Economy and Society

• 2009-08-01: Half of children taking Tamiflu have side-effects;
• 2009-08-01: The End of Money: Take Power Back From the Money and Banking Monopoly;
• 2009-08-02: Purdy: Now let me die in Britain;
• 2009-08-02: Make legal aid for the poor higher priority in economic downturn;
• 2009-08-03: Banks Paid $32.6 Billion in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout;
• 2009-08-03: Guantánamo Bay: the inside story;
• 2009-08-04: The Contours of Recent American Foreign Policy;
• 2009-08-04: Russia and Former Soviet Republics plan new security stronghold in Central Asia;
• 2009-08-05: Nothing in sight to replace the US dollar;
• 2009-08-05: First, the good news;
• 2009-08-06: The Public Option in Banking: How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own Game;
• 2009-08-06: The Only Option for Health Reform Is the Public Option;
• 2009-08-07: The Myths of Afghanistan;
• 2009-08-07: Hopi and Navajo Elders Warned Lehman Bros.;
• 2009-08-08: Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa;
• 2009-08-08: The political lessons of the Detroit mayoral elections;
• 2009-08-09: A very traditional coup;
• 2009-08-09: China’s wild west;
• 2009-08-10: Chasing Terrorists VS. Chasing Swine Flu;
• 2009-08-10: An Ominous Glimpse into the Future of Human Labor;
• 2009-08-10: Schweinegrippe und der strenge Geruch der Korruption;
• 2009-08-11: TRADE-INDIA: Kerala Angered Over FTA With ASEAN;
• 2009-08-11: Malalai Joya: The Woman Who Will Not Be Silenced;
• 2009-08-12: US soldier who opposes Afghan war sentenced;
• 2009-08-12: As Long as the Wars Continue, We Must Resist Them;
• 2009-08-13: Iceland: Lessons to be Learned from The Economic Meltdown;
• 2009-08-13: Entering the Greatest Depression in History;
• 2009-08-14: Swine flue, vaccinations, economic crash, riots by angry people;
• 2009-08-14: Forging a New World Order Under a One World Government;
• 2009-08-15: Sailing away;
• 2009-08-15: Former World War II Axis Nations Repudiate Bans against Preparing for War;
• 2009-08-16: Collapse in the Wake of the Fed’s Wall Street Bubble?
• 2009-08-16: The brutal truth about America’s healthcare;
• 2009-08-17: The DFID white paper and the World Bank: Missing the point?
• 2009-08-17: 9/11 mind swell;
• 2009-08-18: NGO Statement on the World Bank’s Proposed Forest Carbon Partnership Facility FCPF;
• 2009-08-18: Why Are Cops Tasering Grandmothers, Pregnant Women and Kids?
• 2009-08-19: Political and economic disabilities;
• 2009-08-19: Recovering from Neoliberal Disaster;
• 2009-08-19: Profiting from Child Trafficking;
• 2009-08-20: BRAZIL: Italian Immigrants Helped Forge Local Identity in the South;
• 2009-08-20: Pandemic Vaccination – Why You Should Be Concerned;
• 2009-08-21: India’s denotified tribes demand a life of dignity;
• 2009-08-21: Municipal Development Bank;
• 2009-08-22: Africa: Continent’s Population Reaches One Billion;
• 2009-08-22: Temporary Recession or the End of Growth?
• 2009-08-23: NAFTA Has Failed; New Development Plan Needed;
• 2009-08-23: Charter Cities (a video about);
• 2009-08-24: NWO (new world order) Endgame is Being Played;
• 2009-08-24: GI Special 7H18: The Possibilites Seem Endless;
• 2009-08-25: Afghans Sandwiched between Taliban and US-NATO backed Warlords;
• 2009-08-25: H1N1 October surprise prevention;
• 2009-08-26: LA BETE SE MEURT: 4 BANQUES EXPLOSEES CE WEEK-END;
• 2009-08-26: Currencies and finances become localized … ;
• 2009-08-26: l’effondrement du dollar fera exploser le système monétaire global;
• 2009-08-27: La croissance mondiale a atteint ses limites;
• 2009-08-27: Questions raised over Afghan women’s vote;
• 2009-08-28: Support for tax to curb bonuses;
• 2009-08-28: Worst economic collapse ever;
• 2009-08-29: The New Silk Road;
• 2009-08-29: Dutch court blocks girl’s solo global sailing bid;
• 2009-08-30: Artificial Life will be created Within Months;
• 2009-08-30: Republican Death Trip;
• 2009-08-31: A new political generation rises in East Timor;
• 2009-08-31: Diseased African Monkeys Used to Make Swine Flu Vaccines.

