Barack Obama made a point of criticizing electronic devices in a commencement speech to more than 1,000 graduates and thousands of their family and friends gathered on the football field at Hampton University, a historically black college in
southeastern Virginia.
"Obama said today’s college graduates are coming of age at a time of great difficulty for the United States. They face a tough economy for jobs, two wars and a 24/7 media environment not always dedicated to the truth, he said.
"Added to the mix are the distractions offered by popular electronic devices that entertain millions of Americans.
“'With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,' Obama said."
At the same time that the U.S. government is raking in huge profits from usurious loans to America's young people, all German universities are now free to Americans and all other international students.
The last German state to charge tuition at its universities struck down the fees this week. In explaining why Germany made this move, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, called tuition fees "unjust," adding that "they discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany."
Congress may be deadlocked, but practical, popular solutions are gaining momentum at the state level.
by Charles Monaco (Yes! 2012-01-13)
In the year since conservatives took control of the U.S. House of Representatives and legislative bodies in states across the nation, we’ve seen them move their agenda with alarming disregard for both democracy and the economic security of the nation. From the irresponsibly provoked debt ceiling “crisis” to the wholesale obstruction of job creation efforts, conservatives on the national stage took an approach of reckless political brinksmanship over the past year that put the entire economy at risk. And from Wisconsin to Alabama and beyond, 2011 saw conservatives in the states—buoyed by support from their corporate allies in the 1%—launch attack after attack on workers, women, voters, and immigrants.
But the new year brings new hope for progressives looking to turn the tide—hope that, for the time being, largely resides not in the halls of Congress but in the 50 states. Elections in every corner of the country last November—from Arizona to Maine to Ohio—saw voters decisively reject a range of right-wing legislative attacks. The shady practice of corporations writing state laws to benefit their own bottom lines (through organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council) has been subject to an increasing amount of sunlight and public attention. And the public sentiment behind the explosive growth of the Occupy movement last fall has remained, even as many physical occupations have been forcibly dismantled. On issue after issue, public opinion remains firmly in favor of policies that will begin to address the needs of the 99 percent.
While progressives in the states will be focused on a range of economic priorities, here are four specific policies that state lawmakers are advancing in 2012 that are practical, popular, and are set to gain real momentum as new legislative sessions kick off starting this month:
1. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Proposals that Can Pass in Red and Blue States Alike:
When President Obama introduced the American Jobs Act last fall, he included in it a handful of elements that had already been passed with bipartisan support—and proven successful—in many states. These included the banning of employer discrimination against the long-term unemployed, saving jobs by allowing work-sharing as part of unemployment insurance programs, and requiring that states “Buy American” in their contracting practices in order to create jobs here at home. These measures have shown both that they work and that they can pass even in conservative-controlled chambers.
Public opinion remains firmly in favor of policies that will begin to address the needs of the 99 percent.
In 2011, New Jersey passed a bill prohibiting employers from discriminating against job applicants based on their current employment status, and similar bills are set to move across the nation in 2012. Likewise, work-sharing—a pro-worker measure currently in place in 23 states that allows workers to keep their jobs and gives employers flexibility to weather a downturn by allowing workers to earn partial UI benefits while working part-time—passed in states, including Pennsylvania and Maine, with conservative legislatures. And “Buy American” provisions are also set to move in a slew of states (such as Nebraska) this year.
2. Creating State Banks to Foster Local Economic Growth:
With revenue and budget crises certain to be in the headlines once again in many states in 2012, lawmakers are increasingly looking towards structural changes that will ensure they can rebuild and sustain prosperity—even as conservatives once again look to cut much needed public services to the bone.
While demanding corporate transparency and accountability—and requiring that the 1 percent and corporations pay their fair share in taxes—will continue to be a priority for progressive state lawmakers in 2012, they will also be attempting to capitalize on widespread public frustration with big banks by proposing the creation of state development banks similar to the one in place for over 90 years in North Dakota. The creation of state banks would allow states to invest dollars in their local communities rather than line the pockets of Wall Street CEOs. Additionally, according to one study, state banks have the potential to close some current state deficits by anywhere from 10 - 20 percent. The measure will be hotly debated in Oregon this year, where it has the potential to pass, and introduced in many other states as well.
