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No political system can function without a free press: Mark Kingwell
By Kourosh Ziabari
Prof. Mark Kingwell is a world renowned Canadian author and philosopher. He is the associate chair at University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy. Kingwell is a fellow of Trinity College. He specializes in theories of politics and culture. Kingwell has published twelve books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. Spitz Prize is annually awarded by a panel based in the Department of Political Science of Columbia University to the author of the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory.
Kingwell is the contributing editor to Harper's Magazine. His articles on philosophy, culture, journalism, art and architecture have appeared on the New York Times, Utne Reader, Adbusters, Harvard Design Magazine, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail and the National Post.
Obama signs indefinite detention into law
Mary Shaw
On December 31, when most U.S. citizens were distracted with New Year's holiday plans, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. This law authorizes the President of the United States to order the U.S. military to arrest and imprison terrorism suspects indefinitely, including U.S. citizens, without charging them or putting them on trial. In other words, the President could now arbitrarily strip you of your right to due process.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the bill also contains provisions "making it difficult to transfer suspects out of military detention, which prompted FBI Director Robert Mueller to testify that it could jeopardize criminal investigations."
Obama's New Year Resolution: More Middle East War
by Stephen Lendman
Syria and Iran are targeted. Regime change is planned. At issue is replacing them with client ones, controlling the region's strategic resources, and depriving key rivals China and Russia from access.
Pressure keeps building relentlessly. For months, Syria's been ravaged by externally generated violence. Its economy's also suffered enormously. According to a Damascus University assessment:
"The general financial situation of the country is suffering from the inability of the state budget because of the inability of the general revenue to cover expenses."
Moreover, conditions ahead look worse because tax revenues are half what's needed. Economic sanctions also impede oil revenues. As a result, the estimated 2012 budget deficit will be about 529 billion Syrian pounds ($9 billion dollars) out of a total $1,316 billion budget. A 40% revenue shortfall amounts to 18% of GDP.
Combined with accumulated deficits, financial strain is hugely disruptive. Syria's been cut off from credit markets. Traditionally, Central Bank loans funded deficits. However, sufficient reserves are lacking. Prices keep rising. Purchasing power further erodes. In the past six years, it's fallen 40 - 50%.
The 1% Seem to be Following Hitler’s Playbook and Most of the Rest of us Haven’t Noticed
Excerpts, by Gary G. Kohls, MD,
from Milton Mayer’s, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45
It may well be that the greatest tragedy of this period of social change is not the glaring noisiness of the so-called bad people, but the silence of the so-called good people. --Martin Luther King. Jr.
"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people.
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security.
Responsible New York Banking
by Stephen Lendman
Founded in 1882, the Bank of Cattaraugus (B of C) exception proves the rule. Located in Western New York, it's miles from Wall Street's cesspool of fraud, market manipulation, grand theft, bailouts, and influence peddling in league with corrupt politicians getting generous campaign contribution bribes in return.
B of C calls itself "one of the oldest and strongest banks in New York state. (It's) a full-service, independent bank that provides financial services with a hometown touch. Personal, friendly service is our signature trademark, and we're dedicated to give back to the communities we service."
Netanyahu Rejects Peace
by Stephen Lendman
Sham Israeli peace negotiations were stillborn from inception. Writer Henry Siegman once called them "the most spectacular deception in modern diplomatic history."
Netanyahu once said they're "a waste of time." Previous Israeli officials called occupation and status quo conditions "permanent."
Debunking conspiracy theorists' paranoid fantasies about Net Neutrality
By Katherine Smith PhD
When Verizon announced in December that its newest smartphone — the Samsung Galaxy Nexus — will not carry the Google Wallet app, it spawned a number of these ludicrous “net neutrality” fairy tales. And as always, there is - sadly - a small but gullible percentage of the population eager to lap up these tall tales, regardless of facts or rational analysis.
One of the wilder stories circulating about Google’s business deals, and the one that has attracted something of a cult following amongst the Public Knowledge and Free Press Advocacy conspiracy groups is that Verizon, their longtime foe in the Capitol Hill net neutrality policy battle is “blocking” Google Wallet customers from downloading the application, and therefore exhibiting “anti-competitive, anti-consumer” behavior.
