America Beyond Capitalism

Get it at your library...

From Publishers Weekly
Scheduled for publication on the 75th anniversary of the Black Thursday stock market crash, this closely argued treatise from University of Maryland political economist Alperovitz (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb) claims we are in the midst of another deep economic, social and political crisis. Capitalism, democracy, equality and liberty have disappeared from the United States, he says. Corporations and rich people control the wealth and government; their power destroys liberty and the entrepreneurial freedom necessary for capitalism. Traditional reforms are inadequate. Progressive taxation and social programs only redistribute income; we need to redistribute wealth. Easier voter registration and campaign finances miss the point; federal power must be reallocated to regional governments and local citizens’ associations whose scale makes participatory democracy possible. We need shorter work weeks, stronger labor unions, worker-owned or directed firms, less debt and more respect for the environment...

From Booklist
Alperovitz, an academic and political economist, calls on Democrats to "change the system," believing many Americans are searching for new policies as we face large deficits; unemployment; terrorism; and loss of belief in equality, liberty, and democracy. In his view, our unresponsive government, growing inequality, corruption, sprawl, and rising personal debt are reflections of a creative free market system that is no longer completely free or totally creative. Examining the extraordinary income and wealth controlled by elites and major corporations, he suggests that the future requires the development of a more community-centered, democratic market system. The author offers four fundamental suggestions to address current problems, including developing new institutions that hold wealth on behalf of small and large public groups (community-centered enterprises and worker-owned firms), and a regional rather than continental political system to appropriately represent a rapidly growing American population. His well-framed insight will appeal to a more liberal segment of library patrons during this presidential election year.

On supporting our troops

This is one of the better blog posts I've seen in a while. Must share!

On supporting our troops

To the Democratic leadership in Congress:

Consider the following statements from your Republican colleagues.

"You can support the troops but not the president"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"[The] President…is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W. Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years"
-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem."
-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

"Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

These statements were all made in the context of the 1999 U.S. interventions to stop the genocide in Kosovo. As you can see, the Republican class of 1999 had absolutely no interest in the sort of fanatical "support our troops" rhetoric in which they so love to wallow today. Was the news media of 1999 full of SCANDLE!!! and OUTRAGE!!! over Tom Delay’s inappropriate questioning of the president in the middle of a war, or over the Republican leadership’s complete and utter failure to "support our troops"? Was Republican disloyalty the big story of 1999?

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite blogs: Sadly, no. In 1999, our "liberal media" were extremely busy. They had spent several years already working closely with the right wing OUTRAGE!!! machine to take down a popular second-term president in a journalism-major circle-jerk of unimaginable proportions, culminating in the president’s acquittal in his impeachment trial. As Sally Quinn’s November 1998 editorial in the Washington Post (entitled "Not in Their Back Yard") made perfectly clear, the Washington politico-journalistic establishment regarded the Clintons as low-class hillbilly interlopers in their genteel and rarified world. They needed to make an example of these crackers, lest the great unwashed west of the Potomac get the notion that just anybody can come to Washington. They were defending their class interests, and had no time at all for silly distractions like supporting America’s troops.

My, how the times have changed.

Here’s my point: Stop depending on the approval of the major news media outlets. Institutions like the Washington Post and the New York Times have openly and brazenly declared their loyalty to this administration and their hostility to any Democrat left of Joe Lieberman. The press corps as a whole stand revealed as a clique of middlebrow "cool kids" more interested in access and popularity than in stodgy, old-fashioned concepts like “truth” and "investigation".

More crucially: Never forget that the men of the Republican Leadership don’t give a tinker’s damn about our troops. They didn’t give a damn in 1999, and they don’t give a damn today. They let our lunatic president send thousands of them to their deaths in a war with no good plan, no clear goal, no exit strategy, and no price tag. They have allowed him to underfund and overextend our armed forces to the point that we can only pray that an actual war doesn't break out somewhere. Every time they open their braying cry-holes to howl and screech about patriotism and supporting our troops, it is nothing but a cynical ploy to distract the people from the gross incompetence and open corruption of this Republican government.

STOP PLAYING THEIR GAMES.

Every time they start cranking up the OUTRAGE!!! machine, remind them of Tom Delay’s words:

"You can support the troops but not the president"

Stop letting them punk you. Stand up, fight back, fight hard, and don’t stop fighting until we’ve taken this country back from this gaggle of cut-rate cleptocrats who have brought nothing but dishonor to our great nation.

