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Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
OECD warns of lower growth, increased unemployment
OECD warns of lower growth, increased unemployment
"The current forecast points to a continued slump in the world economy, and the potential for a global recession on par with what began with the housing market crisis in 2007. It predicts that the gross domestic product of its member states, all of which are considered “developed” countries, would expand only 1.4 percent in 2013, revised downward from 2.2 percent from the OECD report issued six months ago."
"The current forecast points to a continued slump in the world economy, and the potential for a global recession on par with what began with the housing market crisis in 2007. It predicts that the gross domestic product of its member states, all of which are considered “developed” countries, would expand only 1.4 percent in 2013, revised downward from 2.2 percent from the OECD report issued six months ago."
Caveat about Palestinian Negotiations a Cover
Why should a symbolic recognition of #Palestine as a state by the #UN General Assembly - a gesture that conveys no direct political power - prevent negotiations between Palestine and Israel from resuming? Claims by Israel, the U.S., and Canada that such a recognition will prevent negotiations from resuming is just a cover in effect to obviate any solution that does not leave Israel in control in some capacity or other. But there is also the fear that symbolic recognition as a state might lead eventually to full recognition as a nation state if enough states confirm statehood through bilateral recognition. Were that to develop, as Britain’s anxiety has made clear, the very real fear that Palestine would bring Israel’s unequivocal war crimes against humanity to the Hague - as indeed Palestine should if given the opportunity - might emerge. But its not likely Palestine would pursue this option as long as it believes there is a real chance for some sort of two-state agreement.
This is an outcome hard to imagine, for, it would seem, there will never be a two-state solution no matter how much lip-service is paid to the concept. Israel remains in the eyes of the world an aggressor, occupier, and oppressor despite all those in Israel itself who wish it were not so.
On Israel's aggression and occupation:
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada
Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety [Book Trailer] (by BTLbooks) And you thought things were a bit frightening in Canada. Take a good look if you really want to be traumatized with fear as we continue our descent into a potentially full-fledged fascist regime - we already have corporatocracy - with skilfully tempered support for one of its essential institutions, the military. Remember, the Canadian military may be acquiring weapons capable drones soon, and you might want to recall too that we have set up a series - seven so far, I think - of military bases around the world. I won't even mention the F-35s.
Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism (This would be a good elementary English assignment in a first-year expository writing class in college or university. Compare the Harper Regime to...)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Obama administration pushes ahead with drone killings
The Not so Subtle Militarization of Canada
With the exception of Israel and probably Canada, every other nation considers the use of unmanned drones to be illegal. Who cares about their legality? Their use is fundamentally immoral because they kill people - 2500 so far of which we are aware. It surprises me - but only a bit - that this repulsive policy, which turns so many of us against Obama, wasn't a separate, emphasized item in Michael Moore’s letter of last week to the president, though he does articulate it in his item about ending all U.S. wars. (See my post of Moore’s letter elsewhere on my blog here.)
Canada is also considering the use of drones for military purposes, though whom it wishes to attack we have no idea. The Regime and its military wing claim that they want the drones for Arctic "surveillance." If so, why does the procurement request specify "to be able to carry precision-guided munitions." That sounds clearly like a request for assault capabilities. Don't be surprised that if the request is fulfilled, the proliferation of small Canadian military bases around the globe is connected.
Mark Carney's 'shock' appointment means more of the same neoliberal policies for UK
One should remember that Carney sits firmly inside the neoliberal bubble and that he was bred by a #banksters’ culture at the Vampire Squid’s emporium. Support for the continuing financialization of the economy and a lack of support for the real productive economy will continue. The worry for Canadians should not be his departure since we weren't necessarily in good hands. It should be what potentially disturbing appointment will now be made to this sensitive post by the #HarperRegime, who are of course the high priests of #neoliberalism in our country mediating between us and the economy. There’s no way we will get someone from outside the #banksters’ club. That much is certain.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
An Open Letter to President Obama By Michael Moore
Dear President Obama:
Good luck on your journeys overseas this week, and congratulations on
decisively winning your second term as our president! The first time
you won four years ago, most of us couldn’t contain our joy and found
ourselves literally in tears over your victory.
This time, it was more like breathing a huge sigh of relief. But, like
the smooth guy you are, you scored the highest percentage of the vote
of any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson, and you racked up the most votes
for a Democratic president in the history of the United States (the
only one to receive more votes than you was … you, in ‘08!). You are
the first Democrat to get more than 50% of the vote twice in a row
since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This was truly another historic election and I would like to take a
few minutes of your time to respectfully ask that your second term not
resemble your first term.
It’s not that you didn’t get anything done. You got A LOT done. But
there are some very huge issues that have been left unresolved and,
dammit, we need you to get some fight in you. Wall Street and the
uber-rich have been conducting a bloody class war for over 30 years
and it’s about time they were stopped.