3. Restoring the Minimum Wage to Grow the Economy:
One of the simplest ways for states to jumpstart their economies and address the needs of the 99 percent—all without increasing spending—is through restoring the minimum wage. Studies have shown that raising the minimum wage provides a direct boost to economies by giving lower-income workers more purchasing power.
The basic principle that no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty clearly resonates with the public.
While proposals are under consideration in many states, including New York and Missouri, perhaps the most exciting development is in Illinois, where legislation is under consideration that would restore the minimum wage to its historic 1968 value: $10.50 per hour, after adjusting for inflation. Other states are considering measures that would index the minimum wage so that it rises with inflation, or to boost it by lower amounts. In 8 states, automatic increases took effect on January 1st, providing much needed economic stimulus; in Washington, the rate is now at $9 an hour.
Regardless of the specific proposals, raising the minimum wage has proven incredibly popular, with approval for the policy ranging from 75 to 90 percent in recent polls. The basic principle that no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty clearly resonates with the public, and bodes well for continuing efforts to raise the minimum wage and grow state economies in 2012.
4. Rejecting Arizona’s Immigration Approach, Businesses Line Up Behind Tuition Equity
After Arizona enacted SB1070, its controversial “show me your papers bill,” in the summer of 2010, conventional wisdom had it that states would be lining up to copy this destructive, enforcement-only approach to immigration. Prominent copycat bills in states like Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina notwithstanding, the vast majority of states have rejected similar bills. This widespread rejection has been due in no small part to the efforts of the business community, which is acutely aware that the deep economic pain and social upheaval that has accompanied the passage of SB1070 copycats is simply not good for business, or for a state’s economic prospects.
Over the last two years, states have increasingly turned towards common-sense legislation that welcomes the economic contributions of (and taxes paid by) immigrants and non-immigrants alike. One of the chief ways they are doing so is by advancing tuition equity measures. Already enacted in 14 states, these laws allow talented undocumented students to attend state universities and colleges at the same tuition rate as their U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident classmates. Many are on the agenda again in 2012, including in Colorado, Hawaii, and New Mexico. Colorado State Sen. Mike Johnston, a former high school principal, reflected on the reason such laws see growing support: “Colorado’s future depends on forward-thinking approaches to immigration—ones that focus on nurturing talented youth and putting our tax dollars to better use than destroying immigrant families.”
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Charles Monaco wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Charles is director of Communications and New Media with the Progressive States Network.
This is the text of a proposed California ballot initiative:
Oil Extraction Tax to Rescue Education
Maintaining California's competiveness in the new global economy
California's Educational System, Kindergarten through College and University, has been cut to the bone. Overcrowded classrooms, textbook shortages, teacher and professor lay-offs, and reduced or eliminated college class sections have made it impossible for millions of talented students to graduate. For example, Long Beach Unified School District eliminated computer literacy classes as a graduation requirement.
University of California student's' tuition fees are being raised 8% and California State University students' tuition fees are being raised by 15% percent for Fall 2011. California Community College students are facing a proposed tuition fee increase of 38% (to $540) per semester minimum, up to 154% ($990) per semester for fall 2011. Californians must act now to save our once world renowned Educational System.
Education is the foundation of a strong economy. California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoyed tuition free education at UC Berkley and Santa Monica College, respectively. In the 1960s and 1970s, California's Educational System was the envy of the world. During this time, public higher education was essentially tuition free, as mandated by Governor Pat Brown's Master Plan for Higher Education, and California's economy grew to the 5th largest in the world, supporting a large vibrant middle class.
Today, California's middle class is endangered, and California's economy has fallen to 8th position in the world because of a lack of investment in education and technology. China recently invented the world's fastest computer (server) and produces the largest number of solar panels, while South Korea produces the best electric car batteries using cutting edge technology. California's K-12 spending per pupil has dropped to 43rd out of 50 states. College and university graduates are saddled with huge debt. If California is to successfully compete with states and countries such as China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and India, California's Educational System must again be adequately funded, offering more classes and programs in cutting-edge technology, skilled manufacturing, alternative energy, and the arts. California Community Colleges need adequate funding to continue training Nurses, and preparing Firefighters and Teachers.
