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thinkahol *

March to Keep Fear Alive - 0 views

www.keepfearalive.com

march to keep fear alive

shared by thinkahol * on 17 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 17 Sep 10
     
    America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man, was built on three bedrock principles: Freedom. Liberty. And Fear -- that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty. But now, there are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear -- forces with salt and pepper hair and way more Emmys than they need. They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget -- "Reason" is just one letter away from "Treason." Coincidence? Reasonable people would say it is, but America can't afford to take that chance. So join The Rev. Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. on October 30th for the "March to Keep Fear Alive"™ in Washington DC. Pack an overnight bag with five extra sets of underwear -- you're going to need them. Because, to Restore Truthiness we must always... Shh!!! What's that sound?! I think there's someone behind you! Run!
thinkahol *

t r u t h o u t | Five Ways the Democrats Can Avoid a Catastrophe and Pull Off the Moth... - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/ull-off-mother-all-upsets63784

t r u h o | Five Ways the Democrats Can Avoid a Catastrophe and Pull Off Mother of All Upsets

shared by thinkahol * on 06 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 06 Oct 10
     
    The election is one month from tomorrow and, yes, it looks hopeless. November 2nd -- the day the Dems are expected to crash and burn. Sadly, it's a situation the Democrats have brought upon themselves -- even though the majority of them didn't create the mess we're in. But they've had over a year and a half to start getting the job done to fix it. Instead, they've run scared ever since they took power. To many, the shellacking they're about to receive is one they deserve.
thinkahol *

Amy Goodman: WikiLeaks and the End of U.S. 'Diplomacy' - Truthdig - 0 views

www.truthdig.com/...e_end_of_us_diplomacy_20101130

Amy Goodman: WikiLeaks and the End of U.S. 'Diplomacy' - Truthdig

shared by thinkahol * on 04 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 04 Dec 10
     
    WikiLeaks is again publishing a trove of documents, in this case classified U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. The whistle-blower website will gradually be releasing more than 250,000 of these documents in the coming months so that they can be analyzed and gain the attention they deserve. The cables are internal, written communications among U.S. embassies around the world and also to the U.S. State Department. WikiLeaks described the leak as "the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain [giving] an unprecedented insight into U.S. government foreign activities."
thinkahol *

Mind the Gap: Bumper Bonuses Are Back, Yet Millions Struggle on Welfare in US | CommonD... - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...29-1

Mind the Gap: Bumper Bonuses Are Back Yet Millions Struggle on Welfare in US | CommonDreams.org

shared by thinkahol * on 03 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 03 Dec 10
     
    Conspicuous consumption is back on Wall Street, in anticipation of bonuses close to pre-recession levels. Some American companies have just posted the largest quarterly profits ever. Meanwhile, one in five families is relying on food stamps to get by and unemployment remains stuck at around 10%.
Levy Rivers

Steve Young: Most Race-Baiting Column EVER! O'Reilly Uses Nearly Entire Column To Conju... - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...e-baiting-column_b_101098.html

racebaiting

shared by Levy Rivers on 10 May 08 - Cached
  • In one of the most incendiary columns ever written, "Race And The Presidential Election," Bill O'Reilly sets the race-bait bar to record-breaking...depths. Short of saying that Barack Obama wants to sleep with your pearly-white daughter, O'Reilly uses just about every button meant to alarm his white fans to the fact that Barack Obama is BLACK and that just his running for, let alone becoming, president, could set off race-laced fireworks.
  • "Obama's second dilemma is convincing skeptical white voters that he and his wife are sympathetic to their concerns. Let's be honest--few white Americans would tolerate a Reverend Wright for five minutes, much less 20 years."
Skeptical Debunker