… Private Military Contractor Holds Key Patents

Published on Natural News.com, by Mike Adams, August 05, 2009.

To most people, vaccines sound medically harmless. “They’re good for you!” say the doctors and drug companies, but they never really talk about what’s in those vaccines. There’s a good reason for that: If people knew what was really in those vaccines, they would never allow themselves to be injected with them.

Aside from the dangerous ingredients many people already know about (like squalene or thimerosal), one of the key ingredients used in flu vaccines (including the vaccines being prepared for the swine flu pandemic) is the diseased flesh of African Green Monkeys. This is revealed in U.S. patent No. 5911998 – Method of producing a virus vaccine from an African green monkey kidney cell line (patentstorm.us) …

… What you probably didn’t want to know about Dyncorp:   Continue Reading…

Linked with José Ramos Horta – East Timor.

Published on Reuters, by Sunanda Creagh, Aug 30, 2009.

DILI (Reuters) – As a student activist in Jakarta, Avelino Coelho da Silva sought refuge in the Austrian embassy to avoid capture by Indonesian troops. Now as East Timor’s Secretary of State for Energy Policy, he installs solar power in villages.

Coelho, 46, is likely to be among the next generation of leaders in the tiny, oil and gas-rich nation which voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia exactly a decade ago.

Both Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, 63, who was imprisoned by Indonesia, and President Jose Ramos-Horta, 59, who campaigned abroad to keep East Timor’s struggle in the public eye, are independence heroes.

But a new generation of political leaders, most of whom were children or students during Indonesia’s rule, is getting ready to take over …   Continue Reading…

Published on NY Times, by Paul Krugman, August 13, 2009.

… So, how’s it going?

Sure enough, President Obama is now facing the same kind of opposition that President Bill Clinton had to deal with: an enraged right that denies the legitimacy of his presidency, that eagerly seizes on every wild rumor manufactured by the right-wing media complex.

This opposition cannot be appeased. Some pundits claim that Mr. Obama has polarized the country by following too liberal an agenda. But the truth is that the attacks on the president have no relationship to anything he is actually doing or proposing.    Continue Reading…

… Genome Experts claim Vital Breakthrough

Published on Global Research.ca, by Daily Mail online, August 27, 2009.

Scientists are only months away from creating artificial life, it was claimed yesterday.

Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to making a synthetic organism.The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work.

But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels.

They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics.  Continue Reading…

Published by Agence France Press, 28 August 2009.

UTRECHT, Netherlands – A Dutch court ruled Friday that a 13-year-old girl cannot set sail on a solo round-the-world voyage next month and ordered her to be placed in the temporary care of social services.

In a judgement that was welcomed by young Laura Dekker’s lawyer, the court judges did not rule out the possibility of her eventually embarking on the record-breaking quest but said a full study was needed to assess the dangers.

“The parents are going to have to negotiate all important decisions regarding Laura with the child protection services,” said a statement from the court in the central city of Utrecht.

“This means that Laura cannot start her round-the-world trip without their (child protection services’) agreement,” the statement added.    Continue Reading…

Published on World Pulse, by Jensine Larsen*, July 28, 2009.

It’s standing room only at Bloomberg in the financially embattled city of New York. I am pressed between rows of hedge fund managers, financial analysts, and investors as the National Council for Research on Women unveils a new report on women in fund management.

