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From Austerity to Abundance: Why I Am Running for California Treasurer
by Ellen Brown
Governor Jerry Brown and his staff are exchanging high-fives over balancing California’s budget, but the people on whose backs it was balanced are not rejoicing. The state’s high-wire act has been called “the ultimate in austerity budgets.”
Welfare payments, health care for the poor, and benefits for the elderly and disabled have been slashed. State workers have been downsized. School districts in need of cash have been reduced to borrowing through “capital appreciation bonds” bearing 300% interest. In one notorious case, the Santa Ana school district actually borrowed at 1,000% interest. And the governor acknowledges that California still faces a “wall of debt” amounting to $28 billion. Some analysts put it much higher than that.
At the end of the 20th century, California was ranked the sixth largest economy in the world. By 2012, it had slipped to number twelve. It is coming back up, in part because European countries are falling further into recession; but California’s poverty rate remains the highest in the country. More than eight million Californians struggle to meet their daily needs, and one in four children lives in poverty. Income inequality is higher in the nation’s most populous state than in almost any other.
Subverting Peace
by Stephen Lendman
Washington abhors it. So does Israel. Both countries deplore rapprochement with Iran. Decades of hostility prove it. Little ongoing now suggests otherwise.
Last November's agreement represented a first time breakthrough. A previous article said hold the cheers.
Longstanding hardline US/Israeli policy hasn't changed. Congress heads closer to imposing new sanctions. Doing so will violate the letter and spirit of Geneva.
America is duplicitous. Agreements are systematically violated. Obama is no peacemaker. Throughout his tenure, he's waged multiple direct and proxy wars.
NSA's Fake War on Terror
by Stephen Lendman
A New America Foundation report suggests it. More on this below.
NSA spying is longstanding. It's ongoing abroad and at home. It has nothing to do with national security. It's unrelated to uncovering terrorist plots.
Homegrown ones virtually don't exist. Alleged ones are hatched. They're fake. Claiming dozens were foiled in time is false. They're Big Lies. Previous articles discussed dozens of innocent victims. They included:
Supreme Court Gives Monsanto Full Ability to Sue Farmers
Heather Callaghan
Do you remember the 2011 lawsuit from the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association 80+ plaintiffs (farmers and small businesses) against Monsanto? They were fighting biotech giant Monsanto's ability to sue them for patent infringement when genetically modified seeds inadvertently appear in organic/conventional fields.
Yes, were talking about the wind or insects carrying GM seeds onto another farm, which to them is considered contamination. But instead of the ability for the farmers to sue for a ruined field, they can be cleaned out in court for not having permission to plant patented seeds. Monsanto workers have been found trespassing and gathering evidence on farmers' properties. The lawsuit had sought protection from this overreach, as Monsanto has filed 140 of these suits and settled 700 without suing.
Obama Nominates Three Fed Governors
by Stephen Lendman
It's official. A White House statement headlined "President Obama Announces his Intent to Nominate Three to Serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System."
Nominees include Stanley Fischer as vice chairman, Lael Brainard as governor, and Jerome Powell for a second term as governor.
None deserve appointments to local school or other municipal boards. Giving Wall Street favorites money creation power is unconstitutional.
A recent article discussed 100 years of financial terrorism. Monied interests run things. They operate lawlessly.
They're self-serving. They're predatory crooks. They benefit at the expense of most Americans.
Their record is deplorable. It includes grand theft, rampant speculation, market rigging, booms, busts, inflation, deflation, instability, crises, recessions, depressions, deprivation and despair.
Talking Peace, Waging War
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's war on Syria rages. It's taken a horrific toll nationwide. Tens of thousands died. Dozens more do daily.
Millions were displaced. Numbers internally and abroad range up to one-third of Syria's population. Humanitarian crisis conditions exist. Human suffering is extreme.
Peace talks reflect more illusion than reality. On January 22, they're scheduled to begin.
On Sunday and Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with so-called Friends of Syria countries in Paris.
They include America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and UAE.
They're imperial collaborators. They no friends of the great majority of Syrians. On Sunday, they issued a joint statement, saying:
"Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in Syria."
Throughout nearly three years of conflict, they've wrongfully blamed him for Western-backed insurgent crimes.
Obama Sabotaging Syrian Peace
by Stephen Lendman
Obama initiated war on Syria. He wants regime change. He wants continued bloodshed, destruction and human suffering to get it. He deplores peace.
He bears full responsibility for nearly three years of conflict. He began it. He wants it continued. He says one thing. He does another. His policies speak for themselves.
On January 22, so-called Geneva II peace talks are scheduled to begin. Mid-2012 Geneva I talks ended in failure. Washington prevented success.
Talks were called a "last ditch effort" to halt violence. Similar rhetoric followed Kofi Annan's one-sided peace plan.
It placed the conflict ending burden on Assad. It did so unfairly. Western backed death squads bear full responsibility.
Eulogizing a Mass Murderer
by Stephen Lendman
On January 11, Ariel Sharon died. He's not missed. A previous article discussed his blood-drenched military and political career.
It did so in depth. It explained his decades of high crimes against peace. They began before Israel's creation. They continued until his debilitating stroke induced coma. It occurred in January 2006.
Sharon was pure evil. He was satanic. He was no saint. A special place in hell awaited him. It now claims him.
His criminal legacy remains. It's indisputable. It's well documented. Eulogizers largely ignored it. They did so shamelessly.
Obama and other world leaders praised him. A previous article quoted them. They ignored his high crimes. They have plenty of their own to answer for. The same place in hell awaits them.
Sharonian Evil Lives
by Stephen Lendman
It rages in Israel. It's worse in Washington. It infests most other Western states. Despots rule most regional ones. They dominate other parts of the world.
State terror harms global billions. Human torment is extreme. Sharonian evil reflects what's ongoing. More on Palestinian suffering below.
On January 13, Haaretz headlined "Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon laid to rest in state funeral."
World dignitaries were there. Showing up honored a mass murderer. Attendees did it disgracefully. They have their own dark crosses to bear.
Nations represented partnered with Sharon's crimes. They support Israel's worst ones. They commit their own.
NAFTA's Deplorable Legacy
by Stephen Lendman
Wall Street Journal columnist Mary O'Grady reinvents history. She does it her way. It's the wrong way. She turns truth on its head.
Her commentaries read like bad fiction. They substitute misinformation for indisputable facts. Responsible editors wouldn't touch her rubbish. Journal editors embrace it.
NAFTA was hugely destructive trade policy. It's opposite of what's needed. More on why below.
Not according to O'Grady. On January 5, she headlined "Nafta at 20: A Model for Trade Policy." It's a model for the wrongheaded kind.
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