By Charles Davis
Human rights in Honduras: State Department looks the other way Los Angeles Times. Labor activists, journalists and peasant farmers face a campaign of state-sponsored torture and assassinations, courtesy the U.S. taxpayer.
Arctic sea ice at record low — and the worst is yet to come Real Climate (Ned Ludd). But let’s talk about Mitt Romney’s tax returns.
U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market New York Times. The U.S. government sold $66.3 billion worth of weapons last year to the worst regime’s in the world. Russia, in second place, sold $4.8 billion.
Many young Chinese are losing faith in China’s economic miracle Al Jazeera. Turns out economic growth is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Yo, dudes: Alpha males are a myth, according to actual experts on wolves Man Boobz
Obama Administration Backs Shell in Supreme Court Case Common Dreams. Eric Holder defended the worst corporate human rights abusers as a private attorney; he continues to do so as attorney general.
The ‘Magical’ Properties of Semen Big Think. “For my next trick, I’m going to need a volunteer from the audience.”
Merkel tries to calm storm over Greece, ECB policy Reuters
Nicaragua seizes $7 million from fake journalists Associated Press. Wolf Blitzer rushes to check his bank account.
Is the Media Liberal? BroadSnark. “If liberal is defined as being classist, elitist, and status-seeking, then the media is liberal as hell.”
Man gets 20 years for biting deputy’s arm News4Jax. That’s one year less than Anders Brevik got for killing 77 people in Norway. Surely the sentence would be the same were a cop to bite a civilian’s arm.
Go-Topless Day in New York seeks equal rights to bare chests Reuters. The subtext of this article: haha, feminists sure are crazy and funny and ohmygod boobies.
The Faulty Assumption Behind Bad Reporting on Iran Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. There is no evidence Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, but you wouldn’t know that by reading the news.
Look at All the Civil Liberties Democrats Pretended to Care About in 2008. Reason
One in Four Mississippi Residents Struggle to Afford Food Gallup (Carol Boucher). Even in North Dakota, the state that according to the survey has the greatest food security, nearly 1 in 10 residents struggled to find enough money to eat in the past year.
Legal marijuana backers raise $3 million in two US states Reuters. Efforts to legalize marijuana enjoy majority support in Washington and Colorado.
Pro-Israel group cancels protest at Santa Monica hotel Los Angeles Times. After being accused of anti-Semitism for throwing out attendees of a “Friends of the Israel Defense Forces” fundraiser, the Muslim-American hotel owner agrees to “donate to Jewish and Israeli causes.”
Going Postal At The Empire State Building. NSFW Corporation. But the NYPD is unionized, Mark. Are we sure the Kochs aren’t behind this?
* * *
lambert here
D – 14 and counting*
“Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real Liberty.” –Roberts Rules of Order
This Week with George Stephanopoulos as told to The Bobblespeak Translations: “STEPHANOPOULOS: you want to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect zygotes MCDONNELL: you can’t pay attention to the Party platform – those are just our fundamental beliefs that we don’t care about”
RNC. Hurricane Watch: “[T]he oddly inscrutable storm was headed farther west than first predicted, suggesting the thousands of politicos and protesters gathered here could be spared a lasting bout of severe weather.” … Ron Paul: “I don’t fully endorse [Romney] for president.” So, no speech. … Ron Paul: “ME’s delegation on Monday will appeal a decision by the RNC to limit the number of Ron Paul supporters allowed in.” … Ron Paul Conference: “Vendors included the Libertarian Party (which is co-sponsoring the festival), the John Birch Society, marketeers of precious metal currency, liberty-minded political candidates running on R and third-party tickets, and the ideologically apathetic out to capitalize on the Paul franchise.” … Ron Paul Conference: Cheered, Austrian School Economics, legal hemp. Booed: Obama, the Iraq War. And much else. … Nosebleed seats: “The Republican National Convention seating chart shows the delegations from NV, LA, ME, ME and OK all located on the outer fringe of the convention floor. Each are states with significant Paul followings.” … The narrative: “1 Can Mitt check all the boxes? 2 Can they take down Obama without seeming mean? 3 Can Tampa make Romney likable? 4 Who shines more: Christie or Rubio? 5 Can the GOP answer the “war on women” charge? 6 Does Paul Ryan have a veep’s right hook?” … Charts: Infographic: Inside the Republican convention. … Kickoff party, St Pete’s: “GOP faithful [at the convention host party] dined on paella, chicken and mango salad, whole roast pig [road kill?] with a variety of barbecue sauces and Cuban sandwiches.” … Kickoff party: “One industrious lady [has a CraigsList ad] for ‘RNC closet dwellers. This ad is for gay men only that for whatever reason need to appear hetero. I’ll be your BEARD.'”