In that corporate glass-walled room, the murmurings I have been hearing over the last six months are confirmed: Women manage money differently, and had there been more women at the helm of investment decisions all along, the worst of the global financial meltdown might have been averted.

The report finds that women—in charge of just 3% of hedge funds and 10% of mutual funds—are more patient and consistent with their investments. They are less apt to take overconfident risks and more likely to integrate detailed and conflicting data into their decisions. Moreover, women-owned funds are more stable and consistently outperform general funds with higher returns.  Continue Reading…

Watch this video on YouTube, 11.41 min.

Links:

Gerald Celente on the english wikipedia, and in a stub on the french wikipedia: …  auteur américain, fondateur et directeur du Trends Research Institute, créé en 1980. il a prédit le krach boursier de 1987 et la chute de l’union soviétique.

Gerald Celente – Trendforscher aus den USA prophezeit Totalzusammenbruch, 23.08.2009;

And also: Gerald Celente on Google News-search, / Images-search, / Video-search, / Groups-search, / Books-search, / inauthor-search, / Scholar-search, / Blog-search, and on Google Web-search.

Published on BBCnews, Aug 27, 2009.

The boss of the UK’s financial services watchdog says he would be happy to consider the use of a new tax on banks to prevent excessive bonus payments …

… French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will press for tougher controls on bankers’ bonuses at the next G20 summit in the US city of Pittsburgh in September.

‘A ploy’:    Continue Reading…

Published on ABCnews, by Liam Cochrane for Radio Australia, Aug 26, 2009.

An observer of Afghanistan’s election says women’s votes were particularly vulnerable to manipulation in last week’s presidential poll.

Associate Professor Christine Fair, an expert on South Asia, travelled to kabul for the vote and claims voter registration cards were open for sale before the vote …

… She told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia: “There was an excessive number of female registration in places where, let me just put it mildly, women aren’t known to be liberated.   Continue Reading…

Publié sur Voltairenet.org, par Richard Heinberg, 14 août 2009.

… Réseau Voltaire : Selon la plupart des médias, l’origine de la crise financière est à chercher à l’intérieur même du système financier. Cette explication vous satisfait-elle, ou bien, comme vous l’avez suggéré de manière prémonitoire dans Pétrole : La fête est finie ! [1], le manque de confiance vis-à-vis de la reprise de la croissance, celle-ci reposant sur une production de pétrole à bon marché, serait-il également un facteur essentiel?

Richard Heinberg : En 2008 s’est produite la plus importante flambée des prix de l’énergie jamais connue. Historiquement, les flambées du prix de l’énergie ont toujours conduit à une récession. Dès lors, il était raisonnable d’envisager une grave récession pour le premier trimestre 2008.

En fait, la récession a commencé un peu plus tôt et s’est avérée plus profonde et plus persistante qu’aucune autre au cours des dernières décennies. Cela vient du fait qu’un krach financier était devenu plus ou moins inévitable à cause de l’existence d’une multitude de bulles dans l’immobilier et les marchés financiers …

… Réseau Voltaire : Pourriez-vous nous présenter en quelques mots les objectifs du travail que vous et vos collègues menez au Post Carbon Institute (Institut de l’Après-Carbone) et quel a été son impact jusqu’à aujourd’hui ?

Richard Heinberg : Actuellement, nous réunissons une pléiade de chercheurs qui partagent la même vision de la crise mondiale et qui expriment un intérêt à travailler en collaboration avec les programmes d’éducation. Nous considérons que nous vivons un moment historique qui rend nécessaire de repenser en profondeur nos postulats à propos de la croissance économique, de la consommation d’énergie, du système alimentaire, du changement climatique et de la démographie ; des questions qui s’entrecroisent, mais qui sont rarement abordées de manière systématique par les décideurs politiques.

En même temps, le Post Carbon Institute travaille en étroite collaboration avec les Initiatives de transition (Transition Initiatives, transitiontowns.org) ; il s’agit d’un réseau de communautés citoyennes qui promeut l’économie de l’après-pétrole. Tant que les réformes politiques nécessaires ne seront pas imaginées, adoptées, expérimentées et promues par les individus et les communautés, les chefs d’État continueront à traîner les pieds.

