From nmgoro at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 02:35:07 2009 From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 05:35:07 -0300 Subject: [A-List] Devaluation of the USDollar? Message-ID: <2fa158550909010135g43c34128o99d92f396dab3b0c@mail.gmail.com> Some insist here that US is about to devaluate (strongly) its currency within a few months. Anyone aware/interested/informed enough to give some hint on this list? -- N?stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 08:19:57 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 10:19:57 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> Illuminati From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 1 02:08:19 2009 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:08:19 +1000 Subject: [A-List] What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated Message-ID: <4A9CD673.8080807@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated * * * 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 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/. * * * Kanaky: Interview with jailed pro-independence trade union leader G?rard Jodar This interview with G?rard Jodar, president of the pro-independence trade union federation USTKE (Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers), was published in Lib?ration, issue #14790, on August 17 2009. He was interviewed by Matthieu Ecoiffier. Translated into English for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal by Annolies Truman. Sentenced at the end of June 2009 to a year in prison for ``hindering the circulation of an aircraft'' [click HERE for background information to the struggle], G?rard Jodar is one of very few trade unionists to be imprisoned in France -- and his lawyers' application for a lesser sentence has just been rejected by the appeals judge of the Noumea Supreme Court. * Read more Honduras: Al Giordano -- `The people are organising creatively to topple the coup' August 26, 2009, marks 60 days since Honduras' oligarchy overthrew the elected president of the country. As protests against the coup continue without let up, Western governments have refused to do anything concrete to support democracy, or as in the case of the US administration of President Barack Obama, been complicit. The international corporate mass media has shunned providing coverage of the mass opposition in the streets of Tegucigalpa. This news blackout, and the resulting heightened state repression, has done little to deter the ongoing resistance to the coup inside Honduras. * Read more Photo essay: Venezuela's Comuna 'Renacer del Sur' -- people's power in practice By Peter Boyle August 20, 2009 -- At the base of the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela are some 30,000 communal councils. These are pictures of some of the people active in communal councils in poor barrios (neighbourhoods) in the south of the city of Valencia. They were taken in November 2008 when members of the Australian-Venezuela Solidarity Netwok brigade were hosted by the Comuna ``Renacer del Sur'' (Rebith of the South Commune). Daniel Sanchez, a leader of the Rebirth of the South Commune, and Yoly Fernandez, a community organiser in Mission Mercal, Venezuela's subsidised food program, are touring Australia in August and September to explain how "people's power" is transforming their country and creating a new socialism of the 21st century. * Read more Industrial action for peace: The Communist Party of Australia and antiwar activity before 1960 By Douglas Jordan The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) emphasised the central role that the working class through their trade unions should play in the peace movement. The struggle for peace was as important to trade unionists as was the struggle for improved pay and better working conditions. Central to the party's approach was the view that trade unions had every right to use their industrial strength to pursue a range of political issues. In effect, this meant that trade union support for the peace movement should not be limited to an educational and propaganda role, but where possible it should include the use of traditional trade union tactics, such as strikes, bans and boycotts. In the postwar period, with the apparent imminent threat of a third world war, there were new opportunities to implement this policy. * Read more United States: Ted Kennedy -- The myth of the `liberal lion' By Lance Selfa August 28, 2009 -- Democratic Party senator Ted Kennedy's political career reflects the course of US liberalism, from its heyday in the 1960s to its sorry state today. For decades, Ted Kennedy was the bogeyman used by conservatives in their fundraising appeals to raise millions of dollars. To them, the liberal Kennedy seemed to represent everything they hated--there was no easier way to get a right-wing crowd booing and hissing than to mention Kennedy's name. So it was more than a little jarring to hear conservatives sing Kennedy's praises for his "bipartisanship" in the wake of Kennedy's death from brain cancer on August 25. * Read more The free-market fallacies of Ayn Rand By Phil Hearse August 22, 2009 -- Most people sympathetic to radical politics outside the United States have probably never heard of Ayn Rand, and a brief introduction to her ultra pro-free market views would doubtless be enough to convince them they haven't missed anything. Yet 27 years after her death, Ayn Rand continues to be seriously debated in the US, her books sell hundreds of thousands each year, her views are propagated by right wing think tanks and foundations and - bizarrely - Charlize Theron is in discussions to turn Rand's 1088-page magnus opus Atlas Shrugged into a TV mini-series. * Read more United States: Race and class -- African Americans in a sick system By Malik Miah August 2009 -- The critical lack of quality and affordable health care is devastating for African Americans. Twice as likely as whites to go without health insurance, African Americans suffer chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes at an escalating rate. The root of the problem is not inferior Black -- or better white -- health care. It is first and foremost a class issue, exacerbated for Blacks and Latinos because of the institutional racism that still permeates society. * Read more New books reveal Friedrich Engels' revolutionary life Engels: A Revolutionary Life, by John Green, Artery Publications, 2008. Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, by Tristram Hunt, Macmillan/Metropolitan, 2009. (First published in Britain as The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels.) Reviewed by Ian Angus August 24, 2009 -- Most people on the left know that Friedrich Engels was co-author of the Communist Manifesto and Karl Marx's lifelong collaborator. But few of today's radicals know much more than that about the man who built barricades and fought a guerrilla war in Germany in the 1848-49 revolution, the indefatigable organiser who played a decisive role in building the Marxist current from a handful of exiles in the 1850s into the dominant trend in the international working-class movement by the time of his death in 1895. * Read more The false promise of energy efficiency and a real alternative By Don Fitz August 22, 2009 -- An action can have opposite effects, depending on it s social contexts. An isolated individual who protests company policy by refusing to go to work could well get fired and become an example used to intimidate others. When an entire workforce stays off the job, it's called a "strike" and has a very good chance of forcing the company to change its policy... It is even more so with "energy efficiency". It is impossible for individual choices to purchase energy-efficient products to have any positive effect on climate change. But, in a democratically run economy, energy efficiency would be a cornerstone of resolving the catastrophic legacy of production for profit. * 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 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 13773 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/c9cf2476/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 04:44:53 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:44:53 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Jackson In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Suzanne de Kuyper Date: Sep 1, 2009 12:41 PM Subject: Jackson To: MARGARET WYLES One man's comfort is another's Gotterdammerung. What you are seeing only dimly is the beginning of the age of twentyfirst century Medici-ism. In short the newer age of assasinations. As Habeous Corpus watches in a bunker, the Western World begins to expand the Cheney Assasination Ring ( a book in progress by Seymore Hersh that details the liberalization and legalisation of governmental openly acknowledged assasinations done for generations by the CIA which was nominally under the rule of law and ru;le of secrecy. (Valerie Plame). These assasinations will involve both individual and mass targets, population targets. Please do read "Spies for Hire", "Global War on Liberty"by J C Paye. The Paye book is the blueprint, the definitive study written first in 2004 and withheld from European publication in English until late 2007, then in tiny amounts, unreveiwed, but once. Isreal the brains, technicla expertise and complete lack of morality or law, the US the unlimited money and the physical threat to die for. That is why Israel. Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com . -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1745 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/5b6d514d/attachment.txt From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 08:38:41 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:38:41 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4A9D31F1.4010102@gmail.com> Robert Anton Wilson had it right... If anyone wants a copy (PDF) of the definitive work on the... Contact offlist with your encryption key (giggle). It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton. On April 1, the world's great powers came closer to nuclear war than ever before, all because of an obscure island named Fernando Poo. By the time international affairs returned to their normal cold-war level, some wits were calling it the most tasteless April Fool's joke in history. I happen to know all the details about what happened, but I have no idea how to recount them in a manner that will make sense to most readers. For instance, I am not even sure who' I am, and my embarrassment on that matter makes me wonder if you will believe anything I reveal. Worse yet, I am at the moment very conscious of a squirrel-in Central Park, just off Sixty-eighth Street, in New York City-that is leaping from one tree to another, and I think that happens on the night of April 23 (or is it the morning of April 24?), but fitting the squirrel together with Fernando Poo is, for the present, beyond my powers. I beg your tolerance. There is nothing I can do to make things any easier for any of us, and you will have to accept being addressed by a disembodied voice just as I accept the compulsion to speak out even though I am painfully aware that I am talking to an invisible, perhaps nonexistent, audience. Wise men have regarded the earth as a tragedy, a farce, even an illusionist's trick; but all, if they are truly wise and not merely intellectual rapists, recognize that it is certainly some kind of stage in which we all play roles, most of us being very poorly coached and totally unrehearsed before the curtain rises. Is it too much if I ask, tentatively, that we agree to look upon it as a circus, a touring carnival wandering about the sun for a record season of four billion years and producing new monsters and miracles, hoaxes and bloody mishaps, wonders and blunders, but never quite entertaining the customers well enough to prevent them from leaving, one by one, and returning to their homes for a long and bored winter's sleep under the dust? Then, say, for a while at least, that I have found an identity as ringmaster; but that crown sits uneasily on my head (if I have a head) and I must warn you that the troupe is small for a universe this size and many of us have to double or triple our stints, so you can expect me back in many other guises. Indeed do many things come to pass. For instance, right now, I am not at all whimsical or humorous. I am angry. I am in Nairobi, Kenya, and my name is, if you will pardon me, Nkrumah Fubar. My skin is black (does that disturb you? it doesn't me), and I am, like most of you, midway between tribalism and technology; to be more blunt, as a Kikuyu shaman moderately adjusted to city life, I still believe in witchcraft-I haven't, yet, the folly to deny the evidence of my own senses. It is April 3 and Fernando Poo has ruined my sleep for several nights running, so I hope you will forgive me when I admit that my business at the moment is far from edifying and is nothing less than constructing dolls of the rulers of America, Russia, and China. You guessed it: I am going to stick pins in their heads every day for a month; if they won't let me sleep, I won't let them sleep. That is Justice, in a sense. In fact, the President of the United States had several severe migraines during the following weeks; but the atheistic rulers of Moscow and Peking were less susceptible to magic. They never reported a twinge. Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 2 von 470 But, wait, here is another performer in our circus, and one of the most intelligent and decent in the lot-his name is unpronounceable, but you can call him Howard and he happens to have been born a dolphin. He's swimming through the ruins of Atlantis and it's April 10 already-time is moving; I'm not sure what Howard sees but it bothers him, and he decides to tell Hagbard Celine all about it. Not that I know, at this point, who Hagbard Celine is. Never mind; watch the waves roll and be glad there isn't much pollution out here yet. Look at the way the golden sun lights each wave with a glint that, curiously, sparkles into a silver sheen; and watch, watch the waves as they roll, so that it is easy to cross five hours of time in one second and find ourselves amid trees and earth, with even a few falling leaves for a touch of poetry before the horror. Where are we? Five hours away, I told you-five hours due west, to be precise, so at the same instant that Howard turns a somersault in Atlantis, Sasparilla Godzilla, a tourist from Simcoe, Ontario (she had the misfortune to be born a human being) turns a neat nosedive right here and lands unconscious on the ground. This is the outdoor extension of the Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec Park, Mexico, D.F., and the other tourists are rather upset about the poor lady's collapse. She later said it was the heat. Much less sophisticated in important matters than Nkrumah Fubar, she didn't care to tell anybody, or even to remind herself, what had really knocked her over. Back in Simcoe, the folks always said Harry Godzilla got a sensible woman when he married Sasparilla, and it is sensible in Canada (or the United States) to hide certain truths. No, at this point I had better not call them truths. Let it stand that she either saw, or imagined she saw, a certain sinister kind of tight grin, or grimace, cross the face of the gigantic statue of Tlaloc, the rain god. Nobody from Simcoe had ever seen anything like that before; indeed do many things come to pass. And, if you think the poor lady was an unusual case, you should examine the records of psychiatrists, both institutional and private, for the rest of the month. Reports of unusual anxieties and religious manias among schizophrenics in mental hospitals skyrocketed; and ordinary men and women walked in off the street to complain about eyes watching them, hooded beings passing through locked rooms, crowned figures giving unintelligible commands, voices that claimed to be God or the Devil, a real witch's brew for sure. But the sane verdict was to attribute all this to the aftermath of the Fernando Poo tragedy. The phone rang at 2:30 A.M. the morning of April 24. Numbly, dumbly, mopingly, gropingly, out of the dark, I find and identify a body, a self, a task. "Goodman," I say into the receiver, propped up on one arm, still coming a long way back. "Bombing and homicide," he electrically eunuchoid voice in the transmitter tells me. I sleep naked (sorry about that), and I'm putting on my drawers and trousers as I copy the address. East Sixtyeighth Street, near the Council on Foreign Relations. "Moving," I say, hanging up. "What? Is?" Rebecca mumbles from the bed. She's naked, too, and that recalls very pleasant memories of a few hours earlier. I suppose some of you will be shocked when I tell you I'm past sixty and she's only twenty-five. It doesn't make it any better that we're married, I know. This isn't a bad body, for its age, and seeing Rebecca, most of the sheets thrown aside, reminds me just how good it is. In fact, at this point I don't even remember having been the ringmaster, or what echo I retain is confused with sleep and dream. I kiss her neck, unselfconsciously, for she is my wife and I am her husband, and even if I am an inspector on the Homicide Squad-Homicide North, to be exact-any notions about being a stranger in this body have vanished with my dreams into air. Into thin air. "What?" Rebecca repeats, still more asleep than awake. "Damned fool radicals again," I say, pulling on my shirt, knowing any answer is as good as another in her half-conscious state. Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 3 von 470 "Um," she says, satisfied, and turns over into deep sleep again. I washed my face somewhat, tired old man watching me from the mirror, and ran a brush through my hair. Just time enough to think that retirement was only a few years away and to remember a certain hypodermic needle and a day in the Catskills with my first wife, Sandra, back when they at least had clean air up there . . . socks, shoes, tie, fedora . . . and you never stop mourning, as much as I loved Rebecca I never stopped mourning Sandra. Bombing and homicide. What a meshuganah world. Do you remember when you could at least drive in New York at three in the morning without traffic jams? Those days were gone; the trucks that were banned in the daytime were all making their deliveries now. Everybody was supposed to pretend the pollution went away before dawn. Papa used to say, "Saul, Saul, they did it to the Indians and now they're doing it to themselves. Goyische narrs." He left Russia to escape the pogrom of 1905, but I guess he saw a lot before he got out. He seemed like a cynical old man to me then, and I seem like a cynical old man to others now. Is there any pattern or sense in any of it? The scene of the blast was one of those old office buildings with Gothic-and-gingerbread styling all over the lobby floor. In the dim light of the hour, it reminded me of the shadowy atmosphere of Charlie Chan in the Wax Museum. And a smell hit my nostrils as soon as I walked in. A patrolman lounging inside the door snapped to attention when he recognized me. "Took out the seventeenth floor and part of the eighteenth," he said. "Also a pet shop here on the ground level. Some freak of dynamics. Nothing else is damaged down here, but every fish tank went. That's the smell." Barney Muldoon, an old friend with the look and mannerisms of a Hollywood cop, appeared out of the shadows. A tough man, and nowhere as dumb as he liked to pretend, which was why he was head of the Bomb Squad. "Your baby, Barney?" I asked casually. "Looks that way. Nobody killed. The call went out to you because a clothier's dummy was burned on the eighteenth floor and the first car here thought it was a human body." (Wait: George Dorn is screaming....) Saul's face showed no reaction to the answer-but poker players at the Fraternal Order of Police had long ago given up trying to read that inscrutable Talmudic countenance. As Barney Muldoon, I knew how I would feel if I had the chance to drop this case on another department and hurry home to a beautiful bride like Rebecca Goodman. I smiled down at Saul-his height would keep him from appointment to the Force now, but the rules were different when he was young-and I added quietly, "There might be something in it for you, though." The fedora ducked as Saul took out his pipe and started to fill it. All he said was, "Oh?" "Right now," I went on, "we're just notifying Missing Persons, but if what I'm afraid of is right, it'll end up on your desk after all." He struck a match and started puffing. "Somebody missing at this hour . . . might be found among the living ... in the morning," he said between drags. The match went out, and shadows moved where nobody stirred. "And he might not, in this case," Muldoon said. "He's been gone three days now." "An Irishman your size can't be any more subtle than an elephant," Saul said wearily. "Stop tantalizing me. What have you got?" Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 4 von 470 "The office that was hit," Muldoon explained, obviously happy to share the misery, "was a magazine called Confrontation. It's kind of left-of-center, so this was probably a right-wing job and not a leftwing one. But the interesting thing is that we couldn't reach the editor, Joseph Malik, at his home, and when we called one of the associate editors, what do you think he told us? Malik disappeared three days ago. His landlord confirms it. He's been trying to get hold of Malik himself because there's a no-pets rule there and the other tenants are complaining about his dogs. So, if a man drops out of sight and then his office gets bombed, I kind of think the matter might come to the attention of the Homicide Department eventually, don't you?" Saul grunted. "Might and might not," he said. "I'm going home. I'll check with Missing Persons in the morning, to see what they've got." The patrolman spoke up. "You know what bothers me most about this? The Egyptian mouthbreeders." "The what?" Saul asked. "That pet shop," the patrolman explained, pointing to the other end of the lobby. "I looked over the damage, and they had one of the best collections of rare tropical fish in New York City. Even Egyptian mouth-breeders." He noticed the expressions on the faces of the two detectives and added lamely, "If you don't collect fish, you wouldn't understand. But, believe me, an Egyptian mouthbreeder is pretty hard to get these days, and they're all dead in there." "Mouth-breeder?" Muldoon asked incredulously. "Yes, you see they keep their young in their mouths for a couple days after birth and they never, never swallow them. That's one of the great things about collecting fish: you get to appreciate the wonders of nature." Muldoon and Saul looked at each other. "It's inspiring," Muldoon said finally, "to have so many college graduates on the Force these days." The elevator door opened, and Dan Pricefixer, a redheaded young detective on Muldoon's staff, emerged, carrying a metal box. "I think this is important, Barney," he began immediately, with just a nod to Saul. "Damned important. I found it in the rubble, and it had been blown partly open, so I looked inside." "And?" Muldoon prompted. "It's the freakiest bunch of interoffice memos I ever set eyes on. Weird as tits on a bishop." This is going to be a long night, Saul thought suddenly, with a sinking feeling. A long night, and a heavy case. "Want to peek?" Muldoon asked him maliciously. "You better find a place to sit down," Pricefixer volunteered. "It'll take you awhile to go through them." "Let's use the cafeteria," Saul suggested. Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 5 von 470 "You just have no idea," the patrolman repeated. "The value of an Egyptian mouth-breeder." "It's rough for all nationalities, man or fish," Muldoon said in one of his rare attempts to emulate Saul's mode of speech. He and Saul turned to the cafeteria, leaving the patrolman looking vaguely distressed. His name is James Patrick Hennessy and he's been on the Force three years. He doesn't come back into this story at all. He had a five-year-old retarded son whom he loved helplessly; you see a thousand faces like his on the street every day and never guess how well they are carrying their tragedies . . . and George Dorn, who once wanted to shoot him, is still screaming. . . . But Barney and Saul are in the cafeteria. Look around. The transition from the Gothic lobby to this room of laminated functional and glittering plastic colors is, one might say, trippy. Never mind the smell; we're closer to the pet shop here. Saul removed his hat and ran a hand through his gray hair pensively, as Muldoon read the first two memos in one quick scan. When they were passed over, he put on his glasses and read more slowly, in his own methodical and thoughtful way. Hold onto your hats. This is what they said: From cb31450 at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 10:15:40 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:15:40 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909010915h7172b28i3bf97e4602643ccf@mail.gmail.com> Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire Truthdig http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090831_hedges_pittsburgh_g20_defiance/ Posted on Aug 31, 2009 By Chris Hedges Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept into the history books along with the open-market theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, communism and the New Deal. It is time for a new economic and political paradigm. It is time for a new language to address our reality. The voices of change, those who speak in powerful and yet unfamiliar words, will cry out Sept. 25 and 26 in Pittsburgh when protesters from around the country gather to defy the heads of state, bankers and finance ministers from the world's 22 largest economies who are convening for a meeting of the G-20. If we heed these dissident voices we have a future. If we do not we will commit collective suicide. The international power elites will go to Pittsburgh to preach the mantra that globalization is inevitable and eternal. They will discuss a corpse as if it was living. They will urge us to remain in suspended animation and place our trust in the inept bankers and politicians who orchestrated the crisis. This is the usual tactic of bankrupt elites clinging to power. They denigrate and push to the margins the realists--none of whom will be inside their security perimeters--who give words to our disintegration and demand a new, unfamiliar course. The powerful discredit dissent and protest. But human history, as Erich Fromm wrote, always begins anew with disobedience. This disobedience is the first step toward freedom. It makes possible the recovery of reason. The longer we speak in the language of global capitalism, the longer we utter platitudes about the free market--even as we funnel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the accounts of large corporations--the longer we live in a state of collective self-delusion. Our power elite, who profess to hate government and government involvement in the free market, who claim they are the defenders of competition and individualism, have been stealing hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to nationalize mismanaged corporations and save them from bankruptcy. We hear angry and confused citizens, their minds warped by hate talk radio and television, condemn socialized medicine although we have become, at least for corporations, the most socialized nation on Earth. The schizophrenia between what we profess and what we actually embrace has rendered us incapable of confronting reality. The longer we speak in the old language of markets, capitalism, free trade and globalization the longer the entities that created this collapse will cannibalize the nation. What are we now? What do we believe? What economic model explains the irrationality of looting the U.S. Treasury to permit speculators at Goldman Sachs to make obscene profits? How can Barack Obama's chief economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, tout a "jobless recovery"? How much longer can we believe the fantasy that global markets will replace nation states and that economics will permit us to create a utopian world where we will all share the same happy goals? When will we denounce the lie that globalization fosters democracy, enlightenment, worldwide prosperity and stability? When we will we realize that unfettered global trade and corporate profit are the bitter enemies of freedom and the common good? Corporations are pushing through legislation in the United States that will force us to buy defective, for-profit health insurance, a plan that will expand corporate monopolies and profits at our expense and leave tens of millions without adequate care. Corporations are blocking all attempts to move to renewable and sustainable energy to protect the staggering profits of the oil, natural gas and coal industries. Corporations are plunging us deeper and deeper as a nation into debt to feed the permanent war economy and swell the military budget, which consumes half of all discretionary spending. Corporations use lobbyists and campaign contributions to maintain arcane tax codes that offer them tax havens and tax evasions. Corporations are draining the treasury while the working class sheds jobs, sees homes foreclosed and struggles to survive in a new and terrifying global serfdom. This has been the awful price of complacency. Protests will begin several days before the summit. Many of the activities are being coordinated by Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center. There will be a march Sept. 25 for anyone who, as Jessica Benner of the center's Antiwar Committee stated, "has lost a job, a home, a loved one to war, lost value to a retirement plan, gotten sick from environmental pollution, or lived without adequate healthcare, water, or food. ... " There will be at least three tent cities, in addition to a Music Camp beginning Sept. 18 that will be situated at the South Side Riverfront Park near 18th Street. Unemployed workers will set up one tent city at the Monumental Baptist Church on Sept. 20 and five days later will march on the Convention Center. The encampment and the march are being organized by the Bail Out the People Movement. The Institute for Policy Studies, The Nation magazine, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Pittsburgh United and other organizations will host events including a panel on corporate globalization featuring former World Bank President Joseph Stiglitz, along with a "People's Tribunal." There will be a religious procession calling for social justice and a concert organized by Students for a Democratic Society. But expect difficulties. The Secret Service has so far denied protesters permits while it determines the size of the "security perimeter" it will impose around the world leaders. Pittsburgh has contracted to bring in an extra 4,000 police officers at an estimated cost of $9.5 million. Activist groups have reported incidents of surveillance and harassment. The struggle to thwart the voices of citizens will be as fierce as the struggle to amplify the voices of the criminal class that is trashing the world's economy. These elites will appear from behind closed doors with their communiques and resolutions to address us in their specialized jargon of power and expertise. They will attempt to convince us they have not lost control. They will make recommitments to free-trade agreements from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, the World Trade Organization and NAFTA, which have all thrust a knife into the backs of the working class. They will insist that the world can be managed and understood exclusively through their distorted lens of economics. But their day is over. They are the apostles of a dead system. They maintain power through fraud and force. Do not expect them to go without a struggle. But they have nothing left to say to us. "Those who profess to favour freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground," Frederick Douglass wrote. "They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or 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." If you can, go to Pittsburgh. This is an opportunity to defy the titans of the corporate state and speak in words that describe our reality. The power elite fear these words. If these words seep into the population, if they become part of our common vernacular, the elite and the systems they defend will be unmasked. Our collective self-delusion will be shattered. These words of defiance expose the lies and crimes the elite use to barrel us toward neofeudalism. And these words, when they become real, propel men and women to resist. "The end of something often resembles the beginning," the philosopher John Ralston Saul wrote in "Voltaire's Bastards." "More often than not our nose-to-the-glass view makes us believe that the end we are living is in fact a new beginning. This confusion is typical of an old civilization's self-confidence--limited by circumstances and by an absence of memory--and in many ways resembling the sort often produced by senility. Our rational need to control understanding and therefore memory has simply accentuated the confusion. ... Nothing seems more permanent than a long-established government about to lose power, nothing more invincible than a grand army on the morning of its annihilation." Chris Hedges' latest book is "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle." From kaliyuga at wildblue.net Tue Sep 1 11:52:47 2009 From: kaliyuga at wildblue.net (MARGARET WYLES) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 09:52:47 -0800 Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care In-Reply-To: <4A9D31F1.4010102@gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> <4A9D31F1.4010102@gmail.com> Message-ID: <82b839ea0909011052k45d47d53j519dc8ace034500c@mail.gmail.com> JFK on Secret Socieities... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces On 9/1/09, Leighm wrote: > Robert Anton Wilson had it right... > > If anyone wants a copy (PDF) of the definitive work on the... > > Contact offlist with your encryption key (giggle). > > > It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton. On April 1, > the world's great powers came closer to nuclear war than ever before, > all because of an obscure island named Fernando Poo. > > By the time international affairs returned to their normal cold-war > level, some wits were calling it the most tasteless April Fool's joke in > history. I happen to know all the details about what happened, but I > have no idea how to recount them in a manner that will make sense to > most readers. > > For instance, I am not even sure who' I am, and my embarrassment on that > matter makes me wonder if you will believe anything I reveal. Worse yet, > I am at the moment very conscious of a squirrel-in Central Park, just > off Sixty-eighth Street, in New York City-that is leaping from one tree > to another, and I think that happens on the night of April 23 (or is it > the morning of April 24?), but fitting the squirrel together with > Fernando Poo is, for the present, beyond my powers. > > I beg your tolerance. > > There is nothing I can do to make things any easier for any of us, and > you will have to accept being addressed by a disembodied voice just as I > accept the compulsion to speak out even though I am painfully aware that > I am talking to an invisible, perhaps nonexistent, audience. > > Wise men have regarded the earth as a tragedy, a farce, even an > illusionist's trick; but all, if they are truly wise and not merely > intellectual rapists, recognize that it is certainly some kind of stage > in which we all play roles, most of us being very poorly coached and > totally unrehearsed before the curtain rises. > > Is it too much if I ask, tentatively, that we agree to look upon it as a > circus, a touring carnival wandering about the sun for a record season > of four billion years and producing new monsters and miracles, hoaxes > and bloody mishaps, wonders and blunders, but never quite entertaining > the customers well enough to prevent them from leaving, one by one, and > returning to their homes for a long and bored winter's sleep under the dust? > > Then, say, for a while at least, that I have found an identity as > ringmaster; but that crown sits uneasily on my head (if I have a head) > and I must warn you that the troupe is small for a universe this size > and many of us have to double or triple our stints, so you can expect me > back in many other guises. Indeed do many things come to pass. > > For instance, right now, I am not at all whimsical or humorous. I am > angry. I am in Nairobi, Kenya, and my name is, if you will pardon me, > Nkrumah Fubar. > > My skin is black (does that disturb you? it doesn't me), and I am, like > most of you, midway between tribalism and technology; to be more blunt, > as a Kikuyu shaman moderately adjusted to city life, I still believe in > witchcraft-I haven't, yet, the folly to deny the evidence of my own senses. > > It is April 3 and Fernando Poo has ruined my sleep for several nights > running, so I hope you will forgive me when I admit that my business at > the moment is far from edifying and is nothing less than constructing > dolls of the rulers of America, Russia, and China. > > You guessed it: I am going to stick pins in their heads every day for a > month; if they won't let me sleep, I won't let them sleep. > > That is Justice, in a sense. > > In fact, the President of the United States had several severe migraines > during the following weeks; but the atheistic rulers of Moscow and > Peking were less susceptible to magic. They never reported a twinge. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 2 von 470 > > But, wait, here is another performer in our circus, and one of the most > intelligent and decent in the lot-his name is unpronounceable, but you > can call him Howard and he happens to have been born a dolphin. He's > swimming through the ruins of Atlantis and it's April 10 already-time is > moving; I'm not sure what Howard sees but it bothers him, and he decides > to tell Hagbard Celine all about it. Not that I know, at this point, who > Hagbard Celine is. > > Never mind; watch the waves roll and be glad there isn't much pollution > out here yet. Look at the way the golden sun lights each wave with a > glint that, curiously, sparkles into a silver sheen; and watch, watch > the waves as they roll, so that it is easy to cross five hours of time > in one second and find ourselves amid trees and earth, with even a few > falling leaves for a touch of poetry before the horror. > > Where are we? Five hours away, I told you-five hours due west, to be > precise, so at the same instant that Howard turns a somersault in > Atlantis, Sasparilla Godzilla, a tourist from Simcoe, Ontario (she had > the misfortune to be born a human being) turns a neat nosedive right > here and lands unconscious on the ground. > > This is the outdoor extension of the Museum of Anthropology in > Chapultepec Park, Mexico, D.F., and the other tourists are rather upset > about the poor lady's collapse. She later said it was the heat. Much > less sophisticated in important matters than Nkrumah Fubar, she didn't > care to tell anybody, or even to remind herself, what had really knocked > her over. > > Back in Simcoe, the folks always said Harry Godzilla got a sensible > woman when he married Sasparilla, and it is sensible in Canada (or the > United States) to hide certain truths. No, at this point I had better > not call them truths. > > Let it stand that she either saw, or imagined she saw, a certain > sinister kind of tight grin, or grimace, cross the face of the gigantic > statue of Tlaloc, the rain god. > > Nobody from Simcoe had ever seen anything like that before; indeed do > many things come to pass. > > And, if you think the poor lady was an unusual case, you should examine > the records of psychiatrists, both institutional and private, for the > rest of the month. Reports of unusual anxieties and religious manias > among schizophrenics in mental hospitals skyrocketed; and ordinary men > and women walked in off the street to complain about eyes watching them, > hooded beings passing through locked rooms, crowned figures giving > unintelligible commands, voices that claimed to be God or the Devil, a > real witch's brew for sure. > > But the sane verdict was to attribute all this to the aftermath of the > Fernando Poo tragedy. > > The phone rang at 2:30 A.M. the morning of April 24. > > Numbly, dumbly, mopingly, gropingly, out of the dark, I find and > identify a body, a self, a task. "Goodman," I say into the receiver, > propped up on one arm, still coming a long way back. > > "Bombing and homicide," he electrically eunuchoid voice in the > transmitter tells me. I sleep naked (sorry about that), and I'm putting > on my drawers and trousers as I copy the address. East Sixtyeighth > Street, near the Council on Foreign Relations. "Moving," I say, hanging up. > > "What? Is?" Rebecca mumbles from the bed. She's naked, too, and that > recalls very pleasant memories of a few hours earlier. I suppose some of > you will be shocked when I tell you I'm past sixty and she's only > twenty-five. It doesn't make it any better that we're married, I know. > > This isn't a bad body, for its age, and seeing Rebecca, most of the > sheets thrown aside, reminds me just how good it is. In fact, at this > point I don't even remember having been the ringmaster, or what echo I > retain is confused with sleep and dream. > > I kiss her neck, unselfconsciously, for she is my wife and I am her > husband, and even if I am an inspector on the Homicide Squad-Homicide > North, to be exact-any notions about being a stranger in this body have > vanished with my dreams into air. Into thin air. > > "What?" Rebecca repeats, still more asleep than awake. > > "Damned fool radicals again," I say, pulling on my shirt, knowing any > answer is as good as another in her half-conscious state. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 3 von 470 > > "Um," she says, satisfied, and turns over into deep sleep again. > > I washed my face somewhat, tired old man watching me from the mirror, > and ran a brush through my hair. Just time enough to think that > retirement was only a few years away and to remember a certain > hypodermic needle and a day in the Catskills with my first wife, Sandra, > back when they at least had clean air up there . . . socks, shoes, tie, > fedora . . . and you never stop mourning, as much as I loved Rebecca I > never stopped mourning Sandra. > > Bombing and homicide. What a meshuganah world. Do you remember when you > could at least drive in New York at three in the morning without traffic > jams? Those days were gone; the trucks that were banned in the daytime > were all making their deliveries now. Everybody was supposed to pretend > the pollution went away before dawn. > > Papa used to say, "Saul, Saul, they did it to the Indians and now > they're doing it to themselves. Goyische narrs." He left Russia to > escape the pogrom of 1905, but I guess he saw a lot before he got out. > He seemed like a cynical old man to me then, and I seem like a cynical > old man to others now. Is there any pattern or sense in any of it? > > The scene of the blast was one of those old office buildings with > Gothic-and-gingerbread styling all over the lobby floor. In the dim > light of the hour, it reminded me of the shadowy atmosphere of Charlie > Chan in the Wax Museum. And a smell hit my nostrils as soon as I walked in. > > A patrolman lounging inside the door snapped to attention when he > recognized me. "Took out the seventeenth floor and part of the > eighteenth," he said. "Also a pet shop here on the ground level. Some > freak of dynamics. Nothing else is damaged down here, but every fish > tank went. That's the smell." > > Barney Muldoon, an old friend with the look and mannerisms of a > Hollywood cop, appeared out of the shadows. A tough man, and nowhere as > dumb as he liked to pretend, which was why he was head of the Bomb Squad. > > "Your baby, Barney?" I asked casually. > > "Looks that way. Nobody killed. The call went out to you because a > clothier's dummy was burned on the eighteenth floor and the first car > here thought it was a human body." > > (Wait: George Dorn is screaming....) > > Saul's face showed no reaction to the answer-but poker players at the > Fraternal Order of Police had long ago given up trying to read that > inscrutable Talmudic countenance. > > As Barney Muldoon, I knew how I would feel if I had the chance to drop > this case on another department and hurry home to a beautiful bride like > Rebecca Goodman. I smiled down at Saul-his height would keep him from > appointment to the Force now, but the rules were different when he was > young-and I added quietly, "There might be something in it for you, though." > > The fedora ducked as Saul took out his pipe and started to fill it. All > he said was, "Oh?" "Right now," I went on, "we're just notifying Missing > Persons, but if what I'm afraid of is right, it'll end up on your desk > after all." > > He struck a match and started puffing. "Somebody missing at this hour . > . . might be found among the living ... in the morning," he said between > drags. The match went out, and shadows moved where nobody stirred. > > "And he might not, in this case," Muldoon said. "He's been gone three > days now." > > "An Irishman your size can't be any more subtle than an elephant," Saul > said wearily. "Stop tantalizing me. What have you got?" > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 4 von 470 > > "The office that was hit," Muldoon explained, obviously happy to share > the misery, "was a magazine called Confrontation. It's kind of > left-of-center, so this was probably a right-wing job and not a leftwing > one. But the interesting thing is that we couldn't reach the editor, > Joseph Malik, at his home, and when we called one of the associate > editors, what do you think he told us? Malik disappeared three days ago. > His landlord confirms it. > > He's been trying to get hold of Malik himself because there's a no-pets > rule there and the other tenants are complaining about his dogs. So, if > a man drops out of sight and then his office gets bombed, I kind of > think the matter might come to the attention of the Homicide Department > eventually, don't you?" > > Saul grunted. "Might and might not," he said. "I'm going home. I'll > check with Missing Persons in the morning, to see what they've got." > > The patrolman spoke up. > > "You know what bothers me most about this? The Egyptian mouthbreeders." > > "The what?" Saul asked. > > "That pet shop," the patrolman explained, pointing to the other end of > the lobby. "I looked over the damage, and they had one of the best > collections of rare tropical fish in New York City. > > Even Egyptian mouth-breeders." He noticed the expressions on the faces > of the two detectives and added lamely, "If you don't collect fish, you > wouldn't understand. But, believe me, an Egyptian mouthbreeder is pretty > hard to get these days, and they're all dead in there." > > "Mouth-breeder?" Muldoon asked incredulously. > > "Yes, you see they keep their young in their mouths for a couple days > after birth and they never, never swallow them. That's one of the great > things about collecting fish: you get to appreciate the wonders of nature." > > Muldoon and Saul looked at each other. "It's inspiring," Muldoon said > finally, "to have so many college graduates on the Force these days." > > The elevator door opened, and Dan Pricefixer, a redheaded young > detective on Muldoon's staff, emerged, carrying a metal box. > > "I think this is important, Barney," he began immediately, with just a > nod to Saul. "Damned important. I found it in the rubble, and it had > been blown partly open, so I looked inside." "And?" Muldoon prompted. > > "It's the freakiest bunch of interoffice memos I ever set eyes on. Weird > as tits on a bishop." This is going to be a long night, Saul thought > suddenly, with a sinking feeling. A long night, and a heavy case. > > "Want to peek?" Muldoon asked him maliciously. > > "You better find a place to sit down," Pricefixer volunteered. "It'll > take you awhile to go through them." > > "Let's use the cafeteria," Saul suggested. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 5 von 470 > > "You just have no idea," the patrolman repeated. "The value of an > Egyptian mouth-breeder." > > "It's rough for all nationalities, man or fish," Muldoon said in one of > his rare attempts to emulate Saul's mode of speech. He and Saul turned > to the cafeteria, leaving the patrolman looking vaguely distressed. > > His name is James Patrick Hennessy and he's been on the Force three > years. He doesn't come back into this story at all. He had a > five-year-old retarded son whom he loved helplessly; you see a thousand > faces like his on the street every day and never guess how well they are > carrying their tragedies . . . and George Dorn, who once wanted to shoot > him, is still screaming. . . . But Barney and Saul are in the cafeteria. > > Look around. The transition from the Gothic lobby to this room of > laminated functional and glittering plastic colors is, one might say, > trippy. Never mind the smell; we're closer to the pet shop here. > > Saul removed his hat and ran a hand through his gray hair pensively, as > Muldoon read the first two memos in one quick scan. When they were > passed over, he put on his glasses and read more slowly, in his own > methodical and thoughtful way. > > Hold onto your hats. This is what they said: > > From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 1 12:45:45 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:45:45 +0100 Subject: [A-List] PL: Honduras, Military Escalation Test, Chavez Message-ID: PL: Honduras, Military Escalation Test, Chavez Posted to CN by: "Walter Lippmann" walterlx at earthlink.net walterlx Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:35 pm (PDT) Honduras, Military Escalation Test, Chavez Caracas, Aug 30 (Prensa Latina) The coup in Honduras was a test for a military escalation, which is continuously increased and boosted, with the new US military bases in Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Sunday. Chavez expressed concern about the situation, which could start to cool off internationally and the pressure on the putschists could ease up, and he called on the international community to continue doing their best so that the Honduran people can retake their democratic path. In his Sunday column, entitled "Chavez' Lines", he insisted that the coup was staged in open complicity with the US military base in Palmerola, where the plane that took President Manuel Zelaya away from Honduras landed. "These have been two months of lessons: first, the openly interventionist power of important US sectors that are striving to change the people's fate and secondly, the powerlessness of international bodies to enforceg their own decisions," said Chavez. According to him, it is a terrible sign to the rest of the continent, "which may start to see that dishonor and injustice have become its daily bread." He said that to speak about an imminent threat to the entire region, mainly to neighbors in Colombia, is no overstatement. "We all risk a military intervention if we do not dance to the tune of the empire." From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 1 12:51:02 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 14:51:02 -0400 Subject: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System In-Reply-To: <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> References: <20090827102931.23bef446.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp><5A4E2C931DD04990AEC4EBB5B46DB4AC@TonyPC> <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> Message-ID: John, I must admit to being a tad confused on just what you are asking...(You start by saying "All very true" but then end by saying I'm contradicting myself). I am not an economist by trade so you must forgive my ignorance here. Are you suggesting that by a 'value' oriented political/economy I'm dispensing with any grounding in raw economic 'fact'? (Hardly. Naturally, both objective as well as subjective factors interpentrate in any political economy)...Or ...well, in any case... if you could fill out your critique a tad I'll try and answer it. In the meantime, however, let me at least respond with a few thoughts that came to mind upon seeing the reference, 'positive value M'. If memory serves 'positive value' economics was formerly known as 'value-free' economics, and was a mainstay, indeed, is the bread and butter of neoclassical economics and, in particular, 'neoliberal' economic philosophy. The most famous exponent of such, of course, is Milton Friedman, whom I have taken the liberty of quoting (from 'Capitalism and Freedom') below: "The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials . . . have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the interest of their stockholders . . . This view shows a fundamental misconception of the character and nature of a free economy. In such an economy, there is one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources and to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game . . . Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible (Friedman, 1982, p. 133)." So here we have the godfather of 'value free' economics making his case. Now what is eminently clear from the 40 year experiment of neoliberal economics is just how fatuous he is, and how duplicitous, hypocritical, diabolical..and just plain inept...was the experiment he engineered. The entire Friedmanite project has, in fact, been nothing but a *value laden* ideology from start to finish. An ideology, moreover, in favour of pillage and plunder and backed up by imperial murder on the grand scale. Indeed, a fine expose of this record can be found in Naomi Klein's, 'The Shock Doctrine' (which is, more or less, dedicated to it). If you haven't read it already, I recommend it. In short, 'positive value' economics..as it has actually been practised...has been hoisted by its own empirical petard...though at the cost, one must quickly add, of ten if not hundreds of millions of lives lost, ruined, immiserated etc. So much for 'value free'....and all in the aid of the transfer of global wealth to elite groups. All of this brings to mind my early student days studying political philosophy. It was then that I was surprised, upon reading conservative theorists, to find myself in agreement with some of their fundamental principles, i.e. the value of tradition, the distrust and danger of radical breaks with such etc. But then I realized, after actually *looking* at the world, that conservative political philosophy was *in practice* mainly deployed in the defense (indeed, the defense 'to the death') ....of power and privelege. Period. Full Stop. So, I reasoned, likely the only people who could ever benefit from conservative principles would, in fact, be those who, in seeking to overthrow 'power and privelege', might want to pause to remember not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, i.e. to trample underfoot those elements of tradition and traditional political culture that had true value and could be a steadying influence in the construction of any future 'utopia'. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Vertegaal" To: "The A-List" Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 4:24 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System > All very true Tony. But would you, as a Marxist, go so far as renouncing > "positive value M", and all use of it not only in in the "funny money" > theorization of social crediters like Cook, but also and especially so in > Marxian equations, as deterministic crap? IMHO, until you do you are > contradicting yourself. Do you have a definition for M? > > John V > > > Tony B. wrote: >> "Destruction of human consciousness is the real goal of the financiers >> and >> their minions. It is lies above all that do this. The financiers' power >> is >> the biggest lie of all." >> >> ..and from a previous entry (The Crisis: Debt and Real Wealth) >> >> "Only people who have no understanding of markets, or who are >>>> consciously perpetrating fraud, could have either sold or bought these >>>> negative pigs-in-a-poke. Yet the aggregating mathematical wizards of >>>> Wall Street did it, and now seem surprised at their inability to >>>> correctly price these idiotic "assets"." >> >> All of these offerings, whilst in some sense sharpening our appreciation >> of the internal workings / failings of our present economic system, are >> dedicated, nonetheless, to obscuring the one vital point upon which their >> critiques hang. To wit: our present financial woes are hardly the work of >> some nefarious 'financiers' or 'only people who have no understanding of >> how markets work'...They are the inevitable result of a capitalist >> economic 'philosophy', i.e. greed over need. >> >> All of these writers are wont to move heaven and earth in denying that it >> is capitalism itself which is inherently flawed; that the pursuit of >> profit over need and endless growth on a finite planet can somehow be >> 'managed' by a reformed techno-economic fiddling of affairs...ignoring >> that the heart of the matter is that, as Marx said, 'the soul of >> capitalism is the soul of money'. >> >> In short, the route to a better world can only be forged by the adoption >> of new human *values*, i.e. socialist values. Capitalism has no human >> values...and thus, by hook or by crook - largely the latter - it will >> always escape the ploys of those who seek merely to reform it. >> >> Tony >> > > From noreply at coha.org Tue Sep 1 11:10:49 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 13:10:49 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Senator Kennedy - His Indispensable Service to Latin America; Brazil's Embraer Ready to Take Off Message-ID: <20090901171017.9DE123E498D@mx-out2.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 9615 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/952b34cc/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 11:19:38 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:19:38 -0700 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> Message-ID: The Israeli government viewpoint has quite a remarkable access to U.S. television viewers and radio listeners. We get it constantly from PBS, NPR, as well as corporate channels (Comcast CSPAN, FOX, NBC, etc) as well as the BBC, and from syndicated shows like the Takeaway funded by Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, Pemco, etc. How do they do it?!! No other country has the open-door access to speak to U.S. audiences. The Israeli government takes full advantage of this access many times per day, to subvert U.S. interests and advance Israel's intersts. See this morning, Dore Gold for example had an hour on CSPAN-- http://cspan.org/Recent/Default.aspx The result of such widespread repetition of their propaganda will likely be continued U.S. military aggressions against Muslim people across south asia. Fmr. Israeli Amb. Dore Gold, Author, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran" According to Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons even as western leaders pursue talks with the Islamic republic. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Amb. Gold discusses his new book, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West." Today : Washington, DC : 1 hr. Todd At 08:50 PM 8/30/2009, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: >This is an understatement of massive >proportions. The AIPAC agenda is U S Foreign >Policy, it is E U Foreign Policy and is in >process of demonizing over two billion humans >who happen to be either Arab or Islamic. As >NATO countries join in the baying of the hounds >catching sight of the prey, Germany and France >cave in to B. Netanyahu's 'destroy Iran' >demands, the self imolation of the E U and of >the U S laws and rights speeds up, mirrored as >if with the forest fires of reluctant Greece and bankrupt California. > >Suzanne >suzannedk at gmail.com > >On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Sid Shniad ><shniad at sfu.ca> wrote: >Arab News 24 July 2009 (01 Sha`ban 1430) >The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily >How Israel lobby controls US >Jeff Gates >IN the early 1960s, Sen. William J. Fulbright >fought to force the American Zionist Council to >register as agents of a foreign government. The >council eluded registration by reorganizing as >the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. >AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most >feared: A foreign agent dominating American >foreign policy while disguised as a domestic lobby. >Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear >that charge. How, they ask, can we so few wield >such influence over so many? Answer: It?s all in >the math. And in the single-issue advocacy >brought to bear on US policy-making by dozens of >?domestic? organizations that now compose the >Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force. >The political math was enabled by Sen. John >McCain whose support for all things Israeli >ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed George >W. Bush. McCain?s style of campaign finance >reform proved a perfect fit for the >Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby >relies. Co-sponsored by Sen. Russ Feingold of >Wisconsin, this change in federal election law >typifies how Israeli influence became systemic. > >?McCain-Feingold? raised the amount (from $1,000 >to $2,300) that candidates can receive from >individuals in primary and general elections. A >couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to >federal candidates: $4,600 in each of the >primary and general elections. Primary >elections, usually low-budget, are particularly easy to sway. >Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also >doubled the funds candidates can receive without >regard to where those contributors reside. A >candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few >pro-Israeli constituents. When campaign support >is provided by a nationwide network of >pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be >persuaded to support policies sought by Tel >Aviv. Diaspora-based fundraising has long been >used by the lobby with force-multiplying success >to shape US foreign policy. Under the guise of >reform, John McCain doubled the financial >resources that the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters. >Fulbright was right. The influence-peddling >process works like this. Candidates are summoned >for in-depth AIPAC interviews. Those found >sufficiently committed to Israel?s agenda are >provided a list of donors likely to ?max out? >their campaign contributions. Or the process can >be made even easier when AIPAC-approved >candidates are given the name of a ?bundler.? >Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and >bundle those contributions to present them to >the candidate. No quid pro quo need be >mentioned. After McCain-Feingold became law in >2003, AIPAC-identified bundlers could raise $1 >million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates >simply by contacting 10 like-minded supporters. Here?s the math: >The bundler and spouse ?max out? for $9,200 and >call 10 others, say in Manhattan, Miami, and >Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x >$9,200) and call 10 others for a total of 11. (111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.) >Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC >interview. One call from the lobby and a >candidate can collect enough cash to mount a >credible campaign in most congressional >districts. From Tel Aviv?s perspective, that >political leverage is leveraged yet again >because fewer than 10 percent of the 435 House >races are competitive in any election cycle (typically 35 to 50). >Additional force-multipliers come from: (a) >sustaining this financial focus over multiple >cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain >seniority for those serving on congressional >committees key to promoting Israeli goals, and >(c) opposing any candidates who question those goals. >?Jewish Achievement? reports that 42 percent of >the largest political donors to the 2000 >election cycle were Jewish, including four of >the top five. That compares to less than two >percent of Americans who are Jewish. Of the >Forbes 400 richest Americans, 25 percent are >Jewish according to Michael Steinhardt, a key >funder of the Democratic Leadership Council. The >DLC was led by Jewish Zionist Sen. Joe Lieberman >when he resigned in 2000 to run as vice >president with pro-Israeli presidential candidate Al Gore. >Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors >were limited only by how much they could >lawfully contribute to AIPAC-screened >candidates. McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. >The full impact of this foreign influence has >yet to be tallied. What?s known, however, is >sufficient to apply the Foreign Agents >Registration Act. Of the top 50 neoconservatives >who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52 percent). > >Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one >of the more notable recipients of funds. In >1948, he was trailing badly in the polls and in >fundraising. His prospects brightened >dramatically in May after he recognized as a >legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists >who originally planned to settle in Argentina >before putting their sights on Palestine. >That recognition was opposed by Secretary of >State George C. Marshall, the Joint Chiefs of >Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the >fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and >numerous distinguished Americans, including >moderate and secular Jews concerned at the >troubles that were certain to follow. Not until >1984 was it revealed that a network of Jewish >Zionists had funded Truman?s campaign by >financially refueling his whistle-stop campaign >train with $400,000 in cash ($3 million in 2009). >To buy time on the public?s airwaves, money >raised from the Israel lobby?s network is paid >to media outlets largely owned or managed by >members of the same network. Presidents, >senators and congressmen come and go but those >who collect the checks rack up the favors that >amass lasting political influence. >The US system of government is meant to ensure >that members of the House represent the concerns >of Americans who reside in congressional >districts ? not a nationally dispersed network >(a Diaspora) committed to advancing the agenda >of a foreign nation. Federal elections are meant >to hold senators accountable to constituents who >reside in the states they represent, not >out-of-state residents or a foreign government. >In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a >retreat from representative government by >granting a nationwide network of foreign agents >disproportionate influence over elections in >every state and congressional district. Campaign >finance ?reform? enabled this network to amass >even more political clout ? wielding influence >disproportionate to their numbers, indifferent >to their place of residence and often contrary to America?s interests. >This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain >sight, with impunity and under cover of free >speech, free elections, free press and even the >freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of >an entangled alliance that induced the US to >invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By >allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic >lobby, the US was induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own. >_______________________________________________ >Rad-Green mailing list >Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 10191 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/0c4c8a23/attachment.txt From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 1 12:57:27 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 14:57:27 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Fw: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care about us' Message-ID: <84263B9D738F45B1AAFC28D51C95F0E8@TonyPC> ----- Original Message ----- From: To: "Tony B." Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 11:18 AM Subject: Re: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care about us' > > Yes, saw it. it's all part of this throw dust in their eyes so they can't > see what is really going on thing...... As for Jackson, I hardly think he > was a spokesman for the black oppressed. How much money did he go through > for his own vanity, hundreds of millions? I have not heard anything about > him using that money to help black society or youth or anyone else. He has > never spoken out politically about anything at all, ever. He was a > talented but vain, narcissistic, self-indulgent, neurotic who blew enough > money to make all blacks well off. Sure in a video, to get some > popularity for sales he speaks about blacks in prison etc. But that was > calculated to get sales not as political protest. > > C > From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 1 13:07:49 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 20:07:49 +0100 Subject: [A-List] therealnews Message-ID: <65914E5614E74A398D648EB097AB99C6@home9sg93n9r5y> Heart-breaking video from Honduras. http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4149 From pwright at prisonlegalnews.org Tue Sep 1 13:10:27 2009 From: pwright at prisonlegalnews.org (Paul Wright) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 15:10:27 -0400 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> Message-ID: <000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> If AIPAC controls the US then why is Jonathan Pollard still languishing in prison after 22 years for spying on the US for Israel? Every Israeli government and many prominent Zionists have sought his release to no avail. Paul Wright, Editor Prison Legal News P.O. Box 2420 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 802 257-1342 pwright at prisonlegalnews.org www.prisonlegalnews.org Seattle Office 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 Seattle, WA 98117 206-246-1022 _____ From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Todd Boyle Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:20 PM To: The A-List Subject: Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. The Israeli government viewpoint has quite a remarkable access to U.S. television viewers and radio listeners. We get it constantly from PBS, NPR, as well as corporate channels (Comcast CSPAN, FOX, NBC, etc) as well as the BBC, and from syndicated shows like the Takeaway funded by Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, Pemco, etc. How do they do it?!! No other country has the open-door access to speak to U.S. audiences. The Israeli government takes full advantage of this access many times per day, to subvert U.S. interests and advance Israel's intersts. See this morning, Dore Gold for example had an hour on CSPAN-- http://cspan.org/Recent/Default.aspx The result of such widespread repetition of their propaganda will likely be continued U.S. military aggressions against Muslim people across south asia. Fmr. Israeli Amb. Dore Gold, Author, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran" According to Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons even as western leaders pursue talks with the Islamic republic. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Amb. Gold discusses his new book, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West." Today : Washington, DC : 1 hr. Todd At 08:50 PM 8/30/2009, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: This is an understatement of massive proportions. The AIPAC agenda is U S Foreign Policy, it is E U Foreign Policy and is in process of demonizing over two billion humans who happen to be either Arab or Islamic. As NATO countries join in the baying of the hounds catching sight of the prey, Germany and France cave in to B. Netanyahu's 'destroy Iran' demands, the self imolation of the E U and of the U S laws and rights speeds up, mirrored as if with the forest fires of reluctant Greece and bankrupt California. Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Sid Shniad wrote: Arab News 24 July 2009 (01 Sha`ban 1430) The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily How Israel lobby controls US Jeff Gates IN the early 1960s, Sen. William J. Fulbright fought to force the American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. The council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most feared: A foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while disguised as a domestic lobby. Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear that charge. How, they ask, can we so few wield such influence over so many? Answer: It's all in the math. And in the single-issue advocacy brought to bear on US policy-making by dozens of "domestic" organizations that now compose the Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force. The political math was enabled by Sen. John McCain whose support for all things Israeli ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed George W. Bush. McCain's style of campaign finance reform proved a perfect fit for the Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby relies. Co-sponsored by Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, this change in federal election law typifies how Israeli influence became systemic. "McCain-Feingold" raised the amount (from $1,000 to $2,300) that candidates can receive from individuals in primary and general elections. A couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to federal candidates: $4,600 in each of the primary and general elections. Primary elections, usually low-budget, are particularly easy to sway. Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also doubled the funds candidates can receive without regard to where those contributors reside. A candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few pro-Israeli constituents. When campaign support is provided by a nationwide network of pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be persuaded to support policies sought by Tel Aviv. Diaspora-based fundraising has long been used by the lobby with force-multiplying success to shape US foreign policy. Under the guise of reform, John McCain doubled the financial resources that the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters. Fulbright was right. The influence-peddling process works like this. Candidates are summoned for in-depth AIPAC interviews. Those found sufficiently committed to Israel's agenda are provided a list of donors likely to "max out" their campaign contributions. Or the process can be made even easier when AIPAC-approved candidates are given the name of a "bundler." Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and bundle those contributions to present them to the candidate. No quid pro quo need be mentioned. After McCain-Feingold became law in 2003, AIPAC-identified bundlers could raise $1 million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates simply by contacting 10 like-minded supporters. Here's the math: The bundler and spouse "max out" for $9,200 and call 10 others, say in Manhattan, Miami, and Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x $9,200) and call 10 others for a total of 11. (111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.) Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC interview. One call from the lobby and a candidate can collect enough cash to mount a credible campaign in most congressional districts. From Tel Aviv's perspective, that political leverage is leveraged yet again because fewer than 10 percent of the 435 House races are competitive in any election cycle (typically 35 to 50). Additional force-multipliers come from: (a) sustaining this financial focus over multiple cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain seniority for those serving on congressional committees key to promoting Israeli goals, and (c) opposing any candidates who question those goals. "Jewish Achievement" reports that 42 percent of the largest political donors to the 2000 election cycle were Jewish, including four of the top five. That compares to less than two percent of Americans who are Jewish. Of the Forbes 400 richest Americans, 25 percent are Jewish according to Michael Steinhardt, a key funder of the Democratic Leadership Council. The DLC was led by Jewish Zionist Sen. Joe Lieberman when he resigned in 2000 to run as vice president with pro-Israeli presidential candidate Al Gore. Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors were limited only by how much they could lawfully contribute to AIPAC-screened candidates. McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. The full impact of this foreign influence has yet to be tallied. What's known, however, is sufficient to apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Of the top 50 neoconservatives who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52 percent). Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one of the more notable recipients of funds. In 1948, he was trailing badly in the polls and in fundraising. His prospects brightened dramatically in May after he recognized as a legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists who originally planned to settle in Argentina before putting their sights on Palestine. That recognition was opposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and numerous distinguished Americans, including moderate and secular Jews concerned at the troubles that were certain to follow. Not until 1984 was it revealed that a network of Jewish Zionists had funded Truman's campaign by financially refueling his whistle-stop campaign train with $400,000 in cash ($3 million in 2009). To buy time on the public's airwaves, money raised from the Israel lobby's network is paid to media outlets largely owned or managed by members of the same network. Presidents, senators and congressmen come and go but those who collect the checks rack up the favors that amass lasting political influence. The US system of government is meant to ensure that members of the House represent the concerns of Americans who reside in congressional districts - not a nationally dispersed network (a Diaspora) committed to advancing the agenda of a foreign nation. Federal elections are meant to hold senators accountable to constituents who reside in the states they represent, not out-of-state residents or a foreign government. In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a retreat from representative government by granting a nationwide network of foreign agents disproportionate influence over elections in every state and congressional district. Campaign finance "reform" enabled this network to amass even more political clout - wielding influence disproportionate to their numbers, indifferent to their place of residence and often contrary to America's interests. This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain sight, with impunity and under cover of free speech, free elections, free press and even the freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of an entangled alliance that induced the US to invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic lobby, the US was induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own. _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 24686 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/dfa394bd/attachment.txt From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 1 13:19:56 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: thanks Charles....always good to look (however briefly adumbrated) at the root historical context... ----- Original Message ----- From: "c b" To: Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 10:19 AM Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care Illuminati From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 1 13:52:50 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 15:52:50 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really careaboutus' In-Reply-To: <82b839ea0908311607g9ac9217q1521600b7cb00783@mail.gmail.com> References: <3DB8F667769343C8941825A18C4906D3@TonyPC><82b839ea0908301838r37211caevd53c669630461bb7@mail.gmail.com><3D68F621F5E04F9598E5D71A9993CBD6@TonyPC> <82b839ea0908311607g9ac9217q1521600b7cb00783@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <320CA64AB7A345DFB1DFF9E0489DF158@TonyPC> Thanks Marg, Clearly...or perhaps not so clearly...anyway...the 'illuminati' symbolism has taken on a life of its own. In that sense we must remember the words of Frances Yates from her classic, 'The Art of Memory' where she counsels us thus: "The rational reader, if he is interested in the history of ideas, must be willing to hear about all ideas which in their time have been potent to move men." [The Art of Memory, p.162] Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "MARGARET WYLES" To: "The A-List" Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 7:07 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] Fwd: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really careaboutus' > Tony, > > I don't think these are mutually exclusive paths of examination. > Whether one calls them the illuminati or not, there does appear to be > a clique of people with great power whose intentions are, for lack of > a better word, "diabolical." > > I just spent probably 10 hours watching videos about rap and pop > stars. It was very eye opening as I've listened to many of these > songs with my kids and had no idea what they were about. I've come to > the conclusion that the music industry is in the hands of some very > corrupt and sick people. Whether they are in control of the agenda or > merely acting on the orders of some higher ups, it does appear that > the intention of pop music is to dumb down the teenage public, make > them obsessed with sex and fame, totally materialistic and self > absorbed. In short, consumers of the highest sort who serve the > agenda of the capitalist system. Anyone who departs from this > prescription seems to meet an untimely death, like Tupak. Who really > questions when a 'gangsta' rapper is murdered or dies of a drug > overdose? So now we have hip-hop, which could ignite the black > community, being used to debase women, glorify drugs and the gangsta > lifestyle. > > Then there are the bevy of female singers - Lady Gaga is my fave!!! - > Who act like puppets and sex slaves and turn into robots. Here's > something on this 'woman' if I may call her that. > http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=1676 > > On the rapper side, there's Jay-Z who is actively promoting a line of > clothes covered with masonic symbolism and flaunts his association > with the masonic order. Eminem's new music video about being > possessed and unable to get away. .... Rihanna's Disturbia about > being possessed by evil. I could go on with numerous examples. > > I can't say for certain what is going on here, but it's clear we're > not in Kansas anymore. > > On 8/31/09, Tony B. wrote: >> Marg, >> >> A caveat: >> >> In looking through some of these references, I have to say that the whole >> 'illuminati' connection is, imo, well, rubbish. It's the usual >> superstitious >> claptrap that, unfortunately, the lumpen perenially look to in helping >> them >> 'understand' the actual expoitative forces of class, corporatism, >> imperialism etc. So in that sense I regret having given fuel to these >> 'illuminati' obsessions [I had no idea that they were circulating at all, >> let alone so freely, among the pop music crowd. I did know that such >> ideas >> are common fare amongst the youth criminal element (I work in the prison >> system...of whom are also fixated on the whole 2012 apocalyptic >> b.s....you >> know, based ostensibly on vague references to Nostradamus and the Mayan >> calendar.] >> >> This is not to say that assassination is not, potentially, part and >> parcel >> of the State's reaction to dissent by influential figures (MLK is, imho, >> one >> of the clearest cases)....but I'd have to see more evidence than a video >> and some alleged 'illuminati' connections to warrant elevating MJ's death >> to >> that status. >> >> Also to note: the bogus 'illuminati' connection is, truth to tell, >> complicated by the fact that, of course, the masonic connections of many >> a >> powerful personage ...are, indeed, real. But, really, the fact is, is >> that >> these 'masonic' affiliations - to whatever limited extent they have any >> significance - play a distant nth degree fiddle to the common. >> run-of-the-mill affiliations of wealth, power, imperial connection, >> political status etc that make up the true 'conspiracies ' of privelege >> and >> power operating in the world. If anything, they (and others of their ilk) >> are, in my view, merely akin to a schoolboyish after-hours club for the, >> otherwise, independently influential. >> >> Tony >> >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "MARGARET WYLES" >> To: "The A-List" >> Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 9:38 PM >> Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care >> aboutus' >> >> >>> Tony, >>> >>> I'm so glad you posted this. I had seen this before - my daughter >>> loved MJ - and when she played it right after his death, I just KNEW >>> something was up and I said from the get-go he was murdered. Now we >>> have the coroner calling it a homicide. However, since that initial >>> announcement a few days ago, the media has been strangely (or not) >>> silent on the matter. Check out MSN or Yahoo News! You will find >>> nothing on the front pages. Even the major conspiracy sites - Rense >>> and Prison >>> >>> Curious why there was nothing on the front pages, I started searching >>> for news and found the below linked videos. Even discounting the >>> questionable portions about backwards masking and the 'ghost,' they >>> present a consideral case to cause suspicion, at the very least. >>> Particularly interesting were MJ's comments during the Ed Bradley >>> interview in which he made mention of a conspiracy and then dropped >>> the subject seemingly quite fearful of saying too much. >>> >>> I'd be interested in people's comments. >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJi2HaJf1VI&feature=fvw >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW43Mig1LYE&feature=channel_page >>> >>> I believe that MJ was going to expose the truth of the music industry >>> and perhaps something more than that at his upcoming tour, where he >>> would carry a message quite different from the drivel our kids are >>> exposed to. >>> >>> >>> If you want to see another great MJ message song,... >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FZcAzZOyOg >>> >>> >>> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> From: "Tony B." >>> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:05:08 -0400 >>> Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care about >>> us' >>> To: A-List >>> >>> Is there more to MJ's death than meets the eye?...Read the small blurb >>> attached to, and then watch this rather surprising video... >>> >>>> http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/697.html >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> - Brasscheck >>>> >>>> P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and >>>> videos with friends and colleagues. >>>> >>>> That's how we grow. Thanks. >>>> >>>> ============================== >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Brasscheck TV >>>> 2380 California St. >>>> San Francisco, CA 94115 >>>> >>>> To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: >>>> http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMwcLIysjIzMtEa0rMyM7AysTA== >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> > > From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 13:59:43 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:59:43 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909010915h7172b28i3bf97e4602643ccf@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909010915h7172b28i3bf97e4602643ccf@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4A9D7D2F.4030703@gmail.com> Consider that blogged. http://razedbywolves.blogspot.com/2009/09/word-on-street-defy-your-empire-g-20.html For what it's worth, one of the college students I used to work with, whose political and social activism never extended much beyond "Burning Man" (now no more than a commercial festival)... Someone nominally considered a 'hippie' (raised on Last Chance Road, in 'the day' as the vernacular goes) is going to protest the G-20 in Pittsburgh. That blogging's for her. Leigh c b wrote: > Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire > > Truthdig > > http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090831_hedges_pittsburgh_g20_defiance/ > > Posted on Aug 31, 2009 > > By Chris Hedges > > Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept > into the history books along with the open-market > theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, > communism and the New Deal. It is time for a new > economic and political paradigm. It is time for a new > language to address our reality. The voices of change, > those who speak in powerful and yet unfamiliar words, > will cry out Sept. 25 and 26 in Pittsburgh when > protesters from around the country gather to defy the > heads of state, bankers and finance ministers from the > world's 22 largest economies who are convening for a > meeting of the G-20. If we heed these dissident voices > we have a future. If we do not we will commit > collective suicide. > > The international power elites will go to Pittsburgh to > preach the mantra that globalization is inevitable and > eternal. They will discuss a corpse as if it was > living. They will urge us to remain in suspended > animation and place our trust in the inept bankers and > politicians who orchestrated the crisis. This is the > usual tactic of bankrupt elites clinging to power. They > denigrate and push to the margins the realists--none of > whom will be inside their security perimeters--who give > words to our disintegration and demand a new, > unfamiliar course. The powerful discredit dissent and > protest. But human history, as Erich Fromm wrote, > always begins anew with disobedience. This disobedience > is the first step toward freedom. It makes possible the > recovery of reason. > > The longer we speak in the language of global > capitalism, the longer we utter platitudes about the > free market--even as we funnel hundreds of billions of > taxpayer dollars into the accounts of large > corporations--the longer we live in a state of > collective self-delusion. Our power elite, who profess > to hate government and government involvement in the > free market, who claim they are the defenders of > competition and individualism, have been stealing > hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to > nationalize mismanaged corporations and save them from > bankruptcy. We hear angry and confused citizens, their > minds warped by hate talk radio and television, condemn > socialized medicine although we have become, at least > for corporations, the most socialized nation on Earth. > The schizophrenia between what we profess and what we > actually embrace has rendered us incapable of > confronting reality. The longer we speak in the old > language of markets, capitalism, free trade and > globalization the longer the entities that created this > collapse will cannibalize the nation. > > What are we now? What do we believe? What economic > model explains the irrationality of looting the U.S. > Treasury to permit speculators at Goldman Sachs to make > obscene profits? How can Barack Obama's chief economic > adviser, Lawrence Summers, tout a "jobless recovery"? > How much longer can we believe the fantasy that global > markets will replace nation states and that economics > will permit us to create a utopian world where we will > all share the same happy goals? When will we denounce > the lie that globalization fosters democracy, > enlightenment, worldwide prosperity and stability? When > we will we realize that unfettered global trade and > corporate profit are the bitter enemies of freedom and > the common good? > > Corporations are pushing through legislation in the > United States that will force us to buy defective, > for-profit health insurance, a plan that will expand > corporate monopolies and profits at our expense and > leave tens of millions without adequate care. > Corporations are blocking all attempts to move to > renewable and sustainable energy to protect the > staggering profits of the oil, natural gas and coal > industries. Corporations are plunging us deeper and > deeper as a nation into debt to feed the permanent war > economy and swell the military budget, which consumes > half of all discretionary spending. Corporations use > lobbyists and campaign contributions to maintain arcane > tax codes that offer them tax havens and tax evasions. > Corporations are draining the treasury while the > working class sheds jobs, sees homes foreclosed and > struggles to survive in a new and terrifying global > serfdom. This has been the awful price of complacency. > > Protests will begin several days before the summit. > Many of the activities are being coordinated by > Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center. There will be a > march Sept. 25 for anyone who, as Jessica Benner of the > center's Antiwar Committee stated, "has lost a job, a > home, a loved one to war, lost value to a retirement > plan, gotten sick from environmental pollution, or > lived without adequate healthcare, water, or food. ... > " There will be at least three tent cities, in addition > to a Music Camp beginning Sept. 18 that will be > situated at the South Side Riverfront Park near 18th > Street. Unemployed workers will set up one tent city at > the Monumental Baptist Church on Sept. 20 and five days > later will march on the Convention Center. The > encampment and the march are being organized by the > Bail Out the People Movement. The Institute for Policy > Studies, The Nation magazine, the United Electrical, > Radio and Machine Workers of America, Pittsburgh United > and other organizations will host events including a > panel on corporate globalization featuring former World > Bank President Joseph Stiglitz, along with a "People's > Tribunal." There will be a religious procession calling > for social justice and a concert organized by Students > for a Democratic Society. > > But expect difficulties. The Secret Service has so far > denied protesters permits while it determines the size > of the "security perimeter" it will impose around the > world leaders. Pittsburgh has contracted to bring in an > extra 4,000 police officers at an estimated cost of > $9.5 million. Activist groups have reported incidents > of surveillance and harassment. The struggle to thwart > the voices of citizens will be as fierce as the > struggle to amplify the voices of the criminal class > that is trashing the world's economy. These elites will > appear from behind closed doors with their communiques > and resolutions to address us in their specialized > jargon of power and expertise. They will attempt to > convince us they have not lost control. They will make > recommitments to free-trade agreements from the General > Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, the World > Trade Organization and NAFTA, which have all thrust a > knife into the backs of the working class. They will > insist that the world can be managed and understood > exclusively through their distorted lens of economics. > But their day is over. They are the apostles of a dead > system. They maintain power through fraud and force. Do > not expect them to go without a struggle. But they have > nothing left to say to us. > > "Those who profess to favour freedom, yet deprecate > agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up > the ground," Frederick Douglass wrote. "They want rain > without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean > without the awful roar of its many waters. This > struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical > one; or 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." > > If you can, go to Pittsburgh. This is an opportunity to > defy the titans of the corporate state and speak in > words that describe our reality. The power elite fear > these words. If these words seep into the population, > if they become part of our common vernacular, the elite > and the systems they defend will be unmasked. Our > collective self-delusion will be shattered. These words > of defiance expose the lies and crimes the elite use to > barrel us toward neofeudalism. And these words, when > they become real, propel men and women to resist. > > "The end of something often resembles the beginning," > the philosopher John Ralston Saul wrote in "Voltaire's > Bastards." "More often than not our nose-to-the-glass > view makes us believe that the end we are living is in > fact a new beginning. This confusion is typical of an > old civilization's self-confidence--limited by > circumstances and by an absence of memory--and in many > ways resembling the sort often produced by senility. > Our rational need to control understanding and > therefore memory has simply accentuated the confusion. > ... Nothing seems more permanent than a > long-established government about to lose power, > nothing more invincible than a grand army on the > morning of its annihilation." > > Chris Hedges' latest book is "Empire of Illusion: The > End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle." > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 1 15:51:22 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:51:22 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Canada: Vale Inco unveils strikebreaking operation Message-ID: <381FCCFC02E64401AE45778DB55909F2@TonyPC> http://wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/inco-s01.shtml> Canada: Vale Inco unveils strikebreaking operation By Carl Bronski 1 September 2009 As 3,100 striking miners in Sudbury, Ontario enter their eighth week on the picket lines in a dispute with mining giant Vale Inco, company management is preparing to launch an unprecedented strikebreaking operation at the world's largest nickel, copper, and precious metals mine. The miners, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500, have been on strike since July 13th against company demands for across-the-board concessions. They have been joined by 120 workers at Vale's Port Colborne, Ontario operation and 450 workers at its mine in Voisey's Bay, Labrador. The company is demanding a three-year wage freeze, the scrapping of the defined benefit pension program for new hires, the dilution of seniority rights and the curtailment of a compensation program that ties bonus payments to the price of nickel. This "nickel bonus" was negotiated by the USW in the 1980s in return for surrendering annual wage increases. Under its terms, when nickel prices are high, miners share in the increased profits. During down years in the notoriously cyclical minerals market, no bonuses are earned. Vale has demanded that the threshold for nickel bonus payments be raised to near impossible price targets. Announcing the planned use of replacement workers last week, Vale Inco Vice-President John Pollesel said, "A decision has been made to resume partial production. Training of selected employees is beginning this week to facilitate the process and help us to continue supplying customers, generating cash flow and providing meaningful employment for staff." The company plans on mobilizing up to 1,200 mostly non-union managerial, technical and clerical personnel already on its payroll and "some minimal outside staff" in an attempt to undercut the strike. Two of five Sudbury mines will be re-started as well as some processing and smelting operations. Concerns are rife throughout the community for the safety of those employees forced to work underground in jobs that they are not properly trained to perform. Vale has yet to announce a date for the partial start-up. Despite this provocation, the reaction from the USW bureaucracy has been muted. USW officials have agreed to a meeting with management to clarify Vale's plans. "They're going to be doing our work, so we deserve to know", said Myles Sullivan, USW area coordinator for District 6. He suggested that the union is "considering" several responses, including objecting to the company's scabbing operation through the grievance process. USW District 6 Director Wayne Fraser, while expressing his "disappointment" with the company decision, downplayed the re-start threat, stating that Vale's partial production strategy would increase expenses for the company twenty-fold. Playing the nationalist card that is the stock-in-trade of union officialdom everywhere, Fraser said, "This isn't about delivering the product economically to the public, this is about provocation. This is about the Brazilians using their arrogance here in Sudbury to our members or saying 'ha ha, look what we can do'." (In 2006, Inco was bought by the Brazilian-based mining giant Vale.) A former Inco executive, speaking anonymously to the Globe and Mail, was more precise: "They just want to break the union. They want to completely hit the reset button on the entire labour situation and the agreements that have been put in place in the past." Adding more fuel to the fire, company management has ordered some 50 technical workers organized by USW Local 2020 to take part in the scabbing operation because earlier in their careers they were given some basic core-mining training. Dan Serre, Local 2020 unit chair, meekly told the Sudbury Star that his advice to his membership is "Just do the work and do it safely. Do it slowly. It's not a race." In the run-up to the strikebreaking threat, the company filed a $26 million claim in Ontario Superior Court against the union, alleging damage to the company due to "illegal" picketing activity. Vale Inco withdrew the complaint, however, when the union agreed on picket line protocols that allow individuals and vehicles to cross picket lines after a short delay. With that deal in their back pocket, company officials quickly moved to finalize their strikebreaking plans. The struggle against Vale Inco raises crucial questions for workers everywhere. Based in Brazil, Vale S.A. is the second largest mining company in the world. Vertically integrated, it owns its own transportation networks, ports and processing plants across the globe. Its mines can be found in all corners of the globe-in Peru, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Mongolia, Congo, Guinea, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia. Three years ago, Vale paid $19.4 billion to buy Inco, an iconic Canadian company that had mined nickel in Sudbury for over a century. In the past two years, the Inco operation has produced $4 billion in company profits. Yet Vale, locked in cut-throat competition with its global rivals, has insisted that if its operations are to be "sustainable in all pricing cycles" a "unified approach to compensation" across the globe requires that "Canadian workers to become more competitive with workers in less developed countries". Of course, a more "unified approach to compensation" does not extend into the ranks of executive management. Between 2006 and 2008 total compensation to the top six executives at Vale S.A. increased by 120 percent! Union officials and their boosters in the New Democratic Party (NDP) are attempting to divert the striking miners into the reactionary blind alley of Canadian nationalism and appeals to the right-wing Harper Conservative government. Such provocations as Vale S.A. is launching today could never happen, insist the USW bureaucrats, if the company was not foreign-owned. It is not capitalism itself that is responsible for the wholesale assault on workers' living standards. Rather it is "foreign ownership" that is the villain. With memories resembling those of an amnesiac, the union officials and social democrats quickly forget the vicious attacks launched on Inco workers throughout the twentieth century, including in 1980 when a program was put in place to axe twenty-thousand miners' jobs in the wake of a militant nine-month long strike in 1978-79. Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers "International", former National Director of the union in Canada and member of Sudbury Local 6500 in his youth, recently expressed the crude nationalist perspective of the union bureaucracy when he called for workers to "assert themselves as economic patriots" and denounced big business for "wanting to spend the tax dollars of unemployed Americans to create jobs in China and Indonesia, Korea and India." Aside from the demagogic rhetoric directed at the corporations-with which the union bureaucracy works hand-in-glove-the statement was a clear declaration of hostility to foreign workers. Gerard is now championing a "Buy American" campaign (or when he speaks in Canada, a "Buy North American" campaign) to further stoke the fires of trade war. This perspective serves only to split the international working class by allowing corporations to pit one set of workers against another. At a rally last week in Sudbury featuring NDP leader Jack Layton, the demand was raised for a revision of the Investments Canada Act to stipulate that the Federal government make public the details of any agreement it reaches with a foreign company allowing the takeover of a Canadian-based company. Currently, the legislation requires that Ottawa make a determination that a foreign purchase of a Canadian-based company will provide a "net benefit" to Canada before it can proceed. Frequently, this involves company pledges to retain some corporate functions in Canada. Layton wishes to make political hay against the Conservative government in Ottawa by fueling idle speculation that there are some terms in the agreement that Vale reached with Ottawa in 2006 that would prevent Vale Inco from pursuing its concessionary demands if only the veil of secrecy was lifted. Both the union and the NDP have called upon Conservative Industry Minister Tony Clement to make the Vale agreement public, but Clement has refused to do so. The nationalist orientation of the NDP and the trade unions has a definite logic. The unions gained strength following the Second World War during the heyday of the post-war boom, a boom that arose out of the destruction of two world wars and the Great Depression. Workers organized in trade unions were able to win certain concessions from employers and from the state in the form of higher wages and benefits and welfare state social programs. The perspective of national reform retained a certain feasibility under conditions of nationally-regulated economies and general global economic expansion-neither of which exist today. Miners must reject the demands of Vale Inco that they pay for the world capitalist crisis and answer any attempt to reopen the mines with scabs by making their strike the spearhead of working class resistance to wage-cutting, union-busting and the dismantling of public and social services. Workers have absolutely no say in the financial, investment and production decisions of the firms for which they work. In every country workers face a similar future: rising unemployment, declining wages, economic depression. The traditions of militant working class struggle associated with cities such as Sudbury must be revived and leavened with a program to mobilize the working class in independent industrial and political struggle against concessions and in defense of the jobs of all workers, the world over. If capitalism is incapable of providing working people with a decent standard of livingand it can't-then working people, those whose collective labor produces society's wealth, must advance their own plan to organize production and employment internationally based on human need, not private profit and shareholder value. This author also recommends: Canada: Worker resistance must be armed with a socialist strategy [22 July 2009] Canada: After strike ends, wholesale layoffs at Hamilton's National Steel Car [11 July 2009 From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 17:40:01 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:40:01 -0700 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: <000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> <000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Message-ID: <4A9DB0D1.7060409@gmail.com> Pollard was one of the people my father, who I previously have mentioned was the S.E. U.S. regional coordinator for the ADL, had discussed with me. My dad was very angry about his continued imprisonment and did not understand why the various Israeli and Jewish interest groups were unable to free him either. An interesting mystery. Maybe Pollard was a double agent for the Illuminati? Leigh Paul Wright wrote: > If AIPAC controls the US then why is Jonathan Pollard still languishing > in prison after 22 years for spying on the US for Israel? Every Israeli > government and many prominent Zionists have sought his release to no avail. > > > > **Paul Wright, Editor** > > **Prison Legal News** > > **P.O. Box**** 2420** > > **West Brattleboro****, VT 05303** > > **802 257-1342** > > **pwright at prisonlegalnews.org** > > **www.prisonlegalnews.org** > > > > **Seattle**** Office** > > **2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148** > > **Seattle****, WA 98117** > > **206-246-1022** > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *From:* a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu > [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] *On Behalf Of *Todd Boyle > *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:20 PM > *To:* The A-List > *Subject:* Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. > > > > The Israeli government viewpoint has quite a remarkable access to U.S. > television viewers and radio listeners. We get it constantly from PBS, > NPR, as well as corporate channels (Comcast CSPAN, FOX, NBC, etc) as > well as the BBC, and from syndicated shows like the Takeaway funded by > Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, Pemco, etc. > > */How do they do it?!! No other country has the open-door access to > speak to U.S. audiences. > > /*The Israeli government takes full advantage of this access many times > per day, to subvert U.S. interests and advance Israel's intersts. See > this morning, Dore Gold for example had an hour on CSPAN-- > http://cspan.org/Recent/Default.aspx > The result of such widespread repetition of their propaganda will likely > be continued U.S. military aggressions against Muslim people across > south asia. > > *Fmr. Israeli Amb. Dore Gold, Author, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran" * > > *According to Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Iran > continues to pursue nuclear weapons even as western leaders pursue talks > with the Islamic republic. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Amb. > Gold discusses his new book, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran > Defies the West." * > > *Today : Washington, DC : 1 hr. * > > Todd > > > At 08:50 PM 8/30/2009, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > > This is an understatement of massive proportions. The AIPAC agenda is U > S Foreign Policy, it is E U Foreign Policy and is in process of > demonizing over two billion humans who happen to be either Arab or > Islamic. As NATO countries join in the baying of the hounds catching > sight of the prey, Germany and France cave in to B. Netanyahu's 'destroy > Iran' demands, the self imolation of the E U and of the U S laws and > rights speeds up, mirrored as if with the forest fires of reluctant > Greece and bankrupt California. > > Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com > > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Sid Shniad > wrote: > > Arab News 24 July 2009 (01 Sha`ban 1430) > > The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily > > How Israel lobby controls US > > Jeff Gates > > IN the early 1960s, Sen. William J. Fulbright fought to force the > American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. > The council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel > Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most > feared: A foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while > disguised as a domestic lobby. > > Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear that charge. How, they > ask, can we so few wield such influence over so many? Answer: It?s all > in the math. And in the single-issue advocacy brought to bear on US > policy-making by dozens of ?domestic? organizations that now compose the > Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force. > > The political math was enabled by Sen. John McCain whose support for all > things Israeli ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed George W. Bush. > McCain?s style of campaign finance reform proved a perfect fit for the > Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby relies. Co-sponsored by > Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, this change in federal election law > typifies how Israeli influence became systemic. > > ?McCain-Feingold? raised the amount (from $1,000 to $2,300) that > candidates can receive from individuals in primary and general > elections. A couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to federal > candidates: $4,600 in each of the primary and general elections. Primary > elections, usually low-budget, are particularly easy to sway. > > Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also doubled the funds > candidates can receive without regard to where those contributors > reside. A candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few pro-Israeli > constituents. When campaign support is provided by a nationwide network > of pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be persuaded to support > policies sought by Tel Aviv. Diaspora-based fundraising has long been > used by the lobby with force-multiplying success to shape US foreign > policy. Under the guise of reform, John McCain doubled the financial > resources that the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters. > > Fulbright was right. The influence-peddling process works like this. > Candidates are summoned for in-depth AIPAC interviews. Those found > sufficiently committed to Israel?s agenda are provided a list of donors > likely to ?max out? their campaign contributions. Or the process can be > made even easier when AIPAC-approved candidates are given the name of a > ?bundler.? > > Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and bundle those contributions to > present them to the candidate. No quid pro quo need be mentioned. After > McCain-Feingold became law in 2003, AIPAC-identified bundlers could > raise $1 million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates simply by contacting > 10 like-minded supporters. Here?s the math: > > The bundler and spouse ?max out? for $9,200 and call 10 others, say in > Manhattan, Miami, and Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x $9,200) > and call 10 others for a total of 11. (111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.) > > Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC interview. One call from > the lobby and a candidate can collect enough cash to mount a credible > campaign in most congressional districts. From Tel Aviv?s perspective, > that political leverage is leveraged yet again because fewer than 10 > percent of the 435 House races are competitive in any election cycle > (typically 35 to 50). > > Additional force-multipliers come from: (a) sustaining this financial > focus over multiple cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain seniority > for those serving on congressional committees key to promoting Israeli > goals, and (c) opposing any candidates who question those goals. > > ?Jewish Achievement? reports that 42 percent of the largest political > donors to the 2000 election cycle were Jewish, including four of the top > five. That compares to less than two percent of Americans who are > Jewish. Of the Forbes 400 richest Americans, 25 percent are Jewish > according to Michael Steinhardt, a key funder of the Democratic > Leadership Council. The DLC was led by Jewish Zionist Sen. Joe Lieberman > when he resigned in 2000 to run as vice president with pro-Israeli > presidential candidate Al Gore. > > Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors were limited only by > how much they could lawfully contribute to AIPAC-screened candidates. > McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. The full impact of this foreign > influence has yet to be tallied. What?s known, however, is sufficient to > apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Of the top 50 > neoconservatives who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52 percent). > > Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one of the more notable > recipients of funds. In 1948, he was trailing badly in the polls and in > fundraising. His prospects brightened dramatically in May after he > recognized as a legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists who > originally planned to settle in Argentina before putting their sights on > Palestine. > > That recognition was opposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, > the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the > fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and numerous distinguished > Americans, including moderate and secular Jews concerned at the troubles > that were certain to follow. Not until 1984 was it revealed that a > network of Jewish Zionists had funded Truman?s campaign by financially > refueling his whistle-stop campaign train with $400,000 in cash ($3 > million in 2009). > > To buy time on the public?s airwaves, money raised from the Israel > lobby?s network is paid to media outlets largely owned or managed by > members of the same network. Presidents, senators and congressmen come > and go but those who collect the checks rack up the favors that amass > lasting political influence. > > The US system of government is meant to ensure that members of the House > represent the concerns of Americans who reside in congressional > districts ? not a nationally dispersed network (a Diaspora) committed to > advancing the agenda of a foreign nation. Federal elections are meant to > hold senators accountable to constituents who reside in the states they > represent, not out-of-state residents or a foreign government. > > In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a retreat from > representative government by granting a nationwide network of foreign > agents disproportionate influence over elections in every state and > congressional district. Campaign finance ?reform? enabled this network > to amass even more political clout ? wielding influence disproportionate > to their numbers, indifferent to their place of residence and often > contrary to America?s interests. > > This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain sight, with impunity and > under cover of free speech, free elections, free press and even the > freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of an entangled alliance > that induced the US to invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By > allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic lobby, the US was > induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own. > > _______________________________________________ > > Rad-Green mailing list > > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green > From ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com Tue Sep 1 11:28:00 2009 From: ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com (Mohawk Nation News) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 13:28:00 -0400 Subject: [A-List] MNN Vermin infest 6 Nations Message-ID: <01e0c252$40057$0cd25611063773@xnote> VERMIN INFEST 6 NATIONS MNN. Sep. 1, 2184. [Article written 125 years into the future.] Kanata is the original Mohawk name of Canada, the land that was temporarily occupied by the invaders. It means ?settlement? of Indigenous people from coast to coast. Toronto and Ontario are both Mohawk words. Did you know that once upon a time we were infested with people from the old country? They came here uninvited and stayed a while. They wouldn?t stop messing up Great Turtle Island and finally had to leave. The o-tsi-no-wen-ko-wa, the rats, were not original to Great Turtle Island. They came with the ruffians on their sailing ships. These invaders and their pets had the same character, parasitic, dirty, greedy, destructive of the environment, disease ridden and had a preference for greasy processed franchise food. The Indigenous always told these interlopers and their slaves we could not stand their destruction and theft. They would not stop. This story is about some of the things they did to us way back in 2009. They were coming to the end of their cruelty and fantasy about being the dominant class of the world. They panicked when we started to resist their greed for our land, resources and lives. Their fraudulent authority based on threats, violence and ignorance started crumbing. They bullied and murdered even more of our people for a while. It didn?t work. A Mohawk woman of the Haudenosaunee community of Six Nations codenamed DubbleJ71 at aol.com told this story on August 31, 2009 about some of the hysteria of these vermin. ?OPP's "Operation Oscar" has been in full force for over a month now. They are trying to regain their illegal authority over Plank Road backed by the other foreigners on Kanata, which is getting overrun by desperate red neck carpetbaggers. Caledonia has been made into an OPP hotspot again. The latest hit by the OPP Gestapo, Nazi CANADA, Fascist ONTARIO and the Haldimand Storm Trooper is to harass customers of Indigenous business enterprises on Highway 6. Their Brown Shirt mouthpiece, Gary McHale, and his band of terrorists complained to the municipality, police and Canada Excise. Last night my family and I were going to the mall. We approached Highway 6 and 6th line. About 6 OPP police cars were parked along the highway. Several officers were standing by. One cruiser had its emergency lights flashing, which is one of their attention-getting toys. I pulled over and got out. Two Indigenous women were standing by the road near their car. The two Canada Excise agents had on thick bulletproof vests, without the capes, to protect themselves from dirty looks. They need this silly get-up to make them look strong, powerful and invincible. They hid in the crowd. These two ladies had bought products at one of the shops on Highway 6. Bogus charges were thrown at them and their products were seized. In effect, Canada Excise and OPP claimed they have the gun power to extort their share of "unpaid duty?! I informed one of the ladies if she took this to court, she could win her case. The OPP and Canada Excise are violating our rights to trade, barter, self-determination and autonomy. Then the OPP goons told me to get back into my car and leave and that I was interfering with their crime in progress. I told the OPP goon that just because he had guns and tasers didn't mean a damn thing. He had no legitimate authority or jurisdiction on Okwehonnwe land. He threatened to arrest me for obstruction of justice and speaking the truth. I asked him what "justice"? Another OPP told me to complain to OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, an Italian immigrant. They wrote down my plate number and drove away?. 125 years ago this nasty foreign colony on Kanata did not want our children to be fed, clothed or to prosper on our land!!! Strong arming and bashing was how they were treated in the old country. This did not work on Onowaregeh. The puppet Indian band council and their co-conspirators were set up by the foreigners to violate our sovereignty. They just waited for their money, orders, kisses and strokes from their alien bosses. Eventually the Indigenous people resisted too much, the economy melted down and the money became worthless. These traitors were paraded through the community and exposed for espionage and conspiracy. Many chose to go on the sailing ships and planes to the old country with their bosses where they died with the rats in the gutters of Europe. Some called this justice. Yes, our people constantly resisted. That?s why you are here today. As you children can see, these bullies stayed here as long as they could steal from us. Now they?re gone. We?re still cleaning up Great Turtle Island and trying to bring back the original environment, plants and animals. Aren?t we glad they f..ked off and never came back? Contact: J Hawk 905-379-0219 and S Boots Powless 519-717-7043. Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to ?MNN Mohawk Nation News?, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN ?WORLD? category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! From vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca Tue Sep 1 20:58:38 2009 From: vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca (John Vertegaal) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:58:38 -0700 Subject: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System In-Reply-To: References: <20090827102931.23bef446.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp><5A4E2C931DD04990AEC4EBB5B46DB4AC@TonyPC> <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> Message-ID: <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> Sorry to have confused you Tony by my use of the term "positive". It just simply means the opposite of negative and was used by a Marxian PhD economist on another list in a discussion with me; whereby he expressed his conviction that the monetary value of capital (M) is positive rather than negative. In other words, he was expressing that when M -> C -> M' factually happens, and M' subsequently gets appropriated by those who did the actual creating, it all took place on the positive side of the scale. If it were indeed so simple, as empirical observation makes us believe it is, how come it is impossible to define (M)? The fact is that Marxian economists, in spite of using (M) all the time as if they know what it is, don't really know what the hell they are talking about. It's nothing more than an article of faith; there is nothing scientific about Marxian economics. They are in the exact same rudderless boat as mainstream economists with their notion of the necessary build-up of capital; for mainstream economists cannot define capital either. Like most, if not all on this list, you don't strike me as someone who likes to be captivated by dogma. So given you really want to get to the bottom of this, it becomes necessary to descend a level. Instead of making the notion of (M) axiomatic, let's make the meaning of "the economy" axiomatic and define capital in its terms. Unfortunately, being mere mortals, absoluteness is out of the question for us and this is the very best we can do. By asserting as articles of faith WHAT the economy is, WHY it exists and WHO is supposed to benefit from it all, we isolate it from our natural world, imputing resources from and extracting wealth into exogeneity. Now, if someone would disagree with this newly derived definition of capital, they'll have to come up with a reason why any of those three axioms are inapplicable; which I don't think can be done. In order to keep track of who is entitled to what final output, in a vertically integrated economy with countless feedback loops within that integration, a double-entry system of accounts becomes indispensable. But guess what, as a resolving system it has to net to zero _over_ time; this means that at any point _in_ time, all individual entries are notional only. Demand (or your "need") determines ex post the values of all supply factors. Up until that time the latter are indeterminate. Gone is the "power" of capital. To the system as a whole, in terms of the economy's accounting system, capital becomes a to be resolved debt; a negative that, if all goes well and the system doesn't crash, becomes resolved over time to zero. And as such it is totally powerless to create such things as profits. Although profit setting is indispensable to deal with the "learned from having done" increased output per cost of unit input (we can't all get remunerated piecemeal wise), there is no physical connection to any capital whatsoever. Universal profit sharing is the obvious answer to deal with productivity increases, with the not-for-profit sector benefiting through matched wage increases in a lagged fashion. The proof that this concept isn't so outlandish after all, comes to the fore by applying the reductio ad absurdum thought experiment of a single owner of all capital. Remember the truism that all successful businesses need to pass on their incurred costs to a level further down, while adding a profit. So now the question becomes: after all cost-source incomes have canceled one another out on the retail level, where could profits possibly come from? Or, the more significant point at hand here, where has the inherent "power" of fixed capital to create profits, disappeared to? As long as the ultimate goal of capital is to enhance living standards, an inherent anterior "positive" value of capital simply isn't there. No wonder it cannot be found by Marxians nor by the mainstream. So there you have it Tony. Nothing you said in your original narrative goes against any of what I said above. Thus I sympathize with Marxist extra-economic ideals. It just doesn't jive with what Marxians (as economists) _believe_ capital values to stand for. The only hope we'll ever have to get rid of capitalism once and for all, is by showing why its values are chimerical; not by validating those values with threatening their appropriation. How all this ties in with the concept of government spending money into circulation as proposed by na?ve currency reformers is perhaps the subject for another post. John V Tony B. wrote: > John, > > I must admit to being a tad confused on just what you are asking...(You > start by saying "All very true" but then end by saying I'm contradicting > myself). I am not an economist by trade so you must forgive my ignorance > here. Are you suggesting that by a 'value' oriented political/economy > I'm dispensing with any grounding in raw economic 'fact'? (Hardly. > Naturally, both objective as well as subjective factors interpentrate in > any political economy)...Or ...well, in any case... if you could fill > out your critique a tad I'll try and answer it. > > In the meantime, however, let me at least respond with a few thoughts > that came to mind upon seeing the reference, 'positive value M'. > > If memory serves 'positive value' economics was formerly known as > 'value-free' economics, and was a mainstay, indeed, is the bread and > butter of neoclassical economics and, in particular, 'neoliberal' > economic philosophy. The most famous exponent of such, of course, is > Milton Friedman, whom I have taken the liberty of quoting (from > 'Capitalism and Freedom') below: > > "The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate > officials . . . have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the > interest of their stockholders . . . This view shows a fundamental > misconception of the character and nature of a free economy. In such an > economy, there is one and only one social responsibility of business to > use its resources and to engage in activities designed to increase its > profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game . . . Few > trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free > society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social > responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders > as possible (Friedman, 1982, p. 133)." > > So here we have the godfather of 'value free' economics making his case. > Now what is eminently clear from the 40 year experiment of neoliberal > economics is just how fatuous he is, and how duplicitous, hypocritical, > diabolical..and just plain inept...was the experiment he engineered. The > entire Friedmanite project has, in fact, been nothing but a *value > laden* ideology from start to finish. An ideology, moreover, in favour > of pillage and plunder and backed up by imperial murder on the grand > scale. Indeed, a fine expose of this record can be found in Naomi > Klein's, 'The Shock Doctrine' (which is, more or less, dedicated to it). > If you haven't read it already, I recommend it. > > In short, 'positive value' economics..as it has actually been > practised...has been hoisted by its own empirical petard...though at the > cost, one must quickly add, of ten if not hundreds of millions of lives > lost, ruined, immiserated etc. So much for 'value free'....and all in > the aid of the transfer of global wealth to elite groups. > > All of this brings to mind my early student days studying political > philosophy. It was then that I was surprised, upon reading conservative > theorists, to find myself in agreement with some of their fundamental > principles, i.e. the value of tradition, the distrust and danger of > radical breaks with such etc. But then I realized, after actually > *looking* at the world, that conservative political philosophy was *in > practice* mainly deployed in the defense (indeed, the defense 'to the > death') ....of power and privelege. Period. Full Stop. So, I reasoned, > likely the only people who could ever benefit from conservative > principles would, in fact, be those who, in seeking to overthrow 'power > and privelege', might want to pause to remember not to throw out the > baby with the bathwater, i.e. to trample underfoot those elements of > tradition and traditional political culture that had true value and > could be a steadying influence in the construction of any future 'utopia'. > > Tony From pwright at prisonlegalnews.org Tue Sep 1 21:10:27 2009 From: pwright at prisonlegalnews.org (Paul Wright) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 23:10:27 -0400 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: <4A9DB0D1.7060409@gmail.com> References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu><000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> <4A9DB0D1.7060409@gmail.com> Message-ID: <01df01ca2b7a$ebf580e0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> I think the more likely reason pollard remains in prison is Israel remains a US client state as long as it serves the interests of US imperialism. When it does not or there is a conflict, as in the case of Pollard, the US imperialist/national security establishment wins out. There is a reason Israel has its own nuclear weapons capability and is not content to rely on US protection. As Benjamin Disraeli noted: there are no permanent allies, only permanent interests. Again, if Zionists have so much influence why is Pollard still in prison? There has been massive pressure and influence exerted on his behalf to no avail. Paul Wright, Editor Prison Legal News P.O. Box 2420 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 802 257-1342 pwright at prisonlegalnews.org www.prisonlegalnews.org Seattle Office 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 Seattle, WA 98117 206-246-1022 -----Original Message----- From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Leighm Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 7:40 PM To: The A-List Subject: Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. Pollard was one of the people my father, who I previously have mentioned was the S.E. U.S. regional coordinator for the ADL, had discussed with me. My dad was very angry about his continued imprisonment and did not understand why the various Israeli and Jewish interest groups were unable to free him either. An interesting mystery. Maybe Pollard was a double agent for the Illuminati? Leigh Paul Wright wrote: > If AIPAC controls the US then why is Jonathan Pollard still languishing > in prison after 22 years for spying on the US for Israel? Every Israeli > government and many prominent Zionists have sought his release to no avail. > > > > **Paul Wright, Editor** > > **Prison Legal News** > > **P.O. Box**** 2420** > > **West Brattleboro****, VT 05303** > > **802 257-1342** > > **pwright at prisonlegalnews.org** > > **www.prisonlegalnews.org** > > > > **Seattle**** Office** > > **2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148** > > **Seattle****, WA 98117** > > **206-246-1022** > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *From:* a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu > [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] *On Behalf Of *Todd Boyle > *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:20 PM > *To:* The A-List > *Subject:* Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. > > > > The Israeli government viewpoint has quite a remarkable access to U.S. > television viewers and radio listeners. We get it constantly from PBS, > NPR, as well as corporate channels (Comcast CSPAN, FOX, NBC, etc) as > well as the BBC, and from syndicated shows like the Takeaway funded by > Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, Pemco, etc. > > */How do they do it?!! No other country has the open-door access to > speak to U.S. audiences. > > /*The Israeli government takes full advantage of this access many times > per day, to subvert U.S. interests and advance Israel's intersts. See > this morning, Dore Gold for example had an hour on CSPAN-- > http://cspan.org/Recent/Default.aspx > The result of such widespread repetition of their propaganda will likely > be continued U.S. military aggressions against Muslim people across > south asia. > > *Fmr. Israeli Amb. Dore Gold, Author, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran" * > > *According to Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Iran > continues to pursue nuclear weapons even as western leaders pursue talks > with the Islamic republic. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Amb. > Gold discusses his new book, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran > Defies the West." * > > *Today : Washington, DC : 1 hr. * > > Todd > > > At 08:50 PM 8/30/2009, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > > This is an understatement of massive proportions. The AIPAC agenda is U > S Foreign Policy, it is E U Foreign Policy and is in process of > demonizing over two billion humans who happen to be either Arab or > Islamic. As NATO countries join in the baying of the hounds catching > sight of the prey, Germany and France cave in to B. Netanyahu's 'destroy > Iran' demands, the self imolation of the E U and of the U S laws and > rights speeds up, mirrored as if with the forest fires of reluctant > Greece and bankrupt California. > > Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com > > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Sid Shniad > wrote: > > Arab News 24 July 2009 (01 Sha`ban 1430) > > The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily > > How Israel lobby controls US > > Jeff Gates > > IN the early 1960s, Sen. William J. Fulbright fought to force the > American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. > The council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel > Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most > feared: A foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while > disguised as a domestic lobby. > > Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear that charge. How, they > ask, can we so few wield such influence over so many? Answer: It's all > in the math. And in the single-issue advocacy brought to bear on US > policy-making by dozens of "domestic" organizations that now compose the > Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force. > > The political math was enabled by Sen. John McCain whose support for all > things Israeli ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed George W. Bush. > McCain's style of campaign finance reform proved a perfect fit for the > Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby relies. Co-sponsored by > Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, this change in federal election law > typifies how Israeli influence became systemic. > > "McCain-Feingold" raised the amount (from $1,000 to $2,300) that > candidates can receive from individuals in primary and general > elections. A couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to federal > candidates: $4,600 in each of the primary and general elections. Primary > elections, usually low-budget, are particularly easy to sway. > > Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also doubled the funds > candidates can receive without regard to where those contributors > reside. A candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few pro-Israeli > constituents. When campaign support is provided by a nationwide network > of pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be persuaded to support > policies sought by Tel Aviv. Diaspora-based fundraising has long been > used by the lobby with force-multiplying success to shape US foreign > policy. Under the guise of reform, John McCain doubled the financial > resources that the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters. > > Fulbright was right. The influence-peddling process works like this. > Candidates are summoned for in-depth AIPAC interviews. Those found > sufficiently committed to Israel's agenda are provided a list of donors > likely to "max out" their campaign contributions. Or the process can be > made even easier when AIPAC-approved candidates are given the name of a > "bundler." > > Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and bundle those contributions to > present them to the candidate. No quid pro quo need be mentioned. After > McCain-Feingold became law in 2003, AIPAC-identified bundlers could > raise $1 million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates simply by contacting > 10 like-minded supporters. Here's the math: > > The bundler and spouse "max out" for $9,200 and call 10 others, say in > Manhattan, Miami, and Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x $9,200) > and call 10 others for a total of 11. (111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.) > > Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC interview. One call from > the lobby and a candidate can collect enough cash to mount a credible > campaign in most congressional districts. From Tel Aviv's perspective, > that political leverage is leveraged yet again because fewer than 10 > percent of the 435 House races are competitive in any election cycle > (typically 35 to 50). > > Additional force-multipliers come from: (a) sustaining this financial > focus over multiple cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain seniority > for those serving on congressional committees key to promoting Israeli > goals, and (c) opposing any candidates who question those goals. > > "Jewish Achievement" reports that 42 percent of the largest political > donors to the 2000 election cycle were Jewish, including four of the top > five. That compares to less than two percent of Americans who are > Jewish. Of the Forbes 400 richest Americans, 25 percent are Jewish > according to Michael Steinhardt, a key funder of the Democratic > Leadership Council. The DLC was led by Jewish Zionist Sen. Joe Lieberman > when he resigned in 2000 to run as vice president with pro-Israeli > presidential candidate Al Gore. > > Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors were limited only by > how much they could lawfully contribute to AIPAC-screened candidates. > McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. The full impact of this foreign > influence has yet to be tallied. What's known, however, is sufficient to > apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Of the top 50 > neoconservatives who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52 percent). > > Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one of the more notable > recipients of funds. In 1948, he was trailing badly in the polls and in > fundraising. His prospects brightened dramatically in May after he > recognized as a legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists who > originally planned to settle in Argentina before putting their sights on > Palestine. > > That recognition was opposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, > the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the > fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and numerous distinguished > Americans, including moderate and secular Jews concerned at the troubles > that were certain to follow. Not until 1984 was it revealed that a > network of Jewish Zionists had funded Truman's campaign by financially > refueling his whistle-stop campaign train with $400,000 in cash ($3 > million in 2009). > > To buy time on the public's airwaves, money raised from the Israel > lobby's network is paid to media outlets largely owned or managed by > members of the same network. Presidents, senators and congressmen come > and go but those who collect the checks rack up the favors that amass > lasting political influence. > > The US system of government is meant to ensure that members of the House > represent the concerns of Americans who reside in congressional > districts - not a nationally dispersed network (a Diaspora) committed to > advancing the agenda of a foreign nation. Federal elections are meant to > hold senators accountable to constituents who reside in the states they > represent, not out-of-state residents or a foreign government. > > In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a retreat from > representative government by granting a nationwide network of foreign > agents disproportionate influence over elections in every state and > congressional district. Campaign finance "reform" enabled this network > to amass even more political clout - wielding influence disproportionate > to their numbers, indifferent to their place of residence and often > contrary to America's interests. > > This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain sight, with impunity and > under cover of free speech, free elections, free press and even the > freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of an entangled alliance > that induced the US to invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By > allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic lobby, the US was > induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own. > > _______________________________________________ > > Rad-Green mailing list > > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green > From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 21:41:55 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:41:55 -0700 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: <01df01ca2b7a$ebf580e0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu><000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> <4A9DB0D1.7060409@gmail.com> <01df01ca2b7a$ebf580e0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Message-ID: <4A9DE983.3090102@gmail.com> Paul Wright wrote: > I think the more likely reason pollard remains in prison is Israel remains a > US client state as long as it serves the interests of US imperialism. When > it does not or there is a conflict, as in the case of Pollard, the US > imperialist/national security establishment wins out. That's my basic stance, and I believe that's the thing that was breaking my dad's heart. I think (although he never stated it) that, in his vision of Israel, the settlers were going to fight towards some sort of stalemate and then negotiate. I don't believe he expected the 'murderous crazies' (the early prototypes of the Meir Kahane ilk) to grab power, nor do I think he expected Israel to end up a full-fledged client state of the US... owing some favors perhaps, but not in the U.S. 'pocket' as an eternal front-line state in the Middle East. He wasn't exactly naive, having gone from mil-int to NASA as a coordinator for tech writers, to ADL, and I expect there are many people involved in the occupation of Palestine after WWII who felt the same, but they'd be quite old now. FWIW, at the end of his life he despised George W. Bush and his cronies... ...thought US foreign policy had gone totally haywire. Leigh Here's the eulogy I wrote for him: My father passed away recently. An 81 year old American Cold Warrior and Zionist Jew. I feel as if I've spent a large portion of my life (from 14 - now 54) attempting to ameliorate the damage to American and global society that I feel his world view had caused. It's OK, I wasn't that busy anyway. It was, in some way, a labor of love. He felt he was doing the right thing, not for himself, and all respect is due him for being true to his beliefs. But for what it's worth, the last time I spoke with him he told me that the current administration was the biggest bunch of crooks that he'd seen in his whole life (...and I alway thought Richard Nixon was 'The One') and that overall, U.S. Middle East policy was... well, I won't use that language here. (That from a World War 2 veteran officer (A Jewish Colonel during WWII !!!), who went on to a career in Military 'Intelligence', a NASA project coordinator, and later, regional coordinator for the ADL in the Southern U.S.... registered as an 'agent of a foreign government' (Israel)) Unfortunately, by the time he figured all of that out, that the 'powers-that-be' don't play cards with a full deck, that the 'deck' is 'stacked' and 'marked', and they lie as well as cheat, he was too old to do anything about it. There's a moral here... Parents, teach your children. Everyone else, educate the young people you know, to THOROUGHLY QUESTION EVERY bit of information received from your government (any government!) no matter the 'officiousness' of the source or repetitious parroting by the media. It is your patriotic duty, no matter your nation of origin. Because patriotism is owed to your country and it's founding precepts. *NOT* it's administrators. And if we teach the young to ALWAYS question authority and the information those 'authorities' promulgate, that seems to be illegitimate or insensible nonsense in their young eyes, ears, and sensibilities, maybe, just maybe, they WON'T be too old to change things when it finally all 'gels' that they are being led down some primrose path paved with lies and deception themselves. > > There is a reason Israel has its own nuclear weapons capability and is not > content to rely on US protection. As Benjamin Disraeli noted: there are no > permanent allies, only permanent interests. > > Again, if Zionists have so much influence why is Pollard still in prison? > There has been massive pressure and influence exerted on his behalf to no > avail. > > Paul Wright, Editor > Prison Legal News > P.O. Box 2420 > West Brattleboro, VT 05303 > 802 257-1342 > pwright at prisonlegalnews.org > www.prisonlegalnews.org > > Seattle Office > 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 > Seattle, WA 98117 > 206-246-1022 > > -----Original Message----- > From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu > [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Leighm > Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 7:40 PM > To: The A-List > Subject: Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. > > Pollard was one of the people my father, who I previously have mentioned > was the S.E. U.S. regional coordinator for the ADL, had discussed with > me. My dad was very angry about his continued imprisonment and did not > understand why the various Israeli and Jewish interest groups were > unable to free him either. > > An interesting mystery. > > Maybe Pollard was a double agent for the Illuminati? > > Leigh > > Paul Wright wrote: >> If AIPAC controls the US then why is Jonathan Pollard still languishing >> in prison after 22 years for spying on the US for Israel? Every Israeli >> government and many prominent Zionists have sought his release to no > avail. >> >> >> **Paul Wright, Editor** >> >> **Prison Legal News** >> >> **P.O. Box**** 2420** >> >> **West Brattleboro****, VT 05303** >> >> **802 257-1342** >> >> **pwright at prisonlegalnews.org** >> >> **www.prisonlegalnews.org** >> >> >> >> **Seattle**** Office** >> >> **2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148** >> >> **Seattle****, WA 98117** >> >> **206-246-1022** >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> *From:* a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu >> [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] *On Behalf Of *Todd Boyle >> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:20 PM >> *To:* The A-List >> *Subject:* Re: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. >> >> >> >> The Israeli government viewpoint has quite a remarkable access to U.S. >> television viewers and radio listeners. We get it constantly from PBS, >> NPR, as well as corporate channels (Comcast CSPAN, FOX, NBC, etc) as >> well as the BBC, and from syndicated shows like the Takeaway funded by >> Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, Pemco, etc. >> >> */How do they do it?!! No other country has the open-door access to >> speak to U.S. audiences. >> >> /*The Israeli government takes full advantage of this access many times >> per day, to subvert U.S. interests and advance Israel's intersts. See >> this morning, Dore Gold for example had an hour on CSPAN-- >> http://cspan.org/Recent/Default.aspx >> The result of such widespread repetition of their propaganda will likely >> be continued U.S. military aggressions against Muslim people across >> south asia. >> >> *Fmr. Israeli Amb. Dore Gold, Author, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran" * >> >> *According to Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Iran >> continues to pursue nuclear weapons even as western leaders pursue talks >> with the Islamic republic. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Amb. >> Gold discusses his new book, "The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran >> Defies the West." * >> >> *Today : Washington, DC : 1 hr. * >> >> Todd >> >> >> At 08:50 PM 8/30/2009, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: >> >> This is an understatement of massive proportions. The AIPAC agenda is U >> S Foreign Policy, it is E U Foreign Policy and is in process of >> demonizing over two billion humans who happen to be either Arab or >> Islamic. As NATO countries join in the baying of the hounds catching >> sight of the prey, Germany and France cave in to B. Netanyahu's 'destroy >> Iran' demands, the self imolation of the E U and of the U S laws and >> rights speeds up, mirrored as if with the forest fires of reluctant >> Greece and bankrupt California. >> >> Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com >> >> >> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Sid Shniad > > wrote: >> >> Arab News 24 July 2009 (01 Sha`ban 1430) >> >> The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily >> >> How Israel lobby controls US >> >> Jeff Gates >> >> IN the early 1960s, Sen. William J. Fulbright fought to force the >> American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. >> The council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel >> Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most >> feared: A foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while >> disguised as a domestic lobby. >> >> Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear that charge. How, they >> ask, can we so few wield such influence over so many? Answer: It's all >> in the math. And in the single-issue advocacy brought to bear on US >> policy-making by dozens of "domestic" organizations that now compose the >> Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force. >> >> The political math was enabled by Sen. John McCain whose support for all >> things Israeli ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed George W. Bush. >> McCain's style of campaign finance reform proved a perfect fit for the >> Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby relies. Co-sponsored by >> Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, this change in federal election law >> typifies how Israeli influence became systemic. >> >> "McCain-Feingold" raised the amount (from $1,000 to $2,300) that >> candidates can receive from individuals in primary and general >> elections. A couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to federal >> candidates: $4,600 in each of the primary and general elections. Primary >> elections, usually low-budget, are particularly easy to sway. >> >> Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also doubled the funds >> candidates can receive without regard to where those contributors >> reside. A candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few pro-Israeli >> constituents. When campaign support is provided by a nationwide network >> of pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be persuaded to support >> policies sought by Tel Aviv. Diaspora-based fundraising has long been >> used by the lobby with force-multiplying success to shape US foreign >> policy. Under the guise of reform, John McCain doubled the financial >> resources that the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters. >> >> Fulbright was right. The influence-peddling process works like this. >> Candidates are summoned for in-depth AIPAC interviews. Those found >> sufficiently committed to Israel's agenda are provided a list of donors >> likely to "max out" their campaign contributions. Or the process can be >> made even easier when AIPAC-approved candidates are given the name of a >> "bundler." >> >> Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and bundle those contributions to >> present them to the candidate. No quid pro quo need be mentioned. After >> McCain-Feingold became law in 2003, AIPAC-identified bundlers could >> raise $1 million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates simply by contacting >> 10 like-minded supporters. Here's the math: >> >> The bundler and spouse "max out" for $9,200 and call 10 others, say in >> Manhattan, Miami, and Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x $9,200) >> and call 10 others for a total of 11. (111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.) >> >> Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC interview. One call from >> the lobby and a candidate can collect enough cash to mount a credible >> campaign in most congressional districts. From Tel Aviv's perspective, >> that political leverage is leveraged yet again because fewer than 10 >> percent of the 435 House races are competitive in any election cycle >> (typically 35 to 50). >> >> Additional force-multipliers come from: (a) sustaining this financial >> focus over multiple cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain seniority >> for those serving on congressional committees key to promoting Israeli >> goals, and (c) opposing any candidates who question those goals. >> >> "Jewish Achievement" reports that 42 percent of the largest political >> donors to the 2000 election cycle were Jewish, including four of the top >> five. That compares to less than two percent of Americans who are >> Jewish. Of the Forbes 400 richest Americans, 25 percent are Jewish >> according to Michael Steinhardt, a key funder of the Democratic >> Leadership Council. The DLC was led by Jewish Zionist Sen. Joe Lieberman >> when he resigned in 2000 to run as vice president with pro-Israeli >> presidential candidate Al Gore. >> >> Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors were limited only by >> how much they could lawfully contribute to AIPAC-screened candidates. >> McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. The full impact of this foreign >> influence has yet to be tallied. What's known, however, is sufficient to >> apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Of the top 50 >> neoconservatives who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52 percent). >> >> Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one of the more notable >> recipients of funds. In 1948, he was trailing badly in the polls and in >> fundraising. His prospects brightened dramatically in May after he >> recognized as a legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists who >> originally planned to settle in Argentina before putting their sights on >> Palestine. >> >> That recognition was opposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, >> the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the >> fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and numerous distinguished >> Americans, including moderate and secular Jews concerned at the troubles >> that were certain to follow. Not until 1984 was it revealed that a >> network of Jewish Zionists had funded Truman's campaign by financially >> refueling his whistle-stop campaign train with $400,000 in cash ($3 >> million in 2009). >> >> To buy time on the public's airwaves, money raised from the Israel >> lobby's network is paid to media outlets largely owned or managed by >> members of the same network. Presidents, senators and congressmen come >> and go but those who collect the checks rack up the favors that amass >> lasting political influence. >> >> The US system of government is meant to ensure that members of the House >> represent the concerns of Americans who reside in congressional >> districts - not a nationally dispersed network (a Diaspora) committed to >> advancing the agenda of a foreign nation. Federal elections are meant to >> hold senators accountable to constituents who reside in the states they >> represent, not out-of-state residents or a foreign government. >> >> In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a retreat from >> representative government by granting a nationwide network of foreign >> agents disproportionate influence over elections in every state and >> congressional district. Campaign finance "reform" enabled this network >> to amass even more political clout - wielding influence disproportionate >> to their numbers, indifferent to their place of residence and often >> contrary to America's interests. >> >> This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain sight, with impunity and >> under cover of free speech, free elections, free press and even the >> freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of an entangled alliance >> that induced the US to invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By >> allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic lobby, the US was >> induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Rad-Green mailing list >> >> Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu >> >> To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >> >> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green >> > > > > > From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Wed Sep 2 01:02:42 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 16:02:42 +0900 Subject: [A-List] End of Summer Blues Message-ID: <20090902160242.e3cb21e8.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Clusterfuck Nation by James Howard Kunstler Comment on current events by the author of The Long Emergency (2005) www.kunstler.com (August 31 2009) In my larval, pre-blogging days, I always faced the back-to-school moment with abject dread. It meant returning to a program of the most severe, mind-numbing regimentation in the ghastly New York City public schools after a summer of idyllic unreality in the New Hampshire woods, where I went to a Lord of the Flies (1954)type of summer camp. And so here I am, many decades later, still uneasy as the final page of the August calendar flies away in a hot Santa Ana wind, and a great hellfire closes in on the far eastern reaches of Los Angeles, and the American money system falls into a peculiar limbo, and every fifth person is out of work, or going bankrupt, or glugging down the seawater of default, or being denied coverage by health insurance that he-or-she has already shelled out ten grand for this year, or getting shot in a trailer park. I was in Los Angeles for a few days last week, as chance had it, marveling at the odd disposition of things there. I've been there many times over the years, but you forget how overwhelmingly weird it is. Altogether the Los Angeles metro area has the ambience of a garage the size of Rhode Island where someone happened to leave the engine running. To say that Los Angeles is all about cars is kind of like saying the Pacific Ocean is all about water. But one forgets the supernatural scale of the freeways, the tsunamis of vehicles, the cosmic despair of the traffic jams. The vistas of present-day Los Angeles make the Blade Runner (1982) vision of things look quaint in comparison. You motor out of the Los AngelesX airport - personally, I love the name "Los AngelesX" because it so beautifully describes the collective ethos of the place - and you discover quickly that the taxi cab's windows are not that dirty, it's the air itself colored brown like miso soup. Going north on the 405 freeway, you see the looming Moloch of the downtown skyline through the brown miso soup. And you begin to understand why the products of the film industry are so fixated on the theme of machine apocalypse. Downtown Los Angeles looks like just such a gigantic machine as the FX crews would dream up, as if a day will come when those gleaming mirrored office towers will pull themselves out of the ground from their roots and begin lumbering, crunch crunch crunch, north toward the Hollywood Hills seeking to exterminate the vile humanity responsible for making the place what it is. I happened to be camping out briefly in West Hollywood, in a scene-ster hotel where tiny bubbles of show biz mega-success wafted around amidst a background odor of failure, and an impossibly thin line was drawn between being pampered and being asked to go die in the gutter, please. The place is not without a certain decorum. I couldn't help but imagine how lovely Hollywood must have been in, say, 1923, when 92 percent of all the hopeless crapola now on the ground there had not yet been built, when there were no freeways, and fewer cars than currently found in Lincoln, Nebraska, you could go out to the Pacific Ocean on a "Big Red" streetcar, and on a clear day you could see from La Cienga out to Mount Wilson, and the movie "industry" was like a college theater department. What a fabulous giggle it must have all been - apart from poor Fatty Arbuckle - in that romantic desert at the edge of the world. The whole "Dream Factory" myth has become such an awful cliche, but what remains interesting now is how it utterly infected every other organ, byway, and lost corner of American life, to the degree that the life of this nation became little more than a "narrative", a story-board, a montage of wishes superimposed over the harsher mandates of reality. Hollywood now is a mere cartoon of what Wall Street and Washington have turned into. We're a civilization of fluff now, riding on a river of toxic sludge. I found Hollywood utterly exhausting. On morning walks down in the buzzard flats below Sunset Boulevard you almost never saw a human being outside the protective carapace of a car. I think I was the only person who ever walked down Melrose Avenue this calendar year. There were a lot of fresh store vacancies in the endless one-story strips, as if the retailers had just packed up and left Dodge under the cover of night. There were obvious, if lame, attempts to pedestrianize the major surface boulevards with fancy crossing pavements, but traffic flowed on them at sixty off the rush hours, and you felt like a marmot in a buffalo stampede out there. For solace, I listened to Bruce Molsky sing "I Ride an Old Paint" on the iPod. The fiddle part is lovely. The city of Los Angeles, indeed the whole state of California, seems exhausted too. Apocalypse is probably such a rich theme out there precisely because everything about that particular way of life seems to be nearing its end - whether it's the fiscal fiasco or the water supply, or the aerospace economy, or the music industry, or the once-great university system, or the Happy Motoring fantasy of cruising for burgers in what Tom Waits called the dark, warm narcotic American night. I went to the movies there one hot afternoon - Tarantino's latest, Inglourius Basterds, a completely crazy but enjoyable revenge romp against Hitler & Company - and before the feature, they showed a "trailer" for Roland Emmerich's forthcoming apocalyptathon. 2012, in which virtually every global landmark from the Vatican to the White House is destroyed, and mankind's last hope is John Cusack riding a spaceship to worlds unknown ... If that isn't shooting your wad as a movie-maker, I'm not sure what is. Maybe next time out, Roland will step back and make a movie about a puppy. I had my fill of apocalypse by the time I left the place, only to find myself back in a real nation really dissolving into a puddle of goo. In the strange new ether of the Web, a consensus grows that we're in for a rocky autumn, as if the signal event will be something like a hurricane of shoes dropping - bank failures galore, repudiation of US debt instruments by America's former patrons, foreclosures to the farthest horizon, jobs and incomes terminated, and all the good intentions of the folks in charge coming to naught in the face of historic forces. We're off to that kind of a start this morning, with the Dow dropping eighty points and the news that Disney Inc has just paid four billion for the rights to the Marvel Comics posse - Spiderman and his homeys. As if America needs more childish fantasy. _____ My new novel of the post-oil future, World Made By Hand, is available at all booksellers. http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/08/end-of-summer-blues.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From suzannedk at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 13:38:52 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 21:38:52 +0200 Subject: [A-List] A-List Digest, Vol 72, Issue 2 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heed the call or face your own extinction. " Last time I looked heed is a word that has gone the way of the Dodo. An useful eighteenth and nineteenth century word of such considerable elegance it was beloved of preachers in Sunday services. Having marched on Washington Equal Rights Amendment in 1980 ... to a nonexistant audience of House and Senate, though a milliion strong, we elite citizens were less than meaningless to any power groups of any kind, the gentleman who wrote the otherwise meaningful call, might rewrite it with more immediacy, simplicity and passion! Heed and the following warning rather doomed it. Two milliion and they might notice, but then, the U S Army would come out! Shackles and stun guns in hand. Worth a try. But be assured, you will lose what job you have and will be unemployable after. Anywhere. Dossiers you see. File - sharing. The E U sgined a File-Sharing Agreement in 2008 where U S War Laws (increasing all the time) supercede E U laws and since Switzerland ancient Privcy laws caved non-E U countries are slated to give up their privacy laws as well. Middle East and Asia next, maybe not in that order. I say become the call and go nowhere near Pittsburg! Maybe wearing a burkha. Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 6:21 PM, wrote: > Send A-List mailing list submissions to > a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/a-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > a-list-request at lists.econ.utah.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > a-list-owner at lists.econ.utah.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of A-List digest..." > > > The A-List Digest > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care (c b) > 2. What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & > peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, > Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated (glparramatta) > 3. Fwd: Jackson (Suzanne de Kuyper) > 4. Re: Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care (Leighm) > 5. Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire (c b) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 10:19:57 -0400 > From: c b > Subject: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care > To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu > Message-ID: > <5c2e4d230909010719w346fb5d6mc026b77afa35d077 at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 > > Illuminati > >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia > Jump to: navigation, search > "Illuminata" redirects here. For the 1998 John Turturro film, see > Illuminata (film). > For other uses, see Illuminati (disambiguation). > Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name that > refers to several groups, both historical and modern, and both real > and fictitious. Historically, it refers specifically to the Bavarian > Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, > 1776. In modern times it is also used to refer to a purported > conspiratorial organization which acts as a shadowy "power behind the > throne", allegedly controlling world affairs through present day > governments and corporations, usually as a modern incarnation or > continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati. In this context, Illuminati > is often used in reference to a New World Order (NWO). Many conspiracy > theorists believe the Illuminati are the masterminds behind events > that will lead to the establishment of such a New World Order. > Confusing the issue further is the fact that there are also several > modern fraternal groups which include the word "Illuminati" in their > names. > > Contents [hide] > 1 History > 2 Modern Illuminati > 3 In popular culture > 4 Cited references > 5 Additional references > 6 External links > > > > [edit] History > > Adam WeishauptThis movement was founded on May 1, 1776, in Ingolstadt > (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830),[1] who was > the first lay professor of canon law at the University of > Ingolstadt.[2] The movement was made up of freethinkers, as an > offshoot of the Enlightenment.[3] Writers at the time, such as Seth > Payson, believed the movement represented a conspiracy to infiltrate > and overthrow the governments of European states.[4] Some writers, > like Augustin Barruel and John Robison, even claimed that the > Illuminati were behind the French revolution, a claim that Jean-Joseph > Mounier dismissed in his 1801 book On the Influence Attributed to > Philosophers, Free-Masons, and to the Illuminati on the Revolution of > France.[5] > > The group's adherents were given the name "Illuminati", although they > called themselves "Perfectibilists". The group has also been called > the Illuminati Order and the Bavarian Illuminati, and the movement > itself has been referred to as Illuminism (after illuminism). In 1777, > Karl Theodor became ruler of Bavaria. He was a proponent of > Enlightened Despotism and, in 1784, his government banned all secret > societies, including the Illuminati. > > During the period when it was legally allowed to operate, many > influential intellectuals and progressive politicians counted > themselves as members, including Ferdinand of Brunswick and the > diplomat Xavier von Zwack, who was also the number two man in the > operation and was caught with much of the group's documentation when > his home was searched.[6] The Illuminati's members pledged obedience > to their superiors, and were divided into three main classes, each > with several degrees. The order had its branches in most countries of > the European continent; it reportedly had around 2,000 members over > the span of 10 years.[2] The scheme had its attraction for literary > men, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, > and even for the reigning dukes of Gotha and Weimar. Weishaupt had > modeled his group to some extent on Freemasonry, and many Illuminati > chapters drew membership from existing Masonic lodges. Internal > rupture and panic over succession preceded its downfall, which was > effected by the Secular Edict made by the Bavarian government in > 1785.[2] > > > [edit] Modern Illuminati > Main article: New World Order (conspiracy theory) > Writers such as Mark Dice,[7] David Icke, Ryan Burke, J?ri Lina and > Morgan Gricar, have argued that the Bavarian Illuminati survived, > possibly to this day. Many of these theories propose that world events > are being controlled and manipulated by a secret society calling > itself the Illuminati.[8][9] Theorists have claimed that many notable > people were or are members of the Illuminati, including Winston > Churchill, the Bush family,[10] Barack Obama, [11] the Rothschild > family,[12] David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski. [13] > > In addition to the shadowy and secret organization, several modern > fraternal groups claim to be the "heirs" of the Bavarian Illuminati > and have openly used the name "Illuminati" in founding their own > rites. Some, such as the multiple groups that call themselves some > variation on "The Illuminati Order"[14][15][16] use the name directly > in the name of their organization, while others, such as the Ordo > Templi Orientis, use the name as a grade of initiation within their > organization. > > > [edit] In popular culture > Main article: Illuminati in popular culture > The Illuminati are a common theme in popular culture. They appear in > many fictional works and in many genres: in print,[17] in film,[18] on > TV,[19] in numerous video games,[20] comic book series,[21] as well as > in both trading card and roleplaying games.[22] > > > [edit] Cited references > ^ The European Illuminati by Vernon L. Stauffer, hosted on the Grand > Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon website (hereafter BC&Y). > ^ a b c A Bavarian Illuminati Primer Compiled by Trevor W. McKeown hosted > BC&Y > ^ Goeringer, Conrad. "The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The > Illuminati". American Atheists. > http://atheists.org/The_Enlightenment%2C_Freemasonry%2C_and_The_Illuminati > . > Retrieved 2008-12-31. > ^ Payson, Seth; Proof of the Illuminati, The Invisible College Press, > LLC, 2003 (first published in Charlestown: Etheridge, 1802) ISBN > 1931468141 > ^ Jean-Joseph Mounier, On the Influence Attributed to Philosophers, > Free-Masons, and to the Illuminati on the Revolution of France, > Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, New York, 1974 (reprint of the first > edition from 1801). ISBN 0-8201-1135-X. > ^ Introvigne, Massimo. "The Illuminati and Angels & Demons FAQ ? Do > the Illuminati Really Exist?". Center for Studies on New Religions. > http://www.cesnur.org/2005/mi_illuminati_en.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-30. > ^ "Angels & Demons Causing Serious Controversy - 5/17/09 - Fresno News > - abc30.com". Abclocal.go.com. 2009-05-17. > http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/entertainment&id=6817493. > Retrieved 2009-07-08. > ^ Barkun, Michael. A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in > Contemporary America, Comparative Studies in Religion and Society, > University of California Press, 2003, > ^ Illuminati News website: The Secret Order of the Illuminati (A Brief > History of the Shadow Government) > ^ The Bush Family and their Illuminati Rituals > ^ The Barack Obama Illuminati Connection > ^ Makow Ph.D, H: Illuminati: The Cult that Hijacked the World, > BookSurge Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1439211485 > ^ Springmeier, F: Blood Lines of the Illuminati, Ambassador House, > 1998, ISBN 0966353323 > ^ The Illuminati Order Homepage > ^ Official website of The Illuminati Order > ^ *Orden Illuminati Consejo Central M?xico > ^ Prominent examples include: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea > and Robert Anton Wilson, Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, The Fallen > Angels by Susannah Kells & Bernard Cornwell, and The Illuminati by > Larry Burkett. > ^ For example, they are central to the plot of the movie Lara Croft: > Tomb Raider > ^ For example, in the Disney animated television show Gargoyles > ^ such as Deus Ex > ^ CGD ? New Avengers: Illuminati > ^ Bergquist, Theodore; Jacobsson, Anders; Nilsson Richard, Sub Rosa - > Hemliga Ordnar och S?llskap, RiotMinds Stockholm 2008, ISBN > 978-91-977263-0-6 > > [edit] Additional references > 1911 Encyclop?dia Britannica: "Illuminati" > Die Korrespondenz des Illuminatenordens. Bd. 1, 1776?81. Ed. by > Reinhard Markner, Monika Neugebauer-W?lk and Hermann Sch?ttler. - > T?bingen, Max Niemeyer, 2005. - ISBN 3-484-10881-9 > Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity > 1650?1750. Israel, Jonathan I. (Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed > edition, 2002). > > [edit] External links > Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Illuminati > Complete text of 'Proofs of a Conspiracy...' by John Robison (1797) at > sacred-texts.com > Illuminati Conspiracy Part One: A Precise Exegesis on the Available > Evidence by Terry Melanson > 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Illuminati > Blog about the historical Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt and their > appearance in mainstream media like Angels & Demons (german) > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:08:19 +1000 > From: glparramatta > Subject: [A-List] What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, > CPA & peace, Ted Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, > Friedrich Engels, energy efficiency debated > To: AA: Britain/list: UK Left Network > Message-ID: <4A9CD673.8080807 at greenleft.org.au> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > What's new at Links: Kanaky, Honduras, Venezuela, CPA & peace, Ted > Kennedy, Ayn Rand, African Americans & health, Friedrich Engels, energy > efficiency debated > > * * * > 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 > > 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/. > > * * * > > > Kanaky: Interview with jailed pro-independence trade union leader > G?rard Jodar > > This interview with G?rard Jodar, president of the pro-independence > trade union federation USTKE (Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers), was > published in Lib?ration, issue #14790, on August 17 2009. He was > interviewed by Matthieu Ecoiffier. Translated into English for Links > International Journal of Socialist Renewal by > Annolies Truman. > Sentenced at the end of June 2009 to a year in prison for ``hindering > the circulation of an aircraft'' [click HERE > for background information to the > struggle], G?rard Jodar is one of very few trade unionists to be > imprisoned in France -- and his lawyers' application for a lesser > sentence has just been rejected by the appeals judge of the Noumea > Supreme Court. > > * Read more > > > Honduras: Al Giordano -- `The people are organising creatively to > topple the coup' > > August 26, 2009, marks 60 days since Honduras' oligarchy overthrew the > elected president of the country. As protests against the coup continue > without let up, Western governments have refused to do anything concrete > to support democracy, or as in the case of the US administration of > President Barack Obama, been complicit. The international corporate mass > media has shunned providing coverage of the mass opposition in the > streets of Tegucigalpa. This news blackout, and the resulting heightened > state repression, has done little to deter the ongoing resistance to the > coup inside Honduras. > > * Read more > > > Photo essay: Venezuela's Comuna 'Renacer del Sur' -- people's power > in practice > > By Peter Boyle > August 20, 2009 -- At the base of the Bolivarian revolutionary process > in Venezuela are some 30,000 communal councils. These are pictures of > some of the people active in communal councils in poor barrios > (neighbourhoods) in the south of the city of Valencia. They were taken > in November 2008 when members of the Australian-Venezuela Solidarity > Netwok brigade were hosted by the Comuna ``Renacer del Sur'' (Rebith of > the South Commune). > Daniel Sanchez, a leader of the Rebirth of the South Commune, and Yoly > Fernandez, a community organiser in Mission Mercal, Venezuela's > subsidised food program, are touring Australia in August and September > to explain how "people's power" is transforming their country and > creating a new socialism of the 21st century. > > * Read more > > > Industrial action for peace: The Communist Party of Australia and > antiwar activity before 1960 > > By Douglas Jordan > The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) emphasised the central role that > the working class through their trade unions should play in the peace > movement. The struggle for peace was as important to trade unionists as > was the struggle for improved pay and better working conditions. Central > to the party's approach was the view that trade unions had every right > to use their industrial strength to pursue a range of political issues. > In effect, this meant that trade union support for the peace movement > should not be limited to an educational and propaganda role, but where > possible it should include the use of traditional trade union tactics, > such as strikes, bans and boycotts. In the postwar period, with the > apparent imminent threat of a third world war, there were new > opportunities to implement this policy. > > * Read more > > > United States: Ted Kennedy -- The myth of the `liberal lion' > > > By Lance Selfa > August 28, 2009 -- Democratic Party senator Ted Kennedy's political > career reflects the course of US liberalism, from its heyday in the > 1960s to its sorry state today. For decades, Ted Kennedy was the > bogeyman used by conservatives in their fundraising appeals to raise > millions of dollars. To them, the liberal Kennedy seemed to represent > everything they hated--there was no easier way to get a right-wing crowd > booing and hissing than to mention Kennedy's name. > So it was more than a little jarring to hear conservatives sing > Kennedy's praises for his "bipartisanship" in the wake of Kennedy's > death from brain cancer on August 25. > > * Read more > > > The free-market fallacies of Ayn Rand > > By Phil Hearse > August 22, 2009 -- Most people sympathetic to radical politics outside > the United States have probably never heard of Ayn Rand, and a brief > introduction to her ultra pro-free market views would doubtless be > enough to convince them they haven't missed anything. Yet 27 years after > her death, Ayn Rand continues to be seriously debated in the US, her > books sell hundreds of thousands each year, her views are propagated by > right wing think tanks and foundations and - bizarrely - Charlize Theron > is in discussions to turn Rand's 1088-page magnus opus Atlas Shrugged > into a TV mini-series. > > * Read more > > > United States: Race and class -- African Americans in a sick system > > > By Malik Miah > August 2009 -- The critical lack of quality and affordable health care > is devastating for African Americans. Twice as likely as whites to go > without health insurance, African Americans suffer chronic illnesses > such as high blood pressure and diabetes at an escalating rate. The root > of the problem is not inferior Black -- or better white -- health care. > It is first and foremost a class issue, exacerbated for Blacks and > Latinos because of the institutional racism that still permeates society. > > * Read more > > > New books reveal Friedrich Engels' revolutionary life > > > Engels: A Revolutionary Life, by John Green, Artery Publications, 2008. > Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, by Tristram > Hunt, Macmillan/Metropolitan, 2009. (First published in Britain as The > Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels.) > Reviewed by Ian Angus > > August 24, 2009 -- Most people on the left know that Friedrich Engels > was co-author of the Communist Manifesto and Karl Marx's lifelong > collaborator. But few of today's radicals know much more than that about > the man who built barricades and fought a guerrilla war in Germany in > the 1848-49 revolution, the indefatigable organiser who played a > decisive role in building the Marxist current from a handful of exiles > in the 1850s into the dominant trend in the international working-class > movement by the time of his death in 1895. > > * Read more > > > The false promise of energy efficiency and a real alternative > > > By Don Fitz > August 22, 2009 -- An action can have opposite effects, depending on it > s social contexts. An isolated individual who protests company policy by > refusing to go to work could well get fired and become an example used > to intimidate others. When an entire workforce stays off the job, it's > called a "strike" and has a very good chance of forcing the company to > change its policy... It is even more so with "energy efficiency". It is > impossible for individual choices to purchase energy-efficient products > to have any positive effect on climate change. But, in a democratically > run economy, energy efficiency would be a cornerstone of resolving the > catastrophic legacy of production for profit. > > * 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 > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: text/html > Size: 13773 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/c9cf2476/attachment.txt > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:44:53 +0200 > From: Suzanne de Kuyper > Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Jackson > To: The A-List > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Suzanne de Kuyper > Date: Sep 1, 2009 12:41 PM > Subject: Jackson > To: MARGARET WYLES > > One man's comfort is another's Gotterdammerung. What you are seeing only > dimly is the beginning of the age of twentyfirst century Medici-ism. In > short the newer age of assasinations. As Habeous Corpus watches in a > bunker, the Western World begins to expand the Cheney Assasination Ring ( a > book in progress by Seymore Hersh that details the liberalization and > legalisation of governmental openly acknowledged assasinations done for > generations by the CIA which was nominally under the rule of law and ru;le > of secrecy. (Valerie Plame). > > These assasinations will involve both individual and mass targets, > population targets. > > Please do read "Spies for Hire", "Global War on Liberty"by J C Paye. The > Paye book is the blueprint, the definitive study written first in 2004 and > withheld from European publication in English until late 2007, then in tiny > amounts, unreveiwed, but once. Isreal the brains, technicla expertise and > complete lack of morality or law, the US the unlimited money and the > physical threat to die for. That is why Israel. > > Suzanne > suzannedk at gmail.com > > . > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: text/html > Size: 1745 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/5b6d514d/attachment.txt > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:38:41 -0700 > From: Leighm > Subject: Re: [A-List] Michael Jackson video: 'They don't really care > To: The A-List > Message-ID: <4A9D31F1.4010102 at gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 > > Robert Anton Wilson had it right... > > If anyone wants a copy (PDF) of the definitive work on the... > > Contact offlist with your encryption key (giggle). > > > It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton. On April 1, > the world's great powers came closer to nuclear war than ever before, > all because of an obscure island named Fernando Poo. > > By the time international affairs returned to their normal cold-war > level, some wits were calling it the most tasteless April Fool's joke in > history. I happen to know all the details about what happened, but I > have no idea how to recount them in a manner that will make sense to > most readers. > > For instance, I am not even sure who' I am, and my embarrassment on that > matter makes me wonder if you will believe anything I reveal. Worse yet, > I am at the moment very conscious of a squirrel-in Central Park, just > off Sixty-eighth Street, in New York City-that is leaping from one tree > to another, and I think that happens on the night of April 23 (or is it > the morning of April 24?), but fitting the squirrel together with > Fernando Poo is, for the present, beyond my powers. > > I beg your tolerance. > > There is nothing I can do to make things any easier for any of us, and > you will have to accept being addressed by a disembodied voice just as I > accept the compulsion to speak out even though I am painfully aware that > I am talking to an invisible, perhaps nonexistent, audience. > > Wise men have regarded the earth as a tragedy, a farce, even an > illusionist's trick; but all, if they are truly wise and not merely > intellectual rapists, recognize that it is certainly some kind of stage > in which we all play roles, most of us being very poorly coached and > totally unrehearsed before the curtain rises. > > Is it too much if I ask, tentatively, that we agree to look upon it as a > circus, a touring carnival wandering about the sun for a record season > of four billion years and producing new monsters and miracles, hoaxes > and bloody mishaps, wonders and blunders, but never quite entertaining > the customers well enough to prevent them from leaving, one by one, and > returning to their homes for a long and bored winter's sleep under the > dust? > > Then, say, for a while at least, that I have found an identity as > ringmaster; but that crown sits uneasily on my head (if I have a head) > and I must warn you that the troupe is small for a universe this size > and many of us have to double or triple our stints, so you can expect me > back in many other guises. Indeed do many things come to pass. > > For instance, right now, I am not at all whimsical or humorous. I am > angry. I am in Nairobi, Kenya, and my name is, if you will pardon me, > Nkrumah Fubar. > > My skin is black (does that disturb you? it doesn't me), and I am, like > most of you, midway between tribalism and technology; to be more blunt, > as a Kikuyu shaman moderately adjusted to city life, I still believe in > witchcraft-I haven't, yet, the folly to deny the evidence of my own senses. > > It is April 3 and Fernando Poo has ruined my sleep for several nights > running, so I hope you will forgive me when I admit that my business at > the moment is far from edifying and is nothing less than constructing > dolls of the rulers of America, Russia, and China. > > You guessed it: I am going to stick pins in their heads every day for a > month; if they won't let me sleep, I won't let them sleep. > > That is Justice, in a sense. > > In fact, the President of the United States had several severe migraines > during the following weeks; but the atheistic rulers of Moscow and > Peking were less susceptible to magic. They never reported a twinge. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 2 von 470 > > But, wait, here is another performer in our circus, and one of the most > intelligent and decent in the lot-his name is unpronounceable, but you > can call him Howard and he happens to have been born a dolphin. He's > swimming through the ruins of Atlantis and it's April 10 already-time is > moving; I'm not sure what Howard sees but it bothers him, and he decides > to tell Hagbard Celine all about it. Not that I know, at this point, who > Hagbard Celine is. > > Never mind; watch the waves roll and be glad there isn't much pollution > out here yet. Look at the way the golden sun lights each wave with a > glint that, curiously, sparkles into a silver sheen; and watch, watch > the waves as they roll, so that it is easy to cross five hours of time > in one second and find ourselves amid trees and earth, with even a few > falling leaves for a touch of poetry before the horror. > > Where are we? Five hours away, I told you-five hours due west, to be > precise, so at the same instant that Howard turns a somersault in > Atlantis, Sasparilla Godzilla, a tourist from Simcoe, Ontario (she had > the misfortune to be born a human being) turns a neat nosedive right > here and lands unconscious on the ground. > > This is the outdoor extension of the Museum of Anthropology in > Chapultepec Park, Mexico, D.F., and the other tourists are rather upset > about the poor lady's collapse. She later said it was the heat. Much > less sophisticated in important matters than Nkrumah Fubar, she didn't > care to tell anybody, or even to remind herself, what had really knocked > her over. > > Back in Simcoe, the folks always said Harry Godzilla got a sensible > woman when he married Sasparilla, and it is sensible in Canada (or the > United States) to hide certain truths. No, at this point I had better > not call them truths. > > Let it stand that she either saw, or imagined she saw, a certain > sinister kind of tight grin, or grimace, cross the face of the gigantic > statue of Tlaloc, the rain god. > > Nobody from Simcoe had ever seen anything like that before; indeed do > many things come to pass. > > And, if you think the poor lady was an unusual case, you should examine > the records of psychiatrists, both institutional and private, for the > rest of the month. Reports of unusual anxieties and religious manias > among schizophrenics in mental hospitals skyrocketed; and ordinary men > and women walked in off the street to complain about eyes watching them, > hooded beings passing through locked rooms, crowned figures giving > unintelligible commands, voices that claimed to be God or the Devil, a > real witch's brew for sure. > > But the sane verdict was to attribute all this to the aftermath of the > Fernando Poo tragedy. > > The phone rang at 2:30 A.M. the morning of April 24. > > Numbly, dumbly, mopingly, gropingly, out of the dark, I find and > identify a body, a self, a task. "Goodman," I say into the receiver, > propped up on one arm, still coming a long way back. > > "Bombing and homicide," he electrically eunuchoid voice in the > transmitter tells me. I sleep naked (sorry about that), and I'm putting > on my drawers and trousers as I copy the address. East Sixtyeighth > Street, near the Council on Foreign Relations. "Moving," I say, hanging up. > > "What? Is?" Rebecca mumbles from the bed. She's naked, too, and that > recalls very pleasant memories of a few hours earlier. I suppose some of > you will be shocked when I tell you I'm past sixty and she's only > twenty-five. It doesn't make it any better that we're married, I know. > > This isn't a bad body, for its age, and seeing Rebecca, most of the > sheets thrown aside, reminds me just how good it is. In fact, at this > point I don't even remember having been the ringmaster, or what echo I > retain is confused with sleep and dream. > > I kiss her neck, unselfconsciously, for she is my wife and I am her > husband, and even if I am an inspector on the Homicide Squad-Homicide > North, to be exact-any notions about being a stranger in this body have > vanished with my dreams into air. Into thin air. > > "What?" Rebecca repeats, still more asleep than awake. > > "Damned fool radicals again," I say, pulling on my shirt, knowing any > answer is as good as another in her half-conscious state. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 3 von 470 > > "Um," she says, satisfied, and turns over into deep sleep again. > > I washed my face somewhat, tired old man watching me from the mirror, > and ran a brush through my hair. Just time enough to think that > retirement was only a few years away and to remember a certain > hypodermic needle and a day in the Catskills with my first wife, Sandra, > back when they at least had clean air up there . . . socks, shoes, tie, > fedora . . . and you never stop mourning, as much as I loved Rebecca I > never stopped mourning Sandra. > > Bombing and homicide. What a meshuganah world. Do you remember when you > could at least drive in New York at three in the morning without traffic > jams? Those days were gone; the trucks that were banned in the daytime > were all making their deliveries now. Everybody was supposed to pretend > the pollution went away before dawn. > > Papa used to say, "Saul, Saul, they did it to the Indians and now > they're doing it to themselves. Goyische narrs." He left Russia to > escape the pogrom of 1905, but I guess he saw a lot before he got out. > He seemed like a cynical old man to me then, and I seem like a cynical > old man to others now. Is there any pattern or sense in any of it? > > The scene of the blast was one of those old office buildings with > Gothic-and-gingerbread styling all over the lobby floor. In the dim > light of the hour, it reminded me of the shadowy atmosphere of Charlie > Chan in the Wax Museum. And a smell hit my nostrils as soon as I walked in. > > A patrolman lounging inside the door snapped to attention when he > recognized me. "Took out the seventeenth floor and part of the > eighteenth," he said. "Also a pet shop here on the ground level. Some > freak of dynamics. Nothing else is damaged down here, but every fish > tank went. That's the smell." > > Barney Muldoon, an old friend with the look and mannerisms of a > Hollywood cop, appeared out of the shadows. A tough man, and nowhere as > dumb as he liked to pretend, which was why he was head of the Bomb Squad. > > "Your baby, Barney?" I asked casually. > > "Looks that way. Nobody killed. The call went out to you because a > clothier's dummy was burned on the eighteenth floor and the first car > here thought it was a human body." > > (Wait: George Dorn is screaming....) > > Saul's face showed no reaction to the answer-but poker players at the > Fraternal Order of Police had long ago given up trying to read that > inscrutable Talmudic countenance. > > As Barney Muldoon, I knew how I would feel if I had the chance to drop > this case on another department and hurry home to a beautiful bride like > Rebecca Goodman. I smiled down at Saul-his height would keep him from > appointment to the Force now, but the rules were different when he was > young-and I added quietly, "There might be something in it for you, > though." > > The fedora ducked as Saul took out his pipe and started to fill it. All > he said was, "Oh?" "Right now," I went on, "we're just notifying Missing > Persons, but if what I'm afraid of is right, it'll end up on your desk > after all." > > He struck a match and started puffing. "Somebody missing at this hour . > . . might be found among the living ... in the morning," he said between > drags. The match went out, and shadows moved where nobody stirred. > > "And he might not, in this case," Muldoon said. "He's been gone three > days now." > > "An Irishman your size can't be any more subtle than an elephant," Saul > said wearily. "Stop tantalizing me. What have you got?" > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 4 von 470 > > "The office that was hit," Muldoon explained, obviously happy to share > the misery, "was a magazine called Confrontation. It's kind of > left-of-center, so this was probably a right-wing job and not a leftwing > one. But the interesting thing is that we couldn't reach the editor, > Joseph Malik, at his home, and when we called one of the associate > editors, what do you think he told us? Malik disappeared three days ago. > His landlord confirms it. > > He's been trying to get hold of Malik himself because there's a no-pets > rule there and the other tenants are complaining about his dogs. So, if > a man drops out of sight and then his office gets bombed, I kind of > think the matter might come to the attention of the Homicide Department > eventually, don't you?" > > Saul grunted. "Might and might not," he said. "I'm going home. I'll > check with Missing Persons in the morning, to see what they've got." > > The patrolman spoke up. > > "You know what bothers me most about this? The Egyptian mouthbreeders." > > "The what?" Saul asked. > > "That pet shop," the patrolman explained, pointing to the other end of > the lobby. "I looked over the damage, and they had one of the best > collections of rare tropical fish in New York City. > > Even Egyptian mouth-breeders." He noticed the expressions on the faces > of the two detectives and added lamely, "If you don't collect fish, you > wouldn't understand. But, believe me, an Egyptian mouthbreeder is pretty > hard to get these days, and they're all dead in there." > > "Mouth-breeder?" Muldoon asked incredulously. > > "Yes, you see they keep their young in their mouths for a couple days > after birth and they never, never swallow them. That's one of the great > things about collecting fish: you get to appreciate the wonders of nature." > > Muldoon and Saul looked at each other. "It's inspiring," Muldoon said > finally, "to have so many college graduates on the Force these days." > > The elevator door opened, and Dan Pricefixer, a redheaded young > detective on Muldoon's staff, emerged, carrying a metal box. > > "I think this is important, Barney," he began immediately, with just a > nod to Saul. "Damned important. I found it in the rubble, and it had > been blown partly open, so I looked inside." "And?" Muldoon prompted. > > "It's the freakiest bunch of interoffice memos I ever set eyes on. Weird > as tits on a bishop." This is going to be a long night, Saul thought > suddenly, with a sinking feeling. A long night, and a heavy case. > > "Want to peek?" Muldoon asked him maliciously. > > "You better find a place to sit down," Pricefixer volunteered. "It'll > take you awhile to go through them." > > "Let's use the cafeteria," Saul suggested. > > Illuminatus! Trilogy Seite 5 von 470 > > "You just have no idea," the patrolman repeated. "The value of an > Egyptian mouth-breeder." > > "It's rough for all nationalities, man or fish," Muldoon said in one of > his rare attempts to emulate Saul's mode of speech. He and Saul turned > to the cafeteria, leaving the patrolman looking vaguely distressed. > > His name is James Patrick Hennessy and he's been on the Force three > years. He doesn't come back into this story at all. He had a > five-year-old retarded son whom he loved helplessly; you see a thousand > faces like his on the street every day and never guess how well they are > carrying their tragedies . . . and George Dorn, who once wanted to shoot > him, is still screaming. . . . But Barney and Saul are in the cafeteria. > > Look around. The transition from the Gothic lobby to this room of > laminated functional and glittering plastic colors is, one might say, > trippy. Never mind the smell; we're closer to the pet shop here. > > Saul removed his hat and ran a hand through his gray hair pensively, as > Muldoon read the first two memos in one quick scan. When they were > passed over, he put on his glasses and read more slowly, in his own > methodical and thoughtful way. > > Hold onto your hats. This is what they said: > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:15:40 -0400 > From: c b > Subject: [A-List] Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire > To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu > Message-ID: > <5c2e4d230909010915h7172b28i3bf97e4602643ccf at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire > > Truthdig > > > http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090831_hedges_pittsburgh_g20_defiance/ > > Posted on Aug 31, 2009 > > By Chris Hedges > > Globalization and unfettered capitalism have been swept > into the history books along with the open-market > theory of the 1920s, the experiments of fascism, > communism and the New Deal. It is time for a new > economic and political paradigm. It is time for a new > language to address our reality. The voices of change, > those who speak in powerful and yet unfamiliar words, > will cry out Sept. 25 and 26 in Pittsburgh when > protesters from around the country gather to defy the > heads of state, bankers and finance ministers from the > world's 22 largest economies who are convening for a > meeting of the G-20. If we heed these dissident voices > we have a future. If we do not we will commit > collective suicide. > > The international power elites will go to Pittsburgh to > preach the mantra that globalization is inevitable and > eternal. They will discuss a corpse as if it was > living. They will urge us to remain in suspended > animation and place our trust in the inept bankers and > politicians who orchestrated the crisis. This is the > usual tactic of bankrupt elites clinging to power. They > denigrate and push to the margins the realists--none of > whom will be inside their security perimeters--who give > words to our disintegration and demand a new, > unfamiliar course. The powerful discredit dissent and > protest. But human history, as Erich Fromm wrote, > always begins anew with disobedience. This disobedience > is the first step toward freedom. It makes possible the > recovery of reason. > > The longer we speak in the language of global > capitalism, the longer we utter platitudes about the > free market--even as we funnel hundreds of billions of > taxpayer dollars into the accounts of large > corporations--the longer we live in a state of > collective self-delusion. Our power elite, who profess > to hate government and government involvement in the > free market, who claim they are the defenders of > competition and individualism, have been stealing > hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to > nationalize mismanaged corporations and save them from > bankruptcy. We hear angry and confused citizens, their > minds warped by hate talk radio and television, condemn > socialized medicine although we have become, at least > for corporations, the most socialized nation on Earth. > The schizophrenia between what we profess and what we > actually embrace has rendered us incapable of > confronting reality. The longer we speak in the old > language of markets, capitalism, free trade and > globalization the longer the entities that created this > collapse will cannibalize the nation. > > What are we now? What do we believe? What economic > model explains the irrationality of looting the U.S. > Treasury to permit speculators at Goldman Sachs to make > obscene profits? How can Barack Obama's chief economic > adviser, Lawrence Summers, tout a "jobless recovery"? > How much longer can we believe the fantasy that global > markets will replace nation states and that economics > will permit us to create a utopian world where we will > all share the same happy goals? When will we denounce > the lie that globalization fosters democracy, > enlightenment, worldwide prosperity and stability? When > we will we realize that unfettered global trade and > corporate profit are the bitter enemies of freedom and > the common good? > > Corporations are pushing through legislation in the > United States that will force us to buy defective, > for-profit health insurance, a plan that will expand > corporate monopolies and profits at our expense and > leave tens of millions without adequate care. > Corporations are blocking all attempts to move to > renewable and sustainable energy to protect the > staggering profits of the oil, natural gas and coal > industries. Corporations are plunging us deeper and > deeper as a nation into debt to feed the permanent war > economy and swell the military budget, which consumes > half of all discretionary spending. Corporations use > lobbyists and campaign contributions to maintain arcane > tax codes that offer them tax havens and tax evasions. > Corporations are draining the treasury while the > working class sheds jobs, sees homes foreclosed and > struggles to survive in a new and terrifying global > serfdom. This has been the awful price of complacency. > > Protests will begin several days before the summit. > Many of the activities are being coordinated by > Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center. There will be a > march Sept. 25 for anyone who, as Jessica Benner of the > center's Antiwar Committee stated, "has lost a job, a > home, a loved one to war, lost value to a retirement > plan, gotten sick from environmental pollution, or > lived without adequate healthcare, water, or food. ... > " There will be at least three tent cities, in addition > to a Music Camp beginning Sept. 18 that will be > situated at the South Side Riverfront Park near 18th > Street. Unemployed workers will set up one tent city at > the Monumental Baptist Church on Sept. 20 and five days > later will march on the Convention Center. The > encampment and the march are being organized by the > Bail Out the People Movement. The Institute for Policy > Studies, The Nation magazine, the United Electrical, > Radio and Machine Workers of America, Pittsburgh United > and other organizations will host events including a > panel on corporate globalization featuring former World > Bank President Joseph Stiglitz, along with a "People's > Tribunal." There will be a religious procession calling > for social justice and a concert organized by Students > for a Democratic Society. > > But expect difficulties. The Secret Service has so far > denied protesters permits while it determines the size > of the "security perimeter" it will impose around the > world leaders. Pittsburgh has contracted to bring in an > extra 4,000 police officers at an estimated cost of > $9.5 million. Activist groups have reported incidents > of surveillance and harassment. The struggle to thwart > the voices of citizens will be as fierce as the > struggle to amplify the voices of the criminal class > that is trashing the world's economy. These elites will > appear from behind closed doors with their communiques > and resolutions to address us in their specialized > jargon of power and expertise. They will attempt to > convince us they have not lost control. They will make > recommitments to free-trade agreements from the General > Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, the World > Trade Organization and NAFTA, which have all thrust a > knife into the backs of the working class. They will > insist that the world can be managed and understood > exclusively through their distorted lens of economics. > But their day is over. They are the apostles of a dead > system. They maintain power through fraud and force. Do > not expect them to go without a struggle. But they have > nothing left to say to us. > > "Those who profess to favour freedom, yet deprecate > agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up > the ground," Frederick Douglass wrote. "They want rain > without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean > without the awful roar of its many waters. This > struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical > one; or 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." > > If you can, go to Pittsburgh. This is an opportunity to > defy the titans of the corporate state and speak in > words that describe our reality. The power elite fear > these words. If these words seep into the population, > if they become part of our common vernacular, the elite > and the systems they defend will be unmasked. Our > collective self-delusion will be shattered. These words > of defiance expose the lies and crimes the elite use to > barrel us toward neofeudalism. And these words, when > they become real, propel men and women to resist. > > "The end of something often resembles the beginning," > the philosopher John Ralston Saul wrote in "Voltaire's > Bastards." "More often than not our nose-to-the-glass > view makes us believe that the end we are living is in > fact a new beginning. This confusion is typical of an > old civilization's self-confidence--limited by > circumstances and by an absence of memory--and in many > ways resembling the sort often produced by senility. > Our rational need to control understanding and > therefore memory has simply accentuated the confusion. > ... Nothing seems more permanent than a > long-established government about to lose power, > nothing more invincible than a grand army on the > morning of its annihilation." > > Chris Hedges' latest book is "Empire of Illusion: The > End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle." > > > > End of A-List Digest, Vol 72, Issue 2 > ************************************* > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 56694 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/109f879e/attachment.txt From annewilliamson at msn.com Tue Sep 1 17:42:48 2009 From: annewilliamson at msn.com (Anne Williamson) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:42:48 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Devaluation of the USDollar? In-Reply-To: <2fa158550909010135g43c34128o99d92f396dab3b0c@mail.gmail.com> References: <2fa158550909010135g43c34128o99d92f396dab3b0c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: http://www.garynorth.com Rumor: Bank Holiday in September Gary North July 25, 2009Bob Chapman, a newsletter writer, has received a lot of publicity about his prediction that there will be a bank holiday this year. Bob Chapman's Int'l Forecaster newsletter revealed (5/20) this startling intelligence (from within US State Dept & embassies):"Some US embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of US cash to purchase currencies from those govts, quietly. But not ?'s. Inside the State Dept there is a sense of sadness & foreboding that 'something' is about to happen, unknown re a date--just that within 180 days, but could be 120-150 days." Bob quotes another source that "Panasonic has told their people to be back in Japan by Sept 09." This September 9 date has been tacked onto the rumor about the State Department. This kind of official order would have to be issued by someone very high in the State Department. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars sold by embassies to buy local currencies of questionable value. Currency markets would reflect this within hours. There has not been a hint of any such transaction in any currency anywhere. Next, the senior financial official at an embassy would have to leave a trail of evidence showing official authorization from Washington. There would have to be an official budget authorization. Congress would have to approve it unless the money came out of some department's annual share of the overall budget. Can you imagine the hue and cry from the head of that department? Fact: No embassy official would or could comply with such an order without official authorization, confirmed and re-confirmed. In short, there would be a paper trail that would be leaked by the department head whose budget had been slashed. A U.S. bank holiday would shut down world financial markets. The banks are intertwined. The U.S. would get blamed for the havoc caused by such a shutdown. It might trigger retaliation: the dumping ot Treasury debt into world markets. The dollar would collapse in value. It would lose its world reserve currency status in one day. Yet this status has been the #1 factor in U.S. international trade policy ever since 1922, when the gold exchange standard was set up at the Genoa Conference. Old-time grand master hard money editor Harry Schultz has reported this story. Harry Schultz, dean of newsletter writers, has quoted the Chapman letter of May 30 regarding US embassies being sent large amounts of cash with which to buy local *currencies, to last them a year. Here is Harry's remarkable take on the situation:"My HSL suspicion is that the elite plan another FDR style "bank holiday" of indefinite length, perhaps very soon, to let the insiders sort-out the bank mess which is getting more out of their control every day.*Insiders want/need to impose new bank rules. Widespread nationalization could result, already under way. It could also lead to a formal US$ devaluation, as FDR did by revaluing gold (& then confiscating it). But devalue against what? The euro? Doubtful. Gold? Maybe. Or vs. the IMF basket of currencies (which seems more likely)--& much in the news recently. Any kind of bank holiday will push the US$ lower, which may be a bonus benefit to their ongoing scenario of letting the $ fall. Such a fall would get the devaluation they want without having to declare it. In sum, the insiders want more bank & system control, fewer banks & a lower US$. A bank holiday would suit all their needs. Obviously, U can't open safeboxes if the banks are closed, so plan accordingly. All this is speculation, but we have to go with what we've got, scraps of info that point to certain possibilities. In any case such a closure will, IMO, come sooner or later, as the worst of the embedded derivatives are still to be faced. We are years away from solving them because the controllers don't want to; their fingerprints are all over them. *** PS: during the FDR bank holiday, thousands of banks never reopened; it was a face-saving way of shutting them down. I would guess the same would occur today; thousands have little or no net value, loaded with debt, bad mortgages. I do not understand why a bank holiday is required. To accomplish what? There are no bank runs. There is no threat to the system. Depositors send checks from Bank A to Bank B. This is no way threatens the system. The same amount of money stays in the system. Here is what has been happening. The assets of small busted banks get bought by big banks after the FDIC has absorbed the losses. What a bonanza for large banks! Why would they want to stop this process? FDR's bank holiday lasted four days in 1933. There has never been the hint of another one. Why would the FED send a red-alert signal to the public? "The system is busted!" It isn't busted. It's being centralized under FED control. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for the FED. It has always wanted this. So, we lack evidence: a State Department document. We also lack motivation for a Federal Reserve red alert. The cost would be tremendous: loss of liquidity and capital market collapse. Why would "green shoots" Bernanke torpedo the stock market rally? Who would buy Treasury bills? With what? The banks would be closed. I do not understand the logic of any of this. I have seen no supporting evidence. Zero. World stock markets are ignoring it. There has been no leak of a document. We need two things: (1) documentary evidence; (2) motive. We have neither. So, I see no cause. I see the effects as being disastrous for the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury. There is no description of how this holiday would work. Shutting down ATM's? Killing all credit card transactions? Stopping all commerce? If this happened, the economy would collapse. How would that be good for the large banks? I want detailed answers. Here is my assumption: If a policy is not good for the large banks, it's not going to be announced or implemented. ? 2005-2009 GaryNorth.Com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited. > Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 05:35:07 -0300 > From: nmgoro at gmail.com > To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu; marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu > Subject: [A-List] Devaluation of the USDollar? > > Some insist here that US is about to devaluate (strongly) its currency > within a few months. > > Anyone aware/interested/informed enough to give some hint on this list? > > -- > > N?stor Gorojovsky > El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 7504 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/5dfe7635/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 18:41:11 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:41:11 -0700 Subject: [A-List] [R-G] How the Israel lobby controls the U.S. In-Reply-To: <000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> References: <1766397279.5821681251315721401.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <7o7ghn$5o14cn@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> <000001ca2b37$df4f43f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Message-ID: At 12:10 PM 9/1/2009, Paul Wright wrote: >If AIPAC controls the US then why is Jonathan Pollard still >languishing in prison after 22 years for spying on the US for >Israel? Every Israeli government and many prominent Zionists have >sought his release to no avail. Pollard's prison sentence does not, by itself, establish the degree of influence of the Israeli government over policy and public opinion in the U.S. If Pollard were released, obviously it would anger a lot of American nationalist supremacists. Bearing in mind, the goals of the Israeli government are macro things like funding, and the cooperation of the US military and intelligence agencies, it's probably not something they can afford to push. There would be a price to pay. And again, considering their goals don't depend on the survival or wellbeing of its intelligence agents, let alone, the spies they might recruit in foreign countries, the decision seems to be a no-brainer, to let him rot in jail, He wouldn't be the first person to be forsaken, these governments are willing to see millions die. Why would they care about Pollard. And I doubt if spies, considering selling their countries' secrets, would be dissuaded by looking at the Pollard case. They probably think a lot about the general likelihood of getting caught, and the large numbers of past cases of guys who got busted. I *seriously* doubt that they expect AIPAC to rescue them. Todd -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1723 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090901/19a0805c/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Tue Sep 1 22:44:43 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 06:44:43 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Fwd: Jackson In-Reply-To: References: <1251858444.16085.33.camel@phollings-desktop> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Suzanne de Kuyper Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 6:42 AM Subject: Re: [A-List] Fwd: Jackson To: phollings at alum.mit.edu Peter: Jean Claude Paye wrote "La fin de l'Etat de droit" in French originally. The English title was as descriptive of the content as is the French title but from another angle, the process by which the United States of American is changing international as well as national laws. In effect the Americans took the Engish publication off the market until 2007 after they had forced the EU into signing international agreements setting the stage for new U S war laws to take precidence over EU laws. The title was changed as well to a relatively generic one "Global War on Liberty" global war being an overused American terrorist mindset phrase. In 2008 I seemed to find that the translation was pulled from the market to the extent one could only get second hand copies that were brand new. Telos Publishing of NYC, NY translation by James Membrez, revised and updated from the 2004 versiion in December 2006. www.telospress.com Publisher, the original one, La Dispute, Paris The New York times review of books may be a source for you as well. An interesting corrollary is that Akhurst's law book updated normally every year to be used teaching International Human rights Laws in law schools acros the E U is totally unavailable except the 1997 version, the version for 2007 may come out in 2010, maybe not. The 2008 version may not be printed at all....no booksellers or importers of books knew as of November of last year here of any availability of this vital and brilliant teaching tool. Since E U law has changed dramaticly just most are not yet aware of it, the book may be more available, but I doubt it and predict it will become, as well as his other writings, less avaiable. Maybe not. Sucess suzannedk at gmail.com On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Peter Hollings wrote: > Suzanne -- > > Your mention of Paye caught my interest. I have only been able to find his > writings in French & an Italian translation. Could you please point me to > his articles, a review or a similar discussion of his work in English? > > Thanks, > > Peter Hollings > > > On Tue, 2009-09-01 at 12:44 +0200, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > > "Spies for Hire", "Global War on Liberty"by J C Paye. The Paye book is the > blueprint, the definitive study written first in 2004 and withheld from > European publication in English until late 2007, then in tiny amounts, > unreveiwed, but once. > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3784 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090902/6cf5f499/attachment.txt From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Wed Sep 2 19:48:52 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:48:52 +0900 Subject: [A-List] It's Time for a New Monetary System Message-ID: <20090903104852.d57e0144.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Obama Economic Program Increases America's Bondage to Wall Street Billionaires by Richard C Cook Dandelion Salad richardccook.com (March 23 2009) This article previews the author's new six-part video series scheduled for release April 2: "Credit as a Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis". The Obama administration is spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to persuade the banking system to restart lending. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to create hundreds of billions more of new bank reserves by purchasing mortgage-related debt. With Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner working together, "the initiative will seek to entice private investors, including big hedge funds, to participate by offering billions of dollars in low-interest loans to finance the purchases. The government will share the risks if the assets fall further in price." (Martin Crutsinger, AP) Finally, President Obama is taking over the distinction of being the biggest Keynesian in history with a fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.75 trillion. The cancer of debt grows by the day. According to Michael Hodges' famed "Grandfather Economic Report": "America has become more a debt 'junkie' than ever before, with total debt of $57 trillion, and the highest debt ratio in history. That's $186,717 per man, woman and child." With the federal bailouts of the financial system and the recession, the debt load has increased by $4 trillion in the last six months. What are we going to do with even more debt coming? The growth in debt will be impossible for households to deal with when more then half a million jobs are still being lost per month. Impossible too for US businesses when the drop-off of consumer spending reflects not only job loss but also a new propensity to actually save a portion of our earnings after the mortgage-based spending spree of the last decade. The debt will be more possible to bear perhaps for the Treasury Department, which has benefited from investors searching for a safe haven so still being willing to buy Treasury bonds. This includes Treasury's biggest current customer, the Bank of China. Yet what does it say when the government can open its doors in the morning only if the Chinese give us permission? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Beijing in February to be sure they still looked on us with favor and returned home to assure the president they did. But is this any way to run a country? Why can't the most productive nation on earth afford to pay for its own government? The Obama economic program, which so-called progressives call "revolutionary", will take us further away from, not closer to, real solutions. The massive new debt it creates can only be enforced by the courts, the police, and ultimately military power. Within the US, the authorities are preparing for civil unrest. Overseas, "dollar hegemony", the system by which nations like China continue to enable our massive debt, is increasingly unstable as the world bails on the dollar as its reserve currency. When is anyone in authority going to utter the unutterable, which is that our financial collapse ultimately goes back to the fact that every dollar in circulation derives from a loan made by a bank to a producer, consumer, or the government, and that all these loans have attached to them a rental charge known as interest which is paid to the bankers' monopoly? When will someone admit that the government's economic recovery plan is a welfare program for Wall Street billionaires? We live and work under a debt-based monetary system that has been in force since Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. It's how the system works. The government goes into debt, and the banking system then uses it as a reserve base for lending to the public. It wasn't always this way. In the 19th century, until the Civil War, the government lived within its means. President Thomas Jefferson balanced the federal budget for eight consecutive years, and President Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt. Back then the government issued currency based on gold and silver, and the US mint stamped precious metals into coinage for anyone who brought it through the door. Local commerce was fueled by a system of state and local banks operating on the "real bills" doctrine. Inflation was virtually unknown, and unpaid debt led swiftly to bankruptcy and a sheriff's sale. When the Civil War began, President Lincoln needed money fast. The New York bankers offered outrageous terms: interest at 24 to 34 percent. So Lincoln was authorized by Congress to print and spend Greenback money directly into circulation. Contrary to later propaganda, the Greenbacks were not inflationary. They were upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutional and remained in circulation until the early 20th century. They even spawned the Greenback Party that elected members of Congress and ran candidates for president. But the bankers, by now centered on Wall Street, gained a foothold with the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864, where the banks were allowed to purchase Treasury bonds as a lending reserve. Currency issued by the state and local banks with their hard money reserves were taxed out of existence. In 1913 the bankers' trap snapped shut when the Federal Reserve System came into existence. After World War One, the currency inflated so much that the value of both the Greenbacks and coinage were destroyed. A monetary system based on bank lending means constant cycles of inflation and deflation. The banks create these financial bubbles then destroy them, always to their profit. In the 19th century, the deflations were called "panics". The Great Depression was a bank-created panic on an unprecedented scale. The collapse of 2008 and 2009 is the panic we're in now, but with plenty of assets on the market at fire-sale prices for those rich enough to cash in. For instance, there was a lot of hand-wringing when Citigroup's stock dropped to $1 a share. But those who could still buy-in saw their holdings triple in value when the stock rose to $3 a share a few days later. The solution is not to restart huge amounts of bank lending in order to create new bubbles. Unfortunately, the Obama budget is an attempt to create such a bubble based on Treasury securities. But this bubble too will likely collapse, because there is no economic engine on the horizon strong enough to pay the debt that will be used to inflate it. The next collapse could even lead to a world war if China and other creditor nations, possibly including those of Europe, decide to enforce their claims against us. But economists, politicians, and others who say there is no immediate solution lie. They just don't want to tell us what the solution is. It's to get rid of the debt-based monetary system altogether and return to one controlled by our representative government where a substantial amount of money is spent directly without borrowing or taxation. A Greenback system for the 21st Century is contained in the draft American Monetary Act developed by the American Monetary Institute and briefed to a number of members of Congress and congressional staffers. A Greenback-type currency would be regulated to support the needs of the real producing economy, not bank speculation, and could be used to pay off the national debt, supplement taxes to pay federal expenses, capitalize a new federal infrastructure bank, or fund alternative energy research and development. A currency based on real US money would replace debt-derived Federal Reserve Notes. It doesn't matter whether that currency is paper, gold, or electronic entries. What is important is that it exists in the right amount to conduct the business of the nation, is non-counterfeitable, is not misused for speculation, and does not have debt or interest attached to it. The Federal Reserve would remain as a processor and clearinghouse, but not a bank of issue. Greenbacks could also be used for a basic income guarantee for citizens that would restart the economy at the grassroots level much more effectively than government top-down job creation based on more Treasury deficits. The need for consumers to borrow from banks or use credit cards even for necessities like groceries and health care would sharply decrease. I have proposed such a program through the Cook Plan that would provide citizens with a dividend in the form of vouchers in the amount of $1,000 a month. The vouchers could be used to capitalize a new network of community savings banks that would lend at the local level. There is a good chance that the American Monetary Act will be introduced during the current session of Congress. It should be supported by anyone who cares about the future of our nation more than bankers' profits. (c) 2009 by Richard C. Cook Richard C Cook is a former U.S Treasury analyst who also worked in the Carter White House and for NASA and writes on public policy issues. His new book is We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform (Tendril Press 2009). His website is http://www.richardccook.com. He is a member of the US Basic Income Guarantee Network and has been an adviser to Congressman Dennis Kucinich and the American Monetary Institute http://www.monetary.org Also See: The US Economy: Designed to Fail by Richard C Cook http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/the-us-economy-designed-to-fail-by-richard-c-cook/ The Cook Plan (video) http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-cook-plan-video/ Bailout for the People: "The Cook Plan" by Richard C. Cook http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/bailout-for-the-people-the-cook-plan-by-richard-c-cook-2/ Restoring our Financial Sovereignty: A New Monetary System by Nikki Alexander http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/restoring-our-financial-sovereignty-a-new-monetary-system-by-nikki-alexander/ The Intentional Destruction of the Dollar by Josh Sidman http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/the-intentional-destruction-of-the-dollar-by-josh-sidman/ Federal Reserve http://en.wordpress.com/tag/federal-reserve-on-dandelion-salad/ Barack Obama http://en.wordpress.com/tag/barack-obama-on-dandelion-salad/ The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2 http://wordpress.com/tag/the-economy-sucks-and-or-collapse-2/ http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/obama-economic-program-increases-americas-bondage-to-wall-street-billionaires-by-richard-c-cook/ http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From tal1 at cogeco.ca Thu Sep 3 00:25:04 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 02:25:04 -0400 Subject: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System In-Reply-To: <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> References: <20090827102931.23bef446.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp><5A4E2C931DD04990AEC4EBB5B46DB4AC@TonyPC> <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> Message-ID: <37A523D7464445BEBD00D44E66B24BBC@TonyPC> ...Been busy today (Wed.)..I'll attempt to respond to this, hopefully, on Thur.... T. ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Vertegaal" To: "The A-List" Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 10:58 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System > Sorry to have confused you Tony by my use of the term "positive". It just > simply means the opposite of negative and was used by a Marxian PhD > economist on another list in a discussion with me; whereby he expressed > his conviction that the monetary value of capital (M) is positive rather > than negative. In other words, he was expressing that when M -> C -> M' > factually happens, and M' subsequently gets appropriated by those who did > the actual creating, it all took place on the positive side of the scale. > > If it were indeed so simple, as empirical observation makes us believe it > is, how come it is impossible to define (M)? The fact is that Marxian > economists, in spite of using (M) all the time as if they know what it is, > don't really know what the hell they are talking about. It's nothing more > than an article of faith; there is nothing scientific about Marxian > economics. They are in the exact same rudderless boat as mainstream > economists with their notion of the necessary build-up of capital; for > mainstream economists cannot define capital either. > > Like most, if not all on this list, you don't strike me as someone who > likes to be captivated by dogma. So given you really want to get to the > bottom of this, it becomes necessary to descend a level. Instead of making > the notion of (M) axiomatic, let's make the meaning of "the economy" > axiomatic and define capital in its terms. Unfortunately, being mere > mortals, absoluteness is out of the question for us and this is the very > best we can do. By asserting as articles of faith WHAT the economy is, WHY > it exists and WHO is supposed to benefit from it all, we isolate it from > our natural world, imputing resources from and extracting wealth into > exogeneity. Now, if someone would disagree with this newly derived > definition of capital, they'll have to come up with a reason why any of > those three axioms are inapplicable; which I don't think can be done. > > In order to keep track of who is entitled to what final output, in a > vertically integrated economy with countless feedback loops within that > integration, a double-entry system of accounts becomes indispensable. But > guess what, as a resolving system it has to net to zero _over_ time; this > means that at any point _in_ time, all individual entries are notional > only. Demand (or your "need") determines ex post the values of all supply > factors. Up until that time the latter are indeterminate. > > Gone is the "power" of capital. To the system as a whole, in terms of the > economy's accounting system, capital becomes a to be resolved debt; a > negative that, if all goes well and the system doesn't crash, becomes > resolved over time to zero. And as such it is totally powerless to create > such things as profits. Although profit setting is indispensable to deal > with the "learned from having done" increased output per cost of unit > input (we can't all get remunerated piecemeal wise), there is no physical > connection to any capital whatsoever. Universal profit sharing is the > obvious answer to deal with productivity increases, with the > not-for-profit sector benefiting through matched wage increases in a > lagged fashion. > > The proof that this concept isn't so outlandish after all, comes to the > fore by applying the reductio ad absurdum thought experiment of a single > owner of all capital. Remember the truism that all successful businesses > need to pass on their incurred costs to a level further down, while adding > a profit. So now the question becomes: after all cost-source incomes have > canceled one another out on the retail level, where could profits possibly > come from? Or, the more significant point at hand here, where has the > inherent "power" of fixed capital to create profits, disappeared to? As > long as the ultimate goal of capital is to enhance living standards, an > inherent anterior "positive" value of capital simply isn't there. No > wonder it cannot be found by Marxians nor by the mainstream. > > So there you have it Tony. Nothing you said in your original narrative > goes against any of what I said above. Thus I sympathize with Marxist > extra-economic ideals. It just doesn't jive with what Marxians (as > economists) _believe_ capital values to stand for. The only hope we'll > ever have to get rid of capitalism once and for all, is by showing why its > values are chimerical; not by validating those values with threatening > their appropriation. How all this ties in with the concept of government > spending money into circulation as proposed by na?ve currency reformers is > perhaps the subject for another post. > > John V > > > > Tony B. wrote: >> John, >> >> I must admit to being a tad confused on just what you are asking...