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Written on November 30th, 2010 in Monthly Index by Heidi
Written on November 30th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
A Press Release – Published on MSNnews, by Human Rights Watch HRW, Nov. 16, 2010.
Colombo, Nov 16 (PTI) Following a series of complaints from Sri Lankan housemaids of torture by their employers, the New York-based Human Rights Watch has asked Middle Eastern states to take steps to protect migrant workers.
At least three Sri Lankan maids have complained recently that either they were forced to swallow nails or had them driven into them by their employers. Continue Reading…
Written on November 29th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Economic Populist, by Numerian, (first by Michael Collins on Sun), November 21, 2010. – Linked on our blogs with Economic Populist.
… Political Inaction as an Art Form:
As a consequence, nothing really gets done. In a lament about the sadly dysfunctional political environment in Washington, two Bloomberg reporters – Peter Coy and Heidi Przybyla – wrote an opinion piece last week titled Death and Taxes – Will Washington Ever Grow Up?. The authors do a good job of laying out the competing ideas for deficit reduction, but they don’t completely capture the dysfunctionality at work here. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is quoted as describing the Simpson-Bowles proposal as “math, not strategy”, but the authors omit the more telling statement from Gates that “The truth of the matter is when it comes to the deficit, the Department of Defense is not the problem.” Continue Reading…
Written on November 28th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Linked on our blogs with Economy In Crisis.org. – Published on Economy in Crisis.org, by Dustin Ensinger, November 25, 2010.
An increasing percentage of prescription drugs and dietary supplements consumed in America are imported from China with very little oversight, according to a report in the Kansas City Star.
The report found that very few of the finished drugs are inspected for quality once imported to America. Even fewer factories that make the products are inspected. Continue Reading…
Written on November 27th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by Stefan Steinberg and Barry Grey, Nov. 19, 2010.
In a revealing admission concerning the relationship between capitalist governments and international financial interests, the Financial Times on Tuesday wrote of “Europe’s dirty secret.”
The newspaper editorialized against the plan of the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund to loan Ireland tens of billions of euros in order to guarantee in full the investments of international bankers and bondholders in the country’s failing banking system. Continue Reading…
Written on November 26th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
A reviving capital still has far to go—not least in integrating its immigrants
Published on The Economist, Nov. 11, 2010.
… Figures from DIW show that between 2005 and 2009 Berlin’s economy outstripped the rest of the country’s, growing by an annual average of 1.7%, the highest of any German state. Yet although Berlin is catching up with established commercial centres in the old West Germany, it is still the only European capital poorer than the country it rules. Unemployment, at 14.1%, is almost twice the national average. Continue Reading…
Written on November 25th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Consortiumblog, by Rev. Howard Bess, November 8, 2010.
… According to the Luke gospel, after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer, he withdrew for 40 days to think, ponder, and pray.
His next stop was a synagogue gathering in his home community, Nazareth. Jesus read from an Isaiah scroll, and then laid out his four-point agenda.
First, he was going to take up the causes of the poor. Second, he was going to work for the release of the people, who were incarcerated or oppressed. Third, he was going to bring sight to the blind. Fourth, he was proclaiming The Year of the Lord. Continue Reading…
Written on November 24th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by Tom Eley, Nov. 19, 2010.
In a blow to the Obama administration’s effort to manipulate the civilian justice system to achieve guilty verdicts for alleged terrorists, a New York City jury on Wednesday unexpectedly acquitted a Guantánamo detainee, Ahmed Khaifan Ghailani, on 284 of 285 charges. The case was related to the 1998 terrorist attacks on US Embassy in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, which killed at least 11 people and injured another 85.
Ghailani, 36, was convicted of only one charge, conspiring to destroy government buildings. The 12-member jury was unconvinced by government charges related to allegations of murder. Ghailani nonetheless faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. Continue Reading…
Written on November 24th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on LalitKjha.com, by Lalit Kjha, November 13, 2010.
Afghanistan hopes export of its goods to India would significantly increase following the recently signed transit trade agreement between Kabul and Islamabad which comes into force later this month.