Nous estimons que la crise économique actuelle constitue un tournant fondamental dans notre histoire. L’économie mondiale a incontestablement atteint ses limites en matière de croissance. Maintenant, tout dépend de notre volonté à collaborer et à nous adapter à ces limites.

Nous partageons l’idée qu’en définitive, une vie meilleure est possible sans énergies fossiles et sans croissance continue en matière de démographie et de consommation. Mais la transition entre le paradigme actuel d’une croissance basée sur les combustibles fossiles et celui d’une société stable basée sur les énergies alternatives a toutes les chances d’être une parenthèse difficile. L’humanité y arrivera, d’une manière ou d’une autre : la déplétion des ressources en est la garantie. Ce que nous souhaitons, c’est tout simplement rendre cette transition plus facile, plus équitable et plus vivable pour tous ceux qui sont concernés. (long texte entier et notes 1 – 3).

(Traduction par Nathalie Krieg pour le Réseau Voltaire).

Links in english:

book in english: Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis (Paperback), by Richard Heinberg;

Book reviews on the web;

Richard Heinberg on wikipedia.

Publié sur Solidarité et Progrès, par Lyndon LaRouche, 20 août 2009.

• But first: an english video with french translation /traduite en français: Webcast de Lyndon LaRouche du 1er août 2009, speech = 99.03 min / plus long questions-answers.
• and an english video without transation, same subject: Lyndon LaRouche International Webcast, February 11, 2009, 158.38 min – Lyndon LaRouche in dialogue with national and international leaders on what to do about this economic catastrophe.

(My comment: I hear mostly one sentence: … the huge debts contracted by govs: We the people do not have to pay back this money to the rainmakers, these debts are all to be cancelled).

20 août 2009 (LPAC) — Parlant devant des journalistes et des membres du corps diplomatique de Washington, Lyndon LaRouche a précisé hier sa prévision d’une externalisation violente de la crise d’ici la mi-octobre.

Dans le domaine des certitudes, on peut ranger le fait que nous assistons à l’écroulement de tout le système monétaire international et que cet écroulement progresse, disait LaRouche.  Continue Reading…

and the pace of life slows down, allowing time for family and connection to nature … and Leading thinkers unroll their blueprints for a new economy

Published on WorldPulse, August 21, 2009.

all know that the times call for urgent and drastic changes to our broken global economic system. The question is: How far are we willing to go? Enter women leaders who envision nothing less than sweeping paradigm shifts to our modern-day economic order.

Most of these powerful visionaries have been predicting our current financial collapse and calling for radical systemic changes for decades. These contemporary Cassandras have identified fatal flaws—and huge opportunities—that rarely show up on the balance sheets of traditional economists and world leaders.  Continue Reading…

Publié sur Le Blog de l’Apocalypse, par Pierre Jovanovic, Août 2009.

du 23 au 25 aout 2009 … Cela fait, à ce jour, 81 banques explosées en 2009! Et Ben Bernanke, menteur patenté, a déclaré vendredi avant la fermeture de Wall Street (!) que “l’économie est sur la bonne voie du rétablissement”. N’importe quoi. C’est vraiment prendre le monde entier pour des abrutis. La Garany Bank d’Austin, Texas, a mis la clé du coffre sous la porte, avec une perte colossale, enfonçant le FDIC déjà en banqueroute, encore plus profond sous terre. La banque a 1,5 milliard de dollars de pertes dus aux subprimes. Ensuite ont fermé la E-Bank d’Atlanta, la First Coweta de Newnan, Georgie, et la CapitalSouth Bank of Birmingham, Alabama. Les têtes tombent les unes après les autres, mais tout va bien. Surréaliste avec quel aplomb Bernanke ment … (voir d’avantage Le Blog de l’Apocalypse).