RNC protest. Kickoff party march: “Hundreds of protesters called for higher minimum wage and an end to corporate tax breaks during the ‘99% march’ to Tropicana Field.” … Kickoff party march: “But this was no Chicago in 1968 scene. The older women carried umbrellas and fanny packs. Older men carefully wrapped their posters in plastic to protect them from the rain. At one point, a young man wearing a bandana across his face began chanting ‘Fuck the police’ at a row of officers standing behind a fence at Tropicana Field. A group of older women shouted the man down. This wasn’t that kind of protest, they said. The man quickly shut up.” … Crowds: “Protesters are being kept blocks away and, so far, they’ve gathered in groups several dozen to a few hundred [at several locations; handy map of cameras]. But the worries of massive protests that might bring violence and a cacophony of chanting [quell horreur!] have been elusive.” … Irony: “Giant blocks of ice spelling out the words ‘middle class’ are melting on a warm, sticky day. Occupy protesters say it represents the melting away of the middle class in America.” … Resolve: “[Hurricane Isacc] might affect the R’s plans but not ours,’ said [Occupier] Pineiro. ‘We’re a little more dedicated than them, to tell you the truth.'” … Romneyville: “This is a militarized event. [The police are] acting like they’re in Baghdad or Islamabad. Why do they need tanks? Why do they need helicopters?” [organizer Bruce Wright of the Poor People’s Human Rights Campaign] asked. He said officials should be more concerned about right-wing extremists than his band of protesters, some of whom toted small children and traveled from TX to join the event.” … Police state: See video (nathan). … Videography: “[Flux Rostrum of Mobile Broadcast News] said that he was running a 24-hour livestream from the bus showing “Romneyville.” Before arriving in FL he had been in WV with his bus documenting conflicts between police officers, miners and people protesting strip mining.” … Feeds: Occupy Tampa; RomneyVille; OccupyEye; Tim Pool.
DNC. Charlie Crist: “The former R and former [FL] governor waited until the Sunday before the Tampa convention to pen an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times that officially cast his lot with Obama.”
Conventions. Viewership: “In 2008, 38.9 million viewers watched John McCain’s acceptance speech, 38.4 million watched Barack Obama, and 37.2 million saw Sarah Palin explain that the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick. That’s more than watched the season finale of American Idol that year and just shy of the ratings for the record-setting opening ceremonies of the London Olympics this year. Yes, conventions are scripted, choreographed and mostly predictable, but they do matter.”
FL. Corruption: “A former part-time deputy in the Cowlitz County Coroner’s office is accused of using a dead man’s debit card to steal nearly $12,000 from his estate. Police said [he] admitted taking Williams’ card and using it, saying he was tempted due to “severe financial problems.” … Democrats: “In the last five presidential elections, Ds have made it a battle in FL by bringing in their national political organization to mobilize their voters. In doing so, [they] have made obvious what others have thought for some time — that the state party’s political infrastructure is too weak to mobilize supporters to meet their needs.”
LA. Hurricane: “Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency for the state of LA through Sept. 26 for the potential effects of Isaac. He also recommended voluntary evacuations for residents living outside hurricane levees in 15 parishes” (storm track).
ME. Money: “A television ad urging support for D Senate candidate Cynthia Dill has taken to the airwaves today–and it’s paid for by a Political Action Committee based in Washington D.C. that’s described as having R ties.” This keeps happening: Akins, Rivera.
NY. Shooting: “The laid-off designer who executed a former co-worker outside the Empire State Building finally snapped when he learned he was being evicted from his Upper East Side apartment.” … Fracking: “Why did Bloomberg suddenly change his position on fracking?” (AH)
MO. Akin: “I don’t really think that Akin supporters are a long-term problem. We had an accommodation with them: It’s the billionaires who are the problem.”
OH. Trials: “Sixteen members of a breakaway Amish group accused of hair-cutting attacks against members of their own faith in OH are set to go on trial this week in Cleveland.”
PA. Fracking: “Stephen Cleghorn, a farmer, scattered the ashes of his wife, Lucinda on their farm in Reynoldsville, PA. Cleghorn announced that, with this deposition of ash, he was hereby consecrating his land and declaring it off-limits to fracking in perpetuity.” Second time for this tactic.
VA. Homeless: “[VA] counted 8,742 homeless students last school year, an increase of more than 3,700 in just five years. The numbers could be deceptively low.”
WI. Charters: “Enrollment in WI’s online schools has doubled in the last five years, but students often struggle to complete their degrees and repeat grades four times as often as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.”
Outside baseball. Poverty: “Oddly, though, for all his rhetorical skills, Obama hasn’t made a single speech devoted to poverty since he moved into the White House.” Oddly? … Foreclosure: “As part of a little-known effort, congressional staffers across the country have been calling banks relentlessly to bargain for help for homeowners. In response, some of the country’s biggest financial entities, such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, have even set up special lines to field the congressional staffer members’ calls.” … Disemployment: “Among those workers who lost a good job because of the struggling economy over the past three years, roughly one in four found a job that pays as well.” That’s not a bug. It’s a feature. … Atheism: “[T]he past seven years have seen a fivefold increase in people who call themselves atheists, to 5% of the population. [T]he proportion of Americans who say they are religious has fallen from 73% in 2005 to 60% in 2011.” … What It Takes: “[W]e see a person struggle to control his public image, fail, and then wallow in the popular perception before he washes out. Some go out with a bang (Hart, Biden). Others, a whimper.” We’ll be waiting…
The trail. MI: “[A] small plane hired by MoveOn.org circled overhead, trailing a misspelled protest banner: ‘America is better then [sic] birtherism.’”