Unbelievably, California has failed to employ a widely used revenue source that can address this crisis in our education. This revenue source is employed by every major oil producing state, except California. This untapped source of revenue is an extraction fee on oil pumped in California, onshore and offshore. Since California is the nation's third largest producer of oil, after Texas and Alaska, a 15% oil extraction fee (midway between that of Texas and Alaska) would raise approximately $3.6 billion each year, at 2011 oil prices. This has not been a partisan issue in other states. For example, Governor Sarah Palin, with a Republican legislature, raised Alaska's oil extraction fee to 25%, bringing in billions of dollars. Texas's and Alaska's gasoline prices were not affected by their oil extraction fees, and in March 2011, their price per gallon of gasoline was lower than California's. From 1901 to 2008, oil companies have extracted over 10 billion barrels of oil from California's territory. Based on 2011 per barrel crude oil prices ($100 per barrel), oil companies have extracted over $1 trillion worth of oil. At the current world market price, this oil extraction fee would have raised over $150 billion. This type of fee is the economic standard in every major oil producing state and nation around the world. California can no longer afford to give preferential treatment to oil companies compared to how they are treated elsewhere.
This initiative requires that California apply a 15% oil extraction fee on the value of each barrel of oil, California's common resource, extracted onshore and offshore. Following Texas' example of devoting this oil revenue to its Educational System, the revenue generated by this fee shall be appropriated for non-capital purposes in the following amounts: K-12 shall receive 30% (approximately $1.08 billion). The California Community College System (approximately 3,000,000 students) shall receive 48% (approximately $1.72 bill). The California State University System (approximately 412,000 students) shall receive 11% (approximately $400 million). The University of California System (approximately 200,000 students) shall receive 11$ (approximately $400 million). This will reduce college and university tuition fees, and restore cut class sections. The funding increases will pay to rehire professors, laid-off teachers, and reduce K-12 class sizes.
This proposition, along with existing anti-trust and anti-collusion laws, prohibits oil companies from passing on the oil extraction fee to oil refineries, gasoline stations, and consumers (the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that States can prohibit oil companies from passing on fees such as this to consumers). This fee will enable California to capture $3.6 billion that would have left California. This additional money will help rejuvenate California's stagnant economy. This fee will have minimal impact on oil company profits which total in the hundreds of billions of dollars. For example, Exxon Mobile reported record profits of $45 billion in 2008, and Shell Oil reported profits of $31 billion in 2007.
If oil companies illegally pass on the oil extraction fee, a fine shall be assessed equal to the amount passed on. The dollar amount recouped shall be equally distributed to each Californian as a rebate check at the end of each year. The State Attorney General is bound by this proposition to examine the books of oil companies operating in the state of California, if they appear to be breaking this law.
The revenues from this proposition exclusively constitute a Competiveness Education Fund and cannot be commingled with, or lent to, the State General Fund. The State shall not be allowed to reduce its regular education funding corresponding to the additional revenue produced by this proposition. The revenues from this Competiveness Education Fund shall be deposited in a Special Account and distributed, on a monthly basis, by the California State Treasurer to each of the California Educational Systems involved. Passage of this proposition will once again ensure a bright future for this generation and succeeding generations of Californians who have to compete in the new global economy.
Organizations supporting the referendum effort include labor unions, teacher and student associations, and progressive political groups. Anyone interested in participating can download a petition here and flyers here. For more information, visit the sponsoring organization at Rescue Education California.