Linked with Pandemic Vaccination – Why You Should Be Concerned and its links, and with NWO (new world order) Endgame is Being Played and its links.

Published on Global Research.ca, by Deborah Dupre, August 22, 2009.

(The core essence of “Greater Things” is that there is always a better way to do things – anything – whether it be religion, politics, science, academia – anything. To the extent that we get institutionalized and codified in a set belief system, is the extent that we inhibit the ability to grow and learn new and better ways. Dr. Andrew Moulden).

A growing number of doctors, other health professionals and citizens are attempting to prevent the humanitarian disaster planned for this October when the new H1N1 vaccine is to be deployed in a grand scale, military, war on terror manoeuvre …

… Deadly vaccines deployed this October:   Continue Reading…

Malalai Joya’s book: Raising My Voice

Published on Global Research.ca, by Julien Mercille, Aug 22, 2009.

Malalai Joya’s central message in Raising My Voice is that “today the Afghan people are tragically sandwiched between two enemies-the Taliban on one side and the US/NATO forces and their warlord friends on the other” (pp. 5, 246).

The book contains some autobiographical chapters, but is mostly an analysis of the problems faced by Afghanistan and possible solutions, including Joya’s thoughts on this week’s elections and whether or not there should be negotiations with “moderate” Taliban …

… The book proposes the following steps to improve the situation in Afghanistan.   Continue Reading…

Published on Uruknet.info, by Thomas F. Barton, 22 August 2009.

… Join the Army, where you can edit all that you can edit.

In July, in a sharp break from tradition, the Army began encouraging its personnel — from the privates to the generals — to go online and collaboratively rewrite seven of the field manuals that give instructions on all aspects of Army life.

The program uses the same software behind the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and could potentially lead to hundreds of Army guides being “wikified.”   Continue Reading…

Swine Flu Mass Vaccinations & FEMA Response & Martial Law for Fall, 2009

Linked with Pandemic Vaccination – Why You Should Be Concerned and its links.

Published on RealityCheck (first on David Icke.com), by Editor’s Note, Aug. 10, 2009.

With so much reaction in the U.S. and around the world to the laboratory created ‘H1N1 flu virus’, and the outrage against the corruption and duplicity of the pharmaceutical companies and governments at all levels, it is vital that the truth emerges immediately …  Continue Reading…

Linked with Charter Cities (the website).

Published on TED, August 2009, Watch this video, filmed 23 July 2009, 18.30 min.

How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it’s trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: “charter cities,” city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations. (Could Guantánamo Bay become the next Hong Kong?).

Links:

Paul Romer’s website named Charter Cities;

The Best Development Plan in the World Originated With … the British Empire? August 12, 2009;

My comments:

1): Chinese’s poor youth in South China’s big plants work for almost nothing … hungry Haitians would be glad to take their place … and world’s big-business are sure to have always enough sweet-shop workers, anywhere.

2): All successes of any development plan needing huge investments also depends on what allow the big money holders of the FED and co, in their role as rainmakers (to make sure that the show goes on in their right way … so, do you expect with this plan any change in social justice?)

Published on Trade Observatory (first on AFL-CIO NOW blog), by James Parks, August 14, 2009.

The governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico must take serious and comprehensive measures to address the dual impact of the global economic recession and the 15-year legacy of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), labor leaders of the three countries said in a joint declaration …

… Specifically, they called for:

• The United States, Mexico and Canada must fully comply with the core labor rights of the International Labor Organization (ILO), including freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively. All three countries restrict the freedom to form unions, both in law and practice, they said.. The North American countries must ensure that workers can exercise their most basic and fundamental rights or face appropriate sanctions.     Continue Reading…

Published on Voltairenet.org, by Richard Heinberg, August 13, 2009.

