Bush’s legacy

May 12 2013 by rowan wolf in AMERICAN BRAINWASH, CULTURAL POLITICAL ISSUES, LIES AND PROPAGANDA, William Blum |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

BushMissionAccomplishedBy William Blum

This is not to put George W. Bush down. That’s too easy, and I’ve done it many times. No, this is to counter the current trend to rehabilitate the man and his Iraqi horror show, which partly coincides with the opening of his presidential library in Texas.

At the dedication ceremony, President Obama spoke of Bush’s “compassion and generosity” and declared that: “He is a good man.” The word “Iraq” did not pass his lips. The closest he came at all was saying “So even as we Americans may at times disagree on matters of foreign policy, we share a profound respect and reverence for the men and women of our military and their families.” [1] Should morality be that flexible? Even for a politician? Obama could have just called in sick.

Continue reading »

Robinson Jeffers: America’s Neglected-At-Our-Peril Poet-Prophet

May 11 2013 by rowan wolf in CULTURAL POLITICAL ISSUES, GUEST AUTHOR, IDEOLOGICAL COMBAT |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

RobinsonJeffersBy Gary Corseri

[Photo: Robinson Jeffers.]

My “bridge over troubled water” is Literature and the Arts. But, these days, with the exception of a few cherished authors and websites, I am apt to get more sustenance from re-reading the Classics—even 20th Century Classics–than from reading the frothy outpourings of identity-poets and lauded, establishmentarian shills. A much-thumbed Vintage Book is one I’ve held dear since my 20s, by a poet I’ve introduced to university students surfeited on too much Frost in high school and too much Yeats and Eliot beyond that.

Continue reading »

US prepares war with Syria as pro-US opposition loses ground

May 10 2013 by rowan wolf in COVERT OPS & INTELLIGENCE, GUEST AUTHOR, MIDDLE EAST AND/OR ISLAM, US MILITARY |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

SyriaRevolution2By Thomas Gaist. Originally published at WSWS.org.

Calls for a war with Syria mounted yesterday, despite mass popular opposition to war in the United States, amid reports that US-backed Islamist opposition forces fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have suffered serious reverses.

Continue reading »

The Pain of Bangladesh: T-shirts Made with Blood and Tears

May 9 2013 by rowan wolf in CORPORADOES, GUEST AUTHOR, IMPERIALISM, INEQUALITY, SCUM WATCH, TOXIC CULTURE |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

BengladeshBldgCollapseBy Ramzy Baroud

[Photo: Garment worker Mohammad Altab moans to rescuers for help while trapped between concrete slabs and next to two corpses. (Photo: AP Video Image)]

As they spoke to a BBC correspondent in their run-down room which they call home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a man sobbed as his 12-year-old daughter sat close to him.

His face, wrinkled before its time, was a picture of utter anguish. It could only be understood by a parent whose child was dying under giant slabs of concrete where nothing could be done.
Continue reading »

Lockdown, USA: Lessons From the Boston Marathon Manhunt

May 8 2013 by rowan wolf in COVERT OPS & INTELLIGENCE, Henry A. Giroux, LIES AND PROPAGANDA |2 Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

By Henry A. Giroux.

A tragedy of errors: nobody knows any more who is who. The smoke of the explosions forms part of the much larger curtain of smoke that prevents all of us from seeing clearly. From revenge to revenge, terrorism obliges us to walk to our graves. I saw a photo, recently published, of graffiti on a wall in NYC: ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’. ~ Eduardo Galeano [1]

BostonRiotSquad

[Photo: Police officers search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in Watertown, Massachusetts, April 19, 2013. (Photo: Eric Thayer / The New York Times)]

The American public rightfully expressed a collective sigh of relief and a demonstration of prodigious gratitude towards law enforcement authorities when the unprecedented manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers came to an end. The trauma and anxiety felt by the people of Boston and to some degree by the larger society over the gratuitously bloody and morally degenerate attacks on civilians was no doubt heightened given the legacy of 9/11. Since the tragic events of that historical moment, the nation has been subjected to “a media spectacle of fear and unreason delivered via TV, news sites and other social media;”[2] it has also been engulfed in a nationwide hysteria about Muslims. Moreover, the American public has been schizophrenically immersed within a culture of fear and cruelty punctuated by a law-and-order driven promise for personal safety, certainty, and collective protection that amounted to a Faustian bargain with the devil, one in which Americans traded constitutional rights and numerous civil liberties for the ever expanding presence of a militarized security and surveillance state run by a government that has little regard for human rights or the principles of justice and democracy.[3]

Continue reading »

William Blum’s Cri de Coeur – A review of “America’s Deadliest Export”

May 7 2013 by rowan wolf in GUEST AUTHOR, IDEOLOGICAL COMBAT, IMPERIALISM, LIES AND PROPAGANDA, THE WORLD |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

US Flag Around the EarthReview by Gary Corseri. A review of “America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy” by William Blum (Zed Books, London/New York, 2013.)

[Graphic from Iran Review]

In activist-author-publisher William Blum’s new book, America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy, he tells the story of how he got his 15 minutes of fame back in 2006. Osama bin Laden had released an audiotape, declaring: “If you [Americans] are sincere in your desire for peace and security… and if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book Rogue State.” Bin Laden then quoted from the Foreword of Blum’s 2000 book, Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower, in which he had mused:

“If I were… president, I could stop terrorist attacks [on us] in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize… to all the widows and the orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. I would then announce that America’s global interventions… have come to an end. And I would inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but… a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims. … That’s what I’d do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I’d be assassinated.”

Continue reading »

The Housing Shell Game: Prices Up, Ownership Down

May 6 2013 by rowan wolf in CORPORADOES, GUEST AUTHOR, INEQUALITY |No Comments
PrintFriendly and PDF

HiddenSpeculatorsSignBy Mike Whitney. Originally published at OEN.

Why are housing prices rising when the home-ownership rate has dropped to its lowest level in 18 years?

Actually, it’s not as confusing as it sounds. The Fed’s low interest rates have triggered a flurry of homebuying by Private Equity firms and other speculators which has reduced already-tight supply and pushed up prices. Of course, there is a downside to all this speculation, which is that real, “organic” demand from ordinary working people looking for a place to live, has dropped off sharply. That’s why the homeownership rate is in the dumps. It’s also why existing homes sales declined 0.6 percent in March and “the volume of purchase applications is at levels last seen in 1998,” because as prices edge higher, more people are opting to rent rather than own. Who can blame them?
Continue reading »

« Previous Page — Next Page »