I know it is not in your nature to be aggressive or confrontational.
But, please, Barack - DO NOT listen to the pundits who are telling you
to make the “grand compromise” or move to the “center” (FYI - you’re
already there). Your fellow citizens have spoken and we have rejected
the crazed ideology of this Republican Party and we insist that you
forcefully proceed in bringing about profound change that will improve
the lives of the 99%. We’re done hoping. We want real change. And, if
we can’t get it in the second term of a great and good man like you,
then really - what’s the use? Why are we even bothering? Yes, we’re
that discouraged and disenchanted.
At your first post-election press conference last Wednesday you were
on fire. The way you went all “Taxi Driver” on McCain and company
(“You talkin’ to me?”) was so brilliant and breathtaking I had to play
it back a dozen times just to maintain the contact high. Jesus, that
look - for a second I thought laser beams would be shooting out of
your eyes! MORE OF THAT!! PLEASE!!
In the weeks after your first election you celebrated by hiring the
Goldman Sachs boys and Wall Street darlings to run our economy. Talk
about a buzzkill that I never fully recovered from. Please - not this
time. This time take a stand for all the rest of us - and if you do,
tens of millions of us will not only have your back, we will swoop
down on Congress in a force so large they won’t know what hit them
(that’s right, McConnell - you’re on the retirement list we’ve put
together for 2014).
BUT - first you have to do the job we elected you to do. You have to
take your massive 126-electoral vote margin and just go for it.
Here are my suggestions:
1. DRIVE THE RICH RIGHT OFF THEIR FISCAL CLIFF. The “fiscal cliff” is
a ruse, an invention by the Right and the rich, to try and keep their
huge tax breaks. On December 31, let ALL the tax cuts expire. Then, on
January 1, put forth a bill that restores the tax cuts for 98% of the
public. I dare the Republicans to vote against that! They can’t and
they won’t. As for the spending cuts, the 2011 agreement states that,
for every domestic program dollar the Republicans want to cut, a
Pentagon dollar must also be cut. See, you are a genius! No way will
the Right vote against the masters of war. And if by some chance they
do, you can immediately put forth legislation to restore all the
programs we, the majority, approve of. And for God’s sake, man -
declare Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid untouchable. They’re not
bankrupt or anywhere near it. If the rich paid the same percentage of
Social Security tax on their entire income - the same exact rate
everyone else pays - then there will suddenly be enough money in
Social Security to last til at least the year 2080!
2. END ALL THE WARS NOW. Do not continue the war in Afghanistan (a
thoroughly losing proposition if ever there was one) for two full more
years! Why should one single more person have to die FOR NO REASON?
Stop it. You know it’s wrong. Bin Laden’s dead, al Qaeda is decimated
and the Afghans have to work out their own problems. Also, end the
drone strikes and other covert military activities you are conducting
in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Colombia and God knows where else. You
think history is going to remember the United States as a great
democracy? No, they’re going to think of us as a nation that became
addicted to war. They’ll call us warlords. They’ll say that in the
21st century America was so in need of oil that we’d kill anyone to
get it. You know that’s where this is going. This has to stop. Now.
3. END THE DRUG WAR. It is not only an abysmal failure, it has
returned us to the days of slavery. We have locked up millions of
African-Americans and Latinos and now fund a private prison-industrial
complex that makes billions for a few lucky rich people. There are
other ways to deal with the drugs that do cause harm - ways built
around a sense of decency and compassion. We look like a bunch of
sadistic racists. Stop it.
4. DECLARE A MORATORIUM ON HOME FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS. Millions
of people are facing homelessness because of a crooked system enacted
by the major banks and Wall Street firms. Put a pause on this and take
12 months to work out a different way (like, restructuring families’
mortgages to reflect the true worth of their homes).
5. GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. You already know this one. The public is
sick of it. Now’s the time to act.
6. EXPAND OBAMACARE. Your health care law doesn’t cover everyone. It
is a cash cow for the insurance industry. Push for a single-payer
system - Medicare for All - and include dentistry and mental health.
This is the single biggest thing you could do to reduce the country’s
deficit.
7. RESTORE GLASS-STEAGALL. You must put back all the rigid controls on
Wall Street that Reagan, Clinton and the Bushes removed - or else we
face the possibility of another, much worse, crash. If they break the
law, prosecute them the way you currently go after whistleblowers and
medical marijuana dispensaries.
8. REDUCE STUDENT LOAN DEBT. No 22-year-old should have to enter the
real world already in a virtual debtors’ prison. This is cruel and no
other democracy does this like we do. You were right to eliminate the
banks as the profit-gouging lenders, but now you have to bring us back
to the days when you and I were of college age and a good education
cost us little or next to nothing. A few less wars would go a long to
way to being able to afford this.
