Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Why the Wars can't be Won / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Kozy
Edmund Burke's statement, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it" is frequently cited, but in truth, even history's obvious lessons are unrecognized by many who know history very well.
There was a time when every school child could recite the Gettysburg Address from memory, especially its famous peroration: “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." But that resolution has largely gone unfulfilled. So exactly what did the Civil War accomplish?
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Friday, August 20, 2010
How Could Illegal Immigration Make America Any Worse Than It Already Is? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Mark R. Crovelli writes: Way back in the 1950’s, one could perhaps be excused for fearing that unhampered "illegal" immigration would lead to a dissolution of the American republic, as throngs of uneducated foreigners with different cultural values overran the existing American population. Indeed, one might have been justified in thinking, as many conservatives in fact did, that the unique "American experiment" depended upon the prevention of an influx of foreigners of the old-world mentality, who did not understand or appreciate individual liberty the way Americans did.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Happy Birthday Social Security? / Politics / US Politics
By: Neeraj_Chaudhary
In his weekly radio address this past Saturday, President Obama happily commemorated the 75th anniversary of Social Security. From my perspective, the milestone is nothing to celebrate. For although the president spoke earnestly about the "obligation to keep the promise" of Social Security, in reality, the program will wreck the government's finances within 10 years.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
U.S. Operation of Destroying Iraqi State Almost Complete / Politics / Iraq War
By: Global_Research
Elena Pustovoitova writes: There is no question where the US forces withdrawn from Iraq will go – Afghanistan is known to be the next destination.
In the process, Washington manages to demonstrate a commitment to peace. The US President is convinced that the US mission in Iraq can be “safely” finished by the end of August and the US will pull out by the end of the year, says White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Unenlightened Self-Interest, Deficit Hawk Down On Tax Cuts and Financial Reform / Politics / US Debt
By: Jesse
"Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man." Henry Hazlett
The argument that 'tax cuts for the wealthiest few stimulates growth' aka the trickle down theory needs to be buried alongside the 'efficient markets hypothesis' and the other principle beliefs of voodoo economics that have brought the US from the world's greatest nation to third world status in a generation.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
WSJ Wants Government Subsidies for Mainstream Media / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: MISES
Jeff Harding writes: I almost choked when I read Lee Bollinger's op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal advocating public financial support of the mainstream media. This is the Lee Bollinger who is the president of Columbia University and was recently named deputy chair of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The article says more about the writer and the mainstream media than it does its subject matter. It is unbelievable and irresponsible that anyone in his position should seriously advocate subsidies for the press.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Homeowners Rebellion against Wall Street, Axing the Bankers Money Tree / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Ellen_Brown
Over 62 million mortgages are now held in the name of MERS, an electronic recording system devised by and for the convenience of the mortgage industry. A California bankruptcy court, following landmark cases in other jurisdictions, recently held that this electronic shortcut breaks the chain of title, voiding foreclosure. The logical result could be 62 million homes that are foreclosure-proof.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Why WikiLeaks Must Be Protected / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Pilger writes: On 26 July, Wikileaks released thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan. Cover-ups, a secret assassination unit and the killing of civilians are documented. In file after file, the brutalities echo the colonial past. From Malaya and Vietnam to Bloody Sunday and Basra, little has changed. The difference is that today there is an extraordinary way of knowing how faraway societies are routinely ravaged in our name. Wikileaks has acquired records of six years of civilian killing for both Afghanistan and Iraq, of which those published in the Guardian, Der Spiegel and the New York Times are a fraction.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Obama's Agenda to Destroy the Few Remaining Solvent U.S. States / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
In response to Oregon Wins Blue Ribbon for Unfounded Optimism; Everything "Weaker than Expected" several astute readers sent me a link to a Heritage Foundation article regarding public unions, collective bargaining, and their role in the state budget crisis.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
HMRC Northern Ireland Racist Staff Systemic Underpayment of Benefits To Ethnic Minorities / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The HMRC sacked seven of its Belfast workers with an additional 2 workers having already resigned for systemic racist abuse of ethnic minority benefit claimants by tampering with their computer records so that people from an ethnic minority background were paid less money then they were entitled to receive.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Washington And Wall Street Depending On Deceptive Economic Statistics / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
August 17, Bloomberg reported a US government release that industrial production rose twice as much as forecast, climbing 1 percent. Bloomberg interpreted this to mean that "increased business investment is propelling the gains in manufacturing, which accounts for 11 percent of the world’s largest economy."