While mainstream economists base their diagnosis of the current economic shrinking on the visible part of the iceberg, Richard Heinberg sustains that what we are witnessing are the devastating consequences of cheap oil depletion and the decline in earth’s resources in general. According to him, it is too late to prepare for Peak Oil – a year too late, in fact [1]. We are in an entirely new economic environment, in which old assumptions about the inevitability of perpetual growth, and the usefulness of leveraging investments based on expectations of future growth, are crashing in flames. Now the name of the game is adaptation and the challenge is to begin a managed transition to a post-fossil fuel society …

… What Not to Do: Prescribe Punishingly Expensive Placebos:    Continue Reading…

Published on allAfrica.com, 20 August 2009.

One billion people now live in Africa, says a new report. The continent’s population is growing by about 24 million a year, and will double to nearly two billion by 2050, the report adds.

These statistics have been released by the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based non-profit organisation, in a report published jointly with USAID, the United States government aid agency.

The report, the 2009 World Population Data Sheet, shows that Africa is the continent with the world’s highest birth rate and the highest projected population growth rate to 2050 …   Continue Reading…

A Transitional Demand – Contribution to the Reimagining Society Project – hosted by ZCommunications

Published on Zcommunications, by Howie Hawkins, August 05, 2009.

Vision and Transition: At the general level of a socialist vision, I think we have broad agreement that we want a participatory democracy of political and economic institutions that empower ordinary people to meet their needs without exploitation or oppression in an ecologically sustainable manner …

… Creative Public Enterprise:

What all this means for cities like Syracuse is that its citizens are going to have to do it themselves. The city government needs to be the lead developer.  Continue Reading…

Denotified tribes of India DTI on wikipedia.

Published on OneWorld South Asia, by Manasi Singh, 20 August 2009.

Living in precarious conditions, India’s denotified and nomadic tribes are subject to maltreatment and abuse by all and sundry. Highlighting their inhuman existence, a convention held in the national capital brought together many of these floating communities to demand basic rights of food and shelter from the government.

New Delhi: They have no address, no landholdings, no citizenship documents – in fact, no identity proof of the usual sort available to other citizens. Their children remain out of school and the women struggle for dignity.   Continue Reading…

Linked with Flu is not the Biggest Danger, it’s the Vaccine, with Half of children taking Tamiflu have side-effects, with Swine flue, vaccinations, economic crash, riots by angry people, with The Worldwide H1N1 Flu Vaccination Program, and with Rechtliche Immunität für die Hersteller von Schweinegrippe-Impfstoffen.

Published on Global Research.ca, by Dr. A. True Ott, August 18, 2009.

As the summer of 2009 winds down, the debate over “pandemic” vaccinations in the nation’s “public” schools is beginning to ramp up …

… THE EMEA PROVIDES DISCLOSURE

Over the weekend, a gentleman in Belgium sent a very interesting e-mail. He had finally succeeded in getting a document from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA -the European Union’s equivalent of America’s FDA) that listed the basic ingredients in the primary “pandemic flu” vaccine being purchased for Europe ­ GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) PANDEMRIX vaccine. This EMEA Document is very, very revealing.

The vaccine consists of:   Continue Reading…

Published on IPS, by Valerie Dee, August 17, 2009.

BENTO GONÇALVES, Brazil, Aug 17 (IPS) – In 1875 a handful of families from the Veneto region of northern Italy, fleeing hardship and hunger, took ship for the Empire of Brazil. Disembarking in Porto Alegre in the southeast, they hacked their way for over 100 kilometres through densely wooded country into the Serra Gaúcha hills, up to 800 metres above sea level.

Land, 25 to 50 hectares per family, was distributed free to these self-reliant pioneers in an area of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul named Dona Isabel, after his daughter, by the emperor Dom Pedro II (1831-1889). This imperial policy, which followed the abolition of slavery in 1871, was aimed at populating the land and making it productive.  Continue Reading…

Linked with Small Farmers Big Change – a campaign of Equal Exchange and its links.

Published on Small Farmers Big Change, by Phyllis Robinson, August 13, 2009.

