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New Challenges Grip Lebanon’s Palestinian Camps
Franklin Lamb
Shatila Camp
The Sabra-Shatila Massacre: it seems like a dozen weeks, not 30 years ago. This year American citizens received messages to stay away from Beirut and the annual commemoration of the Israeli facilitated Massacre at Sabra-Shatila from their State Department and Beirut Embassy. The latter’s staff on 9/19/12 completed destroying sensitive documents and packing all non-essential items. The French government too told its citizens not to come to Beirut or participate in “mass gatherings because of concerns over sudden random violence”.
But they came. Despite the well-meaning admonitions from their governments, they came in numbers greater than ever before. They came to bear witness with the survivors and their families to the horror of this crime against Palestinians and to plead for justice.
One year after Troy Davis, more injustice on death row
Mary Shaw
September 21 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Troy Davis. Davis was executed by the state of Georgia for a crime he probably did not commit. Davis's original trial was flawed, and there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. His conviction was based solely on questionable testimony by witnesses, most of whom later recanted or contradicted their stories. Everyone from Jimmy Carter to the Pope had issued calls for clemency in his case. But the authorities killed him anyway.
Now Missouri is pursuing a very similar case, with death row inmate Reggie Clemons. As with the Davis case, there is no physical evidence linking Clemons to the crime for which he was convicted, and his conviction was based solely on witness testimony. One witness had been a former suspect in the case. In other words, here too there appears to be reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt.
The Summer of Muslim Discontent: It’s Not “The Amateur Film” Stupid[1]!
James Petras
Introduction
The so-called “Arab Spring:” is a distant and bitter memory to those who fought and struggled for a better world, not to speak of the thousands who lost, life and limb.
In its place, throughout the Muslim world, a new wave of reactionaries, corrupt and servile politicians have taken the reins of power buttressed by the same military, secret police and judicial power who sustained the previous rulers[2]. Death and destruction is rampant, poverty and misery has multiplied, law and order has broken down, retrograde thugs have seized political power, where previously they were a marginal force. Living standards have plunged, cities are devastated and commerce is paralyzed. And presiding over this “Arab Winter” are the Western powers, the US and EU, - with the aid of the despotic Gulf absolutist monarchies, their Turkish ally and a motley army of mercenary Islamic terrorists and their would-be exile spokespeople.
ACLU Sues CIA Over Drone Killings
by Stephen Lendman
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been around since the Vietnam era. They were used as reconnaissance platforms. In the 1980s, Harpy air defense suppression system radar killer drones were employed. In the Gulf War, unmanned combat air systems (UCAS) and X-45 air vehicles were used. Others were deployed in Bosnia in 1995 and against Serbia in 1999. America's new weapon of choice is now commonplace in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, elsewhere abroad, and domestically for law enforcement and surveillance. Escalated domestic and foreign use is planned.
Why QE3 Won’t Jumpstart the Economy - and What Would
by Ellen Brown
The economy could use a good dose of “aggregate demand”—new spending money in the pockets of consumers—but QE3 won’t do it. Neither will it trigger the dreaded hyperinflation. In fact, it won’t do much at all. There are better alternatives.
The Fed’s announcement on September 13, 2012, that it was embarking on a third round of quantitative easing has brought the “sound money” crew out in force, pumping out articles with frighting titles such as “QE3 Will Unleash’ Economic Horror’ On The Human Race.” The Fed calls QE an asset swap, swapping Fed-created dollars for other assets on the banks’ balance sheets. But critics call it “reckless money printing” and say it will inevitably produce hyperinflation. Too much money will be chasing too few goods, forcing prices up and the value of the dollar down.
Bailout Fraud and Unaccountability
by Stephen Lendman
On December 8, 2008, the Senate confirmed Neil Barofsky's nomination as Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) watchdog. He assumed the post of SIGTARP (Special Inspector General for TARP).
