Politics and Other Societal Inanity

I have a rather broad but simple interpretation of politics. To me politics is power over and control of others, pure and simple. It can be found everywhere, not just in government.   Very little of the material presented here is original. I am an aggregator of sorts, a purveyor of ideas. Watch now you don't fall in the quicksand. None escapes this freakin' political mire who does.   Although my personal leaning is toward libertarianism, I've made no attempt to avoid contradiction in post selections here. I've just jumped into multiple quagmires simultaneously for your erudition and my own.   Should all precaution fail and we sink in the morass just keep in mind no human situation is simple. Stay calm and for heaven's sake don't flail about. Help is surely on the way.         

[bankerpigs]

by SIMON BLACK  

February 6th, 2012

In one of the most shamefully disingenuous reports we’ve seen in years, the US Labor Department released the latest employment figures on Friday showing that the headline US unemployment rate had fallen to 8.3%.

Champagne and sound bites were pre-positioned in Washington as the self-congratulatory praise flowed like the bubbly. President Obama, beaming like he’d just caught the winning touchdown pass, told the American people on Sunday that he ‘deserved’ a second term.

They call it the headline unemployment rate for a reason… it’s the only number that the papers tend to run. All weekend long, mainstream press ran headlines like:

“Unemployment rate falls to 8.3%; fifth straight monthly decline” (LA Times)

“Jobless rate drops to lowest level in almost three years” (MSNBC.com)

“Unemployment rate drops to 8.3 percent” (Christian Science Monitor)

“Hiring surges in January; jobless rate at 8.3 pct.” (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

“Jobless Rate Falls to 8.3%, Altering Face of Campaign” (New York Times)

“Unemployment report: January job gains have economists rethinking outlooks” (Washington Post)

Needless to say, few outlets with any meaningful reach covered the real story behind the employment figures– the Labor Department simply took 1.2 million Americans out of the labor force. In other words, the unemployment rate fell because the Labor Department deliberately did not count 1.2 million unemployed people.

[Note: I highly recommend that you read ZeroHedge.com, one of the only sources of undistorted economic reality on the Internet.]

It’s the same Orwellian style logic (WAR IS PEACE. DEBT IS WEALTH.) that prevailed during the Soviet Union– outright lies and deceitful reports painting a rosy picture of the economy and its glorious leaders, masking a dismal reality. It’s nothing but propaganda in the worst form.

This has been going on for years in the United States, as evidenced by the chart below:

Read more »

[cartoonpolitics]

[polyslime]

"We're No. 1."

[think4yourself-deactivated20181]

The British couple, shown below in a photo via ABC, got in trouble for a slangy use of the word “destroy” in a Tweet. The ABC account says:

“Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America,” one of the tweets read. Bryan told The Sun [in England] that in this context “destroy” just meant party. “The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist. I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me ‘You’ve really f***ed up with that tweet, boy’,” Bryan told The Sun.

(via What the Security State Hath Wrought - James Fallows - National - The Atlantic)

[polyslime]

Dangers of tweeting: Homeland Security butchering the Queen's English.

[anarcho-queer]

BREAKING: Bradley Manning WILL be sent to a military tribunal for a court martial

The commander of the Military District of Washington has ordered a court-martial for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington made the decision Friday after reviewing testimony and arguments from a preliminary hearing at Fort Meade in December, officials said.

There was no word on whether the as-yet-unscheduled court-martial would also be held at Fort Meade, one of three installations within the military district equipped to host such a proceeding.

Manning, 24, is charged with aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

During his detention, his case became a cause celebre among anti-war activists, who say the footage of the 2007 Apache helicopter attack that he is alleged to have released appears to show evidence of a war crime.

The attack in Baghdad left 12 dead, including a Reuters journalist and his driver. In the video, released by WikiLeaks as “Collateral Murder,” the American helicopter crew can be heard laughing and referring to Iraqis as “dead bastards.”

Manning’s supporters say whoever released the footage is a hero who should be protected as a whistle-blower.