(You >> start by saying "All very true" but then end by saying I'm contradicting >> myself). I am not an economist by trade so you must forgive my ignorance >> here. Are you suggesting that by a 'value' oriented political/economy I'm >> dispensing with any grounding in raw economic 'fact'? (Hardly. Naturally, >> both objective as well as subjective factors interpentrate in any >> political economy)...Or ...well, in any case... if you could fill out >> your critique a tad I'll try and answer it. >> >> In the meantime, however, let me at least respond with a few thoughts >> that came to mind upon seeing the reference, 'positive value M'. >> >> If memory serves 'positive value' economics was formerly known as >> 'value-free' economics, and was a mainstay, indeed, is the bread and >> butter of neoclassical economics and, in particular, 'neoliberal' >> economic philosophy. The most famous exponent of such, of course, is >> Milton Friedman, whom I have taken the liberty of quoting (from >> 'Capitalism and Freedom') below: >> >> "The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials >> . . . have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the interest of >> their stockholders . . . This view shows a fundamental misconception of >> the character and nature of a free economy. In such an economy, there is >> one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources >> and to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as >> it stays within the rules of the game . . . Few trends could so >> thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the >> acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than >> to make as much money for their stockholders as possible (Friedman, 1982, >> p. 133)." >> >> So here we have the godfather of 'value free' economics making his case. >> Now what is eminently clear from the 40 year experiment of neoliberal >> economics is just how fatuous he is, and how duplicitous, hypocritical, >> diabolical..and just plain inept...was the experiment he engineered. The >> entire Friedmanite project has, in fact, been nothing but a *value laden* >> ideology from start to finish. An ideology, moreover, in favour of >> pillage and plunder and backed up by imperial murder on the grand scale. >> Indeed, a fine expose of this record can be found in Naomi Klein's, 'The >> Shock Doctrine' (which is, more or less, dedicated to it). If you haven't >> read it already, I recommend it. >> >> In short, 'positive value' economics..as it has actually been >> practised...has been hoisted by its own empirical petard...though at the >> cost, one must quickly add, of ten if not hundreds of millions of lives >> lost, ruined, immiserated etc. So much for 'value free'....and all in the >> aid of the transfer of global wealth to elite groups. >> >> All of this brings to mind my early student days studying political >> philosophy. It was then that I was surprised, upon reading conservative >> theorists, to find myself in agreement with some of their fundamental >> principles, i.e. the value of tradition, the distrust and danger of >> radical breaks with such etc. But then I realized, after actually >> *looking* at the world, that conservative political philosophy was *in >> practice* mainly deployed in the defense (indeed, the defense 'to the >> death') ....of power and privelege. Period. Full Stop. So, I reasoned, >> likely the only people who could ever benefit from conservative >> principles would, in fact, be those who, in seeking to overthrow 'power >> and privelege', might want to pause to remember not to throw out the baby >> with the bathwater, i.e. to trample underfoot those elements of tradition >> and traditional political culture that had true value and could be a >> steadying influence in the construction of any future 'utopia'. >> >> Tony > > From rasherrs at eircom.net Wed Sep 2 03:08:19 2009 From: rasherrs at eircom.net (Paddy Hackett) Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 10:08:19 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Bank Nationalisation Message-ID: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> For the working class the debate over whether to nationalize Irish banks or support NAMA is a false debate. It is a debate that has been whipped up by the bourgeois media and a substantial component of the bourgeois political establishment together with sections of the radical left. Neither NAMA nor nationalisation can serve the class interests of the working class. Either policy is essentially bourgeois in character. Consequently the debate is really a debate within the bourgeoisie as to what option best suits its class interests. Much of the Irish Left support nationalization. Some with the qualification of nationalization under workers' control. But such qualifications make little difference to the essential nature of the policy of nationalization as a bourgeois policy. Under capitalism the workers can never control the banks. It is a contradiction to suggest that banks can be controlled by the working class. By definition workers can never nationalise the banks under workers' control. They can only annihilate them by destroying capitalism without which banks cannot exist. The planned march for the month of September against NAMA is an attempt to organize the working class around the wrong issues --an issue from which the working class have nothing ultimately to gain. It is similar to organising a march against the Fianna Fail party and for the Fine Gael party. The left that promotes this march are playing the working class right into the hands of capitalism by rallying the workers around an issue that is about the class interests of the bourgeoisie and thereby against the class interests of workers. There is a strategy afoot by People before Profits and the Socialist Party to misdirect the working class into a struggle against itself. The prospective NAMA march is just this. Mass marches should have been held months ago against the income levy --admittedly there was the odd isolated protest in the absence of the general active support from the trade union leadership as a whole. The ICTU and other elements within the labour movement successfully obstructed attempts to organise a mass strike and demonstration. This was a decisive piece of treachery. It has seriously weakened the working class struggle. There need to be rallies and other forms of mass activity against the cut back in the living standards of the working class. A gigantic rally is needed to express popular opposition to the forthcoming slash and burn budget. Protests, rallies and strikes need to be linked into each other to create a continuum of struggle culminating in mass opposition to the forthcoming budget. Slogans expressing the class interests of the working class are needed. If old age pensioners can "successfully" organize against the abolition of the free medical cards for OAPs swiftly then the labour organizations can surely organize at least as swiftly against the income levy and many other class issues. So far the Irish state and its bourgeoisie have had an easy run. There has been minimal resistance to the crassly anti-working class policies of Fianna Fail and the Greens. If anything the bourgeois left have been at most fertilising the conditions for alternate capitalist parties gaining power -Fine Gael and Labour et al. Paddy Hackett My blog address: http://paddy-hackett.blogspot.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3793 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090902/37c819fb/attachment.txt From noreply at coha.org Wed Sep 2 12:06:58 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:06:58 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Winners and Losers at UNASUR Message-ID: <20090902180620.EC9763E4B32@mx-out2.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3844 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090902/5b97a181/attachment.txt From PeterHollings at comcast.net Thu Sep 3 06:40:38 2009 From: PeterHollings at comcast.net (Peter Hollings) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:40:38 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Jackson In-Reply-To: References: <1251858444.16085.33.camel@phollings-desktop> Message-ID: <1251981638.16085.94.camel@phollings-desktop> Thanks, Suzanne -- (I was able to find more on Paye using the Yahoo search engine. What I have noticed recently is that, whereas Google may show next to nothing on certain topics, I am successful with other search engines.) We are all familiar with insults to human rights such as the wiretapping, or torture, conducted by the Bush administration. What caught my interest in your comments on Paye is that he documented this as a part of a larger pattern of abuses extending both temporally and internationally and that he did this with the seriousness and rigor of an academic. While Paye does this by an analysis of changes in the legal system, it appears that this is just one aspect of a larger pattern. For example, see the work of the International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance (e.g., "The Emergence of a Global Structure for Mass Registration and Surveillance": http://www.hollings.org/Content/ICAMS-TheEmergenceOfAGlobalInfrastructureForMassRegistrationAndSurveillance.pdf ), or a study done by the European Union Parliament "An Appraisal of Technologies for Political Control" ( http://www.hollings.org/Content/EUParliament-AnAppraisalOfTechnologiesOfPoliticalControl.pdf ). Another interesting work, although lacking the rigor of the other studies, makes up for it in the comprehensiveness of its picture: Nield's "Police State Road Map" ( http://www.hollings.org/Content/Nield-PoliceStateRoadMap.pdf ). What comes out of this all seems to me an emerging new dark age that would return humanity to conditions before the Magna Carta. To those with an "accidentalist" view of history, I would ask how likely such a pattern of unpopular changes in disparate fields of law, registration, surveillance, political control, etc., could emerge simultaneously and within multiple countries, particularly given that many of these changes began before 9-11? More concretely, do we suppose that it just by accident that we got all the traffic cameras springing up simultaneously across the United States and the UK? An extended review of Paye's "Global War on Liberty" is at http://www.hollings.org/Content/Debrix-JeanClaudePaye% 27sGlobalWarOnLiberty.pdf . Peter On Wed, 2009-09-02 at 06:42 +0200, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > Peter: > > > > Jean Claude Paye wrote "La fin de l'Etat de droit" in French > originally. The English title was as descriptive of the content as is > the French title but from another angle, the process by which the > United States of American is changing international as well as > national laws. In effect the Americans took the Engish publication > off the market until 2007 after they had forced the EU into signing > international agreements setting the stage for new U S war laws to > take precidence over EU laws. The title was changed as well to a > relatively generic one "Global War on Liberty" global war being an > overused American terrorist mindset phrase. > > > In 2008 I seemed to find that the translation was pulled from the > market to the extent one could only get second hand copies that were > brand new. > > > Telos Publishing of NYC, NY translation by James Membrez, revised and > updated from the 2004 versiion in December 2006. www.telospress.com > > > Publisher, the original one, La Dispute, Paris > > > The New York times review of books may be a source for you as well. > > > An interesting corrollary is that Akhurst's law book updated normally > every year to be used teaching International Human rights Laws in law > schools acros the E U is totally unavailable except the 1997 version, > the version for 2007 may come out in 2010, maybe not. The 2008 > version may not be printed at all....no booksellers or importers of > books knew as of November of last year here of any availability of > this vital and brilliant teaching tool. > > > Since E U law has changed dramaticly just most are not yet aware of > it, the book may be more available, but I doubt it and predict it will > become, as well as his other writings, less avaiable. Maybe not. > Sucess > > > suzannedk at gmail.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Peter Hollings > wrote: > > Suzanne -- > > Your mention of Paye caught my interest. I have only been able > to find his writings in French & an Italian translation. Could > you please point me to his articles, a review or a similar > discussion of his work in English? > > Thanks, > > Peter Hollings > > > > > > On Tue, 2009-09-01 at 12:44 +0200, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > > > "Spies for Hire", "Global War on Liberty"by J C Paye. The > > Paye book is the blueprint, the definitive study written > > first in 2004 and withheld from European publication in > > English until late 2007, then in tiny amounts, unreveiwed, > > but once. > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 7387 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/0d2968ff/attachment.txt From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Thu Sep 3 11:36:09 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:36:09 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Jackson In-Reply-To: <1251981638.16085.94.camel@phollings-desktop> References: <1251858444.16085.33.camel@phollings-desktop> <1251981638.16085.94.camel@phollings-desktop> Message-ID: <4A9FFE89.5070404@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Traffic cameras? No... They're ADMITTEDLY surveillance cameras. Here's a New York map (PDF). http://www.mediaeater.com/cameras/maps/nyc.pdf Increase the magnigfication and you can see HOW they managed to gentrify the old Puerto Rican inhabited slum areas on the Lower East Side. There must be a camera every 50 feet. Leigh Peter Hollings wrote: > Thanks, Suzanne -- > > (I was able to find more on Paye using the Yahoo search engine. What I > have noticed recently is that, whereas Google may show next to nothing > on certain topics, I am successful with other search engines.) > > We are all familiar with insults to human rights such as the > wiretapping, or torture, conducted by the Bush administration. What > caught my interest in your comments on Paye is that he documented this > as a part of a larger pattern of abuses extending both temporally and > internationally and that he did this with the seriousness and rigor of > an academic. While Paye does this by an analysis of changes in the legal > system, it appears that this is just one aspect of a larger pattern. For > example, see the work of the International Campaign Against Mass > Surveillance (e.g., "The Emergence of a Global Structure for Mass > Registration and Surveillance": > http://www.hollings.org/Content/ICAMS-TheEmergenceOfAGlobalInfrastructureForMassRegistrationAndSurveillance.pdf > ), or a study done by the European Union Parliament "An Appraisal of > Technologies for Political Control" ( > http://www.hollings.org/Content/EUParliament-AnAppraisalOfTechnologiesOfPoliticalControl.pdf > ). Another interesting work, although lacking the rigor of the other > studies, makes up for it in the comprehensiveness of its picture: > Nield's "Police State Road Map" ( > http://www.hollings.org/Content/Nield-PoliceStateRoadMap.pdf ). What > comes out of this all seems to me an emerging new dark age that would > return humanity to conditions before the Magna Carta. To those with an > "accidentalist" view of history, I would ask how likely such a pattern > of unpopular changes in disparate fields of law, registration, > surveillance, political control, etc., could emerge simultaneously and > within multiple countries, particularly given that many of these changes > began before 9-11? More concretely, do we suppose that it just by > accident that we got all the traffic cameras springing up simultaneously > across the United States and the UK? > > An extended review of Paye's "Global War on Liberty" is at > http://www.hollings.org/Content/Debrix-JeanClaudePaye%27sGlobalWarOnLiberty.pdf > . > > > Peter > > > On Wed, 2009-09-02 at 06:42 +0200, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: >> Peter: >> >> >> Jean Claude Paye wrote "La fin de l'Etat de droit" in French >> originally. The English title was as descriptive of the content as is >> the French title but from another angle, the process by which the >> United States of American is changing international as well as >> national laws. In effect the Americans took the Engish publication >> off the market until 2007 after they had forced the EU into signing >> international agreements setting the stage for new U S war laws to >> take precidence over EU laws. The title was changed as well to a >> relatively generic one "Global War on Liberty" global war being an >> overused American terrorist mindset phrase. >> >> >> In 2008 I seemed to find that the translation was pulled from the >> market to the extent one could only get second hand copies that were >> brand new. >> >> >> Telos Publishing of NYC, NY translation by James Membrez, revised and >> updated from the 2004 versiion in December 2006. www.telospress.com >> >> >> >> Publisher, the original one, La Dispute, Paris >> >> >> The New York times review of books may be a source for you as well. >> >> >> An interesting corrollary is that Akhurst's law book updated normally >> every year to be used teaching International Human rights Laws in law >> schools acros the E U is totally unavailable except the 1997 version, >> the version for 2007 may come out in 2010, maybe not. The 2008 >> version may not be printed at all....no booksellers or importers of >> books knew as of November of last year here of any availability of >> this vital and brilliant teaching tool. >> >> >> Since E U law has changed dramaticly just most are not yet aware of >> it, the book may be more available, but I doubt it and predict it will >> become, as well as his other writings, less avaiable. Maybe not. >> Sucess >> >> >> suzannedk at gmail.com >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Peter Hollings >> > wrote: >> >> Suzanne -- >> >> Your mention of Paye caught my interest. I have only been able to >> find his writings in French & an Italian translation. Could you >> please point me to his articles, a review or a similar discussion >> of his work in English? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Peter Hollings >> >> >> >> >> >> On Tue, 2009-09-01 at 12:44 +0200, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: >>> "Spies for Hire", "Global War on Liberty"by J C Paye. The Paye >>> book is the blueprint, the definitive study written first in 2004 >>> and withheld from European publication in English until late >>> 2007, then in tiny amounts, unreveiwed, but once. >> >> >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqf/oYACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFzKWwCdFec8N3nQd0NtiMncd3OVz8LY B5cAoK/x2tNcmrDOrLRORP+XvTKzgsRx =DEUn -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From noreply at coha.org Thu Sep 3 10:08:58 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 12:08:58 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Transforming Brazil's Slums Doesn't Mean "Disappearing" Them Message-ID: <20090903160814.343563E47C9@mx-out.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3832 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/2296b134/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Thu Sep 3 11:59:34 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:59:34 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Bank Nationalisation In-Reply-To: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> References: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> Message-ID: After "capitalism" is destroyed, how would humanity organize its economic activities? Would there still be a medium of exchange? As long as you have people buying and selling with money, it's a pandoras box. Even if you have a scheme where planning and organization is done by direct weights and measures, schedules, hours of work, etc. you still have somewhat of a pandoras box. Picture the same people, running the schedules, allocating the outputs of the services, goods, utilities. etc. Once you admit, there is not infinite oil, electricity, surgical care or whatever- there is a problem of allocation of output. Once you admit that there are *some* numbers of freeloarders like me, and the banksters, and once you admit there may be insufficient people willing to do hard work like paving highways, fishing in the arctic, mining, farming, etc. as in the United States, something has to be done about that shortage of labor. SO, you're back to a money system or a command system. Pick your poison. Todd At 02:08 AM 9/2/2009, Paddy Hackett wrote: >For the working class the debate over whether to nationalize Irish >banks or support NAMA is a false debate. It is a debate that has >been whipped up by the bourgeois media and a substantial component >of the bourgeois political establishment together with sections of >the radical left. Neither NAMA nor nationalisation can serve the >class interests of the working class. Either policy is essentially >bourgeois in character. Consequently the debate is really a debate >within the bourgeoisie as to what option best suits its class >interests. Much of the Irish Left support nationalization. Some with >the qualification of nationalization under workers' control. But >such qualifications make little difference to the essential nature >of the policy of nationalization as a bourgeois policy. Under >capitalism the workers can never control the banks. It is a >contradiction to suggest that banks can be controlled by the working >class. By definition workers can never nationalise the banks under >workers' control. They can only annihilate them by destroying >capitalism without which banks cannot exist. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 2366 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f7cf6be6/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Thu Sep 3 11:59:34 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:59:34 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Bank Nationalisation In-Reply-To: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> References: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> Message-ID: After "capitalism" is destroyed, how would humanity organize its economic activities? Would there still be a medium of exchange? As long as you have people buying and selling with money, it's a pandoras box. Even if you have a scheme where planning and organization is done by direct weights and measures, schedules, hours of work, etc. you still have somewhat of a pandoras box. Picture the same people, running the schedules, allocating the outputs of the services, goods, utilities. etc. Once you admit, there is not infinite oil, electricity, surgical care or whatever- there is a problem of allocation of output. Once you admit that there are *some* numbers of freeloarders like me, and the banksters, and once you admit there may be insufficient people willing to do hard work like paving highways, fishing in the arctic, mining, farming, etc. as in the United States, something has to be done about that shortage of labor. SO, you're back to a money system or a command system. Pick your poison. Todd At 02:08 AM 9/2/2009, Paddy Hackett wrote: >For the working class the debate over whether to nationalize Irish >banks or support NAMA is a false debate. It is a debate that has >been whipped up by the bourgeois media and a substantial component >of the bourgeois political establishment together with sections of >the radical left. Neither NAMA nor nationalisation can serve the >class interests of the working class. Either policy is essentially >bourgeois in character. Consequently the debate is really a debate >within the bourgeoisie as to what option best suits its class >interests. Much of the Irish Left support nationalization. Some with >the qualification of nationalization under workers' control. But >such qualifications make little difference to the essential nature >of the policy of nationalization as a bourgeois policy. Under >capitalism the workers can never control the banks. It is a >contradiction to suggest that banks can be controlled by the working >class. By definition workers can never nationalise the banks under >workers' control. They can only annihilate them by destroying >capitalism without which banks cannot exist. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 2366 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/fbb15e07/attachment.txt From nscchicago at igc.org Thu Sep 3 15:42:59 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 16:42:59 -0500 Subject: [A-List] HONDURAS - PHOTOS AND CLIPS - US POLICY IS NOT GOOD Message-ID: <7ACD6DBFB8EC466E942D1056644497F7@NSCCHICAGO> Tom Baker here forwarding reports on US policy towards Honduras. Don't think we wonder anymore what game they're playing. Also youtube links with photos from the streets of Tegucigalpa. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 951 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/74c8f832/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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From: "kathy hoyt" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Footage from Honduras / Imagenes de Honduras Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:57:03 -0700 Size: 10384 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/74c8f832/attachment-0005.eml From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Thu Sep 3 19:12:36 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 10:12:36 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Anti-Empire Report Message-ID: <20090904101236.3277f781.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by William Blum www.killinghope.org (September 02 2009) "And on the most exalted throne in the world sits nothing but a man's arse". -- Montaigne If there's anyone out there who is not already thoroughly cynical about those on the board of directors of the planet, the latest chapter in the saga of the bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland might just be enough to push them over the edge. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted for the December 21 1988 bombing, was released from his Scottish imprisonment August 21 supposedly because of his terminal cancer and sent home to Libya, where he received a hero's welcome. President Obama said that the jubilant welcome Megrahi received was "highly objectionable". His White House spokesman Robert Gibbs added that the welcoming scenes in Libya were "outrageous and disgusting". British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "angry and repulsed", while his foreign secretary, David Miliband, termed the celebratory images "deeply upsetting". Miliband warned: "How the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's reentry into the civilized community of nations". {1} Ah yes, "the civilized community of nations", that place we so often hear about but so seldom get to actually see. American officials, British officials, and Scottish officials know that Megrahi is innocent. They know that Iran financed the PFLP-GC, a Palestinian group, to carry out the bombing with the cooperation of Syria, in retaliation for the American naval ship, the Vincennes, shooting down an Iranian passenger plane in July of the same year, which took the lives of more people than did the 103 bombing. And it should be pointed out that the Vincennes captain, plus the officer in command of air warfare, and the crew were all awarded medals or ribbons afterward. {2} No one in the US government or media found this objectionable or outrageous, or disgusting or repulsive. The United States has always insisted that the shooting down of the Iranian plane was an "accident". Why then give awards to those responsible? Today's oh-so-civilized officials have known of Megrahi's innocence since 1989. The Scottish judges who found Megrahi guilty know he's innocent. They admit as much in their written final opinion. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigated Megrahi's trial, knows it. They stated in 2007 that they had uncovered six separate grounds for believing the conviction may have been a miscarriage of justice, clearing the way for him to file a new appeal of his case. [3] The evidence for all this is considerable. And most importantly, there is no evidence that Megrahi was involved in the act of terror. The first step of the alleged crime, sine qua non - loading the bomb into a suitcase at the Malta airport - for this there was no witness, no video, no document, no fingerprints, nothing to tie Megrahi to the particular brown Samsonite suitcase, no past history of terrorism, no forensic evidence of any kind linking him to such an act. And the court admitted it: "The absence of any explanation of the method by which the primary suitcase might have been placed on board KM180 [Air Malta to Frankfurt] is a major difficulty for the Crown case". {4} The scenario implicating Iran, Syria, and the PFLP-GC was the Original Official Version, endorsed by the US, UK, Scotland, even West Germany - guaranteed, sworn to, scout's honor, case closed - until the buildup to the Gulf War came along in 1990 and the support of Iran and Syria was needed for the broad Middle East coalition the United States was readying for the ouster of Iraq's troops from Kuwait. Washington was also anxious to achieve the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by groups close to Iran. Thus it was that the scurrying sound of backtracking could be heard in the corridors of the White House. Suddenly, in October 1990, there was a New Official Version: it was Libya - the Arab state least supportive of the US build-up to the Gulf War and the sanctions imposed against Iraq - that was behind the bombing after all, declared Washington. The two Libyans were formally indicted in the US and Scotland on November 14 1991. Within the next twenty days, the remaining four American hostages were released in Lebanon along with the most prominent British hostage, Terry Waite. {5} In order to be returned to Libya, Megrahi had to cancel his appeal. It was the appeal, not his health, that concerned the Brits and the Americans. Dr Jim Swire of Britain, whose daughter died over Lockerbie, is a member of UK Families Flight 103, which wants a public inquiry into the crash. "If he goes back to Libya", Swire says, "it will be a bitter pill to swallow, as an appeal would reveal the fallacies in the prosecution case ... I've lost faith in the Scottish criminal justice system, but if the appeal is heard, there is not a snowball's chance in hell that the prosecution case will survive". {6} And a reversal of the verdict would mean that the civilized and venerable governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would stand exposed as having lived a monumental lie for almost twenty years and imprisoned a man they knew to be innocent for eight years. The Sunday Times (London) recently reported: "American intelligence documents [of 1989, from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)] blaming Iran for the Lockerbie bombing would have been produced in court if the Libyan convicted of Britain's worst terrorist attack had not dropped his appeal". Added the Times: "The DIA briefing discounted Libya's involvement in the bombing on the basis that there was 'no current credible intelligence' implicating her". {7} If the three governments involved really believed that Megrahi was guilty of murdering 270 of their people, it's highly unlikely that they would have released their grip on him. Or is even that too much civilized behavior to expect. One final note: Many people are under the impression that Libyan Leader Moammar Qaddafi has admitted on more than one occasion to Libya's guilt in the PanAm 103 bombing. This is not so. Instead, he has stated that Libya would take "responsibility" for the crime. He has said this purely to get the heavy international sanctions against his country lifted. At various times, both he and his son have explicitly denied any Libyan role in the bombing. Humankind shall never fly All those angry people. Yelling at the president and members of Congress about how the proposed government health plan, and Obama himself, are "socialist". (See the poster of Obama as the Joker character from Batman with "Socialism" in large letters, as the only word. {8}) These good folks wanna get their health care through good ol' capitalism; better no health care at all than godless-atheist commie health care; better to see your child die than have her saved by a Marxist-Stalinist-collective doctor who works for the government. But these screaming, heckling Americans - like most of their countrymen - might be rather surprised to discover that they don't really believe what they think they believe. I wrote an essay several years ago, which is still perfectly applicable today, entitled "The United States invades, bombs, and kills for it, but do Americans really believe in free enterprise?" A common refrain, explicit or implicit, amongst the recent health-care hecklers is that the government can't do anything better or cheaper than private corporations. Studies, however, have clearly indicated otherwise. In 2003, US federal agencies examined 17,595 federal jobs and found civil servants to be superior to contractors 89 percent of the time. The following year, a study to determine whether 12,573 federal jobs could be done more efficiently by private contractors found in-house workers winning 91 percent of the time, according to an Office of Management and Budget report. And in 2005, a study of tens of thousands of government positions concluded that federal workers had won the job competitions more than eighty percent of the time. All these studies, it should be kept in mind, took place under the administration of George W Bush, who, upon taking office in 2001, declared it his top management priority that federal workers should compete with contractors for as many as 850,000 government jobs. {9} Thus, any pressure to influence the outcome of these studies would have been in the opposite direction - putting the outside contractors in the best light. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Boys of Capital have been chortling in their martinis about the death of socialism. The word has been banned from polite conversation. And they hope that no one will notice that every socialist experiment of any significance in the twentieth century - without exception - was either overthrown, invaded, corrupted, perverted, subverted, destabilized, or otherwise had life made impossible for it, by the United States and its allies. Not one socialist government or movement - from the Russian Revolution to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, from Communist China to the FMLN in El Salvador - not one was permitted to rise or fall solely on its own merits; not one was left secure enough to drop its guard against the all-powerful enemy abroad and freely and fully relax control at home. It's as if the Wright brothers' first experiments with flying machines all failed because the automobile interests sabotaged each test flight. And then the good and god-fearing folk of the world looked upon these catastrophes, nodded their heads wisely, and intoned solemnly: Humankind shall never fly. The continual selling of the Afghanistan war "But we must never forget", said President Obama recently, "this is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people." {10} Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the ultra-nationalist group whose members would not question such sentiments. Neither would most Americans, including many of those who express opposition to the war when polled. It's simple - We're fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. We're fighting the same people who attacked New York and Washington. Never mind that out of the tens of thousands the United States and its NATO front have killed in Afghanistan not one has been identified as having had anything to do with the events of September 11 2001. Never mind that the "plot to kill Americans" in 2001 was hatched in Germany and the United States at least as much as in Afghanistan. What is needed to plot to buy airline tickets and take flying lessons in the United States? A room with some chairs? What does "an even larger safe haven" mean? A larger room with more chairs? Perhaps a blackboard? Terrorists intent upon attacking the United States can meet almost anywhere, with Afghanistan probably being one of the worst places for them, given the American occupation. As to "plotting to do so again" ... there's no reason to assume that the United States has any concrete information of this, anymore than did Bush or Cheney who tried to scare us in the same way for more than seven years to enable them to carry out their agenda. There are many people in Afghanistan who deeply resent the US presence there and the drones that fly overhead and drop bombs on houses, wedding parties, and funerals. One doesn't have to be a member of al Qaeda to feel this way. There doesn't even have to be such a thing as a "member of al Qaeda". It tells us nothing that some of them can be called "al Qaeda". Almost every individual or group in that part of the world not in love with US foreign policy, which Washington wishes to stigmatize, is charged with being associated with, or being a member of, al Qaeda, as if there's a precise and meaningful distinction between people retaliating against American aggression while being a member of al Qaeda and people retaliating against American aggression while NOT being a member of al Qaeda; as if al Qaeda gives out membership cards to fit in your wallet, as if there are chapters of al Qaeda that put out a weekly newsletter and hold a potluck on the first Monday of each month. In any event, as in Iraq, the American "war on terrorism" in Afghanistan regularly and routinely creates new anti-American terrorists. This is scarcely in dispute even at the Pentagon. The only "necessity" that draws the United States to Afghanistan is the need for oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea area, the establishment of military bases in this country that is surrounded by the oil-rich Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf regions, and making it easier to watch and pressure next-door Iran. What more could any respectable imperialist nation desire? But the war against the Taliban can't be won. Except by killing everyone in Afghanistan. The United States should negotiate the pipelines with the Taliban, as the Clinton administration unsuccessfully tried to do, and then get out. The revolution was televised You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on skag [heroin] and skip out for beer during commercials. Because the revolution will not be televised ... There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news. The revolution will not be right back after a message. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised. These are some of the lines of Gil Scott-Heron's song that told people in the 1970s (which, I maintain, were just as '60ish as the fabled 1960s) that a revolution was coming, that they would no longer be able to live their normal daily life, that they should no longer want to live their normal daily life, that they would have to learn to be more serious about this thing they were always prattling about, this thing they called "revolution". Fast Forward to 2009 ... Gil Scott-Heron, now a ripe old 60, was recently interviewed by the Washington Post: WP: In the early 1970s, you came out with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", about the erosion of democracy in America. You all but predicted that there would be a revolution in which a brainwashed nation would come to its senses. What do you think now? Did we have a revolution? GS-H: Yes, the election of President Obama was the revolution. [11] Oh? So that's it? That's what we took clubs over our heads for? Tear gas, jail cells, and permanent police and FBI files? Published a million issues of the underground press? To get a president who doesn't have a revolutionary bone in his body? Not a muscle or nerve or tissue or organ that seriously questions cherished establishment beliefs concerning terrorism, permanent war, Israel, torture, marijuana, health care, and the primacy of profit over the environment and all else? Karl Marx is surely turning over in his London grave. If the modern counter-revolutionary United States had existed at the time of the American revolution, it would have crushed that revolution. And a colonial (white) Barack Obama would have worked diligently to achieve some sort of bi-partisan compromise with the King of England, telling him we need to look forward, not backward. Yugoslavia During 1998-1999, the United States used the Kosovo conflict to reaffirm its hegemonic role in Europe. US officials deliberately undercut a potential diplomatic solution to the Kosovo war; instead of using diplomacy to resolve the conflict, the United States sought a military solution in which NATO power could once again be demonstrated. The resulting air war, in 1999, succeeded in fully establishing the continued relevance of NATO, thus affirming US hegemony in Europe and undercutting European proclivities for foreign policy independence. -- David Gibbs, First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (2009) There's no issue of the recent past that has caused more friction internationally amongst those on the left than the question of what really took place in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. Gibbs' new book explores many of the myths surrounding this very complicated and controversial slice of history, particularly those dealing with the supposed humanitarian motivation behind the Western powers intervention and the many alleged Serbian atrocities. Notes 1. Washington Post, August 22 and August 26 2009 2. Newsweek magazine, July 13 1992 3. Sunday Herald (Scotland), August 17 2009 4. "Opinion of the Court", Paragraph 39, issued following the trial in the Hague in 2001 5. Read many further details about the case at http://killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm 6. The Independent (London daily), April 26 2009 7. Sunday Times (London), August 16 2009 8. Washington Post, August 06 2009, page C2 9. Washington Post, June 8 2005 and March 23 2006 for this citation plus the three studies mentioned 10. Talk given at VFW convention in Phoenix, Arizona, August 17 2009 11. Washington Post, August 26 2009 William Blum is the author of:- Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War Two (Common Courage Press, 1995) Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower (Zed Books, 2002) West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir (Soft Skull Press, 2002) Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire (Common Courage Press, 2004) Portions of the books can be read, and copies purchased, at http://www.killinghope.org and previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website. To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to bblum6 at aol.com with "add" in the subject line. I'd like your name and city in the message, but that's optional. I ask for your city only in case I'll be speaking in your area. Or put "remove" in the subject line to do the opposite. Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission. I'd appreciate it if the website were mentioned. http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer73.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 07:09:59 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 09:09:59 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Obama speech to students sparks new controversy Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909040609h4b371703i26782d526d7d0611@mail.gmail.com> Obama speech to students sparks new controversy By LIBBY QUAID and LINDA STEWART BALL, Associated Press Writers Libby Quaid And Linda Stewart Ball, Associated Press Writers 2 hrs 4 mins ago DALLAS ? When kids all across the country return to school Tuesday, some will see a welcoming message from President Barack Obama and some won't. Obama's planned address to students has touched off yet another confrontation with Republican critics, who have battered the White House over health care and now accuse the president of foisting a political agenda on children. The president will speak directly to students Tuesday about the need to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms across the country will be able to tune in. Schools don't have to show it. But districts across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to tune in. Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out. Some conservatives, driven by radio pundits and bloggers, are urging schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using the opportunity to promote a political agenda and is overstepping the boundaries of federal involvement in schools. "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education ? it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq." Arizona state schools superintendent Tom Horne, a Republican, said lesson plans for teachers created by Obama's Education Department "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach." The White House plans to release the speech online Monday so parents can read it. The president will deliver the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. "I think it's really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this," White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's simply a plea to students to really take their learning seriously. Find out what they're good at. Set goals. And take the school year seriously." She noted that President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991. Like Obama, Bush drew criticism, with Democrats accusing the Republican president of making the event into a campaign commercial. Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals." "That was inartfully worded, and we corrected it," Higginbottom said. In the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, the 54,000-student school district is not showing the 15- to 20-minute address but will make the video available later. PTA council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is "cutting out the parent" by speaking to kids during school hours. "Why can't a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?" Mendelsohn said. "Because that's what makes a powerful statement, when a parent is sitting there saying, 'This is what I dream for you. This is what I want you to achieve.'" Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said in an interview with the AP that he's "certainly not going to advise anybody not to send their kids to school that day." "Hearing the president speak is always a memorable moment," he said. But he also said he understood where the criticism was coming from. "Nobody seems to know what he's going to be talking about," Perry said. "Why didn't he spend more time talking to the local districts and superintendents, at least give them a heads-up about it?" Several other Texas districts have decided not to show the speech, although the district in Houston is leaving the decision up to individual school principals. In suburban Houston, the Cypress-Fairbanks district planned to show the address and has had its social studies teachers assemble a curriculum and activities for students. In Wisconsin, the Green Bay school district decided not to show the speech live and to let teachers decide individually whether to show it later. Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer said in a statement he was "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology." Despite his rhetoric, two of the larger Florida districts, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, plan to have classes watch the speech. Students whose parents object will not have to watch. The Minnesota Association of School Administrators is recommending against disrupting the first day of school to show the speech, but Minnesota's biggest teachers' union is urging schools to show it. Quincy, Ill., schools decided Thursday not to show the speech. Superintendent Lonny Lemon said phone calls "hit like a load of bricks" on Wednesday. One Idaho school superintendent, Murray Dalgleish of Council, urged people not to rush to judgment. "Is the president dictating to these kids? I don't think so," Dalgleish said. "He's trying to get out the same message we're trying to get out, which is, `You are in charge of your education.'" ___ Libby Quaid reported from Washington. Associated Press writers April Castro, Monica Rhor, Zinie Chen Sampson, Christine Armario, Jessie Bonner, Scott Bauer, Tim Talley, Martiga Lohn, Tammy Webber and Alan Zagier contributed to this report. From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 07:51:25 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:51:25 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Obama speech to students sparks new controversy In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909040609h4b371703i26782d526d7d0611@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909040609h4b371703i26782d526d7d0611@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4AA11B5D.60303@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The way I wrote it up yesterday in the morning news & commentary: In The News: Heading into the holiday weekend... That's what president Obama is doing with a trip to Camp David, and then back to Washington where he'll do a 'welcome back to school' message for US school children which the conservative talk show creepazoids think of as an attempt to brainwash the youth of America into being 'Socialist tools. (Hmmm... I don't see where the problem is?) Meanwhile: The State Department has a team on the ground in Kabul checking reports ("Fire Control" if you would) and video of an initiation party for contractors (ArmourGroup) with supervisors present. The parties had alcohol, which is forbidden, and perversely weird sexual overtones. "Secretary of State Clinton has ordered the inquiry into allegations of "deviant and lewd behaviour" Even as: Cost of War in Afghanistan $225,988,366,650 September 03 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: They're Republicans... That's What They Do... And That Makes Them "The Enemy" "All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." http://razedbywolves.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-03-2009-travus-t-hipp-morning.html or: http://www.archive.org/details/tth_090903 - From the day before, on a topic MUCH more important to America and it's children than a bunch of sick, self-centered "parents" (quotes intentional) attempting to censor what their children think (It won't work...): Bad ideas for state government revenue... The plan to close California State Parks would revert the land for 6 of them given by the federal government for that purpose back to the national domain. (In California, that WOULD be a boon for the massive numbers of homeless living in urban areas bordering on semi-rural or rural areas, as the feds would most likely pay as much attention to homeless 'cold-campers' (no fire... sleep & leave in the morning) in their forests as they pay to nickel bag pot deals.) Meanwhile, in Sacramento: "...police this morning were citing and moving homeless people from a downtown lot where a Sacramento attorney has allowed them to camp. . . About a dozen homeless people were on the site when police arrive, but police counted 33 tents on the lot. Sacramento attorney Mark Merin has been leasing the land to a group of advocates who want the city to establish a legal "safe ground" where homeless people can sleep without police interference. Mayor Kevin Johnson said the new camp threatens to become "a negative distraction" to efforts by the city to establish a sanctioned "safe ground." [In Full] http://razedbywolves.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-02-2009-commentary-political.html http://www.archive.org/details/tth_090902 The topic that day... Murder as 'war': September 02 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Political Warmaking - Refining Down The Arts And Crafts Of War - From 'Shock and Awe' To 'Precision Targeting'... It's Notable The 'Enemy' Is Doing The Same c b wrote: > Obama speech to students sparks new controversy > > By LIBBY QUAID and LINDA STEWART BALL, Associated Press Writers Libby > Quaid And Linda Stewart Ball, Associated Press Writers 2 hrs 4 mins > ago > DALLAS ? When kids all across the country return to school Tuesday, > some will see a welcoming message from President Barack Obama and some > won't. > > Obama's planned address to students has touched off yet another > confrontation with Republican critics, who have battered the White > House over health care and now accuse the president of foisting a > political agenda on children. > > The president will speak directly to students Tuesday about the need > to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the > White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms > across the country will be able to tune in. > > Schools don't have to show it. But districts across the country have > been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to > address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne > Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to tune in. > > Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, > Virginia and Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to > students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents > have their kids opt out. > > Some conservatives, driven by radio pundits and bloggers, are urging > schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using > the opportunity to promote a political agenda and is overstepping the > boundaries of federal involvement in schools. > > "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education ? it gives the > appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma > Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect > to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq." > > Arizona state schools superintendent Tom Horne, a Republican, said > lesson plans for teachers created by Obama's Education Department > "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach." > > The White House plans to release the speech online Monday so parents > can read it. The president will deliver the speech at Wakefield High > School in Arlington, Va. > > "I think it's really unfortunate that politics has been brought into > this," White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom said in > an interview with The Associated Press. > > "It's simply a plea to students to really take their learning > seriously. Find out what they're good at. Set goals. And take the > school year seriously." > > She noted that President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to > schools in 1991. Like Obama, Bush drew criticism, with Democrats > accusing the Republican president of making the event into a campaign > commercial. > > Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration > created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, > originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves > about what they can do to help the president." > > The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could > "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their > short-term and long-term education goals." > > "That was inartfully worded, and we corrected it," Higginbottom said. > > In the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, the 54,000-student school > district is not showing the 15- to 20-minute address but will make the > video available later. > > PTA council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is "cutting out the > parent" by speaking to kids during school hours. > > "Why can't a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?" > Mendelsohn said. "Because that's what makes a powerful statement, when > a parent is sitting there saying, 'This is what I dream for you. This > is what I want you to achieve.'" > > Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said in an interview with the AP > that he's "certainly not going to advise anybody not to send their > kids to school that day." > > "Hearing the president speak is always a memorable moment," he said. > > But he also said he understood where the criticism was coming from. > > "Nobody seems to know what he's going to be talking about," Perry > said. "Why didn't he spend more time talking to the local districts > and superintendents, at least give them a heads-up about it?" > > Several other Texas districts have decided not to show the speech, > although the district in Houston is leaving the decision up to > individual school principals. In suburban Houston, the > Cypress-Fairbanks district planned to show the address and has had its > social studies teachers assemble a curriculum and activities for > students. > > In Wisconsin, the Green Bay school district decided not to show the > speech live and to let teachers decide individually whether to show it > later. > > Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer said in a statement he was "absolutely > appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President > Obama's socialist ideology." Despite his rhetoric, two of the larger > Florida districts, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, plan to have classes > watch the speech. Students whose parents object will not have to > watch. > > The Minnesota Association of School Administrators is recommending > against disrupting the first day of school to show the speech, but > Minnesota's biggest teachers' union is urging schools to show it. > > Quincy, Ill., schools decided Thursday not to show the speech. > Superintendent Lonny Lemon said phone calls "hit like a load of > bricks" on Wednesday. > > One Idaho school superintendent, Murray Dalgleish of Council, urged > people not to rush to judgment. > > "Is the president dictating to these kids? I don't think so," > Dalgleish said. "He's trying to get out the same message we're trying > to get out, which is, `You are in charge of your education.'" > > ___ > > Libby Quaid reported from Washington. Associated Press writers April > Castro, Monica Rhor, Zinie Chen Sampson, Christine Armario, Jessie > Bonner, Scott Bauer, Tim Talley, Martiga Lohn, Tammy Webber and Alan > Zagier contributed to this report. > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqhG1wACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFwWUACfdvGUHZCL4uixZM4n2PaNJei5 mXUAmwQgE6dIayzZixMGTrPrj22GSetv =Nf92 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 11:39:29 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:39:29 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... Message-ID: <4AA150D1.3020105@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As I've said somewhere along the line... "He didn't know much about "Communism" except what Keenan and the State Department boyz were whispering in his ear, but he had First Hand experience with Fascism": Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning and the Threat of Authoritarian Currents in Our Politics By Max Blumenthal, The New York Times Posted on September 3, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ In this summer of town hall disruptions and birth-certificate controversies, a summer when it seemed as if the Republican Party had been captured by its extremist wing, it is worth recalling a now-obscure letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although Eisenhower is commonly remembered for a farewell address that raised concerns about the ?military-industrial complex,? his letter offers an equally important ? and relevant ? warning: to beware the danger posed by those seeking freedom from the ?mental stress and burden? of democracy. The story began in 1958, when Eisenhower received a letter from Robert Biggs, a terminally ill World War II veteran. Biggs told the president that he ?felt from your recent speeches the feeling of hedging and a little uncertainty.? He added, ?We wait for someone to speak for us and back him completely if the statement is made in truth.? Eisenhower could have discarded Biggs?s note or sent a canned response. But he didn?t. He composed a thoughtful reply. After enduring Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had smeared his old colleague Gen. George C. Marshall as a Communist sympathizer, and having guarded the Republican Party against the newly emergent radical right John Birch Society, which labeled him and much of his cabinet Soviet agents, the president perhaps welcomed the opportunity to expound on his vision of the open society. ?I doubt that citizens like yourself could ever, under our democratic system, be provided with the universal degree of certainty, the confidence in their understanding of our problems, and the clear guidance from higher authority that you believe needed,? Eisenhower wrote on Feb. 10, 1959. ?Such unity is not only logical but indeed indispensable in a successful military organization, but in a democracy debate is the breath of life.? Eisenhower also recommended a short book ? ?The True Believer? by Eric Hoffer, a self-educated itinerant longshoreman who earned the nickname ?the stevedore philosopher.? ?Faith in a holy cause,? Hoffer wrote, ?is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves.? Though Eisenhower was criticized for lacking an intellectual framework or even an interest in ideas, he was drawn to Hoffer?s insights. He explained to Biggs that Hoffer ?points out that dictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems ? freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous complex and difficult questions.? The authoritarian follower, Eisenhower suggested, desired nothing more than insulation from the pressures of a free society. Alluding to Senator McCarthy and his allies, Eisenhower pointed out that cold war fears were distorted and exploited for political advantage. ?It is difficult indeed to maintain a reasoned and accurately informed understanding of our defense situation on the part of our citizenry when many prominent officials, possessing no standing or expertness as they themselves claim it, attempt to further their own ideas or interests by resorting to statements more distinguished by stridency than by accuracy.? It is worth noting, of course, that these Cold War exaggerations weren?t just a Republican specialty: John F. Kennedy was making a supposed ?missile gap? between the United States and the Soviet Union a key element of his presidential campaign. In closing his letter, Eisenhower praised Biggs for his ?fortitude in pondering these problems despite your deep personal adversity.? Perhaps it was the president?s sense of solidarity with a fellow soldier that prompted him to respond to Biggs with such care; and perhaps it was his experience as supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe that taught him that the rise of extreme movements and authoritarianism could take root anywhere ? even in a democracy. Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute. His new book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books) has just been released. Contact him at [Redacted for spam control] ? 2009 The New York Times All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqhUM8ACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFxxMACgxi/M0RYCBVRhfVSY9rjoyNvf qTAAoM1ddtxrG29iXxWMK9sPDjeOaSNk =3RaC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From pwright at prisonlegalnews.org Fri Sep 4 12:01:38 2009 From: pwright at prisonlegalnews.org (Paul Wright) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 14:01:38 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... In-Reply-To: <4AA150D1.3020105@gmail.com> References: <4AA150D1.3020105@gmail.com> Message-ID: <0ee301ca2d89$c0145d50$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> These nice little hagiographies conveniently forget how Eisenhower, Douglas Macarthur and george patton made their bones with the ruling class gunning down WW 1 army veterans in DC in the 1930s. So yeah, Ike knew all about fascism first hand: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm Paul Wright, Editor Prison Legal News P.O. Box 2420 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 802 257-1342 pwright at prisonlegalnews.org www.prisonlegalnews.org Seattle Office 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 Seattle, WA 98117 206-246-1022 -----Original Message----- From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Leighm Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:39 PM To: The A-List Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As I've said somewhere along the line... "He didn't know much about "Communism" except what Keenan and the State Department boyz were whispering in his ear, but he had First Hand experience with Fascism": Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning and the Threat of Authoritarian Currents in Our Politics By Max Blumenthal, The New York Times Posted on September 3, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ In this summer of town hall disruptions and birth-certificate controversies, a summer when it seemed as if the Republican Party had been captured by its extremist wing, it is worth recalling a now-obscure letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although Eisenhower is commonly remembered for a farewell address that raised concerns about the "military-industrial complex," his letter offers an equally important - and relevant - warning: to beware the danger posed by those seeking freedom from the "mental stress and burden" of democracy. The story began in 1958, when Eisenhower received a letter from Robert Biggs, a terminally ill World War II veteran. Biggs told the president that he "felt from your recent speeches the feeling of hedging and a little uncertainty." He added, "We wait for someone to speak for us and back him completely if the statement is made in truth." Eisenhower could have discarded Biggs's note or sent a canned response. But he didn't. He composed a thoughtful reply. After enduring Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had smeared his old colleague Gen. George C. Marshall as a Communist sympathizer, and having guarded the Republican Party against the newly emergent radical right John Birch Society, which labeled him and much of his cabinet Soviet agents, the president perhaps welcomed the opportunity to expound on his vision of the open society. "I doubt that citizens like yourself could ever, under our democratic system, be provided with the universal degree of certainty, the confidence in their understanding of our problems, and the clear guidance from higher authority that you believe needed," Eisenhower wrote on Feb. 10, 1959. "Such unity is not only logical but indeed indispensable in a successful military organization, but in a democracy debate is the breath of life." Eisenhower also recommended a short book - "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer, a self-educated itinerant longshoreman who earned the nickname "the stevedore philosopher." "Faith in a holy cause," Hoffer wrote, "is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves." Though Eisenhower was criticized for lacking an intellectual framework or even an interest in ideas, he was drawn to Hoffer's insights. He explained to Biggs that Hoffer "points out that dictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems - freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous complex and difficult questions." The authoritarian follower, Eisenhower suggested, desired nothing more than insulation from the pressures of a free society. Alluding to Senator McCarthy and his allies, Eisenhower pointed out that cold war fears were distorted and exploited for political advantage. "It is difficult indeed to maintain a reasoned and accurately informed understanding of our defense situation on the part of our citizenry when many prominent officials, possessing no standing or expertness as they themselves claim it, attempt to further their own ideas or interests by resorting to statements more distinguished by stridency than by accuracy." It is worth noting, of course, that these Cold War exaggerations weren't just a Republican specialty: John F. Kennedy was making a supposed "missile gap" between the United States and the Soviet Union a key element of his presidential campaign. In closing his letter, Eisenhower praised Biggs for his "fortitude in pondering these problems despite your deep personal adversity." Perhaps it was the president's sense of solidarity with a fellow soldier that prompted him to respond to Biggs with such care; and perhaps it was his experience as supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe that taught him that the rise of extreme movements and authoritarianism could take root anywhere - even in a democracy. Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute. His new book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books) has just been released. Contact him at [Redacted for spam control] C 2009 The New York Times All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqhUM8ACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFxxMACgxi/M0RYCBVRhfVSY9rjoyNvf qTAAoM1ddtxrG29iXxWMK9sPDjeOaSNk =3RaC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 13:47:09 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:47:09 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... In-Reply-To: <0ee301ca2d89$c0145d50$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> References: <4AA150D1.3020105@gmail.com> <0ee301ca2d89$c0145d50$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Message-ID: <4AA16EBD.6050906@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Paul Wright wrote: > These nice little hagiographies conveniently forget how Eisenhower, Douglas > Macarthur and george patton made their bones with the ruling class gunning > down WW 1 army veterans in DC in the 1930s. > > So yeah, Ike knew all about fascism first hand: > http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm Yeah well... Sometimes one doesn't figure out that their actions are a part of the problem until they have a chance to step back, as an individual, without the peer pressure, and take a look at the BIG picture. At THIS point, I would usually quip something about 'vanguard' organizations, but I'm feeling magnanimous today. Leigh > > > > Paul Wright, Editor > Prison Legal News > P.O. Box 2420 > West Brattleboro, VT 05303 > 802 257-1342 > pwright at prisonlegalnews.org > www.prisonlegalnews.org > > Seattle Office > 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 > Seattle, WA 98117 > 206-246-1022 > > -----Original Message----- > From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu > [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Leighm > Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:39 PM > To: The A-List > Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... > > As I've said somewhere along the line... "He didn't know much about > "Communism" except what Keenan and the State Department boyz were > whispering in his ear, but he had First Hand experience with Fascism": > > Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning and the Threat of Authoritarian > Currents in Our Politics > By Max Blumenthal, The New York Times > Posted on September 3, 2009 > > http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ > > In this summer of town hall disruptions and birth-certificate > controversies, a summer when it seemed as if the Republican Party had > been captured by its extremist wing, it is worth recalling a > now-obscure letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. > > Although Eisenhower is commonly remembered for a farewell address that > raised concerns about the "military-industrial complex," his letter > offers an equally important - and relevant - warning: to beware the > danger posed by those seeking freedom from the "mental stress and > burden" of democracy. > > The story began in 1958, when Eisenhower received a letter from Robert > Biggs, a terminally ill World War II veteran. Biggs told the president > that he "felt from your recent speeches the feeling of hedging and a > little uncertainty." He added, "We wait for someone to speak for us > and back him completely if the statement is made in truth." > > Eisenhower could have discarded Biggs's note or sent a canned > response. But he didn't. He composed a thoughtful reply. After > enduring Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had smeared his old > colleague Gen. George C. Marshall as a Communist sympathizer, and > having guarded the Republican Party against the newly emergent radical > right John Birch Society, which labeled him and much of his cabinet > Soviet agents, the president perhaps welcomed the opportunity to > expound on his vision of the open society. > > "I doubt that citizens like yourself could ever, under our democratic > system, be provided with the universal degree of certainty, the > confidence in their understanding of our problems, and the clear > guidance from higher authority that you believe needed," Eisenhower > wrote on Feb. 10, 1959. "Such unity is not only logical but indeed > indispensable in a successful military organization, but in a > democracy debate is the breath of life." > > Eisenhower also recommended a short book - "The True Believer" by Eric > Hoffer, a self-educated itinerant longshoreman who earned the nickname > "the stevedore philosopher." "Faith in a holy cause," Hoffer wrote, > "is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in > ourselves." > > Though Eisenhower was criticized for lacking an intellectual framework > or even an interest in ideas, he was drawn to Hoffer's insights. He > explained to Biggs that Hoffer "points out that dictatorial systems > make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to > support such systems - freedom from the necessity of informing > themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous > complex and difficult questions." The authoritarian follower, > Eisenhower suggested, desired nothing more than insulation from the > pressures of a free society. > > Alluding to Senator McCarthy and his allies, Eisenhower pointed out > that cold war fears were distorted and exploited for political > advantage. "It is difficult indeed to maintain a reasoned and > accurately informed understanding of our defense situation on the part > of our citizenry when many prominent officials, possessing no standing > or expertness as they themselves claim it, attempt to further their > own ideas or interests by resorting to statements more distinguished > by stridency than by accuracy." > > It is worth noting, of course, that these Cold War exaggerations > weren't just a Republican specialty: John F. Kennedy was making a > supposed "missile gap" between the United States and the Soviet Union > a key element of his presidential campaign. > > In closing his letter, Eisenhower praised Biggs for his "fortitude in > pondering these problems despite your deep personal adversity." > Perhaps it was the president's sense of solidarity with a fellow > soldier that prompted him to respond to Biggs with such care; and > perhaps it was his experience as supreme commander of Allied forces in > Europe that taught him that the rise of extreme movements and > authoritarianism could take root anywhere - even in a democracy. > > Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing > fellow at The Nation Institute. His new book, Republican Gomorrah > (Basic/Nation Books) has just been released. Contact him at [Redacted > for spam control] > C 2009 The New York Times All rights reserved. > > View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqhbrsACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFzevACggn4ODa/v3DM1vbyt7E/rXUXh Qz0AoKNBIpktPntaxxJpjeMtHV7UTQmX =GF5p -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 14:11:03 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 16:11:03 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Where jazz meets hip hop Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909041311w4f9f66f5k3f13d5581c5cc689@mail.gmail.com> Where jazz meets hip hop Detroit-born Karriem Riggins grooves at the corner By W. Kim Heron http://metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14332 SEE ALSO More Jazz Stories Jazz fest highlights (9/2/2009) Some high notes among fest offerings Life lesson (9/2/2009) A tribute to Eric Dolphy ? years in the making The last king of swing (9/2/2009) Gerald Wilson paints his hometown in sound More from W. Kim Heron Jazz fest highlights (9/2/2009) Some high notes among fest offerings Life lesson (9/2/2009) A tribute to Eric Dolphy ? years in the making The last king of swing (9/2/2009) Gerald Wilson paints his hometown in sound By W. Kim Heron From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Fri Sep 4 16:10:04 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:10:04 -0700 Subject: [A-List] How the war on drugs is a war on class Message-ID: <4AA1903C.9050104@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As I was saying Paul... Sometimes one needs to take 'a step back'... > Anonymous received his undergraduate degree from Harvard, where he > studied Comparative Middle Eastern Government under some of the > universitys most renowned professors and minored in Arabic > > He was employed by the Department of Defense for five-years, and > worked in some of the DoD's most sensitive and salient missions. > > He finished his career in Counterterrorism, where he produced > analysis on some of the most ruthless and well-trained terrorists in > the world. > > He left to write Tremble the Devil, to help every American > understand the true face of terrorism. "As our financial crisis deepens and the schisms between the haves and the have-nots continue to open, American drug laws are beginning to gather an increasingly harsh spotlight. But so what, it's not like the War on Drugs has done anything to increase the growing level of economic disparity in America... does it? A lot happened in 1973. It was a few years after Nixon slammed the gold window shut, the waning hours of a decapitated Civil Rights movement, when the kindling of an energy crisis was beginning to pile up, and the year that marks our disentanglement from Vietnam. But it also marks the year the Rockefeller Drug Laws were passed, and the precise year that the income gap between black and white begins to widen back out, instead of closing - as it had been up until that year. Is that just a coincidence, or is there demonstrable cause-and-effect at work? Drug laws in America, after all, "have originally been based on racism... all of these laws are based on the belief that there is a class in society that can control themselves, and there is a class in society which cannot."1 The popularly cited motivation for the War on Drugs is that it was a response to the growing numbers of military serviceman who were getting hooked on heroin and other narcotics while serving in the Vietnam War. Although that was a troublesome issue, when you know the history of all past American drugs laws it quickly becomes apparent that there's no way in hell that was the only impetus behind this wave of anti-drug legislation, and that Nixon was using soldiers' addiction as opportunistic displacement. Following the Civil War the earliest anti-drug laws were passed in some states, banning the consumption of alcohol. But not, of course, for everyone. Whites could drink as much as they pleased - as well as use opiates and cocaine, but if you were a minority in much of antebellum America you were prohibited from imbibing or using any drug at all. At the time it was a widely held belief in American politics that some races, bless their brown souls, simply couldn't control themselves. Furthering the codification of this perception, in 1901 Henry Cabot Lodge spearheaded a law in the U.S. Senate banning the sale of liquor and now opiates as well to all "uncivilized races." In this case, "uncivilized" was synonymous with "dark." At this point in American history, whites could get as drunk, high, or smacked as they wanted  while the brown-skinned members of American society were completely banned from consuming any intoxicant. Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, any violence carried out by a black man against a white could be attributed to the commonly-held caricature of a "cocaine-crazed negro." Newspaper headlines screamed of coked-up black criminals who were SHOT BUT DON'T DIE!, and policemen claiming that WE NEED BIGGER BULLETS! because their current caliber wasn't large enough to stop the crack-crazed negroes they routinely came up against in the line of duty. However blacks weren't singled out as a racial minority, the first anti-marijuana laws targeted the wave of Mexican immigrants who were spreading across the American South. They were seen, then as now, to be stealing jobs and government resources from resident whites, and so politicians from that region of the country first banned marijuana use by minorities alone, and then eventually altogether. i i i Nixon's public claim that the War on Drugs was primarily a response to the growing number of addicted veterans was at best a lie of omission. Taking into account past legal precedent, and the fact that American urban centers were being wracked by a series of seemingly unending race riots, it becomes self-evident that the War on Drugs was simply another page in the story of American anti-drug laws that has always been rooted in racism. Then in 1973, with Nixon desperately attempting to spin his way out of Watergate, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller passed a set of laws that were soon mimicked by several other states and eventually the entire federal government. They were minimum sentencing laws for drug crimes that, partially because they included a fifteen-year prison term for possessing even a small amount of narcotics, were the harshest the country had ever seen. The per-capita prison population of the United States remained constant from 1930 to right around 1973, at which point the graph begins an exponential climb that grows steeper and steeper with every passing year. CHART More: http://www.tremblethedevil.com/my_weblog/2009/09/as-our-financial-crisis-deepens-and-the-schisms-between-the-haves-and-the-have-nots-continue-to-open-american-drug-laws-ar.html -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqhkDoACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFwAiQCfUeXOx2/4YzhbN9A6AILXAmHT ia0AnRMvXaZlogWnug6VosMJye+XjQ1z =mFlM -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Fri Sep 4 19:31:40 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 10:31:40 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Red Flag Message-ID: <20090905103140.2dad1eec.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Communism and the Making of the Modern World Western progressives nostalgic for the Soviet Union shouldn't get too excited by the global financial crisis. A fine new history of communism shows why. by John Gray New Statesman (August 27 2009) It cannot be long before progressive opinion begins to look back on communism with nostalgia. Whatever they may have been like in practice, communist states were established to embody ideas that progressives understood and to a large extent shared. The Soviet Union and Maoist China were seen as advancing the cause of humanity and many on the left judged it best not to make too much of any crimes these regimes committed along the way. However imperfectly, communism continued an authentic tradition of European radical humanism. One of the many virtues of David Priestland's The Red Flag (2009) is that it places communism squarely in this tradition. Citing Marx's description of Prometheus as "the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical calendar", Priestland shows how Marx's Promethean world-view has animated communist movements and regimes throughout their history. In the preface to his dissertation, Marx wrote, in the words of Aeschylus: "In sooth all gods I hate. 'Tis better to be bound on a rock than bound to the service of Zeus." In Marx's variation on the Promethean myth, heroic humanity wages war against religion, inequality and subservience to nature. Priestland shows that this modern mythology was propagated right up to the end of communist Russia. As a graduate student at Moscow State University in 1987-88, studying (in secret) Stalin's Terror half a century earlier, he found himself "at the centre of a curious communist civilisation: my neighbours had come from all corners of the communist world - from Cuba to Afghanistan, from East Germany to Mozambique, from Ethiopia to North Korea - to take degrees in science and history, but also to study 'scientific communism' and 'atheism', the better to propagate communist ideology at home ... The system was unravelling and revealing its secrets, but it was still communist". Just over twenty years later, that curious communist civilisation has all but vanished from the face of the earth. There are still states ruled by communist parties - Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and China - and the last ruling communist party in Europe was pushed out of power only a few weeks ago in Moldova. But except for North Korea and, in a limited way, Cuba, no country anywhere is governed, even in theory, by any version of Marxism. Marxist-Leninist insurrectionist movements still exist, with remnants of the Shining Path still active in Peru and Maoists leading a coalition government in Nepal for a time. But the new civilisation that Lenin believed he had founded in 1917, which Sidney and Beatrice Webb admired in the 1930s after touring Ukraine at the height of the famine, and which for all its faults western progressives believed was unshakeable, has ceased to exist. While radical humanism was the feature that beguiled most western intellectuals, it was just one of several elements in communism. Priestland presents a useful typology of the stories in terms of which the history of communism has been understood: the official one, derived from Marx, in which communist regimes were stages on the way to a world of harmony and abundance; a story of modernisation, in which communists were rational bureaucrats committed to developing backward countries; and a narrative of repression, in which communists imposed a totalitarian system on an un?willing population. As he notes, the repression story comes in two different versions, one claiming that the new ruling classes were "quasi-religious fanatics, true-believers in secular garb, demanding total commitment and promising a millenarian heaven on earth" and the other maintaining that communists were "cynical political bosses who sought to re-create a version of the oppressive, obscurantist tyrannies of old under the guise of 'modern communism' ". The narrative most commonly invoked by progressives today is the second version of the repression story, and its appeal comes from placing the responsibility for communist oppression on its victims, rather than the humanist project that their rulers were struggling to implement. The universal suppression of freedom under communism is blamed on the tsarist inheritance in Russia, Confucian authoritarianism in North Korea and Maoist China, Prussian dirigisme in the former East Germany, lamaism in Mongolia, the cult of Latin machismo in Cuba, tribalism in Africa, and so on. The flaws of communism are always in the people, never in the ideology. There is an unmistakable whiff of racism in this legend, but its chief interest may be in what it shows about the need for belief on the part of western intellectuals. There can be no reasonable doubt that during the Bolshevik period, and to a degree in the Stalin era, communism had many of the features of a religion. But in communist countries faith in a radiant future died out long ago, even among the ruling elites. Material advantages - privileged access to housing and health care and a superior education for their children - were what motivated the nomenklatura. It was sections of the western intelligentsia that kept the faith alive - Trotskyites who insisted all would have been well if only Stalin had not won, and the legions of liberal anti-anti-communists who only grudgingly acknowledged the full scale of terror and mass murder in the Soviet Union and its colonies. When all was said and done, these were, after all, progressive regimes. The Red Flag is a comprehensive guide to the biggest political delusion of the 20th century. Starting with the origins of communist ideology in the French Revolution, it presents an interesting analysis of Marx's thinking as being shaped as much by Romanticism as by the Enlightenment. Priestland also examines communist governments and movements in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as the Soviet Union, and discusses the Nazi-Soviet pact as well as Stalin's ban on anti-fascist activity in Europe, concluding with a level-headed account of the communist collapse. Always readable, Priestland is often entertaining. Lenin, he writes, was "a model pupil at school", where his headmaster reported that the "guiding principles of his upbringing were religion and rational discipline". A Czechoslovakian rock group, arrested after the 1968 invasion and tried on charges of "extreme vulgarity" and "extolling nihilism, decadence and clericalism", were defended by their lawyer on the grounds that they were only implementing Lenin's maxim "Bureaucracy is shit". The group were sent to prison anyway, but their case led to the founding of Charter 77 and eventually helped overturn the communist regime. Priestland gives an astute analysis of the leader who unwittingly dissolved the Soviet superstate. "Gorbachev's world-view for the first few years of his rule", he writes, "was, at root, a Romantic Marxist one". Later, Priestland notes, Gorbachev was as much attracted by neoliberal ideology. What Priestland does not tell us is that it was precisely this absurd jumble of ideas that endeared the last Soviet leader to western progressives. Gorbachev's fantasy that the Soviet Union could be reformed and turned into a gigantic reincarnation of Swedish social democracy allowed Soviet communists to indulge the conceit that they had been right after all. Even more, it gave them the feeling they were still in some way relevant. The actual course of events has left progressives beached. Russia - for nearly three-quarters of a century supposedly the site of a new civilisation that would abolish religion and nationalism - is a Eurasian power whose prime minister, Vladimir Putin, wears around his neck a Russian Orthodox cross given to him by his pious mother. China has reinvented itself as a Confucian capitalist civilisation, while the US flounders. Rather than rejuvenating any kind of socialism, the global economic crisis is showing the strength of the varieties of capitalism that resisted neoliberal dogma. None of these developments figures in any scenario envisioned by progressives. It will be surprising if, redundant in a world they could never have imagined, they do not rediscover lost virtues in communism. Might it not be time for a King Street Manifesto? At the end of the first volume of his magnificent trilogy, Main Currents of Marxism (2005), Leszek Kolakowski (who died in Oxford last month) summarised the communist debacle as follows: "And thus Prometheus awakens from his dream of power, as ignominiously as Gregor Samsa in Kafka's Metamorphosis". As a description of communism, this cannot be faulted. As a judgement on the illusions of much of the western intelligentsia, it is perfect. The Red Flag: Communism and the Making of the Modern World by David Priestland (Allen Lane, 676 pages, GBP 35) _____ John Gray's latest book is Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings (Allen Lane, GBP 20) http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/08/communism-communist-soviet http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 02:05:10 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 04:05:10 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The Red Flag In-Reply-To: <20090905103140.2dad1eec.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> References: <20090905103140.2dad1eec.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Message-ID: <29F87583C3B24FA7BED36F10F98AB1A4@TonyPC> " Rather than rejuvenating any kind of socialism, the global economic crisis is showing the strength of the varieties of capitalism that resisted neoliberal dogma." Oh really. What strengths? Where? * * * "As a description of communism, this cannot be faulted" This fool seems not to be able to distinguish a label from the substance it presumes to describe. [This is not, by the way, to gainsay the author's thesis regarding the romantic idealism and the actual distortions of real* communist theory (*i.e. radical democratic representation etc) as practiced in the 20th Century...this notwithstanding the fact that a truly rational analysis of some of the accomplishments of Soviet and 'Communist' China, Cuba etc are, naturally, ruled, by fiat, to be non-existent by capitalist ideologues.] One might as well throw 'science' out the window for not having gotten everything right all at once...or, indeed, for having been 'distorted' in actual practice by the weakness of men...The whole point, of course, the real heart of Marxist philosophy resides in its dialectical questioning of the world; and thus of the constant, ever changing, ever developing nature of the movement towards an understanding of the natural and social world. These 'historians' talk as though communism represents some sort of finished product, some complete if fatally flawed work...this rather than a *process* of ever evolving radical democratic governance.. a governance that will never, ever hit upon some static utopia; this because the very nature of dialectical change through time will continuely call into being new physical and political realities, new problems and aspirations not hitherto dreamt of. Do these people really *want* to understand any of this? I venture not. In fact, the partialization, the fragmentation - and, as such, the falsification - of reality is part and parcel of the 'ideology'* of capitalism'. *Capitalism claims not to be an ideology, of course. Claiming is one thing however, and reality is another. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Totten" To: Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 9:31 PM Subject: [A-List] The Red Flag > > Communism and the Making of the Modern World > > Western progressives nostalgic for the Soviet Union shouldn't get too > excited by the global financial crisis. A fine new history of communism > shows why. > > by John Gray > > New Statesman (August 27 2009) > > > It cannot be long before progressive opinion begins to look back on > communism with nostalgia. Whatever they may have been like in practice, > communist states were established to embody ideas that progressives > understood and to a large extent shared. The Soviet Union and Maoist China > were seen as advancing the cause of humanity and many on the left judged > it best not to make too much of any crimes these regimes committed along > the way. However imperfectly, communism continued an authentic tradition > of European radical humanism. > > One of the many virtues of David Priestland's The Red Flag (2009) is that > it places communism squarely in this tradition. Citing Marx's description > of Prometheus as "the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical > calendar", Priestland shows how Marx's Promethean world-view has animated > communist movements and regimes throughout their history. In the preface > to his dissertation, Marx wrote, in the words of Aeschylus: "In sooth all > gods I hate. 'Tis better to be bound on a rock than bound to the service > of Zeus." In Marx's variation on the Promethean myth, heroic humanity > wages war against religion, inequality and subservience to nature. > > Priestland shows that this modern mythology was propagated right up to the > end of communist Russia. As a graduate student at Moscow State University > in 1987-88, studying (in secret) Stalin's Terror half a century earlier, > he found himself "at the centre of a curious communist civilisation: my > neighbours had come from all corners of the communist world - from Cuba to > Afghanistan, from East Germany to Mozambique, from Ethiopia to North Korea > - to take degrees in science and history, but also to study 'scientific > communism' and 'atheism', the better to propagate communist ideology at > home ... The system was unravelling and revealing its secrets, but it was > still communist". > > Just over twenty years later, that curious communist civilisation has all > but vanished from the face of the earth. There are still states ruled by > communist parties - Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and China - and the > last ruling communist party in Europe was pushed out of power only a few > weeks ago in Moldova. But except for North Korea and, in a limited way, > Cuba, no country anywhere is governed, even in theory, by any version of > Marxism. Marxist-Leninist insurrectionist movements still exist, with > remnants of the Shining Path still active in Peru and Maoists leading a > coalition government in Nepal for a time. But the new civilisation that > Lenin believed he had founded in 1917, which Sidney and Beatrice Webb > admired in the 1930s after touring Ukraine at the height of the famine, > and which for all its faults western progressives believed was > unshakeable, has ceased to exist. > > While radical humanism was the feature that beguiled most western > intellectuals, it was just one of several elements in communism. > Priestland presents a useful typology of the stories in terms of which the > history of communism has been understood: the official one, derived from > Marx, in which communist regimes were stages on the way to a world of > harmony and abundance; a story of modernisation, in which communists were > rational bureaucrats committed to developing backward countries; and a > narrative of repression, in which communists imposed a totalitarian system > on an un?willing population. > > As he notes, the repression story comes in two different versions, one > claiming that the new ruling classes were "quasi-religious fanatics, > true-believers in secular garb, demanding total commitment and promising a > millenarian heaven on earth" and the other maintaining that communists > were "cynical political bosses who sought to re-create a version of the > oppressive, obscurantist tyrannies of old under the guise of 'modern > communism' ". > > The narrative most commonly invoked by progressives today is the second > version of the repression story, and its appeal comes from placing the > responsibility for communist oppression on its victims, rather than the > humanist project that their rulers were struggling to implement. The > universal suppression of freedom under communism is blamed on the tsarist > inheritance in Russia, Confucian authoritarianism in North Korea and > Maoist China, Prussian dirigisme in the former East Germany, lamaism in > Mongolia, the cult of Latin machismo in Cuba, tribalism in Africa, and so > on. The flaws of communism are always in the people, never in the > ideology. > > There is an unmistakable whiff of racism in this legend, but its chief > interest may be in what it shows about the need for belief on the part of > western intellectuals. There can be no reasonable doubt that during the > Bolshevik period, and to a degree in the Stalin era, communism had many of > the features of a religion. But in communist countries faith in a radiant > future died out long ago, even among the ruling elites. Material > advantages - privileged access to housing and health care and a superior > education for their children - were what motivated the nomenklatura. It > was sections of the western intelligentsia that kept the faith alive - > Trotskyites who insisted all would have been well if only Stalin had not > won, and the legions of liberal anti-anti-communists who only grudgingly > acknowledged the full scale of terror and mass murder in the Soviet Union > and its colonies. When all was said and done, these were, after all, > progressive regimes. > > The Red Flag is a comprehensive guide to the biggest political delusion of > the 20th century. Starting with the origins of communist ideology in the > French Revolution, it presents an interesting analysis of Marx's thinking > as being shaped as much by Romanticism as by the Enlightenment. Priestland > also examines communist governments and movements in Africa, Asia, Europe > and Latin America as well as the Soviet Union, and discusses the > Nazi-Soviet pact as well as Stalin's ban on anti-fascist activity in > Europe, concluding with a level-headed account of the communist collapse. > > Always readable, Priestland is often entertaining. Lenin, he writes, was > "a model pupil at school", where his headmaster reported that the "guiding > principles of his upbringing were religion and rational discipline". A > Czechoslovakian rock group, arrested after the 1968 invasion and tried on > charges of "extreme vulgarity" and "extolling nihilism, decadence and > clericalism", were defended by their lawyer on the grounds that they were > only implementing Lenin's maxim "Bureaucracy is shit". The group were sent > to prison anyway, but their case led to the founding of Charter 77 and > eventually helped overturn the communist regime. > > Priestland gives an astute analysis of the leader who unwittingly > dissolved the Soviet superstate. "Gorbachev's world-view for the first few > years of his rule", he writes, "was, at root, a Romantic Marxist one". > Later, Priestland notes, Gorbachev was as much attracted by neoliberal > ideology. What Priestland does not tell us is that it was precisely this > absurd jumble of ideas that endeared the last Soviet leader to western > progressives. Gorbachev's fantasy that the Soviet Union could be reformed > and turned into a gigantic reincarnation of Swedish social democracy > allowed Soviet communists to indulge the conceit that they had been right > after all. Even more, it gave them the feeling they were still in some way > relevant. > > The actual course of events has left progressives beached. Russia - for > nearly three-quarters of a century supposedly the site of a new > civilisation that would abolish religion and nationalism - is a Eurasian > power whose prime minister, Vladimir Putin, wears around his neck a > Russian Orthodox cross given to him by his pious mother. China has > reinvented itself as a Confucian capitalist civilisation, while the US > flounders. Rather than rejuvenating any kind of socialism, the global > economic crisis is showing the strength of the varieties of capitalism > that resisted neoliberal dogma. None of these developments figures in any > scenario envisioned by progressives. It will be surprising if, redundant > in a world they could never have imagined, they do not rediscover lost > virtues in communism. Might it not be time for a King Street Manifesto? > > At the end of the first volume of his magnificent trilogy, Main Currents > of Marxism (2005), Leszek Kolakowski (who died in Oxford last month) > summarised the communist debacle as follows: "And thus Prometheus awakens > from his dream of power, as ignominiously as Gregor Samsa in Kafka's > Metamorphosis". As a description of communism, this cannot be faulted. As > a judgement on the illusions of much of the western intelligentsia, it is > perfect. > > The Red Flag: Communism and the Making of the Modern World by David > Priestland (Allen Lane, 676 pages, GBP 35) > > _____ > > John Gray's latest book is Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings (Allen Lane, > GBP 20) > > http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/08/communism-communist-soviet > > > http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com > http://www.ashisuto.co.jp > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 04:29:59 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 06:29:59 -0400 Subject: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System In-Reply-To: <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> References: <20090827102931.23bef446.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp><5A4E2C931DD04990AEC4EBB5B46DB4AC@TonyPC> <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> Message-ID: <8C9AD3DD10BE4AE9BDC941629663A2C7@TonyPC> John, Still a little confused, and I fear (in my possible misinterpretation of your statements) that we may be talking 'at cross purposes' as they say.....Still, here, in any case, goes some scratching about at a reply: You say, "how come it is impossible to define (M)?" In the formulation I am aware of , M stands for money whereas you have identified it with 'capital'. So let me respond to both possible usages: First, 'money' acts as an intermediary used to facilitate exchange of commodities, whereas capital is actually the *process* by which surplus value is added to the original value of C ..and then extracted by the capitalist...as capital, to then be used to transform more C into M'. In other words, 'capital' plays a fundamentally different role than mere money used into pre-capitalist social-economic relations. So, to repeat, M' is not a thing, but a symbol for an altered socio-economic relation. "Like most, if not all on this list, you don't strike me as someone who likes to be captivated by dogma." Thanks. I suspect I/we try...but don't always succeed.... "Unfortunately, being mere mortals, absoluteness is out of the question for us and this is the very best we can do." Post-modernist philosophers (I should say, 'many' though not all..etc) have, unfortunately, made capitalist, reactionary hay with all manner of political / ethical relativist argumentation....this as a diversion from ulterior political motives and as means of undercutting leftist critique over the last three decades. In truth, though, as you say we are mere mortals, many seemingly 'relative' political stances and ethical judements etc have perfectly reasonable, substantive and clear meanings back of them. I point this out merely as an antidote to the poison of 'post-modern relativism' (which has channeled many a leftist intellectual down reformist, defeatist or quiescent political tracks over, as I say, many decades now). "By asserting as articles of faith WHAT the economy is, WHY it exists and WHO is supposed to benefit from it all, we isolate it from our natural world..." Let me start with the 'who is supposed to benefit from it all'. Well, that (to me) is pretty clear. In a socialist economy, *all* of us are supposed to benefit...more or less equally. In a capitalist eonomy, well, it is also pretty clear who benefits, or who benefits most, i.e those higher up on the capitalist hierarchy benefit proportionally more. As to 'what' the economy is, is also dependent on what personage of what political persuasion you're talking to tells you it is. According the BNN, the 'economy' is, more or less, the sum total of labouring activity which renders them (the investor class) a whole lot of unearned income, of increased 'exchange value'. According to a socialist, the 'economy' could represent any activity that renders a 'use value' (which would include unpaid labour, black market activity etc). As for 'isolating it from our natural world'....True, historically, both socialists as well as capitalists have isolated their economic thought and activity from its influence / effect / dependence on the natural world (though there are certainly Marxist intellectuals who will riposte that Marx was a) more nuanced in thought and theory on this issue ..as so many others...than he is often given credit for, and b) that, in any case, he can be forgiven for being a 'man of his times', and was thus more concerned with 'weighter matters at hand' etc....I won't claim to have adjucated these matters definitively myself.) "Demand (or your "need") determines ex post the values of all supply factors" No. This flies in the face of Marx's 'law of value'..i.e that underlying the exchange value of any commodity is some sort of 'real' value. This is, of course, where many an economist turns apoplectic in disgust. I tend (whilst trying not to be 'dogmatic' ...ie. I've thought this through a fair bit) to favour Marx here. After all, what could it possibly mean to say that exchange values are merely determined by 'supply and demand'. This is as clear a tautology as can be imagined. For it is here that the question of 'why on earth there is any demand at all?' rears its logical, if ugly head. To the capitalist, the answer is, then, equally clear, i.e. 'Just because'. Highly inadequate. There must exist, however distant, however far down the road, an economic point of origin whereby the 'use value' of something - in conjunction with the 'socially necessary labour time to produce it' - enter into the equation. That this equation involves the removal many times over of the commodity's production and use values from its (perhaps multiplied) exchange values - and accounting for all manner of 'slippages and temporary exceptions, i.e works of art, real estate etc - does not, I suggest, negate the ultimate connection of as you say, 'supply factors'. "To the system as a whole, in terms of the economy's accounting system, capital becomes a to be resolved debt;" True. It is a debt...owed to the labourer. "And as such it is totally powerless to create such things as profits. " Well, perhaps in the sense of 'ultimately'. For, of course, ultimately capitalism can only survive by expanding. To expand ad infinitum on a planet with finite resources is a contradiction. But in the meantime, capitalism is perfectly capable of producing 'profits' in the sense that surplus value is taken from workers and distributed to an elite minority. [Don't forget, capitalism is a system geard not towards the maximization of material wealth in general (as is often implied) but merely towards the maximization of weath in so far as it can be appropriated as private profit. Thus, the 'overproduction' of goods (which are the setting for its many 'crisies) are overproduced not from the perspective of *need* (to which the billions of impoverished and immiserated humans on this planet bare stark witness), nor even from the perspective of the technical means of production, but only from the perspective of the money-backed profit that can be extracted from them.] "Universal profit sharing is the obvious answer to deal with productivity increases, with the not-for-profit sector benefiting through matched wage increases in a lagged fashion." Hmm. Off hand, I won't argue with that. I do worry, however (and this is where I need to think ..and learn...a whole lot more on such issues), whether such localized profit sharing systems might - and as, I believe, Todd alluded to yesterday - ramify into some sort of runaway return to full-blown capitalist relations.. But maybe not. .. "Thus I sympathize with Marxist extra-economic ideals. It just doesn't jive with what Marxians (as economists) _believe_ capital values to stand for. The only hope we'll ever have to get rid of capitalism once and for all, is by showing why its values are chimerical; not by validating those values with threatening their appropriation." This last paragraph does resonate with me...even whilst I object to whether you have, in any substantive sense, shown Marx's 'ideals' to be 'extra-economic' [Of course, as I stated in an earlier post, the 'heart of Marx' is, imho, not really to be found in his economic theories so much as in his notions of political economy, his critique of capitalist social relations and in his promulgation of dialectical thought..[In regards to the latter I would highly recommend 'The Dialectical Biologist' by Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins. There one finds a truly astonishing exercise in Marxist dialectical thinking applied to evolutionary biology. Absolutely fascinating on both accounts, i.e. biology and Marxist dialectics.] ...Now, if, as I say, I have been 'talking at cross-purposes'...please continue to 'fire away' ...I'll 'return fire'..and just perhaps (in the finest tradition of dialectical discussion) ..we'll eventually chance upon some clarification of each other's thought. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Vertegaal" To: "The A-List" Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 10:58 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System > Sorry to have confused you Tony by my use of the term "positive". It just > simply means the opposite of negative and was used by a Marxian PhD > economist on another list in a discussion with me; whereby he expressed > his conviction that the monetary value of capital (M) is positive rather > than negative. In other words, he was expressing that when M -> C -> M' > factually happens, and M' subsequently gets appropriated by those who did > the actual creating, it all took place on the positive side of the scale. > > If it were indeed so simple, as empirical observation makes us believe it > is, how come it is impossible to define (M)? The fact is that Marxian > economists, in spite of using (M) all the time as if they know what it is, > don't really know what the hell they are talking about. It's nothing more > than an article of faith; there is nothing scientific about Marxian > economics. They are in the exact same rudderless boat as mainstream > economists with their notion of the necessary build-up of capital; for > mainstream economists cannot define capital either. > > Like most, if not all on this list, you don't strike me as someone who > likes to be captivated by dogma. So given you really want to get to the > bottom of this, it becomes necessary to descend a level. Instead of making > the notion of (M) axiomatic, let's make the meaning of "the economy" > axiomatic and define capital in its terms. Unfortunately, being mere > mortals, absoluteness is out of the question for us and this is the very > best we can do. By asserting as articles of faith WHAT the economy is, WHY > it exists and WHO is supposed to benefit from it all, we isolate it from > our natural world, imputing resources from and extracting wealth into > exogeneity. Now, if someone would disagree with this newly derived > definition of capital, they'll have to come up with a reason why any of > those three axioms are inapplicable; which I don't think can be done. > > In order to keep track of who is entitled to what final output, in a > vertically integrated economy with countless feedback loops within that > integration, a double-entry system of accounts becomes indispensable. But > guess what, as a resolving system it has to net to zero _over_ time; this > means that at any point _in_ time, all individual entries are notional > only. Demand (or your "need") determines ex post the values of all supply > factors. Up until that time the latter are indeterminate. > > Gone is the "power" of capital. To the system as a whole, in terms of the > economy's accounting system, capital becomes a to be resolved debt; a > negative that, if all goes well and the system doesn't crash, becomes > resolved over time to zero. And as such it is totally powerless to create > such things as profits. Although profit setting is indispensable to deal > with the "learned from having done" increased output per cost of unit > input (we can't all get remunerated piecemeal wise), there is no physical > connection to any capital whatsoever. Universal profit sharing is the > obvious answer to deal with productivity increases, with the > not-for-profit sector benefiting through matched wage increases in a > lagged fashion. > > The proof that this concept isn't so outlandish after all, comes to the > fore by applying the reductio ad absurdum thought experiment of a single > owner of all capital. Remember the truism that all successful businesses > need to pass on their incurred costs to a level further down, while adding > a profit. So now the question becomes: after all cost-source incomes have > canceled one another out on the retail level, where could profits possibly > come from? Or, the more significant point at hand here, where has the > inherent "power" of fixed capital to create profits, disappeared to? As > long as the ultimate goal of capital is to enhance living standards, an > inherent anterior "positive" value of capital simply isn't there. No > wonder it cannot be found by Marxians nor by the mainstream. > > So there you have it Tony. Nothing you said in your original narrative > goes against any of what I said above. Thus I sympathize with Marxist > extra-economic ideals. It just doesn't jive with what Marxians (as > economists) _believe_ capital values to stand for. The only hope we'll > ever have to get rid of capitalism once and for all, is by showing why its > values are chimerical; not by validating those values with threatening > their appropriation. How all this ties in with the concept of government > spending money into circulation as proposed by na?ve currency reformers is > perhaps the subject for another post. > > John V > > > > Tony B. wrote: >> John, >> >> I must admit to being a tad confused on just what you are asking...(You >> start by saying "All very true" but then end by saying I'm contradicting >> myself). I am not an economist by trade so you must forgive my ignorance >> here. Are you suggesting that by a 'value' oriented political/economy I'm >> dispensing with any grounding in raw economic 'fact'? (Hardly. Naturally, >> both objective as well as subjective factors interpentrate in any >> political economy)...Or ...well, in any case... if you could fill out >> your critique a tad I'll try and answer it. >> >> In the meantime, however, let me at least respond with a few thoughts >> that came to mind upon seeing the reference, 'positive value M'. >> >> If memory serves 'positive value' economics was formerly known as >> 'value-free' economics, and was a mainstay, indeed, is the bread and >> butter of neoclassical economics and, in particular, 'neoliberal' >> economic philosophy. The most famous exponent of such, of course, is >> Milton Friedman, whom I have taken the liberty of quoting (from >> 'Capitalism and Freedom') below: >> >> "The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials >> . . . have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the interest of >> their stockholders . . . This view shows a fundamental misconception of >> the character and nature of a free economy. In such an economy, there is >> one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources >> and to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as >> it stays within the rules of the game . . . Few trends could so >> thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the >> acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than >> to make as much money for their stockholders as possible (Friedman, 1982, >> p. 133)." >> >> So here we have the godfather of 'value free' economics making his case. >> Now what is eminently clear from the 40 year experiment of neoliberal >> economics is just how fatuous he is, and how duplicitous, hypocritical, >> diabolical..and just plain inept...was the experiment he engineered. The >> entire Friedmanite project has, in fact, been nothing but a *value laden* >> ideology from start to finish. An ideology, moreover, in favour of >> pillage and plunder and backed up by imperial murder on the grand scale. >> Indeed, a fine expose of this record can be found in Naomi Klein's, 'The >> Shock Doctrine' (which is, more or less, dedicated to it). If you haven't >> read it already, I recommend it. >> >> In short, 'positive value' economics..as it has actually been >> practised...has been hoisted by its own empirical petard...though at the >> cost, one must quickly add, of ten if not hundreds of millions of lives >> lost, ruined, immiserated etc. So much for 'value free'....and all in the >> aid of the transfer of global wealth to elite groups. >> >> All of this brings to mind my early student days studying political >> philosophy. It was then that I was surprised, upon reading conservative >> theorists, to find myself in agreement with some of their fundamental >> principles, i.e. the value of tradition, the distrust and danger of >> radical breaks with such etc. But then I realized, after actually >> *looking* at the world, that conservative political philosophy was *in >> practice* mainly deployed in the defense (indeed, the defense 'to the >> death') ....of power and privelege. Period. Full Stop. So, I reasoned, >> likely the only people who could ever benefit from conservative >> principles would, in fact, be those who, in seeking to overthrow 'power >> and privelege', might want to pause to remember not to throw out the baby >> with the bathwater, i.e. to trample underfoot those elements of tradition >> and traditional political culture that had true value and could be a >> steadying influence in the construction of any future 'utopia'. >> >> Tony > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 11:43:37 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 13:43:37 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The Red Flag In-Reply-To: <29F87583C3B24FA7BED36F10F98AB1A4@TonyPC> References: <20090905103140.2dad1eec.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> <29F87583C3B24FA7BED36F10F98AB1A4@TonyPC> Message-ID: ..I realize ( in the light of morning), that I reflexively took the first statement regarding the 'varieties of capitalism that resisted neo-liberal dogma' in the wrong sense, i.e. as some sort of vindication of capitalism per se, whereas it seems clear to me now that it was merely arguing against neo-liberalism... Still, I'll stick to my following statement regarding the author's implied critique of 'communism' (not, by the way, and just for the record, that I'm a dyed-in -the wool communist). T. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony B." To: "The A-List" Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 4:05 AM Subject: Re: [A-List] The Red Flag >" Rather than rejuvenating any kind of socialism, the global > economic crisis is showing the strength of the varieties of capitalism > that resisted neoliberal dogma." > > Oh really. What strengths? Where? > > * * * > "As a description of communism, this cannot be faulted" > > This fool seems not to be able to distinguish a label from the substance > it presumes to describe. > > [This is not, by the way, to gainsay the author's thesis regarding the > romantic idealism and the actual distortions of real* communist theory > (*i.e. radical democratic representation etc) as practiced in the 20th > Century...this notwithstanding the fact that a truly rational analysis of > some of the accomplishments of Soviet and 'Communist' China, Cuba etc are, > naturally, ruled, by fiat, to be non-existent by capitalist ideologues.] > > One might as well throw 'science' out the window for not having gotten > everything right all at once...or, indeed, for having been 'distorted' in > actual practice by the weakness of men...The whole point, of course, the > real heart of Marxist philosophy resides in its dialectical questioning of > the world; and thus of the constant, ever changing, ever developing nature > of the movement towards an understanding of the natural and social world. > These 'historians' talk as though communism represents some sort of > finished product, some complete if fatally flawed work...this rather than > a *process* of ever evolving radical democratic governance.. a governance > that will never, ever hit upon some static utopia; this because the very > nature of dialectical change through time will continuely call into being > new physical and political realities, new problems and aspirations not > hitherto dreamt of. > > Do these people really *want* to understand any of this? > > I venture not. In fact, the partialization, the fragmentation - and, as > such, the falsification - of reality is part and parcel of the > 'ideology'* of capitalism'. > > *Capitalism claims not to be an ideology, of course. Claiming is one thing > however, and reality is another. > > Tony > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bill Totten" > To: > Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 9:31 PM > Subject: [A-List] The Red Flag > > >> >> Communism and the Making of the Modern World >> >> Western progressives nostalgic for the Soviet Union shouldn't get too >> excited by the global financial crisis. A fine new history of communism >> shows why. >> >> by John Gray >> >> New Statesman (August 27 2009) >> >> >> It cannot be long before progressive opinion begins to look back on >> communism with nostalgia. Whatever they may have been like in practice, >> communist states were established to embody ideas that progressives >> understood and to a large extent shared. The Soviet Union and Maoist >> China >> were seen as advancing the cause of humanity and many on the left judged >> it best not to make too much of any crimes these regimes committed along >> the way. However imperfectly, communism continued an authentic tradition >> of European radical humanism. >> >> One of the many virtues of David Priestland's The Red Flag (2009) is that >> it places communism squarely in this tradition. Citing Marx's description >> of Prometheus as "the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical >> calendar", Priestland shows how Marx's Promethean world-view has animated >> communist movements and regimes throughout their history. In the preface >> to his dissertation, Marx wrote, in the words of Aeschylus: "In sooth all >> gods I hate. 