Libertarians. Jim Clymer, Constitution Party: “When Obama’s doing it, it’s terrible; but when Bush does it, they’re muted.”
Robama vs. Obomney watch. Matthew Dowd: “[T]here are major conflicting dynamics at work for each campaign indicating that these candidates, if they weren’t running against each other, would be unelectable. On the D side, there’s the perception by a vast majority of voters that the country is on the wrong track and the incredible dissatisfaction with Obama’s handling of the economy. For the Rs, there’s Romney’s personal likeability being so low.” … The narrative: “Both [campaigns] agree on a handful of make-or-break points: the conventions and the three presidential debates, particularly the first one — and both believe Romney, more likely than not, will meet the media’s expectations for his performance.” Where’s Uncle Karl with the dead girl or live boy? … Privatization: “[JEB BUSH: ] I thought it was funny to watch [D] Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson having a heart attack while I was introducing [Obama] and he was applauding elements of our education reforms, embracing them and not in a superficial way.” 2020? … Party animals: “Steve Lucas, a delegate from Orinda, [CA] stood in right field wearing an ‘Obama sucks’ button. He said he is a supporter of the city’s mayor, Steve Glazer, who happens to be D Gov. Jerry Brown’s top political adviser.”
Romney. Pearl clutching: “[ROMNEY: The president’s campaign of personal vilification and demonization probably draws some people away from me.” Man up, Mitt. Have you no surrogates? … Mr. Warmth: “One R who spends a lot of time with Romney said: ‘People don’t know Romney. He may be unknowable.’” Ouch! … Putative issues: Good wrap-up by McClatchy.
Obama. Money: “Obama is on record as opposing superPACs for normalizing gigantic donations, but his campaign has hesitantly decided to accept donations from these outside groups.” …. Teleprompter: “This image was not meant as any kind of an editorial statement.”
* 14 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with paella, chicken and mango salad, and whole roast pig with a variety of barbecue sauces and Cuban sandwiches for everyone on the floor of the Bank of America Panther Stadium, Charlotte, NC. NJ has 14 electoral votes.
ERRATUM: Louis XVI was not the last Bourbon King of France; I forgot about the restoration. Hat tip, reader SM.
* * *
Antidote du jour: You would never know he’s evil.
73 comments
Comments are closed.
Commentary on the Apple patent win, in the form of a Star Trek video: Apple kills Star Trek. Also, from OSNews: A device with a touchscreen and few buttons was obvious. This remark by Thom Holwerda applies to politics as much as technology:
I remember, in the 1980’s, how the 1960’s seemed like ancient history, filtered through Time-Life music collections. Now, the 1990’s are ancient history. One of the advantages of keeping people over-stimulated with trivia and minutiae is that those with power can control the narrative of even the recent past. How else could Amnesty International USA feature Madeleine Albright as a speaker at its NATO “Shadow Summit” and not have its credibility as a human rights organization destroyed?
Yeah, when it’s time to re-animate genocidal harpies like Maddy “It was worth it” Albright, media white noise is great for drowning out history and culture. Another thing that’s helpful for the new fake Amnesty is the US policy of meticulously maintaining ignorance about human rights, from low-level party hacks all the way down to Greasy Tony Scalia. Which is why civil-society initiatives like this ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/103357232/Detroit-Human-Rights-Training-Presenters-and-Tribunal-Oberservers ) go on in a hermetically-sealed media cone of silence. They are more insidiously subversive than a hundred Guy Fawkes masks.
If Amnesty USA was sincere about human rights, it would focus its energies where they would have the most impact – supporting local human rights activists in the U.S. and campaigning against the horrors that result from U.S. military intervention. Instead, their new executive director is a neoliberal interventionist.
“Protesters are being kept blocks away and, so far, they’ve gathered in groups several dozen to a few hundred. But the worries of massive protests that might bring violence and a cacophony of chanting [quell horreur!] have been elusive.”
Don’t count on this detente lasting.
At one of the conventions, the authorities would like to leave a few corpses on the sidewalk to remind folks that protesting is unAmerican and not protected by the constitution anymore.
Are you in compliance?
Keep up the good work with the links, check them almost everyday.
Heres a link you might be interested in. A real economy data point
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
Re: Chris Hedges inteview yesterday
Hedges says that China buys (I think it was) 2 billion of US debt daily and that eventually that will stop, just as we’ll reach limits to oil reserves, etc.