It's Jobs, Stupid: Left to itself, the U.S. economy may not return to its pre-recession rate of unemployment until 2021, says a new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Even under the more optimistic growth assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office, we’ve got five more years of high unemployment ahead. Not troubling enough? Consider this: millions of jobless Americans means lower wages for those lucky enough to be employed. Median wages rose just 0.8% over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, failing to keep up with even the low 1.8% rate of inflation. In real, inflation-adjusted terms, that’s a wage drop. “Excess supply in the labor market — 14.6 million Americans were unemployed as of June — has helped keep wage growth in check,” the Wall Street Journal explains. Or, in the more gleeful terms used by a financial analyst quoted by Bloomberg news last month, “Companies are getting higher-productivity employees for the same or lower wage rate they were paying a marginal employee. Not only are employees higher skilled, you have a better skill match. You have a more productive and more adaptive labor force.” That’s great for business – and helps explain the 44% increase in corporate profits this year – but considerably worse news for anyone trying to work for a living. Without more job creation or growing wages, economic recovery doesn’t translate into anything that benefits the vast majority of Americans. So what’s to be done? -- A Decade of High Unemployment and Falling Wages… Or We Could Create Jobs and Help our Cities by Amy Traub (DMIblog 2010-07-22).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch: "It was a branding moment. With their lockstep vote against extending unemployment benefits, the Republicans are indelibly marked as not only heartless but also frivolous in their much-professed concern over the soaring national debt....once again the Republicans seem determined to prove that when it comes to social compassion, they are the worst." -- The Grinches Who Stole Summer by Robert Scheer (Truthdig 2010-07-21).
Not to beat a dead horse, but...It's Jobs, Stupid: "The way to get jobs back is to increase federal spending in the short term in order to make up for the gap left by consumers and businesses (the fastest way to get this money into circulation is by extending unemployment benefits and aiding stranded state and local governments). Over the longer term, we can lift the wages of the vast majority of Americans by expanding and extending the Earned Income Tax Credit -- an income supplement -- up through the middle class, and pay for it by a higher marginal income tax rate on the top. And while we’re at it, exempt the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes, and pay for that by lifting the cap on Social Security taxes on all incomes in excess of $250,000. Beyond that, and over the still longer term, America’s vast middle class and the poor more need to be more productive and innovative, so they can add more value to an increasingly integrated global economy. That means better education. Instead of firing school teachers, closing libraries, and increasing tuitions at public universities, we have to do exactly the opposite." -- Why We Can’t Rely on Foreign Consumers to Rescue American Jobs, and Why the “Jobs for America Summit” is a Bad Joke by Robert Reich (Guernica: a magazine of art & politics 2010-07-21).
It's hard not to think of this as Brother Mose's Teabagger song:
Not To Miss: How could Barack Obama nominate with such confidence a candidate for the Supremes who remains, in conventional terms, a legal and political empty suit? "The very fact that such a person could become dean of the Harvard Law School, Solicitor General of the United States, and now apparently a justice of the Supreme Court, tells us a great deal about how members of the contemporary power elite in America, whether they call themselves 'liberals' or 'conservatives,' see themselves. For Elena Kagan presents a particular kind of blank slate to the world: one that appears to have been the product of, among other things, exquisitely calculated careerism. And that sort of careerism is by necessity always grounded in the relentless pursuit of the approval of the legal and political and economic establishment — something that itself is always inimical to significant legal, political, or economic change. Kagan, in short, is the kind of candidate who is most popular with admirers of the status quo. Indeed, Obama’s nomination of Kagan suggests that, for all his talk of 'change,' he is himself at heart a comfortable denizen of Establishment America – that place where people with the right sorts of resumes rotate profitably between Wall Street, Washington, and the Ivy League, while praising each other for having 'good judgment,' and being 'reasonable' and 'non-partisan.'" -- Elena Kagan, Barack Obama, and the American Establishment by Paul Campos (Lawyers, Gun$ & Money 2010-07-21).