'Tis better to be bound on a rock than bound to the service >> of Zeus." In Marx's variation on the Promethean myth, heroic humanity >> wages war against religion, inequality and subservience to nature. >> >> Priestland shows that this modern mythology was propagated right up to >> the >> end of communist Russia. As a graduate student at Moscow State University >> in 1987-88, studying (in secret) Stalin's Terror half a century earlier, >> he found himself "at the centre of a curious communist civilisation: my >> neighbours had come from all corners of the communist world - from Cuba >> to >> Afghanistan, from East Germany to Mozambique, from Ethiopia to North >> Korea >> - to take degrees in science and history, but also to study 'scientific >> communism' and 'atheism', the better to propagate communist ideology at >> home ... The system was unravelling and revealing its secrets, but it was >> still communist". >> >> Just over twenty years later, that curious communist civilisation has all >> but vanished from the face of the earth. There are still states ruled by >> communist parties - Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and China - and the >> last ruling communist party in Europe was pushed out of power only a few >> weeks ago in Moldova. But except for North Korea and, in a limited way, >> Cuba, no country anywhere is governed, even in theory, by any version of >> Marxism. Marxist-Leninist insurrectionist movements still exist, with >> remnants of the Shining Path still active in Peru and Maoists leading a >> coalition government in Nepal for a time. But the new civilisation that >> Lenin believed he had founded in 1917, which Sidney and Beatrice Webb >> admired in the 1930s after touring Ukraine at the height of the famine, >> and which for all its faults western progressives believed was >> unshakeable, has ceased to exist. >> >> While radical humanism was the feature that beguiled most western >> intellectuals, it was just one of several elements in communism. >> Priestland presents a useful typology of the stories in terms of which >> the >> history of communism has been understood: the official one, derived from >> Marx, in which communist regimes were stages on the way to a world of >> harmony and abundance; a story of modernisation, in which communists were >> rational bureaucrats committed to developing backward countries; and a >> narrative of repression, in which communists imposed a totalitarian >> system >> on an un?willing population. >> >> As he notes, the repression story comes in two different versions, one >> claiming that the new ruling classes were "quasi-religious fanatics, >> true-believers in secular garb, demanding total commitment and promising >> a >> millenarian heaven on earth" and the other maintaining that communists >> were "cynical political bosses who sought to re-create a version of the >> oppressive, obscurantist tyrannies of old under the guise of 'modern >> communism' ". >> >> The narrative most commonly invoked by progressives today is the second >> version of the repression story, and its appeal comes from placing the >> responsibility for communist oppression on its victims, rather than the >> humanist project that their rulers were struggling to implement. The >> universal suppression of freedom under communism is blamed on the tsarist >> inheritance in Russia, Confucian authoritarianism in North Korea and >> Maoist China, Prussian dirigisme in the former East Germany, lamaism in >> Mongolia, the cult of Latin machismo in Cuba, tribalism in Africa, and so >> on. The flaws of communism are always in the people, never in the >> ideology. >> >> There is an unmistakable whiff of racism in this legend, but its chief >> interest may be in what it shows about the need for belief on the part of >> western intellectuals. There can be no reasonable doubt that during the >> Bolshevik period, and to a degree in the Stalin era, communism had many >> of >> the features of a religion. But in communist countries faith in a radiant >> future died out long ago, even among the ruling elites. Material >> advantages - privileged access to housing and health care and a superior >> education for their children - were what motivated the nomenklatura. It >> was sections of the western intelligentsia that kept the faith alive - >> Trotskyites who insisted all would have been well if only Stalin had not >> won, and the legions of liberal anti-anti-communists who only grudgingly >> acknowledged the full scale of terror and mass murder in the Soviet Union >> and its colonies. When all was said and done, these were, after all, >> progressive regimes. >> >> The Red Flag is a comprehensive guide to the biggest political delusion >> of >> the 20th century. Starting with the origins of communist ideology in the >> French Revolution, it presents an interesting analysis of Marx's thinking >> as being shaped as much by Romanticism as by the Enlightenment. >> Priestland >> also examines communist governments and movements in Africa, Asia, Europe >> and Latin America as well as the Soviet Union, and discusses the >> Nazi-Soviet pact as well as Stalin's ban on anti-fascist activity in >> Europe, concluding with a level-headed account of the communist collapse. >> >> Always readable, Priestland is often entertaining. Lenin, he writes, was >> "a model pupil at school", where his headmaster reported that the >> "guiding >> principles of his upbringing were religion and rational discipline". A >> Czechoslovakian rock group, arrested after the 1968 invasion and tried on >> charges of "extreme vulgarity" and "extolling nihilism, decadence and >> clericalism", were defended by their lawyer on the grounds that they were >> only implementing Lenin's maxim "Bureaucracy is shit". The group were >> sent >> to prison anyway, but their case led to the founding of Charter 77 and >> eventually helped overturn the communist regime. >> >> Priestland gives an astute analysis of the leader who unwittingly >> dissolved the Soviet superstate. "Gorbachev's world-view for the first >> few >> years of his rule", he writes, "was, at root, a Romantic Marxist one". >> Later, Priestland notes, Gorbachev was as much attracted by neoliberal >> ideology. What Priestland does not tell us is that it was precisely this >> absurd jumble of ideas that endeared the last Soviet leader to western >> progressives. Gorbachev's fantasy that the Soviet Union could be reformed >> and turned into a gigantic reincarnation of Swedish social democracy >> allowed Soviet communists to indulge the conceit that they had been right >> after all. Even more, it gave them the feeling they were still in some >> way >> relevant. >> >> The actual course of events has left progressives beached. Russia - for >> nearly three-quarters of a century supposedly the site of a new >> civilisation that would abolish religion and nationalism - is a Eurasian >> power whose prime minister, Vladimir Putin, wears around his neck a >> Russian Orthodox cross given to him by his pious mother. China has >> reinvented itself as a Confucian capitalist civilisation, while the US >> flounders. Rather than rejuvenating any kind of socialism, the global >> economic crisis is showing the strength of the varieties of capitalism >> that resisted neoliberal dogma. None of these developments figures in any >> scenario envisioned by progressives. It will be surprising if, redundant >> in a world they could never have imagined, they do not rediscover lost >> virtues in communism. Might it not be time for a King Street Manifesto? >> >> At the end of the first volume of his magnificent trilogy, Main Currents >> of Marxism (2005), Leszek Kolakowski (who died in Oxford last month) >> summarised the communist debacle as follows: "And thus Prometheus awakens >> from his dream of power, as ignominiously as Gregor Samsa in Kafka's >> Metamorphosis". As a description of communism, this cannot be faulted. As >> a judgement on the illusions of much of the western intelligentsia, it is >> perfect. >> >> The Red Flag: Communism and the Making of the Modern World by David >> Priestland (Allen Lane, 676 pages, GBP 35) >> >> _____ >> >> John Gray's latest book is Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings (Allen Lane, >> GBP 20) >> >> http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/08/communism-communist-soviet >> >> >> http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com >> http://www.ashisuto.co.jp >> >> > > > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 12:21:08 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 14:21:08 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... In-Reply-To: <4AA16EBD.6050906@gmail.com> References: <4AA150D1.3020105@gmail.com><0ee301ca2d89$c0145d50$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> <4AA16EBD.6050906@gmail.com> Message-ID: <1E32BEF9159A4C2C8925C6B3E0B8ACDB@TonyPC> "Yeah well... Sometimes one doesn't figure out that their actions are a part of the problem until they have a chance to step back, as an individual, without the peer pressure, and take a look at the BIG picture." Indeed, what finer example of this is there than Major-General Smedley Butler...who after being a "gangster for capitalism" for much of his life then came 'round to writing biting anti-capitalist, anti-militarist tracts..and thwarting a mid-1930's coup in the US.. Having said that, I think it is necessary to look at each case individually... remembering that it is all too common to want to re-write one's own record after the fact, that is, when the actual impact of one's actions no longer matter. Still, reality is more complex than our ideals would like, and contradiction is riven into our very natures...There are likely cases where we will simply have to say both 'yes' and 'no' .... I'm presently reading Castro's autobiography and it is noteworthy how little emnity he accords to particular personalities in the US political structure. Rather he repeatedly stresses the ontological priority of the US political system, of the 'empire' and how it distorts and demands responses from the individuals within it. [A magnanimity that would hardly be reciprocated I daresay.] T. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Leighm" To: "The A-List" Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 3:47 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Paul Wright wrote: >> These nice little hagiographies conveniently forget how Eisenhower, >> Douglas >> Macarthur and george patton made their bones with the ruling class >> gunning >> down WW 1 army veterans in DC in the 1930s. >> >> So yeah, Ike knew all about fascism first hand: >> http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm > > Yeah well... Sometimes one doesn't figure out that their actions are a > part of the problem until they have a chance to step back, as an > individual, without the peer pressure, and take a look at the BIG picture. > > At THIS point, I would usually quip something about 'vanguard' > organizations, but I'm feeling magnanimous today. > > Leigh > > >> >> >> >> Paul Wright, Editor >> Prison Legal News >> P.O. Box 2420 >> West Brattleboro, VT 05303 >> 802 257-1342 >> pwright at prisonlegalnews.org >> www.prisonlegalnews.org >> >> Seattle Office >> 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 >> Seattle, WA 98117 >> 206-246-1022 >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu >> [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Leighm >> Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:39 PM >> To: The A-List >> Subject: [A-List] Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning... >> >> As I've said somewhere along the line... "He didn't know much about >> "Communism" except what Keenan and the State Department boyz were >> whispering in his ear, but he had First Hand experience with Fascism": >> >> Eisenhower's Forgotten Warning and the Threat of Authoritarian >> Currents in Our Politics >> By Max Blumenthal, The New York Times >> Posted on September 3, 2009 >> >> http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ >> >> In this summer of town hall disruptions and birth-certificate >> controversies, a summer when it seemed as if the Republican Party had >> been captured by its extremist wing, it is worth recalling a >> now-obscure letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. >> >> Although Eisenhower is commonly remembered for a farewell address that >> raised concerns about the "military-industrial complex," his letter >> offers an equally important - and relevant - warning: to beware the >> danger posed by those seeking freedom from the "mental stress and >> burden" of democracy. >> >> The story began in 1958, when Eisenhower received a letter from Robert >> Biggs, a terminally ill World War II veteran. Biggs told the president >> that he "felt from your recent speeches the feeling of hedging and a >> little uncertainty." He added, "We wait for someone to speak for us >> and back him completely if the statement is made in truth." >> >> Eisenhower could have discarded Biggs's note or sent a canned >> response. But he didn't. He composed a thoughtful reply. After >> enduring Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had smeared his old >> colleague Gen. George C. Marshall as a Communist sympathizer, and >> having guarded the Republican Party against the newly emergent radical >> right John Birch Society, which labeled him and much of his cabinet >> Soviet agents, the president perhaps welcomed the opportunity to >> expound on his vision of the open society. >> >> "I doubt that citizens like yourself could ever, under our democratic >> system, be provided with the universal degree of certainty, the >> confidence in their understanding of our problems, and the clear >> guidance from higher authority that you believe needed," Eisenhower >> wrote on Feb. 10, 1959. "Such unity is not only logical but indeed >> indispensable in a successful military organization, but in a >> democracy debate is the breath of life." >> >> Eisenhower also recommended a short book - "The True Believer" by Eric >> Hoffer, a self-educated itinerant longshoreman who earned the nickname >> "the stevedore philosopher." "Faith in a holy cause," Hoffer wrote, >> "is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in >> ourselves." >> >> Though Eisenhower was criticized for lacking an intellectual framework >> or even an interest in ideas, he was drawn to Hoffer's insights. He >> explained to Biggs that Hoffer "points out that dictatorial systems >> make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to >> support such systems - freedom from the necessity of informing >> themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous >> complex and difficult questions." The authoritarian follower, >> Eisenhower suggested, desired nothing more than insulation from the >> pressures of a free society. >> >> Alluding to Senator McCarthy and his allies, Eisenhower pointed out >> that cold war fears were distorted and exploited for political >> advantage. "It is difficult indeed to maintain a reasoned and >> accurately informed understanding of our defense situation on the part >> of our citizenry when many prominent officials, possessing no standing >> or expertness as they themselves claim it, attempt to further their >> own ideas or interests by resorting to statements more distinguished >> by stridency than by accuracy." >> >> It is worth noting, of course, that these Cold War exaggerations >> weren't just a Republican specialty: John F. Kennedy was making a >> supposed "missile gap" between the United States and the Soviet Union >> a key element of his presidential campaign. >> >> In closing his letter, Eisenhower praised Biggs for his "fortitude in >> pondering these problems despite your deep personal adversity." >> Perhaps it was the president's sense of solidarity with a fellow >> soldier that prompted him to respond to Biggs with such care; and >> perhaps it was his experience as supreme commander of Allied forces in >> Europe that taught him that the rise of extreme movements and >> authoritarianism could take root anywhere - even in a democracy. >> >> Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing >> fellow at The Nation Institute. His new book, Republican Gomorrah >> (Basic/Nation Books) has just been released. Contact him at [Redacted >> for spam control] >> C 2009 The New York Times All rights reserved. >> >> View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142404/ > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iEYEARECAAYFAkqhbrsACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFzevACggn4ODa/v3DM1vbyt7E/rXUXh > Qz0AoKNBIpktPntaxxJpjeMtHV7UTQmX > =GF5p > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 12:28:53 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 14:28:53 -0400 Subject: [A-List] How to read food labels - the real secret Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Real Food Channel" To: "Antony C. Black" Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 11:48 PM Subject: How to read food labels - the real secret > Antony > > Now we know that a lot of commonly > consumed foods are dangerous to our health... > > That many diseases - diabetes, heart disease, > high blood pressure and more - can be reversed > with a plant based diet. > > We also know the forces lined up against > the average person to make sure we never > learn these simple facts. > > Now what? > > Let's go to the grocery story together > and learn of to decipher the secret > language of food labels. > > Video: > > http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/page/34.html > > Ken McCarthy > Founder, The Real Food Channel > > P.S. Please share Real Food videos with your friends and family. > > That's how we grow. Thanks. > > > Amacord, Inc. > 14 North Road, > Tivoli, NY 12583, USA > > To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: > http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?nIxsrIyctCys7IycLKxstGa0LEzsbMxMHA== > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 12:32:29 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 14:32:29 -0400 Subject: [A-List] NATO Strike: Karzai Should Resign Message-ID: <702CB4B2B87B447FBB36E70CEFFE19C4@TonyPC> ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 11:37 AM Subject: [stopnato] NATO Strike: Karzai Should Resign http://wfol.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1687&Itemid=33 World Future Online September 4, 2009 NATO Strike: Karzai should resign by Kazi Mahmood Hamid Karzai, leading in the fake elections in Afghanistan, said he is devastated by the NATO bombing of fuel tankers stolen by the Taliban. The bombing killed many civilians who were around the tankers, stuck in a river after the Taliban seized them (not stole them) from the colonial army headed by NATO. The killing of civilians is common in Afghanistan. From soldiers who are so frightened of being killed that they just open fire on anyone who moves when they patrol the Afghan streets or villages, to the NATO-US drones and aircraft that bombs villages, houses, weddings and other parties in order to subjugate the Afghans to their rule. Hamid Karzai, the man who benefited from the largesses of the U.S. regime under George W. Bush, is incapable of stopping the carnage. More than 100,000 Afghan civilians are said to have been killed, maimed or raped by the colonial army in Afghanistan while Karzai stands as President of the violated country. Karzai has so far been protected by the Americans and their allies only because he knew how to shut his mouth when his people get crushed under their houses by the savagery of the NATO-U.S. bombings. The random invasion of the people's privacy in villages and the imposition of 'American' ways of living on some people did not made Karzai speak. The continued occupation and the 'surge' in (foreign) troops in his country did not give him a good cause to protest. The fake democracy the U.S. is bringing to Afghanistan too did not oblige Karzai to speak. He benefited largely from all these violations of rights, of the existing UN conventions and mostly of the devastation of his own people with NATO bombs. Today he is shocked by the killing of civilians by a NATO strike, a bombing which shows the savagery and barbarian style of the NATO commanders and soldiers. Yet he is only able to spurt a few words, weak and stuck under the American rock as he is. It is time for Hamid Karzai to act like a true Muslim and to vacate the seat of President - which is more like a Mayor of Kabul post - before the shame of more bloodshed tarnishes his already heavily bloodied hands. Resign Mr Karzai, maybe then the U.S. and the NATO will understand the seriousness of the opposition to their murderous adventure in your country! Resign Dammit! =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls MARKETPLACE Mom Power: Discover the community of moms doing more for their families, for the world and for each other Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 6New Members Visit Your Group Biz Resources Y! Small Business Articles, tools, forms, and more. Y! Groups blog The place to go to stay informed on Groups news! Yahoo! Groups Mom Power Find wholesome recipes and more. Go Moms Go!. __,_._,___ From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 12:36:04 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 14:36:04 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Investigation Demanded Into NATO's Killing Of 100 Afghans Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 10:52 AM Subject: [stopnato] Investigation Demanded Into NATO's Killing Of 100 Afghans http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1534876.html Trend News Agency September 5, 2009 Afghan President orders investigation into deadly air strike Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into the deadly air strike that left over 100 people dead and injured early Friday, according to a press release issued Saturday by the government, Xinhua reported. President Hamid Karzai has assigned a fact fining mission consisting of officials from the Interior Ministry, the National Security Directorate and other concerned bodies to thoroughly investigate the Kunduz incident and report to the presidency at the earliest," the press release said. In the bloody incident which occurred on Friday, according to local officials, nearly one hundred people, mostly civilians, had been killed when militants hijacked two oil tankers and distributed [kerosene] to locals. NATO's top commander to Afghanistan General Stanly McChrystal also announced [the initiation of a] probe into the case. Meantime, the Taliban outfit in a statement rejected the claim of inflicting casualties on its fighters and described all the victims as non-combatants.... =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 6New Members Visit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others.. __,_._,___ From epoliticus at gmail.com Sat Sep 5 13:03:25 2009 From: epoliticus at gmail.com (Politicus E.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 15:03:25 -0400 Subject: [A-List] India: Intensify the Struggle against Food Inflation and Hunger In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The following editorial appears in the September 2009 issue of Liberation, the monthly organ of the CPI(ML) Liberation. ?I have nominally edited the article to improve readability for the U.S. audience. ***** India observed her 62rd year of Independence with a solemn Prime Ministerial pronouncement: ?not a single Indian citizen would be allowed to go hungry. ?The Premier was immediately contradicted by reality and lampooned by fresh reports of starvation deaths (from Bihar) and farmers' suicides (from Andhra Pradesh). ?More ominously, we know that for every starvation death, there shall be at least a thousand men, women, and children eking out a miserable existence on one or half-a-meal per day. ?It is evident that 62 years of independence have not given us freedom from either extreme hunger, which results in starvation deaths and grabs headlines, or from endemic hunger, the silent killer which slowly slaughters tens of thousands across the land unnoticed, the deaths being explained away as those caused by "disease" or "improper food habits". The situation shall deteriorate further in the coming months, the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister inform us, with rising food prices and plummeting stocks of edibles. ?Their explanation centers on the poor monsoons and consequent drought conditions in 246 out of India's 593 districts, i.e., nearly half the country. ?Well, this appears to be quite a plausible argument. But wait, have not food prices been rising through the roof also during the past few years of good monsoons? ?Did India need unusual droughts, or floods, to experience a chilling series of starvation deaths and farmers' suicides during the previous term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance; ?or to be ranked below countries of sub-Saharan Africa and all of South Asia, barring Bangladesh, in the Global Hunger Index and the India Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October 2008? Food scarcity - at least for the poor - is thus perennial to this vast land of ours. ?Vagaries of monsoon only worsen it occasionally and do not constitute the root cause. So we cannot just let the powers that be cover up their own policy failures by finding a convenient scapegoat in the failure of monsoons. ?Why did they allow Indian agriculture, which boasts a much higher proportion of cultivable land compared to most other countries including China, to fall prey to decay and decline over the past six decades? ?What prevented them from expanding ? rather than curtailing, as they had actually been doing ? public investment in agriculture? Why does the Agriculture Minister denounce ?black marketeering or hoarding? but remain silent on forward trading in agricultural commodities, a major source of speculation and artificial rise in prices? We must confront the Union government with such questions. ?We must demand: ?(1) Meet the rural poor?s urgent need for a monthly provision of 50 kg rice, or wheat, at Rs. 2 per kg; ?(2) Bring edible oils, sugar, and pulses within the scope of Public Distribution System; ?(3) Implement the recommendations, hitherto neglected, of the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices on Minimum Support Prices; ?(4) Vastly expand the scope of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, not just as a relief measure but to improve rural infrastructure; ?(5) Mete out quick punishment to all officials responsible for delays and irregularities in the implementation of the N.R.E.G.A. While conducting militant agitations on immediate demands like these against the Central and State governments as well as various local authorities, we should bring pressure to bear on the Centre to expedite the proposed legislation that vows to convert food security into a legal entitlement. ?And why should bureaucrats, ministers and ?experts? alone determine the contents of the proposed bill? ?We should demand that peasants? and agrarian labourers? organizations, trade unions and other mass organizations must be consulted, so that the Bill really addresses their needs and aspirations. ?Once the Act is passed, we should start using it as a catalyst for action, a tool for collective bargaining to pressure the state machinery, as we have been doing with the N.R.E.G.A. In a country with 200 million food-insecure people - the largest number of hungry people in the world - the struggle against the increase in food prices and for freedom from hunger, including fear of hunger, is both an immediate and long term movement. We must lead and win both. ***** From epoliticus at gmail.com Sat Sep 5 13:05:15 2009 From: epoliticus at gmail.com (Politicus E.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 15:05:15 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Latest Articles from Sanhati In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: A history of the brutal Rajarhat land acquisition, Bengal?s new IT hub August 29, 2008 By Santanu Sengupta, Sanhati. Translated from Rajarhaat - Uponogorir Ontorale Arto Manuher Kanna Rajarhaat, near Kolkata, is Bengal?s new IT hub and a hotspot for real estate investment. Within no time Rajarhat has become the hotbed of real estate investments with companies like DLF, Keppel Land, Unitech group, Singapore-based Ascendas, Vedic Realty, etc. coming in. Land prices have soared. The first phase of DLF?s Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion) IT project has been operational since 2005 and a second IT park is on the cards. Wipro, Infosys, IBM - all the major IT houses are in operation here, on subsidized lands. A wireless hub is in the offing. Contrasting with Singur-Nandigram, official state versions have given the picture that Rajarhat?s land acquisition from the mid 1990?s onwards has been peaceful. This is an account of the immense bloodshed that lay behind this acquisition, in a decade when the civil society and media wasn?t interested.... Read the full article at http://sanhati.com/excerpted/945/ ***** Vedic Village: A long history of brutality behind the final destruction Recently, Vedic Village, an upscale resort sprawling out in Rajarhat (near Kolkata), was torched down by angry villagers. This vent of public anger was the culmination of a history of brutal land acquisition in the area, perpetrated since the 1990?s by the CPI(M) and brought to fruition by armies of local terrors like Gaffar Mollah, Ruidas Mandal, and others. The following articles trace the recent history of this real estate-Party-musclemen nexus that finally led to the destruction of Vedic Village. 1. A history of the brutal Rajarhat land acquisition - booklet by CPI-ML(Liberation), translated by Santanu Sengupta, Sanhati. 2. Short introduction - Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati 3. Vedic Vultures - A hard look at the realtor-musclemen-CPI-M nexus in Rajarhat by Sankar Ray 4. Left out of dazzle & delights, villagers may have struck back - An initial Times of India report, August 25 2009 5. Biplab Biswas arrested - the link between Vedic Realty and local tough Gaffar Molla - Times of India, August 27 2009 6. Souring of the urban-industrial vision: Gated communities want stronger gates - Reaction of realtors 7. Land cell goes against norms: Abdur Rezzak Mollah under the scanner - The Telegraph, August 31 2009 Read these articles at http://sanhati.com/articles/1766/ ***** Bastar rally of BSKSS: Demands, attitude towards Maoists and established activism By Gautam Navlakha and Asish Gupta. August 28, 2009. This article reports the first rally of a newly formed peasant organisation in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. The rally voiced its protest against corporate landgrab and the complicity of the state. Interestingly, the political background of members covers the full spectrum, bound together by common demands, and the attitude towards established social activism is one of watchful distance. Equally interesting is the attitude of attendees towards Maoists. This is a nominally edited version of the report on Radicalnotes. Read the full article at http://sanhati.com/articles/1762/ ***** PDS: cash instead of food, and other dismantling measures since liberalisation By Debarshi Das, Sanhati The first post-liberalisation assault on the Public Distribution System of India came in 1997. Instead of a universal system, beneficiaries were divided into two groups APL and BPL (above and below the poverty line). This drastically reduced the quantum of distribution courtesy bureaucratic machination. From 20.8 million tons in 1991 distribution plummeted to 10.9 million tons in 1999-2000. In Dharavi, one of the world?s largest slums, government officials could find no more than 153 poor families. In a country of 1160 million where three fourth of people cannot afford to spend more than two dollars a day, the central government?s estimates show 65 million poor Indians.... Read the full article at http://sanhati.com/articles/1756/ ***** Articles reporting effects of the current drought in India. This collection of reports on the drought in India appeared in Outlook. September 1, 2009. 1. Shadowed by the Rain Leaving farmland parched, farmers despondent & a nation worried, the monsoon strikes at the foundations of a still agrarian economy. 2. Gaya District, Bihar Bihar has declared 26 of its 28 districts drought-hit. And Gaya district has received only 350 mm of rainwater so far, against 950 mm last year. 3. Rae Bareli District, Uttar Pradesh Even in much-monitored parliamentary constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi the plight of the harried farmer is hardly better than elsewhere 4. Rangareddy & Medak Districts, Andhra Pradesh The twin problems of drought and a fear of displacement have claimed 15 lives in the last couple of months. 5. Birbhum District, West Bengal At this time, these fields are usually green with paddy. Now, most of them lie uncultivated. Read these articles at http://sanhati.com/news/1761/ ***** Workers? Struggle at Paharpur Cooling Towers The following translation is an account of the workers? struggle at Paharpur Cooling Towers factory (company tagline: An ISO 9001 company), located along Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata, West Bengal. The original Bengali article was written by Partha Koyal spanning three visits - it has been translated by Koel Das, Sanhati. Read the article at http://sanhati.com/excerpted/1767/ ***** Lokayat group, Pune: Literature and activities The Lokayat group is an activist forum based in Pune, India. As part of an effort to collect activist literature and feature various local efforts from all over the country, we are bringing our readers some material from the group, as well as an account of their recent activity. -Ed. Campaign literature aginst Coke [PDF, English] Campaign literature on privatization of Pune?s public transportation [PDF, English] Literature on Dow Chemicals [PDF, English] Read more at http://sanhati.com/literature/1769/ ***** Delhi public meeting and statement on impending offensive of the government The following statement was formulated during the course of a public meeting in Delhi on August 4 2009, on the impending armed offensive of the government ?to wipe out the CPI(Maoist)?. It reflects a certain aspect of civil society response to the issue. Read the statement at http://sanhati.com/news/1765/ From nscchicago at igc.org Thu Sep 3 16:16:47 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 17:16:47 -0500 Subject: [A-List] BAD NEWS - WATCH OUT FOR THE NEW FEUDALISM Message-ID: Tom Baker here with load number 2. The theme is Watch Out for the New Feudalism Watch how the GMO thing is growing growing over the protests of farmers and people See how transnationals bargain plants and labor rights And for whom is the Governor of California dancing -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1040 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f041bcbb/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "United Farm Workers" Subject: Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoes UFW's SB789 Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:45:50 GMT Size: 18729 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f041bcbb/attachment-0004.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Organic Consumers Association Subject: Organic Bytes: Organic-Biotech, Farm Workers, Money-Driven Medicine... Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:30:27 -0400 (EDT) Size: 41452 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f041bcbb/attachment-0005.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: SIUHIN at aol.com Subject: [Border01] 9/3 Tijuana, BJ, Mexico: Sony Outsources Border Factory Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:13:42 EDT Size: 18131 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f041bcbb/attachment-0006.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Marie Trigona Subject: [Lasolidarity] The Soy Republic of Argentina Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 07:38:37 -0700 Size: 34545 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090903/f041bcbb/attachment-0007.eml From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 5 01:01:42 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 03:01:42 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Bank Nationalisation In-Reply-To: <7o7ghn$5p6qru@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> References: <873BB42EE3D54D0D8EE74622F9951BA7@paddyhacket> <7o7ghn$5p6qru@ipo4smtp.cc.utah.edu> Message-ID: <2F52AF392E214568B59FFD5A0EDEB015@TonyPC> "After "capitalism" is destroyed, how would humanity organize its economic activities? " The statement suggests or implies a critique which should more properly be phrased as a quest i.e. , 'Admittedly, this is something we socialists (in particluar, myself) should be educating themselves about... the latter keeping in mind that whole volumes are likely already in existence regarding such. [I've already included this on my 'schedule' for the coming year.] Regarding the ostensible 'shortage of labour', let me suggest a different perspective (see this month's Z Mag. article by Don Fitz...) Over the past half century or so (until very recently of course) economic productivity in the US has doubled roughly every 25 years. That means that what used to take 40 hrs to produce, say in 1989, now, in 2009, takes only 20. [The increase of productivity has not, of course, been passed on to the workers, but has been skimmed off to create ever more billionaires.] So why not, just for a start, cut the working week to 20 hrs (assuming roughly egalitarian redistribution of wealth), institute full employment, cut back on industrial production of unnecessary items and reduce built-in obselesence. Further, institue a minimum living stipend paid for partly out of a culture of reduced overall consumption and smaller material expectations, i.e. smaller homes, fewer cars etc. Integrate all this into a truly sustainable economy (whose eventual zero growth and later still, declining overall output) capable of saving us all from catastrophic environmental collapse. [I remember as a child looking at all the 'labour saving' technology about...you know, one man on a farm combine able to feed thousands etc...and wondering why, in that case, did my father have to work so hard...I knew something didn't smell right even then.] ..And, I know, your reference to 'shortage of labour' was, in fact, targeted at the problem of 'motivation' and 'incentive' with which capitalist ideology has always charged socialist theory. I think this is a genuine concern....meaning for me, as I say, one that needs thought ..and education (as to what has already been written on the subject). Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: Todd Boyle To: Paddy Hackett ; The A-List Cc: The A-List Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:59 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] Bank Nationalisation After "capitalism" is destroyed, how would humanity organize its economic activities? Would there still be a medium of exchange? As long as you have people buying and selling with money, it's a pandoras box. Even if you have a scheme where planning and organization is done by direct weights and measures, schedules, hours of work, etc. you still have somewhat of a pandoras box. Picture the same people, running the schedules, allocating the outputs of the services, goods, utilities. etc. Once you admit, there is not infinite oil, electricity, surgical care or whatever- there is a problem of allocation of output. Once you admit that there are *some* numbers of freeloarders like me, and the banksters, and once you admit there may be insufficient people willing to do hard work like paving highways, fishing in the arctic, mining, farming, etc. as in the United States, something has to be done about that shortage of labor. SO, you're back to a money system or a command system. Pick your poison. Todd At 02:08 AM 9/2/2009, Paddy Hackett wrote: For the working class the debate over whether to nationalize Irish banks or support NAMA is a false debate. It is a debate that has been whipped up by the bourgeois media and a substantial component of the bourgeois political establishment together with sections of the radical left. Neither NAMA nor nationalisation can serve the class interests of the working class. Either policy is essentially bourgeois in character. Consequently the debate is really a debate within the bourgeoisie as to what option best suits its class interests. Much of the Irish Left support nationalization. Some with the qualification of nationalization under workers' control. But such qualifications make little difference to the essential nature of the policy of nationalization as a bourgeois policy. Under capitalism the workers can never control the banks. It is a contradiction to suggest that banks can be controlled by the working class. By definition workers can never nationalise the banks under workers' control. They can only annihilate them by destroying capitalism without which banks cannot exist. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 6802 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090905/a91acb9b/attachment.txt From nscchicago at igc.org Fri Sep 4 14:23:38 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 15:23:38 -0500 Subject: [A-List] LA LUCHE SIGUE - PARAGUAY NICARAGUA HONDURAS COLOMBIA ES TODA Message-ID: <9A9AFA5BB2F34BE183F2ED4DFBE7E978@NSCCHICAGO> Tom Baker here and I find these inspiring reports on struggles of the indigenous of the Americas - Indigena del norte, the Algonquin people with how property privilege and power don't listen to nobody. - Paraguay and President Lugo makes an eloquent declaration for Participatory Democracy - Nicaragua and Daniel, about the US occupation of bases in Colombia, who is fooling whom, not us. - Honduras. This coup is out, US or no. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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From: "Chuck Kaufman" Subject: [Lasolidarity] FW: Paraguay Nixes Simplistic View of Democracy Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 13:59:42 -0400 Size: 14482 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090904/28fdf978/attachment-0005.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: FSLNboletin Subject: [FSLNboletin] El 19 Noticias: Septiembre 3-09 Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 09:04:58 -0700 (PDT) Size: 111308 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090904/28fdf978/attachment-0006.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Tom Loudon Subject: [Lasolidarity] Asaltan casa de integrante de Feministas en Resistencia Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:13:27 -0400 Size: 371857 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090904/28fdf978/attachment-0007.eml From suzannedk at gmail.com Sat Sep 5 11:38:37 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 19:38:37 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Confronting Russia? U.S. Marines In The Caucasus In-Reply-To: <1102694701491.1101807978350.23602.3.470705FF@scheduler> References: <1102694701491.1101807978350.23602.3.470705FF@scheduler> Message-ID: This article is the fleshing out of the forces of U S Empire of War. See J.C. Paye "Global War on Liberty". A war with Russia is clearly planned as the first bloodletting ceremony for the fledglng troops, now over three million perhaps. No wonder so many of them are from former USSR territories, too young to remember the Second World War. Just as Japan was atom bombed when suing for peace because it was the powerhouse of Asia just before that war, so is Russia, a powerhouse in wating who, if it joined the EU would command the US. One of those 'Preventative Wars are planned using the revenge element inherent in the former USSR colonies. And need, most are crushing poor....as are most of the US citizens now too. right now the debts Poland was talked into by the US are blooming as fleurs du mal as repayment is impossible at the moment. Right where the States want them, dependant. Then maybe they will be more useful as troops of Empire, only nominally named NATO now. Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Global Research E-Newsletter Date: Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 1:09 PM Subject: Confronting Russia? U.S. Marines In The Caucasus To: suzannedk at gmail.com Confronting Russia? U.S. Marines In The Caucasus By Rick Rozoff URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15056 Global Research, September 4, 2009 On August 21 the chief of the U.S. Marine Corps, General James Conway, arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to begin the training of his host country's military for deployment to the Afghan war theater under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "During the meeting the sides discussed a broad spectrum of Georgian-U.S bilateral relations and the situation in Georgia's occupied territory." [1] Occupied territory(ies) meant Abkhazia and South Ossetia, now independent nations with Russian troops stationed in both. Conway met with Georgian Defense Minister Davit (Vasil) Sikharulidze, who on the same day gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he said that the training provided by the U.S. Marine Corps could be employed, in addition to counterinsurgency operations in South Asia, in his country's "very difficult security environment." Associated Press reported that "Asked if he was referring to the possibility of another war with Russia, he said, 'In general, yes.'" The Georgian defense chief added, "This experience will be important for the Georgian armed forces itself ? for the level of training." [2] Sikharulidze was forced to retract his comments within hours of their utterance, and not because they weren't true but because they were all too accurate. The Pentagon was not eager to have this cat be let out of the bag. Three days later American military instructors arrived in Georgia on the heels of the visit of Marine Commandant Conway, whose previous campaigns included the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the first assault on Fallujah in that nation in 2004. Three days after that Georgian Defense Minister Sikharulidze - former ambassador to the United States, head of the NATO division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and deputy head of the Georgian Mission of NATO in Brussels - who was appointed to the post last year by the country's mercurial leader Mikheil Saakashvili after the disastrous war with Russia last August, was sacked by the same. "Saakashvili criticized [Sikharulidze] for not doing enough to prepare the military 'to stop an aggressive and dangerous enemy' in possible future conflicts." [3] Whatever led to the defense minister's dismissal and replacement by 28-year-old Bachana (Bacho) Akhalaia it wasn't due to his bellicose intentions towards Russia. In announcing the transition Saakahshvili said, "We need a tougher approach. Bacho Akhalaia is the right man for the job? [4] Immediately after being named new defense chief Akhalaia identified "three priorities of the defense Ministry: ensuring peace, modernization of the army, and NATO integration." In his own words he said: "Modernization envisages the improvement of the Georgian army's weapons and equipment, as well as the training of soldiers and officers. And NATO integration remains our only way. Georgia should have an army that will not be a burden on NATO, but will strengthen it." [5] The Civil Georgia web site reported on September 1 that the U.S. Marines in the nation had launched "intensive training" which would "focus on skill sets necessary for Georgian forces to operate in a counterinsurgency environment...." The same report divulged that "A similar training program was conducted by U.S. military instructors for the Georgian military ahead of their deployment in Iraq. Georgia withdrew about 2,000 of its troops from Iraq during last year's war with Russia." [6] The 2,000 U.S.-trained Georgia troops in question constituted the third largest foreign deployment in Iraq last year with only America and Britain providing more occupation forces. They were also stationed near the Iranian border. When Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia last August 7-8 triggered a five-day war with Russia, the Pentagon transported the Georgian soldiers in Iraq back home for combat in the South Caucasus had the conflict not ended on August 12. The U.S. Defense Department's training and arming of the Georgian military started long before the deployment to Iraq and that underway for Afghanistan. In April of 2002 the Pentagon instituted the Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP) under the broader Operation Enduring Freedom "Global War on Terror" campaign whose main target was Afghanistan. For the first nine months the GTEP was run by U.S. Army Special Forces - Green Berets - assigned to Special Operations Command Europe. In December of 2002 the program was passed on from the Green Berets to the U.S. Marine Corps. Later the Pentagon created a Georgian Sustainment & Stability Operations Program (GSSOP) under the aegis of the Defense Department's European Command, whose top military commander is also NATO Supreme Allied Commander. This program concentrated on training Georgia's officer staff as well as soldiers for eventual deployment to Iraq, NATO integration and armed assaults against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The GSSOP succeeded in all three of its objectives, though not to the degree intended in the third category. The redeployment of U.S. Marines to Georgia, then, is indicative of a continuous effort by the Pentagon ranging over more than seven years to prepare the Georgian armed forces - an American and NATO proxy army - for wars abroad and in the South Caucasus alike. On August 31 the latest mission began: "The ISAF program to train the Georgian military for implementing international missions in Afghanistan started at the National Training Center of the Armed Forces of Georgia in Krtsanisi on August 31. The 31st infantry battalion of the Georgian Armed Forces will pass a six-month intensive training to participate in NATO operations within ISAF, led by an expeditionary brigade of U.S. Marines...." [7] On September 2 the newly appointed Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia summoned (or was summoned by) the ambassadors of NATO countries in Georgia and he reiterated his triad of priorities. "The minister presented during the meeting the key challenges of the Ministry and discussed the priorities, such as peace, modernization and NATO integration." [8] The same day a delegation of the German Bundeswehr arrived in the country and, visiting the Defense Ministry, discussed information technology. "The purpose of the visit is to integrate an informational codification system of the Georgian MoD with the NATO general system," an initiative "implemented within the framework of the Bilateral Cooperation Plan [of] 2009 between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany." [9] During the same time it was announced that the American Marine Corps was sending a delegation to Georgia's neighbor in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan, which has also recently been levied for more troops for the U.S.'s and NATO's war in Afghanistan. From suzannedk at gmail.com Sat Sep 5 11:48:49 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 19:48:49 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Japanese President's wife on TV Message-ID: The moderator remarked how eccentric she is. Not true! A classic Japanese wife of highest privilege, expressing profound and ancient and revered Japanes beliefs. The occupiers, refusing to leave still, have attempted to turn that culture inside out, with her joy it returns to it's roots The occupiers are seen as criminally, irrationally eccentric by Asians! Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Suzanne de Kuyper Date: Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 10:36 PM Subject: Japanese President's wife To: clancy at cnn.com Exccentric, no! Natural, in love with her husband and he with her, the untradtional wife and partner. The eating the sun together is so Japanese so profuondly Japanese also, so poetic, the transparentsy so human and sweet. The sun is the ancient symbol of ancient Japan, the former Emporor a child of the sun and a priest as well as ruler of an amazing country, which is why Truman bombed it after it had sued for peace. Asia will change from this one election. They both know this. The Japanese believe in mystisicm. The Mrs speaks to thei souls and their cry for change. Suzanne suzannedk at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1602 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090905/69cc1f12/attachment.txt From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Sat Sep 5 22:08:58 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 13:08:58 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Earth Plus Five Percent Message-ID: <20090906130858.eaede722.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by Larry Hannigan This story was written by me, Larry Hannigan in 1971 - The sole purpose was to explain the simple mathematics of reality and the current Banking System - that is - 100 plus NOTHING does NOT equal 105 - and that charging interest on something that is created out of nothing, makes it impossible to repay, giving great power to those who do create money out of nothing - that is, the Banks. Money is NOT a commodity, it is a system of debit-credit bookkeeping - nothing more. This story was placed on the Internet to be used as an educational tool only. Many people have taken my story, translated it into other languages and placed it on the Internet, where it has been very helpful. Sadly, some people have taken my story and claimed it as their own with no acknowledgment to me. Not only that, they have changed my story to suit their own personal philosophy, by leaving some sections out and adding in extra parts about conspiracies (true or false), or so called ancient wisdoms, mysteries, and religions et cetera. By doing this, these people are actually helping the enemy. How ? Sooner or later, the words of Lord Acton will materialise. He said - "... the issue which has swept down the centuries and will have to be fought sooner or later is THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE BANKS". That battle is getting closer every day in every language. Please do not give the enemy anything that can be used to divide and distract THE PEOPLE with side issues away from the real issue that 100 + 0 does not = 105. PLEASE DO NOT INTERFERE WITH MY ORIGINAL ENGLISH TEXT (OTHER THAN BY LANGUAGE TRANSLATION) AS PRESENTED HERE AT: http://www.larryhannigan.com/TheEarthPlus5.htm And please have the integrity to acknowledge me as the author if you do use it. If you want to discover the real Fabian, visit: http://www.larryhannigan.com/pastpresentfuture1.htm You may download this article as a .pdf file. Click Here to download: http://www.larryhannigan.com/The_Earth_Plus_5.pdf If you wish to comment on my article, by all means please feel to do so, but keep the original intact and as is. Make your comments and additions as a separate part of your reproduction. Thank you. Feel free to make as many copies of this article, and to reproduce this article, SO LONG AS YOU COMPLY WITH THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS AND ADD A LINK TO www.larryhannigan.com The Earth Plus Five Percent by Larry Hannigan - Australia (c) 1971-2009 Fabian was excited as he once more rehearsed his speech for the crowd certain to turn up tomorrow. He had always wanted prestige and power and now his dreams were going to come true. He was a craftsman working with silver and gold, making jewelry and ornaments, but he became dissatisfied with working for a living. He needed excitement, a challenge, and now his plan was ready to begin. For generations the people used the barter system. A man supported his own family by providing all their needs or else he specialised in a particular trade. Whatever surpluses he might have from his own production, he exchanged or swapped for the surplus of others. Market day was always noisy and dusty, yet people looked forward to the shouting and waving, and especially the companionship. It used to be a happy place, but now there were too many people, too much arguing. There was no time for chatting - a better system was needed. Generally, the people had been happy, and enjoyed the fruits of their work. In each community a simple Government had been formed to make sure that each person's freedoms and rights were protected and that no man was forced to do anything against his will by any other man, or any group of men. This was the Government's one and only purpose and each Governor was voluntarily supported by the local community who elected him. However, market day was the one problem they could not solve. Was a knife worth one or two baskets of corn? Was a cow worth more than a wagon ? and so on. No one could think of a better system. Fabian had advertised, "I have the solution to our bartering problems, and I invite everyone to a public meeting tomorrow". The next day there was a great assembly in the town square and Fabian explained all about the new system which he called "money". It sounded good. "How are we to start?" the people asked. "The gold which I fashion into ornaments and jewelry is an excellent metal. It does not tarnish or rust, and will last a long time. I will make some gold into coins and we shall call each coin a dollar." He explained how values would work, and that "money" would be really a medium for exchange - a much better system than bartering. One of the Governors questioned, "Some people can dig gold and make coins for themselves", he said, "This would be most unfair". Fabian was ready with the answer. "Only those coins approved by the Government can be used, and these will have special markings stamped on them". This seemed reasonable and it was proposed that each man be given an equal number. "But I deserve the most", said the candle-maker. "Everyone uses my candles". "No", said the farmer, "without food there is no life, surely we should get the most". And so the bickering continued. Fabian let them argue for a while and finally he said, "Since none of you can agree, I suggest you obtain the number you require from me. There will be no limit, except for your ability to repay. The more you obtain, the more you must repay in one year's time. "And what will you receive?" the people asked. "Since I am providing a service, that is, the money supply, I am entitled to payment for my work. Let us say that for every 100 pieces you obtain, you repay me 105 for every year that you owe the debt. The five will be my charge, and I shall call this charge interest." There seemed to be no other way, and besides, five percent seemed little enough charge. "Come back next Friday and we will begin". Fabian wasted no time. He made coins day and night, and at the end of the week he was ready. The people were queued up at his shop, and after the coins were inspected and approved by the Governors the system commenced. Some borrowed only a few and they went off to try the new system. They found money to be marvellous, and they soon valued everything in gold coins or dollars. The value they placed on everything was called a "price", and the price mainly depended on the amount of work required to produce it. If it took a lot of work the price was high, but if it was produced with little effort it was quite inexpensive. In one town lived Alan, who was the only watchmaker. His prices were high because the customers were willing to pay just to own one of his watches. Then another man began making watches and offered them at a lower price in order to get sales. Alan was forced to lower his prices, and in no time at all prices came down, so that both men were striving to give the best quality at the lowest price. This was genuine free competition. It was the same with builders, transport operators, accountants, farmers, in fact, in every endeavour. The customers always chose what they felt was the best deal - they had freedom of choice. There was no artificial protection such as licences or tariffs to prevent other people from going into business. The standard of living rose, and before long the people wondered how they had ever done without money. At the end of the year, Fabian left his shop and visited all the people who owed him money. Some had more than they borrowed, but this meant that others had less, since there were only a certain number of coins issued in the first place. Those who had more than they borrowed paid back each hundred plus the extra five, but still had to borrow again to carry on. The others discovered for the first time that they had a debt. Before he would lend them more money, Fabian took a mortgage over some of their assets, and everyone went away once more to try and get those extra five coins which always seemed so hard to find. No one realised that as a whole, the country could never get out of debt until all the coins were repaid, but even then, there were those extra five on each hundred which had never been lent out at all. No one but Fabian could see that it was impossible to pay the interest - the extra money had never been issued, therefore someone had to miss out. It was true that Fabian spent some coins, but he couldn't possibly spend anything like five percent of the total economy on himself. There were thousands of people and Fabian was only one. Besides, he was still a goldsmith making a comfortable living. At the back of his shop Fabian had a strongroom and people found it convenient to leave some of their coins with him for safekeeping. He charged a small fee depending on the amount of money, and the time it was left with him. He would give the owner receipts for the deposit. When a person went shopping, he did not normally carry a lot of gold coins. He would give the shopkeeper one of the receipts to the value of the goods he wanted to buy. Shopkeepers recognised the receipt as being genuine and accepted it with the idea of taking it to Fabian and collecting the appropriate amount in coins. The receipts passed from hand to hand instead of the gold itself being transferred. The people had great faith in the receipts - they accepted them as being as good as coins. Before long, Fabian noticed that it was quite unusual for anyone to actually call for their gold coins. He thought to himself, "Here I am in possession of all this gold and I am still a hard working craftsman. It doesn't make sense. Why, there are dozens of people who would be glad to pay me interest for the use of this gold which is lying here and rarely called for. "It is true, the gold is not mine - but it is in my possession, which is all that matters. I hardly need to make any coins at all, I can use some of the coins stored in the vault." At first he was very cautious, only loaning a few at a time, and then only on tremendous security. But gradually he became bolder, and larger amounts were loaned. One day, a large loan was requested. Fabian suggested, "Instead of carrying all these coins we can make a deposit in your name, and then I shall give you several receipts to the value of the coins". The borrower agreed, and off he went with a bunch of receipts. He had obtained a loan, yet the gold remained in the strong-room. After the client left, Fabian smiled. He could have his cake and eat it too. He could "lend" gold and still keep it in his possession. Friends, strangers and even enemies needed funds to carry out their businesses - and so long as they could produce security, they could borrow as much as they needed. By simply writing out receipts Fabian was able to "lend" money to several times the value of gold in his strong-room, and he was not even the owner of it. Everything was safe so long as the real owners didn't call for their gold and the confidence of the people was maintained. He kept a book showing the debits and credits for each person. The lending business was proving to be very lucrative indeed. His social standing in the community was increasing almost as fast as his wealth. He was becoming a man of importance, he commanded respect. In matters of finance, his very word was like a sacred pronouncement. Goldsmiths from other towns became curious about his activities and one day they called to see him. He told them what he was doing, but was very careful to emphasize the need for secrecy. If their plan was exposed, the scheme would fail, so they agreed to form their own secret alliance. Each returned to his own town and began to operate as Fabian had taught. People now accepted the receipts as being as good as gold itself, and many receipts were deposited for safe keeping in the same way as coins. When a merchant wished to pay another for goods, he simply wrote a short note instructing Fabian to transfer money from his account to that of the second merchant. It took Fabian only a few minutes to adjust the figures. This new system became very popular, and the instruction notes were called "checks". Late one night, the goldsmiths had another secret meeting and Fabian revealed a new plan. The next day they called a meeting with all the Governors, and Fabian began. "The receipts we issue have become very popular. No doubt, most of you Governors are using them and you find them very convenient." They nodded in agreement and wondered what the problem was. "Well", he continued, "some receipts are being copied by counterfeiters. This practice must be stopped." The Governors became alarmed. "What can we do?" they asked. Fabian replied, "My suggestion is this - first of all, let it be the Government's job to print new notes on a special paper with very intricate designs, and then each note to be signed by the chief Governor. We goldsmiths will be happy to pay the printing costs, as it will save us a lot of time writing out receipts." The Governors reasoned, "Well, it is our job to protect the people against counterfeiters and the advice certainly seems like a good idea". So they agreed to print the notes. "Secondly", Fabian said, "some people have gone prospecting and are making their own gold coins. I suggest that you pass a law so that any person who finds gold nuggets must hand them in. Of course, they will be reimbursed with notes and coins." The idea sounded good and without too much thought about it, they printed a large number of crisp new notes. Each note had a value printed on it - $1, $2, $5, $10 et cetera. The small printing costs were paid by the goldsmiths. The notes were much easier to carry and they soon became accepted by the people. Despite their popularity however, these new notes and coins were used for only ten percent of transactions. The records showed that the check system accounted for ninety percent of all business. The next part of his plan commenced. Until now, people were paying Fabian to guard their money. In order to attract more money into the vault Fabian offered to pay depositors three percent interest on their money. Most people believed that he was re-lending their money out to borrowers at five percent, and his profit was the two percent difference. Besides, the people didn't question him as getting three percent was far better than paying to have the money guarded. The volume of savings grew and with the additional money in the vaults, Fabian was able to lend $200, $300, $400 sometimes up to $900 for every $100 in notes and coins that he held in deposit. He had to be careful not to exceed this nine to one ratio, because one person in ten did require the notes and coins for use. If there was not enough money available when required, people would become suspicious, especially as their deposit books showed how much they had deposited. Nevertheless, on the $900 in book figures that Fabian loaned out by writing checks himself, he was able to demand up to $45 in interest, that is, five percent on $900. When the loan plus interest was repaid, that is $945, the $900 was cancelled out in the debit column and Fabian kept the $45 interest. He was therefore quite happy to pay $3 interest on the original $100 deposited which had never left the vaults at all. This meant that for every $100 he held in deposits, it was possible to make 42% profit, most people believing he was only making two percent. The other goldsmiths were doing the same thing. They created money out of nothing at the stroke of a pen, and then charged interest on top of it. True, they didn't coin money, the Government actually printed the notes and coins and gave it to the goldsmiths to distribute. Fabian's only expense was the small printing fee. Still, they were creating credit money out of nothing and charging interest on top of it. Most people believed that the money supply was a Government operation. They also believed that Fabian was lending them the money that someone else had deposited, but it was very strange that no one's deposits ever decreased when a loan was advanced. If everyone had tried to withdraw their deposits at once, the fraud would have been exposed. When a loan was requested in notes or coins, it presented no problem. Fabian merely explained to the Government that the increase in population and production required more notes, and these he obtained for the small printing fee. One day a thoughtful man went to see Fabian. "This interest charge is wrong", he said. "For every $100 you issue, you are asking $105 in return. The extra $5 can never be paid since it doesn't exist. "Farmers produce food, industry manufacturers goods, and so on, but only you produce money. Suppose there are only two businessmen in the whole country and we employ everyone else. We borrow $100 each, we pay $90 out in wages and expenses and allow $10 profit (our wage). That means the total purchasing power is $90 + $10 twice, that is, $200. Yet to pay you we must sell all our produce for $210. If one of us succeeds and sells all his produce for $105, the other man can only hope to get $95. Also, part of his goods cannot be sold, as there is no money left to buy them. "He will still owe you $10 and can only repay this by borrowing more. The system is impossible." The man continued, "Surely you should issue 105, that is, 100 to me and five to you to spend. This way there would be 105 in circulation, and the debt can be repaid." Fabian listened quietly and finally said, "Financial economics is a deep subject, my boy, it takes years of study. Let me worry about these matters, and you look after yours. You must become more efficient, increase your production, cut down on your expenses and become a better businessman. I am always willing to help in these matters." The man went away still unconvinced. There was something wrong with Fabian's operations and he felt that his questions had been avoided. Yet, most people respected Fabian's word - "He is the expert, the others must be wrong. Look how the country has developed, how our production has increased - we must be better off." To cover the interest on the money they had borrowed, merchants were forced to raise their prices. Wage earners complained that wages were too low. Employers refused to pay higher wages, claiming that they would be ruined. Farmers could not get a fair price for their produce. Housewives complained that food was getting too dear. And finally some people went on strike, a thing previously unheard of. Others had become poverty stricken and their friends and relatives could not afford to help them. Most had forgotten the real wealth all around - the fertile soils, the great forests, the minerals and cattle. They could think only of the money which always seemed so scarce. But they never questioned the system. They believed the Government was running it. A few had pooled their excess money and formed "lending" or "finance" companies. They could get six percent or more this way, which was better than the three percent Fabian paid, but they could only lend out money they owned - they did not have this strange power of being able to create money out of nothing by merely writing figures in books. These finance companies worried Fabian and his friends somewhat, so they quickly set up a few companies of their own. Mostly, they bought the others out before they got going. In no time, all the finance companies were owned by them, or under their control. The economic situation got worse. The wage earners were convinced that the bosses were making too much profit. The bosses said that their workers were too lazy and weren't doing an honest day's work, and everyone was blaming everyone else. The Governors could not come up with an answer and besides, the immediate problem seemed to be to help the poverty stricken. They started up welfare schemes and made laws forcing people to contribute to them. This made many people angry - they believed in the old-fashioned idea of helping one's neighbour by voluntary effort. "These laws are nothing more than legalised robbery. To take something off a person against his will, regardless of the purpose for which it is to be used, is no different from stealing." But each man felt helpless and was afraid of the jail sentence which was threatened for failing to pay. These welfare schemes gave some relief, but before long the problem was back and more money was needed to cope. The cost of these schemes rose higher and higher and the size of the Government grew. Most of the Governors were sincere men trying to do their best. They didn't like asking for more money from their people and finally, they had no choice but to borrow money from Fabian and his friends. They had no idea how they were going to repay. Parents could no longer afford to pay teachers for their children. They couldn't pay doctors. And transport operators were going out of business. One by one the government was forced to take these operations over. Teachers, doctors and many others became public servants. Few obtained satisfaction in their work. They were given a reasonable wage, but they lost their identity. They became small cogs in a giant machine. There was no room for personal initiative, little recognition for effort, their income was fixed and advancement came only when a superior retired or died. In desperation, the governors decided to seek Fabian's advice. They considered him very wise and he seemed to know how to solve money matters. He listened to them explain all their problems, and finally he answered, "Many people cannot solve their own problems - they need someone to do it for them. Surely you agree that most people have the right to be happy and to be provided with the essentials of life. One of our great sayings is 'all men are equal' - is it not?" "Well, the only way to balance things up is to take the excess wealth from the rich and give it to the poor. Introduce a system of taxation. The more a man has, the more he must pay. Collect taxes from each person according to his ability, and give to each according to his need. Schools and hospitals should be free for those who cannot afford them ?" He gave them a long talk on high sounding ideals and finished up with, "Oh, by the way, don't forget you owe me money. You've been borrowing now for quite some time. The least I can do to help, is for you to just pay me the interest. We'll leave the capital debt owing, just pay me the interest." They went away, and without giving Fabian's philosophies any real thought, they introduced the graduated income tax - the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. No one liked this, but they either paid the taxes or went to jail. Merchants were forced once again to raise their prices. Wage earners demanded higher wages forcing many employers out of business, or to replace men with machinery. This caused additional unemployment and forced the Government to introduce further welfare and handout schemes. Tariffs and other protection devices were introduced to keep some industries going just to provide employment. A few people wondered if the purpose of the production was to produce goods or merely to provide employment. As things got worse, they tried wage control, price control, and all sorts of controls. The Government tried to get more money through sales tax, payroll tax and all sorts of taxes. Someone noted that from the wheat farmer right through to the housewife, there were over fifty taxes on a loaf of bread. "Experts" arose and some were elected to Government, but after each yearly meeting they came back with almost nothing achieved, except for the news that taxes were to be "restructured", but overall the total tax always increased. Fabian began to demand his interest payments, and a larger and larger portion of the tax money was being needed to pay him. Then came party politics - the people started arguing about which group of Governors could best solve the problems. They argued about personalities, idealism, party labels, everything except the real problem. The councils were getting into trouble. In one town the interest on the debt exceeded the amount of rates which were collected in a year. Throughout the land the unpaid interest kept increasing - interest was charged on unpaid interest. Gradually much of the real wealth of the country came to be owned or controlled by Fabian and his friends and with it came greater control over people. However, the control was not yet complete. They knew that the situation would not be secure until every person was controlled. Most people opposing the systems could be silenced by financial pressure, or suffer public ridicule. To do this Fabian and his friends purchased most of the newspapers, television and radio stations and he carefully selected people to operate them. Many of these people had a sincere desire to improve the world, but they never realised how they were being used. Their solutions always dealt with the effects of the problem, never the cause. There were several different newspapers - one for the right wing, one for the left wing, one for the workers, one for the bosses, and so on. It didn't matter much which one you believed in, so long as you didn't think about the real problem. Fabian's plan was almost at its completion - the whole country was in debt to him. Through education and the media, he had control of people's minds. They were able to think and believe only what he wanted them to. After a man has far more money than he can possibly spend for pleasure, what is left to excite him? For those with a ruling class mentality, the answer is power - raw power over other human beings. The idealists were used in the media and in Government, but the real controllers that Fabian sought were those of the ruling class mentality. Most of the goldsmiths had become this way. They knew the feeling of great wealth, but it no longer satisfied them. They needed challenge and excitement, and power over the masses was the ultimate game. They believed they were superior to all others. "It is our right and duty to rule. The masses don't know what is good for them. They need to be rallied and organised. To rule is our birthright." Throughout the land Fabian and his friends owned many lending offices. True, they were privately and separately owned. In theory they were in competition with each other, but in reality they were working very closely together. After persuading some of the Governors, they set up an institution which they called the Money Reserve Centre. They didn't even use their own money to do this - they created credit against part of the money out of the people's deposits. This Institution gave the outward appearance of regulating the money supply and being a Government operation, but strangely enough, no Governor or public servant was ever allowed to be on the Board of Directors. The Government no longer borrowed directly from Fabian, but began to use a system of IOUs to the Money Reserve Centre. The security offered was the estimated revenue from next year's taxes. This was in line with Fabian's plan - removing suspicion from himself to an apparent Government operation. Yet, behind the scenes, he was still in control. Indirectly, Fabian had such control over the Government that they were forced to do his bidding. He boasted, "Let me control the nation's money and I care not who makes its laws". It didn't matter much which group of Governors were elected. Fabian was in control of the money, the life blood of the nation. The Government obtained the money, but interest was always charged on every loan. More and more was going out in welfare and handout schemes, and it was not long before the Government found it difficult to even repay the interest, let alone the capital. And yet there were people who still asked the question, "Money is a man-made system. Surely it can be adjusted to serve, not to rule?" But these people became fewer and their voices were lost in the mad scrabble for the non-existent interest. The adminstrations changed, the party labels changed, but the major policies continued. Regardless of which Government was in "power", Fabian's ultimate goal was brought closer each year. The people's policies meant nothing. They were being taxed to the limit, they could pay no more. Now the time was ripe for Fabian's final move. Ten percent of the money supply was still in the form of notes and coins. This had to be abolished in such a way as not to arouse suspicion. While the people used cash, they were free to buy and sell as they chose - they still had some control over their own lives. But it was not always safe to carry notes and coins. Checks were not accepted outside one's local community, and therefore a more convenient system was looked forward to. Once again Fabian had the answer. His organisation issued everyone with a little plastic card showing the person's name, photograph and an identification number. When this card was presented anywhere, the storekeeper phoned the central computer to check the credit rating. If it was clear, the person could buy what he wanted up to a certain amount. At first people were allowed to spend a small amount on credit, and if this was repaid within a month, no interest was charged. This was fine for the wage earner, but what businessman could even begin? He had to set up machinery, manufacture the goods, pay wages et cetera and sell all his goods and repay the money. If he exceeded one month, he was charged 1.5% for every month the debt was owed. This amounted to over eighteen percent per year. Businessmen had no option but to add the eighteen percent onto the selling price. Yet this extra money or credit (the eighteen percent) had not been loaned out to anyone. Throughout the country, businessmen were given the impossible task of repaying $118 for every $100 they borrowed - but the extra $18 had never been created at all. Yet Fabian and his friends increased their standing in society. They were regarded as pillars of respectability. Their pronouncements on finance and economics were accepted with almost religious conviction. Under the burden of ever increasing taxes, many small businesses collapsed. Special licenses were needed for various operations, so that the remaining ones found it very difficult to operate. Fabian owned and controlled all of the big companies which had hundreds of subsidiaries. These appeared to be in competition with each other, yet he controlled them all. Eventually all competitors were forced out of business. Plumbers, panel beaters, electricians and most other small industries suffered the same fate - they were swallowed up by Fabian's giant companies which all had Government protection. Fabian wanted the plastic cards to eliminate notes and coins. His plan was that when all notes were withdrawn, only businesses using the computer card system would be able to operate. He planned that eventually some people would misplace their cards and be unable to buy or sell anything until a proof of identify was made. He wanted a law to be passed which would give him ultimate control - a law forcing everyone to have their identification number tattooed onto their hand. The number would be visible only under a special light, linked to a computer. Every computer would be linked to a giant central computer so that Fabian could know everything about everyone. A Summary and Other Information The story you have read is, of course, fiction. But if you found it to be disturbingly close to the truth and would like to know who Fabian was in real life, a good starting point is a study on the activities of the English goldsmiths in the 16th & 17th centuries. For example, The Bank of England began in 1694. King William of Orange was in financial difficulties as a result of a war with France. The Goldsmiths "lent him" 1.2 million pounds (a staggering amount in those days) with certain conditions: 1. The interest rate was to be eight percent. It must be remembered that Magna Carta stated that the charging or collecting of interest was a serious crime. 2. The King was to grant the goldsmiths a charter for the bank which gave them the right to issue or create credit out of nothing. Prior to this, their operations of issuing receipts for more money than they held in deposits was totally illegal. The charter made it legal. In 1694 William Patterson obtained the Charter for the Bank of England. By the way, the correct terminology used in the financial world for this money system is "fractional reserve banking". Lets now do some research ? Quotations Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Edition - "Banks create credit. It is a mistake to suppose that bank credit is created to any extent by the payment of money into the banks. A loan made by a bank is a clear addition to the amount of money in the community." Lord Acton, Lord Chief Justice of England, 1875 - "The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the People versus the Banks". Mr Reginald McKenna, when Chairman of the Midland Bank in London - "I am afraid that ordinary citizens will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create and destroy money. And they who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of governments, and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people." Mr Phillip A Benson, President of the American Bankers' Association, June 8 1939 said - "There is no more direct way to capture control of a nation than through its credit (money) system". Sir Denison Miller - During an interview in 1921, when he was asked if he, through the Commonwealth Bank, had financed Australia during the First World War for $700 million, he replied, "Such was the case, and I could have financed the country for a further like sum had the war continued". Asked if that amount was available for productive purposes in this time of peace, he answered, "Yes". So how should a proper money system work ? As a simple example, what happens when we want to build a bridge ? 1st Question: Do we know how to build a bridge ? - Yes 2nd Question: Do we have the materials to build it ? - Yes 3rd Question: Do we have enough people producing food to feed the men while they are building the bridge ? - yes So how does money get into the project ? If there is work to be done, and the material is available and the labour willing, all we have to do is create the money which really is as simple as credit for work done. Credit can be in the form of a ledger column, or even printed tickets which we might choose to call - dollars. Ask yourself why depressions have happened. The labour was still available. The work to be done was still there. The materials had not disappeared, and goods were readily available in the shops, or could be produced, except for the want of money. All that went missing from the community was the money to buy goods and services. So why did the money supply dry up ? Here is a letter written by the Rothschild Brothers of London to a New York firm of bankers on 25 June 1863: It reads - "The few who can understand the System (Cheque Money and Credits) will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, 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 advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical (hostile, hurtful) to their interests." The following quotation was reprinted in the Idaho Leader, USA, 26 August 1924, and has been read into Hansard twice: by John Evans MP, in 1926, and by M D Cowan MP, in the Session of 1930-1931: In 1891 a confidential circular was sent to American bankers and their agents, containing the following statements: "We authorise our loan agents in the western States to loan our funds on real estate, to fall due on September 1st 1894, and at no time thereafter". "On September 1 1894, we will not renew our loans under any consideration". "On September 1st we will demand our money - we will foreclose and become mortgagees in possession". "We can take two-thirds of the farms west of the Mississippi and thousands of them east of the great Mississippi as well, at our own price". "We may as well own three quarters of the farms of the west and the money of the country". "Then the farmers will become tenants, as in England". The understanding of this issue of money into the community can be best illustrated by equating money in the economy with tickets in a railway system. The tickets are printed by a printer who is paid for his work. The printer never claims the ownership of the tickets. And we can never imagine a railway company refusing to give passengers seats on a train because it is out of tickets. By this same token, a government should never refuse people the access to normal commerce and trade by claiming it is out of money. Suppose the government borrows $10 million. It only costs the bankers a few hundred dollars to actually produce the funds, and a little more to do the book-keeping. Do you think it is fair that our citizens should struggle to keep their homes and families together, while the bankers grow fat on these profits? Credit created by a Government-owned bank is better than credit created by private banks, because there is no need to recover the money from people by way of taxes, and there is no interest attached to inflate the cost. The public work completed with the credit by the Government bank is the asset that replaces the money created when the work is finished. None of our problems will disappear until we correct the creation, supply and circulation of money. So What Keeps the Banking System going ? Suppose you are a fairly successful private businessman, and you want to expand, so you take a loan or overdraft of $10,000 from your local bank. Things go well for a while, and you have paid back $5,000, or half the loan. But things go wrong, and you have to tell the bank that you can no longer keep up the payments on the outstanding principal and interest. The $5,000 you cannot, will not, or have not repaid, remains in circulation as interest free money, for other debors to use, to pay the interest and principal on their loans. It is this money from defaulted loans that enables the system to keep going. Of course, the banks say they don't want that to happen, but in reality, they can now foreclose on your real assets, for something they gave only bookkeeping credit on. Whenever the debts increase beyond a certain point, orders go out to banks to refuse further credit, and then they foreclose on certain outstanding loans. So who gets forclosed and why ? Governments are never foreclosed. If it is necessary to eliminate a government that becomes hostile to those controlling the banking system, it is accomplished through war and revolution. Large corporate bodies are generally left alone, as they are necessary in the coming World Government, rather than individual countries. Foreclosures are nearly always directed against those who are the smallest, and least organised to resist, such as the small businessman, the home owner, and especially the family farmers. These can be handled with the least trouble. In order to keep Israeli, the Communist nations and international usury banking going, small businesses must be foreclosed. Western Governments give away billions of dollars in foreign aid, while thousands of farmers and small businesses are cruelly foreclosed every month. So when we pay our taxes this is what it is all about. Those persons who now rule and control the world, foreclose heavily on the small home owner, business people, and especially the farmers, who want to make their own decisions and take their own consequences. They do not usually research history and the economic situation, but they feel justified in borrowing what they need from the banks. But in times of good farm prosperity, it is bankers who encourage these loans. Those who run the banking system, know that farmers and small business people are the most independent people in the nation. They are encouraged to get into debt, so foreclosure can be enforced to kill their independence. When you plant one grain of corn, it will yield an increase of several hundred grains - this God's gift of increase. Animals also produce increase, but money, in any form, cannot increase, yet people believe it does, and today, many people live off interest. Money is a great system, far superior to barter. Creating money to equate the real wealth of a nation or giving credit to an individual, is not the problem. It is the charging of INTEREST that is the root cause of all our economic problems. We are told that all nations are in debt. Ask yourself, or any politician - if all nations are in debt, who is the creditor ? Thou shalt not lend upon usury (interest) to thy brother, interest on the money, or on anything that is lent with interest. Deuteronomy 23.19 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15:5 PLEASE DONATE TO THE DVD PROJECT There are many websites to help you understand the Money Question and what you can do - here are two to start with: http://www.wepin.com/why/ep5anal.htmll www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html (c) Larry Hannigan 1971 - 2008, Australia http://www.larryhannigan.com/TheEarthPlus5.htm http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sun Sep 6 04:45:04 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 11:45:04 +0100 Subject: [A-List] British security force collusion with loyalists in the murder of dozens of Irish nationalists. Message-ID: <707C62883AE045588D7BC6A398B950B2@home9sg93n9r5y> Killing forced lid off security-force conduct By Barry McCaffrey 03/09/09 IRISH NEWS TO the outside world he was just another innocent statistic of the Troubles ? the 3,051st person murdered in the conflict. But the killing of Loughlin Maginn was to spark a chain reaction of events that would finally lift the lid on security force collusion with loyalists in the murder of dozens of nationalists. Within hours of the father-of-four being shot dead the UFF attempted to justify the killing claiming he had been a provisional IRA intelligence officer. The claim was rejected by the RUC, who insisted that Mr Maginn was an innocent victim of a sectarian killing. Desperate to defend the murder, the UFF posted intelligence files of republican suspects, which it had received from members of the RUC and British army, on walls in loyalist areas of west Belfast. One of those pictured in the montages was Loughlin Maginn. While there had been previous allegations of security force collusion, this was the first definite evidence that British army and RUC files had been passed to loyalists. Within weeks of the murder two UDR soldiers appeared in court charged with the killing. Security minister John Cope denied that it was operating a policy of cooperation between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. "Our policy is to stamp out any collusion and that is why we are investigating all the allegations very thoroughly,?? he said. Soon after the soldiers appeared in court the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher defended the UDR as ?a very, very, very brave group of men? during a specially arranged visit to Northern Ireland. At the time 16 members of the regiment were serving life for murder. Within days the British army was forced to admit that another soldier convicted of possession of intelligence files passed to the UVF had rejoined his regiment. Corporal Cameron Hastie was allowed to continue as an army instructor despite being given an 18-month suspended sentence for stealing the documents, which the court was told had later been passed on to the UVF by a female UDR soldier. With growing nationalist and Irish government calls for the UDR to be disbanded, the British government announced in September 1989 that deputy chief constable of Cambridgeshire John Stevens (now Lord Stevens) was being called into investigate the theft of security force files from Ballykinlar UDR base and Dunmurry RUC station. Stevens Inquiry detectives were initially told their investigation would last just three weeks but as evidence emerged that hundreds of security force files had been passed to loyalists, the investigation snowballed. It would last 20 years and become the longest running police investigation in British history. Within weeks of his arrival Lord Stevens had arrested 28 UDR soldiers for involvement in collusion. Detectives uncovered evidence that the British army?s Force Research Unit (Fru) had used its agent Brian Nelson to provide the UDA and UVF with intelligence files on nationalists. In January, mysteriously, Lord Stevens?s offices inside Carrickfergus RUC station went on fire just as he was preparing to arrest Nelson and other senior UDA figures. A former member of Fru, Martin Ingram, would later claim that his unit had set fire to the offices. Lord Stevens would ultimately recover 2,600 security force documents which had been passed to loyalists. In May 1990 Stevens published his first report, confirming that some security force members had "gravely abused their position of trust" by passing on information to loyalists. However, he said there was no evidence of any orchestrated plan of collusion. Nationalists branded the report a whitewash, while unionists dubbed it a "cynical political exercise". Eventually 59 people would be charged by Stevens ? all bar one of those charged were either members of the UDR or UDA. In January 1992 Brian Nelson pleaded guilty to five charges of conspiracy to murder and 14 charges of possessing information useful to terrorists. He was sentenced to 10 years? imprisonment but only served five. His decision to plead guilty meant that Nelson?s key role as a conduit between the British army and loyalist paramilitaries was never fully exposed. Lord Stevens was to return for a second time to Northern Ireland in April 1993 after a BBC Panorama programme, The Dirty War, revealed that Nelson had warned his army handlers in late 1988 that Pat Finucane was being targeted by the UDA. It further revealed that far from being a lone ?bad apple? Nelson had been assisted by his handlers in collating intelligence and had been provided with the personal details and photographs of intended targets for the UDA. Although Stevens II lasted nearly three years little is known about what new evidence, if any, was uncovered. It is known that four reports went to the DPP, but failed to result in prosecutions. Nationalists branded the report another whitewash. Lord Stevens was forced to return to Northern Ireland for a third time in May 1999 after allegations of security force collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane refused to go away. It would later emerge that four security force agents, Brian Nelson, Billy Stobie, Tommy Lyttle and Ken Barrett had all been linked to the murder. In April 2003 it was announced that Brian Nelson had died in Canada. Six days later Stevens published a summary of its third and final inquiry. Summing up his 15-year investigation into security force collusion in the murder of nationalists, Britain?s most senior police officer said: "My three inquiries have found all these elements of collusion to be present. "The coordination, dissemination and sharing of intelligence were poor. "Informants and agents were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes. "Nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or protected. Crucial information was withheld from Senior Investigating Officers. Important evidence was neither exploited nor preserved." Lord Stevens announced that he had forwarded 25 files to the Public Prosecution Service recommending charges against security force members. In June 2007 the PPS announced that no serving or retired member of the security forces would face charges arising out of the three Stevens inquiries. After 20 years and costing more than ?20 million, Britain?s longest ever police investigation has failed to secure the prosecution of a single RUC officer or regular soldier for collusion. From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Sun Sep 6 19:25:33 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 10:25:33 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Dawn of Scarcity Industrialism Message-ID: <20090907102533.b868dd80.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report (September 02 2009) Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society Two bits of news circulating on the internet in the last week or so offer a useful glimpse at some of the currents of change that are setting the future into motion around us. One of them caused a modest flutter in the dovecotes of the internet and the mass media, and the other passed almost unnoticed. So far, though, the sweeping implications of both of these news items seem to have been missed by most observers. The first bit of news was a report that the Chinese government is planning to ban the export of rare earth elements. Those of my readers who don't track the latest fads in technology may not know that these have become crucial to many cutting edge technologies. Lanthanum, for example, is used in high-tech batteries, and neodymium goes into the permanent magnets used in electric motors and wind turbines. The innards of the Prius and other hybrids, to say nothing of the as-yet-imaginary electric cars being hyped by what's left of the American auto industry, depend on rare earth elements, and China currently produces well over ninety percent of the world's supply of most of them. The report thus sparked claims of an imminent shortage in these minerals and, predictably, a flurry of speculative interest in (and hype-ridden articles about) mines outside of China that can produce the same minerals A couple of details of the proposed restrictions somehow failed to make it into most media and internet accounts, and they are by no means minor issues. The first is that there's nothing that new about this news; in each of the last three years, the Chinese government has cut the export quotas for rare earth elements from China's mines. More important is the fact that the Chinese are not preventing the export of products containing rare earth elements; they are simply moving to ban the export of the raw materials. In effect, what the Chinese are saying is that they are no longer willing to accept the Third World's designated role as a source of raw materials and cheap labor to be exploited for the benefit of somebody else; if the future is going to run on technologies based on rare earth elements, those technologies are going to come out of Chinese factories, and the wealth produced by them is going to be concentrated in Chinese hands. As this reality sinks in, we will doubtless hear more denunciations of "resource nationalism". You'll notice that nobody denounces "resource nationalism" when the United States imposes political controls on the control of its own strategic resources, as of course it does. The problem arises, as some wag or other put it, because a lot of our resources these days have unaccountably turned up underneath somebody else's real estate. Now to some extent the rise of "resource nationalism" is simply one of the consequences of the decline of America's global empire. Page back a century or so to the time when Britain was the global superpower, with troops garrisoned around the globe, and the same debates took place in very nearly the same terms. Britain's Parliament and press trumpeted the virtues of free trade, meaning by that comfortably vague phrase a system of unequal exchanges that concentrated the bulk of the world's wealth in London, while other countries - among them, ironically, the United States - used politically imposed trade barriers and tariffs to nurture their emerging industrial economies at Britain's expense. As the British Empire waned, so did the global economy of the late 19th century, until the First World War finally pushed it over the brink into oblivion. We are arguably in a similar situation now, with America playing the role of declining empire and China, among other countries, imposing strategic trade barriers by political fiat as a means of building up its own industrial might at our expense. All other things being equal, we might reasonably expect a troubled transition lasting several decades and punctuated by a series of spectacular wars, not unlike the 1914 to 1945 transition period that saw Britain's global empire replaced by America's. Still, all other things are not equal, and the second bit of news I want to discuss here points up one of the differences. This was the announcement a few days back that the world derivative market has now reached a total paper value in excess of one quadrillion dollars. The conventional wisdom has it that such sums are beyond the capacity of the human mind to grasp, and in this case, the conventional wisdom may well be right. (If you have the sort of fashionable lifestyle that costs you $2000 a day, for example, and you started spending it when multicellular life first evolved on Earth, you wouldn't yet have spent one quadrillion dollars.) Still, it's important to grapple with such figures if only to grasp the fantastic absurdities that have created them. In thinking about this particular version of the unthinkable, two things should be obvious. The first is that there isn't a quadrillion dollars worth of nonfinancial goods and services anywhere on our planet. The second, which derives necessarily from the first, is that those derivatives aren't actually worth a quadrillion dollars in any meaningful sense, since it's impossible to cash them in for anything other than more financial paper. In terms introduced in an earlier Archdruid Report post, derivatives exist solely in the tertiary economy, the economy of abstract numbers that started out as a representation of real wealth and has now gone spinning off into a hallucinatory Wonderland of its own. As I am not sure how many of my readers understand derivatives, a few words on the subject might be useful. A derivative is essentially a bet regarding some asset, index, cash flow, or the like, which is called the "underlying". In the early days of derivatives, cash changed hands when the bet was settled - for example, a derivatives contract might obligate me to buy a hundred carloads of steel next October at a price fixed in advance, and the price of steel when the contract came due determined who profited and who lost. More recently, though, derivative contracts themselves have become hot speculative properties, subject to all the usual vagaries of bubble economics. Since they can quite literally be conjured out of thin air when needed, with no cash down, they are in many ways the perfect speculative instrument. It will be interesting to see just how long the current bubble in derivatives - for that is what it is, of course - can continue to run. Substantial gaps already exist between the speculative economy and that other, dowdier economy where nonfinancial goods and services are produced and consumed; nowadays the main connection between these two economies is credit, which is manufactured in the speculative economy but partly exported to the real economy. The late housing bubble and its aftermath offers a good demonstration of this; vast amounts of credit produced in the speculative economy flooded the real economy until 2007 or so, causing apparent prosperity; when the speculative economy crashed and all that credit dried up, so did the real economy's prospects. Derivatives have less contact with the real economy than mortgage-backed securities did, and since nearly all the quadrillions of dollars in the derivatives bubble have been minted out of twinkle dust by processes even more arbitrary than those used by the US government to conjure the funds for its recent stimulus programs - and that is saying something - it's not completely impossible that the bubble will go zooming off into a realm of pure abstraction full of quintillion-dollar deals as irrelevant to the real economy as the money traded in a game of Monopoly. Yet there is another potential connection between the etherial realms of speculative finance and the gritty world of matter where goods and services are produced and consumed, and China's tightening grip on its rare earth elements points toward that connection. Economics does not exist in a vacuum, and the power of high finance can find itself suddenly overmatched when it has to contend with the sort of power that grows out of the barrel of a gun. This is the mostly unlearned lesson behind the collapse of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM), that poster child of 1990s speculative hubris. Founded by some of the brightest minds in the market, with two Nobel laureates on its staff, LTCM made money - for a while, lots of it - by a set of complex mathematical models that, according to one of its founders, could not fail within the lifetime of this universe or two more like it. The universe ended early; LTCM had been in business for all of five years when the Russian government unilaterally suspended payments on its foreign loans. LTCM had a lot of money in Russian loans, but the prospect of a default wasn't included in the models, and by the time the rubble stopped bouncing LTCM was so deep in the red that a consortium of banks had to be strongarmed by US government officials into stumping up billions of dollars to prevent a run on securities markets. The lesson the founders of LTCM learned the hard way is that politics trumps economics. It's a lesson that has been repeated many times over the last century, but it's one that very few people seem willing to notice. If I'm right, though, it may just be the key to understanding the next fifty years or so of history. In previous posts here, I've suggested that the world is in the midst of a transformation between the kind of society and economy familiar to us over the last century or so, which I've called "abundance industrialism", and a new kind that may as well be called "scarcity industrialism". Where abundance industrialism was defined by the ready availability of cheap abundant natural resources, especially but not only fossil fuels, scarcity industrialism will be defined by the scarcity of such resources. One of the implications of this shift is that those nations and regions that control significant amounts of important resources will find those resources becoming a potent source of political leverage. The same sort of clout OPEC gained from its oil reserves in the 1970s, and may reclaim in the not too distant future, will become accessible to countries or cartels of countries with large amounts of any economically vital resource. If this is correct, the Chinese are not just using trade barriers to build their industrial plant at America's expense; they're doing that, of course, but it's not all they're doing. They are also taking advantage of the opportunities opening up as the age of scarcity industrialism dawns. They may well have recognized that in a world that will increasingly be shaped by resource scarcities, those who act to secure their own resource bases can thrive while others falter. It's a lesson that Russia has already learned - witness the successful efforts of the Russian government to seize Russia's fossil fuel assets from the handful of American- and British-backed billionaires who walked off with them during the chaos and corruption of the Yeltsin years - and other nations are beginning to learn it as well. The dawn of the age of scarcity industrialism thus promises to stand many of the assumptions of the recent past on their heads. It may not be out of place, therefore, to discuss some of the ways that societies might, if they were minded to do so, deal with some of these new realities, and next week's post will try to peer ahead into this territory. _____ ?John Michael Greer has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years, and is the author of a dozen books, including The Druidry Handbook (2006) and The Long Descent (2008). He lives in Ashland, Oregon [sic] - Cumberland, Maryland according to the August 19 2009 Archdruid Report, "Betting on the Rust Belt". http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/dawn-of-scarcity-industrialism.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From nscchicago at igc.org Sun Sep 6 09:08:35 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 10:08:35 -0500 Subject: [A-List] HONDURAS UPDATE - AND CHOMSKY IS GUEST OF CHAVEZ Message-ID: Tom Baker here forwarding two update reports on Honduras and Noam talks with Hugo. - Mercury News prints the story about police state conditions, an oligarchy with illusions of old. However, they will be soon packing their bags, escaping to Miami; they are robbing the national treasury As administrator of the state, they are so sloppily incompetent, it's hard to stop laughing. - IMF is cutting off some money to Honduras. The money was to help everyone get out of the global recession, that's what they say, an IMF stimulus package. It's an important position in that it is the oligarchy which gets hit. Poor people never see this money. - Noam Goes to Caracas. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 2193 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090906/8f486ff7/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/bmp Size: 1036854 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090906/8f486ff7/attachment-0001.bin -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: David Wilson Subject: [Lasolidarity] Honduran coup has been far from bloodless Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 09:50:20 -0400 Size: 6265 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090906/8f486ff7/attachment-0003.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Vicki Cervantes Subject: Fw: [NALACC-Info] IMF May Withhold $164 Million Allocated to Honduras Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 22:50:32 -0700 (PDT) Size: 37844 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090906/8f486ff7/attachment-0004.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Hooshi Daragahi Subject: [neighborsforpeace] Chomsky in Venezuela Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 22:07:31 -0700 (PDT) Size: 22062 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090906/8f486ff7/attachment-0005.eml From suzannedk at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 07:44:53 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 15:44:53 +0200 Subject: [A-List] MuzzleWatch - A rabbi throwing stones In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The Rabbis throw stones because the approved and supported violence of Israeli Judaism has been thriving for so long. It is like a battle shield around each apartheid Rabbi. suzannedk at gmail.com On 9/5/09, FeedBlitz wrote: > > > > [image: Your email updates, powered by FeedBlitz] > > > Here are the latest updates for *suzannedk at gmail.com* > > *"MuzzleWatch " > * - 1 new article > > > 1. A rabbi throwing stones > 2. More Recent Articles > 3. Search MuzzleWatch > > *A rabbi throwing stones > * > > Two weeks ago, R. Peretz Wolf-Prusan published an op-ed in San Francisco?s > J Weeklydecrying the verbal stone throwing that takes place inside our Jewish > communities when the issue of Israel and Palestine is brought up. > > He encouraged free dialog, > > We must freely express our deeply felt concerns about Israel. We must > debate vigorously and energetically engage in the marketplace of ideas. > > But urged respect and civility, > > I am distressed by how we speak to each other. Even as you read this, > someone is picking up a stone. > > One of these stones was published in the Jerusalem Postand later on reproduced > in ? yeah, you guessed it right ? the J itself! > > What a difference two weeks make for the J. > > In a remarkable opinion peace, R. David Forman does not mince any words in > his attack of the monthly Jewish fast for Gaza. > The fast, initiated by over sixty American rabbis, *?is an initiative that > seeks to end the Jewish community?s silence over Israel?s collective > punishment of Palestinians in Gaza.?* > > R. Forman?s op-ed throws his stones everywhere. He is not happy with the > fast (?a colossal failure,? ?an act of self-denial?), and freely attacks the > fast organizers (?self-appointed spiritual guardians of the Jewish people,? > ?their one-sidedness speaks for [the fast?s] prejudicial self?). > > In case you need a graphic image, R. Forman does not disappoint. He claims > that the fasters ? for the record, that includes me too ? are ?standing idly > by when their fellow Jews? blood is being spilled.? > > Why, you may ask, is this happening? R. Forman explains, > > Because of a total lack of balance, the tenor of Rosen?s and Walt?s > comments strikes one as anti-Zionist, bordering on anti-Semitism. > > R. Forman?s proof was probably this paragraph in the homepage of the Gaza > fast > : > > On three things the world stands: on justice, on truth, and on peace > (Mishnah Avot 1:18). From this we learn that justice, truth and peace are > interdependent and irrevocably intertwined. Thus we cannot separate our call > for justice in Gaza from the painful truth of this conflict and the ongoing > tragedy of war in this tortured region. We condemn Hamas? deliberate > targeting of Israeli civilians. Out of the same ethical commitments we also > condemn the use of much greater violence by the Israeli government, causing > many more deaths of Palestinian civilians. Since the end of Israel?s recent > military campaign, the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza has grown all the > more dire. > > Confused? > > Let me tell you how R. Forman?s logic works, because I?ve seen similar > cases a hundred times. > > Whenever you read any criticism of the Israeli occupation, you skip over > any mention of Palestinian suffering and start doing your own math: How many > lines were dedicated to mentions of Palestinian suffering and how many to > Israelis. If you do not find the ?balance? you seek, you ignore whatever > else may be in the written piece and you also ignore anything else the > writer may have done in his or her life. No matter. Your math comes wanting. > It is time to shout ?antisemitism?! > > Lucky for us, the two main targets of the attack, Rabbis Brant Rosen and > Brian Walt responded with grace and dignity > when > misleading and malicious accusations were thrown at them. Here are some > excerpts: > > These accusations against us personally and against the rabbis involved in > Taanit Tzedek, is a serious violation of the Jewish ethical prohibition > against spreading false accusations (motzi shem ra), an act unworthy of a > rabbi at any time, but especially during this month of Elul devoted to > forgiveness and repentance. > > Taanit Tzedek is not in any way an ?anti Israel act? or an attack on ?the > very legitimacy of Jewish State?, nor are the rabbis involved in this > project ?anti-Israel? or ?anti-Semitic.? All of us are devoted to teaching > the values of Judaism and to protecting the human rights of all people: our > people, Israelis, Jews throughout the world, and all human beings, including > Palestinians and the residents of Gaza. It is our commitment to the Jewish > belief that all human beings are created in the image of God that that > impels us to speak out against the blockade, a policy of the Israeli > government that causes untold human suffering. We are opposed to this policy > of the Israeli government, not to Israel. Is there no space for criticism of > the policies of the Israeli government without being labeled ?anti-Israel? > or ?anti-Semitic?? > > Responding directly to R. Forman?s comments about the fast being a failure, > they add: > > Rabbi Forman argues Taanit Tzedek means that it is a ?colossal failure? yet > he devoted his entire article in the Jerusalem Post to an attack on our > project. We are indeed pleased that over 70 rabbis have joined Taanit > Tzedek. We knew when we initiated this project that there would be a limited > number of rabbis who would join in this effort. We started the project with > jut a minyan of rabbis. Many more rabbis support our project yet fear that > going public could cost them their jobs. Rabbi Forman?s vicious attack helps > to create an environment of fear that silences so many in our community. > > If you have any doubts, go back to the J two weeks earlier, where R. > Peretz Wolf-Prusan candidly statedthat, > > I have been with rabbis who are compelled to meet in secret to express > their concerns over Israeli human rights violations, afraid to speak in > public for fear of their jobs. > > Under these circumstances, I have nothing but respect for the courage of R. > Rosen and R. Walt. > > This is how they end their response: > > We will continue to break the silence and to insist that the suffering > caused by the blockade must be addressed in our community not by > name-calling but by a serious discussion of the facts and the moral > implications for us as Jews. Now is not the time for pointing fingers at > others. This is the time when we are called as Jews to do a Moral reckoning > (Cheshbon nefesh). Taanit Tzedek will continue to call on our community and > all people to do a moral reckoning about the blockade and to follow the > prophet Isaiah?s call ?to lift up our voices like a Shofar? until this > immoral blockade is lifted. > > Amen. > > ? Sydney Levy > > > > > > ? Email to a friend? Article > Search? > Related? > View comments? > Track comments? > > > More Recent Articles > > - Prof. Carmi?s personal opinion in the LA Times > - Fire Gordon, without firing him > - Hysteria follows LA Times op-ed > - Drawing Lessons from the Festival > - Netanyahu?s attempts to silence Breaking the Silence > > > ------------------------------ > *Click here to safely unsubscribe nowfrom "MuzzleWatch" or change > your subscription or > subscribe > * > ------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------ > Unsubscribe from all current and future newsletterspowered by > FeedBlitz > ------------------------------ > Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, > LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498 > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 18144 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090907/064e2b72/attachment.txt From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 11:14:59 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:14:59 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Labor Day greetings from Cabale News Services Message-ID: <4AA53F93.7070009@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 September 07 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: A 'Labor Day' Message From Cabale News Service - "The Working Class And The Employing Class Have NOTHING In Common..." A sample of what's in the news... "Not supposed to" times two - One of the primary rules of Journalism... "The journalist IS NOT supposed to become part of the story..." has been broken by Associated Press, apparently not on purpose, but because they 'violated' a 'rule' of American social mores... Associated Press has published a picture of a dying US Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard [IMAGE] Astonishing! If you thought the pictures of soldier's caskets coming into Dover AFB raised a shitstorm, you ain't seen nuthin'. It IS notable that it took a FEMALE photojournalist to push this limit. The Guardian UK put it like this: > It is a graphic image of the harsh realities of war: the fatally > wounded young marine lying crumpled in the mud, his vulnerable face > turned to the camera. And it is one the US defence secretary would > rather you did not see. > > Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard, pictured being tended by comrades in > southern Afghanistan, died of his injuries soon after. Now the > release of this record of the 21-year-old's last moments has divided > America, prompting furious debate over the sanitisation of war at a > critical time for the military offensive. Whereas Tom Ricks, EX-Washington Post War Reporter, now ensconced as a pundit for CNAS (Neo-Liberal Think Tank) affiliated Foreign Policy magazine Headlined it this way: > "The dying marine: What the hell was the AP thinking?" Yours truly responded to Mr. Ricks, as have others... . . . After the commentary, from DailyMotion and Da Buffalo's personal collection. Something old (Phil Ochs, Joe Hill, from 1968), something new, something 'Rocker' (Joe Grushecky & The House Rockers, 'American Babylon'), Something 'Blue' (Todd Snider & The Nervous Wrecks, 'This Land Is OUR Land'), courtesy of the respective artists and DailyMotion In full at Archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/tth_090907 ...or Razed By Wolves: http://razedbywolves.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-07-2009-travus-t-hipp-morning.html -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqlP5AACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFwLTwCeI8il3jFUs6zpvbkuScjR4CiP c1cAniL7+kWrPBE8N/juRCTNKctlrQmx =5nsb -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From tal1 at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 7 11:41:03 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 13:41:03 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Deadly NATO Air Strike Impacts On German Domestic Politics Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 4:41 PM Subject: [stopnato] Deadly NATO Air Strike Impacts On German Domestic Politics http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105423?ionid=351020604 Press TV September 6, 2009 NATO deadly blitz 'may affect German election' -According to a Time magazine report, around 65 percent of Germans have called for a speedy return of their soldiers from Afghanistan. The recent deadly air raids in Afghanistan by NATO forces might influence German electorates' opinion in the upcoming national election, European media outlets suggest. German media coverage of Friday's NATO bombing in Afghanistan, in which 90 people including dozens of civilians were killed, has demonstrated that the country's press blame the German government for the attack as it ordered US fighter jets to run the operation, according to Euronews. The latest development is seen as a major blow to the ruling Christian Democrats Party (CDU) under Chancellor Angela Merkel as opposition to Germany's participation in NATO's Afghanistan mission gains momentum ahead of the September 27 national vote meant to select the next ruling party, Time magazine reported. .... According to a Time magazine report, around 65 percent of Germans have called for a speedy return of their soldiers from Afghanistan. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 7New Members Visit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others.. __,_._,___ From tal1 at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 7 11:43:07 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 13:43:07 -0400 Subject: [A-List] France Back In NATO Military Command: Militarzation Of Europe Message-ID: <771F76FFCD324BC8BB0E9A5BCC343AF7@TonyPC> ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 4:48 PM Subject: [stopnato] France Back In NATO Military Command: Militarzation Of Europe http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64618 Stars and Stripes September 7, 2009 French general to take key NATO position By Mark Abramson -[H]aving France more involved in the alliance, especially with ACT, could help with the push to get countries such as Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and its eastern European members to spend more money on defense and streamline their militaries. France?s reintegration into NATO?s military command is being hailed as a plus for U.S. efforts to get its allies to spend more money on defense and as a way to increase French and American military cooperation. The reintegration also means that the French will be taking charge of the alliance?s only North American command and its only command outside of Europe, Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Va. That command has always been led by an American general, an alliance spokesman said. France left the military command in 1966 and rejoined it earlier this year. Gen. Stephane Abrial, the French air force?s chief of staff, will take over ACT from U.S. Marine Gen. James Mattis in a ceremony on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Wednesday. "Having France more present in the integrated military command and [France] having two commands, especially the Norfolk one, allows the U.S. to have a partner in pushing for modernization (of members? militaries)," said Justin Vaisse, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. In July, the French took command of the alliance?s Joint Command Lisbon, in Portugal, which heads the alliance?s anti-piracy mission and other missions. "You got a French general in a position that has always been a U.S. general and in the United States, which is remarkable," alliance spokesman James Appathurai said about ACT. "People were a little suspicious that France was more interested in strengthening the [European Union] than NATO, and I think that has been put to rest." Appathurai called Allied Command Transformation one of the alliance?s top two commands. Its work includes training and developing technologies and practices to combat the roadside bomb problem in Afghanistan. Appathurai said even though the French are taking command of ACT, he does not believe that will diminish the United States? role in NATO. "National power inside NATO is not proportional to the number of commands. ? Of course, it is important as a symbol," Vaisse said. Vaisse said having France more involved in the alliance, especially with ACT, could help with the push to get countries such as Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and its eastern European members to spend more money on defense and streamline their militaries. U.S. European Command officials also view France?s reintegration in a positive light. "We have partnered with the French military on many missions and training exercises over time," said EUCOM spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Taylor Clark in an e-mailed statement. "Afghanistan is one example of this. The reintegration should increase our opportunities for future training together." =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 7New Members Visit Your Group Give Back Yahoo! for Good Get inspired by a good cause. Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others.. __,_._,___ From tal1 at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 7 11:46:51 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 13:46:51 -0400 Subject: [A-List] NATO's "12 Apostles" And 21st Century Global Military Bloc Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 4:54 PM Subject: [stopnato] NATO's "12 Apostles" And 21st Century Global Military Bloc http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95968.php New Europe September 6, 2009 Transforming NATO: "Twelve Apostles" and the new "creed" Dr. Greg Austin -[S]ince...September 11, 2001...NATO supported the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001; the creation of the European Union (EU) Military Staff in 2001 and the issuance of its own EU security concept in 2003; NATO and EU peacekeeping deployments ?out of area? on an unprecedented scale; expansion of NATO from 16 to 28 countries....The NATO concept will take acc?ount of new security challenges (proliferation, failed states, piracy, energy supplies, terrorism and climate change).... On September 4, the 12-person brains trust [sic] led by Madeleine Albright and Jeroen van der Veer to develop a new security concept for NATO met in Brussels with the North Atlantic Council. If they do their job well, NATO is set for a radical transformation. The world has changed fundamentally since NATO published its last security concept in 1999. Recall these defining moments or shifts since then: Al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001; the NATO supported the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001; the creation of the European Union (EU) Military Staff in 2001 and the issuance of its own EU security concept in 2003; NATO and EU peacekeeping deployments ?out of area? on an unprecedented scale; expansion of NATO from 16 to 28 countries; and the NATO-Russia crisis over Georgia in 2008. A sign of the times is that NATO now has a Russian version of its website, while the EU translates its key security documents not just into Russian, but into Arabic and Chinese as well. This can be a simple test of how relevant an international organization with global needs, such as NATO, might be. The NATO concept will take acc?ount of new security challenges (proliferation, failed states, piracy, energy supplies, terrorism and climate change) and how NATO has adapted to them. It will set out ?specific guidance to NATO governments on how they need to further transform the Alliance and their own national defence structures?. NATO policy planning has of course not been stagnant since 1999. The ?Strategic Concept? of that year is complemented by a classified document from 2003 on ?Guidance for the Military Implementation of the Alliance Strategy?, and by the ?Comprehensive Political Guidance? of 2006. The latter sets priorities for NATO ?capability issues, planning disciplines and intelligence for the next 10 to 15 years?; the ?kinds of operations the Alliance must be able to perform?; and the ?kinds of capabilities the Alliance will need?. The EU?s review of its own security concept in December 2008 gives a very clear sense of what the new NATO concept will look like in terms of threat analysis: peacekeeping, failed states, proliferation, piracy, cyber security, energy security and climate security. The bigger challenge will be to devise the right ?transformation strategy? for NATO institutions in response. Some in NATO, especially in Eastern and Central Europe, but also in the United States, want no change! This was a message that came through loud and clear from a recent trans-Atlantic study group convened by the EastWest Institute and reported in EuroAtlantic Security: One Vision Three Paths. This essentially conservative position will divide NATO as it tries to finalize its new strategic concept. We must hope that this conservatism does not paralyze or water down the radical changes needed. Take three big issue areas suggested by the reference above to languages: Russia, the Muslim world (Arabic and beyond) and China. The new strategy must set not only clear policy directions for NATO relations with all three, but there must be a clear sense of how NATO military forces and the national defence policies of member states must change to meet all three very distinct security relationships. Poland and the Baltic countries have both eyes on Russia, and pay little attention to China and the Muslim world in terms of conceiving the NATO future. What then are the concrete forms of military planning NATO must undertake in respect of the Muslim world and China between 2010 and 2020? There are answers of course, but they will be as controversial as they are innovative. NATO?s responses to climate security will be even more challenging. The threat will be identified in broad terms, but what will NATO do in terms of concrete military responses? There can only be one answer: a much bigger emphasis on out of area deployment for natural disaster, humanitarian needs and for restoration of law and order in areas affected by new levels of banditry. Watch this space! To be credible, NATO?s ?twelve apostles? appointed to devise the new security concept will indeed have to deliver a revolutionary ?creed?, at least in draft, but with it will come the ever present chance of schism led by those favoring a more classic security orthodoxy. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls MARKETPLACE Mom Power: Discover the community of moms doing more for their families, for the world and for each other Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 7New Members Visit Your Group Drive Traffic Sponsored Search can help increase your site traffic. Yahoo! Groups Small Business Group Share experiences with owners like you Yahoo! Groups Dog Group Connect and share with dog owners like you. __,_._,___ From tal1 at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 7 12:13:53 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 14:13:53 -0400 Subject: [A-List] KBR's 'cost plus' war effort Message-ID: <3C16C50693C84D2498E477EC26FBC509@TonyPC> > http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/369.html > > - Brasscheck > > P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and > videos with friends and colleagues. > > That's how we grow. Thanks. > > ============================== > > > > Brasscheck TV > 2380 California St. > San Francisco, CA 94115 > > To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: > http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMwcLIysjIzMtEa0rMyszKycTA== > > From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 15:32:35 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 17:32:35 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Tough times likely fuel bank heists Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909071432r30409183ue6631e410ae05bed@mail.gmail.com> Posted: Sept. 7, 2009 Tough times likely fuel bank heists Robberies down this year, but suburbs hit with rash of them BY CHRISTINA HALL FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER It's been a bad couple of weeks for banks in metro Detroit, authorities say. And the recent series of holdups, largely at suburban banks, showed no signs of slowing last week with yet another robbery Thursday at a Comerica Bank in Roseville. Aug. 18 was a particularly bad day: three holdups at three banks -- Huntington Bank in Clinton Township and two Charter One Banks, one in Roseville, the other in Taylor. Ray Roland, 34, who is accused of holding up the Huntington Bank, also faces charges in a spree that included a TCF Bank in Eastpointe on Aug. 17 and a National City Bank in Shelby Township on Aug. 19. The most shocking robbery came Aug. 10, in which authorities say Ihab Maslamani held a gun that may have been used in a murder to a customer's head during a holdup at the Flagstar Bank in Harrison Township. It could be family situations, but I think in this area, a lot could be the economy," FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold said of what might motivate robbers. Authorities say the good news is that the number of bank, credit union and savings and loan association robberies logged by the FBI during the first six months of this year is down compared with the same period last year. Nationally, there have been 2,776 robberies reported through the end of June compared with 3,010 for the same period last year. In Michigan, there have been 79 robberies in the first half of this year compared with 130 during the first six months of 2008. The number of bank robberies logged by the FBI in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties also has been trending down. Authorities say the drop could be in part because of the arrest of serial robbing suspects like Alvin Murray, 52, who was known as the Heavy D Bandit and suspected of robbing or trying to rob almost a dozen metro Detroit banks in a two-month span last year. "I think some of those sprees definitely did some damage," Berchtold said. Yet authorities say they most fear a heist like the one in which Maslamani is accused of holding a gun to a customer's head during a bank robbery that occurred a day after police said he carjacked and killed Matt Landry of Chesterfield Township. A hostage situation during a bank holdup "would be the ultimate terror that we would very much like to avoid if at all possible," said Jason Korstange, director of corporate communications for TCF Bank. "It's just a bad deal all over." Contact CHRISTINA HALL: 586-826-7265 or chall at freepress.com From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 15:41:00 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 17:41:00 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Jobless press benefit extension Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909071441m6104c799r9be300f6f011d3df@mail.gmail.com> Monday, September 7, 2009 Today's Focus Jobless press benefit extension Debate heats up as many face loss of assistance checks Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau Washington -- As many as 100,000 Michiganians who will cash their last unemployment check by year's end could see their benefits extended under bills gaining support in Congress. As lawmakers return to Washington on Tuesday, giving the jobless in states hit hardest by the recession another 13 weeks of funding will be one of the first issues they'll address. If approved, unemployed workers could qualify for nearly two years of assistance. That would be good news for Tricia Butts of Taylor, who lost her job as a billings clerk in November 2007. Despite being persistent, she will spend this Labor Day without a job. Advertisement "I went on one interview to a trucking company for billing, and they said 500 people had applied," said Butts, who has run out of jobless benefits. "I've gone to bars. I can't even get a waitress job. I apply for everything," said Butts, 36, who moved into her dad's home with her two children after she couldn't keep up with rent for an apartment. The job market has spurred her to go back to school to pursue a career as a medical assistant. But critics of the plan to extend benefits say unemployed workers have gotten enough help, and another extension would merely delay pushing them to make tough choices so that they can get back into the work force. Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a watchdog group, says the proposal would do more harm than good. "When the federal government keeps spending money it doesn't have, businesses won't be able to borrow the money they need to actually create jobs," he said. Drew Hammill, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the economy will determine the future of the benefits expansion bill sponsored by Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. "Clearly, unemployment remains the lagging number in an otherwise improving economy," Hammill said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "Soon after Congress returns to Washington we will need to address this matter ... There is an economic case to be made for extending unemployment benefits." Meanwhile, top economic advisers to President Barack Obama signaled on recent Sunday news programs that another extension may be needed. Since June 2008, Congress has extended jobless benefits three times. Unemployed workers initially qualify for up to 26 weeks. But with the extensions, Michiganians are eligible for 79 weeks of benefits -- or 1 1/2 years. The proposed extension would boost the number of weeks to 92 -- a year and nine months. States that would qualify for the extensions would have to have unemployment rates hitting 8.5 percent or higher under a Senate bill co-sponsored by Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, or 9 percent or higher under the House bill. Michigan's unemployment rate is 15?percent, the highest in the nation. Both bills also would keep the earlier extensions available through the end of 2010 and continue an extra $25 benefit per week provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Mich. trust fund depleted Because of high unemployment, Michigan's unemployment insurance trust fund -- which is paid for by a tax on employers laying off workers -- is depleted, forcing the state to borrow $2 billion from the federal government. From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 15:46:47 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 17:46:47 -0400 Subject: [A-List] ANTI-POSCO STRUGGLE* - *APPEAL FOR SUPPORT* Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909071446r292e5ff6ve2f2aafdf34fb624@mail.gmail.com> ANTI-POSCO STRUGGLE* - *APPEAL FOR SUPPORT* *Friends,* For more than four years the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS) has been bravely resisting attempts to displace over 30,000 people in Jagatsinghpur District of Orissa by POSCO, a South Korean company, which wants to set up a steel company and a port on their lands. The US12 billion dollar project, being aggressively promoted by both Orissa and Indian governments, threatens the livelihood of thousands of agriculturists, workers, fisherfolks, rural artisans and small businesses in the area besides devastating the local environment and ecology. In the course of their peaceful and democratic non-violent struggle to prevent their lands from being forcibly acquired by POSCO, the members of PPSS have been brutally attacked by paid goons of the company and subjected to grueling economic blockades by the local administration. Several of their leaders, including Shri Abhay Sahu, veteran CPI leader in the area, have been put behind bars and false charges foisted on over 150 activists, both men and women. *Need For Doctors and Medicines: * As a result of all this there is now a grave medical emergency developing in the Erasama and Kujanga blocks of Jagatsinghpur district, the sites of the proposed land acquisition for the POSCO Steel Plant. There are dozens of activists who have fractured limbs due to violence by the company's hired musclemen, some of which include injuries from bomb attacks. They need orthopedic help and in some cases possibly even surgical intervention. Some women in the area are in late stages of pregnancy but unable to leave the area to get the medical care they need because of the fear of harassment and even arrest by the local police. Many other women have developed a range of gynecological problems that need urgent medical attention. There is severe malnutrition among children owing to the lack of income over the past few years as many local people have not been able to pursue their normal livelihoods because of the turmoil in the area. The general population of the affected villages also need help in combating malaria which is endemic to the area. There are also patients suffering from paralysis who need medical care. All these patients cannot go out and receive treatment because of the threat of arrests. Therefore, we appeal to you to help in mobilizing a support for a medical camp which can be organized by the anti-POSCO movement. Please contact; Satya Shivaram (0)9818514952, Prashant Kumar Paikray (0)9437571547 or K.P. Sasi (0)9945282056. *Protest on September 10: * A huge gathering of the people affected by POSCO will take place on September 10,, Balitutha, the entrance point of the proposed POSCO area. Many leaders of different anti-displacement struggles will address the gathering. The anti-POSCO movement appeals to all people's movements against displacement, movements against SEZ, mass organization leaders and like-minded activists to participate and express solidarity. *Need for Contributions:* There is an urgent need for contributions for the protest on September 10, medical care, legal defense and other expenses of the movement. We appeal to you to communicate to your friends and mobilize maximum support and inform Shri Prashant Kumar Paikray, the spokesperson of the movement (0)9437571547 at the earliest. *Send Letters of Protest:* The PPSS appeals to people all over India and around the world to show solidarity with the struggle by sending letters of protest to the Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri Naveen Patnaik, Naveen Nivas, Aerodrome Road P.O., Bhubaneswar, Orissa, Pin-751001, Email : cmo at ori.nic.in, Fax - 0674 2400100 and the Prime Minister, Shri Manmohan Singh, Room No.148B, South Block, New Delhi-110001, Fax-011 23016857, 23015603. If copies of protest letters are sent to antiposcosolidarity at gmail.com it can help the process further. *Prashant Paikray, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithy (PPSS)* *K.P.Sasi, Visual Search, **Bangalore* *Satya Sivaraman: **New Delhi*** *Magline Peter, Theeradesa Mahilavedi, Kerala* *Dhirendra Panda, Common Concern, Orissa* *Jagdish, New Socialist Alternative, **Bangalore*** *Rajaji Mathew, MLA, Chairperson, Kerala Legislative Assemby on Enviironment * *Anivar, Moving Republic, **Bangalore*** *(For Anti Posco Struggle Solidarity)* *antiposcosolidary at gmail.com* From vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca Mon Sep 7 16:44:35 2009 From: vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca (John Vertegaal) Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:44:35 -0700 Subject: [A-List] A Meditation on Our Monetary System In-Reply-To: <8C9AD3DD10BE4AE9BDC941629663A2C7@TonyPC> References: <20090827102931.23bef446.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp><5A4E2C931DD04990AEC4EBB5B46DB4AC@TonyPC> <4A9C3175.8070403@vcn.bc.ca> <4A9DDF5E.7070700@vcn.bc.ca> <8C9AD3DD10BE4AE9BDC941629663A2C7@TonyPC> Message-ID: <4AA58CD3.20302@vcn.bc.ca> Tony B. wrote: > John, > > Still a little confused, and I fear (in my possible misinterpretation of > your statements) that we may be talking 'at cross purposes' as they > say.....Still, here, in any case, goes some scratching about at a reply: > Unlike last time, you hit my wavelength close enough to now start dealing with the details of your reply. Much appreciate your time and effort to have a discussion with an obvious heretic. > You say, "how come it is impossible to define (M)?" > > In the formulation I am aware of , M stands for money whereas you have > identified it with 'capital'. > I identified M as the "monetary value" of capital, in the understanding that a numerator is necessary in a world of exchange values. If I commit some fundamental error doing that, I'd like to know about it. Unlike Marx, who apparently[*] thought that we live in a world of use values _and_ exchange values, I axiomatically separate the two. We live in a world of use values, wherein we consume, immediately and over time, as well keep chattels (movable and fixed) for a possible return to the world whence they came; and produce and interchange in a world of exchange values. M is bound up in the latter, its use value is nil. Where things really get interesting is around the meaning of "equity". It too is woefully misunderstood, the latter basically having led to the latest capitalist crisis. This being a dialog and not a thesis though, it's perhaps best left alone for the time being. > So let me respond to both possible usages: > First, 'money' acts as an intermediary used to facilitate exchange of > commodities, > Your assertion "acts as" gets dangerously close to "money is what money does". If that's your final word, it's Gumpian and you'll forfeit this part of the dialectic. > whereas capital is actually the *process* by which surplus > value is added to the original value of C ..and then extracted by the > capitalist...as capital, to then be used to transform more C into M'. > This doesn't make it entirely clear to me that your C here stands for commodities and not capital. But in any case I would say the economy is the process; incomplete at any present and therefore incapable of being represented as an algebraic identity _in_ time. Later on you agree with me that capital is a debt. Debts are assets only under the very special condition of assured redemption. The economy is uncertain however and the extended advances made on behalf of capital may never be paid off. Capital has no intrinsic exchange value; it is worthless without a return, not just a little bit less. Capitalists cannot cause the redemption of debt through confiscation. You cannot argue in terms of them showing up after work with a bunch of trucks and hauling away the loot, they figure is theirs. So the cardinal question becomes: under what circumstances does a redemption in full take place; and the answer may surprise you. First, a good thing to realize is that the latest figure of av. profits (I'm aware of) is 1.2%. I have no idea what it would be if these obscene executive salaries were to be added, but it still wouldn't amount to much if distributed amongst all workers. It's probably in about the same ballpark as the average union dues. The reason it's so low is because most profits are collected at the cost of losses elsewhere in the system. This would mean that struggling small time entrepreneurs deserve at least as much sympathy as workers; since losing a home put up for collateral is a lot worse than just losing a job. I know from personal experience because my daughter's father-in-law lost his home, while I working for him only lost my job. The surprising answer is that the redemption of debt depends entirely on the direct spending of capitalist. They could confiscate all the way up to slavery, but their aggregate profits are still limited to the amount they are able to spend on their own living standard enhancement. After all, retailers have to assume all collected vertically integrated profits as costs in order to obtain their operational supplies. They cannot have the foggiest idea what portion of it is profits and what part represents costs. Theoretically, profits could thus be at any level for a dynamic equilibrium to be maintained; as long as profit earners show up at their door and directly spend their incomes. Profits/surplus value, and capital are not related. The Marxian idea that the higher the rate of exploitation the greater the profits are, could be seen as true in a use value economy, but it is a myth in an exchange value economy. Furthermore, the latter is dynamic as a whole and compartmentalization into two independently functioning static departments, simply cannot cut it. > In other words, 'capital' plays a fundamentally different role than mere > money used into pre-capitalist social-economic relations. So, to repeat, > M' is not a thing, but a symbol for an altered socio-economic relation. > After all our likely disagreement above, there is nothing in particular for me to disagree with here. We somehow arrive at the same conclusion using a different path. > "Like most, if not all on this list, you don't strike me as someone who > likes to be captivated by dogma." > > Thanks. I suspect I/we try...but don't always succeed.... > Thanks too. You could have reacted by calling my remark patronizing. > "Unfortunately, being > mere mortals, absoluteness is out of the question for us and this is the > very best we can do." > > Post-modernist philosophers (I should say, 'many' though not all..etc) > have, unfortunately, made capitalist, reactionary hay with all manner of > political / ethical relativist argumentation....this as a diversion from > ulterior political motives and as means of undercutting leftist critique > over the last three decades. In truth, though, as you say we are mere > mortals, many seemingly 'relative' political stances and ethical > judements etc have perfectly reasonable, substantive and clear meanings > back of them. I point this out merely as an antidote to the poison of > 'post-modern relativism' (which has channeled many a leftist > intellectual down reformist, defeatist or quiescent political tracks > over, as I say, many decades now). > Inductive thinking, coming up with axioms etc., may be just as truth approaching as deductive reasoning. The problem with the former is that we'll need an infinite amount of time to be sure. But we might just have hit the nail right on the head. > "By asserting as articles of faith WHAT the economy > is, WHY it exists and WHO is supposed to benefit from it all, we isolate > it from our natural world..." > > Let me start with the 'who is supposed to benefit from it all'. Well, > that (to me) is pretty clear. In a socialist economy, *all* of us are > supposed to benefit...more or less equally. > I should start off by saying that axioms originate from outside the field we are trying to define and are pre-analytical. In other words, when we set axioms, the field (in this case the economy) doesn't exist yet. There is nothing knowable about it at this stage, so adjectives as socialist and capitalist are inadmissible because they imply that we do know unknowables. That said, my third axiom almost? fully agrees with your socialist economy. It's simply a birthright. We might quibble a bit in regards to "more or less equally". I think we can start out with what others' from their position of demand for anyone's output determine it to be. I have no problem with great entertainers, sport figures, inventors and artists having made our lives a lot more pleasurable, as well as certain leaders, all making a fair amount more than the average Joe. I think the maximum spread is up for debate, but it should be around the spread in the amount of manhours it takes to design and produce consumer durables. After all, Armani seamstresses, Gucci shoemakers, BMW mechanics and interior artisans have a right to a decently paying job too. Progressive taxation imho is the way to further fine-tune a relative equality. > In a capitalist eonomy, > well, it is also pretty clear who benefits, or who benefits most, i.e > those higher up on the capitalist hierarchy benefit proportionally more. > See above > As to 'what' the economy is, is also dependent on what personage of what > political persuasion you're talking to tells you it is. According the > BNN, the 'economy' is, more or less, the sum total of labouring activity > which renders them (the investor class) a whole lot of unearned income, > of increased 'exchange value'. According to a socialist, the 'economy' > could represent any activity that renders a 'use value' (which would > include unpaid labour, black market activity etc). > Living in our natural use value world, doing perhaps a bit of bartering but not knowing anything about the economy at this stage, my first axiom has to be much more fundamental. I'm saying that it's a man-made system. This is basically enough to provide a slough of derivations to set the stage for what an economy is all about. > As for 'isolating it from our natural world' > The act of designating it to be a man-made system isolates it from our natural world. It becomes infinitely easier to get a handle on, because nothing is open ended. Every action and reaction in exchange values can in principle be evaluated as good: resolving into zero, producing a use value and set the stage for unencumbered reproduction; or bad: hindering ongoing resolution by creating unresolvable (fictitious) exchange values, thwarting reproduction thus leading to involuntary unemployment. All are man-made activities, obvious, and potentially could be subject to preventative laws. > ....True, historically, > both socialists as well as capitalists have isolated their economic > thought and activity from its influence / effect / dependence on the > natural world (though there are certainly Marxist intellectuals who will > riposte that Marx was a) more nuanced in thought and theory on this > issue ..as so many others...than he is often given credit for, and b) > that, in any case, he can be forgiven for being a 'man of his times', > and was thus more concerned with 'weighter matters at hand' etc....I > won't claim to have adjucated these matters definitively myself.) > Capitalists through orthodox thought have their caricature "economic man", thus uniting the economy with the natural world about as tightly as can be, with disastrous results. And Marx I'm afraid was simply confused because, though he liked to think in terms of use values, an economy can never be conducted in them for a number of reasons; impossibility of aggregation and vertical integration being just the most important. > "Demand (or your "need") determines ex post the values of > all supply factors" > > No. This flies in the face of Marx's 'law of value'..i.e that underlying > the exchange value of any commodity is some sort of 'real' value. This > is, of course, where many an economist turns apoplectic in disgust. I > tend (whilst trying not to be 'dogmatic' ...ie. I've thought this > through a fair bit) to favour Marx here. > Your answer can only be the result of a basic confusion (Marx's?) that exchange and use values are properties of the same world; they are not. For a comprehensive understanding it's necessary to see both worlds in isolation. One way of looking at it would be as if out of the ashes of exchange value resolution (final output buy and selling, or input compensation versus assumed output cost of myriad fractions of income embedded in the item for sale), a use value emerges (in the natural world). At no point in time do both exist. A buyer may anticipate such a use value, forming the motive for demand, but until the buy gets consummated, the use value doesn't exist, because the item cannot yet be used. > After all, what could it possibly mean to say that exchange values are > merely determined by 'supply and demand'. This is as clear a tautology > as can be imagined. For it is here that the question of 'why on earth > there is any demand at all?' rears its logical, if ugly head. To the > capitalist, the answer is, then, equally clear, i.e. 'Just because'. > Highly inadequate. There must exist, however distant, however far down > the road, an economic point of origin whereby the 'use value' of > something - in conjunction with the 'socially necessary labour time to > produce it' - enter into the equation. That this equation involves the > removal many times over of the commodity's production and use values > from its (perhaps multiplied) exchange values - and accounting for all > manner of 'slippages and temporary exceptions, i.e works of art, real > estate etc - does not, I suggest, negate the ultimate connection of as > you say, 'supply factors'. > Nothing that happens within the bounds of the economy has a life, a value, and/or a purpose of its own. Everything only exists there to _add to_ the utilities produced in our natural world[**], all of which only have use values by nature. Exchange values cannot be added to use values, so a maximization requires no lasting residuals of the former, but a full resolution of them over time. Being valued internally but with an exogenous purpose eliminates all tautologies. Are use values produced by the "socially necessary labour time to produce it"? Is low hanging fruit of a lesser use value than the fruit you have to go out and grab a ladder for? Marx needed a method by which to determine the exchange value of supply. And that's the best he could come up with. No doubt it's a lot more fair and sensible than the tautology of orthodox economics, but it's still a groping for something that doesn't exist. Micro, be it Marxian or mainstream, cannot be fixed; it has to be fully discarded. My methodology takes it for granted that the value of the entire system gets determined over time. In other words, that the determinant of the (total systematic cost assuming) retail level supply matrix is its inverse, or the retail level demand matrix _over_ time. In combination with my theory of profits this means that all its individual supply coefficients are indeterminate _in_ time and cannot be posited by any mathematical technique that I'm aware of. Is this a fatal shortcoming? Perhaps, but nobody's been able to point out why yet. Accountants don't care. Their set of first principles fully covers them from having to be exactly right at any point in time. Only economic theories require determinate points of departure. It may make them exactly right, but also exactly useless. > "To the system as a whole, in terms of > the economy's accounting system, capital becomes a to be resolved debt;" > > True. It is a debt...owed to the labourer. > In the way of labourers having a stake in the operation like working in advance of receiving their pay and the right to continued employment, yes to both. But I'm looking at it strictly in terms of book deb(i)ts. Capital is a collection of sunk costs (income to others, in the form of wages and profits) in the anticipation of a return. If no return (from both classes, but involving an entirely different conglomeration of income earners) is in the offing, that capital is worthless, thwarting reproduction and causing involuntary unemployment. > "And as such it is totally powerless to > create such things as profits. " > > Well, perhaps in the sense of 'ultimately'. > No, not only in that sense. A capitalist/investor is like someone who jumps into a pool without being able to swim, but doesn't know it's not his jumping but the ability of others to hold him up that gets him what he is after; the vigour of a refreshing dunk. His initiated jump is a disequilibrium event, and he'll drown in the absence of those others. All investments are similar disequilibrium events. They don't push but they depend on others to pull and make good. And the latter requires the opposite action of the first; namely, direct spending instead of investing. "Others" in this case doesn't mean his own workers, but the customers of his workers' output. The only way to recoup more than his costs, or make a profit, is if his peer capitalists act diametrical to himself and spend directly. In this way it could be understood that while no capital is able to secure its own profits, it can secure the profit of other capitalists. The power comes from direct spending though and not from capital. > For, of course, ultimately > capitalism can only survive by expanding. To expand ad infinitum on a > planet with finite resources is a contradiction. > This is all undoubtedly true for finance capitalism. But no regular businesses, even capitalist run ones, need expansion to prosper. I'll expand some other time. > But in the meantime, > capitalism is perfectly capable of producing 'profits' in the sense that > surplus value is taken from workers and distributed to an elite minority. > This has already been dealt with a couple of times above. It all depends not only on the inclination but also on natural limitations to collect worldly possessions by them. Although these can and do rise to obscenely inflated levels, this is merely deplorable and not evil. The real crime against humanity committed by financial capitalist on an ever greater scale is the build up of vacuous numbers on balance sheets, that need periodical returns to substantiate their existence. And the only place these returns can come from, is from the poor devils at the bottom of society having to go into hock to survive, already squeezed to the limit and often living in squalor. And for what purpose? Bragging rights and waste creation!! > [Don't forget, capitalism is a system geard not towards the maximization > of material wealth in general (as is often implied) but merely towards > the maximization of weath in so far as it can be appropriated as private > profit. Thus, the 'overproduction' of goods (which are the setting for > its many 'crisies) are overproduced not from the perspective of *need* > (to which the billions of impoverished and immiserated humans on this > planet bare stark witness), nor even from the perspective of the > technical means of production, but only from the perspective of the > money-backed profit that can be extracted from them.] > Agree with the sentiment but not with all the details. My own view is expressed in the previous paragraph. > "Universal profit sharing > is the obvious answer to deal with productivity increases, with the > not-for-profit sector benefiting through matched wage increases in a > lagged fashion." > > Hmm. Off hand, I won't argue with that. I do worry, however (and this is > where I need to think ..and learn...a whole lot more on such issues), > whether such localized profit sharing systems might - and as, I believe, > Todd alluded to yesterday - ramify into some sort of runaway return to > full-blown capitalist relations.. But maybe not. .. > The social democracy I foresee has union representatives on the boards of all major corporations holding veto rights to all decision making. Small firms could simply be required to open up their books to a union represented auditor, if so requested by a majority of workers. The only worthwhile "revolution" I can see forthcoming is to reduce the FIRE sector by perhaps 90% and nationalize the FI part. The entire raison d'etre of the financial sector is supposed to be growth producing, for which they have been leveraging upwards from 10%. The empirical proof of how bogus that all is lies in the fact that for almost half a century now, growth in OECD countries has been about 2% yearly on average. In other words, and with most businesses operating on lines of credit, FIRE's creation of waste in terms of bankruptcies, involuntary unemployment, and related social upheaval has been astronomical. > "Thus I sympathize with Marxist > extra-economic ideals. It just doesn't jive with what Marxians (as > economists) _believe_ capital values to stand for. The only hope we'll > ever have to get rid of capitalism once and for all, is by showing why > its values are chimerical; not by validating those values with > threatening their appropriation." > > This last paragraph does resonate with me...even whilst I object to > whether you have, in any substantive sense, shown Marx's 'ideals' to be > 'extra-economic' > Following my axioms, all of Marx's musings with regard to use values are extra-economic. > [Of course, as I stated in an earlier post, the 'heart > of Marx' is, imho, not really to be found in his economic theories so > much as in his notions of political economy, his critique of capitalist > social relations and in his promulgation of dialectical thought..[In > regards to the latter I would highly recommend 'The Dialectical > Biologist' by Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins. There one finds a > truly astonishing exercise in Marxist dialectical thinking applied to > evolutionary biology. Absolutely fascinating on both accounts, i.e. > biology and Marxist dialectics.] > > ...Now, if, as I say, I have been 'talking at cross-purposes'...please > continue to 'fire away' ...I'll 'return fire'..and just perhaps (in the > finest tradition of dialectical discussion) ..we'll eventually chance > upon some clarification of each other's thought. > Not much, if any, cross-purpose talking detected by me Tony. But if you feel I do and failed to deal with some important point you made, remind me of it. I'm rather a slow thinker/writer though, don't expect more than a post or so a week John V [*] I'm taking the word of a Marxian scholar as being the real thing; not being one myself, I wouldn't know. [**] This is the WHY part of the economy; my second axiom. From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Mon Sep 7 19:46:46 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 10:46:46 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Labor Day Blues Message-ID: <20090908104646.784a3435.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Clusterfuck Nation by James Howard Kunstler Comment on current events by the author of The Long Emergency (2005) www.kunstler.com (September 07 2009) One national moment-of-nausea this Labor Day weekend struck Sunday morning, when CNN's John King led off his 10 am State of the Union show with a valentine to ABC's Diane Sawyer, on her becoming anchor of that network's evening news. (This was the most important news of the week???) The old legacy networks have taken on the role of dishing out reassurance to an anxious and insecure public as job number one, and the subtext of the Sawyer lede was that a Mommy figure would soon be in place to soothe the multitudes even as the nation free-falls into bankruptcy and disorder. This is supposed to be a counterpoint to the chorus of smug, braying rabble-rousers who inflame the crowds on Fox News and MSNBC, and CNBC - the Glen Becks and Keith Olbermans and Dennis Kneales - who work the anger regions of the brain. The inherent conflicts arise from a nation that simply cannot bring itself to try getting its house in order. Instead of adult leadership, we prefer good parent / bad parent therapy - a psychodrama of alternating messages of reassurance and punishment that provides distraction from problems and conundrums too horrible to face. One unfortunate result is the evaporating legitimacy of anyone or anything in authority, and that is extremely dangerous at a time like this because it creates the perfect opportunity for the rise of a corn-pone Hitler who will beat a path straight into a national ordeal-by-fire, and make everybody feel better by telling them clearly what to do. President Obama rolls out his much-awaited message on health care reform to a joint session of congress this week after a summer of chaotic and often mendacious debate. The system now running is so unjust and ruinous that a citizenry unmedicated by psychotropic drugs would have burned down the insurers by now (and perhaps torched their doctors' BMWs). As a tactical matter, the best Mr Obama can do about the "public option" is to endorse it while kicking the can down the road, since the stark insolvency of the US treasury obviates any real ability to make it happen. But I believe the public would be greatly appeased (and helped!) by legislation that achieved a few simple ends: (1) clearly and absolutely outlaw insurers canceling policy contracts under any circumstances; (2) outlaw denial-of-care tactics; (3) outlaw campaign contributions by lobbyists, period. If Obama can present these items front-and-center, he can then point to congress and tell the nation that they can hold them responsible for their plight. Other urgent health care reforms could be subject to regulation rather than legislation. For example, medical care is not "competitive" in any meaningful sense; people with severe problems and illnesses are not comparable to "consumers" comparison shopping for flat-screen TVs. The truth is, they are hostages to their local hospitals and the specialists they are referred to. The ridiculous prices charged for everything from aspirins to tests to cotton swabs to time occupying a hospital room ought to be subject to review, and procedures can be set up to accomplish this, with severe fines for abusers. Personally, I'd charge the FCC with returning to its policy of banning drug advertising on TV. Polls are reporting a steep slide in President Obama's approval ratings, especially among white voters. I doubt that this is about the health care debate, which obviously remains unresolved at the time the polls were taken. I think it is about Mr Obama's shoveling of huge sums into Wall Street, and the unabated obscene money-grubbing by the executives there - while millions of ordinary people get thrown out of their houses, lose jobs that they'll never get back, and slip-slide permanently out of the middle class. His relations with Wall Street are destroying his legitimacy. His failure to demonstrably clean house at the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, or to direct the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute misdeeds stemming from the swindles and frauds in securitized debt, make him look like a stooge to the bankers. I personally fault the president for putting no effort into the larger necessary tasks of leading a transition away from suburbanization, failing to promote public transit rather than continued car-dependency, not preparing for re-localized farming, and continuing the unaffordable racket of imperial military over-reach in a mode indistinguishable from G W Bush. Whatever the politics of the moment may be, national attitudes are surely changing. A psychology of hardship is overtaking even the bread-and-circus blandishments of the Cheez Doodle / infotainment / professional sports matrix of idiocy that the sociopathic corporate axis-of-evil operates to take advantage of ordinary human weakness. Soon, the public will lack the resources even for these tawdry comforts, and God knows what they'll turn to for solace then. A large part of Mr Obama's appeal as a candidate last year had to with presenting himself as an intelligent adult - as opposed to a parent figure (or a crazy old uncle in the case of John McCain). But so far, apart from his personal charm and good looks, his adult persona is that of an actuary - someone who can read charts, parse figures, and report them down the line for other people to draw conclusions . What he lacks at the moment is the very thing that history might foist on him: a sense that life is tragic and history is merciless and that sometimes we have to do the hard things that times require of us. _____ My new novel of the post-oil future, World Made By Hand, is available at all booksellers. http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/09/-one-national-moment-of-nausea.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 8 04:20:52 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:20:52 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Honduras: Students Protest Plans for Draft Message-ID: <6BE2EE72C5664F62893DA31FFF2B0F98@home9sg93n9r5y> ...University of California, Santa Cruz historian Dana Frank told the Associated Press wire service that the US government is "sending mixed signals to [de facto president] Micheletti. Why haven't they already frozen all bank accounts and funding? Why are we still at an Air Force base there?"... Weekly News Update on the Americas Issue #1003, September 6, 2009 1. Honduras: Students Protest Plans for Draft 2. Honduras: "Mixed Signals" on US Aid 3. Guatemala: Residents Dispute Goldcorp Charges 4. Ecuador: New Delay in Chevron Amazon Suit? 5. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate at gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/ *1. Honduras: Students Protest Plans for Draft Thousands of students marched in the northwestern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Sept. 1 to protest plans to reinstitute compulsory military service. "The current government isn't legitimate, " student leaders said, referring to the de facto government put in place by a June 28 military coup, "and we don't want to waste time; we want to study." The draft was replaced by voluntary service under former president Roberto Reina (1994-1998), but de facto president Roberto Micheletti's administration is reportedly seeking to bring it back. Jaime Guifarro, student council president at the Technological Institute of Business Administration (INTAE), said the plan was "a step backwards for Honduras" and would hurt "the poor, not the children of the rich." Students from INTAE and other schools, including Jos? Trinidad Reyes, Primero de Mayo and Cristo Rey de Choloma, marched down First Street to the central park beating drums and carrying signs with slogans such as "No to the military coup" and "Now I'm going to teach you to kill and beat the people." The police did not interfere with the protest. [...] Read the full Update at: http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2009/09/wnu-1003-honduran-students-protest.html -- ================================================== David L. Wilson * Co-author, The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers: http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org Subscribe to the NY Activist Calendar; send a blank email to: nycalendar-subscribe at lists.riseup.net For online calendar, visit https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/nycalendar ===================== This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 8 04:37:58 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:37:58 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Raising the stakes in Honduras Message-ID: <35AFA6D9B6C0461DB9A3AFC22198B7AA@home9sg93n9r5y> Raising the stakes in Honduras http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/691633 International pressure mounts for coup leaders to reinstate president, as U.S. takes tough stand Sep 06, 2009 04:30 AM Olivia Ward Foreign Affairs Reporter It's been two months since Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was seized in the middle of the night and bundled onto a plane by his political foes. And since the coup, regional and international diplomats have been struggling to negotiate his return. An announcement last week that Washington won't recognize the results of an election scheduled for November - a month before Zelaya's term officially expires - has raised the stakes for the coup leaders, and the people of the cash-strapped country. "Based on conditions as they currently exist, we cannot recognize the results," U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Friday, adding that the Honduran regime was now "in a box." The Obama administration urged the de facto government, led by Roberto Micheletti, to accept an accord brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. It would allow Zelaya to return with limited authority until the poll was held. But coup leaders rejected the deal, saying Zelaya was ousted for trying to extend his power illegally by running a referendum that would open the way to a now forbidden second term - a charge he denies. The Organization of American States suspended Honduras's membership, and Washington slapped on limited sanctions and withdrew non-humanitarian aid. Canada supports the accord, but has continued its small military aid program for Honduras. Inside Honduras, news of the U.S. decision on the election was greeted with elation by Zelaya's supporters, many of whom are impoverished. The country's elite, and more affluent middle class, generally supports the coup, which they believe would save Honduras from becoming a satellite of Zelaya's ally, flamboyant left-wing Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. "The Obama administration has made an important move," said Luis Granados, a Toronto youth worker who is in the capital Tegucigalpa as part of a Latin American Solidarity Network delegation to document human rights violations. The Toronto-based coalition supports progressive social movements in the Americas. "The mood has changed, and people are more optimistic," Granados said in a phone interview. "The country is unstable, and they've experienced repression, but they support cutting aid. They're willing to suffer for a month or so if they can get rid of the coup." But there are fears that Honduras's turbulence could last longer, and create a larger crisis in the region, which has been increasingly polarized since the anti-American Chavez came to power. "It's a real dilemma for the international community," says Jennifer McCoy of the Carter Center's Americas Program in Atlanta, Ga. "If election day comes and nothing changes, what will happen then?" But she adds, "the real tragedy is for the Honduran people. They're the ones who will suffer if the standoff continues." With widespread reports of repression and human rights violations under the coup regime, it would be difficult for the international community to recognize any election it held as legitimate. But, says Maxwell Cameron, a Latin American expert at the University of British Columbia, the U.S. and Canada have so far failed to push forcefully enough for a diplomatic solution that would allow Zelaya to serve out his term, and set the stage for a democratic election. "The international community could have taken more aggressive measures to make it clear to the regime that even for a short period of time it can't be considered legitimate," he said. With two months to go before the vote, there's still time for coup leaders to take heed of America's tougher stance. If not, experts warn, instability could spread. "The true significance of the coup, in one of the poorest and weakest countries in the hemisphere ... lies in the test it poses to the inter-American system," says Jorge Heine of the Balsillie School of International Affairs. "If the latter cannot succeed in restoring democracy in Honduras, it cannot do so anywhere. The message would thus be crystal clear: coup-makers can act with impunity. Lasolidarity mailing list Post: Lasolidarity at lists.mayfirst.org List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/lasolidarity From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 8 04:45:07 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:45:07 +0100 Subject: [A-List] FRENTE NACIONAL CONTRA EL GOLPE DE ESTADO COMUNICADO NO. 23 Message-ID: FRENTE NACIONAL CONTRA EL GOLPE DE ESTADO COMUNICADO NO. 23 El Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el golpe de Estado realiz? el domingo 6 de septiembre la primera Asamblea Nacional de Delegados y Delegadas, representantes de los 18 departamentos del pa?s con los siguientes objetivos: 1. Analizar el contexto socio-pol?tico nacional. 2. Definir y aprobar las l?neas estrat?gicas comunes. 3. Consensuar la estructura organizativa y funcionamiento del Frente Nacional contra el Golpe de Estado. Los acuerdos obtenidos son los siguientes: 1. Aprobar la propuesta de lineamientos estrat?gicos para organizaci?n, comunicaci?n, finanzas y las metas y lineamientos estrat?gicos para la lucha contra el golpe de Estado, presentados por la Coordinaci?n Nacional del Frente, incorporando los aportes hechos por los asamble?stas. 2. Constituir en esta asamblea una Coordinaci?n Nacional provisional para un periodo de 3 meses, en la que se integren representantes de todas las regiones. 3. Ejecutar un Desconocimiento Activo de la farsa electoral convocada por los golpistas. 4. Exigir la Restituci?n inmediata del Presidente Zelaya 5. Restituido el orden constitucional, luchar por una Asamblea Constituyente democr?tica y popular con participaci?n de los diferentes sectores sociales. 6. Restituido el orden institucional, cambiar el nombre del Frente a ?Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular?. 7. En un per?odo de tres meses, establecer como prioridad la organizaci?n del Frente desde las bases a nivel nacional. 8. Defender al Padre Tamayo de la pretensi?n de la dictadura de derogar su nacionalidad hondure?a para expulsarlo del pa?s. 9. Convocar a una Jornada Nacional de Lucha, a partir del mi?rcoles 9 de septiembre, incluida una Caravana Nacional sincronizada. 10. Convocar a todas las centrales obreras con sus bases a una Asamblea Nacional de sindicatos el martes 8 de septiembre. 11. Apoyar el Paro Nacional de la Federaci?n de Organizaciones Magisteriales de Honduras los d?as lunes 7 y martes 8 de septiembre. 12. Convocar a toda la Resistencia a una Concentraci?n Nacional en Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. para el viernes 11 y s?bado 12 de septiembre. 13. Apoyar la toma de las instalaciones del INA realizada por las centrales campesinas y el SITRAINA profundizando la movilizaci?n campesina a nivel nacional. 14. Apoyar a los defensores y defensoras de Derechos Humanos de la Resistencia ante la represi?n de la dictadura. 15. Apoyar a los maestros y maestras que est?n siendo procesados por el Ministerio P?blico por hacer uso del leg?timo derecho a la desobediencia civil estipulado en el Art?culo 3 constitucional. A 71 d?as de lucha, ?Aqu? nadie de rinde! Tegucigalpa M.D.C. lunes 7 de septiembre de 2009 From ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com Tue Sep 8 13:10:22 2009 From: ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com (Mohawk Nation News) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 15:10:22 -0400 Subject: [A-List] MNN Canada accidentally recognizes Mohawk sovereignty Message-ID: <01dc5b12$40064$0cd26322046296@xnote> CANADA ACCIDENTALLY RECOGNIZES MOHAWK SOVEREIGNTY MNN. Sept. 8, 2009. The colony of Canada has officially recognized our sovereignty on Great Turtle Island and has taken steps to abide by the Two Row Wampum agreement. Canada admits they have no jurisdiction over Indigenous people and territory. On June 14, 2008, two women were peacefully crossing the illegal checkpoint in the middle of Kawenoke Island of Akwesasne. The Canada Border Services Agency CBSA called in 12 burly well-armed colonial goons to viciously attack the two women. One elder almost died of a trauma induced heart attack and the other was severely beaten and held incommunicado. The two women live in the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne and Kahnawake. They filed formal complaints with the RCMP, OPP, Mohawk Akwesasne Police and the CBSA to investigate. All refused. The women were treated like enemy combatants with no rights. We are being falsely labeled as insurgents, terrorists and global risks. This violates the Geneva Conventions 1949 which set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of civilians and the victims of conflict. [See notes at end] The women are not Canadian citizens as the Mohawk Nation never relinquished our territorial independence. The two women took it to the Federal Court of Canada, FCA T-1309-08, to address the human rights abuses. Canada is supposed to live up to its commitments under international law to respect human rights of all. The Crown issued orders respecting our sovereignty. On October 23, 2008, Prothonotary Mireille Tabib ordered the two women to pay for Canada?s costs by depositing $19,460.00 with the court plus all subsequent costs. The reason! They live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake and are not residents of Canada. An appeal was filed. On January 29, 2009 Judge Francois Lemieux issued the same order. On Feb. 26, 2009 another case was filed by one of the women, T-288-09. On April 7, 2009, the same order was made because she lives in Kahnawake, making her a non-resident of Canada. The Two Row Wampum agreement separates the colonists from the true original Indigenous jurisdiction. The Crown must fulfill our request to investigate our complaints against their agents. The CBSA acted outside its territorial jurisdiction when it assaulted the two women and cannot demand security for their costs. The CBSA can never return to Kawenoke Island, the real name of Cornwall Island, which they abandoned on May 31, 2009. The Mohawks refused to allow these foreigners to carry guns in the middle of our community. The old Customs House sits empty and belongs to the Mohawks. CBSA needs to get their junk out of there. When Alcatraz was abandoned, it returned automatically to the Indigenous people. The colony of Canada removed the CBSA checkpoint from Kawenoke to the foot of the bridge in the city of Cornwall Ontario. Cornwall is part of the Mohawk North Shore claim. A CBSA supervisor stated to Mohawk elders that the former Kawenoke Customs had to be officially de-designated as a Canada port of entry. The new one sits on Akwesasne land. CBSA has to remove its port-a-potties out of Cornwall to parts unknown, maybe back to England. Phew! Our territory extends all across this land.In requesting Mohawks to report to them when leaving Kawenoke, which they formerly treated as part of the colony of Canada, they are respecting our sovereignty. They actually have no business asking our people anything. We cannot allow them to interfere with our natural birthright and our right to travel freely about our homeland or entering our communities. The colonial pirates that are attacking and confiscating our legitimate products on our rivers are also out of their jurisdiction. They have no right whatsoever to interfere with our trade and commerce anywhere. All waterways are our highways long before the coming of foreigners to this land to be freely traversed by us. These Federal Court of Canada orders recognize that Indigenous people on Onowaregeh retain international sovereignty. The demand for money is meant to discourage us from seeking justice against these brutal carpetbaggers. They are telling us we have to buy justice from them. Canada has no problems to dish out millions to the band and tribal councils to illegitimately sell us out and fraudulently try to settle our land claims. It violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Our political position does not allow them to assault or murder us, prevent freedom of speech or violate our human rights. These organized criminal cartels have no right to extort money from us. Everything they do falls under every kind of genocide known to humankind. The checkpoint had to be removed. The border had to be removed. What?s next? To stop the CBSA from coming in, we need to keep our fire going and to erect a building. To help, please contact akwpeoplesfire at bell.net 613-937-1813. Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to ?MNN Mohawk Nation News?, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN ?BORDER? and ?AKWESASNE? categories for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois Background: Federal Court of Canada File No. T-1309-08, Kahentinetha et al v. The Queen: Order of madam Prothonotary Mireille Tabib, October 23, 2008 that the women give $19,460.00 security for the court costs from the beginning to the end, because they are ?ordinarily resident outside of Canada? as they live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake [FC rule 416(10)a]; On Feb. 26, 2009, Statement of Claim filed on the Reckless disregard for the safety and security of Indigenous Women at the Canadian Border, Akwesasne, FCC # T-288-09 between Kahentinetha, of the Kanion?ke:haka, and the Queen, Sec. 48 Federal Court Act. Filed Feb. 26, 2009, on Hon. John Sims, Deputy Attorney General of Canada 613-946-2774 Fax 613-952-6006. [Contact: Marieke Bouchard 613-952-6006; Cynthia Leaver, Regional Assistant 613-952-3653; Shurman Longo Grenier 613-868-9009; Vincent Veilleux 613-952-6006.] Art. 27, Geneva Conventions: protected persons are entitled to respect for their persons, honor, family rights, religious convictions, manners and customs. They shall be treated humanely especially against violence or threats and insults. Women should especially be protected against indecent assault based on race, religion and political opinions. From suzannedk at gmail.com Tue Sep 8 07:19:17 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 15:19:17 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: Japanese President's wife on TV In-Reply-To: <871517.71033.qm@web30901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <871517.71033.qm@web30901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: The second or last portion of these two is what I mean to only send. Sorry. suzannedk at gmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Suzanne de Kuyper Date: Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 11:54 AM Subject: Fwd: Japanese President's wife on TV To: suzannedk at gmail.com --- On Sat, 9/5/09, Suzanne de Kuyper wrote: > From: Suzanne de Kuyper > Subject: Fwd: Japanese President's wife on TV > To: suzannedk at yahoo.com > Date: Saturday, September 5, 2009, 1:53 PM > > > ---------- Forwarded message > ---------- > From: Suzanne de Kuyper > > > Date: Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 7:48 PM > Subject: Fwd: Japanese President's wife on TV > To: The A-List > > > The moderator remarked how eccentric she is. Not true! > A classic Japanese wife of highest privilege, expressing > profound and ancient and revered Japanes beliefs. The > occupiers, refusing to leave still, have attempted to turn > that culture inside out, with her joy it returns to it's > roots The occupiers are seen as criminally, irrationally > eccentric by Asians! > > > Suzanne > suzannedk at gmail.com > > ---------- Forwarded message > ---------- > From: Suzanne de Kuyper > > > > Date: Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 10:36 PM > Subject: Japanese President's wife > To: clancy at cnn.com > > > Exccentric, no! Natural, in love with her husband and he > with her, the untradtional wife and partner. The eating > the sun together is so Japanese so profuondly Japanese also, > so poetic, the transparentsy so human and sweet. The sun > is the ancient symbol of ancient Japan, the former Emporor a > child of the sun and a priest as well as ruler of an amazing > country, which is why Truman bombed it after it had sued for > peace. Asia will change from this one election. They > both know this. The Japanese believe in mystisicm. The > Mrs speaks to thei souls and their cry for change. > > > > Suzanne > suzannedk at gmail.com > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3306 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/e25991fd/attachment.txt From nscchicago at igc.org Tue Sep 8 12:51:09 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:51:09 -0500 Subject: [A-List] COLOMBIA CUBA FLORIDA HONDURAS NICARAGUA Message-ID: <7E68E6FD7F6F421A96A88643EE95546B@NSCCHICAGO> Tom Baker here with news updates and invitations to join delegations HONDURAS. People are concerned that the oligarchy is conceding nothing can do nothing but oppress Who is the oligarchy in Honduras How this is just like so many others, Brazil, for example. FLORIDA. Immokalee Workers are moving against a big supermarket chain, Publix. Oligarchies everywhere need their butt kicked. DELEGATIONS. Reports backs from Colombia and invitations to study learn join the people in Cuba and Nicaragua this November December -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1705 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/bmp Size: 1036854 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0001.bin -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Marcel Hatch Subject: Invitation to visit Cuba Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 01:23:39 -0700 Size: 3437 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0005.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Dave Davis Subject: [Lasolidarity] Rerun in Honduras Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:43:57 -0500 Size: 5101 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0006.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "kathy hoyt" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Ten families that sponsored the Coup in Honduras! Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:08:43 -0700 Size: 32492 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0007.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Coalition of Immokalee Workers Subject: [CIW News] Farmworkers and allies visit Publix stores on "Labor Day Freedom Ride"! Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:14:51 -0400 Size: 6465 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0008.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Fight Back News Subject: Colombia: Eyewitness report from solidarity delegation Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:05:38 -0400 (EDT) Size: 6233 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090908/d865f11b/attachment-0009.eml From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 8 18:01:16 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 01:01:16 +0100 Subject: [A-List] =?windows-1252?q?FAIR__--__Honduras_Coup_pretext_recycle?= =?windows-1252?q?d_from_Brazil_=9264?= Message-ID: Rerun in Honduras Coup pretext recycled from Brazil ?64 By Mark Cook The pretext for the Honduran coup d??tat is nothing new. In a remarkable replay, bogus charges that the corporate media in the U.S. and Europe have repeated endlessly without attempting to substantiate?that Honduran president Manuel Zelaya sought to amend the country?s constitution to run for another term?are virtually identical to the sham justification for the 1964 coup against Brazilian president Jo?o Goulart. The Brazilian coup, depicted at the time as a victory for constitutional democracy, kicked off a series of extreme right-wing military coups against democratically elected governments throughout the Southern Cone of Latin America and beyond. Brazil was turned into a base for subversion of neighboring democratic governments (National Security Archive, 6/20/02); Goulart and a previous Brazilian president, Juscelino Kubitschek, both died in 1976 in incidents that have since been attributed to the multinational assassination program Operation Condor (Folha, 1/27/08; Carta Maior, 7/17/08). Given that history, the strength and unanimity of Latin American and international condemnation of the Honduran coup?despite a worldwide media disinformation campaign against Zelaya?is hardly surprising. On March 31, 1964, the democratic government of Brazil?s Goulart, a wealthy rancher hated by big business for having dramatically raised the minimum wage, was overthrown in a coup d??tat organized by ultra-rightist elements in Brazil?s military and strongly backed by the U.S. government. For decades, U.S. officials denied involvement in the coup, but in 2004 the nongovernmental National Security Archive (3/31/04) published newly declassified documents revealing President Lyndon Johnson?s personal involvement and a massive U.S. military and CIA commitment. At the New York Times, which editorially cheered the ?peaceful revolution? (4/3/64), influential columnist Arthur Krock (4/3/64) accused Goulart of seeking to ?prolong [his term] by removing the constitutional ban against consecutive presidential succession.? ?What really happened,? Krock declared, in phrasing repeated almost word for word 45 years later in Honduran coverage, ?was the failure of a bid for power, contrary to a fundamental principle of the Brazilian Constitution.? Newsweek (4/6/64) and Time (4/10/64) ran similar allegations, also without providing any evidence. Evidence is just as little needed today, as corporate journalists drape baseless claims with the word ?fear? (instead of ?assert? or ?contend?) in the apparent belief that it absolves them of any responsibility to evaluate whether there is any truth to the charge: ?Critics feared [Zelaya] intended to extend his rule past January, when he would have been required to step down,? the New York Times wrote (7/6/09) in a typical passage. Nowhere did the article or others like it attempt to evaluate whether this would even have been possible, given that Zelaya was not a candidate in the country?s November elections and would have to give up the presidency to his successor in January. In fact, Zelaya?s own vice president had resigned in order to run for the presidency. Media depictions of Goulart as a ?leftist? and ally of Castro found their echo in coverage of Honduran President Zelaya as a ?leftist? (e.g, Reuters, 7/31/09) and ?power- hungry prot?g? of U.S.-hating Venezuela President Hugo Ch?vez? (Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/19/09). Forty years after the Brazilian coup, the New York Times (6/23/04) was still running the line that ?the armed forces overthrew Mr. Goulart?s government, fearing he intended to install a Cuban-style Commu-nist regime in Brazil.? There was never the slightest evidence that Goulart intended to install a ?Cuban-style Com-munist regime,? any more than that he was attempting to run for another term. As with Zelaya in Honduras, Goulart?s real crime was to use the minimum wage and similar measures to attempt to moderate the extremes of wealth and poverty in his country; Latin America has long suffered from the greatest income inequality in the world (U.N. Human Development Report, 2007/2008). As the National Labor Committee (6/27/07) reported, Honduras? minimum wage was reduced in 2007, in a race to the bottom against neighboring Nicaragua, when the country joined the Washington-sponsored Central American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. corporate media?s cheering for the 1964 coup in Brazil foreshadowed their support for other Latin American dictatorships. In July 1976, four months after the military seized power in Argentina and while tens of thousands were being tortured and killed across the Southern Cone, the New York Times (7/24/76) published a dispatch from Rio headlined ?Grip of Latin Military Squeezes Leftists Out.? The article, which did not mention or even hint at the death and torture squads operating across the continent, justified the overthrow of democratic governments in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, reciting unquestioningly the militaries? own versions of why they seized power. ?Most of the South American military groups reached power during political and economic crises that saw the decomposition of civilian institutions, threats to the unity of the armed forces and open appeals by civilian leaders to the military to abandon its political neutrality,? the article declared, speaking of the militaries? success in dealing with ?subversives? in cooperation with the School of the Americas. It was accompanied by a photo from Pinochet?s Chile of a soldier standing over a box with several handguns. The caption read: ?A Chilean soldier guards weapons taken from leftist terrorists.? U.S. corporate media extolled the economic programs of the dictatorships, ultra-neoliberal policies that greatly increased inequality throughout the region and ended all too often in economic breakdown. Almost two years after the 1964 Brazilian military coup, by which time the intensity of the political repression was undeniable, Time magazine (12/31/65) praised the coup government for slashing wheat and oil subsidies, ?thus halting a wasteful drain on Brazil?s treasury.? The effect in skyrocketing food prices was devastating to most Brazilian families. The same article praised the coup regime?s ending of ?labor?s inflation-producing 75 percent-to-100 percent wage hikes.? ?Many Brazilians still gripe about this year?s 45 percent increase in the cost of living,? the magazine acknowledged, ?but businessmen give [Economic Planning Minister Roberto] Campos a rousing cheer, and foreign investors are registering their votes with money.? Time added approvingly that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, virtually or entirely absent from Brazil since 1959, had extended massive new loans. The loans, which often disappeared into the pockets of the key figures in the military dictatorships, saddled country after country with massive debts by the early 1980s. U.S. corporate media typically depict the plotters of these sorts of coups as responsible leaders stepping in to save the country from an erratic left-winger who had lost all popular support because of disastrous economic policies; accordingly, the plotters in Tegucigalpa were described as the ?interim government? (AP, 8/1/09), the ?caretaker government? (New York Times, 7/6/09), even the ?new government? (New York Times, 7/8/09). Newspaper editors are familiar with phrases like ?coup leaders,? ?coup government? and ?de facto rulers,? and use them when they wish?but those were conspicuously missing in most coverage. Unfortunately for their purposes, the media?s attempt to present the coup group as responsible leaders kept being undermined by the behavior of the leaders themselves. They flew the democratically elected president they had just overthrown into forced exile clad in his pajamas (Washington Post, 7/28/09). They waved around an obviously forged presidential ?letter of resignation? that the Honduran Congress straightfacedly pretended to believe in order to ?legalize? his ouster (BBC, 7/28/09). (The Honduran Congress has no constitutional authority to dismiss a Honduran president.) Apologists for the coup kept forgetting their lines about term limits, complaining instead about the deposed president?s raising the minimum wage (AP, 8/6/09). Attempts by the coup leaders and their Washington-based apologists to claim that they were acting in accordance with the Honduran constitution were so laughable that even the corporate media relegated them to guest columns on the opinion page. The drumbeat of such op-eds (e.g., New York Times, 7/7/09), however, with virtually no opposing viewpoints published*, would lead U.S. newspaper readers to believe falsely that Zelaya was ousted because he tried to use a referendum to extend his term in office. In one widely circulated column, the Los Angeles Times (7/10/09) featured Miguel Estrada, a Bush administration Appeals Court nominee blocked by a Democratic filibuster. Estrada, like other coup defenders, stressed that the current Honduran constitution mandates removal for any president who attempts to change the constitution to run for a second term. The trouble is that Zelaya never proposed anything of the sort?something Estrada had to admit. He asserted, however, that that was the ?only conceivable motive? Zelaya could have had for seeking a new constitutional convention?which would have occurred after Zelaya?s successor had already been elected. Even if Estrada?s sleight-of-hand assertion were true, Zelaya would have had a right to indictment and trial. But there are plenty of legitimate reasons to rewrite the Honduran constitution. It was written in 1982, during the thinly disguised military dictatorship of Gen. Gustavo Alvarez. Alvarez, a School of the Americas alum who worked closely with U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, set up the death squads that terrorized Honduras and made the country?s security forces indistinguishable from the country?s extreme right wing. It was in May 1983, under the current constitution, that the Honduran congress adopted the infamous Decree 33. As Gerry O?Sullivan wrote in the Humanist (3/1/94), the decree ?declared anyone a ?terrorist? who distributed political literature, associated with foreigners, joined groups deemed subversive by the government, damaged property or destroyed documents.? The U.S. corporate media have carefully averted their eyes from such history as that of General Alvarez?as from the role of School of the Americas graduates in the current coup. It was thanks to the School of the Americas Watch and the National Catholic Reporter (6/29/09), not the corporate media, that the public learned of ongoing U.S. training of the Honduran military, despite the Obama administration?s claim to have cut military ties. When history repeats itself, don?t look for accurate coverage from those who got it wrong the first time around. * The L.A. Times did publish one of the very few op-eds critical of the coup plotters? pretexts, a piece by Mark Weisbrot (7/23/09). See FAIR's Archives for more on: Latin America From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 8 22:07:24 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:07:24 -0700 Subject: [A-List] The "Real Deal": Forty Percent of Working-Age Californians Jobless Message-ID: <4AA729FC.1090102@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 A good video of the same name, and relevant... The Real Deal... Lifers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTveTi1jT9s "It's been said that official unemployment numbers undercut the true unemployment numbers, with many dropping off the radar as their unemployment benefits expire, and with many taking jobs that "underemploy" them. Still, this study comes as a shock, saying that 2/5 of Californians of working age are out of work. The report, "In the Midst of the Great Recession: The State of Working California 2009," by the California Budget Project, states that less than 3/5 of California's working age adults had jobs in July 2009. That contrasts to the official unemployment rate, which says that California's jobless rate is 11.9%. Other highlights (or lowlights) of the report... In full @ Snafu-ed (Situation normal, for people who don't think at all ... and offbeat news, for the rest of us ...) http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2009/09/forty-percent-of-working-age.html -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqnKfcACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFxo9ACg1QNW9YEcTweAVnrdUXv/uUKW RakAoIVTQg3DE9y9/bN8NEO36yMtghzW =fDO+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Tue Sep 8 22:10:30 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 13:10:30 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The American Money Scene Message-ID: <20090909131030.7356f8a1.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Bulletin Five of the American Monetary Institute http://www.monetary.org (August 16 2009) Dear Friends, As you know the states are in terrible financial condition, cutting back on necessary programs, laying off people and raising taxes. This has been the case for several years, and thanks to the banking crisis has reached terrible levels. This is the time - an opportunity to push for real reform, such as the American Monetary Act. But instead, suggestions have recently been circulated on the internet that the states go into the banking business to solve or lessen this problem. The American Monetary Institute concludes that these suggestions, though they may be for well meaning purposes, are bad ideas for a lot of reasons as described below. People involved in real monetary reform understand that the private creation of money through what amounts to a fractional reserve accounting system is at the heart of the monetary problem which has plagued humanity and has now brought down the world economy. That vicious system by which money is created in our society must be reformed, not imitated. But there is no reform whatever in the proposal for states to enter banking. It would also distract lawmakers from facing the facts about the national reforms that are needed to solve this crisis and institute a money system grounded in justice, which will operate to promote the general welfare. It would even sanction the present fractional reserve banking system, the source of the problem. That system requires structural reform, not endorsements! We'll soon have a blog at the end of this article below, so that you may record and post your reactions to Mr Walton's research. Sincerely, Stephen Zarlenga Director, American Monetary Institute Why States Going into the Banking Business Would be a Distraction, not a Solution to their Fiscal Problem by Jamie Walton, AMI researcher "We may not be able to stop them, but we can join them. We the people need to play the bankers' game ourselves". {1} That was written by one of the promoters of the notion that the state governments should go into the fractional reserve banking business to beat Wall Street at its own game and solve their fiscal problems. What an insult to humanity! How about a dose of morality and common sense. Isn't that like saying: "We're victims of organized financial crime, so lets join the criminals!" Trying to beat Wall Street at its own game is obviously not the answer. As Albert Einstein once said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them". Forty-eight States currently have budget deficits and many are sharply cutting services to try to close 'fiscal' gaps opening up to an average 24% by 2010. Some attention has recently been given to the idea that State governments can get out of their fiscal problems by setting up their own banks. This is mainly a distraction away from genuine reform of the system, as encapsulated in the proposed draft American Monetary Act (more about that below). The argument being put forward is that State governments can increase their revenues without increasing taxes by collecting profits from State-run banks. The proposal suggests that State governments go into the banking business and "fan" their deposits into ten or twelve times as much in loans, using 'fractional reserve' or 'capital adequacy' rules, to cover fiscal gaps with bank profits. This is a foolish suggestion, for several reasons. 1. You don't solve a problem with more of the problem. The so-called "public option" scheme for banking would only 'serve to protect' the status quo. The 'proposal' completely fails to confront the main problem identified by all serious monetary reforms: 'fractional reserve' banking. Instead, it actually endorses and sanctions this vicious and destructive process, by suggesting that State governments engage in it - it's immoral! 2. What the promoters describe is not how banking operates. No single bank can multiply its deposits by ten or twelve times in loans, they can only make loans (or purchases of securities, for example bonds) up against ninety to 95% of their deposits; these loans create new deposits, which, when spent, are most likely transferred to other banks; then receiving banks can again make new loans up to ninety to 95% of these deposits, and so on. This 'process' is repeated indefinitely, in ever-decreasing increments, and the effect over time is that the banking system as a whole multiplies those initial deposits by ten or twelve times. This process is carried on at great cost to the community as a whole, because every new loan (or new security purchase) is additional interest-bearing debt. As presently operated, banks can be viewed as debt factories; they primarily create debt and only create the bulk of our money supply as a debt byproduct. Banks make profits and stay in business by putting the community as a whole into more debt than it can repay in any given time. This results in a net claim against the community going into the future. While some profits are paid to shareholders as dividends, this is only a small percentage of the debt created. If a bank was State-owned, the 'shareholders' would nominally be the people of the community, but any profits would still be based on the indebtedness of the community. That's the inevitable outcome, no matter who owns a bank, because the same rules apply to all banks in the banking system. But the question is not who should be the beneficiaries of perpetual claims against the community, the question is should anyone be the beneficiaries of perpetual claims against the community - why place ourselves forever on a treadmill just to have what we've already got? It makes no sense. 3. The problem is being misidentified as interest, when the problem is debt. Interest collected by "private" banks is not kept out of 'circulation'. Most, if not all, interest re-enters the system in some way at some time (for example as expenses, dividends, investments, et cetera). This is not the problem. The problem is almost all of our money is created with a debt attached; it is 'borrowed into existence' from banks, who create it when we have to borrow it. As our economy grows, we need new money, but almost all of the new money is presently created with interest-bearing debt, so almost every new dollar has more than a dollar owing on it - so it has to 'earn' more than a dollar and pay it all back to banks (who never had it in the first place). Who owns and runs any particular bank makes little or no difference because the debt-based money-creating banking system will still own and run us, on a treadmill. Money doesn't have to be created like this; coins aren't, they're just created as money, with no debt attached; when they're issued, it's revenue for the US government, saving taxpayers dollars. All money can be created this way. And; if we don't start with any debt, then we don't start with any interest either. With that in mind, let's look again at the States' fiscal crisis. State governments receive money from the community for the provision of public services and the support of volunteer services. These are generally things that are needed in the community which aren't commercial in nature, they're not the types of things that it's either possible or desirable to make a profit on (for example rape crisis centers, battered women's refuges, assisted housing for people with physical/mental impairments, respite care for caregivers, et cetera). Non-commercial services needed in the community couldn't exist without being paid for straight out, because providers can't borrow and then generate income to repay loans, that's not how they work (if they could do that, they'd be doing it already) - they need money that doesn't have to be paid back. Diverting public resources away from desperately needed services toward a commercial venture would only make things worse. The effect on the ground could lead to the commercialization of services intended for the relief of poverty, disability, pain, suffering and misery; by forcing service providers to also be profit makers (for example commercialized prisons); or reverting to relying on the whims of charity. If neither of these 'choices' worked-out (which history shows, they generally don't), the community services essential for any viably functioning civil society might disappear altogether, and then "there goes the neighborhood" - social disintegration is a slippery slope, for everyone. This is a very serious situation - it's no time to be playing games. In addition to these defining moral questions, there are also some more technical reasons why they won't automatically work as suggested. 1. No bank's an island - they're all in it together. A bank can only lend out what it can expect to receive back, not only from its borrowers in the long term, but also from all other banks through the clearing process in the very short term, that is, usually overnight. Even if a State-run bank could attract other banks to have accounts with it and/or require its employees and suppliers to have accounts with it, the other banks would have to call in their loans by ten or twelve times the amounts transferred (so there'd be no net gain in loans available). Of course, at some stage, all of its depositors would need to spend their money with people having accounts at other banks, so sooner or later its reserves would drain back to other banks and it would then have to call in its loans by ten or twelve times as much. In any case, no bank can lend more than the prevailing level of lending of all other banks; every bank has to move in step with every other bank, otherwise it would soon sustain an adverse net balance through the clearing process and drain all its reserves to the other banks. It's a complete error that any bank can just go ahead and multiply it's 'reserves' or 'capital' by ten or twelve times in loans. If the other banks aren't lending, a State-run bank wouldn't be able to lend either. 2. Don't be fooled by what's happening in a low-population State. North Dakota has about 700,000 people, a strong community spirit based on farming in difficult conditions, and significant oil revenues. The model being presented is the Bank of North Dakota, which provides support services to some other banks in its area. {2} But this arrangement won't automatically translate to other States, as the banks in other States may not wish to engage in it, and requiring them to could be very unpopular. This could lead to significant risks to taxpayers. In 1931, the Government Savings Bank of New South Wales (a federated State of Australia), at that time the second largest savings bank in the British Empire, was closed down by a run caused by a series of 'scare' stories put out in the media as part of a 'political' attack. {3} If a similar action were possible against a State-run bank today, taxpayers might be called upon to pay for the aftermath (for example the Bank of North Dakota is not FDIC-insured (!), and is instead guaranteed by the State Government itself). 3. The promised golden goose may prove to be a noose. What may look like a boost for taxpayers could end up being a ball-and-chain. For instance; where are States already in deficit going to get the money to set up a bank? As the President of the Bank of North Dakota, Eric Hardmeyer, explains (in the article cited above), to avoid a drain on existing deposits from other banks, and the consequent contraction in loans, a State government would probably have to issue bonds to raise the capital needed to set up a State-run bank. {4} Yet more debt bondage at a time like this may be more than the State's taxpayers can bear. In any case, a new bank would be as much of a burden on the community as any other bank. We would have the ridiculous situation of the people, as taxpayers, being put further into debt to build a debt factory to put the people, as the community, even further into debt. 4. States shouldn't gamble taxpayer's money on risky business. The actual balances of State government bank accounts aren't huge, and they don't grow, because they're always being spent - that's what they're for. The actual profit margins banks make on their funds under management are generally modest, so any returns from a relatively small loan portfolio, after deducting operating expenses and re-investment in the business, wouldn't be anywhere near the amount required to fix the current fiscal shortfalls of the State governments. For example, in recent years the Bank of North Dakota has transferred between about a third to a half of its net income to the State coffers; about $25 million in 2007, about $20 million in 2008. {5} The total budget for the State Government for the 2007 to 2009 fiscal period is $6.5 billion. {6} A State law requires the bank to pay $60 million to the general fund over the same period - a contribution of less than one percent to the State budget. Meanwhile, State governments face average budget shortfalls of 24% for 2010 - so the numbers just don't stack up. {7} Weighing the pros and cons; relatively low potential returns compared to potential high risks (for example the concerted aggressive actions of other banks); it's not a very good bet. 5. States would be better-off using their clout with the banks. A more prudent course of action would be for State governments to negotiate more favorable contracts for their banking business with one or more banks. This would involve much less cost and trouble (for example recruiting competent staff and administering a new enterprise) than trying to set up a bank, especially when public services are being cut. The banks need those deposits - they'll do anything to keep them (even if they don't like to admit it). 6. We don't need any more diversions anymore. We citizens have only so much energy and time to devote to changing our world for the better. Diverting good people into nonsense condemns us to continue suffering unnecessarily. This time of crisis must be used for real reform, not diversions. So what is the solution? It's the monetary system which must be changed to end the fiscal crisis, and State governments cannot do this - it's a matter for the Federal Government. Under present constitutional and legal conventions, the only institutions that can create money without debt are national treasuries and/or central banks. State governments within a federal nation cannot do this - the problem can only be solved at the national level. Proposals promoting anything else would require a constitutional amendment, which is not necessary. There are some additional specious arguments being made within these promotions claiming that the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 5) does not authorize the US Congress to issue non-coin money, so implying that it authorizes the States (or the people) to issue non-coin money. {8} It most certainly does not. As Robert G. Natelson, in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, exhaustively and authoritatively determined, the term "coin" (with a lower-case "c") means to create money in any form, whereas the term "Coin" (with an upper-case "C") means coins. {9} There's also a lot of misinterpretations in these same arguments regarding the term "Bills of Credit" in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 10, Clause 1) and "bills of credit" in other contexts, and the terms "Tender" and "Coin" (again). These misinterpretations lead to some ridiculous assertions like stating that: "The States violate the [US] Constitution every day ? to pay their debts ? since gold and silver coins are no longer in general circulation". {10} All of these spurious 'ideas' only serve as distractions during a time of crisis. We have a big problem in our economy and society today: too much debt. Banking cannot solve this problem because banking produces debt, which is the problem. It's incredible that even now the delusion of borrowing ourselves out of debt is still seen as a solution, by anyone, let alone so-called reformers. We're in a deep hole because we listened to cheerleaders yelling "keep on digging" without thinking. We cannot afford to keep doing this any more. Proposing to get governments involved in banking is the complete opposite of a solution, because it keeps the problem in place. As American Monetary Institute Chapter Leader, Dick Distelhorst, says: "We don't want to put the government into the banking business - we want to get the banks out of the money creation business!" - Dick Distelhorst The correct solution to the crisis was presented in Stephen Zarlenga's speech at the US Treasury in December 2003, titled "Solution to the States' fiscal crisis" (read it at www.monetary.org). That solution has become the proposed American Monetary Act. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger has had a copy of The Lost Science of Money (the historical research which led to the solution) on his bookshelves since the spring of 2004. Experience has taught us what we need to do: 1. Put the Federal Reserve System into the US Treasury. 2. Stop the banking system creating any part of the money supply. 3. Create new money as needed by spending it on public infrastructure, including human infrastructure, for example education and health care. These 3 elements must all be done together, and are all in draft legislative form as the proposed American Monetary Act (read it here: http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf). The correct action is for Congress to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities to furnish the nation with its money by making the American Monetary Act law. The correct action for the States is to insist on this Federal action! Genuine monetary reform is the solution to the nation's fiscal problems, and that can only be achieved at the national level. _____ The American Monetary Institute is sponsoring the fifth annual Monetary Reform Conference at Roosevelt University in Chicago, September 24 to 27 2009, to bring together the best minds to get done what has to be done. Jamie R Walton Notes: 1. "The Public Option in Banking: How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own Game", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, JD. Web of Debt (website), August 05 2009. 2 & 4. "How the Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street", Harkinson, Josh. Mother Jones, March 27 2009. 3. "NSW Savings Bank Board Official Announcement: Protection To Depositors", The Age, April 23 1931. 5. Bank of North Dakota 2008 Annual Report: Independent Auditor's Report, page 4. 6. State of North Dakota: 2009 to 2011 Executive Budget Summary, page 3. 7. "New Fiscal Year Brings No Relief From Unprecedented State Budget Problems", Lav, Iris J and McNichol, Elizabeth. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (website), updated August 12 2009. 8 &10. "Another Way Around the Credit Crisis: Minnesota Bill would authorize State Banks to "monetize" productivity", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, JD. Web of Debt (website), March 23 2008. 9. "Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause", Natelson, Robert G. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, July 01 2008. _____ (c) 2009 The American Monetary Institute Dedicated to the independent study of monetary history, theory, and reform Stephen Zarlenga, Director Post Office Box 601, Valatie, New York 12184 http://www.monetary.org ami at taconic.net http://www.monetary.org/moneyscenefive.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Sep 9 13:50:21 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 15:50:21 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Unicolonial Ants Pose Challenge to "Selfish Gene" Theory Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909091250q53dd7a14lf95032a87c6fa5b3@mail.gmail.com> Unicolonial Ants Pose Challenge to "Selfish Gene" Theory It has been a mainstay of evolutionary theory since the 1970s. Natural selection acts purely on the level of the individual and any cooperation observed between organisms merely hides a selfish genetic motive. There have been two pioneering theories to explain cooperation in the natural world given this framework: the first was William Hamilton's (1964) theory of kin selection and the second was Robert Trivers' (1971) theory of reciprocal altruism. However, both of these scenarios break down where it comes to unicolonial ants. In a paper in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (subscription required) Heikki Helantera, of the University of Sussex, and colleagues at Rice University have investigated how previous theories to explain cooperation don't apply for these unique supercolonies. Unicolonial ants carry polydomy [multiple nests in a supercolony that all individuals rotate through] and polygyny [multiple queens in one nest] to extremes. Colonies are huge, each being a network of hundreds or thousands of nests, each with multiple queens. There is no worker aggression, and there is free movement among nests on a vast scale. The energy that might have been put into fighting and territoriality flows into the common good, more ants. Such a concept, a form of genuine anarchism in the animal world, was thought to be impossible given existing theory. These ants live in colonies where relatives exist but, with so much migration throughout a network stretching thousands of kilometers, each ant worker is mostly surrounded by total strangers that share none of their genes. Only one other species has ever been known to organize themselves in such a fashion (and if you're reading these words right now you know who you are). http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/09/unicolonial_ants_pose_challeng.php?utm_source=nytwidget From cb31450 at gmail.com Wed Sep 9 14:34:53 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 16:34:53 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Panic of 2008 Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909091334g9d9222btc156f301c7736c50@mail.gmail.com> Lehman's collapse almost brought down the money-market industry By Sam Mamudi, MarketWatch September 9 2009 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- As the threat of a Lehman Brothers bankruptcy grew last September, many money-market fund managers were wary but not worried. Their industry had quietly grown over the past generation to become a major rival to the banking system, with $3.5 trillion in assets. It had weathered crises such as the collapse of Baring Plc, the Asian currency mess of the late 1990s and the fall of hedge fund giant Long-Term Capital Management. Though some managers were talking to their boards and their staff, there wasn't a feeling of impending disaster. But all that changed in the late afternoon of Sept. 16, the day after Lehman actually went down. Reserve Primary Fund -- the oldest and fifth-largest fund in the business -- said it had about $785 million in Lehman debt that was now worthless and as a result it would price its shares at 97 cents. The impact of the first major retail money-market fund to fall below $1 a share -- to actually lose money for its investors -- was immense. In the two days after Reserve Primary's announcement, roughly 22% of all assets in institutional prime money-market funds -- those that invest in corporate debt -- were pulled out by panicked investors. As Lehman's fall spread fear throughout the financial system, money-market fund managers were squeezed on both sides: investors demanding their money and frozen credit markets where no one was buying. "Countless other money-market funds were poised to break the buck," said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data. "The mini-run would have spread to all funds." It was a pull-out unprecedented in scale. In the space of just two days -- Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 -- $210 billion was redeemed from institutional prime money-market funds. Overall the money-market fund industry saw roughly 7% of its total assets redeemed in those two days. While some of that was invested back into government money funds, the industry lost almost 4% of its assets in 48 hours, according to data from iMoneyNet. Even managers at funds with portfolios considered safe from the crisis were struggling with the market -- because there were no buyers, pricing the assets in some cases could have meant breaking the buck. In such cases, managers talked to their boards to explain when they didn't do daily pricing for their funds. "It was a shock in that the people who keep the machine going -- the broker-dealers -- suddenly weren't there to keep things going," said Mira Stevovich, manager of Ivy Money Market Fund and Waddell & Reed Advisors Cash Management. "You weren't sure when re-investing that there'd be anyone behind the securities to make a market if you had to sell." "There was a lot of fear, and no one knew what was going to happen," added Stevovich. Even without federal bank insurance, money funds had ballooned in the past several years as alternatives to holding cash. They often offered better interest rates than bank deposits, which were insured by the federal government up to $100,000 at the time (now $250,000). The sudden prospect of investors losing their savings following the Lehman collapse caused the run, but because it was mostly in electronic transactions, it didn't summon visions of anxious crowds banging on bank doors during the Great Depression. For many, however, the fear was just as palpable. "There was a concern that if something wasn't in place to regain investor confidence, after four or five days [the high redemption rate] would cause problems," said Debbie Cunningham, head of money-market funds at Federated Investors Inc. . "Selling into the market [to meet redemptions] was already a problem -- there was no liquidity." The panic was averted only after the Treasury Department on Sept. 19 stepped in and announced it would backstop money-fund assets, in a series of measures that slowly restored investor confidence. But industry officials are under no illusions about what might have happened. A year of trouble In reacting to that week's panic, the industry was both helped and hindered by its experiences over the previous 12 months. Troubles in the asset-backed securities market and exposure to special investment vehicles had hit money-market funds from late 2007 and into 2008. A MarketWatch study conducted at the time found that more than a dozen funds had looked to parent companies or other sources of credit to ensure they didn't break the buck. At least 20 had sought regulatory approval for support if needed. But the fact that the funds had come through such a choppy period unscathed meant that even though some funds were known to hold Lehman paper, few expected a fund to go under. "We'd gone through a series of problems leading up to Lehman," said David Glocke, who oversees Vanguard Group's taxable money-market funds and also manages its Treasury and Admiral Treasury funds. The funds didn't hold any Lehman paper. "Watching from the outside, we were completely shocked," when Reserve Primary broke the buck, he added. The shock was probably biggest among investors. At roughly $3.5 trillion, the money-market fund industry had grown by $1.5 trillion in the previous two years and much of that money, said Crane, likely came from investors fleeing other troubled assets, such as SIVs and auction-rate securities. At the first sign of trouble in money-market funds, these investors were likely to bolt once again. "It wasn't Lehman that killed Reserve Primary Fund, it was the run," said Crane. And fleeing investors caused the effective collapse of another fund, Putnam Prime Money Market Fund. Putnam closed the fund on Sept. 17 after it came under heavy redemption pressure -- investors cashing out created a liquidity squeeze that could only have been met by selling assets below par and thus breaking the buck. Putnam later sold the fund's assets to Federated, where it was merged into Federated Prime Obligations Fund . The Reserve had previously valued its Lehman paper at par, but then suddenly announced it was valuing the assets at zero, causing the panic. While many investors are still waiting to get their cash out of Reserve Primary, the firm said in late August that it values the Lehman debt at about 17 cents on the dollar and "shareholders could possibly receive up to 99 cents per share." Reserve Primary's basic problem was, of course, that it held Lehman paper on Sept. 15. All the managers who spoke to MarketWatch said they had no Lehman exposure and many said they had during the previous year's troubles been heading more and more into shorter-duration debt as well as Treasurys and agency debt. When the Lehman crisis hit, many managers said they doubled their holdings of debt with seven days or less to maturity, for instance, up from 15% of a portfolio to 30%. "One of the strengths of money-market funds is the ability to retool and adapt to the market conditions quickly," said Joe Benevento, manager of the DWS money market series of institutional funds. Dealing with a crisis But despite these efforts, even the most conservative managers found themselves on high alert. "There was a mismatch that lasted over the course of a few days due to the seizing up of the market and not having the liquidity to meet demands," said Benevento. The head of one of the largest money-market fund lines, who declined to be named because of the delicate nature of last year's events, said his fund managers, fearing the worst for Lehman, met with the funds' board during the weekend of Sept. 13 and Sept. 14 to apprise the board of the funds' status, none of which had Lehman debt. The funds had also been pulling in their average maturity and credit risk levels. The group head added that conference calls with sales staff around the country were also held during the weekend to provide them with talking points to deliver to worried clients. Federated's Cunningham said that had the investor panic lasted, Federated had a "bevy" of resources, both internal and external, to maintain liquidity, but that the firm "came closer than we ever thought possible" to using those measures. "You always talk about contingency planning in meetings, and then all of a sudden you find yourself in a situation where you could have to use that planning," she said. The worst of the crisis passed on Friday Sept. 19, when Treasury said it would insure all money-market funds that pay a fee -- the entire industry eventually joined the program. At the same time, the Federal Reserve said it would buy agency discount notes from primary dealers, acting as a backstop when and if money-market funds wanted to sell their assets. "The [Fed program] was one of the key things done to provide liquidity," said Benevento. Cunningham agreed, saying the program was a "great solution." Coupled with the insurance plan, due to expire on Sept. 18, the two measures were "enough for everyone to step back and take a breather," she said. Lower yields more safety One year later, and the money-market fund industry is roughly back to where it was just before Lehman collapsed, standing at about $3.5 trillion in assets and serving as a refuge for those on the sidelines. But last year's experience prompted government action on two fronts: from the Obama administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The administration's recommendations are still vague and won't be clear until the financial reform package is unveiled on Sept. 15. The SEC's proposals were published at the end of June. The plan calls for better credit quality, shorter maturities and more disclosure. "The proposals offer a greater level of protection for fund investors," said Vanguard's Glocke. "The rules now are for credit events, not liquidity events." Among the proposals are requirements for certain levels of assets that must be held in cash, Treasurys or holdings that can be cashed within one day, and limiting the maximum weighted average maturity of a fund's portfolio to 60 days, from the current 90 days. The SEC estimates its proposed changes would lower yields by between 0.02 to 0.04 percentage points. In a comment letter to the agency, Fidelity Investments said the potential yield reduction could be between 0.19 to 0.43 percentage points for institutional funds and 0.14 to 0.31 point for retail funds. Robert Deutsch, head of the global cash business at J.P. Morgan Funds, estimated the fall in yields would on average be between 0.05 and 0.1 percentage points. "You're giving up that yield to get extra safeguards," said Deutsch. "It seems like a good trade-off." Deutsch said he didn't think the lower yields would put off investors. After last year's panic, "there's been a big shift in how investors think, moving away from yield-chasing funds." Reserve Primary was among the highest-yielding funds in the industry. Despite the reform efforts, some say that last year's events may simply have to be seen as a once-in-a-lifetime event. "The SEC may be able to prevent one or two dominos from falling, but nothing could have prevented the complex series of events that led to what happened [last September]," said Crane. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From noreply at coha.org Wed Sep 9 11:45:58 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 13:45:58 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Obama's Latin America Policy; US-Colombia Military Bases Message-ID: <20090909174506.E26303E4965@mx-out2.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 8222 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090909/0d4de484/attachment.txt From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Wed Sep 9 23:09:53 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:09:53 +0900 Subject: [A-List] More Than One Way ... Message-ID: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> ... to Reclaim the Power to Create Money. An Open Letter to the American Monetary Institute by Ellen Brown webofdebt.wordpress.com (August 28 2009) Sirs: This is in response to the entry posted on your American Monetary Institute blog on August 16 2009, which references my articles on a state-owned bank solution to the credit crisis. I was disappointed to read that you thought my proposal was "an insult to humanity", as the idea was actually drawn from the AMI's book The Lost Science of Money (2002). I do quite a bit of writing and speaking, and I always follow your lead in saying the ideal monetary model is that established in Benjamin Franklin's colony of Pennsylvania, which not only spent but lent money into the economy, through its own publicly-owned bank. The Lost Science of Money calls it "Pennsylvania's Superior Money System". On pages 370-71, your book quotes Pennsylvania Governor William Keith, who wrote of the province's founding of a publicly-owned bank: "It is inconceivable to think what a prodigious good effect immediately ensued on all the affairs of that province ... The poor middling people who had any lands or houses to pledge, borrowed from the loan office, and paid off their usurious creditors. The few rich men who had before this [quit] the trade - except that of usury - were obliged to build ships, and launch out again into trade." It is submitted that our proposals aim for the same thing - reclaiming the money power for the people themselves. We would just get there by different routes. My public bank would create credit on its books, lend it, and charge interest on it. You would have a public entity create money and lend it to private banks at interest, which would then lend it to consumers and businesses at interest. The private banks in your scheme would no doubt tack their interest costs onto the interest charged to the end borrowers, since banks are in the business of making a profit, and that is the only way they could make a profit in your system. My proposal would just eliminate the profits to the private banker middlemen. Banking would become a non-profit public service, with the interest returned to the public purse. You maintain that publicly-owned banks are "mainly a distraction from genuine reform of the system, as encapsulated in the proposed American Monetary Act". Indeed, much in that Act is excellent; but it would leave the determination of how much credit is available in the economy to a central planning board, when the money supply needs to be flexible, expanding and contracting organically in response to the needs of trade. The American Monetary Act gives the final word on the money supply to the Secretary of the Treasury, under the guidance of an independent monetary board. Today, that would be Timothy Geithner. Trusting Timothy Geithner to determine the day to day credit needs of the country would be the equivalent of trusting the Russian Soviet to accurately determine how many size nine shoes its population needed. When the pot of available funds decreed by the Treasurer ran out, creditworthy borrowers would be turned away, and the economy would falter. Ready credit is what makes an economy run smoothly, and its availability should not be subject to the whims of a political body. Credit-money is created when creditworthy borrowers take out loans. Banks merely "monetize" the borrowers' promise to repay. As The Lost Science of Money makes clear, "money" is not a commodity but is created by legal agreement. Credit-money is created when the "full faith and credit" of the community is advanced to the borrower. The function of the banker is just to oversee the agreement, acting as the middleman who advances the funds and collects them back. Publicly-owned banks are the most efficient and cost-effective way to get ready credit into the economy. They are not a temporary stopgap measure, any more than the land bank of the colony of Pennsylvania was. You have divided your objections to state-owned banks into two groups, "moral" and "technical", with separate numbering for each. I will follow your numbering in addressing these points. Moral Objections 1. You state that for a public bank to engage in "fractional reserve" lending - that is, to create credit on its books - is immoral. That appears to me to be a mischaracterization of the problem. What is immoral is the private creation of money. Both our proposals are attempting to overcome that flaw. I am just suggesting that publicly-owned banks are the most direct and practical means to that end. Congress is now owned by Wall Street, as Congressmen themselves are complaining. States, on the other hand, still have some autonomy. 