9. FREE BRADLEY MANNING. End the persecution and prosecution of an
American hero. Bush and Cheney lied to a nation to convince us to go
to war. Manning allegedly hacked the war criminals’ files and then
shared them with the American public (and the world) so that we could
learn the truth about Iraq and Afghanistan. Our history is full of
such people who “break the law” for the greater good of humanity. Army
Specialist Bradley Manning deserves a medal, not prison.
10. ASK US TO DO SOMETHING. One thing is clear: none of the above is
going to happen if you don’t immediately mobilize the 63,500,000 who
voted for you (and the other 40 million who are for you but didn’t
vote). You can’t go this alone. You need an army of everyday Americans
who will fight alongside you to make this a more just and peaceful
nation. In your 2008 campaign, you were a pioneer in using social
media to win the election. Over 15 million of us gave you our cell
numbers or email addresses so you could send us texts and emails
telling us what needed to be done to win the election. Then, as soon
as you won, it was as if you hit the delete button. We never heard
from you again. (Until this past year when you kept texting us to send
you $25. Inspiring.) Whoever your internet and social media people
were should have been given their own office in the West Wing - and we
should have heard from you. Constantly. Need a bill passed? Text us
and we will mobilize! The Republicans are filibustering? We can stop
them! They won’t approve your choice for Secretary of State? We’ll see
about that! You say you were a community organizer. Please - start
acting like one.
The next four years can be one of those presidential terms that
changed the course of America. I’m sure you will want to be judged on
how you stood up for us, restored the middle class, ended the s***ting
on the poor and made us a friend to the rest of the world instead of a
threat. You can do this. We can do it with you. All that stands in the
way is your understandable desire to sing “Kumbaya” with the
Republicans. Don’t waste your breath. Their professed love of America
is negated by their profound hatred of you. Don’t waste a minute on
them. Fix the sad mess we’re in. Go back and read this month’s
election results. We’re with you.
P.S. President Obama - my cell number to text me at is
Good luck on your journeys overseas this week, and congratulations on
decisively winning your second term as our president! The first time
you won four years ago, most of us couldn’t contain our joy and found
ourselves literally in tears over your victory.
This time, it was more like breathing a huge sigh of relief. But, like
the smooth guy you are, you scored the highest percentage of the vote
of any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson, and you racked up the most votes
for a Democratic president in the history of the United States (the
only one to receive more votes than you was … you, in ‘08!). You are
the first Democrat to get more than 50% of the vote twice in a row
since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This was truly another historic election and I would like to take a
few minutes of your time to respectfully ask that your second term not
resemble your first term.
It’s not that you didn’t get anything done. You got A LOT done. But
there are some very huge issues that have been left unresolved and,
dammit, we need you to get some fight in you. Wall Street and the
uber-rich have been conducting a bloody class war for over 30 years
and it’s about time they were stopped.
I know it is not in your nature to be aggressive or confrontational.
But, please, Barack - DO NOT listen to the pundits who are telling you
to make the “grand compromise” or move to the “center” (FYI - you’re
already there). Your fellow citizens have spoken and we have rejected
the crazed ideology of this Republican Party and we insist that you
forcefully proceed in bringing about profound change that will improve
the lives of the 99%. We’re done hoping. We want real change. And, if
we can’t get it in the second term of a great and good man like you,
then really - what’s the use? Why are we even bothering? Yes, we’re
that discouraged and disenchanted.
At your first post-election press conference last Wednesday you were
on fire. The way you went all “Taxi Driver” on McCain and company
(“You talkin’ to me?”) was so brilliant and breathtaking I had to play
it back a dozen times just to maintain the contact high. Jesus, that
look - for a second I thought laser beams would be shooting out of
your eyes! MORE OF THAT!! PLEASE!!
In the weeks after your first election you celebrated by hiring the
Goldman Sachs boys and Wall Street darlings to run our economy. Talk
about a buzzkill that I never fully recovered from. Please - not this
time. This time take a stand for all the rest of us - and if you do,
tens of millions of us will not only have your back, we will swoop
down on Congress in a force so large they won’t know what hit them
(that’s right, McConnell - you’re on the retirement list we’ve put
together for 2014).
BUT - first you have to do the job we elected you to do. You have to
take your massive 126-electoral vote margin and just go for it.
Here are my suggestions:
1. DRIVE THE RICH RIGHT OFF THEIR FISCAL CLIFF. The “fiscal cliff” is
a ruse, an invention by the Right and the rich, to try and keep their
huge tax breaks. On December 31, let ALL the tax cuts expire. Then, on
January 1, put forth a bill that restores the tax cuts for 98% of the
public. I dare the Republicans to vote against that! They can’t and
they won’t. As for the spending cuts, the 2011 agreement states that,
for every domestic program dollar the Republicans want to cut, a
Pentagon dollar must also be cut. See, you are a genius! No way will
the Right vote against the masters of war. And if by some chance they
do, you can immediately put forth legislation to restore all the
programs we, the majority, approve of. And for God’s sake, man -
declare Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid untouchable. They’re not
bankrupt or anywhere near it. If the rich paid the same percentage of
Social Security tax on their entire income - the same exact rate
everyone else pays - then there will suddenly be enough money in
Social Security to last til at least the year 2080!