Source

[anarcho-queer]

Please spread the word on the Homs, Syria massacre. Syria is under severe attack right now.

[blarghblat-deactivated20120525]

More than 100 people were reported to have been killed yesterday in the Syrian city of Homs as security forces continued their efforts to take back opposition-held areas on the eve of a vote by the UN security council on a much-disputed resolution on the country.

Hundreds more were killed in shelling of the city, according to the the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which cited witnesses.

“At least 105 people were killed in a massacre in the Khalidya district of Homs, including women and children,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the campaign group.

Read More

[fakemikemitchell]

And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.

John Steinbeck, East of Eden (via theprospectofvanishingforever)

[polyslime]

Iran warns of retaliation as nuclear tension rises

Published on Feb 3, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.net/ 

Iran has sent a satellite into orbit and a message to the world to mark 33 years since its Islamic Revolution. Officially, the satellite will provide data on the weather. The West fears Iran's space and nuclear programmes have military aims. In Tehran, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke in Arabic, apparently to address the wider region. "Don't trust the US or NATO because they don't care about your interests or your countries," he said.

[socialuprooting-deactivated2016]

A Timeline of the US/Israel threat to attack Iran

2/1/2012 - The neocon Bipartisan Policy Center calls on the US do ”whatever it takes” to stop a nuclear Iran:  ”Iran could develop nuclear weapons capability in 2012.”  

1/31/2012 - US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced that “Iranian officials… are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States”  

1/31/2012 - Israeli President Shimon Peres: ”Iran’s “evil” leaders cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons”  

1/29/2012 - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned ”time was running out” for an attack on Iran.  

1/28/2012 - Pentagon Seeks Mightier ’Bunker Buster’ Bomb vs. Iran  

1/27/2012 - The largest-ever joint military exercise with the United States and Israel scheduled.  

1/26/2012 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “They have this excuse that Iran is dodging negotiations while it is not the case.”  

1/11/2012 - Iran Accuses Israel, US of Assassinating Nuclear Scientist  

12/31/2011 - Obama Signs New Iran Sanctions Into Law  

12/27/11 - Iran Threatens to Stop Gulf Oil If Sanctions Widened  

12/4/2011 - Iran Military Shoots Down US Drone: State TV  

11/21/2011 - The Obama administration declared the Islamic Republic of Iran a “primary money laundering concern”  

11/6/2011 - Israel’s Peres Warns Attack on Iran Getting ‘Closer’  

11/5/2011 - US Military Official: We Are Concerned Israel Will Not Warn Us Before Iran Attack

11/29/10: Wikileaks cables reveal that the Saudi King is urging the U.S. to attack Iran

[sinidentidades-blog]

Santorum to sick kid: Don’t complain about $1 million drug costs

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn’t have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple’s iPad can cost around $900.

Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.

“People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,” the candidate explained. “But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”

The mother replied that she could not afford her son’s medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.

“Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs,” Santorum insisted. “But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don’t have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won’t be alive and lots of other people in this country won’t be alive.”

“He’s alive today because drug companies provide care,” the candidate continued. “And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t.”

[tpfnewsdesk-deactivated20181216]

And I actually prayed for his sick daughter to get better…and then he does some crazy mess like this…by telling a woman whose child has a rare genetic disorder like his own?

Damn hypocrite!

[polyslime]

And so it goes. Get big government out of medicine.

[polyslime]

[tastefullyoffensive]

[noodus-tollens]

yuuup.

[polyslime]

ipso facto

[f-r-e-a-k-o-u-t]

[polyslime]

Always an option.

[polyslime]

Chris Weyant/The Hill politicalcartoons.com

Mitt Romney's win in the Florida primary is largely credited to his reliance on "attack" ads. Chris Weyant doubts the former governor's campaign can endure many more such victories.

[polyslime]

From an Indian news site:

An excellent short summary of the current Iranian-Western standoff regarding the proposed Western oil embargo set for July.