2. You state that banks cannot create credit on their books but can make loans only against 90 to 95% of their deposits. This is no longer true. Federal Reserve data establishes that the reserve requirement is now essentially obsolete. For a detailed discussion, see Jake Towne, "Yes, Virginia, There Are No Reserve Requirements (Part 2)", August 12 2009, establishing that "reserve requirements are effectively not in existence and easily avoided by accounting tricks in the US banking system". See also Eric deCarbonnel, "US Banks Operating Without Reserve Requirements" (March 29 2009), stating, "Although, under current regulations, all depository institutions are required to maintain reserves against transaction (checking) deposits, the reality is they don't". Both articles are supported with Federal Reserve data. What limits bank lending today is chiefly the capital requirement, and states are in a far better position to meet that requirement than private banks are. Banks must have Tier One capital equal to four percent of loans and other risk-weighted assets, and they must have combined Tier One plus Tier Two capital of eight percent of risk-weighted assets. Tier Two capital includes several things, but the most interesting here is the appreciated value of unencumbered real assets. For a private bank, that typically means only the building that houses it; but a state has buildings, prisons, parks, et cetera peppered all over the state. It has a HUGE asset base, so it basically does not have to worry about Tier Two capital at all. That just leaves Tier One capital, which is essentially the bank's own money. For a private bank, that generally means the capital contributed by shareholders and the interest earned on loans. Again, a state has a huge amount of money of its own. A friendly regulator could count the state's whole revenue base as Tier One capital. But let's say that the state wants to dot all the i's and cross all the t's by actually setting aside enough Tier One capital to please the regulators. At four percent, $1 billion would be enough to create $25 billion in credit - virtually enough to meet California's $26 billion budget deficit in one fell swoop. You say that this would just be a loan, which has to be paid back; but that is not necessarily the case. The state owns the bank, so it can roll the loan over as long as needed; and the interest returns to its own coffers, so the loan is essentially interest-free. The federal government has been rolling over its debt since the days of Andrew Jackson. For a state to create interest-free money on its books and roll the loans over indefinitely produces the same result you wish to achieve - an interest-free government-issued money supply. In both our schemes, the government gets the money interest-free, while private borrowers get it with an interest charge attached. You say that only the federal government, not the states, can create money under the Constitution; but this is not true. The Constitution forbids states only to issue "bills of credit", which has been interpreted to mean paper money. US Supreme Court case law holds that a state can own a bank, and that the banknotes issued by the bank are not the sorts of "bills of credit" forbidden to the states by the Constitution. Banks no longer issue banknotes, but the principle still holds: bank-created money is not forbidden to governments any more than to private banks. We know that private banks create money. In fact, they create virtually all of our money. The ownership of the bank will not affect the bank's ability to create credit on its books. Rather, it will just achieve our mutually desired end of transferring the power to create money from private to public control. 3. "The problem is being misidentified as interest", you maintain, "when the problem is debt". You argue that all money could be created interest-free by the government, just as coins are today; and that this would save the taxpayers money. I totally agree with that: Congress should issue money outright. That was the model followed in the colony of Pennsylvania, which we agree was the ideal model. Congress should create not just coins but paper dollar bills and accounting entry money. But that is a completely different issue from consumer credit or debt. You are not proposing to eliminate banks that charge interest to borrowers; you would just tack an extra interest charge on by making banks borrow from the government as the ultimate creator of credit. Under my proposed system, as in yours, the government would be the ultimate issuer of credit; but with a bank that was state-owned, the extra interest drawn off by private banker middlemen would be eliminated. Technical Objections 1. You state that "no bank's an island ... If the other banks aren't lending, a State-run bank wouldn't be able to lend either". Today, the other banks are not lending because they are not able to meet the capital requirement for additional loans; and this is because the "shadow lenders" have disappeared - the investors who were taking loans off their books, making room for more loans. A state-owned bank would have huge capital and deposit bases and a clean set of books, and therefore would have a huge capacity for lending as and where needed. It would not be dependent on other banks to meet its reserve requirement, which as noted above is now essentially obsolete. 2. You caution about following the model of the Bank of North Dakota, which you warn is playing with fire because it is not FDIC insured and could be subject to a bank run. In fact, the FDIC is now broke - literally. Its own funds offer little if any protection. In a few months it will have to start borrowing from the government. If the banks were owned by the government in the first place, this problem would have been obviated. 3. You say that a state bank would take deposits away from other banks, reducing the lending ability of those banks. However, the overall credit capacity of the system would not be reduced; the business would just move to the state-owned bank, as well it should if the latter can provide superior service at cheaper rates. The State of California has $17.6 billion in demand deposits and NOW deposits, which could be moved at will; and most of the banks it has them at actually turned down California's request to honor its IOUs. Some of those banks got taxpayer bailout money specifically to keep credit flowing to the states and consumers, an obligation they have clearly failed to fulfill. California owes them nothing and has every right to remove its deposits from those banks into its own. That is free-market capitalism. More than that, it is a matter of survival. Why should we be feeding parasitic out-of-state banks that aren't helping us in return? The Bank of North Dakota was set up in exactly those circumstances: the farmers were losing their farms to the Wall Street bankers, so they set up their own credit system to escape the Wall Street maelstrom - and it worked, brilliantly well. 4. You state that the meager benefits of forming a state-owned bank would not be worth the costs. However, you are looking at a very limited range of benefits. Let's consider again California. With its enormous capital base, California could generate enormous amounts of credit, which could be used to refinance its existing debt; and since the state would own the bank, it would pocket the interest. California pays $5 billion yearly in interest alone - as much as some states' whole budgets. Just that savings would make a state-owned bank worth the trouble; but a state-owned bank could serve more purposes than that. It could eliminate the cost of borrowing for income-generating projects such as infrastructure, low-cost housing, and alternative energy development. On average, interest has been calculated to compose fifty percent of the cost of every project. Moreover, the state wouldn't have to scramble around looking for a loan when it needed one, knuckling under to inflated interest rates. On the question of costs, today a bank can be set up on the Internet, without even the cost of a physical building. 5. You suggest that negotiating better terms with existing banks would be more cost-effective than setting up a new bank. Again, you are overestimating the costs and underestimating the potential benefits of a state-owned bank. 6. You write, "We citizens have only so much energy and time to devote to changing our world for the better. Diverting good people into nonsense condemns us to continue suffering unnecessarily. This time of crisis must be used for real reform, not diversions." I agree with that. The economy is in an emergency state. We cannot afford to wait for a Congress that has been captured by the same private money-creating monopoly from which we are trying to free ourselves. Your plan represents a far more radical diversion from the status quo than mine and is therefore a harder sell to make to basically clueless politicians. A state-owned bank has already been operating very successfully for ninety years in one pioneer state, and following that model would require doing nothing different from what banks do now. How can regulators object, when we'll be satisfying all their requirements? In fact, the shift will seem so minor that its significance is liable to be missed. Even committed monetary reformers like yourselves have apparently missed its implications and potential. Through state-owned banks that create money on their books, we can achieve what Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and William Jennings Bryan all aimed to achieve: a publicly-created money supply issued by the people for the people. http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/more-than-one-way-to-reclaim-the-power-to-create-money-an-open-letter-to-the-american-monetary-institute/ http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Thu Sep 10 07:52:12 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:52:12 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Killing forced lid off British security-force collusion in Ireland Message-ID: <64F22C56AD8147B4B43ACDFCF6ED682A@home9sg93n9r5y> Killing forced lid off security-force conduct By Barry McCaffrey 03/09/09 IRISH NEWS (Belfast "moderate" nationalist newspaper) TO the outside world he was just another innocent statistic of the Troubles ? the 3,051st person murdered in the conflict. But the killing of Loughlin Maginn was to spark a chain reaction of events that would finally lift the lid on security force collusion with loyalists in the murder of dozens of nationalists. Within hours of the father-of-four being shot dead the UFF attempted to justify the killing claiming he had been a provisional IRA intelligence officer. The claim was rejected by the RUC, who insisted that Mr Maginn was an innocent victim of a sectarian killing. Desperate to defend the murder, the UFF posted intelligence files of republican suspects, which it had received from members of the RUC and British army, on walls in loyalist areas of west Belfast. One of those pictured in the montages was Loughlin Maginn. While there had been previous allegations of security force collusion, this was the first definite evidence that British army and RUC files had been passed to loyalists. Within weeks of the murder two UDR soldiers appeared in court charged with the killing. Security minister John Cope denied that it was operating a policy of cooperation between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. "Our policy is to stamp out any collusion and that is why we are investigating all the allegations very thoroughly,?? he said. Soon after the soldiers appeared in court the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher defended the UDR as ?a very, very, very brave group of men? during a specially arranged visit to Northern Ireland. At the time 16 members of the regiment were serving life for murder. Within days the British army was forced to admit that another soldier convicted of possession of intelligence files passed to the UVF had rejoined his regiment. Corporal Cameron Hastie was allowed to continue as an army instructor despite being given an 18-month suspended sentence for stealing the documents, which the court was told had later been passed on to the UVF by a female UDR soldier. With growing nationalist and Irish government calls for the UDR to be disbanded, the British government announced in September 1989 that deputy chief constable of Cambridgeshire John Stevens (now Lord Stevens) was being called into investigate the theft of security force files from Ballykinlar UDR base and Dunmurry RUC station. Stevens Inquiry detectives were initially told their investigation would last just three weeks but as evidence emerged that hundreds of security force files had been passed to loyalists, the investigation snowballed. It would last 20 years and become the longest running police investigation in British history. Within weeks of his arrival Lord Stevens had arrested 28 UDR soldiers for involvement in collusion. Detectives uncovered evidence that the British army?s Force Research Unit (Fru) had used its agent Brian Nelson to provide the UDA and UVF with intelligence files on nationalists. In January, mysteriously, Lord Stevens?s offices inside Carrickfergus RUC station went on fire just as he was preparing to arrest Nelson and other senior UDA figures. A former member of Fru, Martin Ingram, would later claim that his unit had set fire to the offices. Lord Stevens would ultimately recover 2,600 security force documents which had been passed to loyalists. In May 1990 Stevens published his first report, confirming that some security force members had "gravely abused their position of trust" by passing on information to loyalists. However, he said there was no evidence of any orchestrated plan of collusion. Nationalists branded the report a whitewash, while unionists dubbed it a "cynical political exercise". Eventually 59 people would be charged by Stevens ? all bar one of those charged were either members of the UDR or UDA. In January 1992 Brian Nelson pleaded guilty to five charges of conspiracy to murder and 14 charges of possessing information useful to terrorists. He was sentenced to 10 years? imprisonment but only served five. His decision to plead guilty meant that Nelson?s key role as a conduit between the British army and loyalist paramilitaries was never fully exposed. Lord Stevens was to return for a second time to Northern Ireland in April 1993 after a BBC Panorama programme, The Dirty War, revealed that Nelson had warned his army handlers in late 1988 that Pat Finucane was being targeted by the UDA. It further revealed that far from being a lone ?bad apple? Nelson had been assisted by his handlers in collating intelligence and had been provided with the personal details and photographs of intended targets for the UDA. Although Stevens II lasted nearly three years little is known about what new evidence, if any, was uncovered. It is known that four reports went to the DPP, but failed to result in prosecutions. Nationalists branded the report another whitewash. Lord Stevens was forced to return to Northern Ireland for a third time in May 1999 after allegations of security force collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane refused to go away. It would later emerge that four security force agents, Brian Nelson, Billy Stobie, Tommy Lyttle and Ken Barrett had all been linked to the murder. In April 2003 it was announced that Brian Nelson had died in Canada. Six days later Stevens published a summary of its third and final inquiry. Summing up his 15-year investigation into security force collusion in the murder of nationalists, Britain?s most senior police officer said: "My three inquiries have found all these elements of collusion to be present. "The coordination, dissemination and sharing of intelligence were poor. "Informants and agents were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes. "Nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or protected. Crucial information was withheld from Senior Investigating Officers. Important evidence was neither exploited nor preserved." Lord Stevens announced that he had forwarded 25 files to the Public Prosecution Service recommending charges against security force members. In June 2007 the PPS announced that no serving or retired member of the security forces would face charges arising out of the three Stevens inquiries. After 20 years and costing more than ?20 million, Britain?s longest ever police investigation has failed to secure the prosecution of a single RUC officer or regular soldier for collusion. From toddfboyle at gmail.com Wed Sep 9 17:27:21 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:27:21 -0700 Subject: [A-List] The American Money Scene In-Reply-To: <20090909131030.7356f8a1.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> References: <20090909131030.7356f8a1.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Message-ID: It is nice to be reminded of the AMI proposal from time to time.[below] Personally I reject it. First of all, money creation is already largely controlled by the president and congress through control over the Fed. Putting it in-house would not change the will and intention of the President or congress respecting money creation itself. The Money creation is anyways not limited to the fed or domestic banks today, and cannot be controlled by Treasury. The amount of money created outside the US is regulated by the BIS, little more than a power broker among unregulated bank and nonbank entities who can create money, and agree to accept each others' paper, and maintain exactly the same sort of bubble as the U.S. itself has maintained-- in fact that is what they HAVE been doing-- the international banksters are a siamese twin to the domestic dollar apparatus Zarlenga is so focused on. Example: you are a resource rich nation. China issues you a check in dollars, on the Bank of China. Automatically you accept it on the power of their reserves. It can be cleared by presentment at the Bank of China. Hah! China now has those dollars again on deposit. China at this point can issue more loans than it has in reserves. So can the global 100 corporations, as agents of their 'bank' or nonbank financial houses. Any entity large enough to have credit can spend money in excess of its rightful balances, and all conspire to maintain inflationary growth. Another problem is the velocity of transactions. Who can curb velocity, when prices start rising in a sector and activity gets overheated? A result can be price increases, on velocity, rather than the money base. It can be followed by deflationary paralysis when velocity slows, after the wealthy and powerful capture too much of the money (as they always do). Zarlenga and company are barking up the wrong tree. They have the wrong definition of the problem, and scope of the problem. The problem is the global oligopoly industries or rackets, that have among them, captured the economic surplus of humanity so completely, the only remaining question is which of them will extract what percentages. These industries are the banking and financial industry, the oil and gas industry, the telecoms,chips and software industry. Barking at the gates are emerging global media conglomerates, aerospace and weapons industries, agribusiness, pharma, etc. but they will never succeed in a general, permanent way. Like all true believers, I happen to have my own panacea, one-shot solution: more steeply progressive income taxes. Forget about curbing these oil, banking, and telecoms pigs. They have absolutely overwhelming advantages in their domains. What we need to do is regain control over the government and use it to tax the winners down to size. And this is not an impossible task.. It's all about raising public awareness, by changing the content in the institutions of mass culture (the media, the pulpits and in education) which have largely been influenced by the tiny 1% plutocracy-- ironically, the mass population could easily regain control of its institutions of mass culture -- we have always had the natural advantage there, but we are the 800 pound marlin captured by 8 pound fishing line, because of our own stupidity, Since Zarlenga and company don't like my idea (taxing up to 80,90, or 100% of incomes of individuals when they hit $1 million, $10 million, $50 million) naturally I cannot determine whether they are even on my team. I tend to think Zarlenga and company are intent on a more rational and robust empire, perpetuating the domination hierarchic thinking rather than decentralization or sustainability. Zarlenga perhaps, is intent on reducing income inequality among lower brackets. But every policy measure he proposes, protects both the privacy, the existing money balances, and the power and nonmonetary wealth of the extreme wealthy. That's my gut feeling. He ends up protecting the old wealth and slowing the emergence of a nouveau riche. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_money Todd Jamie Walton, AMI researcher wrote: >Bulletin Five of the American Monetary Institute >http://www.monetary.org (August 16 2009) >[....] > >So what is the solution? > >It's the monetary system which must be changed to end the fiscal crisis, >and State governments cannot do this - it's a matter for the Federal >Government. > >Under present constitutional and legal conventions, the only institutions >that can create money without debt are national treasuries and/or central >banks. State governments within a federal nation cannot do this - the >problem can only be solved at the national level. > >Proposals promoting anything else would require a constitutional >amendment, which is not necessary. > >There are some additional specious arguments being made within these >promotions claiming that the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause >5) does not authorize the US Congress to issue non-coin money, so implying >that it authorizes the States (or the people) to issue non-coin money. >{8} It most certainly does not. As Robert G. Natelson, in the Harvard >Journal of Law and Public Policy, exhaustively and authoritatively >determined, the term "coin" (with a lower-case "c") means to create money >in any form, whereas the term "Coin" (with an upper-case "C") means coins. >{9} > >There's also a lot of misinterpretations in these same arguments regarding >the term "Bills of Credit" in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 10, >Clause 1) and "bills of credit" in other contexts, and the terms "Tender" >and "Coin" (again). These misinterpretations lead to some ridiculous >assertions like stating that: "The States violate the [US] Constitution >every day to pay their debts since gold and silver coins are no longer >r >in general circulation". {10} > >All of these spurious 'ideas' only serve as distractions during a time of >crisis. > >We have a big problem in our economy and society today: too much debt. >Banking cannot solve this problem because banking produces debt, which is >the problem. It's incredible that even now the delusion of borrowing >ourselves out of debt is still seen as a solution, by anyone, let alone >so-called reformers. We're in a deep hole because we listened to >cheerleaders yelling "keep on digging" without thinking. We cannot afford >to keep doing this any more. > >Proposing to get governments involved in banking is the complete opposite >of a solution, because it keeps the problem in place. > >As American Monetary Institute Chapter Leader, Dick Distelhorst, says: > >"We don't want to put the government into the banking business - we want >to get the banks out of the money creation business!" - Dick Distelhorst > >The correct solution to the crisis was presented in Stephen Zarlenga's >speech at the US Treasury in December 2003, titled "Solution to the >States' fiscal crisis" (read it at www.monetary.org). That solution has >become the proposed American Monetary Act. In California, Governor >Schwarzenegger has had a copy of The Lost Science of Money (the historical >research which led to the solution) on his bookshelves since the spring of >2004. > >Experience has taught us what we need to do: > >1. Put the Federal Reserve System into the US Treasury. > >2. Stop the banking system creating any part of the money supply. > >3. Create new money as needed by spending it on public infrastructure, >including human infrastructure, for example education and health care. > >These 3 elements must all be done together, and are all in draft >legislative form as the proposed American Monetary Act (read it here: >http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf). > >The correct action is for Congress to fulfil its constitutional >responsibilities to furnish the nation with its money by making the >American Monetary Act law. > >The correct action for the States is to insist on this Federal action! > >Genuine monetary reform is the solution to the nation's fiscal problems, >and that can only be achieved at the national level. > >_____ > >The American Monetary Institute is sponsoring the fifth annual Monetary >Reform Conference at Roosevelt University in Chicago, September 24 to 27 >2009, to bring together the best minds to get done what has to be done. > >Jamie R Walton > > >Notes: > >1. "The Public Option in Banking: How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own >Game", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, JD. Web of Debt (website), August 05 2009. > >2 & 4. "How the Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall >Street", Harkinson, Josh. Mother Jones, March 27 2009. > >3. "NSW Savings Bank Board Official Announcement: Protection To >Depositors", The Age, April 23 1931. > >5. Bank of North Dakota 2008 Annual Report: Independent Auditor's Report, >page 4. > >6. State of North Dakota: 2009 to 2011 Executive Budget Summary, page 3. > >7. "New Fiscal Year Brings No Relief From Unprecedented State Budget >Problems", Lav, Iris J and McNichol, Elizabeth. Center on Budget and >Policy Priorities (website), updated August 12 2009. > >8 &10. "Another Way Around the Credit Crisis: Minnesota Bill would >authorize State Banks to "monetize" productivity", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, >JD. Web of Debt (website), March 23 2008. > >9. "Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause", >Natelson, Robert G. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, July 01 2008. > >_____ > >(c) 2009 The American Monetary Institute >Dedicated to the independent study of monetary history, theory, and reform >Stephen Zarlenga, Director >Post Office Box 601, Valatie, New York 12184 >http://www.monetary.org >ami at taconic.net > >http://www.monetary.org/moneyscenefive.html > > >http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com >http://www.ashisuto.co.jp -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 11404 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090909/b78961ea/attachment.txt From nmgoro at gmail.com Thu Sep 10 08:14:35 2009 From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:14:35 -0300 Subject: [A-List] 25 years ago, an Arg city mobilized against an US fleet Message-ID: <2fa158550909100714w5cf6a15amc372494085489aa0@mail.gmail.com> Today is the 25th anniversary of the "Madrinazo", the day when the people of the seaside and seaport town of Puerto Madryn, Chubut, took the streets to prevent a USAmerican group of "Atlantic South Force" battleships to enter harbor. The action was succesful, the fleet could not moor at Madryn, and this was an important component in the build up of the personality of the town. This was the place where the soldiers of the battles of 1982 had been brought after the battles of that year were, por ahora, lost. For the first time, the madrinazo has received official support. ---------- Mensaje reenviado ---------- De: Jos? Mar?a Cavalleri Fecha: 10 de septiembre de 2009 08:24 Asunto: [R-P] (PSI).- A 25 A?OS DEL ?MADRINAZO? Para: nmgoro at gmail.com Cc: Lucha de masas para recuperar la Argentina < reconquista-popular at lists.econ.utah.edu> CITANDO LA FUENTE,EL MATERIAL DE ESTA LISTA ES DE LIBRE REPRODUCCI?N . PUERTO MADRYN, CHUBUT, 10(PSI).- A 25 A?OS DEL ?MADRINAZO?. Hoy se cumplen 25 a?os de la emblem?tica movilizaci?n popular contra el desembarco de la flota norteamericana en tierra de Madryn, y por primera vez se conmemorar? este hecho hist?rico entendido como una reacci?n de la comunidad, espont?nea y democr?tica, reflejo de la expresi?n de los intereses del pueblo que vale la pena recordar como acto de consolidaci?n de la identidad Madrynense. La comunidad de Puerto Madryn, all? por 1984, se moviliz? en de repudio a la flota norteamericana ?Atlantic South Force? y a las pol?ticas estatales de Desmalvinizaci?n que desconoc?an los sentimientos de la comunidad madrynense. Vale destacar que finalizada la Guerra de Malvinas en el a?o 1982, se produjo el regreso de los soldados al continente, en calidad de prisioneros de guerra, y un gran porcentaje de ellos fueron desembarcados en el Muelle local, este hecho fue vivido por toda la comunidad Madrynense, con profunda emoci?n pese a la negativa de las autoridades de difundir informaci?n y posibilitar que la comunidad reciba abiertamente a sus soldados. La flota norteamericana recibi? la autorizaci?n en septiembre de 1984, por parte del Gobierno Nacional, para amarrar sus buques en el mismo lugar y posibilitar su aprovisionamiento y el desembarco de los marines norteamericanos. Esta decisi?n desconoc?a el sentir de la comunidad Madrynense frente a la Guerra de Malvinas y la posguerra, por lo cual entend?a dicho arribo como un agravio teniendo en cuenta la participaci?n de Estados Unidos en el conflicto. A partir de esta informaci?n la comunidad se organiza a trav?s de una Comisi?n Multisectorial para canalizar por medios institucionales, las inquietudes que generaba dicha situaci?n. El d?a nueve de septiembre, el Honorable Concejo Deliberante de la ciudad de Puerto Madryn, en una sesi?n extraordinaria llevado a cabo un d?a domingo, declarando ?presencia no grata? a dicha flota, reflejando de esta manera el sentir de la comunidad. Pese a ello se produjo igualmente su arribo y se gener? entonces una movilizaci?n popular de repudio con pancartas y carteles el d?a 10 de septiembre hacia el muelle Almirante Storni. La Flota, finalmente ante estos hechos, se alejo de la costa reaprovision?ndose mar adentro. Este hecho qued? registrado en la memoria colectiva como ?Madrynazo?, entendido como una reacci?n popular, espont?nea y democr?tica de la expresi?n de los intereses de la comunidad local.- XXX Yahoo! Cocina Encontra las mejores recetas con Yahoo! Cocina. http://ar.mujer.yahoo.com/cocina/ ________________________________________ SI RECONQUISTA-POPULAR LE RESULTA ?TIL, CONSIDERE LA POSIBILIDAD DE BRINDARLE APOYO FINANCIERO. HAGA UN DEP?SITO EN LA CUENTA 3-72081/5 DEL BANCO FRANC?S, O CONT?CTESE CON recpopad at gmail.com ________________________________________ INFORMACI?N SOBRE LA LISTA Y SUSCRIPCIONES POR V?A INTERNET: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/reconquista-popular. SUSCRIPCI?N POR CORREO ELECTR?NICO: env?e un mensaje escribiendo 'help' en el asunto (no escriba nada en el cuerpo del mensaje) a reconquista-popular-request at lists.econ.utah.edu EL CORREO ELECTR?NICO DE LA PERSONA QUE ADMINISTRA LA LISTA ES: reconquista-popular-admin at lists.econ.utah.edu TODOS LOS MENSAJES DE ESTA LISTA QUEDAN ARCHIVADOS Y PUEDEN CONSULTARSE EN: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/reconquista-popular/ ________________________________________ Lista de correo electr?nico Reconquista-Popular Reconquista-Popular at lists.econ.utah.edu http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/reconquista-popular -- N?stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 5935 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/a1d4e019/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Thu Sep 10 11:27:49 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:27:49 -0700 Subject: [A-List] More Than One Way ... In-Reply-To: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> References: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Message-ID: >An Open Letter to the American Monetary Institute >by Ellen Brown webofdebt.wordpress.com (August 28 2009) > [...] >Ready credit is what makes an economy run smoothly, and its >availability should not be subject to the whims of a political >body. Credit-money is created when creditworthy borrowers take out >loans. Banks merely "monetize" the borrowers' promise to repay. As >The Lost Science of Money makes clear, "money" is not a commodity >but is created by legal agreement. [...] I disagree, that "ready credit" is necessary for an economy to run smoothly. Doesn't this kinda bug you? Reading proposals for even more state-maintained, protected money-lending apparatus? I think lending and borrowing should be taxed and sanctioned, like other rackets. Not encouraged. The first thing we need is a more modern transaction system. A bank is, today, nothing but a ledger, with millions of employees that only add costs and reduce accuracy or reliability. And their ledger is loathsome and crude--it only records the amount! Transaction records should include other information such as the other side of the consideration (what was bought and sold). Companies (like banks) offering transaction execution and storage services to the public should be *required* to offer the service to the parties in transactions, to record more of the information available in transaction records, if they desire. Newer, more modern transaction systems have long been conceived and developed by hundreds of software companies to operate in a decentralized way, sufficiently peer to peer and free of reliance on servers to escape capture by rent-seeking corporations, and achieve other intended objectives. The software and telecoms complex could certainly replace banks with ease, if permitted by law. The other thing we need are systems for search, comparison, negotiation, auction, offer and acceptance. These are the necessary stages before the recording of a transaction in banks, which banks have never helped us achieve at all. Banks are so loathsome and useless!!! It is shocking. All they do is the easist part-- recording the amount, after all the hard work is done. And screw things up, and make everything inefficient by refusing electronic interfaces or integration. We would be better off without their existence, at all. Finally, society in general, needs improvement in its systems of fulfillment stage, AFTER the recording of a transaction. What we do NOT need is people borrowing and lending. That is a dysfunctional and archiac behavior. It is medieval. We don't even need "capital markets", ipos, etc. What we need are systems of search, negotiation, and contract formation that are multiparty, so that we can form workgroups and collaborations of larger scale, across longer distances, which are more congenial, consensual and voluntary and joyful. I think lending and borrowing should be taxed and sanctioned, like other rackets. Not encouraged. These endless discussions of the Fed and the money system are a huge disservice, when they ignore the real scope of the system requirements. Todd -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3734 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/f9f423e2/attachment.txt From noreply at coha.org Thu Sep 10 11:31:04 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:31:04 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Venezuela's Disputed Education Law Message-ID: <20090910173003.EC7433E43C6@mx-out.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 4716 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/784741ce/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Thu Sep 10 13:18:03 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:18:03 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Opel Auto back to Germany Message-ID: Thursday evening, September 10, 209, Quest brought on a video of a German newscaster who had just learned by telephone that GM had allowed Opel to be bought back by a European company. after looking like the reluctant debutant that would make sure Germany would not get it back. No party Germany! Interesting the backdoor way German public found out, interesting what the lady named Heidi, when asked by Richard if she would ever forgive GM how they treated that loved fine small car? She gave two resounding nos elaborating baldly that GM never intended to develope the car, only used the small company for whatever money they could take out of it, and that the auto culture of Detroit existed only to make money, having no real interest in cars at all. She went on to say that "with the knowledge the small company will be returned, a stone is lifted from my heart". Can anyone even imagine a GM executive or a U S newscaster expressing such intimate identity with a company as if a beloved human offshoot ? One can safely guess that 90% of all the German people agree with her. I wonder if the auto culture of Michigan will ever survive the arrogant financial rapacities of GM world wide. suzannedk at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 1382 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/53562f09/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Thu Sep 10 14:05:55 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:05:55 +0200 Subject: [A-List] A-List Digest, Vol 72, Issue 19 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The answer to number three "What is to be done?' about the US banking system is being prepared: the world getting off the dollar, expected to take about ten years. suzannedk at gmail.com On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 4:19 PM, wrote: > Send A-List mailing list submissions to > a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/a-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > a-list-request at lists.econ.utah.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > a-list-owner at lists.econ.utah.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of A-List digest..." > > > The A-List Digest > > Today's Topics: > > 1. More Than One Way ... (Bill Totten) > 2. Killing forced lid off British security-force collusion in > Ireland (james daly) > 3. Re: The American Money Scene (Todd Boyle) > 4. 25 years ago, an Arg city mobilized against an US fleet > (N?stor Gorojovsky) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:09:53 +0900 > From: Bill Totten > Subject: [A-List] More Than One Way ... > To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu > Message-ID: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > ... to Reclaim the Power to Create Money. > > An Open Letter to the American Monetary Institute > > by Ellen Brown > > webofdebt.wordpress.com (August 28 2009) > > > Sirs: This is in response to the entry posted on your American > Monetary Institute blog on August 16 2009, which references my > articles on a state-owned bank solution to the credit crisis. I was > disappointed to read that you thought my proposal was "an insult to > humanity", as the idea was actually drawn from the AMI's book The > Lost Science of Money (2002). I do quite a bit of writing and > speaking, and I always follow your lead in saying the ideal > monetary model is that established in Benjamin Franklin's colony of > Pennsylvania, which not only spent but lent money into the economy, > through its own publicly-owned bank. The Lost Science of Money > calls it "Pennsylvania's Superior Money System". On pages 370-71, > your book quotes Pennsylvania Governor William Keith, who wrote of > the province's founding of a publicly-owned bank: > > "It is inconceivable to think what a prodigious good effect > immediately ensued on all the affairs of that province ... The poor > middling people who had any lands or houses to pledge, borrowed > from the loan office, and paid off their usurious creditors. The > few rich men who had before this [quit] the trade - except that of > usury - were obliged to build ships, and launch out again into > trade." > > It is submitted that our proposals aim for the same thing - > reclaiming the money power for the people themselves. We would just > get there by different routes. My public bank would create credit > on its books, lend it, and charge interest on it. You would have a > public entity create money and lend it to private banks at > interest, which would then lend it to consumers and businesses at > interest. The private banks in your scheme would no doubt tack > their interest costs onto the interest charged to the end > borrowers, since banks are in the business of making a profit, and > that is the only way they could make a profit in your system. My > proposal would just eliminate the profits to the private banker > middlemen. Banking would become a non-profit public service, with > the interest returned to the public purse. > > You maintain that publicly-owned banks are "mainly a distraction > from genuine reform of the system, as encapsulated in the proposed > American Monetary Act". Indeed, much in that Act is excellent; but > it would leave the determination of how much credit is available in > the economy to a central planning board, when the money supply > needs to be flexible, expanding and contracting organically in > response to the needs of trade. The American Monetary Act gives the > final word on the money supply to the Secretary of the Treasury, > under the guidance of an independent monetary board. Today, that > would be Timothy Geithner. Trusting Timothy Geithner to determine > the day to day credit needs of the country would be the equivalent > of trusting the Russian Soviet to accurately determine how many > size nine shoes its population needed. When the pot of available > funds decreed by the Treasurer ran out, creditworthy borrowers > would be turned away, and the economy would falter. > > Ready credit is what makes an economy run smoothly, and its > availability should not be subject to the whims of a political > body. Credit-money is created when creditworthy borrowers take out > loans. Banks merely "monetize" the borrowers' promise to repay. As > The Lost Science of Money makes clear, "money" is not a commodity > but is created by legal agreement. Credit-money is created when the > "full faith and credit" of the community is advanced to the > borrower. The function of the banker is just to oversee the > agreement, acting as the middleman who advances the funds and > collects them back. Publicly-owned banks are the most efficient and > cost-effective way to get ready credit into the economy. They are > not a temporary stopgap measure, any more than the land bank of the > colony of Pennsylvania was. > > You have divided your objections to state-owned banks into two > groups, "moral" and "technical", with separate numbering for each. > I will follow your numbering in addressing these points. > > Moral Objections > > 1. You state that for a public bank to engage in "fractional > reserve" lending - that is, to create credit on its books - is > immoral. That appears to me to be a mischaracterization of the > problem. What is immoral is the private creation of money. Both our > proposals are attempting to overcome that flaw. I am just > suggesting that publicly-owned banks are the most direct and > practical means to that end. Congress is now owned by Wall Street, > as Congressmen themselves are complaining. States, on the other > hand, still have some autonomy. > > 2. You state that banks cannot create credit on their books but can > make loans only against 90 to 95% of their deposits. This is no > longer true. Federal Reserve data establishes that the reserve > requirement is now essentially obsolete. For a detailed discussion, > see Jake Towne, "Yes, Virginia, There Are No Reserve Requirements > (Part 2)", August 12 2009, establishing that "reserve requirements > are effectively not in existence and easily avoided by accounting > tricks in the US banking system". See also Eric deCarbonnel, "US > Banks Operating Without Reserve Requirements" (March 29 2009), > stating, "Although, under current regulations, all depository > institutions are required to maintain reserves against transaction > (checking) deposits, the reality is they don't". Both articles are > supported with Federal Reserve data. > > What limits bank lending today is chiefly the capital requirement, > and states are in a far better position to meet that requirement > than private banks are. Banks must have Tier One capital equal to > four percent of loans and other risk-weighted assets, and they must > have combined Tier One plus Tier Two capital of eight percent of > risk-weighted assets. Tier Two capital includes several things, but > the most interesting here is the appreciated value of unencumbered > real assets. For a private bank, that typically means only the > building that houses it; but a state has buildings, prisons, parks, > et cetera peppered all over the state. It has a HUGE asset base, so > it basically does not have to worry about Tier Two capital at all. > > That just leaves Tier One capital, which is essentially the bank's > own money. For a private bank, that generally means the capital > contributed by shareholders and the interest earned on loans. > Again, a state has a huge amount of money of its own. A friendly > regulator could count the state's whole revenue base as Tier One > capital. But let's say that the state wants to dot all the i's and > cross all the t's by actually setting aside enough Tier One capital > to please the regulators. At four percent, $1 billion would be > enough to create $25 billion in credit - virtually enough to meet > California's $26 billion budget deficit in one fell swoop. You say > that this would just be a loan, which has to be paid back; but that > is not necessarily the case. The state owns the bank, so it can > roll the loan over as long as needed; and the interest returns to > its own coffers, so the loan is essentially interest-free. The > federal government has been rolling over its debt since the days of > Andrew Jackson. For a state to create interest-free money on its > books and roll the loans over indefinitely produces the same result > you wish to achieve - an interest-free government-issued money > supply. In both our schemes, the government gets the money > interest-free, while private borrowers get it with an interest > charge attached. > > You say that only the federal government, not the states, can > create money under the Constitution; but this is not true. The > Constitution forbids states only to issue "bills of credit", which > has been interpreted to mean paper money. US Supreme Court case law > holds that a state can own a bank, and that the banknotes issued by > the bank are not the sorts of "bills of credit" forbidden to the > states by the Constitution. Banks no longer issue banknotes, but > the principle still holds: bank-created money is not forbidden to > governments any more than to private banks. We know that private > banks create money. In fact, they create virtually all of our > money. The ownership of the bank will not affect the bank's ability > to create credit on its books. Rather, it will just achieve our > mutually desired end of transferring the power to create money from > private to public control. > > 3. "The problem is being misidentified as interest", you maintain, > "when the problem is debt". You argue that all money could be > created interest-free by the government, just as coins are today; > and that this would save the taxpayers money. I totally agree with > that: Congress should issue money outright. That was the model > followed in the colony of Pennsylvania, which we agree was the > ideal model. Congress should create not just coins but paper dollar > bills and accounting entry money. But that is a completely > different issue from consumer credit or debt. You are not proposing > to eliminate banks that charge interest to borrowers; you would > just tack an extra interest charge on by making banks borrow from > the government as the ultimate creator of credit. Under my proposed > system, as in yours, the government would be the ultimate issuer of > credit; but with a bank that was state-owned, the extra interest > drawn off by private banker middlemen would be eliminated. > > Technical Objections > > 1. You state that "no bank's an island ... If the other banks > aren't lending, a State-run bank wouldn't be able to lend either". > Today, the other banks are not lending because they are not able to > meet the capital requirement for additional loans; and this is > because the "shadow lenders" have disappeared - the investors who > were taking loans off their books, making room for more loans. A > state-owned bank would have huge capital and deposit bases and a > clean set of books, and therefore would have a huge capacity for > lending as and where needed. It would not be dependent on other > banks to meet its reserve requirement, which as noted above is now > essentially obsolete. > > 2. You caution about following the model of the Bank of North > Dakota, which you warn is playing with fire because it is not FDIC > insured and could be subject to a bank run. In fact, the FDIC is > now broke - literally. Its own funds offer little if any > protection. In a few months it will have to start borrowing from > the government. If the banks were owned by the government in the > first place, this problem would have been obviated. > > 3. You say that a state bank would take deposits away from other > banks, reducing the lending ability of those banks. However, the > overall credit capacity of the system would not be reduced; the > business would just move to the state-owned bank, as well it should > if the latter can provide superior service at cheaper rates. The > State of California has $17.6 billion in demand deposits and NOW > deposits, which could be moved at will; and most of the banks it > has them at actually turned down California's request to honor its > IOUs. Some of those banks got taxpayer bailout money specifically > to keep credit flowing to the states and consumers, an obligation > they have clearly failed to fulfill. California owes them nothing > and has every right to remove its deposits from those banks into > its own. That is free-market capitalism. More than that, it is a > matter of survival. Why should we be feeding parasitic out-of-state > banks that aren't helping us in return? The Bank of North Dakota > was set up in exactly those circumstances: the farmers were losing > their farms to the Wall Street bankers, so they set up their own > credit system to escape the Wall Street maelstrom - and it worked, > brilliantly well. > > 4. You state that the meager benefits of forming a state-owned bank > would not be worth the costs. However, you are looking at a very > limited range of benefits. Let's consider again California. With > its enormous capital base, California could generate enormous > amounts of credit, which could be used to refinance its existing > debt; and since the state would own the bank, it would pocket the > interest. California pays $5 billion yearly in interest alone - as > much as some states' whole budgets. Just that savings would make a > state-owned bank worth the trouble; but a state-owned bank could > serve more purposes than that. It could eliminate the cost of > borrowing for income-generating projects such as infrastructure, > low-cost housing, and alternative energy development. On average, > interest has been calculated to compose fifty percent of the cost > of every project. Moreover, the state wouldn't have to scramble > around looking for a loan when it needed one, knuckling under to > inflated interest rates. On the question of costs, today a bank can > be set up on the Internet, without even the cost of a physical > building. > > 5. You suggest that negotiating better terms with existing banks > would be more cost-effective than setting up a new bank. Again, you > are overestimating the costs and underestimating the potential > benefits of a state-owned bank. > > 6. You write, "We citizens have only so much energy and time to > devote to changing our world for the better. Diverting good people > into nonsense condemns us to continue suffering unnecessarily. This > time of crisis must be used for real reform, not diversions." I > agree with that. The economy is in an emergency state. We cannot > afford to wait for a Congress that has been captured by the same > private money-creating monopoly from which we are trying to free > ourselves. > > Your plan represents a far more radical diversion from the status > quo than mine and is therefore a harder sell to make to basically > clueless politicians. A state-owned bank has already been operating > very successfully for ninety years in one pioneer state, and > following that model would require doing nothing different from > what banks do now. How can regulators object, when we'll be > satisfying all their requirements? In fact, the shift will seem so > minor that its significance is liable to be missed. Even committed > monetary reformers like yourselves have apparently missed its > implications and potential. Through state-owned banks that create > money on their books, we can achieve what Benjamin Franklin, Thomas > Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and William Jennings Bryan all aimed to > achieve: a publicly-created money supply issued by the people for > the people. > > > > http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/more-than-one-way-to-reclaim-the-power-to-create-money-an-open-letter-to-the-american-monetary-institute/ > > > http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com > http://www.ashisuto.co.jp > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:52:12 +0100 > From: "james daly" > Subject: [A-List] Killing forced lid off British security-force > collusion in Ireland > To: > Message-ID: <64F22C56AD8147B4B43ACDFCF6ED682A at home9sg93n9r5y> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > > Killing forced lid off security-force conduct > > By Barry McCaffrey > 03/09/09 > IRISH NEWS (Belfast "moderate" nationalist newspaper) > TO the outside world he was just another innocent statistic of the > Troubles ? the 3,051st person murdered in the conflict. > > But the killing of Loughlin Maginn was to spark a chain reaction of events > that would finally lift the lid on security force collusion with loyalists > in the murder of dozens of nationalists. Within hours of the father-of-four > being shot dead the UFF attempted to justify the killing claiming he had > been a provisional IRA intelligence officer. > > The claim was rejected by the RUC, who insisted that Mr Maginn was an > innocent victim of a sectarian killing. Desperate to defend the murder, the > UFF posted intelligence files of republican suspects, which it had received > from members of the RUC and British army, on walls in loyalist areas of > west > Belfast. > > One of those pictured in the montages was Loughlin Maginn. While there had > been previous allegations of security force collusion, this was the first > definite evidence that British army and RUC files had been passed to > loyalists. > > Within weeks of the murder two UDR soldiers appeared in court charged with > the killing. > > Security minister John Cope denied that it was operating a policy of > > cooperation between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. > > "Our policy is to stamp out any collusion and that is why we are > investigating all the allegations very thoroughly,?? he said. > > Soon after the soldiers appeared in court the then British prime minister > Margaret Thatcher defended the UDR as ?a very, very, very brave group of > men? > during a specially arranged visit to Northern Ireland. > > At the time 16 members of the regiment were serving life for murder. Within > days the British army was forced to admit that another soldier convicted of > possession of intelligence files passed to the UVF had rejoined his > regiment. > > Corporal Cameron Hastie was allowed to continue as an army instructor > despite being given an 18-month suspended sentence for stealing the > documents, which the court was told had later been passed on to the UVF by > a > female UDR soldier. > > With growing nationalist and Irish government calls for the UDR to be > disbanded, the British government announced in September 1989 that deputy > chief constable of Cambridgeshire John Stevens (now Lord Stevens) was being > called into investigate the theft of security force files from Ballykinlar > UDR base and Dunmurry RUC station. Stevens Inquiry detectives were > initially > told their investigation would last just three weeks but as evidence > emerged > that hundreds of security force files had been passed to loyalists, the > investigation snowballed. It would last 20 years and become the longest > running police investigation in British history. Within weeks of his > arrival > Lord Stevens had arrested 28 UDR soldiers for involvement in collusion. > Detectives uncovered evidence that the British army?s Force Research Unit > (Fru) had used its agent Brian Nelson to provide the UDA and UVF with > intelligence files on nationalists. > > In January, mysteriously, Lord Stevens?s offices inside Carrickfergus RUC > station went on fire just as he was preparing to arrest Nelson and other > senior UDA figures. A former member of Fru, Martin Ingram, would later > claim > that his unit had set fire to the offices. Lord Stevens would ultimately > recover 2,600 security force documents which had been passed to loyalists. > > In May 1990 Stevens published his first report, confirming that some > security force members had "gravely abused their position of trust" by > passing on information to loyalists. > > However, he said there was no evidence of any orchestrated plan of > collusion. Nationalists branded the report a whitewash, while unionists > dubbed it a "cynical political exercise". > > Eventually 59 people would be charged by Stevens ? all bar one of those > charged were either members of the UDR or UDA. In January 1992 Brian Nelson > pleaded guilty to five charges of conspiracy to murder and 14 charges of > possessing information useful to terrorists. He was sentenced to 10 years? > imprisonment but only served five. His decision to plead guilty meant that > Nelson?s key role as a conduit between the British army and loyalist > paramilitaries was never fully exposed. Lord Stevens was to return for a > second time to Northern Ireland in April 1993 after a BBC Panorama > programme, The Dirty War, revealed that Nelson had warned his army handlers > in late 1988 that Pat Finucane was being targeted by the UDA. It further > revealed that far from being a lone ?bad apple? Nelson had been assisted by > his handlers in collating intelligence and had been provided with the > personal details and photographs of intended targets for the UDA. Although > Stevens II lasted nearly three years little is known about what new > evidence, if any, was uncovered. It is known that four reports went to > the > DPP, but failed to result in prosecutions. Nationalists branded the report > another whitewash. Lord Stevens was forced to return to Northern Ireland > for > a third time in May 1999 after allegations of security force collusion in > the murder of Pat Finucane refused to go away. It would later emerge that > four security force agents, Brian Nelson, Billy Stobie, Tommy Lyttle and > Ken > Barrett had all been linked to the murder. In April 2003 it was announced > that Brian Nelson had died in Canada. Six days later Stevens published a > summary of its third and final inquiry. Summing up his 15-year > investigation > into security force collusion in the murder of nationalists, Britain?s most > senior police officer said: "My three inquiries have found all these > elements of collusion to be present. "The coordination, dissemination and > sharing of intelligence were poor. "Informants and agents were allowed to > operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes. > "Nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or > protected. Crucial information was withheld from Senior Investigating > Officers. Important evidence was neither exploited nor preserved." > > Lord Stevens announced that he had forwarded 25 files to the Public > Prosecution Service recommending charges against security force members. In > June 2007 the PPS announced that no serving or retired member of the > security forces would face charges arising out of the three Stevens > inquiries. After 20 years and costing more than ?20 million, Britain?s > longest ever police investigation has failed to secure the prosecution of a > single RUC officer or regular soldier for collusion. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:27:21 -0700 > From: Todd Boyle > Subject: Re: [A-List] The American Money Scene > To: The A-List > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > It is nice to be reminded of the AMI proposal > from time to time.[below] Personally I reject > it. First of all, money creation is already > largely controlled by the president and congress > through control over the Fed. Putting it in-house > would not change the will and intention of the > President or congress respecting money creation > itself. The Money creation is anyways not > limited to the fed or domestic banks today, and > cannot be controlled by Treasury. The amount of > money created outside the US is regulated by the > BIS, little more than a power broker among > unregulated bank and nonbank entities who can > create money, and agree to accept each others' > paper, and maintain exactly the same sort of > bubble as the U.S. itself has maintained-- in > fact that is what they HAVE been doing-- the > international banksters are a siamese twin to the > domestic dollar apparatus Zarlenga is so focused > on. Example: you are a resource rich > nation. China issues you a check in dollars, on > the Bank of China. Automatically you accept it > on the power of their reserves. It can be > cleared by presentment at the Bank of > China. Hah! China now has those dollars again > on deposit. China at this point can issue more > loans than it has in reserves. So can the > global 100 corporations, as agents of their > 'bank' or nonbank financial houses. Any entity > large enough to have credit can spend money in > excess of its rightful balances, and all conspire > to maintain inflationary growth. > > Another problem is the velocity of > transactions. Who can curb velocity, when prices > start rising in a sector and activity gets > overheated? A result can be price increases, on > velocity, rather than the money base. It can be > followed by deflationary paralysis when velocity > slows, after the wealthy and powerful capture too > much of the money (as they always do). Zarlenga > and company are barking up the wrong tree. They > have the wrong definition of the problem, and > scope of the problem. The problem is the global > oligopoly industries or rackets, that have among > them, captured the economic surplus of humanity > so completely, the only remaining question is > which of them will extract what > percentages. These industries are the banking > and financial industry, the oil and gas industry, > the telecoms,chips and software > industry. Barking at the gates are emerging > global media conglomerates, aerospace and weapons > industries, agribusiness, pharma, etc. but they > will never succeed in a general, permanent way. > > Like all true believers, I happen to have my own > panacea, one-shot solution: more steeply > progressive income taxes. Forget about curbing > these oil, banking, and telecoms pigs. They have > absolutely overwhelming advantages in their > domains. What we need to do is regain control > over the government and use it to tax the winners > down to size. And this is not an impossible > task.. It's all about raising public awareness, > by changing the content in the institutions of > mass culture (the media, the pulpits and in > education) which have largely been influenced by > the tiny 1% plutocracy-- ironically, the mass > population could easily regain control of its > institutions of mass culture -- we have always > had the natural advantage there, but we are the > 800 pound marlin captured by 8 pound fishing > line, because of our own stupidity, > > Since Zarlenga and company don't like my idea > (taxing up to 80,90, or 100% of incomes of > individuals when they hit $1 million, $10 > million, $50 million) naturally I cannot > determine whether they are even on my team. I > tend to think Zarlenga and company are intent on > a more rational and robust empire, perpetuating > the domination hierarchic thinking rather than > decentralization or sustainability. Zarlenga > perhaps, is intent on reducing income inequality > among lower brackets. But every policy measure > he proposes, protects both the privacy, the > existing money balances, and the power and > nonmonetary wealth of the extreme > wealthy. That's my gut feeling. He ends up > protecting the old wealth and slowing the > emergence of a nouveau riche. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_riche , > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_money > > Todd > > > Jamie Walton, AMI researcher wrote: > > >Bulletin Five of the American Monetary Institute > >http://www.monetary.org (August 16 2009) > >[....] > > > >So what is the solution? > > > >It's the monetary system which must be changed to end the fiscal crisis, > >and State governments cannot do this - it's a matter for the Federal > >Government. > > > >Under present constitutional and legal conventions, the only institutions > >that can create money without debt are national treasuries and/or central > >banks. State governments within a federal nation cannot do this - the > >problem can only be solved at the national level. > > > >Proposals promoting anything else would require a constitutional > >amendment, which is not necessary. > > > >There are some additional specious arguments being made within these > >promotions claiming that the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause > >5) does not authorize the US Congress to issue non-coin money, so implying > >that it authorizes the States (or the people) to issue non-coin money. > >{8} It most certainly does not. As Robert G. Natelson, in the Harvard > >Journal of Law and Public Policy, exhaustively and authoritatively > >determined, the term "coin" (with a lower-case "c") means to create money > >in any form, whereas the term "Coin" (with an upper-case "C") means coins. > >{9} > > > >There's also a lot of misinterpretations in these same arguments regarding > >the term "Bills of Credit" in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 10, > >Clause 1) and "bills of credit" in other contexts, and the terms "Tender" > >and "Coin" (again). These misinterpretations lead to some ridiculous > >assertions like stating that: "The States violate the [US] Constitution > >every day ? to pay their debts ? since gold and silver coins are no longer > >r > >in general circulation". {10} > > > >All of these spurious 'ideas' only serve as distractions during a time of > >crisis. > > > >We have a big problem in our economy and society today: too much debt. > >Banking cannot solve this problem because banking produces debt, which is > >the problem. It's incredible that even now the delusion of borrowing > >ourselves out of debt is still seen as a solution, by anyone, let alone > >so-called reformers. We're in a deep hole because we listened to > >cheerleaders yelling "keep on digging" without thinking. We cannot afford > >to keep doing this any more. > > > >Proposing to get governments involved in banking is the complete opposite > >of a solution, because it keeps the problem in place. > > > >As American Monetary Institute Chapter Leader, Dick Distelhorst, says: > > > >"We don't want to put the government into the banking business - we want > >to get the banks out of the money creation business!" - Dick Distelhorst > > > >The correct solution to the crisis was presented in Stephen Zarlenga's > >speech at the US Treasury in December 2003, titled "Solution to the > >States' fiscal crisis" (read it at www.monetary.org). That solution has > >become the proposed American Monetary Act. In California, Governor > >Schwarzenegger has had a copy of The Lost Science of Money (the historical > >research which led to the solution) on his bookshelves since the spring of > >2004. > > > >Experience has taught us what we need to do: > > > >1. Put the Federal Reserve System into the US Treasury. > > > >2. Stop the banking system creating any part of the money supply. > > > >3. Create new money as needed by spending it on public infrastructure, > >including human infrastructure, for example education and health care. > > > >These 3 elements must all be done together, and are all in draft > >legislative form as the proposed American Monetary Act (read it here: > >http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf). > > > >The correct action is for Congress to fulfil its constitutional > >responsibilities to furnish the nation with its money by making the > >American Monetary Act law. > > > >The correct action for the States is to insist on this Federal action! > > > >Genuine monetary reform is the solution to the nation's fiscal problems, > >and that can only be achieved at the national level. > > > >_____ > > > >The American Monetary Institute is sponsoring the fifth annual Monetary > >Reform Conference at Roosevelt University in Chicago, September 24 to 27 > >2009, to bring together the best minds to get done what has to be done. > > > >Jamie R Walton > > > > > >Notes: > > > >1. "The Public Option in Banking: How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own > >Game", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, JD. Web of Debt (website), August 05 2009. > > > >2 & 4. "How the Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall > >Street", Harkinson, Josh. Mother Jones, March 27 2009. > > > >3. "NSW Savings Bank Board Official Announcement: Protection To > >Depositors", The Age, April 23 1931. > > > >5. Bank of North Dakota 2008 Annual Report: Independent Auditor's Report, > >page 4. > > > >6. State of North Dakota: 2009 to 2011 Executive Budget Summary, page 3. > > > >7. "New Fiscal Year Brings No Relief From Unprecedented State Budget > >Problems", Lav, Iris J and McNichol, Elizabeth. Center on Budget and > >Policy Priorities (website), updated August 12 2009. > > > >8 &10. "Another Way Around the Credit Crisis: Minnesota Bill would > >authorize State Banks to "monetize" productivity", Hodgson Brown, Ellen, > >JD. Web of Debt (website), March 23 2008. > > > >9. "Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause", > >Natelson, Robert G. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, July 01 > 2008. > > > >_____ > > > >(c) 2009 The American Monetary Institute > >Dedicated to the independent study of monetary history, theory, and reform > >Stephen Zarlenga, Director > >Post Office Box 601, Valatie, New York 12184 > >http://www.monetary.org > >ami at taconic.net > > > >http://www.monetary.org/moneyscenefive.html > > > > > >http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com > >http://www.ashisuto.co.jp > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: text/html > Size: 11404 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090909/58d3fbe2/attachment.txt > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:14:35 -0300 > From: N?stor Gorojovsky > Subject: [A-List] 25 years ago, an Arg city mobilized against an US > fleet > To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition > , The A-List < > a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu> > Message-ID: > <2fa158550909100714w5cf6a15amc372494085489aa0 at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Today is the 25th anniversary of the "Madrinazo", the day when the people > of > the seaside and seaport town of Puerto Madryn, Chubut, took the streets to > prevent a USAmerican group of "Atlantic South Force" battleships to enter > harbor. The action was succesful, the fleet could not moor at Madryn, and > this was an important component in the build up of the personality of the > town. This was the place where the soldiers of the battles of 1982 had been > brought after the battles of that year were, por ahora, lost. > > For the first time, the madrinazo has received official support. > > ---------- Mensaje reenviado ---------- > De: Jos? Mar?a Cavalleri > Fecha: 10 de septiembre de 2009 08:24 > Asunto: [R-P] (PSI).- A 25 A?OS DEL ?MADRINAZO? > Para: nmgoro at gmail.com > Cc: Lucha de masas para recuperar la Argentina < > reconquista-popular at lists.econ.utah.edu> > > > CITANDO LA FUENTE,EL MATERIAL DE ESTA LISTA ES DE LIBRE REPRODUCCI?N > > > . PUERTO MADRYN, CHUBUT, 10(PSI).- A 25 A?OS DEL ?MADRINAZO?. Hoy se > cumplen 25 a?os de la emblem?tica movilizaci?n popular contra el desembarco > de la flota norteamericana en tierra de Madryn, y por primera vez se > conmemorar? este hecho hist?rico entendido como una reacci?n de la > comunidad, espont?nea y democr?tica, reflejo de la expresi?n de los > intereses del pueblo que vale la pena recordar como acto de consolidaci?n > de > la identidad Madrynense. > La comunidad de Puerto Madryn, all? por 1984, se moviliz? en de > repudio a la flota norteamericana ?Atlantic South Force? y a las pol?ticas > estatales de Desmalvinizaci?n que desconoc?an los sentimientos de la > comunidad madrynense. > Vale destacar que finalizada la Guerra de Malvinas en el a?o 1982, > se produjo el regreso de los soldados al continente, en calidad de > prisioneros de guerra, y un gran porcentaje de ellos fueron desembarcados > en > el Muelle local, este hecho fue vivido por toda la comunidad Madrynense, > con > profunda emoci?n pese a la negativa de las autoridades de difundir > informaci?n y posibilitar que la comunidad reciba abiertamente a sus > soldados. > La flota norteamericana recibi? la autorizaci?n en septiembre de > 1984, por parte del Gobierno Nacional, para amarrar sus buques en el mismo > lugar y posibilitar su aprovisionamiento y el desembarco de los marines > norteamericanos. Esta decisi?n desconoc?a el sentir de la comunidad > Madrynense frente a la Guerra de Malvinas y la posguerra, por lo cual > entend?a dicho arribo como un agravio teniendo en cuenta la participaci?n > de > Estados Unidos en el conflicto. > A partir de esta informaci?n la comunidad se organiza a trav?s de > una Comisi?n Multisectorial para canalizar por medios institucionales, las > inquietudes que generaba dicha situaci?n. El d?a nueve de septiembre, el > Honorable Concejo Deliberante de la ciudad de Puerto Madryn, en una sesi?n > extraordinaria llevado a cabo un d?a domingo, declarando ?presencia no > grata? a dicha flota, reflejando de esta manera el sentir de la comunidad. > Pese a ello se produjo igualmente su arribo y se gener? entonces > una movilizaci?n popular de repudio con pancartas y carteles el d?a 10 de > septiembre hacia el muelle Almirante Storni. La Flota, finalmente ante > estos > hechos, se alejo de la costa reaprovision?ndose mar adentro. Este hecho > qued? registrado en la memoria colectiva como ?Madrynazo?, entendido como > una reacci?n popular, espont?nea y democr?tica de la expresi?n de los > intereses de la comunidad local.- XXX > > > > Yahoo! Cocina > > Encontra las mejores recetas con Yahoo! Cocina. > > > http://ar.mujer.yahoo.com/cocina/ > > ________________________________________ > > SI RECONQUISTA-POPULAR LE RESULTA ?TIL, CONSIDERE LA POSIBILIDAD DE > BRINDARLE APOYO FINANCIERO. HAGA UN DEP?SITO EN LA CUENTA 3-72081/5 DEL > BANCO FRANC?S, O CONT?CTESE CON recpopad at gmail.com > > ________________________________________ > INFORMACI?N SOBRE LA LISTA Y SUSCRIPCIONES POR V?A INTERNET: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/reconquista-popular. > > SUSCRIPCI?N POR CORREO ELECTR?NICO: > env?e un mensaje escribiendo 'help' > en el asunto (no escriba nada en el cuerpo del mensaje) a > reconquista-popular-request at lists.econ.utah.edu > > EL CORREO ELECTR?NICO DE LA PERSONA QUE ADMINISTRA LA LISTA ES: > > reconquista-popular-admin at lists.econ.utah.edu > > TODOS LOS MENSAJES DE ESTA LISTA QUEDAN ARCHIVADOS Y PUEDEN CONSULTARSE EN: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/reconquista-popular/ > ________________________________________ > > Lista de correo electr?nico Reconquista-Popular > Reconquista-Popular at lists.econ.utah.edu > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/reconquista-popular > > > > -- > > N?stor Gorojovsky > El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: text/html > Size: 5935 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/a1d4e019/attachment.txt > > End of A-List Digest, Vol 72, Issue 19 > ************************************** > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 46610 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090910/c84dab7c/attachment.txt From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Fri Sep 11 00:36:58 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:36:58 +0900 Subject: [A-List] Economic 9-11 Message-ID: <20090911153658.43f787c8.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Did Lehman Brothers Fall or Was It Pushed? by Ellen Brown webofdebt.com (September 07 2009) A year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15 2008, questions still swirl around its collapse. Lawrence MacDonald, whose book A Colossal Failure of Common Sense came out in July 2009, maintains that the bank was not in substantially worse shape than other major Wall Street banks. He says Lehman was just "put to sleep. They put the pillow over the face of Lehman Brothers and they put her to sleep." The question is, why? The Lehman bankruptcy is widely considered to be the watershed event that changed the rules of the game for those Wall Street banks considered "too big to fail". The bankruptcy option was ruled out once and for all. The taxpayers would have to keep throwing money at the banks, no matter how corrupt, ill-managed or undeserving. As Dean Baker noted in April 2009: "Geithner has supposedly ruled out the bankruptcy option because when he, along with Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, tried letting Lehman Brothers go under last fall, it didn't turn out very well. Of course, it is not necessary to go the route of an uncontrolled bankruptcy that Geithner and Company pursued with Lehman ... [But] the Geithner crew insists that there are no alternatives to his plan; we have to just keep giving hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks ... further enriching the bankers who wrecked the economy." Although Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, September 15 2008, it was actually "bombed" on September 11, when the biggest one-day drop in its stock and highest trading volume occurred before bankruptcy. Lehman CEO Richard Fuld maintained that the 158 year old bank was brought down by unsubstantiated rumors and illegal naked short selling. Although short selling (selling shares you don't own) is legal, the short seller is required to have shares lined up to borrow and replace to cover the sale. Failure to buy the shares back in the next three trading days is called a "fail to deliver". Christopher Cox, who was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008, said in a July 2009 article that naked short selling "can allow manipulators to force prices down far lower than would be possible in legitimate short-selling conditions". By September 11 2008, according to the SEC, as many as 32.8 million Lehman shares had been sold and not delivered - a 57-fold increase over the peak of the prior year. For a very large company like Lehman, with plenty of "float" (available shares for trading), this unprecedented number was highly suspicious and warranted serious investigation. But the SEC, which was criticized for failing to follow up even on tips that Bernie Madoff's business was a ponzi scheme, has yet to announce the results of any investigation. More Questions Other questions about the Lehman collapse are raised in David Wessel's July 2009 book In Fed We Trust. Why was Bear Stearns saved from bankruptcy but Lehman Brothers was not? How could the decision makers not realize the dire consequences of letting Lehman go down? One possible explanation is that they actually thought the bank would be bought out at the last minute, just as Bear Stearns was. In both cases, the parties worked feverishly over the weekend after the stock's collapse to try to negotiate a deal. For Bear Stearns, the negotiations succeeded, with the help of the New York Federal Reserve, which provided the loan used by JPMorgan Chase to complete the deal. With Lehman, however, the interested buyer was British, and the help that was needed was from the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling. The weekend after the September 11 stock collapse, intense negotiations were pursued with Barclays Bank, which was prepared to underwrite Lehman's debts; but it needed a waiver from British regulators of a rule requiring shareholder approval. Negotiations continued until the market was getting ready to open in Japan on Sunday, but UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling would not give the necessary waiver. He said something to the effect that he did not want to infect Britain with America's cancer. The sentiment was understandable, but the question was, why did he wait until it was too late for the Treasury or the Federal Reserve to move in with other arrangements? The issue takes on more significance in light of the fact that Chancellor Darling played a similar role in another 9-11 collapse the previous year. On September 11 2007, frantic customers were lining up outside Northern Rock, the UK's fifth largest mortgage lender, in the first British bank run in 141 years. The bank's shares plunged 31% in a single day. Like the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US, the bankruptcy of Northern Rock changed the rules of the game. Britain's major banks too would now be saved at any cost, in order to avoid the loss of customer confidence, panic and bank runs that could precipitate a 1929-style market crash. With Northern Rock, as with Lehman Brothers, Alistair Darling could have saved the day but backed down. Northern Rock had a willing buyer, Lloyds TSB; but the buyer needed a loan from the Bank of England, which the Bank's Governor, Mervyn King, had denied. Darling was advised by his staff to overrule the Governor and grant the loan, but this would have cost political capital for UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had been widely lauded for giving the Bank of England its independence in 1997. Brown is criticized domestically for precipitating the financial crisis with errors made as Chancellor of the Exchequer before he became Prime Minister. Critics maintain the British Treasury has abdicated its responsibility as the financial overseer of the British economy to the Bank of England, which in many ways controls the government, because its advice is always followed regarding the British budget. The whole scenario suggests that the much-vaunted virtues of an independent central bank are overblown. Some economists, including Milton Friedman and Ben Bernanke, blame poor policymaking by an independent Federal Reserve for bringing on the Great Depression of the 1930s. Shock Therapy? According to Representative Paul Kanjorski, speaking on C-SPAN in January 2009, the collapse of Lehman Brothers precipitated a $550 billion run on the money market funds on Thursday, September 18. This was the dire news that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson presented to Congress behind closed doors, prompting Congressional approval of Paulson's $700 billion bank bailout despite deep misgivings. It was the sort of "shock therapy" discussed by Naomi Klein in her book The Shock Doctrine (2007), in which a major crisis prompts hasty emergency action involving the relinquishment of rights or funds that would otherwise be difficult to pry loose from the citizenry. Like the "bombing" of Lehman stock on September 11, the $550 billion money market run was suspicious. The stock market had plunged when Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, but it actually went up on September 16. Why did the money market wait until September 18 to collapse? A report by the Joint Economic Committee pointed to the fact that the $62 billion Reserve Primary Fund had "broken the buck" (fallen below a stable $1 per share) due to its Lehman investments; but that had occurred on September 15, and the fund had suspended redemptions for the following week. What dire reversal happened on September 17? According to the SEC, it was another record day for illegal naked short selling. Failed trades climbed to 49.7 million - 23% of Lehman trades. The Larger Question Is Why? All of this suggests that Lehman Brothers did not just fall over the brink but was pushed. Judge James Peck, who presided in the bankruptcy proceedings, said "Lehman Brothers became a victim, in effect the only true icon to fall in a tsunami that has befallen the credit markets". If Lehman was indeed sacrificed, who pushed it and to what end? Some critics point to Henry Paulson and his cronies at Goldman Sachs, Lehman's arch rival. Goldman certainly came out on top after Lehman's demise, but there are other possibilities as well, involving more global players. The month after Lehman collapsed, Gordon Brown and the EU leaders called for using the financial crisis as an opportunity to radically enhance the regulatory power of global institutions. Brown spoke of "a new global financial order", echoing the "new world order" referred to by globalist banker David Rockefeller when he said in 1994: "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the new world order." Richard Haas, President of the US Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in 2006: "Globalisation ... implies that sovereignty is not only becoming weaker in reality, but that it needs to become weaker". Sovereignty is one of these cherished rights that nations will give up only with "the right major crisis". Gordon Brown put it like this: "Sometimes it takes a crisis for people to agree that what is obvious and should have been done years ago, can no longer be postponed ... We must create a new international financial architecture for the global age". In April 2009, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling hosted the G20 summit in London, which focused on the financial crisis. A global currency issue was approved, and an international Financial Stability Board was agreed to as global regulator, to be based in the controversial Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. The international bankers who caused the financial crisis are indeed capitalizing on it, consolidating their power in "a new global financial order" that gives them top-down global control. Just some food for thought as September 11 rolls around again. _____ Ellen Brown is an attorney and the author of eleven books, including Web of Debt (2007), Forbidden Medicine (1998), and The Key to Ultimate Health (2000). Her websites are www.ellenbrown.com and www.webofdebt.com . (c) Copyright 2007 Ellen Brown. All Rights Reserved. http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/economic9-11.php http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Fri Sep 11 04:03:49 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:03:49 +0100 Subject: [A-List] LINKS: Interview with Honduras resistance leader Message-ID: <5284F24BA4424A3D99BA63D088F5099C@home9sg93n9r5y> LINKS: Interview with Honduras resistance leader: ` Posted by: "glparramatta" glparramatta at greenleft.org.au glparramatta Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:41 am (PDT) http://links.org.au/node/1236 Interview with Honduras resistance leader: `The US is sustaining the coup' International solidarity can boost the Honduran people's morale. During an August 17-19, 2009, international seminar on the economic crisis hosted by the Party of Liberty and Socialism in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Green Left Weekly/Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal journalists Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes, together with journalists from Marea Socialista (Venezuela) and Alternativa Socialista (Argentina), were able to interview Gilberto Rios from the international relations commission of the National Popular Resistance Front against the Coup about the growing resistance movement against the US backed coup which ousted the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28. How is the Honduran oligarchy managing to sustain itself in the face of the growing mass movement against the coup which has developed in Honduras? In our opinion the oligarchy does not have the capacity to orchestrate a media campaign as well as is happening now throughout the country. Although only three families control 98% of the media, the harmony that exists between the media campaign, government policy, the mobilisation of the police, and the army's presence, and are more a result of CIA planning. It is confirmed that there is a CIA group working in Tegucigalpa directing all the actions of the coup. Two months of resistance have put the kibosh on the economy. All small and medium enterprises are broken. Other sectors are also part of the resistance. So, there is [little] political and popular support for the coup. It is really the support of the US -- in terms logistics and control of the coup -- and the oligarchy in Latin America, especially Venezuela and El Salvador, which has strong interests in Honduras, that has sustained the coup. So it's a coup made in the USA. But what prospects does the resistance have? What do you think will happen in Honduras in the next period? Well, the coup is politically untenable because the international community still does not recognise the de facto government. And elections are approaching in November, important for it to legitimise the process and return to normality. But the people do not want to participate in an electoral process that is supervised by the coup government. It will not be a democratic process nor is the international community going to endorse it. The continuation of the struggle is going to go beyond November, unless the President Manuel Zelaya is returned. But the president also has proposed that for each day he misses in office he will have to be given an extra day, and that puts more pressure on the right wing. And what???s happening is a continuation of the struggle in which more sectors are being organised against the coup, and with ever greater political awareness of who staged the coup: In domestic terms it is the oligarchy, and those who must be isolated from political power in the country are members of the oligarchy. What is the situation within the armed forces? Honduras??? armed forces are a very small. There are only 15,000 soldiers but it is not just the armed forces who are operating in the framework of the coup, the police are also involved, which is another 14,000 officers. There is also a rearguard to both these, which is the private police force which account for more than 17,000 in the country, larger than both the police and the army. There are officials, above all in the police force, who are not in agreement with the coup but who are maintaining discipline from the higher commands, but there is also a strong resentment because the high command were subordinated to the CIA and the oligarchy in order to carry out the coup. So it is possible that the armed forces may fracture, and also the police, in the case that tension increased in the streets and above all if the CIA reduced its support to the oligarchy. Since the coup the social movements appear to be more visible and it gives the impression that there is a rising level of struggle. The coup served to spark the fire? There was a very interesting popular movement in Honduras; it was the most developed of the region. In Central America there is nothing like the National Resistance Coordinator, which is the body of popular movements in which all are involved: the Indigenous movement, the labour movement, the peasant movement, feminists, the gay-lesbian and transexual movement ... this existed before the coup. But after the coup important sections of the Liberal Party, which is the traditional party from which President Zelaya comes, also became involved. Also honest sectors of the population and democratic and progressive political parties who are also against the coup. So, yes there is a revival of struggle, but we must take into account that those who have supported the struggle most, with three national civil strikes, is the National Resistance Coordinator, which involves the majority of the workers and the minorities who are excluded by the capitalist system . So there existed a previously articulated self-organisation of the social movements. But it has consolidated in the face of the coup? That's right. There was an organisation that was present in 17 of the 18 departments [provinces] of the country, and when we called for people to protest in the streets they came out, not in the same numbers or with the same level of participation that is happening now. In recent days we have had protests in the morning that remain in the streets all day, and at night there are convoys of cars in major cities. And that shows that at a popular level the workers are participating, and the middle class is also coming out onto the streets. There are more and more sections of the population involved in peaceful protests against the coup. Could you explain how people are organising in the working-class and poor areas, and also which political organisations are participating in the resistance? In terms of political organisations, the left-wing political parties recognise that the Democratic Unification Party and other expressions of the left do not control any part of the popular movement. It's the opposite: we are part of the popular movement. It is a country in which all the political tendencies [of the left] converged in the social movements, even before the coup. If we talk about trade unions, 95% of Honduras??? unions represent the public sector and only 5% of the organised unions represent private enterprise. That 5% are the most militant unions because they have the most direct class conflict with capital, such as the union in the cement industry, also the union of workers in the beverage industry. STIBYS is the union currently most involved in politically coordinating the situation. In fact STIBYS just launched an independent presidential candidate -- Charles H. Reyes, who is also one of the main leaders of the struggle. He has been a popular leader for more than 30 years, with origins in the Communist Party and is recognised by broad sections of the population. He is attracting a lot of the vote. According to the latest polls, he has almost 40% acceptance. Expanding on the subject of the presidential candidacy of this workers??? leader, is this part of a more comprehensive project of the National Resistance Front, or is participation in the coming electoral process simply an issue under discussion? How do you combine participation with the fact that this is a coup and Zelaya remains outside of the country? Are there two positions, one in favour of participation and one against? Currently, there is no possibility of having two strategies with respect to the coup. Carlos H. Reyes has said publicly that if the president has not returned home then he will withdraw and will not endorse the process. But what would happen with the candidacy of Carlos H. Reyes? Although he has a chance of winning, we would only have a president but we would have no parliamentarians and then we would be defeated in the other two branches of power; the Congress and the Supreme Court. Therefore greater alliances are proposed, something which is historic in Honduras, because it is the sector of the Liberal Party [that supports the resistance] that has candidates for mayors, that also defines local power and legislative candidates who are sympathetic to the president and who also have joined the National Popular Resistance Front, and this would be with the trade unions, workers, peasants -- the social base that traditionally supports Charles H. Rayes. So what we see in the future is the transformation of this social movement into a political movement, rather broad and with more possibilities to transform and obtain changes in the country. Does the resistance have the capacity to go further and really change the situation in Honduras? Well, it is important to clarify that there are many parts of the country with a high concentration of weapons in the hands of the people. On the Atlantic coast, which is the northern, north-east of the country where there has been a presence of drug trafficking, the peasants have had to arm themselves for a long time. Here we have more than 5000 armed men. But they have proposed that the strategy remain peaceful. The same in the east and the south, where due to armed conflict in Central America, there remain many weapons and many with experience in weapons use. But nationally it has been agreed not to take armed action because that would fall into the trap of what we think may be the strategy of the United States government -- to promote a civil war to achieve direct US intervention in the country. The US has problems now and needs to reactivate its war industry and it would also like to incorporate Central America in case the theatre of operations extends to Colombia and Venezuela. The Nicaraguan army also is not aligned to US imperialist policy. Therefore for us it is strategic to stay peacefully in the streets. What is the relationship between the National Popular Resistance Front and Zelaya. There has been little information about who Zelaya was before the coup, apart from his participation in ALBA. Has that relationship changed after the coup? In Honduras, like most of Latin America, no presidential candidate could come to power without having a clear intention not to support all the policies of the oligarchies of their countries. In that sense, Zelaya was no exception. When he became president, he told us that he had every intention to privatise all sectors. In fact, he wanted to be aggressive with privatisation in the first year: he wanted to privatise water, the country's largest port Puerto Cortes -- from which the Salvadoran oligarchy also exports, as well as the Costa Ricans and Nicaragua ??? and also electricity. All public services were to be privatised. The first attempt at privatisation carried out by the Honduran oligarchy was the airports, which have been privatised for years, and are extremely inefficient and highly corrupt. They have not paid taxes, nor have they carried out the works that were promised when the concessions were granted. So he [Zelaya] checked, and found that privatisation does not answer social problems. Well, that's been somewhat traditional in the world, in Honduras, particularly in Latin America. But he expressed his surprise with such indignation that it seemed real. At first we were suspicious, then we realised that it was genuine surprise when, in a meeting with the government ??? meetings between the government and the popular movement were being held frequently -- he said that he had discovered that what existed in Honduras was neocolonialism. That to extract the wealth of countries it was not necessary to bring in armies, but could be done simply through a transnationalised economy... He made a theoretical effort to understand what had happened in our country... We began to understand that he had had a conversion. Now he has the discourse of a left-wing militant and not a traditional oligarch, although his background is totally bourgeois, above all from the landed gentry of the Honduran countryside. But we also see in him a politically audacious person, able to take risks, for instance, to become president, Zelaya sold his 17 companies to pay for his campaign. He risked everything to be there. He did something that was unthinkable, that a minority candidate not supported by the oligarchy could get to that position. Not only that, but two years after being elected, he betrayed them and changed to be more on the side of the people than of the oligarchy. Taking this into account, what does Zelaya represent and what does the Honduras resistance represent for the possibility of political and social transformation in Honduras and Central America? To begin, it represents a lesson and for the left and the social movements. Because we were distanced from president, we didn???t believe the [political] conversion of a human being was possible... It is said it is easier to conquer than convince. And in that sense I think we can improve a little more, the strategies of the left and the social movement to appeal more to the theoretical argument of our positions than simply direct confrontation, which ultimately strengthens the position of the right wing, a right wing that is very ignorant, very unjust and very repressive in Latin America. It is also an example that when a people are attacked they really can magnify their ability to respond and to understand what happens in social processes. What is the resistance???s view on the negotiations headed by Costa Rica???s president, Oscar Arias? Many of the points proposed would have left Zelaya severely weakened if he had returned under those conditions. Is a Constituent Assembly still a demand of the resistance? Our analysis was that it was the CIA's strategy to weaken the resistance forces as well as the popular pressure for the president???s return to power. However, the president accepted ... in fact on important websites such as www.rebelion.org, it was said that Zelaya had capitulated. But the resistance expressed publicly that it did not accept the negotiations, even though the president said yes. But the president's strategy was to return home, and once again take power to continue the battle for the Constituent Assembly, with a stronger argument because the constitutional framework had been broken. We just had a coup and that is a fact that can be demonstrated. Now, all of proposals of the resistance start with the first point, which is: nothing will happen in the country unless a Constituent Assembly is convened after the return to democracy. And now there is also the understanding from the popular movements that a Constituent Assembly is the political way out of what's happened. You've mentioned twice a ``CIA strategy??????. What is the position of the National Front of Resistance on US President Obama???s statements and performance since the coup? The popular movement ihas always been very anti-imperialist. And we do not believe a change in the US government actually changes its international policies. The same policy of aggression remains. Most likely in the case of Obama, as Eva Golinger said in a December article, the Pentagon's strategy will now be more to use ``dirty wars??????, as is occurring in Honduras, rather than direct invasions, as under George Bush, who ultimately inflamed major sections of the world against imperialism. Now it seems that national strategies to destabilise governments are what are being implemented. What the US is doing at a public level is to promote democracy, but on the other it is promoting war and destabilisation [behind the scenes]. This is clear not only to the leadership of the resistance movement, but also to the Honduran people. The people are making a political analysis at a level that we did not expect ... in that sense, we say, they made the coup with an old manual, but the people have changed, the world has changed. What is the importance of international solidarity for the resistance in Honduras? When one leaves the country it is clear that internationally there is more opportunity to learn from the media about what is happening in the country. Domestically, media control is very strong. And for the resistance it is very important to know that the peoples of the world sympathise with the Honduran people. This boosts our morale for the struggle. Now one can see in the marches of the resistance, people marching with flags from every country in the world that have publicly opposed the coup. Therefore international solidarity is very important for us, it helps maintain our morale. We are thinking about the possibility of an international forum in Tegucigalpa, with the presence of popular movements from around the world. We know that governments do not support, at least nominally, the coup, but it is also important for people and for the resistance in the streets to see popular opposition from the rest of the world in Tegucigalpa. What we are thinking is a forum in October involving trade unions and popular movements and politicians across Latin America, from progressives, democrats and revolutionaries, all united against the coup. For example, some US trade unions have offered to be present, and Europeans from all social movements could apply significant pressure. What would be the response of the de facto government in Honduras to an event like that? I believe that every time there's an international presence, which we strive for permanently, the level of psychological warfare against the people decreases and also the military presence on the streets decreases too. One can see police on the street, but when there is no international presence what you see more are the military, who ultimately have neither education nor methods to suppress a march, but instead fire bullets. A lot of people have been shot and wounded by that. They use repressive methods as if it were a civil war against unarmed and peaceful people in the street. So an international presence would be very positive for us. Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Fri Sep 11 04:16:36 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:16:36 +0100 Subject: [A-List] beautiful mind Message-ID: <71F451EFDFA44A26939C6DA19F1F1316@home9sg93n9r5y> ICH = "But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" : Barbara Bush on ABC - Good Morning America, March 18, 2003 From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Fri Sep 11 06:16:15 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:16:15 +0100 Subject: [A-List] GUARDIAN/Weisbrot: Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" Will Find a Ready Audience Message-ID: <0C74FB173183449B9BE0DE71F5F317FD@home9sg93n9r5y> GUARDIAN/Weisbrot: Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" Posted to CN by: "LaborExchange at aol.com" LaborExchange at aol.com Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:48 pm (PDT) Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" Will Find a Ready Audience By Mark Weisbrot This column was published by The Guardian Unlimited on September 10, 2009. If anyone wants to reprint it, please include a link to the original. When I first met Michael Moore more than 20 years ago he was showing a half-finished documentary to a few dozen people in a classroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was funny and poignant and had a powerful message. He had taken a second mortgage on his house - equipment for filmmaking was a lot more expensive back then - and raised some money from like-minded locals for a long-shot venture. We all loved what he showed us but thought he would be lucky if a few thousand people got to see it. But the film, "Roger and Me," - about the irrationality and human cost of the destruction of America's auto industry -- was a smash hit and soon Moore was on his way to become America's most influential documentary film-maker. Twenty years later, he has produced his most radical work, which was greeted with rave enthusiasm here at the world's oldest film festival in Venice. As the old saying goes, you either blame the victim or blame the system. And Moore is making an appeal to blame the system - big time. You know this film is going to be subversive when it opens with clips depicting actual bank robbers - caught on security cameras in the midst of their heists - grabbing their loot with Iggy Pop's cover of Lou ie Louie (a special version for the film) blasting away in the background. Moral equivalence for the titans of the financial industry - and their political protectors -- is just around the corner. "Capitalism - a Love Story," doesn't just go after the seamy side of the American economy - although that is captured nicely in the scenes of "Condo Vultures" feeding on Florida's housing bust and corporations (including Wal-Mart and Amegy Bank) who take out insurance policies on their employees and cash in big when they die young. These ghoulish derivatives go by the charming name of "Dead Peasants" insurance -- enough said. But Moore has bigger targets in his sights: he is questioning whether the whole incentive structure, moral values, and political economy of American capitalism are fit for human beings. Although this will not seem so radical in Europe, where most countries have had governments in the post-WWII era that at least called themselves socialist, or in most of the developing world, where socialist ideas have plenty of popular appeal, it's pretty much unprecedented for anything that can reach a mass audience in the United States. But you don't have to be a revolutionary to appreciate this film. Indeed it can be seen as a social democratic treatise, with Franklin Roosevelt's proposed "second bill of rights" - an "economic bill of rights" that included a job with a living wage, housing, medical care, and education - as its reform program. Roosevelt is shown proposing this now forgotten program in 1944. As in his previous films, Moore combines the grief and tragedy of the victims - people losing their homes and jobs - with hilarious comedy, cartoonish film clips from the 1950's, and sober testimony as needed. And there are victories, too - as when workers occupy their factory in Chicago to win the pay that they are owed. As an economist who operates in the think tank world, I have to appreciate this film. He gets the economic story right. How is it that Michael Moore's father could buy a house and raise a family on the income of one auto worker, and have a pension for his retirement? And yet this is not possible in the vastly more productive economy of today? The answer is not complicated: in the first half of the post-War era, employees shared in the gains from productivity growth; since 1973, most of them have hardly done so at all. (Productivity growth has also slowed.) Moore also explains the structural changes, such as President Ronald Reagan's roll back of labor relations to the 19th century, that helped bring about the most massive upward redistribution of income in U.S. history. He even includes a few graphs and charts to back up the main points with actual data. >From an economic point of view, the only thing missing was a look at the >stock market and housing bubbles of the last decade. The current recession, >like the last one, was primarily caused by the collapse of a huge asset >bubble - an $8 trillion housing bubble in 2006, and a similar size stock >marke t bubble in 2000-2002. This is something that most of the media has not really understood. Asset bubbles are as old as capitalism, and since this is a movie about capitalism and the current Great Recession, it would have been nice to see some of this in the movie. But I can't fault Moore too much for not taking on something that most economists and the business press missed completely and still don't talk about. It's a film, not a book. Moore also wins my vote by getting his facts and numbers right. This is worth emphasizing because Moore's last documentary, "Sicko" - which was quite careful with the facts - drew attacks from CNN and a smear campaign from the insurance industry. Both attempted - unsuccessfully - to impugn its accuracy. Wendell Potter, former vice president of corporate communications for CIGNA and the author of several memos attempting to discredit "Sicko," recently admitted to Bill Moyers on camera that Moore "hit the nail on the head with his movie." The new love story also targets the big boys who made our current Great Recession possible: Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Larry Summers (the three smugly depicted in that ridiculous 1999 Time Magazine cover of the "Committee to Save the World"), and Tim Geithner. Rubin, who came from the "Government of Goldman Sachs," helped deregulate the financial industry and got rich at Citibank from the results. Larry Summers, who came from academia, also made millions from the de-regulated, government guaranteed casino that he helped fashion whe n he (like Rubin) was President Clinton's Treasury Secretary. It's a bi-partisan Hall of Shame, tracking the havoc wreaked by a burgeoning, parasitic, and increasingly politically powerful financial industry, through the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II presidencies. In a heart-warming contrast to the Age of Greed, we see Jonas Salk, the man who discovered the vaccine for polio in 1955, saving millions from the crippling and often fatal disease and refusing to get rich off his work by claiming patent rights. He only wanted that it be as available as possible. "Could you patent the sun?" he asks. And the Catholic Bishop of Detroit, when asked what Jesus would think of capitalism, replies that Jesus would not want to participate in such a system. It's all part of Moore's plot to make democratic socialist values as American as apple pie. Which is a tough sell, but if anyone can try it, it's a Midwestern boy from the heartland, the kind that Garrison Keeler writes about when he says that it's "the dummies who sit on the dais, and the smart people who sit in the dark near the exits", the son of a Flint autoworker who is true to his roots and doesn't forget which side he is on. Twenty years later, he doesn't seem to have been changed very much by fame and success. Moore's last film was a devastating indictment of the U.S. health care system, an excellent intro to the current battle for health care reform. This one could very well be a prelude to the mass populist anger and disillusionment that is only beginning to swell in the United States. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the official unemployment rate will remain near ten percent through next year. If we add in the underemployed (involuntarily part-time), dropouts from the labor force and other uncounted unemployment we are looking at a number nearly twice as high. Even if the economy were to begin a recovery relatively soon, it won't feel like one for quite some time. This film will have an audience that is ready for it, in the United States and elsewhere. Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, D.C. He is also president of Just Foreign Policy. Celebrate CEPR's 10th Anniversary! Join Co-directors Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot and Jane Hamsher of firedoglake for a LIVE, interactive webcast from 7-9PM EDT on September 24, 2009. View our latest: Reports Op-eds & Columns Data Bytes Events Donate Please consider making a donation to CEPR. In addition to foundations, we rely on people like you to support our work. About The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. CEPR's Advisory Board includes Nobel Laureate economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz; Janet Gornick, Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Luxembourg Income Study; Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University; and Eileen Appelbaum, Professor and Director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University. Center for Economic and Policy Research, 1611 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202) 293-5380, Fax: (202) 588-1356 From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Fri Sep 11 06:21:15 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:21:15 +0100 Subject: [A-List] PL: General Strike vs. Honduras Coup Message-ID: PL: General Strike vs. Honduras Coup Posted to CN by: "Walter Lippmann" walterlx at earthlink.net walterlx Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:46 pm (PDT) General Strike vs. Honduras Coup Escrito por ivette jueves, 10 de septiembre de 2009 10 de septiembre de 2009, 09:00 Tegucigalpa, Sep 10 (Prensa Latina) The three Honduran trade unions started Thursday a 48-hour general strike in the state sector, demanding the restoration of constitutional order, broken after the June 28 military coup. The stoppage was convened on Tuesday, as part of actions by union organizations of the National Front against the coup d'Etat, in demand of the return of President Manuel Zelaya. The Front programmed a new rally in this capital today, to also call for a national constituent assembly, after 75th consecutive days against the military coup. That vast alliance from people's forces and progressive parties carried out Wednesday an intensive day with mass marches and caravans in Tegucigalpa, and the country's other important cities. During protests, members of the resistance also opposed to hold the November 29 general elections, if they are organized by the de facto government. The Front general coordinator Juan Barahona stated yesterday that popular mobilizations will not stop until the putschists have been defeated. From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Fri Sep 11 06:53:21 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:53:21 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Lula slams coup in Honduras Message-ID: PL: Lula Slams Coup in Honduras Posted to CN by: "Walter Lippmann" walterlx at earthlink.net walterlx Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:47 pm (PDT) Lula Slams Coup in Honduras jueves, 10 de septiembre de 2009 10 de septiembre de 2009, 09:07 Brasilia, Sept 10 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, assured that the coup in Honduras is an unacceptable step back in Latin America and which we should unconditionally reject. Talking in a lunch meeting offered by Salvadorian president, Mauricio Funes, who began his first official visit to Brazil, Lula said he witnessed the will of reconciliation that allowed a renewed encounter of El Salvador and all of Central America with stability and development. He pointed out that Latin America learned the hard lesson that only peace and progress through dialogue, tolerance and much respect for our differences can save our conquests. For this reason, he emphasized "the coup in Honduras is an unacceptable step back. We must repudiate it unconditionally and demand the return of President Manuel Zelaya to his constitutional functions for which the Honduran people elected him." After pointing out that the authors of the coup must understand that popular will is sovereign in our continent. Lula added that, as a result, Brazil took all measures of condemnation of the coup; we withdrew our ambassador, interrupted all projects of collaboration and suspended exemption of entry visas. Brazil, MERCOSUR (Common Market of the South) and OAS (Organization of American States) are joined in this commitment, stressed the Brazilian president. "We do not recognize elections held by forces of backwardness and rule," he assured and added that it is also the determination of the countries of the Central American System of Integration (SICA). He said that the "recent measures taken by US President Barack Obama against the coup are well received. It shows that the United States joined the political, regional and world consensus." Last June 28 a coup not only removed Zelaya from power but from the country. hr/ale/avp From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 11 07:24:54 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:24:54 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909110624j1c11b79el3cc7c9780dc561fc@mail.gmail.com> The State and Revolution By Vladimir Ilich Lenin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The State: a Product of the Irreconcilability of Class Antagonisms Special Bodies of Armed Men, Prisons, etc. The State: an Instrument for the Exploitation of the Oppressed Class The ?Withering Away? of the State, and Violent Revolution -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The State: A Product of the Irreconcilability of Class Antagonisms What is now happening to Marx's theory has, in the course of history, happened repeatedly to the theories of revolutionary thinkers and leaders of oppressed classes fighting for emancipation. During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the ?consolation? of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it. Today, the bourgeoisie and the opportunists within the labor movement concur in this doctoring of Marxism. They omit, obscure, or distort the revolutionary side of this theory, its revolutionary soul. They push to the foreground and extol what is or seems acceptable to the bourgeoisie. All the social-chauvinists are now ?Marxists? (don't laugh!). And more and more frequently German bourgeois scholars, only yesterday specialists in the annihilation of Marxism, are speaking of the ?national-German? Marx, who, they claim, educated the labor unions which are so splendidly organized for the purpose of waging a predatory war! In these circumstances, in view of the unprecedently wide-spread distortion of Marxism, our prime task is to re-establish what Marx really taught on the subject of the state. This will necessitate a number of long quotations from the works of Marx and Engels themselves. Of course, long quotations will render the text cumbersome and not help at all to make it popular reading, but we cannot possibly dispense with them. All, or at any rate all the most essential passages in the works of Marx and Engels on the subject of the state must by all means be quoted as fully as possible so that the reader may form an independent opinion of the totality of the views of the founders of scientific socialism, and of the evolution of those views, and so that their distortion by the ?Kautskyism? now prevailing may be documentarily proved and clearly demonstrated. Let us being with the most popular of Engels' works, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, the sixth edition of which was published in Stuttgart as far back as 1894. We have to translate the quotations from the German originals, as the Russian translations, while very numerous, are for the most part either incomplete or very unsatisfactory. Summing up his historical analysis, Engels says: ?The state is, therefore, by no means a power forced on society from without; just as little is it 'the reality of the ethical idea', 'the image and reality of reason', as Hegel maintains. Rather, it is a product of society at a certain stage of development; it is the admission that this society has become entangled in an insoluble contradiction with itself, that it has split into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is powerless to dispel. But in order that these antagonisms, these classes with conflicting economic interests, might not consume themselves and society in fruitless struggle, it became necessary to have a power, seemingly standing above society, that would alleviate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of 'order'; and this power, arisen out of society but placing itself above it, and alienating itself more and more from it, is the state." (Pp.177-78, sixth edition)[1] This expresses with perfect clarity the basic idea of Marxism with regard to the historical role and the meaning of the state. The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonism objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable. It is on this most important and fundamental point that the distortion of Marxism, proceeding along two main lines, begins. On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty-bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, ?correct? Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes. According to Marx, the state could neither have arisen nor maintained itself had it been possible to reconcile classes. From what the petty-bourgeois and philistine professors and publicists say, with quite frequent and benevolent references to Marx, it appears that the state does reconcile classes. According to Marx, the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation of ?order?, which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the conflict between classes. In the opinion of the petty-bourgeois politicians, however, order means the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another; to alleviate the conflict means reconciling classes and not depriving the oppressed classes of definite means and methods of struggle to overthrow the oppressors. For instance, when, in the revolution of 1917, the question of the significance and role of the state arose in all its magnitude as a practical question demanding immediate action, and, moreover, action on a mass scale, all the Social-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks descended at once to the petty-bourgeois theory that the ?state? ?reconciles? classes. Innumerable resolutions and articles by politicians of both these parties are thoroughly saturated with this petty-bourgeois and philistine ?reconciliation? theory. That the state is an organ of the rule of a definite class which cannot be reconciled with its antipode (the class opposite to it) is something the petty-bourgeois democrats will never be able to understand. Their attitude to the state is one of the most striking manifestations of the fact that our Socialist- Revolutionaries and Mensheviks are not socialists at all (a point that we Bolsheviks have always maintained), but petty-bourgeois democrats using near-socialist phraseology. On the other hand, the ?Kautskyite? distortion of Marxism is far more subtle. ?Theoretically?, it is not denied that the state is an organ of class rule, or that class antagonisms are irreconcilable. But what is overlooked or glossed over is this: if the state is the product of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms, if it is a power standing above society and ?alienating itself more and more from it", it is clear that the liberation of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power which was created by the ruling class and which is the embodiment of this ?alienation?. As we shall see later, Marx very explicitly drew this theoretically self-evident conclusion on the strength of a concrete historical analysis of the tasks of the revolution. And ? as we shall show in detail further on ? it is this conclusion which Kautsky has ?forgotten? and distorted. From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 11 14:22:22 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:22:22 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909111322m72abf8e5gb288dc3eb75b0378@mail.gmail.com> Chapter 1 2. Special Bodies of Armed Men, Prisons, etc. Engels continues: ?As distinct from the old gentile [tribal or clan] order,[2] the state, first, divides its subjects according to territory...." This division seems ?natural? to us, but it costs a prolonged struggle against the old organization according to generations or tribes. ?The second distinguishing feature is the establishment of a public power which no longer directly coincides with the population organizing itself as an armed force. This special, public power is necessary because a self-acting armed organization of the population has become impossible since the split into classes.... This public power exists in every state; it consists not merely of armed men but also of material adjuncts, prisons, and institutions of coercion of all kinds, of which gentile [clan] society knew nothing...." Engels elucidates the concept of the ?power? which is called the state, a power which arose from society but places itself above it and alienates itself more and more from it. What does this power mainly consist of? It consists of special bodies of armed men having prisons, etc., at their command. We are justified in speaking of special bodies of armed men, because the public power which is an attribute of every state ?does not directly coincide? with the armed population, with its ?self-acting armed organization". Like all great revolutionary thinkers, Engels tries to draw the attention of the class-conscious workers to what prevailing philistinism regards as least worthy of attention, as the most habitual thing, hallowed by prejudices that are not only deep-rooted but, one might say, petrified. A standing army and police are the chief instruments of state power. But how can it be otherwise? From cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 11 14:23:01 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:23:01 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909111323s73079988te191adf7f6e036dc@mail.gmail.com> The State and Revolution c b cb31450 at gmail.com Fri Sep 11 08:48:59 MDT 2009 Previous message: [Marxism-Thaxis] what are the GM unions doing ? Next message: [Marxism-Thaxis] Raigad Peasant Revolt Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let us being with the most popular of Engels' works, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, the sixth edition of which was published in Stuttgart as far back as 1894. We have to translate the quotations from the German originals, as the Russian translations, while very numerous, are for the most part either incomplete or very unsatisfactory. ^^^^ CB: Interesting that Lenin claims that _The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State_ is the most popular of Engels' books - an anthropology book. From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Fri Sep 11 22:15:52 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:15:52 -0700 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909111322m72abf8e5gb288dc3eb75b0378@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909111322m72abf8e5gb288dc3eb75b0378@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4AAB2078.1000205@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 c b quotes: > > ?As distinct from the old gentile [tribal or clan] order,[2] the > state, first, divides its subjects according to territory...." > > This seems incorrect. Admittedly, State is about 'territory, but my grandfather, Bessarabian, was of tribal or clan culture, and there WAS territory... Each group had it's own area in the region specific to that group. It would be worthwhile for you to take a long hard look at Chechnya, made up of clan groupings with distinct territories for further reference... or how one band of Apaches would have felt if THEIR hunting grounds were usurped by another Apache band without permission -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqrIHcACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFxYtgCeJwvXBD3itnEUaRZECdzcGMo1 mTYAn1BXjgvhkHeq1JHsNmh2SMx6PHv5 =XXMe -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sat Sep 12 00:02:17 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:02:17 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Militarizing Latin America Message-ID: <4ABB63609D694C4EB025195A01381EEE@home9sg93n9r5y> http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4864/militarizing_latin_america/ Militarizing Latin America By Noam Chomsky The "drug war"?like the "war on crime" and "the war on terror"?is pursued for reasons other than the announced goals. The United States was founded as an ?infant empire,? in the words of George Washington. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture. From the earliest days, control over the hemisphere was a critical goal. Latin America has retained its primacy in U.S. global planning. If the United States cannot control Latin America, it cannot expect ?to achieve a successful order elsewhere in the world,? observed President Richard M. Nixon?s National Security Council in 1971, when Washington was considering the overthrow of Salvador Allende?s government in Chile. Recently the hemisphere problem has intensified. South America has moved toward integration, a prerequisite for independence; has broadened international ties; and has addressed internal disorders?foremost, the traditional rule of a rich Europeanized minority over a sea of misery and suffering. The problem came to a head a year ago in Bolivia, South America?s poorest country, where, in 2005, the indigenous majority elected a president from its own ranks, Evo Morales. In August 2008, after Morales? victory in a recall referendum, the opposition of U.S.-backed elites turned violent, leading to the massacre of as many as 30 government supporters. In response, the newly-formed Union of South American Republics (UNASUR) called a summit meeting. Participants?all the countries of South America?declared ?their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a big majority.? ?For the first time in South America?s history, the countries of our region are deciding how to resolve our problems, without the presence of the United States,? Morales observed. Another manifestation: Ecuador?s president Rafael Correa has vowed to terminate Washington?s use of the Manta military base, the last such base open to the United States in South America. In July, the U.S. and Colombia concluded a secret deal to permit the United States to use seven military bases in Colombia. The official purpose is to counter narcotics trafficking and terrorism, ?but senior Colombian military and civilian officials familiar with negotiations? told the Associated Press ?that the idea is to make Colombia a regional hub for Pentagon operations.? The agreement provides Colombia with privileged access to U.S. military supplies, according to reports. Colombia had already become the leading recipient of U.S. military aid (apart from Israel-Egypt, a separate category). Colombia has had by far the worst human rights record in the hemisphere since the Central American wars of the 1980s. The correlation between U.S. aid and human rights violations has long been noted by scholarship. The AP also cited an April 2009 document of the U.S. Air Mobility Command, which proposes that the Palanquero base in Colombia could become a ?cooperative security location.? From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sat Sep 12 00:16:10 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:16:10 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Pentagon asks for joint military maneuvers with Honduran coup regime Message-ID: <548243074F3B4FCBAF65165E49597E2E@home9sg93n9r5y> GRANMA September 11, 2009 Pentagon asks for joint military maneuvers with Honduran coup regime http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2653.html Google translation. Revised by Walter Lippmann. WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 .- The United States Southern Command asked the Armed Forces of the coup government of Honduras to participate in the maneuvers of the Allied Forces Panamax 2009, although Washington a month earlier had announced its intention to suspend all cooperation military with the Central American country. Honduras appeared in the list of 21 countries that naval exercises will be coordinated by the United States between 11 and 22 September, despite international rejection of the regime of Robert Micheletti referred Telesur. Several countries worldwide have demanded U.S. general Douglas Fraser. to suspend military cooperation with the Central American nation and its military forces out of the military base in Palmerola Colonel Soto Cano. That facility was used as a bridge during the coup to remove President Zelaya of the territory, he admitted Command Chief South, Gen. Douglas Fraser. STUDENTS AND WORKERS TAKE UNIVERSITY OF HONDURAS TEGUCIGALPA, September 10 .- Students and workers today occupied the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in protest against the coup and demanding the restoration of constitutional order, indicates PL. Spokesmen for the movement explained to Radio Globo that the protest is part of a 48-hour strike started on Thursday by the three trade union confederations also demanding the return of the constitutional president, Manuel Zelaya. They added that the action was coordinated with organizations of the National Pedagogical University, which has been occupied by students and workers on several occasions since the military coup last June. Original: http://www.granma. cubasi.cu/ 2009/09/11/ interna/artic10. html --- From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sat Sep 12 00:55:11 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:55:11 +0100 Subject: [A-List] moment of silence Message-ID: Please also take a moment of silence for the over 3,000 Chileans tortured and killed following the US-backed coup against democratically elected President Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973. Let us as well remember the 200,000 Guatemalans, 70,000 Salvadorans, 80,000 Nicaraguans, one million Vietnamese and over a million Laotians and Cambodians, the growing numbers of Iraqis, Afghanis a Pakistanis being killed today, and the people of Honduras and Haiti who suffer today under coup governments. Let?s remember the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Filipinos, the Indonesians, the Africans and the American indigenous who have died in the millions due to the policies of the government of the United States? and yes, let?s remember those who were innocent who died in the Twin Towers eight years ago. They too were victims of our government?s imperial policies. Chuck Kaufman Alliance for Global Justice From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sat Sep 12 01:01:44 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:01:44 +0100 Subject: [A-List] 30, 000 Argentines tortured and killed or disappeared in Argentina Message-ID: <38CC62AC070541DE88A95E635BCD86F6@home9sg93n9r5y> Dear Siuhin and Chuck: Please let's not forget the 30,000 Argentines tortured and killed or disappeared in Argentina by the military fascist dictatorship headed by Generals Videla, Viola, Galtieri and Bignone during 1976 through 1983. That coup was also backed by the USA under the Plan Condor. Ana Buenos Aires, Argentina -------Mensaje original------- De: Chuck Kaufman Fecha: 11/09/2009 13:45:28 Para: SIUHIN at aol.com; lasolidarity at lists.mayfirst.org ss From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sat Sep 12 02:22:45 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:22:45 +0100 Subject: [A-List] In three weeks' time, Ireland will, for a moment, hold the fate of Europe in its hands. Message-ID: <0BFA98CFB99F4CF18D849C006B5AF351@home9sg93n9r5y> How the Irish Can Save Civilization (Again) Just say No to the Lisbon Treaty By BRIAN M. CARNEY In three weeks' time, Ireland will, for a moment, hold the fate of Europe in its hands. Through a quirk of Irish constitutional procedure, on Oct. 2 the Republic of Ireland will be the only European Union nation to hold a referendum on a treaty to revamp how the EU, home to half a billion people, does business. The Lisbon Treaty, therefore, will stand or fall on the votes of perhaps one and a half million Irishmen and women. From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Sat Sep 12 03:58:58 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:58:58 +0900 Subject: [A-List] American Casino Message-ID: <20090912185858.d9121ddf.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> How Our Nation's Financial Sector Became a Massive and Unregulated Gambling Operation by Joshua Holland, AlterNet AlterNet (September 05 2009) See American Casino movie trailer [1] from Leslie and Andrew Cockburn {2} on Vimeo {3}. The producers of the new documentary, American Casino, don't tell you about the causes of the economic meltdown that's caused so much pain around the world. They don't tell you how Wall Street, having lobbied furiously to free itself from public-interest regulation, created a furious demand for mortgage-backed junk, which they had laundered into supposedly solid investments with an assist from friendly - read "bought off" - ratings agencies. They don't discuss how unscrupulous lenders hawked an array of gimmicky mortgage products to people who weren't qualified to take them out in order to skim off a fat stream of fees. They let those who lived it tell the story - from the "creative" financiers who built the house of cards, to the brokers who pushed their products, and finally, to the people living on "Main Street" USA, whose dreams of homeownership were effectively turned into weapons of mass destruction and detonated in the centers of the global economy. And by opting to not tell a story - by leaving behind the narrator's voice that's so common to the documentary form - the story that gets told is incredibly powerful. AlterNet recently caught up with producers Andrew and Leslie Cockburn to discuss how our nation's financial sector became a massive and unregulated gambling operation and how its ultimate return to reality is causing so many such pain. Joshua Holland: First, I want to know what inspired the film in terms of your understanding of what was lacking in the mainstream coverage of the housing meltdown? I mean, something made you decide to go out and make this documentary. Leslie Cockburn: Well, we started shooting this documentary in January 2008. So there wasn't a lot of coverage of the crisis, so to speak. There was some coverage over here of foreclosures going on in different states, and a little coverage of the kind of problems that had been happening on Wall Street, starting with a little crash that happened in August of 2007. And then the market was going up and down - in these wild swings. And what struck us was, we looked at it and decided that it was not a crisis that was going to be over in three months or four months, but that it was going to be severe. We made a judgment about that and decided to kind of just jump into a film. We'd been looking at some very sort of obscure stuff like bond insurers, who were re-insuring with companies that were broke. There were signs that there was no money backing up a lot of what was going on on Wall Street. There was enormous amounts of leverage that were borrowed. You know, just incredible amounts of leverage in these investment banks. So we decided that it could be a very serious collapse, and that's why we did it. JH: So you did this when ... I guess there were people like Robert Shiller, Karl Case and Dean Baker and a few others saying that this was a very serious collapse, but a lot of economists were writing books and monographs about why the housing market would continue to rise. Andrew Cockburn: Well, that's right. I mean, Ben Bernanke was saying the subprime problem could be contained. That was the mantra that the people who were long on the market were telling each other. You know, we also were talking to people on Wall Street, smart people - of which there are not a lot - who were thinking and actually talking in rather apocalyptic terms. So that was one of the things that influenced us. JH: Now you call the film American Casino, and it starts where the crisis begins - with then-Senator Phil Gramm, Republican-Texas, leading the charge for financial deregulation. Tell me about this idea of the American casino, of Wall Street being a gambling emporium as much as a staid haven for the investor class. We use that term a lot figuratively, but what you're saying is it's quite literal. AC: It is. I mean, it really struck us when we started frequenting Wall Street financial houses, how people talk routinely - and not with any apparent irony - about bets. You know, about the fact that Morgan Stanley had bet on this and the Citadel Hedge Fund had bet on that, or their bet had gone wrong. And the more we understood, the more we realized that much of it is a bet. And I'll give you a literal example, which is the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of December 2000 that you referred to. It involved the legalization, basically, of credit default swaps. Which are a form of gambling. And the reason that the Act specifically protected them from state and local regulation is that otherwise, they would be regulated as a form of gambling. I mean, there are gambling laws in states and localities. And under those, these financial instruments would be illegal. They were made illegal at the time of the Depression because they were literally gambling. JH: So the Nevada Gaming Commission could theoretically have regulated these like a poker game, almost? AC: Well, when we showed the film at the Tribeca Film Festival, a guy stood up and said, "I work in Las Vegas, in a casino". And he said, "There, you know, we regulate it. It's regulated." And the difference between Vegas and Wall Street is that here it's unregulated. JH: Now we go from this idea of a casino ... and you know, it's too bad that David K [sic] Johnston had already taken the name Perfectly Legal (2003) for his book, because once we get past the casino, we start talking about the way that they laundered risk, and they re-laundered risk. And in a sense, once we get past that point in the film, it starts to become more and more clear that we're looking at a crime scene as much as a gambling facility, aren't we? LC: Well, what's shocking is when you really take it on board that we are all living in this casino. I mean, it's a bit like The Matrix (1999). You suddenly think, "Oh my God, I am inside that computer screen. My mortgage is on that computer screen. I, and everyone I know, and everyone in this country, is ... we're chips. We're chips in the casino". And that realization is a very big one. And talking about the crime ... We were told that the people who were taking out these loans were greedy. It's really their fault, or it's all of our ... the crisis is all of our fault. But in fact, it isn't all of our fault. We came across that by really investigating this story at the community level, in cities like Baltimore. First of all, people at lower income levels - they believe in their broker. The broker, to them, is like a dentist or a doctor. There is an assumption that what a broker does or a banker does is regulated. That there are some laws that ... you know, this can't be a scam. If they say to you, "Hey, you can afford this. Your income level is just fine, and you can refinance", you say: "Terrific, that's great. I'm so glad that I can do this." You don't expect that in fact what they're doing ... and we have brokers in American Casino who explain how this is done ... is that you say that your income is $2,500 a month. They write down $2,500 a week, or whatever fits into their computer program. And then that is buried in paperwork, and when you go to the closing, you don't even know what's in all those pages that are as thick as a phone book. These closings were often scheduled at the end of the day so that you'd have to pick up your kids at day care, as one community lawyer in Baltimore points out. This is a crime. This is people being lied to, people being squeezed, people being scammed. It really is shocking when you realize that really good people have been duped, and that they then default. And the people who have given them this mortgage don't care, because they passed it on. It's this whole game of hot potato. You pass it on to the next guy, and then to the next guy. As this incredible banker in the film points out, "There is no skin in the game. Get your fees up front, make a lot of money, pass it on to the next guy." So the only person who is destroyed is the person who was naive enough to believe in the system. The ones who believed that the broker or banker was actually a decent human being doing a job as a professional and giving them good advice. It's a shocking story. JH: Now help us connect these securities based on bad loans - what economic bloggers have called "the shit pile" - and how they were sliced and diced into these pieces that basically make them AAA-rated ... connect that to this lust for selling mortgages that people couldn't afford to service. AC: Well, you know, the idea of mortgage-backed bonds has been around for a while. What really happened in the 2000s was they discovered that instead of diversifying and having bonds that were partly backed by mortgages and backed by other things like aircraft leasing and so on and so forth, that it was much better, much more profitable, there was an extra few basis points in concentrating on subprime. Basically loan-shark loans. So, we have a banker explaining all this in very candid, and I think ... very clear terms, because we just let him explain it. You take all these mortgages and you put them together in a bond. Then you slice it up - you sell slices of that bond, and you get an obliging rating agency, which you are paying and which wants your business as an investment bank. They say, oh eighty percent of these are AAA. And there were only about eight or nine corporations in the United States that were considered AAA at the time - General Electric, Exxon. So suddenly you had thousands of these mortgage bonds being rated AAA, or parts of them. Then you take little bits of those bits that are BBBs, BB, BBB and B. You take those lower-down bits, which are considered more risky. You take those tranches out, you pour them into another instrument called a collateralized debt obligation. You rate the top eighty percent of that AAA. So what was B is now A, magically! Then you could do it all again. You take the B bits out of that, and put it in another one. A CDO-squared, as they called it. And what our banker makes very clear is you were taking garbage and spray-painting it with a can of gold paint, and then calling it gold. JH: Now, one of the people you interview calls this "the civil rights issue of the 2000s". Tell me, what is "reverse red-lining"? What does that mean? AC: Well, originally, whole areas of the population, specifically African Americans and other minorities, were "red-lined". There would literally be a red line around areas on realtors' maps. And you don't make a loan to people living inside those lines. Because they weren't part of the credit system. So when they started hawking these subprime loans, there were these markets ... I mean, people in inner-city Baltimore or other American cities, or minority areas around the country ... they were hungry for credit. They had never had access to loans. So suddenly they were being offered these loans, they were being sold loans. But not prime loans like, you know, white people got. But subprime loans, that is, loans that had predatory rates of interest or balloon payments. And that's what John Rellman, who is a very great civil rights lawyer, discusses in the film; he describes this as reverse red-lining. And as you say, says it's the civil rights issue of the 2000s. LC: It's a civil rights issue because, as he says, "You know, with the Jim Crow laws in the old days, they would say ... 'you can't live here'. Now with this", as he puts it, "you suck the equity out of an area". Minorities in Baltimore, for example, you had areas that were really being spruced up, they were being fixed up. These are inner-city areas, and there were people doing nice things with houses and money coming in. All that money is now gone because of the massive defaults, because of all the subprime loans. There's no money there anymore. These areas have been completely ravaged because these guys have come in with these predatory loans. You know, there's some shocking figures in this film, which point out what happened with minorities. You know, four times as many people of color were given subprime loans. And that isn't because they were poor or anything. They were exactly like their white counterparts. It looks really bad when you look at those figures, and there were a lot of middle-class African Americans who were put into subprime loans, and they certainly could have qualified for prime. And the reason why all this needs investigating is because you could make a strong case that it was fraud. AC: As you can see in the film, we talk about a lawsuit in the city of Baltimore. They are claiming that the Wells Fargo Bank targeted minorities, targeted African Americans in Baltimore for these subprime loans, and now the state of Illinois has just filed suit against Wells Fargo, claiming the same thing. I think they're not the only bank alleged to have done this, but whatever the federal government does or does not do, a lot of states and a lot of local administrations really are very incensed about this and are taking action. JH: And the worse a person's credit, the higher the fees, and as you show in the film, 61 percent of those minorities who got a subprime loan in 2006 would have qualified for prime loans. You also show very beautifully in the film, I think, the impact that this has not only on people who had those mortgages, but on the people who live around them, the communities - the unbelievable blight and decimation that comes to these communities that have had high rates of foreclosure within them. Tell me a little bit about what that was like when you were seeing these things. LC: Well, we saw it in a number of communities. In Riverside, California, for example, we were going around with a mosquito vector-control team. And they were concerned about these neighborhoods where you have every other house in foreclosure. These houses had been built very recently. This is land that had been farm land, dairy farms, big daily farms five years before. And they built these houses badly, and then they built small swimming pools behind a lot of the houses, and the swimming pools of course are now black and full of hundreds of thousands of mosquitos. These houses are also being used widely as meth labs, as grow houses. The community is just completely torn apart. It's very post-apocalyptic, the feel of it. When you see the film, you will really understand how bad it is. And not only should you see the film to see that, but people should go out and look at some of these communities. I mean, it's real devastation. And in these communities, you know, you have one default, and then that drags down the value of house of the person next door who is paying their prime thirty-year mortgage. It's kind of this terrible snowball that destroys the entire community. More and more people end up in foreclosure. And that has not unwound yet. For people to talk about "green shoots" right now is bizarre - you know, every thirteen seconds, there's a foreclosure in this country. JH: Now, the film isn't preachy, per se, but obviously you hope to have some sort of impact with it. Tell me what are you hoping that audiences take away when they walk out of the film. AC: Well, we let people talk. You can hear what they say. And to hear people who have gotten into mortgage trouble describing what happened and what they're trying to do about it, you know, these are not greedy people who were sort of eagerly trying to make a bet that went wrong. And the other idea you hear about is that we're all guilty. We're all living in a bubble. You know, as a society we're all sort of chasing this almost-impossible dream. Well, that's not the case. And again, you get that from the film. The American Casino makes the case very clearly that this was a top-down crime, really. Yes, there were mortgage companies that were lying about people's income and involving people in these sort of situations, but it came from the banks. It was the banks pushing the whole thing to get these loans in so they could then package them, securitize them into these bonds and sell them on. Don't take my word for it. You can hear the banker say in the film that they were encouraged to make more and more aggressive loans. Aggressive loans means basically entangling somebody who really can't afford it in a mortgage. You don't tell them they can't afford it, you tell them they can afford it. But you know they're going to get into trouble, terrible trouble. But that gives you something to securitize and sell on to some Korean bank or whatever. LC: Yes, he goes on to say this was done to feed the CDOs. They needed more and more. There came a point where most Americans who wanted mortgages had them or had already refinanced. So you had to find new people, more and more people to get loans to feed the beast, to package into these CDOs so that you could make a ton of money selling them off to whomever you could dupe with this stuff. This banker, we said to him, "Well, who would buy these CDOs-squared?" And his one-word reply is, "Idiots". And you understand finally that the people on Wall Street knew what was happening, and they continued to do it, because the money was so good. JH: That was one of the most powerful moments of the film, by the way. That one-word answer. Let me ask you to step back from the concrete for one moment. You show snippets of George W Bush talking about the homeownership gap. This is a very long-standing element of our political culture. This idea of homeownership as a road to wealth. To what degree were they capitalizing on these kinds of themes within the American creed? AC: Well, they were. I mean, actually, homeownership as the dream is comparatively novel. It's really come up since the 1930s, when the American government started to subsidize homeownership. Or subsidize money lending for homeownership, with FHA loans and Fannie Mae and then later on, Freddie Mac. And tax relief, and you know ... basically the primary industry of this country became homeownership. Became selling houses or financing homeownership. Lending money for homeownership became an obsession that has now reached this sort of ghastly end that you see in American Casino. LC: But also, people were being really basically tricked into buying these houses that weren't worth the amount they paid. And you could have avoided that by having strict rules for appraisers, strict rules for inspectors for houses. Just putting in more regulation so that you didn't have these ridiculous prices that of course people can't really pay. I think one of the good things about this extreme crisis will be that house prices will come down in the end. That they won't continue to go up. There are a lot of people on Wall Street who would like to create another bubble ... JH: And in Washington ... LC: Yes. They sort of have amnesia about what's happened here. But then you're going to end up with the same terrible disastrous result. JH: OK, I finish all interviews with the same question: What should I have asked you that I did not, if anything? AC: Well, my final thought is that people should take away from this film ... a sense that you know, how huge this is. I mean, this is not just a sort of run-of-the-mill crisis. This is a fundamental turning point in American history. And I think our film, it gives people the opportunity to understand that. Links: {1} http://vimeo.com/3637653 {2} http://vimeo.com/user1430027 {3} http://vimeo.com/ _____ Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. (c) 2009 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. http://www.alternet.org/story/142267/ http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From kaliyuga at wildblue.net Sat Sep 12 08:51:52 2009 From: kaliyuga at wildblue.net (MARGARET WYLES) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:51:52 -0700 Subject: [A-List] American Casino In-Reply-To: <20090912185858.d9121ddf.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> References: <20090912185858.d9121ddf.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Message-ID: <82b839ea0909120751o53070881qa2e3c9a447ec50a9@mail.gmail.com> As I may have mentioned before, I was in this business as a securitization liason who worked with the ratings agencies, investment bankers, etc. I would agree with many of what is said in this article and look forward to seeing the movie. However, I would like to make a couple of comments. I worked with the ratings agencies (there are only 3 main ones) and we would have to fight tooth and nail to get a good rating. They could not be 'bought off,' though there is an intrinsic conflict of interest as the seller pays for the rating, though it is the buyer of the bond whose interest is being protected. People are described in this article as 'greedy,' and certainly there are those people. But most people I knew in the business were just trying to make a living, like myself, in a country where it is increasingly difficult to do so. There are few businesses in this country that can offer an income sufficient to live on. I'm originally from Detroit. Ironically, in the city that afforded my father and myriads of relatives an opportunity to make a decent and secure living in the auto industry is looking to gambling as a means of increasing city revenues, and is not surprisingly, near ground zero in the subprime mortgage crisis. I said all along that securitization would lead to a bubble. When it finally did, I was convinced that Greenspan knew. But playing devil's advocate here, what really was he to do? At some level, 'they' realize that it is nearly impossible for a legitimate business to make a profit. There is a statistic out there about where profits have come from over time and there was a decided upturn in the percentage of profits made from finance over the last few years. Did he knowingly forestall the crisis by creating this bubble? Perhaps in hopes that something would come along in the meantime to save the economy? The film seemingly seeks to place blame on greedy individuals. But there are always greedy people who seek to take advantage of opportunities, and if the bubble had not burst, no one would have cared. The real problem is that we are dealing with a system that has played itself out. Period. Why is it that these now vacant houses are being turned into meth labs and grow houses and not factories? Here in the US, the game is over, folks. Capital has moved on to where it can eek out a profit and we are left to get high and hope we hit that lucky number one day. M From cb31450 at gmail.com Sat Sep 12 09:31:53 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:31:53 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909120831ub6c4035s5496243340695987@mail.gmail.com> And yet, concretely, we are in many ways at an historical anti-pole with the situation in Russia in 1917. Lenin might chastise me for dogmatic reference to _The State and Revolution_ given that the South and Central American revolution has organized the working class majorities in many countries so as to use the bourgeois-democratic electoral/mass sufferage system to seize state power. The fascist/comprador bourgeois classes have had to resort to that favorite of the reaction the coup d'etat in Venezuela and Honduras. Violent overthrow is the desparate polictal location of the rich enemies of the working masses today in the South of the Western Hemisphere. From nmgoro at gmail.com Sat Sep 12 10:09:29 2009 From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:09:29 -0300 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution In-Reply-To: <5c2e4d230909120831ub6c4035s5496243340695987@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909120831ub6c4035s5496243340695987@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <2fa158550909120909q53c6ae40o88082a1633061172@mail.gmail.com> 2009/9/12 c b : > Violent overthrow is the desparate polictal location of the rich > enemies of the working masses today in the South of the Western > Hemisphere. yes, but for some exceptions like Honduras (and not even there fully certain), the armies are NOT for violent overthrow. Not even in Colombia. I guess one of the reasons behind Uribe?s attempt at re-re-election is the fear that if a more progressive regime takes power in Bogot?, there would be no army coup to expel it. -- N?stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 12 11:04:03 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:04:03 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Militarising Space: The Fallujah Fallacy Message-ID: <5D8BDDF8A5634088841AC84DB99B6408@TonyPC> "The Pentagon has made remarkable strides in militarisation of space this year, but its techno-schemes are built on the same sandy foundations as the rest of its defence policy, laments Eric Walberg" ...Well, that depends on what you consider to be the Empire's intent....Building a first-strike, global hegemonic capability is hardly on 'sandy foundations'. In short, this piece is mislabelled. More apt would have been: 'Mordor prepares to destroy Middle Earth'. T. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff To: stopnato at yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 8:14 AM Subject: [stopnato] Militarising Space: The Fallujah Fallacy http://ericwalberg.com September 9. 2009 Militarising space: The Fallujah fallacy Eric Walberg The Pentagon has made remarkable strides in militarisation of space this year, but its techno-schemes are built on the same sandy foundations as the rest of its defence policy, laments Eric Walberg In April, Air Force Space Command activated a new unit -- the 24th Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas -- to keep pace with ?the rapid changes in information technology and allow space and cyberspace capabilities to be more accessible to military ground commanders?, according to the Space Command?s top military officer General Robert Kehler. Kehler called the activation ?the beginning of what will be a deliberate and focused effort to develop and evolve cyberspace forces and capabilities.? In August, the Pentagon?s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) commenced its 12th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville, Alabama, at the shiny new Von Braun Centre, named after the father of Nazi Germany?s missile project and one of the creators of the US ICBM programme, who along with several German colleagues was sent to Huntsville in 1950 (Operation Paperclip) to work on the first live nuclear ballistic missile tests conducted by the Pentagon. Von Braun -- sorry, I mean Kehler -- told the Space and Missile Defense Conference that global deterrence is necessary to encourage restraint, deny benefits and impose costs to those nations and non-nation states that threaten the Reich -- sorry, I mean the US and its allies. The 2,000 participants heard lots more sabre-rattling from the likes of the head of NASA, Charles Bolden, a retired Marine Corps general. Bloomberg news agency predicted correctly in January that ?President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between civilian and military space programmes to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China.? There were no dissenting voices at the inauguration of the 24th Air Force Cyberwar Unit in April or at the Star Wars conference in August. It appears to be conventional wisdom that, as Army Lieutenant General Kevin Campbell told the conference, space is ?key terrain? which the US can?t afford to cede. More and more countries have the money to use space, if not to fund their own launch and development programmes, and ?we should expect our adversaries to take advantage of that.? Lieutenant General Larry James, commander of the 14th Air Force space forces in California (how many air forces does one country need?) said a major problem commanders face is ?space situational awareness? -- knowing what?s in orbit, whom it belongs to and what it?s supposed to be doing. Among the suggested solutions is greater use of commercial partners. How clever, let?s privatise space warfare while we?re at it. Perhaps it will be more ?efficient?. The MDA told Von Braun?s disciples that it is accelerating the pace of full spectrum air, sea, land, cyber and space missile shield developments in addition to laser weapons, having just completed a successful sea-based missile interception from Hawaii. A disabled spy satellite was shot down in February 2008 by the USS Lake Erie, an Aegis-class Guided Missile Cruiser, which, as the Pentagon insisted at the time, had no military implications whatsoever. In July, the Pentagon announced plans to integrate its latest generation drone, the Reaper, into the global missile shield system. At the same time, Israel tested its Arrow II interceptor missile, jointly developed with the US, off the coast of California. The US and Israeli Defense Forces will hold a joint missile defense exercise in October, Juniper Cobra, testing the advanced X-Band radar, a farewell gift to the land of Shalom from the Bush administration. The radar is capable of tracking small targets thousands of kilometres away. Thousands of kilometres away means surveillance of not only Syria and Iran but a large swathe of southern Russia. All this makes perfect, if horrible, sense. The US empire is on the march and the Pentagon learned the perils of the draft from the massive public protests it provoked during the Vietnam war. It already operates on a global electronic battlefield where the fighting is increasingly done by robot drones guided by surveillance systems, the idea being to minimise US casualties. This was what Rumsfeld had in mind when he thought he could conquer Iraq and Afghanistan with a handful of troops on the ground. Even so, there is a lack of drafted cannon fodder, so in addition to robots, foreign nationals are offered immediate US citizenship if they sign up, and mercenaries (aka private contractors) -- US and foreign -- are employed to help fight on the ground. Hence the impotence of the peace movement in the face of US multiple wars, although the logic of the Rumsfeld doctrine is already looking pretty threadbare. Iraq offers a heart-breaking example of a war in which mercenaries so inflamed the locals they were sent to ?liberate? that, when given the chance in Fallujah, enraged mobs dragged the bodies of four of them through the streets, burned and hung two of them from a bridge. This scene was televised globally and prompted the US to make a punishing, retaliatory assault on Fallujah, causing widespread death and destruction, with no protest from Western governments. The new old logic on the ground is: conquer hearts-and-minds by terrorising and killing those who resist, preferably with robots and mercenaries. The logic in the heavens is merely an extension of this: Star Wars is unashamedly a first strike global missile shield system. ?The Rise of US Nuclear Primacy? in the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Foreign Affairs (March 2006) states: ?It will probably soon be possible for the United States to destroy the long-range nuclear arsenals of Russia or China with a first strike. The US Air Force has enhanced the avionics on its B-2 stealth bombers to permit them to fly at extremely low altitudes in order to avoid even the most sophisticated radar.? Deploying short-, medium- and long-range interceptor missile batteries, mobile missile radar stations, long-range super-stealth nuclear bombers, Aegis-class destroyers equipped to sail the world?s seas to hunt down conventional and nuclear missiles, and surveillance satellites and weapons in space is not designed to target non-existent intercontinental ballistic missile threats from Iran or Syria, or even from North Korea, concludes analyst Rick Rozoff, but to blackmail Russia and China and prepare the groundwork to ?win? in a first strike nuclear war. On August 11, just a few days before the Von Baunites gathered in Alabama, Russian Air Force commander Alexander Zelin warned, ?By 2030 foreign countries, particularly the US, will be able to deliver coordinated high-precision strikes from air and space against any target on the whole territory of Russia. That is why the main goal of the development of the Russian Air Force until 2020 is to provide a reliable deterrent during peacetime, and repel any military aggression with the use of conventional and nuclear arsenals in a time of war.? The following day Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, ?Outer space is now facing the looming danger of weaponisation. Credible and effective multilateral measures must be taken to forestall the weaponisation and arms race in outer space.? Make no mistake, the Pentagon is busy shooting for global military supremacy. This year is crucial to get things right before the expiration of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) in December. A joint understanding for a follow-on ?agreement? to START-1 was signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in July. The US strategy appears to be to replace the treaty with a less formal agreement that eliminates strict verification requirements and weapons limits. Former US assistant secretary of state Paula DeSutter said in May 2007 that the major provisions of the treaty ?are no longer necessary. We don?t believe we?re in a place where we need have to have the detailed lists and verification measures.? More US ?logic?, this time dismissing the need for much-hated treaties, which would have to be confirmed by the Senate and, worse yet, adhered to, instead of informal ?cooperation?, meaning arm-twisting or merely ignoring protests. The connection between the lack of interest in a replacement for START-1 and Washington?s missile shield designs is not lost on the Russians. The CFR admits that US missile plans in Europe are seen by the Russians ?not so much as missile defense as a deployment of first-strike capability.? Zelin revealed that defence upgrading would include developing ?new missiles that will be capable of defending against space-based systems.? Despite the fact that there is no popular will for militarising space, there is little standing in its way, with ?defence? policy now solidly bipartisan, and Euro-silence and even Euro-cheerleading. Only ?authoritarian? Russia and China call for a treaty against space warfare. The US dismisses these calls as designed to block its plans for the missile interceptor system. Well, yes, that is the point. ?The practice of seeking absolute strategic advantage should be abandoned. Countries should neither develop missile defense systems that undermine global strategic stability nor deploy weapons in outer space,? Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the peaceniks in Geneva, as the Von Braunites were promoting peace US-style. He added that China welcomed moves to rid the world of nuclear weapons, including China?s. ?The complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and a nuclear weapon-free world have become widely embraced goals,? Yang said, referring to Obama?s call in April for a ?world without nuclear weapons?. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told them much the same. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was conspicuous in Geneva by her absence. Too bad no US generals or senior government officials bothered to drop in on the Geneva conference, where the fallacy in their ?logic? could have been explained to them: a treaty signed by the nations of the world, led by all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, would prevent any ?adversaries? from taking ?advantage? of using space for military purposes. The most touted blaggard, North Korea, cannot even get its satellites into orbit, assuming they are of any military significance. The rogue states that can and do (no names are necessary) would be forced by a treaty to curb their appetites for cyber Armageddon, allowing the world to breathe slightly more easily. *** Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ You can reach him at http://ericwalberg.com =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwrozoff at yahoo.com or stopnato-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages ============================== __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Database | Polls Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! 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Connect with others.. __,_._,___ From pwright at prisonlegalnews.org Sat Sep 12 11:45:57 2009 From: pwright at prisonlegalnews.org (Paul Wright) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:45:57 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution In-Reply-To: <2fa158550909120909q53c6ae40o88082a1633061172@mail.gmail.com> References: <5c2e4d230909120831ub6c4035s5496243340695987@mail.gmail.com> <2fa158550909120909q53c6ae40o88082a1633061172@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <106901ca33d0$e24bc0f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Perhaps the reason there is no actual push for coups is that when all is said and done none of the regimes in South America, not Chavez, not Morales, et al., are actually moving to dispossess the ruling class by nationalizing their property, seizing their media organs or implementing land reform. In the past it was enough that someone would talk bad about US imperialism or mutter that land reform might be a good idea to be expelled by a coup but nowadays why bother. The Sandinistas, FMLN, et al., have all learned their lesson and hold political office with promises of fealty to capital. So who needs coups? Paul Wright, Editor Prison Legal News P.O. Box 2420 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 802 257-1342 pwright at prisonlegalnews.org www.prisonlegalnews.org Seattle Office 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 Seattle, WA 98117 206-246-1022 -----Original Message----- From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of N?stor Gorojovsky Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 12:09 PM To: The A-List Subject: Re: [A-List] The State and Revolution 2009/9/12 c b : > Violent overthrow is the desparate polictal location of the rich > enemies of the working masses today in the South of the Western > Hemisphere. yes, but for some exceptions like Honduras (and not even there fully certain), the armies are NOT for violent overthrow. Not even in Colombia. I guess one of the reasons behind Uribe?s attempt at re-re-election is the fear that if a more progressive regime takes power in Bogot?, there would be no army coup to expel it. -- N?stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a From critical.montages at gmail.com Sat Sep 12 22:40:09 2009 From: critical.montages at gmail.com (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:40:09 +0900 Subject: [A-List] Robert Naiman: "GObama! US Agrees to Talks with Iran" Message-ID: Have the mollahs improbably come out ahead again? -- Yoshie GObama! US Agrees to Talks with Iran Submitted by robert naiman on 12 September 2009 - 5:12pm To any naysayers who say President Obama has broken all his promises, I say, with all due respect: "na na na na na" [LINK: ]: AP reports [LINK: ]: The United States and five partner countries have accepted Iran's new offer to hold talks, even though Iran insists it will not negotiate over its disputed nuclear program, the State Department said Friday. I realize that this may be cold comfort if you took Obama seriously when he said that he was going to renegotiate NAFTA. Okay, that promise was not for real, sorry. But when he said he was going to talk to Iran, apparently he meant it. Who knew? It could have gone the other way. The US could have said - we offered Iran talks on how Iran was going to stop enriching uranium, and Iran has clearly said that it has no intention of stopping the enrichment of uranium, therefore, Iran has not agreed to our offer of talks. And therefore, we have no choice but to proceed with efforts to cut off Iran's access to gas imports. As everyone knows, there are plenty of folks in Washington - and at least one other capital city - who would have applauded such a course. But Obama decided to take the high road. We said we wanted talks, and Iran is saying that it wants talks, so let's talk. Why not? Iran says it wants comprehensive talks. So? Who's against comprehensive talks? More US-Iran cooperation could help make the world a better place on a lot of fronts: Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Lebanon. Making progress in negotiations on Iran's "nuclear file" will not be trivial. But there is a feasible solution, and everyone knows it. As Robert Dreyfuss wrote recently in The Nation [LINK: ]: a solution, of course, would almost definitely have to concede to Iran the right to enrich uranium, on its own soil and independently, in exchange for transparency and a strengthened regime of international inspections. Dreyfuss notes that while President Obama has acknowledged Iran's right to "the peaceful use of nuclear energy," he has been silent on the question of enrichment. A charitable view - but also quite a plausible one - is that Obama would only acknowledge Iran's right to enrich uranium as part of a deal. If I'm a State Department negotiator, I'm thinking that this is a bargaining chip I'm taking in to the talks. And if I'm a political person in the Administration, I'm thinking that the time to acknowledge Iran's right to enrichment is not before talks, likely unleashing a firestorm of protest from the Likud lobby and its allies in Congress, but in the context of a multilateral deal, when criticism will have a much harder time getting traction. And if I'm a "Washingtonologist" in Tehran, I haven't failed to notice that Senator Kerry - chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - has acknowledged Iran's right to enrich uranium [LINK: ]. Of course, Senator Kerry does not speak for the Administration. But if I'm a "Washingtonologist" in Tehran, I figure that Senator Kerry is in regular communication with the State Department, and that Senator Kerry wouldn't make a statement that the State Department really doesn't want him to make, and I would take Senator Kerry's statement as a signal that there's an endgame in which the US acknowledges Iran's right to enrich uranium. This speculation may soon be put to the test, and that's a very good thing. There's vagueness in both the US and Iranian positions, as one would expect. If serious talks commence, the world should be able to see who's trying to get to yes and who's throwing up obstructions. From nscchicago at igc.org Sat Sep 12 11:46:50 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:46:50 -0500 Subject: [A-List] COLOMBIA CUBA FIVE HONDURAS OLIGARCHY THINK Message-ID: <76EB876D39C14912A041699D7FB889BF@NSCCHICAGO> Tom Baker here with good read update. - COLOMBIA DAY OF ACTION - OCTOBER 1 Political prisoners. HIT THE CONSULATES. Phones and addresses in message - COLOMBIA DELEGATION Witness for Peace with Labor Oct 31 - Nov 8 - CUBA AND THE CUBAN FIVE - Their Sep 11? 11 years political prisoners International solidarity mobilization - LEONARD PELTIER has served terms of six presidents. He writes a little letter. - HONDURAS COUP CLIQUE PLAYS WAR WITH US SOUTH COMMAND. Joint military maneuvers Just playing they say. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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From: Alicia Jrapko Subject: [ChicagoCubaList-serve] INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN FIVE Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:17:00 -0700 (PDT) Size: 18376 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/69c70e47/attachment-0008.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: John Johnson Subject: [actionla] FROM LEONARD PELTIER Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:02:41 -0700 Size: 27140 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/69c70e47/attachment-0009.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Walter Tillow" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Fw: [CubaNews] GRANMA: Pentagon asks for joint military maneuvers with Honduran coup regime Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:07:54 -0400 Size: 24158 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/69c70e47/attachment-0010.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "kathy hoyt" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Event of right-wing Hudson Institute "Populist Threats to Democracy in C.America" Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:27:01 -0700 Size: 18158 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/69c70e47/attachment-0011.eml From nscchicago at igc.org Sat Sep 12 11:53:58 2009 From: nscchicago at igc.org (NSC WORKERS COOP) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:53:58 -0500 Subject: [A-List] Fw: COLOMBIA CUBA FIVE HONDURAS OLIGARCHY THINK Message-ID: Tom here and forgot to introduce The Lesson in Oligarchy Think As the Honduran crisis unfolds in the early months of the Obama administration, Venezuelan-style populism continues to imperil democratic institutions and the dynamics of international trade in Central America. At the same time, organized crime, drug trade, and gang violence continue to affect regional security. Hudson Institute's Center for Latin American Studies - in partnership with the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis - is convening a panel to discuss the political and economic challenges to democracy in the region. We didn't get invited. What do we know. ----- Original Message ----- From: NSC WORKERS COOP To: NSC WORKERS COOP Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 12:46 PM Subject: COLOMBIA CUBA FIVE HONDURAS OLIGARCHY THINK Tom Baker here with good read update. - COLOMBIA DAY OF ACTION - OCTOBER 1 Political prisoners. HIT THE CONSULATES. Phones and addresses in message - COLOMBIA DELEGATION Witness for Peace with Labor Oct 31 - Nov 8 - CUBA AND THE CUBAN FIVE - Their Sep 11? 11 years political prisoners International solidarity mobilization - LEONARD PELTIER has served terms of six presidents. He writes a little letter. - HONDURAS COUP CLIQUE PLAYS WAR WITH US SOUTH COMMAND. Joint military maneuvers Just playing they say. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3605 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3419 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0001.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Subject: [Lasolidarity] Solidarity with Colombia's Political Prisoners, Oct. 1st Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:08:35 -0400 Size: 31472 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0006.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Subject: [Lasolidarity] Oct. 31-Nov. 8 Colombia Delegation Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:55:31 -0400 Size: 8896 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0007.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Alicia Jrapko Subject: [ChicagoCubaList-serve] INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN FIVE Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:17:00 -0700 (PDT) Size: 18376 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0008.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: John Johnson Subject: [actionla] FROM LEONARD PELTIER Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:02:41 -0700 Size: 27140 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0009.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Walter Tillow" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Fw: [CubaNews] GRANMA: Pentagon asks for joint military maneuvers with Honduran coup regime Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:07:54 -0400 Size: 24158 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0010.eml -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "kathy hoyt" Subject: [Lasolidarity] Event of right-wing Hudson Institute "Populist Threats to Democracy in C.America" Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:27:01 -0700 Size: 18158 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090912/41ede254/attachment-0011.eml From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sun Sep 13 03:32:50 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:32:50 +0100 Subject: [A-List] James Petras on: Global Depression and Regional Wars Message-ID: <226CCEDDE9CC48B7B040F5A8F22A39A0@home9sg93n9r5y> The current world recession and the potential recovery of some countries reveals all the weaknesses of the traditional ?export market? ? free trade - comparative advantage doctrines. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent experience of Latin America. Despite recent popular upheavals and the ascent of center-left regimes in most of the countries in the region, the economic structures, strategies and policies pursued, followed in the footsteps of their predecessors particularly in relation to foreign economic practices. Influenced by the sharp demand and rise in prices of commodities, especially agro-mineral and energy products, the Latin American regimes, backed off from any changes in several crucial areas and adapted to the policies and economic legacies of their neo-liberal predecessors. As a result, with the world wide recession beginning in 2008, they suffered a sharp economic decline with severe social consequences. The resulting socio-economic crises provides important lessons and reinforces the notion that deep structural changes in investment, trade, ownership of strategic economic sectors is essential to stable, sustained and equitable growth. The Free Market, Free Trade Doctrine: the 1990s From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Sun Sep 13 04:59:46 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:59:46 +0900 Subject: [A-List] The Dark Mountain Manifesto Message-ID: <20090913195946.1384a374.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> We have, it seems, led the planet into the age of ecocide. Can civilisation survive the unavoidable environmental catastrophe? To stand a chance we will need cool heads, not fiery dreams. by John Gray New Statesman (September 10 2009) Walking on Lava During the past century empires crashed, new states foundered, utopian projects failed and entire civilisations melted down. Revolutionary change was the norm, as it has been throughout modern times. Yet today many of us assume our present way of life will last for ever, and any suggestion that it may be facing intractable difficulties is dismissed as doom-mongering. The result is that the precariousness of modern civilisation is underestimated and the impression that things can go on indefinitely, much as they do now is touted as hard-headed realism. The Dark Mountain Manifesto {1} begins with the observation that this appearance of stability is delusive. "The pattern of ordinary life, in which so much stays the same from one day to the next", the authors write, "disguises the fragility of its fabric". Written by Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine, this slim pamphlet aims to demolish contemporary beliefs about progress, industrialism and the place of human beings on the planet, and up to a point it succeeds. Much in contemporary thought is made up of myths masquerading as facts, and it is refreshing to see these myths clearly identified as such. The authors are right that none is more powerful than the idea that we are separate from the natural world, and free to use it as we see fit. But is it true that civilisation is also a myth, as Kingsnorth and Hine claim? Would human beings - or the planet that they are ravaging - be better off if civilisation collapsed? The authors tell us that our present way of life "is built upon the stories we have constructed about our genius, our indestructibility, our manifest destiny as a chosen species". These legends, they continue, have "led the planet into the age of ecocide". The spread of civilisation and the destruction of the biosphere have gone together. The human future, it seems to the authors, must lie in "uncivilisation". Kingsnorth and Hine seem to present uncivilisation as chiefly a project for writers and artists. They do not appear to be fixed on tackling environmental crisis with new policies or any kind of political action. A change of sensibility is what they are after, and it is interesting to note the writers they pick out as exemplars of this new view of things. One is Robinson Jeffers, the once-celebrated and now much-underrated Californian eco-poet from one of whose verses the Dark Mountain project takes its name. Others include Wendell Berry, W S Merwin and Cormac McCarthy. Joseph Conrad is mentioned more than once, and cited approvingly for his view (summarised by his friend Bertrand Russell) that civilised life is "a dangerous walk on a thin crust of barely cooled lava which at any moment might break and let the unwary sink into fiery depths". It is intriguing to see which writers do and do not make it on to the authors' list. J G Ballard, whose entire work can be seen as an exploration of the flimsiness of civilised existence, is left out, while Conrad's inclusion shows only that the authors have seriously misunderstood him. In a passage quoted in the pamphlet, Conrad writes: "Few men realise that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings". For Conrad, the safety of civilised life was always partly illusory, if only because "civilisation" itself is never more than partial; the heart of darkness was as much in London as in the Congo. But even though civilisation is indelibly flawed, that does not mean it deserves to be destroyed; on the contrary, Conrad was convinced civilisation must be defended with unyielding determination. In reality, the alternative - a raw version of which he witnessed in King Leopold's private fiefdom in the Belgian Congo - is madness and unrestrained violence, a state that can reasonably be described as barbarism. The authors' misreading of Conrad provides a clue to their reasons for excluding Ballard from their list of kindred spirits. Ballard's early life in a Shanghai internment camp taught him that the disintegration of society does not produce any better version of the human animal. It may lead to a kind of personal liberation - at least if you are an adolescent boy, as Ballard was when he was interned - but overall the result of social collapse is to give free rein to the most psychopathic and predatory among us. The notion that social breakdown could be the prelude to a better world is a Romantic dream that history has proved wrong time and again. China and Russia have suffered complete social breakdown on several occasions during their history, as did much of Europe in the period between the two world wars. The result has never been the stable anarchy that is sometimes envisioned in the poetry of Jeffers. Instead, it is the thugs and fanatics who promise to restore order that triumph, whether Lenin and Stalin in Russia, Mao in China, or Hitler and assorted petty dictators in Europe. It is the old Hobbesian doctrine - one that has never been successfully superseded. The authors do not tell us what they expect to happen after civilisation has disappeared, but it may be something like the post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world imagined by the nature mystic Richard Jefferies in his novel After London, or Wild England (1885). In it, Britain is depopulated after ecological disaster and reverts to barbarism; but it is not long before a new social order springs up, simpler and happier than the one that has passed away. After London is an Arcadian morality tale that even Jefferies probably did not imagine could ever come to pass. Over a century later, the belief that a global collapse could lead to a better world is ever more far-fetched. Human numbers have multiplied, industrialisation has spread worldwide and the technologies of war are far more highly developed. In these circumstances, ecological catas?trophe will not trigger a return to a more sustainable way of life, but will intensify the existing competition among nation states for the planet's remaining reserves of oil, gas, fresh water and arable land. Waged with hi-tech weapons, the resulting war could destroy not only large numbers of human beings but also much of what is left of the biosphere. A scenario of this kind is not remotely apocalyptic. It is no more than history as usual, together with new technologies and ongoing climate change. The notion that the conflicts of history have been left behind is truly apocalyptic, and Kingsnorth and Hine are right to target business-as-usual philosophies of progress. When they posit a cleansing catastrophe, however, they, too, succumb to apocalyptic thinking. How can anyone imagine that the dream-driven human animal will suddenly become sane when its environment starts disintegrating? In their own catastrophist fashion, the authors have swallowed the progressive fairy tale that animates the civilisation they reject. A change of sensibility in the arts would be highly desirable. The new perspective that is needed, however, is the opposite of apocalyptic. Neither Conrad nor Ballard believed that catastrophe could alter the terms on which human beings live in the world. Both writers were unsparing critics of civilisation, but they never imagined there was a superior alternative. Each had witnessed for himself what the alternative means in practice. Rightly, Kingsnorth and Hine insist that our present environmental difficulties are not solvable problems, but are inseparable from our current way of living. When confronted with problems that are insoluble, however, the most useful response is not to await disaster in the hope that the difficulties will magically disappear. It is to do whatever can be done, knowing that it will not amount to much. Stoical acceptance of this kind is practically unthinkable at present - an age when emotional self-expression is valued more than anything else. Still, stoicism will be needed if civilised life is to survive an environmental crisis that cannot now be avoided. Walking on lava requires a cool head, not one filled with fiery dreams. Link {1}: http://www.dark-mountain.net/ ____ John Gray is chief book reviewer of the New Statesman. His most recent book is Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings (Allen Lane, GBP 20) http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/09/civilisation-planet-authors http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Sun Sep 13 07:38:41 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:38:41 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Honduran leader captured and jailed Message-ID: <912BC9B6664941B9B89C29FA02EF8B0E@home9sg93n9r5y> Honduran leader captured and jailed Posted to CN by: "Jane Franklin" janefranklin at hotmail.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:28 pm (PDT) IFCO / Pastors for Peace An ecumenical agency whose mission is to help forward the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and self-determination MEDIA ADVISORY from the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras (version en espa?ol sigue abajo) September 12, 2009 --- for immediate release CONTACT: Ellen Bernstein: 646/319-5902 REPRESSION INCREASING IN HONDURAS: RESISTANCE LEADER CAPTURED AND JAILED Ren? Chavez, a leader of the resistance movement against the coup d'etat in Honduras, was captured and jailed on Friday, September 11. Chavez is the former president of the Primer Colegio Magisterial de Honduras (PRICMA), a leading Honduran teachers' union. He also is currently a candidate for deputy to the National Assembly from the Atlantic Coast region of Honduras. He has been a coordinator in the Atlantic Coast region of the Frente Nacional, the national front against the coup. He was captured yesterday and taken to the Central Penitentiary of the Barrio Ingl?s in La Ceiba. He was taken to court today for an immediate trial, was charged with organizing illegal demonstrations, and was taken back to prison. Dr Luther Castillo, communications secretary for the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat, said, "We are very concerned about this dangerous situation, because once he's in jail, they can do anything to him, including paying someone to kill him. We are asking for solidarity from international organizations to demand his immediate freedom." From vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca Sun Sep 13 10:13:48 2009 From: vertegaa at vcn.bc.ca (John Vertegaal) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:13:48 -0700 Subject: [A-List] More Than One Way ... In-Reply-To: <7vo5oi$q2ag2@ipo3smtp.cc.utah.edu> References: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> <7vo5oi$q2ag2@ipo3smtp.cc.utah.edu> Message-ID: <4AAD1A3C.2000705@vcn.bc.ca> Todd, On balance I'd say I agree with most of your missives here. But I think this one could stand a bit of clarification before I do so. First of all what is credit in your view? In mine it firstly should conform to its etymological roots, which is a belief; and then possibly be fine-tuned from there. So credit is the belief that someone who asks for a loan will be able to pay it back with interest. In other words, though by itself it cannot be quantified, the extension of credit materializes a to be resolved debt. There is nothing inherently wrong with this mode of operation, it's just a matter of double-entry bookkeeping. I'm no great fan of Ellen Brown's either, yet, accordingly, Ellen is right when she says that: "money" is not a commodity but is created by legal agreement. Do you agree with this fundamental principle, or do you take money to be a commodity? A couple of months or so ago, you asserted something to the effect of money disappearing from the system with the pay back of loans. This indicates to me that you look at money as a "thing" or commodity of some kind. I'd like to challenge that view, which I think is wrong, some other time. Did you reason it through deductively, or is it one of those "obvious" things? You also say below that: "borrowing and lending...is a dysfunctional and archaic behavior. It is medieval." Are you saying that all personal savings fall in this category? What's wrong with those just starting out in their productive lives, benefiting from a certain satiation of those already established; while the latter save to replace their entry-level consumer durable, with a more luxurious one at a later date? Betterment throughout life is a powerful motivator! In my view, only net savings are detrimental to economic health. Although I fully agree with your distaste for banks and the economic income they extract for the amount of work they do, some agency is required to make the judgment if the economy indeed needs expansion in the sector the loan pertains to. The argument for, usually is represented by the business plan of the borrower "the hard work". Are you saying that the argument against, should be of similar depth? Or what is your exact objection here? You can't seriously require banks to share in the work of the first, or do you? To me however, this is all secondary at best. The cardinal question revolves around who is supposed to benefit and to what extent from the charged interest. And if banks were to be nationalized, something I'd favour, the charged interest would be a tax. I guess that's enough for today. John V Todd Boyle wrote: >> An Open Letter to the American Monetary Institute by Ellen Brown >> webofdebt.wordpress.com (August 28 2009) [...] *Ready credit is >> what makes an economy run smoothly,* and its availability should >> not be subject to the whims of a political body. Credit-money is >> created when creditworthy borrowers take out loans. Banks merely >> "monetize" the borrowers' promise to repay. As The Lost Science of >> Money makes clear, "money" is not a commodity but is created by >> legal agreement. [...] > > I disagree, that "ready credit" is necessary for an economy to run > smoothly. Doesn't this kinda bug you? Reading proposals for even > more state-maintained, protected money-lending apparatus? > > I think lending and borrowing should be taxed and sanctioned, like > other rackets. Not encouraged. > > The first thing we need is a more modern transaction system. A bank > is, today, nothing but a ledger, with millions of employees that only > add costs and reduce accuracy or reliability. And their ledger is > loathsome and crude--it only records the amount! > > Transaction records should include other information such as the > other side of the consideration (what was bought and sold). Companies > (like banks) offering transaction execution and storage services to > the public should be *required* to offer the service to the parties > in transactions, to record more of the information available in > transaction records, if they desire. > > Newer, more modern transaction systems have long been conceived and > developed by hundreds of software companies to operate in a > decentralized way, sufficiently peer to peer and free of reliance on > servers to escape capture by rent-seeking corporations, and achieve > other intended objectives. The software and telecoms complex could > certainly replace banks with ease, if permitted by law. > > The other thing we need are systems for search, comparison, > negotiation, auction, offer and acceptance. *These are the necessary > stages before the recording of a transaction in banks, which banks > have never helped us achieve at all.* Banks are so loathsome and > useless!!! It is shocking. All they do is the easist part-- > recording the amount, after all the hard work is done. And screw > things up, and make everything inefficient by refusing electronic > interfaces or integration. We would be better off without their > existence, at all. > > Finally, society in general, needs improvement in its systems of > fulfillment stage, AFTER the recording of a transaction. > > What we do NOT need is people borrowing and lending. That is a > dysfunctional and archiac behavior. It is medieval. > > We don't even need "capital markets", ipos, etc. What we need are > systems of search, negotiation, and contract formation that are > multiparty, so that we can form workgroups and collaborations of > larger scale, across longer distances, which are more congenial, > consensual and voluntary and joyful. I think lending and borrowing > should be taxed and sanctioned, like other rackets. Not encouraged. > > These endless discussions of the Fed and the money system are a huge > disservice, when they ignore the real scope of the system > requirements. > > Todd > > !DSPAM:3411,4aa978a125631103315978! From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sun Sep 13 13:29:30 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:29:30 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution In-Reply-To: <106901ca33d0$e24bc0f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> References: <5c2e4d230909120831ub6c4035s5496243340695987@mail.gmail.com><2fa158550909120909q53c6ae40o88082a1633061172@mail.gmail.com> <106901ca33d0$e24bc0f0$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> Message-ID: <8FBB6BEE42A84F75B09AA7E1283EA832@TonyPC> This is, of course, partly true. I say 'partly' simply because it is all, as they say, 'easier said than done', i.e. just try and dispossess the capitalist classes when they're backed up by a ruthless empire. So far only someone with the extraordinary capacities of a Castro - and under particularly supporting historical and cultural conditions - has been able to do so...(and the latter only at the expense of a distorted socialism, i.e. in favour of a relatively benign authoritarianism). In short, it is certainly true that the movement towards Latin American independence is only partial..and even tepid...but then, really, who are we (i.e. we who are so safely ensconced at the heart of Empire) to snub our noses at the (considerable) accomplishments of Latin American nationalist and socialist activism. We who have accomplished so little.)...Our critique, thus, should not shy away from hard truths..this whilst yet remaining constructivist and encouraging, and whilst being ever mindful of the mountainous difficulties they face..and the courage, sacrifice and blood they have already spent....The latter, let us not forget, that has spilled from their veins far more than from any of us. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Wright" To: "'The A-List'" Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 1:45 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] The State and Revolution Perhaps the reason there is no actual push for coups is that when all is said and done none of the regimes in South America, not Chavez, not Morales, et al., are actually moving to dispossess the ruling class by nationalizing their property, seizing their media organs or implementing land reform. In the past it was enough that someone would talk bad about US imperialism or mutter that land reform might be a good idea to be expelled by a coup but nowadays why bother. The Sandinistas, FMLN, et al., have all learned their lesson and hold political office with promises of fealty to capital. So who needs coups? Paul Wright, Editor Prison Legal News P.O. Box 2420 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 802 257-1342 pwright at prisonlegalnews.org www.prisonlegalnews.org Seattle Office 2400 NW 80th St. Suite 148 Seattle, WA 98117 206-246-1022 -----Original Message----- From: a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:a-list-bounces at lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of N?stor Gorojovsky Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 12:09 PM To: The A-List Subject: Re: [A-List] The State and Revolution 2009/9/12 c b : > Violent overthrow is the desparate polictal location of the rich > enemies of the working masses today in the South of the Western > Hemisphere. yes, but for some exceptions like Honduras (and not even there fully certain), the armies are NOT for violent overthrow. Not even in Colombia. I guess one of the reasons behind Uribe?s attempt at re-re-election is the fear that if a more progressive regime takes power in Bogot?, there would be no army coup to expel it. -- N?stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a From tal1 at cogeco.ca Sun Sep 13 14:16:14 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:16:14 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The Dark Mountain Manifesto In-Reply-To: <20090913195946.1384a374.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> References: <20090913195946.1384a374.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Message-ID: <338F06AEBA9640108D60A7ECCA1790B2@TonyPC> A demurral if you please... "When confronted with problems that are insoluble, however, the most useful response is not to await disaster in the hope that the difficulties will magically disappear. It is to do whatever can be done, knowing that it will not amount to much" The 'most useful response'? Fatalism and 'stoicism'!? ..How about, say, 'heroism', 'extraordinary effort', 'indomitability', a non-competitive ethos, etc. Not that any of these will *necessarily* win the day...but without them we are almost certainly doomed to the self-fulfilling prophecy of 'ecocide'. Stoicism should, perhaps then, be understood as the myth, the narrative of a despairing, individualist, late-capitalist mindscape. [And, by the way, how tuneful is such 'stoicism' to the ears of the rapacious powers that be.] As I have mentioned before, I have just finished reading Fidel Castro's biography. Forgiving him for the moment his faults (i.e. there is, inevitably some special pleading in any autobiography) it is, nontheless, evident that the most remarkable characteristic of this man was/is his capacity of visionary imagination linked to a truly fearless and indomitable will. Why is his example important to the world? Because he demonstrates a latent capacity in all of us...a *capacity to achieve*, ...and to achieve, well, almost literally, the 'impossible'. [What is interesting is they he himself, when discussing the fate of the planet, is hardly sanguine, i.e. he is clear on the potential, even likely probability, of planetary collapse. Still, he quickly rejoins by citing - and quite relevantly - what has been accomplished in Cuba (against overwhelming odds)..and the example that this provides for the rest of the world (i.e. in terms of the inculcation of new collectivist vs individualist values, the implementation of imaginative ). In short, he opines that whatever chances we *do* have to avoid collapse, it is only through 'fighting the good fight' ..and with extraordinary courage and imagination...that we have any chance of succeeding. ...Fatalism and 'stoicism' hardly belong in the playbook of revolutionaries. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Totten" To: Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 6:59 AM Subject: [A-List] The Dark Mountain Manifesto > > We have, it seems, led the planet into the age of ecocide. Can > civilisation survive the unavoidable environmental catastrophe? To stand a > chance we will need cool heads, not fiery dreams. > > by John Gray > > New Statesman (September 10 2009) > > > Walking on Lava > > During the past century empires crashed, new states foundered, utopian > projects failed and entire civilisations melted down. Revolutionary change > was the norm, as it has been throughout modern times. Yet today many of us > assume our present way of life will last for ever, and any suggestion that > it may be facing intractable difficulties is dismissed as doom-mongering. > The result is that the precariousness of modern civilisation is > underestimated and the impression that things can go on indefinitely, much > as they do now is touted as hard-headed realism. > > The Dark Mountain Manifesto {1} begins with the observation that this > appearance of stability is delusive. "The pattern of ordinary life, in > which so much stays the same from one day to the next", the authors write, > "disguises the fragility of its fabric". Written by Paul Kingsnorth and > Dougald Hine, this slim pamphlet aims to demolish contemporary beliefs > about progress, industrialism and the place of human beings on the planet, > and up to a point it succeeds. Much in contemporary thought is made up of > myths masquerading as facts, and it is refreshing to see these myths > clearly identified as such. The authors are right that none is more > powerful than the idea that we are separate from the natural world, and > free to use it as we see fit. > > But is it true that civilisation is also a myth, as Kingsnorth and Hine > claim? Would human beings - or the planet that they are ravaging - be > better off if civilisation collapsed? The authors tell us that our present > way of life "is built upon the stories we have constructed about our > genius, our indestructibility, our manifest destiny as a chosen species". > > These legends, they continue, have "led the planet into the age of > ecocide". The spread of civilisation and the destruction of the biosphere > have gone together. The human future, it seems to the authors, must lie in > "uncivilisation". > > Kingsnorth and Hine seem to present uncivilisation as chiefly a project > for writers and artists. They do not appear to be fixed on tackling > environmental crisis with new policies or any kind of political action. A > change of sensibility is what they are after, and it is interesting to > note the writers they pick out as exemplars of this new view of things. > > One is Robinson Jeffers, the once-celebrated and now much-underrated > Californian eco-poet from one of whose verses the Dark Mountain project > takes its name. Others include Wendell Berry, W S Merwin and Cormac > McCarthy. Joseph Conrad is mentioned more than once, and cited approvingly > for his view (summarised by his friend Bertrand Russell) that civilised > life is "a dangerous walk on a thin crust of barely cooled lava which at > any moment might break and let the unwary sink into fiery depths". > > It is intriguing to see which writers do and do not make it on to the > authors' list. J G Ballard, whose entire work can be seen as an > exploration of the flimsiness of civilised existence, is left out, while > Conrad's inclusion shows only that the authors have seriously > misunderstood him. In a passage quoted in the pamphlet, Conrad writes: > "Few men realise that their life, the very essence of their character, > their capabilities and audacities, are only the expression of their belief > in the safety of their surroundings". > > For Conrad, the safety of civilised life was always partly illusory, if > only because "civilisation" itself is never more than partial; the heart > of darkness was as much in London as in the Congo. But even though > civilisation is indelibly flawed, that does not mean it deserves to be > destroyed; on the contrary, Conrad was convinced civilisation must be > defended with unyielding determination. In reality, the alternative - a > raw version of which he witnessed in King Leopold's private fiefdom in the > Belgian Congo - is madness and unrestrained violence, a state that can > reasonably be described as barbarism. > > The authors' misreading of Conrad provides a clue to their reasons for > excluding Ballard from their list of kindred spirits. Ballard's early life > in a Shanghai internment camp taught him that the disintegration of > society does not produce any better version of the human animal. It may > lead to a kind of personal liberation - at least if you are an adolescent > boy, as Ballard was when he was interned - but overall the result of > social collapse is to give free rein to the most psychopathic and > predatory among us. > > The notion that social breakdown could be the prelude to a better world is > a Romantic dream that history has proved wrong time and again. China and > Russia have suffered complete social breakdown on several occasions during > their history, as did much of Europe in the period between the two world > wars. The result has never been the stable anarchy that is sometimes > envisioned in the poetry of Jeffers. Instead, it is the thugs and fanatics > who promise to restore order that triumph, whether Lenin and Stalin in > Russia, Mao in China, or Hitler and assorted petty dictators in Europe. It > is the old Hobbesian doctrine - one that has never been successfully > superseded. > > The authors do not tell us what they expect to happen after civilisation > has disappeared, but it may be something like the post-apocalyptic, > neo-medieval world imagined by the nature mystic Richard Jefferies in his > novel After London, or Wild England (1885). In it, Britain is depopulated > after ecological disaster and reverts to barbarism; but it is not long > before a new social order springs up, simpler and happier than the one > that has passed away. After London is an Arcadian morality tale that even > Jefferies probably did not imagine could ever come to pass. > > Over a century later, the belief that a global collapse could lead to a > better world is ever more far-fetched. Human numbers have multiplied, > industrialisation has spread worldwide and the technologies of war are far > more highly developed. In these circumstances, ecological catas?trophe > will not trigger a return to a more sustainable way of life, but will > intensify the existing competition among nation states for the planet's > remaining reserves of oil, gas, fresh water and arable land. Waged with > hi-tech weapons, the resulting war could destroy not only large numbers of > human beings but also much of what is left of the biosphere. > > A scenario of this kind is not remotely apocalyptic. It is no more than > history as usual, together with new technologies and ongoing climate > change. The notion that the conflicts of history have been left behind is > truly apocalyptic, and Kingsnorth and Hine are right to target > business-as-usual philosophies of progress. When they posit a cleansing > catastrophe, however, they, too, succumb to apocalyptic thinking. How can > anyone imagine that the dream-driven human animal will suddenly become > sane when its environment starts disintegrating? In their own > catastrophist fashion, the authors have swallowed the progressive fairy > tale that animates the civilisation they reject. > > A change of sensibility in the arts would be highly desirable. The new > perspective that is needed, however, is the opposite of apocalyptic. > Neither Conrad nor Ballard believed that catastrophe could alter the terms > on which human beings live in the world. Both writers were unsparing > critics of civilisation, but they never imagined there was a superior > alternative. Each had witnessed for himself what the alternative means in > practice. Rightly, Kingsnorth and Hine insist that our present > environmental difficulties are not solvable problems, but are inseparable > from our current way of living. When confronted with problems that are > insoluble, however, the most useful response is not to await disaster in > the hope that the difficulties will magically disappear. It is to do > whatever can be done, knowing that it will not amount to much. Stoical > acceptance of this kind is practically unthinkable at present - an age > when emotional self-expression is valued more than anything else. Still, > stoicism will be needed if civilised life is to survive an environmental > crisis that cannot now be avoided. Walking on lava requires a cool head, > not one filled with fiery dreams. > > Link {1}: http://www.dark-mountain.net/ > ____ > > John Gray is chief book reviewer of the New Statesman. His most recent > book is Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings (Allen Lane, GBP 20) > > http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/09/civilisation-planet-authors > > > http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com > http://www.ashisuto.co.jp > > From ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com Sun Sep 13 17:30:34 2009 From: ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com (Mohawk Nation News) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:30:34 -0400 Subject: [A-List] MNN Military & Geographers map dispossession of Indigenous Message-ID: <01dd6c0b$40069$0ceb8128962269@xnote> MILITARY & GEOGRAPHERS MAP DISPOSSESSION OF INDIGENOUS MNN. Sep. 12, 2009. The three colonies of Canada, US and Mexico are forming a political block to better control Indigenous labor and to seize our resources. In 1973, Henry Kissinger in effect said that depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the less developed countries because the US needs to steal their resources. [www.findsomequotes.com/henry-kissinger-new-york-times-oct-28-1973]. The greatest resistance to global control by international banker thugs are indigenous communities. We assert autonomy, self-determination and human rights when we communally hold our territory. This creates an obstacle to theft of our land and resources by US political and economic interests. The US military and geographers have a plan to prey on and dissolve indigenous communities and resistance. In 2005, the US Department of Defense gave Kansas University $500,000 to map communally-held indigenous land in the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi and Oaxaca. The professors and the US Foreign Military Studies Office FMSO at Fort Leavenworth are implementing the ?Mexico Indigena? program to privatize Indigenous lands which are presently held communally. The Officers are trained in land and resource theft at the US Army School of the Americas which also teaches torture and sets up death squads in Latin America. The plan is to get rid of Indigenous autonomy and self-determination to get our territory and resources. Propaganda is being spread that our communities are breeding grounds of crime and insurgency and must be done away with. Land data and military strategy was carried out in Colombia [Mapping Colombia: Land Data and Strategy]. While collecting data, the FMSO assessed so-called guerrilla armies, terrorist organizations and Indigenous defenses. In 1992 the Mexican President revoked Article 27 of the constitution which had turned communal land grants over to Mexico?s indigenous people in 1912. The North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA revoked this. The day NAFTA went into effect, on January 1, 1994, the Zapatistas captured a third of the state of Chiapas, who continue to resist and inspire human rights struggles elsewhere. Oaxaca State is extremely wealthy in natural resources. It is a site for NAFTA based mega industrial projects known as Plan Puebla Panama such as highways, railways, ports, wind energy, mines, agribusinesses, and maquiladora-style assembly plants. Indigenous communities are pushed off their land, used for cheap labor or robbed of their livelihood because they are considered non-viable. A geographer at the University of the Earth in Oaxaca City saw the danger of these mapping junkets. They were combined with talks for US military aid known as the Merida Initiative. The military planned to displace Indigenous communities, remove hot spots and control the region. Natural and mineral resources could then be stolen by the government and its transnational allies. On June 14, 2006 a teacher?s union strike in Oaxaca City blew up into a popular Indigenous uprising of farm workers, teachers, students, housewives, and laborers. The people wanted traditional forms of land tenure and self-governance. The Oaxacan People?s Popular Assembly APPO took over the state?s capitol city for six months. It became the de-facto government, organized under the Indigenous principle of leading by obeying the people. Organizing was done by consensus. APPO members occupied state, local, and federal government offices throughout the city and took over food, water, transportation and communication. The state retaliated with murder, disappearance, rape, torture and police led drive-by shootings. The social movement was eroded for a while. During this resistance, the ?Mexico Indigena? mapping project moved its operation to a biologically diverse and mineral-rich region in Oaxaca. Territory and culture are together in daily life for the indigenous of southern Mexico. Free Trade forces a loss of identity and tradition. There is constant propaganda that devalues Indigenous culture. Mannequins in Oaxaca City are tall, skinny, and very white. The most prevalent cosmetic product sold to indigenous women is skin bleach. We obviously need to reclaim our autonomy, territory and natural identity. Negating communal land holding is to deny indigenous culture, life and identity. The US knows that our relationship with the land is the biggest threat to the capitalists. Our identity and our birthright is the land. International law dictates that changes can only be made with our full knowledge and consent, which we?ll never give. Removing the artificial borders between Canada, US and Mexico is for the immigrants and foreigners, not us. Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to ?MNN Mohawk Nation News?, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN ?WORLD? category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Left Turn July/Aug 2009, Simon Sedillo www.elenemigocomun.net, From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Sun Sep 13 18:53:00 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:53:00 +0900 Subject: [A-List] A Terrible Ambivalence Message-ID: <20090914095300.b589e72c.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report (September 09 2009) Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society I'd meant to spend this week's report talking about scarcity industrialism, the kind of economy that will be defined for us in the near future by the conjunction of resource scarcity with the immense mass of embodied energy we call an industrial civilization. There's a great deal to be said about the forms such an economy will likely take, and the harsh challenges and unexpected opportunities that it will bring to a world still far too used to getting as much energy as it wants whenever it happens to want it. Still, that necessary theme will have to wait a week or two. Last month the online edition of The Guardian, one of the leading (or at least surviving) British newspapers, featured a debate about the future of industrial society {1} between journalist, poet and cofounder of The Dark Mountain Project [2] Paul Kingsnorth, and the sturdy radical George Monbiot, who's most recently made a name for himself as a tireless advocate for drastic measures to counter global warming. It was refreshing to see the possibility of the collapse of our civilization debated on so public a forum, and of course it didn't hurt my feelings any to be cited as an authority of sorts by one of the participants. Still, the debate left me with a deep sense of disquiet, which has only become stronger in the days that followed and finally made this point unavoidable. At some risk of oversimplification, the argument between Monbiot and Kingsnorth may be summed up more or less as follows. Both agree that industrial civilization faces imminent collapse. Monbiot argues that collapse might still be prevented if we all pull together, that the only alternative is letting total collapse happen, and that this is unthinkable because billions of people will die horribly. He argues that the only alternative to preserving modern society in some improved form is a cataclysmic process of mass dieoff ending in a new dark age ruled by petty warlords, with some new earth-ravaging society likely to rise on the ruins of the old unless his preferred political solution gets put in place to control our species' ecocidal tendencies. Kingsnorth rejects all this. He insists that collapse can't be prevented, and in any case should be allowed to happen, because industrial civilization is a "planetary weapon of mass destruction" and letting it collapse is less destructive than allowing it to continue. He cites my concept of the Long Descent (2008) to argue that the end of industrial civilization could be a lot less traumatic than Monbiot thinks it must be, insists that ecocide is inherent in our present society rather than in humanity as a whole, and suggests that whatever replaces our society is bound to be less dreadful than what we have now. Anyone who has listened to debates about the future of industrial society at any point in the last fifty years or so will surely find both these arguments familiar. Since the limits to growth first became visible on the horizon of our civilization's future, the great majority of those who took the time to notice them either insisted that humanity can and must do something about them, and offered some plan for reaching a better future, or insisted that nothing at all could be done about them, and claimed that the arrival of those limits would bring a better future. To be fair to Monbiot and Kingsnorth, their stances in the debate expressed moderate and nuanced versions of these common tropes. It wouldn't be hard at all to find examples much further out in either direction - out well past Monbiot, say, one of the current technofantasists or political zealots who believe that a world teetering on the edge of doom can be transformed into Utopia if only their pet project were to be adopted by all; out well past Kingsnorth, perhaps, one of the neoprimitivists who daydream about the carefree life in the bountiful lap of nature that would surely arrive if only six billion inconvenient people would hurry up and die. The arguments in the Guardian debate are far less extreme, and far more reasonable, than these. So why do they leave me shaking my head, convinced that neither one has grasped what's most essential about the predicament before us? The places where Monbiot misses the turning, as I see it, stand out clearly, and longtime readers of this blog will likely have no difficulty at all anticipating my disagreements with his views. To begin with, his call to arms is an epic case of locking the barn door when the horse has not only left but mailed back a forwarding address from another state. The end of industrial civilization would almost certainly have been forestalled if sensible policies had been put in place in the 1950s; there was arguably still some hope of success if all-out efforts had been launched in the 1970s; at this point, with Hubbert's peak already past, carbon dioxide piling up in the atmosphere and the world's human population approaching seven billion, the chances of preventing collapse compare unfavorably with those of a snowball in Beelzebub's back yard. Now it could be argued that any possibility is worth pursuing if the alternative is dire enough, and this is basically the argument Monbiot makes. Unfortunately his plan of action is simply to dust off the same toolkit of protest methods that activists have been using with diminishing returns, and governments have been brushing aside with increasing success, since the dawn of the twentieth century. The handful of successes achieved by those methods many decades ago have imposed a bizarre astigmatism of the imagination on the left; the stereotyped methods of protest have become so sacrosanct, or so automatic, that the mere fact that they have failed consistently for years never quite seems to register. All this invites comparison with Don Quixote, even if Monbiot is fighting for windmills rather than against them. Woeful countenances aside, though, insisting on the pursuit of an unreachable goal through ineffective methods is not normally a productive way to prepare for a difficult future. There's nothing in Monbiot's proposal that hasn't been tried repeatedly since the 1950s without having the least impact on the trajectory of industrial society, and as the saying has it, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. All this may seem like support for Paul Kingsnorth's side of the argument, and of course it parallels a number of the points he makes in the debate and elsewhere in his writings. It seems fair to say that my views are much more in sympathy with his than with Monbiot's, and I suspect that Kingsnorth would agree with that assessment, as he's the one who cited me to support one of his arguments. Yet there's a sour note running through his contributions to the debate, and it comes out forcefully every time he finesses the human cost of the transformation ahead of us. Monbiot, to give him his due, calls him on this repeatedly. A deindustrial world, as Monbiot correctly points out, will be able to support maybe two billion people at most - my working guess, for what it's worth, is that this is too optimistic by a factor of four - and this means that in any future that doesn't include the survival of the industrial system, a lot of people are going to die. Now of course he goes from there to imply, more or less, that yet another round of protest marches is the only way to keep five billion human corpses from hitting the ground in a single planetwide thud, and this doesn't exactly follow. Still, the basic point is valid, and Kingsnorth's efforts to evade it are troubling. Yet that evasion is inseparable from a central theme of Kingsnorth's argument, which is that a better world can be expected to rise out of the wreckage of the present. That Monbiot's argument also hinges on his hopes for a bright new tomorrow adds a rich irony to the debate. Both men are proclaiming the gospel of a better future; their disagreements are simply about what form that future will take and how we will get there. Both assume that we can have, and ought to have, a future that's even shinier than the present. It's a very common assumption, so common that many of those who are reading these words may share it, but it's also the place where the worm gets in and rots the apple to the core. We are not going to have a future better than the present: not in our lifetimes, and not in those of our grandchildren's grandchildren. We collectively closed the door on that possibility decades ago, and none of the rapidly narrowing range of choices still open to us now offers any way of changing that. If this sounds like fatalism, it may be worth remembering that once a car goes skidding off a mountain road into empty air, it requires neither a crystal ball nor a faith in predestination to recognize that nothing anybody can do is going to prevent a terrific crash. It's nonsense to claim, as some inevitably do, that this realization makes taking action pointless. Our efforts, given hard work, wisdom, and a substantial dollop of luck, may well succeed in making the future less difficult than it will otherwise be. It may be possible for us to save a few things worth saving that would otherwise be lost, to stem some little of what will be an immense tide of human suffering, to do what we can to help stabilize a damaged biosphere so Nature doesn't have to rebuild it entirely from scratch. All of these things are profoundly worth doing. None of them will change the fact that the future ahead of us will be a profoundly difficult time in which many of the things that are most meaningful to each of us will inevitably be lost. We do no one a favor, least of all ourselves, by trying to sugarcoat that very unpalatable reality. Nor do we gain anything by playing the fox to industrial civilization's grapes, and insisting that the extraordinary gifts the recent past has given us are sour because they are about to pass out of our reach. During the age that is coming to an end, the billion or so of us who have lived in the industrial world have enjoyed comforts and opportunities that our species had never known before and almost certainly will never know again. Those could never have been anything but temporary, they were distributed no more fairly than anything else passed around by human hands, and a wiser species would likely have had more common sense than to launch itself on the trajectory we followed, but it's as distorting to dismiss the extraordinary achievements of our age as it would be to ignore the terrible cost for those achievements that will be paid by us and our descendants. So many of us want things all one way or the other, all good or all evil, without the terrible ambivalence that pulses through all things human as inescapably as blood. So many of us want to see today's civilization as humanity's only hope or as ecocide incarnate, and long for a future that will be either the apotheosis or the final refutation of the present. It's far less popular, and arguably far more difficult, to embrace that ambivalence and accept both the wonder and the immense tragedy of our time. Still, it seems to me that if we are to face up to the challenges of the future that's bearing down on us, that difficult realization is an essential starting point. Links: {1} http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/aug/17/environment-climate-change {2} http://www.dark-mountain.net/ _____ John Michael Greer, the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years, and is the author of more than twenty books, including The Druidry Handbook (Weiser, 2006) and The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age (New Society, 2008). He lives in Cumberland, Maryland. ? http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/terrible-ambivalence.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From rfidler_8 at sympatico.ca Sun Sep 13 19:47:30 2009 From: rfidler_8 at sympatico.ca (Richard Fidler) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:47:30 -0400 Subject: [A-List] =?iso-8859-1?q?Britain=27s_Conquest_of_Quebec=3A_250_yea?= =?iso-8859-1?q?rs_later=2E=2E=2E?= Message-ID: Colonization. Conquest. Words that even today evoke widely varying historical memories. Just last year Quebec City staged an elaborate round of events to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its founding as the colonial capital of New France. No expense was spared as federal and provincial governments alike poured money into the city?s coffers. Capping the ceremonies were massively attended concerts by Qu?b?coise singer C?line Dion and former Beatle Paul McCartney ? apparently deemed emblematic descendants of the French and British ?founding peoples? of present-day Canada. It seemed to be one great love-in of all those involved. (Lost in all the self-congratulatory rhetoric, of course, was any recognition that the city?s site had in fact been occupied by its Indigenous inhabitants for many centuries prior to the arrival of the Europeans.) This year was the occasion for another anniversary. On September 13, 1759 ? exactly 250 years ago ? in a 20-minute battle on the same city?s Plains of Abraham, the invading British defeated a French army, effectively putting an end to the French empire in North America. But plans to mark this anniversary, from the outset, sparked an acrimonious debate among politicians and the media. The dispute expressed the deep divide between those who are basically satisfied with Quebec?s place in Canada and those who aren?t. And to some degree it reflected the widespread recognition among the Qu?b?cois that the Conquest was the seminal event at the origin of their inequality of status as a people within Canada. It all began in January, when the National Battlefields Commission, a federal government agency that administers the remains of the French fortress on the Plains of Abraham, announced plans to stage a re-enactment of the famous battle. Following a huge outcry of opposition, this was dropped. It seemed that many Qu?b?cois did not want to be reminded of an event that sealed their fate as an oppressed minority in the post-Conquest colony. Then a coalition of Qu?b?cois nationalists announced that they would stage a different kind of re-enactment: a series of events to ?Reclaim the Plains?, culminating in ?Le Moulin ? Paroles? (literally the word-mill, or chatterbox), a public reading on the weekend of September 12-13 of some 140 works by various protagonists in Quebec?s troubled history from the time of the Conquest to the pro-Quebec sovereignty movement of today. It would feature, for example, statements by Louis-Joseph Papineau, a leader of the 1837 Rebellion, and by Louis Riel, the martyred leader of the Northwest Rebellion of M?tis and Indigenous peoples in the 1880s, as well as excerpts from the infamous 1840 report of Lord Durham proposing that British policy promote the assimilation of the French-speaking population of Canada, and from a letter by British General James Wolfe, commander of the victorious army in 1759, written a few months before the battle. ?It would give me pleasure to see the Canadian vermin sacked and pillaged? wrote Wolfe. And indeed, that is precisely what the British troops did in towns and villages along the St. Lawrence as they pursued their offensive. But what most drew the ire of the big-business media and politicians in both Quebec and English Canada was the organizers? plan to read from the ?Manifesto? of the Front de Lib?ration du Qu?bec (FLQ), issued during the October Crisis of 1970. Full: http://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2009/09/britains-conquest-of-quebec-250 -years.html or http://tinyurl.com/kr26p7 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 7425 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090913/f7f1d0b3/attachment.txt From toddfboyle at gmail.com Sun Sep 13 21:56:52 2009 From: toddfboyle at gmail.com (Todd Boyle) Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:56:52 -0700 Subject: [A-List] More Than One Way ... In-Reply-To: <4AAD1A3C.2000705@vcn.bc.ca> References: <20090910140953.40fcb96a.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> <7vo5oi$q2ag2@ipo3smtp.cc.utah.edu> <4AAD1A3C.2000705@vcn.bc.ca> Message-ID: John, regarding your first 3 paragraphs, I don't think we've got any essential difference to discuss. Credit happens. Credit is extended within the ordinary operation of the economy, and it happens in the form of loans, often of a capital nature. I think we all agree that trust and credit are a good thing, a natural thing in the productive economy. Most transfers of economic resources are not reciprocated at the same point in time. There is a transaction lifecycle, (awareness of desire, search, comparison, offers/ counter offers, negotiation, agreement and commitment to a contract, fulfillment by each of the parties in turn, rarely at the same moment in time. ) The use of money as a medium of exchange certainly prevents the simultaneous completion of contracts, if you look at money as medium rather than as an asset. The recipient of money has not received consideration for his performance, his fulfillment of the contract, until he/she spends the money and gets something in return. It goes without saying that money has aspects of a real asset or commodity. It is also, certainly, an artifact or symbol. Even if it were gold, it would still have both aspects. It's for the reader to read further and ponder such things, I'm not the guy to write about this. I've already tipped my hand, I think money is a fraud and we need to get completely away from it, and develop our practices and customs toward barter, multiparty barter, joint ventures and capital formation nonintermediated in money. We can do this, we have the software infrastructures and networks. Global corporations are already networks of workgroups and their operations are decentralized from their financial owners. These things have long been maintained in terms of materials, inventories, resources of various things... the change happened in the late 1980s and it was called "ERP Systems". Corporations realized that they were not running their companies based on their debits and credits in the accounting systems, indeed those systems were nothing but inefficient artifacts, and there was an awful backlash against accountants and auditors. They realize, what they were running was enterprise resource planning (ERP) or, operations management systems, on DEC and Sun, on relational databases like Oracle. The winning vendors were SAP, Peoplesoft, etc,, In the late 90s they began to be eclipsed by CRM, customer relationsship management as you breakdown further and further into the atomic nature of the transactions it is about the customer, the supplier, the employee or "associate" or contractor, etc. What's the difference? By now the treasuries of the various subsidiaries, intercompany settlements, etc. are more and more irrelevant, unnecessary and automated. Sometimes I wonder if the only people in the world still using money as a medium of exchange are the population. And when are we going to wake up, and walk away from it? Stop doing anything, outside of nonmoney-mediated, multiparty barter contracts, denominated in real goods and services. Another evidence of the irrelevance of money can be found in the adaptations to extremely rapid inflation in Brazil and Argentina in the 1980s and 1990s. I was in Japan at the time and heard the Japanese absolutely marvelling at it, they had I think, three different units of accounting... it was basically a multicurrrency accounting system (which Americans had better start studying and understanding), having the brazilian currency, and some other artificial numbering systems such as the dollar as reference, to decide what to sell the products for, today. Imagine yourself operating a supermarket. What they were doing, was, everybody was dealing in Brazilian currency of course, and keeping track of its decline, without actually changing the sticker prices on the groceries every half hour. And you had to revalue your accounts payable and receivable, constantly. And the corporate sector all the way down to small merchants, got used to this as routine. --- I realize I haven't answered the questions in the second half of your message, but these questions contain their own answers. Yes, I think the economy would function better without capital formation in the form of money balances. The byproducts that come along with today's system of capital markets are so costly, it's not worth it, for whatever value their control over investment decisions makes for the general population of people. I think their decisions of what to build and invest in, are so bad, so harmful, we would be far better off with projects conceived from the ground up, by committees who would compose proposals to the workforces in native units of time, measures, quantities, dates/ locations. Do you see how my vision is at once, opposed to capitalism and money systems, and also opposed to unions or marxist ideas of party committees, who are basically delegates, who like the Congress, would make decisions that are binding on everybody else? My vision is basically for multiparty contracts that are not binding on anybody until they agree. And following their commitment, if they fail to perform their role, deliver their essential part, then the permanent record of that default would impact their access to valuable roles in the future. This is my vision of credit, and creditworthiness. And social organization, that would be less susceptible to exploitation by evil people, and it would be less prone to war. It would be systemically better than the current state capitalism, just as state capitalism was better than the monarchy. It would, alas, still be a hardcore, reciprocated economy with all its unfairness and imposing externalities on outsiders. It would still require a government, law, torts and claims, environmental regulation, etc.etc. but it would get rid of the damned financial people and banks, and it would end the domination-subordinate architecture that is all corporate structure today. At the same time, it would maintain accountability in people, for their promises to the entire value chain if they want to play. Todd At 09:13 AM 9/13/2009, John Vertegaal wrote: >Todd, > >On balance I'd say I agree with most of your missives here. But I think >this one could stand a bit of clarification before I do so. First of all >what is credit in your view? In mine it firstly should conform to its >etymological roots, which is a belief; and then possibly be fine-tuned >from there. So credit is the belief that someone who asks for a loan >will be able to pay it back with interest. In other words, though by >itself it cannot be quantified, the extension of credit materializes a >to be resolved debt. > >There is nothing inherently wrong with this mode of operation, it's just >a matter of double-entry bookkeeping. I'm no great fan of Ellen Brown's >either, yet, accordingly, Ellen is right when she says that: "money" is >not a commodity but is created by legal agreement. Do you agree with >this fundamental principle, or do you take money to be a commodity? > >A couple of months or so ago, you asserted something to the effect of >money disappearing from the system with the pay back of loans. This >indicates to me that you look at money as a "thing" or commodity of some >kind. I'd like to challenge that view, which I think is wrong, some >other time. Did you reason it through deductively, or is it one of those >"obvious" things? You also say below that: "borrowing and lending...is a >dysfunctional and archaic behavior. It is medieval." Are you saying that >all personal savings fall in this category? What's wrong with those just >starting out in their productive lives, benefiting from a certain >satiation of those already established; while the latter save to replace >their entry-level consumer durable, with a more luxurious one at a later >date? Betterment throughout life is a powerful motivator! In my >view, only net savings are detrimental to economic health. > >Although I fully agree with your distaste for banks and the economic >income they extract for the amount of work they do, some agency is >required to make the judgment if the economy indeed needs expansion in >the sector the loan pertains to. The argument for, usually is >represented by the business plan of the borrower "the hard work". Are >you saying that the argument against, should be of similar depth? Or >what is your exact objection here? You can't seriously require banks to >share in the work of the first, or do you? To me however, this is all >secondary at best. The cardinal question revolves around who is supposed >to benefit and to what extent from the charged interest. And if banks >were to be nationalized, something I'd favour, the charged interest >would be a tax. I guess that's enough for today. > >John V > > > >Todd Boyle wrote: >>>An Open Letter to the American Monetary Institute by Ellen Brown >>>webofdebt.wordpress.com (August 28 2009) [...] *Ready credit is >>>what makes an economy run smoothly,* and its availability should >>>not be subject to the whims of a political body. Credit-money is >>>created when creditworthy borrowers take out loans. Banks merely >>>"monetize" the borrowers' promise to repay. As The Lost Science of >>> Money makes clear, "money" is not a commodity but is created by >>> legal agreement. [...] >>I disagree, that "ready credit" is necessary for an economy to run >>smoothly. Doesn't this kinda bug you? Reading proposals for even >>more state-maintained, protected money-lending apparatus? >>I think lending and borrowing should be taxed and sanctioned, like >>other rackets. Not encouraged. >>The first thing we need is a more modern transaction system. A bank >>is, today, nothing but a ledger, with millions of employees that only >> add costs and reduce accuracy or reliability. And their ledger >> is loathsome and crude--it only records the amount! >>Transaction records should include other information such as the >>other side of the consideration (what was bought and sold). Companies >> (like banks) offering transaction execution and storage services to >> the public should be *required* to offer the service to the parties >> in transactions, to record more of the information available in >> transaction records, if they desire. >>Newer, more modern transaction systems have long been conceived and >>developed by hundreds of software companies to operate in a >>decentralized way, sufficiently peer to peer and free of reliance on >> servers to escape capture by rent-seeking corporations, and achieve >> other intended objectives. The software and telecoms complex could >> certainly replace banks with ease, if permitted by law. >>The other thing we need are systems for search, comparison, >>negotiation, auction, offer and acceptance. *These are the necessary >> stages before the recording of a transaction in banks, which >> banks have never helped us achieve at all.