(The following post was written by Dary Goodrich, Chocolate Products Manager)

… Sadly, an August 3rd press release from Interpol revealed just how alive and real forced child labor is on cacao farms in West Africa. On June 18th and 19th, Interpol ran the first operation of its kind to free children working illegally on cacao and palm farms in the Ivory Coast. 54 children were rescued and the press release describes the conditions in which the children were working:   Continue Reading…

Why Iceland and Latvia Won’t (and Can’t) Pay the EU for the Kleptocrats’ Ripoffs

Linked with Michael Hudson – USA, and its links.

Published on Global Research.ca, by Prof. Michael Hudson, August 17, 2009.

Can Iceland and Latvia pay the foreign debts run up by a fairly narrow layer of their population?

The European Union and International Monetary Fund have told them to replace private debts with public obligations, and to pay by raising taxes, slashing public spending and obliging citizens to deplete their savings …

… Why Iceland’s move is so important for international financial restructuring:   Continue Reading…

Published on Online Journal, by Frank Scott, Aug 18, 2009.

Corporate America has increased profits by reducing its work force and their salaries, then forcing them to borrow money they should have been paid, and compounding the felony by collecting interest on that debt. The present recession is part of that attack on the working middle class, as millions bought homes at rates they could not afford. The hustlers who sold them mortgages based on invisible assets built a financial pyramid which only existed in their electronic religious temples. When material bills came due and capital had to produce substance for its own debts, what happened?   Continue Reading…

Published on AlterNet, by Scott Thill, August 17, 2009.

Police officers are brutalizing innocent civilians with accelerating lunacy. How did this happen? How can we make it stop?

Technology is a double-edged sword, the cliche goes. It can save and even extend your life, but it can also kill you in new and unpredictable ways. In the several years since the Arizona-based Taser International has deployed its terminologically challenging Electronic Control Devices (ECDs), colloquially known as stun guns or simply tasers, what started out as a midrange law enforcement weapon has turned into a surreal nightmare that has gone viral from streets to screens. It’s now to the point that only a hyperreal comedian like Stephen Colbert can make sense of it …   Continue Reading…

Linked with World Economy, Ecology and Development WEED.

Published on WEED, by Mitarbeiterinnen,  March 5, 2008.

05.03.2008: Numerous NGOs welcome efforts by governments and other parties at the international, national and local levels to combat climate change and protect natural forests in the tropics and beyond. But the role of the World Bank is seriously questioned in this regard.

We, the undersigned NGOs, welcome efforts by governments and other parties at the international, national and local levels to combat climate change and protect natural forests in the tropics and beyond. We believe that with an integrated sustainable development and rights-based approach, socially and environmentally sustainable REDD policies have the potential to bring about climate change mitigation, environmental conservation and social and livelihood benefits. Download the full text of the NGO statement (29 kb).

Published on Online Journal, by Joel S. Hirschhorn, August 14, 2009.

As we approach the eighth anniversary of 9/11 consider this paradox. In the post 9-11 years, the scientific evidence for disbelieving the official government story has mounted incredibly. And the number of highly respected and credentialed professionals challenging the official story has similarly expanded.

Yet, to the considerable disappointment of the international 9/11 truth movement, the objective fact is that there are no widespread, loud demands for a new government-backed 9/11 investigation. The 9/11 truth movement is the epitome of a marginalized movement, one that never goes away despite not achieving truly meaningful results, which in this case means replacing official lies with official truth. What has gone wrong?  Continue Reading…

Published on IFIwatchnet, by Bretton Woods Project, August 13, 2009.

The latest DFID white paper strengthens the UK’s target setting for the World Bank, but fails to adequately tackle the crucial questions of governance, conditionality, human rights accountability, and climate finance. A recent Tory Party policy paper leaves it unclear whether they would do any better.

The white paper begins by lauding the achievements of the G20 including the supposed $1.1 trillion package of global financial support (see Update 65), of which a large proportion has yet to be delivered (see G24 briefing).    Continue Reading…

Published on The Independent.co.uk, 15 August 2009.

They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life.

In the week that Britain’s National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an “evil and Orwellian” example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.    Continue Reading…

(History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it’s issuance. James Madison)

Published on Global Research.ca, by Bob Chapman, August 13, 2009.