Duke, MZM Inc. & the Bush Administration

If you've been following the interesting case of a congressman whose house in California was bought for outrageous sums of money by a company that has benefited by that congressman's votes as well as that same company buying a yacht for that same congressman to live on in Washington D.C. here is another twist found on the talking points memo blog:

Before the whole Duke mess broke out, MZM Inc. was an awfully popular place.

Buried down in Marcus Stern's piece in today's San Diego Union-Tribune is the news that shortly before the CunningScam story broke someone named Kay Cole James had signed on as the company's "senior executive vice president for national security transformation". She just resigned on Friday.

Before signing on with MZM, Kay Cole James was President Bush's highly-controversial Director of Office of Personnel Management.

Yeah, lets....

Let’s go back to Sept. 14, 2001 when hundreds of young Iranians, clad in black as a sign of mourning, held a silent candle-lit gathering in Tehran to pay homage to the thousands of victims of the terror attacks in the United States. At the time, AFP quoted one of those demonstrators as saying: “We wanted to show our solidarity with the American people, which is in pain.”

The Zen Fund Manager

From Hussman

The Buddha said “with our thoughts we create our world.” Our self-talk – the phrases we quietly and often unconsciously say to ourselves, and the questions we ask – contain the concepts, filters, blinders, and occasionally, the crystal clear windows through which we observe and interpret reality. If we approach the world with expectations to be met, rather than an openness to accept (or at least begin with) what is there already, those expectations become the source of our own misery. If we form tight, detailed concepts of what we need to be happy, those concepts become the root of our unhappiness, because they shut out all of the opportunities to find happiness already around us.

There are two main questions I constantly ask myself as I manage the Funds from day-to-day. They're from chess: “what is the opportunity?” and “what is threatened?” Those bits of self-talk are my way of constantly getting back to the present moment, rather than getting caught up in hope about the future or distress about the past.

Another bit of self-talk comes from a sign that a veteran trader once had on his wall. It said, simply, “It ain't gonna happen that way.” It's a constant reminder to allow for uncertainty, and not to form detailed “scenarios” about future market movements.

That one takes a while to learn. There's a constant tendency to want to plan out the market's future course, draw trendlines, plan on a strong second-half, etc. Just like our detailed concepts about what we need to be happy can often make us miserable when something seems missing, our scenarios about the specific future path of the market can drive us absolutely out of our minds if the market moves the “wrong” way.

From the AlterNet blog:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/#23164

The public servant known as Karl Rove

Posted by Tai Moses on June 27, 2005.

Michael Moore, who posts letters from servicemembers on his website in the hopes of irritating the powers-that-be-behind, has posted a blistering note from one Celeste Zappala, who wants to know why Karl Rove won't take her calls. Rove's recent rant against the Democrats did not make Mrs. Zappala very happy. Her son, a National Guardsman who was killed in action in Iraq in April 2004, was, she says, "a very liberal Democrat" -- the very breed of individual Rove derided in his speech as pansies who pass out petitions. Writes Mrs. Zappala of her son,

When he was deployed, no one asked his opinion or his politics, and after he lost his life protecting the people looking for those weapons of mass destruction no conservative hawk came forth to take his place....I hope Mr. Rove will show his true colors and sign up for a guard unit; no one is too old now, Pennsylvania guardsmen in their 50s are serving. If he is too busy slandering half the people in this country perhaps he could send a child he loves dearly to take my Sherwood's place?

Celeste Zappala gave up her son for Karl Rove's war; the least he could do is return a freakin' phone call.

Follow the money

according to the analysts at globalsecurity.org, the invasion and occupation of Iraq have so far cost the United States more than $178bn.

Who is making all this money? Where is it going?

Hey, man, it is just a list!

"The purpose of the system . . . is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program.
(There is, of course, no such list for gun owners, as that, with some reason, might violate the 2nd amendment)

The US for sale

Financed by.... the US! :-)
Oil prices have made everybody rich.
The rate of change in everything is going through the roof. Everything new is old again.
Thus, we see very large political shifts, (tipping points?) and economic shifts, technology, science, and waiting in the wings:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Heeeeeeeeere's Climate Change!
Change: "ride the horse in the direction it is going", "be the change", "go with the flow"

Bill Moyers on "Democracy Now!"

Bill Moyers: "The Radical Right Wing is Very Close to Achieving a Longtime Goal of Undermining the Independence of Public Broadcasting"

With the increasing politicization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the threat of funding cuts in Congress, public media in this country is facing a serious crisis. We spend the hour with legendary journalist Bill Moyers - the subject of much of the pressure brought by CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson.
Moyers says, "I think we're at a moment in American history that is unique. I think we are in danger of losing our democracy because of the domination, the monopoly of power being exercised by the huge economic interests, both directly and indirectly. In public broadcasting we need to get back to the revolutionary spirit of dissent and courage that brought us into existence in the first place, and this country does, too."