What does MMT/post-Keynsian analysis say about that? Or for that matter, doesn’t the neoliberal establishment use “MMT” when it suits them, such as with military spending? So how would they deal with Hedges’ scenario?
If you had ever attempted to learn MMT, you wouldn’t even ask this question. So why do you want to know what MMT says when you clearly have no interest in what MMT says? Do you think you’ve suddenly thought up something that all the MMT experts missed?
Hedges’ “problem” only exists in a pegged currency; not in a fiat currency. In a fiat currency, borrowing by the currency issuer is superfluous.
Sovereign spending into the economy and paying off old debts with new money or new rules is a very sane thing to do. I’m having trouble figuring out what Keen and Hudson say, in their various presentations, about protecting the value of their currencies – that devaluation is not a problem because international trade settles that up. And I got the impression from Keen that he was implying that a healthy MMT economy is dependent on healthy exports. I don’t like the idea of making exports run the world.
the nation that first enables all its people to work, and adds to that a distribution system that gets the goods to the people who want them, will have all all the world striving enviously to copy and catch up. Currency wars and the race to the bottom will be history.
Look to Kucinich NEED act to get the ball rolling.
I did read Kucinich’s bill on full employment; government responsibility; and rational finance. I love it. Can’t remember the number or the title. It will never pass, but things might get so bad it will be used as a roadmap someday.
Don’t misunderstand – I’m not anti MMT, I meant my questions sincerely. There’s no value judgment intended, although I can see how you might read that into my questions.
‘Hedges’ “problem” only exists in a pegged currency; not in a fiat currency. In a fiat currency, borrowing by the currency issuer is superfluous.’
Isn’t US currency effectively fiat? When it suits them?
And the US dollar is the “peg”, right? Since Nixon went off the gold standard?
Sorry for my ignorance, I never feel quite sure-footed in the world of economics. Maybe I got into it too late to really develop a feel for it.
Great job helping people develop an interest in MMT! You have a bright future in public relations.
“But let’s talk about Mitt Romney’s tax returns.”
Let’s give the GOP a pass on this issue and just talk about Arctic ice melt (which alienates voters) and when Romney is sworn in we’ll see immediate action on AGW. After all, it took Nixon to go to China. Of course, China is trying to catch up with us on emissions these days.
Would it be okay if we talked about more than one issue? Or should I tell my gay friends to all shut up, too? I’m beginning to see how we liberals get accused of elitism.
Talking about the destruction of the planet “alienates voters,” and not talking (or doing anything) about it is okay because Romney would probably be just as bad on climate change as Obama.
I’m beginning to see why some people think liberals are worthless.
And this is why we have no left in this nation: silly spats about which important issue is more important. Well, that and the fact that our nation is largely made up of millionaires and temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Beam me up Scottie, this nation sucks. I’m off to Sweden, where people actually give a shit about each other.
You might want to think twice. The Heritage Foundation and the American Spectator have been crowing about Sweden’s embrace of business-friendly policies. “Sweden has been quietly turning social democracy into a museum-piece.”
There was also a recent inquiry by parliament into Sweden’s social insurance system.
Since when did the Heritage Foundation and American Spectator ever tell the truth about anything?
Regarding global warming, here’s the latest from our Senate race in Ohio:
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/08/us_senate_candidate_josh_mande.html
NL – “Joachim” – character code name of the shrewd Luchino Visconti:
LUCHINO VISCONTI’S “THE DAMNED” an ALFRED LEVY-EVER HAGGAG Production – Directed by Luchino Visconti (cast: Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Griem, Helmut Berger, Renaud Verley, Umberto Orsini, Albrecht shoenhals, Rene Koldehoff and Florinda Bolkan and Charlotte Rampling).
“The Damned & Visconti” © 1969. Renewed © 1997. Package Design & Supplementary Material © Warner Home Video Inc., a Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Distributed by Warner Home Video Inc. All Rights Reserved. Box text quotation:
“It begins on the night of the Reichstag Fire in February 1933. It ends shortly after the infamous ‘Night of the Long Knives’ in June 1934. In between it’s one of the most spellbinding studies of corruption ever: Luchino Visconti’s *The Damned*, a film of hypnotic moods and overwhelming visual splendor”
—————-
Compare:
“EUROPA” by Lars Von Trier (1991) – 2-DVD boxed set: Under exclusive license from Trust Film Sales. © 1991 Zentropa Entertainments. All rights reserved. © 2008 THE CRITERION COLLECTION. All rights reserved. Cat no. CC1784D. ISBN 978-1-60465-102-7. Printed in U.S.A. First printing 2008;
———
“THE WHITE RIBBON” – A Film by Michael Haneke – © 2009 X Filme Creative Pool, Wega Films, Les Films du Losange, Lucky Re, ARD Degeto, Bayreische Rundfunk, OsterreichischRundfunk Fernsehen and France 3 Cinema. All Rights Reserved. © 2010 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. DVD Video SONY PICTURES CLASSIC.
