Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
U.S. Global War Racket Exposed: Funding Our Enemies / Politics / US Politics
By: David_DeGraw
Building on my Af-Pak War Racket report, a few recent news items help expose the true drivers of current wars around the world.
#1) Wherever there is a war, look for CIA/IMF/private military war profiteers covertly funding and supporting BOTH sides in order to keep the wars raging and the profits rolling in. As former CIA Station Chief John Stockwell explained: “Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the US military machine to turn.”
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Gulf Oil Disaster Will Not Change U.S. Energy Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
As is typical with U.S. politicians and media, an extremely serious topic has nearly been reduced to absurdity. Once the urgency of the Gulf oil eruption has been fully sterilized, the stage will be set for business as usual politics — with the corporations comfortably in the driver seat.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Plundering the Planet, The earth is not dying, it is being killed / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Global_Research
Felicity Arbuthnot writes: "The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And those who are killing it have names and addresses." Utah Phillips.
Call me a cynic, but as soon as I hear of the latest "rogue state", declared by the US and endorsed, invariably, by UK and Israel - a "rogue", always far away, invariably either poverty stricken, or embargoed - I reach for a 1993 "Encyclopaedia of Word Geography", turn to the page on the latest declared "enemy", and look at the box which lists: "Major resources."
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Pelosi Slams Senate on Jobs, Rants and Raves, but is it Time for Her to go? / Politics / US Politics
By: JD_Rosendahl
The Nancy Pelosi show is getting old. She continues to get it wrong as a spendaholic on programs. Maybe it’s time for her to retire! Her latest: Nancy Pelosi Slams Senate Dithering On Jobs:
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Monday, June 21, 2010
UK Government Scraps NHS GP and Hospital Waiting Time Targets / Politics / NHS
By: N_Walayat
The New UK ConDem government has scrapped Old Labours efforts to hold GP's and the NHS Hospitals to account by means of feeble waiting time targets such as of being able to see ones GP within 48 hours, or be assessed at your local hospital within 4 hours. I say feeble because GP's have long since developed tricks, simple mechanisms to avoid falling fowl of Labours targets such as not picking up the phone on patients calling to make appointments, or telling patients to come in on a later date to make an appointment.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Too Much Government in the Gulf, Preventing Clean Up / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Sadly, the disaster in the Gulf continues this week as BP's efforts at containment keep hitting snags and residents along the coast scramble to clean up and defend their shores and wildlife. Many have criticized the federal government in the past weeks for not doing enough. The reality is there is only so much government can do to help, yet a lot they can do to prolong the problem and misdirect the pain. For example, in the interest of "doing something" the administration has enacted a unilateral ban on offshore drilling. This is counterproductive. I am proud to cosponsor legislation to lift that ban. Why punish other oil companies and their hard-working employees who had nothing to do with this disaster, and who have better safety records?
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Monday, June 21, 2010
More Jobs, Fewer and Lower Taxes - The KISS Principle / Politics / Taxes
By: Steve_Selengut
Over the past 30 years Federal Tax receipts (Corporate, Personal, Estate, Excise, Gift, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, et al) have averaged less than 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Read that again, and don't think for a minute that it's not a large number.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Where is the BP Gulf Oil Spill? / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Washingtons_Blog
It's the largest environmental disaster in U.S. - and possibly world history.
But do you know exactly where it is? Could you point to a map and show where the oil rig sank?
Do you know what the topography of the surrounding area is?
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Can We “Fix” The Oil And Financial Crisis Before Its Too Late? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
It seems clear that BP can’t seem to fix the catastrophic gusher the press calls a “leak,” and that President Obama can’t fix the economy because its problems are structural and won’t respond to soaring rhetoric emanating from his bully pulpit.
Meanwhile, most of the world’s people really don’t get the fix we are all in. I take that back; the million Americans who have just lost their benefits probably do. The deficit hawks voted that down without doing anything about the growing deficit of jobs.