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File this one under #stillmissdennishopperalwayswill:
Weekly war crimes update: A recent report from Amnesty International has confirmed that 35 women and children were killed following the latest US attacks on an alleged al-Qaeda hideout in Yemen. Initially, there were attempts to bury the story, and Yemen officially denied that civilians were killed as a result of the Dec 17 attack on al-Majala in southern Yemen. However, it has been simply impossible to conceal what is now considered the largest loss of life in one single US attack in the country. If the civilian casualties were indeed a miscalculation on the part of the U.S. military, there should no longer be any doubt about the fact that cluster munitions are far too dangerous a weapon to be utilized in war. And they certainly have no place whatsoever in civilian areas. The human casualties are too large to justify." -- Cluster Bombs and Civilian Lives: Efficient Killing, Profits and Human Rights by Ramzy Baroud (truthout 2010-07-24). See, also: New study claims increases in infant mortality and cancer in Fallujah greater than in Hiroshima by Zaid Jilani (Think Progress 2010-07-24).
The Bush and Blair govs knew that the WMDs and Sadam Hussein-Al Queda links were a pack of lies: This week Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former director general of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, their version of the FBI, said Tuesday that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had greatly increased the terrorist threat to Britain and that intelligence available before the Iraq war had not been sufficient to justify the invasion of that country. Ex-Official Says Afghan and Iraq Wars Increased Threats to Britain by Sarah Lyall (New York Times 2010-07-20). The headline speaks for itself; I'm linking it mainly because The Times buried the story.
True heroes are few: "When we create a legion of heroes in our minds, we blind ourselves to evidence of their destructive, sometimes atrocious, behavior. Heroes, after all, don’t commit atrocities. They don’t, for instance, dig bullets out of pregnant women’s bodies in an attempt to cover up deadly mistakes. They don’t fire on a good Samaritan and his two children as he attempts to aid a grievously wounded civilian. Such atrocities and murderous blunders, so common to war’s brutal chaos, produce cognitive dissonance in the minds of many Americans who simply can’t imagine their 'heroes' killing innocents. How much easier it is to see the acts of violence of our troops as necessary, admirable, even noble. By making our military generically heroic, we act to prolong our wars. By seeing war as essentially heroic theater, we esteem it even as we excuse it." -- “Our American Heroes”: Why It’s Wrong to Equate Military Service with Heroism by William J. Astore (Guernica: a magazine of art & politics 2010-07-23).
Could it be that, somewhere in this nightmarish technological morass, there is something as simple as a delete button?:
"Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States. An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances. In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space." -- A hidden world, growing beyond control by Dana Priest & William M. Arkin (Washington Post 2010). Also, some perspective from The Nation: Corporate Media Discover Private Spies. In Other News, No WMD in Iraq by Jeremy Scahill (The Nation 2010-07-20).
The Asian Age can use "MNCs" in its headline and, unlike here, the reader knows what they're talking about: "Corporates seek to globalise production but they do not want to globalise justice and rights. The difference in the treatment of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical in the context of Bhopal, and of BP in the context of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shows how an apartheid is being created. The devaluation of the life of people of the Third World and ecosystems is built into the project of globalisation. Globalisation is leading to the outsourcing of pollution - hazardous substances and technologies - to the Third World. This is at the heart of globalisation - the economies of genocide." -- The Killing Fields of Multi-National Corporations Pesticides, Pollution and the Economies of Genocide by Vandana Shiva (The Asian Age 2010-07-14).
Here's a pull-out from The Asian Age to think about:
quote unquote: “Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the less developed countries?” Since wages are low in the Third World, economic costs of pollution arising from increased illness and death are least in the poorest countries. The logic “of relocation of pollutants in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that." -- Obama's chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers, in a memo dated December 12, 1991, to senior staff at the World Bank, where he was chief economist at the time.
Wikireform: We need a People's Project for Societal Reform, a Wikipedia of Change, a think tank for the rest of us....and the internet provides the tools. What's needed is a site with a series of issues open to disinterested creative ideas about all our challenges -- nuclear and other inhumane weapons, global climate change, pollution, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, economic justice, democratization, how to accelerate positive social change... All that's needed is to arrange a voting system where people can see the raw contributions, make comments, and move the best ideas to the forefront without erasing those wild and crazy contributions that might just turn out in the long run to be the most valuable. Best Practices by Winslow Myers (truthout 2010-07-24).