God Hates Colorado Springs

The city of Colorado Springs was hit by a heavy thunderstorm on Tuesday resulting in heavy flooding, lightning, water, and mud damaged homes and a foot of hail on the ground in some locations. The question is why is god punishing Colorado Springs?

"It's just not right!" say the Christians...,

and off they go doing God's political works. If you are a free thinking, open minded, mature, responsible, well adjusted, independent individual, or supportive of any individual in that class, the conservative government of the United States has a message for you: "Fuck Off."


Commission Bans County From Recognizing Gay Pride

AND

"Disastrous" bill would cut public-broadcasting service

News Gleanings

Yet more criminality in the administration, the Washington Post reported that:

A top Justice Department official threatened to remove a government expert from its witness list if he did not water down his recommended penalties for the tobacco industry, the witness said in an interview yesterday.

The foxes are indeed in charge of the proverbial henhouse. I’m wondering when the smear campaign will start?

In other interesting news Joe Biden has promised that “If he has a clear chance of winning” he is planning to run for president. In a move seen as exposing his intentions, Jeb Bush immediately opened an investigation to see if Biden had been involved in Terry Schiavo’s collapse over twenty years ago and if he could account for forty some odd minutes on the morning that she did.

In the “Why the fuck there is little sympathy for you motherfuckers” department the recording industry of America has added another layer of “protection” on their CD recordings so that not just anyone can put the music they “bought” on just any listening medium. Of course if anyone finds out how to bypass this “protection” it is an illegal act, in this great free nation of ours, to tell anyone how to do it.

Trade Deficit at Record High

The latest report from the Commerce Department says the trade deficit now stands at $195.1 billion USD.

FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets expressed his disbelief Monday over the "sheer amount of shit Americans will buy."

"Why the demand for so many kitchen gadgets?" Chen said. "I can understand having a good wok, a rice cooker, a tea kettle, a hot plate, some utensils, good china, a teapot with a strainer, and maybe a thermos. But all these extra things—where do the Americans put them? How many times will you use a taco-shell holder? 'Oh, I really need this silverware-drawer sorter or I will have fits.' Shut up, stupid American."

"Last week, I took testimony from several young female workers from Shenzhen who said they were locked in a work room for 18 straight hours making inflatable Frisbees," Gao said. "Finally, the girls joined hands on the factory floor and began to chant, 'No more insane flying toys for Western pigs!' They quickly lost their jobs and were ostracized by their families, but the incident was a testament to China's growing disillusionment with producing needless crap for fat-ass foreigners."

Feeling the Hate

"fascism [...] would not return wearing swastikas and brown shirts. Its ideological inheritors would cloak themselves in the language of the Bible; they would come carrying crosses and chanting the Pledge of Allegiance."

...

Then as now, Adams said, too many liberals failed to understand the power and allure of evil, and when the radical Christians came, these people would undoubtedly play by the old, polite rules of democracy long after those in power had begun to dismantle the democratic state.

What the reporter said

'I've had reporters say to me, I have orthodontia, I have tuition, I have mortgage, I need access, I'm not writing your story.'

Let's Talk About Iraq - New York Times

"Let them eat cake!" Marie Antoinette
"Bring em on!" George Bush
"Double the number of troops" Friedman
Gee, why stop there? Triple the troops!

Timely Tsunami warnings: part one in a series

"'We just headed out,' he said. 'The streets were packed with cars -- it was complete chaos.'"

Gore Vidal: Something Rotten in Ohio

Outside the oil and gas junta that controls two and a half branches of our government (the half soon to be whole is the judiciary), there was a good deal of envy at the late British election among those Americans who are serious about politics. Little money was spent by the three parties and none for TV advertising. Results were achieved swiftly and cheaply. Best of all, the three party leaders were quizzed sharply and intelligently by ordinary citizens known quaintly as subjects, thanks to the ubiquitous phantom crown so unlike our nuclear-taloned predatory eagle. Although news of foreign countries seldom appears in our tightly censored media (and good news, never), those of us who are addicted to C-SPAN and find it the one truly, if unconsciously, subversive media outlet in these United States are able to observe British politics in full cry.

More...