“We hope our exports would increase to India. Now we can export our goods through Wagah and that is much more economical for us to do,” visiting Afghan Minister for Commerce and Industries Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady told PTI.
“As you know, we are not in a position to bring goods from India through Wagah, although we are hopeful that eventually that problem would be resolved,” he said. Continue Reading…
Written on November 23rd, 2010 in Society by Heidi
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: on Fiscal Commission.gov, and on wikipedia.
Published on Online Journal, by Michael Collin, Nov. 11, 2010.
President Obama announced the new National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (see also on wikipedia) on February 18 to address astronomical federal budget deficits. There has been considerable speculation that this commission will target current and future benefits for Social Security recipients to achieve its goals … //
… What’s this commission really up to? Continue Reading…
Written on November 22nd, 2010 in Economy, Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
breach of the critical threshold of global geopolitical dislocation
Published on Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin GEAB N°49, November 16, 2010.
… The crisis that we are experiencing is characterised by developments on a planetary scale, taking place at two levels that, while correlated, are different in nature. On the one hand, the crisis is symptomatic of the profound changes to our world’s economic, financial and geopolitical reality. It accelerates and amplifies the underlying trends that have been at work for several decades, trends that we have described regularly in the GEAB since its launch at the beginning of 2006. On the other hand it reflects the steadily increasing collective awareness of those changes. This growing awareness is in itself a phenomenon of collective psychology on a global level and it influences the way the crisis develops and triggers sharp bursts of speed in its evolution. Several times in recent years, we have anticipated “inflexion points” in the crisis, corresponding to “sudden leaps” in this collective awareness of the changes under way. Continue Reading…
Written on November 22nd, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Watch these three videos: Congressmen Brad Sherman and Paul Kanjorski and Senator James Inhofe, published on Global Research.ca, by Washington’s Blog, Nov. 11, 2010.
All say that the government warned of martial law if Troubled Asset Relief Program TARP wasn’t passed: … (full text).
Written on November 21st, 2010 in Society by Heidi
What does the south Sudanese independence vote have to do with the US “state sponsors of terrorism” list?
Published on AlJazeera, by Gregg Carlstrom, 11 Nov. 2010.
Sudan, officially called a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the United States for 17 years, could finally shed that designation next summer – for doing something that has nothing to do with international terrorism.
The Obama administration announced earlier this week that Sudan could be removed from the “state sponsors of terrorism” list if January’s planned referendum on south Sudanese independence goes as planned. Continue Reading…
Written on November 20th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Online Journal, by LynMarie Berntson, Nov. 11, 2010.
Accountability. In education the media, hand-in-hand with our elected politicians, act as sprightly cheerleaders, daily rallying Americans to hold teachers accountable. Demand that AYP (annual yearly progress) is demonstrated! Fire teachers of children who do not test well! The stay-on message memo? Teachers are public enemy #1. And as if by donning dark, protective eyewear, we remain passively receptive to the heat turned up on educators, comfortable with corporate controlled “news,” shielded from the glare of disquieting reality … //
… Our children are watching. Given current implementation of America’s top down education system, what do children observe of accountability at the very top? Well, let’s just ask, “Is our children learning?” You betcha. G.W. Bush, President of the United States, implacably incurious and thus, willfully negligent, a “C” student at best, a cocaine user, frat boy boozer, a person meticulously branded and well staged for public presentation (and particularly notable for costumed appearances such as his performance in a military flak jacket, swaggering to effect the illusion of masculinity and power) sets an example. Continue Reading…
Written on November 19th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on political affairs pa, by C P Chandrasekhar, November 3 2010. /
Original source: People’s Democracy (India): The optimism that overcame global governments when growth figures for the last quarter of 2009 were released is fast receding. Growth has slowed sharply in the subsequent two quarters and unemployment rates are in danger of rising further. In the United States for example, growth in the last quarter of 2009 which was placed at 5 percent relative to the corresponding quarter of 2008, is estimated to have fallen to 3.7 and 1.6 percent in the subsequent two quarters. Unfortunately, this occurs at a time when the resolve to address the crisis has considerably weakened. Continue Reading…
Written on November 18th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Watch this video, published on the Real News Network, 9.00 min, by Paul Jay, November 12, 2010: Kevin Gallagher: Countries Using Capital Controls to Defend Against Speculators.