“WINNER: Golden Globe Award 2009: Best Foreign Language Film; 2 Academy Award Nominations: Best Foreign Language Film/Best Cinematography”
See How It Works from age to age. “History rhymes” badly.
@Carla
When right-wing organizations start applauding a country for adopting right-wing policies, I think that is probative evidence. The report commissioned by the Swedish parliament came to a similar conclusion: “Sweden drifting from ‘Swedish model’”.
It’s important that Romney pays his taxes so the U.S. government has more money to bomb and kill foreigners, “spy on everybody in this country”, and cage anyone who is poor and possesses a plant that the government has declared to be “illegal”. Which do liberals care about more – stopping the war industry and the surveillance state, or making sure Romney pays his fair share supporting them?
…very good point
Nicaragua seizes $7 million from fake journalists Associated Press. Wolf Blitzer rushes to check his bank account.
SNORT! Of course, it’s not just Wolf…
~
Roberto Saviano, author of “Gomorrah,” shows Finance “all Gomorrah now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/where-the-mob-keeps-its-money.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&nl=business&emc=edit_dlbkam_20120827&pagewanted=all
When Saviano writes it, you know it’s true. The System has end-stage terminal cancer to the marrow. Neither “Bit coin” nor “gold” can cure it. Face it.
Let’s say New Orleans goes underwater again from Issac (hypothetical), does it get rebuilt again?
Oh, I’m quite sure there will be plenty of gubmint monies to help all the nice folks left in NOLA. Especially now that the “undesirables” have been removed.
I had to snicker at RNC Chairman Reince Priebus’ assertion that delaying their convention was “safety first.” No such realization came from GWB, as I recall, due to Katrina.
Rocky Anderson interview at http.truth-out.org —
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10766-a-road-less-traveled-presidential-candidate-rocky-anderson-speaks-candidly-on-the-crumbling-state-of-the-union
BUT, when Rocky is asked how we “UNRAVEL” the Gordian knot, Rocky does not rise to the occasion like a mythical hero and declare: I will CUT the Gordian knot.” Oh, well.
Another Rocky Anderson HEDGE re American PuppetPrez war crimes:
“There must be some kind of accountability, even if not criminal prosecutions, even if not an international tribunal as in Nuremberg.”
This now-“acceptable” practice of PROMISCUOUS HEDGING must cease in EVERY quarter. WHO has the AUTHORITY to put an end to the international embrace of PROMISCUOUS HEDGING, which has led us to RUIN in every quarter?
View the TIMELY 2-DVD Boxed Set:
“NUREMBERG: The Nazis Facing Their Crimes” – A film by CHRISTIAN DELAGE – with “3 BONUS FEATURES: That Justice Be Done (USA, 1945, 10 min), Nazi Concentration Camps (USA, 1945, 58 min), The Atrocities by the German-Fascists in the USSR (USSR, 1946, 60 min)” — Total Run Time: 3.5 hours
“Includes a 12-page booklet containing all bibliographic references, archives, witnesses and directorial decisions.”
(© ARTE France — Compagnie des Phares et Balises – France 2006; from IMAVISION.com – 1313 St-Jacques Street West, MONTREAL).
Iron Sky, the big payback from the the Reich side of the moon: http://www.ironsky.net/site/film/about/
the interviewer makes this point:
But there are also a growing number of people, myself included, who think it’s perhaps better to let the heavens fall and have a Sarah Palin or a Mitt Romney with their finger on the nuclear bomb, because maybe the crisis just needs to get so bad that Americans will wake up
With a Romney admistration would Americans “wake up” or would energy be channeled into “support team D!”?
My take is different. I think it will take a second Obama term for the populace to wake up. There is no savior coming from either major party. One term should have done it, but people cling to their fantasies I guess. If I could stomach such a strategy– make things worse before they get better I would urge everyone and their cousin to vote Obama. But, as Rocky and others have pointed out we have the choice of the more effective evil and with a showdown with Iran, TPP, drilling in the Arctic, “reforms” to medicare and SS all looming the prospect of the more effective evil is scary indeed.
2016 is the election to watch. Assuming electoral politics has a pay-off (and that’s a big if) engagement with it now pays off then (just not with the legacy parties at any level other than local).
My guess is President Obama wins reelection, and proceeds to make Clinton’s 2nd term look like it was run by Bernie Sanders.
Then we get President Santorum in 2016.
~
More likely Jeb or Andrew Cuomo in 2016
Lambert, this link didn’t work:
: Cheered, Austrian School Economics, legal hemp.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/08/links-82712-2.html#tpW6YudsxLjb9BHM.99
Thanks, fixed. It’s quite a list.
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2012/08/who-got-cheered-who-got-booed-at-ron-pauls-big-rally-in-tampa/
Yes, quite a list. And an interesting anatomy of cognitive dissonance in the minds of the booers and cheerers. (Btw, I’m sure the same CD would emerge from analogous lists from an Obomney or Robama rally).
Going hunger from Mississippi to North Dakota.