Noam Chomsky catches up with Impractical Proposals: "'It is very similar to late Weimar Germany,' Chomsky told me when I called him at his office in Cambridge, Mass. 'The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum which the Nazis very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over.'" -- Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’ by Chris Hedges (Truthdig 2010-07-10).
Hail, hail rock 'n' roll:
When you hear the word "reform," reach for your gun: "Race to the Top" and Arne Duncan's so-called "national turnaround plan" are tied to a $4.3 billion fund to push for charter schools -- schools publicly funded by taxpayers, yet run privately, outside the control of local school boards -- and merit pay schemes where teachers are paid according student test scores -- using eligibility requirements to make states compete for desperately needed education money. The education secretary proposes closing some 5,000 schools across the county and firing entire teaching staffs at schools designated as failing. These national initiatives were first developed by Arne when he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools for his "Renaissance 2010" program that closed down dozens of schools, predominately in Black neighborhoods, and converted many to charter schools or military academies. At numerous school board meetings and protests, teachers, students and community members warned Duncan that the reckless closing of schools would have dire consequences -- from the loss of cherished neighborhood schools and union teachers to an increase in gang violence. Predictably, these education advocates were proven right. Student achievement stagnated, and deadly violence soared in the schools -- with some 34 deaths and 290 shootings in 2009 as a result of students being transported to schools across gang boundaries. -- Schooling Arne Duncan by Jesse Hagopian (Socialist Worker 2010-07-19 -- Hagopian, a Seattle teacher who lost his job due to budget cuts, is a founding member of the progressive union caucus Social Equality Educators within the Seattle Education Association).
A picture is worth a thousand years: In the age of high-precision cosmology, we realize how very short is the time frame of human civilization in relation to the history of the universe. Within that frame, geneticists are providing us with ever-better maps of early human migration and settlement patterns while art originating from well before Babylon indicates what some of those migratory cultures’ cosmologies might have been like. The symbol-laden anthropological record of the Paleolithic suggests the fruition of a theretofore-nascent neurological potential for artistic and technological expression. The astronomical theories associated with Magdalenian cave art may take a long time (and substantially more evidence) in order to gel, but just considering a celestial dimension to the paintings allows our generation to look with new eyes at one of our oldest shared artistic treasures. Heavenly messages from the depths of prehistory may be encoded on the walls of caves throughout Europe by Holly Capelo (Seed Magazine 2010-07-13).
And, finally, a more benign than usual edition of Those Wacky Republicans - a series:
Saying America's teachers will "lead and propose, not wait and oppose," American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten proffers a plan to "build a system of public education as it ought to be." She argues real changes can be made by focusing on good teaching, creating a curriculum that provides opportunity for students to learn, and sharing responsibility and accountability between teachers, parents and administrators. -- AFT Leader Outlines Vision to Build Better Public Education System by James Parks (AFL-CIO Now Blog 2010-07-09).
Crime Log: "If we were to take an honest look at America’s blasted landscape of 'losers' and the far shinier, spiffier world of 'winners,' we’d have to admit that it wasn’t signs of onrushing socialism or fascism that stood out, but of staggeringly self-aggrandizing greed and theft right in the here and now. We’d notice our public coffers being emptied to benefit major corporations and financial institutions working in close alliance with, and passing on remarkable sums of money to, the representatives of 'the people.' We’d see, in a word, kleptocracy on a scale to dazzle. We would suddenly see an almost magical disappearing act being performed, largely without comment, right before our eyes." -- American Kleptocracy: How Fears of Socialism and Fascism Hide Naked Theft by William J. Astore (TomDispatch 2010-04-20).
Musical interlude: We've been talking about The National for nearly a decade. Will we still love them now that they have a major takeout (The National Agenda by Nicholas Dawidoff) in the Times' Magazine? Sure we will.
3-Card Monte: "The drumbeat about deficits has reached deafening levels. The president warns about 'out of control' spending. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke calls for bringing deficits down. The opinion pages bristle with rants about the U.S. turning into Greece, headed to default. Next week, the first session of the president's 'National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform' will convene. The next day, shamelessly, the two co-chairs and the staff director (all committed deficit hawks) will grace a forum sponsored by the Peterson Foundation, established by Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson largely to gin up hysteria about America's long term deficits." - The Big Fix (Hold On To Your Wallets) by Robert Borosage (Campaign for America's Future 2010-04-21).