See also again this TRNN Replay: Young Ho Lee tells the story of the 77-day occupation and fight against lay-offs, 8.47 min, by Paul Jay, first published on August 7, 2010: Young Ho Lee tells the story of the 77-day occupation and fight against lay-offs.
And watch also this video: Who Pays the Bill for the Fed’s QE2, 10.37 min, published on YouTube, by Paul Jay, November 11, 2010.
Written on November 17th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Current Concerns, by Joseph Stieglitz in an interview with Swiss radio DRS, Issue No 19, november 2010.
… Beat Soltermann (radio DRS): … And what about the regulation of those financial institutes that are too big to be sent in bankruptcy?
Joseph Stiglitz: One big area where they did not grapple with what has to be done, are the too-big-to-fail banks. That topic is very difficult, because the too-big-to-fail banks are also too powerful to regulate. And so well, most economists have the opinion that something must be done, almost nothing has been done yet.
The issue of the too big banks in Switzerland is of course a hotly debated topic. With CS and UBS we have two big banks in a relatively small country, and a commission of experts of the Federal Council is looking for a solution to this whole thing by the end of this month. What would be your solution? Continue Reading…
Written on November 16th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by Luke Hiken and Marti Hiken, Nov. 13, 2010.
… First, what are we facing?
- 1) The wealth of the nation has been consolidated into the hands of a clique of corporate executives that dominate both political parties and determine who the American people will “elect.” These corporations, described by many authors as “The Oligarchs,” are run and owned by CEOs in the following industries: oil; insurance; pharmaceuticals; agri-business; Wall Street and the banking industry, and the military/security complex. These oligarchs are accountable to no democratic forces in this or any other country. Continue Reading…
Written on November 15th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Pambazuka News, by Horace Campbell, Nov. 11, 2010.
As G20 leaders mull the global consequence of quantitative easing in the US, Horace Campbell highlights the need for a democratised international body that can hold major powers accountable. Without such a body, the kind of competitive devaluation that has been initiated by the US could be a recipe for full-blown warfare … //
… The experiences of Africans over the past 30 years are most pertinent within the context of the Group of Twenty (G20) meeting in South Korea. This meeting has four main items on the agenda, namely:
- 1) Building a framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth
- 2) Strengthening the international financial regulatory system
- 3) Global financial safety nets
- 4) Modernising the international financial institutions.
Continue Reading…
Written on November 14th, 2010 in Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
Published on The Christian Science Monitor, by Howard LaFranchi, Nov. 3, 2010.
… Yemen is one of the Arab world’s poorest countries and home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
An initial response to Mr. Obama’s promise to step up the fight against Yemen’s Islamist militants may have come Tuesday, when an oil pipeline running through a militant stronghold in Yemen was blown up.
Five reasons it will be hard for Yemen to ‘destroy’ Al Qaeda franchise. Continue Reading…
Written on November 13th, 2010 in Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
Published on IntelliBriefs, by B. Raman, Nov. 6, 2010.
The Government of India has sought to play down the worrisome implications of China’s new policy on Kashmir favouring Pakistan, its growing strategic presence in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan-Occupies Kashmir (POK), its disinclination to give up its claims to the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh and its strengthening of its military-related capabilities in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region TAR. Continue Reading…
Written on November 12th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by F. William Engdahl, November 5, 2010.
The earlier filing of fraud charges against Wall Street banking titan Goldman Sachs by the US Government Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was only the tip of a huge fraud iceberg. Now a US mortgage insurer has charged one of the most aggressive banks involved in the US subprime mortgage scam of fraud. The bank is none other than Deutsche Bank. This case is also likely to be just the “tip of a very big iceberg.”
Since he left his post as president of the Swiss-US Credit Suisse bank to go to Deutsche Bank, Swiss banker Josef Ackermann has focused on making the premier German bank into an imitation of the major Wall Street banks. It seems he has succeeded only too well. Continue Reading…
Written on November 11th, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
(see GOP) – Published on Oregon Live, by AP, November 05, 2010.
