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Keep the Change...
By Sheila Samples
Change is the process by which the future invades our lives~~ Alvin Toffler, "Future Shock"
Each time it appears that Republicans can't get any nastier, any more bereft of morality, they wrap themselves in the flag, grab their guns and Bibles, and manage once again to hit the bottom of the ethical barrel. A good example is Ben Smith's recent startling revelation in Politico.com, which exposed the dirty tricks Republican National Committee (RNC) operatives were planning to play, not only on Democrats in the upcoming elections -- but on their own donors. Smith writes...
Greece: The Curse of Three Generations of Papandreou’s
James Petras
In each of the three decisive moments of recent history, Greece has been pulled backwards from a chance for social transformation, political independence and freedom from external tutelage by one and another of the Papandreou family.
The three periods promising new vistas for the Greek popular movements include:
- The period following the defeat of the Nazi occupation army and its collaborator puppet regime by the Greek partisan resistance, backed by its liberation army (ELAS-EAM) and its civilian allies. (1944-1945)
- The decisive electoral defeat of the rightwing New Democratic Party in 1981. The majoritarian vote for the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) together with the Communist Party controlled nearly two-thirds of Parliament. Inheriting a “broken and bankrupt and non-viable” capitalist economy from a discredited and crushed Right, PASOK received a popular mandate to socialize the economy.
- The world capitalist crises of 2007 –2010 and in particular, the bankrupt and highly indebted Greek capitalist state-led to the election of George Papandreou (Junior) in 2010 on a platform of “social change” and increased social welfare. He attracted working class and trade union support on the bases of creating a new modern and more just society.
Cubans Wear A Moral Vest
June C. Terpstra, Ph.D.
In the film, Fidel, The Untold Story, there is an interview with Fidel Castro where he says he does not need a Kevlar vest to protect him from countless CIA assassination attempts because he wears a moral vest. I am back in Havana, Cuba today after visiting a natural medicine clinic in Santa Clara, Cuba; an agricultural cooperative in Matanzas, Cuba; a teacher training arts school in Matanzas; and ELAM, the incredible Latin American Medical School that trains and sends doctors to work all over the world. With each program or institution visited I wonder what it would be like to live in a country with values of social justice instead of values of profit and plunder. There are countless examples of those who wear a moral vest here in Cuba.
Freedom of Association Restrictions and Discrimination in Israel and Occupied Palestine
by Stephen Lendman
A December 2009 Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network "Monitoring Report on Freedom of Association in the Euro-Mediterranean Region" assessed it in EU and Middle East countries, including Israel and Occupied Palestine, the topic of this article.
Freedom of Association in Israel
Instead of improving in 2009, it deteriorated even though Israel's Supreme Court recognizes it as a fundamental human right. However, three statutory law types restrict it, the first includes the 1980 Law of Associations that regulates the formation and operation of NGOs, corporations, and cooperative associations, and the 1999 Companies Law.
Message to President Obama and Americans with a Conscience
eileen fleming
"There comes a time comes when silence is betrayal...History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people...We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims...We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people...The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy...Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular- but one must take it simply because it is right."-Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Madoff in Jerusalem
Gilad Atzmon
Zionism, at least in its early days was premised on the belief that once back in their ‘homeland’, Jews would mature into ethical beings. For early Zionists it was the Diaspora conditions that corrupted the Jews. Ber Borchov blamed it on the difference between ‘the socio-economic structure of the Jewish people’ and other nations (Ber Borochov- The Economic Development of the Jewish People 1917). Max Nordau repelled the “Jewish lack of notion of honour, morality, patriotism and idealism…." (Max Nordau - Address at the 1st Zionist Congress 1897).
The Death of American Populism
by Stephen Lendman
Ideologically it believes governments must provide for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It opposes concentrated wealth, demagogy, and despotism, and supports democracy, human and civil rights, and social justice - an ideology the 19th century People's Party and 20th century Progressive Party endorsed without majorities.
Until recently, faint echoes remained, sadly silenced after Senator Bernie Sanders and sole House populist capitulated.
Chris Dodd's wife and derivatives trading - "all in the family"
It’s all in the family! Senator Chris Dodd writes a financial reform bill but forgets to regulate derivatives, “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Then we find out that his wife works for the owners of two exchanges that will very likely benefit from Dodd's “reform” legislation.
They make the rules. They take the money, all of it, and leave us with debt. And they tell us it’s all legal.
Here’s the story.
America's "Houdini Recovery" under IMF-Type Austerity
by Stephen Lendman
It's what economist David Rosenberg calls recovery given plenty of supportive evidence, including:
-- over five million homeowners behind on their mortgage payments;
-- at record levels, foreclosures are alarmingly high; moreover, "the foreclosure pipeline is enormous;"
-- "housing, the quintessential leading indicator," turning lower again in starts, sales and prices;
Why We Reform
By PAUL KRUGMAN
One way or another, the fate of health care reform is going to be decided in the next few days. If House Democratic leaders find 216 votes, reform will almost immediately become the law of the land. If they don’t, reform may well be put off for many years — possibly a decade or more.
So this seems like a good time to revisit the reasons we need this reform, imperfect as it is.
As it happens, Reuters published an investigative report this week that powerfully illustrates the vileness of our current system. The report concerns the insurer Fortis, now part of Assurant Health, which turns out to have had a systematic policy of revoking its clients’ policies when they got sick. In particular, according to the Reuters report, it targeted every single policyholder who contracted H.I.V., looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for cancellation. In the case that brought all this to light, Assurant Health used an obviously misdated handwritten note by a nurse, who wrote “2001” instead of “2002,” to claim that the infection was a pre-existing condition that the client had failed to declare, and revoked his policy.
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