrote: From: thinker at xplornet.com Subject: [Mai-not] EU climate change task force Date: 4 March 2010 3:36:10 AM To: mai-not at globalproblematique.net Reply-To: mai-not at globalproblematique.net This has just come out, sent to me by an EU official. Cheers, Ed. For info Task Force Rpt Climate Change and the EU Budget.pdf Task Force Rpt Climate Change and the EU Budget.pdf ?_______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: a38b3f.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2329 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Wed Mar 3 23:22:29 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 17:22:29 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_MAYDAY_MAYDAY_MAYDAY=2E=2E=2E_F?= =?windows-1252?q?ireFighter_Eric_Lawyer_Slams_NIST_And_The_9/11_=93Invest?= =?windows-1252?q?igation=94?= References: <721932.26235.qm@web110805.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Relayed by Doug Everingham. ==== Begin forwarded message: > From: jack loel > Date: 4 March 2010 11:59:13 AM > To: customerhelp at economist.com, cyphclondon at dial.pipex.com, > dailyiberian at bellsouth.net, dailyregister at ntin.net, > dailysun at mountwashingtonvalley.com, dana at mail.house.gov, > danderluh at sacbee.com, danfields at dailycommercial.com, > danglazebrook2000 at yahoo.co.uk, daniel.bertils at ljusnan.se, > darmstadt at fr-online.de, dasson at globalsolutions.org, > datebook at tennessean.com, david.bloom at gccisd.net, > david.savage at latimes.com, david at mediachannel.org, dbanker at sun- > sentinel.com, dbnred at dieburger.com, debate at euobs.com, > delbosque at texasobserver.org, delhidesk at asianage.com, > demarco at northjersey.com, despacho at embavenez-us.org, > dfowler at hastingstribune.com, dgceditor at dailygate.com, > dialog at canalplus.no, diario.digital at mail.telepac.pt, > dick.satran at reuters.com, dir-info at tf1.fr, direzione at quotidiano.net, > dispatchnews at yahoo.com, dkoller at dallesnews.com, > dlauricella at capitalgazette.com, dledford at delawareonline.com, > dlindorff at yahoo.com, dmendros at gwi.net, dmi at drummajorinstitute.org, > dmitry at pravda-team.ru, dmu-mags at internet.dk, > dnevrghm at powerup.com.au, dominicp at pressgazette.co.uk, > donald at mecotrucking.com, dpalmer at jcfloridan.com, dpioneer at aol.com, > drgerrylower at jeffersonseyes.com, dsa at dsausa.org, > dscottdailyreg at ntin.net, dub-info at minbuza.nl, > dub.vertretung at eda.admin.ch, dubamb at um.dk, dubgremb at eircom.net, > dublin-ob at bmaa.gv.at, dublin at embassy.mzv.cz, duconsul at indigo.ie, > duhoux2 at tds.net, dw-tv at dw-world.de, dwfed at dwfed.org, > dy at yomiuri.com, e.polivanova at imedia.ru, e.popova at rian.ru, > easyreader at easyreader.info, ebu at ebu.ch, echo.news at glosmedia.co.uk, > echonews at expressandecho.co.uk, edit at mspmag.com, > editman1000 at yahoo.com, editoped at asianage.com, editor-in-chief at y- > i.co.il, editor-mc at thesentinel.com, editor-pg at thesentinel.com, > editor at abcnews.com, editor at adbusters.org, > editor at americanthinker.com, editor at amperspective.com, > editor at aswataliraq.info, editor at atlanticfreepress.com, > editor at azstarnet.com, editor at baghdadbulletin.com, > editor at baltimorechronicle.com, editor at bcn-news.com, > editor at bctelegraph.com, editor at beachesleader.com, > editor at bocanews.com, editor at borgernewsherald.com, editor at bpsun.hu, > editor at british-weekly.com, editor at capecourier.com, > editor at cedarkeybeacon.com, editor at cedarvalleydailytimes.com, > editor at charlescitypress.com, editor at charlestoncitypaper.com, > editor at chickashanews.com, editor at coastnewsgroup.com, > editor at collegiatetimes.com, editor at commercialappeal.com, > editor at commondreams.org, editor at countercurrents.org, > editor at cphpost.dk, editor at cursor.org, editor at cyprus-mail.com > Subject: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY... FireFighter Eric Lawyer Slams NIST > And The 9/11 ?Investigation? > > MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY > Erik Lawyer > Founding Member firefightersfor911truth.org > August 23, 2008 > As Firefighters we immediately respond to, and risk everything for > a ?Mayday? call. Most Firefighters go an entire career without > calling a ?Mayday?. We know our Brothers only call one if someone > is in serious peril and they can?t handle it themselves. By the > Grace of God, I have never had to call a ?Mayday? on the fireground > or in the air. But, I am calling one now on our soil. ?MAYDAY, > MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!!? Our Country, Our sick Brothers and Sisters > desperately need your HELP. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > FireFighter Eric Lawyer Slams NIST And The 9/11 ?Investigation? > > For more Videos go to firefightersfor911truth.org > > the Aletho News ? Video Category > > or go to > > Aletho News Archives ? Video-Images > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------------------------------------------------- > "In times of change, the Patriot is a scarce man; brave, hated and > scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for > then it costs nothing to be a Patriot." -Mark Twain > FF 911 Truth > > 20 Aug 2008 / Uncategorized > > An Appeal to Firefighters, Present and Past from a retired FDNY > Lieutenant > Fellow Firefighters, A great tragedy befell our community on > September 11, 2001, an unprecedented 343 deaths in the line of > duty. As horrible as that toll is, if there were a rational > explanation for it, we could accept it and mourn. We all understood > the risk we accepted when we took the oath of office, that chance > might cut short our lives when we placed ourselves in harm?s way in > the public?s service. This is what we are paid for and it is our > honor. However, in short, the official explanation of the events of > that day are not only insufficient, they are fantastic and cannot > bear rational examination. We are asked to believe that on that day > three structural steel buildings, which have never before in > history collapsed because of fire, fell neatly into their basements > at the speed of gravity, their concrete reduced to dust. We are > asked to believe that jet fuel (kerosene) can melt steel. We are > asked to believe that the most sophisticated air defense system in > the world, that responded to sixty-eight emergencies in the year > prior to 9-11 in less than twenty minutes allowed aircraft to > wander about for up to an hour and a half. We are asked to believe > that the steel and titanium components of an aircraft that > supposedly hit the Pentagon ?evaporated?. There is much, much more > if anyone cares to look into it. Trade Tower #7 by itself is the > ?smoking gun?. Not hit by an aircraft, with only a few relatively > small fires, it came down in a classic crimp and implosion, going > straight into its basement, something only very precise demolition > can accomplish, which takes days if not weeks to prepare. The 9-11 > Commission didn?t even mention it, and F.E.M.A. actually stated > they DIDN?T KNOW WHY IT COLLAPSED AND LEFT IT AT THAT. Brothers, I > know that the implications of the above are hard, almost > unthinkable, but the official explanation is utter nonsense, and > three hundred and forty three murdered brothers are crying out for > justice. Demand a genuine investigation into the events of > September 11! > -Anton Vodvarka, Lt. FDNY (ret) > Lt. Vodvarka served on FDNY Ladder Co 26, Rescue Co. 3, Rescue Co. > 1, Engine Co. 92, Ladder 82 and Ladder 101. He was awarded the > Merit Class 1 award, the Prentice Medal. > WAYS TO HELP: > 1) Please help by signing our petition, > 2) donating to help keep this website up and growing, > > 3) donating to those first responders who are ill with serious > financial burdens, > 4) purchasing a Firefighters For 9-11 Truth T-Shirt. > Thank you so much. > ______________________________________________________________________ > _______________ > Erik Lawyer speaks at the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth > press conference demanding a new investigation. Firefighters for > 9-11 Truth strongly support AE911 Truth in securing a new > investigation. > > Read more? > ______________________________________________________________________ > _______________ > > N.F.P.A. 921 19.4.8.2.6 ? Extremism > During an investigation, many things must be considered. Aside from > the physical evidence, and witness testimony, suspect criminal > history also must be analyzed. The investigation must include past > history and the Modus Operandi, ?M.O.? for short. > N.F.P.A. 921 19.4.8.2.6 ? Extremism addresses terrorism > specifically. It reads: > ______________________________________________________________________ > _______________ > A common sense test: You?re dispatched to a house fire in a 2 > story with a basement. Upon arrival, all 3 floors are well > involved. After extinguishment, the neighbor across the street > tells you he saw flashes on all 3 floors within seconds of each > other. It turns out the owner has arson convictions on his record. > You smell gasoline. Now, should you test the debris for > accelerants? No matter what the owner and his friends tell you, > wouldn?t you still test it? It?s a ?NO-Brainer??isn?t it? > NOW, HOW WOULD YOU INVESTIGATE? > Look at the facts of the WTC, specifically Tower 7, collapses: > 1) Terrorists used explosives on WTC 1 in 1993. > 2) Over 118 first responders reported hearing explosions before all > 3 collapses, many said it sounded like the ?bang-bang-bang? you > hear during a demolition. > 3) We have video, photographic and audio evidence of explosions > after the impact and before collapse. > 4) Live news was reporting multiple explosions, and the possibility > terrorists also planted explosives. > 5) Barry Jennings, the Emergency Coordinator for the NY Housing > Authority reported explosions in Tower 7. He also reported being > knocked down by explosions prior to the collapse of the tower. > 6) Molten steel AND concrete were found at Ground Zero ?remember, > hydrocarbon fires do not burn hot enough to melt steel or > concrete.?N.F.P.A. 921- 19.2.4 Exotic Accelerants states that > molten steel and concrete could indicate the use of exotic > accelerants, specifically Thermite. > 7) WTC 7 was the first concrete and steel high rise to collapse > during a fire that had not been struck by an aircraft. It was > determined not to be significantly damaged by the falling debris, > and diesel fuel tanks DID NOT contribute significantly to the fire > (according to NIST final report 2008). > So, with all these indicators, would you test for exotic > accelerants/explosive residue/Thermite? How could you confirm or > rule out the possibility terrorists planted explosives in addition > to the aircraft hits? > Why does N.I.S.T. REFUSE to this day to test for exotic accelerants > in the most heinous crime in U.S. history? With the first high rise > building collapses in history, why would N.I.S.T. NOT test for > accelerants? Especially, with so many indicators, one in which we > have lost so many lives, so many Brothers, so many Freedoms, and > our Economy. I have not found a single fire investigator who can > give a reason other than they didn?t want to find exotic > accelerants or they were incompetent! Well, if it was incompetence, > we can go back and still test. These scientists have tested?read > their results!! > If you can?t answer why, then please take the time to investigate. > Browse our website, and please sign the petition. Our communities > trust us. If we let them know this is not how professionals > investigate, or how we treat our Brothers and Sisters who gave so > much, they will listen. Also, please visit > www.FealGoodFoundation.com and learn how to help our Brothers and > Sisters in need. > Many of our Brothers and Sisters are sick and dying from their > exposures at Ground Zero, our Country is crumbling. I am asking you > to do something much more difficult than fighting a fire. I am > asking you to be as professional as you would be on any emergency > call. I am asking you to review the evidence surrounding 9-11. I am > asking you to join us in demanding an investigation that follows > National Standards, and passage of the 9/11 Health and Compensation > Act to take care of the sick Ground Zero workers. I am asking you > to stand with us to help SAVE OUR BROTHERS, SISTERS AND OUR COUNTRY! > Respectfully, > Erik Lawyer > erik at firefightersfor911truth.org > YOU CAN PRINT THIS AS A FLYER AND DELIVER TO FIREHOUSES Fire > Station Letter > ?EXOTIC ACCELERANTS? > This is directly from the 2001 Edition of the National Fire > Protection Association NFPA 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion > Investigations. > 19.2.4 - ?Exotic Accelerants. Mixtures of fuels and Class 3 or > Class 4 oxidizers may produce an exceedingly hot fire and may be > used to start or accelerate a fire. Thermite mixtures also produce > exceedingly hot fires. Such accelerants generally leave residues > that may be visually or chemically identifiable. > Exotic accelerants have been hypothesized as having been used to > start or accelerate some rapidly growing fires and were referred to > in these particular instances as high temperature accelerants > (HTA). Indicators of exotic accelerants include an exceedingly > rapid rate of fire growth, brilliant flares (particularly at the > start of the fire), and melted steel or concrete. A study of 25 > fires suspected of being associated with HTAs during the 1981-1991 > period revealed that there was no conclusive scientific proof of > the use of such HTA. > > Notice how little volume of flame we have, yet a significant amount > of molten material that appears to be metal pouring out of the > building. > > In any fire where the rate of fire growth is considered exceedingly > rapid, other reasons for this should be considered in addition to > the use of an accelerant, exotic or otherwise. These reasons > include ventilation, fire suppression tactics, and the type and > configuration of the fuels.? > NIST denies the existence of molten metal even though we have video > and photographic evidence suggesting otherwise. We also have > witness testimony from FDNY firemen themselves. Jet fuel and > content fires do not produce the temperatures necessary to produce > molten steel - that is why NIST has to deny the very presence of > molten metal. This is not small stuff. This is a ?smoking gun.? > NFPA very clearly states melted steel or concrete is a sign of > exotic accelerants. Therefore, the debris should have been > thoroughly analyzed for exotic accelerants, specifically Thermite. > > Now, remember, the investigation is just that?an investigation. We > do not need overwhelming undisputable evidence to test for > accelerants. It is very routine to test a house fire for > accelerants. So, why at the first and only high rise building > collapse sites due to fire, was this not done? How do we get safer > buildings and solve crimes if we don?t test for the very things > that could have led to the collapse? > > This is not something to walk away from. We have to stand up > together and demand a thorough investigation, following the > National Standards, and justice. > > Here is the video of NIST denying molten metal even though we have > several FDNY members, very clearly stating the presence of molten > metal. > > > Remember, you are the Jury?Who are you going to believe? > > > > MOLTEN METAL AND CONCRETE > > Remember 19.2.4 says molten steel or concrete - we have BOTH > > Now, eventhough NIST refused to test the debris or dust for exotic > accelerants, former BYU Professor Steven Jones and Jeffrey Farrer, > a professor of nanochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in > Denmark, have analyzed several dust samples collected from the > surrounding areas immediately following the collapse. > Click here to see their report which very clearly shows the > presence of ?exotic accelerants,? specifically ?nano-thermite.? > Click here to read the Deseret News article reporting on their > discovery. > > High-order damage is the result of rapid rates of pressure rise. > > ?HIGH-ORDER DAMAGE? > NFPA 921 > 18.3.2 - ?High-Order Damage. High-order damage is characterized by > shattering of the structure, producing small, pulverized debris. > Walls, roofs, and structural members are splintered or shattered, > with the building completely demolished. Debris is thrown great > distances, possibly hundreds of feet. High-order damage is the > result of rapid rates of pressure rise.? > We see all signs of ?high-order damage? in all three building > collapses. There is no arguing this. And, it?s very clearly stated > ?high-order damage is the result of rapid rates of pressure rise.? > Now if we look at NFPA 921 14.3 ?Preservation of the Fire Scene and > Physical Evidence? we find the following ?the cause of a fire or > explosion is not known until near the end of the investigation. > Therefore, the evidentiary or interpretative value of various > pieces of physical evidence observed at the scene may not be known > until, at, or near the end of the fire scene examination, or until > the end of the complete investigation. As a result, the entire fire > scene should be considered physical evidence and should be > protected and preserved.? > It doesn?t get much clearer than this. This is Investigation-101! > For, all those debunkers and detractors who say ?it?s obvious? why > the buildings came down, I beg to differ, and so does the NFPA > -?the cause of a fire or explosion is not known until near the end > of the investigation.? We are professionals, we are not supposed to > jump to conclusions, and we are not supposed to let political and > public factors determine what we do and don?t investigate. We > definitely are not supposed to destroy the very evidence that will > provide the answers. And, when every indicator in ?the book? is > screaming ?high-order? explosive damage, we have a history of prior > explosives use by terrorists in those exact buildings, we have over > 100 first responders reporting hearing ?secondary? explosions, the > fact that evidence was destroyed and this wasn?t investigated > thoroughly is nothing short of criminal! It?s time to get real loud > about this. Our Brothers were murdered. My fellow firefighters, we > can?t afford to brush this off to politics or ignore this anymore. > Stand up with Firefighters for 9/11 Truth, demand answers, and > justice. > ?HIGH EXPLOSIVES? > NFPA 921 ?18.12.2 High Exlosives?The effects produced by diffuse > phase (i.e., fuel-air) explosions and solid explosives are very > different. In a diffuse phase explosion (usually deflagration), > structural damage will tend to be uniform and omnidirectional, and > there will be relatively widespread evidence of burning, scorching, > and blistering. In contrast, the rate of combustion of a solid > explosive is extremely fast in comparison to the speed of sound. > Therefore, pressure does not equalize through the explosion volume > and extremely high pressures are generated near the explosion. At > the location of the explosion, there should be evidence of > crushing, splintering, and shattering effects produced by the > higher pressures. Away from the source of the explosion, there is > usually very little evidence of intense burning or scorching, > except where hot shrapnel or firebrands have landed on combustible > materials.? > 18.12.2 is very clear. Fuel-air explosions (i.e.- JET FUEL) will be > relatively widespread and there will be evidence of burning, > scorching, and blistering. If the lobby truly ?blew out? from the > jet fuel explosion we would see extensive burning, scorching, and > blistering. And, think about it, the elevator shafts do not stop in > the lobby, they went below the lobby, so why did this apparent > ?fireball? pick the lobby to exit? Now, carefully look at this > video, and you be the judge. > Do you see any signs of burning, scorching, or blistering? On your > size-up pay close attention to the plants and the ceiling?do you > see ANY soot? is this what you would expect to see after a ?jet- > fueled fireball? blew out the lobby? > Does this match the damage we would expect to see with solid > explosives? (i.e. crushing, splintering, and shattering effects > produced by higher pressures). > Click here to see the summary of evidence that proves conclusively > that 3 World Trade Center buildings should have been tested for > ?exotic accelerants.? It also establishes the most probable cause > of collapse on 9/11/2001 to be the result of controlled > demolitions. It makes no attempt to determine why, or to imply by > whom. > Have you ever asked yourself, what evidence does the government > have that proves those specific terrorists were behind it? Well, > here it is?.click on the link below and it will take you to the > evidence they have accumulated. Their strongest evidence is shown > below. > GOVERNMENT EVIDENCE > The following photographs are from trial exhibits from United > States v. Zacarias Moussaoui Criminal No. 01-455-A > > Saudi arabian passport in the name of satam suqami found at the > World Trade Center after the collapse of the buildings > > Here is the CNN article about the discovery. > Now, remember when the planes flew into the Towers there was a > massive fireball that has been officially stated to be the cause of > the eventual collapse of the building. So, this passport had to > survive the initial fireball without a singe, fly out of the > building, and remain in a safe place because it was found after the > debris from the buildings blanketed the area. > > Backside of Satam Passport recovered on the street after the > collapse of the buildings. > > > Partial ID card reading ALHAZMI from the Pentagon crash site > > > Flight 93 crash site crater > > > Kingdom of Saudi Arabia passport for Saeed A A A Al Ghamdi > recovered from the United Airlines Flight 93 crash site. > > > Assem-Jarrah business card recovered from flight 93 crash site > > > Terrorists were reported to be wearing red bandanas. This bandana > was recovered from the Flight 93 crash site. > > > Terrorist photo from Flight 93 Crash Site > > > Recovered from Flight 93 Crash Site > > > Terrorist's driver license recovered from Flight 93 crash site > > > Example of titanium and steel engines that were not identifiable at > crash site. > > After looking at the evidence you should come to your own > conclusions. And, if you think this doesn?t add up, please read > more, sign our petition, and get involved. > We are not implying the improbable is impossible. As professional > firefighters, we have seen many things from fire, accident and > crime scenes that don?t ?make sense?. What we are suggesting is > that there is more than sufficient evidence to doubt the ?official? > government story. There was no reason to destroy the very steel > from all three towers that would have aided in the investigation. > There is no reason to withold vast amounts of evidence that would > very clearly support or disprove their version (ie: hard evidence > proving the make/model/specific registration numbers from the > aircraft, or the complete collection of the Pentagon vidoes, > specifically any images of a commercial jet flying into the > Pentagon). There is a large body of physical, photographic, audio, > witness testimony and video evidence that directly contradicts the > ?official? story. We challenge you to really look at what the > goverment has presented versus what many independent researchers > have produced. > Colonel Nelson says it very well. > > Col. George Nelson, MBA, U.S. Air Force (ret) ? Former U.S. Air > Force aircraft accident investigator and airplane parts authority. > Graduate, U.S. Air Force War College. 34-year Air Force career. > Licensed commercial pilot. Licensed airframe and powerplant mechanic. > Essay: > ?In all my years of direct and indirect participation, I never > witnessed nor even heard of an aircraft loss, where the wreckage > was accessible, that prevented investigators from finding enough > hard evidence to positively identify the make, model, and specific > registration number of the aircraft ? and in most cases the precise > cause of the accident. ? > The government alleges that four wide-body airliners crashed on the > morning of September 11 2001, resulting in the deaths of more than > 3,000 human beings, yet not one piece of hard aircraft evidence has > been produced in an attempt to positively identify any of the four > aircraft. On the contrary, it seems only that all potential > evidence was deliberately kept hidden from public view. > > http://www.physics911.net/georgenelson > COURAGE > On September 11, 2001 hundreds of our Brothers had the courage to > stand up to the actions of Terrorists, and enter those towers to > help rescue people and extinguish fires. 343 firefighters and 60 > police officers gave their lives standing up for what they believed > in? helping others in their time of need. Well, my Brothers and > Sisters, it is our turn to show some courage. We must have the > courage to confront the horrors of that day, the humility to > consider we don?t know the whole story, the willingness to educate > ourselves, and the responsibility to inform others. We must have > the courage to stand up to those who are stopping a true > investigation into who murdered more than 3,000 innocent civilians > and over 400 of our Brothers. > We must demand answers and accountability for why hundreds of New > York Firemen didn?t hear evacuation orders, how 3 towers collapsed > so quickly and so explosively, and why thousands of rescue workers > and civilians alike were not warned of the extremely dangerous > atmosphere that was known to exist. > If you think the media or our government has given us the answers, > think again. If you think this can?t happen again, think again. > Seven years later most Americans haven?t even heard of Tower 7. > Seven years later, most Americans don?t know thousands more of > those rescue workers are sick, and many are dying from their > exposures at Ground Zero. Seven years later, the FBI still hasn?t > listed Osama Bin Laden as ?wanted? for the 9/11 attacks. This is > incredible?they are the lead investigators, and they don?t have > enough evidence to put him on the ?most wanted? list for those > attacks? So, why do so many Americans believe he was behind it? Why > are we at war over it? Do you know what evidence there is? The > destruction of evidence, obstruction of justice, incomplete > answers, and abysmal accountability is disgusting and unacceptable. > We must all look at the evidence with an open mind and make > rational unbiased judgments. Remember, you don?t have to be an > expert to sit on a jury, and you have the right to be critical of, > and demand answers from the ?experts?. Take the time to gather > facts, and have the courage to ask for more. If you come to the > same conclusion as the FBI, and don?t place him on your ?most > wanted? list, then have the courage to help find those responsible > for the deaths of so many of our Brothers and Sisters. We all need > to show some courage by demanding answers and justice!! > ONE LIEUTENANT?S PERSPECTIVE > Earl Emerson > 30 year veteran Seattle Fire Department > Author of Vertical Burn, Into the Inferno, Pyro, Firetrap, and > numerous other fire novels. > ?.If you?re a firefighter you knew the government was lying that > first week when the EPA administrator, Christine Whitman, told the > public the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breathe. Any > firefighter who?d been on the job more than two weeks knew that was > a crock. Now, up to seventy percent of the people working on the > site and living in the area have lung disease. There were other, > more crucial lies. Cruise this site. Open your mind. For any > firefighter, this is the most important website you will visit this > year or any other year. > Read full article > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Thu Mar 4 11:55:48 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:55:48 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] New SCC Trade and Environment website pages http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-environment Message-ID: <4B8FD804.8974.157CBD45@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Dear All: Here is the link for the new "Trade and Environment Campaign" pages on the Sierra Club Canada Website . http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-environment I still have related news to upload after which I'll be posting news and blogging regularly every other day or so. all the best, janet Janet Eaton, Trade & Environment Campaigner Sierra Club Canada ================================= Trade and Environment Campaign: A Better Balance is Possible between Trade & Environment Sierra Club Canada's Trade and Environment Campaign is centred on the mounting evidence that unfettered economic globalization and its agenda of free trade, de-regulation, and privatization implemented over the past two decades without public consultation, has had a devastating impact on our immediate environment, the ecosystems of the planet and broader planetary cycles that are now deeply out of balance from pollution, depletion of resources and excessive CO2 and other emissions. The Trade and Environment Campaign focuses on: (i) the cascade of bi- lateral and internal FTAs being pushed through without adequate consultation or impact studies (ii) the imperative of re-negotiating NAFTA, and all free trade agreements, iii) working to rid all trade agreements of the unjust, undemocratic and unsustainable NAFTA Ch 11 investor state mechanism, (iv) pushing for legislated provincial citizen?s trade commissions as oversight bodies to assess impacts of trade agreements on provincial and municipal sovereignty (v) working towards fairer trade models and sustainable economic systems. The Trade and Environment Campaign works to increase awareness of how globalization, free trade and NAFTA impact the environment and ecosystems; mounts campaigns with the membership, and in association with other national NGO?s and coalitions to oppose trade agreements that are harmful to the environment, local economies, workers, and sovereignty; and works toward alternatives to corporate economic globalization using eco-systemic thinking to revision and reframe inadequate policies shaped by an industrial mechanistic lens resulting in economic policies that considered the environment an externality and unending growth an inevitability. Janet Eaton [Bio ] Janet's diverse experience as a biologist, community and adult educator, as a well-known critic of globalization and free trade, and as a part time academic who has taught courses on globalization; community political power; and environment and sustainable society, provides a comprehensive background for her new role as volunteer trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada. She has also been a volunteer with SCC for ten years as a founding member of Sierra Club Canada Atlantic Chapter, working as an international liaison for SCC on Water Privatization and Corporate accountability issues, and working in the Atlantic region on free trade issues where she represents SCC on the Nova Scotia Trading Options coalition. Nationally she is SCC rep on Common Frontiers a forum for national groups that work throughout the Americas on free trade and economic alternatives and she represents SCC on the Steering Committee of a new coalition of multiple national groups that have recently come together to expose concerns with CETA, the Canada -EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement which threatens to pry open public procurement and public services at the provincial and municipal levels and further weaken environmental legislation. She looks forward to working with Club members on campaigns related to free trade, globalization and economic alternatives that will move us toward more sustainable communities, a more sustainable Canada and a more stable planetary system. Janet has a BSc in Biology from Acadia University and a PhD in Marine Biology from Dalhousie University, Halifax. She attributes her background in Biology, and her later involvement with the International Systems Institute as major influences in the development of her systemic worldview which helps her to better envision possibilities for whole system change. From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Thu Mar 4 13:39:26 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 08:39:26 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: [S] Dr Strangelove solves climate change ? Message-ID: <003301cabbe3$94ab3920$69ad57ca@jfos> See the article about new uranium technology...the nuclear lobby is going all out now that carbon is on the nose http://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2010/02/11/dr-strangelove-provides-solutions-for-climate-change-in-brisbane/ Dr Strangelove solves climate change Posted on February 11, 2010 by Workers BushTelegraph On 10 February 2010, Dr Tom Blees, a former commercial fisherman, who ?has given up fishin? for fission? stood over 2 metres tall before an assortment of scientists, physics students and staff at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The event was sponsored by a local group, ominously called ?Safe Radiation?. Former National Party senator for Queensland Bill O?Chee from the Australian Nuclear Association Inc gave the 50 or so guests (nearly all men) a hearty welcome saying that all he was qualified to do was to invite us to partake of refreshments in the foyer. http://www.nuclearaustralia.org.au/ ?The enormous room on the ground floor faced towards the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory. Wintriness responded to wintriness. The overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost. Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich and living substance, lying along the polished tubes like butter, streak after luscious streak in long recession down the work tables?. ??BRAVE NEW WORLD? by Aldous Huxley With no solution to climate change in Copenhagen what better time for the nuclear lobby to bring the ultimate solution to Brisbane ? a new generation of mass produced nuclear power plants to replace the old ?light water reactors? that dot the landscape of advanced capitalist countries like the US, Britain and France. As the traffic slowly crept south on the freeway outside Dr Blees painted a future high energy consuming world without global warming, with no more ?resource wars? and where planes are powered by boron, cars by ammonia, and waste disposed of by ?plasma torches? that produce hydrogen and carbon. This combined with the wondrous prism reactor would soon give the world a technology fix if only the nation states and the politicians could see the light. I had not heard of Plasma torches so I looked up the website, Brave New Climate? ?Pour all the waste society produces into incinerators which are so hot (around 17,000 C, or a couple of times hotter than the surface of the sun), that they don?t produce the usual ash and char (nor vent heavy metals, dioxins etc. into the air) ? they instead dissagregate the molecular structure of everything that goes into them. Something for the distant future perhaps? Well, no actually, these so-called plasma reactors are already operating and thermal plasma torches have been used for years in industry.? http://bravenewclimate.com/2009/01/25/prescription-for-the-planet-part-iii-renewable-atoms-and-plasma-charged-waste/ Dr Tom Blees got down to business telling us that the US government and General Electric were keeping under wraps a fix for climate change ? a new generation of nuclear reactors using Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) technology; they burn depleted uranium, never melt down and produce igneous waste that can be safely stored for 300 years. Dr Blees stated that the new reactor will not require any more uranium to be mined. At a meeting in Brisbane this week, a BHP rep, sarcastically asked the good doctor ?how much time do we have?? If only it were true and the coal fields were no longer necessary and the uranium mines at Jabiluka and Olympic dam were redundant. Blees is talking to the Russians who he hopes will build the first IFR reactor. The only problem is the Russians want to use the nuclear energy to pump natural gas to its neighbours thus making big roubles helping to sell more greenhouse gases. There were heaps of questions from the pro-nuclear audience. With not a single bodyguard in sight this humble giant explained how he had come up with solutions for waste, CO2 and war; if only he could get political support. I suppose Malcolm Turnbull has asked the same question. No one asked about the waste product called heat. No one asked about how to power the plasma torches that are capable of converting subterranean space under reactors into molten glass. No one asked about concentration of such technology in the wealthy countries, or if they are to be housed near the biggest cities in those wealthy countries And no one asked about the health and safety of the workers in these vast plants that could make plastics with the hydrocarbons from the plasma machines. Dr Blees liked the idea of the Russians being involved especially given the nuclear proliferation that occurred during the cold war. I know that Dr Blees solution was not framed with a nuclear winter in mind but nevertheless I was reminded of Dr Strangelove?s explanation of the need for a doomsday machine: ?Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy? the FEAR to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling, the Doomsday machine is terrifying and simple to understand? and completely credible and convincing.? That bloody human meddling, it always gets in the way of good science (sigh). Ian Curr February 2010 To: Climate Action Moreland Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:46 AM Subject: Nukes from coal ash A company now plans to run nuclear power plants off the radioactive residue of coal ash. Winning, David. 2009. "Out of the Ashes: A Small Mining Company Has Big Plans to Sell the Uranium Left Over When Coal Is Burned." Wall Street Journal (22 February): Journal Report. "Sparton Resources Inc., a small Toronto mining company, is betting that a global renaissance in nuclear power will create a market for an unlikely fuel source: waste coal ash. Natural coal contains trace amounts of uranium, and when it is burned to produce electricity, varying amounts of the radioactive element are left behind in the ash. Sparton has developed a method for recovering it and says a project under way at a coal-fired power station in southwestern China is yielding uranium that could be reused as a fuel for nuclear reactors." related: Sparton Resources Inc.: First Yellowcake Produced From Xiaolongtang Cola Ash, China-Test Work Continues TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 15, 2007) - Sparton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SRI) (the "Company") reported today that its ongoing uranium extraction testing program has successfully produced a small amount of yellowcake (U3O8) from fly ash samples taken from the China Guodian Xiaolongtang Thermal Power Plant in central Yunnan Province PRC). The test work is being done by the Company's processing engineering consulting firm Lyntek Inc. of Denver, Colorado, USA. Yellowcake (U3O8) is the uranium compound produced and sold by most uranium producers and is the uranium bearing raw material whose price is quoted in international markets. This test, the first one to attempt to produce yellowcake, was qualitative in nature and used 6.1 kg of mixed fly ash currently being produced by the old and new burners at the Xiaolongtang station. The ash averaged about 160 ppm U or 0.40 lb/tonne U3O8. Leaching was done with sulphuric acid and the yellowcake was produced by passing the filtered leach solution through a standard ion exchange resin, stripping the resin and precipitating the uranium compound. This process is essentially similar to the uranium extraction and yellowcake production methods used by primary uranium ore processing plants or ISL (in situ leach) operations using an acidic leaching solution. A photo of the yellowcake precipitate is shown on the Company website www.spartonres.ca. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Sparton-Resources-Inc-First-Yellowcake-Produced-From-Xiaolongtang-Cola-Ash-China-Test-TSX-VENTURE-SRI-780678.htm Comment: Martin "Yellowcake" Ferguson of the Anthracite & Lignite Party aka ALP and the COAL-ition lead by Tony "Taliban" Abott can be expected to become boosters for this with that AWU union Leader Paul "nuke 'em" Howes also spruiking shortly? Hope I am wrong of course and this new Nuke scam does not get 9 legs ! - Karen Silkwood -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Thu Mar 4 16:06:09 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:06:09 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: John Bellamy Foster, Michael Lebowitz, Venezuela, Diego Garcia vs Greenpeace, India, Swaziland, IPCC, Greece Message-ID: <4B904AF1.9040006@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: John Bellamy Foster, Michael Lebowitz, Venezuela, Diego Garcia vs Greenpeace, India, Swaziland, IPCC, Greece * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * John Bellamy Foster on `Marx's Ecology' and `The Ecological Revolution' John Bellamy Foster interviewed by Aleix Bombila John Bellamy Foster is editor of the US socialist journal Monthly Review and author of Marx's Ecology and The Ecological Revolution. Aleix Bombila writes for En Lucha (Spain).This interview first appeared in English at MRZine. En Lucha: In your book Marx's Ecology you argue that Marxism has a lot to offer to the ecologist movement. What kind of united work can be established between Marxists and ecologists? * Read more Michael Lebowitz reviews `The Real Venezuela': Exploring the dialectic of the Bolivarian Revolution The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century By Iain Bruce London: Pluto Press, 2008, 240 pages Review by Michael Lebowitz "When Ch?vez speaks, we listen. But we don't listen to those around him." This comment by a community activist interviewed by Iain Bruce, and integrated into his wonderful exploration of the Bolivarian Revolution from below, points to an essential characteristic--the unique link at present (por ahora) between Hugo Ch?vez and the exploited and excluded of Venezuela. * Read more Mauritian socialists' open letter to Greenpeace -- `Don't help cover up colonialism's crimes on Diego Garcia' By Ram Seegobin, February 8, 2010 Dear leaders of Greenpeace [UK], We understand that your organisation has taken a position in favour of the British government's outrageous plan to create a "marine park" on territory which is not its own, thus tricking ill-informed people into supporting the British state on rather vague grounds of "the environment", while they are in fact banishing the people who lived there and flaunting the Charter of the United Nations. * Read more Eyewitness account: Video -- Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution -- The second decade With Kiraz Janicke, Federico Fuentes. Moderated by Greg Albo. Left Streamed -- Toronto, February 26, 2010 -- Kiraz Janicke is a journalist for Venezuelanalysis.com, the foremost independent English-language source of news on Venezuela. She is editor of the Peru en Movimiento website and a member of the Caracas bureau of Green Left Weekly, Australia's leading socialist newspaper. * Read more India: The legacy of Jyoti Basu By Dipankar Bhattacharya February 2010 -- Jyoti Basu, arguably the most familiar face of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) -- CPI (M) -- in India and the last surviving member of the party's founding polit bureau, passed away in Kolkata on January 17. In the course of his marathon political journey spanning nearly seven decades, he served for an unprecedented 23 consecutive years as the chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal. Basu is also famously remembered as the only left leader who had been offered the prime ministership of the country, in 1996, an offer that was declined by his party even as Basu openly differed with the CPI (M), calling its decision an "historic blunder". * Read more Swaziland Democracy Campaign launched: `Justice denied anywhere is justice denied everywhere' By the Swaziland Democracy Campaign Campaigning for democracy in Swaziland NOW! February 25, 2010 -- Johannesburg, South Africa -- On February 21, 2010, the world witnessed the launch of a global initiative to support pro-democracy forces in Swaziland: the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC). This is a product of many years of working together between South African and Swaziland organisations, which includes political parties, trade unions, churches, youth and students organisations. * Read more Climate change: Has the IPCC passed its use-by date? Time for new independent climate science body By Renfrey Clarke February 21, 2010 -- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an organisation whose time has passed. Preferably within the next year or so, it needs to be dismantled. As verdicts go, that might seem to have been plucked from the mouths of the climate-denialist right, of the Herald-Sun's far-right columnist Andrew Bolt or the flat-earthers at Rupert Murdoch's Australian. After all, right-wing media outlets in recent months have run a lurid campaign against the IPCC. The UN body, which coordinates thousands of volunteer scientists in assessing and reporting on research into climate change, is accused of making gross errors and of systematically exaggerating the dangers of global warming. * Read more Greece: Crisis, resistance and challenges for the left; 24-hour general strike * Read more `Foro Social Latinamericano', issue #2 of Green Left Weekly's Spanish-language supplement Australia's leading socialist newspaper Green Left Weekly is strongly committed to supporting the growing "people's power" movement in Latin America. We are proud of the fact that GLW is the only Australian newspaper to have a permanent bureau in Latin America, based in Caracas, Venezuela. Through our weekly articles on developments in the region, GLW strives to counter the corporate media's many lies about Latin America's revolutions, and to give a voice in English to the people's movements for change. * Read more Venezuela's revolution faces crucial battles; Chavez: `Towards a communal state!' By Federico Fuentes, Caracas February 20, 2010 -- Decisive battles between the forces of revolution and counter-revolution loom on the horizon in Venezuela. The campaign for the September 26, 2010, National Assembly elections will be a crucial battle between the supporters of socialist President Hugo Chavez and the US-backed right-wing opposition. But these battles, part of the class struggle between the poor majority and the capitalist elite, will be fought more in the streets than at the ballot box. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Thu Mar 4 18:10:54 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 12:10:54 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] New SCC Trade and Environment website pages http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-environment In-Reply-To: <4B8FD804.8974.157CBD45@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <4B8FD804.8974.157CBD45@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: I agree that Canadian (and other) sovereign financial powers are usurped by a global financial cabal which has a near-monopoly of orthodox economic teaching. To restore this central power to world citizens with global equity and sustainability requires wide informed consensus among governments and voters on more democratic financial regulation, involving at least growing debate on principles (like www.simpol.org ) of cooperative simultaneous implementation across-borders of equity and sustainability to replace current cycles of banksters socializing their loses and privatizing their gains. - Doug Everingham. ==== On 05/03/2010, at 5:55 AM, Janet M Eaton wrote: > Dear All: > > Here is the link for the new "Trade and Environment Campaign" > pages on the Sierra Club Canada Website . > http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-environment > > I still have related news to upload after which I'll be posting > news and blogging regularly every other day or so. > > all the best, > janet > > Janet Eaton, > Trade & Environment Campaigner > Sierra Club Canada > > ================================= > > Trade and Environment Campaign: > A Better Balance is Possible between Trade & Environment > > Sierra Club Canada's Trade and Environment Campaign is centred on the > mounting evidence that unfettered economic globalization and its > agenda of free trade, de-regulation, and privatization implemented > over the past two decades without public consultation, has had a > devastating impact on our immediate environment, the ecosystems of > the planet and broader planetary cycles that are now deeply out of > balance from pollution, depletion of resources and excessive CO2 and > other emissions. > > The Trade and Environment Campaign focuses on: (i) the cascade of bi- > lateral and internal FTAs being pushed through without adequate > consultation or impact studies (ii) the imperative of re-negotiating > NAFTA, and all free trade agreements, iii) working to rid all trade > agreements of the unjust, undemocratic and unsustainable NAFTA Ch 11 > investor state mechanism, (iv) pushing for legislated provincial > citizen?s trade commissions as oversight bodies to assess impacts of > trade agreements on provincial and municipal sovereignty (v) working > towards fairer trade models and sustainable economic systems. > > The Trade and Environment Campaign works to increase awareness of how > globalization, free trade and NAFTA impact the environment and > ecosystems; mounts campaigns with the membership, and in association > with other national NGO?s and coalitions to oppose trade agreements > that are harmful to the environment, local economies, workers, and > sovereignty; and works toward alternatives to corporate economic > globalization using eco-systemic thinking to revision and reframe > inadequate policies shaped by an industrial mechanistic lens > resulting in economic policies that considered the environment an > externality and unending growth an inevitability. > > > Janet Eaton [Bio ] > > Janet's diverse experience as a biologist, community and adult > educator, as a well-known critic of globalization and free trade, and > as a part time academic who has taught courses on globalization; > community political power; and environment and sustainable society, > provides a comprehensive background for her new role as volunteer > trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada. She has also > been a volunteer with SCC for ten years as a founding member of > Sierra Club Canada Atlantic Chapter, working as an international > liaison for SCC on Water Privatization and Corporate accountability > issues, and working in the Atlantic region on free trade issues where > she represents SCC on the Nova Scotia Trading Options coalition. > Nationally she is SCC rep on Common Frontiers a forum for national > groups that work throughout the Americas on free trade and economic > alternatives and she represents SCC on the Steering Committee of a > new coalition of multiple national groups that have recently come > together to expose concerns with CETA, the Canada -EU Comprehensive > Economic and Trade Agreement which threatens to pry open public > procurement and public services at the provincial and municipal > levels and further weaken environmental legislation. She looks > forward to working with Club members on campaigns related to free > trade, globalization and economic alternatives that will move us > toward more sustainable communities, a more sustainable Canada and a > more stable planetary system. Janet has a BSc in Biology from Acadia > University and a PhD in Marine Biology from Dalhousie University, > Halifax. She attributes her background in Biology, and her later > involvement with the International Systems Institute as major > influences in the development of her systemic worldview which helps > her to better envision possibilities for whole system change. > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From papadop at peak.org Thu Mar 4 21:11:16 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 21:11:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] Activism makes you happy Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/02/brain-food-activism-makes-you-happy + The Guardian, (London) Tuesday 2 March 2010 Activism may not change much but it might just make you feel better. Marching in the drizzle against wars in far-off countries, writing letters protesting the government's latest reactionary policy, sitting through interminable meetings that keep sprouting Any Other Business. It may be noble, but political activism is hardly a barrel of laughs. And yet it makes you happier. So find two university psychologists in new research that looks for the first time at the link between political activity and wellbeing. Malte Klar and Tim Kasser started by interviewing two sets of around 350 college students, both about their degree of political engagement and their levels of happiness and optimism. Both times, they found that those most inclined to go on a demo were also the cheeriest. So there's a link -- but can politics actually make a person happier? In the third study, the academics took a bunch of students and divided them up into groups. The first were encouraged to write to the management of the college cafeteria asking for tastier food. The next lot wrote asking the cafe to source local or Fairtrade products. They were then tested on their wellbeing, and the group who had involved themselves in the political debate were far and away the strongest on the "vitality" scale: they felt more alive and enriched than those who merely complained about the menu. There are many fascinating aspects to this . First, the activist-students didn't necessarily care about food ethics, but just taking action made them feel better. Second, sending a memo is hardly the most engaging political action -- and yet it had a big impact on those taking it. Third, the study flies in the face of the popular wisdom that happiness resides in creature comforts and relative affluence. Perhaps activism gives people a sense of purpose, or of agency or just a chance to hang out with other people. Most likely it does all of the above. "I will fight for what I believe in until I drop dead," Barbara Castle told this paper in 1998. "And that's what keeps you alive." Maybe the Red Queen was on to something. From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Thu Mar 4 17:19:21 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 12:19:21 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Mercenaries Circling Haiti Message-ID: <01c301cabc26$65853bd0$69ad57ca@jfos> March 3, 2010 "I Want to Kill Somebody Today ... Because I Am Going on Vacation Tomorrow" Mercenaries Circling Haiti By BILL QUIGLEY On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for private military and security companies to showcase their services to governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the earthquake devastated country. http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley03032010.html On their website for the Haiti conference, the trade group IPOA (ironically called the International Peace Operations Association until recently) lists eleven companies advertising security services explicitly for Haiti. Even though guns are illegal to buy or sell in Haiti, many companies brag of their heavy duty military experience. Triple Canopy, a private military company with extensive security operations in Iraq and Israel, is advertising for business in Haiti. According to human rights activist and investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, Triple Canopy took over the Xe/Blackwater security contract in Iraq in 2009. Scahill reports on a number of bloody incidents involving Triple Canopy including one where a team leader told his group, ?I want to kill somebody today?because I am going on vacation tomorrow.? Another company seeking work is EODT Technology which promises in its ad that its personnel are licensed to carry weapons in Haiti. EODT has worked in Afghanistan since 2004 and provides security for the Canadian Embassy in South Africa. On their website they promise a wide range of security services including force protection, guard services, port security, surveillance, and counter IED response services. A retired CIA special operations officer founded another company, Overseas Security & Strategic Information, also advertising with IPOA for security business in Haiti. The company website says they have a ?cadre of US personnel? who served in Special Forces, Delta Force and SEALS and they state many of their security personnel are former South African military and police. Patrick Elie, the former Minister of Defence in Haiti, told Anthony Fenton of the Inter Press Service that ?these guys are like vultures coming to grab the loot over this disaster, and probably money that might have been injected into the Haitian economy is just going to be grabbed by these companies and I?m sure they are not the only these mercenary companies but also other companies like Haliburton or these other ones that always come on the heels of the troops.? Naomi Klein, world renowned author of THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, has criticized the militarization of the response to the earthquake and the presence of ?disaster capitalists? swooping into Haiti. The high priority placed on security by the U.S. and NGOs is wrong, she told Newsweek. ?Aid should be prioritized over security. Any aid agency that?s afraid of Haitians should get out of Haiti.? Security is a necessity for the development of human rights. But outsourcing security to private military contractors has not proven beneficial in the U.S. or any other country. Recently, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) introduced bills titled ?Stop Outsourcing Security? to phase out private military contractors in response to the many reports of waste, fraud and human rights abuse. Human rights organizations have long challenged the growth in private security contractors in part because governments have failed to establish effective systems for requiring them to be transparent and for holding them accountable. It is challenging enough to hold government accountable. The privatization of a public service like security gives government protection to private corporations which are also difficult to hold accountable. The combination is doubly difficult to regulate The U.S. has prosecuted hardly any of the human rights abuses reported against private military contractors. Amnesty International has reviewed the code of conduct adopted by the IPOA and found it inadequate in which compliance with international human rights standards are not adequately addressed. This is yet another example of what the world saw after Katrina. Private security forces, including Blackwater, also descended on the U.S. gulf coast after Katrina grabbing millions of dollars in contracts. Contractors like these soak up much needed money which could instead go for job creation or humanitarian and rebuilding assistance. Haiti certainly does not need this kind of U.S. business. In a final bit of irony, the IPOA, according to the Institute for Southern Studies, promises that all profits from the event will be donated to the Clinton-Bush Haiti relief fund. Bill Quigley is legal director at the Center for Constitutional rights and a long time human rights advocate. This article was written with the assistance of Vladimir Laguerre in Port au Prince. You can contact Bill at: quigley77 at gmail.com. related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Peace_Operations_Association http://www.ipoaworld.org/eng/haiti.html In April 2009, journalist Jeremy Scahill reported that the Barack Obama administration signed contracts for Triple Canopy to work in the Middle East.[2] It has as subsidiaries Global Solutions 3D and Gesecur SAC, which it contracted to search for mercenaries in South America[3][4]. It is rumored that leadership at Triple Canopy has roots from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (commonly referred to as Delta Force). The name Triple Canopy was initially chosen to refer to the layered canopy jungle where some of the key founding members received their training; it also refers to the distinction among U.S. Army personnel of wearing the Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces tabs, if authorized, when assigned to Special Forces units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Canopy http://www.triplecanopy.com/triplecanopy/en/home/ Honduras http://www.cofadeh.org/ extract from wikipedia: La Tribuna revealed in its headlines on September 18, 2005 that the Lepaterique base in Honduras was being used as a training center for mercenaries employed by Your Solutions, a Triple Canopy subsidiary. Following these revelations, the Honduran authorities excluded, in September 2005, 105 Chilean mercenaries, who had entered the countries as tourists or businessmen and attended a training camp led by US and Chilean personnel in Lepaterique, 16 miles away from Tegucigalpa. The Honduran government had previously supported Triple Canopy, naming the Vice-minister of Labour ?frico Madrid as intermediary between the administration and the firm.[11] The Lepaterique camp was set up in the 1980s by the CIA and Argentine intelligence officers; the Batallon de Inteligencia 601 from the Argentine Army trained the Contras there. According to La Tribuna, in one day in November, Your Solutions shipped 108 Hondurans, 88 Chileans and 16 Nicaraguans to Iraq. Approximatively 700 Peruvians, 250 Chileans and 320 Hondurans work in Baghdad?s Green Zone. La Tribuna also confirmed that the monthly pay was $1,000, with an additional $500 for English-speaking men.[12]. The media revelation lifted a scandal, in particular concerning illegal entrance on territory and the high wage differences between South American mercenaries and US mercenaries working for Triple Canopy. US employees are payed between 400 to 700 USD a day.[11] Furthermore, while Chilean and Hondurans contracted for a full year, US employees contract for three-months duration, after which Triple Canopy pay them back a trip home, and then they choose if they want to re-new their contract.[11] The revelations also lifted scandal in Chile, when it became known that retired military Marina ?scar Aspe worked for Triple Canopy. The latter had taken part to the assassination of Marcelo Barrios Andrade, a 21 years-old member of the FPMR, who is on the list of victims of the Rettig Report ? while Marina ?scar Aspe is on the list of the 2001 Comisi?n ?tica contra la Tortura (2001 Ethical Commission Against Torture).[11] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Thu Mar 4 22:49:19 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 22:49:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] Make them do it Message-ID: http://www.blackcommentator.com/365/365_aw_requests_demands.php Requests and Demands - Not the Same [BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and co- author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA.] Black Commentator March 3, 2010 [Note: This is an address made to a gathering of more than 500 leaders from American Federation of Government Employees local unions and councils where policy issues are discussed. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the Director of Field Services & Education for AFGE. The speech was delivered on Sunday, February 21st.] Good afternoon and thank you. I am very honored to have been asked to address this conference. I want to begin by giving a very special thanks to the Creator of all things on this, the 21st birthday of my little girl. So, I hope to do her proud. I am going to be brutally honest with you, so I ask your forgiveness in advance if my remarks unsettle you. The union movement is in a rut. Too many of the leaders of organized labor seem to have forgotten certain historical truths. Let me remind you of one such truth. In 1857 a great leader in the struggle for justice offered the following observations: "Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all- absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." He went on to say: "This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." [from Frederick Douglass] We, in organized labor, seem to get confused as to the difference between "requests" and "demands". We sometimes think that they are the same. THEY ARE NOT. Let me give you an example of requests: "Pass the jelly, please." OR, "May we meet with you, Mr. President." How about demands? Let me pick one out of the air: "MR. PRESIDENT: WE WANT TSOs TO HAVE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS NOW! Not tomorrow, not next week!" A demand is straight forward. It does not equivocate. It may or may not be your end point, but it is something in which you strongly believe and it is your starting position. The demand guides your action. One follows through on demands. Let us be clear that we in the union movement made a big mistake in how we understood the November 2008 elections. Yes, we were sick of Bush. Yes, we realized how dangerous the McCain/Palin ticket was. After all, had McCain/Palin won, they had not even the semblance of an economic program and as many commentators have noted, we probably would be in a barter economy at this point, not to mention, probably involved in a military conflict with Iran. But we made a particular mistake. We engaged in magical thinking and wishful thinking. Yes, Obama was the right person to elect, but he was not a miracle maker. He is an outstanding thinker and speaker. He was and is also someone who is very tied into corporate America and he is someone who seems to have an irresistible impulse to approach matters of controversy by jumping to the middle position and believing that a consensus can be built. Rather than staking out a position that he believes in and fighting for it, he moves quickly to a center piece assuming that we are all big boys and girls and can agree midpoint. Yet in today's political situation, there is no real bi- partisanship, and not because Obama has not tried. The Republicans have made it clear that they want to cut his legs off. Not just cut his legs off, but hang and guillotine him at the same time!! Think about the irrationalist attacks on him carried out by the so- called Birther Movement, a movement claiming that President Obama is not actually a citizen of the USA. 58% of the Republican Party actually believes that he was either not born in the USA or that there is enough evidence to raise doubts, this despite the fact that he has provided proof again and again, and despite the obvious fact that every intelligence agency in every country around the world would have been investigating his background from the minute that he became a candidate for the Presidency of the USA. Consider that some people are using this irrationalism as their organizing approach toward members of the military to incite a coup d'??tat against Obama. Think about the allegations that Obama is a socialist despite the fact that he surrounds himself with economic advisers from Wall Street! Added to this, Republicans are being clear that there is NOTHING that Obama says, including and not limited to THEIR own proposals, to which they will agree. Yet, Obama seems to feel more compelled to respond to that, than to pay attention to the likes of us. And his reluctance to lead the charge on behalf of working people is as much driven by his ties to corporate America as it is to something that will be very uncomfortable for many of you to hear: his fear of being perceived by white Americans as an angry Black man. Workers have been under attack since the early 1970s, and organized labor in many countries-not just the USA-has been unable to alter its approach as to how to respond. Yet there are examples that are noteworthy of people fighting back. The little island of Guadeloupe has an unemployment rate of 23%. We complain-justifiably-about a 10% unemployment rate, but Guadeloupe has a rate that is depression level. In addition they have a high cost of living. Yet, in this situation in early 2009, the workers of this island, in response to continued attacks carried out a 44 day general strike against further cuts and against this economic atrocity. THEY WON!! Not only did they win, but they won and inspired workers in France to resist. In Greece, workers fought back against attacks. They stood up and resisted. Here at home, our response to the economic crisis has been nothing short of anemic, at best. When the financial collapse took place in the fall of 2008, organized labor did almost nothing. With the rise of this Administration organized labor was excited about the possibility of passing the Employee Free Choice Act as a way of increasing the right of workers to join or organize unions. Yet, instead of taking this issue to the public, organized labor basically kept this within the Beltway and made little effort to connect this to the issues that working people-whether union or not-face every day; in other words, as crazy as it may sound, they did not connect EFCA to economic justice. Other movements have also been very passive. They AND WE have waited for the person who far too many people have come to believe to be the greatest magician on the planet-President Obama-to resolve everything. And, while we sit back and wait for the magic to unfold, the political Right has been carrying out a full- scale assault, twisting recent history to serve their objectives, conveniently forgetting how the budget deficit came to be; and how we came to be in two wars. Change does not come from one person. But it also does not come from patiently requesting change. We have to realize that elected leaders are bombarded by various forces, and particularly forces that have far more money and other resources than do we. This, then, goes beyond the matter of good intentions, good speeches, and good looks. It goes to matters of power. Who has it, who wants it, and how it is used. So, in the face of the fact that the Obama administration has not delivered many of the changes that we have requested, there has been both anger and despair, but what there has been so little of, particularly from unions and pro-worker/pro- community organizations, has been a mobilization to insist upon our demands. There is a story that has been told since the election of President Obama that sheds light on what we are doing and what we are not doing. Actually the story goes back to the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, around 1939/1940. The story is that the great trade union and African American movement leader A. Philip Randolph met with FDR. Randolph met with him to lay out various reforms that he wanted and felt that FDR should push through. FDR listened patiently and when Randolph was finished, he said to him: "I agree with you. Now, go out there and ORGANIZE and make me do it." MAKE `EM DO IT!! That should be our slogan and that is precisely the direction that we should be moving. In fact, the story does not end there because Randolph took FDR to task. In early 1941 Randolph and many other African American leaders-and their allies-were deeply concerned that the growing war industry remained almost totally racially segregated. Randolph went to FDR and asked for an executive order to ban this segregation. FDR, deeply worried about conservatives within the Democratic Party, balked. He asked Randolph to be patient. Randolph came back at him and told him that he would organize a march of 10,000 people on Washington if something was not done. Think about that. This was 1941. There were not a lot of marches on DC. And here was this labor leader threatening such a march.ON HIS FRIEND. Not only that, but it was 1941. The Nazis were moving into the former Yugoslavia and preparing to invade the USSR. What could have been a worst time to protest, to embarrass a standing President, many people asked. FDR asked his wife Eleanor to approach Randolph and appeal to him to call off the demo. Randolph listened patiently. His response: Thank you. We are now going to march 100,000 people on Washington. FDR ultimately blinked and when he blinked he issued the famous executive order that desegregated the war industry and laid the basis for events that would unfold over the next thirty years. This is not personal. This is about power. And it is about taking on those whose legs wobble in the face of the goliath of corporate America. This is about saying to our so-called friends that we are not interested in being taken for granted. We are not interested in being the shock troops for change, only to sit back and see our hopes evaporate. No, this does not put us on the same side as the likes of a Palin or others who would take us back to the mythical 1950s.at best. But it means that we are not prepared to rest easy and to rest quietly. We will be heard. You know, there are those who say that the response of workers to inconsistencies and unfulfilled promises from the Obama administration and from the Congress will be that workers will stay at home in November. While that may be true, that is not a strategy. It is also one that makes no strategic sense. There is a lot at stake in November. I fear the growth of movements that are based on irrationality, and so should you. I fear the election of those who would worsen our economic and political situation and take our civil liberties away. No, sitting at home is no strategy. But herein lies one more lesson from the administration of FDR. FDR's first year was not so great. He was not particularly visionary and he basically did not shake the table. But he ran into problems that he did not expect. Many of the great corporate leaders and their political allies attacked FDR for even his minimal efforts to address the Depression through some increased benefits. In fact, they attacked him as being a traitor to his class (because he was from the wealthy) and there were right-wing papers and radio commentators who regularly called him a Bolshevik, socialist, and everything else but being a child of God, going so far as to conduct discussions regarding a coup against FDR. FDR was caught. What could he do? Well, by the second year of his Administration workers were rebelling around the country. The unemployed were organizing and unionized workers carried out three major general strikes plus a national textile strike. You see, the workers did not wait for FDR. They helped to transform FDR. They realized that the change that they wanted - the change that they believed in - would only happen through THEIR own actions. They looked to FDR to assist them, and they especially looked to FDR to not oppose them. but they did NOT look to FDR to do it for them. They made him do the right thing. We must make our so-called friends do the right thing. We must make `em do it. If we want genuine healthcare reform, make `em do it. If we want a jobs program, make `em do it. And if we want collective bargaining for TSOs, we must make `em do it. We cannot let the obstructionism of the Republicans, or the complacency of the Democrats, get in our way. We must let no one, and I mean NO ONE, turn us around. The lessons from history are there and they are clear. It is now up to us to seize the time and realize the hope that was expressed in the 2008 elections. Despair has no place in our present or our future. It never has, and never will What should be our clarion call, AFGE? MAKE `EM DO IT!!!! Thank you. From creuss at bluewin.ch Fri Mar 5 07:38:26 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 16:38:26 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA Message-ID: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6233MS20100304?type=politicsNews U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA Doug Palmer, WASHINGTON Thu Mar 4, 2010 4:35pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation on Thursday to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in the latest sign of congressional disillusionment with free-trade deals. The bill spearheaded by Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat, would require President Barack Obama to give Mexico and Canada six months notice that the United States will no longer be part of the 16-year-old trade pact. "At a time when 10 to 12 percent of the American people are unemployed, I think Congress has an obligation to put people back to work," Taylor said. He argued NAFTA has cost the United States millions of manufacturing jobs and hurt national security by encouraging companies to move production to Mexico. The high unemployment rate makes it the "perfect" time to push for repeal even though past efforts have failed, he said. "You'll see the American people rally behind this, in my humble opinion," said Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who is one of about 28 co-sponsors of the bill. Business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly support NAFTA, which they say has spurred U.S. economic growth by tearing down trade barriers between the three countries. The repeal proposal comes as Obama says he wants to resolve problems blocking congressional approval of long-delayed trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. The strongest opposition to those agreements comes from Obama's fellow Democrats. The United States also will begin talks later this month with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei on an Asia-Pacific regional free-trade agreement. Obama criticized NAFTA during the 2008 presidential election campaign but has not followed through on threats to withdraw from the agreement if Canada and Mexico did not agree to revamp the pact's labor and environmental provisions. But many Democrats are pushing for that and other changes to existing trade deals before considering any new deals such as the deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. The House of Representatives is expected to vote later this year on whether the United States should remain a member of the World Trade Organization. U.S. law allows House and Senate members to request a vote on that issue every five years. In 2005, 86 of the House's 435 members voted to withdraw from the world trade body. (Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Stacey Joyce) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From thinker at xplornet.com Fri Mar 5 07:56:01 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:56:01 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20100305155609.10DE76B733E@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> An excellent idea ! Canadian economists and politicians would scream like stuck pigs, but all the horrors caused by the FTA and NAFTA have been predicted over 2o0 years ago and cam true in spades. To hell with them Cheers, Ed. At 07:38 AM 05/03/2010, you wrote: >http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6233MS20100304?type=politicsNews > >U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA > > Doug Palmer, WASHINGTON > Thu Mar 4, 2010 4:35pm EST > >WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation >on Thursday to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in the >latest sign of congressional disillusionment with free-trade deals. > >The bill spearheaded by Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat, would >require President Barack Obama to give Mexico and Canada six months notice >that the United States will no longer be part of the 16-year-old trade >pact. > >"At a time when 10 to 12 percent of the American people are unemployed, I >think Congress has an obligation to put people back to work," Taylor said. > >He argued NAFTA has cost the United States millions of manufacturing jobs >and hurt national security by encouraging companies to move production to >Mexico. > >The high unemployment rate makes it the "perfect" time to push for repeal >even though past efforts have failed, he said. > >"You'll see the American people rally behind this, in my humble opinion," >said Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who is one of about 28 >co-sponsors of the bill. > >Business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. >Chamber of Commerce strongly support NAFTA, which they say has spurred U.S. >economic growth by tearing down trade barriers between the three countries. > >The repeal proposal comes as Obama says he wants to resolve problems >blocking congressional approval of long-delayed trade deals with South >Korea, Panama and Colombia. > >The strongest opposition to those agreements comes from Obama's fellow >Democrats. > >The United States also will begin talks later this month with Australia, >New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei on an Asia-Pacific >regional free-trade agreement. > >Obama criticized NAFTA during the 2008 presidential election campaign but >has not followed through on threats to withdraw from the agreement if >Canada and Mexico did not agree to revamp the pact's labor and >environmental provisions. > >But many Democrats are pushing for that and other changes to existing trade >deals before considering any new deals such as the deals with South Korea, >Colombia and Panama. > >The House of Representatives is expected to vote later this year on whether >the United States should remain a member of the World Trade Organization. > >U.S. law allows House and Senate members to request a vote on that issue >every five years. In 2005, 86 of the House's 435 members voted to withdraw >from the world trade body. > >(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Stacey Joyce) > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword >"igve". > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2722 - Release Date: >03/04/10 11:34:00 From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Fri Mar 5 15:51:42 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 10:51:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: New Canadian poll highlights discontent over Parliament's 'democratic deficit' Message-ID: <001801cabcbe$f77860b0$47ad57ca@jfos> It is obvious from the following that Victorians and Australians in general are not alone in being manipulated, (mis)-"managed" and generally treated with cynical distain by the "executive" parliamentary leaders of our "people's representatives" .... Prime Ministers, Premiers and their senior colleagues with whom they plot and plan behind the closed doors of a 'cabinet'! Canadians, Australians, Britains and of course the hapless Americans are all treated like mushrooms under the basically flawed notions of "a Capitalist democracy" and "Parliamentary representation"! Equally obvious, there is a 'democratic deficit' in ALL of these 'rich countries', a reality that continues to worsen in direct proportion to the growing contradictions wracking their common political-economic system. This the same 'democracy' that the 'coalition of the willing ' claim to be bringing to resource-rich 'poor countries' such as the now destroyed 'Cradle of Civilization' (I-Rak!), plus Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkministan (+ all the other OIL & GAS Pipeline-stans!); not to forget earlier mis-adventures such as North Korea and Viet Nam. John ############################ The following Globe & Mail Editorial notes that a recent Nanos study shows many Canadians think the Prime Minister's Office is too powerful and the House of Commons is not powerful enough suggesting that Stephen Harper has inadvertently convinced citizens of the need for parliamentary reform, well beyond his modest goals for the Senate. It also recalls an earlier 2002 Reform plan introduced by Martin government and wonders if the present concern is a passing phase or one with traction. ? "First, we must loosen the hold of party discipline over Members of Parliament." ? "Second, we should boost substantially the capacity of individual Members of Parliament - from all sides of the House - to shape legislation before, rather than after, it gains the imprimatur of legislative approval." ? "Third, we should increase the capacity of individual Members of Parliament to initiate legislation by overhauling the system for introducing private members' bills." ? "Fourth, the House of Commons standing committees should be overhauled to provide increased independence and expanded authority." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/reform-begins- at-home/article1480576/ Globe editorial Reform begins at home Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 4:34AM EST _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Mar 5 17:47:12 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:47:12 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: [CAHS] BBC News - Can rats help clear Africa's landmines? References: <1346564534-1463792126-1267786324@boing.topica.com> Message-ID: <468DBC19-55A5-4ED5-9864-B1407B47DE6E@powerup.com.au> Relayed by Doug Everingham. ==== Begin forwarded message: > From: PD > Date: 5 March 2010 8:51:59 PM > To: humanist at topica.com, Atheists_Australia at yahoogroups.com > Subject: [CAHS] BBC News - Can rats help clear Africa's landmines? > Reply-To: humanist at topica.com > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8549681.stm > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Discussion list of the Council of Australian Humanist Societies > --^^--------------------------------------------------------------- > This email was sent to: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au > > EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/? > b1dni4.b4fUC8.ZG5ldnJn > Or send an email to: humanist-unsubscribe at topica.com > > For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: > http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER > --^^--------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Sat Mar 6 04:52:14 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 08:52:14 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes + Power Point " Why Oppose the CCFTA" [ for lobbying ] Message-ID: <4B9217BE.9824.1E45A973@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-and-environment/publications/ccfta- prorogued-be-ready-action-when-parliament-resumes CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes 2010-03-03 Widely Opposed CCFTA which died with prorogation will likely rise again. By Janet M Eaton, Trade and Environment Campaigner, SCC. Bill C-23, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) Implementation Act, which has created a furor of opposition in Canada, was temporarily sidelined, along with 35 other bills working their way through Parliament, when Stephen Harper prorogued parliament on December 31st 2009. This controversial agreement with Colombia has been opposed by a majority of Canadians, Canadian NGOs, the Parliamentary Committee on International Trade and three political parties, the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and the Green Party of Canada. Many reasons have been cited for opposing this agreement the most reprehensible of which are Colombia?s well known abuses of human rights. Although the Harper government is presently on a free trade binge signing bi-lateral agreements on all fronts, the CCFTA , more than all the others, is beyond the pale of Canadian values, sense of fairness and commitment to international obligations. Nor do Canadians buy the arguments of the Harper government and Liberal Party of Canada that conditions have improved enough that we should support and reward the Uribe government. Read more ? * Add new comment * 79 reads * 1 attachment See linked educational power point "Why Oppose the CCFTA"? http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/cancolumbia_fta- dec_25th_0.pdf See attached images of protests on Parliament Hill using huge puppets of Harper, Colombian President Uribe and paramilitaries http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/ccfta_puppets_prote st_2.jpg p.s Please feel free to use this for your lobbying on this issue and to distribute widely. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 2231 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Mar 6 06:58:42 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:58:42 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes + Power Point " Why Oppose the CCFTA" [ for lobbying ] In-Reply-To: <4B9217BE.9824.1E45A973@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <4B9217BE.9824.1E45A973@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <20100306145854.F056244B5F6@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> All the websites come up as "Page not found " with a Sierra Club page. Is it only my machine, or something wrong with the addresses? Cheers. Ed. At 04:52 AM 06/03/2010, you wrote: >http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-and-environment/publications/ccfta- >prorogued-be-ready-action-when-parliament-resumes > >CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes >2010-03-03 > >Widely Opposed CCFTA which died with prorogation will likely rise >again. >By Janet M Eaton, Trade and Environment Campaigner, SCC. > >Bill C-23, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) >Implementation Act, which has created a furor of opposition in >Canada, was temporarily sidelined, along with 35 other bills working >their way through Parliament, when Stephen Harper prorogued >parliament on December 31st 2009. This controversial agreement with >Colombia has been opposed by a majority of Canadians, Canadian NGOs, >the Parliamentary Committee on International Trade and three >political parties, the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and the Green Party of >Canada. Many reasons have been cited for opposing this agreement the >most reprehensible of which are Colombia?s well known abuses of human >rights. >Although the Harper government is presently on a free trade binge >signing bi-lateral agreements on all fronts, the CCFTA , more than >all the others, is beyond the pale of Canadian values, sense of >fairness and commitment to international obligations. Nor do >Canadians buy the arguments of the Harper government and Liberal >Party of Canada that conditions have improved enough that we should >support and reward the Uribe government. > >Read more ? > * Add new comment > * 79 reads > * 1 attachment > >See linked educational power point "Why Oppose the CCFTA"? >http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/cancolumbia_fta- >dec_25th_0.pdf > >See attached images of protests on Parliament Hill using huge puppets >of Harper, Colombian President Uribe and paramilitaries >http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/ccfta_puppets_prote >st_2.jpg > >p.s Please feel free to use this for your lobbying on this issue and >to distribute widely. > > > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-description: "AVG certification" >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2725 >- Release Date: 03/05/10 11:34:00 From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Sat Mar 6 07:13:33 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:13:33 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes + Power Point " Why Oppose the CCFTA" [ for lobbying In-Reply-To: <20100306145854.F056244B5F6@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> References: <4B9217BE.9824.1E45A973@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca>, <20100306145854.F056244B5F6@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: <4B9238DD.21585.1EC70D2B@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> I see that you can't click on these links that I've provided in the original e-mail because only the first line is highlighted- Therefore either copy and paste link into browser or go to http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-and-environment/ and scroll down to the CCFTA article Thanks Ed all the best, janet On 6 Mar 2010 at 6:58, Ed Deak wrote: Date sent: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:58:42 -0800 To: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca, A renewed Mai-Not From: Ed Deak Subject: Re: [Mai-not] CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes + Power Point " Why Oppose the CCFTA" [ for lobbying ] All the websites come up as "Page not found " with a Sierra Club page. Is it only my machine, or something wrong with the addresses? Cheers. Ed. At 04:52 AM 06/03/2010, you wrote: >http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-and-environment/publications/ccfta- >prorogued-be-ready-action-when-parliament-resumes > >CCFTA Prorogued. Be ready for action when Parliament resumes >2010-03-03 > >Widely Opposed CCFTA which died with prorogation will likely rise >again. >By Janet M Eaton, Trade and Environment Campaigner, SCC. > >Bill C-23, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) >Implementation Act, which has created a furor of opposition in >Canada, was temporarily sidelined, along with 35 other bills working >their way through Parliament, when Stephen Harper prorogued >parliament on December 31st 2009. This controversial agreement with >Colombia has been opposed by a majority of Canadians, Canadian NGOs, >the Parliamentary Committee on International Trade and three >political parties, the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and the Green Party of >Canada. Many reasons have been cited for opposing this agreement the >most reprehensible of which are Colombia?s well known abuses of human >rights. >Although the Harper government is presently on a free trade binge >signing bi-lateral agreements on all fronts, the CCFTA , more than >all the others, is beyond the pale of Canadian values, sense of >fairness and commitment to international obligations. Nor do >Canadians buy the arguments of the Harper government and Liberal >Party of Canada that conditions have improved enough that we should >support and reward the Uribe government. > >Read more ? > * Add new comment > * 79 reads > * 1 attachment > >See linked educational power point "Why Oppose the CCFTA"? >http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/cancolumbia_fta- >dec_25th_0.pdf > >See attached images of protests on Parliament Hill using huge puppets >of Harper, Colombian President Uribe and paramilitaries >http://www.sierraclub.ca/sites/sierraclub.ca/files/ccfta_puppets_prot e >st_2.jpg > >p.s Please feel free to use this for your lobbying on this issue and >to distribute widely. > > > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="-"; type=Plain text >Content-description: "AVG certification" >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="-" > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2725 >- Release Date: 03/05/10 11:34:00 From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Mar 6 10:20:11 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:20:11 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Fiat lux 252 Message-ID: <20100306182020.65963EFB2@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Fiat lux # 252 March 5, 2010. The sticking gas pedals of some Toyota vehicles have been in the news every day for the past few weeks, repeatedly featuring the desperate phone call of a policeman, somewhere in the USA, whose whole family was killed when their car went out of control and shot off a bank. If such thing ever happens to anyone, instead of making last minute phone calls, just turn off the ignition and the vehicle will stop. I'm driving a 30 year old pickup and instead of computerized electronic nonsense, the gas pedal is hooked up with a simple cable to the carburetor. One day we were walking by an agency with the hoods of a whole row of trucks open for display. I couldn't even see the engines from a magnitude of tubes, wires and pipes. So, I asked our Swiss trained, certified master mechanic partner what all those pipes, etc. were about : "Useless garbage" he replied. Yet, people are paying through the nose for them . And now let's jump on my usual hobby horse, the racket of so called economics, or rather what was once called economics, but in the past 35 years has deteriorated into a fundamentalist pseudo religion, and the biggest crime wave history, destroying whole societies, killing tens of millions every year so that a few "prominent business leaders" can have the legalized right to steal people blind, while calling it "globally competitive wealth creation". An interesting news item from Reuters came on my screen, making it my day, even if now it still is a rather hopeless idea, yet, the very first, tiny baby step in the right direction. At least showing some indication that more and more people, even in relatively high political positions, are finally beginning to wake up to what is really going on. We can only hope that these first steps may just be the beginning of an avalanche, somewhere in the future. Not wanting to upset any copyright laws, here are website and the first few lines of the story. I think everybody with the slightest interest in our future survival should read . http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6233MS20100304?type=politicsNews U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA Doug Palmer, WASHINGTON Thu Mar 4, 2010 4:35pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation on Thursday to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in the latest sign of congressional disillusionment with free-trade deals. I've spent a lot of time and effort, both as an individual, and as member of a couple organizations fighting against the original US-Canada Free Trade Agreement in the late eighties, and then later the already negotiated and waiting to be ratified NAFTA. Still have a filing drawer full of documents from those days , showing that our worst fears have not only come true, but exceeded all the dire predictions. The so called "free trade" rackets, loved only by brainwashed economists, and politicians working toward directorships in the boardrooms of the only beneficiaries, the international corporate mafia. Has anybody ever wondered why our dear, "free enterprise" capitalists maintain such growing, obscene love affair with the worst communist and other human rights trampling dictatorships ? Because they're all brothers under the skin and know full well that the power and wealth of the leaderships on either side can only come from the theft from hundreds of millions of their victims, regardless of the colours of the flags they're happen to be waving at this moment. Predators will be predators under any disguise. First of all these so called "agreements" have little to do with real trade, but with the free movement of imaginary capital licenced to take over our and the world's resources, while colonizing and enslaving us into total impotence. These free trade rackets are not "agreements", but international treaties restricting the rights of citizens to open up the victim countries to dictatorships. The word "agreement" is only used for these rackets because the US Senate demands a two thirds majority for the signing of international treaties, but needs only simple majority for "agreements", even if they're both the same. E.g. Chapter 11 of the NAFTA, permitting corporations to sue elected governments at some Star Chamber panel, if they feel that certain governmental actions interfered with their unrestricted demand for unlimited profits . This anonymous panel then make their judgment in secret, without open evidence, or any public records, stripping the democratic decision making powers and often ruining the lives of millions with impunity, just to satisfy the greed of some foreign corporation. Cheered on by our so called "economists" and governments as steps toward their happy strings of directorships. The feet of our beloved Mulroney haven't touched the ground since he retired from politics, jumping from one private jet, from one board meeting to another, collecting multi millions of bucks in the process, while hundreds of millions of victims literally starve, their freedoms stolen and their businesses and lives ruined by the FTA and NAFTA. The propaganda for "globalization" and "World Government" is directed at people who have no clue about history, or what is happening right under their noses, because taking any interest would upset their beliefs. There's nothing new in these words. They have been used for centuries by various religions, and on the ideological front they represent the same concept of the Communist Internationale , under a different flag waved by the same predators, but instead of bayonets, achieved with the perceived power of imaginary capital, created by some bank from the air, forcing people to pay high interests on nothing. Of course, there's nothing new going on here. Throughout history, millions of people have willingly given their lives in the service of long strings of phony prophets, claiming to represent divine orders, as now are the demands of the Money God who lives in the computers of His Priesthood, our so called economists. . From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Mar 7 14:16:55 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 09:16:55 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Michael Moore's Letter to Obama (Brilliant!) Message-ID: <001b01cabe43$e7d8c5b0$19ad57ca@jfos> From: Michael Moore Date: Fri, Mar 5, 2010 Subject: President Obama: Replace Rahm with Me ...an open letter from Michael Moore Friday, March 5th, 2010 Dear President Obama, I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff. I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement. I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that's been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp. And I will help you get done what the American people sent you there to do. I don't need much, just a cot in the White House basement will do. Now, don't get too giddy with excitement over my offer, because you and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week and I am going to get you pumped up for battle every single day (see photo). Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me: "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY! I AM IN CHARGE! I WILL ORDER ALL OBSTRUCTIONISTS OUTTA MY WAY! IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T LIKE WHAT I'M DOING THEY CAN THROW MY ASS OUT IN 2012. IN THE MEANTIME, I CALL THE SHOTS ON THEIR BEHALF! NOW, CONGRESS, DROP AND GIVE ME 50!!" Then we will put on our jogging sweats and run up to Capitol Hill. We will take names, kick butts, and then take some more names. If we have to give a few noogies or half-nelson's, then so be it. In our pockets we will have a piece of paper to show the pansy Dems just how much they won by in 2008 -- and the poll results that show the majority of Americans oppose the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and want the bankers punished. Like drill sergeants, we will get right up in their faces and ask them, "WHAT PART OF THE PUBLIC MANDATE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, SOLDIER?!! DROP AND GIVE ME 50!" I know this is the job Rahm Emanuel was supposed to be doing. Now, don't get me wrong. I have always admired Rahm Emanuel (if you don't count his getting NAFTA pushed through Congress in the '90s which destroyed towns like Flint, Michigan. I know, picky-picky.). He is what we needed for a long time -- a no-apologies, take-no-prisoners fighting machine. Someone who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and pound the right wing into submission. Far from being the foul-mouthed bully he has been portrayed as, Rahm is the one who BEAT UP the bullies to protect us from them. That's certainly what he did in 2006. After six long, miserable years of the middle-class getting slaughtered and the poor being flushed down the toilet, Rahm Emanuel took on the job of returning Congress to the Democrats. No one believed it could be done. But he did it. Big time. He put the fear of God into the party of Rush and Newt. They had never been so scared. More importantly, though, he instilled a sense of hope in the Democrats that they could actually score the mother of all hat tricks in 2008 -- and with you, an African American no less, in the pole position! It worked. The Darkness ended. The vast majority of nation wept with joy on the night of the election (those who weren't weeping went out and bought a record number of guns and ammo). Unlike the last president, you didn't "win" by 537 votes in Florida (although Gore won the popular vote by a half-million), you beat McCain nationally by 9,522,083 votes! The House Democrats got a walloping 79-vote margin. The Senate Dems would caucus with a supermajority of 60 votes unheard of in over 30 years. The wars would now end. America would have universal health care. Wall Street and the banks would, at the very least, be reined in. Hardworking citizens would not be thrown out of their homes. It was supposed to be the dawning of a new age. But the Republicans were not going to go quietly into the night. You see, instead of having just one Rahm Emanuel, they are ALL Rahm Emanuels. That's why they usually win. Unlike most Democrats, they are relentless and unstoppable. When they believe in something (which is usually themselves and the K Street job they hope to be rewarded with someday), they'll fight for it till the death. They are loyal to a fault to each other (they were never able to denounce Bush, even though they knew he was destroying the party). They dig their heels in deep no matter what. If you exiled them to a lone chunk of melting polar ice cap, they would keep insisting that it was just a normal "January thaw," even as the frigid Arctic waters rose above their God-fearing necks ("See what I mean -- this water is COLD! What 'global *warming*'?! Adam and Eve rode dinos...aagghh!!... gulp gulp gulp"). We thought we were all done with this craziness, but we were mistaken. Like a beast that you just can't cage, the Republicans convinced not only the media, but YOU and your fellow Dems, that 59 votes was a *minority*! Precious time was lost trying to reach a "consensus" and trying to be "bipartisan." Well, you and the Democrats have been in charge now for over a year and not one banking regulation has been reinstated. We don't have universal health care. The war in Afghanistan has escalated. And tens of thousands of Americans continue to lose their jobs and be thrown out of their homes. For most of us, it's just simply no longer good enough that Bush is gone. Woo hoo. Bush is gone. Yippee. That hasn't created one new friggin' job. You're such a good guy, Mr. President. You came to Washington with your hand extended to the Republicans and they just chopped it off. You wanted to be respectful and they decided that they were going to say "no" to everything you suggested. Yet, you kept on saying you still believed in bipartisanship. Well, if you really want bipartisanship, just go ahead and let the Republicans win in November. Then you'll get all the bipartisanship you want. Let me be clear about one thing: The Democrats on Election Day 2010 are going to get an ass-whoopin' of biblical proportions if things don't change right now. And after the new Republican majority takes over, they, along with a few conservative Democrats in Congress, will get to bipartisanly impeach you for being a socialist and a citizen of Kenya. How nice to see both sides of the aisle working together again! And the brief window we had to fix this country will be gone. Gone. Gone, baby, gone. I don't know what your team has been up to, but they haven't served you well. And Rahm, poor Rahm, has turned into a fighter -- not of Republicans, but of the left. He called those of us who want universal health care "f***ing retarded." Look, I don't know if Rahm is the problem or if it's Gibbs or Axelrod or any of the other great people we owe a debt of thanks to for getting you elected. All I know is that whatever is fueling your White House it's now running on fumes. Time to shake things up! Time to bring me in to get you pumped up every morning! Go Barack! Yay Obama! Fight, Team, Fight! I'm packed and ready to come to D.C. tomorrow. If it helps, you won't really be losing Rahm entirely because I'll be bringing his brother with me -- my agent, Ari Emanuel. Man, you should see HIM negotiate a deal! Have you ever wanted to see Mitch McConnell walking around Capitol Hill carrying his own head in his hands after it's just been handed to him by the infamous Ari? Oh, baby, it won't be pretty -- but boy will it be sweet! What say you, Barack? Me and you against the world! Yes we can! It'll be fun -- and we may just get something done. Whaddaya got to lose? Hope? Retardedly yours, Michael Moore MMFlint at aol.com MichaelMoore.com P.S. Just to give you an idea of the new style I'll be bringing with me, when a cornhole like Sen. Ben Nelson tries to hold you up next time, this is what I will tell him in order to get his vote: "You've got exactly 30 seconds to rescind your demand or I will personally make sure that Nebraska doesn't get one more federal dollar for the rest of Obama's term. And then I will let everyone in your state know that you wear Sooner panties, backwards. NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 50!" Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From creuss at bluewin.ch Tue Mar 9 05:33:27 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 14:33:27 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] FOX News Exposes USS Liberty Attack Message-ID: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHNa5UZkFNs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Mar 7 15:41:05 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 10:41:05 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Complexity and Collapse: Empires on the Edge of Chaos Message-ID: <001501cabfcc$2dbbdac0$16ad57ca@jfos> One academic historian's perspective and 'provocative' explication of the collapse of empires throughout recorded history. Throughout his paper he considers the 'grand theories' of several fellow historians as well as a computer scientist, a neuroscientist and the symbolism of artists such as Thomas Cole relying, in the final analysis, upon Chaos Theory, and the sudden paradigmatic-like collapse of what he refers to throughout as 'complex systems.' Hang onto your hats folks! john ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From netcfs at shaw.ca Tue Mar 9 14:16:13 2010 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:16:13 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions Message-ID: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, 2009, reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to date, we have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that management. Please re-think and act accordingly. Yves Bajard ==================================================== Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 Dear Mai-Notters: I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as you can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 Thank you again Yves Bajard From thinker at xplornet.com Tue Mar 9 15:07:57 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:07:57 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <20100309231908.F18401FE58E5@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> Thanks for the reminder Yves, my cheque will be in the mail when we go to town next week. Cheers, Ed. At 02:16 PM 09/03/2010, you wrote: >With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, >2009, reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to >date, we have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. > >Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to >you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that management. > >Please re-think and act accordingly. > >Yves Bajard >==================================================== >Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 > >Dear Mai-Notters: > >I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as you >can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. > >I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as >possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts >should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. > > >Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. > >Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to >the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your >contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte >Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 > >Thank you again > >Yves Bajard > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2732 - Release Date: >03/08/10 23:33:00 From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Mar 9 20:18:12 2010 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:18:12 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <201003101118120484.0237B88C@smtp.totisp.net> Yves - is there some way I/we can use Paypal yet, or a credit card? I don't have a Cdn checking account, and putting cash in the mail from Thailand is like flushing it down a toilet ... dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 10-03-09 at 2:16 PM Yves Bajard wrote: With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, 2009, reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to date, we have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that management. Please re-think and act accordingly. Yves Bajard ==================================================== Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 Dear Mai-Notters: I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as you can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 Thank you again Yves Bajard _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Mar 9 21:09:42 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:09:42 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism Message-ID: <4B972996.30403@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD -- Kollontai, Krupskaya, Bolivia, 1984-5 miners' strike; WSF, Obama protests, Mozambique, Cuba, Haiti, Thailand, bagel capitalism * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Nadezhda Krupskaya, a revolutionary fighter, feminist and pioneer of socialist education By Graham Milner March 7, 2010 -- Born into a family of radical Russian gentry in 1869, Nedezhda (which from Russian translates as "Hope") Konstantinovna Krupskaya became, with her partner V.I. Lenin, a founder and central leader of the organisation of revolutionaries that led the Russian working class to power in October 1917 -- the Bolshevik Party (majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). * Read more Alexandra Kollontai: International Women's Day -- a militant celebration To mark International Women's Day 2010, Links International Journal of Socilalist Renewal reproduces Alexandra Kollontai's classic history and explanation of this important anniversary. * Read more Has the World Social Forum been co-opted by capitalism? Does it have a future? March 3, 2010 -- Olivier Bonford and Eric Toussaint are members of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF) and of the the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM). In this interview with Marga Tojo Gonzales, they discuss the future and role of the World Social Forum as it enters its second decade. They also examine the relationship between the WSF and the call for a Fifth Socialist International by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez . * Read more Asia-Pacific call for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance March 8, 2010 -- We, the undersigned progressive, anti-war, anti-neoliberalism and anti-imperialist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, call for a wave protests to meet US President Barack Obama's planned visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia in March 2010. * Read more Organised women are key to strike success: Learning from the 1985 British miners' strike The British coalminers' strike of 1984-5, which ended 25 years ago on March 3, was a turning point in British politics. In this article, Terry Conway discusses the impact of Women Against Pit Closures and its legacy. * Read more Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process By Lisa Macdonald March 3, 2010 -- In January, Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia's first president from the nation's long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous. * Read more Mozambique: 'The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor' By Joseph Hanlon and Milton Keynes March 5, 2010 -- A return to war in Mozambique is highly unlikely, but the widening chasm between rich and poor and growing social exclusion are creating a 'serious risk' of conflict. * Read more Cuba, the corporate media and the suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo By Salim Lamrani March 4, 2010 -- On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident in Cuba since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on front pages and emphasised the plight of Cuban prisoners. Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a justifiable global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with a person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison, carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case is quite respectable. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics. * Read more Malaysian socialists lead protests against full-paying patient scheme March 1, 2010 -- The Malaysian government's full-paying patient (FPP) scheme has again come under fire from the Coalition Against Health Service Privatisation, which held simultaneous pickets outside four public hospitals nationwide. * Read more Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: `Haiti needs solidarity, not charity' Marilyn Langlois, board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, interviewed by Amanda Zivcic, for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly. How was the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund formed, and how connected is the HERF to ordinary people in Haiti? The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) was formed shortly after the February 29, 2004, coup e'tat as an offshoot of our partner organisation Haiti Action Committee (both based in the San Franscisco Bay Area), which does political advocacy and consciousness raising about Haiti and has long-term relationships with several grassroots leaders in the Lavalas movement that represents the vast majority of Haiti's population. * Read more United States: The rise of bagel capitalism By Harry Targ Now I am one of those people who think Marx had a pretty good analysis of how capitalism works but even I recognise that his theory did not adequately come to grips with the political economy of the bagel. The bagel originally was a round roll with a hole in the middle that began to get hard as soon as it came out of the oven. Water bagels, the authentic bagels, were plain, hard and flat when cut so that cream cheese could be spread evenly or in chunks over their surface. Also, bagels could just as easily be used to throw at targets during a popular uprising as it could be used to stifle hunger. * Read more Thailand: Seize it all! The palaces, the shares, the diamonds, all the ill-gotten gains! By Giles Ji Ungpakorn March 1, 2010 -- I don't shed any tears about former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's billions being seized by order of the Thai Supreme Court on February 26. I advocate that the billions of ill-gotten gains in the hands of the entire Thai rich: the politicians in this government, the generals, the businessmen and businesswomen, and of course the entire royal family and all their hangers-on, should be seized in the future. The rich do not have the right to accumulate wealth on the backs of the majority of hard-working Thais. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Wed Mar 10 00:07:58 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:07:58 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> Dear Yves, I think my contributions have been almost solely relayed messages which I think would each indicate its source and status as evidence or opinion. I'd appreciate advice as to the usual size of funding contributions and how to transfer funds. With thanks for your news and notes, - Doug Everingham. ==== On 10/03/2010, at 8:16 AM, Yves Bajard wrote: > With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, > 2009, reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to > date, we have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. > > Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to > you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that > management. > > Please re-think and act accordingly. > > Yves Bajard > ==================================================== > Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 > > Dear Mai-Notters: > > I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as > you can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. > > I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as > possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts > should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. > > > Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. > > Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to > the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your > contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte > Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 > > Thank you again > > Yves Bajard > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From d_a_d at telusplanet.net Wed Mar 10 10:47:44 2010 From: d_a_d at telusplanet.net (David Davidson) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:47:44 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <4B97E950.30000@telusplanet.net> On 09/03/2010 3:16 PM, Yves Bajard wrote: > With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, 2009, > reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to date, we > have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. > > Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to you. > There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that management. > > Please re-think and act accordingly. > > Yves Bajard > ==================================================== My memory banks were down, so sorry that you had to remind me again. Cheque is in the mail. All the best, David Davidson > Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 > > Dear Mai-Notters: > > I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as you > can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. > > I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as > possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts should > be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. > > > Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. > > Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to > the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your > contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, > B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 > > Thank you again > > Yves Bajard > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Wed Mar 10 21:46:09 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:46:09 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] The Stock Market As Propaganda by Charles Hugh Smith Message-ID: <4B984B61.8727.2AC0D10@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar10/wealth-distribution03-10.html The Stock Market As Propaganda by Charles Hugh Smith March 10, 2010 http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar10/wealth-distribution03-10.html "Since 91% of stocks are owned by the Plutocracy, the much-ballyhooed rise in the stock market as proof the recession is over is perception management/ propaganda. The 75% rise in the stock market from its lows a year ago is ceaselessly offered as "proof" the economy is recovering. Too bad very few Americans are drawing any benefit from this stupendous rise. As I detail below, the Great Middle Class owns at best only 7% of all stocks and mutual funds. "The stock market isn't about building middle class wealth, and the middle class seems to have finally figured that out. The equity market is all about concentrating wealth and managing perception: if the top 10% is doing well, then the bottom 90% are supposed to feel better about the whole thing, too, even if they are poorer by every financial metric." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 1836 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From netcfs at shaw.ca Wed Mar 10 22:08:20 2010 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:08:20 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> Message-ID: <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> Doug: Belonging in Mai-Not implies a much broader potential than relaying messages. With its relatively small membership, it is largely a discussion group among persons who started with a joint opposition in 1998 to the OECD initiated Multinational Agreement on Investments (MAI), which ended up shelved but whose main points were implemented quietly by the OMC. You and a few others (including MichaelP) apparently saw this discussion group as a berth for their widely broadcast information pieces. No objection to this way of using the group. Yet, its management implies a cost from the NetCFS . Participants are requested annually to consider contributing to these costs. There is no fixed amount for this contribution, and it is optional. The amount contributed by the few who did actually contribute in the past(Ed Deak, Dion Giles, Dale Young, David Davidson, Dave Patterson among others), has been of the order of ?$ 20 Canadian or Australian, according to where it came from. There was, a few years ago a marked contribution of a much larger amount by Duane Behrens (We consider that he has contributed "for life"). For countries like Australia, where sending money by official channels apparently is a costly pain in the neck, we welcome banknotes folded in enough paper to hide them. We can easily deal with these here in Canada for now. In conclusion, it is up to each of you to contribute what he or she thinks the service is worth to them and according to your conscience. We usually acknowledge receipt of money individually to contributors. There is no tax benefit in contributing. I do not think I could be clearer. Best regards Yves Bajard Doug Everingham wrote: > Dear Yves, > > I think my contributions have been almost solely relayed messages > which I think would each indicate its source and status as evidence or > opinion. > > I'd appreciate advice as to the usual size of funding contributions > and how to transfer funds. > > With thanks for your news and notes, > > - Doug Everingham. > ==== > > On 10/03/2010, at 8:16 AM, Yves Bajard wrote: > >> With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, 2009, >> reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to date, we >> have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai-Not. >> >> Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to >> you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in that >> management. >> >> Please re-think and act accordingly. >> >> Yves Bajard >> ==================================================== >> Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 >> Dear Mai-Notters: >> >> I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as you >> can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. >> >> I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial as >> possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable facts >> should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the case. >> >> >> Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. >> >> Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds to >> the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending your >> contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte >> Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 >> >> Thank you again >> >> Yves Bajard >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Wed Mar 10 23:58:46 2010 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (diongiles1 at aapt.net.au) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:58:46 -0500 Subject: [Mai-not] HELP! Message-ID: <380-22010341175846106@M2W113.mail2web.com> I'm out in the UK until the end of March and not been having much to say is it is a royal pain in the neck sending from Mail2Web. In response to Yves' reminder, I have a GBP20 note already folded ready to send, but I don't have with me a copy of the correct address to post it to. Yves, would you mind emailing me the details - thanks. By the way, I like Michael's posts and find them informative. Now that I am in the Mail2Web field I have a question about what is going on in Greece. I read somewhere that a factor in the collapse (if that's what it is) of the Greek economy has been an inordinate and overblown military budget relative to the other EU states. It this true or is it codswallop? Dion Giles -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com ? What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you? http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint From netcfs at shaw.ca Thu Mar 11 00:14:16 2010 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:14:16 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] HELP! In-Reply-To: <380-22010341175846106@M2W113.mail2web.com> References: <380-22010341175846106@M2W113.mail2web.com> Message-ID: <4B98A658.8030008@shaw.ca> Dion: Always faithful... Thanks The address is: NetCFS c/o Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 Hope you get back down under not too upside-down giddy.. Why don't you fly back Westwards through Victoria BC? You'd be very welcome. Yves diongiles1 at aapt.net.au wrote: > I'm out in the UK until the end of March and not been having much to say is > it is a royal pain in the neck sending from Mail2Web. > > In response to Yves' reminder, I have a GBP20 note already folded ready to > send, but I don't have with me a copy of the correct address to post it to. > Yves, would you mind emailing me the details - thanks. > > By the way, I like Michael's posts and find them informative. Now that I > am in the Mail2Web field I have a question about what is going on in > Greece. I read somewhere that a factor in the collapse (if that's what it > is) of the Greek economy has been an inordinate and overblown military > budget relative to the other EU states. It this true or is it codswallop? > > Dion Giles > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > mail2web.com ? What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you? > http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > From dale_young at telus.net Thu Mar 11 00:31:58 2010 From: dale_young at telus.net (Dale Young) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:31:58 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <4B98AA7E.2090707@telus.net> Yves, I too will try to get a cheque in the mail shortly. However, I hope it actually gets cashed this time. The cheque I sent to the treasurer, Dee Shoolingin, in 2009, never cleared my bank account for some reason, although I recall that Dee acknowledged receipt of it. Thank you for continuing to host the Mai-not group. Cheers, Dale On 10/03/2010 10:08 PM, Yves Bajard wrote: > Doug: > > Belonging in Mai-Not implies a much broader potential than relaying > messages. With its relatively small membership, it is largely a > discussion group among persons who started with a joint opposition in > 1998 to the OECD initiated Multinational Agreement on Investments > (MAI), which ended up shelved but whose main points were implemented > quietly by the OMC. > > You and a few others (including MichaelP) apparently saw this > discussion group as a berth for their widely broadcast information > pieces. No objection to this way of using the group. Yet, its > management implies a cost from the NetCFS . Participants are requested > annually to consider contributing to these costs. > > There is no fixed amount for this contribution, and it is optional. > The amount contributed by the few who did actually contribute in the > past(Ed Deak, Dion Giles, Dale Young, David Davidson, Dave Patterson > among others), has been of the order of ?$ 20 Canadian or Australian, > according to where it came from. There was, a few years ago a marked > contribution of a much larger amount by Duane Behrens (We consider > that he has contributed "for life"). For countries like Australia, > where sending money by official channels apparently is a costly pain > in the neck, we welcome banknotes folded in enough paper to hide them. > We can easily deal with these here in Canada for now. > > In conclusion, it is up to each of you to contribute what he or she > thinks the service is worth to them and according to your conscience. > > We usually acknowledge receipt of money individually to contributors. > There is no tax benefit in contributing. > > I do not think I could be clearer. > > Best regards > > Yves Bajard > > From creuss at bluewin.ch Thu Mar 11 02:33:10 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:33:10 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] Greek budget (was Re: HELP!) Message-ID: > I have a question about what is going on in > Greece. I read somewhere that a factor in the collapse (if that's what it > is) of the Greek economy has been an inordinate and overblown military > budget relative to the other EU states. It this true or is it codswallop? True. With 4.3% of the GDP (as of 2008), Greece has the highest military expenditure of all 27 EU member countries, even higher than the U$ (4.1%). Also, bribes are a very high expenditure in Greece, with ?1,347 bribes per inhabitant. Maybe the high military expenditure is due to the fact that Greece's arch-enemy neighbors have even higher military expenditures: Turkey (5.3%) and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (6%). Globally, the latter is only exceeded by ca. 8 countries, mainly in the Middle East (Israel has 7.3%). Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From thinker at xplornet.com Thu Mar 11 06:44:39 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:44:39 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Real world economics review Message-ID: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> sanity, humanity and science real-world economics review Formerly the post-autistic economics review ISSN 1755-9472 Issue no. 52, 10 March 2010 back issues at www.paecon.net Subscribers: 11, 312 from over 150 countries You can download the whole issue as a pdf document by clicking here http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf or download articles individually by clicking on their pdf link. In this issue: Pragmatism versus economics ideology: China versus Russia 2 David Ellerman download pdf Racism and Economics Free enterprise and the economics of slavery 28 Marvin Brown download pdf Why some countries are poor and some rich 40 - a non-Eurocentric view Deniz Kellecioglu download pdf The GFC Declaring victory at half time 54 Steve Keen download pdf Modern finance, methodology and the Global Crisis 69 Esteban P?rez Caldentey and Mat?as Vernengo download pdf A Keynes moment in the Global Financial Collapse 82 Thodoris Koutsobinas download pdf Tragedy, law, and rethinking our financial markets 100 David A. Westbrook download pdf Whither economics? What do we tell the students? 112 Peter Radford download pdf Past Contributors, etc. 116 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Real-World Economics Review Blog http://rwer.wordpress.com/ Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics Nominations for the Revere Award in Economics The Department of Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has been officially dissolved. real-world economics review on Twitter http://twitter.com/RealWorldEcon ---------- Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "real-world economics review" or change your subscription or subscribe ---------- Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498 From thinker at xplornet.com Thu Mar 11 09:58:33 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:58:33 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Canada for sale Message-ID: <20100311175840.0A3B6105C9FA@smtprelay03.hostedemail.com> Image By David Crane Economics Columnist The Harper government has sent a strong signal that a part of the Canadian economy ? our phone companies ? not already under high levels of foreign control could be headed for the auction block in the not-too-distant future. This could mean that Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus end up with foreign owners. Will the airline industry be next? The government is already committed to eliminating reviews of foreign takeovers of companies with a stock market value of less than $1 billion, thereby putting many of Canada's larger companies potentially on the auction block. In the meantime, many will be watching to see if cultural industry policies will be weakened as well, with Amazon's plan to set up a distribution centre in Canada facing a government review. The plan to open up telecommunications to foreign ownership follows a decade in which many of Canada's best known companies, or their key assets, have already been sold off to foreign corporations. The long list includes the sale of the most valuable assets of Nortel, all four Canadian steel companies (Dofasco, Stelco, Algoma and Ipsco), major mining companies (Falconbridge, Inco and LionOre), our biggest software company (Cognos), one of Canada's major pipeline and energy companies (Westcoast), Canada's biggest wine company (Vincor International), one of Canada's most successful life sciences companies (Axcan Pharma), one of Canada's most successful computer chip companies (ATI Technologies) and Alcan, the world's leading aluminum producer. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Many of Canada's small or mid-size but promising high-tech companies have also been sold off to foreign investors, making them R&D branch plants of foreign corporations rather than a potential RIM. A good example is the takeover of Tundra Semiconductor Corp., a leading computer chip design company, by Integrated Device Technology, a California company, for $120.8 million. IDT, with deeper pockets, blocked another proposal to create a much stronger Canadian high-tech company through a merger between Tundra and Gennum Corp. of Burlington. Canada's cleantech companies are now catching foreign eyes. Last year alone, according to Investment Canada, there were 437 foreign investments in Canada ? 338 of them were foreign takeovers and 99 were new businesses. Of the 338 foreign takeovers, just 22 were reviewed and all were given the green light. According to Statistics Canada, foreign-controlled companies in 2007 accounted for 52.8 per cent of manufacturing assets in Canada (compared to 46.8 per cent in 2006), 53.8 per cent of operating revenues, and 51.4 per cent of operating profits. In the oil and gas industry, foreign-controlled companies accounted for 38.5 per cent of assets (35.7 per cent in 2006), 48.8 per cent of operating revenues, and 44.6 per cent of operating profits. There are, of course, big differences between foreign companies making new investments in Canada, which adds jobs and output, and foreign takeovers of existing companies, which can lead to a loss of jobs. While foreign companies can bring know-how, capital and access to new markets, we know very little about what actually happens following takeovers. A key issue is the "hollowing out" of head offices. Head offices are important because that is where key decisions are made on new products, investments, corporate strategy, marketing campaigns, career development, treasury management and export development. So whether those decisions are made in Canada or elsewhere can matter. Head offices are also a source of business for local supplier companies, law and accounting firms, management consultants, software and systems providers, advertising agencies and engineering services. Large numbers of jobs in the GTA depend on the presence of head offices here. But when a Canadian company is acquired, many of these functions may be assigned to the parent company in another country, while reporting from the Canadian "head office" may be to some mid-level executive in the foreign company. Key strategic functions may be transferred to the parent company head office, leaving the Canadian "head office" to handle employee and government relations. A series of reports from the Conference Board of Canada, the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, and most recently, the Institute for Research on Public Policy dismiss the idea of hollowing out. The problem is that the authors of these reports don't know what is happening within these companies. For example, the recent report from the IRPP does not contain a single case study of a takeover, yet dismisses concerns. We do know in some instances at least that takeovers lead to the breaking up of companies and reduced Canadian "head office" roles. After Svenskt Stal AB acquired Ipsco, a major steelmaker, for $7.7 billion (U.S.), it sold a large part of the business to a Russian company for $4 billion. After Rio Tinto acquired Alcan, it began selling off significant parts of the company. Now, employment at the Alcan head office in Montreal is being reduced. When Duke, a large U.S. power company, acquired Westcoast in Vancouver, it hived off non-Canadian activities to its U.S. head office. A survey of head office employment by the Conference Board of Canada for the years 1999-2005 showed a 29 per cent decline in Vancouver. "This is attributable in part to foreign acquisitions of Vancouver-based Canadian corporations," it said. There are powerful vested interests that profit from lowering barriers to the foreign takeover of Canadian companies. This is big business for our banks and law firms, generating big fees (and bonuses). Yet before we proceed with further opening of our economy to foreign takeovers, we should surely want to develop much better information on the consequences of foreign takeovers, consider whether weaknesses in our own laws and financial system force companies to sell out, and most importantly, what kind of economy we really want to create. We should do this before we have sold everything. David Crane is a writer on economic affairs. He can be reached at crane at interlog.com. _ From papadop at peak.org Thu Mar 11 21:59:21 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:59:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] (no subject) Message-ID: http://www.truthout.org/five-republicans-back-kucinich-but-antiwar-vote-loses57581 FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2010 Share Thursday 11 March 2010 by: Jason Leopold and Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report A resolution introduced in the House Wednesday, aimed at bringing a swift end to the war in Afghanistan, was overwhelmingly defeated following a passionate, three-hour debate on war policy. But it was a measure that had Republican support, which has eluded Democrats during their efforts to pass a health care bill. Since the US invaded the country nearly nine years ago, lawmakers have not had a formal opportunity to debate the war. The measure, H. Con Res 248, was introduced by prominent antiwar Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has been harshly critical of the Obama administration's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. "The military escalation cements the path of the United States down the road of previous occupiers that earned Afghanistan its nickname as the 'graveyard of empires,'" Kucinich said on the House floor. Democratic leaders agreed to allow the debate and vote on the resolution to give lawmakers who are opposed to the war an opportunity to verbalize their frustration about the war, which has cost taxpayers nearly $260 billion, has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 US soldiers, wounded thousands more and has also led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians. Next month, Congress is expected to approve the White House's $33 billion emergency supplemental request to fund Obama's Afghanistan troop surge. "There are many members in the caucus who are eager to have a vote soon on Afghanistan," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said last month, after Kucinich proposed the measure. "This may satisfy that need." As expected, the resolution was defeated by a vote of 356 to 65. Only 60 Democrats along with five Republicans supported it [Here is a link to the full roll call vote.] It called upon Obama to end the war within 30 days or by the end of the year if the former proved to be unsafe. The resolution invoked the War Powers Act of 1973, specifically Section 5 (c), which says, "at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution." The War Powers Act was passed by Congress as a way of protesting the escalation of the Vietnam War by several presidents who did not first seek authorization from Congress. The Act says Congressional approval must be obtained if a president sends soldiers to the battlefield for more than 90 days. Lawmakers passed a resolution after 9/11 authorizing George W. Bush to invade Afghanistan, the legality of which has been called into question by many activists and even some lawmakers. "This war is an illegal war, this war is an immoral war, this war is an unconstitutional war, there is no real purpose to this: the Taliban did not attack us on 9-11," Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said on the House floor. "Immediately the concerns were shifted on remaking the middle east. The majority of Americans still believe that Sadddam Hussein had something to do with 9-11 ... We need to defend our country and not pretend to be the policeman of the world." Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee, said it's "simply not justifiable to sacrifice more lives and more money on this war." "Today, our presence in Afghanistan has become counterproductive, fueling the rising insurgency and emboldening those who oppose foreign intervention or occupation of any kind," Nadler added. "We are bogged down amidst a longstanding civil war between feuding Afghans of differing tribes, classes and regions, whose goals have little to do with our own. "Rebuilding Afghanistan is beyond both our capability, and our mandate to prevent terrorists from attacking the United States," Nadler added. "I believe that a short and definitive timetable for withdrawing our troops is the only way to minimize further loss of life and to refocus our efforts more directly at the terrorists themselves." But Rep. Howard Berman (D-California) countered Nadler's argument, asserting that if the US withdrew its soldiers from Afghanistan it would amount to a "national security disaster." Although Berman conceded that if the the US remains "in Afghanistan there is no guarantee we will prevail in our fight," he said the Afghanistan war is decidedly different than the war being waged in Iraq, now approaching its seventh anniversary, because it was launched in direct response to "those who attacked us" on 9/11. "I was here during the frenzied debate when Congress authorized the use of force against those responsible for the horrors of the day, and I was here for the vote a year later to authorize military force against Iraq. Please don't conflate the two ... I do believe this strategy of the President deserves support." That's the same flawed rationale President Obama used last December when he announced his highly anticipated revised Afghanistan war strategy at the US Military Academy at West Point. Obama repeatedly invoked 9/11 as a way of justifying his plan to escalate the war. "We did not ask for this fight," Obama said. "On September 11, 2001, nineteen men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of the passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more. "As we know, these men belonged to al Qaeda - a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world's great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents ..." Obama's revised strategy called for the rapid deployment of 30,000 additional US troops to the region by the summer, bringing the total number of soldiers in Afghanistan to 100,000. Each newly deployed soldier will cost taxpayers $1 million. Obama waited months before announcing his decision to deploy more troops and did so despite dire warnings from US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who, in two separate, top-secret cables he sent to administration officials last November, said sending additional troops would be a grave mistake. Eikenberry also said corruption in the government of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai was rampant and showed no signs of dissipating. Last month, the Washington Post reported that a "blizzard of bank notes" has been "flying out of Afghanistan - often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport - as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin." "At a time when the United States and its allies are spending billions of dollars to prop up the fragile government of President Hamid Karzai, the volume of the outflow has stirred concerns that funds have been diverted from aid," the Post reported. "The US Drug Enforcement Administration, for its part, is trying to figure out whether some of the money comes from Afghanistan's thriving opium trade. And officials in neighboring Pakistan think that at least some of the cash leaving Kabul has been smuggled overland from Pakistan." Kucinich said this was just one example of why the US needs to withdraw troops. "Nearly 1000 U.S. soldiers have died. And for what? Hundreds of billions spent. And for what? To make Afghanistan safe for crooks, drug dealers and crony capitalism?" Kucinich said. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-California), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan does not mean "ending American support." "It would be completely irresponsible of us to wash our hands of Afghanistan," she said. "There is too much humanitarian work to be done there, we need a humanitarian surge . . . let's bring the troops home, let's replace them with more development workers, democracy promotion specialists." Rep. Bob Filner (D-California) pointed out what lawmakers in both parties have refused to discuss each time they agree on a new round of spending to keep the war raging: the enormous mental toll the war has had on soldiers, many of who are on their third and fourth deployment, and are afflicted with combat related wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also led to a skyrocketing number of suicides among veterans of the conflicts, which the Department of Veterans Affairs have been notoriously slow to respond to. Last November, a disturbing study released by the Army Mental Health Advisory Team found that an increasing number of soldiers serving in Afghanistan suffering from some type of mental health related injury and "significantly lower morale" compared with previous years due to an uptick in violence and multiple deployments. The Mental Health Advisory Team surveyed 638 Soldiers from 27 maneuver platoons and 744 Soldiers from 25 support or sustainment platoons. "About 14 percent of the Soldiers surveyed met screening criteria for psychological problems, which is similar to the findings of the 2007 assessment in Afghanistan," the study concluded. "Soldiers with three or more deployments had higher rates of psychological problems and marital problems. The team also found barriers to behavioral-health care were higher than in previous years." Remarkably, there are only 40 mental health care professionals in Afghanistan and about 68,000 US soldiers currently deployed there, thousands of whom are on their second, third and, in some cases, fourth deployment. The advisory team recommended "increasing the number of behavioral-health personnel in [Afghanistan] and maintaining a low ratio as troop numbers surge, and appointing a senior theater-wide behavioral-health consultant and noncommissioned officer." The Army wants to have at least one mental health care professional in place for every 700 soldiers. "These are our children, they come home with these unseen wounds, these silent wounds," Filner said. "They may kill themselves from the demons that they got from this war, a third of those who have been diagnosed with PTSD committed felonies in this nation. These kids did not come home to kill their spouses or their children, they were so wounded but they were not taken care of by our people who sent them there ... It is time to take care of them, it is time to bring them home, let's support the resolution on the floor. "War is hard, but I've got news for you," Filner added, "Peace is harder" From papadop at peak.org Thu Mar 11 22:05:53 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:05:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] anti war vote loses , byt gets support from 5 republicans In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, 11 Mar 2010, MichaelP wrote: http://www.truthout.org/five-republicans-back-kucinich-but-antiwar-vote-loses FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2010 Thursday 11 March 2010 by: Jason Leopold and Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report A resolution introduced in the House Wednesday, aimed at bringing a swift end to the war in Afghanistan, was overwhelmingly defeated following a passionate, three-hour debate on war policy. But it was a measure that had Republican support, which has eluded Democrats during their efforts to pass a health care bill. Since the US invaded the country nearly nine years ago, lawmakers have not had a formal opportunity to debate the war. The measure, H. Con Res 248, was introduced by prominent antiwar Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has been harshly critical of the Obama administration's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. "The military escalation cements the path of the United States down the road of previous occupiers that earned Afghanistan its nickname as the 'graveyard of empires,'" Kucinich said on the House floor. Democratic leaders agreed to allow the debate and vote on the resolution to give lawmakers who are opposed to the war an opportunity to verbalize their frustration about the war, which has cost taxpayers nearly $260 billion, has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 US soldiers, wounded thousands more and has also led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians. Next month, Congress is expected to approve the White House's $33 billion emergency supplemental request to fund Obama's Afghanistan troop surge. "There are many members in the caucus who are eager to have a vote soon on Afghanistan," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said last month, after Kucinich proposed the measure. "This may satisfy that need." As expected, the resolution was defeated by a vote of 356 to 65. Only 60 Democrats along with five Republicans supported it [Here is a link to the full roll call vote.] It called upon Obama to end the war within 30 days or by the end of the year if the former proved to be unsafe. The resolution invoked the War Powers Act of 1973, specifically Section 5 (c), which says, "at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution." The War Powers Act was passed by Congress as a way of protesting the escalation of the Vietnam War by several presidents who did not first seek authorization from Congress. The Act says Congressional approval must be obtained if a president sends soldiers to the battlefield for more than 90 days. Lawmakers passed a resolution after 9/11 authorizing George W. Bush to invade Afghanistan, the legality of which has been called into question by many activists and even some lawmakers. "This war is an illegal war, this war is an immoral war, this war is an unconstitutional war, there is no real purpose to this: the Taliban did not attack us on 9-11," Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said on the House floor. "Immediately the concerns were shifted on remaking the middle east. The majority of Americans still believe that Sadddam Hussein had something to do with 9-11 ... We need to defend our country and not pretend to be the policeman of the world." Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee, said it's "simply not justifiable to sacrifice more lives and more money on this war." "Today, our presence in Afghanistan has become counterproductive, fueling the rising insurgency and emboldening those who oppose foreign intervention or occupation of any kind," Nadler added. "We are bogged down amidst a longstanding civil war between feuding Afghans of differing tribes, classes and regions, whose goals have little to do with our own. "Rebuilding Afghanistan is beyond both our capability, and our mandate to prevent terrorists from attacking the United States," Nadler added. "I believe that a short and definitive timetable for withdrawing our troops is the only way to minimize further loss of life and to refocus our efforts more directly at the terrorists themselves." But Rep. Howard Berman (D-California) countered Nadler's argument, asserting that if the US withdrew its soldiers from Afghanistan it would amount to a "national security disaster." Although Berman conceded that if the the US remains "in Afghanistan there is no guarantee we will prevail in our fight," he said the Afghanistan war is decidedly different than the war being waged in Iraq, now approaching its seventh anniversary, because it was launched in direct response to "those who attacked us" on 9/11. "I was here during the frenzied debate when Congress authorized the use of force against those responsible for the horrors of the day, and I was here for the vote a year later to authorize military force against Iraq. Please don't conflate the two ... I do believe this strategy of the President deserves support." That's the same flawed rationale President Obama used last December when he announced his highly anticipated revised Afghanistan war strategy at the US Military Academy at West Point. Obama repeatedly invoked 9/11 as a way of justifying his plan to escalate the war. "We did not ask for this fight," Obama said. "On September 11, 2001, nineteen men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of the passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more. "As we know, these men belonged to al Qaeda - a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world's great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents ..." Obama's revised strategy called for the rapid deployment of 30,000 additional US troops to the region by the summer, bringing the total number of soldiers in Afghanistan to 100,000. Each newly deployed soldier will cost taxpayers $1 million. Obama waited months before announcing his decision to deploy more troops and did so despite dire warnings from US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who, in two separate, top-secret cables he sent to administration officials last November, said sending additional troops would be a grave mistake. Eikenberry also said corruption in the government of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai was rampant and showed no signs of dissipating. Last month, the Washington Post reported that a "blizzard of bank notes" has been "flying out of Afghanistan - often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport - as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin." "At a time when the United States and its allies are spending billions of dollars to prop up the fragile government of President Hamid Karzai, the volume of the outflow has stirred concerns that funds have been diverted from aid," the Post reported. "The US Drug Enforcement Administration, for its part, is trying to figure out whether some of the money comes from Afghanistan's thriving opium trade. And officials in neighboring Pakistan think that at least some of the cash leaving Kabul has been smuggled overland from Pakistan." Kucinich said this was just one example of why the US needs to withdraw troops. "Nearly 1000 U.S. soldiers have died. And for what? Hundreds of billions spent. And for what? To make Afghanistan safe for crooks, drug dealers and crony capitalism?" Kucinich said. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-California), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan does not mean "ending American support." "It would be completely irresponsible of us to wash our hands of Afghanistan," she said. "There is too much humanitarian work to be done there, we need a humanitarian surge . . . let's bring the troops home, let's replace them with more development workers, democracy promotion specialists." Rep. Bob Filner (D-California) pointed out what lawmakers in both parties have refused to discuss each time they agree on a new round of spending to keep the war raging: the enormous mental toll the war has had on soldiers, many of who are on their third and fourth deployment, and are afflicted with combat related wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also led to a skyrocketing number of suicides among veterans of the conflicts, which the Department of Veterans Affairs have been notoriously slow to respond to. Last November, a disturbing study released by the Army Mental Health Advisory Team found that an increasing number of soldiers serving in Afghanistan suffering from some type of mental health related injury and "significantly lower morale" compared with previous years due to an uptick in violence and multiple deployments. The Mental Health Advisory Team surveyed 638 Soldiers from 27 maneuver platoons and 744 Soldiers from 25 support or sustainment platoons. "About 14 percent of the Soldiers surveyed met screening criteria for psychological problems, which is similar to the findings of the 2007 assessment in Afghanistan," the study concluded. "Soldiers with three or more deployments had higher rates of psychological problems and marital problems. The team also found barriers to behavioral-health care were higher than in previous years." Remarkably, there are only 40 mental health care professionals in Afghanistan and about 68,000 US soldiers currently deployed there, thousands of whom are on their second, third and, in some cases, fourth deployment. The advisory team recommended "increasing the number of behavioral-health personnel in [Afghanistan] and maintaining a low ratio as troop numbers surge, and appointing a senior theater-wide behavioral-health consultant and noncommissioned officer." The Army wants to have at least one mental health care professional in place for every 700 soldiers. "These are our children, they come home with these unseen wounds, these silent wounds," Filner said. "They may kill themselves from the demons that they got from this war, a third of those who have been diagnosed with PTSD committed felonies in this nation. These kids did not come home to kill their spouses or their children, they were so wounded but they were not taken care of by our people who sent them there ... It is time to take care of them, it is time to bring them home, let's support the resolution on the floor. "War is hard, but I've got news for you," Filner added, "Peace is harder" From papadop at peak.org Thu Mar 11 23:41:04 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:41:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Mai-not] CSM on the Greek situation Message-ID: I have no direct contact with Greece, but I have lot's of attitude about greedy vultures. I'm also congenitally addicted to looking for uncommon solutions. At the personal level I marvel at persons who, having been conned into using credit cards with usurious interest rates, decide to stop paying the vultures month after month with no personsl hope of ever getting out of debt. Which means I'm looking to the Greek "economists" to look at the positve benefits of defaulting . ################## http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0311/As-Athens-protests-Germany-scoffs-over-Greece-debt-bailout The Christian Science Monitor March 11 As Athens protests, Germany scoffs over Greece debt bailout Protesters took to the streets of Athens on Thursday over government austerity measures. But anger is also growing in Germany at being asked to finance the Greece debt bailout. * Greece debt crisis: Street clashes have erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens as more than 30,000 people demonstrated against the government's planned spending cuts and to express anger over Germany's refusal to provide financial assistance to ease the debt crisis. Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP Enlarge _________________________________________________________________ * Print * E-mail * Facebook * Twitter * Yahoo! Buzz * Digg * Add This * Permissions * RSS Feed By David Francis Correspondent / March 11, 2010 Berlin More than 20,000 Greeks took to the streets of Athens on Thursday to protest planned government spending cuts and to express their anger over Germany's refusal to provide financial assistance to ease the Greece debt crisis. Skip to next paragraph * Photo Gallery The top 10 things Greece can sell to pay off its debt Related Stories * Amid Greek debt crisis, Iceland still recovering from its own collapse * Germany's Merkel meets Greece PM over debt bailout tensions * Germans to debt-ridden Greeks: Sell the Acropolis. And a few islands. * Blog: Amnesty report blasts Greek police Protestors fought with riot police, smashed storefront windows, and set fire to cars and buses as law enforcement authorities responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Such protests have occurred regularly in recent weeks over the government's cost-cutting measures in response to Greece's ballooning national debt. Austerity steps taken so far include raising the retirement age from 63 to 65 and lowering government workers' wages 8 percent. Anti-German sentiment has tinged the protests, since the European Union's wealthiest nation has hesitated to finance a bailout for its southeastern neighbor. Greece was further inflamed when two German legislators suggested Greece sell some of its islands to pay off its debt, and one newspaper even suggested they sell the Acropolis. IN PICTURES: Top 10 things Greece can sell to pay off its debt Tensions eased last week when German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. She said the two reached "an understanding," though their truce did little to quell anger on both sides of the aisle. Germany's politicians and public have asked why they should be on the hook for Greece's debt. They're enraged that the Greeks have dredged up World War II memories, with one Greek lawmaker demanding Germany pay reparations for the Nazi occupation. German workers, who recently saw their retirement age rise from 65 to 67, want Greece workers to chin up, too. "There is the impression in Germany that the Greeks are not doing enough to reform their system," says Joerg Wolf, author of the Atlantic Review, a popular blog that tracks German politics. "They rely on others to bail them out without making sufficient efforts themselves." Tabloids fuel populist anger The Bild newspaper -- regarded here as the paper of the people -- has led t he populist backlash against Greece. Inflammatory headlines and editorials have run nearly every day since the crisis started, feeding directly into the rising sentiment that Germany's responsible work, social, and business habits have supported other lazy Europeans. "Here, nobody needs to pay a 1,000 euro bribe to get a hospital bed in time," the newspaper wrote in an open letter to Papandreou. While some German politicians have suggested Greece sell islands or art to raise money, Bild told Greeks to wake up earlier, work harder, and quit lying about the state of their finances. The euro has dropped steadily in value since the crisis began. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a German of Greek heritage who serves in the European Parliament, says fear that a country like Greece could sink the euro is behind Germany's growing anger. "After 1945 the Germans developed a quasi-patriotism around the Deutsche Mark," says Chatzimarkakis, who has been a key player in talks between Berlin and Athens. "Our soccer team and the Deutsche Mark were all we were allowed to be proud about. The Germans sacrificed the Deutsche Mark for the euro and were promised it was going to be stable, more stable than the Deutsche Mark." Crisis shakes confidence Both Chatzimarkakis and Wolf said that inflammatory rhetoric overlooks the eurozone benefits for Germany. The eurozone has expanded German export markets, which in turn strengthened the German economy and made Germany. "Germans owe their reputation as an import-exporter to the eurozone," Chatzimarkakis said. "German products are everywhere in everyday European life." But Wolf warned that a prolonged crisis in Greece -- which could lead to a spread of default worries to heavily indebted states like Spain, Portugal, or Italy -- and the continuing decline of the euro could have long-term effects on the German public's attitudes. "There is a concern that Greece is like [the failed US bank] Lehman Brothers," he says. "If the crisis gets bigger and starts to include other eurozone countries, it would have lasting, negative repercussions on the German attitude about Europe." From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Mar 12 04:42:09 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:42:09 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] David Sirota - "Amazon has built an entire business model on tax avoidance" [ Support your local bookstores ] Message-ID: <4B99FE61.20532.94F4455@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> "....Following a 70 percent earnings increase last quarter, Amazon.com this week terminated its business relationships with its Colorado affiliates. The move was a response to new Colorado legislation compelling online retailers to either collect the sales taxes that every other business collects, or at least disclose that customers must pay the levy to the state themselves. The bill was pragmatic, seeking to raise much-needed revenues as Colorado's infrastructure and schools buckle under a $2 billion budget shortfall. But Amazon, indifferent to such emergencies, reacted with punitive petulance, sending a deliberate message to lawmakers in every other state: Make us play by the same tax rules as other businesses, and your state will be punished, too. The company, you see, fears that most capitalist of principles: fair competition. It instead relies on a rigged market..... Amazon, as one California lawmaker says, has "built an entire business model based on tax avoidance." Unfortunately, so have many other firms, as evidenced by America's $300 billion annual gap between taxes owed and paid. And as more commerce is transacted through tax-avoiding Internet conglomerates, that gap could grow, honest local business could be further disadvantaged and deficits could explode, forcing ever deeper cuts to public services." This is the dystopian outcome that multinational corporations and anti-government activists aim for in today's tax wars - and they could make it a reality. fyi-janet p.s If at all possible we should all support our local bookstores, regardless of any possible delays for books not in stock, in order to support local economies, keep money circulating in our own communities,and to ensure that we will still have bookstores when Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, whom Sirota calls 'a caricature of Information Age greed' are exposed for this kind of global profiteering, tax avoidance and union busting and as this kind of economic madness is legislated against and alternatives to economic globalization begin to be understood, demanded and implemented. --------------- David Sirota Blogsite: David Sirota is a political journalist and bestselling author living in Denver. He is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America?s political parties. The New York Times has called him a "populist rabble-rouser" with a "take-no-prisoners mind-set," while the Philadelphia Daily News labeled him "a progressive powerhouse." Updated: Friday March 12, 2010, url: http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/the-tax-war-goes- online.html The Tax War Goes Online Is the Internet everywhere or is it nowhere? This question will strike many readers as a navel-gazing exercise in post-modern existential inquiry, prompting reflections on the 21st- century meaning of location (is an IP address really an address?) and space (is cyberspace actually "space"?). But thanks to Amazon.com, it's become a question about more concrete and imminent issues like budget deficits and tax fairness. Following a 70 percent earnings increase last quarter, the company this week terminated its business relationships with its Colorado affiliates. The move was a response to new Colorado legislation compelling online retailers to either collect the sales taxes that every other business collects, or at least disclose that customers must pay the levy to the state themselves. The bill was pragmatic, seeking to raise much-needed revenues as Colorado's infrastructure and schools buckle under a $2 billion budget shortfall. But Amazon, indifferent to such emergencies, reacted with punitive petulance, sending a deliberate message to lawmakers in every other state: Make us play by the same tax rules as other businesses, and your state will be punished, too. The company, you see, fears that most capitalist of principles: fair competition. It instead relies on a rigged market. Despite the ubiquity of its Web presence and its affiliates, Amazon says it only officially exists in four states (Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota and Washington) and that it therefore isn't required to collect local taxes on its transactions in the other 46 states. That has allowed the company to sell goods at seemingly lower prices than local brick-and-mortar competitors, which in turn artificially tilts the market in Amazon's favor. In recent years, New York, North Carolina, Hawaii and Rhode Island have woken up to the scheme, passing laws that explicitly apply their local taxes to online retailers. Now, with budget crises intensifying, even more states are pondering similar legislation. And so rather than simply accepting a level playing field, Amazon opted to make an example out of Colorado as a means of pre-emptive intimidation. This is politics at its most bare-knuckled - not surprising, considering it comes from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, a caricature of Information Age greed. In the Office Space economy, Amazon is Initech and Bezos is the firm's soullessly saccharine Bill Lumbergh. Like the typical dot-com shark, he shrouds old-fashioned suit-and-cigar ruthlessness in business-casual attire, ear-to-ear grins and Charlie Rose-ready colloquialisms. But beneath the earth tones and triumphalist techno- babble is the same boor who offshored a Seattle call center the moment employees pondered a union. Punishing one state's economy to scare other states is all in a day's work for this guy - especially because ratio-wise, it could be a brilliant financial decision. Sacrificing some business in Colorado, where the tax was projected to raise $5 million in public revenue, may end up a jackpot investment if the move kills the initiative in places like California, where it could raise $150 million every year. "If" - it always comes down to "if," doesn't it? And this particular "if" is bigger than even Bezos' corporation. Amazon, as one California lawmaker says, has "built an entire business model based on tax avoidance." Unfortunately, so have many other firms, as evidenced by America's $300 billion annual gap between taxes owed and paid. And as more commerce is transacted through tax-avoiding Internet conglomerates, that gap could grow, honest local business could be further disadvantaged and deficits could explode, forcing ever deeper cuts to public services. This is the dystopian outcome that multinational corporations and anti-government activists aim for in today's tax wars - and they could make it a reality. If - but only if - states back down. David Sirota is the author of the best-selling books "Hostile Takeover" and "The Uprising." He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado and blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds at davidsirota.com or follow him on Twitter @davidsirota. COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: Janet M Eaton Subject: [Opinion Pages] Daily newsletter From: Creators.com Date sent: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:12:45 -0800 Hello Janet M Eaton Here's your Daily alert from creators.com, as you requested. David Sirota Updated: Friday March 12, 2010, url: http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/the-tax-war-goes- online.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 387 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Mar 12 18:27:03 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:27:03 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> Message-ID: Just one query,Yves. I'll need your postal address. Thanks, - Doug. ==== On 11/03/2010, at 4:08 PM, Yves Bajard wrote: > Doug: > > Belonging in Mai-Not implies a much broader potential than relaying > messages. With its relatively small membership, it is largely a > discussion group among persons who started with a joint opposition > in 1998 to the OECD initiated Multinational Agreement on > Investments (MAI), which ended up shelved but whose main points > were implemented quietly by the OMC. > > You and a few others (including MichaelP) apparently saw this > discussion group as a berth for their widely broadcast information > pieces. No objection to this way of using the group. Yet, its > management implies a cost from the NetCFS . Participants are > requested annually to consider contributing to these costs. > > There is no fixed amount for this contribution, and it is optional. > The amount contributed by the few who did actually contribute in > the past(Ed Deak, Dion Giles, Dale Young, David Davidson, Dave > Patterson among others), has been of the order of ?$ 20 Canadian or > Australian, according to where it came from. There was, a few years > ago a marked contribution of a much larger amount by Duane Behrens > (We consider that he has contributed "for life"). For countries > like Australia, where sending money by official channels apparently > is a costly pain in the neck, we welcome banknotes folded in enough > paper to hide them. We can easily deal with these here in Canada > for now. > > In conclusion, it is up to each of you to contribute what he or she > thinks the service is worth to them and according to your conscience. > > We usually acknowledge receipt of money individually to > contributors. There is no tax benefit in contributing. > > I do not think I could be clearer. > > Best regards > > Yves Bajard > > > Doug Everingham wrote: >> Dear Yves, >> >> I think my contributions have been almost solely relayed messages >> which I think would each indicate its source and status as >> evidence or opinion. >> >> I'd appreciate advice as to the usual size of funding >> contributions and how to transfer funds. >> >> With thanks for your news and notes, >> >> - Doug Everingham. >> ==== >> >> On 10/03/2010, at 8:16 AM, Yves Bajard wrote: >> >>> With reference to my message of year end wishes of December 18, >>> 2009, reproduced below, I would, with regret, advise you that to >>> date, we have received zero contribution to the operation of Mai- >>> Not. >>> >>> Please realize that we manage Mai-Not essentially as a service to >>> you. There are costs in money and time and energy involved in >>> that management. >>> >>> Please re-think and act accordingly. >>> >>> Yves Bajard >>> ==================================================== >>> Copy of my message of Dec 18, 2009 >>> Dear Mai-Notters: >>> >>> I wish you a good end of the year 2009. Be as merry and happy as >>> you can afford (morally and otherwise) and keep on. >>> >>> I would wish, however, that the list remain as non controversial >>> as possible. Opinion statements and production of verifiable >>> facts should be clearly marked as such, which is not always the >>> case. >>> >>> >>> Thank you in advance for a little more care in the matter. >>> >>> Also, I would ask you please to consider contributing some funds >>> to the running of Mai-not. As in all previous years, by sending >>> your contribution to NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte >>> Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 >>> >>> Thank you again >>> >>> Yves Bajard >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mai-not mailing list >> Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From fresch at ica.net Fri Mar 12 19:07:17 2010 From: fresch at ica.net (Fred Schneider) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:07:17 -0500 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd.: Senators to Prez: Make Fed Accountable. Message-ID: 8585de8063c2991d92c04bc665283331 Asking Pres. Obama to restore control over the Fed? I wonder that, if he succeeds or is suspected to be succeeding, he may not be signing his death warrant, similar to President J.F Kenndy and President A. Lincoln, who both tried to restore the power of issuing currency from the Federal Reserve to Congress just before they were assassinated. Fred Schneider Forwarded message: Senators to Prez: Make Fed Accountable By Robert Borosage March 11, 2010 - 10:51pm ET http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010031011/senators-prez-make-fed-accountable Senators Webb and Sanders have signed letter urging President Obama to fill empty seats on Federal Reserve Board with nominees who will help balance the Institution. Notably they urge the Pres to find nominees who would break up the big banks, ban usurious interest rates, enforce consumer protections, allow an audit of the fed's bailout operations, put a lid on executive compensataion. A sensible idea after the crash which has cost Americans trillions. Here's the report from Ryan Grim of HuffingtonPost with letter attached. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/webb-sanders-pressure-oba_n_495... Webb, Sanders Pressure Obama On Fed Two senators on opposite ends of the Democratic caucus spectrum are circulating a letter pressuring President Obama to appoint governors to the Federal Reserve who reflect the interests of the middle class and small businesses rather than Wall Street. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist, has been intensely critical of the Fed's failure to reduce unemployment and its failure to regulate the financial services industry leading up to the crisis. He's joined by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a conservative Democrat who voted to back Chairman Ben Bernanke's most recent confirmation to a second term. The letter is being circulated through the Senate in search of additional signatures and was provided to HuffPost by an aide in a third office. Obama has an opportunity to fill a vice-chair position and two governor spots on the Federal Open Market Committee. All three positions are powerful ones and could help shape the Fed in a new mold. Specifically, the senators are calling on Obama to appoint people who would put a cap on usurious interest rates charged by credit card companies, want to reduce the size of banks, focus on unemployment and extend credit to small businesses. The letter, along with one from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) Wednesday, puts Obama on notice that a bank-friendly appointee will face a tough time getting confirmed. Read the full letters: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010031011/senators-prez-make-fed-accountable My home page: "http://home.ica.net/~fresch/index.htm" ======================================== Fred Schneider, 905-279-7199, Fax: same, call first! #37-425 Meadows Blvd. Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1N3 From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Mar 12 21:49:05 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:49:05 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] HELP! In-Reply-To: <4B98A658.8030008@shaw.ca> References: <380-22010341175846106@M2W113.mail2web.com> <4B98A658.8030008@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <85FF7F67-0A23-47F1-ABBC-C3DC6FBEEEB2@powerup.com.au> Yves: That address will do for me to send something towards your funds. Thanks, - Doug Everingham. ==== On 11/03/2010, at 6:14 PM, Yves Bajard wrote: > Dion: > > Always faithful... Thanks > > The address is: > > NetCFS c/o Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada > V9L 2V6 > > Hope you get back down under not too upside-down giddy.. Why don't > you fly back Westwards through Victoria BC? > > You'd be very welcome. > > Yves > > > diongiles1 at aapt.net.au wrote: >> I'm out in the UK until the end of March and not been having much >> to say is >> it is a royal pain in the neck sending from Mail2Web. >> >> In response to Yves' reminder, I have a GBP20 note already folded >> ready to >> send, but I don't have with me a copy of the correct address to >> post it to. >> Yves, would you mind emailing me the details - thanks. >> >> By the way, I like Michael's posts and find them informative. Now >> that I >> am in the Mail2Web field I have a question about what is going on in >> Greece. I read somewhere that a factor in the collapse (if that's >> what it >> is) of the Greek economy has been an inordinate and overblown >> military >> budget relative to the other EU states. It this true or is it >> codswallop? >> >> Dion Giles >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >> mail2web.com ? What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you? >> http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mai-not mailing list >> Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From netcfs at shaw.ca Fri Mar 12 22:36:58 2010 From: netcfs at shaw.ca (Yves Bajard) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:36:58 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] End of year wishes and call for contributions In-Reply-To: References: <4B96C8AD.8070702@shaw.ca> <01C2DEE0-AD3E-47F5-AC94-5EBB50BC77FA@powerup.com.au> <4B9888D4.7070905@shaw.ca> Message-ID: <4B9B328A.4040409@shaw.ca> Dear Doug: Thanks for your reply.. Here is the address to which contributions should be sent. NetCFS C/O Dee Shoolingin 692 Charlotte Street,Duncan, B.C. Canada V9L 2V6 All the best Yves Doug Everingham wrote: > Just one query,Yves. I'll need your postal address. > Thanks, > - Doug. > ==== From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Mar 12 22:41:05 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:41:05 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Real world economics review In-Reply-To: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> References: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: I'd like to read item 112 below re What to tell students but my computer can't open it, just posts scores of un-openable files on my desktop with labels like: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: mLEgElPM.pdf.part Type: application/applefile Size: 77 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SKMhX9Os.pdf.part Type: application/applefile Size: 77 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- Any suggestions? - Doug Everingham. ==== On 12/03/2010, at 12:44 AM, Ed Deak wrote: > > > > sanity, humanity and science > real-world economics review > > Formerly the post-autistic economics review ISSN > 1755-9472 > > > Issue no. 52, 10 March 2010 back issues at www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// > www.paecon.net/>www.paecon.net > Subscribers: 11, 312 from over 150 countries > > > > You can download the whole issue as a pdf document by clicking > www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf>here > http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf > or download articles individually by clicking on their pdf link. > > In this issue: > > > > Pragmatism versus economics ideology: China versus > Russia 2 > > David Ellerman 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Ellerman52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Racism and Economics > > > > Free enterprise and the economics of > slavery 28 > > Marvin Brown 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Brown52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Why some countries are poor and some > rich 40 > > - a non-Eurocentric view > > Deniz Kellecioglu 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Kellecioglu52.pdf>download pdf > > > > The GFC > > > > Declaring victory at half > time 54 > > Steve Keen 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Keen52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Modern finance, methodology and the Global > Crisis 69 > > Esteban P?rez Caldentey and Mat?as Vernengo www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// > www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/CaldenteyVernengo52.pdf>download pdf > > > > A Keynes moment in the Global Financial > Collapse 82 > > Thodoris Koutsobinas 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Koutsobinas52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Tragedy, law, and rethinking our financial > markets 100 > David A. Westbrook 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Westbrook52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Whither economics? What do we tell the > students? 112 > > Peter Radford 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ > Radford52.pdf>download pdf > > > > Past Contributors, etc. 116 > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > _______________________ > > > > Real-World Economics Review Blog http://rwer.wordpress.com/ > > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/ > greenspan-friedman-and-summers-win-dynamite-prize-in-economics/ > >Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/? > page_id=922&preview=true>Nominations for the Revere Award in Economics > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the- > department-of-economics-and-policy-studies-at-the-university-of- > notre-dame-has-been-officially-dissolved/>The Department of > Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has > been officially dissolved. > > > real-world economics review on Twitter t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http://twitter.com/ > RealWorldEcon>http://twitter.com/RealWorldEcon > > > > ---------- > EmailRemove=_MjA4Njg1MzF8MzMyMzg2fHRoaW5rZXJAeHBsb3JuZXQuY29tfDM2MjQzM > TA=_>Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "real-world > economics review" or Subscriptions=332386>change your subscription or www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=332386>subscribe www.feedblitz.com/f> > > ---------- > Your requested content delivery powered by www.feedblitz.com>FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, > USA. +1.978.776.9498 > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Fri Mar 12 23:00:11 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:00:11 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Real world economics review CORRECTION In-Reply-To: References: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: <45AB79AB-9643-4921-8667-72A8BA937615@powerup.com.au> CORRECTION: BESIDES the baffling " ... .pdf.part" files complained of, I ALSO received the clear and accesible file -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Radford52.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 32418 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- which deals with what to teach. - Doug. ==== On 13/03/2010, at 4:41 PM, Doug Everingham wrote: > I'd like to read item 112 below re What to tell students > but my computer can't open it, just posts scores of un-openable > files on my desktop with labels like: > > > > > Any suggestions? > - Doug Everingham. > ==== > On 12/03/2010, at 12:44 AM, Ed Deak wrote: > >> >> >> >> sanity, humanity and science >> real-world economics review >> >> Formerly the post-autistic economics review ISSN >> 1755-9472 >> >> >> Issue no. 52, 10 March 2010 back issues at > www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >> www.paecon.net/>www.paecon.net >> Subscribers: 11, 312 from over 150 countries >> >> >> >> You can download the whole issue as a pdf document by clicking >> > www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf>here >> http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf >> or download articles individually by clicking on their pdf link. >> >> In this issue: >> >> >> >> Pragmatism versus economics ideology: China versus >> Russia 2 >> >> David Ellerman > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Ellerman52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Racism and Economics >> >> >> >> Free enterprise and the economics of >> slavery 28 >> >> Marvin Brown > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Brown52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Why some countries are poor and some >> rich 40 >> >> - a non-Eurocentric view >> >> Deniz Kellecioglu > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Kellecioglu52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> The GFC >> >> >> >> Declaring victory at half >> time 54 >> >> Steve Keen > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Keen52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Modern finance, methodology and the Global >> Crisis 69 >> >> Esteban P?rez Caldentey and Mat?as Vernengo > www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >> www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/CaldenteyVernengo52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> A Keynes moment in the Global Financial >> Collapse 82 >> >> Thodoris Koutsobinas > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Koutsobinas52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Tragedy, law, and rethinking our financial >> markets 100 >> David A. Westbrook > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Westbrook52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Whither economics? What do we tell the >> students? 112 >> >> Peter Radford > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Radford52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Past Contributors, etc. 116 >> >> >> >> _____________________________________________________________________ >> ________________________ >> >> >> >> Real-World Economics Review Blog http://rwer.wordpress.com/ >> >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/ >> greenspan-friedman-and-summers-win-dynamite-prize-in-economics/ >> >Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/? >> page_id=922&preview=true>Nominations for the Revere Award in >> Economics >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the- >> department-of-economics-and-policy-studies-at-the-university-of- >> notre-dame-has-been-officially-dissolved/>The Department of >> Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has >> been officially dissolved. >> >> >> real-world economics review on Twitter > t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http://twitter.com/ >> RealWorldEcon>http://twitter.com/RealWorldEcon >> >> >> >> ---------- >> > EmailRemove=_MjA4Njg1MzF8MzMyMzg2fHRoaW5rZXJAeHBsb3JuZXQuY29tfDM2MjQz >> MTA=_>Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "real-world >> economics review" or > Subscriptions=332386>change your subscription or > www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=332386>subscribe> www.feedblitz.com/f> >> >> ---------- >> Your requested content delivery powered by > www.feedblitz.com>FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA >> 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mai-not mailing list >> Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sat Mar 13 00:03:11 2010 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (diongiles1 at aapt.net.au) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:03:11 -0500 Subject: [Mai-not] Subs Message-ID: <380-2201036138311583@M2W125.mail2web.com> Thanks, Yves, for your kind suggestion that I return via BC. One of the best weeks of my entire life was spent in BC when the Deaks so kindly put me up on a visit a few years ago and I had the privilege of extensive conversions with the amazing Ed and Marta and their remarkable friends. As an additional lure for another visit to BC, I understand Air Canada now runs a flight from Vancouver to Sydney without travellers having to set foot on American soil (where the securocrats are second only in vainglorious arrogance to the securocrats at Heathrow). However the additional cost would be beyond me as I have spent heavily visiting UK rellies, and also I am being leant on from WA because of a tight schedule for vetting this year's draft WA matric chemistry exam (usual business of bureaucrats demanding extra lead time for themselves at the expense of ever shorter lead times for those who do the actual work!). I have to be here for other reasons on March 25 and ready for work in Perth by first week of April. Your keeping his interesting and socially significant list alive is very much appreciated. Best wishes - Dion -------------------------------------------------------------------- myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft? Windows? and Linux web and application hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting From siamdave at yahoo.ca Sat Mar 13 00:16:23 2010 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:16:23 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] try this one (Re: Real world economics review CORRECTION In-Reply-To: <45AB79AB-9643-4921-8667-72A8BA937615@powerup.com.au> References: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> <45AB79AB-9643-4921-8667-72A8BA937615@powerup.com.au> Message-ID: <201003131516230859.011A3FFB@smtp.totisp.net> - not sure what is up with your computer, but here is a direct link to the paper you want - http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/Radford52.pdf - clicking on that link, or pasting it into your browser, should open it ok - Opera, Firefix and IE new versions all open PDFs ok. The other files in the email are similar - if you want to open them, fix them up into the same format as this link. The PAE site is not the best organised thing around. If you want to 'download' them onto your computer, then you need a PDF reader, Adobe is the most popular, and free to get in various places. Then when you see a file you want to download, you just put the cursor on it, right click, and tell the box where to save it (if you save it on Desktop, it's right there for you). dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 10-03-13 at 5:00 PM Doug Everingham wrote: CORRECTION: BESIDES the baffling " ... .pdf.part" files complained of, I ALSO received the clear and accesible file which deals with what to teach. - Doug. ==== On 13/03/2010, at 4:41 PM, Doug Everingham wrote: > I'd like to read item 112 below re What to tell students > but my computer can't open it, just posts scores of un-openable > files on my desktop with labels like: > > > > > Any suggestions? > - Doug Everingham. > ==== > On 12/03/2010, at 12:44 AM, Ed Deak wrote: > >> >> >> >> sanity, humanity and science >> real-world economics review >> >> Formerly the post-autistic economics review ISSN >> 1755-9472 >> >> >> Issue no. 52, 10 March 2010 back issues at > www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >> www.paecon.net/>www.paecon.net >> Subscribers: 11, 312 from over 150 countries >> >> >> >> You can download the whole issue as a pdf document by clicking >> > www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf>here >> http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf >> or download articles individually by clicking on their pdf link. >> >> In this issue: >> >> >> >> Pragmatism versus economics ideology: China versus >> Russia 2 >> >> David Ellerman > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Ellerman52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Racism and Economics >> >> >> >> Free enterprise and the economics of >> slavery 28 >> >> Marvin Brown > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Brown52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Why some countries are poor and some >> rich 40 >> >> - a non-Eurocentric view >> >> Deniz Kellecioglu > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Kellecioglu52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> The GFC >> >> >> >> Declaring victory at half >> time 54 >> >> Steve Keen > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Keen52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Modern finance, methodology and the Global >> Crisis 69 >> >> Esteban P?rez Caldentey and Mat?as Vernengo > www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >> www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/CaldenteyVernengo52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> A Keynes moment in the Global Financial >> Collapse 82 >> >> Thodoris Koutsobinas > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Koutsobinas52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Tragedy, law, and rethinking our financial >> markets 100 >> David A. Westbrook > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Westbrook52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Whither economics? What do we tell the >> students? 112 >> >> Peter Radford > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >> Radford52.pdf>download pdf >> >> >> >> Past Contributors, etc. 116 >> >> >> >> _____________________________________________________________________ >> ________________________ >> >> >> >> Real-World Economics Review Blog http://rwer.wordpress.com/ >> >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/ >> greenspan-friedman-and-summers-win-dynamite-prize-in-economics/ >> >Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/? >> page_id=922&preview=true>Nominations for the Revere Award in >> Economics >> > 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the- >> department-of-economics-and-policy-studies-at-the-university-of- >> notre-dame-has-been-officially-dissolved/>The Department of >> Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has >> been officially dissolved. >> >> >> real-world economics review on Twitter > t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http://twitter.com/ >> RealWorldEcon>http://twitter.com/RealWorldEcon >> >> >> >> ---------- >> > EmailRemove=_MjA4Njg1MzF8MzMyMzg2fHRoaW5rZXJAeHBsb3JuZXQuY29tfDM2MjQz >> MTA=_>Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "real-world >> economics review" or > Subscriptions=332386>change your subscription or > www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=332386>subscribe> www.feedblitz.com/f> >> >> ---------- >> Your requested content delivery powered by > www.feedblitz.com>FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA >> 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mai-not mailing list >> Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Mar 13 06:44:33 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:44:33 -0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Subs In-Reply-To: <380-2201036138311583@M2W125.mail2web.com> References: <380-2201036138311583@M2W125.mail2web.com> Message-ID: <20100313144431.EE5B01F3163A@smtprelay03.hostedemail.com> Hello Dion, Any time you wish to get another dose of our amazing company, just drop into Williams Lake airport and we'll pick you up. We're all getting to an age when or windows of opportunities are getting smaller and we certainly would love to see you and enjoy your own amazing company again . Cheers, Ed and Marta. At 12:03 AM 13/03/2010, you wrote: >Thanks, Yves, for your kind suggestion that I return via BC. One of the >best weeks of my entire life was spent in BC when the Deaks so kindly put >me up on a visit a few years ago and I had the privilege of extensive >conversions with the amazing Ed and Marta and their remarkable friends. As >an additional lure for another visit to BC, I understand Air Canada now >runs a flight from Vancouver to Sydney without travellers having to set >foot on American soil (where the securocrats are second only in >vainglorious arrogance to the securocrats at Heathrow). However the >additional cost would be beyond me as I have spent heavily visiting UK >rellies, and also I am being leant on from WA because of a tight schedule >for vetting this year's draft WA matric chemistry exam (usual business of >bureaucrats demanding extra lead time for themselves at the expense of ever >shorter lead times for those who do the actual work!). I have to be here >for other reasons on March 25 and ready for work in Perth by first week of >April. > >Your keeping his interesting and socially significant list alive is very >much appreciated. > > >Best wishes - Dion > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft? Windows? and Linux web and application >hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2742 >- Release Date: 03/12/10 11:33:00 From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Sat Mar 13 10:20:26 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:20:26 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Scenario One: A Pessimistic Forecast for the United States by Prof Emeritus Richard Morrill 03/12/2010 Message-ID: <4B9B9F2A.29527.FAB55FA@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> "But perhaps the greater root of our malaise, and perhaps the downfall of the American Empire, lies in excessive globalization and the loss of our capacity to make stuff, the outsourcing of, first, manufacturing and now even of services. It is instructive that this is the same story of imperial Rome. Although long dependent on its empire, by the time of its collapse it imported virtually everything from its tributary states. Its finances could no longer pay the Army which was largely made up of people from outside Italy." --- Richard Morrill, Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Washington. fyi-janet p.s Scenario 2 to follow: Morril says in this regard: The United States has a remarkable heritage of entrepreneurship and resilience in its democratic institutions. Yet there are cogent reasons to be fearful and pessimistic about our capacity to maintain our preeminence, at least in the medium run (10-15 years). I obviously hope I?m wrong, and look forward to attempts to undermine my thesis - including, tomorrow, my own. ========================= Scenario One: A Pessimistic Forecast for the United States by Richard Morrill 03/12/2010 This is the first in a two part series exploring a pessimistic and an optomistic future for the United States. Part Two will appear tomorrow. I?m an old (76) 1950s type liberal, and have lived to see the election on the nation?s first mixed-race president, as well as some remarkable social change in the general status of women and ethnic minorities. The United States has a remarkable heritage of entrepreneurship and resilience in its democratic institutions. Yet there are cogent reasons to be fearful and pessimistic about our capacity to maintain our preeminence, at least in the medium run (10- 15 years). I obviously hope I?m wrong, and look forward to attempts to undermine my thesis - including, tomorrow, my own. Consider the numbers 17, 49 and 60. Seventeen is the real unemployment rate, not the "official" ten, when we take into account those dropping out of the labor force, or giving up. Forty-nine is the real percentage of home ownership, in our "ownership" society, not the 68 percent from the census. For mighty Los Angeles, the real number is 44 percent. The difference is the stupendous number of households whose equity in the house is less than they owe on the mortgage. This house of cards has increasingly been the engine of national growth. Sixty is the number of votes in the US Senate needed to stop a filibuster, and together with inept leadership, is responsible for the absurd failure of Congress and the effective collapse of collegial democracy. Economists say we are in a recovery. What recovery? The small increase in house sales is due to temporary incentives, but including speculators buying up homes, many foreclosed, for yet greater inequality. The main gains in jobs, not fully offsetting wider losses, are in temporary construction tied to government-funded projects. The growth in jobs and the economy in the last 20 years has been in services, stuff we do for each other, and the main fuel has been the pyramiding of house values. That is over. How can we restore growth through more consumption if the majority of the population no longer has the resources to invest or spend? By far the most destructive accomplishment of almost 30 years of restructuring has been the reestablishment of extreme inequality, the emergence and power of the ultra-rich, both "progressive" and conservative in orientation, to levels last seen before the Great Depression. But perhaps the greater root of our malaise, and perhaps the downfall of the American Empire, lies in excessive globalization and the loss of our capacity to make stuff, the outsourcing of, first, manufacturing and now even of services. It is instructive that this is the same story of imperial Rome, although long dependent on its empire, by the time of its collapse it imported virtually everything from its tributary states. Its finances could no longer pay the Army which was largely made up of people from outside Italy. I?d agree that the main hope in the economic arena is via the small entrepreneur, but they face the immense monopolistic power of ever- larger global capital. I?m proud to live in Seattle, which at least dared to fight back, as in the one and only US general strike, in 1919, and in the WTO protests in 1999. Perhaps this is not so surprising since Seattle still makes things: planes (Boeing), ships (Todd) and trucks (PACCAR). The saddest irony is that even as maybe half of us celebrate a Black president, we have utterly failed to follow up on the political civil rights gains on the 1960s to incorporate Black Americans into the mainstream economy. The status of the Black male is, relatively, worse in 2009 than it was in 1969. I would not be surprised to see a reprise of the 1960s race riots. But it is also relevant to reflect on the declining state of the white male, suffering increased drop- out rates from high school, declining enrollments in college, all in the face of reduced job opportunities for the less skilled and educated, plus competition from immigrants, legal and illegal. Is it any wonder that both nativism and populism is rising anew? One might dare to believe that large Democratic majorities in Congress would give us hope for effective responses to this national malaise. But I?d say the current Congress rivals the infamous 80th congress that Harry Truman excoriated, for its "do nothingness". On the surface we can correctly observe that the Republican party, increasingly conservative, is more than willing to wreck the country in order to regain power. But part of the problem is that we no longer have a conservative and a liberal party, in an economic sense. We have two bourgeois parties, with the "new" Democratic Party increasingly dependent on the wealthy educated elite as well as well-paid public workers, it long ago abandoned the working class and did nothing to constrain globalization and the rise of the toxic financial practices. Thus we should not be surprised that the populist know-nothing uprising could bring to power large numbers of proudly uneducated folks. In the final analysis for this pessimistic scenario, the underlying culprit is the inexcusable failure of the US educational establishment, the astounding incapacity of our public and private schools to teach people to think and reason. And part of the reason for this incapacity is the excessive power of religion, which values belief over reason, in our culture. And this is why decadent Europe - aging and tax-burdened - could come out of this recession and malaise better than the United States. Perhaps we?ll see a reverse migration of surplus underemployed young Americans returning to their aging historic motherlands! Richard Morrill is Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Washington. His research interests include: political geography (voting behavior, redistricting, local governance), population/demography/settlement/migration, urban geography and planning, urban transportation (i.e., old fashioned generalist). Photo: hz536n From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Sun Mar 14 00:06:59 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:06:59 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] try this one (Re: Real world economics review CORRECTION In-Reply-To: <201003131516230859.011A3FFB@smtp.totisp.net> References: <20100311144442.F2581E6F141@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> <45AB79AB-9643-4921-8667-72A8BA937615@powerup.com.au> <201003131516230859.011A3FFB@smtp.totisp.net> Message-ID: Thanks, Dave. Included in my CORRECTION was a file icon labelled "Radford152.pdf" which evidently failed to reach you but I had inserted (as a copy from my desk top). This should be included where I've inserted XXXX below - presumably equal to the direct link you've sent. [Firefox has temporarily been unable to open the link but I may not need it now.] Thanks again. - Doug. ==== On 13/03/2010, at 6:16 PM, Dave Patterson wrote: > - not sure what is up with your computer, but here is a direct link > to the paper you want - > http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/Radford52.pdf > - clicking on that link, or pasting it into your browser, should > open it ok - Opera, Firefix and IE new versions all open PDFs ok. > The other files in the email are similar - if you want to open > them, fix them up into the same format as this link. The PAE site > is not the best organised thing around. > If you want to 'download' them onto your computer, then you need a > PDF reader, Adobe is the most popular, and free to get in various > places. Then when you see a file you want to download, you just put > the cursor on it, right click, and tell the box where to save it > (if you save it on Desktop, it's right there for you). > dave > > *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > > On 10-03-13 at 5:00 PM Doug Everingham wrote: > > CORRECTION: > > BESIDES the baffling " ... .pdf.part" files complained of, > I ALSO received the clear and accesible file > XXXX > which deals with what to teach. > > - Doug. > ==== > > On 13/03/2010, at 4:41 PM, Doug Everingham wrote: > >> I'd like to read item 112 below re What to tell students >> but my computer can't open it, just posts scores of un-openable >> files on my desktop with labels like: >> >> >> >> >> Any suggestions? >> - Doug Everingham. >> ==== >> On 12/03/2010, at 12:44 AM, Ed Deak wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> >>> sanity, humanity and science >>> real-world economics review >>> >>> Formerly the post-autistic economics review ISSN >>> 1755-9472 >>> >>> >>> Issue no. 52, 10 March 2010 back issues at >> www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >>> www.paecon.net/>www.paecon.net >>> Subscribers: 11, 312 from over 150 countries >>> >>> >>> >>> You can download the whole issue as a pdf document by clicking >>> >> www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf>here >>> http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/whole52.pdf >>> or download articles individually by clicking on their pdf link. >>> >>> In this issue: >>> >>> >>> >>> Pragmatism versus economics ideology: China versus >>> Russia 2 >>> >>> David Ellerman >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Ellerman52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Racism and Economics >>> >>> >>> >>> Free enterprise and the economics of >>> slavery 28 >>> >>> Marvin Brown >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Brown52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Why some countries are poor and some >>> rich 40 >>> >>> - a non-Eurocentric view >>> >>> Deniz Kellecioglu >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Kellecioglu52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> The GFC >>> >>> >>> >>> Declaring victory at half >>> time 54 >>> >>> Steve Keen >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Keen52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Modern finance, methodology and the Global >>> Crisis 69 >>> >>> Esteban P?rez Caldentey and Mat?as Vernengo >> www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http:// >>> www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/CaldenteyVernengo52.pdf>download >>> pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> A Keynes moment in the Global Financial >>> Collapse 82 >>> >>> Thodoris Koutsobinas >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Koutsobinas52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Tragedy, law, and rethinking our financial >>> markets 100 >>> David A. Westbrook >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Westbrook52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Whither economics? What do we tell the >>> students? 112 >>> >>> Peter Radford >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue52/ >>> Radford52.pdf>download pdf >>> >>> >>> >>> Past Contributors, etc. 116 >>> >>> >>> >>> ____________________________________________________________________ >>> _ >>> ________________________ >>> >>> >>> >>> Real-World Economics Review Blog http://rwer.wordpress.com/ >>> >>> >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/ >>> greenspan-friedman-and-summers-win-dynamite-prize-in-economics/ >>>> Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics >>> >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/? >>> page_id=922&preview=true>Nominations for the Revere Award in >>> Economics >>> >> 332386/20868531/3624310/http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the- >>> department-of-economics-and-policy-studies-at-the-university-of- >>> notre-dame-has-been-officially-dissolved/>The Department of >>> Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has >>> been officially dissolved. >>> >>> >>> real-world economics review on Twitter >> t2.asp?/332386/20868531/3624310/http://twitter.com/ >>> RealWorldEcon>http://twitter.com/RealWorldEcon >>> >>> >>> >>> ---------- >>> >> EmailRemove=_MjA4Njg1MzF8MzMyMzg2fHRoaW5rZXJAeHBsb3JuZXQuY29tfDM2MjQ >>> z >>> MTA=_>Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "real-world >>> economics review" or >> Subscriptions=332386>change your subscription or >> www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=332386>subscribe>> www.feedblitz.com/f> >>> >>> ---------- >>> Your requested content delivery powered by >> www.feedblitz.com>FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA >>> 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Mai-not mailing list >>> Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >>> http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Sun Mar 14 23:10:54 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:10:54 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_Ventura=3A_=91You=92re_not_allo?= =?windows-1252?q?wed_to_ask=92_about_9/11?= References: <55491.23615.qm@web110806.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Relayed by Doug Everingham. ==== Begin forwarded message: > From: jack loel > Date: 14 March 2010 3:48:26 PM > To: ctletters at caller.com, ctv-manager at bath.ac.uk, > cultural at embjp.ie, customer at todayszaman.com, > customerhelp at economist.com, cyphclondon at dial.pipex.com, > dailyiberian at bellsouth.net, dailyregister at ntin.net, > dailysun at mountwashingtonvalley.com, dana at mail.house.gov, > danderluh at sacbee.com, danfields at dailycommercial.com, > danglazebrook2000 at yahoo.co.uk, daniel.bertils at ljusnan.se, > darmstadt at fr-online.de, dasson at globalsolutions.org, > datebook at tennessean.com, david.bloom at gccisd.net, > david.savage at latimes.com, david at mediachannel.org, dbanker at sun- > sentinel.com, dbnred at dieburger.com, debate at euobs.com, > delbosque at texasobserver.org, delhidesk at asianage.com, > demarco at northjersey.com, despacho at embavenez-us.org, > dfowler at hastingstribune.com, dgceditor at dailygate.com, > dialog at canalplus.no, diario.digital at mail.telepac.pt, > dick.satran at reuters.com, dir-info at tf1.fr, direzione at quotidiano.net, > dispatchnews at yahoo.com, dkoller at dallesnews.com, > dlauricella at capitalgazette.com, dledford at delawareonline.com, > dlindorff at yahoo.com, dmendros at gwi.net, dmi at drummajorinstitute.org, > dmitry at pravda-team.ru, dmu-mags at internet.dk, > dnevrghm at powerup.com.au, docbrosk , > dominicp at pressgazette.co.uk, donald at mecotrucking.com, > dpalmer at jcfloridan.com, dpioneer at aol.com, > drgerrylower at jeffersonseyes.com, dsa at dsausa.org, > dscottdailyreg at ntin.net, dub-info at minbuza.nl, > dub.vertretung at eda.admin.ch, dubamb at um.dk, dubgremb at eircom.net, > dublin-ob at bmaa.gv.at, dublin at embassy.mzv.cz, duconsul at indigo.ie, > duhoux2 at tds.net, dw-tv at dw-world.de, dwfed at dwfed.org, > dy at yomiuri.com, e.polivanova at imedia.ru, e.popova at rian.ru, > easyreader at easyreader.info, ebu at ebu.ch, echo.news at glosmedia.co.uk, > echonews at expressandecho.co.uk, edit at mspmag.com, > editman1000 at yahoo.com, editoped at asianage.com, editor-in-chief at y- > i.co.il, editor-mc at thesentinel.com, editor-pg at thesentinel.com, > editor at abcnews.com, editor at adbusters.org, > editor at americanthinker.com, editor at amperspective.com, > editor at aswataliraq.info, editor at atlanticfreepress.com, > editor at azstarnet.com, editor at baghdadbulletin.com, > editor at baltimorechronicle.com, editor at bcn-news.com, > editor at bctelegraph.com, editor at beachesleader.com, > editor at bocanews.com, editor at borgernewsherald.com, editor at bpsun.hu, > editor at capecourier.com, editor at cedarkeybeacon.com, > editor at cedarvalleydailytimes.com, editor at charlescitypress.com, > editor at charlestoncitypaper.com, editor at chickashanews.com, > editor at coastnewsgroup.com, editor at collegiatetimes.com, > editor at commercialappeal.com, editor at commondreams.org > Subject: Ventura: ?You?re not allowed to ask? about 9/11 > > > Ventura: ?You?re not allowed to ask? about 9/11 > Former Minnesota governor and one-time professional wrestler Jesse > Ventura has run afoul of the Huffington Post's no-conspiracy-theory > policy, and he's not happy about it. > > "I can't believe the Huffington Post today will practice > censorship," Ventura says in astonishment. "I've got news for > them. ... I won't ever write for 'em again." > > Ventura had posted an item on Tuesday which took note of a recent > conference at which "more than one thousand architects and > engineers signed a petition demanding that Congress begin a new > investigation into the destruction of the World Trade Center > skyscrapers on 9/11." He also quoted a few paragraphs from his new > book, American Conspiracies, to explain why some of those experts > see signs of controlled demolition. > More... > > Read more... > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > 20 Signs That The United States Is Rapidly Becoming A Totalitarian > Big Brother Police State > > Mar > > 10 > > 2010 > > Category : Big Brother, Featured > > Tags: Freedom, Martial Law, Police State > > Once upon a time, the United States was a land of unparalleled > freedom. The rest of the world envied the freedom that ordinary > Americans had to think, say and do what they wanted. But all of > that has changed. Now Americans have to fear that they will be > tackled by a squad of security goons and dragged off to a detention > facility somewhere if they spill a Pepsi on a flight attendant or > take a few too many pictures of a public building. The United > States used to be the polar opposite of totalitarian regimes like > Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, but now America is rapidly > becoming very much like them. Due to the fear of a boogeyman > living in a cave somewhere or some guy with explosive powder in his > underwear we are all being forced to give up our freedoms and learn > to live in a Big Brother police state. > But have things really changed so much that we have to give up all > of the cherished freedoms that our fathers and grandfathers fought > and died for? Haven't there always been fanatics and crazies and > criminals out there? Why do we suddenly have to become so afraid > of them? > In the past, Americans would not let anyone make them live in > fear. If some unbalanced individual did something bad, it wasn't > the end of the world, was it? No, in the past Americans dusted > themselves off and continued to live as free men and women. You > see, when we live in fear and radically alter our way of life just > to feel a little more secure, we lose. We have let someone else > steal our freedom and our dignity. > But now in the name of "security" all kinds of bizarre proposals > have been implemented on the local, state and national levels. > Somehow we think that if everything that we do is watched, > monitored and analyzed we will all be safer somehow. > Maybe we are safer and maybe we aren't, but we are certainly a > whole lot less free. > The following are 20 signs that the United States is rapidly > becoming a totalitarian "Big Brother" police state.... > #1) A new bill being pushed by Senators John McCain and Joe > Lieberman would allow the U.S. military to round up large numbers > of Americans and detain them indefinitely without a trial if they > "pose a threat" or if they have "potential intelligence value" or > for any other reason the President of the United States "considers > appropriate". > #2) Lawmakers in Washington D.C. working to create a new > immigration bill have decided on a way to prevent employers from > hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card > all American workers would be required to obtain. > #3) Barack Obama is backing a plan to create a national database to > store the DNA of people who have been arrested but not necessarily > convicted of a crime. > #4) Just to get on an airplane, Americans will now have to go > through new full-body scanners that reveal every detail of our > exposed bodies to airport security officials. > #5) If that wasn't bad enough, the Transportation Security > Administration has announced that airport screeners will begin > roving through airports randomly taking chemical swabs from > passengers and their bags to check for explosives. > #6) Starting this upcoming December, some passengers on Canadian > airlines flying to, from or even over the United States without > ever landing there, will only be allowed to board their flights > once the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has determined they > are not terrorists. > #7) Organic milk is such a threat that the FDA has been conducting > military style raids on Amish farmers in Pennsylvania. > #8) An NYPD officer has broken his silence and has confessed that > innocent citizens are being set up and falsely arrested and > ticketed in order to meet quotas. > #9) A growing number of police departments across the U.S. are > turning to mobile camera systems in order to fight motor vehicle > theft and identify unregistered cars. > #10) For decades, Arizona has been known as "the sunset state", but > lately many frustrated residents have started calling it "the > surveillance state". > #11) Judges and police in Florida have been caught using "secret > codes" on tickets in the state of Florida. > #12) An extensive investigation has revealed that between 2003 and > 2007, that state of Texas quietly gave hundreds of newborn baby > blood samples to a U.S. Armed Forces laboratory for use in a > forensics database. > #13) A 6-year-old girl was recently handcuffed and sent to a mental > facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school. > #14) One 12-year-old girl in New York was recently arrested and > marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on > her desk. > #15) In Florida, students have been arrested by police for things > as simple as bringing a plastic butter knife to school, throwing an > eraser, and drawing a picture of a gun. > #16) When a mother on a flight to Denver spanked both of her > children and cussed out a flight attendant who tried to intervene, > she suddenly found herself handcuffed and headed for prison. Why? > She was charged with being a domestic terrorist under the Patriot Act. > #17) A new global treaty may force U.S. Internet service providers > to spy on what you do online. > #18) A leaked Obama administration memo has revealed plans for the > federal government to seize more than 10 million acres of land from > Montana to New Mexico. > #19) 56 percent of Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research > Corporation poll said that the U.S. government has become so large > and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and > freedoms of ordinary citizens. > #20) But one other recent poll found that 51 percent of Americans > agree with this statement: "It is necessary to give up some civil > liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism." > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > Nothing justifies America's wars > > The attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan are a gross violation of the > basic principles of international law > > By Marwan Al Kabalan, Special to Gulf News > Published: 00:00 March 12, 2010 > > Seven years into the US occupation of Iraq, diplomats, statesmen > and analysts are still debating a key question in international > politics: when and under what circumstances can war be called legal? > After leaving office, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was > asked in an interview about whether the US-led invasion of Iraq > broke international law, he replied: "Yes, if you wish. I have > indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter from our > point of view, and from the Charter point of view it was illegal". > When Annan was still in office, one must say, he expressed many > reservations about the war on Iraq, but this was the first time he > went this far and described the war as "illegal". > By contrast, former US vice-president Dick Cheney, in another > interview, insisted that military action against Iraq was legal and > that Resolution 1441 was enough to make the war in conformity with > the UN Charter. > Regardless of what one can make of this ongoing debate about the > Iraq war, the question of "legality" can, in fact, have more than > one answer ? as there are many opinions here. In addition, one > would expect Annan to describe the war on Iraq as "legal" had the > Security Council agreed on a second resolution. This was what Annan > said in the course of the interview: "I'm one of those who believe > that there should have been a second resolution, because it was up > to the Security Council to approve or determine what the > consequences should be for Iraq's noncompliance with earlier > resolutions". But Annan knows, as everyone else does, that the > Security Council does not represent the will of the international > community, but the collective interests of the big five of the > Council. Having made this point clear, the question here should not > be about the legality of the war, but about whether the war was > just or unjust; a concept that has been completely overlooked. > It is odd that the concept of "just war" was not touched upon by > those who argue that the Iraq war was illegal although it has > become a matter of tense public debate in recent years ? first, > during discussions about nuclear deterrence in America, and then in > the wider debate that preceded the Gulf War in 1991 and reached a > climax during and after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The > question was further complicated by the vague "war on terror" and > the national security strategy of the George W. Bush > administration, which granted America the right to launch pre- > emptive attacks against potential enemies ? those who do not > necessarily constitute a direct threat to US interests. > In the light of the UN charter, war can be justified only in case > of self-defence or in case of a threat to international peace and > security. Yet, these two conditions are ? by and large ? subjective > and open to interpretation. Who would, for example, decide that the > action or reaction of a certain state is in self-defence? The US, > for instance, invaded Afghanistan in the name of self-defence. Yet > the action of war ? in absolute terms ? requires another state to > have war with. And if we agree that the Taliban regime was > representative of the Afghan people and state, the question would > then be: Did Afghanistan attack America? And was the US counter- > attack, therefore, a case of self-defence? Can the confrontation > between the US and the Taliban regime be called war? And can war be > waged against non-state actors such as Al Qaida? In legal terms and > according to international provisions, the answer to all these > questions is negative. Afghanistan did not attack America; Al Qaida > was not the ruling regime in Afghanistan and the confrontation with > Al Qaida cannot be called war at all since the rules of war were > not applied or respected by either side of the conflict. > The same applies to the question of threatening international peace > and security. In this case, who would decide that the action of > certain states is a threat to the international community? Did > Iraq, for example, pose a threat to international peace and > security before the US-led invasion? > In any case, it is widely agreed that for a war to be just, it must > fulfil two conditions: first, it must be a "last resort" and, > second, its anticipated costs to soldiers and civilians alike must > not be disproportionate to ? be greater than ? the value of its > ends. In the light of these two factors, if we consider all the > wars which have been fought by the US in the post-Second World War > era, we find that most of them ? not all, though ? were unjust, > including the war against Iraq. > > Dr Marwan Kabalan is Lecturer in Media and International Relations, > Damascus University. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > > World?s Billionaires Grew 50 Percent Richer in 2009 > - by Andre Damon - 2010-03-13 > > Global Research, March 13, 2010 > World Socialist Web Site - 2010-03-12 > > 2009 will be remembered by millions of ordinary people as the year > they lost their job, their house, or the prospect of an education. > For the rich, however, it was a bonanza. > > The world?s billionaires saw their wealth grow by 50 percent last > year, and their ranks swell to 1,011, from 793, according to the > latest Forbes list of billionaires. > > The combined net worth of these 1,011 individuals increased to $3.6 > trillion, up $1.2 trillion from the year before. On average, each > billionaire had his or her wealth increase by $500 million. > > Four hundred and three billionaires reside in the United States. > They constitute just 0.00014 percent of the country?s total > population, but control 8 percent of the national wealth. Each of > these individuals holds over 300 million times more wealth than the > average US resident. > > The list included 21 hedge fund managers, who as a group more than > made up for whatever losses they incurred in 2008. Some of them, > including James Simons, John Arnold, and George Soros, raked in > profits during both the collapse and the market recovery. > > Topping the list of wealthiest hedge fund managers was John > Paulson, at $32 billion. Paulson made billions in 2008 by betting > that the housing market would collapse, and billions more through > the stock market recovery of 2009. > > Only one of the 21 hedge fund managers on last year?s Forbes list > fell off. This was Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group, who was > arrested last year on charges of insider trading. > > Hedge fund managers James Simons, John Arnold, and David Tepper got > average returns of 62, 52, and 31 percent, respectively, between > 2008 and 2010. David Tepper made $2.3 billion over the past year, > while John Paulson?s wealth grew by $6 billion. > > The number of US billionaires grew to 403, up from 359 last year. > The Asia-Pacific region had 234 billionaires, up from 130 the last > year. Europe has 248 billionaires, despite having twice the > population of the United States. > > The 1,011 people on this list command a phenomenal amount of > personal wealth. Their holdings are larger than the gross domestic > products of every country besides China, Japan, and the United > States. The wealth of the 403 US billionaires could more than cover > the 2008 US federal deficit, with money left over for the states. > > While the number of billionaires on the list is just short of the > all-time high of 1,125 reached in 2008, it represents a phenomenal > rebound. At this rate, the number of billionaires will once again > hit record levels next year. > > Carlos Slim Hel?, a Mexican telecommunications tycoon, moved up to > the first position on the list at $53.5 billion, beating out > Americans Bill Gates ($53 billion) and Warren Buffet ($47 billion). > The wealth of all three men rose dramatically. Over the last > several years Slim Hel? made roughly $27 million a day compared > with the average daily income of $16.50 for Mexican workers. > > The rich in India and China gained among the most. ?For the first > time, mainland China has the most billionaires outside the US,? > Forbes said in its statement. ?US citizens still dominate the > ranks, but their grip is slipping.? > > The hedge fund managers and financiers on the list benefitted > directly from the bank bailout, which transferred huge sums of > public funds into the accounts of the largest financial companies. > But the billionaires in every other industry were the indirect > recipients the government?s wealth transfer program also. > > The Wall Street Journal, commenting on the figures, wrote, ?How did > the world?s rich get so much richer? Stock markets?. In short, what > the stock market had taketh, the stock market hath giveth back?-at > least to the billionaires.? > > But the stock market recovery itself is no accident; it was the > direct outcome of policies pursued by both US political parties. > The bailout has been financed by a policy of fiscal austerity and > high unemployment. The rapid increase in the wealth of the > billionaires is the result of the impoverishment of tens of > millions; it is the other face of mass unemployment, poverty, > utility shutoffs, and foreclosures. > > Aside from direct government handouts to the banks and super-rich, > the major driver of the recovery of corporate profits?and thus the > stock market?was productivity growth and corporate downsizing. > > In 2009, the unemployment rate rose from 7.7 to 10 percent, three > million jobs were lost, and wages fell dramatically. Millions of > families lost their homes and became dislocated. But productivity, > the amount of output that is produced from each hour of work, rose > by 7 percent. > > The money freed up through the destruction of social programs, > higher employee output, and corporate restructuring has found its > way into the pockets of the people on Forbes? list. > > Andre Damon is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global > Research Articles by Andre Damon > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > --------------------------------------------------------- > > Why are we Afraid to Tax the Super-Rich > " With a fairer tax system, we could retrieve some of that money > downpour that the elite has been siphoning away from us for decades". > > > http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/12/why-are-we-afraid-to- > tax-the-super-rich/ > It is not ?we? who are afraid to tax the rich it?s congress. > > You might also like: 4 Myths About Taxes, Debunked (AlterNet: > WorkPlace) Why are We Afraid to Create the Jobs We Need? (AlterNet > Community Blog) Congratulations! You?re donating $2,000 per family > to Wall Street?s Bonuses (AlterNet Community Blog) Americans Want a > Health Surtax on Wealthy > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > > The Bank of the Fed is Closed?Forever > > By Robert Singer > In an effort to explain our escalating financial crisis, an > American Nightmare (an Environmental Dream), the pundits are > focusing their angst on the 44thPOTUS, who might very well go down > as the single most inept president in all of American history. (How > to Squander the Presidency in One Year, David Michael Green) > Barack Obama is not inept, greedy or stupid and he isn?t one of ?us?. > He rose from obscurity to power with his top economics adviser, > Zbigniew Brzezinski, the co-founder of David Rockefeller?s > Trilateral Commission and he travels in the same circles as other > members of the super-secret Skull & Bones Society at Yale > University, who pretend to be running for president every four years. > The decision to have Obama preside over the greatest financial > calamity since the Great Depression was made five years ago; the > November election was a formality. (Why Joseph Biden will be the > Next Vice President of the United States) > To believe otherwise, is to ignore the Bradley/Palin effect and the > decision by John McCain to wait until his concession speech to shed > the image of a nasty ?grumpy old man.? > In September 2008, when the Obama campaign seemed to be slumping > and their candidate?s long-standing lead in the polls had > evaporated, the senator?s supporters openly worried that a > potential victory might be slipping away. Then, providence joined > the campaign: the failure of the giant investment bank Lehman > Brothers followed by a global financial meltdown in the month of > October. > And, ?speaking of change?, escalating the war in Afghanistan and > Iraq and his policies on Guantanamo, state secrets, renditions, > executive power, bail-outs and the stimulus packages are for the > most part identical to those of George W. Bush. > However, the policies at the Federal Reserve have changed? > inexplicably, monumentally and historically: > As of October 2008, the men behind the Federal Reserve, all > connected to the House of Rothschild, are no longer giving up > what?s left of their real wealth so the middle class can live the > American Dream, a nightmare for the planet. > Brian Deese, special assistant to president Obama for economic > policy, in his first government position, shuffles back and forth > from the West Wing to the Treasury Department rewriting the rules > of American ?capitalism? as he dismantles the US Housing, > Automobile Industry and the American Dream. (The 31-Year-Old in > Charge of Dismantling G.M., David E. Sanger) > Deese?s First Rule: Withdraw Credit and Liquidity: > Causing spending to fall even further, forcing companies to cut > back on inventory and staff ? Creating even more unemployment? > 263,000 jobs eliminated bringing the total to 39 million Americans > who are no longer working or looking for work. (The September > Employment Rate is 90%) > And that?s before the recently announced ?planned three-year budget > freeze on government discretionary spending.? > The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 > One of the most important domestic acts in the nation?s history > took the power to create money from the people and gave it to the > robber barons of our filtered history books in theory for profit. > The Federal Reserve was instrumental in the development of America > into a world power. > The United States, in its first decades, was a land of small farms > and nearby towns with few cities of any consequence. The young > nation seemed far more interested in becoming a successful > experiment in democracy, rather than an economic power. > A central bank, necessary for a consumer society, large cities, a > common medium of exchange, and a mechanism to regulate that medium > were greeted with hostility, since many of the nation?s leaders > disdained the urban life. > Anyone who spoke against the ?Creature from Jekyll Island? by G. > Edward Griffin was silenced. > Presidents Garfield and McKinley, outspoken champions of ?sound? > money and opponents of a central bank, were suspiciously silenced > permanently. > The conflict between rural values and urban reality ended when > Woodrow Wilson ?unwittingly ruined his country? and signed into law > the legislation that put ?the growth of the nation . . . and all > our activities in the hands of a few scoundrels (men).? > Once those scoundrels got control of the supply of money in the > Franklin Roosevelt Administration, they began to buy government > securities at the rate of ten million dollars a week for 10 weeks, > and created one hundred million dollars in new (checkbook) > currency, which alleviated the critical famine of money and credit, > and the factories started hiring people again.? (Secrets of the > Federal Reserve, Eustace Mullins) > Now those scoundrels remain in control of the supply of money in > the Barack Obama Administration, they are making generous interest > payments to the banks for ?parking? their TARP and other government > taxpayer bailout money, which is aggravating the critical famine of > money and credit, and the factories started laying people off > (263,000 people in September bringing the total to 39 million > Americans who are no longer working or looking for work). > One of the more absurd notions that found its way into the history > books and the writings of economic experts, is that somehow these > Robinhood barons (swindlers and scoundrels of history) were made > wealthier by manipulating the Monopoly money they created out of > ?thin air? used to ?alleviated the critical famine of money and > credit? so the factories could start hiring people again and > finance our consumer society. > In 1910, the men behind the Federal Reserve Rockefeller, Kuhn, Loeb > and Morgan, all connected to the Rothschild?s global financial > empire, owned or controlled one-sixth of the world?s real wealth? > gold, silver and raw materials?not the fiat currency we call money. > And their real wealth, where is it now? > Used up, as in consumed, by the middle class so former members of > the Third Estate (serfs and slaves) could have houses, cars, RVs, > TVs and DVDs?the affordable things we take for granted which put > the planet, according to theGEO4, a massive United Nations Report, > at the ?unknown points of no return.? (Libert?, Egalit?, Fraternit? > ? Providence, Miracle or What Really Happened) > The swindler?s and scoundrel?s wealth, not yours or mine, was > eventually ?cut, mined and hauled away,? so that Americans could > ?trash the planet? with that cheap stuff until October 2008. > Money control, Gustav Stolper wrote in ?This Age of Fables? is, > ?the supreme and most comprehensive of all governmental controls > and the 1838 quote: > ?Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care > not who makes its laws? (Incorrectly attributed to Mayer Amschel > Rothschild who died in 1812). > Reflects the ?maxim? of the House of Rothschild. > However, ?money lenders of the Old World? cannot be talking about > profits unless you believe The Rothschilds didn?t understand that > they were about to give up $500 trillion of real wealth in exchange > for $500 trillion pieces of worthless fiat currency. > During the last 100 years, those swindlers and scoundrels were able > to distort the structure of relative prices; generate > misallocations of labor and capital throughout the economy; > rationalize new governmental interventions in the face of the > market ?instability? manipulate the patterns of and the profits > from international trade which resulted in the Industrial > Revolution, the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970s, the > dot-com and the housing market bubbles and unprecedented prosperity > for the middle class. > Would we have a financial crisis to go with our environmental > crisis if Wilson hadn?t ruined the country when he gave away the > people?s right to print their own money and we had our own bank? > No. > North Dakota is the only state in the union to own its own bank. > The Bank of North Dakota (BND) was established by the state > legislature in 1919 specifically to free farmers and small > businessmen from the clutches of out-of-state bankers and railroad > men. > The state of North Dakota, one of only two states (along with > Montana) expected to meet its budget in 2010. North Dakota was also > the only state to actually gain jobs in 2009 while other states > were losing them. Since 2000, North Dakota?s GNP has grown 56 > percent, personal income has grown 43 percent and wages have grown > 34 percent. North Dakota in 2009, had a budget surplus of $1.3 > billion, the largest it ever had ? in a state with a population of > 700,000. (The North Dakota Model for Capitalizing Community Banks, > Ellen Brown) > North Dakota, a land of small farms and towns more interested in > remaining a successful experiment in democracy rather than an > economic power. > At this point, it is advantageous to consider the efforts of writer > Andrew Hitchcock: > ?The Rothschilds have been in control of the world for a very long > time, their tentacles reaching into many aspects of our daily > lives, and are the hidden hand behind all the social cataclysms in > history: The French and American Revolution, the Civil War, World > Wars, the Industrial Revolution, the Federal Reserve (and our > consumer society).? > John Sherman, a Rothschild prot?g? in a letter sent to New York > bankers on June 25, 1863 in support of the then proposed National > Banking Act, wrote: > ?The few who understand the system, will either be so interested in > its profits, or so dependent on its favors that there will be no > opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body > of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous > advantages?will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps > without suspecting that the system is inimical to their best > interests.? (World War II And Pound, 1940-1945: The Anti-Semite > Revealed, Ellen Cardona) > In other words, the ?few that understand the system?, without a > 20th century environmental perspective of the middle class > ?trashing the planet?, would not be capable of comprehending a > system that would put the planet at the ?unknown points of no > return? because the environmental damage and pollution was the goal > and not the unintended consequences of the Industrial Revolution > and our consumer society. > The Federal Reserve isn?t evil because they print our money and > make us pay interest on it; they are evil because they are in a > metaphysical war with mother-earth (Gaea). > October 2008 marked the last day the ?lender of last resort? would > give up what?s left of their real wealth, used to con us into > shopping for useless toxic stuff, to weaken their opponent, mother- > earth. (Ominous Signs Are Aligned: Not A Particularly Good Sign > (11-09)) > Robert Singer writes for Waronyou, The Market Oracle and The > Peoples Voice. > About Robert: > Robert Singer writes for Waronyou, The Market Oracle and The > Peoples Voice. > > bookmark to: > > Related Posts: > > 2008 Financial Collapse: The Greatest Calamity The World Has Ever > Known > End ?The Fed Scam? Now! > Everybody Has A Responsibility! > America?s ?Money Machine? > FDR?S New Deal v. Obamanomics in Their First 100 Days > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 15 09:51:23 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:51:23 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] DUBAI assassination report Message-ID: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-dubai-investigation142010mar14,0,2523803,full.story By Borzou Daragahi LA Times March 14, 2010 Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates Lacking witnesses but blessed with hundreds of hours of video, the cops and spooks worked the case of the slain weapons smuggler like a movie in reverse. Dubai's cameras never blink. The security system allows law enforcement to track anyone, from the moment they get off an airplane, to the immigration counter where their passport is scanned, through the baggage claim area to the taxi stand where cameras record who gets into what cars, which log their locations through the city's automated highway toll system, all the way to their hotels, which also have cameras. Which brings us to the Bustan Rotana hotel on the night of Jan. 19, and an assassination made to look like a run-of-the-mill heart attack. The dead man, as the world now knows, was a 50-year-old Hamas commander named Mahmoud Mabhouh, wanted by Israel in the killing of two Israeli soldiers. Once Dubai investigators narrowed the time of death to 8 to 8:30 p.m., they quickly found that seven people in the Bustan Rotana had no business being there. Using facial recognition software, a source familiar with the investigation said, a team of 20 investigators pored over hours of security camera videos to sketch out a picture of the suspects' movements and accomplices, a group that has grown to at least 27 people. They tracked down taxi drivers and grilled them about the suspects. They even traced the trip of a female suspect to a shopping center and discovered what she bought. For years, the United Arab Emirates has been using its considerable oil wealth to build up its defense and security infrastructure, including the National Security Agency, the secret police, which is playing a key role in the investigation. "They buy the best," said Kamal Awar, a retired Lebanese army officer and editor of Beirut-based Defense 21, a regional military magazine. "They bought the latest technology in satellite and communications." In the end, a mixture of high-tech razzle-dazzle and old-fashioned investigative work cracked the case. "What it takes is a few skilled police officers putting stuff on the board and figuring out who relates to what," said Col. Patrick Lang, a former U.S. military intelligence officer who served in the Persian Gulf for years. "It's not a magic thing. It's a question of thinking clearly." A HOMICIDE IN DISGUISE The middle-aged man was splayed out dead in his hotel room as if he'd gone into cardiac arrest. The door was chained from the inside. Coroners surmised that he'd died of natural causes. But one doctor noticed an abnormality in the blood. He later spotted strange puncture marks on a leg and behind an ear. And after the Palestinian militant group Hamas informed Dubai authorities that the dead man was Mahmoud Mabhouh, they decided it couldn't hurt to double-check. Blood samples were sent abroad. Days passed. When the toxicology reports showed that he'd been given a lethal dose of a powerful anesthetic, Dubai authorities knew they had a high-profile homicide on their hands. Though Mabhouh was no friend of the Emirates, authorities were furious about the killing. "The whole operation was based on one key assumption: that the death will be recorded as a natural death," Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center, a Dubai think tank, said of the assassins. "And that was the downfall. The reason why they were so careless was because they thought there would be no investigation." At least half of the passports used by the 27 suspects bore the names and registration numbers of Israeli dual citizens who held British, Irish, Australian, French or German passports, leading many experts to believe that Israel's spy outfit, Mossad, had forged the identities. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped about the case and refused to confirm or deny the nation's involvement. None of the suspects captured on video or identified in passport photos, including a bottle-blond and an assortment of beefy, balding guys wearing rectangular glasses, have come forward to deny or confirm their involvement. Interpol announced last week that it was joining the international investigation. "Investigative information provided by the authorities in Dubai bore out the international links and broad scope of the number of people involved, as well as the role of two 'teams' of individuals identified by the Dubai police as being linked to al-Mabhouh's murder," Interpol said in a statement. AN UNLIKELY PLACE TO STRIKE Perhaps no hotel in Dubai is less amenable to an assassination than the upscale Bustan Rotana, in the Garhoud district adjacent to the airport. The circular building's rooms are arrayed around a vast airy atrium. "If you're sitting in the lobby you can see the door to every room," said Theodore Karasik, a security analyst at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Affairs, a think tank with offices in Dubai and Beirut. "If there's a scuffle, you can see and hear it." Security experts around the world have also puzzled over the apparent size of the hit team: 27 bearers of Western passports and, according to Hamas, two or three Palestinians. Some security experts said the assassins knew what they were doing, organizing themselves into evacuation, surveillance and execution teams. But others see a classic bureaucratic blunder. "You have a surveillance team and a counter-surveillance team and the technical people as well as the security people around the perimeter," said Lang, the former U.S. military intelligence officer. "Once you start doing that, you have to have shifts. You have to have two or three sets of these people and rotate them. Once you start doing it that way you're going to have a lot of people." The assailants apparently entered the hotel room without any struggle, suggesting that someone on the team knew Mabhouh. A fatal dose of the powerful muscle relaxant succinylcholine quickly paralyzes its recipient and ultimately mimics the effects of a heart attack. It should have killed Mabhouh within 15 minutes. But something must have gone wrong, said the source with knowledge of the investigation, because the assassins pressed a pillow against Mabhouh's face for one or two minutes until he suffocated. "They were panicking for one reason or another," said the source. The hit team tidied up the room and laid Mabhouh out as though he'd suffered a massive heart attack and dropped dead. Dubai Police Chief. Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told satellite channel Al Arabiya that "the murderers tried their best to mislead us." A knack for putting things together Just as police were about to conclude that it was a natural death, a Palestinian man trying to contact Mabhouh learned of his death and telephoned his family in Gaza. It was only then that Hamas officials contacted Dubai police, Tamim said. "Dubai police are very good at piecing together crimes," analyst Karasik said. "I've seen it before when you had robberies or murders occur and you'll forget about the story and then six months later the guys are arrested via Interpol, brought back here and then they disappear into the system." Although Mabhouh's assassins managed to enter the country, kill him and get out without getting caught, the case has generated what most analysts consider unwelcome fallout for Israel, which most suspect of being behind the attack. Authorities are now reexamining the death of Faisal Husseini, a charismatic Palestinian leader who died in his Kuwait hotel room in 2001. "Now we know their tradecraft," said Alani. "We know how they operate." If Mossad agents were behind the attack, the operation blew the identities of 27 agents; it takes up to five years to train each agent. "They'll never be able to go outside of Israel again, even with disguises," Karasik said. "Biometrics means all of the contours of your face are on file." daragahi at latimes.com ############## http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-dubai-slaying17 -2010feb17,0,871621.story At least some Dubai photos of Hamas 'assassins' appear fake Irish officials and Israeli citizens dispute the validity of passport information released by the emirate in the killing of alleged arms dealer Mahmoud Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room. By Edmund Sanders February 16, 2010 | 7:07 p.m. REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM At least some of the passport photos and information released by Dubai this week on 11 suspects in the assassination of an alleged Hamas arms dealer appears to be false, Irish officials and several Israeli citizens said Tuesday. The use of sophisticated fake IDs would match the professional manner in which the Jan. 20 slaying of Mahmoud Mabhouh was apparently carried out. Melvyn Adam Mildiner, a British Israeli who moved to the Jerusalem area from London nine years ago, awoke Tuesday to find his name splashed across Israel's major newspapers alongside someone else's photograph in a mug-shot collage of the alleged hit squad. "I went to bed with pneumonia and woke up a 'murderer,' " he mused to the Jerusalem Post. Mildiner, who spent the day fielding phone calls from reporters, said he was worried about what sort of travel problems he now might encounter if Interpol has an arrest warrant in his name. Israeli TV reported Tuesday night that the names of at least six other Israelis match those of suspects. Some said they, like Mildiner, had dual citizenship and that the passport photos released by Dubai were not of them. Officials in Ireland, meanwhile, said three suspects identified as Irish passport holders -- Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron -- do not appear as such in their records, and that the passport numbers publicized by Dubai were counterfeit. "We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens. Ireland has issued no passports in those names," the Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press. The suspects also used British, German and French passports, Dubai said. Israeli officials continue to keep silent regarding suspicions that the country's Mossad spy agency organized the killing. Some analysts said the assassination had the hallmarks of a Mossad operation, while others wondered whether it was staged to look that way. Mabhouh, who was born in the Gaza Strip but was living in Syria, allegedly was responsible for the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Israelis have said Mabhouh was involved in smuggling arms for Hamas. He had traveled to Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates, on a false passport, officials said. Dubai Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said this week that the 11 suspects operated out of a hotel room across the hall from Mabhouh's. There have been conflicting reports over whether Mabhouh was suffocated, electrocuted, poisoned or strangled. edmund.sanders @latimes.com Times staff writer Borzou Daragahi in Beirut contributed to this report. From creuss at bluewin.ch Mon Mar 15 10:08:56 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:08:56 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] DUBAI assassination report Message-ID: > The reason why they were so careless was because they > thought there would be no investigation." At least half of the passports > used by the 27 suspects bore the names and registration numbers of Israeli > dual citizens who held British, Irish, Australian, French or German > passports, leading many experts to believe that Israel's spy outfit, > Mossad, had forged the identities. Or perhaps the intended message to the world was that Israel can kill ANYwhere on the planet, and get away with it. They have enough Sayanims and puppets, after all. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From thinker at xplornet.com Mon Mar 15 10:20:06 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:20:06 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] DUBAI assassination report In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20100315172002.E811E1157D08@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> When you are "chosen" you can do anything. There was a guy on TV a few weeks ago : "This is our land, because God gave it to us " How can you counter "God's Will"? Cheers, Ed. At 10:08 AM 15/03/2010, you wrote: > > The reason why they were so careless was because they > > thought there would be no investigation." At least half of the passports > > used by the 27 suspects bore the names and registration numbers of Israeli > > dual citizens who held British, Irish, Australian, French or German > > passports, leading many experts to believe that Israel's spy outfit, > > Mossad, had forged the identities. > >Or perhaps the intended message to the world was that Israel can kill >ANYwhere on the planet, and get away with it. They have enough Sayanims >and puppets, after all. > >Chris > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword >"igve". > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.790 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2748 - Release Date: >03/15/10 00:33:00 From creuss at bluewin.ch Mon Mar 15 11:10:29 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:10:29 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] DUBAI assassination report Message-ID: > How can you counter "God's Will"? With logic and facts (that fly in the face of religious nonsense). The "chosen-ness" (god-given privilege) can only become a self-fulfilling prophecy IF the rest of us "buy" it. Otherwise, it becomes the worthless piece of paper (or mental illness) that it is. Cheers, Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Mar 15 12:20:41 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:20:41 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] =?utf-8?q?_PR_firm_runs_for_Congress_seat_as_=E2=80=98c?= =?utf-8?q?orporate_person=E2=80=99_=5Bto_make_a_point=5D?= Message-ID: <4B9E5E59.22726.1A2F38C7@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office. "Until now, corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence-peddling to achieve their goals in Washington," the candidate, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a statement. "But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves." The corporate candidate?s online ad on YouTube makes a particularly passionate case for why it?s necessary to have more direct corporate representation in Congress: "As much as corporate interests gave to politicians, we could never be absolutely sure they would do our bidding." It concludes with a rousing call to action: "Vote for Murray Hill Incorporated for Congress - for the best democracy money can buy." fyi-janet ==================================== http://www.kuda1610.com/?p=6634 PR firm runs for Congress seat as `corporate person? By John Wagner WASHINGTON POST Also SF Chronicle Mar 14. 2010 WASHINGTON - Murray Hill might be the perfect candidate for this political moment: young, bold, media savvy, a Washington outsider eager to reshape the way things are done in the nation?s capital. And if these are cynical times, well, then, it?s safe to say Murray Hill is by far the most cynical. That?s because this little upstart is, in fact, a startup. Murray Hill is actually Murray Hill Inc., a small, 5-year-old Silver Spring, Md., public relations company that is seeking office to prove a point (and perhaps get a little attention). After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office. "Until now, corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence-peddling to achieve their goals in Washington," the candidate, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a statement. "But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves." William Klein, Murray Hill?s campaign manager, said the firm appears to be the first "corporate person" to run for office and is promising a spirited campaign that "puts people second, or even third." The corporate candidate?s online ad on YouTube makes a particularly passionate case for why it?s necessary to have more direct corporate representation in Congress: "As much as corporate interests gave to politicians, we could never be absolutely sure they would do our bidding." The ad includes images of gleaming office towers and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and promises Murray Hill will bring "enlightened self-interest and corporate accounting" to Congress. It concludes with a rousing call to action: "Vote for Murray Hill Incorporated for Congress - for the best democracy money can buy." The firm, whose clients include labor unions and environmentalists, is seeking to enter the Republican primary for the seat held by Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen. The firm "wanted to run as a Republican because we feel the Republican Party is more receptive to our basic message that corporations are people, too," Klein said. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3027 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 15 14:41:55 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:41:55 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Corpration as person Message-ID: While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. M ########### http://www.kuda1610.com/?p=6634 By John Wagner, Staff Writer Washington Post March 15 Murray Hill might be the perfect candidate for this political moment: young, bold, media-savvy, a Washington outsider eager to reshape the way things are done in the nation's capital. And if these are cynical times, well, then, it's safe to say Murray Hill is by far the most cynical. That's because this little upstart is, in fact, a start-up. Murray Hill is actually Murray Hill Inc., a small, five-year-old Silver Spring public relations company that is seeking office to prove a point (and perhaps get a little attention). After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office. "Until now, corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence-peddling to achieve their goals in Washington," the candidate, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a statement. "But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves." William Klein, a "hired gun" who has been enlisted as Murray Hill's campaign manager, said the firm appears to be the first "corporate person" to run for office and is promising a spirited campaign that "puts people second, or even third." The corporate candidate already has its own Web site, a Facebook page with 2,600 fans and an online ad on YouTube that has drawn more than 172,000 hits. The ad makes a particularly passionate case for why it's necessary to have more direct corporate representation in Congress. In a soothing voice, a narrator bemoans that "as much as corporate interests gave to politicians, we could never be absolutely sure they would do our bidding." The ad includes images of gleaming office towers and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and promises Murray Hill will bring "enlightened self-interest and corporate accounting" to Congress. It concludes with a rousing call to action: "Vote for Murray Hill Incorporated for Congress "for the best democracy money can buy." The firm, whose clients include labor unions and environmentalists, is seeking to enter the Republican primary for the 8th District seat held by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D). The firm "wanted to run as a Republican because we feel the Republican Party is more receptive to our basic message that corporations are people, too," Klein said, adding that his client has no particular beef with Van Hollen. From creuss at bluewin.ch Mon Mar 15 15:45:28 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:45:28 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] Corpration as person Message-ID: > While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? (sorry, couldn't resist) Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 15 15:56:17 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:56:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Corpration as person In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanx for the memory !! No apologizing needed. M On Mon, 15 Mar 2010, Christoph Reuss wrote: > While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? (sorry, couldn't resist) Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 15 16:23:25 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:23:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Corporation as person Message-ID: To the below news item I sed While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. To which correspondent CR responded" Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? (sorry, couldn't resist) CR to which I say "Thanx for the memory" while JW said "Brilliant" ######## Please keep it coming M From thinker at xplornet.com Mon Mar 15 17:15:33 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:15:33 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Corporation as person In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20100316001527.710EC70F9B1@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> MIchael, I have two corporations , one in farming the other in fine arts, with combined assets of about $25. so there wouldn't be any dowry, and our commie pinko Medicare addicted Canadian corporations wouldn't be much good in the Land of the Brave and Free, but you could try courting them and see if they'd like you. Cheers, Ed. At 04:23 PM 15/03/2010, you wrote: >To the below news item I sed > > While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. > >To which correspondent CR responded" > >Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? > (sorry, couldn't resist) > CR > >to which I say "Thanx for the memory" > >while JW said > >"Brilliant" > > >######## >Please keep it coming >M > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.790 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2749 - Release Date: >03/15/10 12:33:00 From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Mar 15 21:52:21 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:52:21 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Business Roundtable - economic elite - who rules america - plutocrats Message-ID: <004c01cac4c4$dd267680$61ad57ca@jfos> http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/links.html "Power is the production of intended effects (B. Russell), November 8, 2005 By Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) In his analysis of the nature and distribution of power in the US, G. William Domhoff shows eminently that the US is ruled by a power elite, which is the leadership arm of an upper class rooted in capitalism. He illustrates his thesis by dissecting the tractations around the Social Security Act, the Wagner Act and the Employment Act, as well as the composition of the Council on Foreign Relations and the IMF negotiations in Bretton-Woods. The author discerns 4 segments in the US ruling class: 1. an internetional segment: transnational corporations represented by organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations or the Committee for Economic Development 2. a nationalist manufacturing segment, rooted in domestic markets and represented by NAM or similar organizations 3. a southern segment, based on land ownership and cheap labor 4. a more localized segment, based on local real estate and development interests. Polically, the southern segment sides with the international segment on international trade (export of cotton and other commodities), and with the nationalists on labor and welfare issues. For the author, this power structure can only be challenged by social disruptions, be they violent or non-violent. Only turmoil can lead to increased voter turnout or change in voting (example: protest against the Vietnam war). A natural capitalist evolution where the rich get richer and the poor poorer can only be challenged by a countervailing political party and the state. But the power elite is precisely there for making sure that such intervention does not happen. The author was hopeful to see a major shift in US policies with the death of 'the old bogeyman: the red menace'. However, the red menace has been replaced by terror organizations like Al-Qaeda. The end of the Cold War did not lead to a decline of the military budget (the peace dividend). On the contrary, the military and ontelligence budgets are at an all time high, eating one half of the total US budget. Keynesism is still discredited and state spending is not directed to social needs (the number of US citizens without healthcare protection is also on an all time high). The wealth and income distributions are more skewed than ever. The unions and most liberal social movements are on the defensive, if not completely dead. As always, G. William Domhoff's work is highly informative and a must read for all those interested in US history and in US governmental policies." ########################################################### Business Roundtable - economic elite - who rules america - plutocrats "The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." - Utah Phillips In total, the Economic Elite are made up of about 0.5% of the US population. At the center of this group is the Business Roundtable, an organization representing Fortune 500 CEOs that is also interlocked with several lead elite organizations; it is the most influential and powerful Economic Elite organization. http://www.alternet.org/economy/145996/ the_most_powerful_destructive_corporate_business_club_most_americans_hav e_never_heard_of related http://www.businessroundtable.org/about/members "The Business Roundtable joined the Business Council at the heart of both the corporate community and the policy-formation network and now has the most powerful role.. The Roundtable's interlocks with other policy groups and with think tanks are presented [below]." -- G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America? http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/links.html ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From d_a_d at telusplanet.net Mon Mar 15 23:24:01 2010 From: d_a_d at telusplanet.net (David Davidson) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:24:01 -0600 Subject: [Mai-not] Corpration as person In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4B9F2401.3040709@telusplanet.net> On 15/03/2010 4:56 PM, MichaelP wrote: > Thanx for the memory !! > > No apologizing needed. > M > > On Mon, 15 Mar 2010, Christoph Reuss wrote: > > Bully for you Chris. Your comments were well thought out. David >> While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. >> > Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? > > (sorry, couldn't resist) > Chris > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword > "igve". > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > > _______________________________________________ > Mai-not mailing list > Mai-not at globalproblematique.net > http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > From thinker at xplornet.com Tue Mar 16 10:04:57 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:04:57 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] 1980 interview with Herman Daly Message-ID: <20100316170501.9A1A021877D8@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> This was the 1980 interview with Herman Daly that started me off into economics., after 37 years of fruitless research into the causes of "history's tragedies". Interesting to see whether the world had learned anything in these past 30 years, and whether conditions have improved, or worsened ? Cheers, Ed. ========================================================================= Herman E. Daly: Steady-State Economics By the Mother Earth News editors In our "Let the Men and Women of Wisdom Speak" feature in MOTHER NO. 59, we ran an eloquent antinuclear statement by a professor of economics named Herman E. Daly. Since that time, we've received many letters from readers who admired the well-expressed thought but ended their notes by asking, "Just who is Herman E. Daly, anyway?" The question is a fair one, because Dr. Daly's name isn't exactly a household word . . . at least not yet. However, such "heavyweight" thinkers as Paul Ehrlich and Garrett Hardin are familiar with the Louisiana State University economist's work (Ehrlich has gone so far as to say that Daly is "among our most important theoreticians for a sustainable society"). Furthermore, the LSU professor is rapidly becoming known as one of the leaders of a movement to aim our society toward a long-term, sustainable, "steady-state" view of the earth and its needs ... a movement that has also been represented by E.F. Schumacher, Kenneth Boulding, and Amory Lovins. You see, Professor Daly knows how to describe the fatal path of our "more is bigger is better" cultural growth syndrome with a clarity and eloquence that few people can match. Even more important, the economist has prepared a set of well-thought-out solutions to many of our runaway society's problems! In order to find out more about this man, and about his blueprint for a steady-state future, MOTHER sent staffer Pat Stone to Baton Rouge to interview the LSU professor. The following transcript?which has been edited from over four hours of conversation?is the summary of that encounter. When you finish reading it, you'll no longer be asking, "Who's Herman E. Daly?" Instead?because this social scientist's message is so vitally significant?we think (and hope) that you'll start telling other people about Dr. Daly and his work! PLOWBOY: Professor Daly, you've said that most economists do little more than "seek the optimal arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic" ... in other words, that the finance specialists are so busy tinkering with the details of market operations that they don't realize the whole system is headed for disaster! Isn't that a pretty harsh criticism? DALY: Perhaps so ... nevertheless, that statement is absolutely true! Orthodox economists believe in ever-increasing growth, but never stop to consider the implications of that belief. To them, the solution to every financial problem?including poverty, unemployment, inflation, and even pollution?is more, and more rapid, economic growth. PLOWBOY: But wait a minute, you're a professor of economics yourself! Surely you didn't begin your career by combatting the beliefs of the leaders in your chosen field? DALY: No, actually I started out as just another orthodox economist. As a matter of fact, my main reason for entering the field was related to promoting economic growth. You see, I grew up in Texas, where I came to know many Mexican people. I got interested in other cultures? especially the Latin culture?and decided that I wanted to help extend our American standard of living to poorer areas of the world. So I began studying economics, which seemed like a practical field for a young man with such goals . . . earned a graduate degree . . . got an assistant professorship here at Louisiana State . . . and went to work in Brazil in 1968. PLOWBOY: You traveled to Brazil to teach economics? DALY: Yes, I worked in that nation's northeastern state of Cear? ... an underdeveloped area which is sort of the Appalachia of Brazil. The economics students from this region always lost out in competition for American scholarships, so the Ford Foundation sent me there to help them "catch up". PLOWBOY: While you were in Cear?, did you teach standard growth economics? DALY: Yes, until the students at the university in Fortaleza went on strike . . . not against growth economics, but for their own national political reasons. When that happened, I suddenly had two free months . . . and decided to devote the time to a population research project in northeast Brazil. I soon learned that my study topic was hardly an academic abstraction. In that part of the world, one can almost see the population explosion in action! And?after observing hordes and hordes of hungry, uncared-for children?I was no longer impressed with the much-touted figures concerning Brazil's rising Gross National Product. You see, according to standard economics, a prosperous growth economy should provide enough wealth for everyone to have an adequate share . . . but that certainly wasn't the case in Brazil. And one of the main reasons the poor weren't sharing in their country's increased industrial expansion was that their population was growing too rapidly. Worse yet, that growth actually benefited Brazil's upper class . . . since it provided the wealthy people with an almost unlimited supply of low-wage labor! PLOWBOY: That must have been quite a shocking lesson for you to learn. What happened next? DALY: When I came back from my two years in Brazil, I spent a lot of time studying the population problem. I began to realize that if there is a limit to the number of human bodies that can be supported on earth, there has to be a similar limit to the number of sustainable artifacts and commodities available ... in other words there must be a limit to economic growth. My interest in such concepts led to my working for a year as a research associate at Yale University's Economic Growth Center. I suppose I was an ?ungracious guest"?because I started writing against economic growth while I was on the Growth Center's payroll?but the experience proved to be a great learning opportunity for me. I came under the influence of physicists, ecologists, and biologists ... as well as important economists like Kenneth Boulding and Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. Eventually, I came to realize that economics is actually a branch of biology: that is, a science that focuses on all of our "outside the skin" life processes, which are dominated by commodities of exchange. PLOWBOY: You became a kind of ecological economist. DALY: Well, both words do come from the same Greek root: oikos, or household. Ecology means the study of the household?which, of course, is the entire planet Earth?and economics means the management of the household. So a union of the two fields is perfectly appropriate. PLOWBOY: What did you do with this new-found synthesis? DALY: Shortly after I returned to LSU from Yale, I edited my first book?an anthology of essays called Toward a Steady-State Economy?which tried to expose the basic fallacy of standard "growthmania" economics and point the way to a stable, long-term, steady-state economy. That book and my major work, Steady-State Economics, have been used in courses at over 100 colleges and universities from Stanford to MIT. But, I'm sorry to say, I think the books have had more influence on environmental studies programs than on the economics departments of such schools. And the people I'm really trying to reach are my more orthodox colleagues . . . because the ecologists already know there's a problem with our pattern of ever-increasing growth. If I could only get some of the leading economists to look at the larger picture and become seriously interested in the possibilities of a stable, steady-state economy. . . . PLOWBOY: Why is it so important to reach economists? How much influence can they have? After all, such financial theorists seem to spend much of their time contradicting each other! DALY: That's true, there are all sorts of debates and divisions in orthodox economic circles. Consequently, most people have learned not to pay any attention when economists argue about financial issues like taxes or interest rates . . . and rightfully so. But most economists do agree on the basic theory that the economy is a machine that continually needs to be fueled and made bigger. Furthermore, the majority of our world's governments use this mechanistic model to tackle all of their finance-related problems. Do you have poverty and unemployment? GROW to provide jobs and welfare revenues. Do you have inflation? GROW to increase the quantities of produced goods so prices will fall. Stuck with an unfavorable international balance of payments? GROW to increase exports. Got too much pollution? GROW so you'll be rich enough to afford cleaning up and discovering new technologies. Worried about war? GROW so you can have both guns and butter. In fact, almost all of the nations on our planet are on a perpetual expansion kick. Indeed, economic growth is the most universally accepted goal in the world! Capitalists, communists, fascists, and socialists all strive to solve their problems by maximizing growth. And that fundamental belief?the concept that growth is a panacea?came right from the world's economists. PLOWBOY: Is this belief what you mean when you refer to growthmania? DALY: Growthmania is more than believing in infinite growth ... it's the situation that occurs when that growth becomes so important that no one can even conceive of its ever costing more than it's worth. But we're worse off than that. We've got hypergrowthmania. PLOWBOY: Hypergrowthmania? DALY: Yes, we take all the costs of growth and add these to our Gross National Product as benefits! Have you ever noticed that nothing is ever subtracted from the GNP? That's because we count our expenses as income! And the logic of that path may eventually lead us to terminal hypergrowthmania. PLOWBOY: TERMINAL hypergrowthmania?!! DALY: Terminal hypergrowthmania?and here I hope I'm exaggerating?will come when we increase the death rate so more funeral expenses can be added to our GNP! PLOWBOY: That sounds pretty grim. If we burned all of the world's fossil fuels as rapidly as we could, we'd end up getting the energy equivalent of only about two weeks of sunlight. DALY: True, but it's the logical, inevitable result of ignoring the finite nature of our environment, of assuming that the physical world should be adjusted to accommodate infinite growth . . . instead of recognizing our real biophysical limits and adjusting ourselves and our economy to function within those boundaries. PLOWBOY: What are the basic limits that you're referring to? DALY: You can determine them by simply asking yourself how humans live. The answer, of course, is that our lives are ultimately dependent on sunshine! There's a fixed solar flux that comes to the earth, and we "feed" on that energy. That's one basic fundamental constraint. Of course, right now we are also living off the sunshine of Paleozoic summers trapped in fossil fuels. But that's an impermanent subsidy. It's capital instead of income. There're other restrictions?such as our mineral resources, for instance-but even more basic than those are the universal unbreakable laws of matter-energy: namely, the first and second laws of thermodynamics. PLOWBOY: Could you give us a "refresher" explanation of those "energy rules"? DALY: Of course. The first law states that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed . . . that everything has to come from somewhere and go to somewhere. Our world is both a source for inputs of matter-energy and the sink for outputs of matter-energy. The second law deals with entropy?which, simply put, is the degree of waste or disorder in the use of energy?and says that, in a closed system, entropy always increases. That is. we are constantly converting useful low-entropy potential into high-entropy waste. The economic importance of these two laws can be seen when one considers how they affect what I call "throughput" . . . the basic flow of matter-energy from the environment, through the human economy, and then back to the environment. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that you can't destroy matter-energy . . . you can only convert it. The second law tells us that the conversion is always from a useful form to a less useful form and?ultimately?to irrevocable waste. The fact that this basic matter-energy flow is entropic in nature shows us that it's basically a cost: The greater the throughput, the greater the cost we're paying. And this cost?which can be seen as the expense of maintaining our bodies and artifacts?must, in a nongrowth economy, be minimized for whatever level of population and wealth we want to maintain. PLOWBOY: But how do all these restricting physical laws apply to economics? DALY: These laws of thermodynamics mean, among other things, that a society can't grow forever. If a culture does try to keep growing, it'll run smack dab into the matter-energy limits. Now this may seem obvious . . . but I've heard prominent economists express absurd statements like, "Man has probably always worried about his environment because he was once totally dependent on it," and "I can't conceive of a non-growing economy." There is, however, one economic system that does recognize our biophysical limits: the steady-state economy. In a steady-state system the population of human bodies and artifacts is held at a constant level, and throughput is limited to the minimum flow necessary to maintain that level. Such an economic system can still "develop"?culture, knowledge, quality, and goodness can all continue to evolve?but it doesn't "grow". Now what are the requirements of a steady state? First, in order to establish such a system, you have to have a renewable resource base. Fortunately, we possess that. We have renewable fisheries, forests, grasslands, crop lands, sun energy, etc. And, until 200 years ago when humankind started relying heavily on industrialization and depletable minerals, we pretty much were able to survive on those "constants". Second?and this is a more difficult requirement to meet, we need the willingness to scale our activities to fit a limited budget. After all, renewable resources are only self-perpetuating at a particular level. If you push them beyond their long-term sustainable yield, they're not renewable anymore. So we have to impose a discipline on ourselves to guarantee that we live within our means. PLOWBOY: That's a tall order. How do we convince people to limit personal consumption? DALY: Well, one approach would be to just go around and say, "Come on everybody, let's consume less" . . . but you know in advance that's not going to work. Garrett Hardin pointed out this problem in his famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons": Nobody profits from making an individual sacrifice unless everybody else makes it, too. So people who would be willing to join a collective effort to sacrifice aren't going to risk being suckers when nobody else goes along. That's like the bumper sticker that you sometimes see on big Cadillacs . . . the one that says, "You folks keep on buying those small cars. I need the gas you save." So?along with the potential for cooperation by the conscientious majority?you have to have some systems to coerce all people into living within their biophysical limits. Of course, you don't want these systems to be too coercive, because that would allow the government to meddle too much in everyone's life. Therefore the best regulatory systems would equitably control the total throughput, but leave the allocation of that aggregate consumption flow to free choice, market interaction, and independent decision-making. PLOWBOY: You're suggesting that government put some external limits on consumption, but let folks have freedom within those borders? DALY: That's right, have macro stability but micro variability. PLOWBOY: What sort of system could make this goal possible? DALY: I've suggested three policies that I think we ought to institute. And let me say out front that my proposals are not presented as a final, ultimate solution . . . I'm merely trying to set a starting point for the debate. I'm just an auctioneer who has to call out a price to get the bidding going. And here are my bid openers: First?and I think this is clear to many people?we need to have limits on population growth. Now the simplest, most straightforward way to accomplish this regulation is to give everyone an equal right to reproduce, and to set that right at a figure which corresponds to a replacement level for the population. At this point I tend to favor Kenneth Boulding's scheme that recommends the use of transferable licenses to bear children. If someone can come up with a better idea, I'm eager to hear it, but I think Boulding's plan combines the maximum possible degree of individual choice with the absolute need for total population stability over the entire global surface. PLOWBOY: Can you explain how transferable birth licenses would work? DALY: Basically, under such a program, each person would have the right to one child. Boulding suggested making the birth permits divisible into tenths of a unit?you'd have credits equal to one-tenth of a license?in order to make for an easier exchange. The licenses would, of course, be distributed equally, so there'd be no question of allowing some people to reproduce and not others. Everyone would be treated equally. Then when a man and woman married, the couple would have a total of two licenses, or 2.1 ... whatever figure most accurately corresponds to the replacement fertility level. Of course, some couples will want to have three or four children, while others will want none. So folks would have the freedom to exchange licenses by either sale or gift. PLOWBOY: There'd be an open market for birth licenses, at a set going rate per one-tenth of a unit. DALY: That's right. Now, this idea horrifies many people. "Oh my God," they say, "you're recommending that we sell children!" Well, I'm not talking about selling children . . . I'm talking about a system that would allow people to sell a right to reproduce. Once a child is born, he or she is born and is here and has the same rights as everyone else, which certainly includes the right not to be sold. PLOWBOY: But how would you enforce such a system? DALY: That would be very difficult, but the problem of regulation would occur with any sort of population-limiting program. I don't think that enforcement would have to be cruel and unusual. There could, for example, be some kind of fine for having children without a license. Or maybe the parents of such "illegitimate" children would have a certain period of time to purchase licenses by doing extra service work in the community. I don't know exactly what the proper enforcement procedure ought to be ... but I'd assume, from the beginning, that most people would voluntarily comply with the license plan. There are just not enough policemen to coerce everyone into obeying any piece of legislation, so?with any law?you have to assume that you'll get voluntary compliance from the majority. On the other hand, you must also assume that there will be a recalcitrant minority, and that if you don't deal firmly with those people, they'll undermine the total system. So there would have to be some sort of punishment. One thing's for certain though: The sooner we initiate population control measures, the milder the punishments for disobedience can be. Currently, in Singapore, couples who have more than two children lose all sorts of economic benefits . . . because such harsh punishment measures are quite necessary on the overcrowded little island. If we wait until the whole world is as crowded as Singapore, all nations will naturally have to take equally stern measures. Another objection to a transferable birth license program is that the rich would have an advantage because they could buy more licenses. This is undeniably true. The rich can buy more of all the world's goods than can the poor. That's the whole idea of being rich! So whatever injustice there might be in this plan stems from the prior existence of rich and poor . . . not from a license system which, by itself, would tend to be equalizing in the distribution of income. PLOWBOY: But?because the program would be introduced into an unjust system?poor people who need the money would feel forced to sell. DALY: Suppose that happens. Then families with little money will have fewer children and rich people will have more. From the point of view of the child, life will be better. PLOWBOY: That's still unfair to poor parents. DALY: But such unfairness stems from the fact that poor people are poor. The way to help them is to help them not be impoverished anymore! That's where my second suggested policy comes in: the idea of a minimum and maximum limit to wealth and income. In effect, such a system would allow the market to freely distribute income . . . but only within limits. And in setting the boundaries, we'd have to avoid two opposite mistakes: the error of having completely unlimited inequality?poverty and extreme wealth somewhat like what we have now?and the injustice of imposing a flat kind of equality that would keep everyone at exactly the same level of income no matter what. I think either extreme is dangerous. Instead, I suggest we set up a system with a limited range of inequality. After all, people who tackle jobs that are more difficult or unpleasant than other jobs deserve higher financial rewards and incentives for their work. Actually, a guaranteed minimum income has a good deal of political support from conservatives and liberals alike . . . because it would allow us to ease away from many of our very detailed, meddlesome welfare programs and distributive devices. The concept of a maximum income, though, is different. People don't like to talk about that. In fact, the upper limit idea is most unpopular with the poor! PLOWBOY: Why is the idea of a ceiling on riches controversial to anyone except the very wealthy? DALY: Partly because almost everyone hopes that he or she will eventually strike it rich. More than that, though, people don't see the need for a ceiling. If you believe?even unconsciously?that there're no limits to the total amount of resources and money, then there's no need for an upper income limit. But if there are limits to the total wealth, and if you enforce a minimum income, you're also implicitly establishing the need for a maximum income. PLOWBOY: And what range would you envision between the upper and lower income levels? DALY: Plato said that, in his ideal republic, the richest citizen would be four times as wealthy as the poorest. However, I'd think that a factor of 10 would be more adequate to reward all the real differences in work and incentive. PLOWBOY: What might be a minimum income today? DALY: I don't know, say something on the order of seven or eight thousand dollars a year . . . with the maximum set at ten times that. All income beyond seventy or eighty thousand dollars a year would then get taxed away at 100%. Of course, most people would not continue earning extra money when they would have to pay it all to the government. So such men and women would ease off from what they were doing, devote their remaining time to leisure activities, and?in the process?open up job opportunities for others. In that way, a maximum Income would help equalize the opportunities for rewarding work and help distribute the wealth. PLOWBOY: What is the third stage of your system to establish a steady-state economy? DALY: The third step would be to put a direct limit on our resource throughput. We would recognize our biophysical constraints?our planetary "budget"?and institutionalize the limits established by that world budget by setting up a financial counterpart to it. I suggest we do so by placing depletion quotas on basic resources. The government would auction rights for the aggregate amount of each material that could be taken from the environment In any one year. Once again, this program keeps macro control but allows for micro variability and freedom. The government wouldn't own?or even set the sale price for? the mineral, fuel, or whatever. It would simply own, and profit from, the auction rights. Once a person bid for and bought a quota permit, he or she would then deal only with the mining or lumber company that he or she hired to harvest the raw materials. The quota right would simply be a ticket to enter the resource marketplace. Such a policy would do several things: First, it would put a definite limit on energy and matter throughput. And, because the waste produced at the back of the system is determined by the raw materials going in the front, quotas would also lower aggregate pollution. Obviously, they'd raise a lot of money for the government, too . . . money for funding the minimum income plan or lowering payroll taxes. In addition, the quota program would effectively raise the price of resources. Manufacturers would have to pay for the quota right as well as for the basic material and, naturally, they'd pass the cost increases on to their customers. It is to be hoped, of course, that the higher prices would force us to be more efficient in our use of resources. This is the part of the quota plan that causes the environmental movement to clash with the consumer movement. You see, most consumer leaders want to lower all prices, but that's definitely unwise. If you have lower prices for both abundant and scarce resources, you're just going to use them all more lavishly. Higher prices on scarcer raw materials, on the other hand, would serve to discipline us to be more efficient in the use of those resources . . . and force our technology to economize on expensive materials by using them less or recycling them more. PLOWBOY: What about the poor? Higher prices will hurt them most. DALY: Once again the problem is not with the prices but with the fact that people are poor. Don't try to help impoverished people by lowering resource prices. That would actually subsidize the rich?who are the greatest consumers?more than the poor! The way to help the destitute is through a minimum income plan. Give them money, but require them?and the rich as well?to make their spending choices in such a way as to minimize the inefficient use of basic resources. PLOWBOY: It sounds as if none of your three plans could work alone. DALY: That's right, the systems fit together. In fact, there's a basic economic principle that says when you have two independent policy goals, you need two independent instruments in order to achieve both aims. For example, people could debate forever about whether to raise or lower the price of energy. The people who favor efficiency would say raise it... those who favor equity would say lower it. But the two goals will never meet. You must serve efficiency by raising the price of energy . . . and then serve equity by redistributing income resulting from the increased price. PLOWBOY: What about enforcing a pollution tax instead of a depletion quota? That would cause resource prices to rise, as well. DALY: True, but you have to remember that the environment doesn't care about prices, it cares about quantity . . . and pollution taxes wouldn't necessarily limit the amount of resources consumed. Such taxation would also operate at the end of the throughput process. Entropy is higher at a system's output than at the input end, so?inevitably?we'd always have many more smokestacks and drain pipes than mines and wells. Besides all that, trying to influence the marketplace with a pollution tax is a little like letting a two-year-old child loose in a living room full of irreplaceable antiques, and then slapping the tot's hands every time he or she breaks an invaluable vase or lamp . . . instead of simply building the largest possible playpen in the room, and leaving the youngster free to play within the limits set by the enclosure. When left to itself, the market system does not make long-term value decisions. The costs of such choices are usually either delayed or not obvious ... or they don't fall mainly on the decision-maker. Instead, the market operates?and very effectively, in its own way?on the basis of short-run competition. Take the difference between solar energy and fossil fuels: It's estimated that the sun will shine for about another four billion years. On the other hand, if we burned all the world's fossil fuels as rapidly as we could, we'd get the energy equivalent of only about two weeks of sunlight. That's two weeks versus four billion years! Yet we currently allow the price of our scarce, short-term oil resources to determine the extent to which we introduce solar energy. If solar energy can't compete with fossil fuel that's made inexpensive by rapid extraction, then we say solar energy is uneconomical to use. That's backwards! We ought to recognize the sun's power?our "permanent" resource?as the standard, figure out how much it costs to produce a Btu of usable energy by solar means, and let that cost determine the price and corresponding rate of depletion of fossil fuels. PLOWBOY: So the power provided by the sun would be the energy base for a steady-state economy? DALY: That's right. Solar energy is a long-lasting, continuous resource . . . and it's environmentally benign. Plus, since we are unable to use tomorrow's solar power today?we don't know how to "mine" the sun?such energy automatically accounts for the needs of future generations. Of course, we still have some problems?because solar power arrives in very dilute forms?with concentrating enough sunlight energy for high intensity uses. But in the long run, solar power has to be the main energy source for an ongoing steady-state economy. And that brings up one of the crucial reasons why the steady-state-versus-continued-growth debate is important: After we run out of fossil fuels, we'll have to base our economy either on some form of solar energy or on some kind of nuclear-based energy. PLOWBOY: Then the growth economy is tied to atomic power? DALY: Absolutely. You can't speed up sunlight, so solar power effectively slows the economy down by imposing an ecological discipline upon it. But nuclear power holds out the promise of more concentrated, larger amounts of energy to fuel more of the growthmania that we already have. Now the promise of abundant, low-cost atomic power has proven to be false. The nuclear industry is not going to be able to deliver scads of inexpensive energy. But since the promise has been made, people still find the atomic alternative appealing. PLOWBOY: Inexpensive atomic power is a false promise? DALY: Yes, because the hidden costs of nuclear energy are extremely high. Just building the necessary power plants would require the lions share of available investment funds, leaving other sectors starved for capital. Of course, nuclear power also presents waste-storage problems, radiation risks, the possibility of meltdowns, cleanup and shutdown costs ... all of which are strong arguments against relying on atomic energy. But I think the most telling arguments against "nukes" are social: The kind of precautions necessary to make nuclear energy safe from terrorism or plutonium theft are very, very difficult to enforce. In order to do so, the whole nuclear fuel cycle would have to become a quasi-military operation and would infringe greatly on the civil liberties of many people. PLOWBOY: How do the concepts of a steady-state economy apply to the international situation today. Specifically, how does such a system affect the roles of the developed and underdeveloped countries? DALY: Clearly the developed nations?especially the U.S.?have to take the lead here. Let me illustrate the point with an interesting thought experiment I use here at LSU. Sometimes I ask my college classes, "What would the U.S. be like if we used one-half the amount of energy per capita that we use now?'' The students usually decide that life on such a budget would have to be vastly different. There'd be a revolution, they say . . . we'd have complete and total change. But then I tell the students that back in the early 1960's we were using one-half the energy per capita that we're using now, and I ask how different life was in the early 60's. Well, I get a lot of blank stares?most of my students can't remember 1960?so I explain that people did have automobiles "way back then", they had TV's, and life wasn't really all that different from the way it is today . . . yet we were only using half as much energy as we do now! The U.S. today has only 6% of the world's population, but we use 30% of the world's energy! PLOWBOY: So developed countries like the U.S. should be the first to adopt a steady-state economy? DALY: For certain. We have to move from our present luxurious energy life-style toward a level of consumption that's lower, yet still sufficient for a good life. That line between sufficiency and extravagance is, of course, very hard to define. At this point, however, exactly where we draw that line is less important than is the basic acknowledgment that a line must be drawn. PLOWBOY: What about the underdeveloped countries? Isn't it hypocritical for America to tell such nations, "Don't grow. Don't try to be like us?" DALY: Of course. It doesn't make sense for us to urge a steady-state economy?at least at current economic levels?on countries like Honduras or Guatemala . . . because such lands are still impoverished. However, it does make sense to urge limits to population for those countries. In other words, developed nations must limit both birth rate and per capita consumption, while underdeveloped countries should control only their populations: The per capita consumption of the poorer lands is going to have to grow for a while before it can be fairly stabilized. PLOWBOY: Professor Daly, you've presented a very sensible case for the steady-state economy and how it could work. But, to be honest, it's hard to believe that most people would ever try such a system! After all, you're saying that poor countries would have to be willing to limit population, rich countries would have to do without some luxuries . . . and everyone would have to acknowledge a limit to economic growth, and work together to leave some of our planet's resources for future generations. All in all, your plan sounds pretty idealistic! In the past, it was just plain easier to have a lot of freedom than it's going to be in the future with either a steady-state or a forced-growth economy. DALY: You're right to point out such difficulties. And I, for one, would certainly not want to run for president on a steady-state platform ... it would be a sure recipe for defeat. People are simply not yet ready to accept a steady-state economy. But the fact remains that men and women need to be taught if they're to change. There was a time when steady-state arguments had no effect on me, yet the logic of such systems eventually did convince me. And I'm not totally unique. My thought processes are similar to those of other rational beings. In my own outlook, I tend to be a "hopeful pessimist". I'm hopeful because I know people can change their minds ... a lot of entrenched attitudes and opinions have changed. Take an example from the history of population control: Back in the 1920's, Margaret ganger and others were thrown in jail for sending birth control information through the mails. Today?on the other hand?abortion can be had on demand and is even publicly subsidized! Whether you consider it to be for the better or not, that's an enormous change of attitude in just 50 years. So I believe people can, indeed, be convinced to move toward the steady-state economy. Looking at the short run, though, I can't help being pessimistic . . . because I don't think our economic growth patterns are going to change quickly. The steady-state movement is going to be glacial: irresistible in the long run but very, very slow. So the danger is that the change will be too long in coming. There's no guarantee that the amount of time necessary for such a social conversion is available to us. We may run into really grave problems in the next 20 years. PLOWBOY: When will our situation start to deteriorate? DALY: Right now . . . and I think it'll continue to get worse for at least the next five or ten years. PLOWBOY: What's going to happen? DALY: We'll have more of the type of problems you're seeing in the newspapers today: failures of advanced technology, inflation, continuing scarcity of energy, patchwork solutions that don't consider the underlying economic faults. It will take a really fundamental crisis to get people's attention on the problem . . . some 2 X 4 that clobbers them over the head. Then maybe people will start listening to all the rational arguments in favor of a steady-state system. PLOWBOY: What will that fundamental crisis, that 2 X 4, be? Do you think it will be a depression? DALY: A crash? That could certainly happen. There're lots of ways a depression could come about. Let's just look at one: Suppose something?say, an enormous war in the Middle East?completely knocks out all our Arab oil supplies. A financial panic could ensue. Industries which depend heavily on energy imports would break down. Disruptions in our food distribution system would stop the interstate food shipments from California. Before long, many people?particularly urbanites?might be reduced to a precarious or subsistence livelihood. PLOWBOY: That's a bleak scenario. Do you really think that we'll have a severe depression? DALY: I'd say there's something like a 20% probability that a financial crash will occur in the next 10 years. That's an extremely vague estimate, of course, but I would think that anyone who discounts the possibility of a depression to zero isn't being smart. On the other hand, someone who thinks a depression's a near certainty is probably not being too smart, either . . . but, by golly, we sure ought to recognize that such an occurrence is a realistic 20% possibility. PLOWBOY: What other forms could the fundamental crisis take? DALY: Well, we were nearly "2 X 4? d? by the accident at Harrisburg's Three Mile Island. A full meltdown would have had quite a shock effect?to say the least?and would have undercut a whole lot of the influence that "happy technologists" have in furthering growth. On the other hand, perhaps a single major metropolitan area might have a severe local breakdown. Big cities are especially vulnerable to crises because of their large populations and interdependent systems. No matter what, though, we're sure to see accelerated inflation. We're in for a long, sustained inflationary period ... as one result of trying to live beyond our biophysical budget. PLOWBOY: The future under our growth economy certainly doesn't sound good. But some folks might look at all the restrictions inherent in a steady-state economy and think that system doesn't sound too good, either. The shortest and straightest route to a strict totalitarian dictatorship is our push toward a nuclear-powered 'plutonium economy'. DALY: The steady-state society will require some reduction in freedom, compared to what we have known in the recent past, but you have to look elsewhere to make a relevant comparison. The future steady state should be compared with the future growth economy. In the past?during the era of industrial boom and the open frontier?it was just plain easier to have a lot of freedom than it's going to be in the future whether we have either a steady-state or a forced-growth economy. But the possibilities for retaining as much individual freedom as possible are a lot better in the steady-state system than in an economy where big government would have to keep trying to force growth in the face of encroaching natural limits. An overpopulated and overconsuming community that is pressing the carrying capacity of its global ecosystems would ?for its own survival?have to come under the authority of a controlling power. And the less of that control its citizens could find within themselves, the more the regulation would have to come from without. That need for external restraints could lead us directly to a strict totalitarian state . . . and?without a doubt?the shortest and straightest route to such a dictatorship is our present push toward a nuclear-powered "plutonium economy". PLOWBOY: What would life in a steady-state system be like? DALY: Well, life on such a budget might actually turn out to be nicer than it is now. Today, Americans are dying more from the stresses of abundance than from the diseases of scarcity. In fact?because folks often feel they have to balance their work hours with "productive" and "efficient" leisure?people even turn their hurried, crammed-in spare time into another area of stress! In the steady state, however, leisure time wouldn't have to be so dominated by considerations of efficiency, but could be freer and more spontaneous. Life in general could be more healthful and relaxed. There'd be less pushing each other around and treading on each other's heels. The world would have room for wild animals that might otherwise be exterminated because they competed for our food supply . . . and wild flowers that would have been dug up to make room for scientific agriculture. Oh, there'd be some tradeoffs?for example, we'd all own fewer luxuries and take fewer long-distance trips?with a steady state, but I think that our present growth economy has actually forced us to give up quite a bit, too . . . and that?if we reverse the trade?we won't be all that unhappy with the results. PLOWBOY: And do you feel that your vision of a steady-state future is a plausible, achievable one? DALY: Yes, I do. We need both moral growth and the proper social institutions to reach it, and admittedly the institutional changes are relatively minor compared to the revolution that would be required in values. Yet most people really do have the basic notion that humankind is the steward of creation, and that we must not behave as if our generation were the last. Most men and women would be willing to give some consideration to the future and to the continuation of life on our planet. However, we are quickly approaching the crossroads for our decision. The choice between a nuclear-powered growth economy and a solar-powered sustainable economy is probably the major social and moral decision facing our generation. We have, thus far, treated that choice as no more than an economic dollars-and-cents decision: That treatment has obscured the issue greatly. Our choice is not so much an economic as a moral and ethical decision . . . and one that will determine the fate of our planet. ---------- EDITOR'S NOTE: The books Steady-State Economics (which costs $12.00 in hard cover and $6.50 in paperback) and Toward a Steady-State Economy ($15.25 hardbound and $7.95 in paper) can he ordered?postpaid at these list prices?from W.H. Freeman and Company, Dept. TMEN, 660 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94104. The related Plowboy Interview with Dr. Garrett Hardin was run in MOTHER NO. 57, page 16 . . . which is available, for $3.00 plus $l.00 shipping and handling, from THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS?, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, North Carolina 28739. From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Tue Mar 16 10:59:21 2010 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (diongiles1 at aapt.net.au) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:59:21 -0400 Subject: [Mai-not] Israel and God's will Message-ID: <380-220103216175921622@M2W131.mail2web.com> Chriss Reuss wrote: > How can you counter "God's Will"? With logic and facts (that fly in the face of religious nonsense). The "chosen-ness" (god-given privilege) can only become a self-fulfilling prophecy IF the rest of us "buy" it. Otherwise, it becomes the worthless piece of paper (or mental illness) that it is. ======================== This touches on a much greater question than the assassination(s) in Dubai. The first seven chapters of the Bible, called the Heptateuch, set out the whole basis for the Judeo-Christian religion and its Moslem offshoot. Chosen-ness runs right through it. It is a record of the murderous grab for Middle East land and the ethnic cleansing which furthered and consolidated it. Only one ethnic group had any significance in the eyes of God and (more importantly) of those who invented him as cover for the whole process. It continues, and it is hard to see how anyone can accept the Bible, or Torah, or Koran as more than expressions of the ideology permeating the Heptateuch with God/Yahweh/Allah being mystical models for brutal authoritarianism laced (in the case of the seven chapters and therefore of all that rests on those fundamentals) with unrelieved racism. The racist settler State of Israel is an inevitable consequence and is unlikely ever to be defeated without an ideological struggle challenging all the assumptions of the Heptateuch and everything that follows. Dion Giles -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com ? Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft? Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail From thinker at thelakebc.ca Tue Mar 16 09:55:29 2010 From: thinker at thelakebc.ca (Ed Deak) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:55:29 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Interview with Herman Daly Message-ID: <201003161655.o2GGtSTM006327@renu.siraza.net> This was the 1980 interview with Herman Daly that started me off into economics., after 37 years of fruitless research into the causes of "history's tragedies". Interesting to see whether the world had learned anything in these past 30 years, and whether conditions have improved, or worsened ? Cheers, Ed. ========================================================================= Herman E. Daly: Steady-State Economics By the Mother Earth News editors In our "Let the Men and Women of Wisdom Speak" feature in MOTHER NO. 59, we ran an eloquent antinuclear statement by a professor of economics named Herman E. Daly. Since that time, we've received many letters from readers who admired the well-expressed thought but ended their notes by asking, "Just who is Herman E. Daly, anyway?" The question is a fair one, because Dr. Daly's name isn't exactly a household word . . . at least not yet. However, such "heavyweight" thinkers as Paul Ehrlich and Garrett Hardin are familiar with the Louisiana State University economist's work (Ehrlich has gone so far as to say that Daly is "among our most important theoreticians for a sustainable society"). Furthermore, the LSU professor is rapidly becoming known as one of the leaders of a movement to aim our society toward a long-term, sustainable, "steady-state" view of the earth and its needs ... a movement that has also been represented by E.F. Schumacher, Kenneth Boulding, and Amory Lovins. You see, Professor Daly knows how to describe the fatal path of our "more is bigger is better" cultural growth syndrome with a clarity and eloquence that few people can match. Even more important, the economist has prepared a set of well-thought-out solutions to many of our runaway society's problems! In order to find out more about this man, and about his blueprint for a steady-state future, MOTHER sent staffer Pat Stone to Baton Rouge to interview the LSU professor. The following transcript?which has been edited from over four hours of conversation?is the summary of that encounter. When you finish reading it, you'll no longer be asking, "Who's Herman E. Daly?" Instead?because this social scientist's message is so vitally significant?we think (and hope) that you'll start telling other people about Dr. Daly and his work! PLOWBOY: Professor Daly, you've said that most economists do little more than "seek the optimal arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic" ... in other words, that the finance specialists are so busy tinkering with the details of market operations that they don't realize the whole system is headed for disaster! Isn't that a pretty harsh criticism? DALY: Perhaps so ... nevertheless, that statement is absolutely true! Orthodox economists believe in ever-increasing growth, but never stop to consider the implications of that belief. To them, the solution to every financial problem?including poverty, unemployment, inflation, and even pollution?is more, and more rapid, economic growth. PLOWBOY: But wait a minute, you're a professor of economics yourself! Surely you didn't begin your career by combatting the beliefs of the leaders in your chosen field? DALY: No, actually I started out as just another orthodox economist. As a matter of fact, my main reason for entering the field was related to promoting economic growth. You see, I grew up in Texas, where I came to know many Mexican people. I got interested in other cultures? especially the Latin culture?and decided that I wanted to help extend our American standard of living to poorer areas of the world. So I began studying economics, which seemed like a practical field for a young man with such goals . . . earned a graduate degree . . . got an assistant professorship here at Louisiana State . . . and went to work in Brazil in 1968. PLOWBOY: You traveled to Brazil to teach economics? DALY: Yes, I worked in that nation's northeastern state of Cear? ... an underdeveloped area which is sort of the Appalachia of Brazil. The economics students from this region always lost out in competition for American scholarships, so the Ford Foundation sent me there to help them "catch up". PLOWBOY: While you were in Cear?, did you teach standard growth economics? DALY: Yes, until the students at the university in Fortaleza went on strike . . . not against growth economics, but for their own national political reasons. When that happened, I suddenly had two free months . . . and decided to devote the time to a population research project in northeast Brazil. I soon learned that my study topic was hardly an academic abstraction. In that part of the world, one can almost see the population explosion in action! And?after observing hordes and hordes of hungry, uncared-for children?I was no longer impressed with the much-touted figures concerning Brazil's rising Gross National Product. You see, according to standard economics, a prosperous growth economy should provide enough wealth for everyone to have an adequate share . . . but that certainly wasn't the case in Brazil. And one of the main reasons the poor weren't sharing in their country's increased industrial expansion was that their population was growing too rapidly. Worse yet, that growth actually benefited Brazil's upper class . . . since it provided the wealthy people with an almost unlimited supply of low-wage labor! PLOWBOY: That must have been quite a shocking lesson for you to learn. What happened next? DALY: When I came back from my two years in Brazil, I spent a lot of time studying the population problem. I began to realize that if there is a limit to the number of human bodies that can be supported on earth, there has to be a similar limit to the number of sustainable artifacts and commodities available ... in other words there must be a limit to economic growth. My interest in such concepts led to my working for a year as a research associate at Yale University's Economic Growth Center. I suppose I was an ?ungracious guest"?because I started writing against economic growth while I was on the Growth Center's payroll?but the experience proved to be a great learning opportunity for me. I came under the influence of physicists, ecologists, and biologists ... as well as important economists like Kenneth Boulding and Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. Eventually, I came to realize that economics is actually a branch of biology: that is, a science that focuses on all of our "outside the skin" life processes, which are dominated by commodities of exchange. PLOWBOY: You became a kind of ecological economist. DALY: Well, both words do come from the same Greek root: oikos, or household. Ecology means the study of the household?which, of course, is the entire planet Earth?and economics means the management of the household. So a union of the two fields is perfectly appropriate. PLOWBOY: What did you do with this new-found synthesis? DALY: Shortly after I returned to LSU from Yale, I edited my first book?an anthology of essays called Toward a Steady-State Economy?which tried to expose the basic fallacy of standard "growthmania" economics and point the way to a stable, long-term, steady-state economy. That book and my major work, Steady-State Economics, have been used in courses at over 100 colleges and universities from Stanford to MIT. But, I'm sorry to say, I think the books have had more influence on environmental studies programs than on the economics departments of such schools. And the people I'm really trying to reach are my more orthodox colleagues . . . because the ecologists already know there's a problem with our pattern of ever-increasing growth. If I could only get some of the leading economists to look at the larger picture and become seriously interested in the possibilities of a stable, steady-state economy. . . . PLOWBOY: Why is it so important to reach economists? How much influence can they have? After all, such financial theorists seem to spend much of their time contradicting each other! DALY: That's true, there are all sorts of debates and divisions in orthodox economic circles. Consequently, most people have learned not to pay any attention when economists argue about financial issues like taxes or interest rates . . . and rightfully so. But most economists do agree on the basic theory that the economy is a machine that continually needs to be fueled and made bigger. Furthermore, the majority of our world's governments use this mechanistic model to tackle all of their finance-related problems. Do you have poverty and unemployment? GROW to provide jobs and welfare revenues. Do you have inflation? GROW to increase the quantities of produced goods so prices will fall. Stuck with an unfavorable international balance of payments? GROW to increase exports. Got too much pollution? GROW so you'll be rich enough to afford cleaning up and discovering new technologies. Worried about war? GROW so you can have both guns and butter. In fact, almost all of the nations on our planet are on a perpetual expansion kick. Indeed, economic growth is the most universally accepted goal in the world! Capitalists, communists, fascists, and socialists all strive to solve their problems by maximizing growth. And that fundamental belief?the concept that growth is a panacea?came right from the world's economists. PLOWBOY: Is this belief what you mean when you refer to growthmania? DALY: Growthmania is more than believing in infinite growth ... it's the situation that occurs when that growth becomes so important that no one can even conceive of its ever costing more than it's worth. But we're worse off than that. We've got hypergrowthmania. PLOWBOY: Hypergrowthmania? DALY: Yes, we take all the costs of growth and add these to our Gross National Product as benefits! Have you ever noticed that nothing is ever subtracted from the GNP? That's because we count our expenses as income! And the logic of that path may eventually lead us to terminal hypergrowthmania. PLOWBOY: TERMINAL hypergrowthmania?!! DALY: Terminal hypergrowthmania?and here I hope I'm exaggerating?will come when we increase the death rate so more funeral expenses can be added to our GNP! PLOWBOY: That sounds pretty grim. If we burned all of the world's fossil fuels as rapidly as we could, we'd end up getting the energy equivalent of only about two weeks of sunlight. DALY: True, but it's the logical, inevitable result of ignoring the finite nature of our environment, of assuming that the physical world should be adjusted to accommodate infinite growth . . . instead of recognizing our real biophysical limits and adjusting ourselves and our economy to function within those boundaries. PLOWBOY: What are the basic limits that you're referring to? DALY: You can determine them by simply asking yourself how humans live. The answer, of course, is that our lives are ultimately dependent on sunshine! There's a fixed solar flux that comes to the earth, and we "feed" on that energy. That's one basic fundamental constraint. Of course, right now we are also living off the sunshine of Paleozoic summers trapped in fossil fuels. But that's an impermanent subsidy. It's capital instead of income. There're other restrictions?such as our mineral resources, for instance-but even more basic than those are the universal unbreakable laws of matter-energy: namely, the first and second laws of thermodynamics. PLOWBOY: Could you give us a "refresher" explanation of those "energy rules"? DALY: Of course. The first law states that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed . . . that everything has to come from somewhere and go to somewhere. Our world is both a source for inputs of matter-energy and the sink for outputs of matter-energy. The second law deals with entropy?which, simply put, is the degree of waste or disorder in the use of energy?and says that, in a closed system, entropy always increases. That is. we are constantly converting useful low-entropy potential into high-entropy waste. The economic importance of these two laws can be seen when one considers how they affect what I call "throughput" . . . the basic flow of matter-energy from the environment, through the human economy, and then back to the environment. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that you can't destroy matter-energy . . . you can only convert it. The second law tells us that the conversion is always from a useful form to a less useful form and?ultimately?to irrevocable waste. The fact that this basic matter-energy flow is entropic in nature shows us that it's basically a cost: The greater the throughput, the greater the cost we're paying. And this cost?which can be seen as the expense of maintaining our bodies and artifacts?must, in a nongrowth economy, be minimized for whatever level of population and wealth we want to maintain. PLOWBOY: But how do all these restricting physical laws apply to economics? DALY: These laws of thermodynamics mean, among other things, that a society can't grow forever. If a culture does try to keep growing, it'll run smack dab into the matter-energy limits. Now this may seem obvious . . . but I've heard prominent economists express absurd statements like, "Man has probably always worried about his environment because he was once totally dependent on it," and "I can't conceive of a non-growing economy." There is, however, one economic system that does recognize our biophysical limits: the steady-state economy. In a steady-state system the population of human bodies and artifacts is held at a constant level, and throughput is limited to the minimum flow necessary to maintain that level. Such an economic system can still "develop"?culture, knowledge, quality, and goodness can all continue to evolve?but it doesn't "grow". Now what are the requirements of a steady state? First, in order to establish such a system, you have to have a renewable resource base. Fortunately, we possess that. We have renewable fisheries, forests, grasslands, crop lands, sun energy, etc. And, until 200 years ago when humankind started relying heavily on industrialization and depletable minerals, we pretty much were able to survive on those "constants". Second?and this is a more difficult requirement to meet, we need the willingness to scale our activities to fit a limited budget. After all, renewable resources are only self-perpetuating at a particular level. If you push them beyond their long-term sustainable yield, they're not renewable anymore. So we have to impose a discipline on ourselves to guarantee that we live within our means. PLOWBOY: That's a tall order. How do we convince people to limit personal consumption? DALY: Well, one approach would be to just go around and say, "Come on everybody, let's consume less" . . . but you know in advance that's not going to work. Garrett Hardin pointed out this problem in his famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons": Nobody profits from making an individual sacrifice unless everybody else makes it, too. So people who would be willing to join a collective effort to sacrifice aren't going to risk being suckers when nobody else goes along. That's like the bumper sticker that you sometimes see on big Cadillacs . . . the one that says, "You folks keep on buying those small cars. I need the gas you save." So?along with the potential for cooperation by the conscientious majority?you have to have some systems to coerce all people into living within their biophysical limits. Of course, you don't want these systems to be too coercive, because that would allow the government to meddle too much in everyone's life. Therefore the best regulatory systems would equitably control the total throughput, but leave the allocation of that aggregate consumption flow to free choice, market interaction, and independent decision-making. PLOWBOY: You're suggesting that government put some external limits on consumption, but let folks have freedom within those borders? DALY: That's right, have macro stability but micro variability. PLOWBOY: What sort of system could make this goal possible? DALY: I've suggested three policies that I think we ought to institute. And let me say out front that my proposals are not presented as a final, ultimate solution . . . I'm merely trying to set a starting point for the debate. I'm just an auctioneer who has to call out a price to get the bidding going. And here are my bid openers: First?and I think this is clear to many people?we need to have limits on population growth. Now the simplest, most straightforward way to accomplish this regulation is to give everyone an equal right to reproduce, and to set that right at a figure which corresponds to a replacement level for the population. At this point I tend to favor Kenneth Boulding's scheme that recommends the use of transferable licenses to bear children. If someone can come up with a better idea, I'm eager to hear it, but I think Boulding's plan combines the maximum possible degree of individual choice with the absolute need for total population stability over the entire global surface. PLOWBOY: Can you explain how transferable birth licenses would work? DALY: Basically, under such a program, each person would have the right to one child. Boulding suggested making the birth permits divisible into tenths of a unit?you'd have credits equal to one-tenth of a license?in order to make for an easier exchange. The licenses would, of course, be distributed equally, so there'd be no question of allowing some people to reproduce and not others. Everyone would be treated equally. Then when a man and woman married, the couple would have a total of two licenses, or 2.1 ... whatever figure most accurately corresponds to the replacement fertility level. Of course, some couples will want to have three or four children, while others will want none. So folks would have the freedom to exchange licenses by either sale or gift. PLOWBOY: There'd be an open market for birth licenses, at a set going rate per one-tenth of a unit. DALY: That's right. Now, this idea horrifies many people. "Oh my God," they say, "you're recommending that we sell children!" Well, I'm not talking about selling children . . . I'm talking about a system that would allow people to sell a right to reproduce. Once a child is born, he or she is born and is here and has the same rights as everyone else, which certainly includes the right not to be sold. PLOWBOY: But how would you enforce such a system? DALY: That would be very difficult, but the problem of regulation would occur with any sort of population-limiting program. I don't think that enforcement would have to be cruel and unusual. There could, for example, be some kind of fine for having children without a license. Or maybe the parents of such "illegitimate" children would have a certain period of time to purchase licenses by doing extra service work in the community. I don't know exactly what the proper enforcement procedure ought to be ... but I'd assume, from the beginning, that most people would voluntarily comply with the license plan. There are just not enough policemen to coerce everyone into obeying any piece of legislation, so?with any law?you have to assume that you'll get voluntary compliance from the majority. On the other hand, you must also assume that there will be a recalcitrant minority, and that if you don't deal firmly with those people, they'll undermine the total system. So there would have to be some sort of punishment. One thing's for certain though: The sooner we initiate population control measures, the milder the punishments for disobedience can be. Currently, in Singapore, couples who have more than two children lose all sorts of economic benefits . . . because such harsh punishment measures are quite necessary on the overcrowded little island. If we wait until the whole world is as crowded as Singapore, all nations will naturally have to take equally stern measures. Another objection to a transferable birth license program is that the rich would have an advantage because they could buy more licenses. This is undeniably true. The rich can buy more of all the world's goods than can the poor. That's the whole idea of being rich! So whatever injustice there might be in this plan stems from the prior existence of rich and poor . . . not from a license system which, by itself, would tend to be equalizing in the distribution of income. PLOWBOY: But?because the program would be introduced into an unjust system?poor people who need the money would feel forced to sell. DALY: Suppose that happens. Then families with little money will have fewer children and rich people will have more. From the point of view of the child, life will be better. PLOWBOY: That's still unfair to poor parents. DALY: But such unfairness stems from the fact that poor people are poor. The way to help them is to help them not be impoverished anymore! That's where my second suggested policy comes in: the idea of a minimum and maximum limit to wealth and income. In effect, such a system would allow the market to freely distribute income . . . but only within limits. And in setting the boundaries, we'd have to avoid two opposite mistakes: the error of having completely unlimited inequality?poverty and extreme wealth somewhat like what we have now?and the injustice of imposing a flat kind of equality that would keep everyone at exactly the same level of income no matter what. I think either extreme is dangerous. Instead, I suggest we set up a system with a limited range of inequality. After all, people who tackle jobs that are more difficult or unpleasant than other jobs deserve higher financial rewards and incentives for their work. Actually, a guaranteed minimum income has a good deal of political support from conservatives and liberals alike . . . because it would allow us to ease away from many of our very detailed, meddlesome welfare programs and distributive devices. The concept of a maximum income, though, is different. People don't like to talk about that. In fact, the upper limit idea is most unpopular with the poor! PLOWBOY: Why is the idea of a ceiling on riches controversial to anyone except the very wealthy? DALY: Partly because almost everyone hopes that he or she will eventually strike it rich. More than that, though, people don't see the need for a ceiling. If you believe?even unconsciously?that there're no limits to the total amount of resources and money, then there's no need for an upper income limit. But if there are limits to the total wealth, and if you enforce a minimum income, you're also implicitly establishing the need for a maximum income. PLOWBOY: And what range would you envision between the upper and lower income levels? DALY: Plato said that, in his ideal republic, the richest citizen would be four times as wealthy as the poorest. However, I'd think that a factor of 10 would be more adequate to reward all the real differences in work and incentive. PLOWBOY: What might be a minimum income today? DALY: I don't know, say something on the order of seven or eight thousand dollars a year . . . with the maximum set at ten times that. All income beyond seventy or eighty thousand dollars a year would then get taxed away at 100%. Of course, most people would not continue earning extra money when they would have to pay it all to the government. So such men and women would ease off from what they were doing, devote their remaining time to leisure activities, and?in the process?open up job opportunities for others. In that way, a maximum Income would help equalize the opportunities for rewarding work and help distribute the wealth. PLOWBOY: What is the third stage of your system to establish a steady-state economy? DALY: The third step would be to put a direct limit on our resource throughput. We would recognize our biophysical constraints?our planetary "budget"?and institutionalize the limits established by that world budget by setting up a financial counterpart to it. I suggest we do so by placing depletion quotas on basic resources. The government would auction rights for the aggregate amount of each material that could be taken from the environment In any one year. Once again, this program keeps macro control but allows for micro variability and freedom. The government wouldn't own?or even set the sale price for? the mineral, fuel, or whatever. It would simply own, and profit from, the auction rights. Once a person bid for and bought a quota permit, he or she would then deal only with the mining or lumber company that he or she hired to harvest the raw materials. The quota right would simply be a ticket to enter the resource marketplace. Such a policy would do several things: First, it would put a definite limit on energy and matter throughput. And, because the waste produced at the back of the system is determined by the raw materials going in the front, quotas would also lower aggregate pollution. Obviously, they'd raise a lot of money for the government, too . . . money for funding the minimum income plan or lowering payroll taxes. In addition, the quota program would effectively raise the price of resources. Manufacturers would have to pay for the quota right as well as for the basic material and, naturally, they'd pass the cost increases on to their customers. It is to be hoped, of course, that the higher prices would force us to be more efficient in our use of resources. This is the part of the quota plan that causes the environmental movement to clash with the consumer movement. You see, most consumer leaders want to lower all prices, but that's definitely unwise. If you have lower prices for both abundant and scarce resources, you're just going to use them all more lavishly. Higher prices on scarcer raw materials, on the other hand, would serve to discipline us to be more efficient in the use of those resources . . . and force our technology to economize on expensive materials by using them less or recycling them more. PLOWBOY: What about the poor? Higher prices will hurt them most. DALY: Once again the problem is not with the prices but with the fact that people are poor. Don't try to help impoverished people by lowering resource prices. That would actually subsidize the rich?who are the greatest consumers?more than the poor! The way to help the destitute is through a minimum income plan. Give them money, but require them?and the rich as well?to make their spending choices in such a way as to minimize the inefficient use of basic resources. PLOWBOY: It sounds as if none of your three plans could work alone. DALY: That's right, the systems fit together. In fact, there's a basic economic principle that says when you have two independent policy goals, you need two independent instruments in order to achieve both aims. For example, people could debate forever about whether to raise or lower the price of energy. The people who favor efficiency would say raise it... those who favor equity would say lower it. But the two goals will never meet. You must serve efficiency by raising the price of energy . . . and then serve equity by redistributing income resulting from the increased price. PLOWBOY: What about enforcing a pollution tax instead of a depletion quota? That would cause resource prices to rise, as well. DALY: True, but you have to remember that the environment doesn't care about prices, it cares about quantity . . . and pollution taxes wouldn't necessarily limit the amount of resources consumed. Such taxation would also operate at the end of the throughput process. Entropy is higher at a system's output than at the input end, so?inevitably?we'd always have many more smokestacks and drain pipes than mines and wells. Besides all that, trying to influence the marketplace with a pollution tax is a little like letting a two-year-old child loose in a living room full of irreplaceable antiques, and then slapping the tot's hands every time he or she breaks an invaluable vase or lamp . . . instead of simply building the largest possible playpen in the room, and leaving the youngster free to play within the limits set by the enclosure. When left to itself, the market system does not make long-term value decisions. The costs of such choices are usually either delayed or not obvious ... or they don't fall mainly on the decision-maker. Instead, the market operates?and very effectively, in its own way?on the basis of short-run competition. Take the difference between solar energy and fossil fuels: It's estimated that the sun will shine for about another four billion years. On the other hand, if we burned all the world's fossil fuels as rapidly as we could, we'd get the energy equivalent of only about two weeks of sunlight. That's two weeks versus four billion years! Yet we currently allow the price of our scarce, short-term oil resources to determine the extent to which we introduce solar energy. If solar energy can't compete with fossil fuel that's made inexpensive by rapid extraction, then we say solar energy is uneconomical to use. That's backwards! We ought to recognize the sun's power?our "permanent" resource?as the standard, figure out how much it costs to produce a Btu of usable energy by solar means, and let that cost determine the price and corresponding rate of depletion of fossil fuels. PLOWBOY: So the power provided by the sun would be the energy base for a steady-state economy? DALY: That's right. Solar energy is a long-lasting, continuous resource . . . and it's environmentally benign. Plus, since we are unable to use tomorrow's solar power today?we don't know how to "mine" the sun?such energy automatically accounts for the needs of future generations. Of course, we still have some problems?because solar power arrives in very dilute forms?with concentrating enough sunlight energy for high intensity uses. But in the long run, solar power has to be the main energy source for an ongoing steady-state economy. And that brings up one of the crucial reasons why the steady-state-versus-continued-growth debate is important: After we run out of fossil fuels, we'll have to base our economy either on some form of solar energy or on some kind of nuclear-based energy. PLOWBOY: Then the growth economy is tied to atomic power? DALY: Absolutely. You can't speed up sunlight, so solar power effectively slows the economy down by imposing an ecological discipline upon it. But nuclear power holds out the promise of more concentrated, larger amounts of energy to fuel more of the growthmania that we already have. Now the promise of abundant, low-cost atomic power has proven to be false. The nuclear industry is not going to be able to deliver scads of inexpensive energy. But since the promise has been made, people still find the atomic alternative appealing. PLOWBOY: Inexpensive atomic power is a false promise? DALY: Yes, because the hidden costs of nuclear energy are extremely high. Just building the necessary power plants would require the lions share of available investment funds, leaving other sectors starved for capital. Of course, nuclear power also presents waste-storage problems, radiation risks, the possibility of meltdowns, cleanup and shutdown costs ... all of which are strong arguments against relying on atomic energy. But I think the most telling arguments against "nukes" are social: The kind of precautions necessary to make nuclear energy safe from terrorism or plutonium theft are very, very difficult to enforce. In order to do so, the whole nuclear fuel cycle would have to become a quasi-military operation and would infringe greatly on the civil liberties of many people. PLOWBOY: How do the concepts of a steady-state economy apply to the international situation today. Specifically, how does such a system affect the roles of the developed and underdeveloped countries? DALY: Clearly the developed nations?especially the U.S.?have to take the lead here. Let me illustrate the point with an interesting thought experiment I use here at LSU. Sometimes I ask my college classes, "What would the U.S. be like if we used one-half the amount of energy per capita that we use now?'' The students usually decide that life on such a budget would have to be vastly different. There'd be a revolution, they say . . . we'd have complete and total change. But then I tell the students that back in the early 1960's we were using one-half the energy per capita that we're using now, and I ask how different life was in the early 60's. Well, I get a lot of blank stares?most of my students can't remember 1960?so I explain that people did have automobiles "way back then", they had TV's, and life wasn't really all that different from the way it is today . . . yet we were only using half as much energy as we do now! The U.S. today has only 6% of the world's population, but we use 30% of the world's energy! PLOWBOY: So developed countries like the U.S. should be the first to adopt a steady-state economy? DALY: For certain. We have to move from our present luxurious energy life-style toward a level of consumption that's lower, yet still sufficient for a good life. That line between sufficiency and extravagance is, of course, very hard to define. At this point, however, exactly where we draw that line is less important than is the basic acknowledgment that a line must be drawn. PLOWBOY: What about the underdeveloped countries? Isn't it hypocritical for America to tell such nations, "Don't grow. Don't try to be like us?" DALY: Of course. It doesn't make sense for us to urge a steady-state economy?at least at current economic levels?on countries like Honduras or Guatemala . . . because such lands are still impoverished. However, it does make sense to urge limits to population for those countries. In other words, developed nations must limit both birth rate and per capita consumption, while underdeveloped countries should control only their populations: The per capita consumption of the poorer lands is going to have to grow for a while before it can be fairly stabilized. PLOWBOY: Professor Daly, you've presented a very sensible case for the steady-state economy and how it could work. But, to be honest, it's hard to believe that most people would ever try such a system! After all, you're saying that poor countries would have to be willing to limit population, rich countries would have to do without some luxuries . . . and everyone would have to acknowledge a limit to economic growth, and work together to leave some of our planet's resources for future generations. All in all, your plan sounds pretty idealistic! In the past, it was just plain easier to have a lot of freedom than it's going to be in the future with either a steady-state or a forced-growth economy. DALY: You're right to point out such difficulties. And I, for one, would certainly not want to run for president on a steady-state platform ... it would be a sure recipe for defeat. People are simply not yet ready to accept a steady-state economy. But the fact remains that men and women need to be taught if they're to change. There was a time when steady-state arguments had no effect on me, yet the logic of such systems eventually did convince me. And I'm not totally unique. My thought processes are similar to those of other rational beings. In my own outlook, I tend to be a "hopeful pessimist". I'm hopeful because I know people can change their minds ... a lot of entrenched attitudes and opinions have changed. Take an example from the history of population control: Back in the 1920's, Margaret ganger and others were thrown in jail for sending birth control information through the mails. Today?on the other hand?abortion can be had on demand and is even publicly subsidized! Whether you consider it to be for the better or not, that's an enormous change of attitude in just 50 years. So I believe people can, indeed, be convinced to move toward the steady-state economy. Looking at the short run, though, I can't help being pessimistic . . . because I don't think our economic growth patterns are going to change quickly. The steady-state movement is going to be glacial: irresistible in the long run but very, very slow. So the danger is that the change will be too long in coming. There's no guarantee that the amount of time necessary for such a social conversion is available to us. We may run into really grave problems in the next 20 years. PLOWBOY: When will our situation start to deteriorate? DALY: Right now . . . and I think it'll continue to get worse for at least the next five or ten years. PLOWBOY: What's going to happen? DALY: We'll have more of the type of problems you're seeing in the newspapers today: failures of advanced technology, inflation, continuing scarcity of energy, patchwork solutions that don't consider the underlying economic faults. It will take a really fundamental crisis to get people's attention on the problem . . . some 2 X 4 that clobbers them over the head. Then maybe people will start listening to all the rational arguments in favor of a steady-state system. PLOWBOY: What will that fundamental crisis, that 2 X 4, be? Do you think it will be a depression? DALY: A crash? That could certainly happen. There're lots of ways a depression could come about. Let's just look at one: Suppose something?say, an enormous war in the Middle East?completely knocks out all our Arab oil supplies. A financial panic could ensue. Industries which depend heavily on energy imports would break down. Disruptions in our food distribution system would stop the interstate food shipments from California. Before long, many people?particularly urbanites?might be reduced to a precarious or subsistence livelihood. PLOWBOY: That's a bleak scenario. Do you really think that we'll have a severe depression? DALY: I'd say there's something like a 20% probability that a financial crash will occur in the next 10 years. That's an extremely vague estimate, of course, but I would think that anyone who discounts the possibility of a depression to zero isn't being smart. On the other hand, someone who thinks a depression's a near certainty is probably not being too smart, either . . . but, by golly, we sure ought to recognize that such an occurrence is a realistic 20% possibility. PLOWBOY: What other forms could the fundamental crisis take? DALY: Well, we were nearly "2 X 4? d? by the accident at Harrisburg's Three Mile Island. A full meltdown would have had quite a shock effect?to say the least?and would have undercut a whole lot of the influence that "happy technologists" have in furthering growth. On the other hand, perhaps a single major metropolitan area might have a severe local breakdown. Big cities are especially vulnerable to crises because of their large populations and interdependent systems. No matter what, though, we're sure to see accelerated inflation. We're in for a long, sustained inflationary period ... as one result of trying to live beyond our biophysical budget. PLOWBOY: The future under our growth economy certainly doesn't sound good. But some folks might look at all the restrictions inherent in a steady-state economy and think that system doesn't sound too good, either. The shortest and straightest route to a strict totalitarian dictatorship is our push toward a nuclear-powered 'plutonium economy'. DALY: The steady-state society will require some reduction in freedom, compared to what we have known in the recent past, but you have to look elsewhere to make a relevant comparison. The future steady state should be compared with the future growth economy. In the past?during the era of industrial boom and the open frontier?it was just plain easier to have a lot of freedom than it's going to be in the future whether we have either a steady-state or a forced-growth economy. But the possibilities for retaining as much individual freedom as possible are a lot better in the steady-state system than in an economy where big government would have to keep trying to force growth in the face of encroaching natural limits. An overpopulated and overconsuming community that is pressing the carrying capacity of its global ecosystems would ?for its own survival?have to come under the authority of a controlling power. And the less of that control its citizens could find within themselves, the more the regulation would have to come from without. That need for external restraints could lead us directly to a strict totalitarian state . . . and?without a doubt?the shortest and straightest route to such a dictatorship is our present push toward a nuclear-powered "plutonium economy". PLOWBOY: What would life in a steady-state system be like? DALY: Well, life on such a budget might actually turn out to be nicer than it is now. Today, Americans are dying more from the stresses of abundance than from the diseases of scarcity. In fact?because folks often feel they have to balance their work hours with "productive" and "efficient" leisure?people even turn their hurried, crammed-in spare time into another area of stress! In the steady state, however, leisure time wouldn't have to be so dominated by considerations of efficiency, but could be freer and more spontaneous. Life in general could be more healthful and relaxed. There'd be less pushing each other around and treading on each other's heels. The world would have room for wild animals that might otherwise be exterminated because they competed for our food supply . . . and wild flowers that would have been dug up to make room for scientific agriculture. Oh, there'd be some tradeoffs?for example, we'd all own fewer luxuries and take fewer long-distance trips?with a steady state, but I think that our present growth economy has actually forced us to give up quite a bit, too . . . and that?if we reverse the trade?we won't be all that unhappy with the results. PLOWBOY: And do you feel that your vision of a steady-state future is a plausible, achievable one? DALY: Yes, I do. We need both moral growth and the proper social institutions to reach it, and admittedly the institutional changes are relatively minor compared to the revolution that would be required in values. Yet most people really do have the basic notion that humankind is the steward of creation, and that we must not behave as if our generation were the last. Most men and women would be willing to give some consideration to the future and to the continuation of life on our planet. However, we are quickly approaching the crossroads for our decision. The choice between a nuclear-powered growth economy and a solar-powered sustainable economy is probably the major social and moral decision facing our generation. We have, thus far, treated that choice as no more than an economic dollars-and-cents decision: That treatment has obscured the issue greatly. Our choice is not so much an economic as a moral and ethical decision . . . and one that will determine the fate of our planet. ---------- EDITOR'S NOTE: The books Steady-State Economics (which costs $12.00 in hard cover and $6.50 in paperback) and Toward a Steady-State Economy ($15.25 hardbound and $7.95 in paper) can he ordered?postpaid at these list prices?from W.H. Freeman and Company, Dept. TMEN, 660 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94104. The related Plowboy Interview with Dr. Garrett Hardin was run in MOTHER NO. 57, page 16 . . . which is available, for $3.00 plus $l.00 shipping and handling, from THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS?, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, North Carolina 28739. From thinker at xplornet.com Tue Mar 16 12:16:55 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:16:55 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Interesting news from Bolivia Message-ID: <20100316191654.C45B12225AA9@smtprelay03.hostedemail.com> Bolivia Rising Bolivia's indigenous people are rising up and reclaiming a new homeland. An exciting national revolution is unfolding in Bolivia today, with its indigenous peoples at its core. The movement to refound Bolivia is an inspiration to many around the world. Bolivia Rising aims to bring news and analysis about this revolution to english speakers. Draft Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth to be discussed at World People's Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH [draft February 2010] Preamble We, the peoples of Earth: gratefully acknowledging that Mother Earth gives us life, nourishes and teaches us and provides us with all that we need to live well; recognizing that Mother Earth is an indivisible community of diverse and interdependent beings with whom we share a common destiny and to whom we must relate in ways that benefit Mother Earth;acknowledging that by attempting to dominate and exploit Mother Earth and other beings, humans have caused severe destruction, degradation and disruption of the life-sustaining communities, processes and balances of Mother Earth which now threatens the wellbeing and existence of many beings; conscious that this destruction is also harmful to our inner wellbeing and is offensive to the many faiths, wisdom traditions and indigenous cultures for whom Mother Earth is sacred; acutely conscious of the critical importance and urgency of taking decisive, collective action to prevent humans causing climate change and other impacts on Mother Earth that threaten the wellbeing and survival of humans and other beings; accepting our responsibility to one another, future generations and Mother Earth to heal the damage caused by humans and to pass on to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the flourishing of Mother Earth; convinced that in order for communities of humans and other beings to flourish we must establish systems for governing human behavior that recognize the inalienable rights of Mother Earth and of all beings that are part of her; convinced that the fundamental freedoms and rights of Mother Earth and of all beings should be protected by the rule of law, and that the corresponding duties of human beings to respect and defend these rights and freedoms should be enforced by law; proclaim this Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth to complement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to serve as a common standard by which the conduct of all human beings, organizations, and cultures can be guided and assessed; and pledge ourselves to cooperate with other human communities, public and private organizations, governments, and the United Nations, to secure the universal and effective recognition and observance of the fundamental freedoms, rights and duties enshrined in this Declaration, among all the peoples, cultures and states of Earth. Article 1. Fundamental rights, freedoms and duties (1) Mother Earth is an indivisible, self-regulating community of interrelated beings each of whom is defined by its relationships within this community and with the Universe as a whole. Fundamental aspects of these relationships are expressed in this Declaration as inalienable rights, freedoms and duties. (2) These fundamental rights, freedoms and duties arise from the same source as existence and are inherent to all beings, consequently they are inalienable, cannot be abolished by law, and are not affected by the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory within which a being exists. (3) All beings are entitled to all the fundamental rights and freedoms recognized in this Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as may be made between organic, living beings and inorganic, non-living beings, or on the basis of sentience, kind, species, use to humans, or other status. (4) Just as human beings have human rights, other beings may also have additional rights, freedoms and duties that are specific to their species or kind and appropriate for their role and function within the communities within which they exist. (5) The rights of each being are limited by the rights of other beings to the extent necessary to maintain the integrity, balance and health of the communities within which it exists. Article 2. Fundamental rights of Mother Earth Mother Earth has the right to exist, to persist and to continue the vital cycles, structures, functions and processes that sustain all beings. Article 3. Fundamental rights and freedoms of all beings Every being has: (a) the right to exist; (b) the right to habitat or a place to be; (c) the right to participate in accordance with its nature in the ever-renewing processes of Mother Earth; (d) the right to maintain its identity and integrity as a distinct, self-regulating being; (e) the right to be free from pollution, genetic contamination and human modifications of its structure or functioning that threaten its integrity or healthy functioning; and (f) the freedom to relate to other beings and to participate in communities of beings in accordance with its nature. Article 4. Freedom of animals from torture and cruelty Every animal has the right to live free from torture, cruel treatment or punishment by human beings. Article 5. Freedom of animals from confinement and removal from habitat (1) No human being has the right to confine another animal or to remove it from its habitat unless doing so is justifiable with reference to the respective rights, duties and freedoms of both the human and other animal concerned. (2) Any human being that confines or keeps another animal must ensure that it is free to express normal patterns of behavior, has adequate nourishment and is protected from injury, disease, suffering and unreasonable fear, pain, distress or discomfort. Article 6. Fundamental duties of human beings Human beings have a special responsibility to avoid acting in violation of this Declaration and must urgently establish values, cultures, and legal, political, economic and social systems consistent with this Declaration that: (a) promote the full recognition, application and enforcement of the freedoms, rights and duties set out in this Declaration; (b) ensure that the pursuit of human wellbeing contributes to the wellbeing of Mother Earth, now and in the future; (c) prevent humans from causing harmful disruptions of vital ecological cycles, processes and balances, and from compromising the genetic viability and continued survival of other species; (d) ensure that the damage caused by human violations of the freedoms, rights and duties in this Declaration is rectified where possible and that those responsible are held accountable for restoring the integrity and healthy functioning of affected communities; and (e) enable people to defend the rights of Mother Earth and of all beings. Article 7. Protection of the law Every being has ? (a) the right to be recognised everywhere as a subject before the law; (b) the right to the protection of the law and to an effective remedy in respect of human violations or attacks on the rights and freedoms recognized in this Declaration; (c) the right to equal protection of the law; and (d) the right to equal protection against any discrimination by humans in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. Article 8. Human education (1) Every human being has the right to be educated about Mother Earth and how to live in accordance with this Declaration. (2) Human education must develop the full potential of human beings in a way that promotes a love of Mother Earth, compassion, understanding, tolerance and affection among all humans and between humans and other beings, and the observance of the fundamental freedoms, rights and duties in this Declaration. Article 9. Interpretation (1) The term ?being? refers to natural beings which exist as part of Mother Earth and includes a community of other beings and all human beings regardless of whether or not they act as a corporate body, state or other legal person. (2) Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms in it. (3) Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as restricting the recognition of other fundamental rights, freedoms or duties of all or specified beings. Republished from PWCCC website Posted by Bolivia Rising on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Labels: climate change, environment, Mother Earth, Peoples Climate Summit 0 comments: Post a Comment Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) ---------- Bolivia Rising is maintained by Federico Fuentes. To submit articles to Bolivia Rising email boliviarising[at]gmail.com NEW: Click to read new book (in spanish) MAS-IPSP de Bolivia: Instrumento pol?tico que surge de los movimientos sociales by Marta Harnecker and Federico Fuentes Subscribe to Bolivia Rising Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz Blog posts feed Blog Archive Blog Archive March (7) February (8) January (17) December (11) November (4) October (8) September (10) August (10) July (5) June (4) May (8) April (10) March (10) February (2) January (11) December (8) November (13) October (25) September (38) August (45) July (28) June (18) May (32) April (14) March (9) February (10) January (19) December (18) November (14) October (23) September (42) August (24) July (10) June (31) May (18) April (13) March (29) February (22) January (31) December (7) November (12) October (21) September (20) August (9) Links in English * Green Left Weekly * Links e-journal Bolivia page * Bolivian UN mission * Upside Down World Bolivia page * ZNet Bolivia watch * Ukhampacha Bolivia English page * Andean Information Network * Bolivia Action Solidarity Network (Canada) * Bolivia Information Forum * UK Bolivia Solidarity Campaign * Juicio a Goni YA!!! (English page) * Bolivia - A Santa Cruz perspective * Open Veins - Nick Buxton's blog * Bolivia Changes * The Bolivia Transition Project * Volunteer Bolivia * Sustainable Bolivia * Bolivia Web * Bolivian Studies Association * Peru en movimiento From siamdave at yahoo.ca Tue Mar 16 23:33:32 2010 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:33:32 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] A Serpent's Tale In-Reply-To: <201003161655.o2GGtSTM006327@renu.siraza.net> References: <201003161655.o2GGtSTM006327@renu.siraza.net> Message-ID: <201003171333320258.15556455@smtp.totisp.net> - a new book I have just published - free PDF available - A Serpent's Tale - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/serpentstale.html for those interested. From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Wed Mar 17 00:40:26 2010 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:40:26 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] What's new at Links: IWD in Venezuela, Philippines, Pakistan, Asia; Nepal; Internationalism and women; Obama protests; E. Timor; China; Australia; S. Africa; Indonesian PRD; Message-ID: <4BA0876A.2000605@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: IWD in Venezuela, Philippines, Pakistan, Asia; Nepal; Internationalism and women; Obama protests; E. Timor; China; Australia; S. Africa; Indonesian PRD; * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. * * * Women in the Venezuelan revolution: `We're not invisible but invincible' By ABN (Venezuelan news agency), translated by Tamara Pearson Caracas, March 8, 2010 - "I'm a woman with a new life since the Bolivarian Revolution knocked on my door", said Pielrroc Montenegro, Maracaiban[i] by birth and Andean by tradition, with eyes full of nostalgia and gratitude. She described herself as a "dignified mother of the neighbourhood" since the mission of that name[ii] enabled her to realise one of her dreams: enrol in university. * Read more Asia-Pacific calls for protests during Obama's visits to Guam, Indonesia and Australia Statement by the Working Peoples Association (Indonesia), People's Democratic Party (Indonesia), Socialist Alliance (Australia), Socialist Worker (New Zealand), Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines), Solidarity (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Socialist Party of Malaysia and the Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance. Supported by James Petras * Read more Greetings from the people's revolution in Nepal Jed Brandt is currently in Kathmandu, Nepal, reporting on the Himalayan revolution. * Read more Timor Leste: `Foreign soldiers should stay out of Timorese politics' By La'o Hamutuk March 11, 2010 -- La'o Hamutuk calls on the military and civilian commanders of Australian and other foreign soldiers in Timor-Leste to direct their soldiers to avoid involvement in local politics, including asking Timorese citizens their political views or encouraging them to identify with one political grouping or another. * Read more China, capitalist accumulation and the world crisis By Martin Hart-Landsberg February 2010 -- The consensus among economists is that China's post-1978 market reform policies have produced one of the world's greatest economic success stories. Some believe that China is now capable of serving as an anchor for a new (non-US dominated) global economy. A few claim that the reform experience demonstrates the workability (and desirability) of market socialism. This paper is critical of these views. * Read more An Phoblacht: Racism and resistance in Australia By Emma Clancy February 25, 2010 -- When Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal people in February 2008, hopes were high that this indicated a new approach from the government in its relations with the country's Indigenous people. But Rudd, elected in November 2007 after 11 years of conservative, Thatcherite rule under John Howard, has continued many of his predecessor's policies, which undermine the rights and wellbeing of Australia's Indigenous people. * Read more South Africa: "`Forgotten' Voices in the Present" book and documentary "Forgotten" Voices in the Present: alternative, post-1994 oral histories from three poor communities in South Africa was authored by Dale McKinley and Ahmed Veriava and funded by Sephis and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. It is the fruition of two years worth of work and commitment to the goal of giving agency to those usually caught on the margins of South African society. * Read more Indonesia: People's Democratic Party relaunched as `open, mass-based cadre party' By Peter Boyle March 11, 2010 -- An historic decision to relaunch itself as an open party was made at the seventh congress of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) of Indonesia on March 1-3. The party's socialist politics will be expressed within the five principles laid out by Indonesia's first President Sukarno's June 1, 1945, speech on "Pancasila" (nationalism, internationalism, democracy, socialism and belief in god). * Read more Women's rights, population and climate change: The debate continues March 7, 2010 -- Should climate activists and feminists support campaigns to slow population growth? Laurie Mazur says that alliance will strengthen the movement. Ian Angus strongly disagrees ... * Read more Looking to new international structures in a new era of socialist feminist activism By Susan Dorazio March 8, 2010 -- One hundred years ago, German revolutionary socialist Clara Zetkin proposed, and the women of the Socialist International approved, a call for an International Women's Day. This annual event would be an explicitly socialist response to the major issues facing women in the opening decades of the 20th century. These issues, in particular the rights of women workers and the right of women to vote, centred on conflicts in the workplace and community brought to the fore by rapid industrialisation in the US and Europe. * Read more Pakistan: Women workers march on International Women's Day By Bushra Khaliq, general secretary, Women Workers Help Line Lahore -- March 8, 2010 -- More than 1500 women marched on the Mall, from Nasir Bagh to the Punjab Assembly, under the banner of Women Workers Help Line (WWHL) to celebrate the International Women's Day on March 8, 2010. Despite prevailing fear among Lahorites after an early morning suicidal attack in Model Town, women workers, including home-based workers, domestic workers, brick kiln and embellishment workers, made their way to observe the IWD. * Read more IWD in the Philippines: `For a government of the women masses and a socialist feminist society * Read more Women dying from the Asian `miracle': System change a must to save women's lives By Reihana Mohideen March 8, 2010 -- Despite the fanfare about Asia's "miracle" economies, the problem of "missing women and girls" is actually growing, according to the United Nations Development Program-sponsored 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report. These "missing" girls and women are a result of the abortion of girl fetuses and women dying through sheer neglect - underfed and starved and not receiving adequate health care. The birth gender disparity is the highest in East Asia, home of the Asian "miracle" economies, where 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. China and India, much touted for their economic success, account for 85 million of these 100 million "missing" women. * Read more * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Wed Mar 17 20:10:34 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:10:34 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] fiddling the accounts while Rome burns Message-ID: 'The Big Short' and 'Freefall' by G. Pascal Zachary, Special to The Chronicle Sunday, March 14, 2010 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/14/RV7D1CCONQ.DTL ########### G. Pascal Zachary, a former writer for the Wall Street Journal, is the author of "The Diversity Advantage: Multicultural Identity in the New World Economy." E-mail him at books at sfchronicle.com. ############ The big short Inside the doomsday machine By michael lewis Norton; 266 pages; $27.95. Freefall america, free markets, and the sinking of the world economy By joseph e. stiglitz Norton; 361 pages; $27.95 In "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," Michael Lewis adds to his impressive collection of beautifully written books with a fascinating tale about professional investors who foresaw the financial debacle - and profited from it. In presenting a quirky array of smart, self-serving characters, Lewis intends to help fans of his storytelling understand what went wrong with American capitalism in the early 21st century. The stars of "The Big Short," whom Lewis describes with meticulous detail, definitely see beyond the curve and around the bend. Contrarians, they bet against the real estate market and the very companies that the U.S. government so expensively bailed out in 2008 and 2009. They even wonder aloud about whether the pillars of American finance committed crimes as well as technical errors and moral outrages by peddling financial instruments - designed to "hide the risk by complicating it," Lewis smartly says - that seem destined, sooner or later, to fail miserably. "That's fraud," one of Lewis' heroes exclaims after divining the flaws in a particularly abusive investment vehicle. But rather than call the police, regulators or the media, this shrewd investor benefits from what he describes as "a stunning opportunity." None of the other investors chronicled by Lewis blow the whistle to authorities either, behaving instead like bystanders in a crowded theater who, when fire erupts, sell extinguishers to people who unexpectedly find themselves ablaze. The moral blindness of the characters in "The Big Short" never becomes a subject of rumination for Lewis, who is content to see Wall Street's crackup as a kind of Greek tragedy. Talented individuals pursue narrow self- interest and collectively create forces that unleash a whirlwind of trouble for total strangers. Lewis even gives space for his short-sellers to crow about their own perspicacity. In his clever depictions of their lives, moreover, he neglects the obvious task of identifying the deeper causes underlying the mayhem. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, is not so shy. In "Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy," Stiglitz essentially writes, "I told you so" over and over again. He presents a familiar set of villains, notably former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, guilty of flooding the country with cheap money and permitting banks to do anything they wanted. President Obama comes in for harsh criticism for simply continuing his predecessor's bank bailout. He even accuses Obama of a "whitewash" of big banks whose failures were tragically rewarded by the president's belief that they were "too big to fail." Stiglitz disagrees. Instead of giving more piles of free money to wounded giants, Washington could have seized the sickest behemoths, such as Bank of America and Citibank, and either run them as government trusts or sold them off in pieces. Other countries have done so, he points out. In a stinging indictment of the government's response under both George W. Bush and Obama, he concludes: "The U.S. taxpayer put out hundreds of billions of dollars and didn't even get the right to know what the money was being spent on." The result was awful: "U.S. banks carried on paying out dividends and bonuses and didn't even pretend to resume lending." Six months ago, Stiglitz's boldest ideas might have been easily dismissed as too radical. But today, with joblessness stubbornly high and the economy stagnating, the financial crisis is clearly not over. A new wave of foreclosures and sinking real estate prices call into question rosy forecasts of newfound stability. While he allows that the "free fall" of the U.S. economy has ended, Stiglitz expects long-term declines in American living standards, for instance, and thinks that the government must borrow even more heavily to support current consumption and investment in infrastructure. The obvious question is if Stiglitz is so smart, why isn't Obama listening to this guy? The main reason is that the president's leading economic advisers, notably Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, engineered the tragically flawed financial bailout. From reading Stiglitz, these Obama buddies appear to be the equivalent of war criminals who, in a more just world, would be awaiting trial and imprisonment. Only by pressing the presidential restart button might Obama get a handle on the nation's economic woes, starting with the reinvention of financial regulation. Unlikely. Since Wall Street seems to own both the Democratic and Republican parties, the chance for any reforms seems slim to none, at least under the current president and Congress. The dismal state of affairs brings us back to Lewis, whose chronicle of how a few people profited from the misery of many highlights the basic unfairness of life in an America where justice is mocked by both private greed and public glory. Even as Obama carries on about hope and making America great again, the hard evidence suggests that winners cheat and cheaters win in the land of free. How else to explain a situation where the people who caused the crackup, and have failed repeatedly to fix it, still have their hands on the steering wheel of the American economy? Even worse, Lewis dourly concludes, "those same financiers (are) using the government to enrich themselves." From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Wed Mar 17 23:13:37 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:13:37 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Rio Tinto and class war in the Mohave Desert Message-ID: <00aa01cac662$29fd20f0$0100007f@jfos> The following is a brief extract from an excellent historical record of the struggles engaged in by tens of thousands of working men and women in Australia, the U$A, South Africa, Namibia, Canada, Turkey, Bougainville, Indonesia and 'Latin' America against the ruthless Anglo-Australian Corporation, Rio Tinto. The full story of Rio Tinto is presented via the URL at the end of this brief sample that follows. "Bougainville is only one item in a long r?sum? of devastation. The Norwegian government pension fund, the world's second-largest, recently divested $870 million in Rio Tinto stock to protest its "unethical" partnership with Freeport McMoRan in the infamous Grasberg mine in Indonesian-occupied Irian Jaya (western New Guinea). Grasberg is an environmental disaster almost beyond imagination, and as in Bougainville, tribal resistance has been met with assassinations and massacres by the Indonesian Army." Labor War in the Mojave By Mike Davis March 11, 2010 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100329/davis/single -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Wed Mar 17 23:36:33 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:36:33 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Business Roundtable - economic elite who rules america - plutocrats Message-ID: <00d101cac665$5dd299c0$0100007f@jfos> "The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." - Utah Phillips In total, the Economic Elite are made up of about 0.5% of the US population. At the center of this group is the Business Roundtable, an organization representing Fortune 500 CEOs that is also interlocked with several lead elite organizations; it is the most influential and powerful Economic Elite organization. http://www.alternet.org/economy/145996/the_most_powerful_destructive_corporate_business_club_most_americans_have_never_heard_of related http://www.businessroundtable.org/about/members ?The Business Roundtable joined the Business Council at the heart of both the corporate community and the policy-formation network and now has the most powerful role?. The Roundtable?s interlocks with other policy groups and with think tanks are presented [below].? -? G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America? http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/links.html more sputum: http://thevileplutocrat.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From creuss at bluewin.ch Thu Mar 18 05:16:29 2010 From: creuss at bluewin.ch (Christoph Reuss) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:16:29 +0100 Subject: [Mai-not] North Korea executed its "Bernanke" Message-ID: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/18/north-korean-executed-currency-r eform North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform Pak Nam-gi killed by firing squad after currency reform worsened markets, but many see him as a scapegoat by Tania Branigan in Beijing and agencies guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 March 2010 08.02 GMT North Korea has executed a senior official blamed for currency reforms that damaged the already ailing economy and potentially affected the succession, a news agency in South Korea reported today. Pak Nam-gi was killed by firing squad last week, said Yonhap, citing multiple sources. The Workers party chief for planning and the economy had not been seen in public since January. The 77-year-old was put to death as "a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy", the agency said. But it reported that many North Koreans did not believe the explanation, citing one source who said: "The mood is the leadership has made Pak Nam-gi a scapegoat." November's abrupt redenomination of the won led to public discontent and was having a negative impact on plans for the succession, another source said. Kim Jong-il, the country's Dear Leader, appears to be preparing the way for the transfer of power to his third son, Kim Jong-un. There has been widespread speculation about the state of his health following a reported stroke. The International Crisis Group (ICG) described the currency revaluation as "disastrous", in a report released this week. The reform appeared to be aimed at reasserting state control over the economy, curbing inflation and tackling corruption. Although people were allowed to exchange currency - at a rate of 100 to one - a cap on the amount that could be changed wiped out the savings of slightly better off North Koreans. Food prices soared as uncertainty over contradictory policies led to hoarding, the ICG said. By mid-January, there were reports of rising deaths from starvation, thought to have prompted the release of emergency food supplies. The government later reversed a December ban on holding foreign currency and allowed markets to reopen. But the ICG argued: "The relationship between the Workers party and the North Korean people has probably been damaged irreversibly [by the redenomination], which has serious implications for the long-term survival of the regime." Daniel Pinkston, north-east Asia deputy project director, said Pak's execution was unlikely to be reported domestically, but it could possibly cause dissension with the party. "Will people start thinking 'I could be next', or will they say 'He really screwed up and got what he deserved'?" he said. North Korea has struggled to feed its people since the famine of the mid-90s and is still reliant on food aid. But aid reductions and United Nations sanctions resulting from its nuclear programme have further damaged the faltering economy, the ICG said, at a time when Pyongyang must also deal with the succession. The Daily NK, a Seoul-based website run by democracy and human rights activists, said Pak had allegedly submitted a report saying redenomination would improve people's lives and secure the country's finances. Pak was last mentioned by the North's official Korean Central News Agency in January, when he accompanied Kim on an inspection trip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". From jomut at yahoo.com Thu Mar 18 14:36:45 2010 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:36:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Corporation as person In-Reply-To: <20100316001527.710EC70F9B1@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: <799675.41340.qm@web31103.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Awright you querulous people!? Please make sure that this enthralling debate is not ever going to be divorced from the lustily discussed issue of enlightened, economic rape! ? John ============== John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Tue, 3/16/10, Ed Deak wrote: From: Ed Deak Subject: Re: [Mai-not] Corporation as person To: "A renewed Mai-Not" Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 12:15 AM MIchael, ? I have two corporations , one in farming the other in fine arts,? with combined assets of about $25.? so there wouldn't be any dowry,? and our commie pinko Medicare addicted Canadian corporations wouldn't be much good in the? Land of the Brave and Free, but you could try courting them and see if they'd like you. Cheers, Ed. At 04:23 PM 15/03/2010, you wrote: >To the below news item I sed > >???While we're at it -- I'm in the market lo find a corporation to marry me. > >To which correspondent CR responded" > >Aren't corporations screwing you enough already? >? ? ? ???(sorry, couldn't resist) >? ? CR > >to which I say "Thanx for the memory" > >while JW said > >"Brilliant" > > >######## >Please keep it coming >M > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.790 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2749 - Release Date: >03/15/10 12:33:00 _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jomut at yahoo.com Thu Mar 18 15:33:45 2010 From: jomut at yahoo.com (John Mutambirwa) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:33:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] fiddling the accounts while Rome burns In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <148074.6288.qm@web31107.mail.mud.yahoo.com> You might want to read an excerpt?from the book?at Vanity Fair.? Quite enthralling.? Lots of unintended irony?in reference to the autism of one of the?Hedge Fund managers and his son!? Put me in mind of the irony of fate! ? Bit on the long side! ? John ============= John Mutambirwa (Dreaming Awake) jomut at yahoo.com chakane at hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/jomut --- On Thu, 3/18/10, MichaelP wrote: From: MichaelP Subject: [Mai-not] fiddling the accounts while Rome burns To: Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 3:10 AM 'The Big Short' and 'Freefall' by G. Pascal Zachary, Special to The Chronicle Sunday, March 14, 2010 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/14/RV7D1CCONQ.DTL ########### G. Pascal Zachary, a former writer for the Wall Street Journal, is the author of "The Diversity Advantage: Multicultural Identity in the New World Economy." E-mail him at books at sfchronicle.com. ############ The big short Inside the doomsday machine By michael lewis Norton; 266 pages; $27.95. Freefall america, free markets, and the sinking of the world economy By joseph e. stiglitz Norton; 361 pages; $27.95 In "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," Michael Lewis adds to his impressive collection of beautifully written books with a fascinating tale about professional investors who foresaw the financial debacle - and profited from it. In presenting a quirky array of smart, self-serving characters, Lewis intends to help fans of his storytelling understand what went wrong with American capitalism in the early 21st century. The stars of "The Big Short," whom Lewis describes with meticulous detail, definitely see beyond the curve and around the bend. Contrarians, they bet against the real estate market and the very companies that the U.S. government so expensively bailed out in 2008 and 2009. They even wonder aloud about whether the pillars of American finance committed crimes as well as technical errors and moral outrages by peddling financial instruments - designed to "hide the risk by complicating it," Lewis smartly says - that seem destined, sooner or later, to fail miserably. "That's fraud," one of Lewis' heroes exclaims after divining the flaws in a particularly abusive investment vehicle. But rather than call the police, regulators or the media, this shrewd investor benefits from what he describes as "a stunning opportunity." None of the other investors chronicled by Lewis blow the whistle to authorities either, behaving instead like bystanders in a crowded theater who, when fire erupts, sell extinguishers to people who unexpectedly find themselves ablaze. The moral blindness of the characters in "The Big Short" never becomes a subject of rumination for Lewis, who is content to see Wall Street's crackup as a kind of Greek tragedy. Talented individuals pursue narrow self- interest and collectively create forces that unleash a whirlwind of trouble for total strangers. Lewis even gives space for his short-sellers to crow about their own perspicacity. In his clever depictions of their lives, moreover, he neglects the obvious task of identifying the deeper causes underlying the mayhem. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, is not so shy. In "Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy," Stiglitz essentially writes, "I told you so" over and over again. He presents a familiar set of villains, notably former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, guilty of flooding the country with cheap money and permitting banks to do anything they wanted. President Obama comes in for harsh criticism for simply continuing his predecessor's bank bailout. He even accuses Obama of a "whitewash" of big banks whose failures were tragically rewarded by the president's belief that they were "too big to fail." Stiglitz disagrees. Instead of giving more piles of free money to wounded giants, Washington could have seized the sickest behemoths, such as Bank of America and Citibank, and either run them as government trusts or sold them off in pieces. Other countries have done so, he points out. In a stinging indictment of the government's response under both George W. Bush and Obama, he concludes: "The U.S. taxpayer put out hundreds of billions of dollars and didn't even get the right to know what the money was being spent on." The result was awful: "U.S. banks carried on paying out dividends and bonuses and didn't even pretend to resume lending." Six months ago, Stiglitz's boldest ideas might have been easily dismissed as too radical. But today, with joblessness stubbornly high and the economy stagnating, the financial crisis is clearly not over. A new wave of foreclosures and sinking real estate prices call into question rosy forecasts of newfound stability. While he allows that the "free fall" of the U.S. economy has ended, Stiglitz expects long-term declines in American living standards, for instance, and thinks that the government must borrow even more heavily to support current consumption and investment in infrastructure. The obvious question is if Stiglitz is so smart, why isn't Obama listening to this guy? The main reason is that the president's leading economic advisers, notably Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, engineered the tragically flawed financial bailout. From reading Stiglitz, these Obama buddies appear to be the equivalent of war criminals who, in a more just world, would be awaiting trial and imprisonment. Only by pressing the presidential restart button might Obama get a handle on the nation's economic woes, starting with the reinvention of financial regulation. Unlikely. Since Wall Street seems to own both the Democratic and Republican parties, the chance for any reforms seems slim to none, at least under the current president and Congress. The dismal state of affairs brings us back to Lewis, whose chronicle of how a few people profited from the misery of many highlights the basic unfairness of life in an America where justice is mocked by both private greed and public glory. Even as Obama carries on about hope and making America great again, the hard evidence suggests that winners cheat and cheaters win in the land of free. How else to explain a situation where the people who caused the crackup, and have failed repeatedly to fix it, still have their hands on the steering wheel of the American economy? Even worse, Lewis dourly concludes, "those same financiers (are) using the government to enrich themselves." _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Thu Mar 18 00:13:21 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:13:21 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Is Europe planning seal of approval for Israeli settlers Message-ID: <000e01cac6eb$35c445b0$3dad57ca@jfos> ZCommunications | Is Europe planning seal of approval for Israeli settlers? by Jonathan Cook | ZNet Article Is Europe planning seal of approval for Israeli settlers? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israel set to join club of richest nations By Jonathan Cook Monday, March 08, 2010 Jonathan Cook's ZSpace Page (Nazareth) -- An exclusive club of the world?s most developed countries is poised to admit Israel as a member even though, a confidential internal document indicates, doing so will amount to endorsing Israel?s illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories. Israel has been told that its accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is all but assured when the 30 member states meet in May. But a draft OECD report concedes that Israel has breached one of the organization?s key requirements on providing accurate and transparent data on its economic activity. The information supplied by Israel, the report notes, includes not only the economic activity of its citizens inside its recognized borders but also Jewish settlers who live in the occupied territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan in violation of international law. Israel?s accession to the OECD on such terms threatens to severely embarrass many of the organization?s member states, especially those in the European Union that are publicly committed to avoiding collusion with the occupation. The OECD report proposes that these legal difficulties may be circumvented by asking Israel to produce new statistics within a year of its accession excluding the settler population ? even though, an OECD official has admitted, Israel would have the power to veto such a demand after it becomes a member. ?The OECD seems to be so determined to get Israel through its door that it is prepared to cover up the crimes of the occupation,? said Shir Hever, a Jerusalem-based economist. Israel has been lobbying for nearly 20 years to be admitted to the OECD, founded in 1961 for wealthy industrialized democracies to meet and co-ordinate economic and social policies. It includes the United States and most of Europe. ?The financial privileges are relatively modest, but there is great prestige to being accepted,? Mr Hever said. ?Israel has worked so hard to gain admission because it believes accession will confer international legitimacy on its occupation.? Several countries with a lower development level than Israel have already been accepted, including Turkey, Mexico and the Czech Republic. Israel?s past rejections, it is widely assumed, were because many states were uncomfortable about admitting Israel while it was occupying the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank and the Syrian-owned Golan Heights. However, Israel was formally invited to begin discussions about membership in 2007 after intense lobbying by Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel. Membership is expected to bring financial stability to Israel?s economy, attract investment and reduce the country?s risk premium. The OECD?s secretary general, Angel Gurria, visited in January, after a review of Israel?s economy, and suggested that admission this year was a certainty. However, a leaked draft report by the OECD?s committee on statistics, produced last month after the review, shows there are major problems with the data presented by Israel. According to its rules, the OECD takes account of economic activity outside a candidate state?s recognized borders in very limited circumstances, such as with remittances from migrant workers. But given that this status does not apply to the illegal settlers living in the occupied territories, the OECD committee argues that either the settlers be excluded from the data or everyone living in the territories ? including Palestinians ? should be factored in. ?Israel has been caught out because it has always refused, even in its own internal data, to differentiate between Israel and the occupied territories,? Mr Hever said. Both East Jerusalem and the Golan have been annexed by Israel in violation of international law. ?The OECD is treating Israel as though it has seven million citizens when, in reality, it has 11 million subjects, of whom four million are Palestinians living under occupation,? Mr Hever said. ?If they were included in the figures submitted to the OECD, Israel would have to be refused accession because of the enormous disparities in wealth.? Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, noted recently that there was a 20:1 ratio in the difference in gross domestic product per capita between an Israeli and a Palestinian living in Gaza. But rather than conclude that Israel has failed to meet the organization?s entry criteria, the committee proposes a workaround: Israel can be accepted to the organization and given a year to submit new data excluding the settlers. Tim Davis, an OECD official with the statistics committee in Paris, said he could not comment on the report because its contents were confidential but agreed that there was nothing to stop Israel reneging on such a commitment in the future. ?In a case like that, nothing could be done in practice. We work on the basis of co-operation, not pressure.? Israel is reported to have failed other entry conditions, including on corruption and copyright violations. The OECD has required member states to crack down on corrupt practices since it approved a convention against bribery in 1997. Israel, however, was ranked in 32nd place in a major index on corruption last year, with much of it relating to the country?s $6 billion arms industry. European and US defense firms have threatened to derail Israel?s OECD bid if it does not clean up its act. Israel is also believed to be violating intellectual property rights, again in breach of OECD rules. US and Swiss firms have accused Israel of failing to regulate the international marketing of drugs produced by its largest pharmaceuticals company, Teva. Israel?s bid for OECD membership has been opposed by the leaders of its Arab minority, one-fifth of the population. Last month the Higher Follow-Up Committee, the minority?s main political body, petitioned the OECD to reject Israel. It has pointed out that half of Israel?s Arab citizens are living below the poverty line, a rate three times higher than among Israeli Jews, and that on average Arab citizens earn salaries that are one-third less than Jews. Mohammed Zeidan, head of the committee, blamed the disparities in wealth on what he called Israel?s ?racist and discriminatory polices?. Another OECD report, published in January, showed that, even on the basis of Israel?s figures excluding the Palestinians, Israel would still have the widest social gaps of any member state if it were accepted. Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are ?Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East? (Pluto Press) and ?Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair? (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net. A version of this article originally appeared in The National (www.thenational.ae), published in Abu Dhabi. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6704 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Thu Mar 18 16:31:37 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:31:37 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] "Growing Movement for Publicly-owned Bank [by Ellen Brown in YES ! Magazine Mar 17 2010 Message-ID: <4BA28DA9.8662.2A8816F3@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Ellen Brown wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/the-growing-movement-for- publicly-owned-banks fyi-janet ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:02:50 -0700 (PDT) Subject: new article -- "Growing Movement for Publicly-owned Banks" From: Ellen Brown To: Webofdebt- articles Send reply to: webofdebt--articles at googlegroups.com Hi, here is my latest article, headlined on Common Dreams: "Growing Movement for Publicly-owned Banks" http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/18-7 The Common Dreams page takes comments. If you want to post one, that would be great! Best wishes, Ellen To unsubscribe from this group, send email to webofdebt-- articles+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject. ------- End of forwarded message ------- Published on Thursday, March 18, 2010 by YES! Magazine The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks We the people have given away our sovereign money-creating power to private, for-profit lending institutions, which have used it to siphon wealth from the productive economy. Some states are moving to take that power back. by Ellen Brown "Hundreds of job-creating projects are still on hold because Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs cannot get bank financing. We can break the credit crunch and beat Wall Street at their own game by keeping our money right here in Michigan and investing it to retool our economy and create jobs." --Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in The Detroit News March 9, 2010 Michigan, which has an unemployment rate of 14 percent, has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn. Virg Bernero, mayor of Lansing, the state's capital, and a leading Democratic candidate for governor, proposes to relieve the state's economic ills by opening a state-owned bank. He says the bank could protect consumers by making low-interest loans to those most in need, including students and small businesses; it could also help community banks by buying mortgages off their books and working with them to fund development projects. Bernero joins a growing list of candidates proposing this sensible solution to their states' fiscal ills. Local economies have collapsed because of the Wall Street credit freeze. To reinvigorate local business, Main Street needs a heavy infusion of credit, and publicly- owned banks could fill that need. In a recent article for YES! Magazine, I tracked candidates in five states running on a state bank platform and one state (Massachusetts) with a bill pending. Just one month later, there are now three more bills on the rolls--in Washington State, Illinois and Michigan--and two more candidates joining the list of proponents (joining Bernero is Gaelan Brown of Vermont). That brings the total to seven candidates in as many states (Florida, Oregon, Illinois, California, Washington State, Vermont, and Idaho) campaigning for state-owned banks, including three Democrats, two Greens, one Republican, and one Independent. The Independent, Vermont's Gaelan Brown, says on his website, "Washington, D.C. has lost all moral authority over Vermont." He adds, "Vermont should explore creating a State-owned bank that would work with private VT-based banks, to insulate VT from Wall Street corruption, and to increase investment capital for VT businesses, modeled after the very successful state-owned Bank of North Dakota." The Bank of North Dakota, currently the nation's only state-owned bank, is the model (with variations) for all the other proposals on the table. The Bank of North Dakota acts as a "bankers' bank," partnering with other banks in "participation loans," which allow them to compete with larger banks. In a participation loan, the community bank originates the loan and takes responsibility for it, while the participating bank contributes funds and shares in the risk and profits. The Bank of North Dakota also makes low-interest loans to students, farmers and businesses; underwrites municipal bonds; and provides liquidity for more than 100 banks around the state. Three New Bills Pending for Publicly Owned Banks Proposals for publicly owned banks in other states have now progressed beyond the campaign talk of political hopefuls to be drafted into several bills. The Michigan Development Bank The Michigan bill has gotten the most press. Introduced into the legislature earlier this month, it mirrors Bernero's state bank idea. According to a press release issued by Michigan Senate Democrats on March 9, the bill's aim is to "keep Michigan's money in Michigan" by putting tax dollars into a proposed "Michigan Development Bank." The bank would function like a traditional bank, but would focus on economic development rather than profit. The press release quoted Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing): Investing in the state's economy is the greatest way to create jobs, and this proposal will provide small businesses and entrepreneurs the funding they need to invest and grow. Our economy has stagnated due in part to stale thinking in Lansing, and this is just the type of innovative idea we need to create real economic change, using our own money to rebuild the state. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming) stated: Michigan's economy has been suffering, and working families in the state have had difficulty keeping up with credit card bills, college tuition prices and mortgage payments. Establishing the Michigan Development Bank will keep our hard-earned dollars right here in the state to invest in small business, create good-paying jobs to get people back to work, and help protect the middle class. Also quoted was Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit): With the current state of our economy, every dollar counts, yet we're depositing our money in other people's pockets by investing in big corporate banks without seeing much lending in return. It's time for the Mitten State to lend itself a helping hand and establish a bank that is willing to invest in our small businesses and offer the financial support necessary to see job growth. For start-up capital, the Senate Democrats suggested that Michigan could sell voter-approved bonds. With an initial capitalization of $150 million, they estimated the bank could lend up to $1 billion to small businesses, students and farmers, and offer low-interest credit cards to consumers. For deposits, the bank could follow the model of the Bank of North Dakota and use state revenues. So says Gene Taliercio, a Republican candidate for the state Senate, who has also put his weight behind the Michigan Development Bank. In a video clip on the website of the local Oakland Press, he says, "We're talking about restructuring the whole tax system, in the sense that the way it's set up is that all taxes are going to go into this central bank ... Every dollar that the state of Michigan makes goes into this bank." The State Bank of Washington A similar bill, HB 3162, was introduced to the Washington State Legislature on February 1. The bill has generated so much interest that Steve Kirby, chair of the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, has scheduled a special work session on it. According to John Nichols in The Nation, the State Bank of Washington was formally proposed by House finance committee vice chair Bob Hasegawa, a Seattle Democrat. Nichols quotes Hasegawa: Imagine financing student aid, infrastructure, industry and community development. Imagine providing access to capital for small businesses, or otherwise leveraging our resources instead of having to do it with tax incentives. Imagine keeping our resources local instead of exporting them as profits, never to be seen again--that's what this bank could do. Leveraging, rather than taxing, is how private banks have been creating "credit" for centuries. States could do the same thing, cutting the middlemen out of the equation, saving significant sums in interest and fees and generating revenue for the state. A nonpartisan analysis of the Washington bill prepared for the state legislature noted that the bank would be the depository for all state funds and the funds of state institutions, and that these deposits would be guaranteed by the state. The bank would be run by a board of 11 members and would be chaired by the State Treasurer. It would have the same rules and privileges as a private bank chartered in the state. Since current law prohibits the state from lending credit and investing in private firms, voters would have to approve the state Constitution to get the bank off the ground. The Community Bank of Illinois A third bill, introduced by Illinois Representative Mary Flowers, is on its way through the legislative process in Illinois. According to the Illinois General Assembly website, the Community Bank of Illinois Act would establish a state bank with the express purpose of boosting agriculture, commerce, and industry. State funds and money held by penal, educational, and industrial institutions owned by the state would be deposited in the bank and would serve as reserves for making loans. The bank could also serve as a clearinghouse for other banks, including handling domestic and foreign exchange; and it could buy property under eminent domain. All deposits would be guaranteed with the assets of the state. The Bank would be managed and controlled by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, with input from an advisory board representing private banking and public interests. An amendment to the initial bill would enable the Community Bank of Illinois to make loans directly to the state's General Revenue Fund, helping the state cope with its current budget challenges. A Massachusetts-owned Bank On March 12, the Associated Press reported that a jobs bill sponsored by Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray also includes a call to study a Massachusetts-owned bank. She told a business group that a state-owned bank has worked in North Dakota, helping to insulate that state from the worst of the recession while also keeping its foreclosure rate down; similarly, a state-owned bank could spur job creation and free up lending to Massachusetts businesses. Grandfather of the Concept: The Bank of North Dakota All of these proposals take their inspiration from the Bank of North Dakota, which was founded in 1919 to resolve a credit crisis like that facing other states today. Last year, North Dakota had the largest budget surplus it had ever had. It was the only state that was actually adding jobs when others were losing them. In March 2009, when 46 of 50 states were in fiscal crisis, the Council of State Governments noted that North Dakota was in the enviable position of discussing tax cuts and looking for ways to spend its surplus. With the deepening crisis, according to National Public Radio, by January 2010 only two states could still meet their budgets--North Dakota and Montana. On February 8, however, the Montana paper the Missoulian reported that the Montana State Legislature's chief revenue forecaster foresees a budget deficit by mid-2011, leaving North Dakota the only state still boasting a surplus. North Dakota's riches have been attributed to oil, but many states with oil are floundering. The sole truly distinguishing feature of North Dakota seems to be that it has managed to avoid the Wall Street credit freeze by owning and operating its own bank. According to the North Dakota Department of Commerce, the BND turned a profit in 2009 of $58.1 million; this money goes into the state's General Fund. North Dakota's economy is ten times smaller than Michigan's, suggesting that Michigan could generate $500 million per year in this way; Washington State and Illinois present similarly inviting possibilities. That defuses the objection raised in a March 15 editorial in The Detroit News, arguing that Michigan can ill afford the $150 million capital investment to start a bank. If operated like the BND, the Michigan Development Bank could soon be a net generator of state revenues. There are other possibilities, besides a bond issue, for providing the capital to start a bank, but that subject will be reserved for another article. The BND's 90-year track record of prudent and profitable lending defuses another objection to state-owned banks: that a public agency cannot be trusted to act responsibly in managing public funds. The Detroit News' editorial concluded that Michigan should "leave banking to the bankers," but it is precisely because the bankers have destroyed the economy with their reckless lending practices that the public needs to step in. We need a "public option" in banking to set standards and keep private banks honest. The True Potential of Publicly-owned Banks North Dakota broke new ground nearly a century ago, but the true potential of publicly owned banks remains to be explored. Nearly all of our money today is created by banks when they extend loans. (See the Chicago Federal Reserve's "Modern Money Mechanics," which begins, "The actual process of money creation takes place primarily in banks.") We the people have given away our sovereign money--creating power to private, for-profit lending institutions, which have used it to siphon wealth from the productive economy. If we were to take that power back, we could generate the credit we need to underwrite a whole cornucopia of projects that we don't even consider because we think we lack the "money." We have the labor and we have the materials; we just lack the "liquidity" necessary to put them together to create products and services. Money today is just a ticket, a receipt for work performed and goods delivered. We can fund the work we need done by creating our own credit. The real promise of publicly-owned banks is not that they can bail out subprime borrowers but that they can jumpstart the economy by creating real wealth. They can provide the liquidity to put labor and materials together, allowing the economy to build and grow. Our private, profit-driven banking sector has been bleeding wealth from the rest of the economy. Public-interest banks can transfuse the economy with the credit it needs to flourish and be productive once again. Ellen Brown wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Ellen developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust." Her websites are webofdebt.com, ellenbrown.com, and public-banking.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 433 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From papadop at peak.org Sat Mar 20 10:37:45 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:37:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Bush v Gore: Will SCOTUS kill the Health Bill ? Message-ID: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Will-Supreme-Court-Decide-by-Rob-Kall-100319-129.html For OpEdNews: Rob Kall - Writer ########### By Rob Kall (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s) Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, ################# Will Supreme Court Kill the Obama Health Care Reform Plan? CBS reports that Idaho Will Sue If Health Care Bill Passes. The Virginia attorney General has similar plans. The rogue five right wing radical extremists who are running the reputation of the Supreme Court into cesspool territory could decide on whether the congressional vote on Health Care goes into law. They crowned George Bush president, brazenly violating separations of powers laws. They turned the use election system into a corporatocracy, corruption the election process, perhaps irreparably. It may seem unlikely that the Supreme court would try to over-rule congress-- that it would go against the constitution's separation of powers rules. But the radical Supreme Court right wingers have already proven that they don't respect precedent or the constitution. Some of them, like Alito and Roberts, lied their way into their jobs, testifying they would not engage in legislation from the bench, that they would respect Stare Decisis. Some have called for their impeachment because of those lies-- not likely with Nancy Pelosi running the House. I asked a few attorneys their take. Here's the question I presented to them: I'm working on an article speculating that the supreme court could ultimately decide whether the obama healthcare legislation is enacted. Two state Attorney generals have already said they'll sue the government if it passes. After the activism we've already seen from the SCOTUS, it would not be beyond the imagination for them to accept the case, then rule that the process the Democratic congress used was unconstitutional-- since they seem to have no problem breeching the bounds of separation of powers. What's your take? Michael Ratner, attorney and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the first attorneys to defend Guantanamo prisoners , replied, "I don't know the issue that well But as bad as Roberts is and much of the court, the general rule is that they will not interfere in how the Congress conducts itself on these matters---so I don't think such a suit would be successful. " I asked the same question of Marjorie Cohn, immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild, and she replied, The Court will strike down laws Congress passes but I doubt it would get involved in micromanaging how Congress does its business. I countered with this question, " And would you have said the same thing before the SCOTUS handed Bush the presidency?" Ratner replied, with his last remark, perhaps, being the most telling., "Not really the same taking on this health bill--assuming it passes-- would be a direct interference with how congress does its business and an intervention would be very unusual to say the least on that issue But of course everything is up for grabs with this court. And Cohn replied, Bush v Gore was an anomaly and didn't involve getting into how Congress does its business. The AGs can file their suits but I doubt the Court will hear the case. I could be wrong. I put the two questions, combined, to attorney Andrew Kreig, executive director of the Justice Integrity Project, who replied, "I agree. Bush v gore is the new legal standard and there is scant fight in most of the so called liberals, who are really centrists. It's hard for some of these attorneys to imagine justices on the Supreme Court breaking precedent, breaking legal standards and even violating the constitution, but clearly, not entirely beyond the range of possibilities they consider. Jane Hamsher reports there are 36 challenges to the bill already. She told me, in an interview, that Virginia already passed a law, challenging the law, saying they would not abide by the mandate. "There are at least five states" Hamsher reports, "That will challenge it. It's going to be the Gay Marriage of 2010. " Hamsher's "Gay Marriage of 2010" take is a political one. But the right wing uses claws and fangs to go for the kill. They've used the five troglodyte majority they have on the Supreme Court to dismantle century old precedent. I think they'll try to castrate the Democratic congress's health reform bill-- they've been incredibly effective at making the Senate Democrats impotent already. The movement of the right towards taking health reform to the Supreme court has already started with the lawsuits and laws passed challenging the legislation. This WILL be on the table, whether the Democrats like it or not, whether it has been done before, whether it is legal or not. The Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy axis of right wing evil has shown they care not about precedent and are willing to re-draft huge volumes of the constitution. They have shown themselves to be willing and able to be dangerous to democracy and the separation of powers. They have gone this way because Obama, Pelosi and the Democratic leaders have proven to be spineless in the face of high level crime and corruption. Alito should at least be questioned, with hearings held, considering impeachment, for lying to congress about his stare decesis intentions. It is not too late to visit the illegal actions of Bush appointees like Leura Canary and others in the DOJ. If the Democrats don't fight back hard, we will see the power the electorate endowed them with melt away. Power unused is not just power abdicated and thrown away. The failure to use Power given by the people is a betrayal of the people's faith and trust. When power is given and un-used the people have every reason not to trust those to who it was endowed. The Democrats have a bit more than six months to find and use the power they were given-- no more excuses about filibusters, no more explanations that they are there to govern. They must act and not react. They must strike boldly against the right wingers who have, so far, neutralized and overcome them. They can do it, but it requires leadership that we have not yet seen. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi must appoint political Generals to engage in battle. I leave Obama out because at this point, knowing he cut a deal to kill the public option, I consider him a player who cannot be trusted as an ally. From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sat Mar 20 16:59:35 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:59:35 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fwd=3A__Kucinich=27s_Healthcare_Sell-out?= Message-ID: <001e01cac889$692779f0$16ad57ca@jfos> Excerpt: " ... Kucinich's betrayal points to the burning need for political activity, both electoral and social movement based, independent of the Democrats and Republicans. The political system is already so saturated with corporate money that Democrats and Republicans are structurally incapable of acting in the interests of working people in America. Now is the time for a green and red rebellion at the ballot box and on the streets. Only then can we can be done with the wavering Kucinichs of the world and get down to the task of creating a society that values human needs over corporate profits." This is a most worrying development; Kucinich was one of the few Democrats who appeared always to act in the interests of the common people and the downtrodden in the 'rich country' called America. His apparent caving in to pressure from Obama who, as the article's author and many others point out, was bankrolled and subsequently elected by big pharma ( the giant pharmaceutical corporations) and the private health insurance lobby, exposes yet again the enormous power of the giant U$ corporations and the powerful & wealthy private interests who control them. There is an old saying that 'America has the best politicians that money can buy'; which appears to be the case, yet again, in the long struggle to provide decent and humane medical insurance coverage to the 44 million or so Americans without any form of health insurance whatsoever, and the tens of millions of Middle Class Americans who live in fear of bankruptcy due to developing a serious illness or the health care bills incurred if seriously injured in a work-related incident or motor vehicle collision. John ############################# Kucinich's Healthcare Sell-out by Billy Wharton March 18th, 2010 The Obama administration cracked a tough nut today in their relentless drive to sponsor a corporate restructuring of the American healthcare system. Dennis Kucinich, who had been one of the few voices of opposition to the faulty healthcare "reform," announced today that he intends to vote "Yes" on the healthcare bill currently under consideration in the US House of Representatives. The announcement came after a high-pressure visit from President Barack Obama to the Cleveland district Kucinich represents. For many in the movement for single-payer healthcare, the move is the final in a series of betrayals by Democratic Party politicians. First among these was Representative John Conyers from Michigan, the sponsor of House Resolution 676, a bill that would create a publicly funded National Health Program by eliminating private health insurers. Conyers caved-in quickly, voting yes on the proposal and providing little resistance outside of an interesting quip about having to read a 2,000-page bill in two days. Kucinich appeared as a dissident of a different type. Kucinich railed against the House bill, claiming that it ".would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care." This critique was backed up by a "No" vote in November 2009. In House deliberations, however, Kucinich had already moved off his single-payer position, first searching for a "robust" public option and then attempting to create a clause that would allow states to pursue single-payer programs. Today Kucinich went a step further, cowering to the will of a White House bankrolled by big pharma and the private health insurance lobby. Kucinich called it "a detour" and claimed that all of his previous criticisms of the bill still stood. The healthcare bill had become, he proposed, a contest between the presidency and its far-right critics. More correctly, Kucinich caved to pressure from pro-Obama groups, such as Moveon.org who recently collected more than $1 million to pressure House Democrats who had voted no on the original bill. The extent of the pressure campaign was brought home when Obama appeared in Kucinich's voting district this week and summoned him to a meeting on Airforce One. There, the terms of Kucinich's sell-out were determined. The one powerful voice that has been remarkably absent from the whole spectacular public discussion of healthcare reform is that of the private health insurance lobby. Why so quiet? Because they wrote significant portions of the bill currently under consideration in the House. Because they have purchased the support of Democratic and Republican representatives by spending an average of $609,000 a day on lobbying during the first six months of 2009. And, because Obama's healthcare proposal will open up new opportunities to harvest taxpayer money by providing clunker healthcare plans to the uninsured. Kucinich knows this yet he will still provide his name to this damaging scheme. Most of all, Kucinich's betrayal points to the burning need for political activity, both electoral and social movement based, independent of the Democrats and Republicans. The political system is already so saturated with corporate money that Democrats and Republicans are structurally incapable of acting in the interests of working people in America. Now is the time for a green and red rebellion at the ballot box and on the streets. Only then can we can be done with the wavering Kucinichs of the world and get down to the task of creating a society that values human needs over corporate profits. We need a single-payer healthcare system now and only an uncompromising movement made up of everyday people will get us there. Billy Wharton is the editor of The Socialist magazine and the Socialist WebZine. He can be reached at: billyspnyc at yahoo.com. Read other articles by Billy, or visit Billy's website. This article was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 8:59am and is filed under Democracy, Health/Medical, Obama ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sat Mar 20 23:55:35 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:55:35 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Iraqi Holocaust - 7th Anniversary Of Invasion Of Iraq Message-ID: <013701cac8c3$847fb3e0$16ad57ca@jfos> http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25032.htm Iraqi Holocaust 7th Anniversary Of Invasion Of Iraq By Dr Gideon Polya 19 March, 2010 "Countercurrents" -- The following succinct letter is being sent to media world wide on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the US alliance invasion of Iraq Dear Sir, It is the 7th anniversary of the illegal and war criminal invasion of Iraq by US, UK and Australian forces on 20 March 2003. What has been the human cost? As of 20 March 2010 post-invasion violent deaths in Occupied Iraq total 1.4 million (according to the eminent US Just Foreign Policy). Post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.8 million and post-invasion non-violent excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) total 1.1 million (based on 2006 revision data from the UN Population Division), this being identical to an independent estimate from under-5 infant deaths. Gulf War violent deaths totalled 0.2 million and excess deaths and under- 5 infant deaths under Sanctions (1990-2003) totalled 1.7 million and 1.2 million, respectively. In the period 1990-2010 Iraqi violent deaths totalled 1.6 million, non-violent excess deaths from deprivation totalled 2.8 million, under-5 infant deaths (90% avoidable and due to US Alliance war crimes in gross violation of the Geneva Convention) totalled 2.0 million and refugees totalled 5-6 million. This is an Iraqi Holocaust and an Iraqi Genocide as per Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention (cf WW2 Jewish Holocaust, 5-6 million killed, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation). Yours sincerely, Dr Gideon Polya, Melbourne , Victoria 3085, Australia For further details see "Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide": http://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/ and "Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide": http://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ . Dr Gideon Polya currently teaches science students at a major Australian university. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has recently published "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950" (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contribution "Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality" in "Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics" (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1445960.htm ). He has just published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book "Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History" (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the "forgotten" World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/bengalfamine_programme.html ). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ . Comments (+) Add your comment (11 hours ago) citizin said: Anonymous i agree but how (16 hours ago) Anonymous said: The westerners should all be shot! What else can one say? (1 days ago) Follow the Facts said: What is there to comment other than that the depravity of the "international order" is beyond comprehension... That criminal political power in our time is met with total lack of concern or even recognition for what it is...? - I don't know what to say... are governments around the world today populated by nothing but psychopaths...? ...or are they "functionally illiterate" - incapable of understanding simple facts when presented to them - or totally lacking in analytical skills? What I am seeing is the complete failure of ALL existing political systems... and universal apathy is the depressing and dangerous result... As humans we have failed miserably and completely in dealing with the monster known as "political power"... The United States of America has incriminated itself beyond repair and the only honorable course of action will be the dissolution of the involuntary union. But first there needs to be a tribunal, for the purpose of prosecuting the criminal political class, followed by executions of the guilty. This is what this criminal class does to its "enemies" with enthusiasm - this is what they deserve, but more importantly, it's a necessary consequence, for without it, nothing will have been learned. The Future hangs in the balance... From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Mar 21 00:06:54 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:06:54 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States Message-ID: <015301cac8c5$19859da0$16ad57ca@jfos> World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States 19 March 2010 On March 13, China's Information Office of the State Council published a report titled, "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009." This document was clearly intended as a rebuttal to the annual US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009, released two days earlier. The Chinese report quite legitimately notes that the US government "releases Country Reports on Human Rights Practices year after year to accuse other countries, and takes human rights as a political instrument to interfere in other countries' internal affairs, defame other nations' image and seek its own strategic interests. This fully exposes its double standards on the human rights issue." Delivering the US government a well-deserved dose of its own medicine does not, of course, absolve the Chinese regime of its own gross violations of human rights. It rules autocratically over 1.3 billion people, most of them desperately poor peasants and super-exploited workers. That being said, the Chinese report is an eye-opening document-factual, sober, even understated, drawn entirely from public government and media sources in the United States, with each item carefully documented. It presents a picture of 21st century America as much of the world sees it, one which is in sharp contrast to the official mythology and American media propaganda. Not surprisingly, the report went unmentioned in the US mass media. The 14-page report is divided into six major sections: Life, Property and Personal Security; Civil and Political Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Racial Discrimination; Rights of Women and Children; US Violations of Human Rights Against Other Nations. The cumulative picture is one of a society in deep and worsening social crisis. A few of the facts and figures cited on violence and police repression in the United States: . Each year, 30,000 people die in gun-related incidents. . There were 14,180 murders last year. . In the first ten months of 2009, 45 people were killed by police use of tasers, bringing the total for the decade to 389. . Last year, 315 police officers in New York City were subject to internal supervision due to "unrestrained use of violence." . 7.3 million Americans were under the authority of the correctional system, more than in any other country. . An estimated 60,000 prisoners were raped while in custody last year. On democratic rights, the report notes the pervasive government spying on citizens, authorized under the 2001 Patriot Act, extensive surveillance of the Internet by the National Security Agency, and police harassment of anti-globalization demonstrators in Pittsburgh during last year's G-20 summit. Pointing to the hypocrisy of US government "human rights" rhetoric, the authors observe, "the same conduct in other countries would be called human rights violations, whereas in the United States it was called necessary crime control." The report only skims the surface on the socioeconomic crisis in the United States, noting record levels of unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness, as well as 46.3 million people without health insurance. It does offer a few facts rarely discussed in the US media: . 712 bodies were cremated at public expense in the city of Los Angeles last year, because the families were too poor to pay for a burial. . There were 5,657 workplace deaths recorded in 2007, the last year for which a tally is available, a rate of 17 deaths per day (not a single employer was criminally charged for any of these deaths). . Some 2,266 veterans died as a consequence of lack of health insurance in 2008, 14 times the military death toll in Afghanistan that year. The report presents evidence of pervasive racial discrimination against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, the most oppressed sections of the US working class, including a record number of racial discrimination claims over hiring practices, more than 32,000. It also notes the rising number of incidents of discrimination or violence against Muslims, and the detention of 300,000 "illegal" immigrants each year, with more than 30,000 immigrants in US detention facilities every day of the year. It notes that the state of California imposed life sentences on 18 times more black defendants than white, and that in 2008, when New York City police fired their weapons, 75 percent of the targets were black, 22 percent Hispanic and only 3 percent white. The report refers to the well-known reality of unequal pay for women, with median female income only 77 percent that of male income in 2008, down from 78 percent in 2007. According to the report, 70 percent of working-age women have no health insurance, or inadequate coverage, high medical bills or high health-related debt. Children bear a disproportionate burden of economic hardship, with 16.7 million children not having enough food at some time during 2008, and 3.5 million children under five facing hunger or malnutrition, 17 percent of the total. Child hunger is combined with the malignant phenomenon of rampant child labor in agriculture: some 400,000 child farm workers pick America's crops. The US also leads the world in imprisoning children and juveniles, and is the only country that does not offer parole to juvenile offenders. US foreign policy comes in for justifiable criticism as well. A country with so many poor and hungry people accounts for 42 percent of the world's total military spending, a colossal $607 billion, as well as the world's largest foreign arms sales, $37.8 billion in 2008, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year. The Chinese report notes the documented torture of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the worldwide US network of military bases, the US blockade of Cuba (opposed by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 187 to 3), and the systematic US spying around the world, utilizing the NSA's "ECHELON" interception system, as well as the US monopoly control over Internet route servers. The report also points out the deliberate US flouting of international human rights covenants. Washington has either signed but not ratified or refused to sign four major UN covenants: on economic, social and cultural rights; on the rights of women; on the rights of people with disabilities; and on the rights of indigenous peoples. The report does not discuss the source of the malignant social conditions in the United States-nor should that be expected, since that would require an explanation of the causal connection between poverty, repression and discrimination and the operations of the capitalist profit system, something that Beijing is hardly likely to undertake. Patrick Martin About the WSWS | Contact Us | Privacy Statement | Top of page Copyright ? 1998-2010 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From thinker at xplornet.com Sun Mar 21 07:59:17 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:59:17 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Fiat lux 253 Message-ID: <20100321145928.93F6EC2805@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> To: record at cablerocket.com Subject: Fiat lux 253 Fiat lux # 253 March 19, 2010 The worldwide, governments sanctioned, death throes of democracy in the hands of the international corporate mafia. It is a well known fact that multinational corporations prefer to do business in dictatorships, where they can openly buy the governments and don't have to worry about public opinion, or pestilent voters interfering with their enslaving and destructive, wealth creating practices. But now we have the Holy Scriptures of the neoclassical market economic theory, forcing formerly democratic countries to use all the tricks to persuade their peoples that they have no other choice, but to jump on the bandwagon of self destruction under the name of "global competitiveness". Yes, contrary to propaganda, democracy is dying here in Canada, as it is already dead in many parts of the "globally competitive, business friendly" world, a fate we're also headed for under our present governments. Democracy is being murdered on the altars of the phony "free markets", "free trade", and "globalization", by politicians waving the scriptures for the execution of our democracy, sanctioned by our universities in the name of "economics" which , in our times, seems to be the excuse for anything. Some of us old fogies can still remember the ancient times, when universities used to be the institutions, of "learning" . But that was a long time ago, before they were sold by governments to become the institutions of brainwash, preparing their victims for servitude and mental enslavement to the insatiable profit machine of the multinational corporate mafia. Again, in the name of wealth creation, blinding people of their nefarious schemes of global mental and physical enslavement, under the guise of "science, at the intellectual level of the nazis' racial theories. Of course, there have always been the good and talented exceptions in all professions, including in economics, to all the horrors of all the ages, but the most dangerous people on Earth today must be economists, filling our lives with hopelessness, and architects with their ugly monstrosities. There was a time when travelers from one country to another could see the wondrous displays of the civilizations of various societies, but now the whole world is being turned into the same ugly, structural symbols of economic enslavement, with the same criminal element holding the chains . Well, let's hear the well popularized cries, lies, and accusations of " conspiracy theory", the propaganda buzzwords invented by top liner mindbenders to divert attention from cold, hard facts. Soviet communism was supposed to be the "rule of the proletariat", with the proletariat eating dirt and 22 million, plus 25 million under Mao, dying like animals in their prison camps. All in the name of "democracy" and "freedom", of course. But now we have capitalism which is claimed to be the era of the "free markets", supposed to bring well being to everyone, while poverty and ecological destruction are growing by the day, a billion starving people and thirty million, most of them little kids, dying of starvation every year, because the rights of their parents to feed them has been stolen and handed over to big business by their governments. In the name of "economic efficiency", of course. While both communism and capitalism are screaming "freedom" and "democracy", they can only survive and grow through the economic powers concentrated in the hands of their non elected aristocracy of human predators, collectivizing the economic systems in their mudhooks, stealing the world blind under the propaganda of "World government" and "globalization" In the Soviet times anybody who dared to question the actions of the leaders has been accused of being an "enemy of the people" and under capitalism the questioners have become "conspiracy theorists". The only difference is that we still don't have any prison camps for dissenters, but the way things are going, just give them time and there will be.. Like the Japanese have once been dehumanized and their properties stolen by the government of the day, without cause, trials, or any real legal reasons. And where are our elected politicians to warn and wake people to what is going on behind the scenes ? Nowhere. The economists of all parties and governments have all been brainwashed with the same, identical textbooks, and the only solution, those who may still have some conscience left, can offer is packages of band-aids to cover up compound fractures, because the theory they've all been brainwashed with is sacred and untouchable. What we now have are governments, elected to become dictators for the term of their office. The opposition and public opinion be damned. As we now have with this HST racket being forced on us, increasing our already, daily increasing cost of living, so that our politicians can give more tax breaks, adding to the already obscene profits and executive salaries of the banks and other members of the corporate mafia. The German nazis called their Reichstag the "Quatschbude" or "Yapping shed" and burned it down. Unfortunately, now our and the world's parliaments are not much better than yapping sheds, because the so called debates, with their ridiculous chest beatings and desk poundings are a total waste of time. The public is still allowed a secret vote, but our parliamentarians are not. They have to submit to so called "party discipline", which means voting as they are ordered by their leaders, or else... They no longer represent the voters. Their duty is to force the policies of their leaders on the voters who elected them. For all practical purposes they could all stay at home, because, as long as the governing party has a majority, the parliamentary votes are automatic. Any government could easily say, as indeed they're saying : "We have the numbers and can do what we want , so you guys just stay at home !" Which makes me wonder, is there no way to introduce the democratic, secret vote in our parliaments? That would at least give some members with some conscience left to represent their voters, without having to worry about the displeasure of their leaders, on their way to lucrative directorships. From Wikipedia : In one of her last acts as Finance Minister, Carole Taylor ended the corporate capital tax on banks -- $100 million a year in government revenue. Upon leaving government, Taylor joined the TD Bank board where she stands to earn $145,000 to $300,000 per year [3] Guess what Harper and Campbell are going to collect ? From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Sun Mar 21 23:04:27 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:04:27 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks References: <284793.30846.qm@web110803.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <7CBE5DDA-5B8E-45F7-843D-6A89590FD740@powerup.com.au> Relayed by Doug Everingham. ==== Begin forwarded message: > From: jack loel > Date: 19 March 2010 1:06:50 PM > To: ctletters at caller.com, ctv-manager at bath.ac.uk, > cultural at embjp.ie, customer at todayszaman.com, > customerhelp at economist.com, cyphclondon at dial.pipex.com, > dailyiberian at bellsouth.net, dailyregister at ntin.net, > dailysun at mountwashingtonvalley.com, dana at mail.house.gov, > danderluh at sacbee.com, danfields at dailycommercial.com, > danglazebrook2000 at yahoo.co.uk, daniel.bertils at ljusnan.se, > darmstadt at fr-online.de, dasson at globalsolutions.org, > datebook at tennessean.com, david.bloom at gccisd.net, > david.savage at latimes.com, david at mediachannel.org, dbanker at sun- > sentinel.com, dbnred at dieburger.com, debate at euobs.com, > dejanlucicdorcol , > delbosque at texasobserver.org, delhidesk at asianage.com, > demarco at northjersey.com, despacho at embavenez-us.org, > dfowler at hastingstribune.com, dgceditor at dailygate.com, > dialog at canalplus.no, diario.digital at mail.telepac.pt, > dick.satran at reuters.com, dir-info at tf1.fr, direzione at quotidiano.net, > dispatchnews at yahoo.com, dkoller at dallesnews.com, > dlauricella at capitalgazette.com, dledford at delawareonline.com, > dlindorff at yahoo.com, dmendros at gwi.net, dmi at drummajorinstitute.org, > dmitry at pravda-team.ru, dmu-mags at internet.dk, > dnevrghm at powerup.com.au, docbrosk , > dominicp at pressgazette.co.uk, donald at mecotrucking.com, > dpalmer at jcfloridan.com, dpioneer at aol.com, > drgerrylower at jeffersonseyes.com, dsa at dsausa.org, > dscottdailyreg at ntin.net, dub-info at minbuza.nl, > dub.vertretung at eda.admin.ch, dubamb at um.dk, dubgremb at eircom.net, > dublin-ob at bmaa.gv.at, dublin at embassy.mzv.cz, duconsul at indigo.ie, > duhoux2 at tds.net, dw-tv at dw-world.de, dwfed at dwfed.org, > dy at yomiuri.com, e.polivanova at imedia.ru, e.popova at rian.ru, > easyreader at easyreader.info, ebu at ebu.ch, echo.news at glosmedia.co.uk, > echonews at expressandecho.co.uk, edit at mspmag.com, > editman1000 at yahoo.com, editoped at asianage.com, editor-in-chief at y- > i.co.il, editor-mc at thesentinel.com, editor-pg at thesentinel.com, > editor at abcnews.com, editor at adbusters.org, > editor at americanthinker.com, editor at amperspective.com, > editor at aswataliraq.info, editor at atlanticfreepress.com, > editor at azstarnet.com, editor at baghdadbulletin.com, > editor at baltimorechronicle.com, editor at bcn-news.com, > editor at bctelegraph.com, editor at beachesleader.com, > editor at bocanews.com, editor at borgernewsherald.com, editor at bpsun.hu, > editor at capecourier.com, editor at cedarkeybeacon.com, > editor at cedarvalleydailytimes.com, editor at charlescitypress.com, > editor at charlestoncitypaper.com, editor at chickashanews.com, > editor at coastnewsgroup.com, editor at collegiatetimes.com, > editor at commercialappeal.com > Subject: The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks > > The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks > by Ellen Brown > > Published on Thursday, March 18, 2010 by YES! Magazine > > We the people have given away our sovereign money-creating power to > private, for-profit lending institutions, which have used it to > siphon wealth from the productive economy. Some states are moving > to take that power back. > > by Ellen Brown > > "Hundreds of job-creating projects are still on hold because > Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs cannot get bank financing. We > can break the credit crunch and beat Wall Street at their own game > by keeping our money right here in Michigan and investing it to > retool our economy and create jobs." > --Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in The Detroit News March 9, 2010 > Michigan, which has an unemployment rate of 14 percent, has been > particularly hard hit by the economic downturn. Virg Bernero, mayor > of Lansing, the state's capital, and a leading Democratic candidate > for governor, proposes to relieve the state's economic ills by > opening a state-owned bank. He says the bank could protect > consumers by making low-interest loans to those most in need, > including students and small businesses; it could also help > community banks by buying mortgages off their books and working > with them to fund development projects. > Bernero joins a growing list of candidates proposing this sensible > solution to their states' fiscal ills. Local economies have > collapsed because of the Wall Street credit freeze. To reinvigorate > local business, Main Street needs a heavy infusion of credit, and > publicly-owned banks could fill that need. > In a recent article for YES! Magazine, I tracked candidates in five > states running on a state bank platform and one state > (Massachusetts) with a bill pending. Just one month later, there > are now three more bills on the rolls--in Washington State, > Illinois and Michigan--and two more candidates joining the list of > proponents (joining Bernero is Gaelan Brown of Vermont). That > brings the total to seven candidates in as many states (Florida, > Oregon, Illinois, California, Washington State, Vermont, and Idaho) > campaigning for state-owned banks, including three Democrats, two > Greens, one Republican, and one Independent. > The Independent, Vermont's Gaelan Brown, says on his website, > "Washington, D.C. has lost all moral authority over Vermont." He > adds, "Vermont should explore creating a State-owned bank that > would work with private VT-based banks, to insulate VT from Wall > Street corruption, and to increase investment capital for VT > businesses, modeled after the very successful state-owned Bank of > North Dakota." > The Bank of North Dakota, currently the nation's only state-owned > bank, is the model (with variations) for all the other proposals on > the table. The Bank of North Dakota acts as a "bankers' bank," > partnering with other banks in "participation loans," which allow > them to compete with larger banks. In a participation loan, the > community bank originates the loan and takes responsibility for it, > while the participating bank contributes funds and shares in the > risk and profits. The Bank of North Dakota also makes low-interest > loans to students, farmers and businesses; underwrites municipal > bonds; and provides liquidity for more than 100 banks around the > state. > Three New Bills Pending for Publicly Owned Banks > > Proposals for publicly owned banks in other states have now > progressed beyond the campaign talk of political hopefuls to be > drafted into several bills. > The Michigan Development Bank > The Michigan bill has gotten the most press. Introduced into the > legislature earlier this month, it mirrors Bernero's state bank > idea. According to a press release issued by Michigan Senate > Democrats on March 9, the bill's aim is to "keep Michigan's money > in Michigan" by putting tax dollars into a proposed "Michigan > Development Bank." The bank would function like a traditional bank, > but would focus on economic development rather than profit. The > press release quoted Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing): > Investing in the state's economy is the greatest way to create > jobs, and this proposal will provide small businesses and > entrepreneurs the funding they need to invest and grow. Our economy > has stagnated due in part to stale thinking in Lansing, and this is > just the type of innovative idea we need to create real economic > change, using our own money to rebuild the state. > Senate Democratic Leader Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming) stated: > Michigan's economy has been suffering, and working families in the > state have had difficulty keeping up with credit card bills, > college tuition prices and mortgage payments. Establishing the > Michigan Development Bank will keep our hard-earned dollars right > here in the state to invest in small business, create good-paying > jobs to get people back to work, and help protect the middle class. > Also quoted was Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit): > With the current state of our economy, every dollar counts, yet > we're depositing our money in other people's pockets by investing > in big corporate banks without seeing much lending in return. It's > time for the Mitten State to lend itself a helping hand and > establish a bank that is willing to invest in our small businesses > and offer the financial support necessary to see job growth. > For start-up capital, the Senate Democrats suggested that Michigan > could sell voter-approved bonds. With an initial capitalization of > $150 million, they estimated the bank could lend up to $1 billion > to small businesses, students and farmers, and offer low-interest > credit cards to consumers. For deposits, the bank could follow the > model of the Bank of North Dakota and use state revenues. So says > Gene Taliercio, a Republican candidate for the state Senate, who > has also put his weight behind the Michigan Development Bank. In a > video clip on the website of the local Oakland Press, he says, > "We're talking about restructuring the whole tax system, in the > sense that the way it's set up is that all taxes are going to go > into this central bank ... Every dollar that the state of Michigan > makes goes into this bank." > The State Bank of Washington > A similar bill, HB 3162, was introduced to the Washington State > Legislature on February 1. The bill has generated so much interest > that Steve Kirby, chair of the Financial Institutions and Insurance > Committee, has scheduled a special work session on it. According to > John Nichols in The Nation, the State Bank of Washington was > formally proposed by House finance committee vice chair Bob > Hasegawa, a Seattle Democrat. Nichols quotes Hasegawa: > Imagine financing student aid, infrastructure, industry and > community development. Imagine providing access to capital for > small businesses, or otherwise leveraging our resources instead of > having to do it with tax incentives. Imagine keeping our resources > local instead of exporting them as profits, never to be seen again-- > that's what this bank could do. > Leveraging, rather than taxing, is how private banks have been > creating "credit" for centuries. States could do the same thing, > cutting the middlemen out of the equation, saving significant sums > in interest and fees and generating revenue for the state. > A nonpartisan analysis of the Washington bill prepared for the > state legislature noted that the bank would be the depository for > all state funds and the funds of state institutions, and that these > deposits would be guaranteed by the state. The bank would be run by > a board of 11 members and would be chaired by the State Treasurer. > It would have the same rules and privileges as a private bank > chartered in the state. Since current law prohibits the state from > lending credit and investing in private firms, voters would have to > approve the state Constitution to get the bank off the ground. > The Community Bank of Illinois > A third bill, introduced by Illinois Representative Mary Flowers, > is on its way through the legislative process in Illinois. > According to the Illinois General Assembly website, the Community > Bank of Illinois Act would establish a state bank with the express > purpose of boosting agriculture, commerce, and industry. State > funds and money held by penal, educational, and industrial > institutions owned by the state would be deposited in the bank and > would serve as reserves for making loans. The bank could also serve > as a clearinghouse for other banks, including handling domestic and > foreign exchange; and it could buy property under eminent domain. > All deposits would be guaranteed with the assets of the state. The > Bank would be managed and controlled by the Department of Financial > and Professional Regulation, with input from an advisory board > representing private banking and public interests. > An amendment to the initial bill would enable the Community Bank of > Illinois to make loans directly to the state's General Revenue > Fund, helping the state cope with its current budget challenges. > A Massachusetts-owned Bank > On March 12, the Associated Press reported that a jobs bill > sponsored by Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray also > includes a call to study a Massachusetts-owned bank. She told a > business group that a state-owned bank has worked in North Dakota, > helping to insulate that state from the worst of the recession > while also keeping its foreclosure rate down; similarly, a state- > owned bank could spur job creation and free up lending to > Massachusetts businesses. > Grandfather of the Concept: The Bank of North Dakota > > All of these proposals take their inspiration from the Bank of > North Dakota, which was founded in 1919 to resolve a credit crisis > like that facing other states today. Last year, North Dakota had > the largest budget surplus it had ever had. It was the only state > that was actually adding jobs when others were losing them. In > March 2009, when 46 of 50 states were in fiscal crisis, the Council > of State Governments noted that North Dakota was in the enviable > position of discussing tax cuts and looking for ways to spend its > surplus. > With the deepening crisis, according to National Public Radio, by > January 2010 only two states could still meet their budgets--North > Dakota and Montana. On February 8, however, the Montana paper the > Missoulian reported that the Montana State Legislature's chief > revenue forecaster foresees a budget deficit by mid-2011, leaving > North Dakota the only state still boasting a surplus. > North Dakota's riches have been attributed to oil, but many states > with oil are floundering. The sole truly distinguishing feature of > North Dakota seems to be that it has managed to avoid the Wall > Street credit freeze by owning and operating its own bank. > According to the North Dakota Department of Commerce, the BND > turned a profit in 2009 of $58.1 million; this money goes into the > state's General Fund. North Dakota's economy is ten times smaller > than Michigan's, suggesting that Michigan could generate $500 > million per year in this way; Washington State and Illinois present > similarly inviting possibilities. > That defuses the objection raised in a March 15 editorial in The > Detroit News, arguing that Michigan can ill afford the $150 million > capital investment to start a bank. If operated like the BND, the > Michigan Development Bank could soon be a net generator of state > revenues. There are other possibilities, besides a bond issue, for > providing the capital to start a bank, but that subject will be > reserved for another article. > The BND's 90-year track record of prudent and profitable lending > defuses another objection to state-owned banks: that a public > agency cannot be trusted to act responsibly in managing public > funds. The Detroit News' editorial concluded that Michigan should > "leave banking to the bankers," but it is precisely because the > bankers have destroyed the economy with their reckless lending > practices that the public needs to step in. We need a "public > option" in banking to set standards and keep private banks honest. > The True Potential of Publicly-owned Banks > > North Dakota broke new ground nearly a century ago, but the true > potential of publicly owned banks remains to be explored. Nearly > all of our money today is created by banks when they extend loans. > (See the Chicago Federal Reserve's "Modern Money Mechanics," which > begins, "The actual process of money creation takes place primarily > in banks.") We the people have given away our sovereign money-- > creating power to private, for-profit lending institutions, which > have used it to siphon wealth from the productive economy. If we > were to take that power back, we could generate the credit we need > to underwrite a whole cornucopia of projects that we don't even > consider because we think we lack the "money." We have the labor > and we have the materials; we just lack the "liquidity" necessary > to put them together to create products and services. > Money today is just a ticket, a receipt for work performed and > goods delivered. We can fund the work we need done by creating our > own credit. The real promise of publicly-owned banks is not that > they can bail out subprime borrowers but that they can jumpstart > the economy by creating real wealth. They can provide the liquidity > to put labor and materials together, allowing the economy to build > and grow. Our private, profit-driven banking sector has been > bleeding wealth from the rest of the economy. Public-interest banks > can transfuse the economy with the credit it needs to flourish and > be productive once again. > Ellen Brown wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, > nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with > practical actions. Ellen developed her research skills as an > attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of > Debt, her latest of eleven books, she turns those skills to an > analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust." Her websites > are webofdebt.com, ellenbrown.com, and public-banking.com. > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 22 13:30:31 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:30:31 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Robert Reich: The Health Care Vote - What it Really Means Message-ID: -------- http://readersupportednews.com/opinion/39-health-care/1301-health-care-vote-what-it-really-means By Robert Reich, Robert Reichs Blog 22 March 2010 ######## Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including "The Work of Nations," "Locked in the Cabinet," and his most recent book, "Supercapitalism." His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes. ############## The Final Health Care Vote and What it Really Means It's not nearly as momentous as the passage of Medicare in 1965 and won't fundamentally alter how Americans think about social safety nets. But the likely passage of Obama's health care reform bill is the biggest thing Congress has done in decades, and has enormous political significance for the future. Medicare directly changed the life of every senior in America, giving them health security and dramatically reducing their rates of poverty. By contrast, most Americans won't be affected by Obama's health care legislation. Most of us will continue to receive health insurance through our employers. (Only a comparatively small minority will be required to buy insurance who don't want it, or be subsidized in order to afford it. Only a relatively few companies will be required to provide it who don't now.) Medicare built on Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal notion of government as insurer, with citizens making payments to government, and government paying out benefits. That was the central idea of Social Security, and Medicare piggybacked on Social Security. Obama's legislation comes from an alternative idea, begun under the Eisenhower administration and developed under Nixon, of a market for health care based on private insurers and employers. Eisenhower locked in the tax break for employee health benefits; Nixon pushed prepaid, competing health plans, and urged a requirement that employers cover their employees. Obama applies Nixon's idea and takes it a step further by requiring all Americans to carry health insurance, and giving subsidies to those who need it. So don't believe anyone who says Obama's health care legislation marks a swing of the pendulum back toward the Great Society and the New Deal. Obama's health bill is a very conservative piece of legislation, building on a Republican rather than a New Deal foundation. The New Deal foundation would have offered Medicare to all Americans or, at the very least, featured a public insurance option. The significance of Obama's health legislation is more political than substantive. For the first time since Ronald Reagan told America government is the problem, Obama's health bill reasserts that government can provide a major solution. In political terms, that's a very big deal. Most Americans continue to be suspicious of government. That distrust is deeply etched in our culture and traditions. Our system of government was devised by people who distrusted government and intentionally created checks and balances, three separate branches, and almost insuperable odds against getting big things done. The period extending from 1933 to 1965 - the New Deal and the Great Society - was an historical aberration from that long tradition, animated by the unique crises of the Great Depression and World War II, and the social cohesion that flowed from them for another generation. Ronald Reagan merely picked up where Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover left off. But Reagan's view of government as the problem is increasingly at odds with a nation whose system of health care relies on large for-profit entities designed to make money rather than improve health; whose economy is dependent on global capital and on global corporations and financial institutions with no particular loyalty to America; and much of whose fuel comes from unstable and dangerous areas of the world. Under these conditions, government is the only entity that can look out for our interests. We will not return to the New Deal or the Great Society, but nor will we continue to wallow in the increasingly obsolete Reagan view that we don't need a strong and competent government. Today's vote confirms our hope that we can have both strength and competence in Washington. It is an audacious hope, but we have no choice. From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Mon Mar 22 14:19:09 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:19:09 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] Health Care Reform Reactions From Around The World [ huffingtonpost.com M22] Message-ID: <4BA7B49D.20282.3EA83FE4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/health-care-reform- reacti_n_508040.html Health Care Reform Reactions From Around The World First Posted: 03-22-10 09:13 AM | Updated: 03-22-10 11:30 AM Below is a round-up of reaction from around the world to the health care reform bill that was passed by the US Congress Sunday. The Guardian's Michael Tomasky called it a "monumental accomplishment." In the annals of American liberalism, a (very) few years in our history stand out enough that the mere mention of the year summons a waterfall of images and emotions - 1933 means the start of the New Deal and the birth of modern liberalism, 1964 means the passage of the civil rights act, 1965 means the passage of universal healthcare for the elderly. Now, in the wake of this morning's narrow margin in the House of Representatives, 2010 joins that short list: the year we finally passed major healthcare reform after a century of trying. ------------------------- The Guardian's Richard Adams said the Democratic Party "rediscovered its vertebrae." Some myths got slain last night in Washington DC. For one thing, the Democratic party rediscovered its vertebrae and used it, for a change, to pass healthcare reform. For another, the myth that the US political structure is broken and cannot digest fundamental issues ... well, it took a dent. --------------------------------- Nile Gardiner of the Telegraph was critical of the legislation, calling it a "dark day in America." The passage last night of Barack Obama's health care reform bill through the House of Representatives is yet another blow to freedom in America inflicted by the Obama administration. The legislation, which comes at a staggering cost of $940 billion, will hugely add to the already towering national debt, now at over $12 trillion. It is yet another millstone round the necks of the American people, already faced with the highest levels of unemployment in a generation. ---------------------------- The Times of London said that "this time change really is coming to America." It is hard to overstate the effect the reforms passed last night will have on the American way of life, because the unknowable changes may be even more profound than those that are already known. ----------------------------- Der Spiegel argues that while the reform was "good for America," it was ultimately "bad for the world" due to the heavy price Obama may pay in terms of popularity. US President Barack Obama has a significantly different view of democracy than Bismarck did, but the German's observation remains valid. For more than a year, Obama watched his healthcare reform churn through the law-making grinder. His political opponents sliced piece after piece from his most important domestic political project - - Obama himself even grabbed the knife occasionally. The public show was such that American voters slowly lost faith in the president's health care reform plan. On Sunday evening, it finally made it through the House of Representatives. Obama's apron, though, is splattered with blood. ----------------------------------- Clive Crook of the Financial Times calls the passing of health care reform a 'tainted victory' for Democrats: Remarkable as it may be-and welcome, too, as I believe-it is nonetheless a tainted victory. Brown won in Massachusetts for a reason. The Democrats had failed to make their case for this reform to the American public. They pressed the case for some sort of reform, but that was easy: the country was already there. What the country dislikes is this particular bill, and the Democrats, intent on arguing among themselves, barely even tried to change its mind. ------------------------------- Get HuffPost World On Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz! Know something we don't? E-mail us at world at huffingtonpost.com Related News On Huffington Post: Vicki Kennedy Visited Ted's Grave On Day Of Health Care Passage (VIDEO) Reflecting on the legislative achievement her late husband had spent his career pursuing, Vicki Kennedy on Monday expressed gratitude and paid tribute to the work... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/vicki-kennedy-visited- ted_n_508467.html House Boosts College Aid For Students In Need WASHINGTON - Riding the coattails of a historic health care vote, the House on Sunday also passed a broad reorganization of college aid that affects... The Historic (And Sometimes Insane) Health Care Debate In 10 Minutes (VIDEO) Last night's historic health care vote capped off more than a year's worth of heated, emotional and often rancorous debate that touched on issues substantive,... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/health-care-10-minutes- video_n_508189.html Bricks Shatter Windows At Rep. Louise Slaughter's Office, Democratic Party Offices ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Authorities are trying to find out who threw bricks through windows and doors at two Democratic Party offices in western New York... Read more from Huffington Post bloggers: Mark Greenbaum: Health Care Is Pelosi's Victory Faced with an endless litany of institutional roadblocks, false starts, ego-centric Members, and plain political pressures, Pelosi was able to wrangle together just enough votes to push reform to the finish line. Paul Raushenbush: Yes We Can! Hope, Despair, and Hope Again in Health Care and American Politics Now that this major victory has been won in Congress today, I realize that what I really had at the start of Obama's term was not hope, but optimism. Optimism is a luxury for those who can afford to lose. Hope inspires endurance. Mike Lux: The Big Change Moment Is this the change we have been looking for? Only partly. Insurers and other big corporations remain far too powerful, and we will have to keep working hard to improve health care policy in America. ============================= ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6053 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From papadop at peak.org Mon Mar 22 22:43:05 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:43:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Robert Reich countered - Another View on Health Care - Message-ID: From: Barbara LaMorticella Michael: " You forwarded a comment on the health care struggle by Robert Reich (who I cannot help remember was a big proponent of free trade and NAFTA and has never really given up his position that it was a good thing, although with a few problems). He "Today's vote confirms our hope that we can have both strength and competence in Washington. It is an audacious hope, but we have no choice." "What idiocy! We do have a choice. We can recognize that the whole health care debate has been nothing more than a circus. "I posted this to an online discussion on a blog, Jack Bog's blog http://www.jackbogsblog.com/ "Here's a link to a Firedoglake article, this one with an excellent analysis of the health care bill and a marvelously clear table of myths and truths about the bill. Barbara adds --- "the Massachusetts Health Plan has run WAY over projected budget, and functioned so poorly that in my opinion it led to a protest vote and a Scott Brown victory. But of course the Dems are determined to draw the wrong conclusion about their senate loss... "This issue won't go away. In about three years people will start to realize that they've been screwed. And the media machine will again go into overdrive. (The Oregonian today, in its analysis of the bill's effect on Medicare, mentioned only closing the donut hole, but neglected to mention that federal funds to Medicare Senior Advantage programs will be slashed, which will force seniors to either pay higher premiums or settle for skimpier care). "The story in three years will be ... patience... next year (just before the 2014 election) the plan will REALLY kick in, and we'll get the benefits that the Republicans are fighting. "I am so sick of the Good Cop-Bad Cop routine the Democrats and Republicans play. "I disagree that we won't ever have single payer. Simple economics will compel it. (Unless we descend into total collapse and barbarity first... mandatory gas chambers for the seriously ill, anyone?) "In the meantime, Rep Alan Grayson has a bill allowing anyone to buy into Medicare. It has over 80 cosponsors in the House and over 40,000 citizen cosponsors at WeWantMedicare.com. "Whether or not it has a chance of passage, it's worth signing onto just to let congress know that people know what direction we need to go. It would be a lot easier to fix Medicare than to wring a shred of honest intention out of the robber barons who presently run our health care system." ############# http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/19/fact-sheet-the-truth-about-the-health-care-bill/#comment-98286 This URL includes a PDF table which doesn't travel well - so I've expanded what Barbara posted to me to include ALL 18 myths included in that table -- see below. 1.MYTH This is a universal health care bill. TRUTH The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance. Per the CBO: Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million (44%) 2. MYTH Insurance companies hate this bill TRUTH This bill is almost identical to the plan written by AHIP, the insurance company trade association, in 2009. The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored by a former Wellpoint VP. Since Congress released the first of its health care bills on October 30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%. 3, MYTH The bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums for most Americans. TRUTH The bill will not bring down premiums significantly, and certainly not the $2,500/year that the President promised. Annual premiums in 2016, status quo / with bill: Small group market, single: $7,800 / $7,800 Small group market, family: $19,300 / $19,200 Large Group market, single: $7,400 / $7,300 Large group market, family: $21,100 / $21,300 Individual market, single: $5,500 / $5,800* Individual market, family: $13,100 / $15,200* 4. MYTH The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans. TRUTH The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can t afford to use. A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible. 5. MYTH This plan is similar to the Massachusetts plan, which makes health care affordable. TRUTH Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care because they can t afford it. A 2009 study by the state of Massachusetts found that: 21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they can t afford it, including 12% of children 18% have health insurance but can t afford to use it 6. MYTH This bill provide health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured. TRUTH This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured must purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies. 7. MYTH You can keep the insurance you have if you like it. TRUTH The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services. Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-ofpocket expenses than they do now. 8. MYTH The excise tax will encourage employers to reduce the scope of health care benefits, and they will pass the savings on to employees in the form of higher wages. TRUTH There is insufficient evidence that employers pass savings from reduced benefits on to employees. 9. MYTH This bill employs nearly every cost control idea available to bring down costs. TRUTH This bill does not bring down costs and leaves out nearly every key cost control measure, including: Public Option ($25-$110 billion) Medicare buy-in Drug reimportation ($19 billion) Medicare drug price negotiation ($300 billion) Shorter pathway to generic biologics ($71 billion) 10. MYTH The bill will require big companies like WalMart to provide insurance for their employees TRUTH The bill was written so that most WalMart employees will qualify for subsidies, and taxpayers will pick up a large portion of the cost of their coverage. 11. MYTH The bill bends the cost curve on health care. TRUTH The bill ignored proven ways to cut health care costs and still leaves 24 million people uninsured, all while slightly raising total annual costs by $234 million in 2019. Bends the cost curve is a misleading and trivial claim, as the US would still spend far more for care than other advanced countries. In 2009, health care costs were 17.3% of GDP. Annual cost of health care in 2019, status quo: $4,670.6 billion (20.8% of GDP) Annual cost of health care in 2019, Senate bill: $4,693.5 billion (20.9% of GDP) 12, MYTH The bill will provide immediate access to insurance for Americans who are uininsured because of an existing condition TRUTH Access to the high risk pool is limited and the access to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition. pool is underfunded. It will cover few people, and will run out of money in 2011 or 2012 Only those who have been uninsured for more than six months will qualify for the high risk pool. Only 0.7% of those without insurance now will get coverage, and the CMS report estimates it will run out of funding by 2011 or 2012. 13, MYTH The bill prohibits dropping people in individual plans from coverage when they get sick. TRUTH The bill does not empower a regulatory body to keep people from being dropped when they re sick. There are already many states that have laws on the books prohibiting people from being dropped when they re sick, but without an enforcement mechanism, there is little to hold the insurance companies in check. 14, MYTH The bill ensures consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to challenge new insurance plan decisions. TRUTH The internal appeals process is in the hands of the insurance companies themselves, and the external one is up to each state. Ensuring that consumers have access to internal appeals simply means the insurance companies have to review their own decisions. And it is the responsibility of each state to provide an external appeals process, as there is neither funding nor a regulatory mechanism for enforcement at the federal level. 15. MYTH This bill will stop insurance companies from hiking rates 30%-40% per year. TRUTH This bill does not limit insurance company rate hikes. Private insurers continue to be exempt from anti-trust laws, and are free to raise rates without fear of competition in many areas of the country. 16. MYTH When the bill passes, people will begin receiving benefits under this bill immediately TRUTH Most provisions in this bill, such as an end to the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults, do not take effect until 2014. Six months from the date of passage, children could not be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing conditions, though insurance companies could charge more to cover them. Children would also be allowed to stay on their parents plans until age 26. There will be an elimination of lifetime coverage limits, a high risk pool for those who have been uninsured for more than 6 months, and community health centers will start receiving money. 17. MYTH The bill creates a pathway for single payer. TRUTH Bernie Sanders provision in the Senate bill does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, so no, it doesn't create a pathway for single payer. Obama told Dennis Kucinich that the Ohio Representative s amendment is similar to Bernie Sanders provision in the Senate bill, and creates a pathway to single payer. Since the waiver does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, it is nearly impossible to see how it gets around the ERISA laws that stand in the way of any practical state single payer system. 18. MYTH The bill will end medical bankruptcy and provide all Americans with peace of mind. TRUTH Most people with medical bankruptcies already have insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses will continue to be a burden on the middle class. In 2009, 1.5 million Americans declared bankruptcy Of those, 62% were medically related Three-quarters of those had health insurance The Obama bill leaves 24 million without insurance The maximum yearly out-of-pocket limit for a family will be $11,900 (PDF) on top of premiums A family with serious medical problems that last for a few years could easily be financially crushed by medical costs *Cost of premiums goes up somewhat due to subsidies and mandates of better coverage. CBO assumes that cost of individual policies goes down 7-10%, and that people will buy more generous policies. DOCUMENTATION: 1. March 11, Letter from Doug Elmendorf to Harry Reid (PDF) 2. The AHIP Plan in Context, Igor Volsky; The Max Baucus WellPoint/Liz Fowler Plan, Marcy Wheeler 3. CBO Score, 11-30-2009 4. Affordable Health Care, Marcy Wheeler 5. Gruber Doesn t Reveal That 21% of Massachusetts Residents Can t Afford Health Care, Marcy Wheeler; Massachusetts Survey (PDF) 6. Health Care on the Road to Neo-Feudalism, Marcy Wheeler 7. CMS: Excise Tax on Insurance Will Make Your Insurance Coverage Worse and Cause Almost No Reduction in NHE, Jon Walker 8. Employer Health Costs Do Not Drive Wage Trends, Lawrence Mishel 9. CBO Estimates Show Public Plan With Higher Savings Rate, Congress Daily; Drug Importation Amendment Likely This Week, Politico; Medicare Part D IAF; A Monopoloy on Biologics Will Drain Health Care Resources, Lancet Student 10. MaxTax Is a Plan to Use Our Taxes to Reward Wal-Mart for Keeping Its Workers in Poverty, Marcy Wheeler 11. Estimated Financial Effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009, as Proposed by the Senate Majority Leader on November 18, 2009, CMS (PDF) 12. ibid 13. ibid 14. ibid 15. Health insurance companies hang onto their antitrust exemption, Protect Consumer Justice.org 16. What passage of health care reform would mean for the average American, DC Examiner 17. How to get a State Single Payer Opt-Out as Part of Reconciliation, Jon Walker 18. Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies, CNN.com; The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Section-by-Section Analysis (PDF) From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Mar 22 22:58:07 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:58:07 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] On U$-Israeli relations Message-ID: <006301caca4d$d299ae60$0bad57ca@jfos> Weekend Edition March 19 - 21, 2010 CounterPunch Diary "My fellow Americans, tonight I'm going to talk frankly about a pesky little nation called Israel ... " By ALEXANDER COCKBURN Don't get excited. It'll never happen. Is there really a crisis in US-Israeli relations? Yes and No. Yes, because the world's premier power doesn't care to have its vice president publicly humiliated by a midget of a nation whose entire population is smaller than that of Los Angeles county. No, because the elected politicians nominally running the government of the world's premier power live in mortal fear of the Israel lobby in the United States. This time, as always, No will carry the day. (You can find a detailed narrative by Jeffrey Blankfort on this site today, from which much of this Diary is drawn.) Consider Biden's reaction the day after Interior Minister Eli Yishai, probably with Netanyahu's foreknowledge, announced the scheduled building of 1600 apartments - Jews only - in East Jerusalem, right at the moment Biden was trying to breathe life into the "peace process" So here's the vice president of the United States of America, standing with all the injured dignity of a man who has just had a bucket of sewage dumped over his head and who amid his discomfiture, actually did use the word "condemn" and "Israel" in the same paragraph. The next day Biden heads for Tel Aviv university and confides to the audience that he is a Zionist and that, "throughout my career, Israel has not only remained close to my heart but it has been the center of my work as a United States Senator and now as Vice President of the United States." Get that: "the center of my work." This mission statement is not quoted in the U.S. press. Then Biden repeats the nonsense he spouted when he arrived in Jerusalem: that "there is no space -- this is what they [the world] must know, every time progress is made, it's made when the rest of the world knows there is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to security, none. No space. That's the only time when progress has been made." Of course, if any "progress" can be identified across the past forty years - a debatable claim - it's only because an American president has nerved himself to briefly lay down the agenda with threats and menaces, all duly retracted when the Lobby regroups and commences its counter-attack. Finally Biden sidles up the "crisis". "I appreciate. the response your Prime Minister today announced this morning that he is putting in place a process to prevent the recurrence of that sort of that sort of events [sic] and who clarified that the beginning of actual construction on this particular project would likely take several years . That's significant, because it gives negotiations the time to resolve this, as well as other outstanding issues. Because when it was announced, I was on the West Bank. Everyone there thought it had meant immediately the resumption of the construction of 1,600 new units." Yes, that's exactly what it did mean, the resumption of the construction of the 1600 units. And as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out, those projected 1600 units are part of 50,000 units planned for the eastern part of the city. Natanyahu has said these are non-negotiable, whatever Washington might say, let alone the pitiful Palestinian Authority. Amid the anguished cries of the Arab princes and emirs that Israel's brazen conduct towards Biden made it that much harder for them to sell the Palestinians down the river, Obama's chief political aide, David Axelrod, undoubtedly with clearance from his boss, told NBC News that not only was Israel's conduct an "insult" to the United States but "destructive" of the Middle East peace process. Hillary Clinton let it be known she'd read the riot act to Netanhayu down the phone for 43 minutes. Her spokesman claimed she'd described the planned units in East Jerusalem as sending a "deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip" and that "this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests." Meanwhile, special envoy George Mitchell cancelled his trip to the region. So, yes, we can call it a crisis, but not one that will be prolonged. Obama is not the first president to have lost patience with Israel for messing up Uncle Sam's larger plans. Mrs Clinton is not the first Secretary of State to shout angrily down the phone to Tel Aviv. Blankfort, historian of the Lobby, reels off other crises, all satisfactorily resolved in Israel's favor. In 1975 President Gerald Ford and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger publicly blamed Israel for the breakdown of negotiations with Egypt over withdrawing from the Sinai. Ford said he was going to tell the American people that US-Isarel relations should be recast. Prodded by AIPAC, 76 US senators signed a letter to Ford telling him to lay off Israel. He did. In March, 1980, President Carter was forced to apologize after US UN representative Donald McHenry voted for a resolution that condemned Israel's settlement policies in the occupied territories including East Jerusalem and which called on Israel to dismantle them. In June of the same year, after Carter requested a halt to Jewish settlements and his Secretary of State, Edmund Muskie, called the Jewish settlements an obstacle to peace, Prime Minister Menachem Begin announced plans to construct 10 new ones. In August, 1982, the day after Reagan requested that Ariel Sharon end the bombing of Beirut, Ariel Sharon responded by ordering bombing runs over the city at precisely 2:42 and 3:38 in the afternoon, the times coinciding with the two UN resolutions requiring Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. In March, 1991, Secretary of State James Baker complained to Congress that "Every time I have gone to Israel in connection with the peace process.., I have been met with an announcement of new settlement activity. It substantially weakens our hand in trying to bring about a peace process, and creates quite a predicament." In 1990, he had become so disgusted with Israel's intransigence on the settlements that he publicly gave out the phone number of the White House switchboard and told the Israelis, "When you're serious about peace, call us." On September 12, 1991 President George Bush, Sr got sufficiently infuriated by AIPAC's success in getting enough votes in both houses of Congress to override his veto of Israel's request for $10 billion in loan guarantees, that he declared to the television cameras, "I'm up against some powerful forces. They've got something like 1,000 lobbyists on the Hill working the other side of the question. We've got one lonely little guy here doing it." A national poll taken immediately afterward gave the president an 85 per cent approval rating. The Lobby blinked but not for long. Not only did the loan guarantees ultimately go through, but Jewish voters turned strongly against Bush in the '92 elections, a fact which Bush Jr never forgot. As Blankfort also recalls, in January 2009, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert publicly boasted that he had "shamed" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by getting President Bush to prevent her from voting for a Gaza cease-fire resolution at the last moment that she herself had worked on for several days with Arab and European diplomats at the United Nations. Olmert bragged to an Israeli audience that he pulled Bush off a stage during a speech to take his call when he learned about the pending vote and demanded that the president intervene. "I have no problem with what Olmert did," Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Forward. "I think the mistake was to talk about it in public." I should note that this list does not reach into the dark backward of time and such ringing affirmations of the relationship as Israel's assault on the USS Liberty in June of 1967 killing 34 and wounding 171, all covered up by the Johnson administration, most notably LBJ and Robert McNamara. In sum, as Stephen Green wrote in "Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with Militant Israel" (Morrow, 1984) a quarter century ago, "Since 1953, Israel, and friends of Israel in America, have determined the broad outlines of US policy in the region. It has been left to American presidents to implement that policy, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and to deal with tactical issues." There are powerful forces in America that wish that this was not so, starting with the US military. Before Biden's trip no less a prominent and widely admired commander as General David Petraeus wrote a memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with its sentiments reduplicated in testimony last Tuesday before a US Senate Armed Services Committee. In his prepared statement to Congress, Petraeus described the Israeli-Arab conflict as the first "cross cutting challenge to security and stability" in the CENTCOM area of responsibility [AOR]. "The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR." Petraeus then told the Senate committee that "The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world." Not long before, Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, warned the Israelis publicly that an attack on Iran would be a "big, big, big problem for all of us." In Israel the widely-read Yediot Ahronoth reported that privately Biden had echoed Petraeus's sentiments, telling Netanyahu that Israel's conduct was "starting to get dangerous for us." "What you're doing here," Biden reportedly said, "undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us, and it endangers regional peace." Would not the charge that Israel is putting harm's way the lives of Americans battling terror on the front lines be devastating if toughly presented by a capable politician to the American people? Yes it would. Honestly conducted polls, without weasel wording, would probably give the politician making such a charge ratings as higher or higher than Bush got in 1991. So will Gen. Petraeus, assuming he embarks on a political run in 2012 or 2016, make such a move? First of all, one can make the assumption that after his memo and testimony it won't be long before we're reading some investigative story about the "questionable claims", associated with Gen. Petraeus' numerous medals, maybe even disclosures of Flashmanesque prudence on the field of battle. Secondly, any Republican candidate has to court the Republican ultra-Christians, passionate in support of Israel, by reason of doctrinal scheduling of the ultimate Rapture. Thirdly, why scare all Jewish campaign money back into the Democratic Party? As Blankfort remarks, shortly before the first time he met with President Obama, 76 US senators, led by Christopher Dodd and Evan Bayh, plus 330 members of the House, sent AIPAC-crafted letters to the president calling on him not to put pressure on the Israeli prime minister when they met. The House, do not forget, cheered on Israel's onslaught in Gaza and by 334 to 36 condemned the Goldstone Report. The Democrat Party is heavily reliant on major Jewish political funders, up to 60 per cent of the top tier of contributors, according to Blankfort. Soon AIPAC has its convention (at which Tony Blair will be a minor attraction). Here will come all major politicians to fawn and pay tribute. On June 3, 2008, right after he had finally prevailed in the race for the nomination against Hilary Clinton, Obama addressed the AIPAC crowd, some 7,000 strong: "We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran," he assured AIPAC." I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything and I mean everything." He swore he wouldn't talk to the elected representatives Palestinians, Hamas. To thunderous applause he declared, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." The next day, Obama's foreign policy advisors, aghast at this outburst, issued some corrections. As Uri Avnery, the veteran Israeli writer and peace activist expostulated furiously in the wake of this last sentence: "Along comes Obama and retrieves from the junkyard the outworn slogan 'Undivided Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel for all Eternity'. Since Camp David, all Israeli governments have understood that this mantra constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to any peace process.. The fear of AIPAC is so terrible, that even this candidate, who promises change in all matters, does not dare. In this matter he accepts the worst old-style Washington routine. He is prepared to sacrifice the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future - if and when he is elected president. If he sticks to them, once elected, he will be obliged to say, as far as peace between the two peoples of this country is concerned: 'No, I can't!' So yes, the crisis will soon be over, and no, there is no new era in US-Israel relations in the offing. ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Mar 22 23:02:17 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:02:17 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: The Fight Against Corporate Power (Counterpunch) Message-ID: <006701caca4e$66ddeb40$0bad57ca@jfos> The Fight Against Corporate Power In his important special report in our latest newsletter, Mason Gaffney addresses the U.S. Supreme Court's notorious January 21, 2010, ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, that a corporation may contribute unlimited funds advertising its views for and against political candidates of its choice - in practice, the choice of its CEO or directors. "The United States was born in rebellion against corporations," Gaffney writes. "The U.S. Supreme Court soon began restoring their power. When it overreached, strong executives and popular movements set it back: under Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and FDR. Today it has overreached again; it remains to see if a new movement or leader will arise to set it back again." Gaffney assays the best political strategies for popular counter-attack. As he concludes, "Will 'ordinary' taxpayers rebel, as they did in the American Revolution, Emancipation, the Progressive Age of Reform, and the New Deal, or will corporate power wax unchecked until it replaces democracy altogether? Cyclical theory says we will have another anti-corporate reaction, but history also records tipping points in the decline of nations, from which they do not recover for generations, if ever. This one may be a squeaker." Back to FDR, I say. Pack the Supreme Court! In the same bumper newsletter JoAnn Wypijewski has a truly terrific piece about the "cargo chain" as described at a recent conference of radical dockworkers from around the world, meeting in Charleston, S.C.: "The people who move the world can also stop it,' radical dockworkers like to say, and that captures the essential fragility of a global production and distribution system that depends on the precise coordination of hundreds of thousands of moving parts. If some of those moving parts-workers at a major trucking hub, a major rail switching network or, especially, a strategic string of ports-refuse to do their part, the whole system gets jammed up. Refuse long enough and broadly enough, and the system would be in crisis." Read her powerful reporting from the front lines of the world class struggle. Subscribe Now! How the Economy Was Lost We're now proud to publish How the Economy Was Lost, Roberts' searing, succinct history of how the US economy has been captured by a gangster elite. Roberts gives us the shortest, sharpest outline of economics for the new century ever put between covers. Go to our bookstore. Buy it now! Alexander Cockburn can be reached at alexandercockburn at asis.com ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Mon Mar 22 23:29:07 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:29:07 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: ON LINE opinion - Rachel Corrie's memory and Israel's image Message-ID: <007501caca52$28b8f720$0bad57ca@jfos> ON LINE opinion - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate Rachel Corrie's memory and Israel's image By Neve Gordon Posted Tuesday, 23 March 2010 Seven years ago, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9R Israeli bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death. The suit's objective, according to Rachel's mother, Cindy, "is to illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by [Israel's] occupation ... We hope the trial will bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights activists (Palestinian, Israeli and international) and we hope it will underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours or more, cannot access Israeli courts." The State's attorneys have decided to use any and all ammunition to undermine Corrie's suit. They claim that there is no evidence that Rachel's parents and siblings are indeed her rightful inheritors; they argue that she "helped attack Israeli soldiers", "took part in belligerent activities" and accompanied armed men who attacked Israeli soldiers. In defence of the soldiers, the lawyers even write that the state "denies the deceased's pain and suffering, the loss of pleasures and the loss of longevity". The Israeli state attorneys demonstrate yet again that when winning is everything, shame becomes superfluous. As Corrie's civil suit is being heard in a Haifa court, Simone Bitton's movie Rachel is being shown at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Rendering, as it were, the trial public, Bitton's subtle and nuanced movie also presents two narratives, one offered by the state of Israel and the other by the ISM activists and the Palestinian eyewitnesses who were with Rachel on that tragic day. In a self-reflective moment, the film reveals that about an hour after Rachel was crushed to death, Salim Najar, a Palestinian street cleaner, was killed by an Israeli sniper in Rafah. The incident is important because it emphasises that Palestinian blood is cheap - no media outlet bothered to cover the killing, and, as Bitton herself notes, no one will likely be making a movie about Najar. This incident also helps underscore that Rachel has become an iconic "Palestinian" of sorts as well as a symbol of the struggle for social justice. She dedicated the last part of her short life to the Palestinian cause, and, after she was killed, the memory of her human rights work in Rafah has helped internationalise the struggle. Rachel's memory has thus itself become a site where several struggles continue to be played out. The Israeli government has always recognised the importance of the fight over narrative; it is particularly sensitive to stories - like Rachel Corrie's death - that take on global proportions and therefore influence Israel's international image. These struggles are considered so important that in 2004 the Israeli Foreign Ministry introduced the "Brand Israel" campaign, whose objective was to alter the country's image by rebranding Israel as a land of medical, scientific and technological innovations. Over the years millions of dollars have been channeled into international PR firms; these firms advised the ministry to draw attention to Israeli scientists doing stem-cell research or to the young computer experts who have given the world Instant Messaging, while trying to de-emphasise the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by loosening the link between Israel and concrete walls, torture, terrorism, house demolitions and extrajudicial executions. Yet following last year's assault on Gaza and the subsequent publication of the Goldstone Report, Brand Israel proponents realised that drawing attention away from conflict-related issues just wasn't working. Turning the wheels back, they argued that "winning the battle of narratives" had to remain a prime objective. Cutting-edge technology - such as Twitter, YouTube and a newly devised "Internet megaphone" - was immediately utilised by the Israeli military and Foreign Ministry to counter the images of mass destruction coming out of Gaza. Simultaneously, the strategy of branding anyone critical of Israeli policies as an anti-Semite became even more pervasive, and a variety of methods developed by Bar Ilan University's Gerald Steinberg were deployed to delegitimise human rights organisations documenting Israel's occupation while condemning the organisations' donors. But this, apparently, was not enough. The attack now is directed not only against the messengers - namely, human rights groups and people like Rachel Corrie who refer to international law in order to protest the abusive nature of Israeli policies - but also against the very legitimacy of international human rights law. International law is now considered a major problem, because it is used to criticise Israel's violation of human rights in the occupied territories and obstructs certain strategies employed in the war on terrorism, like torture. The well-known trope that Israel is merely defending itself is at the heart of this complaint too. When social justice activists like Rachel Corrie are branded terrorists and international human rights law becomes the enemy of the state - all in the name of winning the narrative battle - then it becomes absolutely clear that something is terribly wrong. As Jews around the world come together to celebrate Passover, the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery and the beginning of a life of freedom, they should keep in mind Rachel's last words to her mother: "I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world. I think it could also be an incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling under undemocratic regimes which the US supports ..." As Jews sit at the Passover table this year, they should take Rachel Corrie's words to heart. Neve Gordon is an Israeli activist and the author of Israel's Occupation, see here. http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10207 1 comment - so far! ? The National Forum and contributors 1999-2010. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Tue Mar 23 23:16:18 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:16:18 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: "eurocops" to repress Greece/German social unrest + Kopassus unleashed inside Indonesia again ? Message-ID: <009501cacb19$868a4530$78ad57ca@jfos> Extract: ""The Greek Laboratory" Greece is regarded as the testing ground for the capitalists of Europe to see how people react to massive cuts in wages and social security, to the suspension of civil rights.(snip) In Germany the same day ... left groups, trade unions and antifascists planed an important march and rallied in Essen/ Ruhr in Germany. The protest was directed against the effects of the crisis of capitalism, the bailing out of bankers, which the poor and workers in Germany are told to pay for. Cuts are expected in social security and health. "We don?t pay for your Crisis - Make the bosses pay! International Solidarity of workers" The rally in Essen was "first round" of more protests to come, culminating in a national demonstration 12th June in Berlin.(snip) Australian & New Zealand military and police have been training in Afghanistan & Iraq, but closer in East Timor, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Bouganville getting ready for expected class war battles in Australia itself . The Corporate media continue to push hate of protesters like Melbourne G20 "rioters" etc in between reports of Government propaganda and celebrity trivia. Social Justice Department. "make poverty history" - liberal saying "make democracy history" - capitalist response. Capitalists fear of social unrest Europe?s elites, neocon think tanks and culturalist rightwingers are prepared for unrest in Greece this summer. They talk of sending the European special forces brigade Eurogendfor as two years ago the State police ran out of tear gas and tactics. Eurogendfor is stationed in Italy. It is legitimized by the EEC to occupy any member country and crush civil unrest with extra legal measures. Swiss army chief gave a public talk on the crisis and preparations. He speaks of preparing for masses of refugees fleeing Greece in case of unrest http://bazonline.ch/schweiz/standard/Armee-fuerchtet-Unruhen-in-Europa/story/14410180 google "EUROGENDFOR" and "unrest" and find: "EUROGENDFOR" was initiated by the former French Defense Minister Alliot-Marie after the French State had to deal more and more frequently with internal (mostly Paris based) uprisings of Arabic/North African/Muslim immigrant youth from high rise flats with street battles and looting..... With the powers of the secret service, the para-military equipped unit works in close cooperation with the European military guarantee the 'security in European foci of crises'. It is its duty as a police force to crush rebellions.... British security experts assume there could be unrest in Greece when the cuts beginn to "bite" in summer. VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcaVKA2ovyw more: http://www.euronews.net/2010/01/25/earthquate-in-haiti-european-gendarmes-to-beef-up-haiti-security/ "The Greek Laboratory" Greece is regarded as the testing ground for the capitalists of Europe to see how people react to massive cuts in wages and social security, to the suspension of civil rights. In Athens today Saturday March 20th there was a memorial gathering for Lambros Foundas at 12 o clock. GERMANE In Germany the same day and time left groups, trade unions and antifascists plan a important marched and rallied in Essen/ Ruhr in Germany. The protest was directed against the effects of the crisis of capitalism, the bailing out of bankers, which the poor and workers in Germany are told to pay for. Cuts are expected in social security and health. "We don?t pay for your Crisis - Make the bosses pay! International Solidarity of workers" The rally in Essen was "first round" of more protests to come, culminating in a national demonstration 12th June in Berlin. Trans-European Riot Squad This is what "democracy" looks like: http://www.eurogendfor.org/egfpages/faq.aspx#Q1A !!!! "In accordance with the mandate of each operation, the EGF can perform a broad spectrum of activities related to its own police capability, such as: - performing security and public order missions; - monitoring of and advice for local police in their day-to-day work, including criminal investigation work; - conducting public surveillance, border policing and general intelligence; - performing criminal investigation work, covering detection of offences, tracing of offenders and their transfer to the appropriate judicial authorities; - protecting people and property and keeping order in the event of public disturbances; - training of police officers as regards international standards; - training of instructors, particularly through co-operation programmes." MORE EURO-COP COOPERATION Police defend 2009 NATO's 60th birthday party in Strasbourg French police detained at least 300 demonstrators after riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to quell violent clashes ahead of a two-day summit this weekend, marking Nato's 60th anniversary. Tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the eastern French city of Strasbourg and two south-western German towns of Baden-Baden and Kehl to protest the cross-border Nato summit. In a bid to prevent violence, France has temporarily reinstated border controls with its neighbours for the meeting. A total of 107 people were still being held today after riot police forced hundreds of demonstrators off the streets of Strasbourg last night and back into a tent camp on the edge of the city. They can be held for up to 48 hours before being formally charged. German and French police have said 2,000 to 3,000 members of the violence-prone "black bloc" ? so-called for the black clothes and hoods they wear ? are expected. Around 15,000 (violence prone "grey bloc")German police? including 31 riot squads, and 9,000 French (violence prone "blue bloc") police, are on call for the summit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/03/protesters-held-nato-summit Editor's note: obviously my addition of violence prone to Guardian (of Capitalism) article quote. Meanwhile in Australasia... Indonesian Army, Kopassus, Implicated in New Assassinations. Forces Chosen By Obama for Renewed US Aid Ran '09 Activist Murders. By Allan Nairn read his blog at http://www.allannairn.com/ Background on Kopassus and Brimob Kopassus and Brimob are the worst of the worst among Indonesia?s security forces. Both organizations have long histories of violating human rights throughout Indonesia and in East Timor. U.S. engagement with these organizations will leave their many victims shaking their heads... East Timor & Indonesia Action Network http://www.etan.org/news/2008/04brikop.htm Interview on Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/19/exclusiveindonesian_forces_tapped_by_obama_for COMMENTARIAT reponse: After decades of "all quiet on the class war front" the Police have updated their skills of 19th century style insurrection smashing; mass training tactics have been learned by shutting down anti-globalisation protests like the 1999 Seattle USA WTO festivities with tear gas, the 2000 Genoa G8 'Green zone style' security barricading off of the Governors and Managers of Capital into forts accesible by helicopter if the streets are uncontrolled . The anti-war mobilisations protesters rarely used civil disobedience but if they did they got gassed and mashed as per instruction of the new code. The Global Financial Crisis events lead to securing Stock Exchanges and for example in England shepherding protesters for several hours into passivity; this "kettling" a tactic tried and tested by German police. Even more recently (December 2009) the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen Euro-cops tactics included infiltration of networks, surveillance of organisers & monitoring gatherings of protesters; pre-emptive raids before the start of protest eg of accommodation to seize activists and resources eg. tried to shut down indymedia websites & remove computers. mobile phones etc. When faced with a situation of student and worker strikes & rallies cleared off the street; instead of giving up the best of the movement turns to occupations and making no-go areas. Then paramilitary policing more usually seen in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America gets a blank cheque. Military controllers continually update their tactics from securing cities after "disasters" like in Burma, Chile, Haiti etc. Businesses will also pay "gangsters" to terrorise social spaces and resistance areas. In zones of the world like Central Africa, Burma, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, Colombia the blended mix of paramilitary police, Gangsters and soldiers - State and mercenary - is fuelled by quick profits from drugs and or mining. Longer term these fiefdoms implode into turf wars and become "failed states" But with 'humanitarian intervention' larger Empires send in anti-insurrection police and military forces to take over cities and resources. The next generation of plundered wage-slaves face not only harder/ruthless bosses but killer supervisors as has been the miserable lot for aboriginal/indigenous communities for many generations. Australian & New Zealand military and police have been training in Afghanistan & Iraq, but closer in East Timor, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Bouganville getting ready for expected class war battles in Australia itself . The Corporate media continue to push hate of protesters like Melbourne G20 "rioters" etc inbetween reports of Government propaganda and celebrity trivia. welcome to The Road... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Tue Mar 23 23:38:36 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:38:36 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fwd=3A_How_Criminals_Profit_From_War_-_B?= =?iso-8859-1?q?lair=27s_Fight_to_Keep_his_Oil_Cash_Secret=3A_Forme?= =?iso-8859-1?q?r_PM=27s_deals_are_revealed_as_his_earnings_since_2?= =?iso-8859-1?q?007_reach_=A320million?= Message-ID: <00ac01cacb1c$a5478110$78ad57ca@jfos> Excerpt: "The full extent of his income is cloaked in secrecy because he has constructed a complex web of shadowy companies and partnerships which let him avoid publishing full accounts detailing all the money from his commercial ventures.(snip) The secrecy is particularly odd because UI Energy is fond of boasting of its foreign political advisers, who include the former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke and several prominent American politicians. (snip) The committee is supposed to ease public concerns about former public servants using their contacts for private gain. Ministers have to have all jobs vetted within two years of leaving office. But the committee is packed with former politicians and Whitehall grandees and is thought never to have banned a former minister or senior civil servant from taking up a lucrative job in the private sector. Earlier this month the Government quietly rejected calls for the committee to be beefed up with more figures from outside the world of politics. Gordon Brown has so far refused to answer questions about whether Mr Blair's arrangements breach his responsibilities under the ministerial code. (snip) Don't stop with Tony, they all do it, Bill Clinton has accumulated 500 million since leaving office. The pay off for doing the bidding of the Oligarchy. I just wonder what the plan is? What's the goal of these war masters? Besides, having 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. I think the French had the right idea, a little over 200 years ago. It's time to bring back the guillotine. And don't feel sorry for them, they won't hesitate to kill anyone they consider a threat to their wealth and privilege. Their greed kills hundred of innocent women and children each day. It's time for a new paradigm for humanity, the current one is to ugly. And Obama is at the head of the line to get his payday after leaving office. Enough !!" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25037.htm How Criminals Profit From War Blair's Fight to Keep his Oil Cash Secret: Former PM's deals are revealed as his earnings since 2007 reach ?20million By Jason Groves March 20, 2010 "Daily Mail" -- Tony Blair waged an extraordinary two-year battle to keep secret a lucrative deal with a multinational oil giant which has extensive interests in Iraq. The former Prime Minister tried to keep the public in the dark over his dealings with South Korean oil firm UI Energy Corporation. Mr Blair - who has made at least ?20million since leaving Downing Street in June 2007 - also went to great efforts to keep hidden a ?1million deal advising the ruling royal family in Iraq's neighbour Kuwait. In an unprecedented move, he persuaded the committee which vets the jobs of former ministers to keep details of both deals from the public for 20 months, claiming it was commercially sensitive. The deals emerged yesterday when the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments finally lost patience with Mr Blair and decided to ignore his objections and publish the details. News of the secret deals fuelled fresh accusations that Mr Blair is 'cashing in on his contacts' from the controversial Iraq war in what one MP called 'revolving door politics at its worst'. They will increase concerns that Mr Blair is using his role as the West's Middle East envoy for personal gain. The revelations also shed fresh light on his astonishing earnings, which include lucrative after-dinner speaking, consultancies with banks and foreign governments, a generous advance for his forthcoming memoirs, as well as the pension and other perks he enjoys as a former Prime Minister. The full extent of his income is cloaked in secrecy because he has constructed a complex web of shadowy companies and partnerships which let him avoid publishing full accounts detailing all the money from his commercial ventures. Critics also point out that a large proportion of his earnings comes from patrons in America and the Middle East - a clear benefit from forging a close alliance with George Bush during his invasion of Iraq. Last night Tory MP Douglas Carswell said of Mr Blair's links to UI Energy Corporation: 'This doesn't just look bad, it stinks. 'It seems that the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has been in the pay of a very big foreign oil corporation and we have been kept in the dark about it. 'Even now we do not know what he was paid or what the company got out of it. We need that information now. 'This is revolving door politics at its worst. It's not as if Mr Blair has even stepped back from politics, because he is still politically active in the Middle East. 'I'm afraid I have no confidence at all in the committee that vets these appointments. It's no good telling us these deals may be commercially sensitive - we are talking about the appointment of our former Prime Minister and the public interest, rather than any commercial interests, must come first.' Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said: 'These revelations show that our former Prime Minister is for sale - he is driven by making as much money as possible. 'I think many people will find it deeply insensitive that he is apparently cashing in on his contacts from the Iraq war to make money for himself.' The committee said yesterday that Mr Blair had taken a paid job advising a consortium of investors led by UI Energy in August 2008. The exact nature of the deal is unknown, but UI Energy is one of the biggest investors in Iraq's oil-rich Kurdistan region, which became semi-autonomous in the wake of the Iraq war. Mr Blair's fee has not been disclosed but is likely to have run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. The secrecy is particularly odd because UI Energy is fond of boasting of its foreign political advisers, who include the former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke and several prominent American politicians. Mr Blair successfully persuaded the committee that the appointment was 'market sensitive' and could not be made public. The committee agreed to suspend its normal practice and keep the deals secret for three months. Mr Blair then asked for a further extension. When this ran out last year the committee repeatedly 'chased' Mr Blair about the issue without hearing anything. Eventually the committee's chairman, former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Lang, reviewed the papers and ordered the deal to be made public, along with a separate deal with Kuwait which had been kept secret at the request of the Kuwaiti government. The decision to keep the deals secret will fuel concerns about the effectiveness of the committee, which has been repeatedly criticised for its failure to halt the revolving door between politics and industry. The committee is supposed to ease public concerns about former public servants using their contacts for private gain. Ministers have to have all jobs vetted within two years of leaving office. But the committee is packed with former politicians and Whitehall grandees and is thought never to have banned a former minister or senior civil servant from taking up a lucrative job in the private sector. Earlier this month the Government quietly rejected calls for the committee to be beefed up with more figures from outside the world of politics. Gordon Brown has so far refused to answer questions about whether Mr Blair's arrangements breach his responsibilities under the ministerial code. A spokesman for Mr Blair said last night: 'Mr Blair gave a one-off piece of advice in respect of a project for UI Energy in August 2008. 'He sought, and received, approval from the Committee on Business Appointments before undertaking this project. 'It was UI Energy who requested of the committee that they delay public announcement, for reasons of market sensitivity.' ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 364867 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Wed Mar 24 20:41:58 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:41:58 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: Code Pink Disrupts Netanyahu Speech, Pulls Off AIPAC Hoax + Palestine on film & cartoon. Message-ID: <005101cacbcd$221cd6d0$23ad57ca@jfos> CODEPINK to Build Settlements in Congress Today March 23rd, 2010 Activists call for end to siege on Gaza and illegal settlements Washington D.C.: Shortly after announcing Israel?s commitment to defense in his address to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Gala, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was disrupted by a demonstrator. Rae Abileah, 27, from Half Moon Bay, CA, jumped onto AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr?s private table alongside the stage and unfurled a pink banner that said ?Netanyahu: Build Peace Not Settlements!? Abileah shouted, ?Lift the siege of Gaza! No illegal settlements!? as she was forcefully removed from the building. A second disruption came moments later from Joan Stallard, from Washington, DC, who shouted, ?Stop the settlements!? Today, Tuesday, March 23, at noon CODEPINK is planning to build a settlement (including homes and beds) inside Senator Schumer?s and Senator Lieberman?s offices (Hart Senate Building, offices 313 and 706). CODEPINK?s protests of the policies of AIPAC during their national conference this week have included daily morning protests, staging of a checkpoint for attendees, an afternoon press conference announcing the launch of a city-wide boycott of products illegally made in the settlements, and the release this morning of a spoof press release from AIPAC announcing that the organization was calling for a settlement freeze. American Jewish peace activists are outraged at the influence that AIPAC has on U.S. policy. ?AIPAC supports policies of aggression that damage Israel?s reputation, harm innocent Palestinians, and contribute to making America less safe in the world,? said Jewish-American activist Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK.? CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. More info at: www.codepinkalert.org Code Pink Disrupts Netanyahu Speech, Pulls Off AIPAC Hoax Activists with the group Code Pink interrupted Netanyahu?s speech on two occasions with calls to freeze settlement building and end the US-backed blockade of the Gaza Strip. One protester said Israel is guilty of war crimes. Earlier in the day, Code Pink pulled off a hoax by releasing a fake press release in AIPAC?s name calling for a complete freeze on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. Code Pink members also dressed up in suits and handed out copies of the statement outside the AIPAC conference to confused attendees. Several major news outlets picked up the statement before AIPAC issued a denial. We?ll have more with author Norman Finkelstein later in the broadcast. http://codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=5341 see also Palestine?s past remembered 1. - Palestine already exists on film Over the past 10 years a new wave of Palestinian filmmakers has constructed a specific national identity on screen. It is more directly political than the earlier film portrayals of Palestinian lives and stories - by Sabah Haider I recently met Elia Suleiman in Beirut, where he was promoting his new film The Time that Remains, which premiered at Cannes last year. He suggested that the multiplicity of voices of Palestinian filmmakers was worth considering. ?I don?t know if the microcosm of the Arab-Israeli conflict is a reflection of the world, or if the world is a microcosm of Palestine. Globally, Palestine has multiplied and generated into so many Palestines. I feel if you go to Peru, you will find Palestine in a grave state there too.? http://mondediplo.com/2010/03/16palestinecinema Palestine?s past remembered 2 A people?s cartoon history of Gaza by Paul de Rooij The cartoonist and author Joe Sacco has a new book, Footnotes in Gaza (1). Sacco?s books are what you might call graphic nonfiction. For this publication, he spent seven years researching two sordid events in November 1956, when Israeli forces invaded Gaza as part of the joint British-French attack against Egypt. Hundreds of Palestinians were murdered by the Israeli army, and Sacco set out to record the oral histories of the Palestinians who were witnesses or victims. He had to investigate to find witnesses who could credibly recollect what happened, sifting through their accounts to eliminate the factual inconsistencies caused by time. Then, for four years, he illustrated them. The book doesn?t only focus on the past; the present is also very much part of his account, a present in Gaza when giant armoured bulldozers flatten houses in Rafah and where the siege affects everybody?s lives. Sacco says: ?The past and the present cannot be so easily disentangled; they are part of a remorseless continuum.? http://mondediplo.com/2010/03/15gazacartoon FYI john -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Fri Mar 26 05:05:41 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:05:41 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] Dear All: Harper's Humiliating Muzzle on Scientists - 5 itmes + comments Message-ID: <4BAC78E5.28400.5146F924@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Dear All: Prorogation, one of Harper's best known attempts to stifle democracy was only the tip of the iceberg. NO -prorogation groups across the country have cited prorogation as just one of many attempts by Harper to dismantle democracy in this country. Now the following documentation adds further evidence of this shameful period in Canada's history and hopefully awakens in all of us, as citizens, the imperative to take action before it is too late. The words of Ed Deak whom I've know on the [mai-not] list since 1998 give us first hand insight into what this could mean: ----------------- " Harper may not be a Hitler, but so called "conservatives" are either borderline, or full blown fascists, always advocating rule by a religion, or ideology based special interest ruling sector.... Used to be born aristocracies, now "prominent business leaders", who are under some divine orders to rule.... Now we can see the daily growth of it here, and all over the world under the fraudulent ideals of "market economics" "competitiveness" "globalization" and world government, all typical fascist theories depriving people of personal freedoms and decision making. The EU is already sinking into it very fast with the Lisbon Agreement. -- Ed Deak ---------------- And worse still the present global economic 'market driven' model that the political elite and big business leaders are aggressively pushing is one which is not only dismissing democracy but driving ecosystems and ultimately the planet into the abyss. Climate change mitigation is a joke when according to recently leaked documents, the Government of Canada is using trade threats to halt fuel standard regulations being negotiated in Europe from affecting Canada?s tar sands industry. http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/climate-change/media/release/canada-uses- trade-threats-stop-environmental-regulations-europe And how much easier to do so when your scientific community is muzzled and the media complicit. . all the best, janet p.s See my list of just some of the ways Harper has been dismantling democracy # 6 below http://wolfvilleca.wordpress.com/updates/ #30 under January 23rd Summary of Discussion ===================== INDEX: [1] Harper's Humiliating Muzzle on Scientists Canada is becoming a global joke as our world-class experts are prohibited from speaking. thetyee.ca The scandal is growing at Environment Canada of how Canadian climate researchers are being "muzzled" by draconian policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This week the Montreal Gazette reported on a leaked document showing that the information restrictions brought in by the Harper government have severely restricted the media's access to government researchers. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent." [2] Climate-change scientists feel `muzzled? by Ottawa: documents By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceMarch 15, 2010Comments (157) Montreal Gazette March 15th A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document.... The analysis reviewed the impact of a new federal communications policy at Environment Canada, which required senior federal scientists to seek permission from the government prior to giving interviews. [3] New report details government actions that undermine research into the science of climate change Climate Action Network Release March 15th "A new report from the Climate Action Network Canada- R?seau action climat Canada details a "troubling catalogue of actions" by the federal government to muzzle its own climate scientists and weaken the research capacity of Canada?s climate science community. Released just days after a federal budget that effectively slashed funding for university-based climate science by failing to renew the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, the report documents a disturbing pattern of federal actions that undermine the scientific research that must underpin responsible federal climate change policy." [4] Climate foundation deplores budget blind spot (March 5, Ottawa) The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS), "Budget 2010 is basically the nightmare scenario for scientists across the country - our community is gutted," said Gordon McBean, Chair of CFCAS. "Science is the best tool for building sound policy to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change, and to protect the environment and Canadians. There is so much to learn, to be discovered and transformed into effective actions for Canadians. Without sound scientific information, how will the government evaluate the effectiveness of green technologies, or build northern infrastructure, or develop our energy industry, or assure water supply and clean air?" [5 Comments on the Tyee.ca article a) Fiat lux Ed Deak [well known for his posting to the mai-not list in operation since 1998. -janet ] b) History repeating itself Conductor274 [6] List of ways Harper has been dismantling democracy fyi-janet ======================== ARTICLES And REFERENCES: [1] Harper's Humiliating Muzzle on Scientists http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/03/25/HarpersMuzzle/?utm_source=dail y&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=250310 Canada is becoming a global joke as our world-class experts are prohibited from speaking. By Mitchell Anderson, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca tape-over-mouth.jpg Canada's scientists: bound to silence. The scandal is growing at Environment Canada of how Canadian climate researchers are being "muzzled" by draconian policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This week the Montreal Gazette reported on a leaked document showing that the information restrictions brought in by the Harper government have severely restricted the media's access to government researchers. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent." Since 2007, Environment Canada has required senior federal scientists to seek permission from the government prior to giving interviews, often requiring them to get approval from supervisors of written responses to the questions submitted by journalists before any interview. "Many [federal climate change] scientists are recognized experts in their field, have received media training, and have successfully carried out media interviews for many years," said the document, leaked by an Environment Canada employee who asked not to be named. "Our scientists are very frustrated with the new process. They feel the intent of the policy is to prevent them from speaking to media... There is a widespread perception among Canadian media that our scientists have been 'muzzled' by the media relations policy." Control at its worst: scientist The leaked document came to light through research done by the Climate Action Network for a scathing report on the laundry list of restrictions on climate researchers since the Harper regime came to power. According to Dr. David Schindler at the University of Alberta: "It is clear that muzzling under the Harper government is the most oppressive in the history of federal government science. Incredibly, some of the most eminent scientists in Canada have been forbidden to speak publicly on scientific matters where they are recognized as world experts." 'Our community is gutted' Not apparently content restricting the flow of existing climate information, the Harper government also cancelled funding for a decade-long climate research project that was recognized around the world for its importance. The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science (CFCAS) has supported 198 climate research projects around the country, providing $117 million in funding that has led to breakthroughs in climatology, meteorology and oceanography. Dr. Gordon McBean, Chair of CFCAS called the recent budget announcement a "nightmare scenario for scientists across the country - - our community is gutted." A press release by the CFCAS said: In less than 12 months, major research collaborations among industry, government laboratories and universities will collapse -- and with them the jobs of numerous scientists, students and technicians. The country is already bleeding talent... Without sound scientific information, how will the government evaluate the effectiveness of green technologies, or build northern infrastructure, or develop our energy industry, or assure water supply and clean air? Presumably that's the point. The Harper government seems to be seeking to strangle research, silence scientists and muzzle the media. So ham-handed are these efforts to stifle the truth that this story has now spilled across our borders into the international press. A story this week from The Guardian shows how the world is beginning to notice the bizarre censorship policies now pervasive in once-bucolic Canada. [Tyee] Vancouver-based Mitchell Anderson is a widely published environmental journalist and occasional contributor to The Tyee. This piece first appeared on DeSmogBlog. <><><><><><><><><> [2] Climate-change scientists feel `muzzled? by Ottawa: documents http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Climate+change+scientists+fe el+muzzled+Ottawa+documents/2684621/story.html By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceMarch 15, 2010Comments (157) PHOTO: "[Federal climate change scientists] feel the intent of the policy is to prevent them from speaking to media," said the document, leaked by an Environment Canada employee who asked not to be named. Photograph by: Getty Images, OTTAWA -- A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80%." The analysis reviewed the impact of a new federal communications policy at Environment Canada, which required senior federal scientists to seek permission from the government prior to giving interviews. In many cases, the policy also required them to get approval from supervisors of written responses to the questions submitted by journalists before any interview, said the document, obtained in an investigation into the government?s views and policies on global- warming science that was conducted by Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of environmental groups. The document suggests the new communications policy has practically eliminated senior federal scientists from media coverage of climate- change science issues, leaving them frustrated that the government was trying to "muzzle" them. "Many [federal climate change] scientists are recognized experts in their field, have received media training, and have successfully carried out media interviews for many years," said the document, leaked by an Environment Canada employee who asked not to be named. "Our scientists are very frustrated with the new process. They feel the intent of the policy is to prevent them from speaking to media." The Environment Canada analysis noted that four prominent scientists, who regularly spoke for the government on climate change science issues, appeared in only 12 newspaper clippings in the first nine months of 2008, compared with 99 clippings over the same period in 2007. "There is a widespread perception among Canadian media that our scientists have been `muzzled? by the media relations policy," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of this perception, which originated with a Canwest story in February 2008, is continuing, with at least 47 articles in Canadian newspapers to date." The document also noted that government scientists voiced their displeasure to communications officials about the policy during meetings in June 2008. A few months later, a couple of requests for interviews with scientists in the midst of the 2008 federal election campaign were never answered, including one request that was "denied" after it was forwarded to the office of former environment minister John Baird. Andrew Cuddy, 21, who led the investigation by Climate Action Network, said that it reveals "troubling evidence" about the government?s approach to climate-science research, funding, appointments on science panels and communications. "We?ve catalogued a host of evidence from different areas," said Mr. Cuddy. "They kind of all point to the government trying to undermine climate science research. [It] goes against their public statements saying that they?re committed to research and that they believe the fundamentals of climate science." The coalition said that one of the biggest concerns is whether the government is adequately funding climate-science research at Environment Canada and other departments after refusing to offer new subsidies for an independent research organization, the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science, considered to be the lead agency for global warming research in Canada?s universities. "It?s definitely a scandal," said Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada. He added that the government was "muzzling scientists; they?re putting climate deniers in key oversight positions over research, and they?re reducing funding in key areas... It?s almost as though they?re making a conscious attempt to bury the truth." Environment Minister Jim Prentice told reporters last week that the government wasn?t trying to shut down the foundation but wanted it to report on how it spent previous grants of $110-million dating back to the year 2000. "It?s appropriate I think at this point that we take stock of what we?ve achieved for those dollars," Mr. Prentice said. "We?ll work together with the foundation to make sure that that happens. They?ve got the resources to do it and we?ll assess it from there." The foundation says it has funded nearly 200 research projects that have led to breakthroughs in climatology, meteorology and oceanography, transforming operations in the federal government and private companies. But it has described Prentice?s approach as a "nightmare scenario" since it no longer has money for new research. In a statement e-mailed to Canwest News Service, Environment Canada said the new communications policy has allowed its scientists and experts to interact directly with the media on numerous occasions. "The new policy merely assures that communications with the media are co-ordinated, to achieve the goals set out above -- namely, quick, accurate and consistent responses across Canada," said the statement. It added that it responded to 254 climate change-related requests in 2008 and 428 climate change requests in 2009. The department also said it has taken many steps to inform Canadians about the work done by government scientists, including partnerships with other departments, new content added to websites such as www.science.gc.ca and the publication of Envirozine, an Environment Canada newsletter, as well as publishing about 700 peer-reviewed articles per year. ? Copyright (c) Canwest News Service Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Climate+change+scientists+fe el+muzzled+Ottawa+documents/2684621/story.html#ixzz0jHEdmmzq <><><><><><><><><><> [3]New report details government actions that undermine research into the science of climate change http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/news/2010/release/index.php?WEBYE P_DI=18 Climate Action Network Release For Immediate Release March 15, 2010 OTTAWA - A new report from the Climate Action Network Canada- R?seau action climat Canada details a "troubling catalogue of actions" by the federal government to muzzle its own climate scientists and weaken the research capacity of Canada?s climate science community. Released just days after a federal budget that effectively slashed funding for university-based climate science by failing to renew the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, the report documents a disturbing pattern of federal actions that undermine the scientific research that must underpin responsible federal climate change policy. "While the government?s inaction on climate change is well-known, this report uncovers new evidence of Environment Canada?s successful efforts to restrict media access to its own scientists, effectively burying the truth," says Graham Saul, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada. "It has become virtually impossible to believe this government when they claim to support the science of climate change, because they?re behaving more like a group of climate skeptics that is simply looking for excuses not to act." The report examines the need for Canadian research on climate science and investigates status of federal funding for university-based climate science research. The report also documents a series of actions by the present federal government that undermine Canadian climate science research and its practitioners. "The Harper government says that they accept the overwhelming scientific evidence for climate change, but behind closed doors they are systematically shutting their own scientists down," says Andrew Cuddy, the author of the report. "Unless the government takes urgent action to reverse this trend, it will only reinforce Canada?s reputation as the country doing the least to address climate change in the industrialized world." "A government that takes climate change seriously will follow the recommendations contained in this report, and ensure full transparency in doing so," says Matthew Bramley, the director of the Pembina Institute?s climate change program and a reviewer of the report. "The report calls for decent funding for climate research in universities and better coordination of the research conducted within government departments - two things that the Harper government must do if it is serious about following the approach President Obama has taken in the United States." - 30 - Report: Troubling Evidence: The Harper Government?s Approach to Climate Science Research in Canada For more information, contact: Graham Saul, Climate Action Network 613-558-3368 Andrew Cuddy, Research Intern (Climate Action Network) 514-962-4255 Matthew Bramley, Pembina Institute 819-210-6115 For further media inquires please contact: Hannah McKinnon 613-276-7791 <><><><><><><><><> [4] Climate foundation deplores budget blind spot http://www.cfcas.org/pressrelease5Mar10e.pdf (March 5, Ottawa) The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS), Canada?s lead agency for climate research in our universities is acutely disappointed at the Budget?s abandonment of climate sciences and highly-qualified people. Innovation and economic growth need skilled people and a healthy research environment. Nowhere is this more true than in weather and climate - where we face some of the biggest scientific problems confronting humanity. The government and Canada?s $400B per year weather-dependent industries need a constant supply of new information for their policy, regulatory and investment decisions. This is supplied by world-class scientists-people dedicated to understanding Canada?s air quality, violent weather, climate and Arctic conditions. CFCAS urgently calls on the Government to reinvest in research, in skilled people and in Canada?s knowledge economy in this vital area. "Budget 2010 is basically the nightmare scenario for scientists across the country - our community is gutted," said Gordon McBean, Chair of CFCAS. "Science is the best tool for building sound policy to adapt to, and mitigate, climate change, and to protect the environment and Canadians. There is so much to learn, to be discovered and transformed into effective actions for Canadians. Without sound scientific information, how will the government evaluate the effectiveness of green technologies, or build northern infrastructure, or develop our energy industry, or assure water supply and clean air?" Most research studies in these sectors are funded by one agency - the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS). CFCAS has invested over $117 million in 198 research initiatives across Canada since 2000. The work has led to breakthroughs in climatology, meteorology and oceanography, many of which have transformed operations in the federal government and private companies. But CFCAS has received no new federal funds for six years. In less than 12 months, major research collaborations among industry, government laboratories and universities will collapse - and with them the jobs of numerous scientists, students and technicians. The country is already bleeding talent. Programs to attract new scholars will not achieve their objectives if the country is unwilling to support and retain current ones. -30- For more information: Dawn Conway, executive director (613-238-2223 ext. 202, Conway at cfcas.org or Kelly Crowe, communications officer (613 -238-2223 ext 209, Crowe at cfcas.org). AUX JOURNALISTES FRANCOPHONES: Notez que nous sommes cependant en mesure de vous r?pondre en fran?ais. <><><><> [5] Comment to [1] tyee article a) Harper may not be a Hitler, Fiat lux Ed Deak [well known for his posting to the mai-not list in operation since 1998. -janet ] http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/03/25/HarpersMuzzle/?utm_source=dail y&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=250310 Harper may not be a Hitler, but so called "conservatives" are either borderline, or full blown fascists, always advocating rule by a religion, or ideology based special interest ruling sector. Used to be born aristocracies, now "prominent business leaders", who are under some divine orders to rule. I grew up in an ultra conservative fascist family, in a fascist country, educated as a fascist, served in one of Hitler's satellite armies in WW2, survived sentence of death by the nazis and escaped the communist gulags, so I have a pretty good idea what fascism and dictatorships are about. Now can see the daily growth of it here, and all over the world under the fraudulent ideals of "market economics" "competitiveness" "globalization" and world government, all typical fascist theories depriving people of personal freedoms and decision making. The EU is already sinking into it very fast with the Lisbon Agtreement. Ed Deak. b) History repeating itself Conductor274 My neighbour is a German lady in her eighties. She grew up during Hitler's rise to power and had to endure the hardships of the second world war so she knows a few things about censorship and propaganda. She told me the methods used convinced an otherwise educated and democratic society to abandon all reason and cause severe destruction, the effects of which are still being felt today. I'm not trying to say Harper is another Hitler but his use of censorship and propaganda are similar to those used to stifle opposition in Germany during those years. He's trying to convince our educated and democratic society to ignore a huge problem which will result in severe damage and destruction to our future generations. He doesn't care about the children and grandchildren who'll have to live with the consequences of his actions. The one thing Hitler and Harper have in common is neither man has a conscience. <><><><><><><> #6 My list of concerns presented during first meeting of Citizen's Concerned about Prorogation of Parliament now the Wolfville Citizens Asembly for Democracy http://wolfvilleca.wordpress.com/updates/ #30 under January 23rd Summary of Discussion Citizens Concerned About Prorogation of Parliament Wolfville Meeting January 23rd It would benefit our case and cause to place prorogation in the context of all the other things the Harper government has done since it came into power to disemantle our democratic and parliamentary traditions and practices. e.g. Prorogation should be viewed in context of Harpers on-going agenda which is well documented in the media and by national NGOs (a) gagging of MP?s (b) gagging senior bureaucrats, (c) muzzling the media - cancelling press conference in parliamentary press gallery, (d) shutting down essential 'access to information' registry and database, (e) cancelling funding for all manner of civil society groups (social justice, anti-poverty, environmental, feminist ) that recommend sound policy options for a principle centred society (f) threatening to cut funding for political parties (g) Conservative Party chairpersons walking out on and thereby shutting down parliamentary committees, (g) producing a manual of "dirty tricks" for his MPs on how to block the function of Parliamentary committees, (h) consulting with corporate sector and not rest of civil society groups as with appointment of a national advisory council on competitiveness , (i) producing aggressive attack ads on the opposition between election periods etc. ==================END========================= -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WPM$2DD6.PM$ Type: application/octet-stream Size: 26497 bytes Desc: Mail message body URL: From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Fri Mar 26 15:30:57 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:30:57 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fw: "Express Irish/Israeli passports" + US Drone Protesters + "Movement People" - Short Doc on Irish Activists Message-ID: <004c01cacd34$047f5e50$44ad57ca@jfos> Excerpt: (from item 2) ""Today at the Air Show we see its shiny weapons, not its bloody victims. Not the nearly 4,400 dead U.S. soldiers. Not the tens of thousands of Iraqi, Afghani or Pakistani civilians. We glorify the mighty flying death machines and ignore the havoc they wreak. " Curtesy of the new Israeli consulate in Galway; express Irish passports dispensed today in Shop St. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96152 Wednesday March 24, 201 by GAAW PRO - Galway Alliance Against War "We believe the Irish government must declare the forging of Irish passports as an ?unfriendly act? and expel the Israeli ambassador" So you are urgently in need of an Irish passport? Well never fear. Forget the queues at the passport office in Molesworth St, Dublin. Thanks to the actions of the Galway Alliance Against War today, Wednesday 24th March, a new Israeli Consulate was set up on Galway?s Shop Street. And as everyone knows, if you need an Irish passport in a hurry then just go to the Israelis and especially to Mossad. Brandishing the Star of David flag GAAW members were handing out fake Irish passports to anyone who wanted one. No questions asked. And if you had your own Irish passport handy the same people were offering 5000 Israeli shekels to be allowed to clone it. All in defence of the Israeli state, don?t you know.? The response on the street was positive, although many a passer-by was unhappy at the sight of the Israeli flag. But when they realised the purpose of the GAAW action they were entirely sympathetic. And what was the purpose of GAAW?s action? Over to its spokesperson, Niall Farrell: ?The integrity of the Irish passport has been seriously damaged by the criminal act carried out by agents of the Israeli state in January. Those who counterfeited our state?s passports went on to commit murder and therefore put all of us who travel abroad bearing an Irish passport in danger. In our passport it states that the Minister of Foreign Affairs requests all whom it may concern to allow the bearer to ?pass freely and without hindrance and to afford the bearer all necessary assistance and protection.? Why would any other state want to respect the Irish passport if our government fails to react to this crime in a forthright fashion? Our government?s failure to act would suggest it is condoning this criminal activity and it will almost certainly mean this activity will be repeated putting every Irish passport holder in even more danger. We believe the Irish government must declare the forging of Irish passports as an ?unfriendly act? and expel the Israeli ambassador. We are asking people to contact the Department of Foreign Affairs to demand that this action against Israel happens now.? Related Link: http://www.shannonwatch.org/ Drone protesters arrested at Tucson airshow by Nuclear Resister Wednesday, Mar. 24, 2010 TUCSON -- On Sunday afternoon, March 21, at the Aerospace and Arizona Days military exhibition and air show at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, two Tucson residents were arrested for trespass. John Heid, 55, and Gretchen Nielsen, 77, unfurled a banner declaring "War is Not a Show" and stood peacefully near the Predator UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle). Nielsen stated, "When I see the display at the Air Show --- the fighter planes, the bombers, the attack aircraft ---I see a display of yesterday's toys. When I see the ground control station and data terminal for the unmanned MQ-1 Predator, I see an extension of teenage computer games. When I see our young adults in uniform who have been trained to kill on command, I see yesterday's children. "When I see proud, patriotic parents and grandparents enjoying the thrill of war games at the Air Show, I see tomorrow's parents and grandparents begging what's left of the world for forgiveness." Heid stated, "War is not a show. It is killing us. And them. Combatants and children alike. Our soul and civil society. The moral order too is a casualty. War is hell. Not a cause for celebration. A frontal assault on reason. And the earth. War is not a spectacle or family entertainment. "Today at the Air Show we see its shiny weapons, not its bloody victims. Not the nearly 4,400 dead U.S. soldiers. Not the tens of thousands of Iraqi, Afghani or Pakistani civilians. We glorify the mighty flying death machines and ignore the havoc they wreak. "Today, just after the seventh anniversary of the war on Iraq, we vigil beside an MQ-1 Predator drone. Over 700 Pakistani civilians have been killed by this machine's Hellfire missiles. Davis-Monthan is home base for the 214th Reconnaissance Group of the Arizona National Guard which flies around-the-clock combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan with the Predator. "In the shadow of death we raise our plea for peace. For skies free of weaponry. For an end to war without end. The show is over, let peace begin." The pair was taken to the Pima County Jail, where they were processed and released by 10 p.m. They are scheduled to appear in Tucson City Court for arraignment - Heid on April 29 and Nielsen on April 30. Photos may be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/WarIsNotAShow (note drones are already being flown over La Frontera the Mexico/UA border for surveillance) also: "Movement People" - 15 minute documentary on Irish activists by Niamh Heery. Three of the activists have links to the Catholic Worker movement Colm Roddy - the Ghost vigiler of Guantanamo Ciaron O'Reilly - "Pitstop Ploughshares" Joshua Casteel - "Iraq Veterans Against the War", former interogator at Abu Ghraib Other interviews are with Margaretta D'Arcy - Gaway based artist/activist - "Committee of 100", "Greenham Common" et.al. Vincent McGrath - "Rossport 5" Link to "Movement People" vid http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96139 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dnevrghm at powerup.com.au Sat Mar 27 01:11:46 2010 From: dnevrghm at powerup.com.au (Doug Everingham) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:11:46 +1000 Subject: [Mai-not] Paul Craig Roberts - Good Bye! A voice for truth and justice retires References: Message-ID: <88CC15BA-89B5-42BB-A5F2-4B6F3F7587DA@powerup.com.au> Relayed by Doug Everingham. ==== Begin forwarded message: From: John Bursill Date: 27 March 2010 6:17:44 AM Subject: Paul Craig Roberts - Good Bye! Hello all, A great truth advocate Paul Craig Roberts has decided to retire from journalism. See his last essay below.... or here: http:// 911blogger.com/node/23041#comment-229996 PCR was a powerful voice for truth, it is a great shame to see him give up and disappear! I fully understand his decision to disengage from the world of media and from the hope that we can create change and awaken the masses. It has probably driven him mad considering how obvious the lies are and how clear it is that the path we are on is to Orwell's world! Why the world will not rise or why it is that journalism is so dead in such a shameless way is of great wonder to me as well. I suppose it is simply 100 years of the military fine tuning the propaganda methods employed by the military in the early 20th Century, the understanding of the human psyche born from research by the likes of Freud and Bernays et al and of course the introduction television the drug of the nation. There is also the argument that we are so very well distracted as to have little energy or time for "deep politics" combined with our relative affluence that most simply do not and will not care... It is very tempting to give up on the world and to run for the hills so to speak, but I am in hope of a great renaissance on this earth and I will continue to fight to awaken the masses and encourage others to act against this great tyranny that is enveloping the earth. Optimism is the most important thing we need to posses, PCR has helped us in our campaign to educate and must simply move on with out him and wish him luck in his retirement:) Some famous once said that "the only causes worth fighting for are the lost ones" and that's where I am at with 9/11 Truth! Kind regards John --END-- Truth Has Fallen and Has Taken Liberty With It Good-bye By Paul Craig Roberts During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. George Orwell There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest. Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it. Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded "anti-American," "anti-Semite" or "conspiracy theorist." Truth is an inconvenience for government and for the interest groups whose campaign contributions control government. Truth is an inconvenience for prosecutors who want convictions, not the discovery of innocence or guilt. Truth is inconvenient for ideologues. Today many whose goal once was the discovery of truth are now paid handsomely to hide it. "Free market economists" are paid to sell offshoring to the American people. High-productivity, high value- added American jobs are denigrated as dirty, old industrial jobs. Relicts from long ago, we are best shed of them. Their place has been taken by "the New Economy," a mythical economy that allegedly consists of high-tech white collar jobs in which Americans innovate and finance activities that occur offshore. All Americans need in order to participate in this "new economy" are finance degrees from Ivy League universities, and then they will work on Wall Street at million dollar jobs. Economists who were once respectable took money to contribute to this myth of "the New Economy." And not only economists sell their souls for filthy lucre. Recently we have had reports of medical doctors who, for money, have published in peer-reviewed journals concocted "studies" that hype this or that new medicine produced by pharmaceutical companies that paid for the "studies." The Council of Europe is investigating big pharma?s role in hyping a false swine flu pandemic in order to gain billions of dollars in sales of the vaccine. The media helped the US military hype its recent Marja offensive in Afghanistan, describing Marja as a city of 80,000 under Taliban control. It turns out that Marja is not urban but a collection of village farms. And there is the global warming scandal, in which climate scientists, financed by Wall Street and corporations anxious to get their mitts on "cap and trade" and by a U.N. agency anxious to redistribute income from rich to poor countries, concocted a doomsday scenario in order to create profit in pollution. Wherever one looks, truth has fallen to money. Wherever money is insufficient to bury the truth, ignorance, propaganda, and short memories finish the job. I remember when, following CIA director William Colby?s testimony before the Church Committee in the mid-1970s, presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan issued executive orders preventing the CIA and U.S. black-op groups from assassinating foreign leaders. In 2010 the US Congress was told by Dennis Blair, head of national intelligence, that the US now assassinates its own citizens in addition to foreign leaders. When Blair told the House Intelligence Committee that US citizens no longer needed to be arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of a capital crime, just murdered on suspicion alone of being a "threat," he wasn?t impeached. No investigation pursued. Nothing happened. There was no Church Committee. In the mid-1970s the CIA got into trouble for plots to kill Castro. Today it is American citizens who are on the hit list. Whatever objections there might be don?t carry any weight. No one in government is in any trouble over the assassination of U.S. citizens by the U.S. government. As an economist, I am astonished that the American economics profession has no awareness whatsoever that the U.S. economy has been destroyed by the offshoring of U.S. GDP to overseas countries. U.S. corporations, in pursuit of absolute advantage or lowest labor costs and maximum CEO "performance bonuses," have moved the production of goods and services marketed to Americans to China, India, and elsewhere abroad. When I read economists describe offshoring as free trade based on comparative advantage, I realize that there is no intelligence or integrity in the American economics profession. Intelligence and integrity have been purchased by money. The transnational or global U.S. corporations pay multi-million dollar compensation packages to top managers, who achieve these "performance awards" by replacing U.S. labor with foreign labor. While Washington worries about "the Muslim threat," Wall Street, U.S. corporations and "free market" shills destroy the U.S. economy and the prospects of tens of millions of Americans. Americans, or most of them, have proved to be putty in the hands of the police state. Americans have bought into the government?s claim that security requires the suspension of civil liberties and accountable government. Astonishingly, Americans, or most of them, believe that civil liberties, such as habeas corpus and due process, protect "terrorists," and not themselves. Many also believe that the Constitution is a tired old document that prevents government from exercising the kind of police state powers necessary to keep Americans safe and free. Most Americans are unlikely to hear from anyone who would tell them any different. I was associate editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal. I was Business Week?s first outside columnist, a position I held for 15 years. I was columnist for a decade for Scripps Howard News Service, carried in 300 newspapers. I was a columnist for the Washington Times and for newspapers in France and Italy and for a magazine in Germany. I was a contributor to the New York Times and a regular feature in the Los Angeles Times. Today I cannot publish in, or appear on, the American "mainstream media." For the last six years I have been banned from the "mainstream media." My last column in the New York Times appeared in January, 2004, coauthored with Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer representing New York. We addressed the offshoring of U.S. jobs. Our op-ed article produced a conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and live coverage by C-Span. A debate was launched. No such thing could happen today. For years I was a mainstay at the Washington Times, producing credibility for the Moony newspaper as a Business Week columnist, former Wall Street Journal editor, and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. But when I began criticizing Bush?s wars of aggression, the order came down to Mary Lou Forbes to cancel my column. The American media does not serve the truth. It serves the government and the interest groups that empower the government. America?s fate was sealed when the public and the anti-war movement bought the government?s 9/11 conspiracy theory. The government?s account of 9/11 is contradicted by much evidence. Nevertheless, this defining event of our time, which has launched the US on interminable wars of aggression and a domestic police state, is a taboo topic for investigation in the media. It is pointless to complain of war and a police state when one accepts the premise upon which they are based. These trillion dollar wars have created financing problems for Washington?s deficits and threaten the U.S. dollar?s role as world reserve currency. The wars and the pressure that the budget deficits put on the dollar?s value have put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. Former Goldman Sachs chairman and U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is after these protections for the elderly. Fed chairman Bernanke is also after them. The Republicans are after them as well. These protections are called "entitlements" as if they are some sort of welfare that people have not paid for in payroll taxes all their working lives. With over 21 percent unemployment as measured by the methodology of 1980, with American jobs, GDP, and technology having been given to China and India, with war being Washington?s greatest commitment, with the dollar over-burdened with debt, with civil liberty sacrificed to the "war on terror," the liberty and prosperity of the American people have been thrown into the trash bin of history. The militarism of the U.S. and Israeli states, and Wall Street and corporate greed, will now run their course. As the pen is censored and its might extinguished, I am signing off. That concludes Paul?s final essay. Fellow Americans: literally for the love of God, it?s time. It?s time for our men and women in government and military to choose: either stand with the US Constitution you?ve sworn to support and defend against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC, or remain complicit in ongoing Wars of Aggression, mass murder of our soldiers and our fellow humans in other lands and throwing trillions of our tax dollars to do so, pushing the world ever-closer to an apparently planned and desired nuclear Third World War (and here), and guilty of what Dr. Martin Luther King called ?Silence is Betrayal? before the US government assassinated him according to the only trial conducted for his murder. It?s time for our men and women in the military and government to refuse all orders associated with our unlawful wars and preparation for unlawful war with Iran over one gram of medical isotope worth $75,000 in 20% enriched nuclear fuel. It is hard to imagine a more ridiculous case for war. It?s time for our men and women in the military and government to refuse all orders associated with our unlawful wars and preparation for unlawful war with Iran and stand with the American public who declare in a ratio of 9 to 1 that our government no longer represents them under the US Constitution. It?s time: exercise your 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech and press, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Please provide this article to all Americans if you find it helpful to stop current and future unlawful wars. Over 5,000 US soldiers have been killed so far as pawns of the civilian and military brass tyrants. Multiples more have been crippled physically and emotionally. There is no end in sight to current wars; indeed, the US is expanding them into Pakistan and Yemen and threatening more war with Iran. The dead are comforted by God; their families are devastated by the loss of their loved-ones. The crippled and their families face a range of challenges; many so severe that a total of 6,000 US veterans commit suicide every year. One-third of all US homeless men are veterans. Our military was duped into these wars with calculated "Big Lies;" our trusting young men and women took an Oath to support and defend the US Constitution that supersedes the Nazi insert of ?placing the mission first.? The Claus von Stauffenberg faction of US military and government must act to end this soulless mass-murdering; this loveless series of unlawful wars and unlawful orders, if we want a future we?re proud to build. This choice is up to our men and women in uniform and government for leadership. I provide: Explanation of the rules of lawful war omitted from their military training that proves beyond any doubt that current US wars are unlawful. Analogies that the rules of war are almost exactly like those for an individual?s use of force on the street. Documentation of lies that were known to be lies as our political ?leaders? told them and our war-whore corporate media mimicked to propagandize for war in Iraq. Proof beyond doubt that the speech of Iranian President Ahmadinejad never threatened Israel. Documentation that IAEA verifies all of Iran?s nuclear material and has only and always been used for legal and peaceful purposes. A reminder that you love virtue, American values, and love of your fellow human beings. And, our men and women in uniform must take action as they see best; as will our men and women in government and citizenry. As a teacher of government and law, I conclude our government leadership is guilty of treason against the American public, and guilty of mass murder against our soldiers. Choose well; our collective future, and your future, depend upon it. It's time: please share this article with all who can benefit. If you appreciate my work, please subscribe by clicking under the article title (it?s free). Please use my archive of work to help build a brighter future. I appreciate your attention to these facts and encourage your further study and action consistent with your own self-expression. My recommendations: Policy response: Gandhi and Martin Luther King advocated public understanding of the facts and non-cooperation with evil. I?m among hundreds who advocate: 1.Understand the laws of war (and here). These were legislated after WW2 and are crystal-clear that only self-defense, in a narrow legal meaning, can justify war. The current US wars are not even close to being lawful and are legal treason against the US. Those involved with US military, government, and law enforcement have an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution. To fulfill their oath they must immediately refuse all orders associated with unlawful wars and military-related constant violation of treaties, and arrest those who issue unlawful orders. The Oath of Enlistment to the US Constitution supersedes the fascist insertion of Nazi propaganda to "always place the mission first" of blindly following unlawful orders. 2.Employ the obvious and simple solutions to end our economic controlled demolition and evolve to a civil economy. End poverty through global cooperation to achieve the UN Millennium Goals by developed countries investing 0.7% of their income (not that the UN is serious for their accomplishment, but the goals are what we should invest to produce). Support global security through cooperation, dignity, justice, and freedom. Create a US Department of Peace to help. 3.Communicate. Trust your unique, beautiful, and powerful self- expression to share as you feel appropriate. Understand that while many people are ready to embrace difficult facts, many are not. Anticipate that you will be attacked and prepare your virtuous response in the spirit of competition, just as you do in other fields. 4.Prosecute the war leaders for obvious violation of the letter and spirit of US war laws and constant lies to engage in further wars. Because the crimes are so broad and deep, I recommend Truth and Reconciliation (T&R) to exchange full truth and return of stolen US assets for non-prosecution. This is the most expeditious way to understand and end all unlawful and harmful acts. Those who reject T&R are subject to prosecution. Local perspective: Part of my professional duties as a teacher of economics and government is to produce competent adult citizenry. This includes realization that our nation?s policies and money are managed at a broad community level, and these issues have tremendous local impact. Of course, we all want human beings to be individually successful and enjoy their unique, beautiful and powerful self- expressions. Concurrently, we recognize our commitment to local success is strongly dependent upon the success of the community, and that government policy and economics are drivers. Our status in early 21st Century human history is that we suffer from a long history in government and money of human interrelationship well-described as vicious antagonism. Governments frequently use war as a foreign policy, despite its illegality and dependent upon public ignorance, with horrific consequences. Economic policy is still created within a ?Robber Baron? paradigm to concentrate money to an elite few families. Two examples: 1. National taxes effect you dearly, especially the tax to pay interest on the national debt. This costs the American public over $400 billion every year. This is $4,000 per year for every $50,000 of income. Do the math to understand your household?s tax burden for a monetary policy invented by banks for banks to create our money supply as debt. Your competence in this area contributes to our collective voice to simply shift monetary policy to easily pay the national debt, enjoy full employment, collectively save us over a trillion dollars every year, and finally realize what our brightest American minds have been advocating for centuries beginning with Benjamin Franklin. This would have unprecedented local benefits, and requires collective power to accomplish. 2. Ending poverty everywhere on our planet would cost just 0.7% of our income and save a million children?s lives every month. This human accomplishment will cause unimaginable joy at our local level. To consider: "If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in the world. Now the judgment of God is upon us and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools." --Inscription on Dr. Martin Luther King?s statue, Moorehouse College, Atlanta "The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth, there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world on the day of that great revolution." -- poet Federico Garc?a Lorca Comments policy: I welcome questions and comments that are civil and pertain to the article topic. Impolite and impertinent comments are subject to deletion. You are a guest here. It is not censorship if you violate the rules and your comment is deleted. Please consider that I?m among hundreds of writers who have documented our own government?s disclosure of propaganda programs to support their wars. I suspect my articles are under such propagandistic attack from comments that use typical rhetorical fallacies to distract readers from the facts. I invite readers to sharpen their ability to discern such propaganda. They are characterized by a combination of: never addressing the facts, lying about verifiable facts, diverting attention through unsubstantiated belief in an alleged expert, irrelevant data, straw-man attack that distorts the facts, ad hominem attack of insults to the messenger, vile comments to repulse readers, and lies of omission and commission. I will use such comments to point-out the propaganda or delete them at my discretion. Again, all relevant and polite questions, and factually accurate comments are welcome. As a professional educator I?m in agreement with my experience and research: we learn best from multiple perspectives in mutual commitment to understand the facts, see those facts from diverse points-of-view, and consider various policy proposals of what we should do. I will also respect professional standards and all of our time by rejecting unsubstantiated and/or distracting ?comments.? For those involved in support of US government-sponsored disinformation, I invite you to consider the quality of human relationships you wish to work toward. National security and a brighter future is not a function of fear, manipulation, and control. Our best security follows cooperation, justice under the law, dignity, and freedom. Working for your best imagined self-expression of virtue may include a unique contribution from the inside of your agency. Public attraction to the stories of Star Wars and the Harry Potter books/movies recognize that our society?s jump to civilized relations for all of us might require support from people within the ?dark side? acting as covert agents for building a brighter future. Another option is becoming a whistle-blower; Project Camelot is a popular venue for people in sensitive positions. Ultimately, I recommend a Truth and Reconciliation process to exchange full truth for no prosecution, explained in detail at the link. Please consider the wisdom of your own ?Scrooge conversion? to act for the benefit of all humanity rather than your self-proclaimed controlling, manipulating, and loveless ?masters.? ?Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.? Los Angeles market: This is the media capital of the world. If we are to build a brighter future, the broadest picture must be communicated. Los Angelinos will play leading roles in communicating these issues? importance to all humanity and in context to the economic and security concerns of local communities and families, as I explain above. These issues are ongoing ?current events? of literally trillions of our collective dollars that directly effect billions of human beings, around the world who we touch in L.A.?s media market and where so many of us have family and friends, and locally with the per household tax burden for trillions of our collective dollars. -- 9/11 24/7 until justice! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ptuffley at xtra.co.nz Sat Mar 27 19:42:01 2010 From: ptuffley at xtra.co.nz (Peter Tuffley) Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:42:01 +1300 Subject: [Mai-not] Paul Craig Roberts - Good Bye! A voice for truth and justice retires In-Reply-To: <88CC15BA-89B5-42BB-A5F2-4B6F3F7587DA@powerup.com.au> References: <88CC15BA-89B5-42BB-A5F2-4B6F3F7587DA@powerup.com.au> Message-ID: <6AC488AC-ACC3-49CD-B593-ACEB1109D38F@xtra.co.nz> On 27/03/2010, at 9:11 PM, Doug Everingham wrote: > > A great truth advocate Paul Craig Roberts has decided to retire from journalism. An archive of articles by Roberts can be found here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts-arch.html Peter From thinker at xplornet.com Sat Mar 27 20:12:47 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:12:47 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Paul Craig Roberts - Good Bye! A voice for truth and justice retires In-Reply-To: <6AC488AC-ACC3-49CD-B593-ACEB1109D38F@xtra.co.nz> References: <88CC15BA-89B5-42BB-A5F2-4B6F3F7587DA@powerup.com.au> <6AC488AC-ACC3-49CD-B593-ACEB1109D38F@xtra.co.nz> Message-ID: <20100328031257.01BCC1A338E9@smtprelay01.hostedemail.com> Funny thing, I was never a journalist, or anybody of any consequence, apart from having been a minor columnist in the WL Tribune for a few years before I was fired, and now in the tiny Gold River Record with the only editor in BC who'd dare to publish my ":conspiracy theories", but I seem to remember of having written the very same words on the very same subjects for over 25 years. On this list for 13. I suppose, sordid facts aren't "globally competitive" for a "resource economy", and our so called "economists" would never permit talking about the sordid consequences of their idiocies. ? Cheers, Ed. I At 07:42 PM 27/03/2010, you wrote: >On 27/03/2010, at 9:11 PM, Doug Everingham wrote: > > > > A great truth advocate Paul Craig Roberts has decided to retire > from journalism. > > >An archive of articles by Roberts can be found here: > >http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts-arch.html > > > >Peter > > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.791 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2774 - Release Date: >03/27/10 12:32:00 From diongiles1 at aapt.net.au Sat Mar 27 23:36:09 2010 From: diongiles1 at aapt.net.au (Dion Giles) Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:36:09 +0800 Subject: [Mai-not] Peripatetic GBP20 note Message-ID: <20100328063645.76751F47F@fep06.mfe.bur.connect.com.au> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 100328 Mai-not subs 02.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 65360 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 100328 Mai-not subs 01.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 67740 bytes Desc: not available URL: From papadop at peak.org Sun Mar 28 15:02:51 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:02:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Visible lunatic fringe floats to the top Message-ID: http://news.harrisinteractive.com/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?ResLibraryID=37050&GoTopage=1&Category=1777&BzID=1963&t=30 The Harris Poll^?#42, March 23, 2010 By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us and our clients stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com. Mar 24, 2010 "Wingnuts" and President Obama A socialist? A Muslim? Anti-American? The Anti-Christ? Large minorities of Americans hold some remarkable opinions A new book, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America by John Avlon describes the large numbers of Americans who hold extreme views of President Obama. This Harris Poll seeks to measure how many people are involved. It finds that 40% of adults believe he is a socialist. More than 30% think he wants to take away Americans' right to own guns and that he is a Muslim. More than 25% believe he wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a world government, has done many things that are unconstitutional, that he resents America's heritage, and that he does what Wall Street tells him to do. More than 20% believe he was not born in the United States, that he is "the domestic enemy the U.S. Constitution speaks of," that he is racist and anti-American, and that he "wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers." Fully 20% think he is "doing many of the things that Hitler did," while 14% believe "he may be the anti-Christ" and 13% think "he wants the terrorists to win." These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,320 adults surveyed online between March 1 and 8, 2010 by Harris Interactive. The actual percentages of adults who believe these things are true are as follows: *He is a socialist (40%) *He wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (38%) *He is a Muslim (32%) *He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (29%) *He has done many things that are unconstitutional (29%) *He resents America's heritage (27%) *He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (27%) *He was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (25%) *He is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitutions speaks of (25%) *He is a racist (23%) *He is anti-American (23%) *He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (23%) *He is doing many of the things that Hitler did (20%) *He may be the Anti-Christ (14%) *He wants the terrorists to win (13%) What Republicans, Democrats and Independents think There are no surprise here huge differences between what Republicans and Democrats believe. Majorities of Republicans believe that President Obama: *Is a socialist (67%) *Wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (61%) *Is a Muslim (57%) *Wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (51%); and *Has done many things that are unconstitutional (55%). Also large numbers of Republicans also believe that President Obama: *Resents America's heritage (47%) *Does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (40%) *Was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (45%) *Is the "domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of" (45%) *Is a racist (42%) *Want to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (41%) *Is doing many of the things that Hitler did (38%). Even more remarkable perhaps, fully 24% of Republicans believe that "he may be the Anti-Christ" and 22% believe "he wants the terrorists to win." While few Democrats believe any of these things, the proportions of Independents who do so are close to the national averages. One big surprise is that many more Republicans (40%) than Democrats (15%) believe the president does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do. Differences by education These replies are also strongly correlated with education. The less education people have had the more likely they are to believe all of these statements. Consider these differences between those with no college education and those with post-graduate education: *He is a socialist (45% and 20%) *He wants to take away Americans' right to own guns (45% and 19%) *He is a Muslim (43% and 9%) *He was not born in the United States so is not eligible to be president (32% and 7%) *He is a racist (28% and 9%) *He is anti-American (27% and 9%) *He is doing many of the things Hitler did (24% and 10%). After reviewing these findings, John Avlon comments, "These new numbers are shocking but not surprising they detail the extent to which Wingnuts are hijacking our politics. This poll should be a wake-up call to all Americans about the real costs of using fear and hate to pump up hyper-partisanship. We are playing with dynamite by demonizing our president and dividing our country in the process. Americans need to remember the perspective that Wingnuts always forget patriotism is more important than partisanship." So what? So what indeed! These responses recall a favorite saying of our founder Lou Harris that "when you don't want to publish a poll finding you dislike, you should get out of the business." The very large numbers of people who believe all these things of President Obama help to explain the size and strength of the Tea Party Movement, a topic that will be addressed in another Harris Poll in a few days time. From jfos at vic.australis.com.au Sun Mar 28 18:12:58 2010 From: jfos at vic.australis.com.au (john foster) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:12:58 +1100 Subject: [Mai-not] Fwd: Occupation by bureaucracy Message-ID: <00ae01cacedc$fb0b4ff0$45ad57ca@jfos> Unbridled bureaucracy is a cancer on the body politic, not only in Gaza and the rest of beleaguered Palestine, but in all 'advanced democracies' and 'developing economies'. The Ruling (wealthy-capitalist) Class are relative few in number. As such, they are incapable of managing/controlling the dissent and resistence by millions of 'ordinary' (ie Working Class & Lower Middle Class) peoples around the world, against the repressive/oppressive policies and conditions imposed upon them in the interests of 'wealth creation'. This applies particularly so in 'Israel' (Palestine) Such policies and conditions are imposed upon the REAL wealth creators (the Working Class) by armies of bureaucrats led by well-rewarded, self-serving 'executive' bureaucrats whose values and economic-financial interests accord with those of their paymasters in the Ruling Class. Many trade union 'officials'/bosses aid the employing-ruling class by misleading the workers into the belief that the Working Class have interests in common with their (exploitative) employers. In reality, the working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. John http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24iht-edmakdisi.1.13945152.html Israel and the Palestinians Occupation by bureaucracy By Saree Makdisi A cease-fire went into effect in Gaza last week, offering some respite from the violence that has killed hundreds of Palestinians and five Israelis in recent months. It will do nothing, however, to address the underlying cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Intermittent spectacular violence may draw the world's attention to the occupied Palestinian territories, but our obsession with violence actually distracts us from the real nature of Israel's occupation, which is its smothering bureaucratic control of everyday Palestinian life. This is an occupation ultimately enforced by tanks and bombs, and through the omnipresent threat, if not application, of violence. But its primary instruments are application forms, residency permits, population registries and title deeds. On its own, no cease-fire will relieve the beleaguered Palestinians. Gaza is virtually cut off from the outside world by Israeli power. Elsewhere, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the ongoing Israeli occupation comprehensively infuses all the normally banal activities of Palestinians' everyday lives: applying for permission to access one's own land; applying for what Israel regards as the privilege - rather than the right - of living with one's spouse and children; applying for permission to drive one's car; to dig a well; to visit relatives in the next town; to visit Jerusalem; to go to work; to school; to university; to hospital. There is hardly any dimension of everyday life in Palestine that is not minutely managed by Israeli military or bureaucratic personnel. Partly, this occupation of everyday life enables the Israelis to maintain their vigilant control over the Palestinian population. But it also serves the purpose of slowly, gradually removing Palestinians from their land, forcing them to make way for Jewish settlers. Just in 2006, for example, Israel stripped 1,363 Jerusalem Palestinians of the right to live in the city in which many of them were born. It did this not by dramatically forcing dozens of people at a time onto trucks and dumping them at the city limits, but rather by quietly stripping them, one by one, of their Jerusalem residency papers. This in turn was enabled by a series of bureaucratic procedures. While Israel continues to violate international law by building exclusively Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, it rarely grants building permits to Palestinian residents of the same city. Since 1967, the third of Jerusalem's population that is Palestinian has been granted just 9 percent of the city's official housing permits. The result is a growing abundance of housing for Jews and a severe shortage of housing for non-Jews - i.e., Palestinians. In fact, 90 percent of the Palestinian territory Israel claimed to have annexed to Jerusalem after 1967 is today off-limits to Palestinian development because the land is either already built on by exclusively Jewish settlements or being reserved for their future expansion. Denied permits, many Palestinians in Jerusalem build without them, but at considerable risk: Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian homes built without a permit. This includes over 300 homes in East Jerusalem demolished between 2004 and 2007 and 18,000 Palestinian homes in the occupied territories demolished since 1967. One alternative has been to move to the West Bank suburbs and commute to Jerusalem. The wall cutting off East Jerusalem from the West Bank and thereby separating tens of thousands of Jerusalem Palestinians from the city of their birth has made that much more difficult. And it too has its risks: Palestinians who cannot prove to Israel's satisfaction that Jerusalem has continuously been their "center of life" have been stripped of their Jerusalem residency papers. Without those papers, they will be expelled from Jerusalem, and confined to one of the walled-in reservoirs - of which Gaza is merely the largest example - that Israel has allocated as holding pens for the non-Jewish population of the holy land. The expulsion of half of Palestine's Muslim and Christian population in what Palestinians call the nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 was undertaken by Israel's founders in order to clear space in which to create a Jewish state. The nakba did not end 60 years ago, however: It continues to this very day, albeit on a smaller scale. Yet even ones and twos eventually add up. Virtually every day, another Palestinian joins the ranks of the millions removed from their native land and denied the right of return. Their long wait will end - and this conflict will come to a lasting resolution - only when the futile attempt to maintain an exclusively Jewish state in what had previously been a vibrantly multi-religious land is abandoned. Separation will always require threats or actual violence; a genuine peace will come not with more separation, but with the right to return to a land in which all can live as equals. Only a single democratic, secular and multicultural state offers that hope to Israelis and Palestinians, to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike. Saree Makdisi is professor of English literature at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of "Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation." ------------------------------------------------------ Provided by Australis http://www.australis.com.au/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Tue Mar 30 18:39:06 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:39:06 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] GM potatoes and EU hypocrisy [March 30th spectrezine.org ] Message-ID: <4BB27D8A.1703.68C91D5E@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> The European Union's basic approach to environmental and public health policy rests ostensibly on the "precautionary principle," which states quite clearly that a lack of scientific "proof" that something is harmful does not imply that it is safe. It is up to those profiting from it to demonstrate that it is safe beyond reasonable doubt. Morning Star readers will undoubtedly be astonished to hear that the EU routinely ignores its own precautionary principle. The new European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli from the spud-exporting island of Malta, has shown how well cut out he is for the job by approving the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) potatoes [ a non- food variety called Amflora - and created by BASF] This not only goes against the EU's own precautionary principle but against the known wishes of the population of the member states, almost every one of which has recorded a majority against the cultivation and marketing of GM products. -Steve McGiffen* *Steve McGiffen is Spectrezine's editor and a former environmental advisor to the United Left group in the European Parliament. FYI-Janet ==================================== http://www.spectrezine.org/would-you-fries-gm-potatoes-and-eu- hypocrisy Spectrezine March 30, 2010 Would you like fries with that? GM potatoes and EU hypocrisy Steve McGiffen in: Europe A few years ago, when I was an environmental policy adviser to the United Left group in the European Parliament, we fought tooth and nail to keep genetically modified organisms (GMOs) out of Europe's fields and off our plates. I remember that when I wrote an article about this for the Morning Star the paper received a letter accusing me of being "anti-science." In fact, the technology which enables the manipulation of the genomes of living beings is scarcely worthy of the name "science." What science there is behind it is poorly understood. In a society based on human need rather than corporate profit agricultural biotechnology would have its place. But that place, as things stand, would be firmly in the laboratory and certainly not in the open environment. It is true that there is no definite proof that GMOs are harmful to health, though there is an enormous and growing amount of suggestive evidence. If no-one had done the epidemiological research - the large- scale studies needed to establish links between behaviour, for example, and the incidence of disease - there would be no proof that tobacco is harmful to health. As the only people with the resources to fund such studies are the corporations profiting from genetic manipulation, and the governments whose scientific research agenda such corporations now dictate, it's hardly surprising that these tests haven't been done. Young molecular biologists looking for a research project also know full well that should they discover anything to the detriment of the corporate biotech giants they are likely to spend their lives asking not complex questions about the fabric of life but rather: "Would you like fries with that, sir?" In fact, the European Union's basic approach to environmental and public health policy rests ostensibly on the "precautionary principle," which states quite clearly that a lack of scientific "proof" that something is harmful does not imply that it is safe. It is up to those profiting from it to demonstrate that it is safe beyond reasonable doubt. Morning Star readers will undoubtedly be astonished to hear that the EU routinely ignores its own precautionary principle. The new European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli from the spud-exporting island of Malta, has shown how well cut out he is for the job by approving the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) potatoes. This not only goes against the EU's own precautionary principle but against the known wishes of the population of the member states, almost every one of which has recorded a majority against the cultivation and marketing of GM products. The spuds in question - a variety called Amflora - were created by BASF, the world's biggest chemical transnational, a firm said to have 100,000 employees. I suppose it's some consolation that popular and parliamentary resistance at least meant that it took BASF 13 years of intense lobbying in Brussels and in national capitals before it saw its product approved. These potatoes are, it's true, not meant to be eaten - even as junk- food "fries." Their genomes are manipulated so that they produce high levels of the substances needed to make the kind of starch suitable for industrial use. Unfortunately, the idea that they can be kept out of the food chain is a joke. As anyone who has ever grown them will tell you, it is almost impossible, even on a small plot, to lift every scrap of every potato at the end of the growing season. The following year whatever you've planted will be interspersed with "sports" - potato plants which have grown, as they will, from tiny overlooked spuds or even from bits accidentally sliced off when you're digging them. It is absolutely certain that some of this material will find its way into the food chain. Genetic pollution, unlike most other kinds, simply cannot be cleaned up. Should more than traces be detected in anything intended for human consumption, BASF could be prosecuted. But the EU has authorised Amflora for animal feed, so GMOs could still end up inside anyone who isn't a vegan. Recent research on "horizontal gene transfer" shows that the movement of genetic material between individuals and species is a much more complex affair than was previously assumed. Moreover, these GM potatoes contain antibiotic-resistant genes which, it is feared, could enter the general environment reducing the efficacy of medicines vital to human and animal health. The legislation on which I worked ended up, as usual, as a compromise. But we felt that we had done enough to afford at least some measure of protection. Member states may, according to this legislation, refuse to authorise the cultivation of GMOs. But remember, this is a "union without frontiers" so it's very difficult to prevent illicit imports. Even if someone could "prove" that there are no safety fears, it is undeniable that GMOs present a major threat to biodiversity. Once planted they compete with local crops and wild plants, potentially dominating an ecosystem. Some GMOs produce poisons which harm not only target pest species but the benign and inoffensive as well. Similarly, those which are designed to survive substances used to kill other plants encourage heavy dousing of weedkiller chemicals, which again can affect non- target species. It is almost certain that the recent collapse of bee populations was linked to the excessive use of poisons in agriculture. If GMOs were desperately needed in the face of global food shortages it might be worth the risk. In fact, there is no global food shortage. People go hungry because they are poor, not because there isn't enough to go round. Steve McGiffen is Spectrezine's editor and a former environmental advisor to the United Left group in the European Parliament. This article first appeared in the Morning Star http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 7916 bytes Desc: Mail message body URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 6714 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 159 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: - Type: application/octet-stream Size: 160 bytes Desc: "AVG certification" URL: From papadop at peak.org Tue Mar 30 20:56:55 2010 From: papadop at peak.org (MichaelP) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:56:55 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Mai-not] Naomi Wolf Thinks the Tea Parties Help Fight Fascism Message-ID: http://www.alternet.org/story/146184/?page=entire AlterNet / March 30, 2010 By Justine Sharrock ######## Justine Sharrock is a former Mother Jones staffer. Her book Tortured: How Our Cowardly Leaders Abused Prisoners, American Soldiers, and Everything We're Fighting For, will be out in June. For more of her stories, click here. ######## Naomi Wolf Thinks the Tea Parties Help Fight Fascism -- Is She Onto Something or in Fantasy Land? Naomi Wolf, author of 'End of America,' talks about why she has become an improbable Tea Party darling, and if progressives can learn from the conservative activists. In her bestselling End of America, Naomi Wolf outlines the 10 warning signs that America is headed toward a fascist takeover. Using historical precedents, she explains how our government is mimicking those of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin through practices like surveillance of ordinary citizens, restricting the press, developing paramilitary forces and arbitrarily detaining people. The book was lauded by liberals under Bush: the Independent Publishers gave it the Freedom Fighter Award; John Nichols at the Nation named it the most valuable political book of 2007. Now, under President Obama, Wolf's book is providing ammunition for the Tea Partiers, Patriots, Ron Paul supporters and Oath Keepers, who also warn of impending tyrannical government. Even when the book first came out pre-Obama, Alex Jones, Michael Savage and Fox News invited her on their shows, and agreed with her. It's not just her message. She speaks their language, referring to the Founding Fathers and American Revolution as models, admitting to a profound sense of fear, warning of tyranny, fascism, Nazism and martial law. When Glenn Beck warns of these things we laugh. When Wolf draws those same connections, we listen. How can both sides be speaking the same language, yet see things so differently? Or are we just not listening to each other? I telephoned Wolf to ask her what it means when your book ends up bolstering policies you oppose. JUSTINE SHARROCK: First off, is your book still relevant under Obama? NAOMI WOLF: Unfortunately it is more relevant. Bush legalized torture, but Obama is legalizing impunity. He promised to roll stuff back, but he is institutionalizing these things forever. It is terrifying and the left doesn't seem to recognize it. JS: Did you realize that your book is being lauded within the Tea Party and patriot movements? NW: Since I wrote Give Me Liberty, I have had a new audience that looks different than the average Smith girl. There is a giant libertarian component. I have had a lot of dialogue with the Ron Paul community. There are [Tea Partiers] writing to me on my Facebook page, but I figured they were self-selective libertarians and not arch conservatives. I am utterly stunned that I have a following in the patriot movement and I wasn't aware that specific Tea Partiers were reading it. They haven't invited me to speak. They invited Sarah Palin. JS: If they did invite you, would you speak at a Tea Party? NW: I would go in a heartbeat. I'll go anywhere to talk about the Constitution. I believe in trans-partisan organizing around these issues. When I went on Fox News people asked me why I was going on those shows. Are you kidding? You have to go, especially to people you don't agree with. We need to get back into grappling with people we disagree with if we want to restore the Republic. I was invited by the Ron Paul supporters to their rally in Washington last summer and I loved it. I met a lot of people I respected, a lot of "ordinary" people, as in not privileged. They were stepping up to the plate, when my own liberal privileged fellow demographic habituates were lying around whining. It was a wake-up call to the libertarians that there's a progressive who cares so much about the same issues. Their views of liberals are just as distorted as ours are of conservatives. JS: Why do you think the sides don't understand each other? NW: Frankly, liberals are out of the habit of communicating with anyone outside their own in cohort. We have a cultural problem with self-righteousness and elitism. Liberals roll their eyes about going on "Oprah" to reach a mass audience by using language that anyone can understand even if you majored in semiotics at Yale. We look down on people we don't agree with. It doesn't serve us well. There is also a deliberate building up of two camps that benefits from whipping up home team spirit and demonizing the opposition. With the Internet there is even more fractioning since we are in echo chambers. With so much propaganda it is hard to calm down enough to listen. JS: What do you think is the biggest misconception about the Tea Parties? NW: The Tea Party is not monolithic. There is a battle between people who care about liberty and the Constitution and the Republican Establishment who is trying to take ownership of it and redirect it for its own purposes. JS: In your essay, "Tea Time in America" you said that some of the Tea Party's proposals are "ahead of their time." What are some examples? NW: I used to think "End the Fed people" were crackpots. The media paints them as deranged. But it turned out we had good reason to have more oversight. Or take their platform about states' rights. Demographically, I'm a hippie from San Francisco and I'm not culturally inclined to be sympathetic to states' rights. My cultural heritage is FDR and Medicare and federal government solutions. But if you think through the analysis, strengthening state rights is a good corrective of the aggregation of an over-reaching federal power. Take California's challenge of the Patriot Act or states like Vermont leading the way with addressing the corruption of the voting system. It's a good example of the Tea Party thinking out of the box on how to address a problem. JS: That's interesting because strengthening states' rights is key to their entire platform, including protesting health care reform. Would you call yourself pro-Tea Party? NW: Even though I'm appalled when racism surfaces, and I personally don't agree with certain policy solutions and a lot of what they believe in, as someone who is very concerned about reinvigorating democracy the Tea Parties are an answer to what I asked for. I was basically saying don't sit around waiting for the two corrupted established parties to restore the Constitution or the Republic. The founding generation was birthed by the rabble of all walks of life that got fed up and did risky things because they were captivated by the breath of liberty. There is a looming oligarchy and it is up to the people to organize a grassroots movement and push back. You guys have to do it yourself. Their response is the most visible and the initiative they show is the most recognizable. People of all kinds are waking up. Even people passionate for Obama realize even that knight on a white horse isn't enough to roll back the oligarchy. I'm seeing a lot of action on the left as well that is never reported. But the Tea Party response is the most visible and the initiative they show is the most recognizable. JS: How do you feel about your books bolstering a fight for policies you don't agree with? NW: If people are taking my book seriously and organizing, getting into office, caring about the constitution, and not waiting for someone else to lead them, I think, God bless them. All of us should be doing that. The left should be doing that. There is always the risk in advocating for democracy that the first people to wake up might not be your team, but that is a risk worth taking. I would rather have citizens I don't agree with organized and active than an oligarchy of people that I agree with. JS: These days the kinds of comparisons you make in your book between America and Nazis and fascists are mostly coming out of the mouths of people like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. What do you make of the commonality of the rhetoric? NW: There is no question that the right-wing idea machine saw how that message was resonating in the run-up to the last election. A YouTube video of a speech I gave went viral and got 850,000 hits. I'm not saying that is the only thing that caused this, but there is no question that the Republican and the right wing are quick to co-opt the strategic language that's resonating on the other side and turn it against itself. JS: How is your comparison of Obama to Hitler any different from someone at a Tea Party holding up a placard of Obama with a Hitler mustache? NW: Those signs are offensive. If only the Holocaust was just about imposing health care on my people. Obama has done things like Hitler did. Let me be very careful here. The National Socialists rounded people up and held them without trial, signed legislation that gave torture impunity, and spied on their citizens, just as Obama has. It isn't a question of what has been done that Hitler did. It's what does every dictator do, on the left or the right, that is being done here and now. The real fight isn't left or right but between forces of democracy across the spectrum and the forces of tyranny. JS: People criticize Beck's use of that kind of language as incendiary and hyperbolic. Why is your use any different? NW: Every time I use those analogies, I am doing it with a concrete footnoted historical context. When people like Glenn Beck throw around the word Nazi without taking that kind of care, they are engaging in demagoguery. There's an important difference. JS: What about your warnings about concentration camps and martial law? How do they compare to conspiratorial fears about FEMA concentration camps? NW: With the FEMA rumor, I have heard some suggestive first-person accounts that some good reporters should follow up on. But until I see two well-documented sources of it, I can't speak to it at all. JS: Well, more generally, you talk about the possibility of concentration camps and martial law. NW: I think we have gone very far down that road. I met Muslim immigrants in Brooklyn who were swept up in 9-11 raids, held in abusive conditions, beaten, denied rights. That's how things started in Germany. Guantanamo was modeled after what Stalin developed for the Gulag. Why are we engaged in psychological denial that it's not a concentration camp? In terms of martial law, my god. Since the book came out they deployed a brigade in the U.S. and suspended the Posse Comitatus Act. There is no question that it's something to take seriously. People have a histrionic view of what martial law will look like. I'm not worried that tomorrow there will be a battalion outside your Greenwich Village apartment. I'm worried about things like the McCain Liberman bill that would define enemy belligerents so loosely it would include Americans, which is just like Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini. If Obama tries people with military tribunals, setting that precedent, that is what a military state does. That is what martial law looks like. From a constitutional point of view Bush passing through the Patriot Act is no worse than Obama renewing it. Editor's note: This piece originally said that the Nation had called "The End of America" the best political book of 2007. In fact, John Nichols said that Wolf's book was "the most valuable political book" of 2007 in a blog post on the Nation.com. From jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca Wed Mar 31 07:32:27 2010 From: jmeaton at ns.sympatico.ca (Janet M Eaton) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:32:27 -0300 Subject: [Mai-not] Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti - as he admits trade polices were 'a mistake' [the Coast M30] Message-ID: <4BB332CB.13384.6B8D23A4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> I was interviewed by retired Kings School of Journalism Ethics Prof Bruce Wark for this article - janet ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2010/03/30/local- activists-surprised-as-clinton-apologizes-to-haiti Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti Former US president admits trade policies were "a mistake" Posted by Bruce Wark* on Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 5:09 PM PHOTO: Clinton arrives in Haiti to survey earthquake damage Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced farmers off the land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself. "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton - now a UN special envoy to Haiti - told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. "I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." "I would like to believe that Clinton has had a change of heart," says an e-mail from Heidi Verheul of the Halifax Peace Coalition. "But he actually needs to do something to challenge the free market shock doctrine economic policies that are being designed to further subjugate and impoverish Haiti," she added. "The policies of aid and development in Haiti have continuously served to undermine democracy, local economies, and have driven tens of thousands of people from their land, enslaved them in sweatshops, makeshift homes, and absolute grinding, miserable poverty." Clinton?s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none in Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency report that was published by the Washington Post on March 20. The AP report from Haiti?s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, suggests world leaders are reconsidering trade and aid policies that make poor countries dependent on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official John Holmes as saying that poor countries, like Haiti, need to become more self-sufficient by rebuilding their own food production. "A combination of food aid, but also cheap imports have...resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming, and that has to be reversed," Holmes told AP. "That's a global phenomenon, but Haiti?s a prime example. I think this is where we should start." PHOTO: Clinton meets Haitian President Aristide in the Oval Office, Oct. 1994 Neo-liberal policies forced on Haiti The Clinton administration forced Jean Bertrand Aristide to agree to cut rice tariffs drastically when the US restored the Haitian president to power in October 1994. Aristide, Haiti?s first democratically elected president, had been overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1991. In return for $770 million in international loans and aid, Aristide was required to agree to a business-friendly "structural adjustment" program that aside from cutting food tariffs, also included freezing the minimum wage, cutting the size of the civil service and privatizing public utilities. (Aristide annoyed the US by being slow to implement such policies making Bill Clinton?s apology this month all the more surprising.) Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, says members of the global democracy movement have long known about the failures of the globalized food system and Clinton?s apology to Haitians only reinforces what many activists have talked and written about for years. "When high-profile leaders admit that economic globalization isn?t working, then it?s time for governments to get on board and look at alternatives." Eaton adds. "It is time to admit that these failures exist and put an end to the aggressive free trade frenzy that is now occurring in Canada, the US and Europe as they vie for foreign markets, raw materials and unfettered free trade." Eaton points to one alternative underway in Nova Scotia - a Food Policy Council that will be formally established at a meeting in Truro on April 19. Council members will include farmers, consumers, academics, policy analysts and government representatives. Eaton says the Council will promote food security for all Nova Scotians by focusing on ways to grow more of our own food. She contends that growing more local food would help curtail climate change, reduce dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and alleviate global poverty. "Haiti should be seen as a metaphor for what can happen on a planetary level if we fail to recognize the crisis we face," Eaton adds. ------------------------------------------------- * Bruce Wark is a retired journalism ethics professor who taught for 15 years at Kings College University in Halifax, a columnist for Halifax's alternative weekly The Coast and is one of 25 sustainers of the Halifax media co-op. ------- End of forwarded message ------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WPM$3C54.PM$ Type: application/octet-stream Size: 5354 bytes Desc: Mail message body URL: From thinker at xplornet.com Wed Mar 31 07:57:15 2010 From: thinker at xplornet.com (Ed Deak) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:57:15 -0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti - as he admits trade polices were 'a mistake' [the Coast M30] In-Reply-To: <4BB332CB.13384.6B8D23A4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <4BB332CB.13384.6B8D23A4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <20100331145729.8DF73110D687@smtprelay02.hostedemail.com> Those of us who fought against the FTA in the 80s and later against the MAI, have predicted all this over 20 years ago, yet the racket is still going on, pursued and forced on by "conservative" politicians. I have a filing drawer full of what we've written and it all came true in spades. Tens of millions died on account of this crime wave. Cheers, Ed. :From: "Janet M Eaton" To: a renewed Mai-Not Subject: [Mai-not] Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti - as he admits trade polices were 'a mistake' [the Coast M30] I was interviewed by retired Kings School of Journalism Ethics Prof Bruce Wark for this article - janet ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2010/03/30/local- activists-surprised-as-clinton-apologizes-to-haiti Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti Former US president admits trade policies were "a mistake" Posted by Bruce Wark* on Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 5:09 PM PHOTO: Clinton arrives in Haiti to survey earthquake damage Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced farmers off the land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself. "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton - now a UN special envoy to Haiti - told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. "I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." "I would like to believe that Clinton has had a change of heart," says an e-mail from Heidi Verheul of the Halifax Peace Coalition. "But he actually needs to do something to challenge the free market shock doctrine economic policies that are being designed to further subjugate and impoverish Haiti," she added. "The policies of aid and development in Haiti have continuously served to undermine democracy, local economies, and have driven tens of thousands of people from their land, enslaved them in sweatshops, makeshift homes, and absolute grinding, miserable poverty." Clinton?s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none in Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency report that was published by the Washington Post on March 20. The AP report from Haiti?s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, suggests world leaders are reconsidering trade and aid policies that make poor countries dependent on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official John Holmes as saying that poor countries, like Haiti, need to become more self-sufficient by rebuilding their own food production. "A combination of food aid, but also cheap imports have...resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming, and that has to be reversed," Holmes told AP. "That's a global phenomenon, but Haiti?s a prime example. I think this is where we should start." PHOTO: Clinton meets Haitian President Aristide in the Oval Office, Oct. 1994 Neo-liberal policies forced on Haiti The Clinton administration forced Jean Bertrand Aristide to agree to cut rice tariffs drastically when the US restored the Haitian president to power in October 1994. Aristide, Haiti?s first democratically elected president, had been overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1991. In return for $770 million in international loans and aid, Aristide was required to agree to a business-friendly "structural adjustment" program that aside from cutting food tariffs, also included freezing the minimum wage, cutting the size of the civil service and privatizing public utilities. (Aristide annoyed the US by being slow to implement such policies making Bill Clinton?s apology this month all the more surprising.) Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, says members of the global democracy movement have long known about the failures of the globalized food system and Clinton?s apology to Haitians only reinforces what many activists have talked and written about for years. "When high-profile leaders admit that economic globalization isn?t working, then it?s time for governments to get on board and look at alternatives." Eaton adds. "It is time to admit that these failures exist and put an end to the aggressive free trade frenzy that is now occurring in Canada, the US and Europe as they vie for foreign markets, raw materials and unfettered free trade." Eaton points to one alternative underway in Nova Scotia - a Food Policy Council that will be formally established at a meeting in Truro on April 19. Council members will include farmers, consumers, academics, policy analysts and government representatives. Eaton says the Council will promote food security for all Nova Scotians by focusing on ways to grow more of our own food. She contends that growing more local food would help curtail climate change, reduce dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and alleviate global poverty. "Haiti should be seen as a metaphor for what can happen on a planetary level if we fail to recognize the crisis we face," Eaton adds. ------------------------------------------------- * Bruce Wark is a retired journalism ethics professor who taught for 15 years at Kings College University in Halifax, a columnist for Halifax's alternative weekly The Coast and is one of 25 sustainers of the Halifax media co-op. ------- End of forwarded message ------- Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="WPM$3C54.PM$"; type=Plain text Content-description: Mail message body Content-disposition: attachment; filename="WPM$3C54.PM$" WPM$3C54.PM$ WPM$3C54.PM$ _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.791 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2780 - Release Date: 03/30/10 11:32:00 At 07:32 AM 31/03/2010, you wrote: >I was interviewed by retired Kings School of Journalism Ethics Prof >Bruce Wark for this article - janet > >------------------------------------------------------- > >http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2010/03/30/local- >activists-surprised-as-clinton-apologizes-to-haiti > >Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti >Former US president admits trade policies were "a mistake" >Posted by Bruce Wark* on Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 5:09 PM > >PHOTO: Clinton arrives in Haiti to survey earthquake damage > >Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US >president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap >American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a >US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton admitted that requiring >Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for >Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced farmers off the >land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself. > >"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has >not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton - now a UN special envoy to >Haiti - told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. >"I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity >to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what >I did; nobody else." > >"I would like to believe that Clinton has had a change of heart," >says an e-mail from Heidi Verheul of the Halifax Peace Coalition. >"But he actually needs to do something to challenge the free market >shock doctrine economic policies that are being designed to further >subjugate and impoverish Haiti," she added. "The policies of aid and >development in Haiti have continuously served to undermine democracy, >local economies, and have driven tens of thousands of people from >their land, enslaved them in sweatshops, makeshift homes, and >absolute grinding, miserable poverty." > >Clinton?s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none >in Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency >report that was published by the Washington Post on March 20. The AP >report from Haiti?s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, >suggests world leaders are reconsidering trade and aid policies that >make poor countries dependent on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official > >John Holmes as saying that poor countries, like Haiti, need to become >more self-sufficient by rebuilding their own food production. >"A combination of food aid, but also cheap imports have...resulted in >a lack of investment in Haitian farming, and that has to be >reversed," Holmes told AP. "That's a global phenomenon, but Haiti?s a >prime example. I think this is where we should start." > >PHOTO: Clinton meets Haitian President Aristide in the Oval Office, >Oct. 1994 > >Neo-liberal policies forced on Haiti > >The Clinton administration forced Jean Bertrand Aristide to agree to >cut rice tariffs drastically when the US restored the Haitian >president to power in October 1994. Aristide, Haiti?s first >democratically elected president, had been overthrown by a US-backed >military coup in 1991. In return for $770 million in international >loans and aid, Aristide was required to agree to a business-friendly >"structural adjustment" program that aside from cutting food tariffs, >also included freezing the minimum wage, cutting the size of the >civil service and privatizing public utilities. (Aristide annoyed the >US by being slow to implement such policies making Bill Clinton?s >apology this month all the more surprising.) > >Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, >says members of the global democracy movement have long known about >the failures of the globalized food system and Clinton?s apology to >Haitians only reinforces what many activists have talked and written >about for years. > >"When high-profile leaders admit that economic globalization isn?t >working, then it?s time for governments to get on board and look at >alternatives." Eaton adds. "It is time to admit that these failures >exist and put an end to the aggressive free trade frenzy that is now >occurring in Canada, the US and Europe as they vie for foreign >markets, raw materials and unfettered free trade." > >Eaton points to one alternative underway in Nova Scotia - a Food >Policy Council that will be formally established at a meeting in >Truro on April 19. Council members will include farmers, consumers, >academics, policy analysts and government representatives. Eaton says >the Council will promote food security for all Nova Scotians by >focusing on ways to grow more of our own food. She contends that >growing more local food would help curtail climate change, reduce >dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and alleviate >global poverty. > >"Haiti should be seen as a metaphor for what can happen on a >planetary level if we fail to recognize the crisis we face," Eaton >adds. > >------------------------------------------------- > >* Bruce Wark is a retired journalism ethics professor who taught >for 15 years at Kings College University in Halifax, a columnist for >Halifax's alternative weekly The Coast and is one of 25 sustainers of >the Halifax media co-op. > > > >------- End of forwarded message ------- > >Content-type: Application/Octet-stream; name="WPM$3C54.PM$"; type=Plain text >Content-description: Mail message body >Content-disposition: attachment; filename="WPM$3C54.PM$" > >_______________________________________________ >Mai-not mailing list >Mai-not at globalproblematique.net >http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.791 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2780 >- Release Date: 03/30/10 11:32:00 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 4161cb.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2000 bytes Desc: not available URL: From siamdave at yahoo.ca Wed Mar 31 19:41:48 2010 From: siamdave at yahoo.ca (Dave Patterson) Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:41:48 +0700 Subject: [Mai-not] Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti - as he admits trade polices were 'a mistake' [the Coast M30] In-Reply-To: <4BB332CB.13384.6B8D23A4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> References: <4BB332CB.13384.6B8D23A4@jmeaton.ns.sympatico.ca> Message-ID: <201004010941480125.022FC37F@smtp.totisp.net> Now of real interest would be an interview asking this guy what he thinks about the state of ethics in modern journalism - in what way does he consider being a pawn in the service of the NWO, lying and spinning and gatekeeping etc as required, an 'ethical' position? *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 10-03-31 at 11:32 AM Janet M Eaton wrote: I was interviewed by retired Kings School of Journalism Ethics Prof Bruce Wark for this article - janet ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2010/03/30/local- activists-surprised-as-clinton-apologizes-to-haiti Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti Former US president admits trade policies were "a mistake" Posted by Bruce Wark* on Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 5:09 PM PHOTO: Clinton arrives in Haiti to survey earthquake damage Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced farmers off the land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself. "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton - now a UN special envoy to Haiti - told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. "I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." "I would like to believe that Clinton has had a change of heart," says an e-mail from Heidi Verheul of the Halifax Peace Coalition. "But he actually needs to do something to challenge the free market shock doctrine economic policies that are being designed to further subjugate and impoverish Haiti," she added. "The policies of aid and development in Haiti have continuously served to undermine democracy, local economies, and have driven tens of thousands of people from their land, enslaved them in sweatshops, makeshift homes, and absolute grinding, miserable poverty." Clinton?s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none in Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency report that was published by the Washington Post on March 20. The AP report from Haiti?s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, suggests world leaders are reconsidering trade and aid policies that make poor countries dependent on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official John Holmes as saying that poor countries, like Haiti, need to become more self-sufficient by rebuilding their own food production. "A combination of food aid, but also cheap imports have...resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming, and that has to be reversed," Holmes told AP. "That's a global phenomenon, but Haiti?s a prime example. I think this is where we should start." PHOTO: Clinton meets Haitian President Aristide in the Oval Office, Oct. 1994 Neo-liberal policies forced on Haiti The Clinton administration forced Jean Bertrand Aristide to agree to cut rice tariffs drastically when the US restored the Haitian president to power in October 1994. Aristide, Haiti?s first democratically elected president, had been overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1991. In return for $770 million in international loans and aid, Aristide was required to agree to a business-friendly "structural adjustment" program that aside from cutting food tariffs, also included freezing the minimum wage, cutting the size of the civil service and privatizing public utilities. (Aristide annoyed the US by being slow to implement such policies making Bill Clinton?s apology this month all the more surprising.) Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, says members of the global democracy movement have long known about the failures of the globalized food system and Clinton?s apology to Haitians only reinforces what many activists have talked and written about for years. "When high-profile leaders admit that economic globalization isn?t working, then it?s time for governments to get on board and look at alternatives." Eaton adds. "It is time to admit that these failures exist and put an end to the aggressive free trade frenzy that is now occurring in Canada, the US and Europe as they vie for foreign markets, raw materials and unfettered free trade." Eaton points to one alternative underway in Nova Scotia - a Food Policy Council that will be formally established at a meeting in Truro on April 19. Council members will include farmers, consumers, academics, policy analysts and government representatives. Eaton says the Council will promote food security for all Nova Scotians by focusing on ways to grow more of our own food. She contends that growing more local food would help curtail climate change, reduce dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and alleviate global poverty. "Haiti should be seen as a metaphor for what can happen on a planetary level if we fail to recognize the crisis we face," Eaton adds. ------------------------------------------------- * Bruce Wark is a retired journalism ethics professor who taught for 15 years at Kings College University in Halifax, a columnist for Halifax's alternative weekly The Coast and is one of 25 sustainers of the Halifax media co-op. ------- End of forwarded message ------- _______________________________________________ Mai-not mailing list Mai-not at globalproblematique.net http://www.globalproblematique.net/mailman/listinfo/mai-not