WASHINGTON — Newly empowered Republicans want spending cuts of $5 billion to $6 billion a month as a condition for extending emergency unemployment benefits that are scheduled to expire next month for millions of Americans.
Up to 2 million people could lose the benefits – which average $310 a week nationwide – during the holiday season if the still Democratic-controlled Congress doesn’t act in the postelection lame-duck session. The expiration could affect as many as 5 million by the end of February. Continue Reading…
Written on November 10th, 2010 in Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
Published on on NEWSinsight, by Naxal Watch, November 06, 2010.
London, 5 November 2010: In continuation of the Wednesday commentary, “Summit & after”, and especially in the backdrop of Barack Obama’s “defeat” in the mid-term elections, India has to make calculated changes in its engagements with the United States. It is improbable that a prime minister as timid as Manmohan Singh will put into effect the “calculated changes” suggested by this writer, among them being to engage the US over and above the American president, encompassing the Congress, Wall Street and big business, NGOs, special interest groups, opinion-makers, the media, and so forth, but the collapsing presidency of Barack Obama gives little other choice … // Continue Reading…
Written on November 9th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Online Journal, by Ben Tanosborn, Nov 5, 2010.
To most knowledgeable Americans, when you mention CPI, the first thing that comes to their minds is the “onsumer price index,”something they associate with inflation and the way it might affect their personal lives as consumers. I would be surprised if even one percent among this educated group ever heard of Transparency International and its annually published Corruption Perceptions Index CPI.
The fact that Transparency International is headquartered in Berlin, or that its output may not be flattering to their national pride, never helped matters; during TI’s 15 years of existence, neither the American corporate press, nor public officials, nor politicians in this nation have considered discussing corruption as a national civic issue, preferring that it be relegated to individual cases, rare “otten apple”situations; and that did little to change the overall perception of a virtuous American society. Continue Reading…
Written on November 8th, 2010 in Economy, Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
Published on benzinga, the trading idea network, by Michael Snyder, November 05, 2010.
… The more research that you do into our economic situation the more depressing it becomes. We are in big, big, big trouble. The following are 14 pieces of bad economic news that are so horrifying you might not want to read them standing up:
- #1 More than 42 million Americans were on food stamps during the month of August. That is a new all-time record, and that number is 17 percent higher than it was one year earlier. In fact, the number of Americans on food stamps is up more than 58 percent since August 2007. Continue Reading…
Written on November 7th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Two cases that help explain France’s high unemployment - Published on The Economist, November 4, 2010.
CALM has returned to the streets and petrol to the pumps. But for all the turmoil and tear gas that the government’s mild pension reform prompted, it has left intact an underlying social model based on high taxes and onerous rules for firms and employees, plus generous benefits. Two recent controversies expose the wide gap between what the French expect and what foreign businesses will bear … //
… There was equal indignation over another foreign firm, Molex, an American electronic-parts maker that supplies the car industry. Last year Molex decided to close its French plant near Toulouse, which had been unprofitable for years. It agreed redundancy packages, which have so far cost it €30m ($42m), and helped finance alternative employment. But in September 188 former employees filed a suit against Molex, contesting their redundancy.
Molex promptly suspended further redundancy payments, arguing that it faced too much uncertainty over future costs. By chance, last week the group reported net profits in the three months to the end of September of $75m, after a loss in the same period of 2009. This sent the unions into a fury, and Christian Estrosi, the industry minister, to their defence. He called the firm’s behaviour “scandalous” and ordered French carmakers, including PSA Peugeot Citroën, a private company, to stop doing business with Molex. For its part, Molex denounced the “aggressive” approach of the French government and its “negative attitude to business and foreign investment”.
France is popular with foreign investors thanks to its skilled workforce and excellent infrastructure. But many complain that labour law and heavy payroll taxes deter job creation. Bosses believe some workers try to get fired in order to win generous tax-free redundancy. Small firms buy machinery to avoid taking on staff. Yet most French reporting of these two cases, egged on by Mr Estrosi, has drawn a caricature of wicked bosses twisting the rules to exploit workers. Producer sympathy triumphs over consumer interest. And suspicion of profit precludes sensible discussion of the cost to France in lost jobs. (full text).