2. END ALL THE WARS NOW. Do not continue the war in Afghanistan (a
thoroughly losing proposition if ever there was one) for two full more
years! Why should one single more person have to die FOR NO REASON?
Stop it. You know it’s wrong. Bin Laden’s dead, al Qaeda is decimated
and the Afghans have to work out their own problems. Also, end the
drone strikes and other covert military activities you are conducting
in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Colombia and God knows where else. You
think history is going to remember the United States as a great
democracy? No, they’re going to think of us as a nation that became
addicted to war. They’ll call us warlords. They’ll say that in the
21st century America was so in need of oil that we’d kill anyone to
get it. You know that’s where this is going. This has to stop. Now.
3. END THE DRUG WAR. It is not only an abysmal failure, it has
returned us to the days of slavery. We have locked up millions of
African-Americans and Latinos and now fund a private prison-industrial
complex that makes billions for a few lucky rich people. There are
other ways to deal with the drugs that do cause harm - ways built
around a sense of decency and compassion. We look like a bunch of
sadistic racists. Stop it.
4. DECLARE A MORATORIUM ON HOME FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS. Millions
of people are facing homelessness because of a crooked system enacted
by the major banks and Wall Street firms. Put a pause on this and take
12 months to work out a different way (like, restructuring families’
mortgages to reflect the true worth of their homes).
5. GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. You already know this one. The public is
sick of it. Now’s the time to act.
6. EXPAND OBAMACARE. Your health care law doesn’t cover everyone. It
is a cash cow for the insurance industry. Push for a single-payer
system - Medicare for All - and include dentistry and mental health.
This is the single biggest thing you could do to reduce the country’s
deficit.
7. RESTORE GLASS-STEAGALL. You must put back all the rigid controls on
Wall Street that Reagan, Clinton and the Bushes removed - or else we
face the possibility of another, much worse, crash. If they break the
law, prosecute them the way you currently go after whistleblowers and
medical marijuana dispensaries.
8. REDUCE STUDENT LOAN DEBT. No 22-year-old should have to enter the
real world already in a virtual debtors’ prison. This is cruel and no
other democracy does this like we do. You were right to eliminate the
banks as the profit-gouging lenders, but now you have to bring us back
to the days when you and I were of college age and a good education
cost us little or next to nothing. A few less wars would go a long to
way to being able to afford this.
9. FREE BRADLEY MANNING. End the persecution and prosecution of an
American hero. Bush and Cheney lied to a nation to convince us to go
to war. Manning allegedly hacked the war criminals’ files and then
shared them with the American public (and the world) so that we could
learn the truth about Iraq and Afghanistan. Our history is full of
such people who “break the law” for the greater good of humanity. Army
Specialist Bradley Manning deserves a medal, not prison.
10. ASK US TO DO SOMETHING. One thing is clear: none of the above is
going to happen if you don’t immediately mobilize the 63,500,000 who
voted for you (and the other 40 million who are for you but didn’t
vote). You can’t go this alone. You need an army of everyday Americans
who will fight alongside you to make this a more just and peaceful
nation. In your 2008 campaign, you were a pioneer in using social
media to win the election. Over 15 million of us gave you our cell
numbers or email addresses so you could send us texts and emails
telling us what needed to be done to win the election. Then, as soon
as you won, it was as if you hit the delete button. We never heard
from you again. (Until this past year when you kept texting us to send
you $25. Inspiring.) Whoever your internet and social media people
were should have been given their own office in the West Wing - and we
should have heard from you. Constantly. Need a bill passed? Text us
and we will mobilize! The Republicans are filibustering? We can stop
them! They won’t approve your choice for Secretary of State? We’ll see
about that! You say you were a community organizer. Please - start
acting like one.
The next four years can be one of those presidential terms that
changed the course of America. I’m sure you will want to be judged on
how you stood up for us, restored the middle class, ended the s***ting
on the poor and made us a friend to the rest of the world instead of a
threat. You can do this. We can do it with you. All that stands in the
way is your understandable desire to sing “Kumbaya” with the
Republicans. Don’t waste your breath. Their professed love of America
is negated by their profound hatred of you. Don’t waste a minute on
them. Fix the sad mess we’re in. Go back and read this month’s
election results. We’re with you.
P.S. President Obama - my cell number to text me at is
and my email is MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com. I await my first assignment!
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