After Downing Street Dot Org :: In Support of a Resolution of Inquiry

I really really wish someone, besides me, would put together an authoritative script on how the Iraq war was and is seen, the overarching great view. (And by gum, it IS a war! amazing! and for all the crap we are taking, it's hard to believe that we started it)
Whatever the reasons, there absolutely is a complete and utterly rational view that is still being played out. We might not like the reasons, may cry fie! fie! but they are there.
A well written 1 or 2 page essay could do it. The people don't need to know.

Something deeply disturbing about this quote...

"September the 4th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget."

--President George W. Bush
New Jersey, October 18, 2004
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041018-11.html

I mean who get's this date wrong? WHO?

Is he THAT out of touch? Was it planned on the 4th? Why did I not hear about this quote until this past weekend?

Seeing things you really didn't need to and now you know you don't want to..

from the let's see what technology brought us today dear dept...
'I'm seeing people in a whole new way,'' says Phillip Swann, president of OnHD.TV, an online magazine. ''If somebody's aging or if they've got any old acne damage, it just jumps out at you. They've got no chance.'

Memo: U.S. Lacked Full Postwar Iraq Plan

"Even your best friends won't tell you"
(Talk about really bad breath!)

Can you say "savings and loan"? I thought you could :-)

"Banking regulators have been raising red flags over the past weeks, warning the lenders they supervise that competition to win borrowers must not compromise lending standards."
oops, my bad

A vigorous stalemate

There will be no peace: Bush & Co. just do not see the world that way. No peace, not ever. Although we could just get ignored if the corporations figure out how to write us off... but, could happen.
The entire 20th century was only 100 years long.

Bill O'Reilly's Videogate

From comments at the above link

It's bad enough that O'Reilly attacked Biden and then stole his ideas. The worst offense is that O'Reilly deliberately doctored the ABC video to distort Biden's words into the exact opposite of what he actually said.

(White) Women We Love

I don't recall a black person ever gone missing.
Who likes this stuff anyway?

Around the Bloggosphere(AtB): Now is a very, very good time to be Chinese

The staggering magnificence of China

It is almost beyond belief: China is in its blossom and no sight could be more gorgeous. As you walk the streets of its capital, there is a wonderful mood of joy and optimism, even invincibility. The restaurants are crowded, and smiling, well-dressed people seem to be everywhere. Who would believe that not that many years ago this nation was suffering from seemingly insurmountable upheavals and crises, political, social and economic –all swept away by a focused, strong and determined leadership the likes of which the nation (and the world) had never seen before?

Yes, people who were here just 10 years ago and who are returning for the first time are calling it a miracle, and indeed it is. This is an engine that simply cannot be slowed, let alone stopped. And it all came about thanks to the vision of one man and one party that knew exactly where China should go and how it should get there. From an isolated and humiliated nation, China has emerged as a true superpower.

The transition hasn’t been easy nor has it always been gentle. The truth is, to keep the momentum going and achieve its high goals, the government has had to be strict. At times, protestors have been dealt with harshly, and many were imprisoned. But when you have an entire nation to watch over, it is simply impractical and impossible to allow dissent and criticism to get in the way. And the Chinese people agree. This is their day in the sun, and they have expressed a sincere love of their government, a love that is utterly without precedent. They have simply never known such success, such glory.

Some on the outside have complained about the persecution of “unfriendly” religious groups, and even acts of violence against them. That cannot be denied, but I’m sure it will improve. Many Chinese see these groups as dangeorus cults, and are only too happy to see them dealt with firmly and efficiently. But these are little things, far overshadowed by the greatness of the economy and all of the benefits it brings.

Some have also said that government spending is behind much of the prosperity. This is true to a certain extent, but other nations have dipped into the state coffers before, and as the economy grows the debts will be paid. The massive spending is worthwhile and will bear results.

As proof of just how high China’s star has soared, the country has been chosen to host the Olympics! Can you believe it, looking back at the relative chaos of 20 years ago? How fast and how explosive this growth has been! The Olympics – this gives China and its regime a patina of respectability and validation like nothing else could. It is a sign of international respect and has elevated national pride to new pinnacles.

Possibly the most extraordinary aspect of the new China is the sheer irrepressible optimism of the people. They are boisterous and proud. They can do anything, they can even help make China a master of the world! They know about the criticisms of the government, the charges of suppression, but it’s water off a duck’s back.

Now is a very, very good time to be Chinese, and they respect the rules. China is a country of laws. You understand and respect the need to not call for changes in the government or to stir up trouble. Yes, the government is everywhere and watches everything, but it’s a tiny price to pay for its pulling China up by its bootstraps. And as long as you mind your own affairs and leave the government free to do its vital busines, your prosperity will continue.

So let’s give China in the year 2003 all of the praise and recognition it deserves.

