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Bush and Obama: Dangerous Narcissists
by Stephen Lendman
Canadian psychiatrist Robert Hare analyzes psychopathic behavior. He does so clinically. He believes about 1% of the general population is insane. So are 10% of Wall Street employees, he says.
Hare states:
"There is a class of individuals who have been around forever and who are found in every race, culture, society and walk of life." "Everybody has met these people, been deceived and manipulated by them, and forced to live with or repair the damage they have wrought."
"These often charming - but always deadly - individuals have a clinical name: psychopaths."
Collapse and Resurrection
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The economic news in the last two weeks points to bad news for the economy and a reason for people to mobilize and demand change.
We’ll get to the impact of the Obama budget, but first let’s explode a critical myth: there is no recovery. Last month’s unemployment numbers showed the fraud of the unemployment rate. Even though the country produced less than 90,000 jobs, when over 120,000 are needed to keep up with growth, the unemployment rate declined. Why? Because hundreds of thousands are giving up on work each month and they don’t get counted. Now, over 100 million working age Americans do not have a job, that is 58.5%. And, for some groups, African Americans and youth in particular, this is a persistent jobs crisis that ensures low incomes and little wealth for the future. And, workers who do have jobs are paid way too little, about half of the value of what they actually produce. There will be no recovery until these fundamentals change.
The combination of poor federal economic policy – which is getting more off-track – and a corrupt economy is bringing on the next crash. In an article in Truthout last week, we point out the deep corruption of the finance system, which dominates the economy. Security fraud expert Bill Black told us that the evidence shows that fraud is “pervasive” among the “most elite financial institutions,” yet the Obama government policy was no prosecution. The Economic Collapse Blog points out there are 11 crashes going on right now: gold, silver, bitcoins, consumer confidence, 401(k) retirement accounts, casino gambling, Greek employment, European financial stocks, Spanish bankruptcies and energy demand; and predicts the bloated US stock market is next.
Palestinian Prisoners Day
by Stephen Lendman
On April 17, Palestinians commemorate Prisoners Day. They do so annually. They've done it since 1979. It marks Mahmoud Hijazi's release. Israel freed him in its first ever prisoner swap.
Addameer honored thousands in Israel's gulag. They're held lawlessly. Now's "the time to hold the Occupation accountable for crimes against the prisoners and detainees," it said.
Freeing them remains a top priority. "Their struggle is central to the liberation of Palestinian land and the return of its people. It represents the frontline of peace and justice."
Obama as the Cover for U.S. Perpetual War, Austerity, and Racism
By Larry Pinkney
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.”
–Amilcar Cabral
The narrative [i.e. the stories] of struggling everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation and throughout Mother Earth, must be told and retold, by we ourselves, in-perpetuity. If we do not consistently present our collective narrative, our past and current struggles for social, economic, and political justice will be twisted, disfigured, distorted, and/or omitted by systemic usurpers.
Vile, Filthy, Bloody, Dirty Wars
By David Swanson
Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, has a new book that should be required reading for Congress members, journalists, war supporters, war opponents, Americans, non-Americans -- really, pretty much everybody. The new book is called Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield.
Of course, Scahill is not suggesting that the world should be a battlefield. He's reporting on how the Bush and Obama White Houses have defined and treated it as such.
The phrase "dirty wars" is a little less clear in meaning. Scahill is a reporter whose chronological narrative is gripping and revealing but virtually commentary-free. Any observations on the facts related tend to come in the form of quotations from experts and those involved. So, there isn't anywhere in the book that explicitly explains what a dirty war is.
Towards Understanding Global Peace: Warlords are Killing Mankind
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD
Global political affairs are a complex discipline and often require serious, critical and impartial mindset to see the man-made problems truthfully, objectively, rationally and dispassionately. The 21st century of hope for Peace is fast turning into a fraught history of highly sophisticated wars both on Earth and in Space poised to destroy the mankind. Previous wars of centuries were aimed at annihilation of political and economic enemies but the 21st century conflicts are ready-made recipes not only to eliminate the mankind but also the environment in which human beings survive and the planet Earth that sustains life. Given the strategic know-how and the scientific-technological developments, it is an established fact that any futuristic global warfare could end the very existence of man and humanity on this planet.
"They have no souls"
By Michael Collins
That's what Patricia Maisch of Arizona said about the United States Senators who failed to vote on legislation broadening background checks on gun purchasers. A majority of Senators were ready to vote in favor of the legislation but that's not how democracy works in the nation's capital. In order to have a simple majority vote, 60 out of 100 Senators need to vote against allowing a filibuster. Instead of majority rule, we have super majority rule. It's absurd and a nasty little inside the beltway trick but more on that later.
The legislation that stumbled and fell due to the super majority hurdle would have required expanded background checks for gun purchasers. If discovered in the background check, certain types of criminal records and serious mental illnesses would have denied the ability to purchase a weapon. The law is currently in place for weapons purchased at gun stores but not for those acquired at gun shows, conventions held all over the country where the seller is an exhibitor rather than a local business.
Post-Boston Bombings Fear-Mongering
by Stephen Lendman
On April 17, major media reported Obama and Senator Roger Wicker (R. MI) receiving letters containing suspicious substances.
FBI testing continues. Initial evaluations confirmed ricin. A subsequent statement reported "inconsistent results." Further analysis is being conducted.
Ricin is poisonous if inhaled, injected or ingested. It's deadliest if inhaled. It's potentially lethal. It's not contagious. There's no antidote.
Washington v. Venezuela
by Stephen Lendman
Longstanding US plans prioritize regime change. It's the oil, stupid! Venezuela has the world's largest reserves. It's a prize Washington covets. More on that below.
Post-election US-orchestrated destabilization continues. Venezuelans elected Nicolas Maduro president. The electoral process was scrupulously open, free and fair. The result is indisputable.
World leaders congratulated Maduro on his victory. Obama remains silent. On April 16, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventell alleged "outstanding voting irregularities."
America: Running Out of Time
By Timothy V. Gatto
I’m going to ask you to read this with an open mind. The hardest thing to do is to take our preconceived notions and ignore them. The fact is that every one of us is steeped in preconceived notions and faulty belief systems. Writing for a progressive audience doesn’t mean that the average reader is “open-minded”. In fact, there are just as many progressives and liberals that tend to have as many rigidly held beliefs as our more conservative cousins.
I have a few concerns that seem to dominate my thoughts more than others. I’m going to keep these to a minimum as I could probably fill volumes if I let myself have free reign. Since I’m not writing a book here, I’ll just bring out those things that I see as the most important stumbling blocks to the success of our American culture.
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