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
U.S. Warring for Resources, Vast Riches of Minerals Identified in Afghanistan / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Submissions
David Sirota writes: Reading this week's New York Times headline -- "U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan" -- many probably wondered how this information was being presented as "news" in 2010. After all, humanity has long been aware of the country's vast natural resources.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Message to Obama on the Gulf Coast Guard / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Submissions
Robert Palmer writes:
Thank God the Governor of Louisiana refused to be intimidated by the Coast Guard.
Sixteen barges were stationary for 24 hours. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that was working until the Coast Guard shut the operation down because they couldn’t confirm there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board.
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
U.S. Government Delays and Restrictions on Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Dian_L_Chu
There has been some new information since June 8, when I quoted a Belgian newspaper--De Standarrd--that the Jones Act may have caused a delay in the oil spill rescue by forbidding foreign vessels and personnel to work in the U.S. Gulf.
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Saturday, June 19, 2010
China Plays Obama like Violin on Yuan Currency Exchange Rate / Politics / China Currency Yuan
By: Mike_Shedlock
You have to hand it to China for the way it played Obama like a violin. On Thursday and Friday China Warned Against Finger-Pointing while announcing the "yuan exchange rate of no concern to others" setting a confrontational tone for the G-20.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Nearly One Million US Workers Cut Off Unemployment Benefits / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: With 12 Democrats joining a unanimous Republican bloc, the US Senate voted Wednesday to defeat a proposed extension of unemployment benefits for workers who have been jobless for nearly two years. The bill would have extended unemployment benefits for those out of work more than six months, until November 30.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
China Warns Obama Ahead of G20 Summit / Politics / Global Economy
By: Mike_Shedlock
On Thursday, ahead of the G20 summit, China warns against finger-pointing.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Reasons Why American Workers Hate the State / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
James Petras writes: Why does the rightwing attack on “Big Government” increasingly resonate with working people?
Liberals claim wage and salaried workers are acting against their “self-interest”, citing government welfare programs like social security and unemployment payments. Progressives argue that workers hostile to the state are ‘racists”, “fundamentalists” and/or irrational, blinded by misplaced fears of threats to individual freedoms.
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Saturday, June 19, 2010
U.S. Taxpayer Alert, We're About to Adopt Europe's Stealth Tax Model / Politics / Taxes
By: DailyWealth
We're headed for a massive tax increase.
Federal spending is soaring at the same time that individual income tax revenues have fallen to multi-year lows. From their peak in April 2008, personal income tax receipts have fallen by $232.1 billion, or 24.6%.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Washington Mafia's $20 Billion Shakedown of BP / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Jim Davies writes: I was very disappointed to hear how the D.C. Mafia had subjected BP to what the possibly vertebrate Joe Barton (R-TX) called a "shakedown" for $20B to compensate those hurt by its oil spill, but had also made the company agree not to cap that sum (meaning the bill may be higher yet) and to let a government nominee administer the payments (meaning it is almost sure to be higher yet).
Friday, June 18, 2010
Behind and Beyond The Sinking of The South Korean Cheonan / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: OilPrice_Com
INCIDENT: Thousands rallied in Seoul in early June to protest perceived North Korean threats against their country after the severing of bilateral relations following the sinking of a South Korea naval corvette in which 46 sailors died. Despite this, South Korean officials on 8 June said they would not seek any new sanctions against Pyongyang.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Hyperinflation or Deflation? "Deficit Terrorists" Strike in the UK, USA is Next / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Ellen_Brown
Last week, England’s new government said it would abandon the previous government’s stimulus program and introduce the austerity measures required to pay down its estimated $1 trillion in debts. That means cutting public spending, laying off workers, reducing consumption, and increasing unemployment and bankruptcies. It also means shrinking the money supply, since virtually all “money” today originates as loans or debt. Reducing the outstanding debt will reduce the amount of money available to pay workers and buy goods, precipitating depression and further economic pain.