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Bachmann & Bin Laden at CPAC by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | February 9, 2012
Kicking Down the World's Door by Tom Engelhardt, tomdispatch.com | February 6, 2012
Make no mistake: we’re entering a new world of military planning. Admittedly, the latest proposed Pentagon budget manages to preserve just about every costly toy-cum-boondoggle from the good old days when MiGs still roamed the skies, including an uncut nuclear arsenal. All this should reassure us that, despite the talk of massive cuts, the U.S. military will continue to be the profligate, inefficient, and remarkably ineffective institution we’ve come to know and squander our treasure on. Still, the cuts that matter are already in the works, the ones that will change the American way of war. They may mean little in monetary terms, but in imperial terms they will make a difference. A new way of preserving the embattled idea of an American planet is coming into focus and one thing is clear: in the name of Washington's needs, it will offer a direct challenge to national sovereignty. read more »Not a Peep About the President's Praise for War by Laura Flanders, The Nation | January 27, 2012
The grades for the president's State of the Union are in and the critics have been kind. In fact, it's chilling to see just how few hits the president takes for couching his entire address in unqualified celebration of the U.S. military. Speaking of the troops, President Obama began: "At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations." The president chose to celebrate the U.S. military; the press chose not to raise a peep about the spread of US militarism. Yet U.S. targets proliferate—abroad—with unmanned drones assassinating un-convicted suspects in innumerable undeclared wars. And militarism spreads at home. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act makes indefinite military detention without charge or trial a permanent feature of the American legal system. It's kind of the critics not to mention that—or the president's four-year-old pledge to close Guantánamo, and to restore the "rule of law." read more »Mitch Daniels' SOTU Response Wrong on Social Security by Daniel Marans, OurFuture.org | January 25, 2012
In the GOP response to President Obama’s state of the union address, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels argued that Social Security should be means-tested, rather than asking the rich to pay their fair share of taxes to the program. While this proposal may sound innocuous, in fact, means testing would save Social Security little money, erode its fundamental character, and cost it political support. read more »I Represented All Teachers by Sara Ferguson, Huffington Post | January 25, 2012
I'm a runner, and before every race I write students' names on my jersey. "Because you keep me going," I tell them. As I attended President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, I was not alone. I represented all of the teachers and support staff from across the country who are struggling with too few resources and too little support. This invitation was an honor, but my dedication to education is not exceptional or unique. Because, for all teachers, it is our students that keep us going. That commitment to quality public schools is even more important during these tough and uncertain economic times. Public schools and teachers need the basic resources necessary to effectively do their jobs. Our students deserve the best this country has to offer, and we all have a shared responsibility to make sure they receive it. However, too many politicians are balancing the budgets on the backs of students. read more »Leave Iraq to the Iraqis by Christopher Hill, slate.com | January 20, 2012
The narrative of contemporary Iraq is becoming etched in stone: United States troops are leaving, and the country is falling apart. Iraq, we are told, is once again on the brink of dictatorship, this time under Shiite politician Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister since 2006. The notion that Iraq’s ongoing political problems were caused by America’s departure, or that they could be improved by its return, is something that only a solipsistic American could believe. In fact, not everything that happens in Iraq reflects the presence — or absence — of U.S. troops. Iraq’s political problems are of Iraq’s making, and they need to be resolved by Iraqis. Outside mediation can help. But no one should be under the illusion that foreign troops, engaged for eight years as a post-invasion occupying force, are ideal for this task. read more »Election Will Decide Which New Wars Will Be Waged by William Pfaff, truthdig.com | January 18, 2012
Now that America’s primary elections have eliminated the more implausible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, it is possible to take a clearer look at what the electorate will be up against when the conventions are over in the fall, and when the newly elected president assumes (or resumes) command of American foreign policy. Barring the unforeseeable, the Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama. If the polls, and the wishful thinking of old-school Republicans, are right, the Republican candidate will be Mitt Romney, who has displayed the least ignorance of foreign policy issues among the surviving primary candidates. If Romney succeeds, and does what all the Republican candidates (Ron Paul excluded) have promised — strike Iran, or sustain Israel in attacking that country — the United States would begin 2013 in or at the edge of a new Middle Eastern war, estranged from the European democracies, as well as from much of the non-Western world. read more »The Extreme Rick Santorum by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | January 18, 2012
Before there was the Tea Party to define the phrase “far-right fringe,” there was Rick Santorum. He’s a nice-guy zealot who should never be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office. It’s understandable that progressives would be tempted to cheer Santorum’s sudden rise as a viable candidate for the Republican nomination. The likely nominee, Mitt Romney, would love to be able to moderate his rhetoric and begin running a more centrist campaign that could appeal to independents in November. But if Santorum continues to pose a threat, Romney will likely have to move even further right — ceding valuable political ground to President Obama. And if Santorum somehow manages to win the nomination, he will be easier for Obama to beat than Romney. I mean, Obama beats him easily. Doesn’t he? read more »Danger Waters: The Three Top Hot Spots of Potential Conflict in the Geo-Energy Era by Michael T. Klare, tomdispatch.com | January 11, 2012
Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy “chokepoint” could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch — the Geo-Energy Era — in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs. In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world. In the new Geo-Energy Era, the control of energy and of its transport to market will lie at the heart of recurring global crises. This year, keep your eyes on three energy hot spots in particular: the Strait of Hormuz, the South China Sea, and the Caspian Sea basin. read more »Extremist In Pinstripes by OurFuture.org Staff, OurFuture.org | January 10, 2012
Mitt Romney’s dead heat with Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses bolstered the media narrative that Mitt Romney may not be conservative enough for Republican primary voters. This characterization serves Romney well. His rivals carve up each other, hoping to emerge as the conservative “alternative” to Romney. And vast swaths of the media discount his reactionary views, anticipating his “pivot” to more moderate positions once the nomination is secured. In reality, Romney is a remarkably reactionary candidate, camouflaged in corporate pinstripes. read more »
The Latest
OWS Fights Back Against Police Surveillance by Launching "Occucopter", alternet.org | January 6, 2012
Summary:
In response to constant police surveillance, violence, and arrests, Occupy Wall Street protesters and legal observers have been turning their cameras back on the police.Source URL:
In response to constant police surveillance, violence, and arrests, Occupy Wall Street protesters and legal observers have been turning their cameras back on the police. more »Torture: Private Prosecution against George W. Bush On Canadian Arrival, globalresearch.ca | October 25, 2011
Summary:Should crimes committed in the Bush II era in our name be quietly forgotten? No and here is why, guilt is not shed by the arrival of a new President. The morality allowing Wall st fraudsters to pay millions of dollars in fines without admitting wrongdoing in the present day is inextricably linked to the morality of a President who admits and
Should crimes committed in the Bush II era in our name be quietly forgotten?No, and here is why: more »
Fingerprinting Those Seeking Food Stamps Is Denounced, The New York Times | October 12, 2011
Summary:Taking aim at a practice she called unnecessary, costly and punitive, the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, is asking the Bloomberg administration to justify requiring applicants for food stamps to be electronically fingerprinted.
Taking aim at a practice she called unnecessary, costly and punitive, the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, is asking the Bloomberg administration to justify requiring applicants for food stamps to be electronically fingerprinted.
FBI Entraps US Citizens To Feign Success Against Terror, alternet.org | July 23, 2011
Summary:While you are reading this account imagine you are on a jury. Playing with fire has consequences, when do young 'hotheads' become men and when does the FBI have the right to interpret laws according to their own operational requirements in ways which were not forseen or prohibited when they were made.
And then there is the matter of a defunct
Source URL:While you are reading this account imagine you are on a jury.
Playing with fire has consequences; when do young 'hotheads' become men and when does the FBI have the right to interpret laws according to their own operational requirements in ways which were not forseen or prohibited when they were made? more »
Frank Lindh: America's barbaric treatment of my son John Walker Lindh, The Guardian | July 10, 2011
U.S. Expands Its Drone War Into Somalia, The New York Times | July 2, 2011
Summary:WASHINGTON — The clandestine American military campaign to combat Al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen is expanding to fight the Islamist militancy in Somalia, as new evidence indicates that insurgents in the two countries are forging closer ties and possibly plotting attacks against the United States, American officials say.
WASHINGTON — The clandestine American military campaign to combat Al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen is expanding to fight the Islamist militancy in Somalia, as new evidence indicates that insurgents in the two countries are forging closer ties and possibly plotting attacks against the United States, American officials say. more »
Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium, telegraph.co.uk | June 22, 2011
Summary:US technological lead abandoned by the US in the sixties because it didn't produce enough plutonium for nuclear bombs.
A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of
Source URL:US technological lead abandoned in the sixties because it didn't produce enough plutonium for nuclear bombs.
A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium. more »
Buying and Operating Cost Of 2,443 F35s is estimated to be $1.3 trillion, nextbigfuture.com | May 21, 2011
Summary:The words Millions and Billions and Trillions are bandied around by office bound politicians and media commentators with such an abstract detachment the sheer scale and meaning of what they say is easily lost on ordinairy people who budget in the tens and hundreds from day to day.
Just how many unnecessary war machines, how much corruption
The words Millions and Billions and Trillions are bandied around by office bound politicians and media commentators with such an abstract detachment the sheer scale and meaning of what they say is easily lost on ordinary people who budget in more »What are the Guantánamo Bay files? Understanding the prisoner dossiers, The Guardian | April 26, 2011
Summary:Guantanamo represents the chasm opened up between the American dream of happiness, freedom and justice under the law and the reality of parallel political and judicial systems of government operating in the same land at the same time.
The military has carved out the Guantanamo Nation, Wall St has established an absence of law in a financial
Guantanamo represents the chasm opened up between the American dream of happiness, freedom and justice under the law and the reality of parallel political and judicial systems of government operating in the same land at the same time.
The military has carved out the Guantanamo Nation, Wall St has established an absence of law in a financial, cuckoo nation. more »
Bradley Manning: The Animals Have Taken Over The Zoo - Scholars Protest, commondreams.org | April 16, 2011
Summary:The Real (Defunct Constitution) America
More than 250 of America's most eminent legal scholars have signed a letter protesting against the treatment in military prison of the alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, contesting that his "degrading and inhumane conditions" are illegal, unconstitutional and could even amount to torture.
Source URL:The Real (Defunct Constitution) America
By Ed Pilkington more »