Another area to bail people out. They should be able to afford food and have decent health care before they are giving ‘universal debt bailout’ money to bail out banks.
Let banks have non performance loans.
Proles in the flyover states aren’t people. See, there’s your problem. False assumptions.
Because, you know, “They always vote against their self interest!!!!”.
“Proles in the flyover states aren’t people.”
Neither are proles in the non-flyover states.
And by “proles” we actually refer to 99% of potential and actual voters.
They should be able to afford food and have decent health care before they are giving ‘universal debt bailout’ money to bail out banks. MyLessThanPrimeBeef
You be dumb or perverse or both. A universal bailout would go to EVERYONE equally (exclude the rich if you like but then you grant them the opportunity to cry “Unfair!”).
Yes, it would also fix the banks but if a universal bailout was combined with a ban on further credit creation, it would also destroy them as they currently operate (as counterfeiters).
Below is the trail to the smoking guns connecting Bush-PNAC-PrivateEquity POLICY to closed criminal system .01%+.99%Agency PROFITS at .99% expense.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/11135-us-arms-sales-make-up-most-of-global-market
This is the GRAVY TRAIN transferring the Real Economy to War/LandLORDS of the .01%+.99% Global organized crime NEXUS. They INFECTED the Global Financial/Economic System with terminal bone cancer, now in the process of “rejecting the terminal drip.” To the MORGUE! with Perps to the HAGUE for International War Crimes and Global Financial Crimes Against Humanity (leading to Stealth Genocide by Starvation and Health Deprivation).
The NDAA is the smoking gun of Absolute Dictatorship:
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/08/fight-over-ndaas-police-state-provisions-continues-in-court/
Was there really anything “the people” could do against Hitler’s advances, when he was backed by the “Rock” of Gibraltar?
The same DNA STILL is “in charge.” “Victoria: the grandmother of Europe” and their Court Jesters in lust with the golden calf “Uber Alles.”
Charles Davis,
Regarding this comment you made to Mark Ames, as it pertains to his article “Going Postal At The Empire State Building”:
“But the NYPD is unionized, Mark. Are we sure the Kochs aren’t behind this?”
Since cops in general, and for the most part, work on behalf of the rich and powerful, especially during economic downturns that are more severe and more protracted than usual, as is the case today — the Koch Brothers aim to de-unionized all other union of workers other than cops or any other class of workers whose job it is to carry deadly weapons. That’s because they are free to use these weapons to squash worker dissent or any other kind of dissent expressed by the powerless 99% — be it antiwar, anti-Wall Street or anti-police state. At least that’s what I believe you are driving at here.
It was suicide by cop. The shooter didn’t expect to return, left the keys to his apartment for the landlord.
I don’t know enough about police procedure to answer this question:
What’s in the manual for dealing with suicide by cop? Can such a situation be recognized — since it’s guaranteed to happen again, the economy being what it is and will be, forever, if not worse — and should it have been in this case? If it had been, would nine civilians have been wounded?
Readers? Anybody with knowledge of what’s in the three-ring binder on this?
It was suicide by cop. LS
Yep and you can trust them to do a thorough job of killing you even if they have to reload twice!
Outside Baseball: Oh Bill, Bill, Bill– still believe there is something to that “community organizer” stint? How touching.
Here is Adolph Reed in 2008 discussing the bio:
http://www.progressive.org/mag_reed0508/
Try this: http://coreyrobin.com/2011/08/01/572/
Reed is among the panel.
My reading before the 2008 election made the community organizer a resume bullet point. Another layer of appearance. Obama is about himself. Turley gets Obama’s lack of principle just right.
Thanks for the link! Tell us what you really think, Mr. Reed.
The words “vapid” and “vacuous” came up a number of times. This is as it should be.
CB the “discussion” is too belabored: Old School.
To each her own. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Obama’s community organizing turned out to be a lucrative gig in taxpayer financed real estate schemes to rub out affordable housing and condo-ize Chicago — I almost fell off my chair when I read about that (it was here on NC, btw).
What a fraud that man is.
The Right To Go Topless in NYC. Read Orhan Pamuk’s sometimes amusing memoire of growing up in Istanbul. He talks about the reason muslim men insisted on women wearing burkas was so the men would not be embarrassed by arousal. And the funniest bit was when Pamuk then explained that the more cosmopolitan Europeans solved the problem with fashion: cod pieces. Funny world.
Telling Reading List.
He talks about the reason muslim men insisted on women wearing burkas was so the men would not be embarrassed by arousal. Susan the other
Haha! So the problem is not lust but the evidence of it?!
Hah. They don’t want to reveal their “shortcomings” (David Niven re “flasher”).
Hey, that’s our Lhasa, stubby legs and all — tho’ sans trademark underbite. But ours would never suffer the indignity of such a hideous scarf; we would be severely underbitten if we attempted such abject fashion cruelty. No wonder Riley is evil.