Prudential-AIG Deal Another Case of Corporate Empire Building - 0 views

moneymorning.com/...prudential-aig

AIG Prudential deal analysis

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10 - Cached
  • In spite of its new whizz-bang CEO, Prudential is a slow-moving but very reliable organization with a level of integrity that is trusted by policyholders. Frankly, that's what you want in an insurance company. I have had a modest U.K. pension with one of its competitors since 1980, and I am constantly worried that some leveraged buyout (LBO) artist will step in, take it over, change the computer system so that information gets lost, outsource customer service, and drive the company into bankruptcy. If you're buying life insurance or pension services, you want a company that's not going to disappear in the next 30 years, and doesn't change its address or computer system too often. Avoid a company like the plague if it is run by whiz kids. However, that's what AIG was like. We know how AIG operated; a guy who thought betting the ranch on the credit default swap market was a good idea ran it. Its Asian operation is no doubt full of similarly clever ideas. Even in the unlikely event that everything there is on the level, the cultural clash with an old-fashioned British insurance company is huge. And why would you pay a PREMIUM for an AIG operation? Like the Kraft/Cadbury deal, Prudential's takeover of AIA is value-destroying. Also like Kraft/Cadbury, it looks likely to destroy a valuable part of the British economy that millions of people have relied upon for generations - only this time the destruction will be caused by the buyer rather than the target. As shareholders we need a new form of corporate governance. Those in management are hired hands. In the old days, large shareholders used to treat management as they would have treated their butler - and management was equally deferential to the owners of substantial percentages of the company's capital. That's how capitalism is supposed to work - with resources deployed in the interests of the owners of capital. We know that system works; economics shows us why it works. The alternative, with resources deployed to satisfy the egos and fill the pockets of the hired hands, has no theoretical justification and little practicality - just as a big country house run in the interests of the butler would be a mess. As capitalists, we must work together to restore capitalism!
  • Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10
     
    To inattentive observers, the recent announcement that the British insurance company Prudential PLC (NYSE ADR: PUK) would pay $35.5 billion for American International Group Inc.'s (NYSE: AIG) Asian insurance operation, AIA, might seem like just another belated expansion of the old British Empire - a strange contrast to the sale of the premier British chocolate company Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY) to Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) last month. Yet in reality both deals are examples of Empire-building that for shareholders is much more dangerous than the benign British variety - Empire-building by corporate management that runs contrary to capitalist ideals.
  • Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10
     
    Monopolies - BAD (Adam Smith even said so!) Companies controlled and run by management (as if it were their own personal fiefdom and with their hands always in the "cookie jar"), rather than shareholders - BAD. BOTH ANTI-CAPITALISTIC. Both the "norm" for "the titans" of "modern [anti] capitalism". We no longer have capitalism (if that, like communism, ever existed in a more or less "pure" form!). We have a kleptocracy of the rich and corporate aristocracy (as incestuously intertwined as the European nobles ever were!).
Jennifer Fagala

Keeping You in the Know: FOXNews.com: Why I'm Joining the Fight for Marriage Equality - 2 views

sayingitanyway.wordpress.com/...he-fight-for-marriage-equality

California Citizens CivilRights Fight FoxNews Join Law MarriageEquality PatRobertson Prop 8 RushLimbaugh Trial

shared by Jennifer Fagala on 16 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Jennifer Fagala on 16 Jan 10
     
    I was sure there were Republicans who were supportive of Marriage Equality, but I never thought I would find such support on the pages of FOX News, much less find myself ever posting anything from them. But this is a strange day.
Maria Lewytzkyj

Talking to TransFair USA and fair traders to address skepticism (Part 1 of 4 parts) - 1 views

www.examiner.com/-address-skepticism-in-4-parts

fair trade transfair import

shared by Maria Lewytzkyj on 06 May 10 - Cached
  • Maria Lewytzkyj on 06 May 10
     
    The Fair Trade Certified™ skeptics sent me on a journey to ask some important questions and here are the results - by the way, if you're in SF on Thursday night, TransFair USA is hosting San Francisco's first ever Fair Trade Wine Night. Pick which neighborhood wine bar is closest to you. See http://www.fairtradewinenight.com/ for details.
thinkahol *

Bloggingheads.tv - Greenwald vs. Lessig - 0 views

bloggingheads.tv/...28111

shared by thinkahol * on 15 May 10 - Cached
  • thinkahol * on 15 May 10
     
    so everyone agrees on the broader issue that our government is utterly corrupt and beholden to corporate power, and that if we are going to be able to successfully deal with any problem ever we have to deal with that issue first. Like an alcoholic that's going to lose his job, wife, and liver, it's not that that those aren't important issues to deal with, but that alcoholism needs to be dealt with first.
thinkahol *

Wars Are Not Fought on Battlefields - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/e-not-fought-battlefields66959

Wars Are Not Fought on Battlefields

shared by thinkahol * on 19 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 19 Jan 11
     
    Truthout is publishing chapter eight of my new book "War Is A Lie." I should explain where it fits in the overall argument I've made. The book strives to make a comprehensive case against the very idea that there can ever be a good or just war, any more than there can be a good slavery or a just rape. While Americans often turn against particular wars after cheering for them, many people maintain the fantasy that there could be a really good or necessary war next month. This delusion helps to keep around what President Eisenhower 50 years ago this week called the military-industrial complex, which is itself a large source of pressure for more wars.
thinkahol *