[polyslime]

Could the world handle an Iranian oil crisis?

by Brad Plumer  02/01/2012

Lately, oil markets have been jittery over fears that Europe’s new embargo on Iran could spark tensions in the Persian Gulf. So how would the world cope with an Iranian oil crisis, if it came to that? A new paper explores our options — and none of them are pleasant.

In theory, the E.U.’s embargo on Iranian oil imports, set for July, is supposed to cut into Iran’s finances without cranking up the price of crude too high. “The idea here,” says Robert McNally, president of the Rapidan group, “is that if Iran’s other customers, like China and India, see that Iran is prohibited from selling 20 percent of its crude to Europe, those countries now have leverage to bargain down the price” of the leftover oil. So the sanctions depend on China and India flouting the embargo, but forcing Iran to take a loss. Europe and the United States hope this will all go smoothly. One big worry, though, is that Iran responds by lashing out — say, by trying to block the Strait of Hormuz, where 35 percent of the world’s seaborne oil passes through. That’s a big “if.” But it would make life excruciating for everyone.

As McNally details in a new report (pdf) for the Council on Foreign Relations, a serious and prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz would dwarf the oil crises of the 1970s — there’s just so much more oil at stake here:

In the truly apocalyptic scenario, McNally estimates, a complete cut-off of the 17 million barrels of oil that pass through the straits each day could cause the price of oil to rise as high as 320 percent — which would “likely tip the global economy into recession.” Now, it’s unlikely the U.S. would allow that to happen. But even lesser disruptions (if, say, Iran started harassing ships or decided to cut off some of its exports) could push the oil price up $20 or $40 or more — the sort of spike that could really put the brakes on economic growth.

So how would the world handle an Iran-related oil shock? McNally considers a couple of options, none of them perfect:

Read more >>

[polyslime]

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

30 JANUARY 2012

The world economy is in the tank, and the Federal Reserve’s decision to extend its zero interest rate policy to, at least, the end of 2014 proves it.  What will happen if the fragile world economy also has to deal with a war with Iran?  That should have been the big headline coming out of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, but what was reported was concern over slow or no growth in the world.  All the signs are that the West is careening towards war with Iran, and there is not a peep about it from world leaders.  Are they in a state of denial in a coming war catastrophe?  I say yes. 

One of the first shots fired by the EU was in the form of increased sanctions to boycott Iranian oil in about five months.  The second shot looks like it will be fired by the Iranians who won’t wait for sanctions to kick in and will move to cut off oil exports of around 600,000 barrels a day to the Eurozone.  (Click here for more on this story.)  The Iranians have not yet cut off the oil.   MSNBC reported yesterday, “The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began on Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be “professional” or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will seek to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.”  (Click here to read the latest CNBC story.) 

The immediate cut off of oil to the EU would be a disaster, and the Iranians do not have to close the Strait of Hormuz to do it.  This would cause major pain to a European economy teetering on the brink of collapse.  How well do you think the Eurozone would perform with a spike in energy prices?  Talk about no growth, how about a giant contraction and an implosion of some of the biggest banks on both sides of the Atlantic.  This is not all out war, mind you, just an immediate cut of Iranian oil to Europe.   

Read more >>

[polyslime]

"A direct assault on Internet users" is what the ACLU is calling it.  A U.S. House committee has already approved HR 1981, a broad new Internet snooping bill.

And get this -- it's also authored by SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith. 

They want to force Internet service providers to keep track of and retain their customers' information -- including your name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses.

Let's do to the snooping bill what we did to SOPA: More than 60,000 people have written emails to their lawmakers urging them to oppose Lamar Smith's HR 1981.  

The legislation would force Internet service providers to track and retain all sorts of information about you for at least 18 months.

The ACLU called HR 1981 "a direct assault on Internet users".  Will you click here to urge your lawmakers to oppose it?

If you're already on Facebook, click here to share with your friends.If you're already on Twitter, click here to tweet about the campaign: Tweet

  Source: demandprogress.org