The Long War: Historian, international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich talks to Bill Moyers about how we got in to Iraq and Afghanistan and why we can't seem to get out (extended video, Bill Moyers Journal 2010-04-09).
The Long War: Rethinking Afghanistan’s Sticky Icky Quagmire by Josh Mull (FDL's The Seminal 2010-04-20). There is definitely a huge drug problem, and our strategy seems to be the cause of it. There are much easier ways to achieve our objectives in the region than an expensive and bloody policy of military aggression, but our leaders are stuck in failed policies born of a worldview that is at once arrogant and ignorant. Time to rethink Afghanistan?
More music: Here's a number from a B.B.King special I worked on a couple of decades back. My friend Douglas Brodoff aptly called this a rock opera in 5 minutes. An honor to have been there.
Democracy in the Middle East: In spite of America's professed commitment to equality, the U.S. government makes an exception when it comes to Israel's insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state, which in theory and practice means privileging Jewish citizens over all other citizens: A State for All Its Citizens by Nadim N. Rouhana (Foreign Policy 2010-04-22). A country cannot be both democratic and theocratic.
Hubris: "We can't have it all. The belief that we can is one of the things that has driven us to this awful place. If insanity could be defined as having lost functional connection with physical reality, to believe we can have it all -- to believe we can simultaneously dismantle a world and live on it; to believe we can perpetually use more energy than arrives from the sun; to believe we can take more than the world gives willingly; to believe a finite world can support infinite growth,much less infinite economic growth, where economic growth consists of converting ever larger numbers of living beings to dead objects (industrial production, at core, is the conversion of the living -- trees or mountains -- into the dead -- two-by-fours and beer cans) -- is grotesquely insane. This insanity manifests partly as a potent disrespect for limits and for justice. It manifests in the pretension that neither limits nor justice exist. To pretend that civilization can exist without destroying its own landbase and the landbases and cultures of others is to be entirely ignorant of history, biology, thermodynamics, morality, and self-preservation. And it is to have paid absolutely no attention to the past six thousand years." -- No, We Can't Have It All by Derrick Jensen (excerpted from Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization (Common Dreams 2010-04-23).
Water is the new oil: Cochabamba, the Water Wars and Climate Change by Amy Goodman (TruthDig 2010-04-21). Bolivian President Evo Morales calls Cochabamba the heart of Bolivia. It was here, 10 years ago this month, that, as one observer put it, "the first rebellion of the 21st century" took place. In what was dubbed the Water Wars, people from around Bolivia converged on Cochabamba to overturn the privatization of the public water system.
Reconsideration: The Teabaggers are not the mob of racist yobs you accuse them of being. And even though Polatik's "CD sales on the Tea Party Express tour didn’t go as I had hoped...you can expect to see Polatik t-shirts, posters and videos very soon."
Led by far-right ideologues, the Texas State Board of Education recently gave preliminary approval to a plan that would radically change what children across the country learn in history class.
The ultra-conservative majority on the board - none of whom are experts in any academic discipline and many of whom are explicitly anti-science - took the curricula proposed by teachers and made over a hundred changes to "correct" the perceived left-wing bias.
But it gets worse. Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to the Texas curricula will find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a stand.
Children who use textbooks conforming to the new standards will not learn anything about the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson or his thoughts on the separation of church and state. When they learn about the Civil War, they'll have to study Jefferson Davis' inaugural address alongside Abraham Lincoln's. And when they study the civil rights movement they'll have to learn about the "unintended consequences" of Great Society programs, affirmative action and Title IX.
It's outrageous. Education will fail if we can't teach our children history. We can't let these far-right ideologues co-opt our educational system.
Sign the petition to tell the textbook publishers: Don't let Texas rewrite history. -- from the CREDO Action website
Most conceptual art you can "get" in an elevator pitch. The Running Fence was something to see.