Common Dreams on Holder’s unending conflicts of interest. Some for the benefit of central American elites found to be mass murderers. The same ilk that Mitt tapped to invest in the first Bain Capital PE fund. Just imagine what Mitt’s AG would do. Mitt himself stated in one of his theater-of-the-absurd stump speeches that he wanted to mobilize our military – into “Latin America.” We can me pretty sure he’s talking about Colombia, Central A, and Mexico.
So then we can surmise he is also talking about drug running. This could be stopped in its tracks if we legalized and standardized drugs. (Also above – the LA Times on Honduras; the AP on Nicaragua, etc.)
Right. They’re both CIA, emanating the same “odor of mendacity.”
Lambert,
Your link to a “Florida story” should actually link to a Washington state story. You’re ignoring and maligning the cultural contributions of the great state of Washington, where I live, and giving an undeserved shout out to the great state of Florida, where I sometimes winter.
FL. Corruption: “A former part-time deputy in the Cowlitz County Coroner’s office is accused of using a dead man’s debit card to steal nearly $12,000 from his estate. Police said [he] admitted taking Williams’ card and using it, saying he was tempted due to “severe financial problems.”
(http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-08-23/news/kcpq-former-deputy-coroner-accused-of-swiping-atm-card-from-corpse–20120823_1_atm-card-debit-card-atm-withdrawals)
“LONGVIEW, Wash. — A former part-time deputy in the Cowlitz County Coroner’s office is accused of using a dead man’s debit card to steal nearly $12,000 from his estate.”
(http://tdn.com/news/local/ex-cowlitz-county-coroner-s-deputy-accused-of-stealing-from/article_4f70fd52-ec84-11e1-9b9c-0019bb2963f4.html)
See that it doesn’t happen again, Lambert. When a sheriff’s deputy steals from the dead in Washington state, we, not Florida, deserve all the credit!
-A proud resident of Washington state
If we had a third data point, that would be a trend…
Readers?
Reuters on Merkel’s latest blah blah. Yesterday’s info had a Der Spiegel (?) article that said the Germans were going to wait for Greece’s “international investors” to give them a credit report on Greece before they made their final decision to continue to help out. So, which international investors would those be? Then in this piece Merkel says she is warning “allies” who have said ‘the EZ would be better off without Greece’ to be more discrete. Huh? This article today also reiterated that there would be interest rate caps to protect the Eur from speculators. Of course those “speculators” are all “allies.” Then there was the report a few days ago that Greece has cleared the way to “sell some islands.” And this report adding that Samaras told the Germans that Greece doesn’t need any more cash, they just need time. To sell the islands? Geithner was flying around like crazy last month between Berlin and Greece wasn’t he? I think this is another oil deal.
“Efforts to legalize marijuana enjoy majority support in Washington and Colorado.”
Meanwhile a new study shows persistent use of cannabis (marijuana down here) by young people can cause an IQ decline in later life.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/114429/iq-decline-seen-in-early-cannabis-users
Timcast at RNC.
Totally disproportionate police response. Kafka would be proud.
Comedy note: Jeebus-botherer with megaphone.
LS, the cops stand before: “BB&T” – Branch Banking and Trust, Ultraconservative mover & shaker based in South Carolina. Someone should investigate: Yes, there is a “Mr. Branch” behind it.
Striking construction workers and mounted police come face-to-face in Melbourne, where it’s reported builders were seen punching police horses.
Violent scenes have erupted at a building site in Melbourne’s CBD this morning as striking construction workers clashed with mounted police as they advanced on their picket line.
Construction workers were seen lashing out at mounted police about 7am as officers advanced on Colonial First State’s $250 million Emporium Melbourne project, which has been blockaded by striking workers since last Wednesday -snip
The Age
Victoria
Victoria
Sport
AFL
Tipping
Melbourne Restaurants
Melbourne Traffic Conditions
Cars
Jobs
Real Estate
Dating
You are here: Home Victoria Article
Search age:
Search in:
theage.com.au
Police, builders clash on CBD picket line
Date
August 28, 2012 – 9:07AM
156 reading now
Megan Levy and Paul Millar
Pin It
Email article
Print
RAW VISION: Builders strike in CBD
Striking construction workers and mounted police come face-to-face in Melbourne, where it’s reported builders were seen punching police horses.
Autoplay OnOff
Video feedback
Video settings
More video
Recommended
Life is a robot cabaret in Tokyo club (Video Thumbnail)Click to play video
Life is a robot cabaret in Tokyo club
Pakistani Prime Minister in court (Video Thumbnail)Click to play video
Pakistan’s Prime Minister in court
Chavez visits site of deadly refinery blast (Video Thumbnail)Click to play video
Chavez visits site of deadly refinery blast
An explosive protest underground in Italy (Video Thumbnail)Click to play video
An explosive protest underground in Italy
Replay video
Violent scenes have erupted at a building site in Melbourne’s CBD this morning as striking construction workers clashed with mounted police as they advanced on their picket line.