Conspiracy theorists were never a group of people to be bothered by facts. These crackpots even contend that Verizon is practicing carrier limitation and that the agreement had nothing to do with an existing business deal.
“When Google’s own business deals with Sprint precluded it from being featured in the new Verizon smartphone and even more interesting that these kooks seem to have missed is that Google requested that Verizon not make the wallet function available with its upcoming round of Samsung Android phones because Google is locked into an existing exclusive business deal with Sprint, therefore any dummy would understand that Google Wallet would only be available through Sprint.” “Net Neutrality” on The Daily Caller
Michael J. Morris thinks that the Net Neutrality proponents are delusional [I agree] because there really isn’t a Net Neutrality problem. He points out:
“If Verizon starts slowing content from Google, you can bet AT&T will be beating down Google's door to sell them bandwidth. At the consumer end, there is DSL, cable modem, wireless, and others. Only collusion of major ISPs (illegal, see Sherman Act) could have a global Internet effect.”
In other words it’s the Marketplace, stupid.
"Net Neutrality Proponents Must Rely on Hypotheticals. Yeah, it sounds bad....scary. Too bad it hasn't happened yet. Five years later with the explosion of Google, Youtube, Facebook, and the millions of other websites and videos, and still no "slowing" on the Internet by ISPs. Amazing! No problem ever existed and the free market mentality of the Internet has kept it that way.”
No problem ever existed and the free market mentality of the Internet has kept it that way.
Michael Morris should have written: No problem ever existed because the Internet market mentality of FREE, has kept it that way.
Wordpress, Firefox and Google supports the “law of free supply and demand:” When the supply is free, it creates nearly ubiquitous demand. [1]
Are you confused? Don’t worry so is everyone else because the Internet and cell Phones, which are FREE, economically make no cents.
Why are surfing, texting, talking and emailing virtually free? Where are the Pigs at the trough, and why isn’t Wall Street shafting Main Street?
We are conditioned to believe everything is about money, power, greed and corruption. Therefore we are not aware of the great lengths to which the six companies that control 96% of the media go to sell a Corporatocracy (a non-conspiracy term) driven agenda.
An agenda, to make sure we never suspect electromagnetic pollution is the goal and not the unintended consequence of the World Wide Web and Cellphonemania. [2]
The 1%ers spent $1 trillion because they are determined (supported below) to collapse the Earth's magnetic field with a magnetic dipole field reversal.
The net and your smartphone, powerful enough to send a man to the moon, are electromagnetic nightmares for the Earth. [3]
Below is the image of the Earth's magnetic field with a healthy dipole:
Healthy
Russian v. US Elections
by Stephen Lendman
Russia's December 4 elections filled 450 State Duma seats, Russia's Federal Assembly lower house.
Claims of electoral fraud followed. All elections have irregularities. At issue is whether results are comprised. Election monitor Golos accusations were spurious. America's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funds it. It supports regime change in non-US client states.
It backs opposition groups, conducts propaganda campaigns, and does openly what CIA operatives do covertly to destabilize sitting governments.
Its mission is subverting, not promoting democracy. It operates with State Department funding and direction. It serves US imperial interests destructively against targeted countries.
Grim 2012 Economic Outlook
by Stephen Lendman
Yearend isn't just about holiday season binge shopping, parties, and over-indulgence. It's also when economic predictions surface.
The Wall Street Journal publishes consensus views. On December 23, it headlined, "Risks Cloud Outlook for Economy in 2012," saying:
"The economy is poised for another year of muddling through. Most private economists forecast a modest 2% growth rate for the US....with a pace subdued by housing woes, a lackluster job market, and cuts by government."
An idiot’s overview of why Western capitalism is crashing
Alan Hart
The idiot of the headline is me in the sense that I am not an economist and have never had any formal association with study of the theory and practise of economics, but... I began to understand why what is today called Western capitalism was bound to crash way back in the early 1970’s when I was researching and producing an epic documentary on the everyday reality of global poverty and its implications for all.
When I reflected on what I had witnessed and learned while researching in 120 countries (as well as at the World Bank and many UN agencies) and filming in 69 of them, I let commonsense be my guide. It led me to the conclusion that capitalism was not of itself the problem. It was the short-sighted and stupid way Western capitalism was managed.
Now I’ll put some flesh on that bone.
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