The Myth of 'American Exceptionalism' Implodes | CommonDreams.org - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...18-2

The Myth of 'American Exceptionalism' Implodes | CommonDreams.org

shared by thinkahol * on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 20 Jan 11
     
    One aspect of "American exceptionalism" was always economic. US workers, so the story went, enjoyed a rising level of real wages that afforded their families a rising standard of living. Ever harder work paid off in rising consumption. The rich got richer faster than the middle and poor, but almost no one got poorer. Nearly all citizens felt "middle class". A profitable US capitalism kept running ahead of labor supply. So, it kept raising wages to attract waves of immigration and to retain employees, across the 19th century until the 1970s.
rich hilts

Are You Letting Leftist Fear Stop Medicare & Soc Sec Reform? - 0 views

drscoundrels.com/?p=2513

shared by rich hilts on 29 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • rich hilts on 29 Jan 11
     
    What is it with the left and their attempts to make sure that nothing the right does or says EVER gets any credit or viewing - we just wrote an article detailing the attacks on real viable cuts and now attacks on fixes for two entitlement programs don't get discussion, but fear. Comments please!
thinkahol *

Fast Track to Inequality - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...02herbert.html

Fast Track to Inequality - NYTimes.com

shared by thinkahol * on 26 May 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 26 May 11
     
    The clearest explanation yet of the forces that converged over the past three decades or so to undermine the economic well-being of ordinary Americans is contained in the new book, "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer - and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class." The authors, political scientists Jacob Hacker of Yale and Paul Pierson of the University of California, Berkeley, argue persuasively that the economic struggles of the middle and working classes in the U.S. since the late-1970s were not primarily the result of globalization and technological changes but rather a long series of policy changes in government that overwhelmingly favored the very rich. Those changes were the result of increasingly sophisticated, well-financed and well-organized efforts by the corporate and financial sectors to tilt government policies in their favor, and thus in favor of the very wealthy. From tax laws to deregulation to corporate governance to safety net issues, government action was deliberately shaped to allow those who were already very wealthy to amass an ever increasing share of the nation's economic benefits. "Over the last generation," the authors write, "more and more of the rewards of growth have gone to the rich and superrich. The rest of America, from the poor through the upper middle class, has fallen further and further behind."
thinkahol *

Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink | Environment | The Guardian - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...carbon-emissions-nuclearpower

Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on brink | Environment The Guardian

shared by thinkahol * on 01 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 01 Jun 11
     
    Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.
thinkahol *

I am not a "global warming denialist" - War Room - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...index.html

I am not a global warming denialist - War Room Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 02 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 02 Jun 11
     
    In his thoughtful criticism of my essay on the future of fossil fuels and the poor prospects for renewable energy, Andrew Leonard characterizes my message as one that "we have nothing to worry about." This may be partly the fault of my presentation, because in the course of being provocative I did not make it sufficiently clear that I was engaged in analysis, not advocacy. I made the prediction that, even in the presence of global warming, the countries of the world are unlikely to allow the vast stores of fossil fuels in the earth's crust to lie there undisturbed, when technology is making many of them ever more accessible and cheaper than the renewable energy alternatives. For the record, I personally wish that greenhouse gas emissions would stop immediately, and I personally would prefer a world of harmonious international cooperation for all time. Neither of my personal preferences is going to be fulfilled and neither affects the accuracy of my analysis.
thinkahol *

A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never! - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AFrVC49G_story.html

A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never! - The Washington Post

shared by thinkahol * on 01 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 01 Jun 11
     
    Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week's shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that (which, together, comprised the most active April for tornadoes in U.S. history). No, that doesn't mean a thing. It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events. It is not advisable to try to connect them in your mind with, say, the fires burning across Texas - fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires have in previous years. Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they've ever been - the drought is worse than that of the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if they're somehow connected.
thinkahol *

YouTube - Ralph Nader: 1/13 An Unreasonable Man Subt Español - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

YouTube - Ralph Nader: 1_13 An Unreasonable Man Subt Español

shared by thinkahol * on 12 May 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 12 May 11
     