The Fed’s Wall Street bubble, as we forecast in January, will need at least $2 trillion more in 2010, if the economy is to just stay on an even keel. The massive debt liquidation particularly in banking, Wall Street and in insurance demands many more trillions of dollars. $23.4 trillion is not going to be enough. Presently the Fed is in the process of monetizing $2 trillion in Treasuries, Agency paper, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and collateralized debt obligations held by lenders. It is a secret what the Fed is paying for this almost worthless paper. Is it any wonder the public has lost trust and confidence in these players and our government?   Continue Reading…

France and Germany drift out of recession. The rest of Europe is stuck in the doldrums

Published on the Economst.com, Aug 13th 2009.

AT LAST, a fairer wind. Figures released on Thursday August 13th showed that the euro area’s GDP shrank by just 0.1% in the three months to the end of June, far less than the 2.5% slump in the previous quarter. The near stability was the result of an early exit from recession in the region’s two largest economies. The economies of both France and Germany grew by 0.3% in the quarter, surprising analysts who had expected the figures to show small contractions in output for both. As badly as these economies have suffered in the past year, there will be some pride that the economies have started to grow before those of America or Britain. Britain’s economy shrank by 0.8% in the second quarter, although it is likely to recover somewhat in this one.   Continue Reading…

(Italy, Germany and Japan)

Published on Global Research.ca, by Rick Rozoff, August 13, 2009.

A press report on August 10 revealed that the government of Italy is planning to modify if not dispense with its post-World War II constitutional limitations on conducting offensive military operations; that is, to reverse a 61-year ban on waging war.

The news story, reminding readers that “Italy’s post-World War II constitution places stringent limits on the country’s military engagements,” stated the Italian government intends to introduce a new military code “specifically for missions abroad,” one that – in a demonstration of evasiveness and verbal legerdemain alike – would be “neither of peace nor of war.” [1]  Continue Reading…

… Global Power and Global Government: Part 4

Linked with Entering the Greatest Depression in History.

Published on Global Research.ca, by Andrew Gavin Marshall, August 13, 2009.

… The New World Order in Theory:

In a 1997 article of Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations, Anne-Marie Slaughter discussed the theoretical foundations of the New World Order. Building on George HW Bush’s proclamation of a New World Order in 1991, Slaughter wrote that many saw this as “the promise of 1945 fulfilled, a world in which international institutions, led by the United Nations, guaranteed international peace and security with the active support of the world’s major powers.” However, this concept, she explained, was largely infeasible, as “It requires a centralized rule-making authority, a hierarchy of institutions, and universal membership.” Instead, she explains the emergence of what she called a “new medievalism” as opposed to liberal internationalism.   Continue Reading…

Many people have been made feary about swine flue, news tell pregnant women and their baby in danger. In the same time we learn: an imminent, never seen real economic crash is coming up. Think by yourself: if riots should happen, for sure we will have the swine flue telling people to stay at home – the best way to protect our economic gangsters running for changes in their own sense. Let’s remember some recent informations on our blogs:

• 2009-08-13: Entering the Greatest Depression in History;
• 2009-08-13: Iceland: Lessons to be Learned from The Economic Meltdown;
• 2009-08-10: RIGHTS: Disfiguring Disease Linked to Right to Food;
• 2009-08-08: DE L’ORDRE DES IMPORTANCES RELATIVES DANS L’ETAT DU MONDE;
• 2009-08-06: The Public Option in Banking: How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own Game;
• 2009-08-04: Greed as an Explanation of Crisis;
• 2009-08-03: Banks Paid $32.6 Billion in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout;
• 2009-08-02: Make legal aid for the poor higher priority in economic downturn;
• 2009-08-01: The End of Money: Take Power Back From the Money and Banking Monopoly;
• 2009-08-01: Rechtliche Immunität für die Hersteller von Schweinegrippe-Impfstoffen;
• 2009-08-01: Half of children taking Tamiflu have side-effects;    Continue Reading…