On July 20, 2009, he estimated the $700 billion bailout fund could balloon to $23.7 trillion. Obama administration secrecy conceals what's essential to reveal. Over $9 trillion is known. Some analysts think true figures may be three times that amount. Only crooked bankers and corrupt bureaucrats know for sure.
In February 2009, Barofsky submitted an initial report to Congress. In the past two months, he said, Washington handed out hundreds of billions of dollars (like confetti) to troubled financial institutions.
A View From 47%-land
by Kentw007
I've never written a letter to an elected official before, but I couldn't let a man running for President get away with personally insulting my family so I sent him the following letter. The sad thing is that he would have actually had an outside chance at getting my vote if he had ever bothered to actually give any kind of details as to what his economic plan is aside from "I'm going to get America back to work."
Dear Mr. Romney,
Allow me tell you a story about two members of “the 47%”.
In 2002, immediately upon returning from our honeymoon, my wife started working as the receptionist at a commercial real estate company. In the span of 5 short years she had worked her way up to being a key member of the marketing team, overseeing the work of several designers and coordinating with dozens of outside agencies.
In 2008, my wife lost her job. She lost her job because her company’s multimillionaire president, rather than attending to the rapidly escalating challenges the company was facing at the height of the real estate crash, decided to spend his time yachting around in the Mediterranean. In the meantime his company, which employed over 150 hard-working Americans, crashed and burned. I should also note that this company was bequeathed to him by his wealthy father, not built with his own two hands. He didn’t “build this”.
Wake Up: Reject the Two-Party Plutocracy
Joel S. Hirschhorn
Here we go again. Millions of Americans will soon vote for either the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate not because they deeply believe that he is absolutely the best possible president the country needs and can have. No, they will know that they are compromising and choosing the lesser of two evils, mainly because most people know that both major parties and their candidates stink. The lesser evil is still a loser.
This is the only way to accurately understand the American electorate. Americans overwhelmingly are a combination of three awful characteristics. The vast majority are dumb, distracted and delusional, whether they see themselves on the left or right, or as independent.
I have always spent an enormous amount of time following politics and for about twenty years worked within the political system at the state and federal levels. I have a totally negative view of the US political system because American democracy has become something worse than a joke, it is mostly a massive, country-wide delusion based on a refusal to see the terribly painful and ugly truth that the nation like so many world powers before it has been in decline. The Democrats and Republicans share control of a two-party plutocracy and want Americans to adopt the delusional belief that the US is still a great democracy and nation, as if they can vote and elect their way out of the total mess the country is in.
Hypocrisy Not Democracy in America
by Stephen Lendman
US elections are farcical. Obama and Romney represent two sides of the same coin. Neither offers choice. Democracy never existed and doesn't now. Rhetoric substitutes for reality.
Republicans and Democrats offer the worst of all possible worlds. Ordinary people are entirely shut out. Growing numbers reject both parties for good reason. Money power owns them.
"Are you better off" than four years ago, asked The New York Times
? "There is really no reason for any hesitancy. The country is unquestionably better off than it was in 2008."
Fact check
True to form, The Times offered a litany of lies. Bankers, other corporate favorites, and war profiteers fared handsomely. They still do. America's 99% got stiff-armed. Most US households were thrown under the bus.
Unconditional Surrender in Chicago
by Stephen Lendman
September 18, 2012 will be remembered in Chicago as a day of infamy. Corrupt city officials and union bosses won. Teachers, parents, and kids lost.
On September 10, teachers walked out. Core issues were at stake. Most important is saving public education. An American tradition is disappearing.
It's being commodified. Corporate predators are gaining control. Contract terms agreed on do nothing to stop them.
On Tuesday, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) House of Delegates voted to suspend strike action and resume classes. By 9:00AM Wednesday morning, they reopened across the city.
Primary and secondary education in Chicago and across America is a shadow of its former self. An article written two years ago next month compared earlier America with today. Rewritten parts are below, saying:
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