* Banks are so >> loathsome and useless!!! It is shocking. All they do is the >> easist part-- recording the amount, after all the hard work is >> done. And screw things up, and make everything inefficient by >> refusing electronic interfaces or integration. We would be better >> off without their existence, at all. >>Finally, society in general, needs improvement in its systems of >>fulfillment stage, AFTER the recording of a transaction. >>What we do NOT need is people borrowing and lending. That is a >>dysfunctional and archiac behavior. It is medieval. >>We don't even need "capital markets", ipos, etc. What we need are >>systems of search, negotiation, and contract formation that are >>multiparty, so that we can form workgroups and collaborations of >>larger scale, across longer distances, which are more congenial, >>consensual and voluntary and joyful. I think lending and borrowing >> should be taxed and sanctioned, like other rackets. Not encouraged. >>These endless discussions of the Fed and the money system are a huge >> disservice, when they ignore the real scope of the system requirements. >>Todd >>!DSPAM:3411,4aa978a125631103315978! > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 13424 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090913/8434f973/attachment.txt From pwright at prisonlegalnews.org Sun Sep 13 22:09:36 2009 From: pwright at prisonlegalnews.org (Paul Wright) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:09:36 -0400 Subject: [A-List] new engels bio Message-ID: <13da01ca34f1$2c76db30$0900a8c0@PRISONLEGALNEWS.local> http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14209490 Economist.com A biography of Friedrich Engels A very special business angel Aug 13th 2009 From suzannedk at gmail.com Sun Sep 13 22:37:49 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:37:49 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: [R-G] Scheer: A 9/11 Reality Check In-Reply-To: <658058751.741541252779309889.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> References: <879022389.559571252700255714.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <658058751.741541252779309889.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> Message-ID: With world wide passive surveillance the American Military has become a criminally insane paranoid psycho eight years into two preventative wars that have so decimated the two countries and the peoples of the two countries that it will take a thousand years to approximate cultural or physical healing. That sentence shows only my need to state the impossible as neither Iraq nor Afhanistan when the US finally leaves there, will ever return to the countries they were. Both will be totally destroyed. The US Constitutional experiment also will be totally destroyed. Scheer is seemingly unaware that whistleblowers are an anachronism now. suzannedk at gmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sid Shniad Date: Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM Subject: [R-G] Scheer: A 9/11 Reality Check To: Suzanne de Kuyper http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090908_a_9_11_reality_check/ A 9/11 Reality Check By Robert Scheer Truthdig: Sept. 9, 2009 What if eight years ago the World Trade Center had been leveled by a small nuclear bomb that took out most of lower Manhattan as well? How many millions of innocent civilians would we have killed in retaliation? Would we still be a free society, or would Dick Cheney have attained the power of a demented king, having moved on from snooping on our phone calls and outing honest CIA agents to destroying the last vestiges of the rule of law? As assaults on a society go, the 9/11 attacks, which left 3,000 dead and are sure to be described in this anniversary week as being among the greatest of historical outrages, were something less than that, given the world's experience with the ravages of war. The countless Russians and the 6 million Jews killed by those so finely educated Germans come to mind. The 3.4 million Vietnamese, mostly rice farmers, whom Robert McNamara admitted to having helped kill with his carpet-bombing of their country, are a forgotten footnote. Yet we who have never experienced such carnage on our home front all too easily poke out tens of thousands of eyes for each lost one of our own. Surely two planes crashing into office buildings and another hitting the Pentagon doesn't compare to the leveling of every major city in Japan with conventional bombing, capped off by the mass murder of hundreds of thousands more at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Speaking of eyes lost, mark the words of Hiroshima's mayor two years ago: "That fateful summer, 8:15 AM. The roar of a B-29 breaks the morning calm. A parachute opens in the blue sky. Then suddenly, a flash, an enormous blast-silence-hell on Earth. The eyes of young girls watching the parachute were melted." We assumed that the Japanese people would readily forgive us and, having been raised in the spirit of total obedience to their emperor, they accommodated our occupation quite well, even injecting industrial-grade silicon into their women's breasts to satisfy the erotic appetites of our soldiers. Americans who blithely claim the moral high ground with every pledge of allegiance to a flag that, because it is American, is assumed to have never been sullied by imperial greed or moral contradiction expect no less than instant and full forgiveness for our "mistakes." Only last month, four decades after he led the massacre of 500 villagers in My Lai, Vietnam, did former Army Lt. William Calley express "regret" for his crimes. He served no time in prison for the point-blank shooting of toddlers, thanks to the commutation of his sentence by Richard Nixon, who might have been anticipating his own need for a presidential pardon. In blind and wrathful retaliation for 9/11 we wreaked havoc on Iraq, a nation that our then-president knew had not attacked us, and we continue to slaughter peasants in Afghanistan who aren't able to find Manhattan on a map. We, a people whose nation has never suffered a long and widespread occupation, easily gave vent to our most barbaric impulses, assuming the absolute right to arrest and torture anyone anywhere in the world without revealing his identity, let alone respecting a single one of those God-given rights that we claim for ourselves alone. And even when we identify the few we hold responsible for the attacks on our soil, we refuse them public and fair trials even after years of torturing them. But we do have a saving grace for our experiment in democracy--although unfortunately it did not exist in the Supreme Court or Congress as a barrier to an imperial vice presidency. It is the power of the lone whistle-blower of conscience, occasionally given voice in what remains of our free press and which can influence presidential elections, as happened quite dramatically this last time around. There are those like Joe Wilson, who exposed presidential fraud masquerading as national security concern over bogus Iraqi purchases of uranium from Niger, and more recently the truth-telling of Ali H. Soufan, a former FBI agent and lead interrogator of terrorists. In Sunday's New York Times, Soufan, who was involved in obtaining much reliable information from prisoners before they were tortured, observed that the recently released memos cited by Cheney to back his argument that torture was efficient actually "fail to show that the techniques stopped even a single imminent threat of terrorism." So, Cheney is again proved wrong, but if there had been a larger attack on 9/11, I doubt whether many free souls would be around now to tell him so. _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 6676 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090914/6907d51e/attachment.txt From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 14 05:45:17 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:45:17 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Obama Administration Appears Poised for Talks With Iran Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909140445j49ac37c0qfa027daf0feca639@mail.gmail.com> Obama Administration Appears Poised for Talks With Iran by Dafna Linzer ProPublica September 12, 2009 http://www.propublica.org/article/obama-administration-appears-poised-for-talks-with-iran-912 Iran's five-page offer for talks with the Obama administration, first published here [1], appears to have been accepted [2] by the White House. Shortly after the offer was presented Wednesday, a host of anonymous western diplomats were quoted as dismissing [3] the offer in its entirety because it did not address outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program. In fact, some diplomats were quoted as saying that the Iranian proposal included an outright refusal [4] to discuss its ongoing nuclear efforts. But the proposal, which was disclosed by ProPublica Thursday, contained no such claims. We have posted links to the English [5] and Farsi [6] (PDF) versions, [moderator: English here http://documents.propublica.org/iran-nuclear-program-proposal#p=1 and Farsi here http://s3.amazonaws.com/propublica/assets/docs/iran_nuclear_program_proposal_farsi.pdf] as they were given to diplomats in Tehran. While Iran did not commit in the offer to disclosing the genesis or original intent of its nuclear program, it did not discount the possibility either: The five-page proposal was simply silent on the matter. State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley told reporters that Iran's lack of interest in addressing its nuclear program is not a reason to refuse to talk. "If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue," he said. According to the Iranian proposal, the Tehran government is ready for comprehensive negotiations on a broad range of issues including global nuclear disarmament, regional security, economic incentives and a number of items at the heart of Iran's own national security interests such as drug trafficking. "We are seeking a meeting now based on the Iranian paper to see what Iran is prepared to do," Crowley said. "If Iran responds to our interest in a meeting, we'll see when that can occur. We hope that will occur as soon as possible. Any meeting would likely include representatives from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, who have been coordinating efforts with Washington to coax Iran to the negotiating table. If successful, this would be the first formal, substantive talks between the United States and Iran in 30 years. The two countries worked closely in 2002 to help form a new government in Afghanistan and have traded some intelligence and information on Al-Qaeda. But those talks centered on very specific issues and were not held in the context of repairing relations damaged by the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran then. Iran's nuclear program began in secret two decades ago with illicit help from Pakistan. It was exposed in 2002 and quickly became the focus of United Nations nuclear inspectors. Iran maintains that the program is designed to provide the oil-rich country with nuclear energy and has refused to address evidence that suggests it was originally designed to produce fuel for nuclear weapons. The lack of cooperation, coupled with Iran's continued progress on its nuclear program, has led to three rounds of international sanctions. Tags: Iran, Nuclear Disarmament, State Department From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 14 06:21:52 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:21:52 -0400 Subject: [A-List] This Rewriting of History is Spreading Europe's Poison Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909140521t56bf747ap1ed56ea6cabfab79@mail.gmail.com> This Rewriting of History is Spreading Europe's Poison By Seumas Milne The Guartdian (UK) September 9, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/09/second-world-war-soviet-pact Through decades of British commemorations and coverage of the second world war - from Dunkirk to D-day - there has never been any doubt about who started it. However dishonestly the story of 1939 has been abused to justify new wars against quite different kinds of enemies, the responsibility for the greatest conflagration in human history has always been laid at the door of Hitler and his genocidal Nazi regime. That is until now. Fed by the revival of the nationalist right in eastern Europe and a creeping historical revisionism that tries to equate nazism and communism, some western historians and commentators have seized on the 70th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland this month to claim the Soviet Union was equally to blame for the outbreak of war. Stalin was "Hitler's accomplice", the Economist insisted, after Russian and Polish politicians traded accusations over the events of the late 1930s. In his introduction to this week's Guardian history of the war, the neoconservative historian Niall Ferguson declared that Stalin was "as much an aggressor as Hitler". Last month, the ostensibly more liberal Orlando Figes went further, insisting the Molotov- Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was "the licence for the Holocaust". Given that the Soviet Union played the decisive military role in Hitler's defeat at the cost of 25 million dead, it's scarcely surprising that Russians are outraged by such accusations. When the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev last week denounced attempts to draw parallels between the role of the Nazis and the Soviet Union as a "cynical lie", he wasn't just speaking for his government, but the whole country - and a good deal of the rest of the world besides. There's no doubt that the pact of August 1939 was a shocking act of realpolitik by the state that had led the campaign against fascism since before the Spanish civil war. You can argue about how Stalin used it to buy time, his delusions about delaying the Nazi onslaught, or whether the Soviet occupation of the mainly Ukrainian and Byelorussian parts of Poland was, as Churchill maintained at the time, "necessary for the safety of Russia against the Nazi menace". But to claim that without the pact there would have been no war is simply absurd - and, in the words of the historian Mark Mazower, "too tainted by present day political concerns to be taken seriously". Hitler had given the order to attack and occupy Poland much earlier. As fellow historian Geoff Roberts puts it, the pact was an "instrument of defence, not aggression". That was a good deal less true of the previous year's Munich agreement, in which British and French politicians dismembered Czechoslovakia at the Nazi dictator's pleasure. The one pact that could conceivably have prevented war, a collective security alliance with the Soviet Union, was in effect blocked by the appeaser Chamberlain and an authoritarian Polish government that refused to allow Soviet troops on Polish soil. Poland had signed its own non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany and seized Czech territory, which puts last week's description by the Polish president Lech Kaczynski of a Soviet "stab in the back" in perspective. The case against the Anglo-French appeasers and the Polish colonels' regime over the failure to prevent war is a good deal stronger than against the Soviet Union, which perhaps helps to explain the enthusiasm for the new revisionism in both parts of the continent. But across eastern Europe, the Baltic republics and the Ukraine, the drive to rewrite history is being used to relativise Nazi crimes and rehabilitate collaborators. At the official level, it has focused on a campaign to turn August 23 - the anniversary of the non-aggression pact - into a day of commemoration for the victims of communism and nazism. In July that was backed by the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, following a similar vote in the European parliament and a declaration signed by Vaclav Havel and others branding "communism and nazism as a common legacy" of Europe that should be jointly commemorated because of "substantial similarities". That east Europeans should want to remember the deportations and killings of "class enemies" by the Soviet Union during and after the war is entirely understandable. So is their pressure on Russia to account, say, for the killing of Polish officers at Katyn - even if Soviet and Russian acknowledgment of Stalin's crimes already goes far beyond, for example, any such apologies by Britain or France for the crimes of colonialism. But the pretence that Soviet repression reached anything like the scale or depths of Nazi savagery - or that the postwar "enslavement" of eastern Europe can be equated with wartime Nazi genocide - is a mendacity that tips towards Holocaust denial. It is certainly not a mistake that could have been made by the Auschwitz survivors liberated by the Red Army in 1945. The real meaning of the attempt to equate Nazi genocide with Soviet repression is clearest in the Baltic republics, where collaboration with SS death squads and direct participation in the mass murder of Jews was at its most extreme, and politicians are at pains to turn perpetrators into victims. Veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS now parade through Riga, Vilnius's Museum of Genocide Victims barely mentions the 200,000 Lithuanian Jews murdered in the Holocaust and Estonian parliamentarians honour those who served the Third Reich as "fighters for independence". Most repulsively of all, while rehabilitating convicted Nazi war criminals, the state prosecutor in Lithuania - a member of the EU and Nato - last year opened a war crimes investigation into four Lithuanian Jewish resistance veterans who fought with Soviet partisans: a case only abandoned for lack of evidence. As Efraim Zuroff, veteran Nazi hunter and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, puts it: "People need to wake up to what is going on. This attempt to create a false symmetry between communism and the Nazi genocide is aimed at covering up these countries' participation in mass murder." As the political heirs of the Nazis' collaborators in eastern Europe gain strength on the back of growing unemployment and poverty, and antisemitism and racist violence against Roma grow across the region, the current indulgence of historical falsehoods about the second world war can only spread this poison. From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 14 07:15:30 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:15:30 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909140615t1fc9998asa8eb9b68f86958c6@mail.gmail.com> From: Leighm c b quotes: > ?As distinct from the old gentile [tribal or clan] order,[2] the > state, first, divides its subjects according to territory...." This seems incorrect. Admittedly, State is about 'territory, but my grandfather, Bessarabian, was of tribal or clan culture, and there WAS territory... Each group had it's own area in the region specific to that group. It would be worthwhile for you to take a long hard look at Chechnya, made up of clan groupings with distinct territories for further reference... or how one band of Apaches would have felt if THEIR hunting grounds were usurped by another Apache band without permission ^^^^^ CB: Engels gets this principle from the early anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan. In his _Ancient Society_ Morgan distinguishes between _societas_ and _civitas_. The former is the kin based society of prehistoric peoples, and the latter is "civilization" after the origin of the state. Your grandfather was likely in a society with a state, so that the "tribes" and "clans" are a bit different than those in "ancient" society. Chechnya has been part of a state for centuries. It was part of the Russian empire, a very big state. But even before its inclusion in the Russian state, were the Chechnyans prehistoric hunters and gatherers or gardners ? That hard look at Chechnyan history might find that there has been a state there for a long, long time. The section below only mentions back to the 15th Century, but there would have been states there long before that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya "Early history In classical times the northern slopes of the Caucasus mountains were inhabited by the Circassians on the west and the Avars on the east. In between them, the Zygians occupied Zyx[citation needed], the areas of north Ossetia, the Balkar, the Ingush and the Chechen republics today. Chechnya is a region in the Northern Caucasus which has been in almost constant battle against foreign rule since the 15th century. Eventually the Chechens converted to Islam and tensions began to die down with the Turks; however conflicts with their Christian neighbours, the Georgians and the Cossacks, as well as with their Buddhist Kalmyks neighbours intensified. The Russian Terek Cossack Host was secretly established in Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks resettled from the Volga to the Terek River." As to Apaches, that's the point. Before the European invasion, the evidence is that they didn't treat their land like terrritory or private property. Morgan based his generalization on study of Native Americans especially From cb31450 at gmail.com Mon Sep 14 07:22:19 2009 From: cb31450 at gmail.com (c b) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:22:19 -0400 Subject: [A-List] The State and Revolution Message-ID: <5c2e4d230909140622o2191a06cj10b9aaed1d4d060e@mail.gmail.com> From: N?stor Gorojovsky > Violent overthrow is the desparate polictal location of the rich > enemies of the working masses today in the South of the Western > Hemisphere. yes, but for some exceptions like Honduras (and not even there fully certain), the armies are NOT for violent overthrow. Not even in Colombia. ^^^^^^^ CB: That's good to hear ^^^^^^ I guess one of the reasons behind Uribe?s attempt at re-re-election is the fear that if a more progressive regime takes power in Bogot?, there would be no army coup to expel it. From ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com Mon Sep 14 06:46:37 2009 From: ioriwase at mail.mohawknationnews.com (Mohawk Nation News) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:46:37 -0400 Subject: [A-List] MNN 2 Horns of a Dilemma Message-ID: <01e10683$40070$0d333657110301@xnote> 2 HORNS OF A DILEMMA: 6 NATIONS & AKWESASNE MNN. Sep. 13, 2009. What?s happening in Six Nations and Akwesasne on Mohawk jurisdiction issues? Everybody knows the invaders have no jurisdiction over Ongwehonwe anywhere. The band and tribal councils are mum about their dealings with Canada, Ontario, Quebec, US and New York State, the five colonial meddlers at Akwesasne. Ever wonder why the border goons scampered away so fast from the imaginary line [border] on Kawenoke Island last May 31, 2009? We hear money is in the bank for a new low level bridge over the St. Lawrence River from Cornwall Ontario to Kawenoke [formerly Cornwall Island] to US soil. It looks like a construction barge has already finished a pylon on the US side without consulting the Mohawk Nation. Canada has installed a temporary Canada customs shack at the foot of the bridge in Cornwall. The land has already been cleared for what could be a new low level bridge to touch down from Kawenoke, along with a new multi-million dollar customs complex like the new one on the US side. Is Mike Mitchell, the grand chief, getting big bucks to help Ottawa? We don?t want the border or the new bridge in Kawenoke. Never did! Never will! No one is singing ?Baby, come back?. Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial police OPP are constantly exceeding their jurisdiction by foraying into Six Nations. Shouldn?t the Six Nations cops be curbing the build-up of OPP activities by taking OPP badge and car numbers, reporting it and escorting them off? Rogue cops could be sent in to try to stir up trouble. If caught, they must leave and stay away. It looks like some of our guys are holding the fort. They are there on behalf of Great Turtle Island with all Ongwehonwe standing with them. New York State also has a dilemma. They are facing a big court case with the Haudenosaunee whom the NYS Troopers attacked in Onondaga in 1997. Most victims don?t want to settle for money. Instead they want the Troopers to stand trial. They are anxious to see if the trail leads to NYS Governor George Pataki?s office for ordering the attack. NYS is acting quiet, peaceful and accommodating. They don?t want to be seen as big bad guys like Canada, beating up Indigenous people for no reason. In fact, that is what the US is known for. That?s why they?re in court. Meantime, the band and tribal councilors think their $hip has come in. They just have to sell out their own people. We hear Mike Flathead Mitchell is now waiting for a statue of himself to be erected at the entrance on Kawenoke [Cornwall Island], with made-in-China replicas to be sold at Wal Mart. The pigeons will love him. Gary Wimpy McHale is the kind of stumble bum the government likes. He and his militia are photographing white customers of Six Nations stores and turning them over to the cops. Then the cops illegally harass them, grab their merchandize and probably sell them in their own swine [black] market. McHale vows to get rid of Indigenous rights, forgetting he?s a descendant of people whom we took care of. This red neck?s too dumb to see his handlers don?t care about him. When they?re done with him, they?ll drop him like a slimy hot potato, alone and used, with no pay-off. Some day people will mention how the colonists used stupid goofs like him. The government sets up shadow organizations like the Citizens Alliance to help patsies like McHale and his ilk. Ken Hewitt of Caledonia is their big mouth who constantly threatens our right to exist and have legitimate trade and commerce. Six Nations has McHale and Akwesasne has Mike Mitchell. The colonists use low-lifes like them all the time. The old colonial formula is: [1] corrupt the traditional government; if it doesn?t work, [2] send in the jackals to assassinate them; if this doesn?t work, [3] bomb them; if this doesn?t work, [4] build poor rez-like communities and make them pay for it with their own resources; then [5] install quisling band or tribal councils called House Injuns. Malcolm X was right! The CSIS agents at the shack in Cornwall are the jackal, watching our comings and goings. Their Intel coordinates the OPP, army, SQ, RCMP, CBSA and colluders like Mike Mitchell and Gary McHale. What plans are out there for Tyendinaga, Kahnawake and Kanehsatake [Oka]? To help contact Akwesasne Peoples Fire 613-937-1813 akwpeoplesfire at bell.net; Six Nations 519-445-1445. Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to ?MNN Mohawk Nation News?, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN SIX NATIONS or AKWESASNE categories for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Mon Sep 14 18:50:03 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:50:03 +0900 Subject: [A-List] Reality Receding Message-ID: <20090915095003.31c0ade2.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> Clusterfuck Nation by James Howard Kunstler Comment on current events by the author of The Long Emergency (2005) www.kunstler.com (September 14 2009) Now that everybody in the USA, from the janitors in their man-caves to the president addressing congress, has declared the "recession" over, is exactly the moment when what's left of the so-called economy is most likely to implode. If there were still shoeshine boys on Wall Street, they'd be starting their own hedge funds now, and CNBC's Larry Kudlow would be toasting them in the Grill Room of The Four Seasons. What we've seen in the vaunted rally for the last six months is the triumph of wishing over facts, combined with the most arrant market manipulation by floundering banks backstopped by a panicked government - all pounding sand down a rat-hole of hopeless non-performing debt, while pretending that the machinery of capital finance still grinds on. Despite what a few elderly Mr Naturals may say about abolishing "capitalism," we're not going to have an advanced economy without a coherent banking system, and by advanced economy I mean one in which the lights stay on. By coherent I mean a system that is able to deploy accumulated wealth for productive purposes, in the service of continuing civilization. (And, yes, I know that the followers of Daniel Quinn are not so sure that civilization is worth the trouble, but unless you support the killing-off of about six billion humans right away, things on Earth are not favorably disposed just now for a return to hunting-and-gathering.) I would hasten to cut through the fog of despair to reassert - for the thousandth time - that a true American perestroika is possible, if the public could overcome the plague of cognitive dissonance sweeping the land and form a consensus for action that comports with reality's agenda. But that is looking less and less likely. Instead, what we see is a rush into delusion, seasoned with grievance and gall. Spectacles like last weekend's march on Washington don't happen for no reason, of course. From where I sit, the uproar can be attributed to comprehensively bad American leadership, a crisis in authority and legitimacy that has left a functional vacuum in every executive office throughout the land - from the White House to the state houses, to the lairs of the CEOs, to the towers of the deans and department chairs, to the glitzy sets of the nightly news deliverers, to the makeshift quarters of the NGO chiefs. In former times, clueless and impotent leaders stuck their heads in the sand. Nowadays, with pandemic narcissism abroad in the land, the heads are more usually inserted into the aperture that leads into the large bowel ... But I indulge in diverting objurgation when I should perhaps explain this American perestroika more clearly. The Russian word roughly translates to "restructuring". They flubbed it in 1989 because their system was too ossified and too far gone - though history and circumstance eventually did it for them. A similar outcome is possible here, too, in which things just have to completely fall apart before emergent reorganization occurs. But you can be sure that if we allow this to happen, an awful lot of things will get smashed along the way, including lives, careers, families, property, and cherished institutions. This monster we call the economy is not just an endless series of charts and graphs - it's how we live, and that has to change, whether we like it or not. Now, it is obviously a huge problem that a majority of Americans don't like the idea. If they were true patriots, instead of overfed cowards and sado-masochists, they'd be inspired by the prospect. But something terrible has happened to our national character since the triumphal glow of World War Two wore off. I just hope that the Palinites and the myrmidons of Glen Beck don't destroy what's left of this country in a WWF-style "revolution". In the best societies, such idiots are marginalized by a kinder and sturdier consensus about justice. In America today, the center is not holding because there is no center. American perestroika really boils down to this: we have to rescale the activities of daily life to a level consistent with the mandates of the future, especially the ones having to do with available energy and capital. We have to dismantle things that have no future and rebuild things that will allow daily life to function. We have to say goodbye to big box shopping and rebuild Main Street. More people will be needed to work in farming and fewer in tourism, public relations, gambling, and party planning. We have to make some basic useful products in this country again. We have to systematically decommission suburbia and reactivate our small towns and small cities. We have to prepare for the contraction of our large cities. We have to let the sun set on Happy Motoring and rebuild our trains, transit systems, harbors, and inland waterways. We have to reorganize schooling at a much more modest level. We have to close down most of the overseas military bases we're operating and conclude our wars in Asia. Mostly, we have to recover a national sense of common purpose and common decency. There is obviously a lot of work to do in the list above, which could translate into paychecks and careers - but not if we direct all our resources into propping up the failing structures of yesterday. The most dangerous illusion, of course, is a belief that we can return to a hyped up turbo debt "consumer" economy - and perhaps the most disappointing thing about Barack Obama, is his incessant cheerleading for a "recovery" to what is already lost and unrecoverable. The man who ran for office on "change" doesn't really have the stomach for it. But, of course, events are in the driver's seat now, not personalities, even charming ones. I'd venture to say that if Mr Obama thinks he's seen a crisis, and gotten through it, then he ain't seen nothin' yet. We are for sure not returning to the kind of credit orgy that made the last twenty years such a nauseating spectacle - of which, by the way, the misfeasances and wretched excesses of Wall Street were just one manifestation. Some theorists out there say that economy follows mood, not vice-versa, and that the anger and sourness on display around the USA, in events like the weekend Washington march, is a clear sign that tectonic shifts in the structures of everyday life are sure to follow. There are too many truly good and intelligent people in this country, to leave our fate to the Palins and the Glen Becks. But the good people had better man up and start telling the truth with some conviction that the truth matters. _____ My new novel of the post-oil future, World Made By Hand, is available at all booksellers. http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/09/reality-receding.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From farmelantj at juno.com Mon Sep 14 05:24:28 2009 From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:24:28 GMT Subject: [A-List] new engels bio Message-ID: <20090914.072428.1406.0@webmail21.vgs.untd.com> They don't make capitalists like Engels anymore. Anyway concerning Engels's statement: ?Marx was a genius; we others were at best talented.? Well in comparison with Marx that might have been true. By any other standards, Engels was very much a genius. And it is to Engels that we owe volumes 2 and 3 of Capital. Marx had only managed to get volume 1 out during his lifetime. After Marx died, Engels had to go through the mess of manuscripts that Marx had left behind and make sense out of it all. Only someone who had a profound understanding of what Marx was trying to do could have managed to put this stuff together into a coherent whole. Jim F. Please note: message attached From: "Paul Wright" To: "'The A-List'" , "'Marxism and the Law'" Subject: [A-List] new engels bio Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:09:36 -0400 ____________________________________________________________ Best Weight Loss Program - Click Here! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTFoYa3uFCdvGDTgOxfsrJoRADZDbVSz9RVxxNQ68AbLGQcR7uUVOo/ -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Paul Wright" Subject: [A-List] new engels bio Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:09:36 -0400 Size: 6281 Url: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090914/2f938f44/attachment-0001.eml From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Tue Sep 15 06:58:53 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:58:53 +0100 Subject: [A-List] On behalf of the people of the United States, I send greetings to the people of Honduras Message-ID: Some things just leave you speechless. STATE DEPT: Clinton on Honduras Independence Day Posted to CN by: "Walter Lippmann" walterlx at earthlink.net walterlx Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:11 pm (PDT) Honduras Independence Day Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Washington, DC September 14, 2009 http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/09/129192.htm On behalf of the people of the United States, I send greetings to the people of Honduras as they commemorate 188 years of independence tomorrow. Honduras and the United States have a long history of close ties, based upon mutual interests, shared values, and friendship between our peoples. I had the privilege of visiting your wonderful country when I attended the General Assembly of the Organization of American States in San Pedro Sula, and I felt your warmth and hospitality. The turmoil and political differences that have since divided Honduras are a source of worry and sadness. I remain hopeful that the spirit of Francisco Moraz?n, a founder and visionary leader of Honduras, will help return your nation to a democratic path that will unite and inspire, rather than divide and discourage, and rebuild the ties of solidarity that have characterized your relationship with the Americas. From noreply at coha.org Tue Sep 15 07:30:37 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:30:37 -0400 Subject: [A-List] White House's Contrived Terrorism Case Against Cuba Message-ID: <20090915132902.E594E3E44D9@mx-out.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 5224 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090915/d4fd0eb2/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Tue Sep 15 13:15:47 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:15:47 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: [R-G] Open Chemical Physics Journal: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe In-Reply-To: <2015946733.1277981252962133215.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> References: <1805588082.1275131252961910079.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <2015946733.1277981252962133215.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sid Shniad Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 11:02 PM Subject: [R-G] Open Chemical Physics Journal: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe To: Suzanne de Kuyper ??we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material.? ---------------------------------- http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php?TOCPJ/2009/00000002/00000001/7TOCPJ.SGM The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009, 2, 7-31 Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe Niels H. Harrit*,1, Jeffrey Farrer2, Steven E. Jones*,3, Kevin R. Ryan4, Frank M. Legge5, Daniel Farnsworth2, Gregg Roberts6, James R. Gourley7 and Bradley R. Larsen3 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA 3 S&J Scientific Co., Provo, UT, 84606, USA 4 9/11 Working Group of Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA 5 Logical Systems Consulting, Perth, Western Australia 6 Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA 7 International Center for 9/11 Studies, Dallas, TX 75231, USA Abstract: We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures. Separation of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 ?C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic. _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3739 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090915/65ad4661/attachment.txt From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Tue Sep 15 17:58:19 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:58:19 +0900 Subject: [A-List] Time's Up! Message-ID: <20090916085819.75d9817e.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by Dmitri Orlov ClubOrlov (September 14 2009) Time's Up! An Uncivilized Solution to a Global Crisis by Keith Farnish (Green Books, September 2009) Keith's book is a reader challenge: the reader is tasked with developing a survivable future for her progeny. Very carefully and delicately, with many references to academic research and a rich bibliography, Keith lays out the case that extinction is the default choice - unless you, dear reader of such books, along with a few other people, people like Keith, who would like to help you, come up with a better plan. Keith points to two of the narratives that are becoming prevalent in thinking about our lack of future. The first of these is the vision of technological apocalypse: the complex, highly interconnected technology-based life support system crashes, stranding us in a dead landscape that is not survivable. The second is the vision of environmental catastrophe: methane bubbles out of the tundra, the ice caps melt, the oceans rise, the forests burn up, fields turn to desert, harvests fail, and, along with most other species, humans go extinct. Keith asks us to create a third narrative - one in which our children stand a chance, as members of an uncivilized, and perhaps an endangered species, but not an extinct one. Keith asks us to start taking steps toward making this vision a reality. A worthy goal, although one rife with difficulties and internal contradictions. The first of these is that such a consummately civilized book is an odd vehicle for promoting the destruction of the civilization that is leading us all to perdition. Another is that his presentation, true to fact though it is, due to its dark subject matter, is enough to drive most people to melancholy. Questions of survival and extinction are hard for us, for we civilized humans are a sentimental lot: we bake cupcakes and play with kittens and babies, and prefer to think that the big world out there is just an extension of our little safe haven with its security and its comforts, where we can go and play if we want to. We worry about all the little baby animals out there, the cute, sad-eyed, furry ones especially, but we leave the dirty, planet-destroying work of providing our security and our comforts to specialists - soldiers, the police, politicians, businessmen, engineers and industrial workers. These, being professionals, generally feel that they need not concern themselves with matters outside their purview, such as their forthcoming extinction. As for those whose purview does include the minor matter of our continued viability as a species, the list now includes anyone who seriously studies ecology, climatology, natural resource physics, crisis economics, or any of the other disciplines that tell us of crisis, danger, or catastrophe. For them, deep and abiding melancholy has become something of an occupational hazard. Scientists are professional problem-solvers, and tend to choke on the idea that their problem-solving happens to be responsible for having caused much of the problem. If all you can do is study something to death, then die, then why on earth bother? But Keith does come up with a very simple, powerful idea that cuts through all of this sentimental fog like a laser beam. This is perhaps the most powerful idea of his entire book. We - all of us - should just follow our genetic programming a little better. As bits of biological hardware executing a genetic program, it is our primary function to pass our genes on to the next generation. This part is not controversial, and there are several billion of us on hand to attest to the program's success. But unlike, say, yeast, some of us also capable of understanding an important principle: that just blindly creating progeny doomed to extinction is not as clever as we like to imagine ourselves to be. If we leave no viable habitat for our children, then we could give birth to countless numbers of them and still fail to reproduce successfully. (Yeast are actually somewhat clever, and when their environment becomes too polluted with their main waste product, alcohol, for them to function, they fall dormant and wait for an improvement, whereas we just kick the bucket.) The key question is not whether to breed, it is where to breed, and just as many animals range far and wide to find a place to breed and rear their young, we need to look beyond the cupcake-and-kitten universe with its plastic baby car seats and baby formula, and reconcile our effort with the big picture, or we are only doing half the job of parenting. As always and with everything, there is a problem with this approach as well. It is quite possible to take the position that while the cupcake-and-kitten universe is undeniably real, first-hand experience, and is all that makes your life interesting and fun, the big scary world of ecological and economic catastrophe is an ever-changing carnival show of horrific visions that our apocalypse-addled culture serves up as popular entertainment. It seems that there is always something out there to moan about in public. It used to be nuclear winter, but now it's global warming summer, with some killer asteroids lurking about to spice things up. Sure, lots of children might go extinct, but who's to say they will be my children? Mine might turn out to be particularly clever - much more clever than you or me - so why not let them sort this out for themselves? Indeed, when it comes to planning our own birth, what advice would any of us want to have given to our own parents, beyond "Oh, please, don't think about it, just get on with it!" And while, simultaneously, some of us may wrinkle our noses at all the stupid people who pop out babies with no means or plans to bring them up properly, that, you see, is part of their genetic programming as well: in a heterozygotic species such as ours, breeding is a matter of chance, nobody knows which two crabapples might produce a Golden Delicious, and if none of the numerous idiots among us were allowed to breed, there would be even fewer geniuses among us. While "Please, just get on with it!" sums it up nicely, some sort of plan might still be called for. We want our children to be grateful, not just weak with relief for being born at all. And while the introduction declares bombastically that "Part Four contains the keys to human survival" [page 8] by the time Part Four rolls around, Keith is quick to offer a disclaimer: "These are just thoughts, ideas, imperfect sketches for something that could work if it's done properly. I can't predict how things are going to turn out, even if what I am going to propose does succeed; nobody can predict something that hasn't started yet" [pages 182-3]. Keith's practical thoughts and considerations are not unhelpful, including all the usual steps toward self-sufficiency, such as constructing your own shelter and growing and gathering your own food, but they really are (as perhaps they should be) just baby steps. Keith also talks about the task of destroying industrial civilization in order to allow life on earth to return to equilibrium. A worthy goal, perhaps, although none of what Keith proposes is particularly radical or effective, or it would be illegal and his book would be banned. Is it a goal worth pursuing? If we try and succeed, would we feel proud of ourselves, and wear "I collapsed industrial civilization" T-shirts? (Unlikely, since by then we would be clad in skins, furs or homespun cloth, or, if global warming comes through in time, perhaps a simple loincloth would suffice.) Won't industrial civilization collapse in any case, and so shouldn't we devote our scarce energies and short lives to more constructive pursuits? The forces that maintain industrial civilization do so at the cost of ever-increasing complexity, an approach that, once it reaches the point of diminishing returns, only hastens its own destruction. A more worthy goal might be to insulate yourself and your children from this wave of destruction that is about to befall industrial society, by freeing yourself from its enslavements. Indeed, I believe that inside Keith's somewhat ambiguous and tentative message of conscious destruction lurks a far more potent and coherent message of emancipation from mental slavery. The chapter on "connecting" elaborates one part of this message. "Connecting" is a process of liberation that allows a person to pierce the veil of objectivity, to cease being a part of objective reality, subject to objective judgment and evaluation, and to enter a realm of direct, subjective meaning and experience. It can start with something as superficial as a trip to the seashore and exposure to the timelessness of surf and wind and sand. It can be as significant as dissolving in the life of a forest, drawing all inspiration and sustenance from it, to the point of being ready to defend it with your own life, which no longer has a significance that is separate from the forest itself. The next chapter contains a fairly complete description of the elements that prevent connection. Keith calls these mind control methods of modern society the "tools of disconnection". The machinery is subtle and advanced, and the work of emancipation difficult. We are all brainwashed: the rhetoric of freedom is so ingrained in us that breaking through it requires a great deal of effort. Serfdom is obsolete, and old-fashioned slavery is a crime against humanity. To become modern, the slave must be upgraded to new and improved wage-slavery, complete with consumer rights. Freedom requires slavery for it to have meaning. Those who are truly free have no use for the word, and do not know its meaning. Keith's clear exposition of the mind control techniques involved in making this neat little hat trick work helps to break the spell. But my favorite part of the book is Part One: The Scale of The Problem, in which Keith gives a meticulously researched exposition of life at all scales at which life on Earth has been observed and studied, from the microscopic to the gigantic. In each case, he shows how human industrial activity has impacted and destabilized the web of life, usually with inevitable and dire consequences for our own chances of survival. Each one of us is tied up in this unfolding drama of wrenching change, as both the perpetrator and the victim, in a web of such stunning complexity that such simplistic labels become meaningless, including many others, such as "environmentalist" or "industrialist". To rediscover meaning in this context, what is needed is direct contact, outside of the limits set by society and officially sanctioned roles. Keith's book is a progress report from one man's search for this meaning. I encourage you to join efforts with him, and to work on discovering a future in which you and your children might find a place. http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/09/times-up.html http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 15 20:15:02 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:15:02 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Prison nation Message-ID: ....A series of 3 videos, two quite short, the third approx. 10 mins (but worth watching). Tony > > For a "free" country, we sure have a lot of people > behind bars. > > In fact, of all the people imprisoned in the world > 25% are in a US jail or prison (look it up.) > > Yes, the US does have a network of internment > camps across the nation- and they're occupied. > > There's a lot of money in the prison business > and when you combine the profit motive > with "law and order" you get what we've got. > > Video: > > http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/709.html > > - Brasscheck > > P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and > videos with friends and colleagues. > > That's how we grow. Thanks. > > ============================== > > > > Brasscheck TV > 2380 California St. > San Francisco, CA 94115 > > To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: > http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zAxs7OwctMwcLIysjIzMtEa0rMzsnAwcbA== > > From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 15 20:21:47 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:21:47 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Victims' families tell their stories after Nato airstrike in Afghanistan Message-ID: <0DEDFE10405F4E17827C8FB4DD7DBDAD@TonyPC> : [stopnato] Victims' families tell their stories after Nato airstrike in Afghanistan http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/afghanistan-airstrike-victims-stories/print 'I took some flesh home and called it my son.' The Guardian interviews 11 villagers http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/afghanistan-airstrike-victims-stories/print From tal1 at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 15 20:44:04 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:44:04 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' Message-ID: <6A7799E8C249450BB31B5C585E62D1C2@TonyPC> ----- Original Message ----- From: Christopher Fogarty To: fogartyc at att.net Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 11:22 PM Subject: Fw: Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' So the religious right is going to save the world from - Charles Darwin? Why do the news media spend so much on scaring us about Moslem extremists while our own Rapturists have spent eight years trying to get their hero George Bush to advance the date of their prophesied End Times. The US is not threatened by Islam; but we are all in grave danger from the mentally-deranged among us. They have twisted religion to accommodate their murderous proclivities. Reason is powerless faced with their kind of "faith." They make me shudder. Chris ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Robert Nordlander To: Robert E. Nordlander Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 3:38:56 PM Subject: Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Arik Silverman Date: Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 5:15 PM Subject: Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' To: Nordlander , NordlanderRR Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer. By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor Published: 4:53PM BST 11 Sep 2009 reation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie. The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated. The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying". Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published. "That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said. "The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up. "It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules. "Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people." Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin's deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie's Box, by Darwin's great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West. Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: "It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise." Mr Thomas, whose previous films include The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, said he hoped the reviews would help to secure a distributor. In the UK, special screenings have been set up for Christian groups. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6173399/Charles-Darwin-film-too-controversial-for-religious-America.html From the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com Tue Sep 15 22:09:14 2009 From: the.buffalo.in.the.midst at gmail.com (Leighm) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:09:14 -0700 Subject: [A-List] Somalia invasion takes shape Message-ID: <4AB064EA.7060202@gmail.com> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 In full @ Seeker 401 (Follow the money,,,) http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/somalia-invasion-takes-shape-as-predicted/ WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) ? Helicopter-borne U.S. special forces attacked a car in southern Somalia on Monday and killed one of the region?s most wanted militants, U.S. sources familiar with the operation said. Kenya-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, 28, was wanted over a hotel bombing and a botched missile attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Kenya?s Mombasa airport in 2002. The U.S. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States believed that Nabhan was killed in the attack and that his body had been taken into U.S. custody. At least one U.S. helicopter was involved in the operation, the sources said. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment ?on any alleged operation in Somalia.? http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/14/us-troops-attack-somalia/ Following confirmation by the French military that they definitely weren?t in the process of invading Somalia, the United States military is now confirming that it is, in fact, American forces that are pouring into the southern portion of the country in a helicopter-backed invasion. US military officials confirmed to the Associated Press today that forces from the US Joint Special Operations Command had invaded the lawless African nation, and were the ones responsible for the attack on the tiny village of Barawe this morning that was the first staging ground of the attack. What the officials wouldn?t comment on was exactly why the United States, which launched a failed ?peacekeeping? operation in the nation in 1993 and backed an Ethiopian invasion in 2007, had decided to launch yet another foreign adventure, though media outlets speculated that it was probably something to do with al-Qaeda... -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkqwZOgACgkQ4xsJ/5zNKFwd4wCfWI4PO3+xW7GyBxsl2L02MRVI UkwAoLMuvvtv3jM2MuDCEbWEHE2Cptdz =U4hB -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Tue Sep 15 19:23:43 2009 From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:23:43 +1000 Subject: [A-List] What's new at Links: 9/11, Chile, Honduras, climate talks & Africa, Cuba, Bolivia, Scottish SP, Paul Robeson Message-ID: <4AB03E1F.9040006@greenleft.org.au> What's new at Links: 9/11, Chile, Honduras, climate talks & Africa, Cuba, Bolivia, Scottish SP, Paul Robeson * * * 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 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/. * * * The other September 11: US backed coup in Chile, 1973 An excerpt from John Pilger's documentary The War on Democracy, which recounts the involvement of the United States government in the brutal 1973 military coup that overthrew the democratic socialist government of President Salvador Allende -- paradoxically on September 11. It ushered in a regime of torture and tyranny. Below, see director Ken Loach's moving contribution to the 11"9'01 project. * Read more Interview with Honduras resistance leader: `The US is sustaining the coup' During an August 17-19, 2009, international seminar on the economic crisis hosted by the Party of Liberty and Socialism in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Green Left Weekly/Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal journalists Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes, together with journalists from Marea Socialista (Venezuela) and Alternativa Socialista (Argentina), were able to interview Gilberto Rios from the international relations commission of the National Popular Resistance Front against the Coup about the growing resistance movement against the US backed coup which ousted the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28. * Read more Call for a 'Seattle' approach to Copenhagen climate talks, Africans demand reparations By Patrick Bond September 5, 2009 - Durban -- Here's a fairly simple choice: the global North would pay the hard-hit global South to deal with the climate crisis, either through the complicated, corrupt, controversial ``Clean Development Mechanism' (CDM), whose projects have plenty of damaging sideeffects to communities, or instead pay through other mechanisms that must provide financing quickly, transparently and decisively to achieve genuine income compensation plus renewable energy to the masses. The Copenhagen climate summit in December is all about the former choice. * Read more Hypocrisy over Cuba's `political prisoners' By Tim Anderson September 13, 2009 -- Political prisoners and Cuba can be a confusing mix, in our times of mass propaganda. Three groups have attracted international attention, over the past decade. The first group, 70 or so (the ``dissidents''), were arrested in March 2003 by the Cuban government and charged with taking money from a US program which aims to overthrow the Cuban constitution. Amnesty International and many European states, along with the US government, immediately declared them ``prisoners of conscience''. A number have since been released. The second group of several hundred (``enemy combatants'') were collected by the US government in Afghanistan and Pakistan over 2001-2002 and held for many years in concentration camps at a US military base carved out of the island of Cuba. International protest built up more slowly, and eight years on many are still held without charge or trial. The third group of five men (``the Cuban Five'') were arrested in the US in 1998 and accused of being spies, for passing on information about groups in south Florida that were preparing terrorist attacks on Cuba. The US courts have rubber-stamped their convictions. On September 12, 2009, they completed 11 years in US jails. * Read more Caracas to host world meeting of left parties, October 7-9, 2009 By Federico Fuentes, Caracas September 5, 2009 -- Caracas will play host to one of the most important international gatherings of left parties in years, when delegates from across the world meet for the First International Meeting of Left Parties over October 7-9, 2009. * Read more Bolivia's vice-president defends MAS government's record Interview with with ?lvaro Garc?a Linera, vice-president of Bolivia, by Maristella Svampa, Pablo Stefanoni and Ricardo Bajo, from August 2009 Bolivian edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. English translation and notes by Richard Fidler. * Read more How US warmongers exploited the 9/11 terrorist attacks By Norm Dixon [This article was first published on September 11, 2002, on the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Its observations remain relevant to this day.] * Read more Declaration of the Africa People's Movement on Climate Change Nairobi, Kenya, August 30, 2009 -- We, the leaders of various people's movements, community-based groups, academia, NGOs and civil cociety organisations, met in Nairobi under the banner of the People's Movement on Climate Change (PMCC) to discuss strategies to confront the climate change crisis for Copenhagen and beyond from August 27 to 28 , 2009. * Read more Eyewitness to Cuba: Report by the Scottish Socialist Party's delegation to Cuba In February 2009 for two weeks, a nine-strong delegation from the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) visited Cuba at the invitation of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC). Bill Bonnar reports on the visit. * Read more Paul Robeson: `The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery By Harry Targ On September 4, 1949, an angry crowd surrounded the 20,000 friends of Paul Robeson who had come to hear him in an open-air concert at Peekskill, New York. After the event right-wing, anti-communist inspired mobs attacked supporters who were leaving the event. These attacks included smashing the windows of Pete Seeger's automobile with several family members inside. Sixty years later we remember the great progressive Paul Robeson, his struggles for justice, and his refusal to bow to the politics of reaction. * 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 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 12528 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090916/1266bafe/attachment.txt From babin1 at maktoob.com Wed Sep 16 03:50:50 2009 From: babin1 at maktoob.com (Babain Gheorvine) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:50:50 +0000 Subject: [A-List] =?windows-1256?q?BONJOUR?= Message-ID: Great Wall Motor Luxemburgische Botschaft Klingelhöferstrasse-D-10785 Nous sommes une société de fabrication des véhicules de haute gamme dénommées Great Wall Motor.Dans le but de notre installation a travers les quatre continents du Monde, l'organisation Great Wall Motor lance un avis de recherche d'individus quelconque disposant des qualités dans n'importe quel domaine d'activité pouvant nous représenter dans son pays tous en commercialisant et en devenant concessionnaire de nos véhicules sur le territoire national de son pays. Nous prendrons en charge : Toutes personnes disposant de quelconque compétence serait la bienvenue au sein de notre groupe. Nos services de ressource humaine se chargerons de la rémunération des salaires des représentants, ainsi que leurs primes sur chaque véhicule qui sera vendu. Une importante somme sera destinée au représentant pour leur permettre l'établissement des dossiers d'installation du siège dans leur pays. Nous assumerons l'importation et l'exportation des véhicules de nos maisons de production vers les points de vente. A cet effet toute personne intéressée par la présente information peut contacter notre cabinet chargé de l'opération pour toutes les procédues à suivre pour l'intégration du groupe des représentants commerciaux .Voici ci dessous le contact de notre cabinet chargé des opérations: cabinetgreatwall at ymail.com FRANCHE COLLABORATION ------------------------- Feel free to express yourself and participate in Maktoob Forums. http://forum.maktoob.com/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 2196 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090916/b0269c8d/attachment.txt From suzannedk at gmail.com Wed Sep 16 04:48:17 2009 From: suzannedk at gmail.com (Suzanne de Kuyper) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:48:17 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Fwd: [R-G] Open Chemical Physics Journal: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe In-Reply-To: <52C6871F2AE84785A5320CA1CB063F92@agingCHS072729> References: <2015946733.1277981252962133215.JavaMail.root@jaguar8.sfu.ca> <52C6871F2AE84785A5320CA1CB063F92@agingCHS072729> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Richard Menec Date: Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 4:34 AM Subject: Re: [R-G] Open Chemical Physics Journal: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe To: Suzanne de Kuyper There is an equally long article at http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/thermite/explosive_residues.html which reviews this paper and also addresses various hypotheses advanced to explain the findings. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sid Shniad" To: "Richard Menec" Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 4:02 PM Subject: [R-G] Open Chemical Physics Journal: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe > > > > > ??we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered > in the WTC > > dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating > nanotechnology, and is a > > > highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material.? > > > > > ---------------------------------- > > > > http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php?TOCPJ/2009/00000002/00000001/7TOCPJ.SGM > > The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009, 2, 7-31 > > > > Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade > > Center Catastrophe > > > > Niels H. Harrit*,1, Jeffrey Farrer2, Steven E. Jones*,3, Kevin R. Ryan4, > Frank M. Legge5, > > Daniel Farnsworth2, Gregg Roberts6, James R. Gourley7 and Bradley R. > Larsen3 > > > > 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark > > 2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT > 84602, USA > > 3 S&J Scientific Co., Provo, UT, 84606, USA > > 4 9/11 Working Group of Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA > > 5 Logical Systems Consulting, Perth, Western Australia > > 6 Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA > > 7 International Center for 9/11 Studies, Dallas, TX 75231, USA > > > > Abstract: We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples > we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade > Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate > sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked > similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan > resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two > the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these > chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy > (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential > scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately > 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in > tiny plate-like structures. Separation of components using methyl ethyl > ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and > aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC > device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at > approximately 430 ?C, far below the normal ignition temperature for > conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in > the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The > red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material > and highly energetic. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Rad-Green mailing list > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green > _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 5316 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090916/59e4628b/attachment.txt From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Wed Sep 16 10:05:23 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:05:23 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Honduras: De facto regime cannot sustain itself until November Message-ID: <144C90FF7C6E4EE9AFA26E53764F9340@home9sg93n9r5y> ALAI-NET: De facto regime cannot sustain itself until November Posted by: "Walter Lippmann" walterlx at earthlink.net walterlx Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:56 am (PDT) ALAI, Am?rica Latina en Movimiento 2009-09-12 http://alainet.org/active/32978%E2%8C%A9=es Honduras De facto regime cannot sustain itself until November National opposition to coup becomes a social force Jennifer Moore A lead Honduran researcher believes coup backers will not be able to sustain their support for the de facto regime until elections in November. Director of Scientific Research for the National Autonomous University of Honduras Leticia Salom?n says no one ever anticipated such widespread opposition to the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28th 2009. Now, more than two months later, the country is largely isolated from the international community and diverse sectors of Honduran society continue protesting daily in the streets. As a result, Salom?n suggests, the costs for coup conspirators have become too burdensome. Although the sociologist and economist hesitates to speculate about how the coup regime might fall and expresses concern about bolstered business and military involvement in political affairs, she says, ?One thing is for sure, and that is that they cannot sustain this government until November and the day of the elections. For various reasons, not just as a result of the protest in the streets, but considering this in relationship to the interests of the business sector and politicians.? In her view, the Honduran business sector played a key role in the coup. ?Those [businesses] that thought the coup would be a matter of thousands of dollars, now have thousands and even millions of dollars invested in this. Not just money that they have put in, but money that they have lost as a result of the highway blockades, work stoppages, and strikes. The business sector recognizes that this has been terrible for them, and as a result, a strong business sector has begun to pressure for a solution to this because they have reached the upper limit of the economic cost of the coup.? But beyond confounding coup makers' plans, Salom?n adds that broad-based national resistance to the coup is giving rise to a new ?social force? in the country that any future government will have to contend with. In an interview with ALAI on August 31st 2009, this researcher also with the Honduran Centre for Documentation lays out the interests behind Zelaya's ouster that she identifies among politicians, big business and the armed forces, toward which end she says there was no legal route. She also speculates on additional tensions that might cause support for the de facto regime to fold. The political trigger The same day that President Zelaya was ousted, a national opinion poll was to take place that would have asked Hondurans if they wanted a referendum during upcoming elections to consult the population on whether or not to install a National Constituent Assembly that would rewrite the country's political constitution. Following the poll, congress would still have had to approve the referendum and any national assembly would not be installed until a new government was in place. Coup backers allege, however, that Zelaya was seeking a constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek re-election and that this constituted an infraction. Salom?n observes, however, that diverse groups were interested in constitutional reforms that, at first, even included the current presidential candidate for the National Party, one of the two traditional parties in Honduras. The current constitution was written in 1982 in the context of the cold war, an influential military and the Central American crisis. Written with the intent to be ?for life,? says Salom?n, it also ?left gaps.? Among those interested in reforms, according to the researcher, have been those hoping to advance decentralization in Honduras, those seeking the possibility of presidential re-election, and still others wishing to lay the groundwork for participatory democracy and broader recognition of collective rights. Among those initially supporting this process, recalls Salom?n, was the current National Party Presidential Candidate Pepe Lobo. She describes Lobo's support as having been ?strong? and ?decided.? She explains, ?Distinct politicians, and Pepe Lobo in particular, were aware of changes needing to be made to the constitution, and he, like many other ex-Presidents, were interested in the possibility of a re-election.? However, national party members quickly set Lobo straight given concerns about the likelihood of a future re-election for Zelaya whose social bases were expanding at the same time that bi-party politics in Honduras have been on the decline. Salom?n stresses that Zelaya was not considering re-election for 2010. However, she says, it was a consideration for future elections that worried his opponents. ?Were a National Constituent Assembly to eliminate the prohibition [for re-election], [Zelaya] would be able to run as candidate as part of a political movement that has already been gaining support and which in the coming year was going to present the idea of creating a new political party in the country that could break with the bi-party politics that exist.? Participatory democracy was a further proposal that led the political system to ?shut down? to the idea of even a mere opinion poll. Salom?n places early efforts toward greater direct participation of civil society in political life beginning around 1998. From james.irldaly at ntlworld.com Wed Sep 16 15:11:05 2009 From: james.irldaly at ntlworld.com (james daly) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:11:05 +0100 Subject: [A-List] Clinton, Zelaya and Hondurans Message-ID: <26F425AD68D04DE1A9D00700E26A6661@home9sg93n9r5y> Arnold August - Honduras: Clinton, Zelaya and Hondurans Posted to CN by: "Arnold August" arnold.august at yahoo.com arnold.august Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:26 pm (PDT) Honduras: Clinton, Zelaya and Hondurans Interview in French with Arnold August on the radio show Le monde cette semaine (The World this Week) with radio host Andr???? Pesant on CIBL Radio Montreal, September 6th, 2009. By Karine Walsh* Arnold August, Montreal author and expert on Cuban democracy, has closely followed the situation in Honduras since the coup of June 28th, 2009. Host Andr???? Pesant questioned him on the main issues surrounding this event. Pesant noted that August is also the author of an article that discusses the issue in depth, entitled "Washington on Honduras: The Tight Rope Walker," currently available in English on the Voltaire Network: http://www.voltairenet.org/article161607.html) Mr. Pesant placed listeners into context by recalling that the military coup was led by army chief General Vasquez, and "legalized" immediately by the Supreme Court, in a country where the large U.S. military base of Soto Cano constituted the starting point for several other attacks against neighbouring states. "But the resistance by the population persists and outside support for Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president, seems to be weakening," said the radio host. Was this coup planned by the United States from the military base of Soto Cano? What are the possibilities that constitutional order be restored in Honduras? What can be done so that U.S. military interference in the affairs of the countries in the region will cease? Will the first term of President Obama be marked by change or rather by the continuation of the gunboat diplomacy against neighbouring regimes inspired by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez? Mr. August first explained the circumstances that led to the abrupt kidnapping of President Zelaya from his residence the night of June 28th. The policy followed by Manuel Zelaya before the event had effectively marked a shift for this small Central American country. Concrete measures taken before the aggression against Zelaya includes among other things the following: he had decided to increase the minimum wage, he lowered the bank rates, he had offered subsidies to small farmers, he had developed a program to reduce poverty, he proposed more people?????s participation in politics and in 2008 had proposed to Congress his country?????s membership in ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas, whose members are countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. Zelaya also planned to shut down the military base in Soto Cano and turn it into an international airport. August noted that Soto Cano was the operating base of Washington during, among others, the contras events in Nicaragua, a war responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Pesant questioned his guest about the role of local mass media in covering the Honduran coup, noting that their control is in the hands of the country?????s oligarchies: "We know from the statements of the American Ambassador himself that the main national television was out of operation early in the morning of June 28th. For obvious reasons, they did not want to make the official announcement of Zelaya?????s kidnapping by the military and its expulsion from the country by force." August also explained that much of the media in Canada and the United States has also implemented a boycott of information in addition to a smear campaign against President Zelaya.????? The news media in Honduras which dare to attempt dissemination of information objectively have been and are being violently repressed and imprisoned. It is a media war against the people of Honduras. If it wasn?????t for the work of some outside media such as Telesur International based in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, Cubavision based in Cuba and Prensa Latina of Cuba, much information, pictures and videos could not have been reported at all. Pesant questioned his guest on the meeting held last September 3rd between the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, asking if it could have been considered a step forward towards the restoration of order in the country. Instead of clearly denouncing the military coup, the Secretary of State has adopted the opposite stance by failing to declare the illegality of the operation as a military coup and thus providing an appearance of legitimacy to the position held by the coup perpetuators. Clinton has hinted through a State Department statement that the coup emerged as a result of a conflict between Congress, the Supreme Court, the military, etcetera. These are words that coincide exactly with the position of the putschists. August noted: "The 30 million dollar financial cut announced on September 3rd is a very small amount compared to the 164 million dollars donated by the International Monetary Fund (in which Washington has a veto), funds that directly support the coup perpetuators. Moreover, there are 200 million dollars drawn from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which will be headed to Honduras in the months and years to come," added August. In view of such circumstances, how can we expect a return to constitutional order, asked radio host Andr???? Pesant? According to August, it?????s above all in the streets of Honduras that will be determined the events in the weeks and months ahead, so the future of the struggle lies is in the hands of the National Resistance Front. * Karine Walsh is social justice activist, a member of the Table de concertation de solidarit???? Qu????bec-Cuba and a radio host for the francophone programme Dimension Cubaine on Radio Centre-Ville, a Community Radio in Montreal (Quebec). From tal1 at cogeco.ca Wed Sep 16 19:16:19 2009 From: tal1 at cogeco.ca (Tony B.) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:16:19 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Sick and Wrong Message-ID: <3B5C7EB8EBF2418595000AFBEE2CBB53@TonyPC> ....a lovely case study... T. Sick and Wrong How Washington is screwing up health care reform - and why it may take a revolt to fix it By Matt Taibbi Watch Matt Taibbi break down his report on the sad state of health care reform in his blog, Taibblog. September 14, 2009 "Rolling Stone" September 03, 2009 --- Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world. It's become a black leprosy eating away at the American experiment - a bureaucracy so insipid and mean and illogical that even our darkest criminal minds wouldn't be equal to dreaming it up on purpose. The system doesn't work for anyone. It cheats patients and leaves them to die, denies insurance to 47 million Americans, forces hospitals to spend billions haggling over claims, and systematically bleeds and harasses doctors with the specter of catastrophic litigation. Even as a mechanism for delivering bonuses to insurance-company fat cats, it's a miserable failure: Greedy insurance bosses who spent a generation denying preventive care to patients now see their profits sapped by millions of customers who enter the system only when they're sick with incurably expensive illnesses. The cost of all of this to society, in illness and death and lost productivity and a soaring federal deficit and plain old anxiety and anger, is incalculable - and that's the good news. The bad news is our failed health care system won't get fixed, because it exists entirely within the confines of yet another failed system: the political entity known as the United States of America. Just as we have a medical system that is not really designed to care for the sick, we have a government that is not equipped to fix actual crises. What our government is good at is something else entirely: effecting the appearance of action, while leaving the actual reform behind in a diabolical labyrinth of ingenious legislative maneuvers. Over the course of this summer, those two failed systems have collided in a spectacular crossroads moment in American history. We have an urgent national emergency on the one hand, and on the other, a comfortable majority of ostensibly simpatico Democrats who were elected by an angry population, in large part, specifically to reform health care. When they all sat down in Washington to tackle the problem, it amounted to a referendum on whether or not we actually have a functioning government. It's a situation that one would have thought would be sobering enough to snap Congress into real action for once. Instead, they did the exact opposite, doubling down on the same-old, same-old and laboring day and night in the halls of the Capitol to deliver us a tour de force of old thinking and legislative trickery, as if that's what we really wanted. Almost every single one of the main players - from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Blue Dog turncoat Max Baucus - found some unforeseeable, unique-to-them way to fuck this thing up. Even Ted Kennedy, for whom successful health care reform was to be the great vindicating achievement of his career, and Barack Obama, whose entire presidency will likely be judged by this bill, managed to come up small when the lights came on. We might look back on this summer someday and think of it as the moment when our government lost us for good. It was that bad. Here's where we are right now: Before Congress recessed in August, four of the five committees working to reform health care had produced draft bills. On the House side, bills were developed by the commerce, ways and means, and labor committees. On the Senate side, a bill was completed by the HELP committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, chaired by Ted Kennedy). The only committee that didn't finish a bill is the one that's likely to matter most: the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by the infamous obfuscating dick Max Baucus, a right-leaning Democrat from Montana who has received $2,880,631 in campaign contributions from the health care industry. The game in health care reform has mostly come down to whether or not the final bill that is hammered out from the work of these five committees will contain a public option - i.e., an option for citizens to buy in to a government-run health care plan. Because the plan wouldn't have any profit motive - and wouldn't have to waste money on executive bonuses and corporate marketing - it would automatically cost less than private insurance. Once such a public plan is on the market, it would also drive down prices offered by for-profit insurers - a move essential to offset the added cost of covering millions of uninsured Americans. Without a public option, any effort at health care reform will be as meaningful as a manicure for a gunshot victim. "The public option is the main thing on the table," says Michael Behan, an aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. "It's really coming down to that." The House versions all contain a public option, as does the HELP committee's version in the Senate. So whether or not there will be a public option in the end will likely come down to Baucus, one of the biggest whores for insurance-company money in the history of the United States. The early indications are that there is no public option in the Baucus version; the chairman hinted he favors the creation of nonprofit insurance cooperatives, a lame-ass alternative that even a total hack like Sen. Chuck Schumer has called a "fig leaf." Even worse, Baucus has set things up so that the final Senate bill will be drawn up by six senators from his committee: a gang of three Republicans (Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Mike Enzi of Wyoming) and three Democrats (Baucus, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico) known by the weirdly Maoist sobriquet "Group of Six." The setup senselessly submarines the committee's Democratic majority, effectively preventing members who advocate a public option, like Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, from seriously influencing the bill. Getting movement on a public option - or any other meaningful reform - will now require the support of one of the three Republicans in the group: Grassley (who has received $2,034,000 from the health sector), Snowe ($756,000) or Enzi ($627,000). This is what the prospects for real health care reform come down to - whether one of three Republicans from tiny states with no major urban populations decides, out of the goodness of his or her cash-fattened heart, to forsake forever any contributions from the health-insurance industry (and, probably, aid for their re-election efforts from the Republican National Committee). This, of course, is the hugest of long shots. But just to hedge its bets even further and ensure that no real reforms pass, Congress has made sure to cover itself, sabotaging the bill long before it even got to Baucus' committee. To do this, they used a five-step system of subtle feints and legislative tricks to gut the measure until there was nothing left. STEP ONE: AIM LOW Heading into the health care debate, there was only ever one genuinely dangerous idea out there, and that was a single-payer system. Used by every single developed country outside the United States (with the partial exceptions of Holland and Switzerland, which offer limited and highly regulated private-insurance options), single-payer allows doctors and hospitals to bill and be reimbursed by a single government entity. In America, the system would eliminate private insurance, while allowing doctors to continue operating privately. In the real world, nothing except a single-payer system makes any sense. There are currently more than 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices: Nearly a third of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $350 billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system - more than enough to pay for the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so. Everyone knows this, including the president. Last spring, when he met with Rep. Lynn Woolsey, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Obama openly said so. "He said if he were starting from scratch, he would have a single-payer system," says Woolsey. "But he thought it wasn't possible, because it would disrupt the health care industry." Huh? This isn't a small point: The president and the Democrats decided not to press for the only plan that makes sense for everyone, in order to preserve an industry that is not only cruel and stupid and dysfunctional, but through its rank inefficiency has necessitated the very reforms now being debated. Even though the Democrats enjoy a political monopoly and could have started from a very strong bargaining position, they chose instead to concede at least half the battle before it even began. Obama wasn't the only big Democrat to mysteriously abandon his position on single-payer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Henry Waxman, the influential chair of the House commerce committee, have both backed away from their longtime support of single-payer. Hell, even Max-freaking-Baucus once conceded the logic of single-payer, saying only that it isn't feasible politically. "There may come a time when we can push for single-payer," he said in February. "At this time, it's not going to get to first base in Congress." And helping it not get to first base was . Max Baucus. It was Baucus' own committee that held the first round-table discussions on reform. In three days of hearings last May, he invited no fewer than 41 people to speak. The list featured all the usual industry hacks, including big insurers like America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Blue Cross and Aetna. It's worth noting that several of the organizations invited - including AHIP and Amgen - employ several former Baucus staffers as lobbyists, including two of his ex-chiefs of staff. Not one of the 41 witnesses, however, was in favor of single-payer - even though eliminating the insurance companies enjoys broad public support. Leading advocates of single-payer, including doctors from the Physicians for a National Health Program, implored Baucus to allow them to testify. When he refused, a group of eight single-payer activists, including three doctors, stood up during the hearings and asked to be included in the discussion. One of the all-time classic moments in the health care reform movement came when the second protester to stand up, Katie Robbins of Health Care Now, declared, "We need single-payer health care!" To which Baucus, who looked genuinely frightened, replied, "We need more police!" The eight protesters were led away in handcuffs and spent about seven hours in jail. "It's funny, the policemen were all telling us their horror stories about health care," recalls Dr. Margaret Flowers, one of the physicians who was jailed. "One was telling us about his mother who was 62 and lost her job and was uninsured, waiting to get Medicare when she was 65." The protesters were sentenced to six months' probation. Baucus later met with them and conceded that not including single-payer advocates in the discussion had been a mistake, although it was "too late" to change that. Single-payer advocates have had an equally tough time getting a hearing with the president. In March, the White House refused to allow Rep. John Conyers to invite two physicians who support single-payer to the health care summit that Obama was holding to kick off the reform effort. Three months later, a single-payer advocate named David Scheiner, who served as Obama's physician for 22 years, was mysteriously bumped from a prime-time forum on health care, where he had been invited to ask the president a question. Many of the health care advisers in Obama's inner circle, meanwhile, are industry hacks - people like Nancy-Ann DeParle, the president's health care czar, who has served on the boards of for-profit companies like Medco Health Solutions and Triad Hospitals. DeParle is so unthreatening to the status quo that Karen Ignagni, the insurance industry's leading lobbyist-gorgon, praised her "extensive experience" and "strong track record." Behind closed doors, Obama also moved to cut a deal with the drug industry. "It's a dirty deal," says Russell Mokhiber, one of the protesters whom Baucus had arrested. "The administration told them, 'Single-payer is off the table. In exchange, we want you on board.'" In August, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America announced that the industry would contribute an estimated $150 million to campaign for Obamacare. Even the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose 80-plus members have overwhelmingly supported single-payer legislation in the past, decided not to draw a line in the sand. They agreed to back down on single-payer, seemingly with the understanding that Pelosi would push for a strong public option - a sort of miniversion of single-payer, a modest, government-run insurance plan that would serve as a test model for the real thing. But one of the immutable laws of politics in the U.S. Congress is that progressives will always be screwed by their own leaders, as soon as the opportunity presents itself. And with a bill the size and scope of health care, there was plenty of opportunity. STEP TWO: GUT THE PUBLIC OPTION Once single-payer was off the table, the Democrats lost their best bargaining chip. Rather than being in a position to use the fear of radical legislation to extract concessions from the right - a position Obama seemingly gave away at the outset, by punting on single-payer - Republicans and conservative Blue Dog Democrats suddenly realized that they had the upper hand. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would now give away just about anything to avoid having to walk away without a real health care bill. The situation was made worse as the flagging economy ate away at Obama's political capital. Polls showed the percentage of "highly engaged" Democrats plummeting, while the percentage of "highly engaged" Republicans - inspired by idiotic scare stories from Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin about socialized medicine and euthanasia - rose rapidly. By late summer, "the depth of Republican support was starting to rival the breadth of Democratic support," said noted statistician Nate Silver. The more the Republicans and Blue Dogs fidgeted and fucked around, the easier it would be for them to kill the public option. Democrats, who on the morning after Election Day could have passed a single-payer system without opposition, were now in a desperate hurry to make a deal. The public option is hardly a cure-all: Among other things, it does nothing to reduce the $350 billion a year in unnecessary paperwork and administrative overhead that makes the current system so expensive and maddening. "That's one of the big issues," says an aide to a member of the progressive caucus. "None of this addresses the paperwork issue. It might even make it worse." But the basic idea of the public option is sound enough: create a government health plan that citizens could buy through regulated marketplaces called insurance "exchanges" run at the state level. Simply by removing the profit motive, the government plan would be cheaper than private insurance. "The goal here was to offer the rock-bottom price, the Walmart price, so that people could buy insurance practically at cost," says one Senate aide. The logic behind the idea was so unassailable that its opponents often inadvertently found themselves arguing for it. "Assurances that the government plan would play by the rules that private insurers play by are implausible," groused right-wing douchebag George Will. "Competition from the public option must be unfair, because government does not need to make a profit and has enormous pricing and negotiating powers." In other words, if you offer a public plan that doesn't systematically fuck every single person in the country by selling health care at inflated prices and raking in monster profits, private insurers just won't be able to compete. Will wasn't the only prominent opponent of reform openly arguing in favor of the insurance industry's right to continue doing business inefficiently. Sen. Ben Nelson, who together with Baucus are the Laverne and Shirley of turncoat Democrats, complained that the public option "would win the game." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that "private insurance will not be able to compete with a government option." This is a little like complaining that Keanu Reeves was robbed of an Oscar just because he can't act. For a while, the public option looked like it might have a real chance at passing. In the House, both the ways and means committee and the labor committee passed draft bills that contained a genuine public option. But then conservative opponents of the plan, the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, mounted their counterattack. A powerful bloc composed primarily of drawling Southerners in ill-fitting suits, the Blue Dogs - a gang of puffed-up political mulattos hired by the DNC to pass as almost-Republicans in red-state battlegrounds - present themselves as a quasi-religious order, worshipping at the sacred altar of "fiscal responsibility" and "deficit reduction." On July 9th, in a harmless-sounding letter to Pelosi, 40 Blue Dogs expressed concern that doctors in the public option "must be fairly reimbursed at negotiated rates, and their participation must be voluntary." Paying doctors "using Medicare's below-market rates," they added, "would seriously weaken the financial stability of our local hospitals." The letter was an amazing end run around the political problem posed by the public option - i.e., its unassailable status as a more efficient and cheaper health care alternative. The Blue Dogs were demanding that the very thing that makes the public option work - curbing costs to taxpayers by reimbursing doctors at Medicare rates plus five percent - be scrapped. Instead, the Blue Dogs wanted compensation rates for doctors to be jacked up, on the government's tab. The very Democrats who make a point of boasting about their unwavering commitment to fiscal conservatism were lobbying, in essence, for a big fat piece of government pork for doctors. "Cost should be the number-one concern to the Blue Dogs," grouses Rep. Woolsey. "That's why they're Blue Dogs." In the end, the Blue Dogs won. When the House commerce committee passed its bill, the public option no longer paid Medicare-plus-five-percent. Instead, it required the government to negotiate rates with providers, ensuring that costs would be dramatically higher. According to one Democratic aide, the concession would bump the price of the public option by $1,800 a year for the average family of four. In one fell swoop, the public plan went from being significantly cheaper than private insurance to costing, well, "about the same as what we have now," as one Senate aide puts it. This was the worst of both worlds, the kind of take-the-fork-in-the-road nonsolution that has been the peculiar specialty of Democrats ever since Bill Clinton invented a new way to smoke weed. The party could now sell voters on the idea that it was offering a "public option" without technically lying, while at the same time reassuring health care providers that the public option it was passing would not imperil the industry's market share. Even more revolting, when Pelosi was asked on July 31st if she worried that progressives in the House would yank their support of the bill because of the sellout to conservatives, she literally laughed out loud. "Are the progressives going to take down universal, quality, affordable health care for all Americans?" she said, chuckling heartily to reporters. "I don't think so." The laugh said everything about what the mainstream Democratic Party is all about. It finds the notion that it has to pay anything more than lip service to its professed values funny. "It's a joke," complains one Democratic aide. "This is all a game to these people - and they're good at it." The concession to the Blue Dogs comes at a potentially disastrous price: Without a public option that drives down prices, the cost of other health care reforms being considered by Congress will almost certainly skyrocket. The trade-off with conservatives might be understandable, if those other reforms were actually useful. But this is Congress we're talking about. STEP THREE: PACK IT WITH LOOPHOLES Even seasoned congressional aides, who are accustomed to sitting through long and boring committee meetings, have found the debate over health care reform uniquely torturous. Unlike other congressional matters, where there is at least a feeling that the process might at some point be completed, the endless sessions over health care have led many staffers to fear that they will be locked in hearing rooms for the rest of their lives, listening to words like "target" and "mandate" and "doughnut hole" being repeated ad nauseam by weary, gray-faced, saggy-necked legislators - who begin, after weeks of self-inflated posturing, to look like the ugliest people in the universe. "You come out of these hearings," says Behan, the aide to Sen. Sanders, "and the number of interconnected, moving pieces going in and out of these bills is insane - the case for single-payer health insurance makes itself." For those looking to fuck up health care reform - or to load it up with goodies for their rich pals - the tedium actually serves a broader purpose. Given that five different committees are weighing five different and often competing paths to reform, it's not surprising that all sorts of bizarre crap winds up buried in their bills, stuff no one could possibly have expected to be in there. The most glaring example, passed by Ted Kennedy's HELP committee, would allow the makers of complex drugs known as "biologics" to keep their formulas from being copied by rivals for 12 years - twice as long as the protection for ordinary pharmaceuticals. The notion that an effort ostensibly aimed at curbing health care costs would grant the pharmaceutical industry lucrative new protections against generic drugs is even weirder when you consider that earlier proposals, including one supported by Obama, would have protected brand-name drugs for only seven years. Another favor to industry buried in the bills involves the issue of choice. From shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp Wed Sep 16 20:54:07 2009 From: shimogamo at ashisuto.co.jp (Bill Totten) Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:54:07 +0900 Subject: [A-List] Predicting Worse Ahead from America's Economic Crisis Message-ID: <20090917115407.de570ab4.shimogamo@ashisuto.co.jp> by Stephen Lendman sjlendman.blogspot.com (September 04 2009) www.globalresearch.ca (September 04 2009) Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises (1881 - 1973) said: "There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." Under Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and successive US Treasury Secretaries, America chose the latter path and now faces the consequences of their reckless, criminal behavior. In early 2009, economist Michael Hudson said: The (US) economy has reached its debt limit and is entering its insolvency phase. We are not in a cycle but (at) the end of an era. The old world of debt pyramiding to a fraudulent degree cannot be restored, only delayed to postpone a painful day of reckoning. Economist Hyman Minsky (1919 - 1996) described a "Ponzi finance" system during prolonged expansions and economic booms. Speculative excesses create bubbles, triggering structural instability, then asset valuation collapse that turns euphoria to revulsion and market crashes. On December 29 2008, the Wall Street Journal online headlined: "As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of US", then continued: "For a decade, Russian academic (and former KGB analyst) Igor Panarin has been predicting the US will fall apart in 2010" to include an "economic and moral collapse, a civil war, and the eventual breakup of the country". For years, no one took him seriously, but no longer. He's invited to Kremlin receptions, gets interviewed twice a day, publishes books, is a frequent lecturer, and appears regularly in the media as an expert on US-Russia relations as well as the great interest in his predictions and new book titled, The Crash of America. On March 25 2009, RussiaToday.com headlined: "Is there anything Obama can do about the US Collapse?" No, according to Panarin, for these reasons: -- "the moral and psychological factor and the stress of the American population"; -- America's deepening financial and economic crisis; and -- "the increase of anti-Americanism in the world", the result of continued US belligerency. Panarin sees America collapsing into six areas of foreign influence and perhaps disintegrating as a nation: -- depressed northern states close to Canada "in their mentality and economic development"; -- the Southwest "fuel and energy complex, the oil sector" close to Mexico; -- California and the Pacific Northwest falling under Chinese influence; -- the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions under the EU; -- Alaska may be returned to Russia; and -- Hawaii may become a Japanese or Chinese protectorate. Panarin sees 2010 as America's tipping point and says no miracle rescues can save it. In addition, he cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd's 1976 prediction of the Soviet Union's dissolution that got him laughed at and scorned at the time but proved right. Todd now predicts a similar fate for the US in his 2002 book, After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order. He cites: -- unilateral militarism shows weakness, not strength; -- America is parasitic, relying on voluntary or extracted "tributes" from vassal states; -- global terrorism is a myth; -- many nations, including EU states, China and Russia, are beginning to resist US adventurism; -- terminal corruption and decay; -- economic weakness and decline; -- producing little, America's "specialty is consumption (so) relies on foreign imports" to satisfy it; -- a declining middle class and growing poverty will curtail spending sharply; -- if capital inflows cease, the dollar will crash: -- a coming collapse of the stock market, financial institutions and the dollar; -- a ballooning trade deficit and shrinking manufacturing base; -- a predatory ruling class plundering the world with impunity, yet out of touch with its own people growing poorer, more desperate and angrier; -- America's abandonment of universalism and egalitarianism; -- excess consumption trapping people in an ocean of debt and lowering their living standards; -- "the rest of the world ... is on the verge of discovering that it can get along without America; America is realizing that it cannot get along without the rest of the world"; -- an emerging Eurasia will end US supremacy, then isolate and curtail its dominance; and -- "If America continues to endeavor to show its power, it will simply reveal (to) the world its impotence". For his part, Panarin compares America to the Titanic after hitting an iceberg when it was unclear whether the crew would try to save the ship or more importantly its passengers. Unfortunately, under Bush and Obama, they're trying to save themselves at the expense of the ship and passengers. After disintegration, Panarin sees three dominant influence areas emerging - the EU, Russia and China. After eleven years of monitoring US policies, he believes his prediction is largely confirmed and states the following: America's Fiscal 2009 "budget deficit is 4.5 times the 2008 deficit, while firearms sales are up forty percent. On October 1, the coupons that were given state workers are to be cashed out. When (they) realize that they are getting nothing for (them), they will take out their firearms and chaos will unfold." Further, on September 30 2009, results will be published that are "destined to shock investors worldwide. After that, and (Japan and China's) snubbing of the dollar ... which will transfer didry percent of (their) international operations to Yuan starting in 2010, the currency will then flow like a landslide out of style". Already nations like China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina and others are trading in their own currencies or will do so shortly. In Panarin's view, "the probability of the US ceasing to exist (in its present form) by June 2010 exceeds fifty percent. At this point, the mission of all major international powers is to prevent chaos" because what hurts America also harms them. A Multiple-Dip Depression Economist John Williams publishes the shadowstats.com electronic newsletter with updated sample data on his site. He calls government figures corrupted and unreliable because manipulative changes rigged them for political and market purposes. To correct them, he reverse-engineers GDP, employment, inflation, and other key data for greater reliability to subscribers. On August 1, Williams called the "Current Economic Downturn (the) Worst Since (the) Great Depression". It began a year earlier than reported, triggered a systemic solvency crisis, and the effects of "a multiple-dip depression (are) far from over". The July 31 2009 national income accounts "confirmed that the US economy is in its worst economic contraction since the first downleg of the Great Depression, which was a double-dip" one like today's. Intermittent upturns are common, like from spiked auto sales from the cash-for-clunkers program that borrowed future purchases for today's. "Yet, this downturn will continue to deteriorate, proving to be extremely protracted, extremely deep and particularly nonresponsive to traditional stimuli". The economy suffers from deep structural problems related to household income. Consumers are over-indebted, can't borrow, and Washington's policies aren't helping them. Continued economic decline will follow. "The current depression is the second dip in a multiple-dip downturn that started in 1999 (and triggered) the systemic solvency crisis" that was visible by August 2007 but started in late 2006. The worst lies ahead, the result of the "government's long-range insolvency and (dollar debasing that risks) hyperinflation during the next five years", and perhaps sooner in 2010. It will cause "a great depression of a magnitude never before seen in" America, disrupting all business and commerce and reverberating globally. Williams defines deflation as a decrease in goods and services prices, generally from a money supply contraction. Inflation is the reverse. Hyperinflation debases the currency to near worthlessness. Officially, two or more consecutive declining quarters means recession, but better measures are protracted weakened production, employment, retail sales, construction, capital investment, and demand for durable goods among other factors. A depression occurs when inflation-adjusted peak-to-trough contraction exceeds ten percent, and a great depression when it's 25% or worse. Today's economic downturn preceded the systemic solvency crisis after key data "hit cycle highs and began to weaken in late-2005 for housing and durable goods orders ... early-2006 for nonfarm payrolls, (and) late-2006 for retail sales and industrial production, patterns more consistent with a late-2006" real recession onset. Gross Domestic Income (GDI) data confirms this analysis. Its real growth peaked in first quarter of 2006, and revised GDI data contracted in seven of the last nine quarters. "Revised GDP shows the sharpest annual decline in the history of the quarterly GDP series", suggesting a much deeper and protracted downturn than previously reported. July 2009 marked the nineteenth consecutive month of contraction, "the longest downturn since the first downleg of the Great Depression". More recent GDP declines of 3.3% and 3.9% in quarters one and two of 2009, "are the worst showings in the history of the quarterly GDP series" dating back to 1947-48. In 1946, a greater contraction occurred because of post-war production cutbacks, but it was short-term. Today's most reliable economic indicators show the downturn is deepening, not abating as deceptive media accounts report. "The SGS (Shadow Government Statistics) alternative measure of GDP suggests (a) 5.9% contraction ... versus the official year-to-year" 3.9% figure. The official estimated annualized second quarter 2009 decline was one percent compared to SGS's figure "in excess of five-percent". Its alternative data show "deeper and more protracted recessions" than officially reported, suggesting a deepening crisis ahead. The CBO's Grim Forecast Even the conservative Congressional Budget Office sees a weaker economy ahead, contrary to most consensus views of a sustainable upturn. Its latest projections are as follows: -- 2010 U-3 unemployment at 10.2%, edging down to eight percent by 2011 and 4.8% by 2014; -- in 2010, twelve million will be underemployed; -- for the next five years, economic weakness and lower demand will pressure workers with unemployment or underemployment; -- part-time work only will be available for millions wanting full-time jobs; -- low consumption will persist through 2014; -- unemployment benefits will be exhausted; -- households will be pressured to make mortgage payments, pay for health care, meet other obligations, and provide for their families at a time state and city budget crises force deep cuts in vital social services, not made up for by the federal government; -- tax revenues are down seventeen, the sharpest decline since 1932; -- $600 billion in investment losses will result plus another $5.9 trillion in lost output through 2014; and -- the federal deficit will nearly double over the next ten years to about $20 trillion. In sum, CBO projects a more severe protracted downturn than it earlier forecast in January. Troubled Times Ahead On July 14, Egon von Greyerz, Founder and Managing Partner of Zurich-based Matterhorn Asset Management AG, specializing in precious metals and other investments, said "The Dark Years Are Here" and explained why. Because of "the devastating effects of credit bubbles, government money printing (and) disastrous actions that governments are taking, (upcoming) tumultuous events will be life changing for most people in the world". They'll begin by year end, last for two to three years, then be followed by extended economic, political, and social upheaval, perhaps continuing for two decades. Greyerz cites three main concerns: -- exploding unemployment and government deficits; -- trillions of unreported bank losses and worthless derivatives; and -- rising inflation, high interest rates, collapsed Treasury bond (and UK gilt) valuations resulting in more money creation, worthless paper, and a "perfect vicious circle (leading to) a hyperinflationary depression followed by the collapse of the dollar and British pound". America is hemorrhaging financially and economically. Other countries now realize they hold "worthless" US dollars. Reckless money creation achieved short-term hope, benefitted Wall Street alone short-term, elevated world stock markets, and led some to believe the crisis was over when, in fact, it's worsening. Aside from expected short-lived upturns, "every single sector of the real economy is deteriorating whether it is production, unemployment, corporate profits, real estate, credit defaults, construction, federal deficits, local government and state deficits et cetera". In response, the Fed keeps printing money and destroying its value. "This is total lunacy! How can any intelligent person believe that printed pieces of paper can solve an economic catastrophe?" We're in "the first phase of this tragic saga". Likely by year end, a second more serious one will start. Real unemployment now tops twenty percent. It hit 25% in the Great Depression with 35% of the nonfarm population out of work and desperate. "It is our firm opinion that (US) non-farm unemployment levels will reach 35% at least ... in the next few years" with all uncounted categories included. Growing millions with no jobs, incomes, savings, or safety net protections will create "a disaster of unimaginable consequences that will affect the whole fabric of American society" to a degree far greater than in the Great Depression. Growing unemployment now plagues Western and Eastern Europe as well, and by 2010 will more greatly affect most parts of the world, "including China, Asia and Africa. Never before has there been a global unemployment crisis affecting the world simultaneously." Ahead expect sharp drops in consumption and global trade leading to depression, poverty, "famine and social unrest". Already, conditions are worse than in the 1930s, but the worst is yet to come. Expect: -- an extremely severe global depression in most countries with grave economic, political, and social consequences; -- social safety net protections will end; -- private and state pensions will likely collapse; and -- unemployment, poverty, homelessness, hunger, and famine will cause a protracted period of economic, political, social, and institutional upheaval. If von Greyerz, Panarin, Todd, and others with similar views are right, a deepening, protracted, unprecedented global catastrophe approaches that "will be life changing for most people in the world". _____ Stephen Lendman is a research associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen at sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday thru Friday at 10 am US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. View his complete profile at http://www.blogger.com/profile/15760852410047128197 http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/09/predicting-worse-ahead-from-americas.html http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14962 http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com http://www.ashisuto.co.jp From noreply at coha.org Wed Sep 16 11:24:58 2009 From: noreply at coha.org (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:24:58 -0400 Subject: [A-List] Washington's Delayed Action on Honduras Message-ID: <20090916172346.CE6613E41BD@mx-out2.daemonmail.net> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 6987 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090916/ba060e33/attachment.txt From barmy_basket at yahoo.es Wed Sep 16 11:34:23 2009 From: barmy_basket at yahoo.es (peripatetic) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:34:23 +0200 Subject: [A-List] Brzezinski sez In-Reply-To: <4AB072F3.8080305@yahoo.es> References: <191363.40713.qm@web30905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <4AB072F3.8080305@yahoo.es> Message-ID: <4AB1219F.2000106@yahoo.es> "occupation of Afghanistan is Going Down Same Road as Soviet Union in Afghanistan" and: "that would probably spell the end of the Alliance? Be ready with several Champagne bottles to celebrate both events. __._,_.___ _,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 3824 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/attachments/20090916/7f652fe4/attachment