Construction workers were seen lashing out at mounted police about 7am as officers advanced on Colonial First State’s $250 million Emporium Melbourne project, which has been blockaded by striking workers since last Wednesday.
Are you there? Send tips, photos and video to scoop@theage.com.au
Mounted police advance on construction workers. Photo: Justin McManus
Mounted police advance on construction workers. Photo: Justin McManus
There were reports that protesters were seen punching and hitting police horses as they advanced on the picket line this morning, with officers yelling at them to stop.
Advertisement
The project is near the corner of Lonsdale and Elizabeth streets, the site of the former Myer store, and up to 300 construction workers and 200 police have swarmed to the area.
The protest shut down traffic in the immediate area.
Protesters reportedly punched and hit police horses as they advanced on the picket line this morning, with officers yelling at them to stop.
Protesters reportedly punched and hit police horses as they advanced on the picket line. Photo: Justine McManus
The crowd of construction workers on Swanston Street had swelled to about 400 by 7.30am as Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and Electrical Trades Union members from sites across the city joined the protest.
The CFMEU wants better access to Grocon sites and to name shop stewards on its projects.
Grocon obtained a Supreme Court injunction last week banning key union organisers from being on the Lonsdale Street project, or at the company’s other Melbourne building sites. Some union organisers have ignored that court order, and will face fines.
Construction workers and police face off.
Construction workers and police face off. Photo: Reader Garry Dalton
Grocon chief Daniel Grollo last week said the picket line was illegal. “[They] need to respect the law and to stop their campaign of intimidation against our workers,” he said.
CFMEU state secretary Bill Oliver said today that while there had been reports that construction workers had punched horses during the confrontation with police, they were just defending themselves amid the panic as they tried to avoid being trampled.
The union leader also said that today’s confrontation had been stage-managed by Grocon’s chief executive.
‘‘We will not tolerate this sort of thing from Daniel Grollo,’’ Mr Oliver said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police were attempting to assist Grocon employees to safely cross the picket line and enter their workplace.
‘‘The matters before the Supreme Court are a civil matter between the CFMEU and Grocon,’’ the spokeswoman said.
‘‘Police are not acting to enforce the civil writ, we are ensuring that those people who have a right to attend their work in a safe manner are given that opportunity.’’
Lonsdale and Little Bourke Streets will be blocked between Swanston and Elizabeth streets until further notice.
A number of workers were sprayed with OC foam as the two groups came face to face in a tense stand-off this morning.
Union members said they had been sprayed with OC foam during the scuffles with police.
Construction workers told The Age they were protesting against the company bringing in interstate labour to reduce rates and conditions.
Striking workers were shouting ‘‘scab’’ at workers they claimed were not union members, and who could be seen through a glass wall at the Grocon site.
Some protesters at the site began dispersing and going back to their jobs around the city about 8.30am, however a picket line is expected to remain throughout the day.
A union leader said through a microphone: ‘‘Go back and tell your boss that all this grief has been caused by Daniel Grollo.’’
Mr Oliver said today’s barricade was all about protecting workers’ rights.
He said the workers had been banned from wearing union stickers on the work site, and from flying the union’s flag.
Earlier tension had evaporated, with a union leader even singing happy birthday to a television reporter. The crowd joined in.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-builders-clash-on-cbd-picket-line-20120828-24x5z.html
Skippy… Good old Stryala.
Sorry about the embedding at the top, had manually remove from comment field but, it seems it survived… amends…
“Artic sea ice at record low”… Record low in 33 years? That’s not even a nanosecond in geological time, for God’s sake! How can you talk about trends with such a low time span? This is ridiculous!
And one of the scientists from the same organization that published the *daily* record points out that the 5 day average is more reliable, but it hasn’t yet broken the record. The post author idiotically admits that it maybe because there’s a “5 day delay”. With all that loose ice circling around the fringes of the cap it is obvious that the sat data is going to have a certain margin of error that an average is going to help diminish.
By the way, for the sake of balance, the Antarctic ice cap is hitting a record high…
Hilary can’t point out human rights’ abuses in Honduras when the current leaders were trained at our very own School of Americas. In exchange we get a shiny new base in Honduras to run our Central and S. American war on drugs. Earlier this year Ecuador decided to pull out of the standard contract and brought their troops back home. The leader of Ecuador told the US they could have a base in Ecuador as soon as the Ecuadorean military was similarly allowed a base on US soil.
We don’t only have a corner on the global weapons market. We have a corner as the trainer of providers of “security services”. A secondary benefit for both sides? Medical clinics for the indigenous populations who otherwise have no access. We get to see the heartwarming stories on the Sunday night news show ….. the child who had horrific facial deformities, socially rejected, surgically corrected and able to now lead a “normal” life. The down side: One surgical resident said he got more experience in 2 weeks (no doubt, but will it influence his attitudes?) than he would get his entire next year…. what that implies if you read between the lines. Elites > Peasants
Why people still use to read news papers when in this technological world everything is available on web?