    In 1966, General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world, sent private investigators to dig up dirt on an obscure thirty-two year old public interest lawyer named Ralph Nader, who had written a book critical of one of their cars, the Corvair. The scandal that ensued after the smear campaign was revealed launched Ralph Nader into national prominence and established him as one of the most admired Americans and the leader of the modern Consumer Movement. Over the next thirty years and without ever holding public office, Nader built a legislative record that is the rival of any contemporary president. Many things we take for granted including seat belts, airbags, product labeling, no nukes, even the free ticket you get after being bumped from an overbooked flight are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name "Ralph Nader," they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. As a result, after sustaining his popularity and effectiveness over an unprecedented amount of time, he has become a pariah even among former friends and allies. How did this happen? Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? Who has stuck by him and who has abandoned him? Has our democracy become a consumer fraud? After being so right for so many years, how did he seem to go so wrong? With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, "An Unreasonable Man" traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.
thinkahol *

The illegal war in Libya - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...index.html

The illegal war in Libya - Glenn Greenwald Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 21 May 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 21 May 11
     
    President Obama -- who has presided over lethal civilian-killing attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan and Somalia -- announced: "we will not tolerate aggression across borders."  That instantly ranks among my favorite political statements ever.
thinkahol *

When Change Is Not Enough: The Seven Steps To Revolution | OurFuture.org - 0 views

www.ourfuture.org/...-enough-seven-steps-revolution

When Change Is Not Enough: The Seven Steps To Revolution | OurFuture.org

shared by thinkahol * on 20 May 11 - Cached
  • thinkahol * on 20 May 11
     
    "Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable."- John F. KennedyThere's one thing for sure: 2008 isn't anything like politics as usual.The corporate media (with their unerring eye for the obvious point) is fixated on the narrative that, for the first time ever, Americans will likely end this year with either a woman or a black man headed for the White House. Bloggers are telling stories from the front lines of primaries and caucuses that look like something from the early 60s - people lining up before dawn to vote in Manoa, Hawaii yesterday; a thousand black college students in Prairie View, Texas marching 10 miles to cast their early votes in the face of a county that tried to disenfranchise them. In recent months, we've also been gobstopped by the sheer passion of the insurgent campaigns of both Barack Obama and Ron Paul, both of whom brought millions of new voters into the conversation - and with them, a sharp critique of the status quo and a new energy that's agitating toward deep structural change.There's something implacable, earnest, and righteously angry in the air. And it raises all kinds of questions for burned-out Boomers and jaded Gen Xers who've been ground down to the stump by the mostly losing battles of the past 30 years. Can it be - at long last - that Americans have, simply, had enough? Are we, finally, stepping out to take back our government - and with it, control of our own future? Is this simply a shifting political season - the kind we get every 20 to 30 years - or is there something deeper going on here? Do we dare to raise our hopes that this time, we're going to finally win a few? Just how ready is this country for big, serious, forward-looking change?Recently, I came across a pocket of sociological research that suggested a tantalizing answer to these questions - and also that America may be far more ready for far more change than anyone really believes is possible at this moment. In fac
thinkahol *

Speech on media propaganda - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...index.html

Speech on media propaganda - Glenn Greenwald Salon.com

shared by thinkahol * on 14 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 14 Jun 11
     
    The 30-minute speech I gave last month at the Symphony Space in New York is now available on video, and is posted below in three YouTube segments (the first segment also contains the 4-minute introduction of my speech). The speech pertains to the evolution of my views on media criticism, the nature of media propaganda and what drives it, and what can be done to combat it. A DVD of the entire event -- featuring the three other speeches: from Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore -- is available at FAIR's website. I want to note one example, from today, that vividly illustrates many of the themes I discussed in that speech.  It is found in the following passage from this Reuters article on Obama's escalation of the covert war in Yemen and his targeting of U.S. citizen Anwar Awlaki for assassination: A U.S. official confirmed to Reuters that a U.S. strike last Friday killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel al Qaeda operative, which followed last month's attempted strike against Anwar al-Awlaki, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Whether Awlaki has any operational role in Al Qaeda at all is a matter of intense controversy.  The U.S. Government has repeatedly asserted that he does, but has presented no verifiable evidence to support that accusation.  But what is not in dispute is the notion that Awlaki is "the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."  He unquestionably is not, and never has been, as multiple Yemen experts have repeatedly noted.  The Reuters claim is factually and entirely false. Whatever one's views are on Obama's assassination program, targeting U.S. citizens without due process obviously raises extraordinary and vitally important questions.  As The New York Times' Scott Shane put it when confirming Awlaki's inclusion on Obama's hit list: "The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen. . . . It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an America
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