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bankster's Business As Usual as Banks Settle Fraud Charges / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Danny_Schechter
Another day, another bank in the news -- with the settlement blues.
Now, Barclays is coughing up $298 million for violating a US Trade law. A Judge is still deliberating on a settlement that may cost Citi $70-$100 million for misleading investors about $40 billion in sleazy subprime holdings .
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Without A Revolution, Americans Are History / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The United States is running out of time to get its budget and trade deficits under control. Despite the urgency of the situation, 2010 has been wasted in hype about a non-existent recovery. As recently as August 2 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned a New York Times Column, Welcome to the Recovery.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Vestiges of Nuclear War Begin To Appear in Asia / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Pravda
On August 6 and 9, the world marked the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings marked the ending of WWII: Japan was forced to capitulate over the fear of even more destructive attacks. However, even after the first-ever practical nuclear bombings the world could not stop from ending the nuclear race.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Pakistan Floods, From Natural Disaster to Social Catastrophe / Politics / Pakistan
By: Global_Research
Snehal Shingavi writes: The floods which have devastated huge areas of Pakistan may be an act of nature, but the worsening humanitarian crisis that followed is a direct result of the failures of Pakistan's venal leaders – and the impact of the U.S. “war on terror.”
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
U.S. Iraq Withdrawal Limited Options / Politics / Iraq War
By: STRATFOR
It is August 2010, which is the month when the last U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq. It is therefore time to take stock of the situation in Iraq, which has changed places with Afghanistan as the forgotten war. This is all the more important since 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq, and while they may not be considered combat troops, a great deal of combat power remains embedded with them. So we are far from the end of the war in Iraq. The question is whether the departure of the last combat units is a significant milestone and, if it is, what it signifies.
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Monday, August 16, 2010
Ron Paul on Washington's Idea of Fiscal Restraint / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It has been months now since the new healthcare reform bill was passed into law. As is so typical, this massive piece of legislation was passed with a sense of urgency so acute that leadership declared America could not afford to wait until legislators, their staff and the general public had time to thoroughly read the bill.
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Monday, August 16, 2010
How can the U.S. Win the Afghan War By Killing Mainly Civilians? / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Pravda
The war in Afghanistan brings increasingly more losses, both for the soldiers of the international coalition, and for the civilian population.
In July, 45 soldiers from the international contingent, 33 of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan. In June, the loss amounted to 100 people, the worst month for 9 years of war. “We are experiencing the most difficult moment in the war,” Brigadier General Joseph Blotts, a representative of ISAF forces, said at a press conference.
Monday, August 16, 2010
U.S. Military is America's Only Major Jobs Program / Politics / Employment
By: Global_Research
Robert Reich writes: Over 1,400,000 Americans are now on active duty; another 833,000 are in the reserves, many full time. Another 1,600,000 Americans work in companies that supply the military with everything from weapons to utensils. (I’m not even including all the foreign contractors employing non-US citizens.)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Pakistan Floods Disaster and U.S. Humanitarian Warfare / Politics / Pakistan
By: Global_Research
Felicity Arbuthnot writes: .. to wade through slaughter ... and shut the gates of mercy on mankind." Thomas Gray (1716-1771.)
The scale of the disaster caused by the floods in Pakistan, is barely comprehensible. As Juan Cole has written, expressing near disbelief : "The submerged area of the country is as big as the United Kingdom, fourteen million Pakistanis are affected, two million are homeless." Six million need immediate relief, according to the UN., and thirty six thousand are suffering from acute diarrhoeal symptoms, with cholera already diagnosed. 1,600 are reported dead, with the number certain to multiply. Famine is a real possibility.
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