But wait a minute. There is one big lie in the tribute above: It is not about China and it has nothing to do with the year 2003.

It is all about Nazi Germany in the year 1936. Every word. Go back and see. Just substitute Germany for China and Germans for Chinese.

So what’s Richard’s point? Only to point out the irony of how something that seemed so picture-perfect in 1936 not long afterward was perceived as something very different. Some of us who are critical of right-wing regimes tend to allow the glare of China’s successes to blind us to the inequities and iniquities inherent to any police state. I was blinded about it myself for some years. I am not drawing any direct comparisons of the CCP to the Nazis, tempting though it may be. The CCP is at least showing dramatic signs of continuing reform. But there are still interesting historical parallels.

Meanwhile, I want to see China continue to grow and prosper, because I care a lot about the people there. Looking aqt all that prosperity and success, it is so easy to forget that it's a country still in the iron grip of tyranny. You wouldn't know that from the smiling faces and jubilant mood in Beijing and Shanghai. But it is.

Like a highway full of potholes

Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China. Lately, I have responded like this: If India and China were both highways, the Chinese highway would be a six-lane, perfectly paved road, but with a huge speed bump off in the distance labeled "Political reform: how in the world do we get from Communism to a more open society?" When 1.3 billion people going 80 miles an hour hit a speed bump, one of two things happens: Either the car flies into the air and slams down, and all the parts hold together and it keeps on moving - or the car flies into the air, slams down and all the wheels fall off. Which it will be with China, I don't know. India, by contrast, is like a highway full of potholes, with no sidewalks and half the streetlamps broken. But off in the distance, the road seems to smooth out, and if it does, this country will be a dynamo. The question is: Is that smoother road in the distance a mirage or the real thing?

What a Shocker!

[deadpan sarcasm]
I mean can you believe it? What crazy antics those guys at the Justice Department must have gone through. Now just moments from a record breaking fine due to a proven conspiracy by the big tobacco companies to hook people, primarily young people, to their addictive product, suddenly out of now where they offer a much reduced penalty. Wow, who'd have thought such a thing could happen.
[/deadpan sarcasm]

[republican spin]
Well those lawyers must have screwed something up I’m sure. Leave it to the government to screw it up.
[/republican spin]

Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty

U.S. Seeks $10 Billion Instead of $130 Billion

By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 8, 2005; Page A01

After eight months of courtroom argument, Justice Department lawyers abruptly upset a landmark civil racketeering case against the tobacco industry yesterday by asking for less than 8 percent of the expected penalty.

Google Print

I hadn't seen this before. It appears to have a LOT of titles, and you can get inside them pretty easily, as long as you have some idea what you're looking for. This helps me imagine what it would be like for libraries to be fully on the web. I have a similar service at work that allows me access to many, many technical books, but this is more fun.

Hyperweatlh

Does not the very naming assert a disease? Would not naming it be a cure?

Look for the loyalty statements. Felt is no hero: he isn't dead

Gergen calls Felt a snitch.
Anybody who has anything good to say about Felt: no place in Bush administration, that's for sure.
Presidential candiate "X" said , "Gee, I hope if I do something bad there is someone like Felt to turn me in to the authorities. Someone like that who has the true welfare of the nation in mind, not just me, the president."
No. Felt is no hero. He did the dirty work that someone had to do. Coming out before he was dead, that was a disservice and a great big mistake. Heros do NOT accept congratulations.
Real heros know that real heroes are under the stones and crosses.

Discovery of 'Momma' T-Rex

Answers to questions*
1. female
2. related to bird
3. medullary bone

*For creationists
"God" or "we really don't know"or leave blank for full credit

the 35 hour week: isn't a that where we want to go?

A good, clean, safe life full of leisure for thinking and creating... isn't that where capitalism is supposed to go? Why shouldn't one resist going backwards?
The yardstick of a persons life appears long, but used as a measure against human events much less geologic events, it is like trying to measure out a small town with a 12" ruler.
Jeffrey Sachs says that up until 200 years ago, essentially everyone was poor. Period. So wealth for semi regular people is really only 200 years old and that really is true.
The middle class: gee, that's just a post WW II phenomenon. Post Keynesian, brand new, unheard of prosperity. However, the disparaging tone directed at people accused of self indulgency for expecting what was totally expected, is way way out of line. Just a few years ago, the US was glory bound with William J Clinton and his man Robert Rubin running the economy.
When the man calls out This Way! make sure he is going forward before you follow. Running backward with great purpose: Monty Python does that.

MTV rejects Nine Inch Nails' performace image