Written on November 6th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Americans out of work, out of income, out of homes, out of hope
Published on Global Research.ca, by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, November 4, 2010. – Linked with Paul Craig Roberts – USA.
In his historical novel, The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa writes that things have to change in order to remain the same. That is what happened in the US congressional elections on November 2 … //
… Yet, the destructive policies continue. There is no re-regulation of the financial industry, because the financial industry will not allow it. The unaffordable wars continue, because they serve the profits of the military/security complex and promote military officers into higher ranks with more retirement pay. Elements within the government want to send US troops into Pakistan and into Yemen. War with Iran is still on the table. And China is being demonized as the cause of US economic difficulties. Continue Reading…
Written on November 5th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by Chris Hedges, November 2, 2010.
… The liberal class wants to inhabit a political center to remain morally and politically disengaged. As long as there is a phantom left, one that is as ridiculous and stunted as the right wing, the liberal class can remain uncommitted. If the liberal class concedes that power has been wrested from us it will be forced, if it wants to act, to build movements outside the political system. This would require the liberal class to demand acts of resistance, including civil disobedience, to attempt to salvage what is left of our anemic democratic state. But this type of political activity, as costly as it is difficult, is too unpalatable to a bankrupt liberal establishment that has sold its soul to corporate interests. And so the phantom left will be with us for a long time. Continue Reading…
Written on November 4th, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by William Blum, November 2, 2010.
The Left in America is desperate; desperate for someone who can inspire them, if not lead them to a better world; or at least make them laugh. TV star Jon Stewart is sometimes funny, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to be funny, which is not often enough. But as a political leader, or simply political educator for the left, forget it. He’s not even what I would call a genuine, committed leftist. What does he have to teach the left? He himself would certainly not want you to entertain the thought that Jon Stewart is in any way a man of the left … //
… Anti-communism 101, Hijacking history: Continue Reading…
Written on November 3rd, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Online Journal, by Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf, Nov. 2, 2010.
There is a lot of talk about how government is broken and not enough talk about how the media are also broken. Reporting is no longer about informing the public. It is almost exclusively a series of stories trying to scoop the competition.
It is especially heinous around election time. Instead of covering who the candidates are and what they stand for, the viewing audiences get pundits trying to predict the future. This soothsaying only guarantees the candidates who can afford to buy airtime or copy even more airtime and more copy, giving the information hungry audience only empty calories … // Continue Reading…
Written on November 3rd, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca (first on Web of Dept), by Ellen Brown, 2010-10-30.
China may be as heavily in debt as we are. It just has a different way of keeping its books — which makes a high-profile political ad sponsored by Citizens Against Government Waste, a fiscally conservative think tank, particularly ironic. Set in a lecture hall in China in 2030, the controversial ad shows a Chinese professor lecturing on the fall of empires: Greece, Rome, Great Britain, the United States. Continue Reading…
Written on November 2nd, 2010 in Economy by Heidi
By understanding that money is simply credit, we unleash it as a powerful tool for our communities
Published on Global Research.ca (first on Web of Dept), by Ellen Brown, 2010-10-29. … Money as Relationship:
In an illuminating dissertation called “Toward a General Theory of Credit and Money” in The Review of Austrian Economics (vol. 14:4, pages 267-317, 2001), Mostafa Moini, Professor of Economics at Oklahoma City University, argues that money has never actually been a “commodity” or “thing.” It has always been merely a “relation,” a legal agreement, a credit/debit arrangement, an acknowledgment of a debt owed and a promise to repay. Continue Reading…
Written on November 1st, 2010 in Society by Heidi
Published on Global Research.ca, by Andrew Gavin Marshall, Oct. 26, 2010.
… Conclusion:
Herman Von Rompuy became President of the European Union in 2009, a new position established by the Lisbon Treaty passed the same year. Rompuy was selected as President following his attendance at a meeting of the Bilderberg Group.[82] Shortly after being given the position, Von Rompuy gave a speech in which he declared that 2009 is “the first year of global governance.”[83] As Denis Healey, a founding member and former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group for over 30 years, stated in 2001, “To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”[84] Continue Reading…